Getting Better...

To everyone: a big Thank You for sending nice words and positive vibes in my direction. I hope you all had a very good and sunny Easter weekend. At least it was perfect in Blenheim! Good time to make some walks and pictures - as you can see the autumn colors have started to appear.

So, a short update: I am still not very mobile but am better at managing my pain, so hopefully I will be able to fully recover in a few weeks. So, what do I do during the days that I can mainly spend only in and around the house? I cannot sit for longer than 15 minutes so going somewhere or even driving to work is not possible. Don’t I get bored? I have surprised myself after one week that I just found my way around it. I have read a huge amount of books and watched a lot of movies the last few weeks. I also did some study work, but since I cannot sit for a long period, this was not a lot. Hopefully I can pick that up soon.

The big advantage is that we have a nice long summer around here. Nearly all days have been sunny, so I could read in the garden on my sun bed and go for some walks, which is part of my ‘therapy’ as well as some exercises for my back. The annoying thing, however, is that I cannot be part of the harvest/vintage but still hear the harvesting machines and trucks full of grapes going past the house, day and night. Below a picture of some grapes that are still netted to protect from bird damage. These grapes will be harvested soon.

My short term goal is to be able to drive the car to work, which is a 30 minutes drive and be able to look around and do some basic stuff in the laboratory. Another goal is to try to start writing some assignments for school, so that at least I will pass the theoretical part of this semester.

Yesterday I was surprised by a visit from two friends from Wellington to Blenheim. We had lunch together and it was great to catch up. This was a good test for me to sit for a longer period. Although I couldn’t do a lot anymore the rest of the day it was really nice to go somewhere again with friends.

So, I hope you all are well and will write again when something happens around here.

Cheers,
Anita

Bad luck strikes!

When I started my first day of the work experience ‘vintage’ period last week, I picked up something and felt a ‘snap’ in my back. After two days of pain and painkillers I decided it was wise to go to the doctor (although friends/flatmates had to convince me). He diagnosed a bulge on one of the lower back discs. He prescribed some medication and physiotherapy which I could organise straight away next door. The doctor thought it could take 6 weeks to fully recover; the physiotherapist said maybe 3/6 months when unlucky. I better not listen to those stories!!

Of course I planned to stay at home a few days and then I would be better, but unfortunately that hasn’t happened yet. This morning I could hardly get out of my bed and needed a good dose of painkillers to be able to move and sit. Walking and lying down on my back seem to give me most relieve.

I now only have two problems:
1) Will I be able to get my work experience? This is necessary for my Diploma;
2) How am I going to finance my studies for the rest of this year, since I had planned to make a lot of hours, so I could save some money?

My first goal, however, is to try to sort out my back. Sending some positive vibes this way might help!!!


Anita

What's Up?

First of all I want to apologise for taking so long to write an update on my whereabouts. However, I do not hear a lot from some of you readers of this blog either. You might all have very boring lives, or your lives are so exciting that it is hard to write about it? I am curious to know which of it would be in your case…….

My planned cycle tour in January unfortunately did not eventuate and in stead I started working in the vineyard where I will be doing my ‘cadetship’ for two years while finishing my studies. At this moment everyone in the wine industry is getting ready for the vintage and so, also me! Next week I will be changing the vineyard for the winery, which will be a new experience again. Everyone was having barbeque parties last weekend, because from this week onwards no one in the wine industry will have time to socialise. On Friday I was too tired and so I even skipped a barbie, but on Saturday I went to some Chilean friends of mine who had only Chileans and Argentineans around. Unfortunately, I noticed that my Spanish had deteriorated quite a bit in the mean time. Even though we have a Chilean living in our house, who is here to work during the vintage; but he only wants to improve his English and thus is not improving my Spanish language skills.

But the best thing that happened lately is that the house in Wellington has been sold and our financial settlement has been done. This has been a very difficult process the last months, but now I can start the next part of my life. In the short term future I will be here in Blenheim, but the longer term is open to a few opportunities. If anyone has some ideas about it, please let me know.

Autumn clearly is on its way, since I even had to wear gloves in the vineyard – keep in mind I start working there at 7 o’clock in the morning. And also first time this year there was some snow on the mountains – beautiful sight! Apart from that it is a bit noisy in the vineyards and it reminds me of the weeks before and after New Year’s Eve in The Netherlands when you hear occasional fireworks. Here these are the bird scaring devices. Although a lot of the rows with vines are covered with nests against the birds (they love to eat the ripening – sweet – berries) it is necessary to get them out of the un-netted vines.

The crew for the vintage has nearly all arrived. It is a great mix of Europeans: two Italians, one French, one Spanish, one Greek. It will be a very interesting time.

I won’t be on line a lot in the upcoming weeks during vintage, since that will mean working 7 days a week for around 12 hours a day – so I am off and looking forward to some ‘gossip’ from your side that I will be able to read when I am resting from the hard work.

Anita

Just a Sign of Life

Since I have not really been in the mood to write a blog lately, it has been a while you have heard from me. The reason was not that nothing had happened, but more so that only 'bad things' happened that were not really suitable to publish on the internet.

The parts that are interesting to talk about are the results of my exams. I have been able to get all A's for the papers this year and I must say that this made me feel very good. Another good result was that I gained a scholarship for Outward Bound. This scholarship was presented to me on 17 December, when I realised that is was for a three week course! Only problem now is to plan that in my busy upcoming year of work and study.

I have changed to a bigger room in the house I live in Blenheim, since all my stuff didn't fit anymore. At the moment, however, I am staying at the Kapiti Coast for a few days with friends to try to relax and have a different view on life.

In the meantime a lot of time and effort is put into the conclusion of our separation - unfortunately, the house is still not sold so we have had to come up with a financial settlement. It has been a rough time lately and hopefully things will change for the better in 2009.

Wishing you all the best for this New Year!

Anita

Goodbye to my life in Wellington

Once again I was very lucky with crossing Cook Strait from Picton to Wellington. It was a lovely, calm and sunny day and although it is a long trip it went very smoothly. I could relax a little bit although there were a lot of school parties on board – youngsters running around etc.

My first stop in Wellington was one of the bars in Courtenay Place to catch up with friends. After some wodka’s I decided to head back to Karori, to my ‘old home’. And after a nice bottle of Spanish wine it was time to collapse in my bed.
The next day we had organised a gathering with friends to mark the fact that this will be my ‘goodbye’ to Wellington and our splitting up. One of our good friends even brought a nice ‘splitting up’ cake (see pictures). I really enjoyed having a good time with friends in Wellington and enjoyed all the nice food and drinks everyone brought with them (I have to apologise to all the people I forced to drink my own wines, that were of doubtable quality, sorry!).

Then another highlight of the weekend: the concert by Alicia Keys. Marco and I had bought tickets for the concert months ago. We had seen her about 5 years ago during a Jazz Festival in The Netherlands and were impressed by her ability to play the piano and by the quality of her voice. This time the concert was a bit different. More running and screaming, but still a lot of good, quieter moments. Overall it was a very diverse concert and the crowd liked it!
Next day again it was Monday night and so……. Girls Daiquiri Night. This marked the last ‘party’ in Wellington for me for a while now. And after packing my stuff to take with me to Blenheim and sorting out some finances and lawyer’s stuff it is time to get back home. I will jump on the ferry back tomorrow and try to fit everything in my small room.

Cheers,
Anita

Some more changes.......

It has been a bit longer than normally before this update, but I had to concentrate on other issues for a while. Among which:

· House sale
Of course I am far away here on the Mainland (the South Island of NZ is called the Mainland), but this subject was constantly on my mind. We have had a lot of viewers through the house and finally got one offer in. However, that was a few days later withdrawn which was possible on basis of one of the conditions of the contract. So, we are back to square one now and will just see what happens. The market is now really getting into the Xmas slow down, so we do not expect anything to happen between now and February. Therefore Marco has decided to stay in the house and try to upgrade it a bit and market it again at a later stage unless something is going to happen out of the blue.

· Working at Seresin’s Estate
At the end of October my work experience started. The plan was to do as much different work on the vineyard as possible, but at the biodynamic vineyard one of the big problems is weed control. Since no herbicides are used to control these, there are only mechanical ways of controlling the weeds. One of these is a tractor with blades on each side that can cut the weeds from under the vines. Since my start my main task has been to drive this tractor. I must admit that it is quite boring work, but with some music via the iPod it is bearable. Apart from that I have done a little bit of shoot thinning and some wire lifting. We are in the middle of the growing season and because of the rain early on and the sunny conditions of the last weeks the vines grow like mad. So not to get too much vigour on the vines it is necessary to get rid of some of the shoots, so to be able to get enough energy from the plant to the fruit instead of to the leaves. Furthermore, the grapes need sunlight to ripen and an excess vigour would prevent the sun to get to the grapes.

· Integrating in Blenheim
I have also been busy with trying to make some contacts in and around Blenheim. This is not always very easy, but that is mainly my own problem. I haven’t yet joined a group of any kind via which I could meet people, but on the other hand slowly I start recognising people in town. It all just takes time and I realise that Welly Rocks in Wellington was a perfect opportunity to meet a great bunch of people!

· Final exam results?
We still did not receive our final results back – they were promised for the end of November, but heya this is laidback rural New Zealand. So, I guess it will take until January to get the results to everyone – LOL.

· Outward Bound Scholarship
In the mean time I had applied for a scholarship for a course at Outward Bound, see: http://www.outwardbound.co.nz/. This will be awarded on 17 December and I do not exactly know at this moment what and when it will be, but I am very excited to have won this scholarship. Some people who have done a course at Outward Bound say that it was a life-changing experience! Could even more be changing in my life – sometimes I have the feeling that it has been enough since the last few years, but on the other hand I have never a dull moment and can not easily get bored this way!

· “Cadetship”
Via our school an opportunity was presented to the first year students that had passed all exams and that at least had residency in NZ to apply for a ‘cadetship’ at one of the wineries/vineyards in Marlborough. The place is The Crossings, see: http://www.thecrossings.co.nz/. It meant that they offered a workplace for two years during which a student would work full time and finish the last year of studies online during that two year period. This sounded like a great opportunity for me so I applied and was offered the position!!! However, it turned out that the school can not produce all the papers on line that are needed, so probably I will be working 4 or 3 days a week and attend classes on the other day(s). The details need to be finalised but I will probably start somewhere in January. I plan to have a bit of a cycling holiday first, because I will have very busy times ahead of me.

This was my ‘news’ of the month in brief. Tomorrow I will be travelling to Wellington to finalise my ‘life’ there: packing stuff, having a splitting up gathering at our house, attending a concert, drinking some wines etc. etc.

Never a dull moment!
And most of the time I am able to keep on smiling……..


Cheers,
Anita

Life Goes On

First of all a big ‘THANK YOU’ for all the kind reactions on the last news – it was heart warming! I will try to send a personal message to everyone, but this might take a while.

Although my private life is in turmoil lately, my day to day life in Blenheim had to go on as well, since a lot was on the horizon. I attended classes and wrote some more reports for two weeks after my return from the last trip to Wellington! It was like the report writing would never end.
One of the big advantages, however, of doing a wine course is that you have to do a lot of tastings – also as part of the curriculum, so often we had an afternoon sensory class, meaning we learn about the wines and that needs tasting the wines!!

Finally we have been able to bottle our white and rose wines (see picture) – and we will be bottling the red wine soon. Faster than planned the study week was there and then the exams even!!! Needless to say that I didn’t get the preparation I had wanted with too many things going on in my mind, but I gave it my best try and in the mean time the first – positive – result was received, yiippiiieee!!! At first I was a bit disappointed that it was ‘only’ a B+, but when I realised I had the 4th highest mark out of 25 students, I was quite proud of myself.

After the exams it was time to go to do some vineyard experience again. Luckily I have been able to get a casual job again at Seresin Estate, the bio-dynamic vineyard/winery where I also did my pruning experience during winter. I started here last week and slowly try to get into the work routine again. I will be trying to work during most of the summer period to be able to go on studying next year.

With regards to the selling of the house, I can only mention that we have had two open homes and that the tender closes this Wednesday. Please keep your fingers crossed!!

Cheers,
Anita