Posts by Sarah Horth
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Islander - you are right about many people not being into whale in Japan. When I lived there and talked to people about it, mostly it is a nostalgic food. Maybe like eating something like corned beef for us (sorry, I don't like corned beef but was made to eat it as a child - there might be a better example out there if some of you like it!). Most people say it doesn't taste great, but it reminds them of the old days.
I'd see it occasionally on a menu, in odd places, like my local little diner.
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The reason Auckland City water bills are higher is they include the cost of the waste water disposal while Waitakere doesnt. But they do add a charge on to the rates.
You will find Auckland City rates bills are way lower.Thanks for explaining Steve - my rates are a bit higher in Waitakere. Do you think this means our water will go up and our rates down then? I just can't imagine anything going down in the upcoming merge...but perhaps I'm just being negative.
Better start saving for that watertank.
Sofie - you sounded very tongue-in-cheek to me!
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Comparing water bills - when I lived in Auckland (with its separate water company Metrowater), it cost me about 2-3 times as much as water now costs me in Waitakere (the water bill is directly from the council) - and I probably use more water now than back then.
It depresses me to think that I will have to go back to a water 'company' - and it is even more depressing to read about the lack of accountability. I guess my days of cheap water are over...
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Great post Jolisa - it has been great to read PA the past few days as I have been confused over standards in schools.
My mother was a teacher of 40 years so has seen many a policy come and go - and then come around again. I thought she would be a good person to talk to.
Her concerns were what was going to happen with the information once it was gathered (which I know others have asked the same question in other posts). She wonders whether many parents are more comfortable with 'Suzy is 14th in Maths' than 'Suzy needs some help improving her social skills' as then it is easier to turn and blame the teacher - and that kind of result may mean teachers leave the profession - or perhaps schools end up like Jolisa describes, living the tests.
If the standards were to be used to pump more money into programmes like reading recovery where they are needed, Mum thought that might be good - but she doubts that is the aim, when money has just been taken out of those kind of programmes.
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Thanks Jackie - you do have those years don't you! You certainly know looking at your story. We have survived, and I love it that we are optimistic, happy people in general. It helps a lot to get through.
Certainly had some lessons about love this year! Roll on 2010 :)
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Back in NZ from the US and I love being home, catching up with friends and family, eating great food, and hanging at Te Arai Beach.
R and I met 2 years ago and have been married for 1 and even in that short time I know I am with the love of my life - it took long enough to find him. We have had one of the roughest years newly marrieds could go through, losing 6 babies to miscarriage in 14 months. Our love has changed and deepened as we rode this roller coaster of hope and then the crashing disappointment and grief when we lose another baby. The grief could have ripped us apart, but instead we ripened into a different love - I am glad in some ways that we are older. I'm not sure that we would have handled it otherwise, especially as there is nothing to 'fix', no reason found for the losses.
We of course still have lots of time that the earlier love shines through, that's why we're good at making the babies, just not good at keeping them.
And of course I love my family for still hoping for us and being happy and then disappointed with us.
And then there is the love that I feel for the little olive or peanut that grows inside me for only a month, two months or three, before leaving. How they have changed my life, and how I miss them so.
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Agreed Paul.
When I lived in Tokyo, 'home' was both Auckland and Tokyo - I'd refer to Auckland as home while in Tokyo and Tokyo as home when visiting Auckland or out of the country.
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That's good news.
Love the naughty step in Buffalo story. We had R's dad decide he really wanted to buy the awful rental car we bounced along in...because it had manual window winder-uppers. Driving my gadget geek husband up the wall :)
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And a bit less aware of my weak points.
Snort! Very funny Amy - just had R's parents staying from the East Coast and that dynamic is so true for so many family relationships.
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I think it's more urban/rural. Go to any biggish city in the US and you'll find likeminded people, even in the south. Go to any exurb or small town and you'll be surprised at how many rednecks you'll find.
There's definitely that here. The Eastside (the Microsoft side) is seen as conservative. I have diehard Seattlite friends who refuse to go over the bridge to the 'burbs. It is often talked about with a sneer, that I thought was overdoing it, until I got cornered into that kind of ultra conservative discussion over there not that long ago.