Culture is always interesting.

Josh is halfway through his teaching trip in Korea...and things have been busy here on the home front. Rahel, a Japanese/Swiss friend of ours from our time in Korea is visiting New Zealand, and we have been keeping busy. In the course of 24 hours, I experienced 2 different cultures....thanks for hanging out Rahel.

It went a little like this. After singing at THOP on Thursday morning, Rahel taught Ula (my Polish friend - yes we are a mix of cultures) and I how to make "real" sushi...this was of course after visiting the Asian supermarket here in Tauranga. We learned how to "flavor" the rice and make the rolls using a sushi mat. It was pretty easy...and really yummy. I think I see more home made sushi in my future.

After our "cooking class" we piled in the car and went to the Bi-Annual "Kapa Huka" festival. It was the first time for it to be held in Tauranga and was very eye opening. Act after act came on stage, and preformed their routines. I must admit we were pretty confused as all the commentary was spoken in Maori, but then our friends Ray an Shanene found us. They were able to explain everything which made the experience much more enjoyable. We then went to watch Ray's friend get his face tattooed (this is called getting a Moku) which looked very painful - but beautiful at the same time.

Culture is definatly always interesting.

Orama's Lamb Curry!

This is not my typical blog entree - but so many people have been asking for it, I thought this was the best way to handle the requests. Disclaimer. I have not yet made this recipe....I just grabbed it from the cook at Orama....it was good when she made it!

1) Brown Lamb Chops in pan and remove from pan

2) Cook 1 chopped onion and 6 large crushed cloves of garlic and add lamb back into pan

3) Add the following and let simmer for 20 minutes
- 3 Tbsp coriander (fresh)
- 3 Tbs tomato paste
- 2 tsp cummin
- 2tsp paprika
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp honey
- 3/4 cup beef stock
- sliced carrots and chickpeas

4) while lamb is simmering make couscous - as much as needed for your family at the ratio of 1 to 1 couscous to water

Asia

After couple of busy days getting ready and about 20 hours of travelling....Josh has landed safely in Asia. Apparently he had a whole row to himself on the plane and was able to sleep. He went straight into meeting, so I am sure the sleep was needed. He will be teaching in the IWT coordinator school in the seaside city of Bouson, South Korea. Hopefully the times goes quickly....babe you are missed already!

NZ Family Pic from our time at Orama.

DTS Slide Show!

Hey, want to see a few picsand highlights of the DTS?

Check it out here.

More Pictures from Orama

You might have been wondering why there where no pictures of Josh and I on the last post. Of course it was because we didn't take pictures of ourselves...so thanks to Kelly we now have a couple. Enjoy!

Alana Cole and Misty Cole at the lookout point.


What a huge tree.


Auckland City at sunset - pretty:> The space needle is where Josh proposed to me.


Josh and I on the 5 hour long boat trip back to Auckland from Great Barrier.


This is just an example of the quality of food we ate at Orama. It was seriously good food. I came home with two recipes.

Better late than Never :>

So I promised pictures of our time at Orama. Hopefully this will give you an idea of what a great week we had debriefing the DTS. We've booked in for next year - so obviously it was awesome!Here is a bit of a play by play.

The far point is where Josh went swimming with a shark. Spear fishing is no longer allowed in this household.


The view from the lookout point. What a great hike to get there.


This is Orama - our fantastic host for the week. A seriously good place to get away from it all.It helps it is on an island.


Group shot on graduation night. What fun we had replaying the last 5.5 months.


This is the view from Orama! Beautiful!

The DTS is FINISHED

The last five and a half months of the DTS have gone by so quickly, and now I can officially say that this season on life is finished. All of our students are on their way to their "next stop" on this journey called life, and so are Josh and I. Well, maybe after we do some clean up administration.

We just returned from debreifing week on Great Barrier Island, off the coast of Auckland. It was a great final week with the students, full of great times procecssing together, emotions, and a lot of fun as well. There are tonnes of stories I could tell - and lots of pictures to post. But that will have to come later.

It's bed time.