Dancing with the stars

We’ve been learning to ballroom dance for several weeks now and at our last class we were asked if we would be available that weekend to go up to Blackpool to help out as volunteers at the University DanceSport Championships. It’s the biggest event of the year for all the uni teams and this year it was taking place at the Winter Gardens, a big venue in the middle of town.

The volunteering itself was a bit intense, as the day lasted from 8am to midnight (we didn’t know that it would be longer than working hours), but it was great to see the standard that we’re attempting to get up to! I think we’d actually need to practice rather than saying we were going to if we ever want to impress anyone...


We managed to escape a couple of times during the day for some food and to see a bit of Blackpool, but the following morning we had a few hours before the drive back to explore. It was great to be wandering around in the morning with hardly anyone else up (it was Sunday morning in a big party town so that wasn’t surprising!) and the tide was low so we could explore under the pier and all along the beach. It was brilliant to be by the sea again – even though Blackpool’s beach doesn’t really rate compared to NZ beaches!

The most fun was going to the pier though; we were the first on the Ferris wheel and laughed ourselves silly at the funny faces to stick your head through. We also spent £4 (although I was totally suckered in and would have spent a fortune!) on the dart throwing – man, those guys are good at what they do! We came away with two of the very cheapest toys, but they are some of the best airplane toys I’ve seen and have provided us with endless hours of amusement!


Check out the rest of the photos.

Bits and bobs from January

Here are some photos from around the place in January. The day we got back from New York we went to the pantomime in Oxford with Lisa which was absolutely brilliant (altogether now: 'Boots and cats and boots and cats!') and we had a whole heap of snow which was so much fun. We built a snowman out on Port Meadow (named Edward Lucas) who was taller than the both of us and had devil horns! I hope he's enjoying himself now in the big snowman heaven in the sky...

I went to Stowe Landscape Gardens with my class (to discuss issues around nature conservation etc. etc.) and we also headed down to London for a night out for Duncan's birthday.

Noo Yawk

'Would it all be worth it?' I wondered as we dutifully offered up our fingers and irises to be scanned at the customs desk (do not under any circumstances annoy a US federal officerrrr). Thankfully, the Gattaca-esque interlude didn't last long and there we were: New York! (The Big Apple, City of Dreams...etc. etc.).

We were in town to visit Adrian's brother and his family, as well as other parts of the family who had trekked from the UK and NZ to attend baby Katerina's christening. Thanks to a whole lot of free airpoints this was remarkably less painful than it may otherwise have seemed! The only painful thing was my sickness (cough, general flu-like blah) which hung around like a bad smell for the first half of the holiday but fortunately died down enough for me to spend a good few days enjoying the sights and sounds of the city.

The first trek into the city was to eat some pretty good burgers and it was magical to see the snow on the ground and feel like we were in a completely different world! The best bit though was to see all three Mazur men asleep on the train on the way home - I bet their dreams were in sync...

The next few days were filled up with christening related events and we also had a great day up on the coast at Lookout Point (on Long Island) where the snow was still all over the sand! It was fantastic to be able to see a part of New York that most tourists who just see Manhatten would never have the chance to experience.

The majority of the second half of the trip was spent in the city however, ticking off all those 'must see' things like the Statue of Liberty (sneakily glimpsed on the free Staten Island ferry), the bull at Wall Street, Time Square, Grand Central Station, Brooklyn Bridge etc. etc. We managed to score cheap tickets to Avenue Q, a musical on Broadway, and even though it's well known that I'm not the biggest musical fan, this was actually really hilarious and well worth a look.

But then the big day arrived: BIRTHDAY! Everyone knows that I am a huge fan of birthdays (not only my own) and to have this one in NYC was fantastic! We started the day going up the Empire State Building and because it was early and the middle of winter there were no queues at all and hardly any people at the top. It was FREEZING though - the scarves wrapped around our faces like balaclavas should give some indication of the temperature (about -12C that day I think). But, again, because of the cold it was clear for absolute miles. I reckon we could see Connecticut even! After the Empire State we wandered uptown, getting a hot dog from a street vendor (mmmm....delicious...) and a fantastic deli lunch. Although it was one of the those places where you get salad and other food by weight and we got a bit carried away! In the grand scheme of things it wasn't too bad really, probably even cheaper than London.

After stuffing our faces it was time for some exercise so we headed to FAO Schwarz, the massive toy shop where they have a copy of the 'big piano' that was in the movie Big with Tom Hanks. We couldn't quite manage to play chopsticks in time, but I think our more eclectic creations would have gone down a treat with some alternative jazz musicians! I picked myself up a birthday treat in the form of an Ugly Doll who has been christened ‘Monster’ and who guards our house from marauding invaders whenever we’re out.

FAO Schwarz is at one end of Central Park so we wandered up through there (well, walked at a brisk pace because it was so cold!), marvelled at the amount of squirrels just hanging out, chewing the fat (and bark, and acorns or whatever it is they do), and arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Being such art snobs from all the fantastic museums we were lucky enough to see in Italy, we were a bit down our noses at some of the stuff (I mean really, why are these statues missing arms!), but on the whole it was a lovely museum and I particularly enjoyed all the shiny stuff and the fantastic Asian carvings.

That night we met up with everyone and went to Tortilla Flats, a Mexican restaurant in Greenwich Village and had absolutely yum food, lots of frozen margueritas, and even a beer drinking challenge which I spectacularly lost against three other people from different tables who hadn’t eaten yet and had nice empty stomachs... Ah well, a lesson learnt for next time!

Our final day in the city we spent looking around at shops in the East Village and then to MOMA (the modern art museum). That was AMAZING! I absolutely loved it, there was so much fantastic stuff and we could have wandered round for hours. We managed to coincide our visit for when it was free which was good in some ways (as in, it was free!) but it was absolutely packed out with other people making the most of it.

Being on Long Island meant we could spend some time checking out the malls which was great as well, even though the £ was a lot weaker than we would have liked (although at least it wasn’t the NZ$ eh...). I managed to continue my bargain streak and get jeans for US$18 down from $80 which I was pretty pleased with, among other excellent purchases. Although, Adrian did most of the shopping, getting kitted out for his big trip, as well as a new ‘pulling shirt’ just in case he gets tired of me at some point!

All in all NYC was great. MOMA and the Empire State Building were my two absolute favourites and I would love to go back in warmer weather to get a different experience of the city (rather than rushing from one indoor place to another because it was so cold!). Qudos to Hannah for the great food and things to see recommendations and thanks so much to the Mazurs for hosting us too, it was such a wonderful birthday treat! There are more photos on this link.

“When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels”

This New Year's Eve there wasn't an option to just pack the car with a tent, a sleeping bag, mozzie repellent and a few boxes of food from Pak'N'Save (unless we wanted to die of hypothermia somewhere in the British countryside) so an alternative form of entertainment was required. Despite the outrageous (insert high pitched sounds of disproval here) increase in cost between a NYE ski holiday and one later in the year, the timing was right.

After much miserly deliberation, we found a package holiday in La Plagne 1800 (France) for nine days including all accommodation, return travel, food, lift passes, ski hire, and 12 hours of guiding for about £600. While it is an horrendous amount once translated back into NZ$, in pounds it didn't seem too bad so we jumped at it. We convinced Lisa, Duncan and Devin (friends from NZ and Amelia's NSEP class) to come with and so on the 29th of December all met up at the Hatton Cross tube station just outside of Heathrow. Little did we know the horrors that awaited us... The 17 hour (no, that's not a typo) bus ride from London to the French Alps via a ferry over the Channel started off ok, but after several hours without heating and absolutely freezing our bollocks off while our crazy drivers got lost trying to find our accommodation, the fun had somewhat worn off.

But, onwards and upwards. We were in France! The sun was shining, the birds were singing and Amelia got brand new rental boots and a practically new board to play with so it was all good. The place we were staying (UCPA) was extremely generous with the food (I reckon we all put on weight despite the constant activity!), and despite the tiny rooms, it was great fun to people watch the other (French) group there - particularly when some of them decided to strip down to their undies for a particularly raucous demonstration of the Macarena!! We also played several (read, A LOT) of games of 500, which Devin took to like a duck to water. Just as long as Duncan didn't play too many hands of misere!



But, onto the most important part - the skiing/snowboarding! Lisa and Duncan were tentative, in the advanced beginners group, and fortunately only ended the week with a cracked rib and massively bruised elbow between them. Devin and I were in the advanced snowboarding group and Adrian was in the expert ski group. Fortunately, I still remembered enough of what to do to go exploring with Adrian after our guiding, although I had to leave him and Devin to the rope tows which were at crazy vicious angles and would have only ended in total and utter disaster (not to mention tantrums) had I tried to partake!


We had lovely sunny weather for the whole trip, apart from NYE itself where it snowed pretty heavily all day and night, meaning New Year's Day itself was stunning with blue sky and between 5-10cm of fresh powder. Devin and my guide was qualified to take us off-piste and we spent the whole morning just carving fresh tracks through the pow-pow. It was well worth the 8am wake-up after the night before!

Speaking of the night before, NYE night itself was unexpectedly great fun. We went to Belle Plagne where they had cleared an area at the bottom of the chair lifts and in front of the shops/hotels for a big outdoor nightclub. They had a DJ/VJ set-up with fireworks and an ice bar and there were thousands of people partying the night away while the fresh snow rained on down. It was quite surreal being outside dancing while it was snowing and definitely made it a memorable evening.



Later in the holiday Adrian tried his luck at a slalom event - it took a bit of persuading for him to take part, but my (increasingly rusty) French came in handy and he got a number in the end and raced down the hill in a very respectable time of 51.17 seconds, earning him 103rd place out of nearly 200 and a 'bronze' level qualification (whatever that means!). We also went and checked out the Olympic bobsleigh course. Adrian unfortunately missed out on having a go due to a booking error, but we still got an up-close-and-personal look at what it would be like to race down an ice track at speeds approaching 100km/hr.

And then it was over. We somehow survived the return bus journey (again with the dodgy heating!) and made it back to Oxford for a well deserved sleep and a chance to rest our aching bones. Seven days straight snowboarding without hot pool access (France really doesn't know what it's missing on that front) isn't something I think I could do again without a bit of training first that's for sure!

Lots more photos here.

Christmas 2008

Both being orphans this Christmas, we were at a bit of a loss as to what to do with our (very short in terms of daylight hours) day. The main option for expat NZers over here seems to be to head round to someone's house for Christmas lunch, descending into drunkenness as the afternoon wears on. But considering we were about to head off for a strenuous week's skiing and snowboarding, we needed to keep our bodies in tip-top condition! So another solution was necessary...

That's when Adrian has his brainwave: volunteering! We looked around and found a really good option, the Rotary Club of Battersea Park Christmas Party. Battersea Park is in London, just on the south side of the Thames and they have a huge Christmas lunch for the elderly residents of the area.

We started the day with an early morning walk from Chelsea where we were staying (thanks to Jeff and Sara for the generous use of their flat!) across the Thames to the park. It was all decorated according to a Russian theme and looked incredible. First task was a quick stint in the kitchen making fruit salad for several hundred before the guests started arriving and we had to take care of the people on our allocated table. My table had a few dramas, mostly induced by too much sherry, but all in all it went really well. The guests ranged from a 94 year old gentleman at my table (although I'm sure he wasn't the oldest there!) to some quite sprightly people who must have only been in their 60s.


We were treated to Christmas lunch as well, before doing a bit of dancing (practising our ballroom dancing moves), bingo, and then escorting people back to their houses in minivans. We left at about 6pm and were absolutely exhausted! We went back on Boxing Day morning to help with the clean up and then ended up all having lunch at the pub (fish and chips with mushy peas!) to celebrate a successful event. There would have been about 350 guests and at least 150 volunteers on Christmas Day itself, but the next day was quite small with only about 40 or so people making lunch more manageable!


All in all it was a great experience and I'd definitely recommend it! The rest of the photos are here.