An adopted family

This week I have spent a lot of time with my flatmates. It feels like we are one big adopted family. Ross, Marie and I are the children living downstairs in our rooms. Antonio was the couch surfer who stayed, but he is now a good friend of the family and he still comes around even though he has moved to the city centre. Leon is the older brother and Sin Yat the father. We come from 6 different countries, so we have quite an interesting mix of traditions, languages and beliefs. But we are an adopted family, because we are all important in each other's lives.

"Family photo"

Fun with friends
Monday morning it was storming from the East, but the wind calmed and the skies cleared in the afternoon. I knew that would give us a perfect opportunity to go body surfing at Mairangi Bay, so I brought Ross, Antonio and Marie there for a swim. Most Kiwis wear wetsuits now, because the water temperature has dropped below 20 degrees, but to me it still feels like summer. We had great fun in the waves and Marie got a couple of nice photos of us from the beach.

Watch out, Antonio!

Sunday outing

This Sunday, after church, we went to a favourite place of Sin Yat's for lunch. It is a restaurant that Sin Yat describes as "hardcore Chinese". When we arrived we were seated at a table with plates, chopsticks and tea, but without a menu. The waiter then left and did not return until Sin Yat asked for the bill.

At 11 o'clock servers started appearing with tall stacks of dishes in round bamboo steamers. They announced their dishes in Mandarin and served them to the ones who spoke up first. We had a lot of different dishes and the servers kept on tempting us throughout the meal. Would you like some bāo zi, shuǐ jiǎo or perhaps some luóbo gāo? I'm glad Sin Yat ordered for us.

Black swans swim leisurely around in the lake Pupuke

After lunch we went to Milford to go for a walk at Lake Pupuke and visit Marie at her work. We found her in the French bakery and I think she was happy to see all of us there.