Copyright © Tanya Piejus, 2003

January 27 2003

Hi there,

So here we are in 2003. How time flies... My trip round Australia seems a lifetime away now and even the EastEnders website feels like a distant dream.

I don't know how the new year has kicked off for most of you but it's not been without interest for me. Mum and Graham's homestay business was buzzing over the Christmas holidays which, of course, is the Kiwis' long summer break. With a houseful of guests, the pipe to the septic tank decided to block itself up and we had to put a ban on showers until the drain men could come. At a time when the eastern half of New Zealand is suffering a major lack of moisture, we had a pipe burst and throw away several thousand litres of irrigation water. To top things off, Mum's computer had a major virus outbreak which rendered it useless on the same day that my PC's hard drive collapsed and I lost all my data. A couple of days ago we had an earth tremor which made the floorboards shiver under my feet and rattled the windows.

One morning a couple of weeks ago, I was helping Graham chop down some trees when I suddenly started feeling very strange. Fifteen minutes later I was shivering uncontrollably and my temperature had shot up. One visit to the doctor later and I was on my way to Masterton hospital for blood and urine tests. Having been to darkest Africa lately, the tropical medicine specialist in Wellington suggested I undergo these tests to rule out malaria and other nasties that are rife in Mozambique like dengue fever and typhoid. The consultant got very excited about the prospect of a tropical disease in his hospital and kept me in for two nights in an isolation room, took several armfuls of blood and two urine samples, and gave me a chest x-ray. After all that, it turned out to be just a local lurgy that I probably picked up from a neighbour when we went to see his alpacas. At least I got a free health check and, as an incidental, discovered that I have a minor heart murmur caused by a floppy valve. It's not something I have to be at all worried about but do need to mention it if I ever have major surgery. Go into hospital with suspected malaria, come out with heart defect!

Having spent a month pondering my existence, I've decided it's time I earnt some money again. I went to Wellington yesterday for an interview at the Ministry of Health and had a call this morning to offer me a nine-month contract looking after their publications and helping with their website. (Thanks v. much to Claudia and Martyn at the BBC for their quick responses and glowing references!) I start work on Monday and will be moving to the big city as soon as I can find somewhere to live. Before then I'll finish the online course I'm doing in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Fascinating fact about New Zealand's capital: it has more restaurants, bars and cafes per capita than New York.

I'll be back in the UK in October for a wedding so I'll look forward to seeing some of you then. In the meantime, enjoy your new years and let me know how you're getting on.

Cheers folks,
Tanya

February 22 2003

Gidday all,

Shane Waughn is on the TV at the moment protesting his innocence in the latest drug-taking scandal - and engendering smug smirks on the faces of Kiwis everywhere. Well, we need some relief from the national embarrassment that is the America's Cup. The Black Caps are doing rather well in South Africa, though, and my first weekend in my new flat was enlivened by the cheers and celebration coming from the Westpac Stadium down the road when New Zealand won the rugby sevens. I could still hear chanting at five o'clock in the morning. Apart from that, my new abode is normally very quiet, despite being a stone's throw from a motorway and only fifteen minute's walk from Lambton Quay, Wellington's top shopping street.

I also have a great view of the harbour which I love for its dynamism. One morning there was a heavy dark layer of cloud punctured by Jacob's ladders pouring bright light onto the water. Another morning, a low mist hung over the hills, giving the far side of the harbour an alpine feel. Last week, the whole view disappeared behind a horizontal hailstorm. This evening the air is beautifully clear and the blue of the harbour is dotted with fluttering sails. Planes bank over the promontory behind the building I work in as they drop out of sight to the airport and the interisland ferries blast their horns on their way into dock. Huge cruise ships and military vessels occasionally pull up at the container port and there's a constant stream of cargo ships chugging in and out. At night the distinctive diamond of the Southern Cross blinks over downtown.

The flat itself is on the first floor of a tall, modern apartment block that sits at the base of a vertical wall of native bush called the Town Belt. Prime Minister, Helen Clark, lives down the road and I can see the roof of the cathedral which is just up the way from the Beehive and other government buildings. I may perhaps be a little too close to work though. It takes me all of three minutes to walk there and that's only if I have to wait for the lights to change when I cross Tinakori Road. This is historic Thorndon, the oldest suburb in Wellington, and the neighbouring houses are some of the finest examples of early-twentieth-century Kiwi architecture. It's the sort of location I'd love to have had in London but could never afford. Although it still costs me a fair chunk of my salary to live in this part of the city, it's well worth it in terms of quality of life.

As for my new job, the Ministry of Health's publications aren't the most enthralling I've worked on. Their titles all involve the words 'strategy', 'framework', 'policy' or 'report'. However, I do know how to say 'smokefree workplace' in Maori and that the 'couch potato index' is an official Ministry measure of national indolence. My colleagues are a good bunch and one of them has made me a beanbag for increasing my personal couch potato index. But there's a gym in the basement so I have no excuse for lardiness. I've also joined the US embassy's softball team and we're taking on the police tomorrow afternoon. On Monday, I start aikido classes and next weekend I should have time to go diving off Island Bay. As New Zealand is the ultimate outdoor country, I couldn't be in a better place to indulge in some of my favourite pastimes.

See you later, as the locals say,
Tanya

March 27 2003

Kia ora!

My aunt's just sent out her latest goings-on and it reminded me that it might be time for another instalment of my doings Down Under.

War may have broken out in Iraq and peace-loving New Zealand might be keeping her head down, but that doesn't mean we don't have our fair share of excitement here. My colleagues and I were sent home from work at 2.30 this afternoon, having been evacuated when a suspicious package containing toxic chemicals was delivered to the Ministry of Health. A few weeks ago, threatening letters were sent to the British, Australian and US embassies (the Americans are just over the road from us), one of which contained cyanide. At noon tomorrow, the same bunch of fruitcakes who sent the cyanide are supposed to be gassing cinemas and poisoning water supplies to the capital. What with the SARS outbreak, we've been having a busy time lately safeguarding the health of the nation.

Still, life goes on. Just as my team in the UK are getting into spring training, the softball season here is winding down. The US embassy slowpitch team lost our last game of the season by one run. We came second in our little league of six, however, and next season might even play with the big kids down in Kilbirnie. This weekend is the end-of-season tournament for the Royals, my other team. Throughout my softballing career, I never once envisaged playing for a men's fastpitch team but that's exactly what's happened (long story). This is the team for the old blokes who can't run fast anymore but they're a good bunch of guys, even if they do ogle my bum when I stand at the batting plate.

I'm still very much enjoying Wellington. I've been to the Harley-Davidson exhibition at the national museum twice, visited the zoo, admired the view from the top of Mt Victoria (see attached photo - I live under the arrow), tried a couple of Welly's many eateries and caught up on lots of films. When 'Whale Rider' hits your part of the world, be sure to see it. I had tears in my eyes at the end and it's a rare movie that does that to me.

I'm still going to aikido classes and now know what to do if someone attacks me with a big sword. And that's not as unlikely as it sounds; just recently, two New Zealand women had their hands chopped off by some weirdo, samurai-style. I haven't managed to go diving yet but the chilly New Zealand waters still beckon and the twice-weekly, lunchtime yoga classes at the Ministry gym are a great relaxant.

For those of you in the UK, I've now booked my autumn flights. Wars and terrorist activity notwithstanding, I'll be arriving on 3rd October and leaving on the 19th so get those spare beds ready!

Stay safe, wherever you are, and stay in touch,
Tanya

May 7 2003

Hey there,

SARS, SARS, SARS - I'm sick of it. Metaphorically, not literally. Daily ministerial updates, media releases, new travel advisories for the website, instructions for embalming infected bodies or putting on a duckbill mask, yet another information leaflet to be translated into Tagalog... we get it all in the Ministry of Health Communications section. The public health team down at SARS Central have even come up with a catchy name for themselves - the SARS Technical Advisory Group - and how's this for their acronym: S-Tag. Oh dear. Like the First World War, they've promised us it'll be all over by Christmas, but I have a feeling that this pesky little Corona virus will be with us for some time yet. However, I did hear a wryly funny story the other day. The Hong Kong tourist authority's promotional tagline for the city was, until recently, 'Hong Kong takes your breath away'. Oops!

New Zealand is a country where the natural world intrudes more closely into your daily life than it does in most places, and I'm not just talking about SARS. Due to an unusually dry summer and insufficient autumn rainfall, the lakes have all but dried up. In most places this wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience but here it means that most of us may be having cold showers for a few months. New Zealand being the clean, green nation that it is, most of our power is hydroelectric and we're all being urged to save energy or risk black outs all winter. I also read the other day that all Kiwis are advised to keep five litres of water per person per day for five days stored in safe place for when the next big earthquake hits. As the country's population reached four million people last week that's a hell of a lot of water. Oh, but we haven't got any. Oops again!

Not only will I be filling my water bottles, but as a good Kiwi in training I've also embraced rugby as my spectator sport of choice. My local team is Super 12 side, the Hurricanes. I went to see them trounce Aussie side, the Waratahs, a couple of weeks back and have joined fellow Wellingtonians in celebration of them securing a semi-final slot. I'll be cheering them on this week when they take on their arch rivals and league leaders, the Blues, in Auckland.

Talking of rugby, I promised I'd reveal the identity of the mystery man on my Easter card, didn't I? His name's Joe and apart from being passionate about New Zealand's favourite sport, he's Maori, lives an hour's drive up the west coast, works for Telecom fixing their phone cables, has a scarily good vocabulary and is an all-round sweetheart. We met on a softball diamond and, yes, he was one of the lairy old blokes watching my pre-swing wiggle at the batting plate. We've been spending weekends together for the last couple of months.

I've been doing some work on my website and have finally got my Mozambique adventures online. Check them out at http://www.oocities.org/tanyas_travels. My latest new Web project has been a fun little site for a circus theatre company called Rintintin. It's not quite finished yet but you can find my efforts at http://www.oocities.org/rintintin_prod.

Having just found out I live and work right on top of the Wellington Fault, I'd better start hording drinking water before the lakes dry up completely. Till next time,

Tanya

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