Safely Arrived!

For all of you who have been wondering, Lyle and Donna arrived safely in Wanganui yesterday. We made them brunch and took them around town, while they ooohed and aaahed over how green it all is here. We're headed off on walk-about this morning. Yeah for Christmas vacation!! Love and miss you all. Happy Holidays!!

Lake Waikaremoana

Molly had to work all weekend- so again, I went tramping (backpacking in NZ). It was a quick 3 day trip to one of NZ's Seven Great Walks. It is steeped in Maori tradition and so everything is extra-hard to pronounce including the name of the lake. I took a boat to the trailhead and they dropped me off about 2.5 hours from this awesome, massive 40-bunk hut in a beautiful bay of the lake. The weather was perfect nearly the entire time with temps in the 70s, very little wind (rare for NZ this time of year), and no rain. No rain in a place that averages 8-9 feet per year!
The first photo is Panikiri Bluff that you hike to the top of where there is a hut that I stayed at. It looks down on the entire lake and there was a wonderful sunset. Since rain was not in the forecast, I thought that I would sleep out on the porch. Some high school kids thought that was a great idea too and of course stayed up talking until 11:30 after the sun went down at 9:00. It didn't' make me miss teaching. There were some nice people at the hut from all over NZ and one guy thought that I was Jerry Seinfeld. He laughed so hard when I told him "Happy wife, happy life," I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't invent that saying. I have no idea how he had never heard of it.

The lake is really busy in the summer, but this was a lull before Christmas. There were few boaters or fishermen who normally come for the awesome trout.

These falls were a nice side hike but unfortunately there was no way to get down to the base for a nice swim.

This photo is after the hike down from the Bluff. The hut is nearly at the top.

For some reason my new boots have take quite the toll on my feet. They have over 200 miles on them and should be broken in, but you can see the results. A great hike, 2 of the Great Walks down, 5 to go!

Lake

This and That...

(Molly) You know how some spices offer serving suggestions on the back? Like if you bought kind of a random spice to put in a recpie, used 1 teaspoon and then are thinking, "What do I do with the rest of this big jar of cardamom?" And they'll put something on the back like "Great with fish, chicken and savory salads!" Or something like that, to make you think you might use it again. Well, we had a good laugh when we noticed our pepper grinder offered some serving suggestions on the back, too!

Pepper...ideal with beef, lamb, chicken, pork, fish, vegetables, eggs...so...like, everything. Pepper. You know, in case you weren't quite sure what it might go well with.

These are just some random shots of some of the great things growing in our yard -- This flower is on a feijoa tree. It apparently makes green, slimy, grainy fruit. You either love it or you hate it, one of our American friends told us. I hope we love it, because there's going to be a lot of them!

If you know me, or were at my wedding (although, if you were at my wedding, you obviously know me!!), you know I love hydrangeas. Look at these gorgeous guys growing in my back yard!! This is just a snippit -- they surround our whole house in colors varying from dark blue/purple to bright pink. Amazing!!

Wanganui Three Bridges Marathon and 10k

(Patrick) The local race (the Wanganui 3 Bridges Marathon - and 10K) that Molly and I had been training for finally arrived with a bang yesterday. We awoke at 4:30 AM to crazy winds and typhoon-like rain and said to each other, looks like the race should be fun. Molly had trained with the assistance of an online schedule and listening to the This American Life podcast, and I was fortunate to have met a wonderful group training for the marathon. It is a lot easier to do a long run with others than trudge along by yourself for hours.

Despite the start to the day, it was not raining when I started the marathon at 7:30 AM. Being as tough as they are only one or two kiwis had jackets with them but I decided it was worth it to take one tied around my waist. The marathon consisted of 4 laps of 10.5k around three bridges in Wanganui which is oriented around the Whanganui River. The first lap went according to plan and I spent most of the time trying to keep myself from going out to hard. During the middle of the second lap while crossing the City Bridge it began to rain, and not lightly. It was a squal with sideways rain and wind that nearly knocked the wind out of you. I stuggled to put on my jacket while keeping up the pace, but the kiwis continued running unphased. The downpour lasted from around mile 9 to mile 13 until everyone was thoroughly soaked. Now I faced the prospect of running in soggy socks and shoes the remaining half marathon and I honestly considered squeezing the water out of my socks. I pondered this thought for a good 50 minutes as I zoned in an out of complex mathematical calculations about my pace, all of which made time go faster. I ended up not stopping and didn't end up with blisters.




Patrick at the finish line...




(Molly)...Meanwhile, I spent the 24 hours before thinking about how I'd never run that far in my life. Waking up at 4:30 in the morning to crashing rain was not very cool. I dropped Patrick off at 7:30 and saw the marathoners off...I was at home in our kitchen (everything in Wanganui is 10 minutes away!) eating a banana when the squall hit. I cannot imagine what it must have been like to run in the monsoon! Lucky for me, it simmered down around 9:15...right before the start of the 10K, and I was sprinkled on for the first couple of KM, but then it quit raining and stayed mercifully cool and cloudy for the rest. I finished in 69 minutes, which for a "real" runner is slow, but I completed my 2 goals: I ran the entire time, never walked, and I didn't get last! Yahoo!! I've never been a full time runner until we moved here -- post residency, lots of time, and a beautiful running trail along the river literally out our front door have all made it a much more acheivable past-time.



Molly still smiling (and standing!) post-race.

Molly and Patrick together at the finish line. We rounded the day out with a trip to the farmers market and got some post-race loot (ie homemade lemon-garlic hummus, sweet potato bread, sausages from the Sausage Guy for post-race BBQ, Patrick got an omelette from the Omelette Guy and I got a crepe from the Crepe Ladies! Yum!) You'll notice that after the race, it was really sunny and hot! Go figure! We stayed for the awards, knowing we wouldn't win a place-prize, but I won a travel cooler (or as the Kiwis say a "Chilly Bin" in the race number drawing! Ice cold diet cokes and sandwiches for road trips, score!) Patrick's running club had a great BBQ that evening and we all enjoyed lots of yummy food.

A NZ running legend...When it's your 467th marathon, you get to wear whatever you want...Go Mad Mike!

Christmas Letter

It is too expensive to mail everyone Christmas cards this year so we are doing an electronic version that we are emailing. We thought that we would also post it here. Seasons Greetings!


Greetings from New Zealand and Happy Holidays!!! 2009 finds us living in Wanganui, New Zealand. We have been here long enough to throw around good kiwi terms like “sweet as” (an acknowledgement that something is good and you agree), “chocker” (something is full), “reckon” (for some reason kiwis reckon a lot), and of course the obligatory “cheers” many times as day. While it is a bit odd hearing Christmas music when it is 70 degrees out, we can get used to no shoveling! If you are at all enjoying these insights into New Zealand culture, you will really love our blog http://mollyandpatricknz.blogspot.com.

Molly graduated from her residency in emergency medicine, completing her year as chief at the end of June and saying goodbye to 80-hour work weeks- hopefully forever. Both sets of our parents, Molly’s grandmother, and Molly’s brother were able to join us for the celebration. Molly’s residency class only had 14 residents and we had grown close with many of the couples so it was with a strange mixture of joy and sadness that we watched our friends move to Washington, California, Minnesota, and many points in between. While Molly has graduated, she isn’t quite ready to leave Denver Health behind. She will be returning in September to start a fellowship in emergency ultrasound.

Patrick had a great year working as a law clerk for Judge Jones of the Colorado Court of Appeals. He worked on both criminal and civil cases and wrote draft opinions in several cases that were published. Patrick’s favorite quote from a case that he worked on was: Attorney: “How long have you known the defendant?” Witness: “For a lil minute.” Attorney: “And would you mind explaining for the jury exactly how long a ‘lil minute’ is?” He made so many friends at the court that he has agreed to clerk for a different judge in September upon our return.

We were able to make several trips to Kansas this past year including celebrating Patrick’s grandparents’ 60th Anniversary! Thanks to them and so many others for being such great marriage role models. Molly made a trip to St. Louis and enjoyed some great R&R with the two Katies. Patrick made his way to Hotlanta, in August no less, and spent a great long weekend with Sean, Ali, and Natalie. New Zealand has provided ample opportunity for “mini-vacations,” (This is what recently graduated residents and their spouses call anything beyond 24 hours off at a time!) – check out our blog to see all of the great trips!

Like any good Coloradans (relocated to New Zealand) - we have enjoyed our outdoor pursuits. On a crisp, sunny morning in Avon, Colorado, Molly completed a sprint triathlon. She finished well above average in the swim and run, if only there had not been a bike . . . . It seems that there are some mountains in Colorado and biking up them is easier said than done. She learned how to swim with a wetsuit, a skill that is made much more difficult to acquire when dozens of other arms and legs are flailing through the water around you in a lake. She also trained for and ran her first 10k in Wanganui. Awesome!!

After many humbling falls involving small children whizzing right past him, Patrick learned to snowboard. Between snowboarding and skiing, he managed to get in 40 days on the mountain. Don’t tell his boss!! He also did the obligatory couple of 14ers this past summer including Mt. Massive. In New Zealand, he managed to do a 45-mile backpack trip in 3 days and completed the Tongariro Crossing which goes between two volcanoes and is a must for any hiker visiting NZ. He also ran the Wanganui Marathon after training with a local running club and has set his eyes on training for ultramarathons (anything over 26.2 miles). (Crazy!)

We’re so lucky to have this amazing opportunity to live in such a beautiful place for a year – But we’re definitely missing all of our great family and friends (and dog!) at home in the U.S. We love you all and think of you every day – Much love and best wishes for the New Year,
Patrick, Molly and Duke (vicariously from Kansas where Patrick’s parents are taking great care of him)

Billy Webb Challenge on the Whanganui River

(Molly) Last weekend we stayed in town because I was working. I did evenings so we had time to head down to the river to see the much-publisized rowing races held on Saturday morning. The Billy Webb Challenge was a 5K rowing race down the Whanganui River right into the heart of our downtown. Now, if you are wondering like we were, "Who the heck is Billy Webb?" You can read about him here. As you can see in this picture, they closed the main city bridge and put up a huge screen (not in the picture) so that you could watch the race progress to the finish line just past the bridge. The bridge was packed with people there to watch. As you can also see, we had to stop and pick up flat whites to enjoy with our rowing race!

This is a picture of the men heading out for their warm-up, and later their race. You can see there were a lot of people along the river, too. One of the restaurants there had their outdoor patio packed with people getting brunch and watching the race festivities.

As part of the race, they also had a traditional Maori Waka take a ride down the river. Actually, in Wanganui, most Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays you can go and join in a traditional Waka canoe ride in the evenings. I've seen them out there rowing along while running -- Looks fun! (As a side note, Billy Webb's great-great grandson was rowing in this Waka!)

The traditional Maori warriors' "welcome" (I use quotations because if you are not actually "welcome" it might not go so well for you...) is called a Powhiri. They did a similar welcome for the rowers who would be competing on the river. It's a little hard to see here, but we've seen a few -- They're very interesting, but if you were standing up close it can be very intimidating!

FOF New Zealand

(Molly) Happy Thanksgiving! FOF, short for "Festival of Fowl," the brainchild of Katie Laurent/Hall, now in its 7th year, actually landed on Thanksgiving this year. Since I was actually off, and we couldn't travel home for Thanksgiving, we had FOF on the actual day this year. As per FOF tradition, we made a turkey, everyone else brought the sides. We had to order the turkey several weeks ahead of time and paid an arm and a leg for it out of season (Kiwis eat their turkey exclusively for Christmas). But it was worth it. Real Simple's butter/molasses/salt/pepper/lemon combo came through again, and I discovered you don't actually need a turkey baster to baste a turkey!



Then came time to throw together the brilliant no-bake pumpkin pie with a ginger-snap crust (Key elements, no bake, and I didn't want to be responsible for pie crust in our rolling-pin-less kitches) -- And in the grocery store there was NO CANNED PUMPKIN. And the sales lady was like, "Oh, honey...You just need to roast a pumpkin and mash it right up!" Yeah, right...I don't roast turkeys and pumpkins in the same day, sorry lady!! So that morphed into the chocolate-silk-ice-cream-pudding pie my mom and I like to make, except with butterscotch pudding instead of chocolate...in case there were any weirdos who didn't like chocolate. We paired this with these Nestle Toll House pecan bars (again, no pie crust), and everyone seemed pretty happy. Thank goodness for our swanky-cooking-show-top-and-bottom-double-decker-ovens! Of note, I could not find any usual Karo syrup in the grocery store, but I did find "SUGAR SYRUP, Gluten Free! Made from corn!" (Isn't sugar gluten free anyway?) It was totally clear without the slight yellow tinge of Karo and about 100 times thicker -- I am pretty sure I made pecan bars for our guests with high fructose corn syrup...oops? They tasted great, anyway!




We had Damian, our ER doctor friend from Puerto Rico/Ohio, the Nottinghams, fresh from Denver, only a short drive away in New Plymouth, the Patels, our internal medicine duo of friends from Minnesota/North Carolina, the Toroks, an American GP and his wife who is in Patrick's running club, and the lone Kiwi, my boss, Athol (his wife went out with girlfriends, his kids went out with their friends, and he was stuck at home, so we were obliged to offer him his first Thanksgiving feast).




We threw in a spinach salad from our garden, so that we would at least offer 1 "real" vegetable...Everyone else brought mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn bread..and the essential sweet potatoes swimming in butter and brown sugar and topped with marshmallows. These were Athol's favorite. We stuffed ourselves, and thanks to our landlords' giant table with an extra leaf, had the first ever sit-down FOF. We regaled Athol with stories of "what you do in America for Thanskgiving", like making turkyes from a cut-out of your hand, dressing up as pilgrims and Indians, watching football, playing football, playing games with your family. Then happily full of food we sent everyone home with leftover turkey and dessert. Since we had to be away from our families, we were so glad to have good new and old friends to share the day with here. It was a great night!!