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The one thing women don’t want to find in their stockings on Christmas morning is their husband. --Joan Rivers A Christmas Greeting from Mark Tan Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Christmas is 5 days away but I thought that I had better send this email off to you before it gets busy over here – Ivy’s parents are with us with my parents arriving tomorrow! We have certainly enjoyed our time over here in Shanghai. The contrast to home is very distinct and we have enjoyed it thoroughly. That being said, we have missed home – the place and the people – and we are looking forward to returning on the 18th of January. Mihiora has had a real experience here, one that has benefited her greatly. She has seen and experienced new cultures – Chinese and otherwise – as WISS (Western International School of Shanghai) is very much international. She has taken to writing and copying every word she can find, loves counting and describing and has lapped up every Chinese lesson she had each day. She has openly told her class here that she won’t miss them – you have got to love the honesty of children! She is looking forward to being back ‘up north’ with her family, friends and especially her cousin Atama. Ivy has loved being back in Asia. She was far less homesick than I was without doubt! She has been busy completing her book (now about 10 years in the making!) and is in the process of finalising printing and cover design. It will be a great read so keep in touch if you want a copy! What has been most impressive to watch is Ivy cruising around Xujing on our electric scooter. She is truly local and has clocked up far more hours on that machine than I have minutes. She sold it today to a fellow teacher and, despite my initial predictions, she readily let it go. Teaching over here has been dreamlike. I have never had a smaller class with full time teachers working with you, beautifully attentive and polite students and great colleagues. The school provided lunchtimes would rival most smorgasbords back home (read into that how you like). But then life throws a curve ball at you and you’ve got to respond. The snapping of my achillies tendon was something completely out of the blue and it has now determined that we will be back, permanently, on NZ soil on the 18th of January. I never expected this to happen, let alone the ups and downs of rehabilitation – life has been a little trying of late with the realisation that I’ve got to learn to walk properly again, that I can’t simply run up the stairs to get something – but hey, that’s life and what doesn’t kill ya, makes you stronger. It is developing something in me but hindsight will reveal that in due course. Ivy and I have applied for jobs back home and are awaiting the outcomes for these. We will return to our place at Ahipara and I look forward to seeing the waves of the Tasman Sea once again . . . home. I don’t know how long it’ll be before I can surf again but at least I can see it.
“Let’s be naughty and save Santa the trip.” --Gary Allan We hope to keep in touch. It’s difficult with so many emails and so many contacts, someone will always be forgotten so apologies in advance. I have re-awoken my website, www.markbtan.com, which contains a heap of our experiences over here as well as thoughts on things back in NZ. On top of that I have added in a feature that notifies you of any updates I put on there. Please feel free to join the list and jump on board by visiting the site and using the link on the homepage. We hope that you are all well and enjoying life. It is cold here but that is nothing when we think about what we will soon be experiencing – summer in the Far North of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Family, fun, friends and fried bread (well, it started with F!). Again, have a super Christmas and a fantastic 2012. Yes, 2012 - we used to read about these numbers in futuristic novels! Enjoy, smile and smile again. Mark Letters to the Editor. If you have a complaint about something we publish, a brickbat or bouquet, or some general comments that you want to share - this is the place to do it. Please ensure that we receive your letters no later than the Thursday morning before publication. As with other news media, we don’t publish or respond to letters that have no real name, address, and contact phone number. If you don’t want your name to appear please tell us. All letters are published in full as received. Please keep them to no more than 250 words if possible. Thanks! Dear Editors You may recall a while ago I berated DOC for stealing a community asset namely the access Bridge to the “Sharp” Kauri here in the Tutamoe/Tangowahine district. The Kauri was originally part of Matt Sharps farm before the land was sold for pine forest. Matt Sharp managed to get the <strong>Dargaville</strong> Lions to build a substantial bridge which in later years came under the care of DOC decided wrongly it was an asset they could do without! We accused them of blatant theft with no community consultation and DOC fessed up following representations from myself and Becky Godfrey of the Tangowahine School PTA they agreed to replace our communities bridge. I am delighted to report that the bridge has now been replaced and the addition of a carparking area has been added so thank you DOC for improving things and for those of you who don’t know of the mighty Kauri in the Pakotai reserve it is well worth a visit and is located about one K before the Opouteke turn off on the right hand side after the pine forest heading North. Cheers Hugh PS. Would have been nice to have been invited to the opening but then as far as DOC is concerned the less said the better. The Ink Spot Phone: 0800 INKSPOT E-Mail: darginkspot@slingshot.co.nz
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