Party party party

It's end of year, here, being Northern Hemisphere schedule.

So people are celebrating.

The end of year School Leavers Ball was at the end of May, and Nigel and I went again. (The previous year, Tessa was a newborn, and it had been our first night out since the birth! I remember texting home every half an hour! This time I never checked in!)

Here's us looking all dressed up ready to go.

And some people are having farewell dos, too. One of Nigel's colleagues was thrown a farewell party by the parent of one of her students. Now this hosting family did not do things by halves - it was a theme party - Middle Eastern - and EVERYTHING had to be 'just right'. In order to get the attendees to dress up, they promised a trip to Hong Kong for the best dressed. That was enough motivation for us to get the sewing gear out! Here we are, all ready to go:

We arrived a bit late, after negotiating Manila traffic for about an hour and a half.

But when we got there, it was full on food, drink, decoration, service, even a Tarot Card reader was in operation for the night.

I even got up the guts (with a little help from the wine, maybe?) to join in the belly dancing later in the night...

It was a night and a half, and at the end of the night, imagine our surprise when Nigel was declared best dressed! He won a trip to Hong Kong!

Unfortunately, we really are unable to use it, so we have given the trip to some dear friends, who we know will appreciate it.

But what a night!

So much to catch up on...

It's been months since I last wrote. For the sake of brevity, here's what's been going on:

1) Final decision - yes, we're going home! (We're leaving next week!)

2) Mulitple job applications - we finally have jobs! I will be working at Unitec Waitakere, and Nigel at AUT. Both of us are fortunate to be working less than full time. Nigel will continue with his psychology study, and I will also do a spot of study. (Just not sure exactly what yet.)

3) Emily turned 5! We had a party. She's all mature now!

4) We've been going to lots of farewell parties. Nigel even won best dressed at one of them!

5) Packing up house has been quite an effort. But it's done. The recent typhoon delayed our shipment, but it should be sailing now.

6) I've been getting fit.

7) Tessa's started talking, and hasn't stopped.

More on all of these points coming very soon.... Watch this space.