July Week 30 2015

Monday was a big day for Michael and I! I had to be up early to teach a 7am yoga class, but other than that we both had the day off. The new Studio Ghibli movie, When Marnie Was There, was playing that afternoon as part of the film festival. Obviously, Michael and I had to see it. After that we went to the post office to pick up the birthday package Michael got from my family (that also included a couple small things for me!). Recently, he heard of a brewery in that area so we found it and had a couple beers while Michael opened the package. After that we walked to my favorite tea shop here and then to one of the few burger places that has anything for non beef-lovers for dinner. Michael then somehow convinced me to see yet another movie (Ant-man) before we finally went home.

Thankfully, going back to school wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be. I tried to stay working over the break so going to classes a couple days a week isn’t a huge adjustment. I’ve been teaching a yoga class just outside of the city center on Friday nights that conveniently ends about the same time Michael gets back into Auckland from Matakana, so he’s been picking me up. This works out well because it saves me a bus ride and gives Michael an extra half hour of my wonderful company. This Friday though, we decided to find a place to eat dinner in Parnell, the suburb where I most often teach, rather than going back to the CBD (short for central business district. You have to use the acronym though or people will laugh at you). Parnell is pretty cool but I hadn’t really taken the time to properly explore it so I was pleasantly surprised when we happened upon a Thai restaurant tucked away in a small ally. I was even more pleasantly surprised when the servers were friendly and we didn’t have to wait more than 20 minutes for our food (service is typically pretty iffy here). From there my surprise turned into a sort of happy fog as I stuffed myself with some of the best food I’ve had since we arrived in Auckland.

The film festival kept Michael busy at Academy this week so he’s been working like a crazy person. Speaking of the NZIFF, we moved some things around and were able to see Enchanted Kingdom, a BBC wildlife documentary in 3D on Saturday. Even though Michael worked late that night, I was able to coerce him into getting up early on Sunday to go on a mini adventure to Piha Beach. About 45 minutes west of us up (and then down) some incredibly narrow roads, we parked and went for a short beach walk.