A Long-expected Party... uh update.

Well it has been a little while since we've updated you on our life here, Christina is working very hard on all things university and I am still job searching. Things are always harder than you expect them to be. They always go so smoothly in your mind, while you are imagining finding the perfect job or that exquisite chunk of property to invest in.
The latter of which is always fun to search for! There is a great place to look at land and housing here at www.realestate.co.nz. You can choose a region and then click on the map icon to zoom into the area you want to look at. Once there, you can choose from all the real estate that is on the market (there are some other real estate companies that are not consolidated here) and have a peek through pictures.
There are so many options when looking for a place. Do we buy a small house near the university to rent out to students? Dunedin has high rent, while expectations for quality is low; meaning the return is pretty good.
One of the other options is buying a piece of land that can sit and appreciate. Perhaps eventually we would build our home on that land, or maybe when the market is right, subdivide and sell it off.
First things first though, we need a house of our own to live in. A duplex? We'll see.

As mentioned, Christina is working hellishly hard on her studies. She has work ethics to die for. Currently a lot of her time is taken up by a project covering Disney and the way in which they went international, from Tokyo to Paris, Hong Kong to their new venture in Shanghai. Very interesting!

Matt in yellow socks winning a face-off :)

I am still enthralled in my hockey. Generally I've got a game each Sunday and practices once or twice per week. After living in Germany, where it was hard to get out and be active, I'm loving having an outlet for pent up energy!

Things are beginning to cool off this far south. The summer was dismal and very wet and now we are working our way into a damp autumn. Our house, unlike many houses here in NZ, has at least an insulated roof cavity. Our floor and walls on the other hand are in no way helping keep the cool weather outside. Under our hardwood floors there is literally nothing, the house is on short stilts, which allows cool circulating air to convect the heat away from inside. Not so happy about that, but hey, can't complain when we are this close to the beach everyday.

Excitingly, both of our families are already planning trips to come and get to know our new home. Christina's parents, Roland and Uta, and her sister Mareike are hoping to come in December to spend Christmas with us here. We'll have to do up a turkey and all the fixings to show them how much we appreciate it.
My mom and dad, Roger and Susan, are planning on breaking up the long flight to NZ by spending a few days in Hawaii before continuing on to Dunedin. They are planning on getting here sometime either in the end of January or beginning of February. We are very fortunate to be able to have our families come see us and we are looking forward to spoiling them a little when they get here.

Maybe spoiling them will come in the form of something sweet! Check out our Easter baking session.

So all in all, things are look up! Aside from no super crazy job prospects, we are beginning to settle in. Take care everyone, and if you aren't heading over to our Kitchen section, see ya next time!

-Matt