s e v e n i s a j o u r n e y

Friday was our group’s Holiday lunch. (Except that we have to call it an Anniversary Lunch or some such because Group Holiday Eventz ist Verboten ! Zee Company provides ein Holiday Event und you vill not be spendink monies on your own Holidays ! Achtung !) We stuffed ourselves on curry and fresh hot naan. Naturally, midway through the Secret Santa business (yes, they apparently do that here, too), the database server decided to take a header. Luckily, I wasn’t the one on call.

Friday evening we showed Gundam 0083.

Saturday was a slew of errands, followed by Beverley’s birthday party. I remember when I first got here trying to explain the appeal of Halloween as an adult holiday. “You get to dress up !” What I didn’t realize then was that Kiwis dress up all the time. Birthday parties, as often as not, have themes. So do a lot of Xmas and other holiday parties. Beverley’s party theme this year was “Kid’s Birthday”, so lots of silly games, a piñ¡´¡, and eating oneself sick on candy. We were introduced to the traditional Kiwi kids delicacy, “fairy bread” — buttered white bread with jimmies or candy sprinkles on top. Wacky.

Sunday (which is when the previous post was posted) we had our Day O’ Fun. Contrary to our fears, the rain went away and the day turned out sunny and warm — except for the gale force winds. THose stuck around. So although we didn’t get to do archery, there *was* fighting, and we *did* get to assemble and test-fire the arbalest:

I’m sorry I didn’t think to get a picture of the main firing mechanism, which Oskar cleverly cut in the shape of a dragon.

And if that wasn’t treat enough, look what the cat dragged in ! (The cat in this case being Robyn)

Ethan, one of our old friends from the Horde ! We knew he passed through Christchurch on occasion, on his way to or from Antarctica, and that it was there that he’d hooked up with local SCAdians. He changed his flights around so he could make it to the Day O’ Fun. He showed us stunning pictures of aurorae and sundogs at South Pole station (he was at McMurdo for a while, but now he’s a Pole), although the station is impressive just as itself. He’s been going to Antarctica off and on for years now, which is pretty darned unusual, and I confess I had been wondering if he’d gotten…. weird (you know, Not Like Us :^). But he seems really happy and healthy. He’s bought himself a 30 acre farm in the States ! Woo, another smallfarmer ! Hopefully, we’ll get to hang with him a bit more while he’s in the area.