Christmas in New Zealand

 The Winiatas still wanted the missionaries to come for Christmas dinner on Monday, even though many of their family members were gathered from out of town. So after inviting the young sisters and elders to to our house on Christmas Eve, the next evening we drove to Lynmore for a Christmas feast.

It has been raining inches this week, trading off with fairly hot days. Not that the temperature is hot, but the sun here is high U.V., and when there are no clouds, it can be a burning heat. I carry sunscreen with me, or I will burn in 15 minutes under the New Zealand sun.
I actually saw this cloud as a picture submitted by someone in Ngapuna, Rotorua, on the Facebook page for The Cloud Appreciation Society, so I immediately ran outside and took this photo of a pink marshmallow against a purple sky.

 

Visiting Grandma Lolo at the Saturday Market

Our air conditioner does the best it can, which is about 80 degrees on a hot day, when the sun beats down on the tile roof and the metal garage door. But it does reduce the humidity. Here our tinsel tree is ready with presents under it for the four Sister and four Elder missionaries.

Making gingerbread houses and getting ready to play Rummikub. Elder Cowell is the undisputed Rummikub champion, although Sister De Thierry, on one-day exchanges from Tauranga, picked up the game like a pro. 

Before we knew about Elder Cowell's hidden talent, the elders brought the Settlers of Catan game, I believe it is called. Sis. Linton is keeping score.

After popping the giant Crackers, the elders found their paper crowns inside, and put them on. Elder Shepherd is taking pictures. He is a gadget boy, from my observations.

The Sisters are also taking pictures of themselves wearing crowns

Sis. Nessen managed to get the percussion gun away from Elder Cowell. Sis. Pickett is ready for a demonstration. Sis. Brown amazed us all with her operatic singing. We urged her to take voice lessons.

The Elders have all found the bubble blowers in their gift bags

Elder Marble is the undisputed champ of bubble blowing

Shoes lined up at the door of Sis. Lenora Winiata's family rental

Elder Rooks looking quite pleased. There was a swimming pool, but we left our swimming suits in Fruitland, Idaho. The young elders and sisters can't believe we are allowed to go swimming when they aren't. Ironically, a lot of the things they aren't allowed to do, we really don't want to do.

The busy kitchen

Beef kebabs, lamb, pork, and all sorts of salads

Sis. Winiata brought her famous meringues with fruit. After the feast, her family members sang beautiful songs to us. I remembered to ask what was the third thing Aussies take home from NZed, along with RARO powdered drink mix and Whittakers chocolate. She said, steak and cheese meat pies.

We had a lovely Christmas and appreciate the kind invitations and the fun we had. We were able to call and FaceTime our children and grandchildren, who were still celebrating Christmas Eve.

Between sheets of rain and glaring sun, we found a nice cloudy day to return to the Rotorua cemetery to take more photos of headstones.

There are hundreds of memorial stones in this section, but many were muddy and had to be wiped off

Memorials on the sides of the walls were much easier to take pictures of

Friday morning we attended a baptism for Mikaere, an amazingly poised and mature young man of 11, who is eager to learn and do what is right.

I am always interested in New Zealanders' concept of the world map. I am not sure what countries are represented here in the  chart drawing of the Plan of Salvation

I am incorporating NZed's vocabulary into my own, including the delightful word "Rubbish." "Bin" (trash can) and "Car park" (parking lot) are also represented here. 

More breathtaking powder-blue hydrangeas blooming their hearts out as we walked to the Monster Fruit Store to pick up some bananas and cucumbers

I spotted Mr. Pukeko walking along the top of the lattice fence. We have Santa Rosa plums beginning to ripen in the trees along the lane, according to Bro. Brons, the landlord, a knowledgeable gardener.  He says Pukekos will strip a tree of fruit in a day or two, so we should not be surprised if suddenly one day the resident swamp hens and roosters disappear from the premises. 

He lent us a ladder so Elder Rooks could pick a few of the riper plums, all of which had been pecked by birds. I am making jam with them. So good so far.

Meri Kerihitimete

 This week we went caroling,  made visits and invited people to Christmas Eve Sacrament Meeting on Sunday, and are enjoying the first week of summer in New Zealand.

Our friend Chris K. told me she liked shortbread, so I tried Mary Berry's famous recipe, which tastes good but looks a little shabby. The Martha Stewart Lamington thumbprint cookies, named for the coconut-coated, chocolate or raspberry-dipped squares of soft cake, came out a lot better. In fact, Sis. K. said I was showing off. These cookies are filled with Anathoth apricot jam.

For Relief Society, we were treated to Christmas music sung by the Primary children

These singers in the Tarawera Ward always have such beautiful island harmonies. Here they are singing "Is There Room?"

Following church, our Family Home Evening group gathered to sing at two elderly care facilities. We were joined by the Myler family and the eight elders and sisters, fortunately, since our original few weren't loud enough to hear.

The residents were very appreciative, and sang along with us. It was fun to spend time with them

Lenora Winiata, the stake president's wife, often serves Raro drink when the missionaries gather at the Winiatas for dinner on Monday nights. Each packet makes one liter. It is reminiscent of barely sweetened, mildly flavored Koolaid. Lenora says this is one of three things Aussies stock up on when they are in N-Zed, as it is called. Another is Whittaker chocolate, and I can't remember what the third thing was. I'll have to ask her.

On the corner of Lake Rd and Tarewa is the Lake Road Dairy. These are more like U.S. gas station convenience stores, with everything you could need packed into few shelves, and overpriced. But sometimes you need milk, even if it is overpriced.

I thought I would try making sweet potatoes for Christmas using the Maori Kumara. I've actually used them in many dishes already. We invited all the missionaries over for a Christmas Eve open house, but as usual I'm running behind on the cooking.

 At the Pak'N'Save you can buy seedlings crammed into a sleeve of newspaper. I've already planted a sleeve of impatiens seedlings, which are finally beginning to bloom, even though the plants are still tiny. I going to try planting these capsicums, which is what they call peppers, and which I seem to buy a lot of. 

Elder Rooks took pity on this cucumber plant hiding in the Mitre 10 MEGA garden department, which is unusual, since he usually tries to deflect me from any garden department anywhere. It already looks better after being planted in a bucket

Our potted plants actually look better than the plants in the ground. I think they get more sun and protection from the wind

All of our weeding and pruning uncovered this pretty fuchsia microphylla against the lattice fence

My brother-in-law Peter Kurt, the chef, read one of my posts sighing about the lack of large bags of chocolate chips, so he and my sister Jenn took pity on me and sent a giant box of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips and Callebaut white chocolate, whew! That makes me super happy. I looked up the cost of sending a 17-pound box back to the States through the New Zealand Post, but it would be almost twice as much in postage.

Stacks and stacks of Pavlovas everywhere

In case you didn't believe me

I tried another recipe and method for Purini Mamaoa, the Maori steamed pudding. It came out better than my first attempt, but still rather shabby.

Especially when Robbie and Wiki gave us one of their steamed puddings, which they sell to hangi dinner operators. They make them in infant formula tins. The texture and moistness is amazing. I don't know how they get them so dark. No one seems willing to share their recipe with me, either.

We went to Chris K's to take her the shortbread, and the Tarawera sisters were already there, tending to her beautiful garden. The gorgeous dark-blue hydrangea are in full summer bloom. Nothing I do could produce blooms like this in my high-pH desert garden in Fruitland, Idaho.

This looks like St. John's Wort, although I've never seen it in a large shrub form like this.

Also roses

And powder blue hydrangeas beginning to bloom. Ah well. I will enjoy them while I can. I see hydrangeas like this all around the neighborhood.

For our picture, Chris made the sisters kneel down so she could be taller

Walking to the Saturday Market, which attracted a large number of attendees this Christmas Adam, which is what my children call the day before Christmas Eve.  We saw all of the Elders there, helping Grandma Lolo take down the canopy over her tables of carved greenstone. We bought some Gizzy Valencia oranges and two bars of olive oil and volcanic clay soap from the Sulphur City Soapery table. There were a lot of families at the playground, as well, although it was beginning to drizzle.

The reflectors Elder Rooks attached to the telephone pole are still there, and you can spot them from quite a distance, night or day, just as we hoped.

The giant bottlebrush tree on our lane. Our bottlebrush shrubs in California were never this big. Red and green! One of our neighbors on Tarewa Rd. is using their bottlebrush as a Christmas tree.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Meri Kerihitimete!

Mamaku

 Part of the Ngongotaha Valley north and west of Rotorua, Mamaku was originally  a logging town. With a population of less than 1,000, Mamaku's major industries now are sheep and dairy farming, blueberry winemaking and off-road biking. (Wikipedia) It is a lovely drive through rural landscapes. The Fairy Springs Ward Picnic was to be held at the Mamaku Primary School, where one of our ward members is an administrator.

I love this Maori-style heart design. I may work it into a quilt sometime next year when I am back in Fruitland.

On Monday we had dinner with the Winiatas, whose friend Rinipeta (?) was present. She has worked hard all her life and we had an interesting conversation. 

I don't know where the Winiatas got their family Christmas stockings. I don't see much in the way of Christmas decorations in any of the stores.

The Fairy Springs and Tarawera Elders, including Elder Marble from Utah, who is replacing Elder Kema, playing some sort of object-lesson missionary game that Elders like so much.

We found a few lame decorations at K-Mart, which had been picked over so there was hardly anything left by December 12.

No stockings, but we got these gift bags instead of stockings, Santa hat chair covers, a 4' tinsel tree, Christmas crackers, and bags of Whittakers chocolate.

We invited the Elders and Sisters over for Christmas Eve, so Whittakers chocolate is a necessity. I like the Coconut Slab and Hokey Pokey Crunch best. It is made in New Zealand and they are justly proud of it.

On Tuesday the mission office called to see if we would pick up a new washing machine for the Elders' flat. Elder Rooks had previously installed ours, so we knew what to do. The Elders were glad they could wash their piles of dirty clothes. They are not lucky enough to have a dryer, as senior missionaries do. All in good time.

On Wednesday Elder Rooks replaced Pres. Winiata's bedroom doorknob, which he had looked at on Monday. We found a replacement at Bunnings, the Lowe's of New Zealand. While I was idly waiting for Elder Rooks to do his magic, I saw this beautiful kete hanging on the bedroom wall and had to inspect it and take pictures. The handles are of scraped harakeke fiber.

Such nice detail. The inside is finished off with a plait, which attaches the handles.

We were asked to host the dessert portion of the combined Tarawera-Fairy Springs Ward Relief Society Progressive Christmas Dinner. Fortunately we had been weeding the mess under the trees and planted the flowers Elder Rooks gallantly carried all the way home from the Mitre 10 MEGA garden section. 

I had to put bricks around the begonias and impatiens to protect them from being walked on, because the guests at the AirBnB next door seem to like coming into our yard, taking pictures of things, and inspecting the unripe fruit on the trees. We have had a group from India and a group from China do this.

Thursday we had another zone conference in Tauranga, with an attendant Christmas feast. We have been doing some major eating of food this week. Watermelon for Christmas, of course. We all watched The Christ Child Christmas Nativity, which always makes me cry. 

Silly games followed, but this 6'6" Elder was a good sport about it. The other elder was a 4'6" Filipino, also a good sport. It was easier for everyone to ring toss onto his antlers, which is why they had the taller elder sit on a chair.

Our cute district Sisters: Sister Nessen, who is studying piano performance; Sister Linton, our senior sister in Rotorua; Sister Brown, and Sister Perkins, in her first area in New Zealand.

All of us together again. 

Thursday evening we were invited to a roast lamb dinner at the home of Carmen and Andrew, from South Africa. Dessert was "Melktert," a South African custard tart with a doily stencil of cinnamon on top. The Nishes have relocated to Rotorua because, as Andrew says, "Rotorua is where it's at." He can swim in the lakes, fish for 7 pound trout, and go mountain biking with his dog in the redwood forest, all within a few miles of home.

President of the Tarawera Ward Relief Society, Leonie Rorason is giving us a spiritual message. On the table are things from our gardens we are sharing with the other sisters. I brought two boxes of cherry tomatoes, and came away with a giant lemon.

Yours Truly accompanying three sisters singing "Away In A Manger." Pania, on the right with the chin moko kauae, is going to teach me how to weave in return for me teaching her piano. She sang an amazing spontaneous soprano descant.

My tinsel tree at Relief Society

We went to the Myler's home on Kawaha Point for the main course. This is the Michigan family staying in Rotorua for a year while Conrad, the father, is a doctor at the hospital. Rebekah says this home is a VRBO they found where they can live for 12 months, since short-term rentals are otherwise impossible to find

Chatting over a delicious meal. There were sisters on the patio and sisters sitting on the carpeted floor.

We had an overabundance of desserts show up at our house, including lemon meringue pies (in rectangular aluminum pans, not pie-shaped ones since there aren't any,) and these mini-meringues. The Kiwis love Pavlovas, meringue cakes with fruit.

The weather was perfect, and our yard even looked good. We may have to put the fence back around the tomato plants, however, because Saturday morning the AirBnb Chinese lady, after waving at me through the bedroom window where I was making the bed, helped herself to a few of the riper tomatoes.

Saturday we drove to Mamaku, where the Fairy Springs Ward Christmas Picnic was held. It was a beautiful drive, not much traffic, no deep gorges and only moderately winding roads.

Elder Marble ready for Christmas. The school has an indoor swimming pool, and the day was warm and sunny. Unfortunately Elders and Sisters aren't allowed to swim, so they did child-spotting duty. Elder Rooks and I would rather take naps, frankly. 

Sis. Toma and Sis. Myler discussing mom things. In the background you can see Robyn Barnett Smith, the school administrator, cooking mini pizzas for everyone in a pizza oven made by 8th graders.

Made of concrete and fire brick and stoked with wood which has burned for an hour. Her crust recipe is made with self-rising flour and lemonade, which reacts with the baking soda in the flour. 

They were so good Elder Rooks made himself a second one

Kiwis and our Aussie Elder Cowell throwing the rugby footie around. Elder Marble didn't do too badly for an American.

Edos wearing his black sheet bathing suit wrap. I told him I thought it suited him very well. Instead of swimming, Elder Rooks and I said goodbye and made the journey back to Rotorua where both of us took long afternoon naps and didn't eat for awhile.

Mr. and Mrs. Pukeko showed up one day in order to keep the bug population down, but we haven't seen them since. I still hear screeching every once in awhile, so they must not be too far away.