New Zealand, Singapore, and Australia

Ladies,

I thought I would write a little brief on my trip.  Since I didn't stay as long in Singapore or Australia as I did NZ, I will gloss over those two. The we that I am speaking of is my masters student who works in the writing center with me.  I originally had a masters and a phd student signed up to go with but the phd student had a medical emergency...her appendix ruptured so she was still in the hospital when we left. 

We had a pretty good flight.  We flew to LA and boarded the international flight and went straight to Singapore.  One of the deans to the university there picked us up at the airport and took us to our hotel and we spent the first day resting and day two we spent meeting with the faculty members and the writing fellows who work with the faculty members.  Each of the five fellows have PhDs in rhetoric/composition/literacy, the same as I and they all teach writing classes as well as work with the engineering faculty to help incorporate writing in their classes.  I got a ton of information that won't help our center because we are, I found out, much further along than this university, but it will help in my research for a book that I am cowriting with another rhet/comp person.  We did eat some really good food, and we saw some pretty amazing things...the flowers there are gorgeous.  

NZ is where we spent most of our time because that is where the conference was being held.  They are ending their winter, so it was early spring and still a little chilly.  The people were very nice and the food was mostly asian or asian fusion.  I didn't have any trouble staying on my pescatarian diet with all the fish and seafood.  We walked miles every day.  We went to a couple of little islands near by and even though I had severe motion sickness on the boat, the captain of the boat gave me some really good medicine that helped a bit.  I tell you the south pacific is just beautiful with white sand, beautiful foliage, and clear skies as far as you can see.  The beach was empty because no one sees the need to spend their time on a deserted island beach, so it was covered with shells of all kinds...mostly bleached out so I didn't feel so bad taking a few.  

I did visit a couple of art museums and could have stayed forever looking at the beautiful weaved rugs and pictures that they make from the fiber of their very own sheep, goats, and opossums.   And, they make these beautiful sculptures from beached whale bones and from those buried trees I mentioned earlier.  Most of the modern work is done with precision that the older tribes of people didn't have but the older work was so much nicer than the new stuff.  NZ has its own jade that is a lighter jade than what can be found in other countries and I bought a ton of it. I got my daughter a beautiful necklace to match the jade necklace I bought her in China.  I bought myself a jade chunk...since I collect rocks, I thought it would look better with my rocks than a little trinket.  

Australia was also beautiful and it was a little warmer than NZ. I did get to see some Kangaroos hoping around the side of the road and, of course, you can buy kangaroo pelts for nothing.  I did buy my grandsons each a real boomerang and from Australia, I bought my granddaughter her first opal.  Now she has jade from china, pearls from Qatar,  topaz from Singapore, Jade from NZ, and an opal from Australia.  By the time she is grown, she will have a nice little collection of real jewels. LOL

I have to tell you that NZ is a beautiful place and if I ever go back during the summer and find the summer agreeable, I might retire there.  DH keeps saying we are moving out of the US when we both retire and he wants to go to the Caribbean but I like the idea of NZ.  

My next travel abroad will be to go to Panama and Belize in Feb., and then back to China over the summer.  I am looking forward to Panama and Belize but not so much China.  Fortunately, I will only be in China for a week and will leave my PhD student there to finish our project for me.  Then, if I travel anymore after that, it's Japan and Italy...both places have our satellite campuses and I have to go set up our new system there for writing.

So, that's my working vacation to the underside of the world....of course they reposition the globe so they are at the top and we at the bottom...its a perspective.  

But, I am so happy to be home...you know, it's not that I missed the US as much as I missed my coffee pot and DH and you know, just having my things around me. I am a nester and if I am gone too long, I get all out of whack....Like Dorothy said, there's no place like home....

Hi Jeannie, 

It sounds like a great trip. I have a friend that is from NZ and she misses it, though she does love living in CA. Another friend spent six months in NZ because her  husband and his family are native to NZ. She loved it and talks a lot about it. The biggest issue with moving for me would be family being here. 

I also like being home...there are the animals, my bed, my family. The traveling I've done has been fun, but the older I get the less I feel the urge. 

I am glad you've gotten past most of your illness now. It's good to have you back!

Julia

Julia,

I am so like you; if I could stay put, I'd do it. But, a big part of my job involves setting up writing centers at our satellite campuses and also attending conferences. Some I am invited as the key note speaker and others I just present.  When I am invited, the inviting organizations pay my way and give me a speaking fee, which I love.  In those instances, I usually get to fly either first class or business but when I am doing a conference or going for the university, I fly coach but they do get me better seats than regular coach.  I still hate to travel and if I can drive it, I will.  

Sounds heavenly, Jeannie!

I have not even begun my desired traveling yet, but look forward to doing so in the next few years when Jazz is grown. My first goal is to explore the US and then Mexico. However, like your hubby I also love the Carribean...the warmth, the laidback lifestyle, etc.

You are really fortunate to be able to travel like this for your job! Working in non-profits most of my career got me NOWHERE...lol!

Kathy,

I love traveling around the US.  I went to Idaho last summer and drove from here, staying at really cool places along the way.  Next summer, DH and I are taking the kids back to Yellowstone and we are going to do some of the little hikes up to one of the glaciers before they are all gone....I think there are only like three left.  

I am very lucky that my job does afford me travel...I get to pick two conferences a year and they do send me to our satellite campuses to set up centers and work with students...develop writing courses...that kind of thing.  A few times, I've been invited to international universities to provide key note presentations, I love that because, like I said above, I can fly first or business class.  

Life is so funny, isn't it. We end up spending our entire life planning what we will do when we retire or when our kids are grown and then before we know it, that time is here and we still plan.  I am still planning on going to Alaska...of all the places in the world I could go...I want to go to Alaska.  

Here's hoping that this coming year, you start visiting some of the wonderful things to see in the US and you get your traveling legs on and head south for some much needed vacation time.