World Update #8

Hi all,It's time for some reflection. I've just been going thru my World Update emailsand in the very first one in October 97 I mentioned the following: flat, blades, First Touch ultimate, travel. Here's an update on those things...FlatIn Oct I was disgruntled with the flat as there were too many people and it wasnot a welcoming/homely place, due to being in a messy state all the time. Sincethen there have been a number of people coming and going but just recently someof the core flatmates have left including myself. I shifted out last weekend.From a large house & large bedroom @ £300per month to a small bedroom in a Bed& Breakfast like place for £500pm. It has all I need except for a washingmachine. I have to go to a laundromat to wash my clothes. This is justtemporary so I can study for my English exams and also to prepare for the moveto Sweden for summer. Funnily enough I miss the guys from the old flat. The 2 flats are at theextremes which has made the adjustment more noticeable. I'll get used to thenew one I'm sure. It's closer to work so that's more convenient. Further awayfrom ultimate and the lovely big parks in London, but I can always take thetube there.Blades (in-line skates)In Oct I was pondering on the idea of buying some blades but decided not to asI thought I wouldn't use them. Well whilst in Philadephia I bought a pair andhave used them about 3 times - the weather has been too lousy to blade in. Nowthat summer is coming I am trying to get out and use them more. I am thinkingabout taking them with me to Sweden in summer.I do really enjoy blading and want to do it some more. Patti in Phili helpsmotivate me on that part and she also keeps telling me about the fantasticLandskaters group that blade over there. One day I'll join them I'm sure.First Touch ultimateWhen I last wrote about the team we had 8 players and had just won the B gradein nationals. We struggled with numbers all of last year. Now we have 24players and are entering 2 teams for the first time! We are very excited at themoment as from the last tournament we have broken into the illustrious "top 8". This is the top 8 teams (out of about 24) in the country and will mean that we get some good competitive games from now on. It also means that we have to get rid of our injuries and get fit (I fit into this category only too well).Travel Looking back at what I wanted to achieve by April I've done only half of it.But I'm happy with that and still have time to do the rest next year. I'vebasically only missed a couple of ultimate tournaments in other countries whichwill still be there in a years time. I almost landed a job in Frankfurt for18mths which would have meant more travelling but it wasn't to be. The job wastaken even before I had a chance to be interviewed.EnglishAs predicted in World Update III I did struggle with the poetry section of mypapers. After 4 attempts at it I finally handed in my coursework a couple ofweeks ago. Now all that remains is one speech and two exams in the first weekof June.The futureFollowing on from the english exams I would like to get a motorbike license.This will take 3 days to get a basic license but more if I want a full license.I'm toying with the idea of travelling Sweden on a motorbike. The only problemwith that is that I have a lot of luggage that I'd like to take with me. Mainlythis is my ultimate playing clothes and boots together with my blades (I'venever been one for travelling light).Summer is peaking out every now and then so I've decided to maximise time inthe sun. In the weekend the old flatmates went to the local tennis courts andhad a bash. It was great fun! This was one of those moments when you think that"this is what life is all about". I *really* enjoy getting together withfriends playing sport in the sunshine. Especially when it isn't organised butjust done on a whim for fun.I've been looking at returning to NZ for a while next year around February.Carol from our flat is getting married in Sydney (Australia) then and I'll bethere. I would like to tour NZ and really see it so that I can answer all thosequestions I've been asked by the english people. Heck, my cousins in Swedenknow more about NZ than I do!There are still so many things I would like to see and do. I'm slowly realisingthat I have to become picky and do only the things I *really* want to do as Ido not have enough time to do everything. For example on Sat when I left theold flat I threw out countless brochures on different countries, theatre,exhibitions and such like, because I would never get a chance to do them. I'vestill kept the TNT magazine and NZ News UK reports and tips on how to get byand what to see in some countries that I wish to travel too.Top of the list is my Sweden trip. Then I'd like to see some of Europe. Strangebut I've seen more of the States since I arrived here. Should have joined aUnited Airlines frequent flyer programme! I never thought that I'd have spentso much time in America but there are so many attractions over there and greatpeople too. It helps having a largely american ultimate team that talk abouthome. Work is slow at the moment (as you can tell) but the last month end is justaround the corner. We've built a great team here and it will be a shame toleave them but they are all being made redundant at the end of May so thetiming works well for me.I've started to miss some of the NZ things now. I miss the people and the sportmainly. Not playing netball over here is a real bummer and the NZ ultimatescene seems to have exploded since I left. There was once a time when I knewalmost all NZ ultimate players. Now I'd be lucky to know a 1/4 of them. I hopethey organise a team to the world championships and that I might be a part ofthat. That's coming up in August this year in Minnesota, US.I'm seeing the agency that had the Frankfurt job tonight so cross your fingersfor a great job with lots of money and travel for me :-).Oh dear, the phone just rang and I have some work to do. Must go.BTW I have been putting together a web page. At the moment I've just thrownsome pictures together on it - that's all I've managed to learn to do. They aremainly of the Hawaii trip. Unfortunately I haven't got my shit together interms of writing down the address but if you have a browser point it atwww.geocities.com (yes the same place Dan has his site). My page is inTheTropics/Cabana and I think the street number is 7817. Look at the"neighbourhoods" window once you reach the geocities main page and track medown from there. Once in neighbourhoods you can search for me using my loginmark_wideberg. Good luck.Much peace and love and hugs and kisses to you all, well the women anyway...cheers to the blokes :-)

World Update #7

The “Hot & Cold” Tour 1998

First Flight - LON - JFK

We talked. Topic ratios: ultimate 70% women 30%.

New York Day 1

We’ve just exited customs and Simon says “I need a beer”. Typical Englishman. We grab a cab and head for the Hotel New Yorker on 8^th & 34^th midtown Manhattan. First scenes of NY are of kids playing “street hoops” (basketball to you lesser forms).

I get a movie sightseeing tour from Mr N as we cruise into central Manhattan. Yay, Hotel NY is near Times Square - throughout the trip we keep reappearing at the square.

We hit the streets after having found our room (on the 33^rd floor - a treat for Mr N & me as neither of us has resided in so lofty a place). Hitting the streets was a common theme in the following 8 days. We walked a lot! Got drenched twice, once in NY and once in Phili. In NY it was late at night & I had to dry my pants on the heater so we could go out again!

Everywhere we went there was an electronics shop. Initially I was interested in buying a zoom lens for my camera so we entered a store. Looked at a 400 zoom and asked the guy for the price - “$800”. I was only checking prices out and wasn’t really interested in buying right there and then. They guy picked this up straight away and when I said I wasn’t interested he dropped the price in $100 lots until he got to $200. Wow - the price dropped $600 in 10 seconds. I figured that as I hadn’t even heard of the brand and $200 for a 400 zoom was really cheap that I was going to be buying a round piece of plastic and if I was lucky there might be a couple of mirrors in it. Left the store and avoided the Tottenham Ct Rd look-a-like electronic shops for the rest of the trip.

Meandered down 5^th Avenue. Didn’t notice any big deal about it? Further walking revealed a scene which made me think of being a classic US one. Not sure if it is classic NY or not. The scene ? - sewers/vents on the streets with steam rising from them. The early morning on the streets movie look. Do you Americans realise that every time we think of the US we think of it in terms of what we see in the movies?

Walked past the Rockerfeller Plaza and spotted the ice skating rink. Grabbed a bite in the Center and then onto Broadway, Times Square.

In the middle of Times Square this guy came up and asked us if we would take a photo of him. He said “Hey, I’m trusting you now so don’t run away with my camera. I can run faster than you can.”. OK cool. Took a picture and then he asked if we wanted him to take a picture of us. I said “No” but Si said “OK”. I turned and looked at Si and said “It’ll be with your camera then”. He thought for ½ a second and said “Ah, no thanks”. What gave the guy away? - NY accent (Mr N is an expert on US accents) and when we said no he took off in a hurry as though he had somewhere to go. Most tourists walk slow & spend their time in NY looking skywards. He definitely didn’t fit the bill.

Entered Virgin Megastore. This was another spot we seemed to return to often. It includes a cinema in which we checked out Sphere at a later stage. I slept but Si said it was good.

More walking and we hit the “flatiron” building. This is a triangular shaped building that comes to a sharp point on one side. You want to take a photo of it as it looks cool but you know it is one of those things that the perspective is impossible to see in a photo. I was relieved, in the World Trade Center shop, to see the experts couldn’t get it either on a postcard.

In Sterns Mall we zoomed to the top and checked out the food. Yuck! Plastic food to the max. We were the cool eats I had had in Seattle last year?

Our trek took in the Empire State (of course), the Chrysler Building (Mr N’s personal favourite) and 42^nd Street.

Back at the hotel we ate at the Tick Tock Diner on the ground floor. This was an interesting place. Sometimes it was packed, othertimes empty and not as you might expect. Tonight it was around 12 midnight and quiet. Other times, like breakfast, it was empty then one night at 1:30am it was packed! The “City that never sleeps” I guess. Having said that there were a lot of place that were closed when we went to SoHo a day later.

Oh yeah. I almost forgot. Our first day in the US was Presidents Day.

New York Day 2

Tick Tock for breaky. Went downtown along 5^th. I really liked SoHo. It was the peace between the mad skyscrapers in Midtown and downtown Manhattan. Lots of art shops and cafes to please the eye. Chinatown and then we bought some shades and T-shirts in a SoHo shop. Classy stuff don’t you know. Not the usual “I love NY” riff-raff.

Spotted this huge building that had no windows on it. Wondered what it was so we went to investigate. I thought it might be some sort of ventilation or government building. Both of which blow a lot of hot air (sorry). Turns out it was an AT&T building that housed mainly electronic telephony equipment and didn’t have many staff. Still the staff that were there must have hated it. No windows in a building that must have been at least 30 storeys high.

Up the World Trade Center. Was the same poor visibility I had when up the Eiffel Tower. Shame but some photos still give you a feel for NY. Statue of Liberty looked minuscule from up there. Read about this dude that walked the tight rope between buildings - e gads! Unfortunately due to high winds we could not go on top to observe the world in the fresh air.

At this point Si’s camera decided it didn’t like high altitudes and died. Being a recent purchase Mr N was a tad pissed off (yes he does get agro sometimes!). Never fear - a very helpful Jewish man in a photography shop played around with it and determined that it was officially sick and then, hey presto!, it fixed itself. That’s electronics for ya. That brought a smile to Mr N’s dial - not the last one of the tour I might add. There were many more to come - especially Maui - but I’m getting ahead of myself.

We left the WTC and headed east towards Brooklyn bridge. On the way we passed Wall St and the NY Stock Exchange. It just so happened that people were queuing for the only viewing of the day which was going to start in 10min so we joined the queue and saw the main trading floor. Not a common touristy thing I guess but we both enjoyed it.

On the way back uptown we spotted City Hall and the/a (?) Trump Building. Landed in an internet cafe (yes we’re addicted - well Mr N is anyway (ahem :-) ). I tried to sort out a couple of our onward connections with people - Jenna and Patti. Simon dealt, or at least tried to, with his 77 messages! Yes you guessed it - BritDisc in fine form!

Had dinner in this wicked Italian restaurant in SoHo called Ponte Vecchio. We were the only ones there as it was only 4:30. The chefs and staff grabbed a table and had their dinner too. This added to the feel of the place. It really made you relax and feel at home.

Now this is where we got drenched. We walked back 40 blocks to the hotel in driving rain. Hey we are tough tourists - we are not going to take it easy by taking the subway (yup, and we’re dumb too).

Whilst my clothes were drying (Mr N in his infinite wisdom had a spare pair) we clocked up some time on the hotel phone bill. We made this mistake in Maui too! Simon called some of his US sweethearts and we both chatted to Shaun (ex First Touch ultimate team). I called Jenna in Honolulu. I had got Jenna’s email address from my mum and we were trying to catch up in Maui. Planning planning planning. Both Si and I really missed our mobile phones. We took mine out of my bag and turned it on just to make ourselves feel better. It worked too!

Onto watch Sphere @ Virgin, after eating quesadillas at the All Star Cafe and then back to the diner @ 1:30am for a snack.

New York Day 3

Thought we might try a deli for breakfast this morning and found one near our hotel. Ordered an omelette and bagels, hot chocolate and coffee. This was my first experience of “Order or get the hell outa the way” NY style ordering. It wasn’t that bad really but I find it hard ordering when you cannot see a list of items to choose from. In NY you just say what you want and they slap it together for you. The food was great and we ate it upstairs watching the NYorkers walking by in the streets below.

Last night when we talked to Shaun we got some vague directions from Shaun on how to get to the parking lot in Hoboken New Jersey where there was a plaque about disc starting there. Now I’m not sure whether this is the hoax of the century (I think I’ve seen a photo of it but who knows) but we spent a good deal of time in the busy, NOT, streets and lots looking for this dam thing. We failed on finding it but we did have a fun time talking to the local parking attendants, engineering university staff, police, historians in City Hall ... about the plaque. We got so desperate we even tried to call Spank for some help. We did, however, find a plaque. This one signified the start of baseball in the US. 

In a sports store we had a laugh when asking about the plaque. They guy behind the counter didn’t have a clue but he said Al would and yelled downstairs “Hey Al, you ever heyrd of a plack in da ground saying ultimate frisbeee started ‘ere in Hoboken.”. The response from the misty deeps (we never go to see Al) was “Nah. The first time I heyrd of frisbee was at the 1965 World Fayre.” What a legend!

So after much cursing and walking around we took the Path back to NY.

Headed uptown to Central Park. All the grass areas were fenced off so we had to settle with chucking the disc around near a waterfall (empty at the time). Then we spotted the ice skating rink and it made me think of Gorky Park in Moscow (from the movie - I ain’t been there - yet).

Walked downtown along the Avenue of the Americas. There was a cool bar/restaurant facade named Jekyll & Hyde. Lots of creatures crawling up the wall outside and an Indiana Jones looking dude accepting customers at the door.

Back to Virgin for a bite and saw Jackie Brown at the Embassy. The Embassy was an old cinema just down from Virgin. It reminded me of the Embassy we have back home in Wellington but this one was in much worse a state. It still had the nostalgic feel to it though.

It was really cool to exit the movie and find yourself in Times Sq at night with all the lights blazing. Took a few piccys and then moved on back to the hotel.

Mr N and myself fell asleep watching the TV and then got up for a feed. Due to lack of initiative, and we were shagged anyway so couldn’t go far, we went to TGI Fridays. Bad mistake. Got a new waiter and were shunted out as they normally closed at 9:30 - 10 week nights.

Had a cup of tea at the diner and crashed.

New York - Maui - Day 4

Breakfast at “ye olde faithful” the diner. Of to LAX then Kahalui. At the airport we were accosted  by the heat. Gee what a shame. Actually it was as we were shagged, yet again, and had to wait a while for the Alamo bus to take us to the car rental joint.

Here it was. This is what I had been dreading all trip long. Driving again after a 15 month break. That on it’s own was no problem. Driving on the other side of the road was a challenge but that was OK too. Driving on the wrong side of the road at night was what got me. But it was pointless worrying about it as it was not that hard really. After having hit the side of the road markers for the first 10 minutes I got the hang of where the car was. It was OK from then onwards except for one time where I turned into the traffic at an intersection on the wrong side - oops.

First visit was to Safeways after checking in. Time - I dunno - around 12 at night I guess. Walked up and down the main street, Front St,  in Lahaina. Some of the shops were still open. I was astounded.

Back to the hotel for pizza and Nascar. Simon hates Nascar. Feel asleep watching the TV (again).

Lahaina - Day 5

Pasta breakfast. Yep - we cooked. Drove out of Lahaina towards Kahalui and stopped at a scenic lookout where we met a lovely lady from the Pacific Whale Foundation. Spotted a couple of whales in the sea - they were everywhere - best time of the year to see them. She told us how she had had her best “watch” ever last week. She was surrounded by two whales (in a boat of course). Technical term “mugged” - remember that for later.

Went into Kahalui to look for an internet cafe. My lonely planet said that they were at the Kahalui Center which we looked for. Drove around the same block looking for it for ages and then decided to get out of the car and look. Walked for ages and got completely exhausted. Good photo opportunity for Si though - classic yellow school bus at Maui school together with American and state flags.

Drove back to Lahaina and further along to Kaanapali to hit the beach. Yeah I know - it took us a while didn’t it?! Si had one of his first cosmic experiences with the Pacific Ocean - he had never seen it before let along splashed in it. He could be seen gazing out to the horizon at length.

Cruised back to Lahaina and had an expensive dinner  at Longhis. At this restaurant there was no menu. The menu gets verbally told to you along the lines of “What would you like tonight gentlemen? Some fish, fish or more fish?”. Si & I said we needed to carbo-load for ultimate tomorrow which brought a look of disappointment on the waiters face. He suggested the one pasta dish and we took it. Si divulged his wine expertise over dinner making me a think I must learn some wine terminology - just to impress the babes if nothing else.

Bed post 12 again.

Lahaina - Day 6

Ultimate at last! Hey this is what we came for. By day 5 Si & I were both really hanging out to play some disc. It had now finally arrived. Up at 3am. Yep I did type that correctly. This was not a vain attempt to make sure we made it to the game on time but an early start so that we could see the sunrise 10,012 feet up on top of Haleakala. We drove for 1 hr to the base and then the climb took another hour. Was it worth it? You bet. Although I must say there were two other things that out-classed the sunrise - a lookout point in Laha and our whale watching adventure. It was freezing at the summit. I was one of the only ones outside with a tiny little tripod (thanks Jules), lying on the ground being blow by the dust hoping that it was all worth it when the photos were developed. They turned out OK but that was more a reflection on the daybreak. The sunsets can be much more spectacular.

A slow chain-gang ride down to Makawao and Eddie Tam Fields (the mayor of course). We were early but there were some people there. Moseyed on down to the fields to find Kate Walker there! Fraser from Christchurch was there also so I wasn’t the only Kiwi. Some Aussies and a couple of Scots & English made up the bulk of the “foreigners”. The rest were American.

It was great to catch up with Kate and also Michael Pace from Seattle. I knew he was going to be there. I love meeting people again and again.

Get shirts and meet the team. After a few “Hello Mike’s” I set them straight by saying “Maaark”. First Touch players - you know the drill. Day 1 1-4 down. What more can you say?

Si and I caught up with a guy from Seattle who knew Mike Feltin (another First Touch player - my UK team). Funny story. Apparently Mike says to his Seattle team mates that First Touch is a better team. Oddly enough Mike says to us that his Seattle team is better (or so I’ve been told).

Shower at the pool and Si goes to the ultimate party whilst I go to meet and have dinner with Jenna. The long awaited meeting - I was quite nervous. No need. She was a delight. Picture this: me in my shorts and NZ ultimate top in a fairly posh Mama’s Fishhouse drinking wine at the bar as I was early. I hear the name “Jenna” spoken (that was Nadia) behind me and turn to find two absolutely gorgeous women standing there “dressed to the nines”. Hmm a tad under-dressed I feel. Never mind. We had a lovely meal of Sashimi and a local fish called Ohau? Both fantastic. Having had a huge feed we skipped dessert. Arrange to meet again at a nightclub in Lahaina - thank God it’s in walking distance from where we stay!

I picked up Si from the party and zoomed back to the lodge for a quick change of clothes and out to the club. It was packed! Found Jenna and friends. We stayed for a while but not till the 2am closing as I had lost it. So ended another long day - almost 24 hours. We had a 26 hour day and a 39 hour day somewhere but I haven’t a clue where they were. Si had a good handle on the time zone thing. In fact he was elated every time we gained time and heartbroken when we lost it.

Lahaina - Day 6

Up at 7 so we can make it to the fields on time. We arrive and it’s pouring down with rain. I was about to leave but Mr N (thank’s Si) the diehard went out to see if he could find some players. Apparently a decision had been made to shift the tournament to Laha down the round so off we went. We were early so we took off a bit further in the car (to be honest we were lost so went sightseeing for a while). Up a narrow road we found a hospital and driveway much like the Home of Compassion where Noelsy works in NZ. One important difference. The view was magnificent. Indescribable too but I can say that whilst looking out over the island, beach and sea we could hear at least 5 different birds chirping at each other and that was all. No cars, no people. Complete bliss!

Reluctant to leave we did so and found the fields, which also had much the same view. Spectacular! Jay in my team lived on Maui and these were the fields he played on each week. Commonly followed by one of those wicked sunsets - lucky guy.

Due to the delays of the morning the tournament was cut to sudden death for the “Beer final” and playoffs started for the final. Surprisingly my team turned it on and we one two games to make it to the plate final where we lost but had a great day all up. Much better than having only one game like some teams.

Mr N however took his team to the finals and ... won. What a star! What a tournament! You should have seen his face at the presentation ceremony. Heard of the saying “I don’t care if I die right now” well this is one of those times when Si could have said it. The grin on his face was from ear to ear.

Pizza and chillin’ finished off the night.

Lahaina - Day 6

Get up early for a whale watch. Well - what can I say. This was one of the highlights. Remember me talking about the lovely lady at the scenic point saying that in two years whale watching she had her best one by being mugged by two whales. Well us first timers got mugged by 4 males chasing one female. The did laps around the boat - six to be exact. This was after seeing a mother and her calf and also a whale the “breached”. Dived up into the air and rolled over. You know it’s the classic shot but apparently another very rare event. We were told that you might not see what we had seen in 5 years of watches. Even the skipper and Whale Foundation guide were ecstatic. 

After this major one we just had to visit the Pacific Whale Foundation shop. Grabbed a couple of posters and I bought two rings. One of whales the other of dolphins. The dolphins was meant to be a present but I liked it so much that I kept it. Also bought a cap. The technical term for this is “Whale watch shopping aftermath”.

Si revisited his favourite Maui babe - a beautiful local at The Sports Authority.

Check out and head for the airport. Time for another one of those many flights. This time to Philadelphia to see Patti. The sister of Margie, daughter of Mike who I stayed with in Seattle last year. Fab family, really.

Phili - Day 7

 Got to lye down on the plane trip - thank God (again). This was an overnight flight and resulted in the longest day - 39 hours. Took a taxi to Patti’s.

Yay! Patti! It was great to see her again. For those of you that do not know the family they are the most energetic, enthusiastic and fun bunch you are ever likely to meet. So you can imagine that meeting Patti again was another highlight of the trip.

Patti, a pastry chef extraordinare at Le Bec Fin, had made some desserts for Si and I to keep the energy levels up. After having scoffed 3 each we were later told by Patti that we hadn’t “touched them” and she would have eaten the lot by herself! 

We hit the streets - can’t break a habit now can we? First stop was the Philadelphia Art Museum. We walked in the rain and when we got there found that it was ½ hour till opening time - dumb tourists. After the wait we really needed a feed. Headed straight for the cafeteria and look for lunch. Yikes - lunch isn’t served for another 20 minutes - another wait. Buy this time both Si and I were having dizzy spells. I think the lack of eating for 3 days and playing a tournament on two of them was catching up with us. Not to mention the 3-4 hours sleeps each night.

The Museum was great and provided another shopping opportunity. Watches this time. Went back to the house.

Walked out to 2^nd and South were we found an internet cafe. That’s 20 blocks in the rain. Reminded me of NY. More waiting whilst this guy finished on the only machine.

Back to Patti’s for a lovely dinner with Cathy a friend of hers. Played Yahtzee which Cathy won and talked into the wee hours.

Phili - Day 8

First lie-in of the whole trip. Stayed in bed till 9:30am. Well Si did. I extended that a little. Leftover pasta for dinner.

I found some blades and we headed back to the house to find Patti there after having finished early. She and I blade to the park whilst Si goes CD shopping. We go looking for Si by blading the smooth Phili subway - great. Didn’t find him so we headed back to the park where we met up and chucked some disc. Patti showed us her prowess by doing a few air-bouncers - ala Shane or Fluff’s teaching?

Head back and then off to a Thai restaurant for dinner and then onto Zanzibar Jazz club. Good groves and back to the house.

Slumber party at Patti’s! Well that was after Patti & Si had an intense discussion on “If you are going faster than the speed of sound, do you age?” and many other fun topics. They were doing my head in!

Home

Up at 4am to catch the 30 seater tin bucket to NY JFK and then home. Again we were lucky to have a whole row each we needed it!

All in all a superb trip - anyone up for doing it again next year?

World Update #6

It's 7:30 on a Tuesday night and I'm still at work. We've just been pottering

around trying to clear up the month after year end and it's been a nightmare.

We are not finished yet but tomorrow is another day - I've had enough for one

day.

Unfortunately I have just missed a train so I'm here for a another 1/2 hour

before I can start the 1hr journey to get home. Hence the time to bash out

another email.

My english lessons are going well. Today I got a paper from the examining board

with not letter attached to it so I wasn't sure what it was for. Further

examination surprised me as it was the readings for the Summer 98 exam! ie the

exam I am about to sit. These english people are weird!

I still have some work to do on the poetry stuff as it is well beyond me. Also

there is a speech to do. I have to prepare for two speeches and on the day they

will tell me which one I am going to do. Yuck - I hate speeches.

Ultimate is progressing. We had our first practice last Sat and guess who's the

coach? Yup it's old big mouth himself. Not sure how long that will last as I'm

not getting much study done at the moment and I have some big travel plans for

summer.

Speaking of which I'm off to NY, Maui and Phili on Monday. It's hard to believe

the trip is finally here. Simon (my english mate) and I have been planning this

for so long that it seemed like it was never going to happen.

Two weekends ago I was in Wales playing ultimate indoors and I got a bump on my

head. It's a long story - one worth telling - but I've already written it up

and it's on Carol's (flatmate) computer at home. I'll fetch it and biff it at

ya.

---

It's now after the holiday and I'm back into work/study mode. More to come on

the US trip soon.

World Update #5

OK here it finally is - Update V. Due to great demand I have completed this

sooner than expected.

Please if this stuff bores you shitless then tell me and I'll stop sending it

to you. Otherwise, be informed...

First thing to comment on is December travels. As well as going to Spain I

ventured up to a chilly Solleftea (middle of Sweden) for Christmas and then to

a freezing Edinburgh for Hogmanay (New Year celebrations).

Christmas in Sweden was a treat. I met about 15 completely new relatives that I

formerly only new of due to making a family tree before I left New Zealand.

Also there were a number of additions to make as little babies keep popping up

everywhere. It was a child-less christmas except for two cute little babies.

One Swedish, one Vietnamese. One of the highlights had to be meeting Hallan for

the first time. At 85 she is the last of a generation and this made the meeting

an especially significant one for me. 

As I stepped out of the car, after a snow filled trip from the airport, I was

greated by her. She was waiting outside on the snowy ground in her normal

indoor clothes whilst I stepped out of the car fully padded in my jersey and

double layered jacket! I was frozen to the bone and she as warm as though it

was a bright summers day. It was one of those moments. We both just cried and

hugged each other. Not a word was spoken. Hallan later mentioned that I

reminded her of my mother and grandmother. My grandmother being Hallan's

cousin. For me Hallan reminded me of my grandmother and grandma's sister Lallla

who visited us in NZ many years ago. Sune and Sigrid who took me from the

airport probably wondered what the hell was going on.

From then on it was an exciting continual process of meeting new relatives. At

first I would go up to them and say "Hello I'm Mark" but after the second "We

know" response given with a smiling face I gave up. It was evident that word

had got around and there would be someone new at christmas in Solleftea this

year.

Christmas eve dinner (when christmas is celebrated in Sweden) had a full house.

The table was laiden with the usual swedish christmas fare. In between

"catching-up" on the gossip and mouthfuls of good food they started on drinking

songs lead most ably by Hallan. If you've never had aquavit before I can highly

recommend it. This bit of wisdom is unfortunately from previous experiences as

at this christmas I couldn't drink. I was on anti-biotics from catching the

latest London bug. Only a handful of us stayed at Hallan's that night. Most

went home.

The days following christmas comprised of venturing out into the wilderness

(oops I mean Sweden) and visiting the clan in their own homes. This was great

as I got to see some of Sweden and the local area, a particularly uninteresting

bridge (sorry Sara), a heck of a lot of ski slopes and ski jumps. In each place

I was given the complete run-down on local history including the "I went to

school there" and " We used to live there 20 years ago" and "Oh! I didn't know

that was there. That's new!" stuff. I loved it all!

After Sweden I returned to work for two days. One the first day a colleague

asked me what christmas was like and I had completely forgotten that it was

christmas. There was so much happening that it kind of passed me by. I guess

it's still hard to accept a christmas without the sunshining down upon you. We

did do a big present opening thing on the 24th though. Each present was

accompanied by a few verses of poetry which was to help you guess what was

inside. I'm not sure everyone understood my poor english verses!

Then I was sick for a while and only just recovered to leave London again and

head for Hogmanay. This involves drinking lots of whiskey around the streets of

Edinburgh - mainly the Royal Mile and Princes Street (you would have loved it

Olle - all that whiskey!). I met up with some ultimate friends and we partied

into the new year and celebrated in the normal way. Some did the Hogmanay thing

(no names). This involves snogging as many people as you possibly can in one

night. For those Swedes that do not know what this is I am not going to explain

in words. Nor am I going to explain visually. Ask Johan Peter - I'm sure he

knows all about it! I read an article in the paper just recently that said a

number of Hogmanay goers where suffering from mouth sores. Enough said.

Although I think it worth mentioning that a there were queues for snogging

policemen and policewoman. Another thing I noticed was that the policemen

tended to be of the older variety. I wondered if they mostly are in Edinburgh

or ....? They were a cheerful bunch though. Much different from the London

"bobbys". For example when we were asked if we were carrying any bottles into

the city they did not check us. They accepted that we were speaking the truth.

In London you would have been searched regardless, I'm sure. 

Since returning again to London I have been working working working. As

December is our companies year  end we are very busy. We are having to work all

weekend as well so I am finding it hard to study. Also on my mind is fitness. I

haven't played ultimate since Nov (I think) and I will be playing in Maui only

five weeks from now. I need to do some serious fitness work which basically

involves going for runs around where I live. The only problem is that it is

very cold at the moment ; hey and lets face it - I'm lazy.

Really looking forward to the trip away now. After working most of January I'll

need it.

Much love and kisses to you all, puss o kram

World Update #4

Well I've just read my last update and a lot has happened since then and it wasonly a short time ago.I managed to get to Stockholm with Sandra, Kristy and Chanel. We stayed at ahotel near the city and had a great time. I caught up with some ultimateplayers and played some indoors. They were recovering from a hangover the nightbefore so instead of playing straight away we started off playing some indoor soccer.

Well not being terribly co-ordinated with my feet I didn't contribute ahell of a lot. It got a sweat up though so we were well warmed up by the timewe started to play ultimate.I managed to be too smart for my own good and caught the disc with my mouth atone point. My lip started to gush blood about so I ran up to the changing roomsand left a nice colour in the white hand basin by the time I was cleaned up.I've never had a fat lip before and it didn't help the alcohol consumptionlater that night! I did manage to get on the court and play some more though. At the gym therewas a couple who were just watching. They came out with us that night and Ireally had a blast with them. Bjorn and Jenne were soo cool I arranged to meetthem the following day with Bjorn's two nephews. We went to Junibacken which isa kids museum of all the Swedish childrens stories. That was fun for me too asI know a couple of stories. One you might know of is Pippi Longstocking.Anyway the trip was great and I got a chance to catch up with Annika (my cousinof the same age) and Arvid (her man) and their mates. Also my little cherub -Ebba. She is Annika's daughter. A difficult one to win-over but I think I mightbe creeping into her good books.Since then I've had my contract at Cable Corp extended. They are going thru amajor restructure and some redundancies were announced that means that by Maynext year I'm going to be looking for work. That ties in fairly well with mytravel plans anyway so I'm not worried.There are some changes afoot in the flat. Three people are soon to be leavingus and some new ones to come in. Our place seems like Grand Central Station attimes but this is the first time so many of the actual flatmates (ie. notdossers = people staying with us) are leaving. It seems strange to have theflatmates go as we have been together for a long time now. I unfortunatelyhaven't made the best of it and still do not really know them that well. I'msad to see them go.Sue and I have just come back from Murcia in the south of Spain. One day brightblue skies with puffy white clouds to dim grey sky (if you are lucky enough tosee it!) and white ground - it was snowing when we came back. The temperaturechange was a should to my body. From 18 degrees C to sub-zero in England.Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (sorry for the repeat there for those that have already heardthat one!).The trip was great and just what we both needed. We stayed at Las Lomos whichis a Hyatt resort mainly for UK golfers. This didn't stop us enjoying playingtennis and riding mountain bikes around the local area. Most of the time wasspent "chilliing". Someone got merrily drunk one night and the other got zappeddrunk on his birthday. Ooops I wasn't supposed to let on which story related towhich person. Too late now. For those of who don't know I turned 30 on the15th.Before you start bombarding me with the old-timer rubbish I am in the bestshape of my life and doing more than I ever have done. And no I didn't need tosay that just to reassure myself that I can still hack-it. So there.Speaking of being drunk. A young 29yr old got himself into quite a state acouple of weeks back. That was just before the first test between NZ andEngland in the netball series (of course we won). Without going into the gorydetails it is enought to say that I have never felt worse in my entire life.Thanks to the lovely ladies who took care of me that night. I would name thembut I am only certain of two of them and wouldn't want to stick my foot in itby mentioning or not mentioning someone!Later that week I farwelled Susie who is returning to the States. She playedultimate with our team over here and has been studying english, just like me!Well her studies are a little higher up the ladder than my GCSE. Whichincidentally is going well. I've managed to bash out three assignments now.I've almost finished reading Jane Eyre which is a cool book. Have a read if youget a chance. I'm slowing down with the reading now though as when I finishJane Eyre I'll have to start Macbeth or poetry by Thomas Hardy. Neither ofwhich I particularly care for. To be honest I haven't read any of TH's poemsbut I've never been into poetry and I'm not expecting that to change anytimesoon.Things are afoot with our ultimate team in the UK too. We are trying to decidehow to tackle 1998. There is the opportunity to do really well next year andchallenge the top teams. Our problem at the moment (as with any amateur/socialsport) is that some players do not want to be competitive and some do. It willbe interesting to see what happens.I'm going to spend Xmas in the north of Sweden with relatives on my mums side.I'm a tad nervous about the whole thing as I won't know anyone except forJohan-Peter who I met in London just before he left to go home. It will begreat though meeting up with a whole bunch of my relies and I am really lookingforward to it. This, after all, was my main reason for coming over to this sideof the world - to meet my relatives. Well actually it was my ONLY reason forcoming over here. I seem to have got side-tracked along the way and taken mytime in getting to Sweden. I still plan to spend summer there but that is inJuly/August.Thinking about my relies makes me think about how I felt coming back intoGatwick from Spain. I am beginning to feel like this is where I should havebeen all my life. I am starting to feel "at home" on this side of the world.Don't panic mum. I will come and visit you (if you are nice to me and stoptelling me what a prat I am at times!). Well, what haven't I mentioned?? Oh yeah. Since I last emailed two of my Kiwi cousins have come on-line. Hi Dan and Em and Howe's. Good to be in contact!Also I have started to email the Swedish relies more frequently. Wait till theystart to see my jokes! They won't ever invite me over to Sweden again!Hope this finds you well and I guess it's a great time to say have a sloshinglygood Christmas. Try to remember what you did on New Years Eve and don't maketoo many of those nasty New Years resolutions that you are going to feel guiltyabout later.Lots of love to you all,Peace and humptiness

World Update #3

My email has been down the past week so anything you sent has been lost & my

outgoing messages appear to have disappeared too. Please resend any messages to

me.

Just had a brilliant weekend in Stockholm. It snowed on Sunday which was really

neat. Boring for you UK lot but for someone from NZ it's a buzz. It was my

first decent snowfall.

Caught up with my cousin Annika and also met some new ultimate players over

there thanks to John Falck. Via them I met up with a crazy couple - Bjorn &

Jenne. Has heaps of fun with them and also Bjorn's two nephews Johan & Kevin (6

& 2). We went to Astrid Lindgren's museum (Pippi Longstocking author).

Rest of the time was spent ticky-touring with Sandra, Kristy and Chanel (prob

spelt that wrong!).

I even sang a swedish drinking song with a taxi/tour driver!

Had a great time!

Peace to you all