How come your son's so white?

Yep, I actually got asked that, followed by Why do you have pink cheeks? What do you say to that?

At the time, I was lounging in the lagoon at Tisa's Barefoot Beach, the beach ex-pats go on Sundays. It's your beautiful tropical beach, with the best pina coladas in town. As I said to Matt, there's not too many places in NZ you can be sipping your cocktail on the sand, while the kids play in half a metre of water. Taine got adopted by Tisa's grandchildren and then we met some others there, including our neighbour two doors down and his wife, who'd only been on island for two days. It was nice to meet someone more shell-shocked than us!

On Saturday another Kiwi had brought his two kids (7 & 5) round for a swim and a play, so it's feeling like we're starting to get to know people. We've just got to keep making the effort to invite people round and take up any invitations on offer!

Last time I wrote, we were off to a function for the Asia-Pacific boss of ANZ. Well, he got diverted to Fiji on bank business, and he missed a great party. There was singing and dancing and awards and fabulous food. Of course, we got dragged up to dance, but luckily not to sing. Taine wasn't very brave, and burst into tears when anyone came near him. But once the food came out, there was no stopping him. He tried taro, baked papaya, fish in coconut cream (cooked in the umu in a half coconut shell. Absolutely delicious) and even some seaweed that neither of his parents would touch.

The rest of the week went by as usual: mah jong, breakfast, groceries and the library. Our internet's working properly, so I regularly check nzherald and listen to The Rock. The local radio station here has a playlist of about 20 songs, so you hear Taylor Swift, Britney, Christina, Pink and Beyonce 5 times a day.

Taine still seems to be going well at school. He has a lot of colouring in for homework and the maths seems pretty basic. He gets a report at the end of next week before spring break, so we'll see if my interpretations are in line with his teacher's!

Matt's working long hours, leaving at 7 and getting in after 7 most days. Today he was up cleaning the car before going to the airport to be part of the welcoming committee/driver for the Big Boss of ANZ who's here for six hours, to speak at the community college and meet with prominent local business people. Matt looked very smart in his tropical uniform shirt, which is about four sizes too big. He wouldn't let me take a photo this morning, but he has to wear it again on Friday, so I'll have the shot that so many of you were asking for!

This morning after dropping Taine at school, I went to the walking track. It's about 500 m (3 to a mile) but instead of your typical oval, it has extra curves and detours and a hill, and is the surface of a BMX track. It's also right next to Tafuna High School, so I watched the teenagers moseying in, in their own sweet time, chatting to their friends, playing basketball, and I felt right at home! 40 minutes of walking was enough to make me feel like I'd done enough for the day. It was bliss to then come home to find Mele our housekeeper already hard at work on our washing. I am very spoilt!

So now it's off to McDonalds for my morning coffee and I feel justified in trying the Cinnamon melts too. Then groceries and I've got The Other Boleyn Girl to watch on DVD. I've just finished the book and really enjoyed it (by Phillipa Gregory - she is obsessed with incest) so we'll see what the film is like. The food shopping is getting more manageable, although I went to about 5 shops trying to find something like a Maggi Beef Goulash packet. No luck, so it was a particularly revolting casserole last night.

I managed to not bring anyone's email addresses with me, so if you could please drop me an email at mshunt@clear.net.nz, I'll be able to contact you personally. That goes for family too please.

Love to all,
Sharyn