Rienus and I have had a great year. We started and ended 2011 in the same place — on the ms Volendam sailing around New Zealand — though we’ve done quite a bit in between. The highlight this year was definitely out big wedding in Fiji at Treasure Island in March. Thank you for everyone who was able to come and celebrate with us. Having friends and family trapped on an island with us for a week was fantastic! Full of snorkeling, sunbathing, cold drinks, dancing, and getting married Looking back both Rienus and I are so glad we decided to have our wedding exactly how we did. Wouldn’t have changed a thing!
After the wedding Rienus made the move to Seattle and officially immigrated on April 4th. There was lots of expensive paperwork to be filled out to get to that point and there will be a lot more until he can get a US passport in 3 years. For the next three years in order to become naturalized he has to spend 50% of the next 3 years on US soil. Because of this Holland America has let him go to a 3 on – 3 off contract. So we are on the ship for 3 months then off for 3 – down from his old contracts of 4 months on – 2 months off. It’s nice to have a bit more time on land. We spent the northern hemisphere summer in Alaska. I worked as a Shore Excursions Assistant Manager and Rienus as 2nd Officer. Though Alaska can be gloomy and rainy we had more opportunities to do exciting tours since I worked in that department. For Rienus’ 29th birthday we took a helicopter ride up to a glacier covered with snow high up in the mountains where there was a sled dog encampment. We both got to ‘drive’ the sled pulled by 12 dogs.
In September we signed off the ship and went back to Seattle. One of our goals while home was to find a house to buy closer to downtown Seattle – we have been staying with my parents in Covington (about an hour south of Seattle) which has been wonderful, especially while my sister, Lydia and her husband Josh are living there too with Jonas our nephew. Though it’s a lot of people in one house it was wonderful spending so much time with family and seeing Jonas grow up a bit. So we spent a number of days house hunting around Seattle. We were hoping to find a short sale home since they are usually under market value and take a long time to close. Our ideal situation would be that we’d put an offer on a house while on land and then go away for a contract and have a house by the time we got home. So far we found the house (it’s amazing – with room for you all to visit!), made an offer, and are waiting…..waiting….waiting. When we left Seattle in November to come back to the ship we thought the house might close in a couple weeks, but now it has been about two months. Though we are eager to hear if it will be ours we are thankful that it is taking so long since we won’t be off the ship until March and don’t want a house to be sitting emply without us. This contract we came a week early to Auckland and visited with friends and family before joinging the ship. It’s been a good contract so far. We see family/friends in practically every port. We’ve been able to see Va in Sydney quite a bit, family in Auckland, Rienus’ maritime friends in Dunedin, Wellington and Stewart Island. I’m thankful we have this contract so we can be near my part of the world for a part of the year then down here in NZ for the other part. Our big event the other day was climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge – both our legs were exhausted by the end – but beautiful views from the top!
When we sign off the Volendam on Feb 28th in Sydney we’ll make a short trip up to Brisbane to see the Holt’s (Soph, Rien’s sister, Steve, and our two adorable nieces, Makayla and Alexis). Then back to Seattle on March 4th (and hopefully) to a new house. With lots of love, Rienus & Sarah
Wow! So much has happened since I posted last.
Number 1: The wedding in Fiji!
I’ve attached a few photos. It was a wonderful week at Treasure Island resort in Fiji (where Rienus’ family is from) with lots of friends and family! Talk about a dream wedding…
At the airport…Getting sleeeeeepy.
I always scan the people and families at the airline gate, checking the crowd for the one person who may just ruin my flight. That person usually comes in a small package, under the age of 3. Generally can’t communicate except through screams and yelling and are always seated much closer than you’d like them to be on the airplane your about to be stuck on for the next handful of hours. On our way back from a week visiting Rienus’ sister and family in Ipswich (a city near Brisbane, Australia) we had the task to bring with us Makayla, Rienus’ 18 months old niece so that she could stay for a few weeks with her grandparents here in Auckland. We knew this would test of skills, help us see what we’ll be like working together as parents, etc. And it was quite a lesson.
They call Makayla the “naughty one”. She likes things her way and generally screams until she gets them. She pulls hair, takes of her shoes and socks, won’t hold your hand, and does what she wants. She is also a fantastic dancer. For those that got the pleasure of seeing me in early childhood, it sounds like she is a lot like I was. It was also our luck that she is currently teething which added to the naughty bundle package deal.
We spent the day before the flight visiting family and friends in Brisbane and saying goodbye. Makayla had a 40 minute nap in the car, but we kept her awake from that point on so she’d be good and tired for the flight in the hopes she would just pass out. We went to the mall before the flight and she ran around and got the last of her energy out. In the car to the airport she looked exhausted and could barely keep her eyes closed. We thought this was a good sign, she was going to sleep like a baby the entire time. Side note: Rienus’ brother, Anton, and his fiance had done this same flight with Makayla 6 month ago and had told us the horror stories. As Makayla was shutting her eyes I thought to myself “this isn’t going to be bad at all”.
Rienus held her as we checked in and got sorted and headed through security. Before we put our bags on the conveyor belt to be scanned she had passed out on his shoulder. I made a comment saying I wasn’t sure it was good that she was sleepign already. But she was and we didn’t have the heart to wake her. When we got to the gate they were boarding and we were the first ones on the plane since we were officially “travelling with children”. As we were getting situated Rienus handed Makayla off to me to adjust before we settled in. Mistake. She woke up and it was all over. Our genius plan to have her exhausted enough to sleep through the flight turned into her being so exhausted she was miserable and coudln’t go back to sleep.
Thus went our 3.5 hour flight of taking turns holding her over our shoulder, walking to the back of the plane, rocking her around, avoiding the “She’s crying again?” stares of those sitting around us. I will never again be angry at a poor mother whos child is crying on a plane. That mother already feels bad enough. Eventually (after 2 hours) Makayla changed from constant crying and miserableness to being able to be slightly distracted and thus happy for periods of 5 seconds. So the remainder of the flight was trying to contain her within our seat by offering her some new exciting distraction/food/game/movie/sock/facial expression/drink/book every 4 seconds.
It was tiring, it was messy. There was a high five between Rienus and I when we landed. Mission accomplished.
All in all, a great flight. Do I want to do it again tomorrow? No. Will I do it again someday with my kids? Absolutely. And though I was tired and happy to be home, I was a little sad to pass her off to grandma and say goodbye.
Well you might have seen it on facebook already, but I wanted to let you know I’M ENGAGED! Rienus proposed on the evening of the 3rd–to my surprise. He had told me for some time now that he hadn’t bought a ring yet and he couldn’t buy it because he doesn’t have any money, since he’s paying to go to school and just bought a house, and isn’t working, etc. So in order to help him save I’d been volunteering to pay for dinners out and groceries and trying to discretely pressure him, though we all know discrete is not something I’m real good at It was Thursday and Rienus had told a few of his friends he was planning to propose on Friday, he’d take me to a hill on the North Shore that has a nice view of the city, get down on one knee and ask me. But he didn’t do that. I think the mood just struck Thursday night and he was ready. I was sitting at my computer, job searching and sending resumes and he went into the back room. He called me a few times to come there and I ignored him since he has a tendency to ask me to get up from very comfortable positions on the couch to come see youtube videos of people doing stupid things or just to tell me something that he could have yelled down the hall. So after he called to me a few more times I grudgingly wandered back. “Can you help me find my shoes?” (Sarah thinks, “You got me up for this?”) He was on the ground looking around for something. I asked him which ones and looked around the room. It only slightly registered that he was on one knee. Not really sure what all happened, but at that point he told me he loved me and all the things you should say when you’re proposing and asked me to marry him. Once I realized he was on one knee I thought, “what is he doing? he hasn’t even bought me a ring, he can’t propose without a ring!” But then he pulled out my beautiful bling, kissed me, made sure I’d said yes, then put it on my finger. Perfect fit. Lots of happy crying on my part.
That was two surprises he was able to totally keep from me. Flying out to Jill’s wedding (where he asked mom and dad if he could marry me) and the ring/proposal. I had no idea he’d already bought the ring and had it waiting for me. He kept saying September, maybe around Christmas time, or later that he’d be able to propose. Sneaky sneaky. After he proposed we called his parents, my parents, our sisters and a few other people. I took pictures of the ring while he watched tv. We ended the night going out to dinner with a friend of Reinus’. We had champagne to celebrate and my ring had it’s first public appearance. It’s been fun showing it to people and even more fun when they make comments about it without any encouragement. I’ve had two job interviews where they’ve made a comment about my beautiful rock. Excellent. It makes me feel grown up to have it on my hand, though I don’t feel grown up. But now I’ve got Rienus to grow up with for the rest of my life! No details on dates yet, though we are 85% sure the wedding will be in Auckland and around March or April 2011. There will be a Seattle reception later in the year, probably during summer! I would have loved to tell all of you this story in person, but I am happy to be here in Auckland and get this year to be with him on land before we go back to sea for 2011 and 2012. Stay tuned, it looks like I might be getting a full time job with the Auckland City Council, interview on Tuesday, then off to Brisbane for the rest of the week. Wish me luck!
One of the things Rienus wanted to do during his year at home was to take part in a boxing program. Basically he just wanted to get the chance to fight someone in the ring. And that’s just what he did Friday night.
After 12 weeks of pretty intense training where he went to about 7, sometimes more, sessions a week of sparring, personal training, kettle bells, power yoga, speed tests, etc it was time to see all his hard work. He had a realy big supporting crowd of 30 or so family, friends, and maritime boys (and girl). It was a black tie event and we were in a beautiful ballroom at Langham Hotel, a ritzy place in downtown Auckland. Although we had general admission tickets we still have seats where we had no problem seeing the action in the ring.
The drama of the evening started early when we got a call from Rienus’ dad saying that the person Rienus was supposed to fight might not be able to due to medical reasons, high blood pressure. We hadn’t even gotten to the hotel and there was already a possibility that it might not happen. I was worried since I know Rienus would be really disappointed if he didn’t get to fight and would feel bad that he’d had all his friends buy tickets for something that didn’t happen.
We got there, found our table, enjoyed the nice buffet dinner and watched the fights. When the time came for Rienus to fight they announced his opponent was not fit to fight and that they were “postponing” his fight and moved on to the next. It got to the 13th fight or so and I was getting worried since it wasn’t looking like there was anyone left for him to fight.
That’s when we heard the announcement for the final fight, the main event, and the first fighter out was Marienus Hazelman!!!
The organization that put on the fight did a great job. Everything was well done, they had great introduction videos of each fighter with interviews and showing them working out and their “journey” to get there. They all had nicknames (Rienus was the flying dutchmen) and there was a big entrance with lights, smoke and loud music where they fighters entered the ballroom. All in all it was really easy to enjoy. I wasn’t nervous, he didn’t break anything and he had a blast fighting and hearing us all scream for him.
He ended up fighting a guy who was a trainer and maybe a pro fighter and weighed less than him but was much fitter. Rienus came in 2nd, but knocked the guy to the ground twice with some good punches and all in all had a great fight. His supporters would say he should have been declared the winner, but we might be biased.
Saturday we went out on a sail boat owned by a friend of Rienus’, for a motor (since the sails are being repaired). We walked down to the boatyard in full sunshine and got onto the yacht and headed out to toodle around the harbour. The views of the city from the water are delightful. I got to drive for a bit, though my skills could still use some refining. We got close up views of the Hilton hotel which is on a pier that seems to be sagging a bit, the maritime school that’s right on the water, nearly ran into a ferry, checked out a few other boats that had been pulled up from the harbour floor after sinking and listened to the boys talk about what boats they were going to own someday. After an hour or so of wandering the harbour the wind had really picked up and it started to rain. By the time we got back to the marina to put the boat away it was pouring. So like any real woman, I went to hide down below deck where it was warm and dry and let the boys get soaked. Thank you Shaun and Rienus.
After an hour or so of rain the sun came out and it turned into a beautfiul day by mid afternoon. So we were picked up by a friend to go watch a club rugby game. This would be my third live rugby match. The first being Janine Cade (now Torres) playing womens rugby in high school, the second being professional rugby in France. So needless to say, I don’t really grasp all the rules yet. Scrums, knock ons, off sides, trys, and a whole bunch of big dudes piling on each other, it’s really a delightful sport, if brutal is something you can deal with.
The team we were supporting didn’t win, but it was a good game, as far as my qualifications go in judging what is and is not a good game.
Now that I’ve got the basic rules down for rugby, it’s on to figure out netball and cricket.
Made it! After a long flight (13hours and 15 minutes) from San Fransisco, I arrived in the early morning at the Auckland airport. I managed to get 5 or so hours of sleep, watch three movies and lounge on the three seats I had all to myself. Rienus’ apartment is right in the heart of downtown Auckland. Everything is within a 10 or 15 minute walk. There’s a beauty/hair school about 100 feet (30 meters if you’re speaking New Zealand) from the front door. So I’ve already booked myself in for a complimentary wash and blow wave. Do I know what a blow wave is? No. But I’m getting one for free.
I’m recovering from jetlag, but think that after a good night of sleep tonight I’ll be officially adjusted. Auckland is 19 hours ahead of Seattle (or 5 hours back, but the next day).
I submitted the paperwork for getting an IRD number (like a soc sec #). I’ll need one of these to get a job and pay my taxes. Should come in the mail in 10 business days! In the meantime I’ll be starting to look for a job.
Went for a run this morning. We’re right in the city, but the beautiful thing about Auckland is that they have so many parks and green places. There are about 5 parks within a 5 mile radius. So I ran throught the closest one and made my way to Auckland Domain – big park with a museum, cricket fields, walking paths, duck pond, lots of beautiful trees and loads of natural beauty.
So far, I love it. It has all the best things; city life, natural beauty, more restaurants than I could eat at in a lifetime, Rienus, ocean in every direction, and friendly people with (adorable) accents.
Had a fantastic going away party last weekend and had a ton of friends come out to say goodbye. At a dueling piano bar, always my favorite. I am flying out to Auckland, New Zealand this Sunday, May 9th, to spend the rest of 2010 with Rienus (rhymes with Venus). He’ll be in school for the rest of the year. I got a working visa so hopefully someone will give me a job. My last few days have been spent on a last couple days at working, babysitting my perfect little nephew, Jonas (almost 2 months), hanging out with my best friend, Jill, talking on skype to Rienus, packing, spending time with my family and enjoying the last of the pre summer weather.
I am looking forward to just about everything about a move to New Zealand and the chance to be with Rienus in one place for a long time. Except for one little thing. In Seattle its just starting to get nice, the sun was out today with blue sky and the thermometer nearly hit 70! But in the southern hemisphere summer has ended and winter is fast approaching. I guess after years of endless summer on cruise ships in the Caribbean, I deserve a solid year of winter.
As I move to NZ, I’m hoping life will get a bit more interesting and I will then start to update my blog more often. So stay tuned.
The second month is nearly over and already it’s been a great year thus far. Maybe my favorite to date. I have a few outrageously fantastic adventures coming up this year and I’m waiting with great expectation for all of them.
Tonight I get to visit with cousin Jill Wallace and her babies. Haven’t seen them in quite awhile, so it’ll be a treat.
Next weekend is a trip to Portland with a college friend to visit, Lydia, my college roommate (not my sister). Who I haven’t seen in far too long. We’ll play with her new dog, I’ll get to see the place she bought recently and enjoy visiting.
After that comes one of the BIGGIES. Lydia (sister) is Oh-so-Pregnant and is due March 4th. I’m going to be an aunt!! I’m mentally preparing for changing poopy diapers and falling in love with something that is part me. It’s the very first. First grandchild for mom and dad, first nephew for me, first baby for them so I know every single thing he does is going to be an experience with all us adults giddy with every move he makes.
I spent the good part of an evening with my hand jammed between the floor and Lydia’s belly in the hopes of feeling him move. Lydia would say, “He’s moving, that’s huge, can’t you feel that?!?”, which I would respond with a “uh, no, nope, I don’t think so”. This went on for some time until I did feel “something”. Which I am taking as a success and is down in the record books as me and Baby Rogers’ first interaction.
The second BIGGIE is my best friend Jill’s wedding in April where I have the honor of being the Maid of Honor. With a wedding comes lots of parties, showers, wine, gifts, dresses, jewelry, flowers and fun. I get to play a part in it all and I am enjoying it already.
And if those two BIGGIES were BIGGIE enough I then am moving to New Zealand in May for the remainder of 2010. My boyfriend extraordinaire, Marienus, lives in New Zealand and is going to school in Auckland to get his Captains qualification. Like a graduate degree, but for sailors. For those of you who don’t know, he and I have been dating for 2+ years (give or take) and the last 7 months we’ve been apart. He’s just so wonderful I can’t bear to be without him anymore, so I’m moving to his city! He has lived most his life in Auckland and his close family and friends are all their so I’ll have a wonderful network of people around me. I got a working visa for the year so I am hoping to find work with a non profit that works in microfinance. If that doesn’t pan out I’m shooting for a florists apprentice and if that doesn’t work out I will do just about anything to get paid. We’ll see what happens, but regardless of job I am so excited to be with him in a normal life setting for 7 months straight where I can get to know his family and friends as most of our time dating has been on ships or backpacking around the world. Rough, I know.
It’s cliche to say, but I think 2010 is going to be a good year.
Dear Santa,
For Christmas, all I want is…
a new purse (medium to big size)
a watch – to wear everyday to work
Microsoft Office for my new laptop
New York & Co Gift Certificate
Warm work tops – long sleeves or sweater
Boots – Grey Size 11
Long necklaces and matching earrings
Headbands
“Oh the Places You’ll Go” T-shirt – Large
Perfume
a Massage
Lip gloss
Thick belt (any color) must have some stretch to it- to wear on top of clothes:
Warm Socks for work pants:
