I think many Jews around the world can sympathize with me when I say "I'm hungry."  I've never had quite so much reverence for Joey's parents before!  Because of the Jewish holiday, this week, I've gone gluten-free, much like in years past.  But this time I have to cook all the Jewish food for myself, and it's hard!  I eat and eat, yet my stomach only feels half satisfied without its bready friend. 

Despite this, I will share with you the many things I've experienced recently that I definitely enjoyed.

Last weekend, I had the great fortune of embarking on a yoga/meditation retreat in a rural area called Otaki.  We stayed at a lovely house there, ate only vegan organic food, and did lots of meditative activiites. I really enjoyed that because it was so relaxing and it felt good to take a step back from the 'city' life of Wellington.

On Monday, I used my extra free time to hang out at Kimi Ora School (kimiora.school.nz), a lovely, vibrant K-12+ school for 30 special students with disabilities.  Many if not most students have cerebral palsy and/or a cognitive impairment.  While Kimi Ora was similar in the amount of support staff to comparable schools in Maryland (more teachers than students), the energies and attitudes were so much better here.  Who woulda thunked you could walk into PT/OT sessions and hear the therapists sing to you and strum their guitar to a revamped NSYNC song?  "Everybody, yeah.  Move your body, yeah.  Everybody, Sensorimotor Group... alright!"  And get this--in addition to the lunch break that students and teachers get, they also have... wait for it... very British of them... Morning Tea!  That's right, everybody takes a break (including teachers) to have tea and finger sandwiches at about 10am.  being at the school made me feel more New Zealandish.  Later in the day, the Occupational Therapist joined us in making cheese scones!  Couldn't eat them, but it was still fun! 

Later that evening, I joined the Orthodox community at its Passover Seder, where I had the pleasure of sitting next to a group of Israelis, allowing me to practice my Hebrew most of the night.  The following evening, I took a different journey with the Reform Seder, which believe it or not, was held at the local bowling club :)  It was very nice, and involved much more singing and conversation than the first night.  It was also there that I met Ana and Gabriel, a European artist couple who recently arrived to Wellington. 

And that's what prompted me to prepare dinner for eight this past Thursday.  Ana and Gabriel and their friend joined us, along with some of the neighborhood gang (photos should be up).  The featured menu was carrot soup with matzo balls, spinach salad with balsamic roasted tofu, veggie burgers, and of course, charoset.  I thought this would be a good way for me to have food I could eat during Passover, but I suppose people liked it enough that I've got no food left in my house!  Good thing my Mom is coming this week, because we are going to eat out at lots of restaurants! Woohoo!