Winter returns!

August 22, 2002 (my birthday!)
I went to the local triathlon team swim practice this morning. The coach is Rolie and he was very welcoming. And I'm not too slow for the group so that was a relief.

I took the bus into town again and went to the immigratio office where they instantly gave me my permanent resident status!! So I'm officially legal here to work and to stay as long as I want to!

Oh my, that weekend weather was just a little trick to lull me into thinking it's not so bad to go from California August summer to Kiwi winter. First you have to know that this house has no furnace and probably no insulation. It does have a wood burning stove in the kitchen and a gas heater in the living room, neither of which are to be left going during the night.

It was 1C outside when I woke up this morning and probably about the same temperature in my bedroom - no wind chill though (that's the silver lining part I think). I managed to get out of bed and dressed without freezing solid and made some hot oatmeal - that was stone cold before I finished it. I turned on the gas heater and sat in front of it to try to get warm but it's pretty wimpy and quits if you try to put it on high.

I met this morning with Tony, the head of the CRO I'm going to be working for. Nice guy, married with 4 kids, 2 of whom are at a tennis tournament in LA right now. He's a mountain biker and races. While we were meeting at a coffee house, my parents and my brother Gavin called from Schade Island, Georgian Bay, Canada and they all sang happy birthday to me!

I built a little fire in the stove but it didn't seem to heat up the kitchen so I went to bed early. Forgot to open my birthday present from my sister! Well I can do that tomorrow, when it's my birthday in California!