A Cuppa and a Tim Tam?

What a busy week in my little research world!  I'm making progress with my literature review (finally!) and I worked a wee bit on the manuscript that I hope to get published.   Over at MInT, I've been busy listening to 250+ audio files, identifying the interviewer, and plugging the interviewer code into an Excel file.

We've officially received a smidge over 900 surveys from our "Lifestyle, Eating Habits and Your Wellbeing" study. This means that I've written down the ID number from every survey received and plugged the return date into an Excel file.  This is what my high-tech tracking system looks like (I highlight the ID numbers as soon as I enter them):

A number of the participants in our survey have shown us their humorous side.  One woman noted that her next address change will be the cemetery, another said she's not leaving "Quake-y Town" (Christchurch) anytime soon, and another had this funny comment:

We attached a complimentary tea bag to each survey and suggested that they make themselves a cup of tea halfway through completing the survey.  This woman's comment "and a tim tam"is funny because it's a type of chocolate cookie.  

Periodically, we get a thoughtful comment like this:

I love that women take a moment to tell us they appreciate our work.  Ladies, the feeling is mutual!

Guest Post for Expat Edna's Blog

Edna contacted me to write a guest post for the "I Love My Neighborhood" series on her Expat Edna blog.  I was nervous writing for someone else's blog, but I'm thrilled that I get to share my love of New Zealand with a wider audience.

Here's the link.  Enjoy!

The $16.50 Pizza

Today, I was invited to a tea for two ladies leaving MInT.  We were all asked to bring a plate and normally I would look forward to finding a new recipe to test, but without a proper kitchen and ingredients (sorry, New Zealand, things just aren't the same) I didn't want to come up with another failure (refer to the breakfast pizza incident for more information).  So, I decided to stop at Poppa's Pizza to pick up something delicious (it always smells SO good when I walk by!).

I went for the vegetarian pizza because it had corn and pineapple on it.  When have you ever seen that combo (plus peppers, mushrooms, olives, onion and tomato) on a pizza?!  I was taken aback by the cost, however.  $16.50 for something no bigger than 8" in diameter.  For real. (You can see the A4 size paper on the wall in the lower right corner for reference: I bought the regular size.)  So, family and friends, I'm not kidding when I tell you that New Zealand is expensive!  The pizza did not disappoint and that's all that matters.  If you're in Dunedin, go to Poppa's Pizza now!

Down by the (Curio) Bay

Yesterday, I went on a little day trip to Curio Bay with Geoff, Bryce, Emmet and Kate.  It was great to get out of Dunedin for a little while to explore New Zealand some more.  We rented a car and I was the designated driver.  Things went pretty well with Kate as my co-pilot.

We stopped for a second to stretch our legs, take a break from playing 20 Questions, and take a picture of this rainbow:

Our first stop was the Jurassic fossil forest.  At low tide we saw the stone remains of tree stumps and logs.

After all that fresh air, we needed a tea/coffee break.  The place we stopped at just happened to be near Niagraa Falls!

Turns out, it was nothing more than a bump in the water.  It was given the name by a surveyor with a sense of humor.

Next up, a pit stop at Nugget Point.  I really enjoyed the short walk to the lighthouse.

Today, we took another trip, but headed to the peninsula this time.  Our final destination was the Royal Albatross Centre.  It wasn't windy enough for them to be out and about.

I had one minor goof-up with my driving today.  We made a wrong turn, so I pulled over to turn around and my brain didn't process the change in direction very well - I ended up on the right hand side of the road and a car was headed straight for us.  No big deal to move over, though!  The second driving "uh oh" moment occurred when we took the wrong road to the albatross colony.  The roads here are half the size of roads in the U.S. and on one side of the road was a cliff and on the other was the side of a hill - not much room to maneuver! We had to use team work to get the car turned around - my 3-point turn turned into a 12-point turn because I was SO nervous that I'd drive us over the cliff, even with Geoff out of the car directing me!  Despite a few hiccups today, I'm feeling much more confident with my driving. Yay!

Do I see a New Zealand driver license in my future? Stay tuned!