Momo and Beaz Down Under

The habour bridge in Sydney
Laurie really got into the posing like statues

in the Botanic Gardens

The opera house
Biking around Sydney, and the Oprah set

in the background. Laurie was super excited about Oprah
At the Jack Johnson concert
Exploring the Australian bush, Three Sisters in background
Mom embracing hiking in the Aussie bush

Kayaking in Sydney
Beachbound in Sydney
Mom frolicking with sheep. This never gets old

Beach strolling and more rock collecting on

the Kapiti Coast, NZ
Sunset in Martinborough
The river we were supposed to canoe down

but the rain made the level too dangerous.

Laurie put those stripes on of her own volition...

Mom double-fisting in Lake Ferry,

vacation location to the stars (and us)
Spent about 2 hours watching these guys

They do not smell good
We were so inspired that we took posing

like statues to a whole new level. Note seal

in background that we are trying to embody
Mom loves rocks, she found some

green ones on this beach

Finally found some unpenned sheep!!!
The NZed Christmas Tree, the pohutakawa

and Merry Xmas to me with a shopping day with Mom
Learning all about sheep shearing at the Wool Shed
Mom getting a taste of Wellington wind,

skirts worn at your own risk
Ahhh Wellington, finally a visitor that

I can share all of the wonders of it with
Xmas present exchange - learning Italian (thanks Ulix!)
Mom got a new umbrella, I think all the

rain got to her and she became obsessed with this

umbrella, so I made her dreams come true and got it for her
Finally got a greenstone, thanks Mom! This one signifies

safe travel over water - I'm gonna need it
And Laurie got a greenstone too, three stones (her fav)!
Laurie crossing over from the Old World to the New,

in the Wellington Botanic Gardens. She tried to come

back through and I made her go back so she could stay

in the New World (ultimately I may be to blame for her travel

delay getting home)

Laurie's visit was a whirlwind. First, I'm not sure how many of you (almost 30somethings) have spent two uninterrupted weeks with your parents recently, but add to that dynamic visiting two countries and the holidays and lets just say it was full of a lot of unexpected surprises, most namely how much we learned about each other. Here's a few highlights from our Mother/Daughter Down Under adventure below:

-Weather: I knew that before we arrived in Sydney they had had torrential rains and flooding, so I was hopeful that they would clear before our arrival. The day before Laurie arrived, I read the weather report in Sydney and it predicted rain for everyday that we were there (damn Australians) and then low and behold it was sunny and hot and perfect everyday we were there (sneaky Australians). Well those Aussies are clever, I'll give them that, trying to garner my Mom's favor by having better weather than NZed. My one visitor to come in actual summer, and we arrived in New Zealand to torrential rain and wind for approx 6 days straight. I kept saying, "It was so hot and sunny in November"....I'm pretty sure this wasn't helping. Well Santa trumped the Aussies and brought NZed some sun and warmth for the last four days of my Mom's visit - so there

-Activities: As I had mentioned in my previous post, Laurie had put in a request for a lot of hiking, biking, kayaking - and I aim to please so that was all on the agenda. I think Laurie still fancies herself a 17 year old boy, and it was quickly apparent that the aggressive activity schedule I had planned might be a bit much, especially combined with jetlag. Here's a few of our activity highlights:

-In Sydney, we took a bike tour with a company that Patty and Mike had recommended from their honeymoon. It's basically one older dude who's just getting started - he also aims to please = perfect combo. Laurie and I share a love of mornings, and we requested an early morning bike tour for 2 hours instead of the sunset or the full day (4 hours), and he obliged and met us at 8am with shiny neon green helmets awaiting us. About an hour and a half in, we had only gone a bit around the Rocks, and over the Harbour Bridge and I nudged Laurie and said, "If you really only want this to be two hours you're going to have to say something to him". Ended up, Laurie and I were on those bikes for 8 hours and saw basically all of Sydney, including a coffee break in Hyde Park, seafood kabobs at the fish market, and even a photo with the Oprah set (gasp). Needless to say, this tour ended with Laurie in bed for a nap, which she quickly had to rouse herself from.....We found out on the bike tour that Jack Johnson was playing a concert in one of the parks that night but tickets were hard to come by, well good ol Graeme our bike tour guru scoured us tix. Should be said that Laurie once told me that a great Mother's Day gift would be for us to see Jack Johnson together - well Mother's Day came early this year. The concert was culminated with a pedicab home, that I got the number of the guy while passing him on the street earlier in the day to see if he would pick us up after the concert. Oh how I love pedicabs...While we were zooming home in style, the rest of the concert dwellers were queued up for a taxi for forever

-Hiking: The Blue Mountains are only 2 hours from Sydney via train and you immediately feel a world away. The bush is much different than that in NZed and we went on what we thought was a nice little 50 min jaunt through waterfalls and awesome views, which actually became us lost and about 2 hours of a lot of hills = Laurie ready for our jaunt to be finished. Funny how the Aussie version of hiking times is actually doubled where NZed is halved.

-Kayaking/canoeing: We kayaked in Sydney, well mostly floated and discussed online dating with a bit of paddling here and there. I had planned a whole canoeing trip for us on the Wanganui River in NZed, where you go up and stay at a lodge that is only accessible by the river and then canoe back out. The rain was against us and the river levels too high, so instead we stayed at a romantic riverside lodge, complete with peacocks, emus, turkeys, and white stallions, played some weird marble board game that we both were skeptical of, and motorboated our way out.

Two weeks together and traveling teaches you a lot and I feel really grateful for having this opportunity while we're both still reasonably young. My Mom's visit also heralded a few new things for me -

-Finding unpenned sheep - finally!!!! And of all places they were roaming on a golf course on a lonely beach in Cape Palliser. I tried to chase them down, but sheep are quicker than you think. I did get a few unadulterated frolicks in with them though with Laurie as my very willing photographer.

-Australia - I was so ready to hate on it, but really Sydney was spectacular, both my Mom and I thought so. Maybe it was actually being in a big city again, or the number of parks, or things to do, but in a way it reminded me of being in cities (maybe NY or SF) back home. The habour is also especially awesome and the proximity of things to do and public transportation is a winning combo. I'm sorry I judged you Australia, and thanks for rolling out the red carpet for Laurie and I. I definitely want to come back, maybe for my Mom's wedding to a hot Australian

-Laurie and I while a lot alike in some ways (we love mornings, and going to bed early, and trying to tackle 8 million things in one day) we have developed a few different interests. For example, I took Laurie wine tasting to a vineyard in Martinborough and afterwards she said, "I don't really get wine tasting. It just seems like shooting the s$%^". Let's just agree to disagree on this one

-Getting reacquainted - As I mentioned I haven't lived near my Mom for over ten years and most of our time together has either been at her home base in the Roc or in SD where we used to live. I had a picture in my mind of my Mother from my childhood as I'm sure my Mom also had a picture in her head of me of some sort. It was good for us both to realize the evolution that our lives have taken and the new people we've become. For example, my Mom really knows what she likes at this point and doesn't feel the need to necessarily push the limits on certain things - ie. she is adamant about not rock climbing or scuba diving, but please bring on the kayaking and biking. Whereas I am trying to check as much off as possible

-Accommodation - One thing I've always known and loved about my Mom is her willingness for new adventures and meeting new people (see above and below, to a point!) so I figured since I am broke that I would have us stay at backpacker accommodations but obvi with our own room. I was unsure how this would go, but Laurie really took to it for the most part, other than in one place where our room had no windows and the claustraphopia started to set in. And for my part, especially in Australia we could have chosen some better places. In the Blue Mountains, I'm pretty sure many people have been murdered in the place we stayed and there was a painting in our room of a woman whose nipples had been burned off - questionable to say the least. Laurie grinned through it all and in Sydney we stayed at a place right on the beach with free boogie boards (Laurie's excitement about this was huge) and bikes. Laurie really embraced the backpacker culture by offering another woman (age 70) some of our extra food. However, Laurie felt the need to clean the kitchen to Laurie standards even though I kept telling her that it was communal and we only needed to clean up after ourselves = Laurie probably the best backpacker a lodge could find.

-Curiosity - I think my Mom should have been an explorer. She is probably the most curios person that I have ever met concerning facts, natural surroundings, people, the weather, my choice in clothing, you name it. One of my favorite illustrations of this was her ripping the leaves off a tree that she especially liked the flowers on so that she could show someone (a random botantist that we would run into?) the leaves and inquire about the tree species. This had a non-botanist end in the Sydney airport when I informed her that biosecure NZed would not appreciate her curiosity and import of foreign Aussie leaves. I also left her on her own in a little beachside town near Wellington while I worked one day and she managed to discover two Maori artisan galleries (that I never new existed) and learn more about Maori culture than the rest of my visitors combined. Yet another example, when we were taking a casual picnic down at a seal colony beach, I literally had to tear her away from the seals, she could have stayed there for hours watching each of their little personalities and smelling their awfulness

Trooperness - Laurie arrived after a 25 hour plane ride to my aggressive itinerary and criticalness (yes I need to work on this) and soon developed a cold. She was a major trooper, never complaining even though she was up coughing all night some nights, and grinding through my aggressive itinerary without a complaint. Her stamina and good will is something I will aspire to especially at her advanced (but not that advanced!) age. I have only ever seen this kind of trooperish behaviour in one other person - Laura Jack in Italy, but LJ is 30 years younger so Laurie still gets extra points in my book. She was cured by NZ (so there Aus) and even kept up her spirits/stamina on a rerouted/delayed trip back to the US. You're my health/attitude hero Laurie!!

-Meeting new peeps - It's always easier to meet people when you have a buddy rather than just by yourself, but Laurie has a special magnetism for meeting new peeps. We were at a bar in Dee Why (near Manly in Sydney, and yes that's how it's spelled for some reason) and I left her alone at a table for all of two minutes while I got us drinks and she was already chatting away with a gentleman (conveniently quite attractive) and even getting folks to comment on how much they liked her accent. Needless to say this encounter cemented Dee Why in my Mom's list of favorites of the trip to the point where she was taking photographs of any sign (and I mean any, like a hardware store) that said Dee Why. Or in Paekakariki Laurie was collecting business cards left and right from all the people she befriended in a 4 hour stretch of alone time. This may come full circle one day, we will see....

-Eating - In Australia we sampled the kangaroo (oddly delicious), the local fish the barramundi, and had true British scones and creme in the blue mountains. I've never been a real carb eater for breakfast and never really fancied scones, but these changed my mind. I not only felt so refined eating them, but they were filling. In NZed, we cooked a Xmas dinner of Cioppino (shoutout to Italy) for Alice's family and cranberry spinach salad (our whole meal was red and green) and cherry and apple crumble. I think this might be a new Xmas cooking tradition for us. We had Vietnamese dinner one night and Kiwi whitefish and scallops the next. We also did real well at packing in our consumption of cheese and chocolates (even visiting a chocolate factory where Laurie bought 1o bars to bring home at 11 dollars each, that's Schocingly good chocolate).

-Shopping - My Mom has always frowned on my love of shopping and even inquired as to whether I use it as a crutch when having a bad day. Now I have sadly (but successfully) given up shopping this year due to my meager stipend. I was completely shocked that of all my visitors my Mom came with a shopping agenda and even I couldn't hold her back. From an opal ring at a shop with cages and security in Sydney to chocolates and soaps and umbrellas and greenstone. Add to that all of the rocks she was "shopping" for on every beach and riverbed we came across. On her last day she told me I needed to bring a box to her hotel so she could ship stuff back to herself (this was avoided). However, I was also the willing recipient of my Mom's shopping binge where she wanted to take me to buy work clothes (since those didn't quite make it to NZed and since I'm not coming home I'm going to need something to wear in Italy). One thing I think my Mom underestimated was the price of clothing here, so sticker shock set in real quick but I made it out with probably the best pair of pants I've ever owned. Laurie's shopping was not quite complete as she really wanted to take home a beach towel, but we didn't manage to find a perfect one. Yes she lives in Rochester

I promised my sister that I would record some of the all time greats of Laurie sayings over the two weeks and here's a few that really made me laugh:

Me- Aren't you going to be hot wearing pants?

Mom - No, because I'm going to wear a shirt

Cabbie - What hotel are you going to?

Mom - Rochester, NY

Mom - Cambodia's economy must be doing pretty well cause there are a lot of Cambodians here.

Me - Oh how can you tell they're Cambodian?

Mom - I just can

Mom - We (referring to her and I talking to hot dude in Dee Why) just met in Sydney

Me - Well we didn't just meet, we've known each other for a bit

And probably my favorite part of my Mom's visit was having a visitor who had the time to just take in my real life here - meeting my advisors, and my host family, and Alice's parents, and seeing my office, touring Wellington, grocery shopping and making dinners at home. I've really enjoyed touring the country with my other visitors, but there is something also nice about just getting to show my Mom (especially) where I've called home this last year and the people that have been a part of my life and my NZed family.

Thanks Momo for our Down Under Adventure!!! It was truly amazing and interesting and intense and different (four of my Mom's favorite words) all at once. I loved every moment of it. And I can't wait till our next adventure somewhere awesome

100 days of Beall NZed style -

The simplicity of life - on my Mom's visit we really got to just embrace the nuance of what makes New Zealand awesome. Easy days with nice people, cooking meals and strolling in beautiful scenery, and you know learning about sheep shearing

Going to the beach on Xmas - After my Mom departed, I had Xmas brunch with my flatmates family, and then took myself to the beach. As I stated in a previous post, I've never been a humongous fan of Xmas, but I could really get behind it with adding the beach in

Variability of weather - some people love the seasons like my Mom. I happen to love sun and warmth more than cold other than when I'm skiing or a big snowstorm for about one day, but one thing I do really appreciate in New Zealand and especially Wellington is that you can easily experience four seasons in one day and no matter the weather report the weather can change in an instant (something about it being an island and Antarctica's proximity). This really makes you appreciate the sunny/beautiful times and take full advantage, and then you can get back to work on those rainy/dreary days

Being able to get lost in the bush on a run ten minutes from my house and come out on a beach, and at the same time live in the capital city which is totally walkable

That you can never actually get lost in NZ for more than 30 min. For one, everything is really well signed to the point of "Historic place 300 meters" and for two, the roads that there are all lead to where you want to go

The mix of the metric system and our system - I had to work in the metric system for my previous job but I never fully understood it and frankly it always intimidated me. Now I realize that it makes way more sense, I mean 100k is so much easier to calculate than 60 miles. NZed has really facilitated this unintimidating learning curve for me by combining the two. Even baking in the metric system has lost its fear factor, oh you want me to weigh that butter? I'll just eye it.

The Beginning of the End

Final Presentations and Thanksgiving dinner

at the U.S. Ambassador's
The honeymooners in Wellington, from my deck!!!
The honeymoon suite
So I stupidly bought a car so that I could sleep in the back of it

and yet I never had. Decided it was a good idea to check that off

the list the night before running a 30k. Another brilliant idea by me

Now having done it, I never feel the need to do it again

Part of the reason I signed up for the 30k

was the amazing course/lands that it went over
Including through the largest Gannet colony

IN THE WORLD (use your NZed voice)

Don't I look so happy to be scaling a huge

mountain in the midst of a 30k? Not sure

which kilometer this is at, but its got to be early

One of the many river crossings, my jet propulsion shoes

have now also become river fording shoes

That's right, 30k done and done

Took myself to the beach after to try

and mend/rest my seriously aching body

It's true, my Fulbright time has ended. I am now officially a Fulbright alumnus. I knew this when at the end of the Fulbright Director's speech at our final presentations she asked us to remember to give generously and often....to Fulbright. Can you believe it has been 10 months?? I'm going to just put it out there that it's a fact that time moves faster in the future. My Final Presentation went well and as expected they cared more about our life experience. I made a little video to push mine over the edge and yes I did manage to fit in all of the pictures of me posing like statues/monuments/animals. I'm not sure Fulbright was impressed, they may actually just think I'm demented. However, another girl's whole presentation was of pictures of sheep - no joke. Fulbright was angry that she was "reinforcing stereotypes".

So I can never be a Fulbrighter again unless I become a Senior Scholar (which frankly for this sweet deal, I might just do), but the only that's really different is 1) the sweet sweet deal of you paying for me to live here has sadly ended, 2)I'm now allowed to work (max 20 hours a week), 3) I can get arrested and make US slurs without getting sent home (not that I would!). I still have the Masters to complete and working isn't going to make that any easier or make my overall tasks any lighter.

So since the Fulbright has ended, what am I doing to fill my days you may ask?? Here's a brief synopsis and no promises that any post from here on our will have any coherence or themes, you're lucky I'm keeping up this effort in cultural exchange now that I'm officially off the US representative hook -

-Hanging with friends from back home - My friends Patty and Mike came through Wellington on their honeymoon and honored me by including me in one night of their adventure. I'm getting spoiled with visitors now. Thanks for visiting Patty and Mike!

-Earning my own living again: since you've cut me off I've had to go back to providing for myself. I'm working at a consulting firm here in Wellington (also with an office in DC) on economics and finance consulting. Now you may wonder what qualifies me to do this....not much. Right now I am working on a project in the telecommunications sector in Kiribati. Let me just state again how awesome it was when you were paying me to live here

-Completing the pre-job requirements for working at the UN. Considering that this UN job basically fell into my lap, I was feeling like the whole process was pretty easy. With my offer letter, came a link to a test that I needed to pass in order to begin working for them. The test was basically 2 hours of questions and scenarios about a) how to spot and avoid land mines; b) how to safely disarm a carjacker; c) how to treat a victim of gunfire, and d) how to calm down a mob. I'm sure that all of this knowledge will come in handy while sitting at a desk in Rome. In even more exciting UN preparation, I've had to undergo a series of medical tests in order to receive medical clearance. Among the many items on this form, one category just says, "Genitals" with a box next to it. I'm not sure if this means they just want to ascertain that I do in fact have genitals, or that they are in working order, or what. But just an FYI, you need genitals to work for the UN. I also had to balance on one leg with my eyes closed, get a chest xray, take a color blind test, get my blood tested for every known disease/ailment to man - the nurse started tapping my arm cause the blood stopped flowing, that's how much they took.

-This past week I had to apply for an Australian tourist Visa, a New Zealand work visa and tax ID number, and an Italian diplomatic work visa. My passport is so confused, and I only have three pages left!

-Writing a Masters Thesis in double time. While I don't have to submit my Thesis until July, I need to finish all of the elements with humans (aka, Maori who will not be accessible in Rome) by February and there's a little issue of Jesus's birth getting in my way with people's availability.

-Speaking of Jesus, the fact that it's bright till 9pm and hot everyday is really not convincing me that it is Christmas. Which is fine by me. When Xmas carols play here I can't take them seriously because they just seem out of place. Also Kiwis have rewritten all classic Xmas children's stories to take place in summer. I was reading one in the line at the post office the other day about Rudolf and the barbie, and Santa in jandals (flip-flops).

-Running a 30k. I had been wanting to run a half marathon before I left New Zealand, but had basically put it to the side since I have been a bit busy the last months or so. I found out about this 30k the week before, and decided - well go big or go home, right? And since we know I'm not coming home, I figured going big was the only option. And yes, I managed to somehow survive and it was awesome. The run was in the Hawkes Bay across private lands including a beach run, huge hills, and a river to cross (water at about chest level in parts). The first 20k I was feeling pretty awesome and then at about 24k I made an agreement with my body to just drag me over the finish line in whatever way necessary. The two days following I was basically moving like a 90 year old, not only because I didn't train, but also because for some reason I packed a 10 course meal in my backpack. I'm not sure if I thought I was running for four days or what my thought process was (as usual). The course did require that you carry your own water (of which I ran out) so I did need to have the backpack, but I didn't need to carry two sandwhiches, four granola bars, two oranges, two bananas, and a rain jacket (just in case!). This extra weight really took a toll on my lower back and I ended up eating none of it on the actual run. Next time - those gummy energy things for my pocket

-Preparing for the arrival of another Beall (well not really, she's an imposter, but we'll let her slide with the name since she's been sneaking by with it for 30 years), my dear sweet Mother. On LK's big adventure down under she has requested - kayaking, canoeing, boogie boarding, bike riding, hiking, doing a pub crawl in Sydney. When I was telling a friend about her visit, he said "What is your Mom a seventeen year old boy? She sounds awesome. Let me know when's she's coming to Baltimore so we can hang out". And yes, LK Beall is awesome. In addition to our activities planned, I'm most looking forward to the hilarious questions that she is going to ask me; having a visitor who is totally content to just hang close to Wellington (you know other than her demand to see another country while she's in the region); and how much she is also going to laugh at my jokes, probably even more than my sister. I'm also really looking forward to her giving me some reflexology after that 30k. Can't wait to see you Mom!

-I'm writing this post from Sydney where I'm awaiting LK's arrival. I arrived this morning and realized I was acting/feeling suspicious, critical of the Aussies - testament to how much the Kiwis have influenced me. I've also mostly stayed in my hotel since I need to grind out some work, but when I did venture out I just kept feeling like Sydney is so huge and overwhelming (Sydney has more people than the whole country of NZ) - oh NZed, how am I ever going to live in the real big world again.

I was warned by past Fulbrighters that just when you start to finally feel settled in, your Fulbright is over, and very sadly that is the case. When my sister was visiting I was having trouble distinguishing between what's American and what's Kiwi and where I know things from....

And in 100 days of Beall, NZed addition -

-Flat whites: I resisted purchasing coffee out for a long time since my budget is so meager, and I'm not sure when it happened either with Stephanie or Allison's visit or a combo thereof, but I'm addicted. Whatever makes a flat white special (that it's wetter is the reason given), it is definitely special, way more so than the long black

-Water jugs: Why we boil water on the stove in the US, I can not imagine when there is an invention like the water jug. Boiling water in an electric jug takes about 1/10th the time it takes on the stove and then the water's boiling when you add it to the pot. You'd think with our love of convenience that we would get behind the water jug so I'm not sure what is keeping this item from storming American markets. I seriously considered buying one for every member of my family for Xmas, except that I knew they'd be confused

-Plunger coffee: You noticing a trend here? NZed does not do percolated coffee, so every coffee you drink is plunger style or from a real espresso machine. The plunger goes along with the water jug idea, but again so much simpler and so much tastier than gross percolated coffee

-Work/life balance: In case you hadn't noticed, I've been on holiday quite a bit this year, and yes my case is unique. But even those Kiwis that work full time have a much healthier work schedule, meaning they start at 9 and leave at 5 and there are mandatory 4 weeks holiday for every person, every year - that's the base. And New Zealand seems to be progressing along just fine. I would also reckon that if Americans had a bit more vacation time, maybe they'd venture out a bit more and maybe learn a few things to bring back home (ahem, Fulbright's mission)

-Safety: New Zealand is arguably the safest country in the world. From the fact that there are no natural predators (that's right, no poisonous spiders, no poisonous snakes, no natural mammals (other than a bat)) and the fact that people are really trustworthy. To give you a sense of this, the police don't even carry guns. And if you need more evidence, I lost my wallet twice, and it was returned to me fully intact by random people both times.

-Bus system (caveat: only in Wellington): Now I've always liked taking the bus so maybe I'm a bit biased, but Wellington's bus service is always on time and you can check the status online. It's also cheap (for NZed) and it goes everywhere, even all the suburbs. And my favorite part is when people get off the bus they say, "Thanks Driver" like they've been in a personal limo

-Immigration: In thinking of switching my Visa to a work visa, I was really dreading the whole process. All it took was one form, an offer letter from a company, and a small fee. I got to Immigration at 8:55 when they opened at 9am and I was second in line, my whole Visa process took 15min, where I walked out of immigration with the new visa securely in my passport. I'm sorry that I can not return this favor to NZeders coming to the U.S. But if you're keen to move somewhere international - New Zealand makes it real easy. Also you need a Visa to just visit Australia, NZed requires no tourist visa. Score 1 million for NZ against Aus

A Truly *Unique* Experience

Two weeks of sisterly bonding....
With a touch of competition....

Two Bealls, Two Islands, Two weeks

I've almost caught her....if you can expand this picture, it

is worth it for the intense look of concentration on my face
Barmuda, home sweet home, fav bar in NZed.

No matter the season

The result of visiting 25 wineries in two weeks

4am wake up to fly from Auckland to Queenstown,

arrival at first winery 10:02am

Look at that form!

Notice how I am beating her up the mountain?

Beach time a la San Diego!

Storming the vineyards on bikes, what a duo

Just another awesome day at another

picturesque vineyard

Apologies for the delay, I've been trying to get my chin above water this week, more on that in my next post. Also, just a warning that these next few blogs may be a bit dry, I can't quite muster my normal rip roaring humour with my mind so full

So where to start - Allison's visit was truly an amazing race. Now while I set up our trip on this blog with an Amazing Race mention, I didn't actually think/plan that it would work out that way - but it was full of planning on our feet, arguing over map reading, adventurous pursuits, and lots of competition (sometimes with other people), and even those sisterly bonding moments, you know when they get kicked off, and there are tears, and they talk about how much they learned from each other and the experience - yeah we had those. And the one thing we did not do, which we had actually planned - videotape any of it. So here's a few of the highlights since it won't be making it to network television -

Daring Adventures -Of all my visitors thus far, Allison is by the far the biggest adrenaline junkie of the lot, and definitely came wanting her fix. While not adverse to adrenaline, I don't typically seek it out. Considering it was probably going to be my last visit to the Adventure Capital of the World (Queenstown for the layman) I figured I should get on board. We decided paragliding would be a happy medium of adrenaline pumping, sans bungee (which I refuse to do) experience, but the weather worked against us. Instead we fit in about five more wineries and a little time on the luge...., later in the week we squeezed in whitewater rafting, a waterfall jump, and a jump off the roof of a boat. I think Allison was also helping me get over some of my long held fears, most importantly jumping off high ledges into water. I had sworn never to do this again after cracking a rib after jumping 60 feet or so and landing angled too far backwards - but with Alli Beall's support I did it twice in her two week visit, and I made a bit of progress on another fear - ledges without a railing. Pretty soon I'll also be able to sleep with the lights off

Physical Training - Miss Alli Beall is also the most outdoorsy of my visitors thus far (I'm sure I'm going to hear about this comment now) and we definitely packed in the outdoorsing with two Great Walks, kayaking, ocean swimming, river soaking, Sounds exploring, Hot Water Beach almost soaking, and more. We also crossed off two hikes that I had been wanting to do - the Tongariro Crossing (argued to the be the "best one day hike" in NZed) and the Abel Tasman track which goes along the northern coast of the South island through forest and out into deserted beach coves. Probably one of my favorite parts of the trip, and definitely one of my favorite hikes in NZed. It was like we were on our own little SisterMoon with beaches to ourselves for kilometeres

Wearing a helmet - I'm pretty sure that I have not worn a helmet since I was 15 and I used to hide my helmet in the bushes when we would ride over to boys houses. Well in my sister's two week visit, I managed to squeeze my ginormous head into a helmet three times. Just a little evidence of the extreme sporting activities we were getting into - like the luge

Hot Weather - Like the true California girl that Allison is (my Dad loves to remind us that we're California girls, especially me, as a way to convince me to come home) she brought the sunshine and the beach weather. I had been warned that New Zealand wouldn't get hot until at least mid-December and even though I arrived in summer it was never actually hot enough to go in the ocean or lay on the beach. Literally within one day of Allison landing it was like summer just all of a sudden appeared in full awesomeness, and beach laying in bathing suits and swimming in the ocean became my new reality. Thank you Ulix, for the gift from home!

Competition - So in case you aren't familiar with the Buffalo Bealls, we're sort of a competitive lot, and always think we are right. This doesn't always go well when you combine more than one of us in tight quarters. After a few squabbles with each other (mostly over map reading), we managed to direct our competitive spirits against anyone and everyone else that we came in contact with, including the innocent group on our sea kayaking trip who thought they were out for a leisurely stroll, while Allison and I were paddling to ensure no one would pass us. Or when we were doing the Tongariro Crossing and counted who we beat back to the bus and what the age of said people were. Or when we were finally playing dominoes (an NZed first for me, thanks Allison) on a boat, and Allison kept accusing me of cheating. She also accused me of cheating at cards, citing that our youngest brother and I make up our own rules to card games ....And of course we couldn't leave competition to just innocent bystanders or amongst ourselves on our little holiday, but Allison also wanted to compete with Stephanie on number of wineries visited over a two week trip - and yes she won with a grand total of 25. Needless to say, I probably never need to go to a winery again as I've now been on about 80 tastings over the course of my year here. I also was always happy with a $3 bottle of wine and my visitors and good ol delish NZed wines, have now turned me into a reluctant wine snob

Bargaining - Shortly after Allison landed she asked me if Kiwis bargain, to which I replied, "No, this isn't India". Well I quickly ate my words because through Allison's visit I realized that while Kiwis don't bargain in the traditional sense of the word, if you ask for a discount with a logical argument of why you should get one, Kiwis are so nice that they usually agree. For example, our rental car was supposed to be $55 a day, ended up getting it for $30 a day cause I mentioned I had gotten that rate before = Kiwi bargaining

Eating and drinking - And of course as expected, we had some awesome meals and many bottles of superb wine. Some of the meal highlights included making ourselves a little steak dinner with roasted kumara and sauteed spinach, all for a grand total of about $20, or when we ate so much prosciutto and blue cheese as a snack that we couldn't eat dinner. Or our Thanksgiving dinner at the Ambassador's where we were in pain for a solid 24 hours following. We got so over eager with our wine purchasing, that I ended up with 10 plus bottles as a result of Alli Beall's visit - luckily I have a few more visitors on the horizon so these will not be guzzled alone, don't worry. Thank you Allison for reminding me of our adventures each time I open a bottle.

Networking - Allison is one of the best networkers that I know, and one of the few people I know who actually enjoys it. On our little trip, she managed to get three job offers in NZed and I somehow handed out 8 business cards (while on vacation). I won't attribute this all to Allison's visit, but I will say she's made me look at networking in a whole new light.

Bike riding - Finally!!!! And yes bike riding while wine tasting is awesome, except that you're limited to how many bottles you can fit in your saddlebag, which actually may be a good thing for us.

Night tramping - in an effort to finally get someone to see the glowworms, and while the night tramping part was awesome (including getting lost and Allison slipping in a muddy pit) the glowworms were anti-climatic

Ferry crossing - Finally got a visitor on the ferry from the South to North Island. Cruising on the Interislander...

Still failing at -

-Getting visitors to experience Maori culture. I've realized that unless you shell out some cash, I can't give you a fly by Maori experience. It requires spending more time than an Amazing Race agenda allows. Although on a night out in Taupo, Allison did get hongied by a random Maori dude, cost = free. This may have been the result of my handing my business card out to them prior....Networking = free hongis

-Taking anyone out in Wellington, I mean its hard to leave our flat after being on the road and frankly the view makes you want to just hunker down

And a few things that I realized through Allison's visit:

- Allison noted that I had lost my "baby softness". Now as noted previously my family has always sort of thought I was a weakling or going to cry in the corner at any moment. I'm glad that they can start to see that I will be okay in the big wide world by myself, but I hope I haven't become a total meanie?

-Hills, I guess I'm used to them. Allison has always been the athletic one, but I've now found a sport/activity I could be better at - walking up hills.

-I miss you Allison, Thanks for coming around the world to visit me and for a totally unique two weeks!! And as far as the Amazing Race goes, I'm now sure we could kill it, although I'll be doing the map reading