Just a little sleep, just a tiny bit of food, and a lot of gluhwein...

Traveling anywhere (of a distance) from Doha generally involves an unpleasant wee small hours or red eye flight. Thankfully, for this trip to Berlin we only needed to be out of the house by 5 am: good by traveller's standards. Our day started early, suffered under Qatar Airwarys "5 star" service of food and had us arrived in Berlin in time for the evening Christmas markets tired and very hungry. Spirits were high in many ways soon after, especially when I realised that my sense of direction had clearly disappeared and I had to explain to Teagan why it was exceptionally important that she made sure she was holding on to at least one parent! Ahhhhh, One must love snow, dark, lights, great sausages, and warm citrus/spicy/sweet wine! Germany, we love you!












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Just a little sleep, just a tiny bit of food, and a lot of gluhwein...

Traveling anywhere (of a distance) from Doha generally involves an unpleasant wee small hours or red eye flight. Thankfully, for this trip to Berlin we only needed to be out of the house by 5 am: good by traveller's standards. Our day started early, suffered under Qatar Airwarys "5 star" service of food and had us arrived in Berlin in time for the evening Christmas markets tired and very hungry. Spirits were high in many ways soon after, especially when I realised that my sense of direction had clearly disappeared and I had to explain to Teagan why it was exceptionally important that she made sure she was holding on to at least one parent! Ahhhhh, One must love snow, dark, lights, great sausages, and warm citrus/spicy/sweet wine! Germany, we love you!












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A family gets clothing for NZD100 while those in Dhaka lose their family members...

Here are two news articles.  Oh happy days for those of us who have the "means", we can get cheap clothing and we celebrate it.  Do we report about those who make this clothing?   Yes, the article talks about profit margins being shaved but really, costs will have been shaved - how can it just be margins and tariffs that have reduced prices in spit of inflation over 20 years?

112 killed in fire at Bangladesh garment factory

7:05 AM Monday Nov 26, 2012

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People look at a burnt garment factory outside Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo / AP

At least 112 people were killed in a fire that raced through a multi-story garment factory just outside of Bangladesh's capital, an official said today.

The blaze broke out at the seven-story factory operated by Tazreen Fashions late Saturday. By Sunday morning (local time), firefighters had recovered 100 bodies, fire department Operations Director Maj. Mohammad Mahbub told The Associated Press.

He said another 12 people who had suffered injuries after jumping from the building to escape the fire later died at hospitals. The death toll could rise as the search for victims was continuing, he said.

Local media reported that up to 124 people were killed in the fire. The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear, and authorities have ordered an investigation.

Bangladesh has some 4,000 garment factories, many without proper safety measures. The country annually earns about $20 billion from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.

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Next Article: Actor's bard garb stolen

$100 - All you need to dress a family of four

By Kathryn Powley

5:30 AM Sunday Dec 2, 2012

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Photo / Getty Images

The cost of clothing has hardly budged in the past 20 years - and items can be even cheaper if you're prepared to barter.

We enlisted the help of savvy Auckland shopper Kym Nyhoff. Her mission: to outfit her family of four for less than $100.

What Nyhoff lacked in purse power, she more than compensated with her eye for fashion and the tremendous bargains, sales and discounts on offer in the shops.

Nyhoff visited Farmers, K-Mart, The Warehouse, Amazon Surf and Number One Shoes. If necessary, she thought, she'd get clothes and a pair of Jandals each.

"It was a miracle based on the sales," she said, of the end result. "It's all quite decent stuff, it's close to $180 worth of stuff."

Nyhoff's favourite purchase was her $25 pair of high-heeled wedges from The Warehouse. Even their full price of $39 would be a bargain.

"The shoes took a quarter of it. The reason for that is that, well I wanted a decent pair of shoes, but also my dress was only $12.

But she wouldn't be wearing them today had she not been bold enough to ask for a discount at another store.

Her wallet held just $35 and she still had to get footwear for herself and husband Andrew Nyhoff, a secondary school teacher. A nice pair of Jandals at Amazon Surf for Andrew was on sale from $28 down to $15, but even at that price, she'd have had to return hers.

"It was sweet-talking. I said [to Amazon], 'I've only got $10, what can you do'?" The shop knocked $5 off the sale price, and she got both pairs.

Daughter Saskia, 6, and son Luke, 3, ended up with good quality outfits.

Retailers' Association chief executive John Albertson said Nyhoff's experience reflected a hugely competitive marketplace in which retailers were shaving their profit margins. "Going back a few years ago a speciality retailer's profit would have been about 8 per cent; today it's probably about 3 per cent. There's a lot of risk for not a lot of return."

The Consumer Price Index shows the price of men's and women's clothing has hardly changed since the late 1980s.

Statistics New Zealand said prices were kept down by cuts in import tariffs for clothing and the 1992 removal of import quotas, allowing anybody to import clothing. In 1987 some clothing attracted a 65 per cent tariff; by 1991 the tariff had fallen to 40 per cent for all items, and by 1999 it was down to 19 per cent, and now clothing imported into New Zealand attracted a 10 per cent tariff.

kathryn.powley@hos.co.nz

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Will the parcel arrive?

To the best of my ability, I have planned, documented and pre-paid much of our Christmas European circle trip.  The only detail left to deal with is pre-reserved passes for Anne Frank house in Amsterdam.
However, I am not sure if our clothing situation will work out so well this year!

Both Ross and I have really good winter clothing dealing superbly to frigid European winters.  Unfortunately, Teagan has put a "spanner in the works" for me this year.  New snow boots (snoots) purchased in the Bavarian Alps last December fitted nicely in Dunedin and Queenstown five months ago; a test fitting three weeks ago could not force bent toes down into boot.  Fortunately, Landsend.com were having a major sale so I purchased a new set of winter outerwear for the "weed" and in true colours decided to pay for "international priority airmail" saving USD25 on the order (as opposed to a direct courier service).  As time closes in on our departure the test is; will it arrive on time?  Will I ever learn that for some things cost should be secondary especially when the difference is not so large!  Personally, I think not!

United Nations Al Jazi style

At the film festival watching Contiki - roof top theatre

Still asleep on the way down

And still asleep on the way through the market

And absolutely sound asleep on the couch

A recent share on a FB post got me thinking...

A recent share by a certain S.A, got me thinking about "street play".  Whilst living as an expatriate can lead to a drastically different and sheltered life for a child; some of the housing arrangements can link children back to the "good old days".

Teagan plays outside with two "friends" (all seven within a month of each other).  Essentially, they fight, run, create and laugh together until the street lights go on.  Finally, they emerge from their self-created chaos (whoops, I meant fun), and the kid bursts effervescing into my quiet peace.  She is exceptionally resistant to after school activities and is only dragged off to Brownies (which she loves) and dancing (held within our compound all in french).  Any free time outside of these and school is spent being busy.

This weekend, the three managed to construct a submarine, grabbing their younger (note, not elder) street counterparts in awe!

A Kindle for the Kid?

Living in Qatar is not the best locale for avid readers. Ross is a walking, talking library of knowledge and if he had is own way he would spend 24/7 on a comfy chair with a drink, cat and a really good book. Both he and I learned to read quite easily and tend to prefer a book over and above a movie. Naturally, the Kid has similar tendencies and quickly made short work of our children's book collection. Without an appropriate library (suitable for a bookworm) we had to find a solution.
The solution to book access came to us on an expensive plate when we found her reading Ross's Kindle (his copy of Shirley Hughes's, My Naughty Little Sister that he had been reading out loud to her) in the back bedroom. Naturally, as readers ourselves, we jumped on her keenness and within two weeks she was reading from her own Kindle!




So, what is my opinion of the Kindle for a kid? Absolutely fabulous. We made it kid friendly by getting a lighted cover (Amazon) and a cute sticker surround. I have the categories set up as it is easy for her to use: books I am reading, books I have finished, and new "samples" on the home page. Importantly, I have the wireless turned off so that I have no unwanted purchases! I also love that her Audio books are on the same gadget so it all fits into her own little library.
As for the Kindle model; we purchasedthe Kindle touch with WiFi. To reduce the price, I selected the one that comes with adverts and have no problems or annoyances with it (I have a Kindle also), mind you we had to get it via our US address to get the low price.
Overall, the Kindle has been superb for our family situation where we have access to the UK Kindle shop, a careful child, and an avid independent reader. However, I have to say that if we lived back in NZ and we did not travel so much, I seriously doubt she would have one. Our local library would give access to the "real" book and that is all she really needs at the moment.

Location:Meshrif St,Doha,Qatar

I blew out the credit card...

Teagan makes Lamingtons (including the sponge)

For the first time ever, I received a call from my husband - courtesy of his "wife tracker" - and he informed me that there was no money left on the credit card considering he had paid it in full only two weeks ago....WHOOPS!

Guilt did not hit, I had been booking HIS Christmas holiday.  Okay, so you know, really it is Teagan and my holiday but I can let him know that it is his because he is taking time off work.  In short, it took one day for me to book: three return direct airfares Doha to Berlin, three Eurostar seats Brussels to London, and three tickets (including a cabin) on the Dutch Flyer from London to Amsterdam.  To top it off we also have seats to the Prince and the Pauper play in London and Roald Dahl's, Matilda (a new West End show) in London.

The best birthday cake ever

Whilst the whole credit card blow out took some four hours, the planning was fairly detailed over some weeks.  Ross and I decided last year that we needed to visit Berlin at Christmas time and as we have 2.5 weeks off school, a circuit trip was called for.  Unfortunately, we have had to shorten our London component more than we wanted to as we NEED to get through to Mainland Europe before New Year.  Circuit trips are a nice way to travel when there is excellent ground transport.  Many lines offer heafty discounts if you book from 12 to 6 weeks prior to travel.  For example, our Dutch Flyer trip taking the three of us from London's Liverpool train station at 7.32 pm through to Amsterdam via a Stena Line Ferry (in a comfort class full facility cabin including full breakfast) for an arrival in the Hook of Holland at 8.15 am is costing us only GBP 202.50, personally, I think this is great value for train, ferry, hotel and breakfast door to door.  My task now, is to sort out accommodation and travel for the remaining connections.

Afterschool play: yes it is +40 deg C and they have blankets!)

Rather concerningly, the kid appears to have put on a bit more weight over the past few weeks.  Somehow she is now pushing the 18 kg mark.  The significance is such that it is now a push out of "little clothes".  Her delightful hand knits perfect for a european winter are three quarter arm length and her new jeans look only barely decent with her snow boots!  Thankfully, I over estimated her size when  getting bibbed snow overalls in New Zealand this past August and her feet have not decided to increase in length so her "snoots" (snow boots) will manage a third winter (1 x Germany 2011, 1 x NZ July, 1 x Germany 2012).  Methinks I had better increase my knitting speed for a new cardigan!