Vacation Part 1: Two weeks in New York-New Jersey

Ordinarily, no same person would prefer to stop in Auckland, New Zealand when flying to Newark, New Jersey from Sydney but in our case we did it because the tickets were AU$3000 (that three thousands dollars Australian) less. I think they were so cheap because no one on their right mind would want to do it. It also begs the question of whether we are in our right minds.

Our return trip was even better. Since we were coming from Yellowstone National Park, we started our day with a rushed four-hour drive to Billings and then flights to Denver, then Los Angeles, then Auckland and then Sydney. Yes, four legs on the return trip.

Total travel time Sydney to Newark: 24 hours

Departure: 9:00 am Friday local time

Arrival: 9:00 pm Friday local time

Total travel time Yellowstone to Sydney: 38 hours

Departure: 8:00 am Thursday local time

Arrival: 1:00 pm Saturday local time

The difference is all in the crossing of the International Date Line.

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New Zealand from the air: West coast	New Zealand from the air: East coast
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The Wedding

Mark and Emma have been together for years but it took us moving to Australia for Mark to go and propose to Emma, which he did around Christmastime. The wedding was on Sunday, July 11. The weather was sunny, which meant they could hold the ceremony outside in the garden. The Rabbi said they could use a gazebo instead of a huppa.

It was great to have a chance to see all of our old friends within a few days of arriving in New York. Master Kim and Mrs. Kim were there as well as a whole slew of black belts, many of which never made ii into a photo. I found out afterwards that there were several friends and family of Mark’s who I never said hello to because I was so busy seeing old friends. I apologize now for my rudeness but maybe I can be forgiven.

See also Steve Prue’s photos of the wedding.

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Emma and bridesmaids before the ceremony.

The last mile?	Taking vows

Emma	Mark

Morgan & Steve	Some of the “gang”
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The New York Mets

On the 15^th of July we went to Shea Stadium to catch a Mets game. We started with a tailgate in the parking lot and then saw one of the rare Mets victories against the Philadelphia Phillies. We are all terribly shocked but our beloved Mets have not been doing so well this year. Here’s the box score from the game.

The final score was 3-2 and the success of the game was credited to Ty Wigginton, who has since been traded. And we wonder why they aren’t doing better?

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Mr. Met	Shea Stadium

Tailgating in the parking lot at Shea	… and here is the tailgate

Rednecks
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New Jersey

We stayed in North Caldwell where two of John’s sisters live. Diane and Richard were kind enough to house us for two weeks, putting up with our late night returns home making the dog bark, our sleeping late (later than their teenagers!) and my need to do laundry about every other day.

To show how forgiving family is Diane and Richard even threw a party for us so we could see the whole family. My sister Ann, attended the party, arriving from Rome on the day of the party.

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The two expectant moms	Rita and Paul

Barbecuing	The patio

The patio	The patio

John & Annie	John & Annie

Richard & Katie	Mary & John

Michelle, Grace, Nadine & Jesica	The deck

The goyles	Old man Molesworth
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The Taekwon-Do School

We delayed our flight to Yellowstone by one day which allowed us to be in the school for the July promotion test. We trained in the school several times during our visit to New York and Master Kim took some time out of his day to patiently explain what I was doing wrong with my new pattern. Moral of this story: the book is a bad way to learn a pattern.

When we trained on the school it was located at 50^th and Broadway, at the North end of Times Square. While there is still a school there and the classes are taught by Master Kim’s black belts, Master Kim himself is in his new location on 77^th and Broadway. The new location is a much nicer facility and Master Kim finally has an executive office that is very nice.

After the test there was the traditional pizza and beer, followed by a dinner at Dae Dong, a Korean restaurant. We left Dae Dong for the usual pub on 35^th Street where we stayed far too late and people drank far too much beer.

Matt & Maiko were gracious to allow us use of their couch as our flight to Yellowstone was a 7:30am flight--ugh! We got into bed around 2:00am and had to get up at about 5:00am.

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The old school	The black belts at the exam

John, James and Mark	Laura, John, James and Mark

Marianne, Morgan and Mark	Morgan, Randa, Mark and Marianne

At the dinner afterwards	John and Matt

Dinner progresses	Dinner goes further downhill

The shame of soju
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