Nearly lost my back back in plane, someone had replaced it in another rack and when taking it down I hear a 'plop' and discover my car key had fallen from a badly zipped up pocket...!!! How bad was taht I have to be more careful having lost so many things when travelling. I ring Bruce to say I'll go straight to Hotel Amora as the weather is not conducive to strolling around Auckland with no rain-gear. Bruce is as nice as ever and now I am sittling in the airport cafes collecting myself having a hot miso soup ordered with my sushi meal, inadvertently but very welcome indeed... just what I needed to start this wet two days.
Stopping for a hot drink...
Busy in Auckland..
Pristine queen bed.
Arcade like in Singapore, but not the masses of shoppers....
Managed to get a short nap at the Amora where they have given me a large room fit for a few people...the taxi set back BP $95 which was unexpected.The Sikh driver said there was a surcharge from the airport and that I could book a $60 return fare in advance. It sounds like something smelly there and I am sorry I didn't take the free bus which was my first idea until I saw the weather, awful, worse than Wellington! Oh I've learned something there, Auckland is not as honest as Wellington.
Am now sitting in an arcade which smacks of the East before my RV with Pam at the Federal Delicatessen which is apparently the 'in' eating place at the moment in Auckland. Pam, always the slave to fashion, knows about these things and wants me to experience the best that Auckland has to offer. Popped into to BP to announce myself but no-one available, all busy, so I left with a smile to the receptionist Kevin. It is indeed an awful afternoon of cold winds and occasional rain, so I won't be having a late night tonight.
Morning comes after a good sleep. Dinner with Pam last night was excellent with the NY Deli scene being recreated very authentically in Auckland, with all its bad high carb and sugary food unfortunately.
However we both ate well and I just finished off the cheesecake for breakfast! Hotel TV was execrable with the only channel interesting enough to watch being the Maori TV where at least I got some practice listening to Te Reo. Now off ot the Board meeting, at least the weather looks slightly better than yesterday.
At the Board meeting with
Brent's (from Canada) Talk
about MIPA Meaningful Activity...equipping us with the skills to do what we need to have high level placements.
Analysing our partnerhsips with Govt agencies etc
Four types: Networking, Collaborating, Co-operating, .
Membership base 50% in NZ is good, is it representational.
Health Promotional agency, building resilience is of utmost importance.
Mentoring someone to come on to Board, placing people everywhere.
Challenging Stigma, measuring stigma, Enuff Campaign, invest in the survivors, Positive Speakers Bureau, getting into Aged Care facilities, freeing from bias, participatory action,
Indigo Code of Good Practice MIPA
Next Meeting December 13, on Michael's Marae?
Meeting concluded on an interesting note with my wholehearted vote for one of the two candidates being not well accepted by the majority. Especially when I had to disclose my knowledge of the other canditate's leaving his last position at PLWHA in Sydney. I said that for me, his application had a 'fatal flaw', an expression which the BP President used when asking our input. The only reason the other candidate was not being properly considered I felt, was that he was straight and not hiv Poz. This however, was not a platform on which we were to base our decisions and I said as much. Anyway the decision will be made tomorrow, and there may be a re-advertising of the post if an agreement cannot be made. My belief is they will never get another Bruce, nor do they want one, but they need someone who will take BP to the next level and in a somewhat different direction, which I believe the second candidate would handsomely provide.
Michael, my Maori Board member friend from Auckland, kindly offered me a lift to the airport whch I accepted after realising my RV with Robyn would be short and sweet. We arranged to meet at the Cafe Dizengoff on Ponsonby where we had a coffee and lovely macaron with a nice catch-up chat after many years of absent friendship, and also the death of her Mum Mollie in the meantime.
This was a nice end to an eventful Board meeting and fittingly ended by a gesture of kindness by one man to another. Good flight home to a moonlit Oriental Bay that only poets could write about.
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