My name is Christina, sometimes known as Choey, and I like to blab about the things that make me happy, which is in itself something else that makes me happy. Other things on the happy list include food - specifically baked things, good weeknight meals, and new-to-me ethnic foods; travelling far and wide and close to home; craftiness in many different forms; animals of all shapes and colours, but especially my kitties; and Wellington on a good day.
I'm originally from just outside of Washington D.C., but have been living in Wellington, New Zealand for the past two years and spent a year in Melbourne, Australia before that. Last year I married a Kiwi bloke in hopes that NZ Immigration would allow me to stay, and also because I happen to love the man too. So far my evil plan to infiltrate anitpodean society is working!
What does 'gninword on' mean?
Once upon I time I was 25 and living with my parents to save money before I moved to Australia. My Dad and I were on a bit of a family research kick, having already discovered that our last name is pure Irish and we had just come back from a cycling trip around Ireland. I had been doing a lot of swimming and was planning on doing some ocean swimming races down under (this was before I learned about all the jellyfish and sharks in Australia's waters).
These things might not seem related, but cut to a few months later when I was all settled in the land of kangaroos, and I received yet another email from my parents. This one was from Dad proclaiming that he'd found our family motto - gninword on - which was Celtic. He didn't know what it meant, but we all thought it sounded cool and so the whole family started signing off our emails with it and quoting it to each other on Facebook.
This went on for a few months, and then my sister joined me down in Melbourne in order to balance out the Hoey family's presence in the Southern Hemisphere. One night we were having the obligatory cheeky pint at the pub, and I asked her, "So how did Dad find out about the whole 'gninword on' thing?" She gave me a withering look and said, "You don't know yet?! Christina, read it backwards."
g n i n w o r d o n = n o d r o w n i n g
Now do you see the connection? I'm pretty sure my family have been secretly laughing at me ever since. But I'm ok with that.
