Aum...

The Weekend,
1 - 2 December









At 8:45 in the morning, Liam had a cricket match against Wanaka. Colin had cricket practice during Liam’s game. Doug let me sleep in and carpooled to the cricket events. I was feeling creaky and sore. Strange we slept on all those rock hard beds through Turkey and Greece, but my ribs start to get creaky once we are back sleeping on a regular mattress. Hmm… don’t know.

The middle of the day was a disaster. The boys are sick of shoebox apartment life. The only entertainment they seem able to find at the moment is tormenting one another. I wouldn’t mind so much if they just tormented each other, but they are in the same room with me or very close by so that I have to listen to the endless heckling. Doug and I realize that to get through the close quarters for the next few weeks, we will just have to get out and do anything. The problem is once the boys descend into a funk, we almost have to carry them out the door. Ugh.

I felt relief, tinged with just a tad of guilt, as I headed out to my late afternoon yoga workshop (I was almost running out the door! A little time to meditate, breathe and focus inward… with no whining). While I focused on my breathing, Doug took the boys on a forced outing to explore Queenstown, followed by Fergburgers and a movie. The change of scenery seemed to do all of us loads of good. When they picked me up from yoga three hours later, all of us were smiling and ready to reunite.

Getting to know some yogis here in town is making Queenstown feel one step closer to home. The end of class ritual at Unity Yoga is tea and biscuits. I am not sure if this is a tradition at all studios in New Zealand, but I enjoy the few moments to chat at the end of class as we sip our tea – so friendly and civilized. For US readers, biscuits are cookies.

Sunday, December 2

Liam and Doug are at the NZ Open golf tournament for the day. Colin and I have the day to ourselves. We did the grocery shopping and bought supplies to make Colin’s costume for the Bug Ball on Wednesday. Colin called and invited his school buddy Aurum over to play. We decided today was the perfect day to have a friend to play because Liam is gone. Having playdates is another step towards making Queenstown our home. Because the boys are so close in age, when one of them has a friend to play the other brother always joins the group. Both Liam and Colin cherish the opportunity to have a playdate without their bother’s input. With only one small set of Legos, a backgammon board and a deck of cards for toys in the shoebox apartment, we headed to the park on the lake in the Queenstown Gardens. I am sitting in the shade on a park bench writing this blog entry, listening to the jetboats, and watching the steamboat dock. Tourists stroll past to walk in the gardens. From my bench, if I raise my eyes I am looking straight up at the Skyline Gondola that climbs up the hill behind the boys’ school. The Earnslaw now chugs out of town back across the lake. There are downy drifts of cottonwood several inches deep all around my bench and the playground. They are irresistible. I grabbed big handfuls and tossed them in the air as did Colin and Aurum and about half a dozen other people passing by my bench.

When I picked up Aurum this morning, I chatted for a while with his mom. It is fun to finally get to know some of Colin’s classmates and families. We had what started as a typical introductory conversation. She asked where we were from in the States and I asked how long she’s been in Queenstown. She asked what Doug and I did. I said I was a teacher and Doug was a portfolio manager for an international mutual fund. She was also a teacher, like me, and her husband was a skydiver. Not a plumber, dentist or something of the sort, but a professional skydiver. I told Doug whatever he does for his next career must sound more exciting so that we can fit in here. Everyone we meet seems to have much more exciting occupations. One guy is a pilot, the next is a skydiver and the next has a monster truck business. The education and finance worlds just aren’t sexy enough.

We must be settling in because we did the same thing two weeks in a row, Sunday dinner in Arrowtown. We ate outside and watched two P40 Kitty Hawks doing loop-de-loops over the golf course and town.

P.S. Does anyone want to come and visit? We’ll trade room and board for a night on the town. Doug and I are ready for a date night. Our next goal is to find a babysitter…