Reach out and Skype someone

Tuesday, 13 November
We had our building inspection today. In the States, we have always attended building inspections when we purchased homes. Here we attended the building inspection, but our presence was not routine. I like to attend because I look at the house from another perspective and usually learn practical information, like where the water main valve is located. In the end, our inspection answered most of our questions because we were present and able to ask the inspector. The written documentation and detail of the inspection was not as thorough as we were accustomed to in the States. Though I acknowledge I may be a tad oversensitive, because our buyers in Denver detailed every fault for repair down to loose doorknobs. In our inspection today we didn’t check to see if any appliance, faucets or fixtures was operational. The whole house purchasing process is much more buyer-beware here, which feels unsettling when we are so new to everything. Ultimately, we were satisfied that the house is in great shape with no major problems. Yeah!

Hey friends and family out there reading our blog, are any of you Skype users? If you are, please email us your Skype user name and we can give you a call sometime. If you are not, Doug says, “Get up to speed! Free videoconferencing and 2.7 cents per minute to a NZ land line!” He'll even help you get set up if you ask. We have been videoconferencing with both sets of parents regularly and being able to see each other melts away the miles. Colin shares each book he reads with his grandparents. He shows them pictures and reads aloud to them. Liam shares his Lego creations and all their features. We get to see Jolie, our German Shepherd living with Grams and Grandpop. We miss her desperately and can’t wait for her arrival in February, but seeing her licking Grandpop’s toes under the kitchen table makes her feel much closer. We yell to her and she usually looks behind the laptop.

Even if you don’t talk with us, get Skype to videoconference or call your family and friends overseas. I sound like an advertisement, but Skype has been our connection to our family. It has helped soften the jagged moments of homesickness that all of us feel.

Note: If you have noticed an inconsistency in our blogs with respect to the word Internet, it is a source of difference between Doug and myself. Doug is the editor and site engineer. He often edits my text. If I write internet without capitalization, Doug changes it. Technically I acknowledge he’s correct and MS Word spell check agrees with him too, but I feel my artistic freedom of expression is being squelched. Sometimes I sneak back and edit Doug’s edits. There can be fireworks in a household with two strong personalities …the capitalization of internet is the least of the controversies! We are experiencing a few battles of the wills that may be the result that we are both home more than in the past. As long as we keep our sense of humor, all is fine. Doug remains as always my soulmate and best friend.

Ahhhhh...time for a deep breath

The weekend, 10-11 November
After a whirlwind week of two different schools, two different towns and three different apartments, we were all ready to hang out and chill for a couple of days. The boys did lots of reading. Doug and I are doing research on many fronts - figuring out how to mail gifts back to family in the states, taxes, healthcare, sports teams for the boys, and accommodation options for Christmas and New Year’s celebration. If we aren’t able to move into our new home by Christmas we need to find another place because this apartment is already rented for the end of December and New Year’s eve. We may just take a road trip. I truly don’t know how research was conducted before the Internet. When the DSL modem arrived this weekend, we were finally able to connect to the world from our shoebox apartment.

With an Internet connection, we were able to continue our blog. For me just the act of writing is my connection to family and friends. While the writing isn’t deep, it offers me time to process and reflect a few moments each day. Someday, maybe Liam and Colin will want to look back and retrace our migration path and at least a bare outline will be documented. Liam too is in a writing mood. Almost every day he spends time writing about his travels.

Liam, Colin and I hiked around on Queenstown Hill across the street from our apartment on Saturday afternoon to give Doug some quiet work time. Sunday we all walked around Queenstown Gardens and went out for Mexican food. We discovered that Mexican food is different in New Zealand. Burritos resemble wraps and seem to be deep-fried. Maybe we will open a Cal-Mex or Tex-Mex restaurant…

Queenstown is quite a trip. Even though some might consider it a distant corner of the world, people arrive from everywhere. One morning this week, everyone was speaking Italian. Japanese tourists arrive in town by the busload. Backpackers from Australia, Germany, and the US crash with their packs by the lake. The central streets are bustling and crowded. Sunday night a band played next to the wharf. Young and old sprawled on the lawn soaking up the music and late afternoon sun. The community is a fusion of tourists, seasonal visitors and more permanent residents. I guess it is like most tourist centres. We feel somewhere between tourists and something a little less transient, but not quite locals yet.

The boys even experience this diversity at school. Colin walked out of class with two classmates. Some asked where is was from and Colin replied, “America.”

The little girl quickly added, “Well, I was born in Japan.

“Well, I moved from Brazil,” the little boy responded.

I thought, how ironic, we move to a little town on a small island nation and the Colin has more diversity here than he did in his big city US school.

People don’t just end up here by accident. For us, a vacation grew into a dream that became a reality. I wonder how many others followed this trajectory? All through history, some people have migrated and some have stayed home. I wonder if there are predictive personality characteristics that can identify which people will migrate? I think that my great-grandfather immigrated to the US from Scotland. I wonder what was his impetus? That is one reason that I am documenting this move. Maybe my grandkids or great-grandkids will wonder why on the earth did my grandparents move to NZ? More likely they will never give it a thought.

We take the boys out to see the new neighborhood

Friday, 9 November
While we couldn’t take the boys to see the new house today, we did take them out to see their new neighborhood. The mood was a bit dampened. I brought along some snack bars as an after-school snack. Big mistake! Colin took one bite, and announced, “My mouth feels weird and itchy.” That was the end of that snack. He was miffed because Liam ate an entire bar. Several minutes later Colin announced he felt very sick to his stomach. Whenever one of the boys says he feels sick, Doug and I know from too much experience to take it seriously. Colin walked behind the car with Doug for a while trying to walk off the nauseous feeling to no avail. We had a speedy ride home with all the windows wide open and Colin holding a small ziploc in front of his face. So much for that magical Friday afternoon drive to explore the new neighborhood…you’ll have to wait a few days to hear what Liam and Colin think of their new stomping grounds since our visit was cut short. The good news is that Colin made it all the way back to our apartment before he threw up. We don’t usually get so lucky. I think there must have been a little bit of nuts in the snack bar and Colin’s body had the good sense to get it out of him. All in all, a little vomit is so much better than an anaphylactic seizure. He just skipped dinner and headed to bed. Strange every time I envision some outing in my head, the reality is so different.

The Boys’ Second First Day of School

Thursday, 8 November
Doug and I joked with Liam and Colin that their first day at Queenstown School was their “real” first day. The first day at Wanaka Primary School had just been a practice first day of school. For some reason, the boys seem to have settled into Queenstown more easily. Colin’s teacher has a good understanding of Colin’s needs and is carefully supporting his transition. Colin definitely needs a teacher that he can trust and respect. He seems to have found one.

Liam has two teachers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Liam, being older and more independent, heads off to class on his own. I peek in, trying not to be an American helicopter mom. Getting to know his class and teachers will take a little longer. Liam definitely seems happier in this classroom than he did in Wanaka. He feels like he fits in better with his classmates. I think he had an immediate sense of connection because the class is studying myths and legends. The first morning Liam's morning teacher read a Maori legend about Lake Wakatipu. Strangely, Doug had read the same legend to the boys the night before. Liam has been fascinated with Greek myths and legends for the last couple of months. He feels he can share some of this knowledge and can’t wait to learn about Maori legends with his new class.

Eleanor is back from her honeymoon…

We couldn't believe it. We received an email from Eleanor. Remember Eleanor? Doug and I basically attended her wedding while we were in Lindos. We never thought that her friends munching on gyros in the main square at 4 am would remember our chat and our blog address, let alone pass the info along to Eleanor, but they did.

For those of you who were a bit worried about Eleanor, I know Doug and I were, Eleanor did have a groom and he seems to be a good guy, at least according to Eleanor. His name is Brett. We have seen all of the wedding photos. They are a gorgeous couple and the whole wedding party looked like they had a fabulous time in Lindos. I can confirm that from our terrace they all SOUNDED like they had fun. Eleanor and Brett honeymooned in Turkey, which is an absolutely romantic destination. If Doug and I have a second wedding (together of course), we would consider a honeymoon in Turkey. If we hear from Eleanor and Brett again, and they say it is okay, we will post a picture from their wedding. We didn’t want to post any more personal details than we already have without their permission.

This whole connected world thing amazes me. Doug calls me a Luddite because I complain about all the technology in our lives. But I must admit some things, like connecting with friends and family and wedding parties around the world, are definitely fun.

We, well more accurately Doug, just added some software that tracks how many and from where we get hits on our blog. We were surprised and thrilled to discover readers on four continents. Go figure.

Back and forth over the Crown Range

Friday – Wednesday, November 2-7
The last few days have been a whirlwind of trips back and forth over the Crown Range. Just driving over the range by myself on the other side of the road was an event for me. The road is a narrow mountain pass, just slightly wider than a lane at some points, with winding hairpin turns. The narrow road was a challenge, even without the RVs full of tourists lumbering around the corners in the middle of the road. I see the tourists and hope they aren’t Americans used to driving on the other side of the road, like me. The vistas of mountains and valleys are stunning and keep me distracted, for better or worse. I want to stop around every turn to watch the lambs in the fields. Little packs of lambs leap around in the soft early morning sun. Others are passed out like clumps of bright white wool sunning in the lime green fields. The little lambs seem to sleep with complete abandon and unawareness of the world around them, like passed out puppies.

Sunday, 4 November: we put an offer on house outside of Queenstown. The day was filled with drama and changing expectations. We are certain of the area we want to live. There are two properties of vacant land and a property with a house for sale available. We decided the house was just too expensive for us. We spent several nights thinking about and imagining building our own place. In the end we were to put an offer on the land. Just as we were putting together the land offer, we heard from the house sellers’ agent that the house sellers would entertain a lower bid than we thought. So, we instead put in a bid on the house. The sellers rejected our bid. We then decided to put an offer on the land again and as we were signing the papers for the offer on the land, the house sellers agent called back and accepted our offer. We are thrilled!

We are also all feeling a bit uprooted as we consider moving to another apartment over in Queenstown. While the boys were at school on Monday, Doug and I headed over to Queenstown to visit the two elementary schools and look for another apartment. First, we stopped by St. Joseph’s School. We met the principal. She asked if we were Catholic. I was just about to say no, but Doug, quick on his feet, replied, “I was brought up Catholic.” The principal said that the school role was full. However, open enrollment for the next school year would be on Wednesday. She suggested that in the meantime we should make an appointment to meet with the parish priest. Doug and I continued on to the second school, Queenstown Primary School. I had visited Queenstown Primary School in August 2006, but Doug has never seen it. We look around and introduced ourselves. Unfortunately, the principal was out for the day and I made an appointment to meet with him on Tuesday. We also found an apartment just in time to drive back over the Crown Range to pick the boys up from school in Wanaka by 3 pm.

Tuesday, I again drove over the Crown Range early in the morning, met with the principal of Queenstown Primary School and enrolled the boys. They will start school in Queenstown on Thursday. I dropped some belongings in our new Queenstown apartment and then drove back to Wanaka to get Doug and pick up the boys from their last day at Wanaka Primary. While I was in Queenstown, Doug packed up our Wanaka apartment. Liam and Colin found Cameron after school and said good-bye. I promised Liam and Colin that we would come back over to visit Cameron and I would take all three of them to Stuart Landsborough’s Puzzling World. All four of us drove one more time over the Crown Range, my third time over the pass of the day.

Our new Queenstown apartment was absolutely horrible. The place was bitter cold. Paint was peeling off the ceiling and walls, one toilet didn’t work, and everything was filthy, really filthy. Doug and I couldn’t believe we hadn’t noticed these obvious details when we viewed the property. We just made sure it had enough room to sleep. I guess we figured we were paying enough that the place should have met some basic standards. Wrong. We moved out first thing in the Wednesday morning. Then, we had nowhere to stay. We decided if worse came to worse, we would rent a hotel room or two for a few days. Rentals for seven weeks are hard to come by in Queenstown. We could find lots of rentals for six to nine months and there were holiday homes rented at exorbitantly high rates by the night, but nothing available for the in between time frame we need. We are also trying to rent during the 100th anniversary of the NZ Open Golf Tournament which was to take place in Queenstown for the first time. We had planned to spend the day exploring Queenstown with Liam and Colin. Instead, we spent hours looking up rental apartments on the laptop at an internet café, making calls, and waiting to hear back. Finally in the mid-afternoon we found a place that did meet some basic standards – heat and somewhat clean. The apartment is like a shoebox on terrace down a steep hill with four rooms, one room on each level. The top floor is a loft, the entrance level is the kitchen living room, the next level down is our bedroom and bath and the bottom level is the boys’ bed and bath that also open to the outside, just further down the hill. There is almost no storage space, about two drawers per person and two small closets. Luckily we don’t have much to store at this point.

I did break down and buy some shoes and several sweaters. I had hiking shoes and sandals. It is too cold for sandals, but I needed something besides hiking shoes. Shoes, I discovered, are expensive here and they seem to all come in wide widths.

The views are like having IMAX screens for windows. Every room of our shoebox apartment looks out to panoramic lake and mountain vistas. The mountains loom across Lake Wakatipu. The peaks are still tipped in white. The upper slopes, that have just lost the snowy cover, are brown. The lower slopes ring the lake in green. On calm days we can see their wavering reflections on the lake’s glassy surface. We watch the steamship TSS Earnslaw cruise back and forth from Queenstown to the farm on the far side of the lake. From our perch above Queenstown, we have learned why Queenstown is the Adventure Capital of the World. Yellow jet boats whip tourists around the lake. Schools of sunfish sailboats tack back and forth below us. The Americas Cup boat preens by with its fancy sails. Helicopters buzz past. Paragliders spiral into town. Kayakers paddle out to play. We are at the bend in the lake facing north and can look west and east. We watch the weather and storms pass along the lake. The wind can blow. Our whole apartment seems to stand broadside to the prevailing winds. It shutters and creaks in the gusts.

The real adjustment was Liam and Colin having to start at a second school. They completed exactly one week of school in Wanaka. How I wish we had waited one more week to enroll them and thus avoided yet another transition. Oh well. Doug and I debated this decision. We know now that we will settle in Queenstown, even if this house deal falls apart. We decided Queenstown will have more work opportunities. And, as we spend more time in Queenstown, we’ve found areas where both of us can picture living. We thought about staying in Wanaka and letting the boys finish the school year, which is only about six more weeks. But the whole reason for having the boys start school was to make connections and friends in our new home. We will move into our new house in Queenstown over summer break and if the boys start school in Queenstown they will know some friends in the area before summer break begins. In either case, the boys will have to switch schools, now or after summer break in February. In the end, we decided that settling in Queenstown as soon as possible would be the best for all of us despite having to switch schools. We might as well get as many transitions over with as soon as possible, because there are many of them and they aren’t going away.

I really appreciate the time and efforts the Queenstown principal, staff and teachers took to make us, especially Liam and Colin, feel welcome. The boys’ teachers have been sensitive to the challenges the boys are encountering. We feel very fortunate they are in such welcoming and nurturing classrooms to start their time at Queenstown School. Colin and Liam continue to amaze me with their composure, openness and willingness to try new things. Literally being the new kids on the block is hard once let alone twice. Finding their place in their new world, new school and among their new peers will take time and is not easy. Doug and I hope that in the end it will make the boys stronger and more resilient. As a mom, I worry about all the transition they are going through each day.

Here are some pictures around Queenstown, many taken from our shoebox apartment.

Liam's Traveling Journal

Liam here. I got my journal on the Easter of 2007. I journaled in it as we travelled. Sometimes I did not write about where we were. These are pictures of the pages in my journal. The picture on the front of my journal was taken in New Zealand. It is most of my writing from the trip.