When we first moved from Petaluma to Binghamton we tried to post our thoughts about the differences, both positive and negative, about the experience before we lost sight of them in the daily routine (ie. became assimilated). Due mostly to my own state of mind at that point I regrettably focused too much on the negatives, so I'll try to balance that out a bit now with some negatives about our recent move to the South Pacific.
For starters, the moon is upside down! Last night on our drive home from Island Bay we caught a gorgeous view of the moon rising over the hills and shining full over the Cook Strait. It was enormous, beautiful and as I mentioned, upside-down. Very uncanny, and sadly supportive of Mark!'s theory that we are walking around upside-down.
Secondly, gasoline (aka "petrol") is ridiculously expensive, upwards of $7 a gallon if I understand the conversion correctly. I can recall paying less than a dollar a gallon when I was in college, especially on tours of the South, but I'd have to guess it was never that affordable here. On the bright side prices are fixed by the government so you don't have to wonder if the guy across the street is going to take less of your money - it's the same price everywhere. Too many years of comparison shopping still makes me look and see if they're following the rules though.
Third, modern communications like cell phones and the internet are very expensive too, and loaded with strange rules about usage. For example, if you call a cell phone from a land line the land line is charged for the call (although come to think of it, that would keep all the telemarketers away wouldn't it.) Internet usage is limited to download and upload amounts per month, once you exceed those numbers your connection changes to dial-up speed. Between the two (and the fact that the two cell providers, Telecomm and Vodafone both have their own music services and refuse to negotiate with iTunes) I don't think we have a chance of using our iPhones as intended again, at least not here in Oceania.
Fourth (and this one's just for you, Dan) the sports section of the paper is just called 'Sport', like there's only one. Sometimes it seems like there really is only one and it's called rugby (which I've found is enjoyable to watch in a "Can you believe he got up after that? And there's no protective gear??" kind of way) but there really are more and it's just misleading.
There are some other obvious ones (like going from our quiet cul-de-sac in Endicott to the heart of downtown Wellington) but I'll try to save some for future "What's Different" posts. Keep your eye on that moon, and tell Spring hello from us - it doesn't quite feel like winter here (no ice to scrape or heaps of snow to shovel), but when the wind picks up you can tell it's blowing off Antarctica!
So you all know that even if I haven't been posting about food yet, I have been thinking about it non stop. I have been so excited about all the food here.
Here are some of the new samplings we've tried.
pikelets - Delicious little pancakes smothered in jam and then slathered with whipped cream. Sophie got to have these for lunch today. It seemed so decadent and she felt like a princess eating them.
fluffies - If you like coffee as much as our relocation manager does, you'll want your kids to feel included in the experience. Today when we stopped for coffee the girls ordered fluffies which are steamed milk foam topped with chocolate powder served in a very small coffee cup. They were also served with some fresh marshmallows on the side.
Orange juice - ick ick ick. Well the juice itself is good but there is so much pulp! I hate pulp and the girls seem to share my feelings. Sophie started scraping her tongue with her nails trying to get the fibrous chunks off. I know it's good for you but I still think it's like drinking oatmeal. Sophie and I walked to the market this morning and found a "low pulp" variety but it still is too pulpy for my liking. I think I'll take Sue's advice and buy a strainer.
Curry - Mmmmm. We had take away from the Curry Club last night and man, it was delicious. I honestly finished mine for breakfast this morning because it's been so long since I've had delicious curry.
Coffee - It's great here and everyone takes such pride in making it. The milk is so creamy and velvety. I am in heaven drinking the lattes and cappuccinos.
Lots more to come. Once we get settled into a place I'll have to start making some seasonal foods with the local produce which seems amazing!
...sure is strange, but after a quick lesson I managed not to harm any people or property and brought the family safely to and from the office today. The strangest part was having the turn signal on the right-hand side of the steering wheel and the wipers on the left, so we have arguably the cleanest windshield in town. I got a little lost a few times, but that was probably best in the long run considering we were able to find our way back on course without too much difficulty.
We toured several houses today and met another family relocating from Australia. The girls had fun making all the new friends, and thanks to prior experience (thanks Marcy & Grandma!) are pros at viewing houses. So far they are all a little precarious for my heights-fearing taste, but with amazing views: the best comparison I can think of is to the houses on top of Tiburon near San Francisco.
On the note of prior experiences, I've been struck more than a few times at how helpful our past challenges (frustrating as they were) have been in preparing us for this adventure: if it hadn't taken us 24 hours to travel between Binghamton and Myrtle Beach, 26 to Boise or 16 to Austin, all the hurdles of our latest 32-hour adventure would've seemed plain impossible. If we hadn't packed and unpacked and packed and unpacked so many times in the past few years, I doubt we could have pulled off the move as well as we did. If Brandie & I hadn't both had the experience of moving away from the comfort and safety of our homes to San Francisco, I don't know if we could have left Endicott temporarily behind.
We're off to dinner soon (so many new places to try!) but we'll try to post more in a bit so keep checking back!
We made it all in one piece and with all of our luggage. I really wish I had one spare second to think about taking a picture of all 9 pieces of it. It didn't seem like so much when we had Jake's family schlepping it for us. But when we got to Auckland and had to pull all nine 51 lb bags off the belt, it got scary. Thank goodness one of the attendants helped us through the customs line. Once we were through customs, Joanna was there waiting for us with a look of shock and amusement. Apparently the terminal that we needed to transfer our bags to was half a mile away. Fortunately (for some) they offer a service to those checking in at least 60 minutes before your flight. They'll haul your luggage to the other terminal for you and check it in. We checked in 57 minutes before our flight and so Joanna got more than she bargained for. She schlepped a cart with 255 lbs of luggage half a mile at 6 am to our terminal.
The girls did great on the flights until our last leg from Auckland to Wellington. To be honest, I wanted to cry at that point as well. Two employees from WETA met us and drove us and our luggage over to the City Life Hotel in downtown Wellington. It's a nice two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and washer/dryer.
We're all adjusting to the time zones a bit. The girls went to bed at 1pm then Sophie got up at midnight and wanted breakfast. Josie was up shortly after that We let them stay up for a while then got them back to bed (with much fussing). Now we are up again, Sophie is having her second breakfast and Josie is going on two full nights sleep in 24 hours.
It's pretty crazy going from our quiet cul-de-sac in Endicott to downtown Wellington. We're staying in the business district so it gets very quiet at night and seems to be slow waking up this morning. Sophie enjoyed watching the buses drive by and the service trucks pulling in to restaurants and shops.
Jake's shaving and showering for his first day on the job! I can't believe he goes in today. I guess it's mostly setting up a bank account, discussing taxes and then in the afternoon we are looking at three houses. Should be fun! Hopefully we find the camera by then so we can post pictures of our potential new home and your (yes you) guest room when you come to visit us.
We are still packing. You would think we'd be ready and just sitting on our suitcases waiting for Jake's dad to come and shuttle us off to the airport. Nope. We've got plenty to keep our minds occupied before next Sunday the 13th when we'll be flying out of BGM one last time this year. We are making progress on the long laundry list of 'To Do' items we have to check off. I *think* we may have found some people to rent the house today. We've got lots of people looking at the van and a handful looking at the Subaru. Still no house for Eliot. If any of you want a cat, Tinyeranch's namesake is in need of a home while we are gone. I don't know how well he would do on the 30 hour flight then with quarantine it just gets ugly real fast.
We received our Visa's today which was a huge relief. I kept imagining one box that I forgot to check or the fact that I listed some family history on there that was maybe excessive. I was sure we were going to be rejected. I had been checking our return tracking number on the Visa's since Tuesday trying to see if it had been sent out. I was really suprised (and very suspicious) that it was returned so quickly. The fact that it was returned so soon must mean that there was something wrong and we were rejected. Thankfully we were showing the house all morning so when the FedEx guy showed up I had completely forgotten that we were expecting them. It's pretty cool seeing that insert in there with the NZ silver fern symbol on it.
No turning back now!
