relocation

Any Buyers?

2010-05-26T02:12:58Z

I drove by this sign the other day and just glimpsed the title. Really? Did I read that correctly? I had places to go so wasn't able to turn around and check it out. Then I mentioned it to some friends who looked at me like I was crazy. I was even talking to Jake about it. "Maybe it's so nice, you'll never want to leave and so you'll die there." Thankfully I drove by it again the other day and pulled over to snap a photo. I was then able to read the fine print. What a clever little ad by the New Zealand Fire Service.

I do wonder how effective it is. I mean, how many people noticed it and took the time to stop by again? Maybe it was mostly for pedestrian traffic. And, crazy people who can't stop thinking about random real estate signs they saw on the side of the road.

It's Winter Here

2009-07-15T08:45:58Z

Sophie asked "Why does it rain all the days!?" It's torture that we just bought a new trampoline and the girls have only been able to jump on it a handful of times. Instead they sit and look at it through the window, cursing the rain. Today we exited the post office and Sophie exclaimed as loud as she could "Mom! The sun is out AND it's not raining!!!" I laughed along with the other people coming out of the post office. It really is something to be excited about! We rejoiced for sure!

The housing conditions in New Zealand have been making headlines here due to the passing of a new grant trying to improve the standard of health in homes across the country. Things like oh, insulation, sub-flooring, double glazed windows and central heating are VERY uncommon here and as a result, during our very damp winters, many people suffer from health problems.

While we are lucky enough to live in a house with insulation, double glazing and central heat, it's still not sealed like one would expect. Our front door always has a breeze blowing through it as does our sliding door. So even though we keep our house much cooler than we would in the states (15º C or 59º F) we received our first heating bill with much shock. It didn't help that it was for almost two months on one bill. Let's just say there was a comma in the amount. Not something I wanted to save up for.

Kiwis take it in stride though. Someone was telling me their indoor winter wardrobe standard. Two singlets, a t shirt, a long sleeve and a sweater with sheepskin boots. Something is wrong here! Another friend said she got home to find her husband and son in jackets with hats on. She asked "Where are you going?". They weren't going anywhere, just dressed to stay warm inside.

The ads on the radio poke fun at it as well. One company's ad stated that buying a sweatshirt is much cheaper than insulating your house. "It's the kiwi way!". I mentioned to another fellow American how I felt like a wuss for being cold. She said "Nah, you bought into that harden up crap. I make no apologies for wanting to be warm." It clicked for me that I shouldn't either. I am still wearing my sheepskin boots but am bumping the heat up one degree as well. I guess we'll meet in the middle.

House tour

2009-06-21T03:02:22Z

Since some of you haven't exactly booked your airline tickets yet, I thought you might like a virtual tour through our latest abode here in Wellington. Believe me I'd much rather show you in person, but I know how expensive those flights are - plus I did a sketch of the floorplan for my dad, so I could feel a little closer on Father's Day.

I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank everyone again for their help - Mark & Nadine for moving us across town, Lisa & Djordje for lending us their loveseat and chair, Matty for lending us his IMAX-sized television and especially Marilyn for scoring us another awesome rental.

At any rate, without further ado the lovely Miss Sophie will now lead you through the very flash place you've been seeing views from:

See the floorplan
Start the tour!

For Pop Pop

2009-05-31T10:22:14Z

It snowed and hailed at our new house today. Sophie instantly wanted to be outside in the weather while Josie placed one foot on the deck and exclaimed "My feet awe too cowd!". Sophie and I put a big mixing bowl outside to collect the hail which she brought in and ate with Jake.

Jake was trying to sleep in this morning and Josie sat in the living room, bellowing periodically at Sophie. I came in to remind her (yet again) that her daddy was sleeping. I took one step out of view and she picked up the mallet for her xylophone and proceeded to beat on it. I stepped back in and she looked up at me and asked "Too loud?" with a huge grin on her face. She knows. Oh she knows.

We had oatmeal and toast for breakfast this morning. Sophie is in charge of making the toast lately. She gets her chair up, puts the bread in, we retrieve it once it's done and then she gets to butter it. Lots of crumbs fly but she is proud as a peacock. I made the mistake of licking the butter knife in front of her the other day. She literally gasped and said "Oh Mom! No! No! No! You'll cut your tongue!".

At bedtime, Sophie likes to have her head rubbed from the base of her neck up to the top of her head. "From my neck to my hair" she instructs every night and she is is usually out like a light within 5 minutes of me leaving the room. Grandpa's Revenge, on the other hand, likes to call "Mommmaaayye" over and over. Tonight I decided to tough it out and just let her shout to her hearts content. She's not upset, just bored I think. She decided to add "Can you hear me??" to her calls of my name. Then when that wasn't working she pulled out her Ace in the Hole and said "I need to go poopoos." I was 90% sure she was just trying to get out of bed but what are you going to do if she really has to go. She was pleased with herself when I got her out to head to the toilet.

We've been thinking of you lots and hope this window into our day brings a smile to your face.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2009-05-19T09:01:30Z

Lots happening here at the Ranch, and we are much overdue for an update. I'll just do a quick run-down and hopefully settle into more regular posts once the dust settles a bit:

We've moved to a new suburb of Wellington called Brooklyn. It has its very own lovely Central Park and many of the streets are named after U.S. presidents. Our house has amazing views (pictures coming soon, but for anyone who has visited already we look down onto Mt. Vic) and those most-precious of Wellington commodities (insulation, double-glazing and central heat). It's a bit further from work (12-15 minutes by car as opposed to 4-5) and if you can believe it windier but much more convenient to downtown and its awesome amenities (Te Papa, Frank Kitts Park, Moore Wilson, etc.)
Our new rental makes our old rental (which I often claimed was going to be the nicest house I would ever live in) look like a dump. Thank you Marilyn for swinging for the fences and delivering us another warm, safe and gorgeous place to live in your fair city.
As a result of our move, Sophie started at a new kindy and appears to be adjusting well. It helps that many of her peers have also left for new schools as they turn 5, so it's not as unusual of an event. On her first day all the kids sang her a welcome song in Maori and each offered up something they could do to make her feel welcome. I dropped her off the second day and while talking to the teacher was surprised to see her trundling across the playground with a 4' ladder in her arms. She propped it up against a retaining wall (under the supervision of another teacher), climbed up and proceeded to jump off onto a big climbing mat. Beaming face, glowing eyes, very happy Sophie.
Josie has continued to improve with the increased dosages of lamotrigine, clobazam and epilum. She is still quite shaky in the mornings but (knock wood) we've only seen one or two possible head nods in the past few weeks, and (thank goodness) no drops. She has been very clear and vibrant, if a little more mischievous (earning her latest nickname, Josie-a-fiend).
Josie had her first tonic-clonic (the kind formerly known as 'grand mal') seizure on the morning of her 3rd birthday party. It was the longest five minutes of my life. The neurologist had informed us that these would be likely given her particular brand of epilepsy (MAE or Doose Syndrome), but up until then we had avoided the "big bad" kind. We haven't seen any more since but have been extra-watchful in the mornings, when they seem most likely to recur. We've also read a bit more about them and feel a little less terrified of them, if not exactly welcoming them into our lives.
We spent a hair-raising, nail-biting week after learning that our insurer wouldn't cover Josie for another year (our one-year packages weren't extendable, so we had to re-apply as if we were all brand-new customers again) because of her epilepsy. Awful? Yes. Legal? Apparently so. However we've since learned that our back-to-back work visas qualify us for New Zealand's publicly-funded healthcare under which all children under 13 are fully covered. Imagine that, our tax dollars at work! Hooray for New Zealand.
Uncle Jesse arrived the morning after we moved into our new house, just in time for the worst stretch of weather we've had in months. He's been a good sport about it though and seems to have fallen in love with Wellington. I share his appreciation for it, and have loved seeing him connect with Sophie & Josie - it's really been a great visit, we will be sad to take him to the airport tomorrow!
We continue to miss our former cohorts in ex-patriatism the 4kiwiwannabes, especially since we are so much closer to where they used to live! I am mulling a Memorial Day turkey after our Easter pumpkins, and thinking it would have been nice meal to share.

That's all for tonight - ladies night is almost at an end and I am going to go enjoy our view!

Kiwification Continued: Birthday Parties

2009-03-08T20:48:35Z

A few weekends ago we attended our first Kiwi (ok, they're Australian) birthday party. It was lots of fun for the girls and a learning experience for us all.

The party was for my friend's daughter who was turning 5. I asked if I could bring anything and she said fairy bread. "Sure!" I replied, having no idea what she was talking about. I googled it while we were still on the phone and found out that it is white bread with the crusts removed, spread with margerine (pronounced margereene) and topped with 100's and 1000's (multi-colored sprinkles). I can totally manage that. I didn't have margerine but butter worked. The major problem was when I ran out of 100's and 1000's and turned to colored sugar sprinkles instead. I showed up and people seemed confused. "Is this jam?" When I informed them that it was colored sugar, a couple of people seemed put off by it. I was thinking "WTF? Colored sugar is less refined than sprinkles!" Oh well. The kids ate it and we got to learn that fairy bread is a staple at every kids party here.

Next for some party games. The first game was simple. The trampoline was covered in balloons which apparently had lollies (pieces of candy, not necessarily lollipops) inside. All the kids had to do was pop the balloon by any means they choose to get the candy out. Most kids just sat on them but I saw several laying down on them and biting them. Whatever it takes right?

Pass the parcel was up next. This is a cute idea and also a staple at parties here. You buy a small gift (or two in this case), wrap it in wrapping paper, then start wrapping it with newspaper placing a lollie or other small prize in between each layer of newspaper. Repeat this so there are many layers, hopefully enough that everyone will get a small prize. Have all the kids sit in a circle and start the parcels on either end of the circle. Play some music and have the kids pass the parcel until the music stops. Whomever is holding the parcel gets to unwrap a layer and collect a treat. Like musical chairs but everyone wins! Also the last kid to get the package keeps the little gift inside. It's a very cute game but was hard for my girls to grasp that they didn't get to keep the present once it was passed to them. Or in Sophie's case, that it's not hot potato and you don't have to move it so quickly that you never get a turn opening it. It all worked out and she got a special treat from the mum after the game was over but man, it's hard watching your child's disappointed face during those games.

I've been feeling like we are acclimated but each time we do regular, everyday things, I learn something new.

Last Day of Summer Ramble

2009-03-01T07:22:29Z

Yesterday we sadly bid goodbye to summer and our friend Anthony, as he flew up to Auckland into the eye of a very big storm:

3 News: Wild Weather Lashes North Island

From all reports he landed safely and enjoyed some nicer weather today, which we were grateful to share here in Wellington. We had a very fun week which included a whisky tasting, some sight-seeing and lots of pop-culture (including Mama Mia, which Brandie somehow missed in the theater - talk about her kind of movie!) Our friend Christian also managed to make it down to the whisky tasting, some yakitori and birthday cake before having to leave for another extended business trip - thanks for sharing him once again, Mrs. F!

Today we hosted a brunch for my department from work and welcomed another visitor, Brandie's friend Tia from Idaho. In only a few weeks Mary & Joe arrive, so it's quite an exciting time for all of us! We are also in the process of looking for a new house to rent, as our current rental has been sold to a new owner who intends to occupy rather than rent it. Our lease is up in May but we may move sooner if we can find the right place - which I suspect may be difficult to find after living here, this house has been a real blessing with everything on for Josie.

I am also sad to relay the news that Josie had another rough day of seizures today, after a very brief 3-day break with the increased dosage. There's still one more increase to try before we add the third anticonvulsant, which can take 3-4 months to take effect - so fingers crossed, everyone! It's heartbreaking to watch this bright and shiny being get clouded over and struggle so much: she is such a brave and strong little person!

Seasonal Inversion

2009-02-22T01:28:12Z

Every year, someone invariably makes the comment "I can't believe it's almost Labor Day already!" and I go into a mild panic thinking of the dark winter days ahead, then try to pack in as much outdoor time and sun as I can before autumn hits. Fall usually carries a certain amount of bittersweet melancholy, a counter-balance to the feverish joy that late spring and summer bring to upstate New York. Late winter and early spring are what inspire the panic, the hardest part for me.

Living south of the equator for the first time in my life, I'm a little lost without my usual seasonal bearings. We're in the equivalent of late August here, with only a few weeks of summer left. I can tell the days are getting shorter, and last week ended with a real doozy of a rainstorm that reminded me what winter in Wellington is all about. I know I should feel that Labor-Day-is-coming anxiety, but at the same time I know Easter is coming soon with all its rebirth and spring-related renewal. It's just as hard to think about making stews in May as it was having to barbeque in December.

The reality is my heart is in two places, or maybe three or more now - wherever I've made a home for myself and my family, and wherever my family and friends are. Thank goodness for the internet, as it makes it easier for me to check the weather where you are and imagine what it would be like to drop in unannounced for a cup of coffee and whatever it is you might be baking. Happy weekend everyone, we miss you!

A Small Rant

2009-02-17T20:33:25Z

Before I get to the complaining, I just want to everyone to know, I am grateful, I am grateful, I am grateful.

Now that we have that out of the way, I really, really miss US customer service and specifically the people who work in medical offices in the US. Here's a conversation I had recently when trying to reschedule an appointment for Josie to another time in the day.

The hospital receptionist answered and I asked to speak to the children's ward. The children's ward person answered. I let her know my daughter had an appointment at the end of March which was scheduled right at her nap time and could I change the appointment. She replied "I just shut my system down. Do you want me to look it up?" I mentally answered, "Um, that's why I am effing calling!". Out loud I said "Yes please. I'd like to see if there are any alternate appointments." She informed me while her system was booting, that these appointments fill up quickly. What? Am I not calling two and a half months in advance?? Anyhow, she confirmed that the clinic was full that day. Oh but she did have another appointment. In MAY. And at the same effing time. "Um, do you have any appointments that aren't at that time of day? Also, we can't wait two more months to have this check up." She was seriously no help. Any maybe it's not her fault. I mean, I have no idea how often this ONE pediatrician at the hospital has a clinic but it can't be that often. I can't even ask to see another doctor.

The biggest complaint I have about this is that the staff seem to do the minimal effort. I mean, asking me if I want her to go through all the effort of starting up her scheduling computer (who knows, it might have just been a desktop paper calendar!) when that is her JOB!

Kiwification

2009-02-16T09:22:06Z

It's been creeping in.

Two days in a row Sophie has been barefoot when I showed up to get her at Kindy (that is what we call Preschool at home). Shoes are totally optional inside and out, and in general, many Kiwis don't wear shoes. The girls sealed the deal by attending an outdoor birthday party barefoot this weekend. I've also been guilty of letting this slide. I find myself putting Josie in the car without shoes on more and more often. Mostly because I don't ever plan for her little feet to touch the ground as we shuttle Jake or Sophie around. But there have been two times that we unexpectedly got out of the car and went inside with Josie barefoot. I actually didn't mind her wandering around a bit with her little bare feet.

We had a play date with one of Sophie's new friends from Kindy and Jake asked Josie if she had a nice time. She looked at him and said "I had a bigshit." "WHAT?!?!" "A bikshit." "Oh, you mean a biscuit." Aside from the hilarity of what we first thought she said, the reality is that she no longer says cookie. She says biscuit and tomahto sauce and Daddaye and Mumaye.

Sophie's accent has changed a bit now that she's in school. She now ends some sentences with "aye" which is the equivalent of saying "right?" at home. Just looking for some agreement or confirmation. The most noticeable accent comes out when she says her friends names at school. Tylah (Tyler), Richahd (Richard) just to name two. We're taking the stance of not correcting her because, afterall, when in Rome..

It's Summer!

2009-01-07T09:18:10Z

Now that Christmas is out of the way, it's officially Summer! Which means, we've been out having lots and lots of fun and not blogging. Boo. Thank goodness for those annual resolutions (right, Reed?).

One of the fun projects we've seen coming to fruition is our little backyard veggie garden. Now, you'll notice I said "veggie garden" and not just "garden". That's because down here, folks call almost any sort of outdoor space where plants or grass grow, or even some pavers hang around, a garden. Or rather, a "gahden".

Growing up we always had about a quarter of an acre garden which seemed so annoying to this teenage girl who had to do an hour of weeding every day after school. UGH! Well, don't tell my dad, but I actually learned something from it. I've been longing for an honest to goodness garden for about 8 years now but this is my first year at actually doing it. I dug up a little section and have a good little selection made up of sugar snap peas, carrots, green beans (the whole row planted by miss Sophie), parsley, corgettes (or zucchini for those of you in the states), 7 heads of lettuce, capsicums (bell peppers) and a massive heirloom tomato plant.

The girls have been helping me harvest and thoroughly enjoy yanking the carrots out of the ground or pulling on a bean. Sophie doesn't really have much interest in eating the veggies other than the carrots and HER beans. But Josie barely gets them off the plant before she's shoving them in her mouth. She single handedly ate our entire crop of sugar snap peas over the course of three days. Jake and I have enjoyed eating salads made from our "salad mix" varieties of lettuce every day. The tomatoes are still green but we'll have heaps of them once they ripen.

It's been such a great project and learning experience to teach the girls about the different plants and bugs and responsibilities associated with the garden. They really seem to enjoy it and always want to see what has grown each day and love collecting all the fallen leaves from the cabbage tree that towers above the garden.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-30T09:21:15Z

Since I had to work on Thursday, we waited until Saturday* to celebrate Thanksgiving this year. Brandie performed her usual magic and created my most-favorite meal of the year, complete with both pumpkin and apple pies, and we invited our family-est friends to join us. Since it's spring here, we had the house opened up for the breeze to blow through and the sprinkler on for the girls to play in. It was a beautiful day.

This morning we brought the Christmas tree out of the attic (special thanks to our kind landlords for letting us use their tree!) and set it up, ran some errands in preparation for Sophie's birthday and spent some late afternoon time on the beach before dinner. Since it's the end of Movember, I also shaved off my mustache - I think I hear my sister cheering from afar.

Click on the picture above to see the rest of the pics!

* (which was actually only Friday in the US, so we were only a day late - are you confused yet? I am!)

Happy Halloween

2008-11-08T17:41:20Z

Halloween was a little different this year, both because we're adjusting to some big changes around the Ranch and because well, it's springtime in the southern hemisphere and I find it difficult to imagine ghosts and witches riding high over the moon when the flowers are all in bloom and the songbirds are going crazy as the sun sets at 8:30pm.

Halloween is pretty iconic in upstate New York, with the leaves all gone from the trees the branches look like bony fingers stretching up against the night sky and things just sound spooky with all the dry, dead leaves blowing around. Sure, every once in a while we'd have a huge snowstorm and you've have to figure out how to fit a snowmobile suit under your form-fitting superhero tights, but for the most part it was pretty spectacular.

This year we were spared the commercial onslaught of Halloween by being here in New Zealand. It's not a local holiday but people have started to pick it up (apparently from watching too many American tv shows and movies.) Because of that stores weren't popping with Halloween paraphernalia, which was kind of a nice relief.

After much debate, Sophie decided to go as Jane the knight (from the popular local television show Jane & The Dragon), passing up the chance to be Snow White or a fairy (however those costumes were on tap in case she changed her mind at the last minute!) Josie went as Kiki the witch from the movie Kiki's Delivery Service (note her broom in the photos), while I went as Wayne Rooney (a soccer player from the UK team Manchester United, whom I've been told I bear some resemblance to.)

Late in the afternoon we attended a party at my office where all the kids could go around trick-or-treating to different rooms, which were all decked out with spider webs and some scary props. Afterwards we went home and had our friends & neighbors over and gave away candy to a surprising number of trick-or-treaters.

Sorry these posts are a bit out of order, I was so excited about the video-embedding that I jumped into that first! Click on the thumbnail above above to see our Halloween pics from last week.

Imaginary Visitors

2008-10-05T00:52:00Z

One morning last week on my walk into work, I walked right past my cousin Stephen in front of the Strathmore shops.

Sorry, wishful thinking! It was actually a teenager I'd never met (as the real Stephen is many thousands of miles away, hopefully minding his mother) but from his hooded sweatshirt, jeans, sneakers, hair color, hair-style and gait to his twinkling blue eyes (which I'm pretty sure he inherited from our grandfather) this lad was the spitting image of my cousin. I couldn't help but grin.

Still smiling to myself several strides later, I nearly bumped into my brother-in-law. Tall, dark and stylishly handsome, dressed in a sharp dark suit with his hair expertly styled, this was Jesse only on his way to work at some corporate job in downtown Wellington.

Quite a coincidence I chuckled to myself, made a mental note to tell Brandie and then didn't think much more about it until that evening, on my drive home from work I nearly ran over my step-brother David as he crossed the street (outside of the crosswalk, I'll have you know Katie) with his takeaway from one of the Strathmore restaurants.

This sort of thing used to happen to me occasionally when I spent two semesters in college studying abroad. Every once in a while I'd glimpse a face in a crowd that strongly reminded me of my dad or my sister, both of whom I missed awfully and would have loved to have visit me in the amazing city I was living in. For a brief moment your heart skips, thinking it's some unbelievable, incredible surprise on the magnitude of ten Christmases and birthdays rolled into one, and then the heartache hits and you have to make the most out of just getting to "see" these people you miss so dearly. Often the rest of the day is spent imagining the places we'd go, things we'd see, restaurants we'd eat at.

So Stephen, Jesse and David: thanks for the visit, and I hope you enjoyed all the fun stuff I imagined we'd do in Wellington - I sure did! And if our extended family does decide to move into the neighborhood after McCain/Palin steal this year's election, well I can't blame you (and we'd love it if you did.)

Time Change

2008-10-04T15:58:20Z

True testament to our finally nearing the end of a year-long winter, New Zealand "sprang forward" last Sunday: which means we're now one hour further away time-zone-wise - or one hour closer to the actual time wherever you might be. If you're confused, don't worry - I'll provide a handy chart using my step-brother Dan as an example soon.

Not long after we arrived I left my math skills at work one night and somehow decided after putting the kids to bed at 8pm it would be a great time to call my dad. He's an early riser (I am awake at 5:30am this Sunday spring morning, listening to the songbirds and thinking about him) so having deduced it was just after 6am in upstate NY I figured he would just be sitting down to coffee and the paper and perhaps watching the sunrise.

"Hello?" Grandma answered the phone sleepily. No alarm bells for me yet, Grandma sometimes likes to sleep in past my dad's pre-dawn routine, which means she gets up at six or six-thirty and still catches plenty of worms. "Sorry to wake you Grandma," I said (at least I hope I did, due to later horror my memory's a little weak on this point): "Is my dad still there?" It also isn't unusual for my dad to be out the door by 6am if there's a crisis at work or if he's taking the day off to work on a side-project like renovating my grandfather's house, helping us relocate across the world, updating my sister's kitchen - you get the idea. He works a lot.

"Yeah one second hon." Grandma passed the phone to my dad. "Hello?" he answered sleepily.

At this point the alarm bells started to make quite a noise, but unfortunately I didn't heed them and decided to go for the joke. "Hi Dad," I think I said, grinning. "Do you have the day off or something?" On rare occasions (literally only a handful of times that I'm aware of) my dad has been known to "sleep in" to the slovenly hour of 7:30am, after which he probably mowed the lawn, closed the pool, raked the leaves, plowed the driveway and put an addition on someone's house. Before breakfast.

"Jake it's 4am." Grin leaves my face, replaced by look of wide-eyed horror.

So to save anyone else this sort of embarrassment, I've created a handy chart for converting the time of day (which coincidentally actually proves my step-brother Dan lives on New Zealand time):

11pm-7am NZDT (we are sleeping)
6am-2pm EDT (Dan is sleeping)

7am NZDT (we wake up)
2pm EDT (Dan wakes up)

8:30am NZDT (I go to work)
3:30pm EDT (Dan is hungover)

1-3pm NZDT (girls nap, good time to call)
8-10pm EDT (Dan starts drinking)

6:30pm NZDT (I get home from work)
1:30am EDT (Dan is drunk)

8pm NZST (girls go to bed)
3am EDT (Dan is incoherent)

Of course this all goes out the window in less than a month when the US switches off daylight savings, but until then Happy Sunday everyone!

11pm-7am NZDT (we are sleeping)		6am-2pm EDT (Dan is sleeping)
7am NZDT (we wake up)		2pm EDT (Dan wakes up)
8:30am NZDT (I go to work)		3:30pm EDT (Dan is hungover)
1-3pm NZDT (girls nap, good time to call)		8-10pm EDT (Dan starts drinking)
6:30pm NZDT (I get home from work)		1:30am EDT (Dan is drunk)
8pm NZST (girls go to bed)		3am EDT (Dan is incoherent)