Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category

Day 13: Love of a Small Country

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005

Today I sent email to, and got replies from, the acting CEO of New Zealand On Air, and the general editor of Te Ara (the Encyclopedia of New Zealand). I love that these people are so accessible. Today's accomplishments: moved the dead cars out of our garage so the emptying of the house can ...

Day 12: Rural Schools

Monday, November 28th, 2005

Today Jenine helped out at William's school, and we learned that there's quite the gulf between the grouchy old woman teaching his class and the sweet old woman who taught him in Colorado. This one is bullying, dismissive, and belittling. This puts us in the awkward position of being new to ...

Day 10: Rural Power

Saturday, November 26th, 2005

I'd forgotten how amazing New Zealand's weather is. We're just a thin strip of island in a lot of water, close to Antarctica. The weather's always shifting: some good stuff, some crap, some good stuff, some crap. A strip of concentrated crap floated in last night and dumped a ton ...

Day 8

Thursday, November 24th, 2005

I've been stuck into work, and it's interesting how the cycle of the day is different here. I only overlap the West Coast of America's work day for five hours--by 2pm my time, they're all heading home. So I email furiously in the morning, and get replies, and spend the afternoon clearing ...

Day 5: Doctor

Monday, November 21st, 2005

It's wonderful how easy it is to see a doctor over here. Our local GP, Elspeth, had a busy day but still managed to fit Jenine in. Jenine was dizzy, which was diagnosed as nothing more than a virus affectin gthe inner ear: walk around, get the brain compensating, all's well. Less ...

Day 4: Taking It Easy

Saturday, November 19th, 2005

Finally we went to the beach today (Sunday). It was good to walk on Omaha again, white sand crackling underfoot. The kids could have spent all day there, and I'm sure they'll spend many days this summer there. Looking at them running into the surf, digging sand castles, and burying my ...

Day 3: On Caring

Saturday, November 19th, 2005

Another full day: we drove to Auckland to collect a fridge we bought on TradeMe, I cleaned the rusty grill, and began the rehabiliation of teh house. I hosed off the front wall and windows, digging out spider webs with the brush, and swept as much of the dirt, dust, and leaves out ...

Day 1

Friday, November 18th, 2005

The problem with flying to New Zealand from America is that if you get a well-timed flight, you don't really have jetlag on the first day. You get this fantastic feeling of competence, because you've flown halfway around the world and are fizzing and popping with energy. That lasts until the next ...

Day 2

Friday, November 18th, 2005

I don't know whether it's the equinox or the move, but it feels like there's SO MUCH TIME in the day. I wove flax with the kids, my parents arrived down the road from us (they're also moving back to NZ from the US), went out on the boat, caught up on ...

Day 0

Thursday, November 17th, 2005

Flight summary follows. Qantas: very good. Kids: great. Sleep: taken where it could be got. Customs failed to care about our coffee: Customs: What are you declaring? Us: Coffee. Customs: Any honey or fruit juice? Us: No, it's coffee. Customs: Ok, through you go. I swear, you could be declaring the bloody Hope ...