Kiwi Connection

One of my favorite fruitstands

Contrary to popular belief, our family are all alive and well. We've become Kiwis, which are rather shy birds, and we only come out at night. Night in the U.S, anyway. After a whole month of vacation we have finally arrived in Kerikeri! I like vacations a lot. I like breaking out of our regular routine, not making our beds, visiting friends and family (and Mickey Mouse). I was quite enjoying it! Then we arrived. After catching 6 or so of the hugest black crickets I've ever seen and letting them out of the window (too messy to step on and too hoppy anyway) we climbed into our beds fell asleep to the singing of a few other crickets that were too allusive to be caught. The next morning we woke up to the sound of a rooster crowing it hit me. We are no longer on vacation. We're not exactly farmers (the only stuff we're really cultivating at this point are children), but nothing here is fast or easy! I had several good cries that day and the next while we cleaned and took inventory. Then I realized that crying over the lack of a Gap in Kerikeri (or New Zealand, for that matter) and not having any good friends here would not improve our situation. Of course, it didn't help that I was having a visit from "Annie Brown", as they like to call it here in New Zealand, and that it poured for 48 hours straight! But the shock of it all is wearing off and the boys LOVE it here, so it's growing on me.

Jayson's first day of school

An average day for us starts at 2 a.m when Jay gets up for work. He goes out the dining/living room/office and works until 6 a.m then has a break to go running with me (shall I say this is an ideal example?). Now that Jayson and Aidan have started school this week, the boys get up and eat (fresh eggs from our chickens, of course) and got to school barefoot like all of the other Kiwi children. Today was Jayson's first day, actually. I was very emotional and he was not (replay of his first day of preschool). As we were preparing for today he told me that his biggest worry was that he wouldn't be able to understand what people were saying (it can be very difficult,

especially if people use slang!) so when I picked him up I asked him how that went and he said

"none of them had an accent, Mom." He's been here for one week and can't even hear the accent anymore! Also, as a side note to Tina, Jayson had so much fun with McKinnon and they are like two little peas in a pod, so when Jays made a friend with a boy who (he claims) not only looks like McKinnon but sounds like him too (I don't know yet about the accent) he was very happy and they stuck together all day. My biggest worry about the day was that he wouldn't eat anything for lunch and would be feeling sick by the end of the day and sure enough, he said that when they sat down to eat lunch he was really going to try to eat but then he started talking to all of

his classmates and "suddenly" remembered to eat but took only one bite before the bell rang. So much for that. He did eat some things in the morning, though, for mid-morning tea. No tea

served, of course. Tomorrow he will wear nothing but his togs (swim trunks) and a shirt to school, for swimming, which they have three times a week. Jay spoke to the teacher about it and

she asked him if Jayson was "shy" and Jay said that he could be sometimes and the teacher said that there is another boy who is shy so won't go in the water. Jay realized that she was referring to the water, asking if Jayson was afraid of it. Jay quickly explained that he's not at all shy (which in my opinion is true on all accounts.) Aidan will start on Wednesday at Little Legends, which I think is a silly name, but the best school we went to (out of a lot!) They even have a garden that the kids planted and pick from to cook with. And a pet goat. This would never

happen in the U.S. "He's a bit big", the teacher explaind, "so if the kids don't respect him while

he's eating he bowls them over". This is a good thing, though because it teaches the kids to

respect others.

Aidan meeting the neighbors

Playing rugby with Uncle Dean and the cousins

While Jayson is at school, I can be seen stopping at the various fruit and veg stands that are up almost every driveway in and around Kerikeri. Right now, farmers pick their passionfruit, figs, avocados, feijoas, corn, and almost every vegetable early in the morning and sell them that day. I cannot get enough of the fresh stuff here! Since the kitchen is so small and we only have a hot

plate to cook on, we are attempting to fill ourselves with all of these other things instead.

I'm also trying to keep up on the laundry since during a rainy spell you can expect to wait at least two days before the clothes are dry. I spend a lot of time rotating things from the outside clothesline to the inside clothesline and back. I've also chosen some color swatches for paint and carpet and we're in the process of shopping around for those right now. We're still driving a rental car because although fresh fruit is very easy to come by here, vehicles are not.

Charlie and Aidan are doing what little boys do best...causing havoc. They chase all of the animals and in spite of the mommy cat's best efforts, Aidan discovered the kittens the 2nd day we were here. He came out from around the corner with the tail end of a kitten tucked under one arm sort of like a football. "I found the kiddens, Mom!"

When Jays gets home from school, we are very close to the park and tennis court, and of course the ocean. We've yet to get out on the boat, because taking three little boys out on a boat in the ocean in an attempt to catch fish can have some logistical hang-ups, but I might sneak out with Jay's mum...I think the ocean fish call out to her to catch them like they do to me.

I could go on and on about the beauty of New Zealand, and the kindness of the people here. Today a man stopped us in the parking lot of the grocery store and gave Aidan a pinwheel "just for fun" (he had a whole basket of them and was giving them to all the kids. Pervert? Perhaps, but still...) but there are some things that will take some getting used to. For instance, why do men have to wear Daisy Dukes, otherwise known over here as rugby shorts? One thing that I will always hate is the separation of hot and cold water. How are my children supposed to wash their hands? Put them under scalding hot water for a second then quickly cool them off by putting them under the cold? I miss our dear friends. I miss my lovely kitchen. I miss the mall. And Wegmans. I do not miss the winter weather. Or the traffic. Or the close proximity of our neighbors.

To be continued....