mcacmartin
8th August 2009, 04:40 PM
Wow. I can't believe we've been here two weeks already. It's all been rather surreal.
Our goodbyes were low key, and very personal....no big parties (only cos no one planned one!). It was hard for OH to say goodbye to his family because he'd lived on Vancouver Island for all his life. It was especially hard to say goodbye to his grandmother who is now in her 80s...the kid's great grandmother. It's a sad reality that we are highly unlikely to ever see her again.
I didn't get to say goodbye to the vast majority of my family because they were spread all over Canada and the UK. So emails it was.
Our daughter had a party for her and 10 of her friends, and our son had an early birthday party in the sun so that he could say bye to his buddies. It was fun.
Saying goodbye to my bestest friend in the whole world was heartbreaking. And we didn't do it once, we did it twice! We had a BBQ at her place on the Wednesday evening and said goodbye to her and her family and some other friends, but then on Thursday she came over to help me pack so I had to say goodbye all over again. It was awful....I cried so hard. And cried harder when she gave me the letter she'd written me.
We flew out of Vancouver, B.C on Friday July 24th....a 9pm flight. It was a great booking because it meant I could be fairly confident of the children sleeping most of the way. I sobbed all the way through security having just said goodbye to my father and step mother. I'd only been back in Canada for 8 years and it was odd to be saying goodbye...AGAIN.
Having crammed ourselves into our row of four with our bags stowed and the kids buckled, I settled in for what was guaranteed to be a looooong flight. We had dinner, watched some tv (the kids) and movies (us), and then went to sleep. Or rather, DS slept....for hours and hours, OH slept on and off because he's 6 foot 4 and couldn't get comfortable, DD slept fitfully because she's not as short as her little brother and couldn't curl up in the seat in quite the same way. And me? I wedged my fat behind into a seat and tried not to move too much.
All in all it was a pretty good flight. I got my first "welcome to NZ" when we first got on the plane. I had a conversation much like this with the flight attendant:
Her: "Off on holidays then?"
Me: "Nope, we're moving there for good"
Her: "Ah! Where you headed then?"
Me: "We're heading to Blenheim...we have family there"
Her: "Oh I see....pisshead!"
I just cracked up. It struck me as absolutely hilarious that she would be calling me that. She's really not far off the truth.
Once we arrived in Auckland,we proceeded through customs where the kids and I were stamped quickly and sent on our way and OH was given a light hearted "hard time" because he couldn't decide how to describe the knife he'd brought in his suitcase. It's a utility knife, but he couldn't seem to come up with that word LOL. Then we collected our bags and OH's guitar (a breeze by the way....very smooth collection!) and headed through the rest of customs and security. It was, all in all, a very very smooth transition. We had our forms filled out, had all the right answers and they sent us through. I guess it helps that I declared even the seemingly silly things as well as the actual declarable stuff.
I'm telling you, the staff in the NZ airports could teach LAX staff a thing or two. I'm so glad we didn't have to go through LAX this time.
We had oodles of time between arriving and our connecting flight to Blenheim (two hours or so) so we decided to stretch our legs and walk over to the domestic terminal. People thought I was crazy I think because I walked all the way over in just a t shirt....at 6am. It WAS cold outside, but I'd been HOT all night so it was a nice change.
We arrived in Blenheim at 9:30am on Sunday July 26th. The kids think it's absolutely hilarious that we lost Saturday altogether.
Mum met us at the Blenheim airport and brought us home to our new house. I can't even begin to describe how nice it is to be "home". Blenheim is absolutely gorgeous. The Wither Hills are to the south-east of our house and we have a lovely view of them. The sun shines into our house all day and warms it up nicely. We do have a heat pump but between the just generally nice weather and the fact that the house is only two years old, so well insulated, we haven't had to use it much. Phew! Don't get me wrong...it IS cold in the mornings, but not so cold that I am scared of turning to ice.
DD started school at Redwoodtown School a few days after we got here...on the Wednesday. I haven't decided whether she is more excited about the school uniform or the awesome playpark or the homework she gets to do almost every night. It's a fantastic school and she settled in no problem. She's had a week and a half there now and has made some great little friends. Her "best friend" is a little boy named Sam who is just adorable.
DS has had a couple visits to his new class and will be starting on Monday. He just turned 5 yesterday so is excited to be going now too.
I'm really impressed with how the kids have adapted and settled. They've always been great with moving and change, but it's still nice to see that they haven't been affected for the worse.
OH found a job in his first week. He walked up to the boss man at Barnes Construction and asked if they were hiring and he got a job! Not only that, but they gave him a voucher for $180 towards steel toed work boots and $40 towards steel toed gumboots. AND provided him with coveralls, a shirt, ear protectors, safety glasses, gloves etc. He's just a general construction hand right now, but he was told that if he works hard he can get an apprenticeship and just keep moving up. He's happy.....except for the fact he has to get up at 5:45am to be at work for 6:50am.
I haven't found a job yet but I've applied to lots of places. I'm trained as a Legal Secretary / Office Administrator so there has to be something out there for me. I just haven't found it yet.
We're only two weeks in but we are incredibly happy and glad we made the move. I think this is going to be great for our family :)
Blenheim rocks! Come visit!
Our goodbyes were low key, and very personal....no big parties (only cos no one planned one!). It was hard for OH to say goodbye to his family because he'd lived on Vancouver Island for all his life. It was especially hard to say goodbye to his grandmother who is now in her 80s...the kid's great grandmother. It's a sad reality that we are highly unlikely to ever see her again.
I didn't get to say goodbye to the vast majority of my family because they were spread all over Canada and the UK. So emails it was.
Our daughter had a party for her and 10 of her friends, and our son had an early birthday party in the sun so that he could say bye to his buddies. It was fun.
Saying goodbye to my bestest friend in the whole world was heartbreaking. And we didn't do it once, we did it twice! We had a BBQ at her place on the Wednesday evening and said goodbye to her and her family and some other friends, but then on Thursday she came over to help me pack so I had to say goodbye all over again. It was awful....I cried so hard. And cried harder when she gave me the letter she'd written me.
We flew out of Vancouver, B.C on Friday July 24th....a 9pm flight. It was a great booking because it meant I could be fairly confident of the children sleeping most of the way. I sobbed all the way through security having just said goodbye to my father and step mother. I'd only been back in Canada for 8 years and it was odd to be saying goodbye...AGAIN.
Having crammed ourselves into our row of four with our bags stowed and the kids buckled, I settled in for what was guaranteed to be a looooong flight. We had dinner, watched some tv (the kids) and movies (us), and then went to sleep. Or rather, DS slept....for hours and hours, OH slept on and off because he's 6 foot 4 and couldn't get comfortable, DD slept fitfully because she's not as short as her little brother and couldn't curl up in the seat in quite the same way. And me? I wedged my fat behind into a seat and tried not to move too much.
All in all it was a pretty good flight. I got my first "welcome to NZ" when we first got on the plane. I had a conversation much like this with the flight attendant:
Her: "Off on holidays then?"
Me: "Nope, we're moving there for good"
Her: "Ah! Where you headed then?"
Me: "We're heading to Blenheim...we have family there"
Her: "Oh I see....pisshead!"
I just cracked up. It struck me as absolutely hilarious that she would be calling me that. She's really not far off the truth.
Once we arrived in Auckland,we proceeded through customs where the kids and I were stamped quickly and sent on our way and OH was given a light hearted "hard time" because he couldn't decide how to describe the knife he'd brought in his suitcase. It's a utility knife, but he couldn't seem to come up with that word LOL. Then we collected our bags and OH's guitar (a breeze by the way....very smooth collection!) and headed through the rest of customs and security. It was, all in all, a very very smooth transition. We had our forms filled out, had all the right answers and they sent us through. I guess it helps that I declared even the seemingly silly things as well as the actual declarable stuff.
I'm telling you, the staff in the NZ airports could teach LAX staff a thing or two. I'm so glad we didn't have to go through LAX this time.
We had oodles of time between arriving and our connecting flight to Blenheim (two hours or so) so we decided to stretch our legs and walk over to the domestic terminal. People thought I was crazy I think because I walked all the way over in just a t shirt....at 6am. It WAS cold outside, but I'd been HOT all night so it was a nice change.
We arrived in Blenheim at 9:30am on Sunday July 26th. The kids think it's absolutely hilarious that we lost Saturday altogether.
Mum met us at the Blenheim airport and brought us home to our new house. I can't even begin to describe how nice it is to be "home". Blenheim is absolutely gorgeous. The Wither Hills are to the south-east of our house and we have a lovely view of them. The sun shines into our house all day and warms it up nicely. We do have a heat pump but between the just generally nice weather and the fact that the house is only two years old, so well insulated, we haven't had to use it much. Phew! Don't get me wrong...it IS cold in the mornings, but not so cold that I am scared of turning to ice.
DD started school at Redwoodtown School a few days after we got here...on the Wednesday. I haven't decided whether she is more excited about the school uniform or the awesome playpark or the homework she gets to do almost every night. It's a fantastic school and she settled in no problem. She's had a week and a half there now and has made some great little friends. Her "best friend" is a little boy named Sam who is just adorable.
DS has had a couple visits to his new class and will be starting on Monday. He just turned 5 yesterday so is excited to be going now too.
I'm really impressed with how the kids have adapted and settled. They've always been great with moving and change, but it's still nice to see that they haven't been affected for the worse.
OH found a job in his first week. He walked up to the boss man at Barnes Construction and asked if they were hiring and he got a job! Not only that, but they gave him a voucher for $180 towards steel toed work boots and $40 towards steel toed gumboots. AND provided him with coveralls, a shirt, ear protectors, safety glasses, gloves etc. He's just a general construction hand right now, but he was told that if he works hard he can get an apprenticeship and just keep moving up. He's happy.....except for the fact he has to get up at 5:45am to be at work for 6:50am.
I haven't found a job yet but I've applied to lots of places. I'm trained as a Legal Secretary / Office Administrator so there has to be something out there for me. I just haven't found it yet.
We're only two weeks in but we are incredibly happy and glad we made the move. I think this is going to be great for our family :)
Blenheim rocks! Come visit!