Diny
6th August 2005, 06:31 PM
Can't believe how fast the last 3 weeks have gone. Seems like yesterday I was at home saying all the heart wrenching goodbyes.
We've fit so much into our days - no wonder we're falling into bed at 8.30 most nights and asleep before our heads touch the pillow.
We're in the rental - it's not ideal but I've seen alot worse. Coming from a very nice, fully carpeted, central heated, double glazed, brick built fortress to a house that equates to little more than a garden shed has been abit of an eye opener. I'm not sure whether I'm embarrassed to live here or proud of my pioneering spirit :?
We bought father in laws car off him and beg, stole and borrowed all kinds of housewares from my mum in law to keep us going until the container arrives.
Oh yeah .... we've had word that the container is due to arrive in Wellington on 23rd of August ...... somehow that's alot sooner than we thought (not that we're complaining).
We've had a couple of amazing days out. The weather over is unbelievable. Middle of winter and we're getting hours of glorious sunshine. During the day it can easily get up to T-shirt temps, but it soon gets chilly when the sun goes down.
We've mastered the wood burner and have recently taken delivery of a huge load of VERY good fire wood.
We have been thrown head first into the re-cycling habit. Here in the Manawatu you are allocated 26 bin bags per year - and that's your lot !!!!! Bearing in mind we would easily fill one bin bag a day at home, you can imagine the shock that this has been to the system. We now have different boxes for glass, plastic and tin. Almost 100% of our waste paper gets burnt on the fire (plus anything else that will burn). Within the space of a couple of weeks I've gone from eco-terrorist to green queen !!!!
The boys have just completed their first week at school and they are absolutely LOVING it. For any of you who may be having worries about how your kids will settle, all I can say is let them do it in their time and they'll be fine. My kids aren't 'super kids' but they've handled the global transition like heros.
The no-uniform rule is a big hit with my boys. They come home everyday covered with mud 'cos they've been playing rugby at break time.
My first impressions regarding school are 'so so'. It's far too soon to make any real decisions about it. I'm happy enough with the more relaxed, casual approach as this has been paramount in helping Fergie & Henny settle, however, I can't help feeling things are a little too casual. Both Mark and I are also slightly alarmed at the change in our boys. They are using words that were never part of their vocabulary at home and they seem to have got a little 'cruder'. We're putting this down to the the fact that there's kids up to the age of 13 in their school whereas before they were only around kids between 4 and 9.
At this stage the promise of a prolonged, innocent childhood for the boys seems to have been abit of a 'carrot on a stick'. We've seen nothing to convince us of that so far. The other day Henny called somebody an 'ucker'. When we challenged him about it he said that's what all the kids call each other at school :eek It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what that word is meant to be. Yesterday Fergie asked what a rapist is :eek These are words that my kids would NEVER have used back in the UK. Don't want to get onto too much of a downer about this situation but it will be closely monitored. For now I'll keep an open mind :? The fact that the school the boys go to is considered to be a very good one is a touch worrying.
The other day Mark and I went into the woods to gather pine cones for the fire (they burn well and are HOT) - whilst standing under a tree I was pi**ed on by a possum !!!!!! I now consider a dead possum to be the best type !!!!!!!
First impressions????? Well - difficult to say really seeing as this not the first time I've been here. Alot of things here are exactly the same as at home, alot are totally different. The supermarkets are a constant source of entertainment for me. The fresh produce is second to none - even the presentation of it is far superior to anything you get at home. The meat is good quality and cheap but I can't help finding the presentation of it a touch 'crude'. Maybe the fact that I'm VERY tickle stomached about meat makes large blood covered slabs of meat slapped on a plastic tray under some cling film abit off-putting.
Super concentrate washing up liquid isn't :no Several squirts and hardly a lather ...... must change my brand. Shampoo and conditioner come is MASSIVE bottles - with MASSIVE price tags too - thankfully I have a huge supply coming over in the container.
Homesickness .......... oh boy it's a killer !!!!!!!!! I knew it would be bad but nowhere near as bad as this. It can be crippling. Day times are pretty good but evenings and nights can be very hard. I phone home everyday which is great (have got a very good deal with Telecom). Just a couple of minutes to 'check in'. We've found it's helped alot, getting to have a quick chat each day closes the gap between us. Mum and Dad are in the process of booking their flights out here, arriving just after Christmas, in the grand scale of things that's not very far away at all. Personally I find having a visit to look forward to is a huge help too. I guess homesickness is something that we all go through at various stages. Be prepared - when it hits it hits hard !!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't wait for the rest of the NW crew to arrive - we've been finding some great places for days out and bush walks etc ....... you lot are going to love it.
Tomorrow (Sunday) we're meeting up with Dave & Sandra for lunch in Palmerston North. We've spoken a couple of times but can't wait to meet up at last. We were meant to be going down to Welloington today to meet up with Carol & Kenny but too many domestic duties got in the way, we're meeting up in a couple of weeks half way between here and Welly - looking forward to that too.
Mark goes away on Monday for just over 4 weeks. The boys and I aren't looking forward to that one bit but we have to face it. I guess it will get easier with time.
The NZ fascination with rugby never ceases to astound me. This morning we stood and watched my nephew play ......... err sorry ...... I just don't get it :no Good on 'em and all that but it leaves me cold, the thought of 'get a life' springs to mind ........ will put on the flack jacket now :mrgreen:
Have taken some more pics so will get them loaded up and posted on here for you to have a look at.
So ....... so far so good. Homesickness is a much bigger issue than I thought it would be - as for everything else I'd say it's pretty cool :nice1
Diny
We've fit so much into our days - no wonder we're falling into bed at 8.30 most nights and asleep before our heads touch the pillow.
We're in the rental - it's not ideal but I've seen alot worse. Coming from a very nice, fully carpeted, central heated, double glazed, brick built fortress to a house that equates to little more than a garden shed has been abit of an eye opener. I'm not sure whether I'm embarrassed to live here or proud of my pioneering spirit :?
We bought father in laws car off him and beg, stole and borrowed all kinds of housewares from my mum in law to keep us going until the container arrives.
Oh yeah .... we've had word that the container is due to arrive in Wellington on 23rd of August ...... somehow that's alot sooner than we thought (not that we're complaining).
We've had a couple of amazing days out. The weather over is unbelievable. Middle of winter and we're getting hours of glorious sunshine. During the day it can easily get up to T-shirt temps, but it soon gets chilly when the sun goes down.
We've mastered the wood burner and have recently taken delivery of a huge load of VERY good fire wood.
We have been thrown head first into the re-cycling habit. Here in the Manawatu you are allocated 26 bin bags per year - and that's your lot !!!!! Bearing in mind we would easily fill one bin bag a day at home, you can imagine the shock that this has been to the system. We now have different boxes for glass, plastic and tin. Almost 100% of our waste paper gets burnt on the fire (plus anything else that will burn). Within the space of a couple of weeks I've gone from eco-terrorist to green queen !!!!
The boys have just completed their first week at school and they are absolutely LOVING it. For any of you who may be having worries about how your kids will settle, all I can say is let them do it in their time and they'll be fine. My kids aren't 'super kids' but they've handled the global transition like heros.
The no-uniform rule is a big hit with my boys. They come home everyday covered with mud 'cos they've been playing rugby at break time.
My first impressions regarding school are 'so so'. It's far too soon to make any real decisions about it. I'm happy enough with the more relaxed, casual approach as this has been paramount in helping Fergie & Henny settle, however, I can't help feeling things are a little too casual. Both Mark and I are also slightly alarmed at the change in our boys. They are using words that were never part of their vocabulary at home and they seem to have got a little 'cruder'. We're putting this down to the the fact that there's kids up to the age of 13 in their school whereas before they were only around kids between 4 and 9.
At this stage the promise of a prolonged, innocent childhood for the boys seems to have been abit of a 'carrot on a stick'. We've seen nothing to convince us of that so far. The other day Henny called somebody an 'ucker'. When we challenged him about it he said that's what all the kids call each other at school :eek It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out what that word is meant to be. Yesterday Fergie asked what a rapist is :eek These are words that my kids would NEVER have used back in the UK. Don't want to get onto too much of a downer about this situation but it will be closely monitored. For now I'll keep an open mind :? The fact that the school the boys go to is considered to be a very good one is a touch worrying.
The other day Mark and I went into the woods to gather pine cones for the fire (they burn well and are HOT) - whilst standing under a tree I was pi**ed on by a possum !!!!!! I now consider a dead possum to be the best type !!!!!!!
First impressions????? Well - difficult to say really seeing as this not the first time I've been here. Alot of things here are exactly the same as at home, alot are totally different. The supermarkets are a constant source of entertainment for me. The fresh produce is second to none - even the presentation of it is far superior to anything you get at home. The meat is good quality and cheap but I can't help finding the presentation of it a touch 'crude'. Maybe the fact that I'm VERY tickle stomached about meat makes large blood covered slabs of meat slapped on a plastic tray under some cling film abit off-putting.
Super concentrate washing up liquid isn't :no Several squirts and hardly a lather ...... must change my brand. Shampoo and conditioner come is MASSIVE bottles - with MASSIVE price tags too - thankfully I have a huge supply coming over in the container.
Homesickness .......... oh boy it's a killer !!!!!!!!! I knew it would be bad but nowhere near as bad as this. It can be crippling. Day times are pretty good but evenings and nights can be very hard. I phone home everyday which is great (have got a very good deal with Telecom). Just a couple of minutes to 'check in'. We've found it's helped alot, getting to have a quick chat each day closes the gap between us. Mum and Dad are in the process of booking their flights out here, arriving just after Christmas, in the grand scale of things that's not very far away at all. Personally I find having a visit to look forward to is a huge help too. I guess homesickness is something that we all go through at various stages. Be prepared - when it hits it hits hard !!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't wait for the rest of the NW crew to arrive - we've been finding some great places for days out and bush walks etc ....... you lot are going to love it.
Tomorrow (Sunday) we're meeting up with Dave & Sandra for lunch in Palmerston North. We've spoken a couple of times but can't wait to meet up at last. We were meant to be going down to Welloington today to meet up with Carol & Kenny but too many domestic duties got in the way, we're meeting up in a couple of weeks half way between here and Welly - looking forward to that too.
Mark goes away on Monday for just over 4 weeks. The boys and I aren't looking forward to that one bit but we have to face it. I guess it will get easier with time.
The NZ fascination with rugby never ceases to astound me. This morning we stood and watched my nephew play ......... err sorry ...... I just don't get it :no Good on 'em and all that but it leaves me cold, the thought of 'get a life' springs to mind ........ will put on the flack jacket now :mrgreen:
Have taken some more pics so will get them loaded up and posted on here for you to have a look at.
So ....... so far so good. Homesickness is a much bigger issue than I thought it would be - as for everything else I'd say it's pretty cool :nice1
Diny