good day mates, kia ora

Hello from New Zealand!  We are here and settled in our sweet little bungalow and out of the sleep deprived fog that any 30-hour trip will induce!   We left our house in Maine early Monday morning and got a nice ride to the bus from our helpful friend adam.  He remarked how everyone was so chatty at such an early hour, and I must admit that the kids had transformed into travel mode-the excitement of global travel was in the air.  Two flights later found us in LA in the international terminal with some hours on our hands.  I usually enjoy these terminals  due to all the amazing people watching and different languages spoken, but this one was old and a bit lacking on amenities-I couldn’t help imagining that this was where the Kardashians and the Jolie-Pitts  waited to board their planes to Dubai and beyond?? I  think not…we did have a lovely encounter with a NZ woman who we kept crossing paths with-she was quite visible in the crowd in a long white kaftan dress and funky jewelry and we kept exchanges glances and smiles until she noticed Mia’s ukulele in her hand.  She then started a conversation with Mia that I had to translate!  Her words to Mia were those that she  will probably need to hear often in her life at different stages, but her message was “keep doing what you want to do no matter what others might say”.   I hoped this encouragement and stress on individuality was going to be  the norm for kiwi culture. 

I have to say that if you can fly Air New Zealand airlines, DO!  This had to be the most friendly, lovely flying experience I can remember,  and unfortunately I slept through some of the best parts!  At that point it was 2am our time and I was starting to feel that effects of the time, and fell into a bit of a haze.  I remember smells of a lovely dinner served, drinks offered and wine course to follow.  Alex and Paul assure the rest of us that dinner was tasty, but we missed it.  Breakfast was served a couple of hours before landing with mimosas and coffee, and the general mood of the flight staff was so friendly and helpful in such contrast to the way we were treated by the American staff.   Everything was  either “lovely” or “ brilliant”, and the safety videos were hilarious!  After a 13 hour flight landing in auckland, we were still one flight away from done, and the added not-bonus that kogen’s suitcase got lost, we still enjoyed walking in a very florida-feeling air to the domestic terminal.  A short hop of a flight along the length of the country offered amazing views of snowcapped mountains and coastline, and we made it to Christchurch!   Our house is wonderful-paul did a great job finding a perfect place for us to call “temporary home”-a cozy ranch with sunny airy rooms, a deck looking on a small but lush  garden, a piano that Kogen cannot stop banging away on, great running routes for paul and alex.   Did I mention the food shops down the street?  Sushi, greek  kebabs, both gluten-free and regular bakeries, pizza and Chinese.  What a difference from our neighborhood in the Maine woods!  Figuring out what day and time it is has also been a challenge-we lost a day in transit so arrived on Wednesday here, and mia still has Maine time on her watch and informs us constantly of the time back home.

I asked the kids their first impressions after our first day here, and the general consensus is “it isn’t home”.  It does feel like a vacation so far, with such a long trip to get here and discoveries of our surrounding’s to be made, and it really doesn’t feel like a foreign country yet.  I think the more we dive into the area and make the most of our time here we can maybe look at this place as our temporary home away from home.  More to come soon of our first days here in New Zealand- know that we miss everything and everyone!