Fiddlehead Flat

We have decided on a name for our place, and it shall thus be known as Fiddlehead Flat, combining a taste of home, a symbol of New Zealand, and a splash of Celtic culture. It is the third flat in a unit of 3 flats down a long drive off of a quiet road. As many of you have seen, it was rather empty but over the two weeks we have managed to build a home out of it. After entering the old wooden gate you are greeted by large windows, brick and a nice large front deck which for the moment houses a broom and some poorly guarded strawberries that are constantly stolen by birds (netting to be developed later).

The whole yard in general is decorated with ferns, impatients, and bromeliads, not much work to be done there. Inside is the living area, which started a bit more meager with a few shelves and some camp chairs. Since then we have added a dining table, desk, and most recently a chair and couch. Now Tom will have something to sleep on when he arrives tomorrow.

This spacious room is slowly being decorated, but we have mounted our clocks, one for New Zealand time, and one for the time back home in the Maritimes. I also added a shoe rack so Mary-Ellen will have somewhere to organize all the shoes she brought.

The kitchen is small but suitable for feeding two people, and fortunately has lots of space. The one thing it was missing was a refrigerator. It is a small quaint little thing that definitely does the job. Unfortunately no room for the microwave, but surprisingly, don't really miss it.

The kitchen has one other feature before I move on, that occasionally walks in. I have told Mary-Ellen, that this means we don't need to get one! It occasionally wanders over to see what is going on, especially when we are cooking with the windows open.

The bathroom is interesting in that they separate the toilets from the rest of the bathroom. Not sure why the idea has not caught on more in North America...makes sense...that might be the reason.

The last room is the bedroom, with the hastily purchased bed after a night on the hard floor. It is quite low...sometimes forget there is a foot or two to go when crawling in... We also have great wonderful windows to let the sun in, which is a prominent feature of Fiddlehead Flat.

And lastly, the door in the far right corner leads to a private deck out the back, more gardens, private clothes hanger, and wraps back around to the front of the flat.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is Fiddlehead Flat, our place of abode for the next 2 years or so. We will shortly be accepting our first visitor, hopefully the first of many friends who drop by to see this unusual and wondrous little island in the south Pacific.

Christmas Chicken and all the fixin'

Mark and I were very lucky to have had 2 Christmas dinners with a third one happening next week despite being so very far from home. Our first Christmas dinner was last week, the "Orphan Christmas Dinner" that was organized by a few of Mark's colleagues for those international students who were not heading home for the holidays.

I have met most of those in attendance on our previous trip to Leigh but it was mostly a quick hello as we passed people on campus. This was my first chance to sit down with Mark's friends and colleagues to learn a little more about them. Unfortunately we forgot out camera, so there are no pictures of the delicious feast.

Over chicken, couscous salad (one of my favourite dishes served- it had feta, cranberries, raisins, green onion and a few other delicious treasures hidden inside), lasagna, casseroles, maple and walnut brie and crackers and other warm dishes we discussed Christmas traditions at home. This was fascinating as in attendance we had representations from Scotland, Canada, Chili, Germany, New Zealand and Malaysia.

Desert, tea and coffee came next where we all had to make room for strawberry rhubarb pie, beautiful nameless Chilean desert (a secret family tradition), and stollen (a German desert loaf made by our Scottish attendant).

The food was delicious, the company entertaining and enlightening and the time we had was priceless.


Our second Christmas dinner was a small affair at home with just Mark and I. We made chicken breasts as we didn't want to be eating left over turkey for weeks. I also baked up some stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, gravy and Mark made some cheese loaf. It was quiet, but the food again was delicious and we enjoyed being in each other's company.

Our third dinner will take place this week as one of Marks close friends comes to visit us from Korea where he is currently working. We have promised him a Canadian Christmas (minus the snow).

We want to thank each of you who sent envelopes to us for Christmas this year. We really appreciate the cards, well wishes and love that was enclosed in each envelope. Soon to come, Mark will give you an introduction to our new home. And here is the little tree Joanne gave us!

New Beginnings

Hello again, Mark here as Mary-Ellen and I settle down after a long day. Much has happened since ME landed on Saturday and it has certainly been a whirlwind tour so far. The biggest piece of news aside from her arriving is that we now have a place to live permanently, in a slice of Auckland known as Mt. Eden. We wandered around a bit until we were able to go visit the property and ME was basically sold after a quick look. We picked up the keys on Monday and are now the proud renters of a small one bedroom flat down a quaint little drive. More pictures are to come, but to describe it, I would call it a cottage-esque garden home with a little fenced in area, porch out the front and back, and a very mellow-yellow interior.

As far as decorating goes, we have only recently acquired the necessities to live their permanent, most importantly a bed. Our first night there was less than comfortable, camping on the very stiff floor!

As far as exploring goes, we have focused on getting our place organized so that we can just sit back and enjoy it, as well as getting ME over her jetlag. So far though, we have spent the last two nights in Leigh, a sleepy spot for a sleepy person (I think I am going to regret saying that), as I have a few things to wrap up before the Christmas holiday. The only other site seeing has been a trip down Auckland's Queen street, a place I have shown you before with the numerous shops and old buildings.

One of the park areas was especially geared up for the holiday season, including these trees made of recycled drinking bottles. We should be doing more exploring and more updates on our house as we continue to assemble it over the next couple days. Until then, I will leave you with ME's Christmas tree she put up. Happy holidays and you will be hearing from us again soon!

No shirt, no shoes, no service *some conditions apply

I have been in New Zealand for a little over 24 hours now and I thought the best way to give you my first impressions would be a list of observations. For those of you wondering about the flight...I made it alive, and yes, we had a movie inspired reunion ... but more from a comedy than a romance as I was pushing a trolly with 4 bags on it and was trying to weave amongst people while Mark was trying as well to doge people with their own trollies. 

1) The temperature is HOT! When the airport doors opened and we walked out to the car park it was as hot as it was on that one hot day we had in August where you didn't want to move or eat....and it was 6:00 in the morning. The day only got hotter from there. 

2) Kiwi's like to "Art it Up"...it is everywhere... there are carvings on everything cement from overpasses and guardrails to paintings on the sides of buildings. 

3) Shoes and Shirts are just a suggestion. I first noticed some small children at McDonalds - where we stopped for coffee - running around barefoot. I made the assumption that they had recently been in the play place. I was wrong as shortly after I noticed grown men and women without shoes. Mark said that it is completely acceptable to not wear shoes on your down time, and that very few children actually wear shoes at all. 

4) Driving on the left side of the road also means that the flow of pedestrian traffic is on the left side of the road and I have yet to adjust to walking this way and have spent the better part of the last day apologizing  to people that I almost hit as I am looking around at the scenery. 

5) Everything here is as green as what you see on TV, in magazines and in photographs. The buildings are even beautiful with a lot of greenery. 

6) Kiwi's love American fast food and Canadian beauty products. I even found a Lush here today. 

7) Stationary is absurdly priced, trying to help me orient myself Mark decided to take me to the staples equivalent to "price" a few things for my classroom. I was hoping to  spend 20-40 dollars to get a few binders, some pencils and some sticky notes and paper. Well, I could not be more wrong. 1 binder, the cardboard kind that ruin with moisture and split up the seams was 24.99. One binder. 24.99! A package of 5 pads of post-it notes was over 30.00 and a package of 10 pens in a variety of colours for marking was just shy of 50.00. 

8) You can only tell it is Christmas by the fact that they are selling trees, stockings and decorations at almost every store. They are also playing a lot of Christmas music in the mall which oddly sounds so strange as one of the most popular tunes is "let it snow" and snow is the furthest thing from the weather report around here. 

Mark and I will update you on our place once we move in and take a few photos. We sign and get the keys from the real estate agent on Monday and will move in on Monday morning. Monday afternoon we are heading up to Leigh to get Mark's belongings and then coming back to Auckland on Tuesday or Wednesday. I don't expect we will update before the weekend as we will have to wait until we have internet installed at the apartment. 

One Week to Take Off

Things have been extremely busy both in Canada and in New Zealand as both Mark and I make final arrangements before our BIG airport reunion!

In Canada, I have been busy packing, making 10 million (well, maybe just 15) post-it note lists  containing everything from gathering tax papers for the next tax season, to packing lists, to lists of all the assignments I need to finish before I take off (just one more paper and I'm free of coursework until January!) to choreography ideas for my replacement coaches.

Two partially packed suitcases and a sock monkey

A few of the many post-it notes I have stuck everywhere

In all of this, I am so incredibly grateful that family and friends were able to attend a gathering at the house and I am truly overwhelmed by all the positive advice, well wishes, and love that they left behind as I continue to pack. In addition to a fantastic party hosted by my in-laws (and delicious ginger cake!), I had some fantastic news to share last night. I have recently accepted a teaching post in New Zealand and will start teaching with the new school year in January (the equivalent to our September start). I will be at a college (high school) in Auckland teaching grade 9 and 10 Maths.

Mark has also been very busy as he has been out on the boats making headway with his projects. He is also continuing to look for an apartment and we are hoping he will have more luck now that we have been able to increase our weekly allotment for rent. We are looking in a few neighbourhoods close to the school. Here's hoping that some of the places he is seeing this week might work for us.

The next 7 days will be filled with a whole lot of events from our nephew's first birthday party, to breakfast brunches and coffee dates. I am going to continue packing and hopefully cram everything I need for my time in New Zealand in two suitcases.

Could he be any cuter? I can't believe he turns "1" the day before I take off to New Zealand!

Our next update is most likely going to be some of our adventures in New Zealand and we can't wait to update you on our little cozy apartment, Mark's thesis project, my new school, and the adventures we have as we start to explore the landscape over our Christmas holidays.