New year, new abode

First off, we want to wish everyone out there a Happy New Year!

It's been a very busy month for us, and this is the first chance I've had to sit down and update the blog in quite a while. I doubt anyone (except perhaps the Moms and Dads out there) were eagerly awaiting news, but still I apologise for the silence.

Holidays
We spent Christmas Day brekkie with our friends Alice and James at their charming new home in Karori. We introduced them to waffles and "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" on video (they had already read the books, if I recall correctly). They meanwhile introduced us to Settlers of Cataan, a very fun board game. That game has been on my list of things to try for a long time, so I really enjoyed it. Strategy games are among my favourites (though my performance in the game seemed to indicate the opposite!) I think even Stacey liked it.

Boxing Day is the day after Christmas. (Incidentally, I did not know what Boxing Day was...until our friend Mike explained that this was traditionally a day where roles were reversed, and servants were 'served' by their employers / masters). In modern times, it means SALES! The equivalent day back in the U.S. would probably be Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. We spent the day appropriately shopping for a new washer and dryer (needed for the new place, below) and also bought a BBQ grill. All were on special (sale) and we got great deals, so could feel good about that. The BBQ was our truly splurge item, but we simply had to have it to properly enjoy our new patio area...right? Right.

A Christmas Cracker

After our shopping spree, our friends Mike and Michele had us over for a really nice dinner. There, we had to chance to experience yet another New Zealand tradition: Christmas Crackers. Like so many other holiday practices in Aotearoa, this one hails from the U.K. I am ashamed to admit that for the longest time when I saw these things in the stores, I actually thought they contained some sort of food item! It turns out they are little explosive packages with goodies in them! Great fun.

The upcoming summer months have lots in store for us. Besides pending visitors from the States, which I'll get to, there are also heaps of festivals, concerts and events coming up.

New home for 2008
We start 2008 in a completely new location--Miramar. As I mentioned in my previous post, it's a near-suburb of Wellington. We have spent the past couple of weeks getting moved in to our new place, a two-story home. I was pretty wiped-out there for a couple of days, but now that most everything is unpacked and things are settling down, my energy levels are coming back up.

It's a dramatic difference from living in town, and I can feel my stress levels dropping each day. Stacey is not as keen since she liked living in the city, but she's giving it a go and for that I am grateful. This house is big, I dare say larger than our place in Atlanta was. Ironically, size was not a primary factor in our decision to move. We are being cautious about taking on too much in the way of furniture, etc., ever-mindful of the fact that if/when we buy our own house we can be certain it will be quite small. Even so, it is nice to have a bit of room to spread out and even better to have an actual guest bedroom so that anyone wishing to come visit will have a proper place to stay. Both my Mom and Stacey's parents plan to visit in the late summer / early fall, for instance.


It was our friend Dawn who told us about it and honestly she deserves the $500 agent commission more so than anyone else. I knew the moment I saw the place that Stacey would like it because of the kitchen. We have seen some really crappy kitchens in rental properties here, and this one is fab by comparison. It has double ovens (although at the moment one of them is not working correctly, trying to sort that out...) and a great garden window that looks out into a rose garden. The appliances are pretty new, and it even has a garbage disposal (somewhat rare in rentals in NZ). I know...excited about a garbage disposal??? Silly Americans.


For me, the outdoor spaces were what I missed most about being in a proper home. This house has some great outdoor patio and garden areas, which really lifts my spirits. I cannot go crazy with the gardening, mind you, since it's not my house. But, it's still nice to dig in the dirt a little bit and I think even Stacey doesn't mind all of the fresh-cut roses that I bring in for her.

Living a little further away removes a lot of the unpleasantness that comes with an urban setting, but there are drawbacks too. For one, we'll be using public transit a lot more. I have nothing against public transit, even managing to endure Atlanta's MARTA system for two years while I was in college. But remember, my commute in the city was walking 5 minutes to the office--you simply cannot beat that. The bus will take 20-25 minutes which is not too bad. The cost is $95 for a Metlink monthly gold card pass (so $200 for each of us per month). It includes transport anywhere up to zones 1-3 on the network, and we're unlikely to travel outside those zones. Commuting cost is a major consideration for us, especially since we are faced with living outside of zone 3 someday. I wish that it was a bit more affordable.

Living in the suburbs is a necessary experiment. There is simply no way that we can afford to buy a home near the center of town. At least, not without it being the worst kind of fixer-upper you can imagine. Even empty land plots (sections, as they are called here) cost big bucks.

2008--Make or Break?
So, what does 2008 have in store for us? It's shaping up to be both enjoyable and potentially messy. Enjoyable because, like I said, we've got rellies (that's Kiwi for relatives) coming to visit. Stacey's parent's have been here before (her Dad grew up here, after all!) so much of New Zealand is not new to them. But it will be fun to show off Wellington, a place that we now are intimately familiar with. I think it rained every previous trip they made to the Windy City, so hopefully it will behave better this time!

My Mom and my cousin, Angel, will also be crossing the big pond. For them, New Zealand is a completely new experience! I'll be meeting them up in Auckland for a tour of the North Island, with the middle of the trip in Wellington, and finishing off down in Southland for a trip to Fiordland National Park. It should be terrific--I am crossing my fingers for great weather in February!

The messy side...well, let's just say that I am pretty certain 2008 will be the defining year in terms of our stay in New Zealand. We've been here long enough now to know the lay of the land, to understand the challenges, and to know what we have to do. The single most daunting task ahead of us is for both (or at least one) of us to acquire permanent, stable employment. We were so excited and relieved for Stacey to have acquired permanent employment recently, and I really felt things were on the right course. But, alas, on Christmas Eve she was notified that her position was being made redundant due to a department restructure. What does that mean? It means more uncertainty in an area that we thought was reasonably under control.

I have not progressed much in the job arena myself. My position is a long-term contract and not permanent. (Please don't misunderstand--I'm not complaining--it's much better than no job, and I love the work I am doing now) My sensibilities just tend towards wanting a permanent role. Maybe I should try to be more like Kiwis. Going from contract-to-contract doesn't seem to bother them in the least. They flitter about from one to the next, without an apparent worry. I have done a lot of adapting since coming to NZ, but one thing I cannot adapt to is taking on a $500,000 mortgage without having steady, secure incomes. I realise that I do tend to harp on about this home-buying stuff...perhaps it because owning a home is one of the deal-breakers for us staying here. This last move cost us $2000, and we're not prepared to do that every year. We have to get out from under other people's thumbs.

So, 2008 is an important year for us. We have a lot of work to do, and many resolutions to achieve. We're feeling reasonably optimistic, too. We'll just have to see how it goes...