Moving up in the World

We are now proud residents of Meadowbank: Curt got everything moved into our new house on Friday and finished by 1:30 (except the grand piano which didn't get moved until Sat). I was at work all day Friday and Curt had 3 furniture movers and a big truck. I think it was just as well that I wasn't there. That way I didn't have to watch, and I'm not much help carrying big stuff anyway. So by the time I got home from work, the bed was assembled and the living room furniture was in place. We also had the telephone & broadband guy and the cable guy at the new house on Friday so everything was hooked up and worked! That night, we went out to celebrate at an Italian restaurant on the corner which may become our favourite place. Mmmm mmmm. In Portland, we used to go to Da Vinci's restaurant. Carlin and Boone will remember it. Now it looks like we'll go to Portofino's. They do takeout food, too. Watch out.

Saturday I unpacked lots while Curt cleaned everything at the old house and supervised the piano movers. Our Samoan neighbours gave us a big bag of lemons off their tree as a farewell gift. I think we'll make fresh lemonade! As he left, Curt also grabbed the last of the grapefruits from our tree so he can make grapefruit juice one last time. In the new house, the piano fit nicely into a nook designed for a formal dining room table. It's the perfect spot. So elegant and inviting. Once the piano was all set up, Curt put all the paintings up on the walls. For most people, the paintings on the walls are the last thing done, and it's usually a symbol of completion. But for us, paintings are a much higher priority so they go up first! At least we have enough wall space in this house. Hanging the paintings makes it look like home already.

On Sunday morning I started to have problems: it was time to go to church but I couldn't find my choir music. Uh oh. I'd packed it with the other music from the piano bench and wrote MUSIC on the box because I knew I'd need it. We both looked all over the house, through the garage and everywhere and couldn't locate any box labeled MUSIC. So we headed off to church anyway. The second problem was that we hadn't been grocery shopping for a few days so there was nothing to eat Sunday morning. No bread, no milk, no cereal, no fruit. When we got to church the choir conductor's wife (who is 8 months pregnant) had baked us muffins as a housewarming gift ... and they were still hot! We opened them on the spot and pigged out. It was just what we needed until we could stop at the grocery store on the way home.

After church, Curt's main job was to get the washer and dryer hooked up.
Mounting the dryer on the wall above the washer was no easy task, and Curt requested my help – not because he thought I could contribute much muscle power, but because he needed someone to swear at while he grunted and whinged (that's a Kiwi word for whining). I dutifully provided moral support and encouragement while he practiced his potty-mouth. Next, Curt got to rest, sitting on the deck drinking coffee in the sunshine, while we started catching up on 5 days' worth of laundry. Overall, it's hard to complain much.

We've never had a kitchen this big or this nice. Remember, our house in Bellingham was big (6+ bedrooms) but the kitchen was tiny. And the kitchen in Portland was old with little counter space. Our galley kitchen in the rental house in Avondale was even smaller. But we finally have a nice, big, newer, pretty kitchen. Hurray! It's good to finally unpack china and things that I packed with Portland newspapers dated October 23, 2005 (one year ago). And nothing is broken. Amazing.

We've never had 3 bathrooms before either. Or a walk-in closet. I feel like I'm finally all grown up. And it only took 49 years.

Where we live, there's 4 houses all facing the same courtyard of driveways and I met one of the neighbours yesterday, a wonderful lady about 40, who is a hospital administrator, and moved here from Germany 18 years ago. New Zealand sure is an international place. Our 4 houses are located on what used to be train right-of-way. There's a commuter train line that runs through the gully behind our house. Apparently the train company owned 300 feet on each side of the tracks and later decided they only needed 150 feet on each side. Somebody bought the excess land and these 4 houses were added behind the existing houses that face the street. As a result, we're really tucked away from the street which is nice and quiet, but it is hard to find our address. I also love the sound of the trains going by. Listening to the choo choo trains was always my favourite part of going to a Mariners game at Safeco field. But my trains don't toot their whistle here. They're short – only 4 cars long – and quieter than freight trains. I like it.

So we're settling in. We survived another move without any major injuries to people or belongings. Oh, except we can't find our big rolling garbage can (a.k.a rubbish bin) assigned to this address. If that's the worst glitch so far, I figure we're in pretty good shape. All I need to do now is find my choir music before next Sunday.

Megan

House buying, New Zealand style

We recently bought our first house in New Zealand. During this process, we've been learning about subtle differences in the procedures compared to buying a house in the US.

Just like in America, it was pretty easy to shop for houses using the newspaper ads and internet. But their Open Houses are scheduled differently: A house would be open only from 12:00-12:45. Then the realtor would rush off to a 1:00-1:45 showing. But each house would be open Sat and Sun, week after week. So there's actually more houses available to see at any given time. In the US a house would be open one day from 1-4 and if you missed it that day, you needed to contact the realtor to see it at another time. Evidently the New Zealand system prefers the buyer to do more of the preliminary shopping themselves and to rely less on the realtor which was fine with us.

Another difference is that there's only one realtor involved and she represents the seller. There is no realtor to represent the buyer. This might seem like a conflict of interest, but because they want the house sold, they end up helping both sides. The realtor we dealt with handled our original offer, a counter-offer by the sellers, and our acceptance in 24 hours. It was relatively easy. She said, however, that different nationalities often have different styles of negotiating. For instance, Asian buyers may bicker back and forth many times over all sorts of little things, all in an effort to save face.

Overall, the process seems pretty streamlined. We put in an offer on a Thursday and the paperwork could have been completed within a few days. In fact, if both parties had wanted to, we could have taken possession of the house on Monday. In reality, we didn't want to move until the school holidays between terms so we set a date about 4 weeks in the future. But in the US, it seems like it takes 6 weeks to process even a "rush" sale.

We used a mortgage broker (who works for the realty company) to find the best rate on a home loan. Interest rates are different here, too. Even though we have a 25-year mortgage, the interest rate only is fixed for 5 years at which time you lock in a new rate (or sooner). He was surprised to hear that in America, we lock in a rate for 25 years! He asked, "What do people do if the rates go down during that time?" Our answer: Everyone re-finances. Whatever the differences, the system seems to work here because NZ has one of the highest ratios of home ownership in the world.

There's no title company/title search because the city gives out all the legal info when the house goes on the market and the realtors distribute it to interested buyers. We got a 20 page document/maps including legal description, liens, zoning, drainage, permits, assessment rates, soil issues, flood risk, wind zone, contamination, etc. Curt especially liked to read its soil report which is a civil engineer thing.

We did need to hire a barrister, however. I guess there's 2 levels of lawyers here: barristers and solicitors. Don't ask me yet which is better. I'm still learning. As far as I can tell, his job is to collect info from us and the bank, and he makes the sale legal.

At this point, we're packing boxes, arranging movers, and filling out a gazillion change-of-address forms. It seems like I just did all this a few months ago. And we need a piano mover AGAIN. Curt says that piano has been moved more times than it's been played. On a slightly different subject, we had an interesting problem with the piano keys over the winter. The glue that holds the ivory onto the wooden base of each key was disintegrating for some reason, and about 30 pieces came unglued. As I checked for more loose ones, 10 more fell off. It was weird. I don't know if it was caused by the trauma of being in a container for 8 weeks crossing the ocean and crossing the equator, or if it has to do with the humid climate here or what. Nobody seems to have heard of this phenomenon before. Anyway, we had a piano tuner come and reglue them all, but 2 more have fallen off since then. That poor piano sure had been through a lot lately. I think it misses Carlin, who was its primary user.

As for the house we chose, it's a little bigger than our rental and only 7 years old. I'd had enough of older houses needing remodeling. I wanted one that was all done and ready to live in without major work. It will also be the first house we've ever lived in that had a master bedroom suite. There's also 2 guest bedrooms (hint, hint), an office and a double garage (which in Kiwi is pronounced GAIR-idge, rhymes with carriage). In addition, this house is in a better neighbourhood, and closer to both our jobs. We'll be sorry to leave our rental's view of the water, our nice neighbours, and the convenient location. It's been a nice experience living here. But we're really looking forward to moving to our own home, and feeling more permanent. It'll be a good move.

Megan

General Update: work, house, death

Things are going well in spite of the imminent death of my father back in America.

My job is so perfect that it's hard to believe that I get paid to do this all day. Curt calls it my EASY job as in "Have a nice day at your EASY job!" My colleagues are still exceptional. I recently attended a workshop on New Zealand historical fiction, which was really helpful for me because I know lots about US historical fiction, but nothing about NZ historical fiction. Many of the titles were books that my fellow librarians grew up reading – and I am missing that background experience. So now I have loads more books on my nightstand that I want to read.

I am in charge of giving book talks to every English class that comes in for their silent reading period. All I have to do is open my mouth and the students know where I'm from. But they seem to listen attentively because they like my accent. It's funny ... I wish I could speak more Kiwi-ish and they wish they could speak more American-ish.

It is finals week at my school so the girls are studying really hard and really quietly but the library has been packed. Besides every chair and every couch being occupied, there have been girls on the floor between the shelves and in the corners. The library is a popular place!

The school is closed for three weeks between terms (Sept 16-Oct 9) but the library stays open so I still work for part of that time. It'll be a nice opportunity to get some big projects done without interruption.

In addition, Curt and I will be moving to our new house between terms so in theory I should be packing boxes right now. Ha. We started house-hunting a few weeks ago and quickly found one we like. It's a little bigger, and newer than our current rental house. Curt's looking forward to having his own yard to putter in and a jungle of potted plants on the deck. And we'll have 2 spare bedrooms and will be ready for guests soon! We are scheduled to move in Sept 30.

Amid all this, there's a constant reminder that I may be going back to America at any time. My dad is weaker and frailer but he's quite a fighter, and about the time we think he's ready to go, he rallies again. My brother and sister-in-law from Kansas City are taking turns flying back and forth to Bellingham every week to be with my mom. They're doing such a good job that it's going to make me and my other brother look bad. Oh well. I lived in the same town as my parents for 22 years (and even lived next door to them for 15 years!) so I feel like I did a pretty good job looking after my parents, too.

I'm very thankful that I went back to see them in July while Dad was still somewhat alert. At least I had a chance to say goodbye. At this point we're just waiting for the phone call from my mom telling us that he's died. I feel like I should be more emotional about his impending death, but he's been so frail since the stroke five years ago that his death is not unexpected. I guess we've all had plenty of time to prepare ourselves for it. Perhaps the emotions will hit me later.

Megan

Living in an Upside-Down World

New Zealand is in the southern hemisphere, but besides the seasons, we keep finding other things that are reversed, too.

Some examples of upside-down-ness:

• Yes, the seasons are reversed. It's January right now and it's 80º here. For a split second, we can't understand why on earth the news is showing so much snow in New York ... oh yeah, it's winter up there.

• The experts say there's different constellations visible down here. I wouldn't know, because I never could find the Big Dipper when I lived in the northern hemisphere, so don't count on me seeing the Southern Cross now that I'm in the southern hemisphere. But the experts say it's there. The Southern Cross constellation is actually on the New Zealand flag, so I guess I have seen it in a way. My niece also wanted to know if we see a different upside-down face of the moon. Beats me. Anyone know the answer to this?

• There's also the popular story about toilets swirling the opposite direction in the southern hemisphere. I'd like to say that I have done first-hand research on this - I actually went to the airplane toilet just after we passed the equator and watched it flush. But there was so little water that I couldn't tell. We also examined the hotel toilet with the same disappointing conclusion. Once we moved into our house, I continued my research without success. Kiwis are very conscious of conserving water, apparently. So I looked it up online and found an explanation on a website written by Penn State's Earth and Mineral Sciences department. (http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/Bad/BadCoriolis.html) It says that the direction it drains depends more on the shape of the bowl and the position of the drain than the hemisphere. If we had a perfectly spherical bowl with water draining exactly in the center, we could test it in 2 different hemispheres and maybe barely see the Coriolis effect. It does exist, but it is barely discernible. Mostly, that whole swirl story is urban myth with a little science thrown in.



• You turn on a light switch by pushing the switch DOWN. This explains why I am frequently walking in a dark room, I guess.
(the switch on the right is ON)








• Along those lines, every outlet has a switch on it, too. Which must be flipped down (of course) in order to get power. So you have to turn on the outlet AND turn on the hair dryer to get it to work. If only this could explain my bad hair days. (these outlets are ON)




• The hot water comes out of the right-hand faucet in our house, although I have seen it on the left in other places. Anyway, I keep brushing my teeth with warm water. Ew.

• Since Kiwis drive on the left, they also tend to walk on the left side of the sidewalk (called a footpath). Consequently, we frequently find ourselves dodging other pedestrians whenever we forget to stay on the proper side. We also cause crashes in the grocery store as we drive our "trolleys" on the wrong side of the aisle.









Speaking of which, since they drive on the left side of the road, it ALSO means...

• ... the driver's side of the car is on the right now. When Curt and I are going someplace, I keep walking to the wrong car door to get in as a "passenger" and find myself staring at a steering wheel. How did that get there?

• ... the turn signal is on the right, which is not where I'm used to it being. As a result, I keep hitting the windscreen wiper whenever I'm turning left. I definitely have the cleanest windscreen in the country.

• ... the seat belt is attached to the frame over my RIGHT shoulder. I need to buckle and unbuckle it near my LEFT hip. My instincts still reach to my right hip. At which point I find myself inexplicablly pinned in the car. Help! I can't get out!

• ... the gear shift is on the left. So I have to shift left-handed. Which is not my most coordinated hand. One of these days, I'm going to be in Reverse instead of Park. Yikes!

• ... when we're driving on the motorway, the slow traffic stays LEFT. The speedsters whiz past us on the right. The exits are off from the left, too.

Moving in, Camping out, Meeting the locals

On Sunday, Rick and Kris picked us up at the hotel and helped us move our stuff to the new house. Since our belongings don't arrive on the ship for another few weeks, we are basically camping out in this empty house. Rick and Bev provided a mattress & sheets, a card table & 2 folding chairs, and some dishes to get us started. They've been a godsend.

Next, the 3 men went shopping for a car, and I stayed behind to nest. I have to trust them to make a good choice, and not come home with some hot little sportscar convertible. While they're gone, I set up house as much as I could and then took the bus to the grocery store. What an experience!


There's a bus stop at the end of our road, but I was standing on the wrong side of the street when it drove by. (I keep forgetting what side they drive on) I hailed the bus, and the bus driver graciously stopped for me anyway. He asked me if I'm going to "limo." Huh? "Limo." Finally I understood: he was saying "Lynn Mall." Yes! That's where I was going. Well, he started chatting and by the end of the ride we were best friends. His name is Roy. He lives right around the corner from us. It's a good neighbourhood, he says. The next passengers got on, a young woman and her baby. They proceded to tell me all about Dora, another regular bus rider who is quite a character, apparently. I told them about how we just moved here, and that I would be teaching at Te Atatu Intermediate, and that the 3 men were out buying a car today. Everyone was quite amused to hear that I trusted them to select a car without me. Once we arrived at the mall, Roy pointed out the grocery store, where to pick up the bus to come back home, and what time it would come. People sure are friendly! I've noticed it especially when I am by myself. I must look lonely and lost. (I usually am)

When I got back, I saw the car Curt bought: blue Honda Rafaga, like an Accord. It seemed like a good choice. (Whew!) We promptly hopped in the car and did some shopping. Since our electrical appliances from the States wouldn't work on NZ voltage, we didn't ship them; we planned on purchasing new appliances once we arrived. So that evening we bought a toaster, a warp-speed electric tea kettle, a fan, and a radio alarm clock. Yesterday, we'd picked out a fridge, TV, microwave, and washer & dryer, which will all arrive tomorrow. It felt a little less like camping out once we had a few of those things. But we'll be sleeping on a mattress on the floor for 4 more weeks. And I'm old!

Originally, we hoped the container full of all our furniture and belongings would be on a ship that would arrive here Jan 16 ...but that ship was full so it went on the next ship which would arrive Jan 30 ... then we got a call that said it wouldn't be here until Feb 6! My job starts Feb 2 and I'll still be wearing the same 4 sundresses over and over. And none of my teaching files will be here, or my vast classroom library collection! Brother. I was hoping we'd be pretty settled by the time I started working.

No Longer Homeless

We found a house to rent! It feels good to finally have an address we can use. Whenever we do any kind of paperwork such as opening a bank account or even signing up for the grocery store's special savings card, we need an address. But besides the convenience of finally having an address, it just plain feels better emotionally. On the way to NZ we were freeloading at my brother's in Hawaii for a few days, and Curt kept joking that we were homeless (we were) and unemployed (he is). It's somewhat scary to realize that those joking remarks were actually true.

The whole process of moving to a new country is a lot like starting out at age 18 and moving into your own place for the first time. I remember setting up a telephone account for the first time back in 1975 and not knowing how, and of course the telephone company wanted an outrageous deposit because I wasn't an established customer and they didn't know if I was trustworthy or not. And now we're back in the same situation, trying to figure out how to establish telephone service and electricity and internet and garbage and water and drivers license and on and on. It's not too hard – even a little fun at times – until you realize, "Hey, I'm too old to be doing this all over again!" : )

Anyway, back to the house: It's older and smaller but has a great view. Sound familiar? (our house in Portland was small and old and a little dumpy but had a breathtaking view of Mt. Hood) The back yard is on a tidal estuary full of mangrove bushes and ducks and we can see across the water to the Te Atatu Peninsula where my school is. So I'm only 10 minutes or so from my work. Curt will probably have a longer commute if he gets a job downtown. The house has three bedrooms, only one bathroom and a galley kitchen, but it also has a fireplace, a deck and an entire wall of windows facing the water, It's at the end of a cul-de-sac with great neighbors on both sides. We plan on renting this house for 6-12 months while we get acclimated to our new life in New Zealand and then we'll buy a house.

Now that we have a house, we have to start buying electrical appliances like TV, washer & dryer, fridge, and microwave. Since New Zealand operates on 220 volts, we couldn't bring our 110 volt appliances with us. Curiously, our lamps work at either voltage, as does this computer. Don't ask me why. I am definitely scientifically/electricity-challenged and I really don't get it. I just know we didn't bring our big appliances and now we need to buy replacements. So we're scouring the ads in the newspaper and the other want ad publications and internet sites, looking for "whiteware." That's what fridges, washers/dryers, stoves, dishwashers, etc. are called.

PS - I think Curt has given up on the tea-drinking idea. (see the earlier post about Kiwi food) He needs his coffee. Otherwise he gets all out of whack. He's succumbed to the java lure once again.