How would they know which way we are going?

The inspiration for the title of this post is the scene in "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" in which John Candy's character ends up driving on the wrong side of the interstate, and a couple driving on the correct side yells out the window at them that they are "Going the Wrong Way!"  John Candy thinks the other couple must be drunk, and wonders aloud the title above...

Anyway, driving here on the left has been comedic, terrifying and exciting (for the passengers)  but, really, I don't find it very difficult to do the actual driving at all.  It's kind of obvious where you should be, and especially when there are other cars around you have lots of cues.  Jen has not really been interested in driving here. Or rather she is a big fat chicken that does not want her children screaming at her from the back seat as she has a panic attack while entering the roundabout.  We still occasionally are startled to see that a child or a dog is in the driver's seat or that the driver is paying absolutely no attention to the road! (Only then to realize of course that they are in the passenger side:)

The biggest issue for me is with the basic set-up of the instruments, indicators and gauges.  For the first week, just about every time I went to signal for a turn, I turned on my windshield wipers instead.  And, since it was raining on and off at times, I could casually act like I had done what I meant to do.  It gets a little tougher to pull that off when it's sunny.  Also, I am thinking it will be October before I walk out of the grocery store and habitually walk to the correct side of the car.  You can only pretend so often that you were checking the tire pressure on the left front tire before enduring mockery from your children.

The other main difference is with how the roads are set up.  There are few if any stoplights and no stop signs.  Almost everything is a "give-way" (yield) sign from side streets ending at major streets, and there are these awesome roundabouts  at almost every major intersection, and the signaling is pretty important to let people know how long you are staying in the roundabout and when you are exiting.  So...as long as other drivers are interpreting what it means when my windshield wipers are going at intermittent, I have the situation covered...Also, the signs for which lanes are turn lanes are not above the intersection, but are only painted on the pavement, and are counterintuitive.  So I keep ending up in turn lanes when I think I am in the go-straight lane, and vice versa.  Which is not a problem. I clear the windshield of excess pollen, then properly signal, and get on with my drive.

New Zealand has few if any two lane highways, and we understand that those they do have are entirely in Auckland.  So highways connecting towns are really country roads, windy and pretty narrow.  Town speed limits are 60km/hr and then country it was 100km/hr.  Which sounds pretty slow, until you have actually driven on these narrow, windy roads.  Our one excursion out of town (up the Wanganui River Road) had one other awesome feature - the one lane bridge and one lane narrow road.  You either had the right of way, or you had to give way until the bridge was clear, or until the very narrow stretch of road was clear.   There were these signs with colored arrows telling you if you had the right of way.  Except that it seemed like the locals always figured they had the right of way.  A whole lotta "game of chicken" that day, and I am no Kevin Bacon.

The equally big adjustment has been to being a pedestrian and to biking around town.  We naturally look the wrong way when crossing a street, and are used to cars yielding to pedestrians or bikes in crosswalks.  Not so much here.  Cars have the right of way it seems, unless you win the game of chicken and just cross.  Wouldn't want to lose that game vs. a car, though.  But everyone is legally required to wear a helmet while biking here so at least there is that safely element.

To end, the best part of driving thus far is how little of it we are doing, due to the small size of town and the fact that I can bike to town/grocery/fruit market or to the schools, etc.  It used to seem like we spent half of our lives in the car, Jen especially since getting to work took at least 45 minutes each way.  Thank goodness we don't have to do that on a daily basis, since "petrol" is quite expensive (to the tune of about $7.50 US dollars per each gallon.) But when I do have to drive, due to rain or time constraints, "I am an excellent driver" (my original post title, referencing Rain Man.)

A couple other quick updates: Lindsay won her school's cross country race this past week, and so she gets to go to the regional race and represent her school.  This last race was WITH shoes as it was on cobblestones (weak excuse we thought:).  Lauryn's adventure racing team won their competition down in Wellington, and now get to go to the Great Barrier Island (which is off the coast near Auckland) later this term.  Kendra went out with the tramping (hiking) club in hopes of meeting people her age but ended up spending an entire day with 65 years and up folks.  So she is still looking to make some friends her age.  Jen successfully completed her first week of work at the hospital without harming anyone despite not understanding half of what people say to her.  And Pete is busy experimenting with different recipes for lamb.

Hope you are well, and please keep us updated!

Peter, Jen, Kendra, Lauryn and Lindsay

Gonville, Wanganui - Our New Zealand Home

23 August, 2015

Hello from New Zealand!

On this first post, we hope to detail our attempts to settle into our town of Wanganui, and give you quick updates on everyone, our new home/schools/jobs...sorry this is a pretty long post!  We promise that subsequent posts will be shorter...

Our trip from Denver to Wanganui was long but smooth.  First we rented a car and drove in one day to Los Angeles (as this saved us a lot of money-otherwise we had contemplated selling one of our children to help finance the trip!)  Other than typical but maddening LA traffic (at 9PM) the trip was great, although the kids were a bit cramped in the back seat (see pic).

In LA we had a great time reconnecting with a college friend, Alex Walsh (whom we had not seen since our wedding) and his family.  That brings the total up to 5 families who have sheltered us during our time in transition. We "did" LA (in 4 hours) as the Walsh's lived very close to Beverly Hills, then it was off to LAX and our flight overnight to Auckland.  Flying Air New Zealand was fabulous- the best customer service we have ever experienced on a plane.  We purchased a sky couch (the concept is better than the reality) thinking that we could take turns lying down but in typical fashion, Princess Lindsay got the couch for most of the flight. Here is all our baggage...

We arrived in Auckland NZ 12 hours later where  Jen had her required interview with the NZ Medical Council (to verify that she is actual person and not a robot although she could have been mistaken for a zombie due to not sleeping on the plane AT ALL-see above re: sky couch) and then we spent a day wandering around the airport in a sleep-deprived stupor  and moving our massive baggage from place to place.  We then boarded a tiny tiny plane and flew an hour or so down to Wanganui, which is on the Southwest coast of the North Island about 2 hours from Wellington.  The landscape was beautifully rugged and we could see the striking Mt. Ruapehu in the distance.  Here is Wanganui from above-

We then arrived at the smallest airport we have ever flown into, and were met by the local medical administrator, who had brought our awesome "new" car, a 1998 Toyota minivan.

One frightening sleep-deprived (#Lindsayhoggedtheskycouch) left-sided drive of the road later, we came to the middle of town where we enjoyed an Asian noodle dinner that couldn't be beat.  Our town is small, population 40,000, and its main feature is the Wanganui River, a tidal river that bisects the town and empties into the Tasman Sea.  We live on the West side of town, near the hospital, and have only a 1.5 mile drive, bike or walk into town.  Everything in town, including groceries, schools, soccer fields, are within a 10 minute car ride. There is a lovely little town center and main street(s) and we were actually really pleased to find that we could find most everything we needed.

Our address is 49 Bedford Ave, Gonville, Wanganui, 4501, NZ.  We are renting a three bedroom/one bathroom fully furnished house that has a nice living area and kitchen/dining room.  There is also another bedroom and bathroom that is attached to the garage that Kendra has taken over.  We have lovely gardens that have 7 or 8 fruit trees (plum, lemon, orange, mandarins, and pear), some raised gardens with veggies and lettuces,  and a nice deck. We back up to the River and have outdoor seating areas, a fire pit and the scariest dilapidated boat house with a row boat and a spider web that Shelob (Lord of the Rings reference) would envy. They have an old rowboat that also has a motor but navigating down the steep wooden steps to the river may be a bit tricky.

The big selling point on our home was that it was close to the hospital as well as insulated.  Um-hmm.  Scary to think what a non-insulated home is like. We read a blog that compared NZ homes to garden sheds and that is not that far off the truth.  Central heating is the exception, double-pane windows do not exist here and Kiwis apparently are not great about home upkeep.  We heat the house with a wood stove which we generally keep going from evening to mid-morning, and a couple of electric heaters for the back bedrooms and kitchen.  During the day, the sun warms up the house nicely, but by the end of the night, is, ahh, a little chilly.  It is fairly common for us to retire to our back bedroom, find it at 52 degrees...but, underneath two comforters and over the top of an electric blanket, it is downright toasty.  Mornings find us grateful that we brought our Ugg slippers and thermal underwear, and I have been making about 8 pots of tea or coffee per day because it seems like the thing to do.  I would detail the frequency of my urination, but this is a family blog...

Jen has begun working at Wanganui Hospital as a consultant physician (U.S. equivalent to a hospitalist.)  She loves that she no longer has to wake up at 6 AM to drive 45 minutes to work but instead can walk 5 minutes to start her work day at 8 AM.  Yes you read that correctly-she does not start work until 8 AM (unheard of in the health care world.)  She will write more about her job and the medical system at a later time, but I will summarize her thoughts by saying that it is VERY different. Here is a pic of the hospital (very circa 1950's)...

Kendra has hit the pavement in search of a job, primarily to work at a cafe or restaurant.  No luck yet,  and most cafes say they will start hiring as we get out of winter and into spring.  She has one interview upcoming at the local library cafe and that holds promise.   In the meantime, she has helped Pete with cooking, acquiring a piano and various household items, and with drinking tea.  She is also doing a workout routine, with Jen, and is getting in amazing shape.  This next week she is joining the local "tramping" (hiking) club and is also hoping to connect to local theatre.

Lauryn and Lindsay began school on Wednesday the 12th.  The biggest adjustments had to do with the school uniforms.  They each wear the same school-issued clothes five days in a row prior to wash day.  Lindsay, who attends Carlton elementary school, gets off easy with a blue school polo and school fleece (or "jersey").  Lauryn attends the largest school in town, Wanganui High School, and has to wear a calf-length plaid wool skirt with tights, a collared shirt and tie and a green wool school sweater.  So...slightly different than what she wore to Evergreen High School.  She is not a huge fan of the attire, but agrees that it really takes the pressure off decision-making every morning (and we like the absence of leggings).  Lindsay rides a bike to and from school with Pete. Lauryn walks to school, which is about a 20-25 minute walk.  #notcooltobikeinalongwoolenskirt.

Their school buildings are similar to those in California, oriented to outdoors.  So, all of the classrooms have openings to outside, with no hallways.  And that means lots of time spent outdoors.  Lindsay discovered that shoes are not only optional, they are generally only worn to school, then taken off right away and eschewed for bare feet until the end of school.  Recess at Lindsay's school is awesome to watch...300 mostly unsupervised kids scootering, biking, running around and climbing trees in a big field. Barefoot.  You should have seen the amazed look on Lindsay's face when the principal told her that the kids are allowed to climb trees on the school grounds.  It is really refreshing to see this kind of free spiritedness.

The girls are minor celebrities at their school at the moment.  The Kiwi kids are very interested in their accents, and what kinds of activities and hobbies they did in the US.  When Lauryn described the typical social scene at American high schools one of her new friends replied "It's just like that movie 'Mean Girls!'" They also seemed strangely interested in the size of our fast food servings.  Apparently everything is bigger in America (almost like they truly are Hobbits.)  Lindsay was mobbed by kids trying to ask her questions on her first day of school, which happened to coincide with her birthday. One kid asked her "Do you have to wear shoes to bed as well?"
They have made friends already and are doing school activities.  Lindsay is playing "proper football" and running cross country, barefoot of course. Lauryn competed in the North Island school competition in "adventure racing" which was a combination of mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking, and orienteering.  One of her teachers heard that she ran cross country in the US and asked her to be on the team and after one practice she found herself on a bus with 15 other kids to compete in Wellington. She had a blast, although could have done without having to get into the ocean to transfer in and out of the kayak in 45 degree temps and blowing rain.  She also played for her school "football" team today and scored a goal and won a chocolate bar as "player of the match" in their 3-2 come from behind win over arch-rival Wanganui Collegiate School.  Pretty cool experience.

The weather has actually been great-windy, a little damp, but a pretty good mix of clouds and sun.  We are in the middle of winter here, but the temps are pretty steady in the upper 50s during the day and low 40s at night. The one day it was in the 40s and raining sideways everyone complained, and just wore these large rubber boots and heavier coats.  By contrast, we looked a little conspicuous in our bright colored REI rain gear and despite our fancy duds, we looked colder than they did.  I am pretty sure I am going to find a second hand pair of those "gummys" for my feet...

We went to one of the local Pentecostal churches today.  We really enjoyed the message although the kids were a little taken back by the charismatic nature of the service.  It really has been a tremendous blessing from God that we were able to make this trip.  We have been able to spend more time as a family doing bible studies and pursuing a more spiritually centered life.

And a quick message about New Zealanders, or Kiwis.  We had heard that they are the friendliest people imaginable, and that has proven to be completely accurate.  People we have met have been friendly, helpful, easy-going, irreverent and casual.  A little blunt and sarcastic too, but in a funny, off-hand way.  Lauryn had a girl walk up right to her at school and say "Hi, I heard you are the new girl.  You ARE pretty."  Jen is not totally sure when people are joking at work but in general enjoys the dry sense of humor-she has found her true people :)  Whether we interact with neighbors, school administrators, piano tuners, bike repairmen, fellow students, hospital staff, or realtors....all our interactions have been authentic and charming.

That will do it for now.  Sorry it took us so long to update - we finally got our internet hooked up at our house yesterday.  In the coming weeks, we hope to write about our first outing we took last week up the Wanganui River Road and to some cultural sites, our travels around town, the kid's searches for signs of Hobbiton, details about food and cooking (this might be a long chapter,) my first golfing experience, more about our typical day and how that is different here in Wanganui, and of course about Jen's job.  We also have a few outings lined up for travels around the country, and we will chronicle those here as well.  Please check back to the blog for updates, or we will send out an email if we post anything major!  And since this all seems fairly narcissistic to blog about our lives, let this be a sincere request that we would LOVE to hear back from you with your updates from "home".  You can email directly to us, or comment here on the blog and we will be in touch!

Cheers!

Peter, Jen, Kendra, Lauryn and Lindsay
peterjeans89@gmail.com
jjeans87@gmail.com