Shaky

Today mother nature treated us to two more aftershocks - a 5.5 and a 6.0*. Both were located near our side of town and big enough to make my heart stop and my mouth shout impolite words. The first one hit shortly after lunch. I was here, working from home, as you do when your office is still shut down due to earlier natural disasters. There was a tremendous noise as our poor house shook and shook. When it stopped I shouted some bad words and went to get my phone to text Gareth and tell him I was ok. I tried ringing Quinn's daycare but could not get through and so I just hopped in the car and drove over there. He was completely unscathed and unaware. Oh, to be a blissfully ignorant child again!

Back at home, books had been shaken off the bookshelves. I picked them all up and went around the house righting all the picture frames for the 839th time. I swear, we should just paint some rectangles on the walls and superglue some photos to them. Our bedside lamps had been knocked over so I stood them back up too. The glassware - what's left of it after the February quake - had all shifted dangerously close to the front of the cabinet shelves, so I tucked them all safely toward the back again. Thankfully nothing had broken.

My hands were nearly steady again by this point, so I made myself a cup of coffee and settled back into my desk chair to get some more work done.

That's when the second one hit.

It is really hard to describe how scary it is when your house is shaking like that. I certainly don't have the words. It is noisy and frightening and you just don't know when it's going to stop.

It did stop, eventually, and I sort of wandered toward the kitchen, dazed and a bit dizzy. All the books were on the floor again, pictures were on the floor, the iPod was on the floor, glass was on the floor, lots of other stuff that shouldn't be on the floor was on the floor.

We're super bummed that one of our 6 gorgeous Scottish glasses was broken.

there were casualties

These are a special type of glassware native to Scotland whose name I don't remember but they were lovely and a wedding present. They had recently come into frequent use as our new wine glasses, since all of our regular wine glasses are broken, save one. If this keeps up, soon we'll be drinking wine out of martini glasses. We also lost the pestle for our mortar and pestle, which seemed like a pretty solid piece of stone, but there you have it. Busted.

We have great neighbours. Both sides were over in a flash to check on us. I could hear the little boy next door crying. The neighbour helped me pull open the garage door (the power had gone out - the electric door opener useless) and I was on my way to Quinn's daycare a second time. He was still blissfully unaware, my precious boy. All the kids were sitting outside by the sandbox having a grand old time.

The power was out for a few hours but came back on in time for us to cook dinner at the usual hour. We are still without running water, but, as diligent disaster-prepared Cantabrians, we have plenty in our Emergency Kit.

The house is still standing. We are still standing. We are shaken but not broken.

*postscript 14 June 2011 - GNS has now upgraded these shocks to a 5.7 and 6.3, respectively.

Two years

A few days ago marked our two year anniversary in New Zealand. Two years! It's time we pause and reflect on our last year as immigrants.

This last year has brought huge changes for us - our newborn baby has grown into a toddler. We've lived through two major earthquakes and countless aftershocks (ok, someone is actually counting.) More recently, to make things more interesting, we got a puppy!



I think the biggest change between now and one year ago is our sense of being settled. We don't even feel like immigrants anymore - we are just people living here. Instead of being on the outside looking in, we're on the inside looking out. At least, that's the way it feels. I suppose it's possible the natives still consider us hopelessly foreign.

It's a bit strange to say it, but the September 4th and February 22nd earthquakes probably helped make us feel more Kiwi. We've shared in the tragedy and loss. We are Cantabrians! And like the rest of Canterbury, we have a story to tell about where we were when it happened. We are suffering the same PTSD symptoms every time a big truck drives by and rattles the windows. (It's horrible, really. We hope it ends soon.)

Having a baby probably also helped us settle in well. Just last month we had a group birthday party to celebrate the first birthdays of all the babies in our antenatal class. Thanks to this class, we met a fantastic group of mums and bubs (and dads!) and still see them regularly. If you're considering moving to New Zealand, we recommend getting knocked up shortly after you arrive. It will help.

Of course, people still ask where we're from nearly every time we open our mouths. Just this week I got, "Are you North American?" from someone who apparently did not want to make a call between American and Canadian. But more and more of the local vernacular is finding its way into our vocabulary. Gareth's standard greeting to passers-by is now "g'day". A big change for me over the last year is that I went from (1) typing "neighbor", to (2) typing "neighbor" and then backspacing to add a U, to (3) typing "neighbour" in the first instance. I know it's just one little letter, but it's symbolic of something bigger. What used to be foreign is now the default.

I used to read the New York Times online, but then they stared limiting the number of articles you can read for free (jerks.) I therefore switched to the Chicago Tribune, thinking it'd be good to read news from Chicago as I grew up in its suburbs. It turns out this was not such a great move. Do you know how many people get shot in Chicago? It seems every second story is about someone getting shot. Recently the Tribune reported that 13 people had been shot in one night. That's thirteen separate shootings in one night in one city. It's beyond depressing.

I mention this because it renewed my sense of happiness about living in a place with very few guns.

I also mention it because we are finding the longer we live here, the less we are reading news from "home". Gareth still reads the BBC (although mostly for the sport, I reckon), and as I say, I still browse the Chicago Tribune to find out who has been murdered. But these days, we get most of our information from stuff.co.nz and Radio New Zealand. International news reporting in this country does leave something to be desired though, so we will probably always have a need for BBC and the New York Times.

Last year I wrote about some things we missed from America and the UK. This year, there really isn't anything we miss. Of course, we miss our families, but no more than we did when we lived in Arizona. Our families have been far away from us for a very long time. I used to miss filter coffee a little bit, but now I am truly, madly, and deeply in love with New Zealand's cafe culture and the flat white. (I love you flat white, kiss kiss.)

I do admit, however, that if I were catapulted into an American mall, I would be dropping hundreds of dollars at J Crew and Ann Taylor with no regrets. Two years in and I still have no idea where to go to buy a good pair of jeans. The urge to shop is especially strong now as I have lost all of the baby weight and then some, leaving most of my pre-baby clothes a little too big (oh, if only all of my problems could be so awesome!). But while the often-poor quality of shopping in New Zealand can be annoying at times, it's also a blessing. Buying stuff shouldn't be a priority, and being forced to remember that at times is a good thing.

In short, we have made a family here, we three (plus Aynsley the pup). It's a beautiful thing. Happy two-year New Zealiversary to us!

One year

We did it! Somehow we managed to keep our boy alive and well for one whole year! Happy first birthday to Quinn!

Sick

Yesterday afternoon I got the dreaded call from daycare: "Quinn is unwell. His temperature is 39.2." That's 102.5F. And that's not good. This was the third time since he started daycare 7 weeks ago that he's had to come home sick. Lucky for us, the doctor's office is conveniently located just around the corner from the day care. It's becoming a well-trodden path.


I phoned the doctor's office and asked if they could squeeze us in. I almost said, "It's us again!" since we were just there the week before. The receptionist said someone could see me shortly, so I grabbed Quinn's well child book (a record of all his healthcare since birth) and went to retrieve my poor sick boy.

It was great to pull up to the doctor's office and see that they were no longer working out of a trailer. Their building had been damaged in the February earthquake so they were temporarily working out of a trailer parked out back. Yesterday we were able to go into the actual reception area, which is much nicer than a trailer.

One of the great things about having a baby in New Zealand is that all his health care is FREE. If I go to the doctor, I have to pay a fee of about $30, but because Quinn is under 6, it's all free. Free doctor's visits, free immunisations, free prescriptions. It's a great way to do things, because money should never be a reason not to get your sick child to the doctor.

We were seen quickly by a nurse who took Quinn's temperature again (still 39.2) and then stripped him down and gave him some paracetamol and ibuprofen. The daycare had noticed a faint rash on his chest so the nurse checked that out too. The concern was meningitis - not a word any mum wants to hear. I'm not even sure what meningitis involves, but it just sounds really bad. The doctor came in to have a look and check him out. She said his ears looked pink but not infected. She closely examined the rash, then called in another doctor to have a look at the rash with her. The consensus seemed to be that this was a mere viral rash, not a meningitis rash. I was reassured.

But they wanted to get a urine sample anyway. Do you know how hard it is to get a urine sample from a baby?! It's damn near impossible. Especially when that baby is feeling unwell and won't stop wiggling or whining. We were shown into a private room and handed a small plastic cup, and basically left to our own devices.

For the next half hour, I held a naked baby to my breast and let him nurse while I held a cup under his penis. It felt more than a little silly. And of course, he refused to pee.

I started to get really irritated with the situation. I started to think, I want my mommy! My mom had 4 kids and would surely know what to do with a rashy whiny one. It was one of those times when I wished I didn't live so far away. I guess that's one of the drawbacks of moving to the other side of the world: lack of access to mommy during moments of childish neediness.

When the nurse came back in to check on us, I was pacing with my crying baby and crying a little myself. The nurse (bless her) put her arm around me and told me I was doing everything right. Quinn's temperature had gone down to normal. The doctor said to just keep an eye on him tonight, take him to After-hours care if I have any concerns at all. She gave us a referral form.

When we got home, suddenly Quinn was a ray of sunshine. Smiles and giggles all over the place. We were so relieved! He was cured!

Alas, our relief was short-lived. We had a horrible unsettled night with our sick baby. If you have kids, you know. If you don't have kids, you don't want to know. Ugh.

This morning we got up to find that Quinn had become rather rashy indeed. What had been faint red spots on his chest and tummy yesterday were now darker red spots spreading up his neck and onto his face. To after-hours!

We were a little unsure what to expect from after-hours care in New Zealand. We had been to Urgent Care places in America, where we waited for ages and paid $75 for the privilege (on top of insurance premiums, of course). Thankfully we hadn't needed any urgent medical care since getting here nearly 2 years ago.

We walked up to a receptionist and explained Quinn's symptoms. She typed them into her computer and then directed us to a waiting area. Within about 90 seconds, a nurse came out to greet us, and went over the symptoms with us. She then directed us into another waiting area.

Another nurse came out about 2 minutes later and took us into an examination room. She went over the list of symptoms again. She then took Quinn's vitals. We learned that Quinn really, REALLY does not like to have his heart rate taken. Many screams later, the nurse walked us out of the room back to the waiting area. On this walk, we ran into a doctor who stopped the nurse and asked where she could help out. The nurse said, "you can take this one - " motioning to us. We went with the doctor to another examination room.

This was all moving thankfully quickly - I can't even imagine how we would have coped in the waiting room with our sick baby for extended periods if we had had to wait.

The doctor we ran into who was assigned to see us was FANTASTIC. She was patient and interested and kind. She listened carefully to everything we said and asked thoughtful questions. When I asked if I could nurse Quinn to calm him down she gushed "of course!" and went on to say nice things to make me feel like a good mum for breastfeeding. Warm fuzzies.

She peeked in his ears and declared "Ear infection." A nasty one, apparently. It must have gotten much worse overnight as it was undetected the day before. This would be his third ear infection in 6 weeks. If this continues we may need to see a specialist. We discussed the pros and cons of anti-biotics, she wrote us prescriptions, and we were on our way.

One thing that's different about health care here - apart from being affordable - is that we don't see a specialist right away. I seem to remember that when I was sick as a kid I saw a pediatrician. Here, you see your general practitioner/family doctor in the first instance. Part of me (the mother part) wants the very best care out there and thinks that every runny nose Quinn has requires no less than the expertise of a Gregory House MD. But most of me realises that this would be a huge waste of resources. A GP can handle an ear infection. It makes sense to see the GP and save the pediatrician's time for the really seriously sick kids.

In our case, if the GP thinks Quinn needs further attention for his recurring ear infections, she'll refer us to an ENT. We may look into getting tubes in his ears. Hopefully we won't need to do that.

Anyway, we're very happy with the health care we're getting down here. We rate our first experience at Christchurch's after-hours care an A+.

A collection

These are some of the port-a-loos (aka port-a-potties) we passed on a walk home from the bakery yesterday.

(The photo quality is a little lacking because these were taken with my cell phone.)

That's a chemical toilet collection point on the left - "human waste only"

The new normal.

Thanks for asking

This week we got a mailing from the Christchurch City Council and CERA (Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority), inviting us to share our thoughts for the rebuilding of the central city.

We think it's really nice that Christchurch is at least making an effort to make it look like they will take our ideas and preferences into account. Thanks for asking, Christchurch!

What the city will look like when it's finally rebuilt is a subject of virtually every conversation we have with just about everyone lately. Everyone is wondering what will happen with our city. Will it come back bigger, better, stronger? Or will it be a miserable mess? I met a man this week who summed up my own sentiments very well: "I just hope they don't stuff it up!"

It's hard to put faith in our leaders to do this very difficult job well. But we have to. It seems like they're getting off on the right foot, at least. This newspaper mailer they sent us discusses "the five guiding principles" for the development of a central city plan:

1. Foster business development

2. Respect for the past

3. A long-term view of the future (including promotion of a green and sustainable garden city)

4. Easy to get around

5. Vibrant central city living

They talk about four key areas - "life, space, market, and move" - that will be vital to the redevelopment of our central city.

Clearly, they've got all the right buzz words happening. Hopefully they've got some vision behind those buzz words. We're thinking more, better public transportation, cafes and restaurants, tree-lined streets, and pedestrian malls. We'd like more green space too - a place to sit and let Quinn crawl around on the grass while we drink our flat whites. I was also hoping they'd build some of the new buildings out of brick. All the nice old character buildings have fallen down, it seems. It would be a shame if everything was rebuilt in concrete and glass.

We just hope they don't stuff it up.

Got a good idea for our city? Share it here.

Holiday 2011: the final installment

OK, let's wrap this holiday up.

View Larger Map

Before we leave Invercargill though (the arsehole of the world, but with a nice farmer's market), we need to make a quick stop in Bluff. Bluff piqued our curiosity and captured our imaginations when we saw South, a documentary hosted by Marcus Lush and shown on TV1 here last winter. We loved South and by extension we loved Marcus Lush. And throughout the series, Marcus Lush had gone on and on about his "beloved Bluff", his adopted home town. So we wanted to see it. Also, Bluff is way at the bottom of New Zealand, at the end of Highway One. It's The End of the Road. Our tour of the bottom of the South Island would not be complete without a stop in Bluff.

The sign marking the End of the Road

There really wasn't much to Bluff. It was a pretty ordinary looking small town. Driving through, we can't exactly say we would describe the place as 'beloved'.

In fact a lot of it would be better described as 'neglected'.

We saw movement inside just after I snapped this photo and thought, "shit, someone lives there!!" We quickly drove off. I guess that makes me a drive-by photographer...

Still, I wished we had spent more time in Bluff. There was something about it that drew me in. Maybe it was the oysters.

But onwards and northwards...

We carried on along the bottom of the South Island until we reached a lovely little surfer's beach at Colac Bay. This was a nice rocky beach where we could watch surfers doing their thing.

Our next stop was Te Anau. We had stopped here during our 2006 visit to New Zealand. This small town is the pit stop for travellers who are visiting Milford Sound or doing the Routeburn track or one of several other tracks in Fiordland. It's a gorgeous area with a very nice lake.

From the town you can walk along the lake and right to the start of the Kepler Track, one of New Zealand's "great walks". Having our wee man in tow, we were not able to do the whole track, but we did manage to make two nice day walks out of it. Along the lakeside part of the track (which isn't really officially the Kepler track, but the track leading to it) there was a little wildlife centre. They had takahes there!

Not blue chickens

The first time I saw a toadstool was in the Abel Tasman park when we came to New Zealand in 2008. I was just as excited to see them this time. Gareth thinks this is just silly, but it's not. Red mushrooms are really neat.

toadstools!

Are we in Alice's Wonderland?!

The Kepler track was really lovely. Nice trees, nice views of the lake. It was all very pretty. What was NOT pretty were the sandflies. Oh My God, the sandflies. They were horrible. And us without our bug spray. Nightmare. I'll just leave it at that.

From Te Anau, we went on to Queenstown. The drive was beautiful, especially as we came to Lake Wakatipu. It was a clear sunny day with just a few wispy clouds lingering over the mountains. Breathtaking.

Queenstown is very touristy. It's packed with tourists and businesses catering to tourists. It's especially known for having every kind of adventure tourism on offer. Everywhere you turn there are opportunities to do dangerous things like jump off a bridge or careen down a gorge in a modified speed boat. It's a bit of a shame that the place is so commercialized because the setting really is absolutely stunning. The lake, the mountains, incredible. All of it.

Rather than stay in Queenstown, we decided to go a little further up the road to Arrowtown. This turned out to be a brilliant move. We loved Arrowtown.

We've always got time for a flat white

Quaint candy shoppe

Arrowtown was just dripping with charm and character. In fact, it was almost too charming. Part of us thought it lacked a certain New Zealand-ness. There were no rough edges whatsoever. It was just perfect and cute everywhere we looked. We're all for perfect and cute, but that's really not the New Zealand we have come to love. Still, Arrowtown is a beautiful place and I'd love to go back one day.

It's a place I'd take my mom to, because I know she would love it, if only she would get on a damn airplane ...

But now on to our final stop: Cromwell!

Cromwell made our list of places to stay because Gareth had signed up to participate in the Northburn Station 100 mile race. To be clear, that's not a 100 mile drive or a 100 mile bike ride. That's 100 miles on foot. Through mountains. In bad weather. If you're thinking, "Ooo Ooo, where can I sign up?!" then you can go here, you nutter. "Northburn Station 100 miler: You don't race it, you survive it."

Gareth has a history of doing this sort of thing - he completed 2 hundred mile events back in the States plus a bunch of other smaller ultra distances. This race is New Zealand's first hundred mile event on trails, so he was pretty stoked to take part in it.

Heading to the start line

doing great after 50k

Unfortunately, the mountains got the better of him during the night. Gareth finished his second 50K loop (110K total - 70 miles) and called it a day... He had a lovely souvenir to take home though!

Of course it was disappointing for him not to finish, but he has new found resolve for next year. Hear this mountains: Gareth will be back. And he will beat you.

Those mountains are big.

For further reading, there's a story and some great video of the race here (News 3 report).

So then we drove home, and not much to report there, except that we were caught in a sheep jam. Which of course was very cool.

So next year, we're thinking perhaps the top of the South....