The last month has been busy. We've survived the school holidays, finally received our second overflow consignment of books and furniture, actually been for some good swims and kayaking expeditions in the sea, welcomed old friend and new FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) Elizabeth to New Zealand, made friends with more of our neighbours, done a few touristy things, and got Maya settled into the new school year. Oh yes, and I started my new job! So perhaps I might be excused for the paucity of posts this last month.
It's been good to spend time immersing ourselves in the ordinary joys of a family summertime before school and work accelerate our pace of life for the year. It has given us a chance to experiment with routines and forge the kind of understandings and habits among ourselves and our immediate environment (both social and physical) needed to find a life-rhythm. Of course, now that school and my work has started, we'll need to adjust again, but I have a sense that our foundation is solidifying. Last weekend we had a very active couple of days, with the neighbours on the three houses to our left inviting Willem for a boys' night out, followed by a weekend of tennis and squash games at the local sports centre (which we had not known about) and more coffee and drinks dates. I've now seen the inside of their houses, picked peaches off their trees, watched our children gleefully spray each other with water and bubbles and inspect each others' toys, and had fun comparing notes on New Zealand. I feel delighted to finally have made some actual live Kiwi friends!
We were told that it would take about two years before we felt completely at home in a new country. I can well believe this, as there is so much to the lifestyle and culture that is different, even if the language is the same. Actually, speaking the same language may lead to dangerous assumptions of similarity - for instance, in many English-speaking countries, the colloquial expression "to root" refers to searching for something - rooting through your underwear drawer for the other blue sock, for example. However, in New Zealand, 'rooting' does NOT mean searching. No, no. It refers to something very different. It means, in short, to have sex. So when you casually mention in the office tearoom that you were rooting around in the freezer last night, your colleagues might wonder at both your sexual predilections and your uncomfortable habit of oversharing... Yet, for all this, we are feeling remarkably content with our move. Despite being poorer than we've been since our student days, we have everything we need; we eat like kings, drink like fish, play like puppies and work like dogs - and are a very happy family doing so. I read today about a Life Satisfaction Index used by research bodies to make international comparisons between countries. New Zealand scores in first position. I'm not altogether surprised. There is a surprising lack of angst in this little nation, despite their quirky paranoia about all things nuclear (don't even think of bringing your radioactive ship into these waters) and fires (fire alarms in every house, and no open fires in public places - they provide free gas for the barbeques instead) and crime (every crime makes the papers, and the serious ones are headline news for days and the topic of radio debates for weeks) and, naturally, Australians (no explanation needed). There is an extremely high rate of physical recreational activity (which incidentally shows a strong correlation with reduced depression and increased coping), and of course, there is the beautiful sea and the majestic hills and parks and the fragrant air and the lack of pollution and the relatively well-functioning sociopolitical structure. We love that people are generally relaxed, laid-back, and friendly; we like their flexibility and openness and the slower pace of life (even the speed limits are lower); we love living where we do (despite the half-hour drive to the nearest grocery store and elevated rental prices); we appreciate that when I wanted a part-time post, they said, "No worries! What hours would suit you?"; I love the quality of the coffee, salads and seafood and that you can take wine or coffee into a cinema; we love that children are welcome most places and that even fairly swanky restaurants have children's menus; we love the vastly-reduced necessity for constant vigilance - that we can drive with windows open and that Maya can walk to school alone. There are also things we don't like: the deplorable lack of low-fat options on sit-down and takeaway menus, the absence of alcohol-free beer and GI indicators on packaged food, the high cost of living and house prices, the expensive public transport, the inattention to aesthetics and unaffordability of labour-intensive products and services. We dread the jet lag associated with visiting almost anywhere in the world; and miss the exciting biodiversity of Africa, with its cultural richness - but we don't miss our home country's political and social tensions, and the slow degeneration of its natural resources. We're coming to terms with not getting around to polishing the silver and ironing the bedsheets, and following the advice of a seasoned expat colleague, our new housekeeping motto is "
Clean enough to be healthy, dirty enough to be happy".
Life here is just simpler, and in some ways, much easier. A good metaphor for this is the typical Kiwi house. Most commonly, it is built of timber and gypsum board, often mounted on stilts, and has an almost transient feel of treading lightly on the earth, not only because it can probably be picked up and moved, but also because it does not scar the earth quite so much in its construction. It is quickly and fairly cheaply constructed, and easy and economical to adapt (putting in a window or sliding door requires nothing more forceful than a frame, a chainsaw, and a Saturday morning). The laborious process of concrete foundations, heavy bricks, back-breaking labour and the time and effort of tiling and plastering is sidestepped, as is the expense of adding to or changing the structure later. There are naturally disadvantages to houses built this way - the dangers of poorly-treated timber, lack of insulation and soundproofing, etc - but all in all, it is simpler, and easier.
Which is really how life should be, after all the trouble we've gone to evolving this far.
