Hoki Mai to NZ and Managed Isolation

 

We arrived in Auckland this morning. What the NZ government has organized in their COVID response at the border is nothing short of a marvel. 

NZ airport officials greeted us off the plane, we did a Covid screening (no test yet) with a nurse and we then went through border patrol and customs. They then loaded most of the 36 passengers onto a bus, welcomed us at the hotel in downtown Auckland where further paperwork and another health screening were done and then we were sent to our 2 very nice hotel rooms with food arriving at the door.   We will be tested on day 3 and day 11 and have daily health checks.  We cannot leave our rooms except for some brief, organized "walks" that we can sign up for several times a day.  

This is what good government can do. And it makes it even more laughable that Trump is criticizing Jacinda Ardern's government response to Covid given the most recent community outbreak here. 

More soon from the Antipodes!  

Flying the Empty Skies...

 

The pandemic has wreaked havoc on the airline industry (and tourism in general of course) and that was readily apparent last evening when we flew out of San Francisco.  The International Terminal was eerily quiet except for a few travelers and a policeman on a bike practicing his skills by riding through empty ticketing booth lines and "stay 6 feet apart" circles marked on the floor of the terminal.  We arrived extra early for our flight, got some sushi and ramen at one of the few restaurants that was open and we waited for more passengers to show up.  This just didn't happen.  

We boarded the flight and there were a total of 36 people on a plane that usually carries about 300 passengers.  The 4 of us were all seated together during takeoff but there were only about 10 people in our part of the plane and they did allow us to move to empty rows to lay down, as long as we were social distancing and wearing our masks. 

Being the chatty one that I am, I asked one of the flight attendants about how he felt about the flight being so empty. He said, "it's very strange and it is not sustainable. Not sure we will be able to keep doing this much longer".  He reported that this was fairly typical of flights over the last few weeks with an average of about 50 passengers. Sadly there have already been layoffs at Air New Zealand because of the pandemic with more likely to come.

We all slept during the 12.5 hour flight and I slept more than I have ever slept on a long-haul flight.  Mike and I were "reminiscing" about the last time we did this move with a 19 month old who screamed for 2.5 hours on the plane and a relatively calm and easy 4.5 year old.  Traveling with a tween and a teen is damn easy.  They both were stellar yesterday.

More after we settle into quarantine somewhere in NZ.  

Up, Up and Away to the Land of the Long White Cloud

In the last week we have:

• Watched a 40 foot container drive off with all of our stuff, expected to arrive in early October.
• Said goodbye to our 2 kitties, Artemis and Chai, until they can fly to NZ and quarantine in October. M and I had to go over to our dear friend's house to get Chai out of a basement ceiling where she had been hiding for 24 hours.  
• Said good-byes to our Portland peeps and my mom/beloved Oma to my children
• Spent time with my sister, my nephew and his wife and their two kids and helped my sister move while wildfires burned around us.  

That last one seems like a fitting metaphor for our departure from the USA.  I think both Mike and I have been worried about whether something might go horribly wrong as we got closer to our travel date whether that be on a macro level (Trump always brings some kind of fresh hell to each day) or in our own little microcosm.  We had an iPhone go on the fritz (my nephew had a spare one), I made a wrong reservation for a rental car (but remedied that easily), we barely fit everything on the container but..... we are about to board the plane here in San Fran. 

Flying during this pandemic is absolutely eerie.  The international terminal, usually bustling with travelers, is a ghost town.  We are disheartened to hear about a small but notable surge in Covid cases in the Auckland area but still feeling a sense of relief at our decision.  

We will write more from quarantine.  Until then...

 

Winding down and winding up

 

We are leaving in 2 weeks. 

Let me say that a little louder...

WE ARE LEAVING IN 2 WEEKS! 

It’s a strange thing to be winding things down while simultaneously putting our foot on the gas pedal. I had my last day of work yesterday and a nice (socially-distant) gathering with my lovely co-workers. Today I’ve gotten a mammogram (boobies!), detailed one of the cars, called an electrician to put up some lights in our house, helped M pack for a short trip and for her 6-10 weeks without access to her stuff as it is shipped across the Pacific and touched up paint around the house. There is plenty more to do in the next 11 days before we fly to California to spend time with my sister, nephew and his wife and kids. 

I am going to whine a bit now about how hard it is to not be able to freely see friends and family and spend quality time with them before we leave because of the pandemic. We’ve had a small “bubble” of loved ones that we have spent time with but knowing that we won’t be back for a while amplifies the longing to connect with our loved ones. 

And there is the list of things to do. A long list that we are trying our best to plow through. I’m not sleeping well, my gut is a wreck and I’m worried I’m missing or forgetting things but one way or another, we will be on that plane on August 18. 

...And I’m thankful we won’t have to wear masks for much longer. 

2020 Vision: Our Return to New Zealand Is Happening!

It's been a good long while, fair reader, but after much consternation, deliberation and contemplation our fair clan is heading back to our second home!  It seems like a waking dream but it is really happening. We depart San Francisco for Auckland on the night of August 18th, 2020.   

Looking back, this move did not seem remotely inevitable.  We came back to the US in 2012 because of finances.  We came back because of earthquakes and aging family.  All of these issues are still very real but so much has changed in the last year.  M and W are 15 and 12 respectively and their lives, like so many here in the US and around the world, have been profoundly changed by Covid-19.  This issue alone is compelling but add to that the impending election of our lifetimes in November, the continued divisions in our national political fabric and the most dangerous politician since the Second World War and you have the desire for a better life being usurped by necessity.  Each day there is usually a moment that I hold my breath in anticipation of some new low that has been perpetrated by our current occupant of the White House.  Rarely do these moments go unfulfilled.  It's a terrible time in the United States and I doubt we have seen the worst of it.  I wish this were not true but there's no denying that it is.

The decision to leave is difficult.  It feels like cowardice.  It feels like giving up.  It feels like an abrogation of our duties as citizens to leave when sanity needs every last advocate.  To use the language of the day, it feels like white privilege because it is white privilege.  But honestly, I don't see how we CAN'T make this move.  We love New Zealand.  There are so many things about New Zealand that feel like home.  We will miss all of the wonderful things that make living in Portland, Oregon special and of course we will miss our friends, our neighbors and our dear families.  We also live in an era where communication across wide open spaces is so much easier than it was even ten years ago.  We will still "see" our people.  Wish us luck as we may need it and stay tuned for updates as we stumble closer to the rest of our lives.

Something ticked off my bucket list....

In the summer of 1987, I went to the Oregon State Fair with my girlfriends Emily and Jen. It was a few months after getting my driver's license and I was the only newly licensed 16 year old that was allowed to drive up the I-5 corridor to Salem just 40 minutes away. The Oregon State Fair is your typical State Fair complete with farm animals, homemade jam and canned goods, amateur arts and crafts, cotton candy, elephant ears and rides that make you barf. While it seems like the State Fair mostly draws country bands these days, back then there were lots of cool acts like John Denver, REO Speedwagon and Pat Benetar. For some odd reason, in the summer of 1987, a little band with New Zealand and Australian origins called Crowded House was performing for free. It was during the time that you could not turn on the radio without hearing this:



I had heard the song and liked it and thought, great! Let's check them out! So, Jen, Emily and I ended up in the 3rd row of the amphitheater. Neil Finn (a New Zealander by birth), Nick Seymour and Paul Hester (Aussies by birth) came out on stage in these ornate costumes:


And it was 95 degrees out. So, after a few witty exchanges with each other in their New Zealand and Australian accents and deciding they were over dressed for the weather, they stripped down to their boxer shorts and started to play their set. And I became a die hard Crowded House and Neil Finn fan from that moment on.

Now, it wasn't the boxer shorts that won me over so quickly but surely it showed how goofy and fun the band was. They loved to joke with each other on stage and had the whole crowd laughing. This is one of the special things about Crowded House and Neil as any fan will tell you. This proved to be true for every one of their tours I have seen over the years. One notable conversation on stage had them talking about playing tennis with their penises (Temple of Low Men Tour, Starry Night Club in Portland, Oregon, 1989).

And then there is his voice. THAT VOICE!!! Neil's voice is like an arrow straight to my heart. I love his voice. Just have a listen:



And though his lyrics are often quirky, I think they are brilliant, poignant, whimsical....poetic. Sigh.... Can you tell that I am in love?

I have seen Crowded House at the (now non-existent) Fox Theater in Portland and the Warfield in San Francisco in 1992 (Woodface tour), the Roseland Theater in Portland in 1994 (Together Alone tour though without Paul who had left the tour by then). Most recently I saw them at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland in 2007 (Time on Earth Tour), sadly minus Paul Hester who committed suicide in 2005 but with the bright addition of Matt Sherrod on drums. I have also seen Neil on his solo gigs (Try Whistling This and One All) at the Roseland in Portland in 1998 and 2002 and The Finn Brothers (Everyone is Here ) at the Crystal Ballroom in Portland in 2004. Crowded House released their album Intriguer last year, not too long after our arrival in New Zealand, which meant that I had to lament missing them at the Edgefield in Portland last August.

If I were to make a "bucket list", one of the top things I would have on that list is living abroad- Tick! Another thing that would be on the list is to see Crowded House or Neil Finn in concert in New Zealand.

And that is exactly what I am going to do this Sunday! Tick!

Better late than never....

The one year anniversary of our move to New Zealand was about 5 months ago but we have a few good excuses for not having written a post to mark the occasion. Let’s see, there was that 7.1 magnitude earthquake on September 4th which halted life as we know it in Christchurch and a month long visit from Grammy and Papa Two. Then there was a move to a new house and...well, things settled down after that minus the 4000+ aftershocks that we have had, including some recent 4.9-5.1 magnitude shakes. M finished her first year of school, celebrated her 6th birthday and my mom came for a month long visit. W just celebrated his 3rd birthday and now my sister is here for a quick visit.

So, how do you sum up a year of living in a new country, one that is half way around the world and sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean? I shall give it a try....

New Zealand is a beautiful country and Christchurch is perfectly situated for exploring the South Island. We love the close proximity to so many different landscapes and activities. We can drive 5 1/2 hours and be in Golden Bay or drive an hour or so and we are in beautiful Akaroa. We have loved driving south to see the penguins in Oamaru or the Albatross on the Otago Peninsula and west to see the Kea in Arthur’s Pass. Mt Cook and the Mackenzie country is a recent favorite trip. We have had many wonderful adventures and have seen a good portion of the South Island. The beauty here is unparalleled.

We like the people here. We have made new friends, both Kiwis and ex-pats and we enjoy our time with them. We have learned about rugby and cricket. We enjoy the taste of Manuka Honey and New Zealand wines. I love working in the midwifery friendly health care system and we love and are thankful for having universal health care at a time when so many of our friends are struggling with this back in the States. We love the kid-friendly nature of New Zealand including the 20 hours of subsidized preschool that W is now eligible for. We love that our kids are both starting to speak with a kiwi accent. We love that we cook more and eat out less and that we have most of our evenings and weekends together at home. We love that the news anchors can wear hideous fashion (Rachel Smalley from TV3 anyone?) and utter the word “dickhead” on the news without blinking an eye even at 6:30 in the evening.

The culture here is not unlike the culture we were accustomed to in Portland. There are a lot of outdoorsy people and there is generally a laid back sensibility to the people here. The community has a lively arts scene and there is a push to be “green.”

We don’t miss American Politics...not one bit. Sarah Palin in 2012 gives us the heebie jeebies. We are tired of the right wing being the party of “no” and of corporations wielding so much power. We are sad to see that our country of origin seems to be on the decline in so many ways. We find that many of our friends are struggling back in the US- with job security, health care, debt, worries about the future that will exist for our children.

All in all, it is nice to be living outside the US. New Zealand is a wonderful country and a nice place to live.

But it is not perfect.

We certainly didn’t expect it to be and we knew about many of its quirks before we came by virtue of our research. The housing, in general, is crap- many houses are uninsulated with single paned windows and no central heating. Damp, cold houses are the norm unless you can afford a new house. The housing market in Christchurch is loaded with overpriced houses- I can’t believe what they are asking for some really, really shitty houses (not that it doesn’t happen in the US too but I digress....) The wages are not so great and given that the cost of living is higher here (petrol, power, food, goods), this is a struggle especially now that we are a one income family. Financially, it would help if the American dollar was a little stronger but with the NZ dollar sitting comfortably around an all-time high against the US dollar, we just have to chalk it up to bad timing and bad luck.

We have most of the comforts of home here in New Zealand though I do miss central heating and a proper washer and dryer and the ease of finding goods and services when you want or need them. We can mostly eat the way we are used to here (minus eating organic which is just too expensive on my salary) and we enjoy our trips to the farmer’s markets and the abundance of fresh fish and free range eggs. But I do miss Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, Oregon microbrews, New Seasons and Trader Joe’s, authentic Mexican food, reasonably priced organic food and New York style pizza.

But ultimately, for me, it is missing family and friends that gets to me the most. While none of the stuff I have mentioned is a deal breaker for living here indefinitely, the distance from family and friends is likely that deal breaker. The death of my father early into our stay didn’t help matters. My mom is getting older and I want her to be able to enjoy her grandchildren more often than once a year. Mike’s folks are also being deprived of their grandkids. I miss my sister and brother. I miss seeing my wonderful friends (sisters!) and their kids. Having such deep roots in Oregon and lifelong friendships makes it hard to truly settle in here in New Zealand.

A co-worker who is from the UK and I talked for a long time about how much we both miss family and friends. She said that she felt like she had had her "me" time in the past and that they had moved to NZ to give their kids a better life than they could give them in the UK. So even though she misses her family and friends enough to want to move back, she feels that being here is about giving her kids all that they deserve even if it means sacrificing her strong ties to the UK.

This does give me pause. I do worry about the path the US is taking and wonder if it is a good place to raise our children. There are clearly things here in NZ that are far better than the States- the universal health care, the schooling (at least in the primary years), funding for social services and the safety net that keeps a society healthy. Yet, I also believe that it is family and friends who sustain us and that they are what really matters in life. And therefore, the absence of family and friends is probably too great a sacrifice for me and ultimately, for our family.

There are no decisions to be made yet and for now, we continue to enjoy our time here. We will just have to see what the future holds for us.

Now for Mike's perspective in part deux.... coming soon....