A Quick Note: We're in Coromandel Peninsula...

Not a whole lot of bandwidth here so I haven't had a whole lot of time to blog. We have been taking photos a plenty however. Short form: It's beautiful here, it reminds me a lot of Cape Cod (both in affluence and in overall beauty) and so far we've been having a good time on the beach.

I'll send some photos up either when we get back or if I find some fast connections.

The Obligatory Christmas Post.

No other holiday is quite so linked to being with friends and family as Christmas. Obviously, its considered to be one of the first big challenges of recent immigrants, being away from family and friends during this holiday.

Carly and I have very different feelings when it comes to Christmas. For my part, I definitely felt a little blue at not having dinner with my 'rents, seeing my friends, vegg'ing out, playing games and generally being social with those I love. Being that my family is all over the world, You'd think it would be easier, but the fact is we typically made sure we all saw each other during the extended holiday season if not on Christmas proper.

Technology definitely makes up for some of it. Skype has been a godsend throughout our immigration and being able to talk to anyone we want without having to worry about blocked international lines, long distance fees etc. is definitely making it easier. Seeing people over the video is an even better treat.

That all being said, we've been having an excellent Christmas thanks in no small part to our new friends in New Zealand. This weekend, we got to visit with our friends J and B in Christchurch. We met them through a board gaming website of all places. J's been incredibly helpful for finding all sorts of Kiwi information that many of the locals took for granted before arriving and I think we all hit it off quite well when we went to Picton together earlier in the year. They took us out to great restaurants, threw a BBQ with their friends while we were there (and much boardgaming was done!) and generally were fantastic hosts.

R and A, another couple we've befriended, came over on Christmas day so that I could make them a nice big breakfast. Carly made scones from the cook book she bought me for christmas (Edmund's Cookery Book) I made eggs bacon and coffee / tea.

We followed that up by bringing a Tourtiere (my mom's recipe of course!) to the BBQ they were having at their place over lunch / dinner to share some of the Canadian festivities that would normally take place. It was very well received.

And now, on boxing day, having made all our family phone calls, we're off to explore the Boxing Day sales (Kiwis definitely take their sales a lot more seriously then Canadians do :P ) and go to the beach.

Here are some photos of the traditional New Zealand Christmas Tree, the Pōhutukawa Tree

What a Weekend!

Where to start!

This weekend was pretty phenomenal. We got out and did stuff :)

Saturday we went to the Knack. It's a small craft fair that was held at the Berhampore Elementary School (where Carly's been teaching the Montessori class). It was a very friendly affair. Most of the displays were from parents or local crafters, everyone seemed to know each other and there were quite a few very cool booths. In particular, Carly's coffee slinging students were there as well as few local seamstresses who make great clothing out of recycled materials.
Once we were done there, we decided to go on a bit of a driving adventure to find a new place to fly the kite. We started by driving down to Island Bay, exploring that neighborhood (quickly turning into a favorite with us) then we ended up in a nature preserve, where we got a chance to test out the All Wheel drive for the first time by driving through an old quarry access pass. Too rocky and narrow to fly a kite but a very nice drive overall.





Having reached the end of that drive, we decided to drive in the opposite direction out to the Kapiti Coast (western coast of North Island). We came across Queen Elizabeth National Park, with it's very inviting beach and got a nice flight in there. Sand and water aren't particularly friendly to my kite though... Heading home, we felt we'd made the right choice in buying a car.






We started Sunday by hoping a bus down to Thorndon (Ha! you thought we'd drive didn't you!) for the annual Fair. Not entirely sure of the details, but it sounds like it was started as a fundraiser for their elementary school (a decile 10 school... odd that they'd need to raise funds) but grew into a whole neighborhood engulfing street sale of sorts. There was probably 150 booths? They were expecting 25000 people and I'd believe it from the crowds we saw there. We went with our lovely Kiwi friends R&A and new friends C&R. Not much I'd actually buy (most was expensive kitschy stuff).
Thorndon is a gorgeous neighborhood (and priced accordingly) It backs the Parliament buildings, is delimited on one side by the mountains and on another the Botanical Gardens. Very quaint, turn of the century to about 1950s buildings.



Having done the stalls there, we headed up to the Botanical Gardens to see the roses. When last we'd gone, they were just at the bud stage. Not very exciting. This time it was incredible.




Came home thoroughly tired (we'd been out walking for 6+ hours by that point) and a little sunburnt. This is precisely why we moved out here :)

Here are a couple of links to the galleries if you want to see more photos.

• Adventures Up the Kapiti Coast
• Botanical Gardens
• Wellington (New photos added!)

Alternate schooling methods

So as you are aware i'm relief teaching here in Welly. and there is a lot of variation. there is basically a scale system called a Decile rating of 1 to 10. a 10 school is the best, the cream of the crop, they have a devoted art week, multiple computers in each room, a laptop cart and usually mostly white anglo-saxon pupils. The opposite end of the scale is the 1 and 2 where the students are usually more ethnic, lower socio-economic status, more behavioural and less supplied in terms of school equipment (in Ottawa we call those Beacon schools). So i've worked the range of decile 4 through 10; yes there is a difference.

At one of those 4s though there is a Montessori school. the staff jokes that the Montessori is how they stay open because of the funding it gets. so i've relieved a few times in there...its different. i'm not going to bore you with details but the basics boil down to this:

1) students choose what to learn, then do it
2) teachers teach them how to use the development math tool for say counting, just enough of an explanation to peak interest then stand back and let them use it for days and observe.
3) it encourages and has a practical hands on living aspect, there is a mini-kitchen so they can learn to cook, clean, etc.
4) oh and they encourage them to go outside a lot to exercise and plan small group trips off of school property without adults.

suffice it to say that i'm impressed, Blaise is impressed and though children are not yet on our list of "to do" things yet we both see Montessori as an option.

ok back to the point i was trying to make. a few years back some of the kids asked for (in a business proposal btw) an expresso/barrista machine like every coffee shop has. they got it too, its considered practical and hands on. these kids then proceeded to start a coffee delivery business to all the teachers in the school. so mrs. A wants a flat white at 10:20, mrs. B wants an expresso at 11:30, the kids in room 4 order four hot chocolates at lunch, etc. Because the Montessori kids are allowed to move freely in and out of their class as part of their education, they can do this delivery service. its $2 for anything and let me tell you they make a good Mochachino. then they keep banking/accounting records of all their sales and they use the proceeds to fund camp trips or charitable donations (the class agreed to use the funds to buy a goat last year for a village in Africa). There is currently a science project going on growing cultures because one of the boys who does this had concerns about the cleanliness of his coffee machine so the teacher brought in culture mediums in petri dishes and he's started a 2 week project testing his machine and other areas of the class for cleanliness by doing mold cultures. Oh i suppose i should add these particular coffee kids are boys between the ages of 10 and 11; and one of the guys has been doing this since he was nine. did i not say Montessori was neat!

So i've been raving to Blaise about this and today the school had a craft/fund raising sale call Knack. The Montessori kids who do the coffee were invited to set up shop on the stage. They were there last year and they did so well they were invited back this year and got a sponsor who gave them all the coffee for free this time.
So we went in and purchased two drinks, my Mochachino and for Blaise his standard flat white. Blaise had to admit that it was a very nice flat white. The guys let us take a picture for posterity.

Meet the barristas of the Montessori program.

Stung by Bee

now now don't panic, its not what you think. Meet BEE506 the latest addition to the St-Laurent New Zealand adventure.


I'm sure Blaise could do a way better job of describing it but its a car, a dark blue Subaru Legacy. We bought it off a guy who was doing what we did, packing up his life in NZ and going to Australia for a few years.

What prompted this after all our eco-friendly "we'll walk or bus everywhere". its still there, we still walk and bus but there are an increasing large list of things we want to do that really require more freedom than the transit system is allowing.

1)job interviews - i was not applying to schools more than 1 1/2 by transit, by car those same places are about 20 minutes away.
2)kite surfing - the hubby wants to go fly the kites (legally) on beaches, but we also have to find ones that have wind on the right direction, don't have planes going over them and actual ones where its safe for him to be in the water. for those, they exceed that 1 1/2 transit time by bus.
3)camping - with the cargo container due this week (fingers crossed) our camp gear is here. there is a lovely place just on the opposite side of the bay, great for a first camping adventure....no bus/train service at all.
4)groceries - canvas bags or not, the weight (and wait), a car is simpler.
5)adventures - we got invited up to a batch just outside of auckland over christmas by Rachel and Alan. we love them, but they have a teeny little hatchback. our car can hold us and luggage ^^bb
6)renting - while we are not looking till February for a new place we have met enough people and seen enough homes to know that we pay way to much for being in this location. we can get amazing places in any of the outside areas but they lack a feature which we needed when we first moved here....buses.
7)trade me/used furniture - yes we can rent a car and trailer, this however means we can also pop into a Vinnie's (St Vincents) see the table and go, "hey we can buy it and bring it home today"

Meet "Bee"atrice (yes i named the car)

Some Photo Updates

Finally got a little time to sort through the photos I've been racking up on my camera. I've posted a bunch of new ones on my gallery. Here are a few of my favorites (with captions)



Te Papa, the New Zealand national museum.



The harbour walkway.



Tired tourists on a sunny afternoon.



The boatclub and the harbourfront

Also, a while back there was a Brazilian tall ship in Wellington harbor, so we went to check it out:




Click through the links to see all the photos.

Humming and Hawing...

Carly and I have been trying as much as possible to not make any choices that are specifically detrimental to the environment. Not so much trying to be carbon-counting/placard-bearing/pocket-mulching environmentalists, really we've just been trying to choose the environment's side when faced with a choice. This has involved drying most of our clothing outside (which I've grown quite used to, though I thought I wouldn't) recycling, using re-usable containers and most importantly walking or busing everywhere.

However, that last one has been significantly limiting our flexibility here in Wellington. For day to day needs, the bus and train system here is excellent. You can hop a single bus almost anywhere, then walk 5-10 minutes and be at your destination. Parking's also a problem downtown, so you wouldn't want to drive anyway.
Many of our favorite and planned activities (camping, kite surfing, exploring New Zealand in general) require some sort of motorized transport. We're short changing ourselves rather badly if we can't get out of Wellington.

So, I've started looking for a car. The main things it needs:

• carrying capacity: A station wagon, a minivan or maybe a large hatchback
• Good on gas: Smaller engine or diesel would be ideal
• Ability to tow (renting trailers to get stuff you buy is very common here)
  
• Cheap.

That's pretty much it. I don't care about anything else really, which is a huge change from my previous cars. I'm going to be buying my first used car, which is a little scary, but with a good inspection and some "emergency repair" money I think we'll be able to manage.

I'm hoping to find a car with good mechanics that isn't too pretty on the outside (body damage is quite common here because of the tight streets and generally bad drivers :P )

We'll see how it goes.