Odds and Ends

A few weeks ago we rented a car and were promptly rear-ended while we sat innocently at a red light. No one was hurt but the car, and the driver acknowledged his responsibility and gave us his info. I had declined the rental agency's collision insurance, since my credit card provides insurance for car rentals, so today I called to see how it works and to make a claim.

Citibank lets you call their customer service as an international collect call, which was nice - especially since I got disconnected several times. When I did get through to talk to someone, a very nice CSR (in Ghana, I'm guessing, from his accent) assured me I was covered and offered to connect me to the office that handles the insurance. Instead, I was connected to a phone sex operation ("Hot Girls Are Waiting, Press 1 Now"). While enticing, it was not exactly what I needed at the moment. (After several more calls I was finally able to file a claim and suspend the rental agency's charge for the damage.)

The latest furniture arrivals: Last week we got the bed we ordered six weeks before. (The store gave us a loaner to use in the meantime - just like an auto dealer, but with a fresh mattress pad.) When it was all put together, however, it was obvious that the brackets for the center support had been misaligned at the factory. The delivery folks assured us the crooked board wouldn't affect stability, so we called the store and negotiated a 20% discount. Lord knows, they didn't want to have to take it back - the bed's purple! (Sounds weird, but it looks really good with the deep purple and gold bed cover Ali picked up in India years ago.)

We also got our most of the shelving units we ordered (the rest are due this week), so we could unpack and organize our books. We really have got too many books, but after shipping them all the way here, it's nice to have them on shelves. After all that, we decided to rent a car again this weekend and drive out to the Coromandel Penninsula. In two hours from our place, you can be on Hot Water Beach, a gorgeous stretch of sand where, at low tide, you can dig your own hot tub! (There's an underground hot spring that nears the surfaces a few meters out from the shore.) Unfortunately, we were there at high tide, and strong southwesterlies (bringing gale force winds and lots of rain) made camping an unattractive option this trip. But we'll be back.

Cheers,
Sandie

Thanksgiving

I had my first real pangs of homesickness a few days ago when I realized Thanksgiving was this week. We haven't been here long enough to have a social circle yet, and a turkey is just too big for the two of us. I thought of making a pie, but they don't have canned pumpkin at the grocery store (and fresh isn't in season - it's almost summer). I'm sure next year we'll be settled enough to be able to share our immigrant tradition with friends here. But this year, well, I'll just focus on remembering all the things I'm grateful for, including this opportunity to realize a long held dream of living abroad, good health, wonderful family and friends and, of course, Ali, the love of my life. And in the spirit of gratitude and thanks, I'd like to share this:

Cherokee Prayer Blessing

May the warm winds of Heaven
Blow softly upon your house.
May the Great Spirit
Bless all who enter there.
May your moccasins
Make happy tracks
In many snows,
and may the Rainbow
Always touch your shoulder.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cheers,
Sandie

The Great Grey Lynn Park Festival

This weekend we took a break from the resettlement process and had some fun with the locals. On Saturday, we joined 100,000 other JAFAs* at the Grey Lynn Park Festival, now in its 19th year. It was a great neighborhood bash, featuring music on three stages. (Best part was the South Pacific, hip hop version of Santa Clause is Coming to Town - you had to be there.) Lots of booths featuring arts/crafts/interesting junk, as well as social & community groups. (Ali got a prize for being the first person of the day - out of about a hundred people - to correctly answer all 10 questions about Palestinian issues. The prize? A jar of manuka-smoked sea salt!?!?!?) There was also food booths for all persuasions, although we were particularly intrigued by the BBQ mussels: over a flaming grill, you get a couple iron woks deadly hot, add a couple dozen HUGE green lipped mussels, shake them a few times, then squeeze in some oil. Once the flames die down, toss in garlic & chilies, toss a few more times, then flip the whole thing onto a plate. Big Maori guys were flipping two flaming woks at a time, very impressive. There was also tons of stuff for kids: farm animals - including alpacas, which are so cute, and pony rides, those crazy inflatable jumping thingis, face-painting, carnival rides, etc. A beautiful day seemed to bring out the most diverse mix of folks imaginable, and a good time was had by all.

*JAFA - Kiwi nickname for Aucklander. I've heard two versions of what it stands for. Locally, it's Just Another Friendly Aucklander. (The other is what the rest of the country means by it.)

Cheers,
Sandie

Unpacking: A Nice Surpise

I can't believe it's almost Friday already. The biggest thing I miss about having a job is all that free time. (Huh???) To be fair to myself, moving is a bit time consuming, and moving to a new country a bit more so. But it still seems crazy that I haven't been able to sit down and blog for almost a week. Of course, the problem is compounded by the fact we've only had one computer, which Ali totally dominates. (I'll be getting my own computer set up and running soon - maybe even tomorrow. Yeah!)

Enough of my pity party. This week we unpacked, washed, sorted, and found a place for nearly everything we own. Except the books. Because we don't have any bookcases. Just when I thought the great search for new furniture was over. Fortunately, we got out of the house today and found a place that had really nice, reasonably-priced-yet-still-good-quality storage units. So another piece of the puzzle should be in place soon.

Opening all those boxes after six months - we left Philly six months ago Monday! - felt a little like Christmas. It's a real treat to have pillows again, to be able to cook with my own pots and pans, and to see all the glassware and dishes arrived intact - except for one stemmed cordial glass. (Proof I've become an expert packer during our last five moves.) But the biggest treat was opening a box we'd packed in Seattle, and finding our dear friend - the eminent Seattle artist, Aaliyah Gupta - had slipped in a charcoal drawing. It's an evocative, mysterious, shape-shifting image that makes me think of the birth of a bright and hopeful future.

Cheers,
Sandie

What A Week

After spending Monday sorting out a scheduling problem with our MAF inspection, and paying the exorbitant fees we were charged on this end of the shipping process, we got clearance for our stuff, which was delivered on Tuesday. We've been unpacking boxes ever since, but it's finally starting to look (and feel) like home. Our new dining room set was delivered on Wednesday; the cracked table and 3 poorly assembled chairs were replaced this morning. With very little difficulty, I should add. I also had no problem returning the electric kettle when it shorted out this week - 10 ten days after we bought it - and blew out the kitchen's electric circuit. But the real excitement was Friday afternoon, when our living room furniture arrived.

With a little help from me, the lone delivery man and Ali managed to hoist the sofa and both chairs over our second-floor balcony. (It was instantly clear that none of it would fit through the doorway.) This involved the delivery guy balancing himself on top of the chest-high, rounded top wall which separates our unit from the townhouse next door while passing the chairs up and over the balcony railing. And that was the easy part. At one point I was on a stepstool reaching up to steady the sofa as Ali held it, dangling over the rail, while the delivery guy ran upstairs. They did managed to pull it up and over the rail without significant damage to sofa or man, but I sure hope we don't need to move again for a very long time.

Also this week: the hard drive on Ali's laptop crashed. No idea why, but I wouldn't recommend an IBM pc to anyone I liked. Fortunately, it was the day after our stuff arrived. Finding the box with the desktop wasn't too hard - I'd labled things pretty well - and it survived the trip without incident. (As did everything else, save one stemmed cordial glass - I've become an expert packer over the years.) We're back online, and Ali was even able to back up his data, but it's a been a week I'd rather not repeat.

On the bright side - and there nearly always is one - the weather has turned lovely. It hasn't rained in over a week and the days are warming up nicely. Plus, a Movenpick ice cream store is about to open in Parnell. Just up the road from our place. How convenient.

Cheers,
Sandie

A Public Service Message

Here in Middle Earth, the election results came in on Thursday morning, and the numbness didn't wear off until . . . well, I'm not sure it's worn off yet. But, I still live with Ali and first thing Saturday morning we rented a car to FINISH THE FURNITURE SHOPPING. We dropped off the car early this afternoon, totally exhausted, but mission accomplished. (He wouldn't go for my idea of a lime green sofa/butterscotch yellow chairs/oxblood red ottoman combo. No guts, no glory, I said. But the sofa we ordered is dark brown, the chairs tan: think Kraft's carmel and fudge squares, in a kind of round-armed retro design. Pretty nice, although not as, um, unique as the lime green would have been.) And the car accident was really minor, and totally the other guy's fault. (We were rear-ended by someone who just couldn't wait for the light to actually change to green. No one was injured, although the rental car's fiberglass bumper will never be the same.)

Anyway, after we got back from all the shopping, I checked the news, and that idiot-savant cowboy is still president. How could 59+ million people be so dumb??? I read a few weeks ago that 42% of the US self-identifies as born-again or evangelical Christian, and thought it had to be a mistake. But maybe not. (Quote on the front page of today's NZ Herald, from US Colonel Gary Brandl: " The enemy has got a face. He's called Satan. He's in Fallujah and we're going to destroy him." Note to Rummy: This is NOT making the US Army look particularly better than the fundamentalist military organizations it's fighting.) At any rate, when I think about the future this Adminstration will be ushering in (how many Supreme Court appointments will he get to appoint?), I'm kinda scared - for the whole world. And while I really do admire the folks who want to stand and fight, as a public service, I'm including a few choice links:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/ - check out the points indicator to see if you, too, can qualify for an invitation to become a denizen of Middle Earth;

"Legions of Canadians have already pledged to sacrifice their singlehood to save our southern neighbours from four more years of cowboy conservatism." MarryAnAmerican.ca; and

For a good laugh, check out "God Puts His Tool Back Into Office" and "National Museum of the Middle Class Opens" (as well as other stories) in The Onion.

Cheers,
Sandie

Election 2004: Good News, Bad News

I love the internet. It's election night, and I'm listening to NPR's coverage on KUOW. How cool is that? Unfortuntately, the election news looks pretty bad. The good news? We have a guest room, so come on down.

It's been crazy busy the last few days. We moved to our new place (a three level townhouse in Parnell) on Sunday. Yesterday I managed to vote at the American Consulate, and we got Customs clearance for our stuff. (The last step before we can get possession will be on Monday, when we get inspected by the Ministry of Agriculture to make sure we aren't bringing any nasties in from the outside world). Today I registered for classes (International Trade Regulation and International Environmental Law), which start in the fall (March 1st). We've also been shopping for household basics (how did I ever live without an electric kettle?) and looking at tons of furniture. Ali's even started looking at used cars. The joys of so much shopping have been sending us on a regular basis to the Shakespeare Pub for a coldie, where the house-brewed ale is the headache remedy of choice for this weary consumer.

Cheers,
Sandie