Playing House in Wellington

After being pretty much on the go for four months, we arrived at our Airbnb in Wellington, New Zealand on December 4^th where we have stayed put for two whole months.  It was, with a breath of excitement, that we actually unpacked all of our bags and put things in drawers.

 

The major goal for the first week was to find outside groups and activities so the kids could interact with other kids.  We wanted to set the groundwork to find a short-term life here instead of seeing the sights and looking for the touristy things to do in Wellington.  We wanted to go from “tourist” to “traveler”.  We got library cards, bus passes, wetsuits and a swim membership at the local rec center. We signed the kids up for the neighborhood “Surf Life Saving” club –which we’ve learned is THE thing to do in Lyall Bay from some Kiwi-American friends from Boulder.

 

Will toured the grocery and vinyl stores (favorite was Death Ray Records in Newtown) to get the lay of the land.  He thankfully did all the food shopping and cooking, so I could focus on schooling and organizing the kids’ activities.  We found gyms to work out and the perfect running route down along the coast.  I never found my yoga-home, but did my own thing in the morning.

 

This time in Wellington was also intended to be a time for traditional school sit-down-and-learn-work.  We dedicated three solid hours, five days per week, to school – some were autonomous tasks and others are direct instruction and help from me.  (Lorna is teaching Kai violin.) They worked on individual writing portfolios and we had a fun unit on poetry.  Lorna has written reviews for her books on Amazon and even a coherent, “polite yet deeply concerned” email to Trump.  We drilled math facts each morning for the Littles and then did half an hour of math per day from some grade-level books purchased back home. The kids have been receptive and enthusiastic for “school”.  Lucy made place cards for everyone and enjoys organizing the books.  And we decided that a 100% on spelling tests will earn them (and me) a Friday ice cream.  I can’t stump them: they all get words like “photosynthesis” and “rhythm” correct.  Ice cream is an excellent motivator.

 

There’s been plenty to keep us busy here in Wellington.  We have typically spent the morning homeschooling, and then played for the afternoon.  When the weather is good, we enjoy the ocean with the boogie boards that Santa brought, walk the shoreline or visit one of the world-class parks.  And when it’s too cold or rainy, we spend days at the free Te Papa Museum, swim inside or find our way to the neighborhood trampoline park.

 

We needed a home for Christmas: a tree, homemade stockings and a kitchen for baking.  We sang our carols at night; Santa came to eat our cookies; and the reindeer nibbled at the carrots.  We missed our family back home so these little traditions meant so much.  But we also got to incorporate some new, purely Kiwi Christmas traditions… pinkie bars and jaffas in the stockings, a brisk ocean swim on Christmas Eve and best of all, some wonderful new friends invited us to a family holiday afternoon potluck and gift exchange.  And it gets better – it was at their croquet club guesthouse!  So, we got to eat pavlova, drink champagne and play croquet all before the main events.  I will miss these wonderful Christmas twists next year.  The pavlova-champagne-croquet may need to a permanent addition.

Truth be told, I was humbled with sickness for a good two weeks.  I had a fever for five days and then had not a squeak of a voice for another week.  I’m still a bit Demi Moore-ish, but I’ve got my strength back and am thankful that it happened in a place with great, English-speaking medical care and access to Netflix.  It took a lot out of me and the rhythms and routines that we intended, went out the window for two weeks, but they rolled with it.

 

Wellington has been the perfect spot to hunker down.  I was feeling behind in the homeschooling department when we arrived, and now I’m feeling like we’re 80% finished for the year.  The kids have made friends and had play dates.  We have met so many lovely people and we all conclude that we could definitely live here forever.  We chose Wellington because we wanted more of the Maori influence than the South Island, wanted a city and ocean and all of that came within arm’s reach of Melanie.  She was our beloved babysitter when she went to CU Boulder and has moved to Wellington when her husband got a contract job to work on the government tax code.  Her first baby is crushingly due just the week after we leave but at least we hopefully distracted her a bit in this final trimester.

Goodbye Wellington!