Tom had commented to me recently that our blog reads like a travelogue. I never had any particular blogging aspirations and "travelogue" suits me just fine, I thought. This week, though, I changed my mind a bit. We have paused a little bit in our incessant travelling and exploring and I think this makes for a good time to reflect. There is so much of our experience that is outside of the travelogue genre that I guess I agree that we should include other types of entries. So here's one about things that I've been thinking about :) Feel free to skip it, if you're mostly here for the pictures :)
Expats:
So at first I felt a little lame because the people that we tended to gravitate towards or chose to spend time with socially were all expats. They came from Holland, Scotland, the US, UK. Then it became clear that actually, lots of kiwis have come here from other places. People say that about New York - and it is also true here. One of Jasper's best friends in school is from Iceland. Aidan's best friend was born in Yorkshire. I didn't know this about New Zealand prior to arriving here, but it has made me think a little bit about emigration. Side note: I think partially what has allowed the Maori and Europeans to coexist as well as they do (which is not without problem, but is much better than other indigenous cultures around the world) is the idea that nobody owns this land. The Maori arrived on canoes hundreds of years before the Europeans, who arrived decades before the Asians, and the Africans, and, well, the Americans. There is a sense of inclusiveness that is really powerful. Which may explain the immigration.
When I arrived in Wellington, my orientation course included myself as well as a few physicians from Ireland and the UK. Two of them had young children and both of them had left their respective homes and were planning to just stay in New Zealand. It was exciting and strange to spend that transitional time with them. I couldn't get over the idea that one day one might say to one's spouse, "Hey, things are so bad here where we live that I think we should pack our things, quit our jobs, say goodbye to everyone we know and move as far away from here as possible without leaving the planet." Now that we've been here a while, I've learned that this idea is not so unusual. I have so much respect for these people. It seems to me to be such an incredible act of courageous and imaginative optimism.
Comfort:
I didn't expect to feel too comfortable here. Mostly I expected lots of areas of discomfort - the work would be different, the way of life would be different, the food, some language, cultural norms -- all different. I find I spend a lot of time just cataloging differences, often without any valuation, just notation. We heat our homes; Kiwis don't. We say, "Call me;" Kiwis say, "Ring me." We think pies are for fruit; they eat meat pies - and lots of them. I could go on.
While I think that expanding our breadth of experience as a family and as individuals was certainly a driving reason behind our decision to come to New Zealand, I hadn't thought about what it would feel like to actually do this. I did have literally a single moment of a single day when I felt just -- overwhelmed-- early on, shortly after we'd arrived in Taupo. Thank goodness for Tom, who is amazing and wonderful and unflaggingly positive. Yes, sometimes the newness and the arranging things and the adjusting and learning is just- exhausting. I have a new appreciation for those character traits in Tom and myself that make this process exciting rather than exhausting.
Materialism:
More than one expat friend has commented to me that people in New Zealand don't buy things. My female friends will note that they don't dress as nicely here because people just are not fashion conscious. I don't think that Tom and I have ever personally been huge consumers, so I don't think we notice that drastic a change, but we do notice that it simplifies life a bit to just not -- have so many things. It makes one think about the things one owns. I think about the things I still own - and just don't see - ever. Because these things are in New Jersey. Clearly I'm experiencing life just fine without them. It is a little funny to see myself and the boys and Tom in the same clothes over and over again (see photos from previous blog entries) but it's not terrible. I'm coming back to the States a changed woman, for sure.
Art:
OK. I miss music. I miss making music. I miss beautiful things in and around the house. There is a lot of natural beauty all around us everywhere, but beautiful things made by people - there's a real lack here. It's kind of good to feel that and to notice that. I didn't know that I would. (I suspected.)
That's all I got right now. I have been thinking alot about Maori culture -- but that's not clear or informed enough to put in a blog. Stay tuned....
In other news, we are moving house. Will post photos of our current house before we leave it in 3 weeks. Our new house will be larger -- more space for guests :)
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