The Walking Bus

Yesterday, Emma's class went to the beach for a field trip. They started with a beach clean-up and finished with games and swimming. Mark, Mama, and Sarah came over and joined us for lunch.

We went to school on the walking bus. Basically, it is a supervised group of kids walking to school together. There are no school busses here. The kids all walk or are dropped off. The older kids can take city busses to school. It is pretty safe for them because everyone looks out for them. Starting next term, I will take a turn one day a week leading the walking bus. It is good exercise and it has provided us an opportunity to meet some more families that live close to us. I don't think much learning is getting done this time of year, but the girls and I are making friends, which is probably more important right now anyway.

Mama and Pa are home

Mama and Pa arrived home from Australia last night. They have been in Sydney taking care of our 12-year-old nephew/cousin Buster. We are very excited about seeing Buster and Aunt Julie (Mark's sister) in a few weeks. Aunt Julie is a dancer/choreographer in Contemporary Performance in Sydney. Buster is crazy about Basketball and is quite a salty guard from what I hear.

Mama took the girls out for an adventure at the beach this morning. Then they went to the library and then topped it off with a stop by the Dairy for an ice cream. They are sooooo glad to see their grandparents. We are really glad too.

Athletics Day

Since we are coming in at the end of the year, the girls are getting to do all the fun things that happen at the end of school. Yesterday was Athletics Day. Everyone dressed in their special sports clothing that is color coded according to their house. Their house is called Colenso and they are yellow. It was sort of like Field Day, but a little more competitive. They got to have different kinds of races and do high jump and long jump. Shoes are optional. Guess which option my kids took.

Don't Do That Again

I came outside when I heard one of my children say to her sisters, "Look, I can touch the power line." I found Esther 30 feet up in a tree near some power lines. She insisted that she knew they were dangerous and she wasn't going to touch them. The kids have been banished from the tree. The neighbor was watching from her deck, which was about the same height. She has lived there since Mark was a little boy. She asked me if it was Mark up in the tree. Now I know wher Esther gets it from!

I met an American lady up at the school. She had met Emma earlier and asked her where she was from. Emma told her "Lago Vista." That wasn't helpful to the lady, so she asked her where Lago Vista was near. Emma told her "Jonestown." That wasn't helpful either, considering Jonestown is smaller than Lago Vista. Eventually she got that it was near Austin. That was more helpful.

Here is a picture of Mark's parents' house. It is where we are staying while we are here. One of the pictures is taken from the deck, looking out to the Auckland harbor. The beach is just on the other side of the big tree. It's a pretty good beach for the kids.

The Lost Tooth

We are settled in and our internal clocks have adjusted. The best thing about being here is the daylight. It is light enough to be outside at 5:30 in the morning. The jet lag has helped us be early risers. Mark and I have been getting up early to do our exercise. This is a really good place to swim, cycle, and run. We are right on a 10K trail and road that goes along the Auckland waterfront. People here are outdoor exercise crazy. You see them everywhere, all the time. You wouldn't believe how many runners and cyclists I saw out at 5:30 this morning. The swimmers all came out about lunchtime, which is high tide.

The girls have adjusted to school. The kids love their accents. They are more popular here than they are used to being. We'll see how long that lasts. They have been assigned to a house, which is a four-way division of the whole school. Families are kept together in the same house. They use it for intraschool competition. The other day, when I gave all the girls their uniforms, Hannah wanted hers to smell nice so she started to go spray it with some body spray that she had stashed away somewhere. I told her she didn't need to do that. Then the next thing I heard was a spraying sound from the bathroom. It was Esther spraying her uniform with Glade so she would smell nice. Well, she has smelled like Glade for days. The girls only have one uniform, so they have to wear them a few days before they get cleaned.

Speaking of laundry, I'm doing it today. No one here dries their clothes in a dryer. Everyone, even the most expensive homes, have a clothes line in the back for drying their clothes. I really like it because I'm a little greenie at heart. I'm nothing compared to the Kiwis. The regular garbage container is tiny. On the other hand, the recycling container is twice the size of the regular container. They have figured out how to get people to recycle. I'm giving Emma the recycling job. She's a natural.

Last night Hannah lost a tooth. What do you know? The tooth fairy comes to New Zealand too. She brings a $2 NZ coin, which is about the same value right now as the US $1 coin. Let's just hope that the US $1 coin keeps gaining on the NZ $2 coin for a few more months.

First Day of School

Monday was the first day of school for Emma, Hannah, and Esther. They are coming in at the very end of the school year. The New Zealand school year starts in February and ends in December, so it is kind of like the kids are starting school the first week in May at home. Since Emma and Esther have February birthdays, they essentially move up a 1/2 grade. Emma is finishing Year 4, which is like finishing 3rd grade. Esther is finishing Year 1, which is like finishing Kindergarten. Since Hannah's birthday is in August, she is essentially moving back a 1/2 grade. She is finishing Year 2, which is like finishing 1st Grade. This is all very confusing, but I feel like I finally have my head around it. In a nutshell, Hannah is one of the youngest kids in her grade in the States, but in the middle of her class here. Emma and Esther are in the middle of their grades in the States, but one of the youngest in their classes here.

They go to the local Primary School called Kohi. It is a 10 minute walk from where we live, and they are expected to walk to school. They have to wear a special uniform with sandals and a cap. It is mandatory for the kids to wear their cap when they go outside. (The ozone hole is right over New Zealand and as a result, there is a high incidence of skin cancer. Everyone is very consciencious about covering up when they go outside). All the kids bring their lunch to school. There is no cafeteria. Everyone has their lunch outside on the grounds at the same time. Then they go play until lunch is over. When the kids go out to play sports or other things, they all take off their shoes and run around barefoot. I know our girls will love that. Mark said he didn't wear shoes until he was about 12. I'm not sure if he exaggerating or not.

When they got to school, they were each assigned a buddy that took them around and showed them the school. Esther was the first to be dropped off and had a deer-in-the-headlights look on her face when I left her. I peeked in after I left, and she was running around with a smile on her face, playing with her buddy. You wouldn't believe it, but there is another Esther in her class. Hannah and Emma both seemed to do well when I left them. I know they had to be tired, but they all did really well and had a great attitude about everything.

We made it

We got on the flight in LA about 8PM. Sarah had just fallen asleep and had to be carried. Just as we were boarding, a guy near us got sick. We have never moved so fast in all our lives trying to get away from him. I felt a little bit like the bad guy in the story of the Good Samaritan. Once we got on the plane the kids went right to sleep. They have an uncanny ability to sleep soundly in the most contorted positions. The rest of the trip went well, I was even able to get my hot pepper spray through customs. We arrived in Auckland just before 6AM. Uncle Greg was at the airport to meet us, and he is sporting a great big mustache in honor of Movember, where the guys are all growing mustaches as a fund raiser of some sort. Emma had a few comments about it. We came to Mark's parents' house (They are away in Sydney until Friday), unpacked, and went to The Warehouse to get the girls some Roman Sandals for their school uniform. We did our best to stay awake as late as we could, but the kids were all in bed and asleep by 6:30. Mark and I didn't last much longer.