Hello All,

Well, we may not be in the Christmas frenzy like the rest of you preparing for Santa and holidays with family and friends but we’re in a frenzy just the same.

Week one, in our new host country, we bought Jim a car, rented and moved into a three-bedroom house, bought a bed and then a cat! Yes, a cat. I also applied for two jobs. A pretty productive week I’d say. Oh, I almost forgot. We made friends with a local bartender and may end up calling his pub our home-away-from home. Tuesday nights at Murphy’s Law [the bar] is coin toss night. For every drink, he tosses a coin and if you call it your beer is free - every drink, every time. That’s just saving money the way we see it. Jim won 3 out of 4 of tosses last Tuesday!

Week two, we bought my car, hit every second hand store in town, all 11 of them. We also stalked the Craig’s List equivalent, called Trade Me, for bargains. We sourced up furniture: a couch, television and DVD player, recliner, bbq (you know – all the necessities of life), a huge climbing gym for the cat (more like kitty Disneyland), and a sweet black and white cow-patterned bean bag chair. Appliances were also on the list: washer, dryer, vacuum, refrigerator and microwave. We hit a huge one day sale (50% off) at the local Target-like store and outfitted ourselves with pots and pans, sheets and pillows, 240v appliances like an electric toothbrush (a huge indulgence after living on a boat for three years), a toaster and a hair dryer(yet another perk of land living). The salt water on the boat trashed our pots and pans and besides, none of our belongings, from the boat (now in Australia) or storage (in San Jose), have found their way to us yet. Oh and the two jobs I applied to, in week one, both contacted me for potential interviews! Wow, neither of us expected that. One job I already turned down pursuing – the pay was not enough. I’m not expecting to make what I made in the U.S. but this would have been just over one-third of what I was earning. That’s a little too much of a pay cut. However, I am still meeting with the agency recruiting for the position next week in Wellington. The agency concentrates on Human Resources placements. Both the agency and myself felt it would be beneficial to meet though in the event something more senior crosses their desk (i.e. higher pay). The other job would be a step toward advancing my career to the Director level. Since this would be a higher position, I’m not positive the CEO will be keen on my lack of New Zealand work experience but it can’t hurt to aim high. My resume will be presented to him later this week by the agency hiring for the position. Almost all jobs in New Zealand go out to a recruitment agency to be filled.

So, life is moving along at a super fast pace but the sooner we get some of this nesting done, the sooner it can feel like home.

Our cat is a rescue cat, in that the family gave him away because, as they put it, “We have too many cats.� They have too many kids and too much garbage around their place too, but we weren’t looking to adopt either of those. We named our new feline family member Woodrow or Woody The Wonder Cat for short. He’s an 8-month-old, tiger-striped tabby and he’s a big boy. There’s nothing dainty about this guy either. He’s a brute in his mannerisms but very cuddly and purrs almost constantly. We’re pretty sure we introduced him to his first ever cat toys, cat bed, scratching post, litter box and maybe even his first ever bonafide cat food. He’s taken to all of them quite well.

Our town, Palmerston North, is not large but not small. It’s just right. [Although, it is small enough to not require a zip code on your mail, like most of New Zealand.] It has a charming square, which is its focal point. When school is in session, the town population swells to 80,000 with 40% of the population is affiliated with the school. Like everywhere else in the country, the people are extremely friendly and welcoming, even the other foreigners you meet here. We’re not sure we can fit in Palmy, as it’s nicknamed, is completely surrounded by cattle and sheep ranches, yet the town offers every major grocery store and department store we’ve seen in our previous travels around the country. It doesn’t seem to lack for anything other than traffic, high-rises and an ocean view. Our place is at the southernmost edge of town and for us to drive to the square it takes 4 minutes, including signal lights.

The weather is colder than we’re used to but that’s to be expected after 3 1/2 years of summer - three of those years living on a boat travelling South Pacific islands. The heat of summer doesn’t arrive in New Zealand until January and February. It cools off considerably at night so much that we eagerly await the arrival of our big heavy comforter from our mountain house. It’s also pretty windy much of the time but wind was to be expected. After all, Palmy is home to the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere. Hundreds of windmills dot the rolling countryside to the northeast.

So, that’s it in a nutshell. The Drifters are fast becoming The Settlers.

We wish everyone a happy holiday season and remember to include us on your Christmas card lists! We love seeing the photo holiday cards and reading the Christmas letters.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 18th, 2009 at 3:56 pm and is filed under Kiwi Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.