Tuesday, November 28, 2006

thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner in Wellington brought in 130 Americans to a gorgeous place in Houghton Bay on a hill overlooking rocky surf. We talked to couples who had been here for up to twelve years. One man had been here a week and won the door prize for newest arrival. A lot of the kids were born over here and hadn't had a US Thanksgiving, but were enjoying running around with the other kids. Someone read George Washington's original Thanksgiving proclamation just before we ate. We were to bring one dish per adult attending so there was a ton of food (even for a veg.). It was nice, though of course not a substitue for a small Thanksgiving with the family. Sort of a diversion instead to keep our minds off being far away.

I was struck by how open and friendly everyone was - something about us all being expats makes sure we have plenty to talk about. (Or maybe it was the cash bar.) Several people joked about a standard list of questions including of course,
"Which part of the states are you from?"
"How long have you been here?"
"Why did you move here?"
"What do you do for a living here?"

(Kiwis ask me the first three questions, but almost never the last. I had a talk with some kiwis about that, and they thought it was strange that you would be asked about your job when you met someone. I said in the US it's sort of a way of sizing people up. One kiwi compared that to the UK where people can tell from someone's accent what 'class' they're from, and suggested that careers are the class system in the US. I tend to agree... about the US at least; I have no idea about the UK. Surely there is some equivalent in NZ, but I have not found it.)

It's funny that you move all the way over here and then enjoy the occassional meetup with other Americans, but it's nice to compare notes and talk about the beauty of NZ or whine about the lack of Mexican food choices. Everyone I talked to was happy to be living here.

Posted by Jessica at 8:13 AM

2 comments





Wednesday, November 22, 2006

goat day afternoon


D's laughing at me because our neighbor got some of those newfangled self mowers, and he 'double dog dared' me (I kid you not) to hop (ie struggle) over the fence and climb the hill to stare at them while they ate. Much clumsiness ensued. But as usual I took pictures...

   

Posted by Jessica at 3:41 PM

1 comments





Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Tarako

TARAKO

We caught the fever from Japan Newbie and now we must share the creepy joy of Tarako - a Japanese "cod roe pasta sauce" whose theme song and mascot have created a smash hit single and a Christmas version in their wake!

Posted by Jessica at 1:21 PM

3 comments





Sunday, November 19, 2006

Perspective Procrastination and Pain(t)


Perspective is such great word. It sounds part physical exertion part space age plastics. Salman Rushdie once said, "Everyone has dual citizenship. They belong to the country of their birth and by influence the United States." One of the great benefits of living overseas is a change in point of view. I can see the pervasiveness of American culture in many details. I meet the people who travel to the States to bring back that big Corvette Stingray to add to their collection. I watch American shows on T.V. I listen to the radio full of American music, watch the young Maori teens reflecting hip hop culture, and stop to listen to the newest Britney and Fed Ex gossip. I had never before realized what an impact one country could have across the globe. But my perspective has now shifted to New Zealand. I read New Zealand newspapers, watch NZ news, and listen to Kiwi bands on the radio. They are proud of their people (and rightly so) and promote them accordingly. So I think geesh Evermore must be the biggest band in the World right now and I am surprised when people I talk to in the States have never heard of them. I mean C'mon have you been living under a rock. It's Evermore, the biggest band in the World!!! What do you mean Rugby players can't perform miracles? People ask me questions about American politics and policies. I try to answer their questions as factually and honestly as I know how. They are truly surprised that we pick our Congress by having a dance off. I like being an ambassador of sorts. Just wait till I break out the School House Rock songs.
J and I recently attended an interesting function in Wellington. Having recently done the Kapiti Arts tour I learned that there are a lot of great artists in New Zealand. I jumped at the chance to go to Body Art Rocks(actually some gentle prodding was involved). It is a competition showcasing makeup, bodypainting, and prosthetics. All of which are of great interest to me. The scantily clad women are only a minor interest. Now it's a funny thing to look at a nearly nude woman with ones signifigant other because the entire time something in the back of your skull is screaming "Don't do it. it's a trap!"
And then there's the other problem. Where to look? There are very few places to look and even they're off limits if you're Middle Eastern. It usual goes something like this in my brain. "man that's cool."..."I wonder what kind of paint they're using?" ..."oh jeez that's a breast."
"look down look down...hey they got an airbrush..."..."now you're staring at her legs!! NO not the face oh god she's looking right at you"..."now she thinks that you're a perv". Now all she sees is this guy looking psychopathicly nonchalant watching an invisible fly dart about the room. It was really cool to go to and to see the various costumes. It also cemented my resolve to enter next year. Now that will be an interesting brain conversation. Now the awards ceremony was an exercise in pain management. (geek alert) Richard Taylor and Gino Acevedo were sitting about four rows down. Richard Taylor is head of WETA and Gino is the head of the prosthetics makeup department. Anyone who has seen Lord of the Rings has seen Richard and Gino's work. They are very good at what they do. It took great willpower not to bother them at the first opportunity. (geek alert has been moved to green) At one point several costumed individuals ripped a hole in the screen they were using to broadcast some rather cool images of space. After that all you could stare at was this rip in the space/time continuum. This was accompanied by some really LOUD guitar playing. J and I had to put our fingers in our ears. We were the only ones that I could see that were doing it. Perhaps everyone else came last year. The gentleman in front of me had on a hearing aid. I was really waiting for his head to explode.
They kept misplacing the awards winners. This precipitated loooong pauses with people left uncomfortably blinking on stage. And the MC launching into extemporaneous adlibbing of songs. I don't know really know why he was MC. He's probably a rugby player. After we got home J went to bed while I forced myself to stay awake to plan my revenge on them for next year. I'm glad I did for voila! (that's French for "voila") My first real unmistakable earthquake. a 5.4 on the richter scale (that's the really big scale that they use to measure bridge max loads and earthquakes). I gotta say it is a really humbling experience to realize the Earth could hiccup you off of it at any time.
And finally I must apologize for my procrastination. I thought my moving to NZ would spur some rather personal family searches that I had been putting off... but no such luck. I am also sorry for those people that it takes me a long time to email back. I will email you soon..... really soon......no really.

Labels: ,

Posted by Darryl at 6:27 PM

0 comments





Saturday, November 11, 2006

here we are

We checked out this weekend's Kapiti Arts Trail, and I repotted some herbs (they say herbs here like they're talking about a bunch of guys with the name Herb) while D worked some on the bedroom. Can I really call it a bedroom when we have yet to sleep in it? We're still camped out with the four poster crammed into the home office, since we're repainting and (eventually) laying new carpet.

This blog with its breathless tales of gardening and heart pounding market day exploits got me thinking that life in NZ is not all that different from the US partly because wherever you go there you are (though you're less likely to have your shoes on here, even in the bank or grocery), and also because NZ doesn't provide the cultural whiplash that a country like Japan can conjure up. It also had me thinking that we're lucky. I guess it depends on what you're looking for, but with everything we've been through losing mom and his grandmother over the last several years it's a relief to just be copascetic for a while.

Posted by Jessica at 10:30 PM

8 comments





Tuesday, November 07, 2006

jackpot

6 years today since Vegas and the Little White Chapel

Posted by Jessica at 2:00 PM

2 comments





Saturday, November 04, 2006

releasing the natives

Went and did some 'releasing' (that's what they call weeding here) of the native plants at the estuary this morning. Was actually a really easy time of it. The soil is workable and they take a tea break part way through. But still with twenty people on hand over 100 natives were released. Mostly tall wild grass to pull out from around the natives, but if you let them, they'll block all the light and strangle out everything but other grasses.

Met the man who wrote a book about the estuary. (Our real estate agent had given us a copy as a gift when we first moved in.) The author's quite a character. Used to be a builder but retired to a house on the estuary and knows all about it now. He even does tours.

Posted by Jessica at 1:21 PM

0 comments





Thursday, November 02, 2006

you Will get sick of this island...


...since I keep posting photos of it.

Kapiti at twilight - 8:30 pm

Yesterday I got permits from the Dept. of Conservation to visit the island in February. So eventually we will get to visit the place we see every day. Then I'll bombard you with more photos from on the island itself.

I set a voice recorder out and taped the birds in the back yard. The Tuis here don't sound the same as on the bird songs page (listed at right). Anyway I need to set up audioblogging so I can post a sound clip.

Posted by Jessica at 8:54 PM

1 comments