New pajamas!

Made of 'wincey cotton', whatever that means.  Fluffy fabric, I guess?

Amiri got polar bears and snowflakes.  Arram got dinosaurs.  They were happy and hugged.  They will be nice and warm at night.

Maybe he needs a little work on his pronunciation, but he's got the right idea.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

The nice thing about having kids in school is the precious bits of junk that they make for me during arts and crafts time.  Today, the Friday before Mother's Day, they went all out.

They both cooked for me!  Amiri helped make a batch of cookies from scratch, and then he spread frosting to make them into sandwich cookies for me.   Arram's class made scones, and I saw a photo of him concentrating really hard while dumping the cup of sugar into the big bowl.  Then the treats were wrapped up nicely and proudly presented at pick-up time.

Amiri also made me an awesome card.  Unfortunately, the picture of his face fell off.  Arram found it on the floor.  As is his wont to do with his brother's art projects, he tried to eat it and I had to fish it out of his mouth.

Now THAT'S tired

We had a very big day of exercise outside.  Amiri needed to use the potty upon arriving home.  But he was so worn out...

That's right, he's asleep on the toilet.

'But what of fashion,' they asked...

Remember the rat tail, also known as the Timid Mullet? 

There are a shocking number of rat tails in New Zealand.  They tend to occur in young men of Pacific Island origin, who tend to co-localise with low socioeconomic status areas.  The rat tail is clearly one of those cross-cultural universalities, if it can link residents of the South Pacific and Tennessee.

A brush with fame

I picked up the boys from daycare as usual this afternoon.  As we left, I pressed the button to open the automatic door.  Amiri asked to be lifted up to push the button, but I told him no, that the button was only for grownups.  'When will I be a grownup?' he asked.

As we left the building I explained to him.  'Grownups are over 18 years old.  So when you turn 18, you will be a grownup.  Now you're three.  So you have 15 years to go.'

A man who was also leaving daycare overheard us.  He stopped, looked at us pointedly, and asked, 'Is your son's name Amiri?'

I was a bit startled because I didn't recognise him as one of the other parents, but said yes, and asked how he knew.  He told me that his wife works in the front office at the daycare, and Amiri is famous there.  Everyone knows Amiri's name because he's unusually polite, and helpful, and smart.  He said that he and his wife had been talking about Amiri just the other day at home, after our little boy had been paraded around the office by his teacher who wanted to show him off.  Of course, he thoroughly charmed the man's wife and they'd theorized that Amiri's parents must talk to him like a little adult in order to make such a precocious little fellow.  And when he overheard my matter-of-fact explanation, and saw a 3-year old boy with curls, he put two and two together.

I told him he'd just made my day.  My mama's heart was bursting with pride!

A fine assortment of cutes

Amiri was having so much fun playing that he didn't want to stop for his nap.  Then nature intervened, and he slumped right where he was.

And then here's our little mischief-maker, after his latest accomplishment.

The kiwano

$2 for a mystery fruit at Foodtown?  Sounds like a deal to me!

Kiwanos are native to Africa, but grow very well in NZ.  They are in the melon family.  Their spines are very firm.  I bet a thrown kiwano could do some damage...which is why we kept it on a high shelf and out of monster hands until we ate it...

There it is on a small dinner plate, and sliced in half.

This tutorial suggests a squeeze-and-slurp method for consumption.  First-hand experimentation revealed that that is not the way to go, unless you LIKE picking seeds out of your hair after the kiwano explodes in your face.  Cooler heads then prevailed and the remaining kiwano was eaten in a civilised fashion, with a spoon.

Imagine if a cucumber had seeds the size and texture of watermelon seeds.  And each one was encased in a slippery packet of cucumber jelly.  That's pretty much a kiwano.  It was fine, but I didn't love it.  It seemed like more work than it's worth.

Our ANZAC day walk

We had a relaxing afternoon at the Fish Market.  Just look how relaxed Arram is.

Then we walked home along the water.  Amiri showed off his biggest dinosaur smile.

 

Arram thought it was pretty exciting and wanted to get out and pose too.

Monster quote.

Little dickens!

Amiri just mimicked something on TV and yelled aggressively at me, 'Get out of my house!'

I disapprovingly told him that that was a rude thing to say, and he shouldn't speak to his mother that way.

He immediately quieted down and said, 'Sorry, Mama.  Get out of my house, please.'

Graduation

Amiri officially started preschool today!  There were some tears of insecurity this morning, but he calmed down quickly.  His teachers told me that he was a very good boy today: sleeping well, eating well, going potty, interacting nicely.  They were very impressed with his spelling ability, as well.  (His spelling list includes 'Amiri' and 'kiwi'.)  When I arrived to pick him up, he was sitting at the table and listening to his teacher explain about waves in the ocean.  Apparently, there is a more defined curriculum for the older kids.

The only bad thing about him graduating is that he had to leave his friend behind.  He has become very close friends with a little girl in the Toddler room.  Holly has blond ringlets and just turned two--she's adorable and tiny, and Amiri is very gentle with her.  Amiri made sure to say goodbye to her tonight.  Maybe she'll graduate soon too.

It's ANZAC day!

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps Day, that is.  It's analogous to the American Memorial Day.  It was initially established to commemorate all the A/NZ boys who fought at Gallipoli, Turkey, in WWI.  Now it largely honours all veterans and occurs on April 25 every year.

It's celebrated in low-key fashion, as are all NZ holidays.  There were early-morning parades and services.  People wear poppies on their lapels.  By law businesses can only be open from 1-5 pm, at the maximum, so it was quiet on the streets.  The weather was beautiful, a gorgeous fall day.  We all took a walk.  What a nice day.

ANZAC foods are popular at the grocery stores just now, as you can imagine.  ANZAC trail mix has mixed nuts, chocolate chips, and lots of super-sweet, fluorescent-bright dried fruits.  ANZAC biscuits are crunchy bits of coconut and oatmeal.  Both are wonderful.

Debriefing after the fire drill

Also regarding lawn care

My office mate told me that if your lawn gets away from you and it grows very long, you should cut it like hay in big armfuls, and then take it to the zoo and give it to the animals.  The zoo will let you take home all the free 'fertilizer' you want, in exchange.

Presenting: Amiri! Live in Concert!

What we worked on tonight.

Oh boy, tonight was a big night!



And then, a few minutes later...


I am SO PROUD of our little guy.

He's been creeping around while holding onto furniture for what seems like forever, but never taking the next step, as it were, to walking on his own.  But he changed that overnight and is now a superstar!

(PS, we did not get a peacock for a pet.  Those sounds in the background are Amiri having an exciting game of Pretend.)

Lawn care

Today the landscaping guy was doing a THOROUGH job of cutting the grass outside the office.  It got me thinking about how Kiwi lawns are different than American lawns.  Well, Californian lawns.  Well, rich peoples' Californian lawns.

For one thing, the grass here isn't some engineered hybrid bought with the intent to instill envy in one's neighbours.  Kiwi grass is hardy and native and making do with what it has, co-existing with the weeds because hey, they're not bothering anyone.  Grass just IS, it HAPPENS, it is not perceived as a commodity to be leveraged into status.  If it goes brown, so be it.  It's just grass.  It's for playing on, and walking on, and for sheep to eat.

As I mentioned, there are plenty of landscaping companies here who will come over to do your trimming.  The one my office uses is run by a white guy (come on, when's the last time you saw that in Cali?), and he seems to like his work, as evidenced by the time he spends puttering about at it.  Come to think of it, his job description is actually pretty straightforward-- cutting grass.  I've never seen a sprinkler system or even any obviously-fertilized lawns.

Arram is clearly up to some mischief

As an example of mischief-making, this afternoon Arram opened the dishwasher, pulled out a plate, and dropped it on the tile floor where it shattered.  He was grabbing for another one by the time I arrived to scoop him up out of there.

Tax time

Tax day is nearly upon us.  We haven't done ours yet... haven't even sorted out our documents.  Luckily, the IRS grants an automatic 2-month extension to ex-pat citizens, without us even having to apply for it.  Whew!

NZers don't do their taxes.  There's no need.  The system of taxation is so straightforward that unless you're self-employed or have some special circumstances, it's moot trying to 'settle up' at the end of the year.  Tax is even automatically taken out of the interest we make on our bank accounts.  Easy!

Mother-Son adventure

Amiri and I went out adventuring.  We got to the bus stop JUST in time and Amiri decided that we should sit in the front seats.

We got to the mall and since it was such a hard trip to get there (sarcasm, that), we had to start out with a nice snack.  Amiri got a small ice cream cone with a face made of m&ms and sprinkles for hair.  It took him like 45 minutes to eat it but he loved every second.

We went to Pumpkin Patch to take advantage of the sale and did lots of shopping for nice warm pants and fuzzy shirts for the upcoming winter.  Now our little guys will look sharp and feel comfortable.

On the bus ride home, Amiri did an experiment and we sat in the very back seat.  And we sang every verse of 'Ten Little Monkeys'.  And walking back is when he called me Sweetheart.  We had a good day.

Amusing words

Arram uses three words consistently:  Mama, Dada, and Uh-oh.  Every morning, he wakes us up by throwing his teddy bear at our heads (his crib is next to our bed) and yelling, 'Uh oh!  Uh oh!  Uh oh!'  He's also very good at saying Mama and Dada, and uses our names for the right person.  But usually only in the context of complaining.  "I don't want to take a nap!  Mama! Mama!  Mamamamamamama!"  "Pick me up, Dada!  Dada!  Dada!  Now!"

Amiri is talking a lot more now--I guess it must be all the mental stimulation at school.  He's learned so many songs by heart and constantly makes me smile with his innocent little renditions of Old MacDonald or Itsy Bitsy Spider.   What really melted my heart, though, started yesterday.  We were having a nice day together and I peppered my sentences to him with pet names... 'Here comes the bus, sweetheart, get ready.'  'Please hold my hand and we can go over there, sweetheart.'   

He picked up on it and began calling me sweetheart too.  'Mama sweetheart, I go see?'  'I have some, sweetheart?'  'Look sweetheart, I run fast!'  So silly and sweet.

Independent verification

When I picked Amiri up at school this afternoon, his teacher told me that he's been doing well lately, being very friendly and social with the other kids.  I said, 'I'm glad to hear that.  I know he likes it here.  And he can be standoffish at first, so I'm glad he's joining in now.'

She nodded and we both looked fondly at the little guy for a second.  She started to say something, then paused, and then just said it.  'He really like to play with the girls, in particular.  He runs around with them and tries to make them laugh.'  Which made me laugh, because I know how that little guy is... he loves him some ladies, all right...  and she admitted that she and the other teachers had fun watching him at his games today, calling him the 'class flirt'.

Sweet sleeper

Ponsonby spa

A while back, I took one of my (many) days off and walked to Ponsonby.  I don't get lost any more going there.  Ponsonby Road reminds me somewhat of Main Street in Santa Monica--lots of funky shops with character, usually higher-end.

This is one of the buildings I passed.

I went there because my considerate husband had gotten me a surprise, a day at the spa.  I had a massage, a facial, and lots of other pampering.  I was even served lunch!  It was a really lovely day.

Amiri enjoys a giant Chachacake...

And ends up rocking a Class D 'stache.

Sleepout

Back when we were apartment hunting, we checked out the whole range of apartments, just out of curiosity.  Like, what kind of apartment can you get for $1200+ a week?  Answer:  an insanely nice one.  What kind of apartment can you get for less than $100 a week?  A sleepout.

I don't know if this is another uniquely Kiwi thing, but it's certainly new to me.   A sleepout is a little cabin, maybe 2-3 meters on a side, that's built in the backyard of a family's main house.  They're wired for electricity, but have no water hookups due to NZ's odd zoning/property tax laws.   So they make a cozy little private bedroom, but the renter has to come into the main house to use the bathroom or kitchen.  Sleepout rentals usually come with the option to have meals with the family. 

Here, take a look.  'Extreme' efficiency apartments.  Kind of like living in a garden shed.  It costs more to rent a downtown carpark than one of these.

Huh.

Art and its critic

Amiri brought home these wonderful art projects from school.  A card he made himself by gluing glitter and sparkly bits onto construction paper, and an Easter basket with a real blown-out eggshell that he painted himself.  Isn't he talented?

And then I turned my back for TWO SECONDS and heard crunching.  Here's the scene a minute later.  The tears are because I disapproved of Arram's snack and intervened to remove the eggshells from his mouth.  Amiri was hugely entertained.

More ruckus

 This is from a few nights ago.  Yep, it's a paddy wagon.   Outside our apartment.  Yep, they're stuffing someone inside it.  It was a woman who wouldn't stop shrieking about something, at about 9:00 at night.  They only picked up her, though... she had a pretty spacious ride back to jail!

Oh noes!

Yep, it's happening.  The leaves are turning and falling.  I can't believe it's this time of year already, but the days are shortening, the nights are getting cooler... I guess I have no choice but to come to terms with autumn after two back-to-back summers.

Mmm, refined sugar.

Happy first birthday, Arram!  (OK, his birthday was yesterday, but he doesn't know that.  We wanted to take our time for Cake Day.)

The candle was pretty fascinating and we had to drag him away from the danger.  Amiri helped by blowing it out for him.

Initial indications were that birthday parties are no fun.

(Remember that photo of him YELLING when he was about a 

minute old?  Flash forward a year... )

But then his big brother showed him the ropes.  Big brothers are helpful like that.

So, OK, after some frosting-coated coaxing from Mama he figures he'll be a sport and try a taste on his own.

Hey, that's not bad.  Not bad at all.

He was even a big boy, using a fork and drinking his milk from a big cup.

The cake ended up a wreck (as intended).   The boys got two baths apiece--the first for removing crumbs, the second for actual cleaning.  It was a good day.

We're having the cake tomorrow, so stay tuned for chocolatey updates

Except possibly for this.

I want Bhai's macaroni and cheese.

Is this the cutest thing you've seen today, or what?

This is what they do when Amiri is supposed to be taking a nap

How I became an Aucklander

So I was running errands today, wearing flip-flops.  Then they broke.  Just flat-out broke off my feet.  I couldn't salvage them.  Oh no!  I'm shoeless in the middle of the city!

But then I realised I'm in Auckland and I'm not shoe-LESS, I'm shoe-FREE.  So I tossed them out and continued my errands barefoot, until I found a shop that sold jandals.

Tourist trap in motion

It's three strap-you-in-tight seats inside a cylindrical steel cage, connected on either side to bungy cords that extend to the top of towers.  Nervous people climb in, the operator pushes a button, and the bungy cords begin to tighten... until....  you'll see...

El Faro

We had the best dinner ever!  There's this wonderful place called Elliott Stables, which is a neat little rabbit's warren of restaurants built into some old brick warehouses.  We decided to try a Spanish place for tapas and try lots of things.

We started with hard-boiled quail eggs to peel and dip in cumin salt.

Then panko avocado with a sweet kiwi-onion salsa.

And a big pot of fresh mussels steamed with a sauce of parsley, lemon, capers, and anchovy, served with a bed of spicy greens and a vinaigrette.  Wow, so good.

Kiwi accents

More about the NZ accent:

1.   Our babysitter pronounces her name as 'Amander'.

2.   I was aware that our little boys are going to grow up with Kiwi accents.  But I can't believe that it's happening already!  Amiri corrected my pronunciation the other day.

So he has learned lots of songs in school--like, Row row row your boat, Old MacDonald, and Twinkle Twinkle.  At home, we did a duet of his favorite song ('Tintoo tintoo, la-la-la') and he listened carefully as I sang 'Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.'  Then he said, 'No, mommy.  Not starrr.  Staaah.  Aaaah.'

Here's our happy little boy waiting for his dinner

No reason, just because

Here is the view from our balcony toward the right (west).  That is part of the Viaduct harbor, where Fly Emirates docks their yachts.  The blue umbrellas are outside of the Sierra Cafe.   Our doctor is around the bend.  The convenience store is just to the right of the trees on the lower right.

That spot's only drool, by the way.

The boys had a wonderful game of catch on Amiri's bed the other day.

That's right, no pants... we don't judge.

Hmm, what does this ball taste like?

Hey, it stays there!

And then Arram ran away with the ball and Catch was done.

Technology differences

Here are some modern-technology things that are different in New Zealand:

Electrical outlets:  Here's what they look like.  Two angled prongs, and a third prong in the middle for the ground.  Importantly, they run at 230V instead of 120V.  So this means that if you buy a cheapie travel adapter that just makes it so that your American hair dryer will fit into the NZ plug, you might still fry the thing when you turn it on.

The switches are to turn on/off each outlet.  I guess they're there for safety, or convenience, or something.  Because pulling out a plug is hard?

Phone numbers:  In the States, they are ten digits, in a consistent 3-3-4 combination.  123-456-7890.  Here, they are 8 to 11 digits depending on who your phone network is, and they're arranged in any wacky combination that people choose to present them.  Imagine the looks you'd get if you rattled off your phone number as 12-3456-789-0.

Internet:  We have cable internet here, same as in the States.  Back in California, the only decision to be made was which company to go with.  When we signed up here, though, we were given a curious menu of options.  'Most people like the 100GB package,' they told us.  Internet usage is metered here, much like how you buy a plan with so many minutes per month for your cell phone.  It is weird to have to weigh whether or not you want to click on a link... not because you're worried about how long it will take to load (like in the days of dial-up yore), but because you don't want to inadvertently open some pdf that will needlessly eat 1.2% of your month's bandwidth.

Asking, receiving

I complained just the other day about my forced Doritos fast.  You were all shocked and horrified, I'm sure, at the deprivation I've suffered.

But who heard my wailing and took pity on my plight?  Yes, my excellent spouse, he of the good observation skills.  It turns out that they actually started selling Doritos in this country LAST WEEK and I hadn't even noticed it.  But he'd seen them on the shelf, and upon reading my desperate blog post he surprised me.

Nacho Cheese flavor is called Supreme Cheese here, but the recipe is the same.  Let me tell you, they were SO GOOD.

Cake time!

I think Amiri has been paying attention in school.  At least during the birthday parties, that is.  He has a new favorite game at home.

He uses one of his puzzle boards as a tray, and lays out his wooden blocks on it in neat rows or stacks.  Then he carefully balances the tray and carries it around to each of us, announcing, 'Cake time!  Cake time!  Take a piece of cake and eat it!  Yum!'  And so we dutifully take a piece of cake and pretend-eat it, to much glee on Amiri's part.  Then we remove the blocks from Arram's mouth, since he doesn't grasp the concept of pretend-eating.  And Amiri re-arranges the cake on his tray and starts again, this time singing 'Happy Birthday.'

Things I miss

I've already mentioned that there are some things you just can't get here.  Five months on, here are things I miss.

Non-oatmeal hot cereals

Doritos, or any corn chips, really

Taco Bell

Morningstar veggie burgers

Health-food stores

Non-roll-on deodorants

The Food Network: Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, and Guy Fieri

The Discovery Channel:  Mythbusters


(Note, I did not post this in a passive-aggressive attempt to solicit gifts.  It is for compare-contrast purposes only.  Do not send stuff.  I'll tell you up-front when I want some gifts. :-)

In the States you'd probably have to crash a White House party to do that...

So my work mate went to a gala event for her brother the other day.  He was getting an award for being a top NZ scientist.  The presenter of the award?  John Key.  The Prime Minister.  Ann said that she chatted with him for five minutes after the ceremony and he was very personable.  She sounded a bit starstruck.  I was thoroughly impressed as well, that a regular person got to meet the Prime Minister. 

But then Adnan reminded me that in a country of just four million, well, it's kind of like getting to meet the mayor of LA. 

Not so much a story... but, since a picture tells a thousand words...

I was waving to him from behind the camera.  Notice that he is wearing a 'Property of Kindercare' loaner shirt after being the messiest little boy in the world at school today and having gone through all three backup outfits we'd brought for him.  Also, if you listen carefully, you may be able to hear Amiri's triumphant announcements from the bathroom.




This one is kind of self-explanatory.  He still crawls funny, but he's fast now.

Excuses, excuses

I wrote 19 pages of SCIENCE! today.  So, I am typed out and my brain is smoking.  I will tell you a story tomorrow.

Arram gets a post all his own

Arram waves and plays peek a boo now, covering up his eyes, and then laughing.  He loves to hug and clings to our necks.  He even likes to hug his brother.  He's so sweet.  And he's juuuuuust about to walk, I can feel it...

Hot Water Beach

Here's a place I want to visit, once the boys are a little older.  Out on the Coromandel Peninsula (the Door County of the North Island), is Hot Water Beach. 

New Zealand has lots of natural geothermal hot springs.  Hot Water Beach is one of them.  Hot mineral water bubbles up from the ground, percolates up through the sand, and then seeps out into the ocean. 

Here's how you enjoy Hot Water Beach.  Go when it's a little cool so that you can see the sand steaming.  Pick a spot right at the edge of the waves.  Use your little sand spade and your hands to dig a hole big enough to sit in.  It will fill up from below with hot water.  Be careful not to burn your hands.  Use your bucket to add cool ocean water until you have the perfect temperature.  Climb in and enjoy your natural hot tub.

Here are more things that are different about New Zealand

The clouds move really fast overhead.

There's no such thing as a water shortage.  So carry on power-washing your sidewalk.

There are fewer multi-national chains, and more mom-and-pop shops.

If you want to say 'this and that' to indicate a vague variety of things, you say, 'odds and bods'.  Or, 'rats and mice'.

There is no Taco Bell.  This is both a blessing and a curse for me, personally.

What's an injury lawyer?  And why would you waste your money on health insurance?  And what do you mean that your summer jobs didn't come with vacation time?  And what's it like to travel more than 100 miles from home?

You don't have enough money?  It's OK, take it anyway.  I know you'll come back next week and pay me.

'This strikes me a bit odd...', instead of, 'No no no, this is all wrong.'

Houses are small.

Dress codes are significantly less formal.  Apparently bare feet are acceptable in the workplace as well.

Who needs a contract when we can just shake hands?

I photoshopped a road crew sign ha ha i'm so funny

The kitchen sink special

It was a beautiful day today.  Sunny, but not too hot.  I wanted to take advantage of the nice day and get out of the office for lunch.  A few days ago, Adnan and Google Earth had helped me find a takeaway place not too far away.  It's not all residential near my work, after all!

 

It doesn't really look like much, does it.  Just a standard little row of storefronts in a lower-middle class neighborhood.  Inside, the shops are perfectly nice and have a friendly greasy-spoon atmosphere, as they should.  Next time I'll have to try the chicken place next door, and then the Savoury Bakery on the other side.

I asked the owner what the best item on the menu was.  We had some language difficulties.  I ended up ordering the house special hamburger without really understanding what it was.  The paper-wrapped parcel he handed me a few minutes later was big, heavy, and hot.  I felt like an adventurer unwrapping it to discover what it could be.  It turned out to be a beef mince patty, with Tasty cheese (a NZ favorite!), pineapple, grilled onions, tomato, sweet chili sauce (of course...another NZ favorite), and... a fried egg.