The Move (into our definite house)

28.09.
Last full day in our beach house in Te Puru. A throughout sunny day, although not as hot as the two days before.
It started with a nice Skype conversation with Pablo and Annerose, friends in Brazil we haven't had contact with for years! Skype and Facebook are making the world so small, we thought.
Almost the rest of the day we spent in Thames. Specifying the details of the telephone contract, buying the school uniforms for Clara and Lucas, among other things. Surprisingly they liked their uniforms (blue Polo and skirt / trousers, with a little piece of warm yellow) and even wore them with pride. Good sign, they seem to be willing to integrate.
A nightmare-like situation was when we ordered the sandwiches at Subway – seven very individual sandwiches. We needed about 20 minutes to make clear what we wanted...
Tomorrow we're going to move into our definite house, finally!

29.09.10
Day of the move. We have left our little beach house now. Although only with suitcases, the thing took practically the whole day. What I got too is my company car, a '94 Nissan Bluebird, one of the most common cars here in NZ. Automatic transmission of course, as almost every car here besides the very small ones. In white, my favourite car colour (yes, I'm serious!). As we are talking about colours: Particularly Elena likes the colours of the house: white from outside, the interior walls being painted in a reed green (D: schilfgrün), a green with a beige touch. And the ceiling and the window frames in white. The doors party painted in white, partly of reddish wood. Nice, partly high quality interior. Fitted carpet (D: Teppichboden) everywhere (besides kitchen and one of the two bathrooms). From the wooden balcony a 180° view over the town, the seashore, the opposite coast, and behind the house the mountains. We felt really pampered by God, for He knows what we need and what we dream of before we even ask Him. The owners had totally emptied the garage and had put an oven in it; to compensate the lack of rooms in the house. They (or my employer?) had put additional beds, and all of them had brand new sheets on. The repartition of the rooms happened without conflicts: Clara shares her room with Luis, Lucas his with Daniel, and Felix is happy with his own small room.
It's still summer-like weather, only the nights are a bit chilly. From the balcony, we heard the most exotic bird songs and could watch a glorious sunset.
Unlike Hugh told me before, I now have to start work the day after tomorrow, it is now one working day earlier that my orientation week is going to start. One of his employees gave me a pound of papers today to go through them tomorrow and on the weekend. Life starts to get serious for me, too.
The kids are jumping and running about like crazy. We feel that they need to go to school again urgently!
Pictures later....

Beautiful days at Te Puru beach

Hmmm...

Like a German Summer Day

Another gorgeous day. Weather like a sunny day in German August. After having given our white car a new polish, we visited the Thames High School, without making a date before. By chance, the principal (Schuldirektor) was there and had time for us (this is the first of two weeks of vacation). He showed us around and explained all the facilities of the school. What caught our attention is that the NZ teaching system is covering an approach to equally the practical as the theoretical aspects of the subjects taught. That is, you not only learn about the science of nutrition, you equally learn how to cook. And equally, pupils learn to work practically in industrial arts, graphic design, agriculture, physics, art, and others more. They don't have a three-fold system like in Germany with more academic and more practical approaches. It's all in one, and the distinction is made by the number of years you attend school.
After lunch (sandwiches) another walk along the beach, at Te Puru, starting from our beach house. The sun was shining hot, and as there is less mist than in Germany, the colours were shining bright. We like the different and sometimes exotic sounds of the birds here. The kids climbed two enormous (Kauri?)-trees on a free plot. You have to know that a long walk alongside the shore is never a problem here unlike in other countries, as it is not possible to own a piece of shore, that means that there are no fences that stop your walk. Every so often there is a creek flowing into the sea, which is to be crossed barefooted. And now I'm sitting here at the computer, and I have set out to answer all the emails that have reached us since we are here.

26th September

First day with really good weather (with exception of the day we came to Piha). Warm and sunny all day long. We drove the ten km to Thames on the road directly alongside the shore; a pleasure with this weather! In Thames we did long walks along the seaside. The coast of Thames is fitted with a footpath. It is a muddy shore with mangroves, under the influence of the tides. Thus it it a paradise for many birds, particularly waders. There is a hide from where you can watch them. Atypical for Germany were the surroundings of this paradise: a huge shopping centre and a rubbish dump in close neighbourhood.
We discovered a hill with a monument from where you can overview all Thames. The rest of the day we stayed in our beach house. Elena and me cleaned the car from yesterday's mud and did a walk on the beach, admiring the pretty bungalows at the shore, with their beautiful gardens.
See some pictures and videos of our new environment.

25th September

The evening of the last day had been filled with the exhaustion of the past days. I felt the behaviour of the the kids was at it's worst, everyone in his peculiar way. And I felt so helpless. I had a mild migraine. Everything I wanted was to retreat and to pass to another day. If only the weather got better!
This morning I awoke from a nightmare, in which I had the same helpless feeling as the evening before. I had dreamt that Elena ran wild during the attempt to get the kids out of home to some place else and that she'd become inaccessible for me and in a fit of rage she had jumped down a stairwell and bumped her head badly. I felt that our marriage and the whole family was about to break.
In reality, the family was a bit in a dull mood. Certainly the cool and humid weather made it's contribution to it. We spend one half of the day in the supermarket with it's overwhelming range of choice and the other on a trip through the local rainforest. Originally we had planned to spend the afternoon at the other (East) coast of the Coromandel Peninsula, but we had set off far too late and underestimated the difficulty driving on the windy gravel roads through the forest and over the mountain ridge. So, as so often, we came back to our bach (= small holiday house) when night had already fallen.

Waiting for Pics

To all those who are waiting for pictures and videos - they will come, for they exist. The problem is that it appears that it may take another five weeks to be able to transfer them to the computer and to the internet.

Labourious Holidays

23.09.
Today I met with Hugh for a short introduction to my new working place. Meanwhile the family strolled through the town centre. Hugh (my boss) showed me the rooms, introduced some more staff to me, and gave an interview to Jenny, the director of “Goodbye Deutschland”. I have not mentioned yet that we are accompanied by a TV team to document our move. The broadcast will be on January or February next year. Of course the rooms are not so beautiful nor as practical as those in my own practice in Germany. I even doubt that the building has been built for that purpose. But the atmosphere is very friendly, and on the wall I discovered a sheet with a quotation that illustrated the principles of the organisation: it's not about equipment, it's about attitude. Attitude is almost the everything. Hugh said to me that he wants me to work in some other of his practices as well and to establish the ultrasound diagnostic to promote the high standard of medicine in his organisation (I had to buy a device for him in Germany that will come with the container).
After that we visited the primary school we chose for the three younger kids. The experience we made there differed a lot from the one we made at German schools and foreign kids: from the very beginning the atmosphere was welcoming and the other kids came quickly to interview our kids. They had a curious attitude in contrary to the indifferent, reserved and even sometimes hostile one you can expect in a similar situation in Germany. There were no problems with filming the place and the people, of course we could do that. Interestingly 63% of the pupils of this school are Maori, as we got to know. There is also a catholic school nearby with probably Pakeha (= white) dominance, but nevertheless we chose not to look at other schools, for several reasons, one being the perfect situation (it can be reached by foot from our home). Anyway we had a very good first impression of that school and it's principal, who showed us around.
After that we had lunch. First Sushi experience for my family, and I remained the only one who likes that kind of food. We had to buy Burgers and French fries afterwards.
Then the two men of the NZ camera team (John and Simon) and Jenny invited me for a coffee in a local café. The two guys are really cool. It turned out that one of them likes German synthesiser music, as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and others. I didn't even know that they are known outside Germany and it reminded me a lot of my youth.
After that we were allowed to see our future house from inside! We were burning with curiosity. The owners were very friendly and welcoming despite of the size of our family (I fear that we will be able to destroy all it's interior during these two years). Altogether it was very nice inside, countyside-house style high quality interior,and a big balcony. Open kitchen. The only thing is that there is one or two room missing, that is that the five children will have to share three rooms. And so, immediately they began to argue which room to claim.
After all we were confident and in a good mood we drove home. Nevertheless I was totally exhausted when we got back, my batteries totally empty. The evening passed with diary writing for me and NZ TV for the kids.

24.09.
Elena and me woke up at four o'clock in the morning and couldn't fall asleep again. We started to talk and couldn't stop for two hours. There was so much to process in our minds.
At ten the TV team appeared and completed their work, filming missing scenes and doing interviews with all of us.
The weather was a bit more stable today. A quieter day, finally! We got the notice that we have to wait two days longer until we're going to move into the definite house. Well, that's OK, although this is a really small house. We are not used to that little room and only one bathroom.
In the evening, when the team parted, a mixture between relief and sadness. It was great to work with them. We hope to have them back here in six months time.

Arrival in Thames and first two days

21.09.
At about half past ten we set off for Thames. As in the last days, the weather was rather unstable. We had to drive right through Auckland, what gave us an impression how extended this city is. Very few skyscrapers, though, in sharp contrast to what we've seen in Hong Kong. Most Aucklanders seem to live in their own house. Each of the numerous quarters was fitted with at least one shopping centre or at least a row of shops which look a bit like those we see in Wild West films. We had lunch in a motorway restaurant, McDonald's. Fast food is very popular in NZ, first of all several Burger chains, furthermore lots of Sushi restaurants and grills. The rest of the route to Thames reminded us a bit of landscapes around the lake of Geneva. Very green, pastures, many cows (few sheep!) and the vegetation with a mediterranean touch. When we where about to enter Thames, a splendid, distinct rainbow stood over the town and even touched the ground below the horizon. We had never seen it like this and interpreted it as God's affirmation: I have travelled before you and I am already waiting for you to welcome you here, and I will bless you here, more, I will pour my blessings over you and I will use you here for My plans.
Hugh welcomed us heartily and introduced us to part of the staff, and to two other new doctors who were going to start at the same time. He told us that he had organised a Maori welcome for the next morning at nine o'clock. We were then driven to our future home, which will be free from 27th September. It is a big wooden bungalow, painted in white, with a garden behind a neatly cut hedge, positioned on a rather steep mountain slope and with magnificent views over the sea, situated only about 2 km from the health centre and as close as this to suitable schools for the kids. Then he accompanied us to our preliminary home, a small house directly by the sea, the plot reaching to the gravel shore, about 10 km north of Thames. We drove back along the beautiful coast road and had dinner at KFC, to celebrate our arrival at our destination.

22.09.
The day began with the Maori welcome. Typically for us, we arrived a bit late. The welcome was a decent ceremony according to an old rite. We were led into an assembly house. There we were seated opposite the hosts, in two rows, the women behind the men, like our hosts themselves. At first, the women sung a song. Then speeches were held - in Maori, and only partly repeated in English. As we new about the ceremony by a culture guide (a book I had bought in Germany), Elena was prepared to respond properly with a Spanish song. We had to introduce ourselves, then the staff (not all Maori) introduced themselves in detail, and further songs were sung. Then they gave us to eat, a buffet of typical NZ food – rolls, crackers, hummus (a chickpea puree) and cakes. It was very moving.
Then, shopping at Pack'n Save, the giant supermarket – so much choice, but mostly a bit more expensive than in Germany. Spaghetti for lunch. Exhausted hang-out in our beach house. We spend the evening grotesquely in the Warehouse (a warehouse as you can imagine), buying a few things - just because we were to exhausted to do anything else. That was all.

First Days in New Zealand

14.09.10
We have arrived! After a quite annoying and, first of all, exhausting journey via Hong Kong and passing through numerous security checks we made our first steps on New Zealand ground.
At the airport we were welcomed by John from the Presbyterian church which had given me a spiritual home during my stay in Auckland at the beginning of this year. I had hoped he would come to see us, and it gave me so much joy. After a short while, Stewart, one of the right hands of Hugh, appeared to pick us up. He's a man of very friendly attitude, in his mid fifties. We loaded the luggage into his trailer and he drove us directly to the agent of the Medical Council (MC). During the journey we talked a lot and I noticed with relief that I was still able to communicate in English and was quite familiar with the local accent. The MC agend was a woman of about 55 years who appeared to be rather strict and straight at first sight, but behind that first impression a benevolent personality shimmered through. She was even so kind as to keep my car in her garden for some days. After twenty minutes we had completed the last formalities and I drove out of her yard with my dear Honda. It's paint had obviously suffered much under the weather during this half year. The problem that arose then was how to put the 16 pieces of luggage, of which were 8 big ones, into the small boot of our car. It resulted clearly impossible. One of the big suitcases I had filled with things I won't need in our holiday week at Piha beach, and I gave it to Stewart. The idea was then to buy a roof-case for the Honda. We didn't take into account though, that the range of choice of many things is not like in Germany, and so the case we bought was so small that it was hardly able to take more than one of the big suitcases. It futhermore took more than one hour to fix it on the roof. Stewart was very helpfull and the patience himself. We thanked him sincerely. After that we had our first shopping experience in a nearby supermarket, and when we set off for Piha the dusk had began to fall and it began to rain. It was already night when we arrived at our holiday home. We were dead tired and it had been difficult to find it as there were only the alleyways visible leading to each house and most houses had no numbers. One time we nearly got stuck with the car as the wheels spinned in the mud of a wet lawn.

15.9.
We only woke up at eleven in the morning, so much need of sleep as we had. As we lifted the blinds, the light of the sun poured in.
The house is located on a mountain slope, in the middle of a rainforest, but from a generous balcony we had a magnificent view of the sea, with the iconic Piha beach rock. It is like garden Eden. We had breakfast in the huge living room of our bungalow. It is fitted with everything you could wish, excluding Internet access. Table tennis, huge windows, eight beds, stereo, TV, and it's really beautifully furnished.
After that we spent the whole day at the beach. The children (and ourselves) were enthusiastic! They jumped in the waves and collected shells, and all of us climbed the big rock in the middle of the shore. The black volcanic sand was warm enough to go barefooted. The weather remained stable and warm all the time, which is rather unusual here at this time of the year (early spring). I had prayed for this.

16.9.
A day in Auckland, with a weather already much more unstable, and such typical for this island. We drove on the beautiful Scenic Drive to one of the central parks, the Domain, where my language college is located, and a NZ history museum (“The War Memorial Museum”) I wanted to show the kids. In the school we said hello to Vicky, my English teacher at that time. I thanked her again for having helped me so much. Then we admired examples of Maori handicraft, mainly carvings, canoes and buildings at the museum and strolled through exhibitions aimed to teach us about the NZ nature and the volcanic origins of the land. On tens of huge TV screens one could watch videos, partly interactive.
We then had to buy some things we needed, for instance a pair of trousers for Felix. That was in Newmarket,my favourite shopping area. All shops in a long row along Broadway, along with a huge amount of restaurants. In order not to be overflown by new impressions, we decided to have lunch at Burger King.
When we explored the waterfront site of Auckland, it was already getting dark and the New Zealanders were starting to drop into the bars and restaurants for dining. Anything here reminds us of Cape Town, apart from the fact that you feel – and are – much saver here than there. The mixture of English, Victorian and modern architecture, the wind at all times, the different races, and the language, of course.
The last thing we did is to go shopping again in one of the huge supermarkets, Pack'n Save, very close to where I had lived this (southern hemisphere) summer. The choice of precooked food is bigger, and a peculiarity is that the range of different qualities is very wide: in general high quality food tends to be more expensive than in Germany. You might find cheap food but then you have to expect a quality lower than the basic standard quality in Germany.
At the way back home we nearly hit a wombat or a possum with our car.

17.9.
A very stormy, chilly and rainy day. Only once the sun came through. So we stayed at home until afternoon, sleeping long, having a slow breakfast, watching a film. Then, the sun came through. Generally, we saw that the only regularity of the weather is that it is constantly changing, although there may be a tendency towards a certain temperature or humidity. Anyway, when we saw that most of the sky was turning blue, we hurried to get outside and enjoyed a magnificent walk with splendid views along the coast. Only when we hit the way back the weather changed again, and this time thoroughly: we were surprised by a storm, lightning and thunder, and when we reached home wet, we noticed that there was a power cut. Unfortunately the water didn't go either, because the pump was driven by electric power as well. We spent the evening with romantic candle-light and a chimney fire, and the children made use of the dark for a hiding play.

18.9.
Our hope that we'd have power again this morning was in vane. We had to operate the toilets with water from a nearby creek (stream). I drank my coffee as a Greek frappé. A problem was that the garage door is electrical and our car was trapped inside (we solved that problem with the help of the owner of the house, by telephone). He owners were very sorry but couldn't offer further help. We decided to spend the whole day in Auckland. Anyway I had agreed a date with my Chinese friend (and almost son, as he is 18 years old) David. So we met at Kaplan's (my former school). Together with all our family we had lunch at the museum's restaurant. It was so good to see him again, because I really like him. By the way, a really significant proportion of the Auckland population is Chinese. As we got to know then that the power cut was still unsolved, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in a swimming pool of a nearby gym centre, to be sure to go to bed clean. On this occasion the boys, first of all Lucas, made their first contacts to other NZ residents – a Russian boy in this case. When we came back, fortunately electricity had returned and we had an opulent dinner with lamb, sausages, green beans and potatoes.

19.09.10
Today, I'm sure, the weather changed profoundly 8-10 times. We started the day with a visit to “our” church, St. John's in Auckland. Again I (we) felt very welcomed. Particularly two of the elders, John and Jo, looked after us and gave us hope for the coming challenges. The congregation consists to about 20 – 25 percent of Maori. I'm not able to judge yet how well integrated they are.
The afternoon we spent basicly in Devonport, where we went by ferry. It is a peninsula with particularly beautiful buildings: houses in the Victorian Style, partly private and partly shops or public buildings. Bookshops, restaurants, souvenir shops and so on... From Mt. Victoria, the central hill, we overlooked much of Auckland and it's harbour and the surroundings. We had lunch at the ferry terminal, where we bought fish and chips and other things at a small kiosk run by an Iraqi who has been living here since three years with his family (wife and three daughters). He said that he is enjoying the peace and friendliness of this land after having lived in a war-struck environment for so many years. Every so often we meet other immigrants, and they are not a fringe group (Randgruppe) like in Germany, but just a part of everyday life.

20.09.
Gorgeous! Stunning! Today we made another hike along the coast of Piha, this time longer and farther into the macchia, the vegetation. It was a marvellous adventure, for all of us (which isn't common with two adults and five kids of different ages). We explored a lonely bay you can only reach by foot, abandoning the existing tourist paths and clambering along the cliffs. We watched the sea running wildly against the rocks. We climbed alongside a waterfall into the dense rainforest that reaches to the coast as it is so typical for New Zealand. I was happy that my knee held out and barely complained. We had a picnic with delicious cakes that we had bought at the only little convenience store here in Piha. This was our last day here and thus a proper last days undertaking of our pure holidays in NZ. Tomorrow we will travel to Thames.

Today has been the last day in Germany. A sunny day, warm and dry. The house is empty, the container on it's way the barn with the rest of our things is full and well organized, all the bureaucratic stuff has been done. Many very busy days lay behind us, with help of our friends and the workers of a very good forwarding company.
Now, to all our friends we have said Goodbye, and to our family in Germany and Spain, to our congregation, to our neighbourhood, to Schwäbisch Hall, and to our christian home group. The latter had organized a big party for us. Tears have been shed. Moments of emotional overload sometimes resulted in an inner void, like our home. But we felt so loved, cared for, accompanied, blessed by our friends. We are grateful. Sometimes one notices only at the time of leave how dear people are.
On the other side of the world, at the same time, people are preparing to say hello. My boss has organized someone to come more than a 100 kms to pick us, and he has prepared our car and brought it to Auckland. He has been searching intensely for a suitable house (successfully, as it seems!). We will see some people I got to know there.
And we have said Goodbye to Schwäbisch Hall, this beautiful town, with a nice lunch at a restaurant; and the kids had gone swimming together at the beautiful swimming hall of this town. We have vistied "downtown" for a last time and I have kissed the flight of stairs of the beautiful Michaels Church.
Tomorrow some friends will bring us to the airport in Frankfurt, in the morning.