Settling in...

20.10.
Today we had to meet someone from the moving company in the South of Auckland. To make more out of it, I took a day off and after the appointment we explored some of the Eastern quarters of Auckland by car and had lunch in St. Heliers Bay, later a coffee at the waterfront (at Santos, a marvellous café at the quai road), before we walked to the beautiful Albert Park. At the end we went to pick up the results of my very last IELTS exam and we were lucky to say hello to Wayne Lloyd, the examiner trainer who had helped me a lot to pass it this (NZ) summer. Eight hours alone with my wife in Auckland! Priceless!

24.10.
Another week lies behind us. After my own experiences and from what the children told me: we got the notion that it will be possible to integrate, but it will take it's time. The systems are more different than we thought. Fortunately, thanks to the welcoming and helpful attitude of the people here the children start to make friends; although they don't understand too much. As for Elena, she has been mostly busy with running the household and organising the life of the children. First contacts to the New Zealanders were in the schools and on the street. On regard to myself, I am grateful that the staff responded to my request and didn't book all the normally available appointments for me. I particularly had to struggle with the different names and availability of drugs and equipment and with the socio-economic aspects in the health system. But I am not totally desperate, as I start to make out a horizon of things to learn.
Yesterday we crossed again the Coromandel mountains and spent several hours on one more of the exceedingly beautiful beaches of the East coast: Whangamata. Just have a look at the pictures. The weather was summer-like. As this is additionally a “long weekend” (“Labour Weekend”) with Monday being a public holiday, the beach was rather crowded – compared to what we had seen until now. Oystercatchers (waders, Wattvögel) and seagulls, accompanied the peaceful scenery with boats, surfers, playing children, strollers, sunbathers and fishers.
Then we visited an art exhibition of Val Tubman, a NZ artist and bought our first NZ painting. I had seen this painting when I entered a practice in Waihi this summer and when I came back it turned out that a friend of mine new the artist and was able to reserve this painting for me – it was still there.
Today we went to the local Baptist church again. A guest preacher from St. Luke Healing Organisation was invited and did a Healing Ministry. It was beneficial, for Elena and for me. After that we lunch there and got to know a German family of our age-group who emigrated to here 10 years ago. How much a had hoped to find this... Together with others, we spent the afternoon at the coast swapping ideas on how to spend Christmas in the family as the feast it was usually meant to be. Strange, to imagine Christmas in the middle of summer....