First Boat Trips....

The Second Year Has Begun... Photos from Auckland, from Coromandel, and Paeroa

We are becoming more Kiwi: we have bought a "dinghi", a small fishing boat, made of aluminium, at first with oars. But before trying it out for the first time we have added a 4 hp motor, and we plan to do our first trip tomorrow, so that you can expect the first photos in a few days. The adquisition has been connected to interesting and pleasant contacts to the Maori and Pakeha people that sold it. We got the boat from a poor Maori guy with a big family (he actually said that he had to sell the boat to pay the rent, which proved not to be true afterwards, but he surely had some problems). The motor we bought of a more than 80 years old passionate boat-addict and boat-shop-owner, who showed us photos of the boats he had owned and the competitions in which he had participated. I have some days off at the moment, which I use to catch up on all sorts of things rather than driving around: dentist (always a bit frightening the first time after you moved somewhere else), barber, acessoires for the boat, a meeting with my locum colleagues, and, the of course time-consuming process of applying for permanent residency. We are into that because we will get more advantages regarding support for the kids among others, and we see that we are probably going to extend our stay here for beyond my working visa. The older kids are confronted with their first serious exams and they notice that it is not like they thought at the beginning, that everything is easy-going, but that the difference is that nobody is pressuring them from outside, and motivation has to come from inside. Sometimes we feel kind of chained especially by the smaller kids - our common interests are minimal, and so either we or they have to make sacrifices whatever we do in our leisure time.... My work has become a bit more stressful recently, as I have to see more patients per day. Sometimes I feel quite like I felt back in Good Old Germany after work in my own practice... I didn't come here for that, I think... The photos are a mix of pictures from a trip to Auckland, to Paeroa, of a small walk after work in Coromandel, and our new boat as I just discovered it... and of our TV showing a screenshot of a rugby game (South Africa vs Australia). Yes, I watched the whole game, and two others, in full, and I liked it!

How Do You Like New Zealand

“And, how do you like New Zealand?” I still get asked every so often. It is one year now since we left our well-established environment in a small town in Germany, where we had been living for the last 10 years, to seek a new experience in Thames, Coromandel, New Zealand.
I smile, a bit incertain....
“Wherever you go, you'll carry yourself with you” someone had emphasised before we left...
I think of my struggle at work, of the struggle to help our children to catch the right train...
I think of my health problems, which haven't changed... I think of the effort the different language gives me... I think of my desire to feel at home, understanding and understood...
a different society...
I see the friendly eyes of the person opposite me, the raised eyebrows full of expectations...
“Yes, we like it”, I say, noticing my voice quavering a bit, and then I feel the strong urge to convince my counterpart that I mean what I'm saying, unable to see the expression of my own face. I guide my thoughts out of the anxious rooms in my heart, to the sea, to the beautiful forests, the gentle hills, and our new friends. “We really like it... well, we came to experience something different... and that is what we do... but it is good”.

Some Pictures of our Social Life here - and Thames Street Impressions

Bare feet at Wintertime - real Kiwis are tough!

Many teenies and a new car...

Skater Park in Thames



Evening view from home



My workplace on Fridays



View from the Fish and Chips Shop at the wharf, Thames



Near Coromandel harbour



View near Pauanui



Our new car, a 2001 Nissan Elgrand



Elena with Daniel





Our new car



A batch (holiday home) of a friend, in Pauanui. We spent a weekend there.



In a batch (holiday home) of a friend, in Pauanui (a friend and Daniel)



A batch (holiday home) of a friend, in Pauanui.



Felix with friends on his birthday, at home.



Pauanui Beach


Today we have accompanied Christoph back to the airport. This ex classmate of Lucas from Schwäbisch Hall was a really pleasant guest in our house, and we had a nice time all together. Five teenies have inhabited our house for the last five weeks: Clara, Valentina, Lucas, Christoph and Luis, if none of their friends were here for a visit.
Felix and Daniel, our little ones, were sometimes in danger to play only a minor role. Making use of that we had someone here we had to show around we drove to two of the most beautiful beaches of the East coast, to Miranda thermal hot pools, to Auckland and so forth. Today in Auckland we had T-shirt weather again, giving us a taste of the upcoming spring.
As we will be eight for the next 10 months at least (after Valentina from Chile, Teresa will come, our kid's cousin from Spain), we decided to buy a big white 8-seater, which you can see on two of the photos (white is our favourite "colour" for cars), and said Goodbye to our good "old" Honda Odyssey.
The photos show one of the Coromandel beaches, Pauanui, and a batch a kind friend gave us to stay in for a night; our new car, my workplace in Coromandel on the first picture (Te Korowai Hauora O Hauraki), and other moments I liked to catch and save in these days.... Unfortunately the order get's pretty mixed up by uploading the photos, I don't know why and how that happens...