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...

Family Life these days and winter impressions

Matthias, Valentina (Claras almost-sister from Chile), Elena, Clara, Christoph (one of Lucas' classmates from Germany)



Lucas, Christoph (at Cathedral Cove)






Valentina and Clara (at Whangamata Beach)






Matthias and Lucas



Typical Kiwi food for lunch

Beach Idyll, on a late Sunday afternoon

Daniel and Felix (and Elena) at Waiomu Beach, 12 km North of Thames

Four seasons in one day...

Four seasons in one day... that is really true here. Today I swayed between t-shirt in the sun and five layers when clouds darkened the sky, and when I went barefoot from the coast up to our home (because I started to get blisters on my feet in my shoes, but it was fine) we got caught by a heavy rain and were soaked when we reached home.

Midwinter

In Our Garden



Clara chatting on the computer


This weekend was marvellous. We were able to sit outside in the afternoon for both days. Yesterday we got to know a very nice Swiss couple, who immigrated 18 months ago. It is amazing how our social net is increasing (especially the one of the older kids). Of course the computer and the cellphones play a big roll, even more than in Germany.
At work I am busier than I was in summer, more patients, but I also try to get involved more into the organisation I work for. But weekends are for family life!