We may need to change the name of this blog to "from the far east" because these posts are now coming from Auckland, New Zealand, which lies to the east of the International Date Line. For many of you reading this blog, we are nearly a full day ahead of you. And yes, #45 is still president tomorrow. Sorry.
I landed in Auckland on June 20th and Pete followed about a week later. We are settling in well and getting the bits and bops of life down here sorted out, including learning our "kiwi-isms." We are living at a friend's house until the end of August while she is away, and it has been perfect for our transition time. It is about six miles from the city center, which we traverse via train every day. Our commute is about 50 minutes each way, including 15 minute walks on either side of the 20 minute train ride. It is a really nice way to start and end the day, and we are both enjoying our train reading time.
Our office is in downtown Auckland on the 24th floor of an old bank building. We have a fabulous view over the city but the building is a bit fancier than a typical science office. The elevator doors are plated in gold on some of the floors! As promised in our contracts, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate are provided free of charge, but our office does not gather for a proper tea. Pete's team does gather for breakfast every morning and lunch whenever a critical mass of people are in the office. Pete got to go into the field his second day at work and has been to numerous sites since then. He is definitely getting a better sense of the region at this point than I am. I was in Christchurch for a conference for my third week of work, though, so I should not complain. We were officially welcomed to our new workplace with a Māori welcoming ceremony called a mihi whakatau. We were essentially passed from one side of the room to the other to join our colleagues in our new roles. It was a really nice ceremony and our first official hongi (forehead and nose pressing).
Away from work, we've seen good friends and have been trying to get out and see a bit of our new home. We've already had a visitor! He is here for work, but we managed to connect for dinner, so we'll take it! Thanks, Brennan! And Pete watched his first rugby game with a friend over the weekend. It ended it a tie, which seems lame.
We got our membership cards for the Auckland public library straight away. One of the 55 branches is close to work so we will be able to take advantage of their collection (but only 35 items at a time...), as well as access their e-books and other online offerings.
We learned that our library card doubles as our free entrance pass to the Auckland Museum and the Maritime Museum. We checked out the new nature photography special exhibit at the museum last weekend but are saving the rest for visitors...
A few other iconic sites that we see most days on our way to work:
I landed in Auckland on June 20th and Pete followed about a week later. We are settling in well and getting the bits and bops of life down here sorted out, including learning our "kiwi-isms." We are living at a friend's house until the end of August while she is away, and it has been perfect for our transition time. It is about six miles from the city center, which we traverse via train every day. Our commute is about 50 minutes each way, including 15 minute walks on either side of the 20 minute train ride. It is a really nice way to start and end the day, and we are both enjoying our train reading time.
Our flat is close to a lot of useful amenities. The grocery store is a three minute walk from the house or in route from the train station. There are more shops than anyone could need at the Sylvia Park mall near the train station and lots of restaurants around too. My favorite food location so far is the Tuesday night market just up the hill from us. There are around 15 food vendors, mostly asian, ranging from Thai to Korean to Island bbq. The market apparently moves to a different neighborhood around the city every night. Yum!
Our office is in downtown Auckland on the 24th floor of an old bank building. We have a fabulous view over the city but the building is a bit fancier than a typical science office. The elevator doors are plated in gold on some of the floors! As promised in our contracts, tea, coffee, and hot chocolate are provided free of charge, but our office does not gather for a proper tea. Pete's team does gather for breakfast every morning and lunch whenever a critical mass of people are in the office. Pete got to go into the field his second day at work and has been to numerous sites since then. He is definitely getting a better sense of the region at this point than I am. I was in Christchurch for a conference for my third week of work, though, so I should not complain. We were officially welcomed to our new workplace with a Māori welcoming ceremony called a mihi whakatau. We were essentially passed from one side of the room to the other to join our colleagues in our new roles. It was a really nice ceremony and our first official hongi (forehead and nose pressing).
Our view over part of the city. The windows on the other side
look out over the harbor and gulf islands. We have been
seeing many amazing rainbows over the last two weeks!
The emergency exit from the 24th floor is a bit daunting.
One of the sampling sites Pete visited
I got to see many familiar faces and meet some new
ones at the NZ Marine Sciences conference in Christchurch
ones at the NZ Marine Sciences conference in Christchurch
A very kiwi mural in Christchurch
We got our membership cards for the Auckland public library straight away. One of the 55 branches is close to work so we will be able to take advantage of their collection (but only 35 items at a time...), as well as access their e-books and other online offerings.
We learned that our library card doubles as our free entrance pass to the Auckland Museum and the Maritime Museum. We checked out the new nature photography special exhibit at the museum last weekend but are saving the rest for visitors...
Auckland Museum
The winter solstice marked the start of a the Māori new year celebration so there were festivities happening around the city. Last weekend we went to see some of the best kapa haka, traditional Māori song and dance, from the Auckland area. The Māori were fierce warriors and I have to say that their haka definitely would have kept me out of their territory!
A few other iconic sites that we see most days on our way to work:
Town hall
The sky tower is at the other end of our block
Our big news for the week is that we purchased a car! She's a 2004 Toyota Wish...a wagon-minivan hybrid. She is long enough to sleep in, giving us a backup sleeping option when we go out exploring. We are going to take her out for a spin this weekend to the Coromandel Peninsula.
Name to be determined...
3 comments:
I love reading these blog updates! It makes me feel a little closer to you guys. I'm glad you are both settling in. Miss you! Traci
Thank you for this Melissa. I am reminded how much more we live when there is variety and change. Enjoy!
You're making me a bit secondhomesick, but I'm glad you're enjoying it. Good on ya', sweet as, box of fluffy ducks, etcetera etcetera.
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