Before Shane got a job in New Zealand, I knew exactly this much about the country: It was somewhere near Australia. Everyone played rugby and went bungee jumping (totally true, BTW). And that hairy movie director filmed Lord of the Rings (starring dreamy Vigo Mortensen. Swoon.) there years ago. That was pretty much the extent of it.
Needless to say, we had a lot to learn.
Now, after nearly a month living in the country and several months reading and hearing about it, I have a better sense of what New Zealand is really like. Hopefully this will give you an idea of where we're located and how we go about our day-to-day lives.
New Zealand is indeed near Australia -- if you consider a 4-hour plane ride "close." For the most part, the country's out on its own in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (which is why it's taken MONTHS for our furniture and sweaters and BEDS to get here. Not that I'm sore about it or anything.)
And it's not one island but two -- North and South.
We live in the northernmost city of the North Island -- Auckland. It's also the country's biggest city, about the size of a Richmond, Va. but with more of an NYC feel. It's the international hub for the nation, with people from all over the world living here. Most of the population is European (white) or Maori, which is the native culture. (Think of it like America's Native Americans, if that culture had been more widely accepted and celebrated. Maori is a big deal here, which I'll have to get to in another post.)
The rest of the city is made up of other Pacific Islanders (Samoan, Tongan, etc.) and everyone else: Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, African -- and us. Americans. We make up a pretty small part of the population, with only several thousand of us living in Auckland. I've met one American kid -- Liam, nice guy :) -- and heard one other American accent. That's been the extent of our experience with our countrymen so far. (And I'm not complaining!)
So, with all of that demographic background, I can tell you that the "feel" of the country is similar to Northern Virginia in its diversity, but on a much smaller scale. Nearly everybody speaks English as a first language (with words like "jandals," "togs," "Mufty Day" and other phrases totally throwing me off), and some people also speak Maori, a nationally recognized language. So it feels, in some ways, like a more cohesive community.
Geographically, Auckland is beyond blessed. It's simply beautiful.
The city stretches from the Tasman Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east, and there's water, water everywhere in between. Right now, looking out my kitchen window, I can see the harbor that separates the western side of the city from the Central Business District (CBD, famous for its Sky Tower). I see mountains and dormant volcanoes further off in the distance. The natural beauty just envelops us here -- it's everywhere.
We live in a community called Te Atatu (pronounced kinda like tea attitude -- minus the "d" sound. Tea attitude, by the way, sounds like something I have ;) The neighborhood is mostly made up of one-story, single family homes with giant windows on every side of the house. Palm trees, Norfolk pine trees, all kinds of cacti and succulent and tropical flowers make up the landscaping. It looks like a tropical island, but doesn't feel like it, especially since its winter now. But even in summer, we will have fairly mild temperatures.
Our home (which I love, by the way, and will tell you more about soon) is about a 40-minute bus ride from the CBD, which is where Shane works. His office is actually in the building next to the Sky Tower if you feel like poking around on Google Earth. The rest of our lives center around our neighborhood and nearby communities. The school is just a short walk away. We walk to the grocery store, the doctor, the pharmacy. A short car ride (on the wrong side of the road, btw!) gets us to a place called Henderson, which has a mall, the all-important K-mart, the recreation center, the girl's Tae Kwon Do class and other shopping/restaurants.
Those destinations make up most of our weekday adventures. But on the weekends, things get exciting.
Within half an hour of the K-Mart and KFC and all the other junk that comes with modern civilization are the most beautiful beaches, waterfalls, mountains, volcanoes, etc. I've ever seen. It's a whole other world.
And a whole other post.
So, I'll stop for today. I hope that gives you some sense of where we actually live and what's it really like. I'll be sharing more soon!
