Gidday, Mate!

It's week two in my new office, and day 23 in Christchurch. We've been fairly busy since my last post.
Forrest bought a car. We're naming it The Wild Blue Wonder.


We checked out Arthur's Pass National Park. Pictured is a waterfall in the Devils Punchbowl.



We bought a giant leek, at the local farmers market.



I made Leek risotto with sizzled mushrooms, my sous chef helped.



I also made ham and cheese scones and ginger crunch slices. I even bought a special slice pan for the occasion.

We took a few walks around our neighborhood, Sumner/Clifton. The water you can see is the Pacific Ocean.





Finally, here we have some photos of our house, and the gondola that takes us up to our house. The gondola is private for our Track. There are about six residences that use the gondola and you need a code to get into the gondola area. It's so much fun, kind of feels like a carnival ride to and from work! You will see a flag on the gondola, this is in support of the New Zealand Rugby team, All Blacks. Several signs can be seen throughout the city proclaiming "Go The All Blacks". seems like quite a mouthful.





Lastly, my goal for this work week is to use the local terms "mate" and "cheers" appropriately and in the correct context thus increasing my assimilation into this culture. Forrest seems to be stuck on the phrase "sweet as", I think he just does it to annoy me. ;)

Here's what my name card at work looks like, now if i can just get my coworkers to call me Sara instead of Cera - (sear-ra).

brown paper packages, (not) tied up with strings

Well here we are in our second week of work. Back to detesting Tuesday because it's in the middle of the week and drinking weird coffee.
We are getting settled into our new house, or unsettled as I experienced my first earthquake this past Sunday, at 8:35pm. A 5.5 magnitude quake. good lord.
Prior to the shake and rattle we rolled to a lovely bay town called Akaroa, pronounced ack-A-row-A.

We walked around a bit in the seaside town, it's quite beautiful/peaceful/charming. It was a little chilly, so of course, i had to buy a hat, decorated with a sheep.

We ate the local standard, fish & chips, from a restaurant called, Akaroa Fish & Chips. We noted that the fish portrayed on the sign looked a bit disgruntled, perhaps it saw too many of it's kin folk thrown into the deep fryer? But seriously, who (in their right mind) doesn't love fried things? we purchased some little brown packages, all origami folded to contain fried goodies with just the right sprinkle of salt. mmmm.

You got it all sorted, mate?

We are quickly approaching the end to my first week back to work. Most of my coworkers have been lovely, asking me daily if I have things “sorted”. This means, basically, am I all set? Do I have things figured out? They offer to help with various life things, show me around, offer tips on the local way of living. Very helpful! I was even offered a chance to take a few driving courses, being that I’ve never driven on a left-hand side of the road country. How kind!
Accomplishments this week, survived 2 site visits, new steel toed shoes, 10 tea breaks, delicious meals made in our new kitchen (chicken tikka masala, smoked chicken and mushroom with alfredo over pasta, chicken breast over mixed green salad, chili and cornbread and …. the week isn’t over yet!) Can you tell I missed cooking? We now have internet at home! I survived my first Christchurch bus trip home from work (Forrest had a company event) and my first after work function (pizza and drinks in the “chill out” room). My first adventure taking the bus home from work: waiting 45 minutes at stop A for bus to come, after two offers by strange men for a ride to a different bus stop and a car full of stupid pubescent boys yelling at me, walked to bus stop B. waited 10 minutes for bus, took 40 minute bus ride home. if you are good at math, you will have calculated my 15 km (9.3 mile) commute to end up at an hour and 35 minutes.
Notes on food here, I’m not that impressed, yet. I am still holding out! The spices you can purchase in the store are cheaper than the states, they sell organic venison, the peanut butter is not good (and not just because it doesn’t have an extreme amount of sugar in it, it literally doesn’t taste like peanut butter), meat pies (think pot pie) are everywhere, everyone sells Chinese food/fish and chips/hamburgers, risotto and rocket salad are very popular (separate dishes), I might hold off on drinking red wine unless it’s from Australia or California but the savigon blanc is quite excellent. No notable coffee to speak of, but Forrest warned me. I’ve always thought instant coffee was terrible, and I still do. I do miss good coffee, especially Stumptown from Portland, Oregon. I hope to try green muscles soon; they are famously from New Zealand. Randomly, several dozen bakeries we have seen are Gluten Free. I asked a coworker and basically it’s a new trend here. We even had gluten free macaroons at afternoon tea time on Tuesday. (They were actually very tasty.)
but I can’t quite figure out the bacon. What is middle bacon? Why does it look so strange? What is the regular bacon called?
Also of concern, why is dog food kept refrigerated and sold in what looks like GIANT Bob Evans sausage rolls? The refrigerated dog food really scares me.
Oh and I almost forgot, the potatoes. They are bagged and covered in dirt, why so dirty? I guess I was spoiled getting relatively clean potatoes in a 5 lb bag.
One thing that does make me feel good, the low-fat milk is called “Trim”. That is just what I want to read first thing in the morning. Trim! Yes! I also am falling in love with golden kiwi fruit. thanks to Christina for the long distance food tip.



Here are a few photos from our trip to Hanmer Springs, we checked out some wineries on the way down to the hot pools.









We love our new house, we get to ride a gondola to/from our car and view the Pacific Ocean the whole way. We have met some of our neighbors; they are all friendly so far!
I’ll try to post a movie of our daily commute to our house soon!

Welcome to New Zealand, Love!

Hi there, reporting to you live from New Zealand. We are perched on top of a hill, in the Cashmere region, overlooking the Southern Alps. We are staying at a temp rental, here is the view out the bedroom window, at sunset.



We arrived 2 days ago, on Monday. The flight was rather uneventful, not counting the severely drunk and throwing up man a few isles up from our seats. (sad to say he was American, wonder how we get such a bad rap internationally?) We flew Air New Zealand direct from San Francisco to Auckland, New Zealand, had a short layover in Auckland, then onward to Christchurch. A new coworker of mine waited about an hour for us to go through customs at the airport. Then he helped us with luggage (3 large pieces each) and showed us around Christchurch. We also went for coffee then relaxed for a night in a motel.

Yesterday, recharged from 12 hours of sleep, we went house hunting. We checked out a great location in the Sumner Beach area, it was very lovely (and purple). We also drove to the Waimairi Beach area, northeast of Christchurch and located on the beach.

It's been eventful here, to say the least, trying to learn why everyone is calling me "Love" and understanding that a "plunger" is actually a coffee press, and not something you use in a plugged toilet. Also, "Cheers" means thank you, not, hey clink my glass against yours.

Kiwi & Kindle

Our personal belongings left today with Crown Relocations. The items are being shipped via the Pacific Ocean to Christchurch.

We are leaving for Christchurch this Saturday, September 24th, from San Francisco airport and connecting through Auckland, New Zealand (North Island), which puts our arrival in Christchurch (South Island) on Monday, September 26th at 8:30am. Please note that I will not have access to my cell phone after Saturday. The phone number will not work. Please email me at sgulick@gmail.com and ask for our Vonage phone number if you need us.

After arriving in Christchurch we will get a rental car and hopefully a hotel room and some rest. Tuesday we move into a temp rental for a few weeks until we can find permanent housing.
Our first days of work are Monday, October 3.

Oh and, I never thought I'd purchase a Kindle, but in a moment of weakness I did. If you've read something great lately make sure to let me know!

Cheers!

California Kiwi

In the last few weeks we have been based in San Jose with Forrest's family. The long stay began with Forrest's good friend Mary's wedding. Mary married John in Pacifica, CA. The ceremony was held in a uniquely charming setting and we had a wonderful time helping them celebrate! A full album of the photos is located here.



Forrest, Tom, Christina and I took a short day hike to the Loma Prieta Earthquake epicenter located in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. We picked up lunch at Gayles Bakery under the suggestion of Tom and Christina. Note: Tom and Christina always know the best food options! After the hike we grabbed some ice cream at Marianne's in Santa Cruz. I sort of wish the hike would haven been longer, considering the calories consumed!



We also took one day to check out the Pacific Ocean, near Davenport, CA. The weather was chilly, but that didn't stop some people from nude sunbathing and swimming. After checking out Pigeon Point Lighthouse, we drove back to San Jose.





Last weekend we gathered up a great group of friends and Forrest's family for a farewell party. Great food, conversation and laughter was shared by all and we really appreciate those in attendance taking time out of their schedules to celebrate the upcoming New Zealand adventure.

Monday we drove Forrest's mom down to San Diego from San Jose. Along the way we stopped (first) in Paso Robles for a few tastes of wine. why not, it was 11am. We happened upon a few winerys where 1. the wine pourer was from Christchurch and 2. a winery was owned by a native New Zealander aka Kiwi. I guess it was fate or perhaps the Adjustment Bureau guiding this day.
Next we stopped in San Luis Obispo for a tri-tip sandwich and a brief car tour of Forrest's Alma Matter, Cal Poly.
12 hours after we left San Jose we arrived in San Diego, we were greeted by Forrest's grandma upon arrival. We stayed in San Diego until Wednesday morning and then flew back to San Jose.



We have been waiting for our work Visa to be processed for the last three weeks. Prior to that we waited for our FBI clearance for two full months. Even though we have been exceptionally busy, there was always that overarching feeling that we need the visa paperwork to be processed prior to leaving for New Zealand. Imagine packing for vacation and not being able to shake that nagging feeling that you may have forgotten something and never being able to figure out quite what you forgot. Multiply times 11 weeks and add in an average of 23 questions per family member or friend regarding the move to New Zealand. Suffice it to say, the last few weeks have been challenging for many reasons.

But our patience and hard work has paid off, in addition to me putting myself in "time out" several times (with wine or champagne). Now that we have the work visa in our possession things are moving rather quickly. Our worldly goods get shipped next week, Wednesday via sea. I hope to have them relatively quickly (less than two months). We ship ourselves (via airplane) on Saturday September 24 from San Franciso.

We should be kiwi's very soon! Thanks to everyone for your help and support!

America's High Five

I spent some time in Michigan, on the farm. It was great to see family and to spend some time in the fresh air. Some of my favorite photos of the trip are below. Lisa and her horse, Jazzy. My Mom and niece Emma, My dad and nephew Colton, Forrest's birthday cake, Dallas and Emma frosting cupcakes and Dallas Emma and I "helping" Aunt Lisa with chores at the barn.