First Week!

 

Wow!,  hard to believe we have been in the house for a bit over a week now. It has been an exciting whirlwind of activity. 

Kitchen cleaned, two cabinets removed to make room for the new refrigerator, carpet removed, lounge ceiling painted. There has been a parade of contractors coming through- electrician, plasterer, the plumber called to postpone due to Covid, 3 to quote restoring the wood floors, washer and dryer delivered but fridge was damaged and had to be reordered and delivered two days later. 

There have been a few fun surprises. 

As to be expected… exposed insulation/unfinished wall behind the oven. A broken step on the staircase, and a small gas leak somewhere between the meter and the house. To name a few. -Oh joy!

But we love the house and are excited to be getting our stuff delivered next week. 

We had hoped to get a bit more painting completed before the delivery of our stuff, but it will have to wait. 

We did manage to squeeze in a fun show at the St James Theater Belle: A performance of Air -Visually beautiful show with light, smoke, mirrors and dance. 

And I started work. It was great to be back and the first week was relatively easy with setting up my desk and computer and lots of introductions. 

Here are some fun house photos 😁

The next chapter begins!

It has certainly been a chaotic three weeks… 

We loved seeing Dune part two,(How do they get off the worms?) and enjoyed seeing Rocketeer on the big screen after so many years. The Rocketeer included a fun themed dessert and beverage too. (lol the rocket was very phallic shaped)

The Dr. Who event was about what I expected. Had fun and enjoyed it, but it could have been better. The moderated questions fell short and the attempt at selling merchandise was very weak. The event was already pricey and then they wanted more $ for autographs and photos. Which we knew as that was how it was advertised, but it still felt like more could have been offered. But still glad I went, am really looking forward to the exhibition opening in June. 

I also got the chance to see Meow Meow’s Panemonium. NZ Art Festival is going on and Cassie was offered 2 tickets last minute, so we went having no clue what to expect. The seats were great and we were thoroughly entertained. Meow Meow is a singer performer and comedian and the show was definitely laughing out loud funny. 

Works has not started for me yet, but I went into the office for an induction/on-boarding session and am really looking forward to the new role. Eric is enjoying a few freelance days, before the house projects start. 😁

AND…We made it! 

This is our last night as nomads. 6 months almost to the day of selling our home in Seattle, we are moving into our new home in Wellington NZ. We are very excited and looking forward to spending the next several months, and/or years making it into “our” home. 

It has been a great adventure. And we couldn’t have done it without all the encouragement, love, and support from our family and friends both here and back in the States. 

Thank you all !!!!!

We have shared much of the journey along the way on this blog. And while it was genuinely a great adventure, it was not without a few bumps. 

We had some challenges navigating the banking/loan options and job opportunities and offers have been a little delayed. 

But the biggest bump came 3 weeks ago when we gave notice to the woman with whom we had been flatting…

Suffice it to say. Mistakes were made, lessons learned. 

“The short version”

The woman has mental health challenges. (the kindest words we can use)

She believed we were trying to short her one weeks rent. And when we tried to show her the bank statements and a calendar, all hell broke loose. We were verbally abused and threatened. In the end it was easier to pay the “extra” week than to fight a losing battle -there is no reasoning with crazy. 

(A report will be filed, but we needed to be out and away from her first)

But at the end of it all, what is the old adage?…. we refuse to let one “bad apple” spoil the lot ?

Again we were reminded of how wonderful and caring our NZ family is. Everyone offered us help, support, extra hands and vehicles and places to temporarily stay. A special thank you to Chris & Cassie, Etainia & James, Paul & Claire, Andrew & Lauren, Daniel & Catherine, Lance, Henri and Kim & Warren and everyone else. Again “thank you”!!!!❤️

To add insult to injury, our car was sideswiped/damaged while parked on the street the other night. Roads here are quite narrow, but there is enough room to get by if you are paying attention. Unfortunately not everyone does. Also auto insurance is not required here so many folks do not bother to have any. Certainly those who are already struggling to keep up with the raising cost of living. I find it genuinely ironic that in a country where I continue to tout the kindness and politeness of the community, there are still those that will not stop to leave a note on a car if they have damaged it. It is frustrating. The damage is minimal. Just cosmetic. But just like in the states, you do not want to make a claim. Between the deductible and the threat of rate increases…

We will likely get it fixed at some point, but trying to focus our current expenses on moving into the house! 

We apparently maxed out the number of items a customer can have in a single transaction at the local hardware store- lol!

And now we move in…and our belongings get delivered in 2 weeks

Stay tuned for house renovation photos- coming soon! 😁