At long last: A Blog Entry!

Well, we're finally getting around to creating our New Zealand Blog. It won't be sequential as we've been here so long we no longer remember what happened when we first got here, but I'll (Judy) try to put up the pictures sequentially so you get some sense of the progression.

When we first arrived at Earthsong we were jet-lagged, exhausted, and confused. We were utterly showered with everything we needed to help us through the first, as it turned out three months, without our belongings. People here loaned or gave us: two queen sized beds, a dining room table and chairs, a sofa, coffee table, microwave, tea cooker-thing, toaster, a refrigerator, bedding, blankets, dish towels, a stereo...and I'm sure I'm forgetting most of it. We honestly didn't know what we were going to do without our stuff for what was supposed to be two months, but we were welcomed with open arms full of appliances. These are pictures of Candice helping us pack, and our layover at LAX:

Kiwis are everything from petty bureaucratic tyrants to saints - like anywhere, I suppose. Luckily, we live in a pretty saintly community. Time here is very "manana" (please imagine a tilda over the first n). Unlike the British, when someone tells you something will be done tomorrow, better give it a few weeks. This has been driving my New York sensibilities rather crazy. It took me 10 months to get my psychology registration - when they said it would take 4 weeks, it took 3 months to get our furniture instead of 2, Telecom said they would arrive to set up our phone and then they didn't, and then they didn't again, and two weeks later ....you get the idea. l See, this is a Pacific Island, and that far outweighs any British OCD as far as the culture of time is concerned. Probably good for the blood pressure ultimately, if it doesn't kill me first.

Meanwhile, back at Earthsong, we were getting to know people. We had them over for "tea" to thank them for their generosity. We went to a juggling class and took far too many pictures. And we celebrated the summer solstice on December 21st by leaping over the bonfire and singing Maori and Starhawk songs.

We were worried we'd be terribly lonely for Christmas, but we ended up having the best Christmas in many years. We put out an email on the Earthsong e-list inviting anyone interested to join us for a Christmas dinner in the common house. We were joined by our across the path neighbors, Yuki, Roku and their three children Mio, Senri, and Sota. We ate a Japanese/hippie vegie Christmas dinner, baked Christmas cookies, played guitar, piano, and sang, and learned the Japanese word for bunny, which is Usagi (here is Mio demonstrating).








Stay tuned for the next blog entry about our trip all over the South of New Zealand and Judy's now infamous American Kiwi dictionary!