where's the steering wheel?

i check my watch to make certain it’s not the middle night still--post jet-lag doubts of the ability to just ‘know’—get dressed in a frigid room--trying not to cough--then silently descend the stairs…it’s sunday morning, 6:50 am…blogtime…

yesterday's first errand was a trip to downtown Waikikamukau for the purpose of picking up our TV (purchased two days earlier in a sale--a floor model that had to boxed after a box search). confidently walking out the front door, i am off for my first solo drive! i get into the left-hand side of the car and sit down…now forced to laugh at myself since no one else is around to notice the comedy (the steering wheel is NOT on my side…in case you missed the picture)…this less than salubrious start did not turn out to be an ill omen, things were fine after the false start. you need to know that we live in a town of hills and goat-paths made into streets, although the downtown layout is grid-like, the steep streets in the hills meander in counter-intuitive fashion; meaning that finding my way back to where i started was no small feat…also yesterday (saturday), we visited the botanical gardens, one of the beauties of this place. (Wim and Lily have a treasury of memories of it from previous trips) all of us are happy that this little oasis of bush with its aviary of colorful birds is so close to our home to be.

friday marked the close of our first fortnight here in NZ. lily made it back to school, coughing still but energetic and cheerful. wim spelled his ten words (‘imminent’, ‘luggage’, ‘amateur’, ‘batik’, rodeo’ etc,) for the ‘indigo’ group perfectly. he had picked up the list for the ‘violet’ group as well and learned some of those words (‘arteriosclerosis’, harum-scarum’ ‘yucca’) and spelled six or seven of those words correctly. when asked whether he would like to join the more advanced group he said that he would prefer to work his way up the usual way…on the health front: even wim seemed to be heading for the sneezles and wheezles but did not appear to really get worse yesterday…we have our fingers crossed

by the way, in addition to the ‘real world’ of comparative shopping for insurance on our new dream house and auto, and then setting things up with the obvious vendor—all of which took from 2 to 3 hrs, of T’s time on friday—we played our first concert in Waikikamukau! A lunch-time affair in which we joined others for the latter movements of the Mozart g minor pno. quartet we last played on july 1st in charlemont…!!! it was good to break the ice…it went well and we feel we made as good an initial impression as possible.

more news tidbits: sitting here yesterday typing away, the front-bell rang. in a house where each room has one or two antique clocks, it took a second ring for me to realize that this was something unique. at the front door was a mesomorphic rugby type of bloke (wearing shorts) with our huge parcel of winter clothes! what a welcome sight (yeah!)...he also had a special courrier type of yellow special delivery packet. this means that all of my documents (returned in the mailing) are registered and copied in timely fashion for consideration of NZ residency. the form letter says that i will have an officer assigned to my 'case' within at least six months and that a decision will be made within twelve months-- what a lengthy business! the one thing i lack is a 'complete' birth certificate rather than the 'appreviated' one that was submitted. (the difference being that the fuller form lists the names of one's parents--this should be relatively easy to get hold of) the good thing is that we made the three-month window from when the medical and x-ray things were completed and do not have to start over here...

a summing up of pluses:
+ we can now leave the house with coats, jackets and parkas...
+ only three days until we take possession
EXCELSIOR