Safe Harbor

Reflecting on 2020, I know how fortunate it was that I ended up being in one of the safest countries during the Covid-19 pandemic. For all of its issues, New Zealand turns out to have been quite a good place to move to a few years back. I had no idea how all of the world politics would play out back then of course, but it's made the decision about whether to stay or go back to the US after studying fairly easy. Now that I have secure employment, there's really not much to go back for anyway. Building up networks takes time, and the idea of having to do that yet again in a place where I'd just be another American doesn't sound very appealing. Four weeks of paid vacation, two weeks of paid sick time, and plentiful paid public holidays, along with free public healthcare really take the stress levels down compared to the U.S. Things can always change of course, but for now, I'll enjoy the relaxed lifestyle, ten-minute walk to the beach, and freedom of movement due to NZ's elimination strategy for Covid.

So what have I been up to since the lockdown period that ended in May 2020? 

We got kicked out of our flat because the landlord sold the building, and having the constant string of open houses and viewings was a real pain. But it turned out to be a good thing because that place was damp and full of mold and didn't have a proper kitchen. And when I pulled out stuff from the storage area under the house, there was even more mold so we had to do a lot of extra cleaning just to be able to pack stuff.

This area next to the fridge was hiding lots of gross mold.

After the inevitably exhausting move itself, we've settled into the new place which feels like a real house and has a heatpump/AC in the living room plus two screen doors on either end so we can get more fresh air and be more comfortable. Unfortunately, the landlords here weren't very exacting with the cleanliness when the previous tenants moved out, so I also had to clean up a bunch of mold on the door and window frames at the new place. I was really tired of cleaning for that month because it felt like it was endless. But otherwise this place is pretty good. It's also a quick walk to the beach.

Our cat adjusted quickly and has claimed sleeping spots pretty much anywhere available. We promised to get him a bigger cat condo after the move so he has enjoyed perching here to watch the birds and enjoy the sunshine.

We've gone to the zoo several times and enjoyed watching the animals playing and sleeping and doing what they do. 

There was a second lockdown in Auckland in August due to a community outbreak. I haven't experienced waiting in line with social distancing to go to Kmart before, but there we were. Thankfully this outbreak was contained relatively quickly and since then things have felt close to normal.

Big news was that we got to vote here and see how simple the ballot is compared to ones in the U.S. Two things to make a decision on: local representative vote and party vote, and then two extra things this time for referendum votes on legalizing cannabis and euthanasia. No ID required and there were voting stations everywhere. It felt like how a real democratic process can and does work.

I discovered Martha's Backyard, "The American Store", which is outside of one of the big malls here, and was amazed by all of the food and treats and baking supplies from home available. They had Rice and Corn Chex which made for better Chex Mix and Muddy Buddies. Due to import prices though, it's like going to Costco. You walk out with a handful of things and the bill is over $100. Worth it though!

We had a Halloween party with new coworkers and friends and the pumpkin carving was a hit. I know they don't have these silly traditions elsewhere, but it's still astounding people can live for decades without having experienced things that I did/do every year! There was still trick-or-treating, although apparently we don't live in one of the neighborhoods that has a lot of kids doing it. We got about five or six groups of kids and almost all of them were in costumes. And we had mini Tootsie roll pops from the international section of one of the grocery stores to give out, so I suspect they were in for a surprise when they got to the center of those! I know my coworkers were. What is this? I had to explain and show them the owl commercial. :)

I've been taking the ferry occasionally to get downtown (parking is outrageously expensive, so it doesn't make sense to try to park the car down there), and it's a nice 10-minute cruise across with nice views of the harbor and bridge. 

During the Christmas break, we went to the Auckland Museum and Maritime Museum. They have some cool stuff and it wasn't too crowded at either place. The Maritime Museum had lots of sailing vessels, including traditional boats and outrigger canoes from Polynesian cultures all the way up to the big yachts they use in the America's Cup competition, which is going on during the summer months in Auckland.

There's a special Lego exhibition at the museum, so they added
mini Lego versions to some of the exhibits.

Finally, I felt obligated to go out on New Year's Eve since NZ is one of the few places able to have people congregating and ringing in the new year. I was glad I did - the excitement of a crowd counting down till midnight and enjoying fireworks together is a good way to close out a year. NZ has felt like a safe harbor over the past year and hopefully it continues to be so.

 

Life in Lockdown

It turned out to be a good thing I went up to Waitangi in early February, since traveling has been off the table during the pandemic. I feel very fortunate to be relatively safe in New Zealand - being an island nation certainly has its benefits - though I worry about those whose fates rest in the hands of less capable governments. New Zealand's approach was to go hard, go early, and it closed its borders and began quarantining all arrivals for two weeks, which helped stay on top of things, although it wasn't soon enough to prevent multiple clusters of outbreaks. It got into two rest homes, so most of the 21 deaths have been in these vulnerable populations.

It has been strange to have the rest of the world experience some of the isolation and working from home that I was already doing upon arrival to a new city. The lockdown has meant that I can't go to local libraries to work, but otherwise not much has changed except for the anxiety of everything going on around me. I have been reading the news more than usual, and watching the press briefings when they announce changes to the alert levels.

I have experienced a city with millions of people grind to a halt, and the empty roads and storefronts have been eerie. It's one thing to see it in the apocalypse movies; another entirely to have the silence of the usual hustle and bustle. More people have been experiencing their local parks and neighborhoods, though, and appreciating the natural world. Hopefully some of these bright sides continue.

Empty highway during Level 4

Some people had creative ways to brighten people's walks

Love hearing the tui birds on neighborhood walks

More cars start returning to the road at Level 3

We have seen how dependent people here are on restaurants making their food for them. Unlike in other countries, all restaurants including take-out were closed here for five weeks. There was panic-buying at grocery stores, and shelves have been clear of flour most of the time. People who didn't know how to cook and/or were reliant on Uber Eats hand-delivering their meals to them had to figure something out. I'm curious what they did. I suspect many women were relegated (even more) to traditional roles of cooking and cleaning for others. It wasn't that long ago that people didn't go out to eat all that much, and certainly didn't buy one or more coffees on a daily basis, so we don't need all of these restaurants and cafes for actual survival, but the convenience factor for those with money seems to have been too tempting. It is predicted that many restaurants will close permanently - some already have - because they can't pay staff and don't expect business to resume to previous levels. But they were already operating on very thin margins, so this isn't unexpected.

Rush on restaurants on March 25, the last day before the lockdown at Level 4 began

People are happy that restaurants reopened for take-out/delivery at Level 3 

We did get some American-style pizza after months without :)

The country moves to alert level 2 in one day, which will allow most businesses to resume but with distancing and safety measures in place. Bars are going to be the last to open since they are high-risk areas and designed to bring strangers together. I am conflicted about the 'return to normality' - in one sense, it has been nice to feel no pressure to socialize or go outside of my bubble, no pressure to work on projects because everything this year has been thrown out the window. But in another sense, continuing to be isolated and watching people suffer because they didn't plan for a crisis (and many couldn't, especially migrants in precarious labor) isn't sustainable long term. The hope is that New Zealand doesn't have to move back up the levels into full lockdown if it can stamp out the virus and quarantine any new cases in Kiwis who return home (borders are still shut). Then domestic affairs can resume more normally, and hopefully we can all continue to participate in conversations about how to rebuild the country in a more sustainable and equitable way. It's refreshing to see these are the kinds of topics in the news here; it gives a sense of hope that is lacking elsewhere.

In house news, we have been experiencing ant infestations and crickets. These worsen when it rains. The ants were almost under control, but now there are single ants wandering around places they didn't used to go, like the couch and doors. It's not clear if they are part of other clusters. As for the crickets, they are bigger and darker than what I'm used to. They also really like to chirp. They have been sitting in the wall in the living room and starting up in the evening, or under the cabinets in the kitchen. Sometimes they crawl across the floor, but they are so fast sometimes we lose them and then hope that the cat points them out to us. We had almost no insect issues in Christchurch, so this is one downside of living in a milder climate. There have been a few tiny roaches, but nothing major yet thankfully. 

one of my plants liked the fall weather and started flowering

 

black field cricket

Moving from Christchurch to Auckland

I found it difficult to find moving cost estimates and information about doing a DIY move via the ferry across New Zealand, so I thought I'd make a short post about the move I did at the end of 2019.

Since we were transporting our cat and didn't want to do an extensive amount of driving each day, we took three days for the trip. This enabled us to stay overnight at two places and let him out of his cage and let us rest. Except for some traffic on the North Island, the trip went smoothly and all of our stuff made it there.

Actual costs for three-day move:
$1,548 (excluding cargo equipment)
$1,918 (with cargo equipment, which hopefully can be reused in future)

Fuel: $343

• First full tank fill-up @ $2.079/liter: $102
• Partial fill-up in Kaikoura (no receipt): $71
• Partial fill-up out of Wellington @ $2.389/liter: $62
• Second full tank fill-up in Taupo @ $2.159/liter: $108 

A full tank fill-up is about 13.5 gallons (51 liters) and the car is pretty new so it gets good mileage; however, the trailer and weight definitely reduced the usual fuel efficiency. There was about 150km left to go when we arrived in Auckland according to the car's estimate after the trailer was removed, so that needs to be accounted for when looking at the total fuel cost.


Luggage Trailer: $467

• cost is made up of 3 days at $39/day which is comparable to other companies, plus $20/day for $0 damage excess, plus one-way fee (this was supposed to be around $500 but I got them to lower it for me)  
• $100 deposit is required at time of booking

Note that rentals book up fast - many places I called didn't have anything available - so as soon as you know your moving dates, see what's available. U Save was the only place that would let me hire a luggage trailer one-way. Otherwise, the only option was one of the bigger furniture trailers, and I knew we didn't need that much space since we weren't taking furniture or big stuff. I mistakenly thought that I would be able to have some visibility out the car's rearview mirror with the smaller trailer, so on reflection, I might have gone with the single-axle furniture trailer to save the headache of trying to cram everything in such a small space. However, the luggage trailer handled pretty well when full and didn't feel overwhelming to haul for three days, and it fit almost everything I needed it to and forced me to consolidate stuff before moving.

Ferry (Picton to Wellington): $464

• included two adults, one car, and one trailer at a student flexi rate, which seems to be 5% off the usual rate, via Bluebridge

The ferry also books up fast, since there are a limited number of sailings each day, and we wanted one that left at a reasonable hour in the morning. This and the trailer hire are the most limiting of your options for the move.

Accommodation (2 nights): $274

• one night in Picton at Aldan Lodge Motel (pet-friendly, good customer service, and nice roomy place to stay; it has off-street parking, but there were only a couple spots that could take trailers, and it took us a while to back up into one of them - recommend asking in advance to secure one of these)
• one night in Turangi at Turangi Bridge Motel (pet-friendly and decent room; but the parking spots are not long enough for trailers, and one section that could have worked had a big truck and disconnected trailer already taking up the space; we ended up having to work another situation out on the lawn which you're not supposed to do but given that we had stuff roped to the top, I didn't want to leave it out in front of the motel overnight)

Cargo Equipment: $370

• 1 set of crossbars: $120 + $30 shipping, on Amazon U.S.
• 1 roof rack: $109 + $70 shipping, on TradeMe
• 2 ropes: $7.50 (with buy 1 get 1 50% off deal)
• 2 cargo nets: $18 (with buy 1 get 1 50% off deal)
• 2 2-pack of ratchet tiedown straps: $15 (with buy 1 get 1 50% off deal)

Pavlova Paradise and Chinese Lantern Festival

I've been having several spurts of entrepreneurial activity and thinking and trying to pass it along to others whom it might help, and it really is infectious. I don't think the students who hole up in their rooms or in the library and don't interact much with anyone else quite understand that they are missing out on all kinds of valuable learning experiences. To me, going to university is about so much more than studying and writing papers and passing tests: it is one of the only times you will be in an environment packed with learning opportunities (visiting professors and businesspeople, like-minded and un-like-minded peers) where you have the time and energy to do deep thinking and wrestle out ideas with others, to have people disagree with you and force you to defend yourself or change to adapt to new information. Plodding along is certainly one way of going to college, but such a poor experience and value for your money compared to really taking advantage of so many resources in one place.

On that note, several of us attended a public lecture by Austin Mitchell, who is famous for writing The Half Gallon Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise in 1972, which is a satirical look at New Zealand culture, and then a sequel called Pavlova Paradise Revisited in 2002. It was so heartening to see the lecture theater packed out. I arrived late because of getting off work late and had to sit in the sound booth room at the back crushed with a bunch of other latecomers. Mitchell is British but spent some time in New Zealand as a lecturer in history and sociology. He had a great character and captivated the audience. After discussing some of the disturbing trends since the 1980s deregulation and privatization, he ended by saying that New Zealand should use its small size to its advantage, not to be anti-intellectual but to push for using things like television and documentaries to educate its populace and make positive change. He inspired me to want to read his books, and it was heartening to hear that New Zealand used to be better even if it has declined since the mid 20th century. He challenged academics to get out in the public eye and not just write articles that few will read, which is something I have been thinking a lot about, especially with Digital Humanities' call for open access rather than pay-walled content available only to the privileged. Afterward, there was a hang-out where they gave everyone free pavlova (like an airier angel food cake) and we continued the intellectual discussion with our friends. To me, that evening was the stuff universities should be made of and encouraging. 

At the university's clubs day, I met several American students here on exchange, and it was fun talking about U.S. politics (more commiserating) and explaining some things about New Zealand. I like the immediate sense of camaraderie I can establish with most other American students here. You already have something in common and can launch into almost any topic without hesitation. It makes me feel old hat since I've been here for over a year. I also met a Canadian recently and we got along immediately.

We gave up on trying to mow the lawn ourselves and paid a lawn-mowing guy who left his business card in our mailbox to decimate it and trim around all of the overgrown edges. One of the best uses of $30 I've spent. It was done so fast and saved us a bunch of time and back-breaking work. I can't believe how much time, energy, and money people who have lawns spend to maintain them. When the water supply goes, I hope lawns will too. Xeriscaping is easier for everyone!



The Chinese Lantern Festival in Hagley Park turned out to be way more popular than the organizers anticipated. It was the most crowded event we've been to here, and a later newspaper article said it had 30,000-50,000 people (anticipated 20,000) over the two nights it ran. We met up with our Chinese friends and I suggested some business ideas they might want to look into beyond fighting for the few spots in academia, which excited them. It was hard to see the stage from the way back where we were, but we could hear the drums and the famous Chinese rock band, and then there were fireworks at the end. The lanterns in and around the trees were cool, too.

 

 

 

Valentine's Day Earthquake and Aftershocks

Although there is not much in the way of "New Zealand cuisine" to serve visitors, we have taken to buying a few products that we have found to be unique to New Zealand, or at least tastier versions of what you would normally buy in the U.S. Unfortunately, a lot of them are full of sugar!

• L&P soda, a lemon-y kind of ginger ale
• Fresh Belgian chocolate milk (like drinking a luscious chocolate bar)
• Honey (most famous is manuka, but other flavors are unique because of the trees in the area)
• Hokey pokey ice cream (hokey pokey is just caramelized sugar pieces, but it is so good)
• Whittaker's chocolate (amazingly good chocolate with no additives)
• General dairy items like full fat cheese, milk, and cream
• Gold kiwis (sweeter and much easier to eat than green kiwi fruit)

Our car failed its recent Warrant of Fitness (WOF) test so had to be taken in for repairs. We opted to go to a AA shop this time (similar to AAA) and I felt a lot better than some of the other places we've taken it to. Unfortunately, while attending the Asian Noodle Market and Sparks fireworks in Hagley Park, someone(s) decided to break into our car parked in a residential area and steal the new Bluetooth speaker in the glove box. Thankfully, I had taken everything else out before our trip to Australia, so that's all the jerks found. A lot of the police were managing the park, so I assume people thought it was a prime time to go around to all of the hundreds of cars parked around the area. I reported it to the police for statistical purposes, but since our car's speakers finally gave out, now we have no means of playing music or audiobooks in the car.

There have been a few summer days hot enough for us to turn on the A/C for the first time since we've been here (the heat pump is also an A/C). Since it isn't terribly expensive to have it on for a few hours, we have chosen not to suffer when the house gets up to 26-28 C (79-82 F) and turn it on occasionally. What can I say? Americans like their comfort.

I stumbled upon an expat migrant website for New Zealand where people who used to live here detail their negative experiences and warn others that NZ isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's nice to know you're not alone, but we still have a ways left here, so I don't think I'll dwell on that site. I also went to a training session at school where a Pasifika woman gave a presentation on how different island cultures look at the world differently, and that this often impacts how they can fit into a society and university built on an independent, autonomous, and individualistic way of operating. She said that their cultures value interdependence and caring about others before yourself, and that studying for an exam alone and having to push aside concern for anything currently happening with your friends or family just isn't right to them. It was a lot of food for thought and made me think what a loss it is that these kinds of worldviews are considered less than and not shared with the dominant culture, which could use more compassion and empathy in many of its relationships, from business to family ones.

Valentine's Day Earthquakes

But the big news around here has been the Valentine's Day earthquake and aftershocks. The first one hit around 1:30pm and was a 5.8 off the coast of Christchurch and shook the house for quite a while (in quake terms, I'd say it was about 10-15 seconds). We had been in the kitchen cleaning out the pantry and our cat bolted into the bedroom and went under the bed, staying there all day. Then there were aftershocks, then lulls about every hour. There was even one while I was just falling asleep. Can’t escape them! I was quite scared and just when I would be settling down, another one would come. Most were off the coast which is not far from where we live in the east, so we really felt them. I just don’t feel safe in this country with their poor infrastructure. The earthquake was big enough to hit international news. The cliffs in Sumner had some falling sides and kicked up a ton of dust, so of course that was what made the news. There were 83 quakes on Valentine's Day alone.

Earthquake knocked second layer of books off shelf

The rest of the week we had aftershocks that we could feel at least once a day. While we were at an open-air Shakespeare play of Hamlet, there was another one, and it was the first time I had been sitting on grass during an earthquake. Admittedly, it was a lot less scary because you're outside and it feels like a rumble but you don't have a creaky house making all sorts of noises to put you in panic mode. But just as the aftershocks had finally stopped for a few days, there was another big one (4.3) that woke most of the city up at 3:30am on February 29th. It's hard to get back to sleep when your adrenaline kicks in. I can definitely see why people left the city and were tired of putting up with all of the commotion.

Open-air performance of Hamlet

Willowbank Wildlife Reserve

On our visitors' final day in New Zealand, we went to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve, which we hadn't been to before, and which is supposed to be the best place to see kiwis around here. It was a good experience and we were able to see lots of native New Zealand birds and other animals. The kiwi enclosure was quite large and we saw three kiwis moving around! One was right next to the gate. They're nocturnal and the enclosure was a quiet zone in low red light, so no pictures. We also got to see pukeko chicks for the first time -- pukeko are one of my favorite birds here, so that was a real treat. I would definitely recommend Willowbank for those who like wildlife and want to see some kiwis while they're in New Zealand.

Cape Barren goose

Pukeko

Pukeko chicks

Wallaby

Paradise duck

Golden Pheasant

Otters

Kunekune pig

Kunekune pig

Peacock

Llama

Long-finned Eel

Crested Pigeon

Black Swan

Kea Parrot

Mushrooms

Tuatara Lizard

Extinct Moa birds

Duck and ducklings in the parking lot