Chenda's Corner 17Aug.2011

Hi Everyone!

We've been working hard cracking the whip with the kids to create all these posts and really appreciate the feedback.  Keep them coming, and if you haven't commented, what's keeping you!  They (we) like to get the feed back and know that someone is reading.  It's good motivation. 

We could really use some motivating factors (besides mom and dad) right now that we're on our 3rd snow day and the roads are clearer, but not clear enough for school to commence.  But atleast the awesome New Brighton Library is open today!!  We've had to take lots of cold beach walks to get our ya-yas out the last 2 days when the only choices in work spaces were a warm "lounge"(our living room with the heat pump output), or the rest of the cold, drafty house.  I think Sarah described it to the "bare bulbs" in her last entry. Needless to say, we've been hanging out a lot on the couches in the lounge-together!

 Homes rarely have central heating here, even the more modern contruction focus heating each room, not whole homes.  They are big on plug in space heaters, electric heating pads, and radiant towel wracks (not insullation).  We've found these heating choices in all the rentals and hotels we've stayed at, even the nicer ones!  Only large commercial buildings or highrises have central heat.  Kind of weird when you consider the energy usage, etc. 

We're working hard on finding another home, but there is quite a shortage in furnished rentals for our time period in this area.  Fortunately, the weather can't get any worse than it's been with the blizzard conditions, quite unusual weather for all of NZ.  It's late winter, almost spring here, so sunshine, sometimes a little rain, and budding trees are the norm, but not now. We are buddling up to go outside while the rest of you are enjoying warm summer heat.  So, the house might be where we have to stay for the duration.  The good news is, that the living conditions of the house improve the longer we live in it.  It's all relative!

The kids have visited a school and we'll try to have then attend regularly, but unlike the states and parts of Europe, they require a work visa(a parent has to have one..) for it to be free. -Didn't know this before we arrived. I should have read the fine print better. I just figured that we would be accepted bc. we have a rental contract and we live here... and "all children in NZ are entitled to free schooling".  Without a work visa, we would have to pay international tuition which is 5-7K per semester per child.  Which doesn't really fit into our budget.  We're trying to find a way to get a work visa, but you need a sponsor and job offer already and then it takes a few weeks after pages of paperwork.  So we're taking the visitor route for now and the kids are allowed to "visit" for 2 wks before things get really complicated. 

I'm trying to get the kids involved in some extracircular activities and have found a swim club that they are all trying out for this evening.  Less a tryout and more of an assessment to see which levels they would go into.  Mia and Zander have made the squad that is training now, but Kayley and Sarah's squad doesn't start til the club's pool opens up again next month due to earthquake dammage repairs.  We'll see if we are able to make life work in the Brighton area. 

That's all for now. 
Miss you all,
Chenda