Sushi share

American ways and Kiwi ways sometimes clash. This became evident this week with a preschool egg hunt and a sushi share incident.









Mike went to Free Food and Fun Event at work late and saw that everyone had eaten and he saw that there was a huge pile of sushi left. Sweet! So he picks up and eats 8 pieces. On choking down on his 7th piece, a coworker whispers, "We each had only 1 piece." To which Mike is puzzled...


In America, it is recommended you share, but also there is a winner takes all policy for leftovers. In NZ, there is a huge emphasis on everything being exactly equal.

Another example,: the egg hunt at both the Boy Scouts and at the Montessori had exact limits on how many eggs you could gather ( 6 multivolred and 1 foil marshmallow egg) and 2 eggs each at Montessori. Why must it be equal? In America, there are winners and losers. That is part of what makes it fun. The competition.

This is just a cultural difference. I still vote that having 8 pieces of sushi leftovers or 36 eggs in an egg hunt just shows you are being smart and winning. Ha ha! Competitive aggressive American greed, some Kiwis would argue. But, as we all know, "Life isn't fair."

Kiwi Passover

Who celebrates Passover in Christchurch? A veritable United Nations of people!

At our table, we had a student from Virginia, a student from South Africa, a Kiwi originally from Amsterdam, and a local Sister nun from Interfaith group.

We also met people from England and Israel. Very cool!

I met a Bostonian Jew ( Framingham) who gave us the name of the best cafe for lox and bagels in town.

The Seder was at a Vineyard restaurant and the kids enjoyed matzah ball soup and playing with the other kids on the swingset, since it was 25 C outside.

Fall Egg Hunt

The leaves change, and it is cooler on the South Island now. Fall time is very pretty, and the garden city of Christchurch still has many flowers blooming.

A great time for an...Egg hunt? Sure! Easter is 1 week away.

We filled 400 American plastic eggs ( made in China) with cheap Lollies from the warehouse store and 3.5 kg of Choc, hard candy, and taffy later, all the eggs were loaded with treats and ready to go.

Kiwis are terrible with RSVPing to a party. I only had heard from 8 people, but 20 people showed up with their kids to the egg hunt.

Kiwis also were excited to have an egg hunt, since normally they hide 12 Choc marshmallow eggs in their backyard and call it an egg hunt.
One of the mums commented, " In America, you do everything bigger." Ha ha! So true!
We held the hunt at the MacIntosh Park two blocks from my house, and the kids loved it. Another party success!

Got time for a Quickie?

Love the NZ signs!

Here are two for the day:

And an inspirational one on the back of a bus.

Re:START scores big!

Looking for confetti cupcake pop tarts or some Lipton matzo ball soup mix? You can actually get some at the Cashel Mall Re:START shopping centre.

Getting there was a bit tricky, since it is 1 block away from the Red Zone, so we parked 2 blocks away and walked. The construction workers told us the easiest way to get to the restart mall was through a department store, so we walked through it- voila! Shopping centre reached.

The Importer store was made out of containers, which was cool. Zack insisted on getting Angry Birds gummies and some CapriSun drinks.

We got some matzo ball soup mix, some matzo, and matzo cake mix. A Passover Miracle to find Jewish food in Christchurch. :)

Restart mall also has some glancing clothes shops. Check out the cool shoes.

Feeling lucky?

More of the same All Right poster campaign from the city of Christchurch.

These are plastered all over billboards and bus stops where I live.

 Or this one?  The Earthquake and rebuild?  "I'm over it right now."

 Waiting for your bus?  Late to work?  Christchurch city council knows the traffic around the rebuild, will make you " a tad on edge this morning." And it's ALL RIGHT.

It's All Right Christchurch!

The latest mental health campaign signs are all over the city that validate you for feeling depressed, overwhelmed, and frustrated at times.

Thanks Christchurch! Now that I read the sign, I know know that living in Christchurch during the rebuild makes loads of people wacky.

I blame it on the orange cones and blocked roads everywhere....

Anyhow, in other exciting news, my locusts came in at the pet store today. I am giving a bugs science lesson Monday with the kids.

Girl Guide Biscuits and the Pinetum

Girl guide biscuit anyone?  Roadside booths were set up peddling biscuits for the girl guides, known in the states as girl scout cookies.

They come in Plain, Chocolate Dipped, and Mini Biscuits.  They cost $3.50!

Here are some pics of the guides, and one of the biscuit boxes held by Ben.


Then later in the afternoon, the kids and I headed off the the Hagley Park and ended up in the Pinetum, which is an arboretum filled with evergreen trees, many of which are 100 years old or more.  Nice big trees to climb on.

Then we went to the play area and enjoyed the mini castle and slides. A good Saturday break from all the unpacking at the house.

Love the wild expressions on Zack's face!  He very rarely poses, but rather goofs off for the camera.

Seal colony

We were driving on Route 1 down to Christchurch on Saturday when we spotted a giant colony of seals on the rocks.  Luckily, there was a scenic overlook turn off point, so I safely pulled over and those some pics.

Seals love sunbathing on rocks after a nice meal of fish.

There were tourist walking up to the seals to pet them, and they were surprised that the seals got aggressive.  This isn't sea world, people.  It's real untamed nature, so unless you want to become a hand sandwich, stay away from the wild beasts.  There were even cute baby seal pups on the rocky shore near their parents.

Celebration of the Kiwi Cow

Pak N Save is having a special festival this week,  for dairy and beef.

The signage is classic!

Cheesy, aye?  But very good prices, so celebrate and get some yogurt this week.

The ground was quaking, the steeples are were shaking...

What happens in Christchurch when the earthquakes occur? Apparently, the answer is that every steeple and clock tower fell off or were very badly damaged.

Every church and older building now has a beheaded look to it , as the steeples and clock towers are sitting on a support NEXT to the buildings to be repaired. Zack is constantly asking, " why is that broken? Why haven't they fixed it?" Every day...

The churches all took major damage, and even the sole synagogue in the area took damage. So, the quakes did a number on the religious structures in Christchurch, most of which were 100-200 years old.

In other news, Christchurch has a Starbucks! I finally enjoyed a nonfat latte and Zack sampled their macarons ( macaroons).

First day of school, again.

Here is Ben ready to learn, and Zack is skeptical. Zack went to St. Albans Learning Curves Montessori. Ben woke up with a smile on his face and excitement over his new school uniform.

We are still living in a hotel, waiting for our container to arrive from the north island. Mr. Purrsalot is living in our new rental house by himself right now.

South Island Ahoy!

The boys and I are undertaking a big move to Christchurch today. With our cat Me. Purrsalot, we are now boarding the InterIslander Ferry to Picton on the South Island. Then we will drive hours along the coast until we end up in Christchurch to meet up with Mike.
The container with our stuff arrives in ChCh ( Christchurch) on Mon or Tues.

We get to live in a hotel for a while, and kitten will live in our empty rental house for 3 days.

Too bad they haven't come up with a transport beam that can teleport us there instantly like on Star Trek. Oh well...some things have to be done the hard way.