3/23/2011

settling in

It seems that I have settled into my new homeland quite well. After all, it's been almost 5 years since I started on this new journey.

My new life has taught me many new things.

  • Kids can always melt your heart, no matter where you live.
  • It's pretty neat to live in the country that is first to see the sun come up each day.
  • The world won't end if I don't hear every word of dialog on tv shows--even with 'livepause' (tivo) I can't figure out some of the British words and expressions.
  • It takes some people more time to adjust to new things than others.
  • One won't actually die without coffee from a drip coffee maker
  • If I hadn't moved here, I would never have started a blog and met all my wonderful blog friends.
  • Cats aren't half bad to have as pets.
  • I'm pretty good at taking photos as long as the camera does most of the work.
  • I still miss sunrises. (No, I don't still long to see them--I still don't get up early enough.)
  • People show they care in surprising ways.
  • There are some very strange looking animals here and I'm glad I could see them.
  • If there's an American working in the kitchen, you can get 'iced tea' in a restaurant (thank you, Lone Star in Nelson!)
  • The beauty of this place still astounds me and I hope that never stops.
  • Photos of freshly fallen snow in blogland are much more appealing than my memories of slush and piles of plowed snow.
And all this show me that I'm never too old to learn new things (even at my age of 'older than dirt').




************************************************************************


I don't feel comfortable discussing my personal life on my blog and the culture shock has worn down a lot, so it seems I may be running out of things to share with you so often. No, I won't stop blogging here--it just means that my posts may be further apart than they have been.

I will, however, still be posting photos regularly to entice you to visit NZ on Photographing New Zealand (click for link)  and I will be trying to inspire the world more with the photos on incidental imagery (click for link) so be sure to stop by those blogs occasionally to see what I've been photographing.

9 comments:

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

Hailing fron US, Are you excited about the royal wedding?

I am not a royalist, but I do like a romantic story. Just hope it will last.

Can I tell you a confession? When William's mum Di was married, we were newly married and didn't have a TV. So we went to our friends place and had a party.

It was quite late when we got home. I was late the next morning, and I was due to submit some important documents.

I told the boss, my car broke down.

He said, half of the New Zealand's women car broke down that morning. He said, don't worry, my wife and my daughter's cars broke down too.

Arkansas Patti said...

I'm with you on the British accent. Some of the finest movies come from across the pond and I miss half of the dialogue.
Quite interesting things you have learned.
I too learned I was not a daily blogger though I tried and am now quite content to blog twice a week or so. Blog when you want, we will find you.

KB said...

I agree with you about the snow.

LisaDay said...

I am glad to hear you are settling into your home. I was quite shocked when I had the American version of 'iced tea'. Yuck.

LisaDay

Louis la Vache said...

Should you ever have a photo of a bridge - any definition of a bridge - «Louis» hosts Sunday Bridges. It publishes at 0001 hrs central Europe time each Sunday. Feel free to join in!

merinz said...

I remember being in North America and going to a British movie and being the only one in the theatre laughing! That is a weird feeling.

I am glad to hear that you feel very settled here now.

We are different here, maybe one of the side effects of living on an island and being relatively isolated from the rest of the world. Hence the village feel at time. eg Christchurch. Absolutely every NZer I have talked to either knows someone/has relatives/friends etc affected by the quake or with a quake story to tell.

Glynis said...

Change is hard but it sounds like adapting to it well. I agree about the snow. I am a new follower from say hi hop. Hope you can stop by http://momsinvent.blogspot.com/
and have a few laughs.

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

I didn't realize you'd been there 5 years -- you're a Native now almost. How come you can't have drip coffee there? Couldn't you order a pot? Not that I'd miss that enough to go back home or anything. Just curious.

I'll mark your photo blog on my google reader, b/c I usually go to it from this blog, now I'll do it the other way round.

betty-NZ said...

Thanks for your comments, my bloggy friends!

@LisaDay-What was shocking about the American version of ice tea?

@Sallie-I can get a drip coffee maker, but what's the point if you can't get good coffee to brew? No Folgers or Maxwell House here. Specialty coffees are good, I'm sure, but too expensive.