This week marks our 8th week at "home" in Queenstown, NZ. Some big developments this past week to share!
Alert Level 2
This week New Zealand further relaxed its covid19 restrictions and moved down to Alert Level 2. Some headlines of what that looks like on the ground:
All lines of business (essential & non-essential) can now open, with specific safety parameters in check
Stores can re-open and shoppers can physically enter stores (with social distancing in place)
Restaurants & bars can open for dine-in, seated customers (not just dine-in/takeaway anymore), with limited capacity and social distancing
Schools will re-open next week, after being closed for 8 weeks
You can socialize beyond your immediate family bubble, up to 10 people total
You can travel between regions for recreation/tourism
Social distancing continues, as does broad scale testing and tight border controls
Favorite Jacinda quote of the Level 2 announcement: "Keep it small, keep a safe distance and be kind."
Doug & the girls watched Jacinda Ardern deliver the Alert Level 2 news live on TV. I was out for a long walk and when I came back, Paige talked me through all that I had missed. She had even taken notes, so as not to miss anything! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree :)
Playdates - Woo Hoo!
As a result, the girls have been able to play with other children again! There is a family that lives behind us on the property in an amazing self-built "tiny home". They have two young girls, Lani (6 yrs old) and Mika (4 yrs old). They've lived on the property for about a year, as the Dad, Paulie, helps out around the property with construction projects & the like. We'd only had a chance to casually say hello to Paulie & Janie and their girls from afar these past 8 weeks. But for the first time this week we could actually get closer and hang out! The girls immediately clicked and almost every day this week they've gone off for hours on end together. They play on Erika & Andrew's small playground together, climb trees, rake leaves and occasionally play inside one of our places. It's incredibly sweet! It's also a lovely reminder of how amazing kids are at opening up to meeting new people and bonding through play. What a gift to have them as neighbors! We're super excited to get to know them better in the coming months. To that end, we continue to feel incredibly grateful to have snagged this rental home and - as a result - to have been connected to a lovely support network/community of Kiwis in these two families (including Erika, Andrew & Tomas who own the property & lettuce farm).
QPS Tour
Hands down the most exciting development of the week involves schooling for the girls! Prior to easing restrictions down to Level 2, we had casually asked Andrew & Erika about the neighborhood schools. Our thought was that for whatever amount of time we stay here, it would be amazing to get the girls enrolled into a local school. They've been out of a traditional school setting for the better part of the last year, learning remotely through the online [homeschooling] curriculum we've used for their 3rd (Paige) and 1st (Sadie) grades. As amazing as they've done with that set-up, we know they would benefit tremendously from being back in a school setting, challenged with new/exciting ways of learning, socializing with kids, etc. Having still no idea when we'll return to the US or where we'll live when we do, it will also benefit us to show that they've been enrolled in a school here for a good chunk of their 2nd academic year out of the US. Loads of benefits to getting them into a local school and making the most of whatever time we have here in NZ.
Andrew & Erika were familiar with both local school options, as their son Tomas had attended Shotover a few years back, and is currently at QPS (Queenstown Primary School). Erika immediately offered to make an introduction for us to both schools. Within a day we had emails from each school addressing our specific situation. We learned that Shotover (the darling "zoned" primary school in this neighborhood) would not be an option for us because we're not here on an official student visa or the like. Fortunately, though, we learned that QPS regularly accepts International students and had spots available. Score!
NZ schools officially open back up on Monday, May 18th, so this past week teachers & administration were prepping to re-open the schools. We were fortunate to arrange a QPS school tour on Friday morning with the Deputy Principal (aka Assistant Principal), Matt. We had already talked to the girls quite a bit about the possibility of us getting them enrolled in a local school. Every time we'd talk about it, they were super excited!
This K-8 school is completely different than any they've known or attended; literally night & day versus their elementary school experience back in New York City. Their public school in NYC had just over 600 kids and was housed in a 5-story compact building. This school has no stairs (!) and all facilities are one single story, sprawling & sprinkled amidst several playgrounds, fields, gardens and the like. The whole school has one hour for lunch/recess, at the same time. There's no cafeteria! Kids eat outside (even in Winter) and then head straight off to play wherever they want. They have a school-wide "morning tea" (aka snack) break. Backpacks and jackets are hung on hooks outside (on the exterior of the building under an overhang). For a girl who grew up schooled largely on the East Coast, it was like a foreign land. For Cali boy, Doug, it was exactly what he grew up with. And of course it sits nestled in the gorgeous backdrop of Queenstown hills, with the lake and downtown shopping area just a short walk away. It's akin to a fairy tale setting, really.
It was a very surreal experience to be surrounded by other people while we were on the school tour. Like the rest of the world, we haven't interacted with people in any meaningful way for almost 8 weeks! To all of a sudden be walking around school, greeting teachers & staff, and speaking in relatively close proximity, was totally trippy.
Suffice it to say, no where else in the world would we feel comfortable to do this. We have a foot in two worlds. One foot is in New Zealand, an island nation who has taken tight control, instated clear restrictions and impressively controlled the coronavirus. That's not to say it's completely eradicated from the country; the virus is bound to creep back in waves. But largely, NZ has been hugely successful in keeping its inhabitants safe & healthy, health resources available and the virus at bay. We find ourselves in an extremely fortunate situation versus most other places in the world, and for not one moment in any day is that lost on us. We feel incredibly grateful every single day.
Our other foot is in the United States/other global countries, where all the people we immensely care about are settled and waiting out the virus. Their day-to-day reality includes countless signals of the gravity of coronavirus in a way that we just do not see here in NZ. Our concern is sky high, and yet there's so little we can do from here.
The girls are super excited about starting school. They're also naturally a bit nervous. They did great at the tour, engaging with the Deputy Principal and asking questions. The big day is tomorrow!
Sal's and School Shop
Immediately following the QPS school tour we grabbed some lunch in town. After much debate we opted for pizza from Sal's, claiming authentic New York City pizza in NZ! We made our order, picked it up for takeaway and found a nice sunny patch over at Frankton Beach. We all scarfed down the pizza as if we hadn't seen food in days. The first slice or two were good-ish. But then we all just felt gross at the end! Greasy pizza overload. As far as NY slices go, it was a pretty good showing. But I think we're done with takeaway pizza for awhile.
Bellies overfull, we then headed back to a shopping area to get school essentials. With the girls starting on Monday, we needed to stock up on essentials like backpacks, lunch boxes, water bottles and the like. They will be wearing school uniforms (yay!) so fortunately we didn't have to get much in the way of additional clothing. After almost a year of having all our minimal belongs fit in one carry-on luggage bag each, it felt very odd (and naughty) to be filling shopping carts with stuff, stuff and more stuff. As Doug put it, "my soul has broken" :) We got what we needed (and then some), and both felt glad we'd been out of the shopping loop for so long. Didn't miss it one bit!
Back at home that night Doug led the girls through a few dry runs with their lunchboxes and water bottles, making sure they knew how to snap/unsnap everything. After a few tries, they were good to go!
Parent/Teacher Conferences
Earlier in the week we held Parent/Teacher conferences with the girls :) There was a form they had to fill out for each of their two main subjects (Math and Language Arts). They had to fill out three GLOW (things they do well) and three GROW (things they need to keep working on/improve). From a teacher standpoint we did the same. Then we took turns talking about our answers 1:1. It was quite a neat exercise.
Notable Eats/Cooks
A few stand-outs from this week in the cooking/eating department. Paige took down delicious slow roasted sweet potatoes for both breakfast & dinner (with side of roasted brussel sprouts). Doug whipped up a ridiculously tasty & rich leek/bacon/peas/cream pasta. Paige concocted a lunch of leftover roasted veggies & tortilla over a bed of cabbage.
Sadie is a huge fan of eggplant. They're hard to come by here. Doug found one on his last shopping trip and ponied up $5 for one! Sadie & Doug researched yummy recipes and came up with this tasty end result.
NZ Hikes
Two new hikes this week . . . One around the perimeter of nearby Lake Hayes, and the other over on Skippers Road (an old gold mining area).
Never one to disappoint, New Zealand churned out gorgeous views all around!
Tomorrow is the girls' big first day of school! Excitement (and a healthy dose of nerves) is running high for all of us! It's a milestone day during our time here in NZ. Will report back soon enough. xoxo
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