Gas prices are freaking high. We just put gas in the car and it was $3.35 PER LITER. To get to $ per gallon, you need to multiply by 3.785. That means that it was $12.68 per gallon!

Still can’t get away from Trump’s nonsense. 

Bekah and Quinn are excited because they have students from Hong Kong visiting their school this week. Bekah is a designated "buddy" and will get to do a special presentation of Poi and go on a field trip to see the Māori carvings on a sailing trip. I'm jealous!

We have a lemon tree, an orange tree, and a feijoa tree in our yard. These are feijoas! It's a very strange little fruit that I can't quite describe. The internet says they have a "unique, aromatic tropical flavor described as a blend of pineapple, strawberry and guava with a tangy or slightly minty, perfumed aftertaste." I'm not sure how I feel about them yet but I bet they'll make a great crisp!

Bekah went sailing on the lake with a friend from school. Just the two of them! Okay, friend's dad was following in a bigger sailboat but still! 

Quinn and I went to a cat shelter above an op shop (thrift store) to cuddle cats. Quinn's favorite was "Smudgy" who was the cuddliest cat I've ever seen. Afterwards, we went out for a decadent iced chocolate. 

Finally able to get our library card!  The library here is so cool. Aren't libraries great??

I made some apple crisp because it's autumn here, baby!

Sometimes, when you feel a bit homesick, you don’t know you feel homesick until some small thing makes you cry. 

When I was on my NZ exploration trip, I realized one night that I’d forgotten my bathing suit at the last Airbnb and I just broke down. It was obvious that I was crying about more than just a swim suit - I missed my family.

We moved from a fully furnished rental into a more permanent unfurnished place over the weekend. I decided that starting a load of new-to-us thrift store dishes would be a good start. As I opened the dishwasher, the door smacked into the drawer pulls 3/4 of the way open and the emotional dam burst. The homesickness hit me like a tsunami. I took the handles off the drawers so we could do dishes and tried to keep going. I wish I could say that it passed quickly but honestly, I’m still recovering. 

I asked Chris through tears this morning if I could be the one to have intense feelings today. Of course he said yes and of course he bought a drawer pull so we can still use the drawers and the dishwasher. 

I found jalapeños at the farmers market! Jala-llujah!

It has been so much work getting set up at the new (long term) rental since we're going from a furnished place to an unfurnished one, but at least there's a glorious view from the kitchen. 

I had to take off work today because 3/5 of our family was sick. Not sure if it's the NZ germs or the kids being in school for the first time, but this illness got us good. Chris was down for the count starting last night and when he wasn't any better by morning, I figured it wasn't likely he could care for sick kids in his state. I felt a bit guilty calling out but work was understanding. Their response reminded me of the health department where I used to work. They were always so kind and never made me feel like I was putting them out by needing a day off for illness or to take care of sick kids. 

So today I took care of kids, cleaned the house (hoping to avoid the other 2 of us getting sick), washed and hung all the laundry to dry (did I mention that we don't have a dryer?), and stacked wood at the new house- which was A LOT of wood because like many Kiwi homes, it is primarily heated by a wood burner. 

Please note the size of the wood pile in relation to recovering sick kid #1. 

My body must not be fully adjusted to New Zealand yet because just as it's getting cold here, I've started craving iced coffee - which is usually what I switch to in spring in NC. I bought a French press because it's versatile enough to do both cold brew and hot coffee.

New Zealand has an incredible coffee culture. Their flat whites are out of this world! But, fun fact, it's incredibly common to drink instant coffee at home! And if they don't drink instant, they fancy it up with "plunger coffee." Which, despite conjuring up thoughts of toilets to all Americans, is just French press coffee. 

Behold! My plunger… coffee!

They don't have dill pickles here! Fortunately, I was able to obtain some dry dill (took some searching!) and have been able to make some delicious refrigerator pickles. 

The girls and I volunteered with an aid station for the IronMan in town. It was a lot of fun to cheer on the runners!

Ironman is tomorrow and the whole town is buzzing with people - so many bikers, runners, and swimmers. I could barely get to work this morning because the road was closed and the bike path was full of people training!

One thing I did not have on my list of "kiwi things I'll need to adjust to" was all the new-to-me abbreviations, British spellings, and NZ terminology. 

1/52 is one week

2/12 is two months

3/7 is 3 days

"Follow ups" are "reviews"

Oedema is edema

Diarrhoea is diarrhea

Bowel opening is bowel movement

Bloods = labs

ACC is accident compensation corporation (government insurance that covers accidents for everyone in NZ)

WINZ is work and income NZ (similar to DHHS)

There are just so many. It's like learning a new language. 

Tamariki get free dental care while at school. Tamariki is the Māori word for children. A dental bus comes and provides care for everyone who has opted in. 

Today we went to Hot Water Beach at the lake. The geothermal energy in this area makes the sand hot and the shallow water as hot as a hot tub. You could see the steam rising from the water's edge as we walked up! The kids were pretending it was too hot to stand on the beach - but we did find you had to be a bit careful letting your feet sink into the sand in the shallows as it was quite hot!