A year

Two years and a week ago I was attending my 10 year high school reunion and feeling a bit lost.

KW, KH, AP: SDA 2002

Two years ago I was in Spain, first by myself, then with strangers on a tour bus, then with close friends. Who would have thought that two years down the line my whole life would be different?

Two years ago I met a man who improves me in almost every way possible. Two years ago I started the longest relationship in my life.

One year ago I moved across the world to live in a country I had never visited before. One year ago I took a chance and put my faith into the unknown.

So what is a typical day in my new life like? After trying to sleep in as much as possible after Guy has left, I hop on my bike and go to work. Recently it has been cold. Like super cold. Like holy cow I have never dealt with constant coldness like this before. But I am trying to be a trooper and not let it get to me. My biggest rule of thumb is that I will not bike to work unless it is at least 1° C (33° – 34° F). I rug up as much as possible with gloves, scarves, beanies and a jacket. My biggest saving grace is that bike warms up my soul and I don’t feel the numbing effects of the wind, as much.

Then it is off to work. I had a month off of bumming around Christchurch when I first got here but then I got a full time job at an Insurance Company. I was told from the recruitment company I’d only be here for three months which is why I agreed to it. Because... insurance, c’mon. But I have been here for 11 months. I have learned heaps and consider myself partially a hero in helping people rebuild and repair their homes from the Christchurch earthquakes in 2011 and 2012. After 8 hours of moving spreadsheets around and talking to strangers on the phone I bike home (only 70% of the time is it raining).

Then I pet Ness. Think about dinner and wait for Guy to get home. Then it’s the gym, a home-cooked meal, an episode of our current TV show (Orange is the New Black, Game of Thrones, True Blood, House of Cards, etc), a shower and bed. Nothing else too exciting but I am starting to love my rut.

Sleeping in a sunbeam

Only a few things could improve my rut, number one being friends. I do have a few close people I can count on here in Christchurch but not nearly the same friend and family support group I had back home. The hardest part about making new friends is that a deep dark part of you feels like you’d be forgetting the old friends. I often think about those back home. More often than I’d like to admit. I think about old friends’ faces, laughs, habits, clothes, drinks of choice, their significant others, their pets. And I miss it all. Sometimes these beloved friends message me and I get so sad about how much I miss them I don’t respond right away. Then I feel I am ignoring them and that makes me so sad. It is a vicious sad-cycle I have put myself in. The time difference doesn’t help either. I find myself pushing away those I love so much because it hurts to have them so far away. Does this happen to all 30 year olds? Life is hard when you have so much love in your heart and no outlet besides a select few. I’m sure Ness is being cuddled more than ever here in NZ.



But don’t get me wrong, this past year has taught me so much about myself and what I can do and what I love. I can bake and cook awesomely. Some primo dinners I can whip up are tacos, spaghetti sauce, cottage pie, fried rice, all from scratch. Same goes for my baked goods: apple pie, gluten free banana cookies, lemon poppy cake, moist chocolate cake/cupcakes. I’m a pro at this. My co-workers get to try most of my creations and I brag to say that my baked goods are the first to be gobbled up during shared morning tea. I also am getting better at going to the gym! Guy is a huge support in that, encouraging me to go even if all I want to do is curl up and cry or eat an entire bag of chips. Likewise I drag his bum to the gym with me, especially if he has had a bad day at work. I also have come to realize how much natural beauty there is in the world and how special it can be. New Zealand is chock full of beautiful scenery, almost so much that you can start to take it for granted. Oh that? An amazing valley with a stream surrounded by tall mountains capped in snow? Eh. Sheer cliff walls meeting the ocean in a chaotic frenzy? Whatevs. Wide open skies filled with fluffy clouds, strong shades of blue with a horizon of dark rain clouds threatening to keep you indoors that evening while you snuggle up and watch a movie? It happens. The nature here is outstanding. I want to share this special place with everybody, so come see me. It is just too bad that it is so damn expensive to get here from basically anywhere.

Oh and the wine. Have I talked about the wine here? I like the local wine more than I like the local beer here. Never thought I’d say that but it is true. At social events I’ll still go towards beer but more often than not I am grabbing for a glass of Sav after a long week. Wine, whine, wine. All in a typical week.

Oh and kiwifruit. It is not that big of a deal in the states but here it can be so very cheap. Sometimes $1/kilo! (Use google conversions to help you realize what a deal that is) Almost every day I have half a cup of oatmeal with a chopped up kiwifruit in it. This is probably one highlight to my day. The fruit gets all warm and is perfectly tart and sweet. Go to your local grocery store and buy a couple. They are magical. I want a kiwi fruit tree. And a lime tree.  Lime prices are out of control.

I feel the happiest and healthiest I have ever been in my day-to-day life and I owe a lot of that to my most favourite guy, Guy. Moving across the world to be with him was the right thing to do and I am grateful that I went for the risk. I am grateful that my family and friends, even though it was hard to let me go, encouraged me to follow my heart. I am where I need to be.

And now, this chapter of my life can be officially entitled “New Zealand.” I don’t know what the next chapter will be but I know that I am glad that I started it. I’ll try to update more often but no promises. I miss you all already. I will be in California from September 25th – October 5th. I want to hug you so let’s meet up.

The Pattison's and Guy

Ann & Guy's Southern Road Trip VIDEO!

December 2013 - January 2014

A thought smattering

It is high time I post.  So here is a smattering of thoughts I complied for you.

Thought 1:

It still sends my head spinning to remember I am the one with an accent.  Every now and then when Guy and I are at the grocery store shopping I see people looking over their shoulders to me, and I realize I am the foreigner.  I am the thing that doesn’t belong when you play the game “One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other.”  I have talked to Guy so much over the last year I don’t even notice his accent anymore, unless he says some silly phrase that makes no sense to my American mind. Which takes me into my next thought,

Thought 2:

My co-workers, two kiwi and one UK, had never heard of the word “Ta-Ta’s” to describe boobs.   Is it me?  Am I the odd one out?  I have just thought that calling boobs ta-ta’s is a fun childish way of talking about what is on chest of so many of us. 

Thought 3:

There is no ground turkey here.  Well if it is here, I have not found it yet.  The other day I suggested to Guy that we used ground turkey meat in our spaghetti sauce instead of beef mince for a healthier option.  He looked dumbfounded.  So when I went searching for it at the store I came up empty handed.  My theory is that were Americans have a Turkey section in the meat department and New Zealanders have a Lamb section.  Yes, America may have lamb section as well but I can guarantee it is not as big as the one here. 

Thought 4:

Kiwi fruit is great!  I love my gold kiwis.  They are sweeter than the green kiwi everybody knows back in the States.  The outsides of the fruit aren’t weird fuzzy and you can eat the whole thing whole if you like!  The skin doesn’t fuss up my tummy too much.  At the supermarket when you buy pre-packaged boxes of kiwifruit they include a kiwi spoon/knife!  One end is a knife to slice the fruit in half and the other end is a spoon to eat your fruit.  I have never seen anything like it.  The perfect tool for the job.  Especially if that job is to munch on five fruits in a row.  I am not ashamed to say that I have been hoarding the spoon/knifes, I use them to eat my yogurt, and get sad when one breaks in half. 

Thought 5:

Wind.  Everything is about wind when it comes to weather.  Everyone comments about the wind.  Which wind it is and where it is coming from and where it is going.  Some of the weather predictions that crop up on my forecasts:  Northeasterlies, Southeasterly breezes, the Nor'West, ESE high winds, Easterly winds, Rain.  That’s basically everything.  And with each of those various types of wind the common New Zealander know exactly what kind of weather to expect.  But I am not at the point yet!  The weather is wacky.  One day we will have dry warm sun which we hang the wash out to dry, open all the windows looking for a breeze, drink ice water to cool down.  18 hours later I am wiping rain off my glasses as I bike to work in my cute skirt and heels.  Then at the end of the work day the bright blue sky is out and I am needing my reserve scarf and gloves I keep in my bag to warm up my numb fingers.  Ugh.  At least you get to wear that cute raincoat almost all year-round. 

Thought 6:

Roll-on deodorant.  It is basically your only choice here.  There are a few options for stick deodorant but those are the cheap brands with terrible smells.  I finally gave in a bought a roll-on.  With summer approaching it is the best choice for everybody.

Thought 7:

This is unrelated to my move to NZ, but, I just became an Aunt for the first time!  What should Baby Pattison call me?  Aunt Ann?  Auntie Ann?  Auntie Annie? Aunt Annie?  Nothing seems to sound right.  Welcome to the world Alexander Carrig Pattison!

Thought 8:

Guy and I are planning a tour of the South Island for 10 days!  Ness goes into a cattery, which she’ll hate/love, we go into a campervan and have the best time ever.  I cannot wait!  I guess I need to learn to drive on the other side of the road.  I did promise Guy that.  Perhaps I will practice on empty roads somewhere out in the countryside.

Thought 9:

I have met a handful of people who type in the oddest way: they use the caps lock key to make capitol letters.  For example, if they are typing a sentence about how awesome I am, in the middle of their hunt’n’peck typing they click on the caps lock key to capitalize my name, Ann, instead of using the shift button.  Has anyone else seen this?  Is it a learned trait?  Is it a coping mechanism that somebody figured out to make capitals because they thought using two keys at once was hard?  This baffles me. 

Thought 10:

Here you can buy fireworks, four days out of the year from November 2nd to November 5th for Guy Fawkes Day.  We went up the hill to watch the fireworks that the city puts on and were happily entertained by the small bursts of light from all the houses below across the city.  I am just amazed that no large fires happened.  The downside is that people buy fireworks during that time but then keep them around for longer so you randomly hear fireworks during the November and Decembers months.  

Thought 11:

I love my boyfriend.  I love my cat.  I miss my family.  I miss my friends.  I miss my work friends.  I feel like I am in an isolated bubble with the knowledge that there is a bubble very far away whose life is going on without my bubble.  Once it was such a large bubble.  I thought it would be easy to keep in touch.  Write emails all the time.  Skype.  Send photos.  I vaguely know what is going on back in the States but my life seems to be moving so quickly here that I don’t have much time to reflect which is why this blog post has taken so long to write.  It is hard to express the feelings I have for everybody back home because if I think about them too much my heart grows sad and I feel lost.  It has been easier to keep everybody at a distance.  The time/day difference helps too.  Thankfully Guy is a great rock to my wandering sad heart, reminding me of my adventure and how brave I am to try something completely new.  My life here is blessed but even when hard times approach and pass you are once again reminded how wonderful so much of your life is. 

Thought 12:

I cut my hair off.  It feels AMAZING.

My article on Stuff.co.nz

The other day my work email was down so I spend quite a bit of time on the Stuff, which is New Zealand's biggest news wesbite.

I found a prompt entitled "The day that changed my life" so I felt compelled to submit an entry since my life had recently been changed.  Little did I know that it would be published an hour later and remain on the front page for a full 24 hours.  Here is the link to the article.  Enjoy.

The Day That Changed My Life

by Ann Pattison

The Last Installment of the Epic Story “The Cat Who Cost Too Much”

The final cat blog, I promise (maybe)

Well it has all finally happened.  Ness is here in New Zealand with me.  After spending three months at “sleep away summer camp” with a few good Tia’s.  After several vet visits and with a tearful eye, she was left with the pet transporter in her carrier ready for the biggest adventure of her life.  And the most expensive adventure too. 

Looking out the bedroom window to all her bird friends

Her flight left late on Monday and arrived in Auckland early Wednesday.  Then another flight from Auckland to Christchurch.  The same route I took three months earlier.  The night Ness was to fly into Auckland the Canterbury plains experienced some of the craziest weather ever.  It was warm outside.  Perfectly warm.  But the wind.  So much wind!  Bins (aka trashcans) were flying down the street.  I saw bikers struggle to bike against the wind.  I swear I saw the telephone pole outside our room sway in the breeze.  Needless to say I got nervous.  I didn’t know which flights Ness was on so I couldn’t track anything and I wouldn’t be picking her up from the airport since Quarantine would be whisking her directly to her cell for 10 days.

On Wednesday mid-morning I finally got the call on a fussy cell connection saying that Ness was safely in Quarantine with no delayed flights.  Somehow she managed to miss all that crazy wind by a couple of hours!  Ah the relief.  Ah the excitement of buying a lot of kitty stuff in a market I know nothing about.  It is hard to buy stuff when you have no concept of brands.  It leads to me just staring at shelves of products reading descriptions over and over.  Thankfully there is a pet store close to where I work and they got to know me pretty well.  A nice worker practically held my hand and showed me various kinds of cat food, litter boxes, litter, toys, treats, everything.  He even indulged me with letting me play with a pup labradoodle named Charlie.

Guy and I knew that we wanted to visit Ness at least once while she was in Quarantine.  I called and I called and I called trying to set up a time to come see Ness.  No answer.  No one was picking up.  Guy tried to call to set up a time.  No answer.  Oddly enough Guy was more panicked than I was.  Thankfully he and his colleagues put two and two together and realized Quarantine did not have power because of the storm.  The wind had downed a lot of trees cutting off power to many people in the countryside.  I called the cell phone number that called me when Ness arrived and lo and behold they still didn’t have power three days later but they had a generator to keep all the animals warm.  Sweet relief!

We visited Quarantine on Saturday.  Armed with a small bag of treats, a favorite toy, and a t-shirt that smelled like Guy and I, we found our kitty tucked up on a shelf in a small room that overlooked a beautiful garden area.  Ness was able to sit in sunshine (if the sun bothered to come out at all), listen to strange birds chirp, smell strange trees, and make best friends with sheep who were a stones throw away from her room.  But she chose sleep on a shelf, hidden behind a towel which was sheltering her from the scary new world around her.  She looked bedraggled and in need of a good cuddle and a good sleep.  I said hello to her and put my hand up for her to smell me.  Almost instantly she was nuzzling my hand trying to get pet all over while I was trying to hide the flood of tears welling up behind my eyes.  Guy and I sat down near her and she jumped down off her shelf to come be with us.  No lap sits but plenty of pets, scratches, and sniffing.  She was in heaven.  Her humans were back.  45 minutes passed in a blink of an eye and we had to leave.  I will never forget the look Ness gave me when we left the room.  I peered through the small window in the door to see the saddest kitty eyes seeming to cry out to me “WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME AGAIN”??!? 

How can you say "goodbye" to these eyes?

One week later we made the long drive back to bring Ness home.   She was packed up and ready when we got there and Guy drove Ness and I (who were both in the backseat) home.  I can’t lie, it did feel a lot like how bringing home a newborn might feel.  She meowed a LOT.  I quieted her down as much as I could.  She learned how to proper meow from her summer camp cat friend Tovah and was very chatty at the fact she was in her big carrier AGAIN in a moving vehicle.  Guy and I talked about how we were going to deal with a scared cat.  We tried to guess her hiding spots and how we might lure her out of them with promises of treats and lots of petting.  I carried her carrier into the spare bedroom where her litter box, food and water were and opened the door of the carrier.  This was the big moment.  What would she do...... She sniffed things.  A Lot.  Multiple times.  Guy and I watched her walk into every room and sniff every corner while we stayed in the spare bedroom.  After about 20 minutes of sniffing Guy and I decided to give her space and let her explore in her own time so we went for a long walk.  When we came back she was curled up on our bed.  Like nothing had ever happened.  We made dinner and sat to watch the news in the lounge.  She came right on over and sat down on a chair and fell asleep.  No scared cat!  It probably helped everything in the house already smelled of us and she loves us and our smell, but after 45 minutes she was at peace with her new life.  There was a lot of sniffing and sneezing of dust that first week but she settled in just fine.  Better than I ever could have predicted.  It was like the last four to five months never happened! 

New besties

Now we are a happy little family.  Guy loves having Ness about.  Often I find her curled up on his chest in bed getting a lot of pets.  She still seems starved for affection and worries when we both get ready leave the apartment.  She has always had a high amount of concern for me while I shower, so that hasn’t changed, but she can’t wrap her head around me reading in the bathtub.  That is a huge worry for her but she respects my space and sits outside the door as my guard kitty. 

I got her a food dispenser which the cat has to move a lever inside for the food to come out.  She eats one kibble at a time.  Her food/water is in the lounge, her litter box in the spare room, and her sleeping chair is in our room which all means she has to walk a lot.  Her bare belly is losing weight and it makes me feel like a good cat Mom (I try not to think she lost weight because of high amounts of stress).  She is a happy and healthy addition to our NZ home.  I couldn’t be happier with what I have when I go home.  A boyfriend who takes great care of me and a cat who dotes on my every move.  I am one lucky girl.  The only thing we don’t talk about in our apartment is how much this whole move cost.  I could not of had her furry body keeping me company without the love and support of so many people in my life.  Some people have asked me if I knew how much the whole move would have cost to have Ness in NZ, would I still do it?  And my answer is Yes.  Of course.  She means the world to me and her loving comfort is the embodiment of the love I left back in the States.  So when she is sleeping soundly in my I think of all my family and friends who made this dream possible. 

 

Thank you for my cat.  Thank you for helping my cat get to my lap, on the other side of the world.  Guy thanks you too.  So does Ness.  Stay tuned for a family Christmas portrait.

From Guy

Hello Everyone.

This time it is Guy (the Kiwi) posting.

It has been one hell of a ride for one pretty American girl so far. Here last post covered most of what has been going on (ever so briefly) but I get the feeling some of you are expecting more, i don't know . . . . epic-ness, from her travels.

To this end, I threw this together on Thursday night. Keep in mind, this just touches on the really epic stuff!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjKrudACP-Y

Working 9 to 5, well more like 8:45 - 4:45, or more like 8:45 - 16:45

This post has been a long time coming. I would like to give my good friend, Libby, a special shoutout for always having such a sad face on her when there is no new posts. I hope this, in time, will make up for the lack of posts.

Holy crap I got a job!

Backstory:
I spent 3 – 4 weeks enjoying unemployment. I slept in a lot. Found Guy and I an apartment. Settled into the apartment. Got things set up. Cooked. Watched Hulu. Slept in. Biked. Lots of biking. Lots of trips to the local library and to the grocery store where I would stare at the shelves of brands I don’t know. Then the money started to run out. I needed a job. I started to apply to almost everything I could, anything that sounded remotely interesting. But not once did I get any kind of callback for an interview. I was frustrated. Guy could tell so he recommended a couple of recruiting offices he used when he was job hunting awhile back. I signed up with two recruiters. With one I went into their office on a Tuesday. That Wednesday she said I had an interview on Thursday. I went to the interview which lasted MAYBE 12 minutes and I thought I bombed. Three hours later on that same Thursday I was told I was hired and started Monday. Like whoa. Made my head spin.

So where am I? What am I doing? Something completely and utterly different from SFDS. I am working 40hrs/week at an insurance company. My job is to schedule times for building assessments for properties that have been damaged in the Canterbury Earthquakes several years ago. I call people, make a time, put it onto quantity surveyor and loss adjustors calendars. That’s it. It is super easy. The atmosphere is pleasant. Several other temps on my team from all over the world. Flexible hours. I can listen to music on my ipod. It is only a 12 minute bike ride from my flat!

I like being able to have an income source and I am coming up on my first month of having all bills basically paid off. My weekday nights have become very boring but absolutely wonderful. Guy and I will go to the gym when we can, watch episodes of Community or True Blood, make yummy dinners, go to bed before 10pm. It is super wonderful to have someone to do the boring stuff with. And I am getting better (I think) at cooking! I made a curry from scratch the other day. Chicken with mash and peas last night. Cottage pie. Stir fry. Soups. Baked veg, mostly broccoli. Pork fried rice from a leftover pork roast.

I am happy to have more people to talk to in my daily life even if we are not talking about anything too interesting. Several of the girls on my team are in my position of just moving to ChCh (Christchurch) on a visa and are trying to make some monies. Most of the others are Kiwi’s from all over who are helping out with this temporary project of getting the earthquake damaged houses in check. They help me learn lots of new NZ stuff, here are some examples:

-“Quay” is pronounced “KEE” not “K-WAY”
-“Madras” (a street) is “Mad-Rass” not “Ma-Drus”
-“Speights” (a beer) is “Spa-Eights” not “Spa-Ights”
-“Good as gold” is an awesome phrase and can be used in most every situation
-Morning tea happens at 10:30am, be there
-Tuesdays are free-fruit days
-Tea is consumed more than coffee here
-Insurance call centers are noisy but amusing
-------I have learned that if a fridge breaks down the food inside is insured, assuming you have receipts for the food
-------If you have one ring covered you can only use the money to buy one ring, not two
-------Old people put in a lot of claims causing the claims handler to yell, loudly
-My eating cereal in my yogurt is weird but an awesome idea
-Coconut water is a starting trend
-Irish people have a tough time saying the word “thermal”

This job is supposed to end of November (also known as Thanksgiving) or around Christmas (also known as the Winter holiday break). I will be sad to see it go but if they asked I probably would not stay. Insurance is boring.

I miss my old work community. The Day School is all I have ever known as an office environment. I guess you don’t realize how good you have it until you are experiencing something else somewhere else. I often spend time thinking about what the kids are doing, wondering if I will remember any names when I visit, wondering if anybody will remember my name when I visit, and when I will visit. Many Day School people skyped me the other day and it warmed my heart to know how many people still miss me.