What I Miss

So yes, New Zealand is wonderful and it is a hard to think about leaving.  But, there really are things that I miss from home.  People are always asking me,  so here it is....

I really miss my family and hanging out at the cabin. Ah, the lake and a little boat time.  I miss seeing my niece and nephews growing up.

I miss the affordability of quality clothing, shoes, or just about everything else. And bargain shopping, especially Craig's List.  Pretty much any shopping... and I'm sure Target and Marshall's miss me.  I even miss grocery shopping, somedays I am so annoyed when I cannot find an ingredient like gorganzola cheese, pinto beans or butterscotch chips.  Good ice cream that doesn't cost a fortune.   And, a decent burger joint... cannot figure what they put in their burgers that make them so gross.   Could really go for a slice of Cosetta's pizza.  Pizza is edible here, but they need to learn the art of the simple pizza... you would be amazed with the crazy toppings even their Pizza Huts have here...and they serve fries (chips) with every kind of take out, Pizza and Chinese included.

I miss central heating, double glazed windows, window screens, and nice vacuum cleaner.  Or nice carpeting (even though I didn't have carpeting before, I still miss the look and feel of nice carpeting.. the stuff over here is just not good).   And, I miss seeing Matt Lauer's smile on the Today Show. After 6 months of no TV channels (only watching DVD'S), I do miss the television.   Probably because it is winter, and getting dark earlier... and the fact that we have exhausted the choices of cheap DVD's at the store.  Oh yeah, I really miss Net Flix.  And I miss having more than one radio station in my car.

I miss an oven with dials I can understand and that will cook my food properly.  And, of course, I miss my nice cookware ( Dad's of course).   I did manage to fit my cutco knives into my suitcase, though.   I really miss having a frig with an automatic ice dispenser.

And, the list goes on

More things I miss:

1.  Pedestrian courtesy.... seriously the most annoying thing here ever.  Drivers do not stop, or even slow down, to let people cross the road.  Including school cross walks!!!

2. Clothes dryer - most days I am fine hanging out the clothes, until it rains on them, or they don't dry... then I get frustrated. People here hang clothes all over the house on rainy days... I just can't do that.  Honestly though, I will probably miss the clothes line someday.

3. Family babysitters.... the kind you can leave your kids with without paying or for a few days at a time.  Just nice to have that option.   Oh yes, they also rarely say no and you can always get a hold of them.

4. Long, straight freeways and interstates.  Cruise control.   And guardrails on scary roads.

5. No tsunami warnings or potential earthquakes.

6. Water pressure

7. Degrees in Fahrenheit - getting closer to figuring out Celsius, but my heart and soul will always connect with fahrenheit better.  Same goes for pounds, gallons, and miles.

8. BRATWRUST

9.Knowing who to put down as an emergency contact.  Sure we have friends, neighbors, and co-workers...just feels weird not being able to list any family.

10.  Butter that comes in 1/2 cup sticks, or even a pound.  Here it comes in 500 gram blocks.  It's totally throwing me off.

11.  My motivation to exercise.  Don't know what happened, but I just can't get into a routine.  I thought I'd be 30 pound lighter by now, especially having a little extra time.   Maybe I'd better get off the computer.

and the list could go on, but that's what I can think of for now.




                                                    Some July Photos

Full Moon  (this is all moonlight... one of my most favorite things)

cold July morning

Our cold days are also the most sunny... kind of like those below zero Fahrenheit days back in Minnesota,  only this is a zero degree Celsius day (32 degrees).   On the waterfront, doesn't actually get cold enough for frost, but here is the morning fog.  Thank goodness the sun comes up to heat up the house.   

A word from Brett on work, surf and etc

Not sure exactly what I have to say but thought I could share some things about how I spend my days.

Work-since I spend most of my time working I can let you know how that is going.  I just worked today from 9am til 12:30 and than had a 1.5 hour tea break before returning to work from 2-5:30.  I saw 37 patients!!  That is not too out of the ordinary.  A typical day were I am not seeing walk in patients I will see 17 patients between 8-12 and than another 13 patients from 1:30 to 4:30.  So a typical day is 30 patients and a busy day may be up to 40-45 patients.  In the USA I was seeing probably 20 patients a day.  Much busier here but much less documentation to bottle you down.  I like it.  There is a lot less administrative oversight and management here which I like-I spend time seeing patients and helping the sick.  It is without a doubt better than the States that way.  I have to admit most of the time I don't feel that rushed seeing all those people-if I saw that many in the States I would have been making big dough!!  Maybe as much as Chris Balgobin!

The downside is that specialty care is very strange-today I tried to call radiology to ask about what would be the best test to order and I couldn't talk to them-the receptionist was giving me a hard time.  At home I would have no problem talking to them.  It seems like specialist have a huge wall of protection around them-they don't educate patients or there primary doctors well about the plan yet toss them back to primary care for all there follow up.  Today I asked a guy with adenocarcinoma of lung with mets to his brain if they had ever told him what his prognosis was and he said "no" but was planning to ask at the next consult.  Wouldn't you as a Cancer Doc think the patient would want to know that!!  Common sense should tell you yes.  Also-say you see a specialist and they do some surgery or procedure and you have questions or concern about what happened-you can't just ring them up-you would have to come to primary care and get re-referred and they will see you in maybe 6 weeks.  Here was another great example-I saw a guy with previous knee replacement by a local orthopedic a number of years prior who came in complaining of wanting his other knee evaluated by the local orthopod.  He said the orthopod had tried to convince him to do the other knee as well but the patient said he wanted to hold out.  He held out for like 7 years and when I referred him back to local orthopod because he could barely function on that leg the orthopod wrote me back a note-it said it doesn't sound like it is that bad and he can wait.  I just about cracked a nut.  It seems to be a game to deny first referral cause than if you really want them to be seen you re-refer them back.  Nothing like needless paperwork.  So-not all is great in a national health care system.  But-I still think it is probably better than what we got.

Another thing that bothers me about healthcare that Kelly and I were talking about the other night is how to get insurance.  I come to New Zealand and pay the taxes with my 2 year visa and I don't have to worry about if I get sick or have any unfortunate accident/illness.  Yet when we go back home I will have to worry about getting insurance and likely if I get insurance I will still worry about how much it will cost if I get hurt/ill or whatever.  I just the quality of life in the US with all people would be so much better if insurance wasn't such a burden-affordable comprehensive health insurance.  I just wonder how many of us work for insurance, not the money!!  You can't retire early cause we worry about insurance.  I can't take my family on a long holiday cause I have to worry about insurance.  I wanna come home and take a big road trip for 3-6 weeks and see the US but will I be able to afford insurance to allow me to do this?  New Zealanders get I believe 4 weeks mandatory holiday plus there are 12 holidays/year.  What is it like at home-2 weeks and you better not get sick cause that comes out of holiday/vacation time.  Plus-is there really a holiday in the States anymore where things are closed.  I just wish the people would come up with a plan for affordable health care-it is so nice to not have to worry about if my family will be taken care of!  It is such BS that this is a political debate-I don't care what your beliefs are politically-I just think Americans deserve AFFORDABLE COMPREHENSIVE CARE and if you have to be patient to get that care-LEARN to LIVE with IT.  It is better for all.  In New Zealand you can buy insurance as well that gives you first class service and access but it costs extra.

All right, on to other things.  Surfing.  Although I have not been surfing as much during the winter-I could still get out there and surf if I wanted too.  It is not that cold.  First off surfing is a tough thing to learn.  You see those individuals cut up the waves and think that looks easy-well get out there and try.  It is tough.  Kelly was in Hawaii and took some lessons to learn to surf and I was giving her soo much crap about the size of the waves-well I should eat my words-I was on the same size waves learning.  I have gotten lots better but there is also bigger and stronger waves to catch.  I am able to ride some green waves and am still working on riding the face of a wave/turning on the wave.  I ride a long board currently and most of the surfing people see is on short boards-i doubt I will ever get to a short board but hope to ride a mini-mal board(short long board).  It wasn't that long ago that the thought of swimming in open water much less the ocean terrified me.  I am so proud of myself that I can now swim for miles in the open water without panicking and that I can go out in the ocean on my surfboard and not be terrified of sharks/fish/creatures getting me.  I am really hoping Liam will do some white water surfing on my board this summer.  I have done some surfing with an old North Memorial colleague-Bob Levine.  That has been really fun cause we are of similar ability.

Weather-I can only saw the weather here is awesome.  I don't know how I can live in Minnesota again-I don't want to move to San Diego or anything but something a little more reasonable than Minny.

Venison Wars-one of the most fascinating things I have heard about here is the Venison Wars of the 80's.  A patient of mine was a part of this fascinating history where hunters would riding in helicopters with loaded semi-automatic rifles shooting deer out of the side of copters.  They would have AK 47's with 20 round magazines taped together so he could pop one out and put the other in to shoot venison-he once shot 47 deer in 47 minutes.  They were getting big money for the deer dead.  Later they could get more for a live deer so they started shooting net guns on the deer-they could get 4-5000 for a deer.  Can you imagine riding a chopper down over a deer and shooting a net gun onto the deer-jumping out wrapping up the deer and hauling it out alive to sell to farmers to raise more deer cause the meat was worth soo much.  Needless to say the guy said it was very dangerous-choppers were going down frequently and the lifestyle was one of work hard/party hard.  He is a very fascinating man-I am a little jealous.  He brought me some venison this week-I hope to hunt with him as well.






Mail delivery-a job I kind of want here is to deliver the mail.  they ride bikes everyday to deliver the mail.  Probably not paid as well as I would want but I am envious.

OUCH!!

Before coming to New Zealand, I always bragged about our ultra healthy children.  In the whole 6 1/2 years of having kids, we have had a total of two cases of strep and one ear infection.   When you count Phoebe's broken leg, we have only had 4 doctor's visits, outside of well child checks.  We have even gone an entire winter without a single cold.   Well, it sort of feels like our luck is changing.   It's not like our immune systems are failing.   I think we are just becoming more of the norm.   We have had a couple episodes of tummy bugs and coughs.   One case of pink eye - the nastiest pink I have seen in my medical career.  Brett has been feeling like an old man and suffering from gout.  He also has had some possible food poisoning, a back injury,  and a horrible URI.  My eczema has been wildly flaring up.   Nothing has been too severe, just annoying.   Of course, there are constant reports of head lice and chicken pox at school.  So far we have been able to avoid those.

Well, aside from the illnesses, we are also not having the greatest luck with injuries.   Again, nothing life threatening... just unfortunate.   First, Phoebe had a dog bite her left cheek, right under the eye.   There are many loose dogs hanging around and she just happened to startle one at a park.   Not super bad, but did end up on antibiotics and looks like there may be a very small scar.   And, a new respect (aka fear) of dogs.     And now, for the big new news.... Liam broke his foot.   Happened at school yesterday.  The story is still a little fuzzy.  Something happened in a game of chase.   We were called to school and told that he had a swollen foot.   We watched it all day but finally ended up in the ER.  Sure enough, fractured the base of the 2nd and 3rd metatarsals.  Very small cracks.... I can only see one of them on the x ray.  But, his poor foot was really swollen.   So, now we have a boy in a short leg cast.   Poor kiddo.   I just hope that is it.  I think we have used the New Zealand Medical system enough.

should we stay or should we go?

And when?  This is a topic that comes up for discussion anywhere from daily to weekly in this household.  And, still no conclusions have been made.  Brett's work contract is for one year, which would be Feb. 1, 2012.  Well, we have decided in no way do we want to leave a beautiful summer here and return to winter in the states, especially if that is the Minnesota winter.   One plan we have is for Liam and Phoebe stay in school through the first term, which will end some time in April.   Then we would plan on doing some more traveling, likely more of the South Island... maybe camping or in an RV.  We could then return "home" and work on reestablishing ourselves in jobs and housing (and, in my dream world, have this figured out by the time school starts in the fall).

 Sounds like a decent plan... but, I have to say, we have some obstacles with it.  First, we need some different housing as of Jan. 23rd.  Oh, how I do not want to have to leave our lovely beach house, but we have no choice.  And, not sure if we will find anything to compare to this.  Brett also claims he is going to cut down on work, so he can have some fun too - so likely we will not be able to afford anything comparable.   Bummer.   I am sure we will be just as happy not living on the beach... at least I hope I haven't been spoiled for life.

But, this really isn't the hardest part of the plan.  The biggest problem we have is with the actual returning to the America.   This task seems absolutely daunting.  I mean, we went through a lot to get here.. selling the house, our stuff, our cars, quitting the jobs, leaving the schools... and now starting to realize that doing the opposite is going to be twice as hard.  The part of it that we are having the most contention over is exactly where we would we go back and reestablish ourselves.   All of my instincts say we are coming home to Minnesota.   I mean it is the place I have always "come home" to.  We are both born and breed Minnesotans, the majority of our family lives there, and it is the familiar.  And, I really have never thought of raising my children anywhere else.  Of course, now we have had a taste of the "good life"... and by that I mean a costal temperate climate in which you can enjoy the outdoors year round without possibly losing a digit or the tip of your nose.  Brett is pretty convinced that we cannot move "home" and endure another long Minnesota winter.  And, after that last winter, I think many of you may be thinking the same.  On the other hand, as much as I dislike the insane coldness, I figure it is my lot in life. All the generations of my family have been though it, and now, so must my children.  Makes us tough.

So, it is getting hard to think about coming home, especially when I'm not sure where that is going to be.  And, it is going to be really hard to leave this place.  The people are great and we have been making friends.  Life is simple.. no traffic, no rushing.  The weather has been great.  It is now winter and it is still green and still getting into the low 60's.  Getting more chilly, but, my god, I'm still wearing sandals (okay, when I started writing this in June I was, but that is changing).  We will never be scrapping slush, snow, or ice of anything!!  And, it is beautiful..... the hills, the amazing beach and surf, the coast.   Every time I start driving around this beautiful place I can't believe how so undiscovered it is and sheltered from tourists or big traffic.  Never could we replicate this back in the states.

We have discussed a scenario where we could possibly live here for 9 months of the year and return home for June, July, and August.   Of course, that is a lot to spend in airfare each year.  And, the biggest problem would be figuring out how school would work (as the kids would still be in school here in those months).   Snowbirds at our age?.... probably not going to happen.

I have to admit, I have suggested that maybe we just stay.  At least for a little while longer.  It already feels too soon to leave.  And, every time I look out at the ocean, or take a walk on the beach.. I just can't imagine  moving from this place.   Especially if I am not going to move back to my home and family in Minnesota.  And, here is where the argument of what to do really gets ugly.  I say "lets stay or move back home to Minnesota, because I want to be close to my family".  And, Brett says  "what? how can you say you want to stay here if you otherwise want to be close to family.  Why not just move to somewhere else in the states, where you can see your family a lot easier?"  We can go around and around with this - I think we both have equal arguments.  Can't wait to see what happens.

Wainui waves

early June in Wainui

Long shadows of winter 

So, I have now been writing this blog post for over a month.  And, I think we have actually come to a conclusion that we will be traveling back to Minnesota, probably arriving in May or so of 2012.   As for what happens after we arrive, I can't even begin to think about it yet.....  maybe make some money and pack up for somewhere else new, or back here, or we settle back into the life we used to know.   Our plans have no certainty.  It's unsettling, but, when you think about it, life really has no certainty, no matter how much you plan.  So, for now, I am just going to keep living life.