The eagle has landed!
Actually, our container arrived. But, hey, that's a pretty momentous event for us. Everything has arrived safe and sound. Honestly, I'm surprised by how little went wrong. There's a little chip on one corner of our headboard, and a nick out of the corner of our dining room table. That's all. There may or may not be a missing box, though, but it if it really exists the manifest listed it as linens from the kitchen and downstairs bathroom, so it's tea towels, hand towels, and maybe the last load of white laundry we did before we left. (I say that because I haven't yet found my queen-size pillowcases for our Tempurpedic pillows.)
So, right now we are up to our elbows in trying to fit an American-sized life into a Kiwi-sized house. The largest problem is the lack of closet space. I don't know where we're going to fit all of our clothes or any of the extra blankets, pillows, and other linens that we've accumulated.
The boys are overjoyed to have their toys here, too. Evan spent a lot of time today riding his bike (with his Lightning McQueen helmet on, of course!) and the both of them had pretty much every toy on the floor of the 'toy room' at some point this afternoon.
That's going to be all for now. Debi and I are both exhausted and tomorrow promises to be another exhausting day, too.
So, right now we are up to our elbows in trying to fit an American-sized life into a Kiwi-sized house. The largest problem is the lack of closet space. I don't know where we're going to fit all of our clothes or any of the extra blankets, pillows, and other linens that we've accumulated.
The boys are overjoyed to have their toys here, too. Evan spent a lot of time today riding his bike (with his Lightning McQueen helmet on, of course!) and the both of them had pretty much every toy on the floor of the 'toy room' at some point this afternoon.
That's going to be all for now. Debi and I are both exhausted and tomorrow promises to be another exhausting day, too.
posted by Jon A at
9:08 PM
4 Comments:
"an American-sized life into a Kiwi-sized house."
I don't know much about Kiwi life. Do people live more simply there? Or, is it more that Americans have way too much of everything?
I take pride in my studio apartment-sized life! Perhaps another reason why NZ and I would get along.
Generally, yes, people live more simply here. There are exceptions to everything I'm about to write, obviously, but in general houses are smaller than average in the US. Our rental has 'double sized' bedrooms, which are just about US-sized. Our living room, dining room, and kitchen would all fit into our kitchen and dining room back in our old house.
The 'big' houses in the nicer neighborhoods and even the 'executive' homes on the golf courses aren't much bigger than McMansion-size in the US. Anything larger is likely a B&B or winery or something like that. Both are much more rare than in the US.
I think part of the reason is not so much the price of housing, but the cost of everything else. A bigger house means more stuff to fill it up, more cost to heat and cool it, etc. Kiwis tend to be more frugal and spend much less time just sitting around the house (or hanging at the mall, or shopping in general).
The corollary to this is that on nice days, and we have many of them here, there are people out and about everywhere--no matter what day of the week. I see quite a few guys my age on the trails during the week, or on the golf courses, etc. This is also patio furniture and gas grill paradise.
There are also lots of social clubs here. Many of the boroughs have them. I don't know too much about them, but they seem to be like fancier versions of the VFW, with dinner, drinking, entertainment ... and a place to play cards, watch TV, etc. The one down the road from us seems pretty busy, and I've heard ads on the radios for the others. There are also literally hundreds of sports clubs, from lawn bowling and croquet to cricket and rugby. Sport isn't reserved for kids here.
Congrats on getting your container!
What Jon said is true. Houses are smaller for a variety of reasons. Land is in short supply and parcels tend to be on the small side. The cost of heating large properties is a factor as well. That said, there are some American-sized houses, especially in Cashmere, Fendalton, Sumner, etc. You're looking at 3/4 of a million just to get into a smaller one though.
I'm glad we got rid of so much stuff before we moved, but things are still tight in our new digs.
- larry
Woot!!! on getting your stuff!!
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