Another Visit

The last week has been spent with family visiting from Australia.  We have been to Akaroa rocking on boats, Hanmer Springs wallowing in hot rock pools, and the Antarctica Centre watching penguins and riding in military style buggies! It has been a wonderful week and we were sad to see our our brother and sister and law, niece and nephew leave.

I have had gastroenteritis for 5 days so this afternoon am having a rest and cleaning the house while Sergeant is testing two new co-operative games at our friends house with the children.  

I am very fortunate to have made a few close friends in Christchurch who share similar conclusions in parenting and education, one of which was a nanny previously.  Whilst I have yet to find any research which states that mass childcare is beneficial to the development of a child in terms of social or emotional well-being, I have seen much evidence that if a child is bonded with alternative caregivers the experience can be positive so employment is restrained by the hours my friend can offer as a nanny and what flexibility the role offers.

While I love the theory of democratic schooling, if under-resourced both in terms of the input of fellow parents and in terms of support and actual resources, I prefer whole-life learning as a more holistic and nurturing education.  Subsequently I have been asked frequently if I would consider Sonic going to a “normal” school. I do not accept the social norm – children are natural learners and mainstream school does not work for millions of children, (certainly not my son) and learner centred education does; so I would rather support alternative means of education – let’s support a revolution!

 

 

The Journey of the baby seals – Kaikoura & Hanmer Springs

Two trips courtesy of my kind and generous parents were to Kaikoura and Hanmer Springs. These locations are situated north of Christchurch and I would estimate a 1 hour 45 minutes drive to Kaikoura which took us 2-3 times as long due to rest stops, and promptly deleted our anticipated trip to Queenstown 😉

The drive to Kaikoura was absolutely stunning, and we travelled north of Kaikoura, aiming to get to Ohau waterfalls but went too far and ended up at a turning point only to realise there were plenty of seals sat on a rock:

Kaikoura

We went back to do the Ohau waterfall walk featured n the following link:
http://trampingtracks.co.nz/Ohau-Waterfall-Walk.html

Here are some of the pictures, you can see at the waterfall there are many baby seals frolicking awaiting the arrival of adults bearing food. As we walked down we saw some adult seals climbing up to the waterfall and I crept down the bank and waited to take some close up pictures:

Ohau Waterfall with baby seals playing!

Walking back

He caught me looking!

Walking under the old bridge

CUCHSHINE PETTING FARM, Kaikoura

Are you pleased to see us Peacock?

Gorgeous piggy

We were cornered by the goats and other animals wanting feeding

My parents shower at the Aspen Spa Hotel (what?? it seems noteworthy.)

Spa shower

A glimpse of the sea in Kaikoura

Our House – PICTURES in New Zealand

My sister has asked for pictures of the house – it isn’t quite ready yet:

Our house living room

The box room

Kitchen

Bedroom

Playroom

Actually these are the pictures after the children spent the day making dens and piles, playing with paper and scissors, baking, making playdo and goop. It took me 6 hours of cleaning over the next two days… thought I’d give my parents a view of our abode at its worst before they come to visit us 😉

I am actually a very tidy person so I struggle with the disarray, it’s clean but lived in one could argue. I guess I take pictures because I am trying to value their creations. 80% of the time I can now take it in my stride! Not bad for someone who had OCD for cleanliness. Children are our wisest guides.

NZ Lingo and Reveries

Last night we had the fortune to be able to speak to granny S on Skype.  We cannot use videos as the internet connection is so bad… but we could talk and share links.  We were able to see where she will be living and it is a dream house!  5 acres of land, overlooking countryside and hills/mountains, a nice house with fireplaces and character. 

I know how fortunate I am in life, so I know I need to separate from desire because it brings suffering, but I did enjoy relishing in it for a while. Images of chickens, rabbits, and frolicking in meadows came to mind.

I wanted to share some NZ lingo. My favourite so far is yeah nah nah, which means yes I hear you, but no, the response is no.  I also have come to like their ending most sentences in “aey” and it is so addictive I have started myself.  “Good as gold” is another saying, but I am not so enamored with that one, not been able to use it yet.

I am truly blessed to have met so many wonderful people, and especially those that through the hardest (so far) moments in life have seen past my neuroses and loved me for who I am – missing you.

Visitors and Beautiful Places

We are very excited this morning, as the news we have a visitor coming sinks in. Our shipment has now arrived so this has given us the impetus to sort through what felt like an almighty task.  The bed in the playroom is almost ready for our children’s granny S…

Yesterday we went to Akaroa, and it was one of the most beautiful places I have been too, just stunning.

  Borrowed from Blackcat cruises.co.nz

 

“Akaroa is a village on Banks Peninsula in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, situated within a harbour of the same name. The name Akaroa is Kāi Tahu Māori for ‘Long Harbour’.”

 

We had a picnic on the beach and perused the shops, it was a long drive (1 hr 20 minutes each way) but it was worth it. The drive up and around the mountain was actually quite scary, and I was quite anxious about all the bends and drops. One exciting highlight was to see an eagle picking at roadkill.

Unfortunately my dream of researching psychology/neuroscience formally has had to be put on hold due to a few constraints, but today I remind myself that things come to us when we are ready for them.  Instead today I am starting a free online course in introductory psychology, and next week another free course in Riccarton on gnosis psychology and meditation on Saturday mornings. Couldn’t get better than that really. I have also started running again, three times this week thanks to my dad’s inspiration.

Sergeant has  had a good appraisal at work, but has decided to improve his skills in writing with a creative writing course. He’s joined one 10 minutes walk from his work on a Tuesday evening, so can can have dinner out before going, make an evening of it.

Free online course link FYI:

https://www.coursera.org/courses?orderby=upcoming&stats=upcoming

Signing off as need to brave the stormy wind and take Sonic to school and girls to playcentre… think will take the car.

x

A Wet Sunday Afternoon

Rain has fallen heavily all day.  Big fat raindrops, slanted rain, drizzle, damp – our house’s windows are full of condensation even if I open the windows.  We sat in the box room, and the whole family watched Cheaper by the Dozen in our pyjamas. We all liked it but damn it irritated me! How can you have 12 children and have such a nice house, such nice clothes and everything pristine? It did inspire me though, we went out this afternoon and bought some posters for the playroom and Lego, it felt more homely.

Renting after having your own house can be challenging, every mark on the wall or stain on the carpet reminds me I am living in someone else’s house.

Sonic Orange has been making a Chima Lego buggy and has so far done it with little help, he leaned over to the girl’s house and said to them “the flowers are lovely”. I smiled and said “you like their Lego too?”. “No” he whispered, “I was just saying that to be nice because my Lego looks better than theirs…”. I am not sure if I have modelled being disingenuous ;-/ oops.

He is really enjoying being at the democratic school!  If you are interested here is a video about a similar school:

I go with Sonic Orange several times a week, but leave him now for a few hours so I can spend time with the girls  – and there are always other parents sat around.  On Friday, it was the last day of term so they planned a sale and a shared lunch, as well as a communal clean up.  Sonic Orange asked for us to make a Millionaire’s Shortbread after seeing it in a cooking book, so we planned the ingredients, and made it.  In the morning we planned how many pieces to make and calculated the cost per slice to cover costs.   It is really interesting how empowering the democratic process is for them. So far I have seen no bullying or teasing – I guess because the children and adults all have equal respect, there is no resentment.  Sonic Orange has truthfully flourished in the environment.  I see children sitting around learning because they want to; teaching themselves how to play the guitar with chords printed from the Internet, attending the morning classes out of interest, asking for support with their spelling and writing. I wonder if the world would be a more peaceful place if all schools were like this? Interestingly the country with the greatest number of Democratic schools is Israel…

Update: Sonic Orange has now started eating wholesome food! Recently I read somewhere that up until the age of 7 years some children see food as lots of individual parts, not as the whole so it is very hard for them to try new foods. Hmm I thought, not likely – but at 6 1/2 years he proved me wrong!

Beach bums and amazing parks

Yesterday I had a wonderful uplifting day. We got the bus (easily) to  a park called Hagley Park. When we got off the bus, the bus driver got off before me and carried my pram and opened it for me, and said be careful when you cross the road when you come back.

The sun was baking hot, and so we were glad when we got to the playground that there were sprinklers with children running underneath and two free swimming pools to paddle in! It is still the school holidays and there was a free show for children in the park, so there were families everywhere. We met up with a lady and her 6-year-old twins.  Hopefully, we will meet soon in more comfortable circumstances as we seem to have a lot in common.  They own a farm and yoga studio, and I felt echo my aspirations for The Good Life dream!

I like not having a car, it encourages us to walk more. And honestly I feel that we need to be the change we want to see – and I believe environmentally, that means making sacrifices… BUT it is so challenging sometimes. And I really don’t want to be as isolated as I have been before.  We are considering saving up for or getting a small loan to buy a cheap car to use for emergencies and weekend camping trips.

Had a bloody awful day today.  Had nightmares for most of last night and woke up moody – not only because Movecorp have turned out to be very unprofessional and untruthful, after 8 weeks of thinking our shipment was on its way – turns out not left the UK.  Shame. I guess we cannot let the based things in life keep us down!

x x x

Rental housing and mediocre first impressions

On Friday our family was invited to DHs work drinks.   It was such a lovely day and I knew I was meant to be making a good first impression and mingling, but to be honest I was feeling very subdued. I did make a bit of chit-chat but I was completely overwhelmed with contentment. Being able to sit outside with a group of adults, in an environment that is suitable for children to run around, with a glass of white wine spritzer in hand, with a wonderful view and joyful friendly people around me isn’t an everyday experience.

Today we went to the Whole Life Learners group – it makes my week to meet people like this and the children are happy when we are there.  They sat in the sand digging with spoons, and Sonic Blue and his friends made a big assault course over the wooden benches using planks and old tyres.  It is truely wonderful to see what skills they use when just left alone to learn – team working, problem solving, architecture (ish?). Amazing! I can see it in myself too, if someone trys to tell me how to learn something I turn off, it discourages my creativity – whereas now I have the confidence to try and learn things off my own back, I love learning. And I know when it is time to get advice or support from someone more knowledgeable than me, when and only because I want to.   Talking of intrinsic motivation to learn, got to wait till April for our shipment so really missing my sewing machine…

On the walk to the bus we happened to look up a street to see some boxes of books out. We went to have a look and a woman came out of her driveway and said to me take it all! In NZ they seem to leave gifts out to share unwanted items, I love it! We manged to get some amazing books and toys to bring home, and the children were all very happy to play when they got home with their cars, dolls, and activity packs.

We are in the process of filling up the house. I have managed to find some good websites for buying items second-hand and there are also a few 2 dollar stores here filled with items for re-use. Seems so much better to encourage people to reuse and recycle with financial incentive, rather than encouraging a materialistic society by producing clothes and items cheaply through slave labour or environmentally damaging processes. Although I must say, sometimes I just want a something new that is cheap too.

We have a rental house now, it is light and airy with three bedrooms. The garden is a reasonable size but all concrete and poor soil, so my self-sufficiency dream will have to be put on hold a while longer. I have been reading a page called grow food, not lawns and had some great inspiration for how to grow things in old chests and such like.

First Times

Yesterday was DHs first day at his new work, and a first day for me being with the children without support for 7 weeks – back to real life.

I got busy for when DH got home, buying a cake and making his favourite meal – he came home stuffed! They brought in something like 12 pizzas for lunch, so my food is unwanted.  His work seems to be a very nurturing environment, with group lunches every Monday and early finishes on Friday for beers!

I got the bus for the first time in Christchurch, and it was terrible actually. Not so much the being on the bus but the walking in the rain.  The bus drivers were kind, and one actually heroic.  He saw us waiting in the rain and lifted our double pushchair onto the bus when it wouldn’t fit.  He took us to the passenger lounge at the metro station, so we could wait for the bus in the warmth 😉

The thing is that the girl with the curly hair is I guess still unsettled, and wanting to exert herself in any way she can, and thus I am having trouble getting from one place to another without her getting upset about not being able to walk on the road, or be cuddled by mummy in arms (slings – now – will not do apparently). I would love to be able to snuggle her all the way, but I have a big pushchair – that doesn’t even fit on buses – and it certainly doesn’t steer and push itself either. Great.  On the way back we got turned off two buses. Then I realise we have a puncture.  Next time – I am taking the single pushchair and a sling.

The group we went to today is absolutely lovely. It is a whole life learners group – and the women are all warm, friendly and supportive. They meet once or twice a week, so I am lucky to have found such a great group of people so quickly.