We made it to Blenheim, YAY, and we’ve been here over a week now. It’s gone crazy fast and we’re still insanely busy, but I think we can see the light now. Still no time to ‘get excited’, but all tasks are coming together, well it feels like it, but who knows if that’s really the case. The ‘To Do’ list seems to shrink and then expand when another issue crops up.
When we were in Auckland we had to deal with all the house stuff, and paperwork stuff, but we put off a bunch of items until we got here. So needless to say we’re trying really hard to get that done before we take off.
We’re currently working through: taxes (agghhhh!) and other fiddly paperwork things, a ton of work that is due NOW, getting school ready and then finding our space and rhythm in someone else’s home. That all means we’ve been working till 11-12am most nights (still). But we may have a little breathing room for a few days now.
So yeah we’ve been a bit quiet on the blog front because of that. But some quick highlights for you:Wellington.

Wellington.

We did it in one day after our gear was collected by the moving company (they finally picked stuff up at 9:45am).  We were on the road at 11:15am after a few drop off of things. It was so nice, an enforced break. No kids asking for anything, no pressure on our time. We brainstormed ideas for clients, listened to music, zoned out and Nat struggled to open a bottle of cold brew coffee for the driver (me), which took a Leatherman with a bottle opener.  This of course meant the car was covered in luke warm coffee. Did the trick though.
I loved being in Wellington, it was fun to get up early go for a walk, work for a bit, then absorb the city before working and then going out again. We didn’t go crazy, we just wanted to walk around as my FitBit attests to (an easy 13-15k steps a day – up lots of hills). Wellington was gorgeous, so it didn’t do a very good job of putting us off the place.

Blenheim

Since we’ve been in Blenheim it’s been nuts, but we took the day off last Saturday and that was super fun, going to the playground and ending up at the Speedway.
It was so fun to see our old Neighbours and their bus. The Sturrocks used to live on the same road as us, and they just so happened to be in Blenheim with their bus the day after we arrived, so we got to catch up with them. The kids were super happy to see their friends. Forgot to take photos, sorry.

PiMLeSSS

I’ve been through the school stuff a few times, first seeing what resources we’ve been given (a ton!) and then putting together a basic routine, plus we’ve brainstormed the important things:

  • Name of school
  • School ‘Uniform’

So after much brainstorming our school name is “PiMLeSSS” Which stands for…..
Pohutukawa Mega LAAN (Lennox, Alpha, Alice, Nat) Screaming Scorpion School. I’m pretty sure there isn’t another school in the world with that name!
Mega LAAN (Lennox, Alpha, Alice, Nat) Screaming Scorpion School. I’m pretty sure there isn’t another school in the world with that name!
LAAN (Lennox, Alpha, Alice, Nat) Screaming Scorpion School. I’m pretty sure there isn’t another school in the world with that name!
Screaming Scorpion School.
I’m pretty sure there isn’t another school in the world with that name!
The other important decision was ‘uniform’. I wanted us to wear something that we could ‘put on’ when school was on and then ‘take off’ at the end of the school day. Again lots of brainstorming. Alpha really wanted boots or shoes (!) with a new outfit and a chain. Lennox wanted a Ceasar’s crown and a ring. So we’ve ended up having different items, Alpha has a t-shirt and ring,
I wanted us to wear something that we could ‘put on’ when school was on and then ‘take off’ at the end of the school day. Again lots of brainstorming. Alpha really wanted boots or shoes (!) with a new outfit and a chain. Lennox wanted a Ceasar’s crown and a ring. So we’ve ended up having different items. Alpha has a t-shirt and ring,
Alpha has a t-shirt and ring, Lennox has a ring (we’ll get to the crown). We all have medals though (nice cheap $2 shop specials).
I want a really fancy mayoral livery collar,  but that might take up too much space. Whoever teaches gets to wear the livery collar. Maybe it’s a good excuse to buy a necklace!
Some other decisions about school, we want to keep a few routines such as our morning routine and the kids want to have an ‘outstanding person of the week’ award (which will between all four of us). We’ll see how it all goes.
Here’s a screenshot of what our week will maybe look like…
School Schedule
 
I know full well that things will change, as we’ll most likely have to shift our weekend when we’re in the US to factor in timezone and NZ business hours. But its a start.
Next time I’ll tell you the limitations we’ve discovered about working so far… (libraries, working at the kitchen table, taking a midday break). We’re ironing out the bugs, but we’re creating a list of what we need to do, and what we need to check first thing upon arriving at a new location.
 
But here’s a Dunny for you:

Musical Dunny
The Musical Dunny outside Countdown in Blenheim. This dunny played music and gave you 10 mins. It smelled disgusting.

The following two tabs change content below.

Alice Rae-Flick

Latest posts by Alice Rae-Flick (see all)

1 Reply to “Rejigging and Reviewing”

Comments are closed.