Wednesday 28 March 2012

Home Sweet Home!

I realize that I've been slacking in the updating department, thanks to a few "friendly" reminders from friends and family!

The nomadic vacation has come to an end and Kevin and I have settled ourselves nicely in Wellington. We moved into a cute little flat in Hataitai, just a block off the water--we wouldn't have it any other way! Moving in was pretty easy. Unfortunately, I did not pay attention to the detergent label when I decided to run the dishwasher for the first time and ended up putting in dishwashing detergent and not dishwasher detergent...

 Oopsies!
This is our first dinner in our new home. Please note that vacuum was left in the apartment, it is not ours. In fact, we had nothing other than a mattress--easiest move in ever!

Here are some of the views from our flat, day and night. No balcony (although we do have a small communal backyard), but we sure can't complain.



Eventually, we did pick up some furniture and are slowly making our little house a home. It isn't, however, easy to buy furniture without a vehicle. So clearly, we are holding out on some non-essential furniture (e.g. dresser, bookshelves, etc.) until further notice. Elaine and Dean were kind and patient enough to send us some of our belongings from home that were not able to fit in our luggage.


And now, please allow me to take you on the grand tour:

 Walking into our flat, welcome to our kitchen.
 Strangely enough, apartments in NZ do not come with appliances (or "whiteware", as they call it), other than a stove. So we are currently renting our whiteware. Apparently most people move from house to house with their fridges...

 We have what is probably the world's tiniest sink, with faucets that are barely long enough to put your hand under, let alone both. Also, it's impossible to get warm water, as the hot and cold faucets are so far apart. Probably the worst sink ever.
 We wanted to see if the water flushed the wrong way in the toilet, but were disappointed to see that all over NZ the toilets are those lo-flo versions that just gush down. Now we'll never know...
 This is our lounge, complete with second-hand seating that was broken and had to be reinforced with yarn (the only material that I had available to work with), appliance boxes as end tables, and stolen pallets as a coffee table/shoe rack. The story behind the table is actually quite funny: Kevin saw this in one of the flats we viewed and was committed to replicate it. We found some pallets behind a store about 1.5km away from our place and since we lack suitable transportation, he stole a shopping cart, took his skateboard, and wheeled the pallets home, to many bystanders' amusement. But hey, they were free!

This pile of wires will hopefully be hidden one day. But for now, it remains a ridiculous, and I mean ridiculous, pile of wires.
In the secret door is a large storage closet for our belongings, complete with Kevin's batman suit and fishing vest.
 This is our bedroom, which is much too large for our lack of furniture. Please make note of what we are using as a nightstand (a prize Kevin won from corporate golf day at work, full of vodka and RedBull). 
 Elaine, Doogie made it safe and sound. He survived the vacuum-sealed transport unscathed!
 A nice, huge closet and empty side space that, once again, needs filling. 

Kevin now works as a real-life Structural Engineer with Aurecon, a large engineering firm in the CBD, and has probably spent equal time playing and working (work-life balance at its finest!). Drinking, golfing, playing darts, drinking, fishing, drinking, daily tea and biscuits, you catch my drift. I'm continuing my search for employment in a city that clearly does not require the abundance of social services that a city like Vancouver does. I hate to admit that my career path prospers from other people's social problems. So on with the hunt. 

On the other hand, being a housewife (my lifelong dream career) has been everything I hoped it to be: daily yoga, cooking, cleaning, catching up on my TV series streaming. A little lonely, I admit (I miss you friends!), but all in all, having a sugar-daddy ain't so bad.

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