New Zealand, Part 1

In a land where anything is possible...
In a time of holiday magic and wonder...
Five travelers are about to discover...
That everyday...
Can be a G'day.

Buckle your seat belts and join us in the Land of the Long White Cloud.
(Since consulting our friends' blogs about NZ trips greatly helped us plan, I might be rather thorough, so feel free to skim and skip. I always do.)

Ephraim had left a week before me for a conference in New Caledonia. His layover was in New Zealand, so we planned for me to bring the kids down and meet him there. "See you in Auckland." And so it was my first adventure to pack, clean, finish the itinerary, and then travel through two countries with three kids alone. Fortunately I pray. And things go well.

The night before we left Isaac got sick on each bed in the house. I was meaning to change all the sheets anyway. It was a busy morning, but we left Pago Pago okay. We flew into Apia, Samoa around 4:30 pm and our flight to NZ didn't leave until that night, so we stayed at a little lodge (Bertie's B&B, nice folks, but one star) for a few hours so the kids could eat, sleep, and get ready for the trip. On the way back to the airport at 11:30 pm, I asked the driver, "Mark, does 00:15 mean 12:15 or 1:15?" "Um, 12:15." "Oh dangit. Let's go faster." For some reason I had it in my head that we left at 1:15 am, so I was panicking. Fortunately it's a small airport, and this was the only flight leaving, so everyone helped us get through customs, security, and on the plane in the nick of time.

Four hour flight. Little sleep. And we're disembarking in Auckland. First impressions: bright, clean, modern, chilly. I love it. Getting through customs, baggage claim, immigration, and all the duty free shops is like going through a maze, and the kids were nearing meltdown. AND my umbrella stroller came off the plane with only 3 wheels. That's better than two, I guess. When we emerged from the maze, I expected to see Ephraim greeting me with open arms. But he wasn't there. So we waited. Got some food. Played on the escalator. And waited.

Finally I took matters in my own hands and called the shuttle for our hotel (Travellers International Hotel, a.k.a. "Little India") to come and pick us up. The shuttle driver (who's also the receptionist) said, "Oh, there was some guy waiting for his family to come. Was that your husband?" "Not for long," I wanted to say. Turns out, when they had checked the flight status online, it hadn't been updated, so they figured our flight was indefinitely delayed. Mr. Receptionist/Driver said he would just wait for my call. And Ephraim went back to bed.

But we're a forgiving family, so we were just happy to be together finally. Who can stay upset in New Zealand?!

Let's see, so I got some rest, we changed, and then we walked to a nearby chapel and joined the Thomas Road Ward meetings. It was now Sunday. The ward actually looked really similar to our MIW in Am Samoa. Except there men wore jackets and women wore nylons.

A sweet family gave us a ride to the hotel and invited us to have To'ona'i (Sunday dinner) that evening. So we rested some more then joined the Aleni family. They had a lovely home (And their bathroom, was really a "bath" room. No toilet. The toilet was in a separate room. Why are bathrooms so different in other countries? Someone should write a book.) They lent us warm clothes for our boys and brought us back to the hotel. We planned the next day and fell asleep before our heads hit the pillows.

Back in Samoa

Today we flew from Auckland, NZ to Apia, Samoa to American Samoa. The airports got progressively dingy-er as we went on. I really felt like I was in Samoa again when I saw little kids eating Coke and chips, and gum stuck to the interisland plane seats. Okay, and the beautiful mountain cliffs and coconut trees.

Good news: yesterday was our 8th anniversary. And today is our 8th anniversary again since we went over the dateline and we're doing Monday twice. (Does that make it our 9th anniversary? Or our 2nd 8th?)

Bad news: our house is gross! There's a filmy grime on every surface. In the cupboards there are traces of the geckos, ants, cockraches, and rats who tended the house for us. Oh, and the car is dead. Maybe it didn't like sitting in the constant rain.

But that's okay. We're happy to be home in our own beds on our dear little island again.

Merry New Zealand Christmas

Hello, Family and Friends!
We're having a great time here in New Zealand. Here's a shot from Tongariro Crossing on North Island. We wanted to wish you all a wonderful Christmas, since it's already Christmas here. We'll have lots of photos and stories to report later. We are happy to celebrate the birth of the Savior today. May we all feel His love today and in the coming year.

Pilgrims and Indians

We rode to Thanksgiving dinner in the back of a truck.


We'd planned a yummy turkey dinner at the Pili's. But it started right around high tide, so Ephraim took the car to enjoy to amazing Thanksgiving surf conditions. And we hitched a ride in our friend's truck. Ephraim came a little bit later.

The box on the right has pies (on the tire). The box next to it has Samu's ice cream (!) It was a hot day, so it turned into soup. I forgot to take more pictures, but trust me we had a nice day. Except Isaac cried when he had to ride home in our boring old van.

This is an impromptu family photo. (Can you tell it's the end of a hot day?)

Ikee Bikee Motorcykee

Isaac is such a handful. He was very quiet one morning. Then I saw he was creating Lion King. He cried when it was time for a bath.



Last Sunday he fell and sliced his chin open. It looked like he had two mouths. I felt sick. Luckily Ephraim viewed this gore as simple tissues and vessels, so he took Isaac to the ER to get the chin taped together.


Talking to friends, I learned that every little boy slices his chin open sometime. So I'll try to be ready for Owen's turn. Gag!

Snail Mail

We don't use the mail for anything local. To pay bills, for example, we drive around once a month to drop off payments for phone, electricity, rent, etc. It's just easier that way.

Check out the expiration date on this insurance notice. It was stamped August 6, 2008 on the envelope, and we got it today. This letter really could have made it to us faster on a snail. It took over a year to travel 8 miles (as the crow flies, 2 miles). Maybe the postman had trouble figuring out where on earth "Pago Apgo" is...?

Really?! Oh yes, really.

Meet Alfred

He's our big gecko. He lives behind the clock. He loves to get into our garbage at night and leaves little droppings. Someday we'll get a full body shot. I guess I could just lift up the clock, but I wanna give the guy some privacy.

Goodbye, October.

Sheesh, who knew that 31 days could take so long? And are you also so scheduled already that November feels half way over?

Well, here are some key events for us in October.

General Conference, Stake Conference, and Primary Program--spiritual feast
Ephraim attended a training in Florida leaving me on "Tsunami Island" for 2 weeks.
He attended our sister-in-law Connie's funeral on the Big Island on his way home.
On that same day, I attended my friends' Shin and PuHee Woo's funeral.
The Browns moved to Michigan, leaving us an empty house next door and empty-hearted.
Owen's got 4 teeth and worms his way across the floor.
We owned a kitten for a day (easy come, easy go).
Halloween brought Miss Muffet, her friend Spider, and lots of candy.


And some photos:





Okay November, bring it on.

Life Continues

Angelic Slumber
Infant Optometry
Bangs
Europunk

Grapecheeks

Birthday Me

This post was from a few weeks ago, before the tsunami. Now that things are calming down, I thought I'd post something from our normal lives.

I'm so loved! I had a great birthday on the 23rd. Ali Pili watched Isaac for me in the morning and they made a carrot, pineapple, raisin cake with cream cheese frosting! De-lish!

We went to library time, then to lunch at Sadie's with some friends. We went high-class with dinner at Carl's Jr. (hello, $6 Bacon Guac Burger.)
Then home for cake.

Look at that BLAZE! I left two candles burning after the first breath. (Does that mean I'm going to have two children? Too late!)

The best part was that my children were so nice to me that day.
And the best best part was that Ephraim and Ella had practiced a song on the ukulele to sing to me.
And the best best best part is that I love where I'm at and who I'm with and what I'm doing at 31.

Tsunami, Week After

I wouldn't say things are normalizing here because hosting hundreds of aid workers, managing without our only city, and living without power on half the island are not really "normal" for us. A definite change has taken place on the island. But schools are back in session after being out last week. And people are shopping, working, and living like normal.

We are definitely skittish here. Did you hear about the earthquake off of Vanuatu Islands today? I did. At McDonalds. From the janitor lady. News like that travels very fast. After that every person I saw was on the phone. I got in my car and joined the sudden traffic, all of us tuned into the weather service alert on the radio. On my way I noticed school kids in trucks, so I picked up Ella from school. She was tearful, worried about another tsunami, and felt the panic in the air. I assured her this earthquake was too far away to do damage, and that we had a few hours notice until it came, so everyone would be fine. But I also felt emotional. It's been a rough week for everyone.

(You can look up SamoaNews.com for updates and specifics.)

My friend Melanie posted a fitting description of the state of the island.

I agree that the Samoans are a resilient and happy people. I like to think their simple faith helps them move forward through difficulty. E muamua le Atua. God first.

This is the Browns' picture taken Day Of Tsunami. I love it.
I can just imagine:
"Hey, guys, you know there was a tsunami here this morning. There are cars slammed into second-story windows. Massive flooding, dangerous chemicals, stuff like that..."

"Yeah, that's cool. But check out this EEL!! It's AWE-some!"

Rediscovering Tula

On Monday the Browns and Temples went on a mission to Tula--delivering notebooks, art supplies, books and toys to the poor, bored school children whose school really has "no more pencils, no more books." (Just "teachers with dirty looks.")

Our family had been there exactly two years earlier. It's a beautiful place. But now it looks like a bomb went off.

Tula October 2007



Tula October 2009





I could post hundreds of wreckage photos. But we're all getting tired of those images.

Instead here's the Brown ladies on their first and final trip to the NOAA lookout.

Tsunami, Day After

We ventured out this morning to check on some friends and witness the damage. It's so bizarre because most of the island isn't affected at all. Around our area things look the same as usual.

But when you drive into Leone or into Pago Pago, everything changes. It's like you're driving into a movie set of a warzone. People are sitting around taking in the situation. Many have begun cleaning up with rakes, shovels, buckets, and hoses. In Pago Pago most people are wearing face masks or t-shirts to protect themselves from the dust and fumes. Everything smells like dried up salt water, or mucky brine, with whiffs of fuel.

Here's what we saw.




















Everyone has a story to tell. We've heard tales of heroism and very close calls. You can see people in groups raising their arms to show the water level or waving them to show the waves. There is a slow line of cars and buses--locals trying to take in the magnitude of the damage.

Now as the numbers are being reported, people are finding out who made it through, and who didn't. Everyone is emotional and dealing with the the tragedy as best they can. We sadly found out that two of our dear friends were casualties in the village of Asili.
This is what remains of their home and store.


These photos are from the village of Leone.


Here's our what's left of the Leone Post Office.

I never got my birthday package. Maybe someone else did.

Life will not be the same here, but Samoans are strong and positive.
Thanks for your concern and prayers.