Wander & Nest

We’ve spent the last five months in Christchurch, New Zealand for part 1 of our year abroad for Wylie’s sabbatical. We had heard great things about New Zealand – things like it’s beautiful, people are friendly, it’s kid friendly, etc. – and we also heard some not so great things – it’s not diverse, no good food, and really isolated. We didn’t know how or if any of that would be true of our experience when we started this journey last July.

In short, what we discovered is that it’s not rainbows and dolphins all the time (except for when it is, see actual post on dolphins and rainbows), but it comes pretty close. Here’s why:

Things we love and will miss

• The people – just so kind and welcoming
• Kids get to be kids – so many things feel like they are designed with kids in mind, including bars and eateries usually reserved for adults. You could look at our blog and think we were on a playground tour. That was basically the outcome but we didn’t try for it, every beautiful place we went had a playground or something for kids. Kiwis want kids to be part of daily life and we felt that so strongly.
• Childcare – We loved everything about the Early Childhood Learning Center – the teachers, the environment, the culture, the kids, the parents. And don’t get me wrong, it’s still daycare so all the typical daycare things exist – Mara got sick, we all got sick, covid, misc colds, hand-foot-mouth, we got it all. But that didn’t dominate the daycare experience. What did was Mara learning Māori words, playing barefoot in the sandpit, learning to ride a scooter with her friends, baking cookies with the teachers on rainy days, and going on her first field trips.
• Nature – first, there are just so many trees in Christchurch, I’ve never stopped to look at trees so much in my life. Also so many birds! But mainly it’s the proximity and access to so many incredible places. It really feels like nature is for everyone in Christchurch, not just for people with gear. And with all of these incredible destinations you’d think it would be crowded and nothing ever was!
• Presence, prevalence, and respecte of Maori people, culture and language. I don’t know much about the history of the Maori people or of the settlers and colonizers who stole their land, but I could feel very quickly that New Zealand (Aotearoa) is home to the Maori and everyone else is visiting. I felt this thanks to the integration of Maori language and culture into childcare and education, land acknowledgments at every function, Maori music on the radio, holidays observed and celebrated, All Blacks Hakka, Maori names given for nearly everything (even if the common name is the British one), etc. I know this is far from perfect, but the contrast to the treated of indigenous peoples in the US is just so striking.
• Gem restaurants and hang out spots – we found great food and drinks in Christchurch and an impressive diversity of food options. Sometimes our finds were based in good reviews but more often from stumbling into a random place and being pleasantly surprised over and over again.
• Kiwi phrases – “done and dusted,” “she’ll be right,” “sweet as,” “hi ya,” “how ya going?” “how’s it looking team?”
• Wearing leggings out and it being totally fine.
• The journey being as great as the destination – in the literal sense because the views on roadtrips are amazing, but also that could extend in the figurative sense too.
• It’s just easy to live here, we loved the slower pace and time to enjoy each other in this beautiful place.

Things we won’t miss

• The wind – my goodness. Chicago’s got nothing on Christchurch. But what I find so incredible is that it doesn’t faze anyone! 60mph winds, so no biggie. Branches ripped off of trees, warnings not to drive in bridges if you’re driving anything bigger than a minivan… Kiwis are just like yep yep that’s normal life. I asked multiple Kiwis if this level of wind was normal and they all looked at me like “what wind?” And I love that so much! I aspire to have a kiwi relationship with the weather one day, which is a big challenge for this Southern Californian.
• Crappy takeout and lack luster sweet baked goods – these are just not your strong suit, New Zealand.
• Car centric everything and traffic where it felt like it shouldn’t be because it’s not densely populated. Still though I managed to not drive for 5 months! Wylie drove us places on the weekends but for my day to day I used the Christchurch bus system which is pretty great.

And wrapping up, I’ll just list a few things we’re looking forward to for part 2 of this sabbatical year in Toulouse, France:

• Food of all kinds
• Public transit and walking
• The feeling of a city
• Watching Mara pick up French way faster than we will
• Wearing real clothes

We’ll miss you Christchurch, and I know we’ll be back someday!