March19
In a recent post, I mentioned that there are now seven residents at 20 Derby (pronounced like the Kiwis say it: “Twinty DAH-bee”. It has been an interesting adjustment going from six to seven people in terms of hot water management (there are, thankfully, two hot water heaters in the house), laundry scheduling, and kitchen time and space. Fortunately, our landlords (neighbours) have been accommodating with our requests for a new pot set, a cast iron frying pan, a THIRD refrigerator (in all fairness, these fridges are about half the size of their full-size American counterparts), and other kitchen essentials like a broiler pan and knife sharpener.
I have not posted much about our living situation, so I will do so now. The house we live in is an old character home, built about 100 years ago. It is on a quiet-ish street less than a block from one of the busiest intersections in Christchurch (and the technical City Center). We chose the house for several reasons. One, because our room, which was originally purposed as the lounge (a.k.a. living room), is huge, and it has an awesome sun room for Rus’s office. Two, everyone who moved in after January 2009 would be there for a year. This was important to us because we preferred to avoid a backpackers’ house where people were constantly coming and going. Three, the kitchen was comparatively much larger than the six other places at which we looked. Four, it has a huge, empty garage where Rus can do his projects, and we could store our bikes. Finally, it is close to everything, it is in a nice neighborhood, and the landlords live next door (making them, theoretically, accessible). All in all, 20 Derby simply made the most sense.
So, the flatmates…
Leanne & Arno (both 30ish): They are the new couple who recently moved in. Arno is a German who moved to New Zealand four years ago. He is a former triathlete and Ironman and still cycles often. He is studying Health Sciences at Canterbury University (“Uni”) and is a personal trainer for disabled people. Leanne is a Kiwi from the Auckland area studying full-time for a post-Graduate degree in Sociology. Since they are both so busy working and studying, we hardly see them except in passing and around dinner time.
Dylan (34) is a Kiwi from the Christchurch area. He is studying to become a certified electrician (a “sparky”) and works an apprenticeship as such. He has a bach at the beach he is renovating and so often spends his weekends working on it. He is very nice and very helpful and overall a pleasant person to be around!
Christian (25) is our resident Austrian. He has been working and travelling the globe the last three years: Canada (Toronto), USA (San Francisco), Australia, and now New Zealand for the last year. He works at an upscale restaurant around the corner from the house and loves everything wine - from how its made to how it tastes (we often consult him before making wine purchases). He speaks three languages (English, German, and Italian), and is quite the comedian. If you get in an argument with him, though, be careful - because he might send his “little brother Arnie from California” to go “Terminator” on you.
Monique (31) is a Kiwi from Nelson, which is at the top of the South Island. She is a pediatric oncology nurse and works an ever-changing schedule; night shift, early shifts, afternoon shifts; it’s hard to keep track of her! She has travelled to the US (upstate New York), Canada (Toronta), and the UK/Ireland. She has also worked in Australia (Brisbane) before. She is a lovely person with a positively infecticious laugh!
Former flatmate Radu (27). I am going to shoutout Radu since I have mentioned him on this blog before, he was fun, and Derby Street misses him. He was born and grew up in Bucarest, Romania, went to Princeton University for his undergraduate degree, and received his Masters and Doctorate in Mathematics from UC Berkeley. He came to New Zealand for three months and just went back to California three weeks ago.
It has been less of an adjustment than I thought it would be going back to living with people again. There are the occasional inconveniences of, for example, not being able to do laundry when you want because someone else is using the washing machine. Overall, however, it has been a great experience meeting new people and learning their stories. We went out for Monique’s birthday several weeks ago, and it was cool hanging out then (especially the miracle that everyone’s schedules matched up!). Our trip to Queenstown with Christian was amazing, and we are tentatively planning a tramp with Dylan and a possible trip to the North Island with Monique. Surely, there will be more news from 20 DAH-bee!
has made ignorance of New Zealand a running theme.