28 Liston Crescent

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind. Two weeks ago, we moved into our rental. It’s an older home (early 1960s) near the University and Knighton Normal School. The house is a 3 bedroom, 1 bath with the traditional coy pond, lemon tree and orange tree. It was furnished with exactly the number of beds we needed, appliances (uncommon in New Zealand), and other household items.  The house was tidy, but hadn’t been deeply cleaned in over a year. Once we moved in, we were horrified to find 2 ½ inch cockroaches in the kitchen. We also quickly learned that homes are poorly insulated and commonly have single pane windows. (This house still has windows in wood frames.) It was also shocking to learn how cold it actually gets with these conditions. My romanticism with being in a new country was over. The next morning, we went to church. The ward members were so kind and offered help. Sister Meleane said to me, “Can we come help you clean up?” I started bawling. Great, I thought, it’s nice to meet you too.  The next afternoon we had 9 adults show up with equally as many kids. The kids played outside in the nippy weather (remember, its early spring here) while the adults cleaned. . .and cleaned. . .and cleaned. They were truly saints in action and word. It was a beautiful experience for us and them! Luckily, we haven’t seen any roaches since!!

(These AMAZING brothers and sisters even made our beds. 

We found this after the 2 1/2 hours of cleaning.)

A couple days ago, we woke up and it felt like we were camping. The air in our bedroom was pretty cold. I think that is the best  metaphor for this house, it’s like a camping trip. The older kiwi homes only have one sink in the kitchen. So, I had to buy a plastic container to rinse the dishes.

I’m so grateful for some of the things I brought like the children’s IKEA dinnerware (cups, plates bowls) and IKEA reusable bags (we’ve used them for EVERYTHING).

Before we came to New Zealand, we were staying at Ryan’s parents’ house. It was really hard on me and really good for me. (My pride. . .) Once we  got to New Zealand, I realized what a tender mercy it had been—for a multitude of reasons. For example, electricity is extremely expensive here, so no one uses a dryer. Most to all clothes are hung out to dry. Our arrangement in Riverton was exactly the same. There was no dryer for the people who lived upstairs. So, we had to hang all our clothes out to dry. One of the blessings of living in Dean and Angeli’s house in Riverton is that we had already gone through the frustration of not having a dryer. So, here, we wait for the rains to clear and then get as much laundry done as we possibly can. We do have a dryer, but we rarely use it because of cost. AND, it’s so humid here that the dryer heats up the wet air making things uncomfortable. . .except for when I am freezing. Then I like running the dryer because I am desperate for HOT anything. . .including hot air.