BootsnAll Travel Network
Add this blog to: MyYahoo, Google, Bloglines, RSS


a kiwi family with eight kids and a grandpa
chronicle their pilgrimage from Singapore to London and beyond.....overland all the way

that was in 2008/2009....

then they kept on pilgrim-ing....2012....

then the 1,000km walk-for-water in 2014...

at the edge of the world

in Him we live and move and have our being ~ Acts 17:28
____________________________________________________________

Road Trip

January 10th, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand (via Whananaki)

New Zealand is smaller than we remember. We can get to the Far North, spend the day with two different groups of friends and family, and be back home again – all in one day!

 

Once upon a time we thought twice about going that far just for a weekend. It certainly would have seemed crazy to get up at 6:30am to get to the beach by 10. But it was comfortable, not crazy. The roads are so smooth, and wide and well marked and signposted. The countryside, pleasant enough – not spectacular, but not untidy or ugly or uninteresting.

 

The destination….well, that’s the kind of place people travel right round the world to find! Here’s the beach and it was a busy day:

Remember these photos of Italy? Worlds apart, yes?

We wished we could stay for a week or two (without all the palaver of setting up camp – we’re a bit over packing and unpacking right now)…..oh, I mean stay at Whananaki – NOT the Riviera!!

Posted in 2008/09, postcard: New Zealand, recreation | 1 Comment »

Tags: , ,

of books and spare parts

January 9th, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

The wealth of Europe was a stark contrast to the poverty we experienced in Asia. But it did not challenge us – we were removed from it, living relatively simply with just our seven backpacks.
The wealth of New Zealand, however, confronts us. It is personal. It is ours.
Most specifically – for today anyway – I’ve been unpacking our books. It’s no secret, we have a lot of books.

 

We believe a good education can be gleaned through books and we have made every effort to ensure our children (and wider community) have access to good books. I do not regret this in the slightest, but as I opened box after box after box after box after box all full of books, I could not help but think of the children we met in Laos – the one who were receiving their first ever books, the ones who would have a library of fifty books to choose from and then there would be no more for them to read. Fifty. Fifty books for your whole childhood. Fifty more than when Big Brother Mouse began publishing, but it’s still a pitiful number, is it not?
When we visited BBM, we were impressed. Very impressed. And I don’t just say that – we also visited an orphanage in Cambodia where we were NOT impressed. That one was a money-swindling operation with very little credibility. Big Brother Mouse was different. Do you remember us going to the book party we sponsored and then writing about it on the blog? That’s THE ONE post that people keep talking to us about even now.
And we keep thinking about it too.
We want to sponsor another book.
Having no personal income makes this difficult for the children, so we are thinking creatively. As we have unpacked the book boxes, we have not automatically returned them to their homes on wooden shelves, but have set aside a fair number to sell. We’ve just got to work out the best way to do this. TradeMe? A book fair?
We could do another sponsored walk too: the Coast to Coast walk we did last time would not be such a challenge now, so we may need to set our sights on something more demanding. Any ideas?
Another silent auction perhaps. The only problem is we no longer have a houseful of gear we do not need. We’ve given it away! Maybe we could approach businesses to donate decent prizes instead of on-selling just our junk.
We could ask all our readers to donate a dollar each, and according to our stat counter, we’d be well on the way to sponsoring a book. Any takers?

Then there are the other things needed at BBM. Of course their biggest need is for money so that they can get on with their work of making books and getting them into the hands of the Lao population. But they can also use educational games, used laptops and digital cameras, and old computer parts, as well as the odd book that they don’t publish themselves (they do not, however, want all the throwaway books that no-one else in the west wants either!)
One thing we noticed during our month in Laos is that there were precious few toys. Kids kicked around rattan balls, and the little girl in whose house we stayed had a Barbie doll, but that was all we saw. Knowing what enjoyment our own children have had with a wooden train set, I wondered if such a toy would be appropriate in Laos. I thought maybe not, because quite simply there are no trains in Laos. But look! Here on the Big Brother Mouse website is a picture of kids playing with a new toy – a wooden train set!
As for games, I suspect there are plenty of kiwi households with an old magnetic Chinese Checkers board or wooden quoits set or construction equipment sitting in the back cupboard. There might even be microscopes or inflatable globes no longer in use. I’m sure there are Monopoly games with Park Lane missing, or 1000 piece puzzles of which only 998 pieces remain. Lao learners don’t need these offerings! Neither could they use games requiring a good command of English. But surely there are *universal* games sitting in dusty corners that could enhance the life experiences of children, who ordinarily have access to next-to-nothing. Is there anything at your house? If you live in New Zealand, we’re happy to collect goods, and somehow get them to Sasha in Laos. We’re willing to personally deliver them if need be <wink>


the resources table at the school we visited


handmade

Posted in 2008/09, book, children, fundraising, justice, postcard: Laos, postcard: New Zealand, sponsor | 3 Comments »

Tags: , , , , , , ,

we’ve been eating OK

January 7th, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

There’s an international feel down here at the bottom of the world.

Mamaliga with kiwi sausages and the essential garlic sauce, plus some mushroom and egg too. Our Romanian friends would be proud of us!

Grandpa-made scones.

 

Lasagne with salad. Is there anything better?

Posted in 2008/09, food, postcard: New Zealand | 2 Comments »

Tags: , ,

FAQ

January 6th, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

We keep being asked questions (which is nice).
We’ll start with Grandpa’s one at dinner tonight: How are you kids settling in?
Mostly it’s nice, but when it gets to bedtime it feels funny coz you know you’re not moving on in the morning. ~ Kboy12
It’s nice to be in one place. For now, anyway. ~ Kgirl10
Tessa didn’t say anything, but we answered for her. She’s unsettled. She woke screaming in the middle of the night a couple of nights back, and when we go out she holds tightly to an adult’s hand the whole time. This is the kind of behaviour that would not have surprised us when we set out – we did not expect it upon our return!

Are you having trouble driving?
Well, we DO keep turning the windscreen wipers on instead of the indicators, but apart from that, driving our van is a breeze after the clunky motorhomes! I still find myself looking the wrong way at roundabouts, but we overcompensate by looking both ways three times to be sure! Certainly being back on the left-hand side feels normal; we just need to get used to our particular vehicle again.

How did Jboy14 cope with living in a confined space? (he’s our lad who likes to take himself off to his room – which admittedly he shares with three others!! – or to climb a tree on his own for quiet reflective *space*)
My initial answer was “he just coped”. Then I realised, he withdrew inside himself when there was no physical space to retreat to. And we discovered it is easier to call a boy down from a tree than to draw him out of his shell.

Where would you go back to?
It depends what for: Malaysia for roti canai….Big Brother Mouse in Luang Prabang if we wanted to contribute to some excellent work….Ho Chi Minh City if we felt like a fast-paced wild ride….China or Turkey for appreciation of our family….Mongolia to stay on the ranch (and all that goes with that)….Tallinn coz we simply liked it….France for beautiful communities and atmosphere and amazing colours and faraway skies….actually, *anywhere* in a motorhome!….Bulgaria for a timewarp…..Greece for a trip even further back to ancient civilisations and amazing scenery and flaky pastries and great cheese and olives and beaches….Italy coz we missed the important stuff (like Florence and Naples and Venice!)….and we didn’t even get to Scotland or London as per our plan so perhaps we could try again….and the Lake District in England was stunning (we’d love to go hiking there – and there’s meant to be a great lake district in Turkey too).
It really does depend on your purpose. Recently I happened across a job in Uganda  working for an aid project – Rob was well-qualified for it, it could be said our family had proven we could manage to live abroad for an extended period of time……so instead of tripping around the world for a year, we *could* have been living in Africa for two. But we’re not. However, as I say, where we would travel to depends on the purpose.

Did you weep when you went into the supermarket? Don’t you miss Sainsburys?
We’re fairly stable emotionally! But yes, NZ supermarkets do lack the range of Sainsburys and Carrefour. That said, we saw REAL mozarella in our local Pak-n-Save the other day. Not at a price we would be willing to pay, but it was there! The thing about the supermarket here is it’s just all so *the same*; there is no novelty.

How do you think ERgirl3 will cope with Rob going back to work?
This question has come when friends have seen how limpetly stuck to Rob she still is!
We’ve had one mini-trial. The day Rob had to take The Bear Cave to Leipzig he left the rest of us in Berlin. We made sure ER knew he was going for the whole day and would not be back before bedtime (just in case). She cried. We walked. Actually we had to walk for about five kilometres through residential streets in search of a bakery until we found somewhere to eat breakfast. At some point on the walk she stopped crying.
I guess she’ll get used to her Dadda not being here, and we’ll remind her what a privilege it was to have him for such a long time.

What stuff did you take that you didn’t need?
We had more cold weather gear than we needed – but if we had actually managed to find snow instead of leaving the day it arrived every time, we would have used all we had! (If we travelled again, we’d probably make an effort to avoid sub-zero temperatures and then we’d be able to take far fewer clothes). Early on we sent home some clothing with Grandpa – we pretty much ended up having two winter tops and pants and two summer tops and pants each. That was plenty to carry, although handwashing is hard on clothes and by the time we got home, we needed to have a ceremonial burning of some items!
We all picked up hiking boots. But my Keens sandals were soooooooo amazingly comfortable that even when it was below zero I wore them with two pairs of woollen socks. Next time I’d only take Keens (and flip-flops for using in grotty showers).
Do togs worn once every seven months count as wasted space in my back pack?
I took minimal makeup and didn’t use any of it even once. We also had a bagful of medication, which we did not need to touch. For this we are thankful. But just because we only needed band-aids and eyedrops, we do not regret carrying antibiotics, steristrips, bandages or allergy meds. I could do without the makeup though.
We took a laptop and loved having it. But we’d take a smaller lighter one next time. At first we didn’t like the cramped keyboard, but you get used to it. Smaller is better!
We took two cameras; our “real” one and a smaller point-n-shoot. The little one had the better zoom, and this was invaluable for portrait shots from a distance. It was also good for the children to be able to use a camera without fear of dropping it (*that* was left up to Rob – and of course it was the good camera that fell out of the bag, wasn’t it!)

What did you take that you were pleased you had?
Having our own metal drink bottles and a steripen meant we avoided buying hundreds and hundreds of plastic water bottles that just end up in landfill.
Merino shirts: cool in summer, warm in winter, fast-drying and non-stinky.
Walkie-talkies were invaluable for us travelling in two vehicles – smaller families may not appreciate them quite the same! (And Rob adds GPS!!!!!!)
Camera and laptop (see above) and pencil-n-paper journals.
Keens sandals (see above).
Circular needles and sock wool (Rach) – Ipods (Rob and the children).

What did you wish you had taken with you?
A tripod for the camera.
More than one Bible.

Have you had many visitors or are you feeling lonely?
Definitely not lonely! We’ve been invited out for meals, the phone’s been ringing (we especially liked the call from a neighbour-across-the-road, who had caught an enormous fish and needed help to eat it!) and people have been dropping in for anything from fifteen minutes to the whole day. (We’re so busy living in the real world that we are only slowly getting online – apologies to those who have comments awaiting moderation – maybe we’ll get that done tomorrow!)

Posted in 2008/09, children, homecoming, parenting, postcard: New Zealand | 5 Comments »

Tags: , , , ,

we did it!

January 5th, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

It took us a week, but we got the garden weeded, composted and planted.

We also got the kitchen totally tidied and functioning – the rhythm of bread baking and yoghurt making is established, sprouting and fermenting are on the verge of happening, even the freezer is now stocked.
All the linen has a home – for a lot of it, that home is at the Sallies.
All the children’s toys are accessible – or at the Sallies.
All the “work boxes” (read: notebooks, journals, maths books etc) are ready-to-use.
All the sandals and gumboots are lined up in the garage (and new ones purchased for those who needed them – not from the Sallies).
The bathrooms are sparkling; the novelty of a clean shower has not worn off and willing workers keep it pristine.
Light fittings have been washed and moved (coz we had nothing else to do, y’know).
Musical instruments are available.
The computers are running and internet connected.
The garage is almost tidy.
A broken window repaired (Mr Repair Man arrived within half an hour of calling the insurance company – not bad, eh).
People have been dropping in (not that this is a job – it’s just time-consuming).
Rob spent the whole evening opening mail (that *was* a job, AND time-consuming)

There is just craft gear to sort and books to place on shelves. Possibly the two biggest jobs of them all 😉

We have lots of space that we didn’t used to have. There are empty drawers in the kitchen, empty shelves in the laundry, nothing under our bed, coathangers without a job to do in the wardrobe, big gaps on the floor.
We simply have less stuff. It’s gone to the Sallies.
But we’re still left with a lot.
When I start comparing our gear to the possessions of the family we stayed with in Mongolia or the ones living in bamboo huts in Thailand or Laos, it all seems so unfair.
What is the point of such comparison? Is anything to be gained? I could give all our stuff away, but how would that help those families? We could cut off our water and power, but what would that achieve? How would it help others?
In the midst of trying to settle into comfort, there are uncomfortable thoughts.

We might have planted the garden, but we haven’t answered the big questions.
In fact, we haven’t even asked some of them.

Posted in 2008/09, homecoming, justice, postcard: New Zealand | 2 Comments »

Tags: , , ,

at the table (aka the good, the bad and the ugly)

January 4th, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

As predicted, the trip’s influence is infiltrating our kitchen.

We bought oats, but have not yet made our traditional morning porridge. In the mornings we’ve been too busy banging boiled eggs together to find the winner with the unbroken egg as we learnt to do in Moscow….


(Moscow Memories)

we’ve been chopsticking our way through chicken soup with noodles….

we’ve been slurping sago cooked in coconut milk, and even proving television advertising is true: Kiwi-kids-are-Weetbix-kids (who knows if this ad, which used to run years ago, is still on…..can’t say we’ve bothered turning the tv on to find out).

And that’s just breakfast time.
At dinnertime we’ve been devouring salads and relishing lasagne, which reminded us of the one and only lasagne on the trip – a wonderful one we made whilst couchsurfing in Hanoi. We’ve had one of the kids’ favourites – nachos. Soon we’ll be tucking into a roast lamb with roast potatoes, pumpkin, kumara, carrots and some red cabbage (and we’ll remember how the Romanians also eat lamb, especially at Easter, and how they cannot get their heads around the idea of teaming it with mint jelly).

But the focus of mealtimes has not simply been the food.
You see, all the not-sitting-together-as-a-family-for-meals (whether because there were not tables big enough for us, or because we were sprawling round on the ground outside the motorhomes or for whatever other random but frequent reason) has meant that the concept of table manners has disappeared from our family identity.
Children need to be re-taught to stay at the table until everyone has finished eating, they need to be taught to leave their cutlery alone until it’s time to eat, they need to be taught that it’s rude for everyone to speak at once, they need to learn to listen, they need to be reminded that we are now in New Zealand – we are not in China and so we will not slurp our soup – we are not in Vietnam and therefore we will not be throwing our bones on the floor (Tgirl5 liked that cultural practice <wink>) – we are not in Mongolia and so we will not be licking our bowl clean – we are not in Poland and so we will not be having delicious desserts at every meal. Now that we are no longer sharing cutlery and glasses, they need to learn that we set the table with one of everything for each person – and that dinner plates and bread-n-butter plates have a purpose (no need to use only tin bowls for every meal) – and that when you’ve finished eating you don’t leave your knife looking like it’s about to invade the next country on your itinerary. Tablecloth and napkin etiquette is a long way off.

Posted in 2008/09, children, homecoming, learning, parenting, postcard: New Zealand, tradition | No Comments »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Guess what!

January 3rd, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

Another BBQ (you knew that).
Same formula: meat on the grill, salad and bread on the table, something deliciously sweet for dessert, good friends, laughter, conversation.

Forgotten again: the camera.

All this socialising means we’re not making a lot of headway with the unpacking! There are still boxes piled up around the place, but we ignored them all and attacked the garden this morning.

From this:

To this:

We discovered strawberries and bok choy and leeks and teeny hiding potatoes and rhubarb (could hardly miss that, it’s so enormous!) and a bit of lettuce and one lone sunflower. Our lunch engagement prevented us from digging in compost and planting seedlings, but we’ll get there eventually.

We might even get the boxes unpacked.

Posted in 2008/09, food, homecoming, postcard: New Zealand, recreation | No Comments »

Tags: , , , ,

summer BBQ

January 2nd, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

For our readers abroad (and now that we are back we should use the kiwi-ism and call you/them “overseas readers”…..we don’t tend to say “abroad” here – probably because in order to go abroad we have to go overseas. Besides, it sounds posh!)…..anyway, the point is we are back in the swing of quintessential kiwi life: we were invited out for a BBQ. Tomorrow we’ll be invited to another. The formula is simple: we take some homemade bread, the lady of the house makes a salad and the men bond as they char the meat over the grill. It’s a recipe that speaks of summer.

The only thing is, it doesn’t really *feel* like summer to us.

Well, of course it is much much warmer than we were a month ago in Romania.
The sun is shining and it hasn’t rained yet, which is actually pretty good for an Auckland summer <wink> That sun sets after nine….which is later than the European winter-is-approaching and so the sun disappears far-too-early-for-our-liking that we were experiencing just a week ago….but it is also much earlier than the long lazy evenings of Italian summer that had preceded the autumn…..*then* the sun was still making shadows at 11pm!!
And the evenings get nippy. We know that; we’ve lived here for most of our lives. But today when we went to our friends’ place we did not think to take sweatshirts. Brrrr.
(But the cockles of our hearts were warmed as we watched their cat give birth to kittens….yes, even Mrs Don’t Like Cats was interested).

For the past few years SUMMER has meant begging, borrowing and eventually buying camping gear and going away with friends to the beach. This year the tent is still gathering cobwebs under the roof. It will not be coming down. We are still emptying boxes. It feels more like we’re moving house than taking a holiday.
Probably because that’s exactly what we *are* doing! And going to BBQs too.

insert pics if our host sends them to us –
we forgot to take our own camera


and one pic from our backyard to remind us it IS summer

Posted in 2008/09, food, postcard: New Zealand, recreation, tradition | 1 Comment »

Tags: , , , ,

meaningful

January 1st, 2010

Auckland, New Zealand

It was a meaningful conversation. It was with an older lady, who has been unable to work in paid employment for fifteen years. When she suffered her accident she was still only middle-aged, and expecting to work for a good many more years in a job she thoroughly enjoyed and had been doing since her youth. While she may not have drawn another pay cheque since that fateful day, and while she may not have returned to her regular place of employment – or any other for that matter – she has still had work to do. She has had the work of recovery, the work of bearing pain, the work of finding a new role in her community. And you know what? There are people who say to her, and others who insinuate it, that she does not contribute meaningfully to society. Hearing this reminded me of our situation. When we had our fifth child and made public the decision to educate the children at home (the eldest had just turned six and was now required by law to attend school), a dear friend remarked something along the lines of, “I’ll be watching with interest what you do with your life after the kids. You had such potential. You had so much to give.”

It would seem if you are not earning a wage and not in a recognised workplace, the work you do remains unrecognised and perhaps worthless. In our situation we were even accused of choosing the selfish option – refusing to put our children in school meant I would impact far fewer children in my lifetime, not being able to teach someone else’s kids all day if I was with my own. But is economies of scale the best or even *only* measure? In reality, I couldn’t do what I believe about education in a classroom, and I fear I am inadequate to the task of taking on the whole system singlehandedly. Is it really selfish to keep our children out of the cookie-cutter-moulds, to proactively create a rewarding family life, to spend time producing organic food, to practise hospitality, to provide a model of educating myself (I have learnt more in the last decade than any of my university certificates prove in spite of none of this knowledge being “accredited”)….disclaimer: we have plenty of friends who are completely happy sending their children to school and manage to create a fantastic family environment too, so I am not saying Thou Shalt Live Your Life As We Live Ours in order to be successful…..

Dare I generalise?
In richer places (and that obviously includes New Zealand) retirement for most means the end of work. This is generally accepted and remains unquestioned across the breadth of society. But I believe it is because we have such a narrow view of work. Work must equate to income. If we could recognise that providing friendship, taking a meal to the sick, picking flowers for a neighbour, reading aloud to a blind man, cleaning out gutters, raking up leaves and writing a letter was work, we might realise that pensioners DO contribute to their communities. And young mothers at home do and the disabled do, to name but a few more.

As for the lady who sparked my line of thought, she is available to meet people in need, to be a listening ear to those who are grieving and suffering in their own lives. She may not do it in an office, she certainly doesn’t get paid for it, but is it not a meaningful contribution to society? Just ask the people she has listened to.

PS For lunch on our Romanian potato bread we had a trip-inspired Jgirl15-cooked concoction: eggplant, onions, loads of garlic crushed in our brought-home-from-Romania-garlic press,  a bowlful of tomatoes and then some more, pepper and salt all cooked up into a spreadable mush. No pictures though coz we’re out of the travelling habit of constantly using the camera.

Posted in 2008/09, children, health, parenting, postcard: New Zealand | No Comments »

Tags: , , , ,

mixed emotions

December 31st, 2009

Auckland, New Zealand

What we like about being home…

* books
* space
* having Grandpa with us again
* “it has a homely feel to it, which I like” ~ Kgirl10 
* toys and bikes
* English
* friends
* proper bath towels
* not sharing beds
* knowing where we live
* washing machine
* going out and not feeling disoriented or getting lost
* kitchen (today was the day we started easing back into our foodie routines. We are
   by no means unpacked, but we have started bread baking and yoghurt making….)

“I’m looking forward to getting into my projects that I hadn’t finished before we went away like my quilt, but at the moment it’s kinda sad being home coz you know that it’s finished. It’s strange coz I thought I was looking forward to coming home, and I *was* looking forward to coming home, but now that we’re here I wouldn’t mind being away still.”
This from the girl, who was least keen about embarking on the trip at all (Jgirl15)!

 

BREAD RECIPE: Romanian Potato Bread

1T active yeast
2T sugar
warm water
   Dissolve all together and leave until it becomes frothy

1kg potatoes, cooked and mashed
2kg flour
1T salt
   Add to the above mixture

1-1.5l water
  Mix in and knead until dough is smooth
   (my note: I only needed about 800ml of water)
   Set aside in a covered bowl for an hour – it will rise significantly
   Form into loaves (I did four)
   Bake at 220*C….the recipe said for an hour, but I pulled mine out after only 40 mins.

Posted in 2008/09, children, food, postcard: New Zealand, quote | 8 Comments »

Tags: , , , ,
« Previous Page — « Previous Entries
Next Entries » — Next Page »