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basshouse · 5 years

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Are you there, god? It’s me Ashley.

A few days ago I found myself praying. Like “please god, please please please...” and I am embarrassed -- but not quite embarrassed enough not to share with you, my real friends who I assume won’t judge me too harshly -- to say that that end of that sentence ends with “...please let my vodka still be there.”

I’m embarrassed because I don't really believe in praying in any traditional way. And yet, there I was, doing something so cliche and typical, right down to the nervous murmuring under my breath, that a rosary would not have looked out of place in my hands.

I probably should be embarrassed that I love vodka enough that I slid right into an uncontrolled and completely reflexive activity that should be reserved for true moments of fear and desperation. But I’m not, very. And in case it makes you feel better about me, you should know that it was a 26 -- yes 26!!! -- dollar bottle of duty free vodka, and there were also Aveda cosmetics in the bag, which I had to buy two bottles of to replace the one they took away from me in the security line. So, if the picture you have in your head is a total cliche of a 45 year old woman running though an airport in heeled espadrilles, with a Mac and an iPhone and an iPad all on low battery and an overpacked carry-on suitcase that barely passed the weight limit in the first place and is now swollen with duty free products and a new pair of sweatpants, sweating and praying nervously as she tries to keep her suitcase with one wonky wheel going in a straight line in her mad dash back to the Billabong duty free store where she just bought a striped sweatshirt that was made for much younger women but was so compelling that she actually put down her bottle of vodka to try it on...well, if that’s the picture you have in your head, it’s the right damn one and exactly what I was doing last Wednesday on my way back from Sydney. And you know what? The vodka was there! Praise be.

Really, I am embarrassed...well, maybe sheepish is the better word, considering I am over the way we are conditioned to feel ashamed for who we are and what pops into our heads naturally when we are faced with even the most benign kinds of adversity ... I am sheepish because in light of things that have happened recently in the place that I live, and in fact the whole world that we inhabit, there are much more important things to ask god to do. So many more important things for god to spend time on. So while praying is not my thing (except apparently in moment of privileged and absurd adversity), I do want to set the record straight with you readers and the entire internet as my witness: God, in whatever form you take, I will give up every bottle of duty free vodka (and even really expensive ones) if you will remove the hatred and aggression that causes innocent people such pain, and I hope to god (you) that you weren't listening to me when I asked for my vodka back because if the world has an infinite number of prayers to be answered and energy to be disbursed in positive ways, they need to be spent on so much more important things.

So that's what I was doing last Wednesday night as I tried to head home after a 4 days in Sydney with my mother, after 6 weeks of visitors, after a terrible act of violence that ripped through the heart of our city. So maybe it’s clear why I really needed that vodka, eh? And for the record or in case you are wondering if there’s such thing as karma, I recovered the vodka but my plane had problems and the hook and eye on my dress broke so I had pretty much the exact same wardrobe malfunction as Janet Jackson when I was trying to get my puffy suitcase out of the overhead compartment when they made us get off the plane to go get on another one WHICH HAD NO BAR SERVICE. What. The. Fuck.

Well anyway! You're probably wondering how was Sydney? How was my time with Lois? It was great. Even though we did literally get locked into our Air BnB apartment when the knob fell off the door.

You can see some highlights and shenanigans in this movie I made with my extra time in the airport. Turns out I am quite productive when sober :-) Aw hell, I am quite productive when I’m drinking, too. But more when sober.

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basshouse · 5 years

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Watch out Sydney - Lois and Ashley are on the loose! https://www.instagram.com/p/BvF2ariB4ecTORVPv5vxj20WOuAxrpQl62MgCw0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=9qu70c1znqcu

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basshouse · 5 years

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Of Politics and Road Trips

Welp, it seems like the time has come to address one of the gnarliest and most frequently asked questions of all time. To be clear, that's gnarly for me and to me, respectively. I’d also like to memorialize a recent road trip. Before I start, though, let’s get grounded in the current context: it’s late summer IN MARCH; We are headed intro autumn, and there has been enough early snow that Mount Hutt was open for skiing (what?!?!). I started my new job at Jade Software; the kids started a new school year in January, with Anily headed off to her first year of high school (5 years of high school here); both kids have changed to a new soccer club, which is much closer to the house (thank god); Anily made the A team; James is playing soccer and basketball and ridiculous amounts of Fortnite. It’ll soon be a year that we’ve been here. We are right in the middle of a full 12 weeks of visitors and trips from/to the US. And in case you were wondering, the cat has managed to escape through open windows and doors a few times, but he’s always come back so I guess he’s ours for real :-)

I still haven't submitted my dreadfully complicated tax return. I am seriously procrastinating, and having visitors and reasons to road trip is helping/hurting.

So! BFGFAQ (big fat gnarly...you get it): It’s the political one. From the Kiwis this usually comes in the form of “are you a Trump refugee?” or “what do you make of what’s going on over there?” And even if it’s not an explicit question, how can I possibly answer the most frequent Q of all time -- “why did you move to New Zealand?” without considering how the political landscape of the US factored in? I mean, you don't just up and move across the globe and leave a great place and a fabulous life without at least a mental checklist of pros and cons. At least, most of us wouldn't. And if you’re a grown-up (which we sadly have established that I am) and a contributing, aware, member of society (which I would argue that I am), your list must include considerations of the way your taxes are spent and people are treated in the place you live and how the outcomes of those things impact your lifestyle, your life, and the lives of other human beings. Right? Right!

MAJOR UPDATE: A handful of days after I posted this, someone (likely an asshole white supremacist) shot and killed people in a CHCH mosque. The city is still in lock down as I write this. It is terrible and sad that things like this happen anywhere, ever. And I just want to say that as you read the ideas below, I’ll be watching closely the response of the NZ government.

If there’s one thing that moving around the world to a place you’ve never been before, with a small family and no friends, and taking up a real life with a paycheck and a rent and a job does really well, it’s create an opportunity to reflect on the differences between where you were and where you are. It also is extremely useful for considering, in a very real way, how the values you hold are (or are not) reflected in both a political system and a local way of living. You really notice how political decisions, socioeconomic forces and cultural norms trickle into investments, infrastructure, bureaucracy, language, aesthetics, and interactions that impact you as you move through your day-to-day and learn how to get things done. And because you’re an observer who is trying to become an insider, you may operate with less bias and pre- disposition to judge, more of a natural curiosity and interest in gathering information and then assimilating it and deciding over time. Chalk one up for perspective! Happy to say this was the kind of experience and growth I hoped we’d all get through this adventure.

Now, from the Americans this question usually comes in the form of something like “OMG, are you so glad you’re not here for this?” or “are public healthcare and lack of gun violence really as amazing as they seem from here?”. Because, like me, most people I talk with on a regular basis feel something like this:

t least you do now, thanks to Willie Wonka’s and friend above, and this:

So while I am not here in NZ without political bias or personal ideas of what’s right, wrong and important, I am more open minded to considering what’s good for this country and this context, and I have a stronger appreciation for the complexities of things all across the board since I’ve now gathered more data and had more experience.

So, my American friends, in the interest of helping you draw some of your own conclusions, here is a segment I like to call Fact, Figures and Feelings:

America is amazing. You have SO much of everything. Including great food, tons of money, vast political power, and a really noticeable amount of homeless people. I mean! When I was in San Jose I felt so conflicted by both where to go for every meal and the fact that to get where I wanted to go I was uncomfortable with my own feelings and anxiety about possible conflict with the homeless and mentally ill folks I passed constantly. And it was often while I was walking into a convention center full of people trying to give away millions of dollars, listening to speakers who had made millions through technology. And while the dog adoption station on site and the furry friends in it made me feel a little better in the moment, could there be anything more cliche? Embarrassing. And yet is it fundamentally bad to have cute dogs making rich people feel good and maybe getting adopted? No. But it maybe uniquely American.

Know what else you have a lot of, USA? DRAMA. Seriously. The NZ morning news is usually about 25-50% reporting on the shitshow that is US and Brexit, and it turns out that when people say “if you get homesick, just listen to the news” they are correct.

So what about NZ? Well, when you live in a country with SO MANY FEWER (like so many!) people and a much smaller GDP, your reality is very different. Not so loud. Not so busy. Not so many options. Much much simpler and frankly, it feels more sane. But we know the Mexican food sucks. So... six of one/half dozen of the other? This is what I am saying: I cannot tell you if Enchiladas and Aveda products make up for dealing with the opioid crisis if you’re seeing it every day, or if leaving Tito’s vodka and a much higher salary on the table is balanced out by the fact that police here in CHCH carried guns last week and this is how people think about it:

FUN FACT: During the “summer holidays” (December-Jan), the morning news show on public radio literally went off air. They replaced it with special summer programming, mostly dedicated to personal profiles and reviews of music and activities. The only headlines they read each day were almost entirely about the US (shut downs) and UK (Brexit). Apparently it’s possible for time off to extend to politics and news. WOW. Just notice how you feel about that.

Now, NZ is certainly not the rainbows and unicorns utopia we liberals like to think a place with a public healthcare system and affordable education and far fewer guns will be -- there’s a growing imbalance in the distribution of wealth, the abortion laws are archaic, affordable housing is a big issue, nurses and teachers strike because they don’t get paid enough.

Politics was not the only motivator for our move, but we considered it -- sure seemed like a nice time to be out of the US, and it is. It’s certainly not a clear #NZFTW-100% -they -nailed-it situation, though. Every place and every system has its bad sides, and I have a lot to learn to really decide how the pros and cons balance out. All I know is that it’s really, really nice to be in a place where the political conversation is much simpler and more focused on politics and their outcomes on people than on hateful rhetoric. I am disappointed when I think of the lost opportunity due to the amount of resources you are wasting on unproductive, unkind conversations in the USA, when you have so much. I feel bad for not being there to help stand up for the rights of people I believe in, but when you don't wake up angry every day at the headlines and the people you share space with, when the dialog is a little more open and productive, when the headlines are not so likely to be violent and sad, you start with a much better mental health baseline. You just can’t eat a great caesar salad whenever you feel like it, and it’s expensive as hell to leave the island and you don’t get paid enough to be able to do it often, which may really stress you out. For now, I’m really ok with it. But over time will the flaws in the NZ system (every system has them) outweigh the positive? Do the opportunities in the US outweigh the negative?

In the interest of letting you form some your own opinions: Take a look at the the top headlines of 2018 in New Zealand. They include a pregnant PM; visits from Ed Sheeran, the Royals, and Obama; a handful of natural disasters; a bunch of news about other countries and sports; and the BIG BIG Drama which “unfolded over several deeply uncomfortable days” and ended in a minister being briefly admitted to a mental health facility and broad discussions about mental health. Consider if the US was as concerned about its politicians’ mental health when they did crazy shit :-).

Oh also, this is my CEO at work on Friday (hee hee):

So far this year Lime Scooters (people get hurt on them, and people break the rules and double ride with no helmets -- gasp!) and the potential of a capital gains tax have been in the news pretty much daily. And that’s about it. Boring? Yes! Nice? Also yes! Did you know NZ is the only country in the OECD to not have a CGT? Are you impressed with my knowledge of initialisms? Worldly is the word you’re looking for to describe me.

I know, it looks like I am pooping on a trail, but I am actually doing squats mid-hike IN A SKIRT. Probably gives me enough credibility to become a world leader, or at least present these numbers for your consideration:

Now that you have something to think about -- because you weren't already thinking about politics enough (sorry!) -- let’s turn to a less political, but more important spiritual and philosophical topic: The Art of the Road Trip.

Pro tip: It’s easier to be a Road Trip Rembrandt with the right tools -- like these:

Mountains + Vans = Roadtrip Masterpiece

I think I mentioned in an earlier post that one of the things we’ve been doing a lot of is road tripping. Not so different from Seattle, eh? True. But since we can surf so close to the house and we have such a beautiful country to explore and a slightly less active social life, the road trips are more frequent and more varied. As we are all happiest when we’re in the flow and hitting the right balance between challenge and success, I guess it makes sense. Because if I do say so myself, we are damn good at the road trip, but there’s no way to have 2 to 6 people in a small space with a lot of stuff and a windy road ahead and podcasts and music to choose without challenge.

#vanlifeisthebestlife.

Here’s a map of where we’ve been on our travels thorough the country so far:

So what’s the art of the road trip? Composition:

And the science? One part great music, one part planning, and at least two parts having a sense of humor and joy about all the chaos.

Like when there’s no where for you to sit:

My most recent road trips were extra awesome due to the fact that Leslie Lapham (AKA Alex, AKA LL) was here and we took off on a few fun adventures. Now, Leslie is great for a lot of reasons and it was super fun to have her here for 5 weeks...and one of her best qualities, she takes great pictures!

Here’s what I like to say about our first trip: it started with a bang and ended with a bee sting.

Here’s the bang -- this is what happens when some dickhead decides to pass you on the right at high speed on a highway while you are TURNING RIGHT into a campground:

So, that sucked. Especially because aforementioned dickhead did not stop to see if we were ok, just left us there in the dark on our own. Luckily the Taupe Donkey was still drivable and packing enough duct tape to make it work. So, off we headed from Kaikoura to make ourselves feel better in the vineyards and wineries of Marlborough.

The Cloudy Bay Winery was not a bad place to spend an afternoon!

Watson’s Way (not pictured) was a really weird place to spend a night though -- we were basically parked in a gravel parking lot in someone’s yard. But man, did we have some good food!

Although oops, I accidentally tried to take a grapevine as a souvenir. And I swear this was before I even did a tasting!

After wine tasting and an amazing dinner at Arbor, we headed to the Marlborough Sounds, starting at Havelock, the mussel capital of the world!

We did a cool tour on the mailboat, which literally delivers mail, packages, animals, groceries, and god knows what else (possibly the odd tourist by accident?) to the residents of the remote 300 or so bays in the region, which can only be reached by boat.

We ate a lot, of course. But we ordered more than we could eat.

After that we headed south on the inland route and camped overnight at the Tasman Lakes National Park.

There were eels, pretty views, and random dock yoga.

And last but definitely not least, we topped off the trip by meeting Jason at the always fabulous Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools. What a drive to get there, too! I did get stung by a bee while I was soaking, which was a total and pretty painful shock, despite the signs warning people to watch out for bees. Little fuckers!

After that, back to co-working and a couple weekends in CHCH:

Then...Lois!!!

Now this blog is not about all the visitors and it’s already so long I dare not start going on about having Leslie and Lois here together. Suffice it to say we had some fun times, some great food, and after 8 hours in the emergency room we did a quick road trip to Oamaru. There were PENGUINS!!!!

There were penguins!!! We saw them waddle onto the beach at dusk after swimming 50K through the ocean all day. Alas, you cannot take pictures of them, so you’ll have to settle for 3 Generations of Wachsmuth Women in the Wild until next time. XO.

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basshouse · 5 years

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Bring on the FAQs

I know you have questions! Oh, ok, I’ll honor the era of the fact check (be the change you want to see int he world, after all!): I think you have questions and I know I want to use questions as a framework for telling you more about my life. On board?? In case your answer is “no” and you choose not to click “keep reading” below, here’s the obligatory picture right up front:

That’s me in San Jose a couple days ago. Yes, I have a “bum bag” (super apologies to everyone I ever mocked for a fanny pack, a sweatpant, or a mini van, and a reminder to us all that it’s ridiculous to judge people for the things they decide enhance their quality of life...are heavily starched jeans in my future? who can say?). Also, yes I am on the North American continent. Sadly not with enough time or planning to be able to connect with many people, plus it’s a work trip and I’m freezing by balls off. More on that later (the work part, not my balls). Let’s get to the Q&A!

A bit of a heads up: a lot of these are combo questions, I grouped them by flavor to make things more compact... you bunch are good at asking the same question multiple ways.

1. Do you miss home/Seattle/the States? What do you miss the most?

Alright, I’m going to leave out the obvious friends, family and a certain tiny dog, because...duh. Do you really need the validation? You know I miss you. As for P-dog, he was IN A WEDDING. IN A BOWTIE. So suffice it to say that while I still get sad when I get in bed at night and he’s not curling up at my feet, his new family is showing their commitment to him in a whole new and completely adorable way.

I do not actively miss living in Seattle or the States. I haven't been homesick. and to be clear, Seattle is an amazing place and our lives there were full of amazing people and things. It’s just that I am enjoying being somewhere else and doing new things (and many of the old things in a new location). I can love Seattle (and you!) and love somewhere else at the same time, how amazing is that? One good thing about being faced with losing my job and visa was that I had to ask and answer the question of whether it was best to just “go home” -- and it was clear for both me and Jason that we did not want to leave Christchurch yet. No, we did NOT ask the kids this time :-).

I DO miss some things about living in Seattle, and if you know me you won't be surprised to hear they are largely food related...La Palma. Pickles. Gardenburgers. Caesar salads that don’t have a poached egg on top. The ability to fulfill a special order (say, make a Caesar salad without an egg on top). Jale-frickin’-penos! It’s not to say that NZ doesn't have good food; overall the quality of the food is high and it’s nice that all the coffee shops serve real food. Also, you almost never have table service, which threw me off at first, but now I really appreciate being in control of when I order and when I pay my bill. A non-tip economy has its perks for sure, including less math at the dinner table! But there are some foods for each of us that fulfill a craving, are a go-to, and when you can’t get them, even a close approximation or a really good option just won’t do. This problemhas inspired me to learn how to cook new things, at least. Haven’t nailed the gardenburger yet.

Also, I miss yoga. A LOT. Props to Core Power, Shefa, Haute, and Maven for being awesome places to practice a powerful flow in the heat with music. Thanks to all of you who taught me and those that let me teach you. Christchurch has more bars and restaurants and interesting places than we expected, but this style of yoga just isn't there as far as I can tell. So hit me up if you're interested in investing in a probably-not-very-profitable business in NZ once I have a visa that lets me own a business, and you can weigh in on whether “Surfing Donkey Yoga” (Jason’s nomination) is on brand or not. I have an opinion but no harm in workshopping it.

2. Wait, you said in an earlier blog you don't overwork (or sometimes even work at all when you should be)...what do you do/are you going crazy/how do you handle it/are you really you?!?!?

This is an honest question I have gotten in phone conversations, and since I assume you know me and my, um, rather industrious ways, you may have it too. I mean, it’s not a secret that when I lived in Seattle I worked A LOT, and stressed over work A LOT, and talked about work A LOT, and did work-y things outside of work, and worked at home and on the weekends FAR TOO MUCH. And for background: in New Zealand I have had a much better work life balance. And at the end of my time at SLI there were many many hours that I went to work but did not really have work to do. So while I have done what I needed to do, and contributed to the business, and used my skills, working and being at work has NOT defined my life here, even in the slightest, which it did in Seattle. That pains me a little, because I also did lots of of things besides work in Seattle, and I never valued being a person who was stressed about work all the time (at least, I did not value that for other people or in principal, though I did build up some kind of addiction or compulsion based on an anxiety about not working). Can I attribute being ok with more balance to a “less demanding” job? In part that would be fair, but after giving it some thought I also must attribute it to both breaking the chain of bad habits and the general difference in culture, For, as far as I can tell, in New Zealand, it is not common to work outside hours or on vacation; people value value and respect family time; and there's a much more subtle and prevalent difference that's hard to explain about the feeling that everything really is going to be ok if you don't struggle to get it all done in record time -- there’s an undercurrent of pressure that does not exist, at least not for me, and I think it’s a Kiwi thing. An informal poll and some observational data (e.g. one boss told me when I sent an email on a sick day not to do it again, no laptop, employment contract stating a 37 hour work week) backs it up.

So what do I do and am I still me and not going crazy? Well, I’ll tell you and yes and no to those questions. Let’s be clear that I still work 37-40 hours a week which is plenty so don't get too exited, but here’s a wee list of some of the things I’ve been doing with “all this time.” Sadly not enough yoga :-(

I write a blog! You're welcome.

Cook, surf, hike, bike, gym, listen to records...I think you knew that already. Same shit, different continent.

Burlesquercize! Yes, it’s what it sounds like -- a sluttier version of Jazzercise. My friend Tas and I also did a 6 week burlesque course that culminated in an actual performance. On stage. In. Front. Of. Real. People. Body positive, pro-female and anti-agist? You betcha. Terrifying? Kind of. Entertaining? I hope so. And no, we did not take our clothes off (that would have moved the answer to “terrifying?” waaaaay up).

Tennis lessons! Finally fulfilling a desire to learn and play tennis that I have had my entire adult life, I joined an adult beginner group lesson at the tiny Opawa Tennis Club. Really, in American terms, this should be “club” -- because like the lawn bowling club and croquet club near my house, this is the kind of club that where pay $100 bucks to get a key so you have access to equipment and courts when you need them, and there are organized games and lessons a few hours a week. Plus a water fountain. Croquet might be my next project, as I am still as shockingly bad at tennis as I was in junior high when I got moved from the 8th grade beginner team down to the elementary school group at a “real tennis club.” But learning tennis is fun, and I have met some great people, and hey, it’s summer in December so why not?

I grew tomatoes. It didn’t take that much time, so I could still do tennis and burlesque, thank god.

I make pickles like twice a month. In NZ, pickles are almost exclusively sweet gherkins. Most of you are probably like “making pickles is super easy, der.” You're right. I don’t know why I ever paid for them...oh except they were pretty cheap and super convenient to buy pretty much anywhere. It’s remarkable how scarcity, a bit of dill and a head of garlic can drive such commitment to a new activity. Now if I only had a goddamn Gardenburger to eat with my pickle slices!

On a career path note, I became a volunteer city coordinator for Product School meetups and am working to get that off the ground. I am mulling over ideas about generating and delivering content and education in the product management space...there may be a great opportunity to leverage my skill set and breadth of professional experience in NZ and I’m doing some activities that will help me network and consider the possibilities.

I have read more books since we moved than I think I read in the last 10 years. I do miss the New Yorker, I think I could finally be crushing the cover to cover in a week challenge. If you haven't read This is Where I Leave You, you should.

TV: In the interest of transparency...I don't just read and write and exercise, and as much as I’d like to present as that virtuous, I can’t lie to you, even by omission. If you have not seen the Amazon TV show Red Oaks, I highly recommend it. Obviously the tennis montages have a new-found appeal for me, but the rest of it was really good too.

Roadtrips! There’s a lot to do around NZ, even within an hour or two of Christchurch. I’m trying to think of a good way to tell you about the things we have done, there will be more posts to highlight what we’ve done so far.

We hang out with friends, host guests, and sometimes try to make new friends. More on that in other posts as well.

Here’s another thing we did, which was attend an interactive improv-y game show at the Busker Festival...yes, I am realizing as I get ready to hit “publish” that it sorta seems like Jason and I are into a whole new realm of adult entertainment. 😱. We’re really not, not that there's anything wrong with it. I just thought you might appreciate this picture of Jason:

Next up in the blog: more FAQs. Political! Personal! Practical! See you soon.

PS: I don’t just cook with cheese...and these are my tomatoes:

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basshouse · 5 years

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Workin’ It

Today is my last day of work at SLI Systems. I’ll miss the location and I’ll definitely miss spending my days with people like these:

No, we don’t usually wear this much makeup at work. It was a holiday party -- in the summer! I’ll drink to that. Well, apparently I drank to that and quickly went looking for a refill:

Seriously, one of the questions I have been asked most frequently is: How’s work??

The answer has changed pretty materially many times, and in what seems like a very short amount of time to have this many different answers. It goes like this:

May/June: Great! Super chill. Nice people. Just getting started. Cool to learn about new industry. Fun to work in the CBD and be able to explore it. The office is full of people from a wide variety of places around the world.

Late June: Wait, what? This assignment sucks. I can’t believe I have to do this.

July -- August: Busy! Interesting. I have some important work to do here. It’s a lot of change management but I’m up to the task. Thank you Diana Kumar for giving me the playbook on release management, and thank you Tableau for making me do so many things I had no idea how to do. I’m using my very broad skillset. My work life balance is great and I’m learning.

August: Tas is here! My new office mate has potential to become my NZ BFF and my life changes forever :-)

Early October: Success! We have reached a significant milestone and I helped make it happen. We have a carnival to celebrate. Also, I start working on a really interesting new project, to define and launch an Image Search product.

Late October: Record scratch in the form of this announcement:

October to December: Visa research. Job interviews. Mood swings between “stay focused on doing good work” and “where are we drinking for lunch today?” Holiday party fun despite (or because of?) the fact that we’re probably all getting canned. The getting canned thing stretches on and on.

December 19th: I sign up my first beta customers for Image Search, exciting! The takeover deal is done. We all listen to the new American CEO tell us our roles will be terminated in the near future, but I don’t have enough official documentation or information about being fired to take a different job because of the visa I have. My visa request is denied. No details about my expected severance pay. #immigrationpaperworkisforthebirds #nowweare defiitelydrinkingatlunch

January: The new CEO visits and spends at least 30 minutes telling us how Amazon works, how many packages his wife ordered last year, and how smart he is, but never actually tells us what we need to do or whether we’ll have jobs in the future or when we will lose the ones we have. I talk as little as possible so people will forget I’m American. People are annoyed, people are sad, people are angry, a few are hopeful and understanding. Either way we’re all still supporting each other and socializing. I get to know people better than I did before because most of our days are spent making tea/drinking coffee and catching up. Friday happy hour starts around 3 instead of 4:30 now. The amount of work happening is verrrry close to zero,but who can blame us? We have no direction. My visa paperwork finally goes through and I resign to take a new job. No severance despite the fact that NZ law and my contract state I get one if I’m let go. Booooo. But it’s time to move on.

Now let’s jump up a level, to the summary: work has been great and work has been awful. That’s pretty much the way it goes, eh? SLI has been a nice place to work and the people I have met are fantastic. I was glad to be there. I got to do some cool stuff. I had to spend more time than is comfortable doing very little, but hey, I started a blog! I didn’t expect to look for a job so soon after arriving in CHCH and having to do it kind of sucked, but the silver lining is that I know more about the job market and my network is growing. And I think I have found a really interesting opportunity (more info in future blogs I hope).

When the announcement happened and the visa stuff was dicey, Jason and I had a hard think about whether we should just move back to Seattle. Was it worth? Did we like it? Is the job market good enough to get us through and keep us busy? What about the kids? Should we just move to Bali for a year and head back to Seattle? Side note, we did NOT discuss this with the kids or even tell them about the job stuff because we thought they’d get fixated on the possibility of moving back or scared about more changes coming their way after they just got settled. The good news is that in the end we were both very clear that we wanted to try to stay here. It was a good opportunity to reflect on the details of our experience and align on what we wanted to do with our lives and how we felt about the move. It’s good to know we could go “home,” and really nice to feel like we made a good decision in coming here.

There’s nothing like drama to make you reflect on what you feel and what you want (silver lining). I was re-reminded of a few other universal truths that I can now say I’ve witnessed as true in a different part of the universe: when people don't have information, they fill in gaps, and what they make up is usually more negative than not; most people are kind and amazing, and it’s important to let yourself be supported; inauthentic, egotistical, selfish people are just dicks; drivers who honk a lot are silly, no matter what side of the car they sit on; almost nothing in the world is as annoying as an underpowered hand dryer, unless it’s an underpowered hand dryer that’s hanging high enough on the wall that the water drips down your sleeves when you dry your hands.

And here’s my first Kiwi flag, signed by my co-workers (Tas is responsible for the huge “BUGGER OFF” in the top left), a going away gift from SLI:

They asked if I wanted an American flag or a Kiwi one. I think they were serious. What do you think? Hard to tell with the accent.

Here’s something I’d like you to know (if you know me well, this may be hard to comprehend so get ready): Since I moved to NZ, even when I was busy at work, I have NEVER worked at night or on the weekend. Almost never on vacation (maybe an hour or two). I spend less time with my laptop closed than open. I bike to work. I have time to surf. I sleep enough. I exercise. I took Anily to the mall to buy a scrunchy in the middle of the work day and didn’t feel stressed about it. And it feels really good. When I tell old friends stuff like this, they often say things like “well you deserve it after how hard you worked and what it took to move. It’s ok to take some down time.” Which I appreciate because it is supportive and kind and true. But listen: we should not feel like we have to excuse or explain away a life that does not include cognitive overload and work related stress and constant busy-ness. I know it’s become a hallmark of many “high performing” people, including me, and we easily feel guilty or try to justify the moment that we are not overworking or over reaching. If we’re getting what we need to get done done, can we stop feeling bad for not doing more? We deserve better than that.

(I don’t think I am saying that just because I am not sure I know how to work hard anymore but I can confirm after next week when I start my new job).

Also, I have a much greater level of sympathy for immigrants than ever before. Even though as far as immigration issues go, mine are probably minor because I am educated, employable, speak the language and am not fleeing a dangerous situation or being persecuted. It’s still really scary to not have control over your own fate and wait on paperwork and try to manage what feels like a house of cards. You can feel a little sorry for me (thanks!), but please feel more sorry for many others who are trying to mAke their way to a better life.

As for Jason? He’s still working for Stoup and killing it. From anywhere and everywhere and all the time (nice office, huh?):

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basshouse · 5 years

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Got more FAQs?

Or do you just want more pictures of the kids? Thought so!

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basshouse · 5 years

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Kids and FAQs

And now for my best Terry Gross Impression: If you're just joining me, my guest is Ashley Bass. Ashley moved with her husband and two children from Seattle to New Zealand in May of 2018. In early 2019 she started blogging about her experiences as an expatriate, parent, and regular person living life in a different part of the world. The blog started as the best way she could think of to tell lots of people at one time how the family is doing and what the move had been like, but it turns out it’s also serving as a way to consider and learn from her personal experiences. In this segment, she’ll try to answer some of the Questions she is Frequently Asked by her friends and family.

Welcome back to the program! I started this set of blog posts a few weeks back with “how we got here” and moved on to “where we are.” Now we’re in the “what we are are doing” part of the blog, and to be honest, I have struggled with how to approach it because I have so much to tell you about. At least, so much to tell you about if I work under the assumption that you’re interested in fairly mundane details of a day-to-day life that sounds pretty standard...school, work. travel. sport. exploration. drinks. food. Although, it seems like a fair assumption that you want to hear about it all since you’re reading this blog and anyway isn't that what facebook and Instagram are all about -- constant insight into nothing and everything all the time?!? Well, blogs may be old school but they give me lots of room for detail.

Or maybe you just read this blog for the pictures...? You could just follow me on Instagram (_ashley_bass_), but we live in a world of instant gratification and high expectations, so here!

That’s Jason and James playing header ping pong on a cement table with a soccer ball. Didn't expect that, did you? Me either. And yet it makes so much sense.

As part of my effort to tell you what we are doing, I was drafting a summary of the places we have been and the things we have done/seen since we’ve been in NZ. It was pages long...we’ve done a lot. When I think about writing it all in a blog post I can only think of a phrase James uses all the time: “oosh.” Or maybe it’s “ush”? I guess it’s more of a sound than a phrase; it’s a kind of a take on the traditional “oof” but slightly less physically pained and a little more overwhelmed. I like it, and it works in this case, and is one of the only terms I could steal from James and use in a blog. Another option for using a James phrase would have been “butt cheek,” because he's a 17 year old boy with a vocabulary that has been stripped down to the modern version of caveman. His catch phrases are “butt cheek” (usually used confrontation with Anily); “bot” (used in confrontation with Anily but also safe enough to apply to me and Jason when we do something he thinks is stupid, which is most things); and a wide variety of aggressive sounds that spill from his room during an especially frustrating moment of playing Fortnite or FIFA -- he has headphones on and is playing online with other people so he’s especially loud and shockingly vocal and foul mouthed. Apparently he plays with a guy named “Monkey” on the regular and seems to be either super annoyed by or excited about Monkey at any given time. Lots of yelling. Ooosh.

So I guess he’s a pretty regular teenage boy. For example, I suspect it’s regular that he SUCKS at doing dishes but THINKS he is convincing when he argues about the relative fairness of his doing dishes versus Anily’s job of taking out the trash bins but UNABLE to comprehend the fact that we actually don't care at all about fairness. But listen, he’s still sweet and he’s overall a really good kid. And he got great results on his first round of NZ High School exams!

So one way I can think to report on the goings-on is to try to report on the Qs people ask me pretty F(requently) when I have the chance to catch up on the phone, or the Qs I imagine you’d ask me if you had extra time to wonder about my life, the Qs I would ask you and sometimes ask myself about moving so far away to a brand new place. For example, here’s one I have been asked more than once: Do you have an accent? Well, yeah, duh -- an American one! Seriously, I sometimes realize that when I think people are listening intently to what I have to say they are literally just trying to figure out what I am saying. I haven't yet adopted a new way of delivering sentences but small common Kiwi expressions are starting to creep in to my vocabulary. James is the most Kiwi of us all when it comes to speaking, probably because he has the most consistent exposure to it from school and from online gaming. E.g. “Oy, Monkey, what the fuck?!” Or “Good one, mate, go Monkey go!”

One of the most Frequently Asked Questions I get (both from US friends and people I meet here who find out that we moved across the world in the middle of the kids’ most formative school years) is “how are the kids doing?” The short answer is that I think they are doing really well. I can't say whether they like it better here than Seattle, but they do like it, and they don’t hate us (at least not too much or too often, and this would likely have been the case in Seattle too). They miss their friends in Seattle, of course. They miss American Ketchup. They miss American Netflix. But they have friends here and they're doing well in school and playing soccer and futsal and indoor soccer, so in a lot of ways it’s business as usual (but less likely they’ll get shot).

A few things are different: For one, Anily and James will go to school together for the next two years. IN UNIFORMS. Including a kilt for Anily which is just heinous. if I’m honest. Although having uniforms is great -- no need to think about what to wear, no pressure to buy certain clothes or shoes; it’s actually super weird that the US doesn't do uniforms, when the rest of the world pretty much does. But anyway, they would never have gone to school together again in Seattle, but because the school year is January - December and high school is 5 years, James is about to start the equivalent of junior year and Anily will start high school at the same school next week. She says she’s too small to go to high school but as far as I can see, she's gotten pretty big!

Since we have been in NZ, James turned 17 and Anily turned 13. Yeah, Jason and I had birthdays too. So not only are we OLD, we are re living in a house with two teenagers. And even though they are quite teenager-y, one of the best things about moving to NZ is how much time we spend together and how much we have shared in this journey.

Here’s a fun story, and one of those times I wish I’d been recording the world around me: On Anily’s 13th birthday we went paddle boarding down the Avon River. For those of you from San Antonio, the Avon is kind of like the San Antonio Rover -- it winds through town, creates some nice views, and is probably 2 feet deep and 15 wide in it’s largest parts. It’s lovely, but it’s leaning pretty heavily on the creek side of “river.” But it’s water and we have paddle boards and it was a super nice day out and I had decided on the previous Friday while I was having beers at the Craft Embassy and looking out over the river that it must be floatable. I was pretty sure we could handle any rapids we might encounter and I might have felt a slide need to redeem myself after our recent canoe trip down the Whanganui River (more later). So I was pretty intent on making it happen. According to the city, the Avon is a “great source of recreation for walkers and boaters.” But the only official information I could find ANYWHERE about how to recreate in it was a suggestion to go punting, aka have a guy in formal clothes and broad brim hat push you with a pole though a section of the river that goes through the botanic gardens. Which I think probably is nice but can you see me on this flat thing when I could be controlling my own destiny with some light paddling on a just-slightly-underinflated paddle board with James on the front of it and Anily and Jason beside me on another, slightly-better-inflated one?

No! We parked a car at one end of town, drove to the other, put the boards in the water without a clue as to whether it was legal, and floated past the punters (take that punters!), through the traffic jam in the botanic gardens (learn how to paddle forward, people!), got out with the eels at the Craft Embassy, drank some beers and ate some snacks, got back in and kept floating. It was only when we made another stop at the park that things took a dramatic turn. Anily slipped on the way off the board onto the landing. Jason held out the paddle for her to catch her balance, she slipped, the paddle knocked her tooth out. Like, into pieces. There was a Japanese tourist looking at the eels (yes, more of them!) and I heard him say “ooh shattered!” as pieces of enamel flew through the air. Oh, and I lost my keys. Is this why we were the only people on the entire river -- is it cursed?! I’d do it again, we did not get to finish and we only had to walk once or twice. So when you visit, let me know if you’re up for it and I’ll put some air in the paddlboards and buy you a mouth guard.

We did get to file our first ACC claim as a result -- ACC covers everyone in New Zealand with a no-fault scheme if they've been injured in an accident. A little more Kiwi by the day.

Eels in the river:

Anily’s tooth:

Oosh (Ush?) is right! Real, truly, though, we’ve had a lot of family fun here and the kids are both pretty awesome. At least they go along with my crazy ideas some of the time (Jason almost always does, which I really appreciate, because he’s much better at execution on these things. Like, with the river, he's the one who suggested wearing shoes, which turned out to be very useful). I’m happy to be able to spend so much time with the kids, more than I was able to figure out how to do in Seattle, and I think this has been a great learning and growth experience for Team Bass. One thing we learned? Don’t be too close to a paddle if you’re on a slippery boat landing in a river full of eels :-)

Oh also! Anily got a cat for her birthday:

#sendmeyourFAQs!

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basshouse · 5 years

Video

One of the few times I managed to capture something great on video -- love seeing kids being kids. More posts on #thetimesiewishihadaGoPro and more coming soon!

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basshouse · 5 years

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The only thing more ridiculous than a person running in heels is a grown man riding a little girl’s bike. And maybe these things.

I have never been a fan of the GoPro or most people who have one on them. I mean, if you’re not a pro at something really cool to watch, or at least on a reality show where pro editing and production can turn your footage in to bona fide drama or make someone look real bitchy, then why are you accumulating the digital equivalent of more ego-driven trash than could fill an house on Hoarder’s? Does the world really need it?! But, listen, I feel mean saying that because you too deserve the same kindness and respect as all other humans and maybe I just don’t understand you. Also, there have been a few times since we moved here that I REALLY wish I had the ability to constantly record what was going on around me, and sometimes I am just not fast enough on the draw, or I am driving (on the wrong side of the goddam road) and I can’t capture the image I need to send you. Will words work? I’ll try, but that picture...well, I’ll try to keep it under 1,000 words here and see if I can do these events just a little justice.

Some of the times I wish I was recording the world since we arrived in New Zealand:

The time we saw an adult man self-powering himself, seated on a skateboard, up a super steep hill in a Lyttleton neighborhood using a power drill that fixed as socket on to the nut of one of the skateboard’s wheels. Seriously DIY and seriously cool. And the hill was super steep. He rolled past us with a smile.

Shopping carts two ways: one full of what I assume were Christmas gifts – kids’ toys, anyway -- being pushed IN FRONT OF a bike up a hill; like, the guy on the bike somehow was managing to reach the back of the cart with his hand or his front tire and was pushing it up a hill over a bridge on one of the busier roads in CHCH...what could go wrong? The second grocery cart was carrying 3 teenagers away from the grocery store to the neighborhood pool a few blocks away; I thought this was emergency transportation or just laziness, turns out it’s a relatively common way for people to get around the neighborhood over the summer holidays. Between that and Lime Electric Scooters with two to three people on them at once zooming at high speed all over town, it’s pretty obvious that people like to enjoy themselves and litigation is not a big thing here.

James and Anily jumping off a bridge into the Raglan Estuary. I actually did have my phone out for this one, but I pulled a total Lois and ended up with a few random videos of my feet.

The Epic Capsizing of James and Ashley on the Whanganui River (title of our movie if we’d had a GoPro or a Drone. Karma? Dammit!) Ok, so in this case we got a picture shortly after: Jason and Anily, who were ahead of us when we hit the stump in the middle of the final rapids at the end of a 4 hour paddle, actually turned around and paddle up river, not to help us, but to get a picture.

Now if we’d had video you would have heard James say “this is the best one yet, mom!” as we navigated into the rapids, right before we hit a tree stump side-on and flipped ourselves upside down. Since I did not catch it on video, I cannot say how far we flew when we launched out, but I like to think I earned the massive bruise on my arm by catching some serious air (though it was more likely a basic plop). We floated downstream (my hat stayed on the whole time!), laughing and arguing with Jason from the water about the best strategy to deal with our boat and ourselves; when he announced he was going to get out of his boat and help us manage the canoe we got our shit together and got ourselves to a little beach on the bank of the river before he could embarrass us, at which time James promptly stepped on a bee and dropped an impressive string of obscenities that echoed off the walls of the Whanganui canyon. Oh, also we saw 4 wild pigs! And we smelled one that had been taken out by a landslide, ew. For some reason seeing these pigs was really cool to all of us. City folk.

Also, here’s a dog and some Basses on the jet boat we took up river, before we started canoeing back down:

#superfunchristmastimetrip #dogliferulz

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basshouse · 5 years

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youtube

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SrVMdXgr44)

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basshouse · 5 years

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Donkeys Down Under - Continued!

I started the 2019 version of this blog with a post about How We Got Here and Where We Are. Now it’s time for the What We Are Doing Section. Who’s ready?!? I’m imagining you saying “I’m ready!!!!!” So let me just start with the most disappointingly boring statement I hope to never, ever make again: right now we’re doing a lot of paperwork. Seriously -- taxes...visas...insurance claims... oh wait, were you hoping for something a little more Lord of the Rings, or even just a little more Bass? Sorrrrreeeeee!

Seriously, the level of adultness we’re practicing is such a YAWN, and it’s mostly happening because the amount of paperwork associated with being an immigrant is shocking. Yes, it mostly electronic, which prompted me to do some research. Why is it we can come up with cute names for short-lived celeb couples and L our As O at our constant initializing but there’s not yet a term to replace “paperwork” in the digital age? But it’s not all digital; we recently submitted an application for a new visa type, and the stack of papers was at least as thick as one dead tree. A big tree. Also, you have to mail in your real passport, birth certificate, marriage license...ick. And not only ick because it’s out of your control, but because when you search for it you're bound to unearth an old journal from your college days that’s chock full of existential ramblings that are more embarrassing than they are interesting and yet you cannot stop reading even though you really should be filling out form number 1193-B.

And, I PROMISE more on this later (I know I said that before but I. just. can’t. even. right now so it has to be said again), but the whole “getting fired” thing has resulted in extra paperwork and visa applications general administrative hassle.

Even though I can’t even right now, I can tell you that it’s January 16th (in New Zealand) so I will start recounting my milestones: (1) I’m 45 (2) I went full Kiwi and went to the grocery store barefoot and (3) Jason and I have been married for 21 years. In case you wondering, yes, we do celebrate our birthdays for 48 hours -- the first day on the date in NZ, and the second on the actual day in the US. Let’s celebrate with a montage! Just click the link, I can't even deal with troubleshooting an embed code. I’m too old.

https://youtu.be/_SrVMdXgr44

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basshouse · 5 years

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Donkeys Down Under Part 2

Make sure you start with this blog post, its the first in the series and this is a serial!

In the first post, I started with How We Got Here. Next up:

Where we are.

We live on Centaurus Road in Hillsborough, Christchurch (not-so-subliminal hint: sending a package will cost you an arm and a leg, but it’ll be worth it to see the smiles on our faces if you include a few packets of Hidden Valley Ranch mix).

Christchurch is the biggest city on the South Island, with a whopping 375,000 people or so – pretty big considering the whole country is just under 5 million people, and only about 30% of them live on the South Island at all. You can do your own research on the city’s history and geography if you like. The city is big enough to have good restaurants, bars, craft beer, and various forms of mild entertainment like tennis clubs, live music from time to time, exercise options...more cosmopolitan than we expected but super easy navigate and access to surfing beaches, mountains, rivers, lakes, coasts, bike trails.

Our house is perched on the Port Hills, a short walk from the renowned Rapaki Track and a 10 minute drive to Sumner Beach (our regular surfing spot). The house has great views, an extra room for guests, and a lot of character – including:

A bathroom with handmade cat tiles and a shower with a strong homemade underwater motif.

A crazy garden full of roses, really loud birds, the odd hedgehog, and a zillion fruit trees that we don’t know how to manage. Seriously, you should have seen me and Jason and Anily trying to shake down a tree full of plums without any useful protective gear – next time we’ll get out the ski goggles and helmets.

A small plant growing up through the living room floor.

A bathroom sink that’s even smaller than the one in our house in Seattle – really!

Checkerboard linoleum floors.

Sailboat wallpaper in one room and the ugliest damn curtains you’ve ever seen in others. Like, mauve. And flowered. Sometimes at the same time.

A fantastic sunroom that is the home of our new ping pong table and our surfboard rack. Thankfully we did not have to get rid of the college dude vibe we had so carefully cultivated with our basement kegerator, Pacman machine and discarded drum set in the last house; we just evolved it a little -- the NZ version has a slightly more active characteristic. At this point Jason and I won’t be the ones playing the drinking games, but as I like to say, the best thing about being a grown up is giving yourself the permission to buy the toys that let you be the grown up you want to be. Actually, I will probably never say that again because it’s a lot of words, but I’m committed to the philosophy behind it. More on toys and activities and drinking later.

The house has a fat deck with views of the Southern Alps

A super steep driveway and very slippery stairs (consider this your warning and legal disclaimer).

You can’t see all the awesome details of the house in the satellite picture, but you can click and then zoom around if you want to see where we’re situated:

Our house is in a great spot. It’s an easy bike ride to school and work and a short trip to the best grocery store in town, where you can buy a box of Gorilla Munch cereal for $8 and a small bag of Cheetos for $5 – in the international aisle, of course. I refuse to document what else is in the American section. I haven’t broken down and paid for the Cheetos yet, but Anily really likes to eat Gorilla Munch before school, so, yes, this blog DOES contain a shopping list for things you should put in your extra suitcase when you come to visit (see if you can spot them all).

We feel really lucky to have this house, and there are a few good lessons wrapped up in how we got this place with its weathered wood and tiny sinks and toilets. One, surely, is not to lean too far for the toilet paper, especially if you can’t count on your core strength. For not only are the toilets tiny, the seats on them are weak, and butt cheeks can be slippery. Let’s just say the quality of the toilet seats has been a topic of more than one conversation among the American crew here, and one of us (not saying who) has a story that ends with a minor injury and a full bathroom clean up before coffee.

Anyway, for the real estate buffs out there, here’s how we won the rental house lottery: we landed in CHCH with ZERO idea of where to live and not much of a plan. We’d never been to this city, and luckily we had the sense not to commit to anything in advance. That’s lesson #2 : it’s just too hard to know the vibe of a place without having feet on the ground, and internet research isn’t reliable for choosing a long-term place to live, so don’t commit if you don’t have to. Good thing too, since most of what we read online in advance would have had us living on the west side of town, which is pretty much a mall, but of the NZ variety, which – shout out to my SA peeps – is reminiscent of the Central Park Mall in 1987, only without a Spencer’s and sub in a Kmart as the flagship instead of the Jacque Pen-nay’s.

So we got to town, I went to work, and Jason started with schools. Like many other places, school attendance is based on where you live, though there are schools that have open enrollment. We got here at the end of the Seattle school year and basically decided to throw the kids right back in school until the summer break, which is December here. Nice, right? A whole year of school to go with your whole year of winter, love you! But honestly, it was the best thing for them to start socializing and acclimating without any academic pressure since they were already bored and missing friends after 20+ hours of plane travel and a couple days of down time. A public school that we’d read about – Cashmere High – had an open day for potential students literally the day after we landed. Jason took the kids to it, they liked the school, James sank a couple shots in the gym, we saw that surfing and skiing are on offer as school sports, and we immediately focused our energy on finding a place to live in the Cashmere school zone.

Which brings me to another lesson, the most important one, and something I need remind myself of constantly: don’t make it harder than it has to be. Take the path that presents itself, make one important choice at a time, follow the clear option, and change direction if you need to once things gets going. We followed this rule, sometimes unconsciously, throughout the process of getting to NZ and settling in; we took one step at a time, from job interviews to visa applications, to decisions about furniture and packing and pets. We had no choice, really, it was the only way to handle such a monumental mud slide of hard decisions and logistics, and in the end all the right things happened. As is the case with the house: once we knew the kids liked the school well enough, we decided to focus energy not on asking more questions or exploring other options, rather we focused on a house search, and in fact this house was the first one we looked at. Another pro tip? Show up with 6 months’ worth of rent in cash if you can, and try not to come off like a criminal, just a decent family who is happy to pull the odd weed out of the navy blue 80s style living room carpet and furnish your own tiny, shockingly expensive fridge. Because listen up Americans: here in NZ, the appliances are small and ludicrously expensive, you can negotiate prices in the store, and it’s BYOA to the rental party. I’m not complaining, because that would be some seriously lame 1stworld problem whininess, it’s just something different.

It took us about a month of AirBnBs to find and move into the house, which was a very cool way to experience other neighborhoods, including a couple beachside communities which would have been our first choice for living but made school and sports and commuting much more complicated (not worth it).

This isn’t really a story, but it’s possibly one of the best memories I’ll have in life: the four of us camped out in our living room for almost 6 weeks with literally nothing but an inflatable mattress that deflated progressively and then aggressively at the end, a ping pong table, 4 plastic place settings, a huge (expensive!) television, a few surfboards, and the contents of our duffle bags. Binge watching “That Seventies Show,” huddling together near the wood burning fire place, waiting for your shipping container to arrive? That’s what brings a family together.

The day the container arrived was like Christmas, but the one where your kids find out Santa isn’t real: a great day, followed by lots and lots of boxes and paper, the satisfaction of making your kids learn how to construct Ikea furniture, and sadness because once everything is put in order the kids scatter to their own rooms and beds and desks and laptops and you’re not all negotiating screen time and eating off your ping pong table. You’ve exited one phase and entered another, and if you’re smart you’ll stay present to them both.

Just to close this out, here’s a great picture of Jason at one of the AirBnbs we stayed in:

This is a view from a different one, in Lyttleton:

Cuties! XO.

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basshouse · 5 years

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Donkeys Down Under

I’m happy with the name of this blog but I’m struggling with the tag line. It’s not quite a lifestyle blog. It’s not a beer blog or a professional blog, or even a professional beer drinkers’ blog which, let’s face it, one person in this house has the credentials to write and another one has near the equivalent of “equivalent experience” on a resume. This blog is not about parenting (you’d be done reading by now). There’s commentary about food, but it’s not a cooking blog, and I promise that I won’t recreate one of my biggest pet peeves EVER, which is burying a recipe for something you want to cook deep inside a block of boring block of text full of anecdotes about my kids, my week at work, the weather and my trip to the farmer’s market. I mean! All I want to do is cook your enchilada sauce, lady, and when Yummly tricked me into thinking I just needed to click for instructions I was not prepared to also be your therapist or biggest fan.

Oh shit. I just realized this might be the food blog without the useful part, aka a brain dump with no recipes or instructions at all, just an avalanche of anecdotes, descriptions and information about what we’ve been up and what life is like for the Basses in New Zealand. AKA Donkeys Down Under. You’re welcome! And if you want me to tell you how to make enchilada sauce, FaceTime me and I’ll give you Nico’s grandma’s recipe.

Anyway, today is January the 13th (happy bday Poppy!), its the middle of summer, the days are long, I'm waiting to get fired (you’ll get more on this later), this blog project is going to take at least a few posts, and I am determined to get it done before I turn 45 in the USA.

In case you forgot what we looked like 8 years ago (young and adorable!) or want to see what we look like now: this is us, then and now, hiking Mt Ruapehu, the North Island’s highest mountain and one of the world’s most active volcanoes.

How we got here: Of course there’s a back story, maybe one that goes all the way back to childhood, or at the least all the way back to a fortuitous meeting on The Drag that led to a lifetime of love and adventure. But I have almost 8 months of living in New Zealand to cover, so let’s just focus on the logistics and leave the Trump Presidency out of this, shall we?

So! The logistics of getting here are from this point forward to be known as Operation Donkeys Down Under. Now that I’ve thought of it, I am sorely disappointed that we didn't have the wit or the wherewithal to assign a dramatic code name to “the whole New Zealand immigration thing” while it was going on. Seriously?! A missed opportunity, but maybe explained away by how completely full our brains were with starting a life in one place and ending or at least dramatically changing your relationship to another. The paperwork alone was enough to do us in, and all the going-away parties could not have helped with brain function -- but thank you anyway for every glorious, sentimental drop, toast, hug, meal, word of advice, and promise to visit. I highly recommend making good on that last one :-)

To be honest, I am fascinated thinking about what it took to get here -- it’s the planner, the producer, and Capricorn in me, I guess. I love to consider all the twists and turns and papers and pictures and plans, each decision that pushed us one step in a new direction; I feel so satisfied thinking about the way that every completed form and packed box was a tick mark on a long list of things to do to make this happen. I know it’s probably boring to read about how awesome Jason and I are at getting shit done -- but just in case you questioned our abilities, I'll have you know that our shipping container was completely unpacked and our house basically sorted within a weekend.

So I will spare you the details and show you some pictures. Please please please be proud of us. And yourself too, because if you’re taking the time to reads this blog you probably helped us pack a box or clean a bbq, and we definitely could not have done it without you.

We traveled here on 4 flights (missed one) with all this luggage. The kids were absolute champs. When we finally arrived in Christchurch, we had the drill down, but we had a hell of a time figuring out how to get it all in the rental car. And then it turned out our awesome Air BnB at the top of the tallest building in the city -- yep, 11 whole floors up -- was a bad choice because we could not fit all the luggage in the elevator and had to spend about 45 minutes going one bag at a time. Thank god we brought the top half of our salad spinner and all those extra pairs of shoes (ahem, Ashley Bass)...

We made it a priority to get a car within the first few days. Meet Reynoldo the Volvo!

A new van was also at the top of the list. RIP Dan the Van, there’s no way to replace you, but we did our best with the money and options available -- a 4WD Nissan work van with a recent conversion to a sweet interior. Jason and James flew to the North Island to pick up the and did a quick road trip back home to Christchurch. This seems to be the summary: Jason drove, James slept, and the scenery was pretty kick ass:

After the cars were settled we moved on to finding a place to live and exploring our surroundings. More on that soon. XO.

#filobeddoeisnowTheTaupeDonkey

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