Rugby/Government Health /West Coast Pictures

Rugby

This past Saturday we watched a Rugby match at Kelsey's school. Mike's bosses son, Max, plays for the school. I have to say, it's very exciting and absolutely BRUTAL. LOVE IT!! That is Max kicking for extra point after a score. The high point, Glendowie College won. The low point, Max dislocated his knee. Mike said the knee cap looked like it was on the side of his leg. YEEEOW!!

Medical Program

I thought I would tell everyone my experience with the doctors and the health program here so far. Every quarter the government does new registration of patients. The deadline for fourth quarter was last Friday. The enrollment was very easy and I only needed to provide proof of our Visa's. The GP doctor visits are about $45 for the kids and $49 for us. Meds will cost $10-$20. Don't know though if that is per med or for 3 months at a time.

The kids have also been enrolled to see their Endocinologist. That program works very differently. You have to be referred, which the school nurse did for me. Most of the time though that recommendation is done through your GP, just like in the US. Here is a quote on how the office visits work from the diabetes nurse.

Clinic visits are scheduled on a 3 monthly cycle. At these visits the children will be reviewed by a medical officer (and have the opportunity to meet with a Diabetes Nurse Educator and Dietitian if required) and will be issued with a "certified exempt" 3 month prescription for all supplies (i.e all supplies can be picked up for the entire 3 month period) inclusive of insulin and other monitoring based equipment. The cost of the script will amount to NZ$3 per item (or equivalent of approx NZ$20).

That seems all well and good. I have no idea how the process is if you actually have issues, I hope I don't ever have to test that out. I will say I am little disappointed that the program the kids have been on (well Kelsey has been on for years) has just been released here. The doctors don't have the software to download the kids blood sugar numbers. They still write everything down. And I am sure it's an overhaul management thing...putting the entire country of diabetic children on the computer...However, I am not fighting the kids on writing everything down. Been there, done that, aint doin it no more. I downloaded the software to my computer and now I just need to find the adapter for the kids monitors. Hopefully that won't be a fight with the doctor. Surely he will lose and end up going through the Porter education system, minus the push ups for arguing. Well, we will see how much he argues.

Both doctors offices were awesome at customer service. Many call backs to ask me questions, to make sure they had my information correctly, make sure I was comfortable with what has been explained. Very Very Cool.

The West Coast
We went to Muriwai Beach which is the West Coast of Auckland this past weekend. We had a wonderful visit with the people who sold us the Disco. The scenery is very rocky, a lot of waves and surfers. The beach is black from the volcanoes. It's a very quiet and serene place, unlike the east coast where there is shopping, pubs, outdoor cafes. I think we will be going back this weekend to ride horses on the beach for Kelsey's birthday. She is turning the big 16!!!

These are Gannets nesting, cooing, wooing each other.

The second picture is a cave in the rocks. The left side kind of whited out with the sun...

The New House

Hello....it's Wednesday almost noon and I thought I would upload pictures of the house before I went to Kelsey's school and bought her PE Uni. Yeah, she needs one too apparently.

I went around snapping pictures of the house, but keep in mind that it's EMPTY.

This is the kitchen and yes I know it's a mess. I did clean it yesterday for the grand entry of the new kitchen table. For those of you who haven't read my facey page, I broke the table before I even got to sit at it. I wasn't patient in waiting for Mike to get home and the table is solid wood and heavy. Marty wasn't quite strong enough to hold up his end...and we cracked a leg. We kind of "fixed" it and I am at it right now. It's on my list to call and get a new table leg.....along with a new book on how to gain patience.





These are pictures on the oustide of the kitchen area. We don't actually have a yard (and yes, Mike is happy). It's more of a courtyard type of thing. There are flowering plants everywhere, so I can not wait until Spring is finally here. The camelia's have been beautiful and the roses are starting to grow new shoots, so it's close.

Off of the kitchen is a pretty big living room. It has a balcony off of it which is also off of the master bedroom. Right now the living room is the warmest room with the fireplace, so you will notice the blow up mattresses. Did I mention that our furniture might come next week? I mean I love my kids, but when you have no privacy because there is no where to sit except on your blow up bed or the toilet....After about 5 it gets pretty chilly because it's damp (and there's no furniture to warm the place up), so we tend to all huddle in one spot. Wonder how long it will take for that book to come in? PS-Aren't those curtains just the bomb??!

Master Bedroom and off of the balcony.





Did you notice the matching curtains to the living room? Dang, I am SO lucky to have circa 1960's yellow flowered HUGE curtains in my bedroom. Come on, I know you are jealous.

Lastly, are the driveway pictures. One going down where you can see my Disco at the end and one heading up. Then I saved the best picture for last....my laundry room. Well, it's actually just a bedroom. But on the days it rains, I have to have somewhere to hang our stuff.....

Maybe I should have put a rush on that book.

Actually the house is beautiful and has plenty of room. And the best part is that it's a very very short walk to the water and pubs.

Coming Up: Will we get our furniture next week and my experiences with the health care system so far.

New Zealand Schools/Movies

The kids are finally back in school. Today, Monday, is the start of their first full week. Last week they went only 3 days. Since they are only a few weeks out from being done with the third quarter, Kelsey was unable to get into culinary classes. She ended up taking a "gimme an A" class, Life Skills. Let's see, they watched The Ring and Step Brothers. Really? She said that math and science is pretty close to what they were doing half way through the year last year. That's a good sign. From what I can tell there is limited social pressure. In her words, "The girls and boys stay away from each other...it's like 4th grade when you think boys have cooties." Mike and I did a jig....hehehe.....The kids date, but at school they pretty much stay away from each other. Kelsey was invited to a birthday party on Friday night. It was a costume party which seems to be common. Kelsey just put on all of her funky volleyball shorts and put up her hair. The kids thought she was some New Zealand singer so she went with it.

Marty's school is laid back as well. When I went in to speak to the class about diabetes, they all said in unison "Good Morning Mrs. Porter." Funny....just like in the movies. He said the same as Kelsey that they are pretty much doing what he was doing half way through the year. They play a lot of sport in grade school. He just missed basketball where they went on to win the championship. (they compete with the other schools like you would see in our High Schools and some Junior Highs) On his first day they had tryouts for cross country. If he was in the top 8 of his grade he would go on to the next meet. He got 7th, but went to get a drink instead of taking his place on the bench. Needless to say, he lost his spot. He said it was fine, he just wanted to see if he could do it.

The administration at both schools have been wonderful. They were very easy to get along with and accommodating. I will tell you the one thing that is super strange....kids don't wear shoes. The primary kids, a lot of them go barefoot all day. And if you see the college kids (high school) outside doing PE...they are all barefoot. The bare feet doesn't only apply to schools either...I have seen them in the banks and grocery stores. And while it's mostly kids, there are adults too.

The best part for us as parents so far??? UNIFORMS!!!! No stomping today, but boy howdy last week was rough with Kelsey. She hates the whole stockings and Frankenstein shoes. Oh and the little to no make-up and no jewelry. LOOOOOVVVVEEE IT!!!!!!!


Marty has his regular uniform and then his PE uniform. On Wednesday's they get to wear their PE uni all day. He has his socks pulled down....they go to his knees and they have red stripes at the top. (kind of like old school NBA socks)



The Movie Fiasco
Last night we had a bit of an eye opener. Since it was Sunday, we did what we normally do and eat a large meal around lunch time. Watched some Ghost Hunters on the computer and then headed off to watch the much anticipated movie District 9. In the US your kids can see any movie rated R and under as long as the parents are with. Not here. If the movie is rated PG 13 or PG 16 that is the age you have to be and older to get in, even if you have birth certificates in hand to prove you are the parents. DANG!!! I would understand if it was a movie full of sex and senseless killing....but this one has foul language and some blowin up. The kids were NOT happy. And the buying of ice cream didn't smooth things over either. I guess the good thing is we will watch more movies at home. The only problem with that is having to wait for them to come out. The kids better hope Transformers 3 is rated just PG....or Momma is leaving them home.

Coming Up: Pictures of the house and what we have to do to get our belongings.

Next round of pictures.

Here are the rest of the Fort pictures in Devonport.

The rest of these are just random pictures we have taken over the last couple of weeks.

Coming up next: Our new home, schools and more observations.