Goodbye Christchurch, Hello New York

It’s been a hectic last few days! The days leading up to our departure were filled with last-minute packing and cleaning (thanks to everyone who helped!) and lots of goodbyes. I hate goodbyes, but as far as they go, the ones we had were good byes. :-)

We had many good ‘last’ meals with friends over the last few weeks and a lovely dinner out with my parents on Tuesday night. We were also were so blessed by the farewell we got at church on Sunday. People said many kind things and there was even a ‘celebratory’ cake.

Right now I’m sitting on the floor of a tiny 5th floor apartment in a very hot and humid NYC (last night when we arrived at 2am it was 30 C!) while Ben and the kids are sleeping. I hope it’s a good thing that they’re sleeping and that we don’t all sit awake tonight.

I haven’t seen much of New York yet, but so far I’m not in love with it yet. Apartment living is going to be a challenge, that’s for sure. It’s a good thing we’re in a couple of apartments for the first month while we look for our own place, so I at least know a few things that will be very desirable: something that’s not so *very* tiny, and aircon would be a definite bonus! Heh, the bathroom in this little place is about the size of Marica’s sandpit at home!

And I guess everyone would like to know how the trip went. It went pretty well under the circumstances! None of us got much sleep, but we all got some sleep. It’s interesting, but the 12 hour flight from Auckland to San Francisco was almost easier than the 5.5 hour trip between San Francisco and NYC. The latter was on a smaller plane, we had to have Esther on our laps the whole time (no bassinet) and it was mostly during the day. (Add into that the fact that we weren’t sitting together and had to ask some people really nicely if they’d swap!) The 12-hour flight was during the NZ night time, so the plane was dark for most of the time and everyone felt like sleeping. Esther also had a bassinet and it was a great relief to be able to get her off my lap sometimes and into there.

Upon arrival in NYC the taxi we had booked was waiting (man, American cars are HUGE!) and it was a pleasant ride to our apartment. Finding the apartment was fairly easy, but getting our stuff to the top was a lot of hard work for Ben and the taxi man - it was hot, and there was no elevator and we have a mountain of luggage!

So, here we are. We hope to go exploring a bit later on today, and take Marica to Central Park so she can get the promised horsey ride. We also need to acquire a stroller and a dummy somewhere because I think the dummy got left in the car before we left on our trip. A dummy would certainly have made the whole trip easier, but oh well.

A big thanks again to everyone who helped with packing, cups of tea, and kind goodbyes. We will miss you very much.

We hope to update you again soon!