Celebrating a year & being in lockdown!

 Well, I realise that this is well overdue so apologise for anyone who was waiting with baited breath for the next episode! There's a fair bit to catch up on so I'll keep it brief. On 7th August, we made it to our one year anniversary in New Zealand! What a year 😆!

Lockdown happened

So we find ourselves in Level 4 lockdown for the first time - and are actually at home doing lockdown like the rest of the country for once. I was in Rotorua the evening they announced lockdown was going to happen so my teaching day happened via Zoom from my hotel room. I was actually closer to the hospital (100 metres!) than my students! I made it back home on a flight with only 6 people on it and was well within the 48 hours given to return home. The hotel room reminded me of being in MIQ (Managed Isolation Quarantine) and breakfast being delivered to the door was the icing on the cake!I had managed to stock up on Pineapple lumps the evening before, so it really did make me reminisce.

Room service MIQ style

So I've been getting used to working from home Zooming students, just at the busiest time of my courses. I teach qualified nurses how to do more in-depth assessments of patients (things such as listening to chests - auscultation, palpating abdomens, etc.) This is obviously a bit tricky on Zoom, but my colleagues have done this before so I'm adapting in rapidly. It's also peak assignment submission time so students are filling my inbox with queries and extension requests whilst I try to juggle finding enough markers and planning for online examinations. Once I get through this week, the teaching load is lighter though.

So what is lockdown level 4 like in NZ? It's quite sensible and quite civilised really. You can go for walks and bike rides but not play in your boat (yup - they actually stipulate this.) Supermarkets are open and delivery of goods is permitted but no takeaways. Everyone seems to wear masks, which is mandated in any closed space outside of your home and mostly people are behaving. 

On one of my lockdown walks.

Every day there is an update at 1pm which is televised. It's so popular that it's even got an IMDB rating! For those of you who don't follow IMDB, it's a website/app for film and television reviews. If you want to see how NZ does it, look here: IMDB link  or go onto IMDB and search 1pm daily update (TV Series 2020). It's factual, signed for those hard of hearing and often includes some accidental humour. This week's highlight so far was Chris Hipkins, the Covid-19 response minister who accidentally encouraged everyone to "enjoy" being outside. You can see it here:  Chris Hipkins link. I discovered that you can get fresh avocadoes and oranges delivered from the Bay of Plenty so we are currently enjoying very fresh produce from less than 3 hours drive away!

Worklife

Well things have got busy for me as I took over running one of the courses whilst my colleague takes a year off to finish writing his PhD. This has been quite a lot of extra work and it turns out no one quite gets shown how to do it. So, I'm now in the strategic group developing a guide on how to do it. Blind leading the blind comes to mind! The team I work with on the courses are wonderful though and I couldn't have got through the last months without them. The students are mostly great too, although I'm feeling a bit jaded after answering so many emails about assignments this week!

For Jonathan, things have not gone as smoothly and he is currently on leave waiting to start a new job. This is also in intensive care, but at a different hospital in Auckland. At least his new colleagues appear to be very nice so far. The nurses in his last place were truly supportive and those that also work at the university with me have been an amazing bunch. To all our friends and family on both sides of the world - thank you for all your support over the past few months. It has been really, really appreciated!

He's now waiting for the bureaucracy to sort out paperwork which means a new practicing certificate (so that he can work as a doctor) and a variance on his visa. Fortunately, I get immigration advice as part of my job in the university and as I'm here as his partner, this means they help Jonathan! New Zealand really is full of more red tape than your usual country which can be very frustrating at times. 

In case you're wondering, having applied to be a vaccinator back in March, done the training, had my interview, done all the clearances, I'm still waiting to be called in! I'm now presuming I'll be more useful in ICU with ventilators if needed. 😦

Daily life

It's just turning into spring here so the trees are starting to bud or blossom and it can be quite sunny in the day. However, it's still very cold at night and as insulation, double-glazing and central heating are non-existant, it's been quite chilly. I've had to learn to use an electric blanket! The days are getting longer though so hopefully it won't be too long before we get to enjoy some summer. I wasn't sure we'd manage this a couple of months ago, fearing we'd be back on a plane to London (known here as Covid-Central). Instead, I'm planning what to grow in my vegepod and am grateful that I'd already got seeds left over from last year. I've also grown my first mushrooms and the second crop is almost ready!

Home-grown mushrooms.

Prior to last week, life was entirely normal other than wearing masks on public transport and planes. I'd done so much travelling in the past year that I'd achieved silver status with Air New Zealand! We've been to the movies loads (happy to give some tips if you want any) and eating out is easy as we live very near lots of restaurants being in Parnell. 

I'm managing to get more sewing done although I'd always like more time! This is a bag I made for work for lugging around teaching equipment to the various classrooms. 

My "work" bag - made from my stash of fabric.

And finally - a break in Wellington

Helen and Brian - our kind hosts

This is just 10 minutes from Wellington (photo by Brian)

Thanks to some teaching in Lower Hutt for Philips, (more ventilator training) we managed to squeeze in a weekend away in Wellington where we stayed with friends we originally met on our first visit to New Zealand in 2005. Brian and Helen kindly hosted us and showed us their part of the world which we didn't really know before. Within 10 minutes of being in the capital city, you can be on a wild coastal beach with seals or in a forest sanctuary with no light pollution. We knew this as we went to Zoolandia at dusk and heard (but didn't see) kiwis. We did get to see takahe which are ground-dwelling birds with real character as well as Kaka (a type of parrot.) 

Craftivists are definitely in Wellington!

A rare photo of the lesser-photographed Jonathan!

Seals, sea and sky - Photo by Brian