Living on the edge

Now I have arrived at our house in Auckland and it is amazing! In the time before Søren and the kids arrive, I am busy already organizing some of the practical aspects of our life here, like local phone numbers and travel cards. I’m also figuring out a different recycling system, trying to open windows in this house dating from 1902, doing laundry in a top loader, and boiling water so it has less of a chlorine taste. I am also learning how to toast bread – it would seem easy, but I’ve been having an amazing number of blackened toasts coming out (when I had finally found the right setting for the first bread – the markings were faded – it completely blackened the second different type of bread!).

Once a Dutchie, always a Dutchie

I also quickly discovered that the nearest supermarket is half an hour walk from here... I had already planned to try and get a bike for the commute, and happily that went much easier than expected! On Saturday morning I became a member of some local Facebook groups, posted a question there, and in the afternoon I had two offers, one of which was irresistible – it was pink! So I picked that one up on Sunday afternoon, and biked to Devonport ‘downtown’, where it was clear that I’m the only crazy person to go to the supermarket by bike. I was a bit worried about the hills in the area, but happily the bike has 7 gear and for the way back I found a way that avoided the worst inclines. Cycling on the left is something that might be a bit trickier than I thought – in a car it kind of comes naturally because you are sitting on the right hand side of the car, but that’s not the case with the bike. But so far so good, and there are actually some bike lanes (and I did get a helmet with the bike!).

Sharks?!?

When scrolling through the local FB group, my eye got caught by a message about a shark being washed onto the beach. A SHARK?!? I thought we would be safe in New Zealand, compared to Australia at least (right, Marieke?). It turns out there are several types of sharks in these waters and some incidents to report, though shark attacks remain rare. Right… The next day I went down to the local beach, which is absolutely stunning and at only 10 minutes walk, and it was a bit strange to get into the water – happily many others were there (also further out in the water, and on SUP boards), so I figured I’d be safe enough. And it was really nice!

So, let’s see what other adventures come our way the next five months!

Flowers, penguins, and many amazing views

Exactly two weeks ago I left Denmark, right after the first 15cms of snowfall and the start of the -10 degrees spell, so the drive to the airport was a bit longer and more adventurous. The good thing was that I did arrive on time, and I even got to skate a bit (with the car on black ice though! Happily only a tiny bit) before taking off to summer. The trip – well, what can I say… it’s extremely long, but I kind of knew that. My body wasn’t prepared for it though, I found it extremely difficult to sit still those first 12 hours to Singapore. After that, it was actually quite fine. I managed to find a ‘naproom’ for 8 hours in the airport in Singapore, and then it was only nine hours left. And I landed in beautiful summer weather in Christchurch – full sun, a little over 20 degrees, and lots of flowers (the smells!! Fantastic).

Driving on the left

After a week in Dunedin, all the way to the south, to acclimatize and meet some interesting people at a conference, I rented a car and started life on the other side of the road. That actually went pretty well – it only took a few minutes to get used to it (to look the right way for the back mirror, for example). And as long as I kept in mind to drive on the left when crossing a road or turning, it was fine. The car had lane-keep assist which was annoying at times (when you try to get out of the way of an extra wide transport) but also turned out to be quite useful when driving along the many beautiful views and slowly veering to the side… Where is autopilot when you need it?

A bathroom with a view

I first drove to Manapouri where I had booked the most amazing AirbnB I’ve ever been in. It was spacious and had amazing views over the lawn, the lake, and then the Fiordland mountains on the other side. I could sit in bed (or on a gigantic black leather BarcaLounger) and enjoy the view. I could even be in the bathtub and look at the mountains! That’s definitely the most amazing bathroom I’ve been in. Very relaxing.

Majestic views

I stayed there for two nights so I could take a boat trip to the Doubtful Sound, which Captain Cook named because he wasn’t sure whether it led anywhere. He was wrong, it’s actually quite a long fjord, and absolutely beautiful. I was lucky that we had had rain the night before so there were plenty of waterfalls, yet the weather was sunny with clouds (only a bit windy). It’s really remote though – we first took a boat over the Manapouri lake, then a bus over the Wilmot Pass (because the lake is at 200m above sea level, which is why they built the largest hydroelectric power station in New Zealand there, so the water can fall 193m down through turbines), and then finally you get to be on the boat in the majestic Doubtful Sound. There were amazing views all around, going all the way out to the sea. There was no human habitation or signs in sight, and we even got to see some rare bottlenose dolphins (though only from a distance, they are endangered and only recovering slightly).

A 180 million year old petrified tree

So it was hard to top that, but I did have a few nice remaining days along the south coast of New Zealand. I drove down to Riverton, then via Curio Bay and Nugget Point back to the airport in Dunedin. Having some really great weather, the views were amazing here too. I especially liked Curio Bay with it’s very rare 180 million year old forest – you can see trees that have fallen over and turned to stone back when a volcano spewed some ash and created the rare circumstances for wood to be preserved so long. I missed the chance to see the world’s rarest penguin there, but I did get the chance the day after, at Nugget Point, which teemed with wildlife – on the way there, I saw fur seals trying to mate, and a sea lioness with a pup of only 2 days old!

The most endangered penguin in the world

Since I was staying close by, I was already in the bay around 13.00, knowing the one yellow eyed penguin that was supposed to arrive would only do so around 18.00 or later (there is currently only one pair breeding in the bay, and the other penguin is guarding the chick). But it was actually a good place to spend an afternoon – I had a beautiful view on the bay where two dolphins were bobbing around, and I sat in a bit of sun and out of the storm (which would have made sitting anywhere else a no-go). And what do you know, the penguin actually turned up! And it was half an hour earlier than the day before, at 17.15, so that was really nice. And so cute, how it arrived riding a wave, then getting on its feet and waggling over the sand to the rocky beach, where it jumped from stone to stone and then disappeared up to its nest – which apparently is 50 meters up on the cliff. Quite amazing…

Final preparations

Only four days before I fly to New Zealand, with Soren and the kids following me on the 22^nd of January. We’re more or less done with organizing – we hope – and now we can start to look forward to our trip!

Rules and regulations

Now I don’t really know how many rules Danish and Dutch schools have (let me know in the comments!) but there does seem to be an awful number of rules in the New Zealand schools. Here is a fun selection from the information we’ve received for Birk’s school – and we’ll be curious to see to what extent they are actually enforced.

• The school has clear behaviour management plans that set out behaviour expectations and consequences for inappropriate behaviour. Our values of excellence, respect, courage, humility, creativity and integrity guide the way we behave and relate to each other at BIS
• It is compulsory to wear a helmet and a high visibility vest when cycling or scootering to and from school. Riding in the school grounds is prohibited. You must get off your bike or scooter at the gate and walk alongside your bike/ scooter down the driveway
• Coca Cola, Fanta, energy drinks and soft drinks etc. are not permitted at school. They hinder learning.
• If you need to bring a mobile phone to school, it will need to be taken to the office before school (turned off or on silent mode) and be collected at 3pm.
• You are not permitted in nine different areas, such as the library and the classroom when there is no teacher present, the carpark (apart from the pedestrian crossing), but also, interestingly, number 7 of the list of 9, ‘any roofs’.
• Exercise books need to be covered and are to be free of graffiti.
• All students should have signed a Digital Citizenship Agreement which says that the student shall:
  • - Remember that the use of the school’s internet is only for educational purposes
  • - Ensure there is a teacher or responsible adult in the room when using a device
  • - Parents are responsible for discussing the contents and intent of this policy with their child regularly

Pull your socks up

Schools in New Zealand require a school uniform, so that will be quite the experience for the kids. The shoes alone are quite a thing – they must be plain black leather, lace up, school-style shoes with a heel of approximately 1.5 – 2cm. There cannot be any embellishment or logo on them. In summer, students are allowed to wear sandals, either black Roman sandals or black Birkenstock Leather Milano sandals only.

Here are some other uniform rules:

• School uniform must be worn correctly at all times, including during travel to and from school
• Items that are not part of the school uniform may not be worn. Undergarments must not be visible
• Long socks must be worn pulled up
• The BIS PE uniform must be worn for all PE activities, including mufti days. Students must wear sports shoes with their PE uniform or bare feet. School shoes are not to be worn with PE gear at any time.
• Students are required to wear school hats (cap or bucket hat) during all outdoor activities during Terms 1 and 4, including morning break and lunchtimes.
• Every student must wear correct school footwear to and from school. The correct footwear stays on until students go into the classroom for the roll at 8.40am.
• For safety reasons, only a wristwatch and a single set of gold or silver plain studs for pierced ears – no markings, stones or engraving - are permitted.
• Make-up and nail varnish are not to be worn at school under any circumstances, including mufti days.
• Hair must be well-groomed and tidy, hair ties and hair adornments are only permitted in navy blue or black. Only hair colours in the natural human hair range are acceptable. Purple, orange, lime green, pink etc. are not permitted

Upon the sea of knowledge

And, of course, we are busy training with Birk to not only know the NZ national anthem (which is included in the school information package) but also the school song itself. Enjoy it with us:

Upon the sea of knowledge
We have embarked together
In our ship the Belmont
Through fair and stormy weather.
The Principal is steering,
He navigates the shoal,
We’re on a two year journey,
And learning is our goal.

So we’ll hold fast the tiller,
Our course set straight and true,
We’ll sail into tomorrow,
With hope and courage too.
We know that it’s old fashioned,
To say peace and brotherhood,
But Belmont Intermediate can,
Be a force for good.

Our watch cry it is effort,
Which means we try our best,
We’ll persevere with learning,
Until we gain success.
The Belmont is a small craft,
With many dreams on board,
And if we pull together,
We’ll be a force for good.

Happy New Year!!

Surprises

In the Netherlands it’s been the time for ‘surprises’ – this is a creative way of wrapping gifts related to Sinterklaas* – but we were not expecting this extra surprise that the school of Linus had in store for us... The evening before I flew to the Netherlands to celebrate Sinterklaas with my family, we got an e-mail that it was not possible after all that Linus would go to their school. Full panic mode!

A web of bureaucracy

After the difficulty with figuring out which visa we should apply for, the visa application which took much longer than expected, and the rejection of the local school, we were so happy that Westlake was accepting him as an international student. We had a short interview and we paid the fees, so all was in order. Or so we thought. On their last day of term, right before the summer holiday started in New Zealand, they informed us that Linus can’t attend their school after all because he is on a domestic student visa and there is a waiting list for out-of-zone domestic students. Apparently, they didn’t check the information we sent them weeks before, and he can’t be admitted as international student based on that visa…

Calling New Zealand

Westlake said that it’s the local in-zone school that should admit Linus – but they have been saying ‘no’ to us (twice). We had informed the ministry of education about this, since they are supposed to help out in cases like this, but no reply whatsoever. So now it was time for more drastic measures. And the good thing that it was Thursday night 21.00 – which is Friday morning 9.00 – so we started calling New Zealand. And, surprisingly, the ministry did pick up the phone and reassured us that the local school should indeed take us, and the fact that we are only staying temporarily is not a reason to reject us. And now they did take action (we were almost harassing them with phone calls :D) and we heard back a few days later than ‘if we meet the entry requirements’ then Linus would be admitted ‘though it is not an ideal situation’.

All is well that ends well (we hope)

So it looks like we should be able to get him into this school after all, and this would be fantastic. We would save about 4.000 euro, and, more importantly, Linus wouldn’t have to travel so far by school bus, and he would be in a somewhat smaller, mixed school, right next door to Birk’s school. The only thing is that now, of course, the Admissions Office is closed for the summer, and we probably have to wait until the 23^rd of January to know for sure that everything is in order… We have sent in the 13 documents they need to enroll him, and now we’re crossing our fingers!!

* I uploaded the picture of the ‘surprise’ my niece made for me this year – it has a New Zealand theme!! <3

A new adventure!

The year is coming to an end soon, and we are thinking it is time for a new adventure. In January the four of us will be going to New Zealand for a few months – really exciting! It’s something we’ve been talking about for a long time, and now the time is there.

What, where, when

We will be going to Auckland on the North Island, where we rented a house from January until June on the North Shore (8 Kawerau Avenue, Devonport). Apparently, it’s a quite nice neighbourhood, close to the water, and only a 10 minute ferry ride away from the city centre. That’s where I will go to the office. I will be visiting the University of Auckland Business School to work together with prof. Snejina Michailova, whose research is really close to mine, so that’s very exciting! Søren has gotten permission to ‘work from home’ from New Zealand – which actually is nice for his colleagues because it means he can take the calls during the Danish night, since that’s when we will be awake anyway in New Zealand. And, very exciting, the kids will go to school in New Zealand for three months!

Let the Harry Potter experience begin…

It will certainly be a new experience for the kids, to join a different school system. It’s also been quite interesting (and slightly stressful) for us to figure everything out. The school for Birk was easy, he will be going to Belmont Intermediate School, which is a school that only has two years – and Birk will be joining Year 8. We don’t know yet what his teaching schedule will look like, apart from the school day starting at 8.45 and ending at 15.00, and it’s a twenty minute walk away. He has also already been allocated to one of the four Houses, namely Tiri house, which house colour is yellow. The houses compete for house points in ‘categories which reflect all aspects of school life’, and they compete against each other in sports on Wednesday afternoon. And there are Head Boys and Head Girls. A fun thing also scheduled for Year 8 is a 4 day camp at Waipu Cove!

2700 boys

But especially the school for Linus was a challenge. He has to go to a high school, and then it turned out that the local high school is completely full… The next possible school, about 20 minutes by school bus, is Catholic, and they only accept 5% of non-Catholic boys in the school, and they also did not have any places left. So, we had to go even further afield (30 minutes by school bus), and found Westlake Boys High School, which was happy to take him as an international student. It means we have to pay quite some fees (about 6.000 NZD per three months – it makes you appreciate free schooling in Denmark more!!), but also that he will be part of a group of about 100 international students, who are taken well care off – that’s a nice thought too. Last week Linus had a short interview with the school, which was very nice, also to get a bit of an idea of what awaits him. It will be quite the experience for him, going from the small school he is currently at – with 20 students in total in his year – to a school with 2700 teenage boys (and about 500 in his year). Westlake Girls High School with a similar number of students is nextdoor ?.

Next step – figuring out school uniforms and what else they need!

PS Our house in Slagelse is still available from 22nd of January until the 1st of March - so if anyone fancies spending their winter holiday here (we are only 55 minutes by train from Copenhagen), then do let me know!

Winterbaden

Het jaar 2022 begon op 2 januari goed met een nieuwe hobby – winterbaden! Een aantal jaren geleden had ik er al eens aan geproefd met een vriendin toen we meededen met de Scheveningse nieuwjaarsduik, al moet ik toegeven dat ik toen maar ongeveer een halve seconde echt in het water was. En toen zag ik dat een vriendin hier, Sylvia, regelmatig in het koude water springt, en ik dacht, laat ik het ook eens echt proberen!

Waarom?!?

Veel mensen vragen zich af waarom je in hemelsnaam in de winter zou willen gaan ‘zwemmen’ in de vrije natuur. Ja, dat is natuurlijk een goed punt. Het schijnt in elk geval lekker gezond te zijn, goed voor je immuunsysteem bijvoorbeeld. Onderzoek heeft laten zien dat mensen die regelmatig in koud water ‘zwemmen’ 40% minder luchtweginfecties hebben. Verder zorgt het winterbaden ervoor dat je lichaam zich aanpast om beter om te kunnen gaan met de kou, wat mogelijk beschermt tegen andere ziektes en je een betere cardio-vasculaire gezondheid geeft¹. Maar: er wordt wel benadrukt dat je het geleidelijk op moet bouwen en voorzichtig moet zijn als je al last van je hart hebt.

Maar hoe dan?!?

Het was erg handig dat ik nu met iemand mee kon – en ik ontdekte al snel dat zij lid is van een club die twee jaar geleden een sauna heeft gebouwd aan de rand van een meer. Kijk, nu snap ik haar al een stuk beter! Ik vroeg me namelijk wel af hoe je het nou precies doet, vooral als je net uit het koude water komt. En dan? Vooral ook omdat ik niet vlakbij de zee woon, dat je erna onder de warme douche kunt springen. Maar goed, ik heb uit betrouwbare bron genomen dat het gewoon een kwestie is van uitkleden, in het water springen, je afdrogen en je weer aankleden. Niks bijzonders! [klappertand] Ik geef de voorkeur aan de versie met een sauna!

Sauna, dip, sauna, dip etc.

Het ritme kreeg ik al snel onder de knie, al begin ik wel liever met een sauna dan met een koude dip zoals sommigen doen. Na een minuut of tien in de 90 graden hitte, ben ik wat beter bestand tegen water van onder de 5 graden! Maar dan kan ik het ook best wel uithouden. Sylvia houdt precies bij hoe lang ze in het water is, dus ik kan jullie ook melden dat ik een keer tot wel 4 minuten in het water ben geweest – van 2.6 graden! Best wel lekker, eigenlijk! Een normale reeks voor mij heeft in elk geval drie keer een sauna en drie keer een dip. Aangezien het 20 minuten rijden is naar Sorø, ga ik er niet voor een half uurtje heen . Het seizoen duurt nog tot eind april, en ik ben benieuwd of ik me inderdaad energieker door ga voelen!

1. Kolettis, T. M., & Kolettis, M. T. (2003). Winter swimming: healthy or hazardous?: Evidence and hypotheses. Medical hypotheses, 61(5-6), 654-656. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0306-9877(03)00270-6

Op schrijfretreat in Skagen

Het is heel lang geleden dat ik hier heb gepost, maar laat ik weer eens wat schrijven over mijn wederwaardigheden hier in Denemarken. In oktober afgelopen jaar had ik namelijk het geluk om een week op Klitgaarden te mogen zijn om aan mijn onderzoek te werken!

Klitgaarden

Klitgaarden is de voormalige zomerresidentie van Koning Christian de 10^e van Denemarken uit 1914 – en ligt helemaal in het noordelijkste puntje van Denemarken, net onder Skagen. Voordat je denkt dat ik door de koninklijke familie uitgenodigd was, het is nu een refugium waar onderzoekers en kunstenaars in alle rust kunnen verblijven om te schrijven of schilderen etc. Het is eigenlijk een all inclusive, al was dat wel een stuk minder luxueus dan de term suggereert. We kregen drie keer per dag een (Deense) maaltijd, en dat was het dan. De kamer zelf deed me ook denken aan ‘die goede oude tijd’ toen ik in Oxford ook in zulke oude gebouwen zat te werken. Het heeft wel wat, en werkt in elk geval heel goed om je op werk te kunnen focussen!

Wandelende duinen (en een kerk die in de weg stond)

Na meer dan zes uur in de trein te hebben gezeten (en nog steeds in Denemarken te zijn!!), wilde ik natuurlijk wel wat van het landschap zien. Klitgaarden ligt middenin een natuurgebied net onder het stadje Skagen, en het bijzondere is dat daar de duinen aan het wandelen zijn. Vlakbij ligt een kerk die sinds 1795 niet meer in gebruik is, omdat de kerkgangers op een gegeven moment bij iedere dienst de ingang moesten uitgraven. De toren staat nog steeds, is witgeschilderd, en wordt nu gebruikt als hulp bij het navigeren. Het is een prachtig landschap van lage en hoge duinen, met vele wandelpaden die zo ongeveer allemaal wel langs die kerk leiden (oh, heb je die weer).

Waar twee zeeën elkaar ontmoeten

Klitgaarden had ook mooie gele fietsen te leen, dus ik ben ook naar Grenen gefietst – daar waar de Noordzee en het Kattegat elkaar ontmoeten. En dat zie je ook als je daar op de punt staat, waar een lange zandbank is gevormd in de vorm van een tak (en gren in het Deens). Er staan daar hele sterke stromingen, en de golven botsen tegen elkaar op. Indrukwekkend! Ik was gelukkig net op tijd, net voor de tractor-bus aankwam – letterlijk een halve minuut, dus ik had nog net de tijd om een foto van de punt te maken voordat er ineens 40 mensen stonden. Het is daar normaal best druk… Wat wel jammer was dat het lawaai van die tractor ook de zeehond die lekker lag te zonnen weer het water injaagde. Heel leuk om te zien hoe de zeehond langs de kust terug zwom, in dezelfde richting als dat ik liep, en aan het spelen was in de golven (ok, dat is mijn interpretatie ?).

Al met al een productief verblijf in een hele mooie omgeving, maar het was wel echt erg ver weg!!

Naar het andere eind van… Denemarken

Twee weken geleden waren we met z’n vieren (voor het eerst!) een weekje op vakantie, en wel helemaal naar Jutland. Fyn links laten liggen, en doorgereden tot we eindelijk weer eens de Noordzee zagen :-). We hadden een schattig klein hutje op een camping gereserveerd, aan de andere kant van de ontzaglijk hoge duinen (serieus). Een heel hyggeligt huisje van hout en met heel veel ramen. Heel fijn licht en gezellig, tot je naar bed wilt en blijkt dat de bovenste rij ramen geen gordijnen heeft. De zon gaat hier eind juni rond elf uur onder en rond vier uur weer op. Dat sliep dus wat minder…

Tanks, tanks en nog eens tanks
De eerste dag had een militaire inslag, toen we langs gingen bij de open dag van het militaire oefenterrein waar Søren zelf ook regelmatig in een tank doorheen is gereden in zijn dagen als militair. Jullie kunnen je voorstellen dat dit voor mij uitermate interessant was. Dit is een tank. En dit is nog een tank. En dit is een hele oude tank… (oke, er werd me meer over de tanks verteld, maar dat ben ik weer vergeten ;-)). De kinderen vonden het fantastisch, en vooruit, ik vond het ook best leuk om te zien waar Søren veel tijd heeft doorgebracht :-) Het is een prachtige omgeving – uitgestrekte heidevelden.

Vier seizoen in een dag
Het weer zag er niet zo goed uit toen we vertrokken, maar het voordeel van de kust is dat het weer lekker snel overwaait, dus we hebben toch elke dag wel wat zon gehad. Ook hadden we een zwemparadijs op de camping, dus dat was mooi geregeld voor als het regende. Elke avond even over de duinen geklommen om een beetje te voetballen of te vliegeren op het strand (al bleek de Tiger-vlieger van 5 euro toch een beetje te billig…). Echt gezwommen hebben we niet – daarvoor stroomt er blijkbaar toch te weinig Viking-bloed door sommige aderen…

Windsurfing!
Jawel, het zou er nu dan toch echt van komen, dat ik eindelijk eens zou gaan profiteren van de wind in Denemarken. Hvide Sande is een van de populairste plekken voor wind- en kitesurfing, dus mijn plan was om een paar uur een surfplank te huren. De dag die we ervoor uit hadden gekozen, begon slecht, al zou het later opklaren. Helaas was het me toch aan het plenzen tegen de tijd dat ik me in een wetsuit had gehezen! Nou goed, toch maar het water in gegaan – als je nat bent, maakt die regen ook niet meer uit. Het was even zoeken naar de juiste plank, maar toen dat goed geregeld was, ging het weer als vanouds – behalve dan dat de wind een beetje wegviel... Toen de plank ingeruild voor een veel grotere versie, en de kinderen erop gezet om ze er kennis mee te laten maken. Dat vonden ze erg leuk! Voor herhaling vatbaar…