We had a surprise visit back home to the USA, purchasing our flight tickets two days before we left on Christmas Eve after finding out the price was the same whether we left then or within the next three months. It was great to be home in California for Christmas (we stayed for 3 weeks). When we returned to New Zealand, we were faced with a tough decision of which school to put the girls into.

We debated, made a pros and cons list, visited several schools and marinas, and finally had a split decision on where to live. Casey wanted to go to Wentworth College (a 200-kid private schoold) and keep Adventure in Gulf Harbour where we have been for the past month and is a 45-minute ferry ride to downtown Auckland. Tara and Sean chose Bayswater Marina and Takapuna Grammar school (a 1,600-kid public school), which are a 5-minute ferry ride to downtown Auckland. I was torn but ended up voting to move to Bayswater where we'd be closer to the area most ripe for Sean to find work. The public school is in a very affluent neighborhood and comes with high recommendations from books we read and people we spoke with.

We gave Casey a few days to come to terms with our decision and then, today, moved Adventure to Bayswater Marina. The girls are signed up for school and we paid our fees (we have to pay about $15K US per year for the girls to go to public school until Sean gets a work visa). The girls are upset because they have to wear formal uniforms to school, including skirts that hang below their knees, a suit jacket, and tie. Casey is upset because she doesn't want to go to a big school. Sean is upset because there aren't many tech jobs on offer currently. I'm upset because everyone else is upset!


But we're at our new home and ready to start our new lives. The girls go for school orientation on Wed and Thurs of this week. Sean and I plan to start boat cleaning/repairs once they start school on Feb. 2. Sean had an interview with another recuiter (his third one) a few days ago and the guy felt that more tech jobs would be available starting in February (not much happens in NZ the month after Christmas).

I'll keep the blog updated as we struggle through building a new life in a forign country. It hasn't been easy so far....