Ode To...

(This is Molly) Sorry we haven't posted for a while...Patrick's been on walkabout with Grant, and I had to (gasp!) work 7 days in a row. (Sort of like residency, only the more I worked, the more I get paid! Amazing!) But I have a few minutes this morning to show you a couple of kiwi household items that we have come to love...really, couldn't live without:


Number One -- The heater. It is situated in our dining/kitchen/family room area, it's best friend, the gas fireplace is in the actual family room. Kiwi homes are poorly insulated and cold, and have no central heat...we thought it was maybe just us, but we recently read a newspaper article that described kiwi houses as being just that. Wanganui has 7 frosts a year, and we've been here for 3. The first week we were frozen, with these guys cranking, and our house was still cold...with its single pane windows and lack of insulation...a few mornings it was 47 degrees in our bedroom. (Thank goodness for down comforters!) We were so cold, and couldn't figure out how the people before us existed in the freezing cold house! But then we were invited over to a few kiwi houses and realized that everyone else closes the doors, pulls the curtains, and then crank the heat...and your family room will heat up nicely. And then everyone stays in there all night. When it's time for bed, you race as fast as you can and dive under the covers. (You already brushed your teeth in the kitchen where it's warm!) We LOVE the heat.

Number Two: Insanely fast water heater. You might remember this from your college dorm room when you made mac-n-cheese and ramen noodles. Every kiwi home (and hotel room!) has one. You fill with water, push the button, and in a few minutes you have boiling water. It's a coffee/tea culture, so you can indulge yourself with a coffee or a tea whenever you want. Strangely, at home most people use this and drink freeze-dried coffee, which Patrick has adjusted to (it's actually not bad!) -- and if you feel like you need a real coffee, you can't throw a rock without hitting 3 or 4 coffeeshops here. Everyone stops for "morning tea" around 10 (nobody is working in New Zealand between 10 am and 10:30 am...in the ED we still work, but someone always brings out the coffee/tea tray for us to sip while we work!), and then supper/dinner is called "tea." (So, when you get invited to someone's house for "tea," it really means a meal...so don't eat beforehand!) Patrick's got a few-coffees-a-day habit, and I'm now a few-teas-a-day habit. Which makes this little guy our favorite kiwi household item.