Day 1 -- arriving in NZ

               What a day!  We woke up over the Pacific Ocean.  Within the next 14 hours, we had finished one plane flight, been through immigration and customs, taken another plane flight, met our host Clemency, and had gotten cleaned up.  Furthermore, we had checked into our motel home, I had given a history of math lecture, Liam had gotten his school uniform, and we had registered him for classes and met his teacher!  We are excited, and very tired.

               The summary above should serve those of you with busy lives.  Because I’d like this blog to someday serve as a travelogue for our trip, I’m going to repeat all of the above in more detail below.

               The flight

               It seems unreasonable to expect a flight from Vancouver, Canada to Aukland, New Zealand to be pleasant.  Fourteen hours on an airplane is a lot.  Given this, however, the flight was as great as could be expected.  New Zealand air was wonderful – friendly service, good food, and a selection of 40 movies to choose from.  I watched Lincoln, and Liam watched Horton Hears a Who.

               Sitting next to us was an unaccompanied minor who went by the name of Fred.  Fred was 11 years old, very talkative, very bright, and very inquisitive.  He shared his favorite games, movies, tv shows, and recent presents.  He then asked us for our favorite games, movies, tv shows, and recent presents.  After a few hours, he repeated the exercise.  It was perhaps a bit much, but he was friendly, polite, and alone, and we were happy to chat.

               Liam slept about seven hours, and I slept about five.  Again, this is about as good as one can hope for a flight like this.  We woke up at about 5:00 Pacific Time (2:00 New Zealand time), and were soon served breakfast.  We then completed our immigration forms, and prepared to land.

               Arrival in NZ

               There are few things as thrilling as entering a new country for the first time.  Everything seems full of promise and mystery.  “Wow – look at what carpet is like in New Zealand!” “Neat – the trees are so different here!”  Liam seemed oblivious to most of this.  He’s operating on a whole different level of awareness than I am.  I look at people; he looks for toys.  I look at the buildings and plants; he gets excited by the contents to the gutters running along the side of the road.  I’m sure we each have something to learn from the other.

               One of the most striking features of the country when we first arrived was the number of long lines there were to wait in.  We waited for immigration.  We waited for customs.  We waited to have our bags x-rayed.  We waited for customer service to re-tag our bags for the flight to Christchurch.  Liam was a great sport through all of this, his excitement betrayed by constant bouncing.

               Supposedly one check re-check bags after customs without carrying them by hand somewhere else, but I failed to find this place, so we schlepped all of our things the 10-minute walk from the international terminal to the domestic.  There we rechecked our bags, found our gate, and had about 30 minutes before we took off again.

               Arrival in Christchurch

               The flight to Christchurch was short and smooth.  Thanks to the low cloud cover, we got a good look at the land and at Cook Straight as we flew.  Clemency Montelle, who was both our host and the person responsible for inviting me to this country, was waiting for us at the airport.  She took us to her car, which we found full of groceries, Legos, and Playmobil toys.  Liam and I were each quite thrilled.

Liam playing on toy kiwis, welcoming us to the 

Christchurch Airport

               Because it was only 9:30, we couldn’t yet check in to our hotel.  Clemency brought us back to her home to meet her husband and their baby.  Liam played while they let me take a quick shower, and then we were both offered tea.  By 11:30 our motel room was ready, so she dropped us off for 30 minutes’ worth of settling in before we left to walk to the math building.

               History of Math

               The primary reason we are here is for a course I’m teaching.  The University of Christchurch was 12-week semesters made up of two six-week terms.  I’m teaching a term of their history of mathematics class devoted to the mathematics of Leonhard Euler.  Just 3.5 hours after landing in town, I gave my first lecture.  I was tired, but the lecture went fine (or else I was too tired to notice that it didn’t), and the students seem great already! Clemency and Liam played with Legos (here simply called “Lego” – no “s”) while taught.  Liam and I then walked about a kilometer to buy his school uniform, and then a kilometer back to meet his new teacher.

               A Uniform, and Ilam School

               While we’re in New Zealand, Liam will be enrolling at the Ilam School (www.ilam.school.nz) in Christchurch, a primary school near the University of Canterbury.  In fact, the fact that he could do this was one of the deciding factors to our coming here.  Not only will Liam have care six hours per day, but he’ll have the experience of attending school in New Zealand.

               All students at Liam’s Ilam school (he was the first to notice that the school name “looks a lot like” his!) wear a uniform, so purchasing one was one of the first orders of business.  There are two shops in town which sell them, and only one of these in within walking distance, so we headed off to Postie Plus.  For a bit over $100, we got two short-sleeved shirts, two pairs of shorts, one long-sleeved shirt, and one sun hat. (Pictures tomorrow!)

               We then hurried from the uniform shop back to Ilam School, arriving just a few minutes after the school got our for the day.  We met the school secretary, a friendly woman named Liz with whom I’d been corresponding, and his teacher, Mr. Richard Oakly.  We saw Liam’s classroom, and heard a bit about the daily schedule.  Liam was eager to move on, however, since there was a playground outside which desperately needed to be played on!  The class looks great, and I’m excited for Liam to go there.  Liam is excited, too, as well as being rather nervous.

               The End of a Long Day

               We walked back to our motel – about 20 minute’s walk from Ilam School,  getting home around 4:00.  I was exhausted.  Liam seemed not to be.  He bounced and talked the whole way home, concocting games with sticks he found on the ground.  As soon as we got to our room, he launched into playing with some of the many toys that Clemency and her boys had left us.

               Best of all, though, was that we got to see Allyson and Emery on Skype!  It was wonderful to see and hear them from so many miles away.  We were so happy to share our news, and to be reminded that they really aren’t so far away after all.  We then played a bit with Legos, had a supper of bread and sausages (since they were the only supper-like food in the house), unpacked our suitcases, gave Liam a bath, and went to bed at 7:30.  It was very light outside, and we had trouble getting to sleep despite our fatigue.  By 8:30, though, Liam was asleep, and I followed soon after.