Laura: Life in Wellington

Laura here: We’ve gotten so absorbed into our new Wellington lives that we’ve gotten behind in our blogging. I’ll do some catch up, by subjects: daily life, my work, the girls school and some cultural observations. Here goes:

Our building--built in 1929

A view from our dining room table, just after a shower.

Daily Life: We’re living in a Victorian era flat (one of 4, all occupied by other Axford Fellows). It is a 10 minute walk to the girls’ school and then another 5-10 minute walk to my work (depends on which of my two offices I’m going to).  I generally take the girls and Sawyer (another Axford child who lives in our building), and then John or our neighbor’s Dad, Dustin, pick the kids up and hang out with them afterschool . I really enjoy getting to take the kids to school every day and am fortunate that the dads are so available for afterschool.

The flat feels a bit like co-housing, what with the whole building occupied by Axfords. Here’s the scoop on the 2010 Ian Axford Fellows (including me, in case you’re not sure what I’m doing here):

• Laura Benedict from the Self-Help Credit Union in Durham, North Carolina is researching how social lending might be useful in New Zealand, at the Ministry of Social Development and Philanthropy New Zealand.
• Terri Dunahay from the US Department of Agriculture in Washington, DC is researching factors influencing the environmental release and commercial adoption of genetically modified plants in New Zealand, at the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology.
• Louritha (‘Lou’) Green from US Customs and Border Protection in Washington, DC is researching establishment of a New Zealand-United States joint action plan for recovery from serious trade disruptions, at the New Zealand Customs Service.
• Hillery Harvey from the US National Institutes of Health in Washington, DC is researching partnerships between human an animal health communities in New Zealand, at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
• Arnell Hinkle from Community Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness (CANFIT) in Berkeley, California is researching implementation of the Healthy Eating – Healthy Action strategy in Mäori and Pacific adolescent populations, at the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs.

Hillery, her partner Dustin, and their brood, Sawyer age 5 and Ivy age 2, are immediately below us. Eleanor and Sawyer are great buddies, Claire loves to play with Ivy and is fast becoming a great father’s helper. We share our car with them, often share meals and collaborate on before- and after-school needs. We share our newspaper with Terri, who lives upstairs. Sounding a lot like Eno Commons?

Here's the view from John's office at Student health!

John’s working 9-5, two days (first time in our lives that he’s home for dinner every night) and half day the other three days – never on weekends. My schedule is largely up to me, but generally, I’m at one of my desks, having hung out at the school for 10-20 minutes, by a little after 9 and I pack up in the 4-6 range.

We live right across from a very active city park that regularly hosts cricket, rugby, and croquet games. Next to it are Victoria University’s tennis courts where Claire and I play several times a week. The kids love to run around the fields and we’re all really fond of a magnificent fountain at the far end of the park, but visible from all of our front facing windows. It only runs at night, but when it does they illuminate it with a variable color display. Makes a pretty special nightlight for the girls going to sleep

Some of our favorite things, so far:

• Me: walking everywhere; every office and household is well equipped for a good cup of tea; and learning about Maori culture and history
• Eleanor: We live in front of 2! fields I love! that we walk around the city a lot; and, I love to climb mountains with Mommy.
• Claire: I have lots of cool and funny friends;  and playgrounds are much better than in the US.

The Beehive

Laura’s work:  My offices are truly downtown. Yes, “offices.” My office at the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) looks out on Parliament (also known as the Beehive for obvious reasons), on one side and steep hills on the other. My Philanthropy New Zealand (PNZ) office, is in a building that straddles two of Wellington’s primary streets of commerce: Lambdon Quay and The Terrace. They’re filled with cafés, shops, and professional and governmental offices. It takes 5 minutes to get to my PNZ office from the girls school, and almost 10 minutes to get there on my way home – no, not traffic, I walk, it’s up a VERY steep hill.

Here’s a blurb about me from the February Newsletter of my government host: http://www.ocvs.govt.nz/publications/newsletter/index.html#02AmericancommunitydevelopmentexecutiveexploresopportunitiesforsociallendinginNZ3

Everyone at both offices is helpful and interested and interesting. At MSD, I’m in a huge office building – 8 stories tall and very wide. All the floors use open floor planning (ie carrels, not offices). I’m on the Community and Voluntary Sector team. Beyond hosting me, they’re very involved rolling out a comprehensive payroll contribution plan for all employers and all non-profits – apparently United Way never got much traction here. They’re working on a Relationship Agreement that will help government and non-profits get along better. The Minister in charge of our group is a most fascinating and powerful woman. Tariana Turia is Maori, from a grassroots, health care/advocacy background, who has unflinchingly stood up for Maori rights. A few years ago she felt screwed by the Labor Party over control of the foreshore (beaches) and seabeds of New Zealand and resigned her leadership role, only to come back recently as co-leader of the new Maori Party that is in a hugely powerful role by forming an alliance with the National Party. Fascinating stuff. Her major push is Whanau Ora, a $1 billion program to coordinate funding of health and social services and have the services provided, in an integrated manner, by Maori providers. This is on a hugely fast track and likely to happen – it’s amazing how quickly things can happen in a small country.

At Philanthropy New Zealand, we’re on one smallish floor and are only 3 FTE’s, plus me. We share space with the JR McKenzie Foundation and Funding Information Exchange. I have my own office and enjoy the very different vibe.

A nearby playgroud--not one, but 3 zip lines! (They are called Flying Foxes here.)

School and the girls’ life: Claire and Eleanor both love their new school which has 65 children in grade 1-8, broken into three classrooms. Quite diverse. It's called Clifton Terrace Model School. "Model" because it trains teachers from the local university to be able to go into rural one-room schoolhouses. The 'Terrace' come from the fact that it's on a terrace looking right over downtown Wellington. It is imbued with Maori culture. For example, the names of the three classes are three native New Zealand trees in Maori: Kouri, Kowhai & Kahikatea. Each morning the kids have hui (class meeting) and the they’re learning Maori language. We couldn't be more pleased. For more info and some pictures: http://www.cliftonterracemodelschool.blogspot.com/.

Here’s what Claire has to say about Clifton Terrace: “I have my first male teacher.” “The playground is small, but awesome.” A few thoughts from Eleanor: “The classrooms have names.” “My teachers are really nice.” “At lunch we eat outside and if you’re under year 4, you have to show your lunch to the teacher to see if you’ve eaten enough.”

Another wonderful feature of the school is that they use the city as a classroom. Art classes are held in downtown museums. For sports, they go to Westpack Stadium where the professional rugby and soccer teams play, the park across from our flat or to the botanic garden. They go to the main city library twice a month and in the first term have been to at least 5 live performances – whew!

Singing a welcome song at school for the parents.

Cultural richness: The influence and role of Maori people is fascinating. Every formal meeting begins with Maori language and ritual. The first two days of my Fellowship orientation were spent on a marae, the community/cultural center for a local tribe. The girls and I spent the night there (John was on the Kiwi Brevet and unfortunately missed it). Maori and Pacific Island meetings often begin with song – yes, business meetings. They are still actively working through the injustices of the European settlement and, in fact, I'm hoping to help the tribes (called iwis, here) think about setting up loan funds with their settlement dollars. I'd thought coming to NZ, as opposed to Tibet or Uganda, wouldn't be so interesting from a cross-cultural sense, but it is.

Plus, it’s not only Maori and Pacific Islanders’ cultures. It’s fun being immersed in a British colonial culture, too. When speaking about the government, everyone refers to the “crown.” Most offices really do shut down around 10:30 am for tea. Contact forms’ dropdown menus include ‘sir, dame, lord & lady.’ Add in the unique Kiwi culture and it’s a true joy being here. A few Kiwi examples: they’re very understated, ‘bush’ refers to ‘forest’ and ‘hill’ is what you call a ‘mountain.’ A high compliment is to call someone or some action “number 8 wire’ referring to a multi-purpose wire for farming and it means, roughly, ‘keenly able to get the job done.’