Homesick

5 days in and some painful feelings hit the children tonight. Looking at their Bebo sites online and wanting to respond spontaneously, made them realise how hard it will be. It will take some time to sort out MSN contact and to work out what times friends will be awake at the same time as Meg and Finn are. Finn visited his school today and liked it. Meg bought some new jeans in Queenstown and liked the shopping possibilites down there, though both acknowledged that they wouldn't want to live there, and like Wanaka best. Still, there are no friends here yet. In reality, it will be Spook and I who will struggle to make friends, as he will work in near isolation once things are set up, and I don't HAVE work.  We had thought it would be good to have a week to settle in, but the children need school to start, so that they can find out if they will have friends.   I am not worried at this stage about making friends.  Much more worried about how to help the children through this difficult wee spell. Hard to imagine that they actually want the holidays to end and school to start. The weather is pretty cold and the house particularly so compared to what they're used to. Cold laminate flooring without rugs, and a fire that heats the area immediately in front of it. This is pretty common in NZ, I believe......  and they miss their things.
Finn has been practising skateboard manoeuvres in the car port, but complained because a duck came and pooped in his line of fire. He has trendy new chunky trainers, but they hurt his feet - fashion is not about comfort. Meg has bought a lovely 2nd hand white and pink snowboard, which the man in the shop got all set up for her and he wants her to take it back after she uses it, so he can wax it and protect it for the summer, ready for next season. He's given her a loan of boots for three days. The weather is set to improve on Friday, so we will give the slopes a try then.