The Adventure Series!

ADVENTURES IN HOUSING

When we arrived in Timaru, fortunately for us, another missionary couple, the Neiders, had already secured a place for us to live.  When we walked in, I immediately felt at home.  It was completely furnished and was just my style.  The colors were great and the house had a big open area that is really a bedroom/living room/kitchen in a row separated by big wooden folding doors.  It becomes a nice great-room when it is all opened up.  I didn't realize that there was another reason for this lovely arrangement until dark set in.  No one's house is centrally heated here.  We had a wood burning fireplace insert which was not very efficient as we would soon find out. 

Warming all those areas plus the huge foyer, the bathroom across the house from the master bedroom and the two smaller bedrooms was literally impossible.  I thought I would freeze to death until we figured out the system.  We closed the doors and the wood fire in the fireplace plus a newly acquired space heater kept the  room warm until we moved into the bedroom where another space heater warmed it up before bedtime.  The kitchen had to create it's own warmth and the bathroom is heated at will by another, smaller space heater.  The bed has a bed sized heating pad which you turn on 1/2 hour before bedtime.  It is wonderful to get in that bed after a chilly day!  Forget about the foyer and the other bedrooms.  If we get visitors, we'll figure that one out.
The next issue was the mice.  The house had been empty for a couple of months waiting for us and the mice had taken up residence!  A few traps and a little bait and we feel pretty much in control of that issue but we had to clean the whole place completely, including washing everything we wanted to use.  That in itself took 2 days.  I think most everything is clean but we cleaned again Monday because I was waiting for a dryer to come and it never did but we got a lot done.  We also discovered the leaks in the kitchen ceiling that happen randomly even when the sun is shining.  Haven't figured that one out yet.

Next, issue:  everything here is smaller, washers, dryers, refridgerators, stoves and so on.  The washer stops if it is off balance and so you think the wash is done only to go check and find you have 25 min. left before you can hang it on the rack in the living room or the line in the yard, both of which take about three days to dry clothes, hence the order for a dryer that still hasn't come.  They do have an awesome invention here.  Because everyone drinks Milo (a barley chocolate drink) or coffee, or tea or hot berry juice, yummmm,  they have a little device that heats water to boiling in a couple of minutes.  It is awesome!!!  By the way, most of the rooms have 1, maybe 2 plugs. Do you think they are underwired?  Don't ever plug in two heaters at the same time you plan to use the microwave!  In fact, you are better off not to use more than 2 things at once ever!  The house had 2 phone lines but one had never been hooked up and the other wasn't working.

Now that I have my complaining done let me tell you what is terrific.  We have huge windows all over the west side of the house, floor to ceiling in the living and kitchen and 1/3 of the bedroom wall.
The sun warms the house in the afternoons.  We have the most wonderful views everywhere.  We can see the southern alps out all of the windows.  The sunsets are really something that boggles our mind.  The sun is brighter here than I have ever seen and the colors are glorious.  The ocean is a different color every day and sometimes from hour to hour.  The garden is in little rooms, a miniature version of home with a fish pond right outside the door.  It is stocked with orange and black Koi.  Flowers bloom here even in winter, one here, one there.  Hydrangeas are huge as are rhodedendrons and just about everything else.  The clouds are amazing.  I have peacock tails on my mantle.  I have a roof, a kitchen, a bathroom, a place with a hot pad to sleep and sit and dream, plenty of food, lots of friends and love and the gospel to bring it all together.

What's not to like?  Enough is as good as a feast and I have enough and more.