By January, it was crystal clear that Maki couldn’t continue with the online school in the US. It was just way too hard to wake up so early and then expect for any of us to be sane. Plus, Maki was lonely. Even though he was skateboarding every single day and had a few friends there, and he went to the surf and lifesaving club on Sundays, that was not enough.
I arranged with his US school to have Maki take a break for a couple of weeks to try out a couple of camps in NZ. I learned (again from Olivia) about a 5 day camp where Maki could go and give us all a break – he would have some peer time and we would all rest from the school drama.
That was the best decision ever.
He ended up going to this place that was just super charming, with a gorgeous view, tons of activities, and (in contrast to our outrageous American prices) it cost less than $300 USD. This camp,called Living Springs, was Maki’s first overnight camp experience and even though we were a bit worried how he would do, he ended up having a great time and had no issues with being away from us for that long. I guess he needed a break from us as much as we needed a break from him.
After he got back, I signed him up for another week long daycamp of surfing and skateboarding and then a week of sports camp.
Then his social life exploded too.
He met two awesome brothers that were our neighbors and those 3 spent tons of time together that January. It was such a delight to see Maksim smile more again.
I was even more motivated at that point to put all my efforts into getting the Ministry of Education to change the definition of domestic student so that Maki could start school with these kids in February (start of a school year for NZ kids). After 13 schools and 13 rejections, the first woman principal I came across said to me, “Hm, I think we can make this work.” Then she got creative for the first few weeks until Ministry caught up with their bureaucratic solution. That was a true answer to our prayer, a real turning point for all of us.
January was a great month. Nina did some swimming and horseback riding.
Our new Serbian friends folded us in their company like we have known each other forever. It was incredibly sweet to be included in all of their activities so there was plenty of fun in January.
The penguins chase was still going on and Rose and I got a few on one of our outings and then Nina and I got the rest.
A lot of friends, lots of activities, nice weather – theater in the park, more horseback riding for Nina, beach time, surfing, more penguin ‘hunting’.
Pepi continued to play tons of Ultimate and she kept practicing how to lay out well so she would come home with tons of bruises that I documented. I was always impressed by how dedicated and organized she is with school work. She didn’t have a problem with waking up early and continuing to shine in all her classes.
I signed up Maki for swim lessons too because even though he knew how to swim, I noticed that his NZ peers were a lot more technically correct swimmers. These lessons proved to be great for him.
Overall, great January in Christchurch!
Refresh Journey 