Midwest Kiwis

A time for reflection   Living in South Dakota my entire life, I’ve learned to love (and loathe) the extremes of all four seasons. In the fall, the trees shed their leaves, offering colorful crunchy piles to jump in, while the winter brought forward freezing temperatures and unpredictable levels of snow. Spring was often chilly…

Growing up in the Midwest, I remember sitting in my living room and watching TV shows and movies, like Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada and feeling this intense internal longing for the hustle and bustle of New York City. I yearned for a bigger and bolder life than I imagined was…

The end of April marks eight months of living in New Zealand. We’re two months into autumn, the promise of a rainy winter season just peaking around the corner. Back home, the months of April and May bring sprouting tulips and greener grass, along with anticipation for warmer days and summer skies. Here, we find…

As our family back home eagerly watches the melting snow, waiting for the warmer Spring weather to arrive, cooler temps are slowly moving in to Auckland as the leaves turn from green to yellow, orange, and red. The first of March marked the first day of Fall in New Zealand, though as is often typical…

It’s peak summer here in New Zealand, and while it’s quite common to hear local Kiwis complain about the “shit summer” we’ve been having, I’m finding it hard to complain when the alternative is freezing temperatures, endless snow and “false Spring” back home. For us South Dakota natives, summers are notorious for being highly anticipated…

There’s a lot of things you learn about yourself when you move halfway across the world. Many of these lessons are predictable and cliché, such as realizing you’re capable of more than you ever imagined, or that taking risks and enduring discomfort can lead to personal growth. Or perhaps you come to terms with the…

For someone who is unemployed with an abundance of free time, you’d think I’d be better at keeping up on writing new blog posts. Alas, Kiwi summer is here and the joy of feeling settled in our new home has had an alluring effect on me. I’ve let go of the expectations of what I…

It’s a beautiful warm Spring day as I sit in my bedroom writing. The sky is that perfect shade of “sky blue” and the sun is shining intensely, blocked occasionally by weak wispy clouds. With the windows open, you can hear the palm fronds rustling, a calming sound I’ve grown accustomed to in our island…

It’s been a minute since our last blog post, but it’s hard to find the time to write when we’ve been so busy settling into our new home – (cue the Hallelujah chorus!) Since our last update, we’ve officially moved into our house in Milford, a friendly-neighborhood nestled in the central part of the North…

From the moment we decided to leave the States and relocate to New Zealand, I knew almost instantly that I wanted to create a blog to document our experience. I’ve resorted to writing as a creative and emotional outlet since quite a young age. In fact, when my mom passed away and we were going…

It’s been a wild few weeks for Krause House this side of the Pacific. After being rocked by the worst chest cold I’ve ever had, followed by the worst sinus infection I’ve ever had, I am slowly but surely on the mend. Being sick for over a week in another country while staying in an…

It’s a sunny Saturday afternoon while I rest at “home” (aka – our 2nd Airbnb where we will stay until we move into our official home in Milford on Oct. 17th). What started as a sore throat has turned into a nasty chest cold (or something viral), leaving me feeling achy and fatigued. The changing…