Howie
7th April 2007, 05:07 PM
I've been so excited about my one year anniversary coming up (March 18th) and then I forgot about it. It's certainly been a strange year for me. I lived in the US for 4.5 years before moving to NZ, but am originally from Canada. I really didn't enjoy my time in the US and was very eager to leave. I found that moving to NZ was probably better than moving back to Canada in that I feel so far removed from everything that goes on in the States.
I should mention that I came here with a husband, but we're now separated and he's moved back to Canada. After being together for 13 years, it has been quite a difficult time. Being far away from my close friends has probably made things more difficult. But I really like it in NZ and would like to stay for a while. I didn't have a job lined up, but knew that the market was good and got about 3 offers after being here for 2 weeks. I started work 3 weeks after arriving. By then I had found a place to rent that would allow the dog (who was in quarantine at the time). That rental was short term, but a nicer rental nearby came up a few weeks later and I'm still here. I live in Howick and really like it here. I can walk to the shops and to the beach and the domain is right across the street, which is great for taking the dogs for a quick run.
My job here is pretty good. It's more interesting than the work I was doing in the States and so far I really like the company and most of the people I work with. I'm a Traffic Engineer and so far I've been pretty impressed with what NZ is up to in my field. Of course things are a mess right now in Auckland, but I'm not looking at it from the perspective of mistakes that have been made in the past, but what can be done for the future.
I was accepted into a PhD (civil engineering) program at Canterbury University and manged to secure some funding for the first year of my research (which will hopefully be renewed). I fly down to Christchurch about every 3 months and meet with my advisor. I don't have any course requirements, so it's pretty easy for me to work remotely from Auckland. My research will be focused on Auckland so that helps living here. I really like Christchurch and am thinking of moving down there at some point. Right now I work 3 days a week and study the rest (in theory). I've wanted to go back to school for a long time, so this has been a great opportunity. So far I think that Canterbury is pretty good for my field and I have a really exciting topic.
The other big change is that I got a puppy in September. Her name is Tui and she's a heading dog cross and beautiful. She's going to be an agility dog just like her parents. Agility is pretty big in NZ and I'm looking forward to competing with her in a year or so.
Overall impressions: It's been difficult to make friends but I really like Kiwis. There is such a sense of community (even in Auckland) and I haven't encountered the selfish every person for themselves attitude that I found in the States. Don't mean to American bash as most of my favourite people are American. I just find that strangers here actually care about each other and i really appreciate that. I have made some friends and realize that since I'm 33 with no kids and a foreigner in a new place - making good friends is just going to take some time. I love the smallness of NZ, but it does have it's drawbacks. The thing that has probably been the most annoying is that it's hard to get "stuff". Now "stuff" isn't really that important, so I guess it's not that big a deal, but it is annoying at times. I mean it's hard to find certain books, certain things for my dogs, certain types of food, and any specialty type thing is super expensive. I'm getting used to the price of everything and I'm lucky that I make a good salary so don't have to cut back too much.
Other things I like: the sheep, the beautiful, uncrowded beaches in the city, I can be in the beautiful country side in about 10 minutes from my house, I don't have a terrible commute (don't work in CBD), people aren't scared of my (friendly) dogs, kids aren't rude and they wear bare feet and school uniforms, learning the rules of rugby and cricket (kicking ass in the virtual rugby at work). Four weeks holidays. No tax forms.
Other things I don't like so much: price of books, dog food, bike stuff, housing. I want to go home, but just for a shopping trip!!! Kiwi's aren't very inquisitive and sometimes I have trouble connecting with them, but once I do connect, they are great - think this is just part of the culture difference I need to learn. Vegetarian stuff is harder to find. Everywhere is an expensive 12 hour flight away as NZ really is in the middle of nowhere. Hard to find good dog trainers as they all seem to be about 20 years behind.
Overall I'd say I'm pretty happy here and will likely be here for the next 4 years or so to finish off my degree. Sometimes I feel like I could stay forever, sometimes I think I'll be ready to go back to Canada by then. I really missed Canada while living in the States, but now the only thing I really miss about Canada is cheap stuff and being able to immediately connect with many strangers on some level. NZ isn't perfect, but it's a beautiful country with some great people.
I should mention that I came here with a husband, but we're now separated and he's moved back to Canada. After being together for 13 years, it has been quite a difficult time. Being far away from my close friends has probably made things more difficult. But I really like it in NZ and would like to stay for a while. I didn't have a job lined up, but knew that the market was good and got about 3 offers after being here for 2 weeks. I started work 3 weeks after arriving. By then I had found a place to rent that would allow the dog (who was in quarantine at the time). That rental was short term, but a nicer rental nearby came up a few weeks later and I'm still here. I live in Howick and really like it here. I can walk to the shops and to the beach and the domain is right across the street, which is great for taking the dogs for a quick run.
My job here is pretty good. It's more interesting than the work I was doing in the States and so far I really like the company and most of the people I work with. I'm a Traffic Engineer and so far I've been pretty impressed with what NZ is up to in my field. Of course things are a mess right now in Auckland, but I'm not looking at it from the perspective of mistakes that have been made in the past, but what can be done for the future.
I was accepted into a PhD (civil engineering) program at Canterbury University and manged to secure some funding for the first year of my research (which will hopefully be renewed). I fly down to Christchurch about every 3 months and meet with my advisor. I don't have any course requirements, so it's pretty easy for me to work remotely from Auckland. My research will be focused on Auckland so that helps living here. I really like Christchurch and am thinking of moving down there at some point. Right now I work 3 days a week and study the rest (in theory). I've wanted to go back to school for a long time, so this has been a great opportunity. So far I think that Canterbury is pretty good for my field and I have a really exciting topic.
The other big change is that I got a puppy in September. Her name is Tui and she's a heading dog cross and beautiful. She's going to be an agility dog just like her parents. Agility is pretty big in NZ and I'm looking forward to competing with her in a year or so.
Overall impressions: It's been difficult to make friends but I really like Kiwis. There is such a sense of community (even in Auckland) and I haven't encountered the selfish every person for themselves attitude that I found in the States. Don't mean to American bash as most of my favourite people are American. I just find that strangers here actually care about each other and i really appreciate that. I have made some friends and realize that since I'm 33 with no kids and a foreigner in a new place - making good friends is just going to take some time. I love the smallness of NZ, but it does have it's drawbacks. The thing that has probably been the most annoying is that it's hard to get "stuff". Now "stuff" isn't really that important, so I guess it's not that big a deal, but it is annoying at times. I mean it's hard to find certain books, certain things for my dogs, certain types of food, and any specialty type thing is super expensive. I'm getting used to the price of everything and I'm lucky that I make a good salary so don't have to cut back too much.
Other things I like: the sheep, the beautiful, uncrowded beaches in the city, I can be in the beautiful country side in about 10 minutes from my house, I don't have a terrible commute (don't work in CBD), people aren't scared of my (friendly) dogs, kids aren't rude and they wear bare feet and school uniforms, learning the rules of rugby and cricket (kicking ass in the virtual rugby at work). Four weeks holidays. No tax forms.
Other things I don't like so much: price of books, dog food, bike stuff, housing. I want to go home, but just for a shopping trip!!! Kiwi's aren't very inquisitive and sometimes I have trouble connecting with them, but once I do connect, they are great - think this is just part of the culture difference I need to learn. Vegetarian stuff is harder to find. Everywhere is an expensive 12 hour flight away as NZ really is in the middle of nowhere. Hard to find good dog trainers as they all seem to be about 20 years behind.
Overall I'd say I'm pretty happy here and will likely be here for the next 4 years or so to finish off my degree. Sometimes I feel like I could stay forever, sometimes I think I'll be ready to go back to Canada by then. I really missed Canada while living in the States, but now the only thing I really miss about Canada is cheap stuff and being able to immediately connect with many strangers on some level. NZ isn't perfect, but it's a beautiful country with some great people.