[Philip10]

Hi just thought I would ask people if their circle of friends are more expat then Kiwi or the other way round?

[Derv]

Definitely far more Kiwi friends than Brits for us.

[nippa&pippa]

More kiwi than expat for me and my OH.

[PeteS]

When we first came out here we only seemed to meet "other Poms", but now we definately have more Kiwi friends. It's a lot easier to integrate into NZ when you don't keep looking back!

[Moorf]

We have a pretty good mix of both, but on the whole I'd say we probably have closer Pom friends than Kiwi.

[mgbridges]

I would say its a mix for us but probably leaning towards more Kiwi than UK ex-pat friends though I have quite a few ex-pat friends through DS's school but they are from other 'home' countries.

It feels like quite a nice balance at the moment.

Anneliese

[Leccy-Lee]

Friends? Only have enemies, its safer that way ;)
j/k

[Familyofmonkeys]

I have quite a few ex-pat friends through DS's school but they are from other 'home' countries.


Daughters school is very much like that....almost everyone is from somewhere else and very few locally born Kiwis.....seems to be a very transient area. There are language barriers aswell, so on the whole we seem to have befriended other Poms and South Africans.....OH thinks this is more to do with the sense of humour than anything else and we can always complain about the weather if we have nothing better to talk about :laugh

[Sam B]

Bit of a mixture, probably half and half, but my closest friends are English, which is not what I intended!

[Alan]

FoM what do you mean by language barriers? Thought all immigrants should have a reasonable grasp of English?

[Carol]

Probably around 85% of the good friends we have made here are British. (And I have lots!! :cheers)
I have many kiwi acquaintances, but I gave up the idea/hope of forming close kiwi friendships long ago .......
That said - the few kiwis who I AM close to are lovely, truly the salt of the earth. We laugh at the same things......

But most really don't get my humour, my reasons for feeling down, or my priorities.
:uhoh
And it really isn't a case of "looking back" - anything but!

[KerryS]

My best friends are a Kiwi and a Pom, and the majority of the others are all Kiwi. In fact, I think they're all Kiwis and one Australian.
My very best friend is Finnish, but she moved to Switzerland as she found the medical system over here too oppressive to work under.

[willsken]

Mix of both for us. There are so many POMs here difficult not to have lots as friends. My best friend here is a POM but she has lived here for 23 years. :yes

[Familyofmonkeys]

FoM what do you mean by language barriers? Thought all immigrants should have a reasonable grasp of English?

In daughters school (same for son's kindy too) there is a very high asian population, as well as a good few from eastern europe, south africa etc. It seems (in my daughters class at least) that in a lot of cases (like us) the men are working and the women are at home. Quite a lot of the mothers I meet don't speak very good conversational english, although enough to get by and therefore tend to mix with those who speak the same language. In fact there is one mother from Korea at son's kindy who barely speaks any english at all and relies on another mother to translate for her, help her fill forms in etc. Aparently she is going to english language lessons.....but with young children I am guessing this must be quite diffiicult to fit in.
Language doesn't seem to be a problem for the kids though and I have noticed that none of the immigrants (including my kids) have picked up a kiwi accent at all, but I assume this is because everyone is from somewhere different in the world.

[Tanya]

We have a pretty good mix of both, but on the whole I'd say we probably have closer Pom friends than Kiwi.:wah:wah:wah

Tanya

[Alive&Kicking]

I have by far more 'expat' friends than kiwi friends, but it is a great mixture of people from all over the world. For me this is very valuable, since overseas my friends were 90% 'locals'.

And it doesn't bother me where people are from as long as we can relate to the same things and have a good laugh! And as Carol said it is sometimes very hard to get into a close friendship with Kiwis, but the exceptions make it up for the rest.

Cheers,
Anita

[dilanium]

As of right now I am closer to the international students in my class than the kiwis, but have a great many of both as friends.

[Mrs Pony]

The friends we have in NZ that are still there are a mixture... When Brandon lived there he lived with 2 people from the UK and one from Ireland. Had a Canadian friend that was a Kiwi citizen and the rest were Kiwi's.

[Moorf]

:wah:wah

Tanya

Oooops - gosh, I always think of you as a Pom!! (ducks and :exit ) :p