sizzlingbadger
2nd April 2006, 08:03 AM
Hi Everyone,
I thought I would post an update as we've finally been here a year :raebanana
We have settled down into everyday life with ease. For us the move has definitely been the right one.
My three kids just love their lives here. They have so many friends between them it's difficult to remember whose who. My eldest started school back in February and is enjoying every minute of it. He goes to a local catholic school but the religion isn't rammed down their throats, it's bought in subtly which is really nice. He's in a class of about 15 and so gets plenty of input from the teacher which is a great advantage. He's also excelling at reading which is great to see as he's really only just started in February. My middle one is at full time kindy and has settled really well. She's becoming very arty and loves painting and drawing of any kind. My youngest is finally talking more, he's just over two, and has so many friends his own age now it's just fantastic, back in the UK he had one other his own age.
My husband is enjoying his job a lot more, he was ready to pack in the IT when moving out here. It's a totally different atttitude here and more relaxed. His company put on beer tasting for them one evening last week, as the last train went to early they arranged for him to take a taxi home, not cheap at $160 :nice1 Just goes to show that they want to keep their staff happy.
And finally me. Well I've become immersed in Playcentre and Kindy committees. There's so much on I'm almost permanently out of the house. I've got a huge network of friends that I can rely on if I come unstuck, mainly kiwis as well which is what we wanted.
At home we've got a gorgeous house of our dreams and 1/2 acre garden (high maintenanace) but the kids love it. We're never really here to enjoy as there's always something on to do. But when we come home it's really easy to relax here.
We held a party last night to celebrate a year here. In all we had about 15 families, who combined have around 40 kids ! Everyone turned up, bought food and cleared up after themselves (this is what I love about kiwi life). Everyone can't help enough, we've still got a fridge full of food left over as they all bought heaps more than needed ! ! Back in the UK if we were to do this we'd probably have about two people turn up in the end and a whole heap of food that we would have bought left over.
We had never visited NZ before arriving in Wellington and for us it's been a fantastic surprise. I could have never imagined a year and a bit ago that we would have a huge network of friends, a dream home and a great lifestyle that we have today.
For anyone that's thinking of emmigrating it's a huge decision and it is leaping into the unknown. Sometimes though you've got to get out of your comfort zone and do something different it might surprise you what you might find at the other end :D
I thought I would post an update as we've finally been here a year :raebanana
We have settled down into everyday life with ease. For us the move has definitely been the right one.
My three kids just love their lives here. They have so many friends between them it's difficult to remember whose who. My eldest started school back in February and is enjoying every minute of it. He goes to a local catholic school but the religion isn't rammed down their throats, it's bought in subtly which is really nice. He's in a class of about 15 and so gets plenty of input from the teacher which is a great advantage. He's also excelling at reading which is great to see as he's really only just started in February. My middle one is at full time kindy and has settled really well. She's becoming very arty and loves painting and drawing of any kind. My youngest is finally talking more, he's just over two, and has so many friends his own age now it's just fantastic, back in the UK he had one other his own age.
My husband is enjoying his job a lot more, he was ready to pack in the IT when moving out here. It's a totally different atttitude here and more relaxed. His company put on beer tasting for them one evening last week, as the last train went to early they arranged for him to take a taxi home, not cheap at $160 :nice1 Just goes to show that they want to keep their staff happy.
And finally me. Well I've become immersed in Playcentre and Kindy committees. There's so much on I'm almost permanently out of the house. I've got a huge network of friends that I can rely on if I come unstuck, mainly kiwis as well which is what we wanted.
At home we've got a gorgeous house of our dreams and 1/2 acre garden (high maintenanace) but the kids love it. We're never really here to enjoy as there's always something on to do. But when we come home it's really easy to relax here.
We held a party last night to celebrate a year here. In all we had about 15 families, who combined have around 40 kids ! Everyone turned up, bought food and cleared up after themselves (this is what I love about kiwi life). Everyone can't help enough, we've still got a fridge full of food left over as they all bought heaps more than needed ! ! Back in the UK if we were to do this we'd probably have about two people turn up in the end and a whole heap of food that we would have bought left over.
We had never visited NZ before arriving in Wellington and for us it's been a fantastic surprise. I could have never imagined a year and a bit ago that we would have a huge network of friends, a dream home and a great lifestyle that we have today.
For anyone that's thinking of emmigrating it's a huge decision and it is leaping into the unknown. Sometimes though you've got to get out of your comfort zone and do something different it might surprise you what you might find at the other end :D