Finally, I have a job!

I was hired on as a long term relief/substitute teacher at a local Auckland high school.  After meeting the staff I am very excited.  I will be teaching two classes of year 9 English, and three year 10 social studies.  School starts Tuesday, so as usual I have to get everything together last minute.

Living in New Zealand- Part 2: The Pros

Pros:

• You feel safe. Coming from Texas I naturally believe in the right to own a gun. Having said that, in practice I love living in a country where you have to get 2 psych evaluations done before being allowed to buy a gun. You never feel like you need to look over your shoulder here. Also, the other day I saw a gangsta wearing skin tight Capri pants. No threat there.
• The cops aren’t out to get you. In Texas you just take it for granted that there’s always going to be a cop looking over your shoulder trying to find an excuse to bust you for doing nothing in particular. Growing up in that environment you just assume that’s how life is supposed to be. It’s not, and in New Zealand you don’t have to live like that.
• Religion isn’t a big deal. Say what you want about the virtues of religion and all the good it’s done in the world, but I guarantee you that every place in the world where there is a religious majority you’ll find oppressive customs and laws. In New Zealand you’re not pressured by society or the law to live according the backwards, illogical, counterproductive, archaic standards of primitive tribal mythologies.
• The government is relatively uncorrupt. You don’t feel the shame an nausea of watching your leaders trample civil rights, reward greed and invade oil rich countries while lying with a straight face about their motives even though everybody knows they’re lying.
• College costs $5K a year for residents and citizens. Not only does this mean I can continue my higher education, but I’m proud to live in a place that values education and doesn’t exploit it for profits.
• Healthcare is cheap as well.
• Kiwis aren’t obsessed with material goods.
• El Caminos are popular.
• Billboards and bumper stickers such as: “Airplane fares to Christchurch that won’t crucify you!” “94.3 FM: Every other radio station is shit.” “Welcome to Raglan! Now leave.” “
• New Zealand is a smoothly functioning multicultural society. This provides a wealth of interesting people to meet and a wide variety of delicious ethnic foods.
• People think Americans are exotic and we have cool accents.
• Infrastructure is conveniently designed. The bus and train system is efficient. They don’t have the stupid zoning laws in America that create suburbs far removed from any shopping, dining, nightlife or work. In New Zealand you can actually walk to places from your house. Not only is this convenient and healthy, but it makes you feel like you’re more of a part of your community.
• The culture has a hint of refined English class and properness to it. This is a breath of fresh air compared to the ignorant, volatile trailer trash rednecks in Texas. However, the Kiwis don’t take it to the stifling extreme that say Germans do where you can get a ticket for not washing your windows or you have to wear suit and tie to get into a night club. The Kiwis’ refinement is balanced by the laid back Pacific island Aloha mentality. The result a culture of clean, well behaved people who don’t stress out or take themselves too seriously.
• There’s a ton of world class vacation spots that you can visit without spending a lot of money. In fact, at any given time there’s about a dozen vans and station wagons for sell in the news paper that have been modified to live in and come fully equipped with camping goods. There’s no excuse for not having an adventure in New Zealand.
• Similarly, people value traveling. People who travel gain a coherent and intelligent world view. People who have a coherent and intelligent world view make interesting, safe neighbors.

In time I’ll probably write a few more pros/cons blogs about living in New Zealand as I learn more. These are just some first impressions. To sum them up, New Zealand is a little less convenient and a little more expensive than America, but unless you’re hopelessly spoiled this really isn’t a major hurdle, especially when you consider what you stand to gain by sacrificing those relatively petty amenities. Even without mentioning the stunning beauty, the culture is everything good that America imagines itself to be. I swear my blood pressure has dropped 5 percent since I got here because I’m not stressed out, afraid and angry at all the trailer trash, gangstas, pushy suburbanites, jocks, valley girls, religious fanatics, sadistic cops and micromanagers who make life miserable for everyone else around them in America.

Living in New Zealand- Part 1: The Cons

Now that we’ve been living New Zealand for 3 months it’s about time for a blog weighing the Pros and Cons of living in New Zealand.

We’ll start with the cons.

• Alcoholic beverages are taxed by alcohol content. This means that most beers have so little alcohol in them you can drink 15 in one night and just get a stomach ache, and liquor is prohibitively expensive. This might not be important to you, but it’s important to me.
• Driving is frustrating. Half the streets don’t have any signs telling you their names, and it’s completely random how they choose which ones do and don’t. When a 2 lane road becomes 1 lane there’s almost never a sign indicating that this is about to happen. Half the roads in Auckland are like this, and they always merge right after a traffic light. Roads leading to major highways are rarely marked, and on/off ramps are sporadic at best. In the countryside most of the smaller bridges are one lane. Tailgating is socially acceptable.
• Rent is paid weekly so that you pay more on months with 4 weeks than you do in months with 3 weeks.
• The NZ dollar isn’t worth much. This is great if you’re visiting from Britain. This is bad when you’re getting paid minimum wage ($13 NZD per hour).
• You pay for the internet by how many gigabytes of bandwidth you use, and it’s about $40 per month for 5 Gigs, which is just enough to check your E-mail and catch up on the news. If you want to watch videos or download any media you’ll have to pay around $60 per month, and even then you’ll still run out of bandwidth by the end of them month. They don’t cut your internet off when they happens they just toggle your connection speed down to 56kbs…which means they may as well  have just cut it off.
• Bacon, chicken and popcorn are prohibitively expensive.
• Electronics are prohibitively expensive.
• Shipping anything from overseas is prohibitively expensive.
• Houses don’t have insulation.
• If you come from say India or Malaysia you might be delighted by the wide selection of consumer goods, but coming from America the selection and convenience is slightly stifling.
• Intense UV rays will melt your face off.

January 2010

If the start of the year has any insight to what the other 11 months will entail we are in for a boring and poor year. Travis has been working full time at Fishpond. He is still learning the ropes but is happy that he no longer is the whipping boy for every over paid employee who can’t figure out how to turn on a computer.

I’ve been doing everything possible to keep myself from going crazy with boredom. The school year doesn’t start until Feb. 8, and there is a lack of people calling begging for me to come in for a job interview. I’ve spent some of the time sending out emails to surrounding schools hoping to get on the relief teaching lists. I’ve had limited success with this approach. Next week I am going to go to each school that didn’t respond to me and hand in my CV in person (24 schools).

Financially, we are staying afloat, but camping, movies and everything else we want to do other than going to the library are not going to happen until I start bringing in a paycheck. I spend my days making a list of how I’m going to use my paychecks; register car and get the warranty of fitness test, buy a bed (our blowup mattress has a hole in it), pay for ourresidency visa (went through but we can’t get our passports stamped until we pay the fee), and increase our Internet bandwidth. The list goes on, but as long as I can work most days of the week, making $200+ a day we should be living comfortably again.

The reason the bed has a hole.

The one good thing to happen this month is I had my phone interview with London for our Skilled Migrant Residency Visa. I started this process almost a year ago to the day. The interview was the final stage of our application for permanent residency. It turned out to be very short and easy. Most of the questions were about if I was prepared to move to NZ, so we skipped all of them. There were a few questions like how the world recession has affected the Auckland housing market,

that I bullsh*ted, but most of it was easy. A few hours after the interview (that took place at 11pm Friday night) I received an email that we had been granted residency. This same email asked for a final processing fee of 250 British Pounds, that’s almost $500NZ. So while we are now allowed to become residence we have to wait until we have to funds to become residence. Go figure.

We moved to a new flat shortly after the new year. At first I was excited as the flatmates seemed cool, and the place was a definite step up then from our Mt. Eden mold pit. After a few weeks both Travis and I are looking forward for an excuse to

move. Between the retarded kid living next door screaming all day, (yeah, he’s actually retarded. Travis asked our roomates if there was a donkey in the neighbor’s backyard. Oops.) and the train 10 yards from the house there is never a quiet moment. Plus, the people are not that nice. I just got told today that it was our week to clean the house. Really… am I twelve? The only rooms we use are the kitchen (and I, like a nice person clean this EACH time I use it), and our bedroom, which is coincidentally the only room that we don’t need to clean. Lame.

That’s the skinny for now. Travis is going to purchase a web camera and microphone so we can talk to people back home

for free on Skype. Since we only have 5GB a month bandwidth we can’t use the video chat, but being able to chat with friends and family will be nice.

Miss everyone.

Amber and Travis

New Years Eve in the Southern Hemisphere

Travis and I ended the year with our roommates breaking up and moving out of the house we shared. It was a bit more excitement than I’m used to. Travis said it reminded him of Texas.

On New Years Eve we went with our (now ex-roommate) to the top of Mt. Eden (a large volcanic formation juxtaposed by the surrounding modern suburban sprawl) to watch the fireworks, and we weren’t the only people to have this idea. The single lane

road up the mountain was a parking lot from top to bottom. Many people spent the last minutes of the fleeting year in their car with trees blocking any and all sites.

Keeping warm for the new year!

The view from the top was wonderful. Auckland is truly a beautiful city with all the lights in the harbors. The three of us enjoyed some beers and enjoyed the skyline. I cuddled in my new sleeping bag, testing its warmth. It seems so thin and light but it is a warm little thing. Travis had been talking about seeing the fireworks for weeks. Each year we find the tallest place around (last year that was our roof) so we can see all the firework shows. This seemed year seemed so promising….but… yeah. There are community theaters in America with a bigger budget than the Auckland firework show. If Ben Stein were a firework show, he’d be Auckland’s firework show. That’s how exciting it was. Bueller. Bueller. Anyone?

Not that we’re picky. We did have a great time, the view was great. Walking down the hill while hundreds of people sat in their cars having never made it to the top of the mountain in the first place, was extremely satisfying. Still though, the newly acquired knowledge that of the many things Americans do in excess, our firework displays are the coolest, made me a little home sick. But just a little.

I have no idea what joys and troubles will come in the new year. All I know is that it will be something different then I’ve ever experienced before.

Second Step to Immigration to NZ – Register with Teachers Council

Relevant Website: www.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/registration/how/eligibility/

Objective: Register with NZTC in order to continue immigration process.

Documents Required: No photocopies, everything must be original.

• FBI records (get 2 you will not get this back, but you need it in the future as well) It took about a month to receive these from the FBI.
• College Transcripts AND diploma
• Teaching certification
• Employment records (If you’re a teacher you will use submit this many times during the immigration process so have the schools give you two if possible)
• On school letterhead, starting date, finishing date, fulltime/part-time, short description of job, and a statement that you have/haven’t taken long leave of absents

Submit Date: Mailed application Late March 2009.

Finish Date: June 8, 2009 I received a package in the mail with my registration and a second package a few days later with my registration card.

Notes: Your teaching registration is not subject specific. Unlike many states in the U.S. you do not need to be certified for each subject. For example, a social studies teacher can teach math. I received a provisional cert. expiring June 2012.

First Steps to Immigrating to NZ – Get your qualifications reconized

So the wait is over, Travis and I have been officially granted permanent resident statues. This means that we are able to live and work in NZ. We are also able to use the health care system here, the fear of getting sick or hurt in a foreign country with no travel issuance is gone.

For those of you thinking about making the move through the Skilled Migrant route I thought I would give you the run down of what we had to do, and the time it took to get it done.

Overview of the process Travis and I took: Skilled Migrant Residency Visa (using my teaching as the skill), BS and Teaching cert recognized, Teacher registration, Expression of Interest, Application, WAIT…, moved to Auckland on visitors visa, got Working holiday visa, wait… Travis got a minimum wage job, wait…, Interview, granted residency.

Skilled Migrant Residency Visa – This is for people that have qualifications and work experience in fields that NZ finds it has a shortage in. Since I’ve first started this process the list of careers have changed several times, so make sure you frequently check to make sure your on this list.

Step One: Get qualifications recognized.

Relevant Website: www.nzqa.govt.nz/about/index.html

Objective: Have my BS and Secondary Ed. Teaching Cert. recognized.

Documents Required: No photocopies, everything must be original.

• Proof of completing high school (transcripts or diploma)

• College Transcripts AND diploma

• Teaching certification

• Employment records (If you’re a teacher you will use submit this many times during the immigration process so have the schools give you two if possible)  It must be on school letterhead, state your starting date, finishing date, fulltime/part-time employment (if part-time then the total hours worked per/week), short description of job, and a statement that you have/haven’t taken long leave of absents (this is not a requirement at this stage but it will be when you take your first job)

Submit Date: Online application Feb. 28, Mailed documents Mar. 2, 2009

I received an email Apr. 15 stating that my documents had arrived and my file had been given to an evaluator.
Finish Date: April 28, 2009 I received a package in the mail with my NZ qualifications report. I qualified for level 7 BS.

Notes: I was confused at first because the paper read “Your BS cannot be given comparability to any recognized teaching qualification in NZ. The requirements of NZ teaching qualification are very specific and due to the differences in teacher education structure in the US and NZ a direct comparison cannot be made in this case. However, you qualification does contain the core components of the NZ Graduate Diploma of Teaching and this has been stated on your repot.” I have no idea what they were getting at because I never ran into any problems with teaching cert.

Do not loose this paper; they only give ONE duplicate ever!

The real stages of the process…

I didn’t write this, but it is the most accurate description of planning to move to NZ, right down to the cat.

In an effort to help those that follow behind, this is a loose list of the steps I’ve gone through thus far:

1. You get this crazy idea to move to NZ .

2. You stare at the cat and suffer over whether or not to take it. Same with the spouse. And your couch…

3. You tell one friend that you’re thinking about moving to NZ. They tell you that you are crazy/haven’t thought this through/what about the cat/how can you leave your mom she’s so old…

4. A year later you begin to search for information on how you could move to NZ.

5. You discover www.emigratenz.org/forum and it doesn’t seem to be that far fetched of idea. These people seem sane and some even seem to be happy they went. It’s a little confusing with all the blue bananas but the forums make it sound doable.

6. You read dozens of webpages of the NZ government website, some that send you in circles, others that say something vague, some give hope while others contradict what another page said. The link to the one file you need is broken. Various PDFs collect on your computer. Arguments ensue between spouses. Acronyms are tossed around like ITA, IQA, EOI and WTR. But…

7. You form a plan. In order to get in you’ll need some paperwork to get your qualifications recognized. A few days later while sitting in a ring of boxes, old files and high school year books (with the cat aimed in your direction) you realize that you should have saved most of the paperwork you’ve thrown out over the years. Your birth certificate is missing/torn/has the wrong name on it. Your passport has expired. Half the companies you’ve worked for no longer exist.

8. At this point any of your old nervous habits like nail biting, continuous snacking or facial twitches begin to show up.

9. Through the course of gathering information the rumour gets out. The reactions vary. Family members start grilling you. Coworkers ask “why all the references? Are you quitting?” Someone invites themselves to stay with you when you get down there. A few people inform you there is a recession on. One person mentions the sheep to person ratio. Someone asks you about the cat. Again the aged mother is brought up. One coworker mumbles that they hate you and wish they could go.

10. Finally you send your first envelope of paperwork off and you immediately log onto www.emigratenz.org/forum and inform people that you’ve done some part of the process and you tack some bananas onto the post. I can see this will require some bottles of red wine to get through. But it is exciting.

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=27577

If your thinking of making the move you must spend some time on the www.emigratenz.org forum.  Every question you have has been asked a dozen times and answered by a hundred people.  I could not have moved out here without it.

Travis has a Job!

Travis has started his employment at www.fishpond.co.nz in Manukau City. If you send some hate mail there’s a good chance Travis will be the one to email you back. It is just a minimum wage gig, but it should be enough for us to be self-sufficient here until I get a job or start subbing in Feb.

Car Camping

After a day spent playing in the sand at Hot Water beach Travis and I headed over to a nearby camping ground.  We had no camping gear, but came prepared with old pillows and blankets that we found in our rental home.

The first lesson we learned about camping in New Zealand is to only send one person in to rent a campsite since they charge per person here. We made the mistake of both going in and ended up paying $40 for a site to park our car in.   The next day we realized all the hippies just set up their camps in parking lots and in the bush around town.

We decided to sleep in the car

After we parked the car and started to “set up” our campsite Travis had an idea to tie a string up to some trees and hang a sheet over it for a tent.  The kind you see in 1950’s Boy Scout shorts.  While we were considering the true sadness of the set up an old, drunken fat man, who was camping a few sites down, came to criticize our planning skills. He had angy, old man words to share on just about everything: how shitty Auckland was, how small our car was, how unprepared we were for camping, etc.  I stopped listening to him after the car comment.  He was a party killer.

After the old man left, and we had a few coffee mugs full of VERY bad boxed wine, I started getting the car ready for bed.  I was pleasantly surprised at the space in the little blue beast.  The back seats fold down, the front seats slide forward, pack some crap in the back seat well and you have a slightly shorter double bed.  I wouldn’t suggest it to anyone over 5’ 8” but for those of us without the tall gene it is a do able situation.

Shortly after we went to sleep Travis started sneezing and sniffling.  It took a few hours of that to realize that the pillows and blankets that we had taken from the closet at hour rental house were so dusty and nasty Travis couldn’t be around them.  This was a bit of a problem.  Our car may have been a suitable bed for the night but there was no room to get away from anything.  Outside was pretty chilly, and camping outside would have consisted of Travis sitting on a folding chair with his summer jacket on.  I should mention at this point that when Travis has a runny nose he doesn’t use Kleenex and blow his nose like a normal person, he prefers the sniffing method.  So I couldn’t sleep and was getting grossed out. It became apparent quickly that there was no hope of salvaging the night.

The best we could do was have Travis sit in the front seat with all non-rental house blankets and pillows to keep him warm.  This included my clothing, raincoat, and the backpack for a pillow.  It was a long night.

We woke up early the next morning, and I made sure we stuck around long enough for the old man to see we had not died in the night.  I told him we slept great!

We started the day off with a 3hour hike along the coast.  It was hard to get started, but the view were truly amazing.  Emerald rolling hills, tropical forests and dozens of craggy islands fought for our attention. By the end of the hike we were once again wondering why the whole world isn’t kicking down NZ’s door to move here.

Everyone should live here!

The hike worked up a Texas size appetite in our tummies, but the thing about breakfast is it requires money.  About 5 minutes away from the end of the trail Travis realized he didn’t have his wallet, but we thought, it must have been in the car?  Five minutes later… Not in the car.  It must be on the trail?  Two and a half hours later (the trail was not as wonderful the second time around)… Not on the trail.  Shit.  We now had no money, kind of maybe enough gas to get us home, we hoped.  Nothing else to do but split a granola bar and head home.

We did make it home safely, and someone turned in Travis’s wallet a few days later to the police station in Auckland, all his cards, none of the money.  The police found his Auckland Library card and called the library, who looked up our phone number and called us to tell us to go to the police station to pick up the wallet. So the police, the library and the some stranger worked together to get Travis’s wallet back to him…but not our money. Oh well. In America when someone finds a wallet, they look for money in it and then throw it in the garbage.  Not only is NZ beautiful, the people are also nice.

Prelude:  I left the car lights on when we got home from our adventure.  Some very nice person walking down the street had her boyfriend bring his car around to jumpstart it.

I LOVE New Zealand!!!