E2NZ.org

Hi. I’d like to add a new post to your “Migrant Tale” but cannot find any way to do this (save for adding a comment here as I’m doing now, but that’s not exactly the same thing… )

If you could help me create a post, I’d be most grateful.

Thank you.

I think what Louw is trying to say is that his uncle is very happy in NZ and that he doesn’t understand what people are talking about when they say NZ is expensive, as that is not his uncle’s experience. I think I can answer at least some of the question. I will do it in Afrikaans for Louw’s benefit: jou oom en tannie vind dit nie duur nie omdat hulle in die onderwys werk. Onderwysers word baie goed betaal in NZ en werk ook nie naastenby so hard soos in ander dele van die wereld nie. Dinge het ook heelwat verander in die laaste paar jaar vir immigrante. ‘n Paar jaar gelede was daar heelwat werk en Suid-Afrikaners is maklik aangestel, maar nou, as gevolg van onder andere die wereldwye finansiele krisis, is dinge heelwat anders. Immigrante word nog steeds na NZ gelok met beloftes van ‘n wonderlike lewenstyl want die immigrasieproses kos duisende dollars en NZ se regering wil daardie geld nog steeds hê, maar die realiteit is dat daar nie eintlik werk is nie en die plaaslike bevolking verwelkom beslis nie immigrante nie.
A quick translation of that is that I think his relatives have a different experience because they are teachers and teachers are paid relatively well in NZ. Things were also probably quite different for immigrants to NZ when they arrived, before the financial crisis hit, but right now in NZ, there is very little work and immigrants are not welcomed with open arms by the local population. Despite this, the government continues to attract immigrants with empty promises because they still want the thousands of dollars immigrants have to cough up to be assessed for work visas/residency

hey can someone please tell me how to make a new post here?

Hitler Downfall parody

“Hitler realises moving to New Zealand was a mistake and a total irreversible waste of his life”

officer 1: “Our plan is to drive north from the CBD to Cremaine Avenue, then south to Te Awk Awk Street, East on Balmoral and then down Wellsford Line.”

Hitler: “Yes, yes….and for later, I am sure you have checked the Events Calendar and found something of interest….”

(looks and gulps exchanged)

officer 1: “Mein Fuhrer…there is…”

officer 2:”…there is nothing else to do in town, the Between-the-World-Wars Ceramic Mugs, Bowls and Teapots exhibit moved to Wastings last night.”

officer 1, rushing to continue: “so tomorrow on our volunteer day after we take those meals around to Mrs. Gaylene Cooke, Mrs. Raewyn Smythe, Mr. Graham Davies, and Miss Lynnette Muranga….”

Hitler: “that should occupy only part of the morning. We can then drive to Whukahaka, known as the double rainbow capital of New Zealand and famed for its myriad coloured arcing bands…and that Potikitiki Jumping Jellybeans Romp, I have been looking forward to that….

officer 1: :”Mein Fuhrer…the Potikitiki Romp is a play group for toddlers, and last time you went to a playgroup, none of the Kiwi mums would speak to you….”

Hitler: (pausing, sigh) ….”Och ja….there are youtubes, Toy Story, Cars and Ice Age 3…and there is always more DIY to do, the lounge needs insulating…”

officer 2, in frightened rush of words: “Thousands of properties on the terrace on our side of the river are right under the proposed wind farm, and yours is one of them. The estate agent never warned you. Your property is so devalued you will never be able to sell it. It would not be worth the trouble to refurbish! And you cannot transfer your pension back to the UK!”

(SILENCE….)

staring at desk, hands shaking, removing glasses…

then

“Stay. If you have not left for Oz yet. (name), (name), (name)…”

(people file out)

“ALLES! NUR EIN MÄRCHEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

(now refer to E2NZ MIGRANT STORIES for a carpet chewing rant of your choice!)

Thank you for this site, which is useful to read, if negative. I wanted to add something because it appears this site would be the place to add it. We were looking for information on what New Zealand was like to live in, and were told by a friend of a friend who had lived there for several years and returned, verbatim, “I found Kiwis in daily life, once you tried to break into their circles, to be world-class unfriendly. I have spent enough time in other countries to make that assessment. I broached this with a psychologist who lived there but was from elsewhere. He agreed that the stuckness of inhabitants there maintained the high school clique mentality and the resulting artificial restriction of status (as dictated by the same assholes as we remember from high school). Very odd”. He moved back to the U.S. and settled in Chicago.

The risk of not liking it or not faring well, as described by those who had returned from a long stay there, combined with the high costs of settling, led us to decide not to move to New Zealand. There are those who have made a successfull move there, but in the end, we did not want to take the chance that we would be among those who did not find it to their taste.

For the same reason we do not order exotic foods we have never tried before when we go to expensive restaurants!

Hi ex Kiwi dwellers
My family and I too had spent more than 10 years in Auckland, the biggest city and now we are out of that ‘rural and backwards’ place. We are back in Europe and enjoying a better quality of life. I used to cringe going to work in the morning with the old buses to town. They were smelly, dirty and on some winter days, there were no lights working inside the bus and the heating was off…so I crouched myself in the seat with a beanie on, thick scarf and tried to keep warm…these horrible experiences had left a mark in my mind till today…it is like ‘abuse’ to my physical self.
Coupled with the low wages and the inevitability of not going higher up in the career cos they prefer to give upper end jobs to their own blonde Kiwis, we are happy to return. Having read others’ comments, we totally agree that Kiwis just make do with whatever they have, like going to second hand shops , getting stuff at flea markets and trying to repair their own tools or even cars to save money.
There is also a stark gap now between the have-nots and the haves…when we first went there, we gave some food to our neighbours and the new plate we put the food in, never came back. Even in school, other kids pinched cake boxes back to their own homes even though they knew they belonged to someone’s else. Our next door neighbour thought they should send their kids to our house so that their kids and our kids can play together and keep them out of mischief but when the visits became daily and hours long, it became really annoying and we felt a sense of losing our privacy. Telling them not to come became a bitter pill and eventually we had to shift away…but such behaviour should be curtailed by the parents….instead of letting them climb over fences and jumping in…..Do we call this ‘village behaviour’?
Also, the people resort to spitting their saliva in people’s faces. We heard that a jewellery owner was spat on by a Kiwi and he never experienced that in his homeland. We experienced a Polynesian man spitting out to our car ( luckily our windows were up) as we were a bit slow in turning on the road…Also, we had another incident with the many roundabouts in Auckland by driving into the circle but an old junk car driven by an aggressive foul mouthed Polynesian man banged into us and screaming at us….it frightened the wits out of us that he wanted to beat us up. Our car was damaged and we had to pay $ to get it fixed.
We did not bother to report to the police as it would not had got the man into any trouble.
The Kiwis cannot spell properly too and when we were just new, our landlord would issue us a receipt and he always spelled ‘reciept’ for many months even though he was true bred Kiwis. They also do not know their ‘ its’ or ‘ it’s ‘ ,and always missing their apostrophes……they might be able to speak well but could not write well so the kids growing up there will suffer in the long run. The lack of homework is another problem for the kids as they find it hard to cope with more ‘assignment’ type work required. As one mother said, her two boys were attending school but they seem to be in the ‘sports club’. Kids have not learnt to ‘study’ and they will find difficulty to really having to spend time memorizing stuff …as there is no escape in academic studies that some subjects needed to be memorized and learnt….

Visited NZ in 2002 where I met & proposed to my wife. Moved to NZ in 2003 & stayed until 2010 when moved to Aussie.
NZ is a great place, but not a perfect place. There are many pluses & minuses when weighed up against the other places I have lived. If you want to fully experience New Zealand & understand Kiwi people, unless you are very wealthy you must work. But first you must find a job. Not that easy. If you like rugby, it is the BEST place in the world.
The country is stunningly beautiful, yes, it is clean & green when compared to many places. But it is also dangerous. Not particularly dangerous, but dangerous because it is inhabited by human beings, the worlds most lethal predator. Let’s not forget, Evil takes many forms and one of it’s favoured forms is the form of the human being. Evil is not racist, it can posses black & white, male & female. Many horrible deeds are perpetrated by humans inhabited by evil in New Zealand, just as they are perpetrated the world over. Don’t leave kids or animals unattended, don’t hitch-hike, don’t do silly reckless things which may open the door for evil. But this is exactly the same advice you must follow regardless of where you live in the world. Be on guard against evil men. New Zealand has lovely water, great food, reasonable weather & Kiwi people are generally helpful, friendly & kind. But just be careful, don’t drop your guard. Evil lives there, just as it does anywhere human beings can be found.

Hi,

My name is Kartick from India. I have spend two years in Germany and Austria for my master study. Now I got selected for PhD study in university of auckland, new zealand with financial assistance. When I saw their room rents, it’s really shocking. I lived in munich and vienna, the accommodation there with full facilities around 350 euros/month. I would like to have your comments. Further when I saw the previous comments I am reconsidering whether should I go there or not.

I had such a good laugh from reading this blog! Wow! I could have written some of these adaption horror stories myself!

I emigrated to NZ in April 2011 with my partner and high school graduate son. We settled in and bought a small block of land just North of Christchurch. I was lucky enough to find employment through Seek before arriving. This was with the multi national company that I had worked for in South Africa. While I am very grateful to have found employment so easily, the job title was misleading and I have found myself back where I was in 1997 in South Africa in both role and renumeration. I was very disillusioned at first but have resolved to be grateful for the opportunity while striving to do really well in my role. I will then either move up or on to another company (or country, lol!). It was really hard to have to tolerate being taught how to suck eggs again. I also seem to have threatened a few people at work and have been through my share of work place bullying. There was very little sincere personal concern or interest in me or my relevant past experience. The only exception to this was from a senior management member, also an immigrant, who asked how I was coping on a work and personal level. The job was ironically the most difficult area for me. I found the division EXTREMELY political, full of innuendoes, back stabbing and gossip with a total aversion to direct communication… I have made the conscious decision not to take this as the Kiwi norm… Im hoping I was just unlucky and greener pastures await me

I am in sales and it took the majority of my customers about 6 months to let their guard down. My foreignness honestly seemed to scare the sweet bejesus out of some of them! There were luckily exceptions to the rule. The diversity of SA society definitely makes South Africans more accepting of subtle differences like accents…,

Its sad to read how the Kiwis are portrayed in a basically negative light. We have been blessed with several eccentric but truly generous and caring Kiwi friends so far. Yes, Kiwis relate very differently to what we are used to. I would almost say that they appear to have a lack of good manners. But its generally not intended badly. They are hesitant to invite one over, but once you crack into their worlds they are good friends who will help wherever possible. There is a fascinating culture of almost barter sharing, if one has a bit extra of something they will voluntarily share it and it is appreciated and expected that you do the same in return. This extends to borrowing tools, skills and labour etc as well. This is the principle of all friendship, but I have found it to be very noticeable here. So yes, we encountered several Kiwis that seemed frightened of strangers and some that were really welcoming and curious. I do find that there is a huge lack of depth in conversation though… It is a stark contrast when one encounters another European or UK immigrant and one can discuss more abstract or diverse topics.

The Kiwis I encounter are basically considerate, civilised people who share the same social and moral values that I have. Crime is very low and minor compared to the unnecessary brutality in South African society. The Kiwis generally care about social issues and animal welfare. Free Range Eggs sell at 4 times the price of cage eggs, yet Kiwis are prepared to pay more due to the principle involved. That in a country with very expensive food and low wages. When the Rena Ship was wrecked off the North Island Coastline there were droves of volunteers to help clean up the oil spill. When a lost penguin found itself on a beach eating sand as there was no ice to quench its thirst, many veterinary procedures later saw its body cleared of sand and it was shipped back to Antarctica. This due to public demand. The way in which the Christchurch community stood together during and after the quakes was also an eye opener. So I can still see the good in these folk, even if they battle with my strangeness and tend to bully and undermine on a personal level on occasion. Oh, and swindle too, especially if you have a foreign accent and seem ignorant. I chalk this up to the few bad apples to be found amongst all humans.

The medical, chiropractic and dental practitioners I have encountered to date have been a serious disappointment! Dentists are virtually unaffordable and many middle aged Kiwi men have several missing teeth as a result! I still see my SA dentist and Chiro once a year, the saving supplements the cost of my air ticket.

The flimsy plasterboard and pink insulation (if your lucky) expensive homes are an issue. I appreciate light weight and flimsy as the whole country is a ticking time bomb for earth quakes. I bought a solid but uninsulated old wooden house. Im enjoying renovating it myself. Its very small but cosy due to my topping its insulation up. As for the mouldy homes, they mouldy because most people never open a window. Mine was horrid when I bought it, but I air it well during the day and the problem is almost totally resolved.

DIY building materials cost the earth here! Too many greedy middlemen I think! Paint costs three times what the same brand costs in SA. Screws and odd bits also hellishly dear by comparison! Someone is making a super profit! I was initially told its because the market is so small here! Thats BS! With most homes in Christchurch needing fixing after the quake its now a HUGE market!

It pays to shop from one Special to another. You cannot just go to a store and shop for a big purchase or you could land up paying 60% more than at the store offering it on Special this month!

There is also a huge informal sector of the market selling second grade items for 80% less than normal retail price! You learn about these opportunities through your Kiwi friends as they are seldom advertised and are quickly snapped up by word of mouth.

I am enjoying living, albeit really leanly, on my 5 ha piece of land. I no longer need to fear violent rural crime. I pay stiff Taxes but these are offset by growing my own veggies and having a huge freezer full of meat from my farm critters that thrive on the green grass. I miss the Wild Animals of Africa but in the same breath, nothing hunts my sheep or chickens.

Its very different from South Africa… Mother Nature is a real adventure here! Earth Quakes, volcanic hot springs, floods, snow, you name it! Its also a lot colder but sunny enough. The scenery is stunning and largely unspoilt.

Its not a booming metropolis and I really miss my friends and family. I have to remind myself not to be too hard on my new friends as they are just that, new…. It will no doubt take time to build deeper friendships.

My partner is keen to get citizenship and move on to Australia. He misses a more vibrant economy with the resulting perks of larger homes etc. I am making the best of each day and enjoying the many good things that are here to be enjoyed for now.

Our son is fitting in well as he plays rugby and has made friends through his club. He is enjoying a gap year before studying and is working for a good (for a youngster without debt or responsibilities) wage as a house painter in Christchurch. This is an opportunity he would not easily have had back in South Africa. He has saved for a first car and an air ticket back to SA to visit friends and family.