[pianist1]

Hi all,
Those were very interesting posts....I really did not want to be the only one to voice negative feelings about NZ, so I did not want to be the first to reply. Also, since we have been here only two months, I am still waiting very hopefully that things will start turning a more positive direction for us.....latest bad luck...we were in a car accident a few days ago - no one hurt, but damage was done to both cars.
Alright, so why do I not like NZ so far? Like a number of you have stated so far, my husband took a pay cut (like 40%) to come here; I took 100% pay cut (until i can build up my business again, which took me years) and we are going to have to settle for a home smaller and not as nice as our previous one. We realize that there will be no money for trips home to the US to visit the family for a while and savings will be a big question mark.
Unlike many on the forum who were enamored with the idea of living here, I really did not want to leave the US (my adoptive home) - life was good to me there and I was very happy. The situation was such that if my husband did not take the job he was offered here, he was going to be jobless. I am generally an optimist, but several consecutive months of stressful mishaps, bad luck and whatnots have worn me thin. We keep running into problems with the banks, Telecom etc. because of all kinds of unexpected charges for everything that we normally get for free in the US.
I suspect things will run "smoother" once things are established so I am still holding on. I know we will have to stay at least three years here before we can leave, so we will try to make the best of our time here and enjoy whatever we can.
I feel one of the things that have really helped me the most is reading others' posts on this forum...thanks!