After having been absent from the forum for a while - got busy with life etc. - I popped in and I decided I just HAD to comment on this thread and give my two cents worth. I consider myself realistic and more adaptable than many...having spent my childhood years in a third world country in Asia before living twenty-six years in the US. When we moved to NZ, I had great dreams of making this place my new home. Our first six months were more like something out of a soap opera, filled with bad luck, mishaps and disappointments. We were evicted out of a "friend's" place, got into an accident, had to take Telecom to the tribunal for a dispute, had 2 offers on houses fall apart.....I was afraid my marriage was also falling apart from all the stress. Sure, you could say this could happen anywhere in the world you move to....yes, that's true. So, I must say that being the optimist I am, I have tried not to mention much about the things in NZ that bother me. However, having said this, I feel like I would not be doing justice to all the Americans who are currently trying to decide if they should move here by not speaking up.
I have come to be friends with nolasmom over the last couple of months, so I can tell you that she is a most reasonable and down-to-earth woman who is not "spoiled" like some other Americans I know. We are middle class people who are not independently weathy and I have to agree with her on many of the things she has commented on.
After having lived here for a year, my husband told me recently that if he knew what things were going to be like here, he would have never decided to move to NZ. All this time, we have both been trying our best to be positive and optimistic, but I know it must bother him a lot to have told me this.
If I were an American trying to decide about moving to NZ, I would want as many viewpoints as possible from other Americans. A good choice is an informed choice. What is the point of having a forum when only good things can be mentioned and you would be shot down if you had a different opinion? As I have mentioned previously in one of my other posts, the world is made of people with different experiences and opinions. Everybody has a right to feel the way they do, so please let's all be civil and respect everyone's differences. We can all learn from each other on this forum!
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