Bye Bye Auckland!!! I have a new love: Wellington

[jamesthecarman]

Let me draw a picture in your mind:
Me (Myself, I, etc)
Auckland (who I'm in unhappy relationship with)
Wellington (new fling, had a crush on her for a while)

The story:

As many of you know I don't exactly like Yuckland.....sorry, "Auckland". Pretty simple reasons for me really - it's a big city (and NZ isn't all about big cities), it's "fast paced", which isn't like NZ, it can be rainy, and other reasons similiar to the above.

I've been wanting to move on to "someone" else forever, and have really thought about Wellington for a long time (ok, ever since I met her....it was love at first sight). I've told Ms. Wellington I've "been in a relationship" that I was trying to get out of ;)

Well, I went down there during the Auckland Anniversary weekend, and I'm hooked.

I've turned in my divorce papers.....sorry, resignation at work :D and in late Feb I'll be in Wellington.

If I don't find something, I can always come back to my current job. But I've been very careful for a long time (due to me having a work visa for my job only) but now that I've got Residency, I can take a leap, and work for anyone. So even if I don't find an IT job in Welly, I can find "any job" and be in the same boat as I was in Auckland.....but in a city I like much better.

Now that I have residency I shouldn't be pushed to the back of the list of IT positions any longer.

Wellington, my darling, here I come!!! [smiley=005.gif]

[Welshgirl]

Oh, I do like a happy ending to a love story ;D

Good on ya anyway James, hope Wellington continues to be the love of your life [smiley=icon_mrgreen.gif]

[smiley=icon_eek.gif] Kaaareepy!!! [smiley=icon_eek.gif]

If we end up in Welly (or near) I reckon I won't even have to try to find you, we'll just bump into some mad yank one day and it'll be you. You gotta be 1 in 500000 ;D fair play.

Hope it works out well for you in Windy Welly, James. [smilie=Best_wishes.gif]

hands off, she's mine ;)
hope all goes well for you there, thats where ive set my mind on, heard great things about it. a city but not so big you can get lost in it too.

tho' if auckland is free agent now i may think more about there too lol especially if ther is an IT vacancy to be had ;)

when you get there keep me posted on pros/cons compared to auckland, will help in me making my decision on where to head for first. hopefully will be there sometime this year. my ITA is getting submitted on monday :o

good luck in the windy city.

Thanks for the encouragement everyone.

Except you Stevey. I'm not mad, I'm just misunderstood ;-)

When I was down there this past weekend someone described AKL vs Welly like this:

In Welly:
People say hi to you on the street
People enjoy being social
It's slower paced
It's smaller
There's more to see and do within a closer distance
There's less polution (the trains are electric, not diesel...and the buses in the city are electric)

That's all I've got for now. I'm sure there will be more. Like maybe more people walking around barefeet (to date I've seen 140...been keeping track on my cell phone - there you go Stevey, go barefoot and look for a yank reaching for his cell phone. You'll know it's me then!!)

I find it interesting that people say they can look out for a yank. Do all Americans walk round with t-shirts saying 'I am a yank'?

Surely all Americans aren't the stereo-typical tourist image of white t-shirts, loud mouths and unruly kids with bad haircuts? Rucksack, hotdogs and some form of American flag optional of course?

Now, if James was called James W. Grizwald, then yes, you could probably spot him!

I've met James (and nearly bored him to death with severe lack of entertainment!), and apart from his accent and strange desire to call car wings 'fenders', he'd be difficult to pick out as American.

Although only an American could start a movement called Al Sheepa.

I find it interesting that people say they can look out for a yank. Do all Americans walk round with t-shirts saying 'I am a yank'?

Surely all Americans aren't the stereo-typical tourist image of white t-shirts, loud mouths and unruly kids with bad haircuts? Rucksack, hotdogs and some form of American flag optional of course?

Now, if James was called James W. Grizwald, then yes, you could probably spot him!

I've met James (and nearly bored him to death with severe lack of entertainment!), and apart from his accent and strange desire to call car wings 'fenders', he'd be difficult to pick out as American.

Although only an American could start a movement called Al Sheepa.

;D

Yesterday playing Touch Rugby I saw a white guy with a Yankees t-shirt on (he's a Kiwi....err, Pakeha)....and one of the islander guys had on a Wake Forest shirt (a Uni in North Carolina).

That being said, I can pick out Americans without too much hassle (tucked in shirt, white socks...and if we could find them, yes, hotdogs. Of course it's A LOT easier when they are tourists. If they've been here for a while they tend to adapt to Kiwi culture.

Of course there's still the swager and/or mannerisms that stick with us.

And I just found this out when I was in Welly - Americans eat differently with a fork/knife than Kiwis do. I was pretty stinkin shocked, being that I've been here for 1.5 years and had no clue.

Kiwis use the fork in the left hand and the knife in the right hand.
Yanks use the fork in the right hand, after they are done cutting with the knife from their right hand. Kiwis called this "shoveling"....well, I didn't have much of a comeback, other than not switching hands was "lazy" ;)

I tried one bite using my left hand to eat from my fork, and it felt rather strange. Not saying it's wrong, or that NZ should come under US rule, or anything like that!! 8-)

I've met James (and nearly bored him to death with severe lack of entertainment!)

Awe. It was still a fun time though. After my car accident I think any entertainment may have scared me into a coma!!

And, umm, wings belong on airplanes. It was fun comparing names on cars.

OMG!! Two weeks ago I found out that the word for a ute isn't "truck" as it is i n the US. I felt really bad about this, seeing as my middle name is "Carman" and I am into automobiles.

Of course what you guys call Trucks (you know, those 10-12 cylander big things that haul trailers) we call Semi-Trucks or Semis (pron. Sem eyes).....I can't explain why. I mean, "semi" usually means "part of or small". ::)

Semis, what us poms call articulated trucks (or artics for short) , are named so because of their seperable trailer (and articulation of course!). Once the trailer is removed, it is only really a cab. This is why it's called a semi, because it's only really part of a whole truck.

It's counterpart is the rigid body truck (I dont know what you call these?!) which do not have a seperable trailer, and do not articulate.

See, you learn something new everyday on here [smilie=aiwebs_011.gif] . When our members finally arrive in NZ, they will be fully geared up on all sorts of matters. It's a learning experience in more ways than one.
(OK, Taffy. How'm I looking for some sort of commission now? :smiley20: )