There was frost on the ground this week! It's getting dark by about 5:30pm these days so it's feeling wintry. Dustin was bugging me this week that I have been bundling up more for a low of 1 than I did for a low of -12 back in January. My defense is that at least at home I can go inside to warm up. For now, we just have a faux heat pump on the wall teasing us - the landlord installed what he could and the installers are coming Monday to finish hooking it up so it's nearly there!
So we are 3 days shy of hitting 3 months in NZ. Yes, we are still settling and thinking and deciding and figuring it all out but I can honesty say, I already notice a difference. Often people would ask, "Why NZ?" and we couldn't always articulate what it was. Often we put it down to the day-to-day small differences that added up to big feelings overall. I've been noticing lately a few examples of this. So I thought I'd share.
The government listens to people here. It sounds unbelievable and a bit of a rose-coloured-glasses view I'm sure but there are two recent events that prove it to me! So, it must be a few weeks ago now, the federal budget was released. Inside the budget, cuts to education that would translate into increased class sizes (or that's what the media picked up on, much to the government's reply that some schools would actually gain teachers in the shuffle.) As expected, the details caused an uproar with the education minister receiving lots and lots of feedback. Some people made larger protests of the proposed changes and then this week the government confirmed that they would look at other ways to find the savings because they could see this wasn't making parents and teachers happy. (Now, anyone living in BC must notice the stark contrast between that and the recent labour dispute there with teachers - the overall theme from the government being "we'll do what we want and you can't stop us. You can't even stage a proper protest without us controlling that too.")
Then the local council had released their long term plans for the next few years and requested feedback from residents. The big outcry was over the property tax increases proposed - an average of 5% per year or something. There were several hundred responses and they held town hall meetings as well. This week they announced that due to the general public disliking the increase, they worked to lower it by at least half a percent. So it's quite interesting to see governments respond to the public like that. (And no it's not the same feeling as when they say they'll take away a tax but take 1-2 years to do so.)
This week I got to experience the kindness of the people here as well. One of our friends invited me to a supper club her and her friends have where they take turns making dinner for the group. I went to one ages ago on our last trip and she invited me again so that was a lovely evening. Also, another friend I met at the gym baked me a birthday cake!! I had lunch with her the day before my birthday and mentioned the occasion to which she wondered aloud who made my birthday cake. (I've told her I make wedding cakes.) I explained Dustin would but that we'd celebrate on Saturday so he didn't have to bake on a work night. Then on my birthday she texted to ask my address so she could drop something off - I didn't know what to expect, maybe a card or flowers kind of thing - and she showed up with a coconut cake with passion fruit icing! So that was an amazing surprise! And she basically shrugged it off when I gushed at how lovely it was for her to do that. She said she knew Dustin was baking Saturday but couldn't let me not have a cake on the actual day!
I mentioned I met that girl at the gym. That's another cool thing here. I've gone to gyms for years now in the Lower Mainland and haven't ended up striking up a friendship any other time. Usually when I would recognize people in a class and smile, they just thought I was weird. So last week, there were just 2 people in attendance during the class I've been to the most and the teacher made it a collaborative effort saying she wanted to learn from us so we took turns suggesting what to do next - the class is called balance and it's a mix of stretching, pilates, meditation and yoga. So that was fun, I got to lead a class!
The way I'd describe the interactions with the people you come across day to day here is that your success is theirs. A woman at the library got to chatting with me and I mentioned my job hunt and she offered words of encouragement and support. Another lady I see at the gym has offered to try to get me in touch with someone in HR at the hospital and a random old fella I met while I was walking was lovely to chat with while we watched the birds. Last week at the pub we ended up sitting with a bloke that was there alone and had a great chat - there were no other seats so we asked if we could sit with him. He was meeting up with friends and they were friendly as well. So we're definitely loving the overall casual and friendly nature of the people here.
Plus, the daily sports show is hilarious. I'm not even a huge sports fan overall and I make a point to sit down at 6:30pm to watch if we're home. The two guys jab at each other through the broadcast and the reporters always put a funny twist on the story. Also on Fridays they have a highlights segment called "Smashed 'Em Bro" which recaps the big hits of the week. Sometimes hockey is in that one. This is a clip we saw about high school wrestling...
So, I still don't think that necessarily communicates the difference in why we like it here so much but I gave it a go. Which in the mind of a Kiwi, as long as you give it a go, that's what's important.
So we are 3 days shy of hitting 3 months in NZ. Yes, we are still settling and thinking and deciding and figuring it all out but I can honesty say, I already notice a difference. Often people would ask, "Why NZ?" and we couldn't always articulate what it was. Often we put it down to the day-to-day small differences that added up to big feelings overall. I've been noticing lately a few examples of this. So I thought I'd share.
The government listens to people here. It sounds unbelievable and a bit of a rose-coloured-glasses view I'm sure but there are two recent events that prove it to me! So, it must be a few weeks ago now, the federal budget was released. Inside the budget, cuts to education that would translate into increased class sizes (or that's what the media picked up on, much to the government's reply that some schools would actually gain teachers in the shuffle.) As expected, the details caused an uproar with the education minister receiving lots and lots of feedback. Some people made larger protests of the proposed changes and then this week the government confirmed that they would look at other ways to find the savings because they could see this wasn't making parents and teachers happy. (Now, anyone living in BC must notice the stark contrast between that and the recent labour dispute there with teachers - the overall theme from the government being "we'll do what we want and you can't stop us. You can't even stage a proper protest without us controlling that too.")
Then the local council had released their long term plans for the next few years and requested feedback from residents. The big outcry was over the property tax increases proposed - an average of 5% per year or something. There were several hundred responses and they held town hall meetings as well. This week they announced that due to the general public disliking the increase, they worked to lower it by at least half a percent. So it's quite interesting to see governments respond to the public like that. (And no it's not the same feeling as when they say they'll take away a tax but take 1-2 years to do so.)
This week I got to experience the kindness of the people here as well. One of our friends invited me to a supper club her and her friends have where they take turns making dinner for the group. I went to one ages ago on our last trip and she invited me again so that was a lovely evening. Also, another friend I met at the gym baked me a birthday cake!! I had lunch with her the day before my birthday and mentioned the occasion to which she wondered aloud who made my birthday cake. (I've told her I make wedding cakes.) I explained Dustin would but that we'd celebrate on Saturday so he didn't have to bake on a work night. Then on my birthday she texted to ask my address so she could drop something off - I didn't know what to expect, maybe a card or flowers kind of thing - and she showed up with a coconut cake with passion fruit icing! So that was an amazing surprise! And she basically shrugged it off when I gushed at how lovely it was for her to do that. She said she knew Dustin was baking Saturday but couldn't let me not have a cake on the actual day!
I mentioned I met that girl at the gym. That's another cool thing here. I've gone to gyms for years now in the Lower Mainland and haven't ended up striking up a friendship any other time. Usually when I would recognize people in a class and smile, they just thought I was weird. So last week, there were just 2 people in attendance during the class I've been to the most and the teacher made it a collaborative effort saying she wanted to learn from us so we took turns suggesting what to do next - the class is called balance and it's a mix of stretching, pilates, meditation and yoga. So that was fun, I got to lead a class!
The way I'd describe the interactions with the people you come across day to day here is that your success is theirs. A woman at the library got to chatting with me and I mentioned my job hunt and she offered words of encouragement and support. Another lady I see at the gym has offered to try to get me in touch with someone in HR at the hospital and a random old fella I met while I was walking was lovely to chat with while we watched the birds. Last week at the pub we ended up sitting with a bloke that was there alone and had a great chat - there were no other seats so we asked if we could sit with him. He was meeting up with friends and they were friendly as well. So we're definitely loving the overall casual and friendly nature of the people here.
Plus, the daily sports show is hilarious. I'm not even a huge sports fan overall and I make a point to sit down at 6:30pm to watch if we're home. The two guys jab at each other through the broadcast and the reporters always put a funny twist on the story. Also on Fridays they have a highlights segment called "Smashed 'Em Bro" which recaps the big hits of the week. Sometimes hockey is in that one. This is a clip we saw about high school wrestling...
So, I still don't think that necessarily communicates the difference in why we like it here so much but I gave it a go. Which in the mind of a Kiwi, as long as you give it a go, that's what's important.
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