thanks for all the well wishing! i do appreciate it.
i have been unhappy for quite some time in nz. the 'changes' i mentioned in my first post was centered around my circumstances - not the country. which is changing in anycase. here's an excerpt from a pm i sent to someone who asked me about it and some other things. please understand that these are my personal thoughts and will likely raise the hackles.
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we spent about R300k (flights, rent, deposits, container, sustaining day-to-day life until i landed the job, car, etc.) three years ago. we still struggled the first two years and only seem to be recovering a little bit now. put me back about 5 years on my sa salary, 7 years on my nz salary.
i earn more than double than the average nz'er who earns around $45k per year, we live in a decent part of town, in a decent house with a decent car, but need to save for things and survive very frugally.
my career died once i started work in nz, as an expat i was overlooked on every occasion and am still shafted by the kiwis. if you are a driven, passionate high achiever you will need to turn that to finding positive things in your personal life. you'll not be fulfilled in your job. in sa i had a very well defined career, progression plan etc. nothing of the like here. however, i am changing things and this setback will not get me down.
with chrischurch falling down, apart from the 15+billion dollar estimation in loss and the already frail economy, things does not bode well for the denizens. tax will likely go up. the ocr rate was dropped with 50 basis points today, that means the value of the nz$ is falling, fuel more expensive - knock on effect for cost of living increases (auckland the most expensive city to live in worldwide already), less investors interested in the country etc. ad nauseum.
50,000 people left christchurch in two weeks after the quake, people are still leaving. the city's population was 350,000 strong. it's depopulation on a massive scale! nz only has about 4mil. people in total. where did these 50k people go? all over nz and left the country for aus. i've heard reports of 80+ families arriving daily - all looking for work, housing etc. rent for some areas in auckland increased with $100 per week! with about 100 families queuing to view a house...madness. most of these 50k people are kiwis, who comes first in the job market, then the unemployed kiwis, then the immigrants. you still with me? the unemployed dole bludger has more sway than the skilled immigrant (once he's fleeced into 'buying' into the 100% greed campaign)
if you do get a job, manage to rent a place etc. you'll soon find out that from an emotional point of view, everything you know, everyone you knew (who will brand you as a traitor for leaving sa), everything that defined you as a south-african is gone, not only gone, but murmurings of dissaproval/racism will follow you around. people suddenly don't understand your way of speaking (not accent). sa people here form cliques, very sad to see groups of saffers holding on to what is lost, shunning their 'new' country in which they're tolerated, but not accepted. your kids will grow up without a history or extended family. sure it's safer...but at what cost? really really "expensive" it's hard to define... *many* marriages fail, it's a tremendous stressfull thing. personally, my marriage nearly failed too, we we're on the edge, but we still only have each other. on the upside, it's much stronger now.
if you're from cape town, the weather here would be worse but bearable. i never knew i loved sunshine so much until it was gone for the better part of the year. i never knew i hated living in a wet place this much. you adapt, but a little bit of you dies off each day. no more stretching golden grasslands, just an alien green scenery - i still don't love the land. i'd say about 80% of people in my department are on anti depressive medication (kiwis included) housing is not that great for what you pay for and cost of living is dear.
i'm a realist, cynical at times, but a realist. you'll find a lot of gushing on this forum and many people defending their decision to move here. many are still lying to themselves, the same way i did a few years ago, or just believing the lie..who knows.
i've stuck around for my indefinite residency (which you can apply for after you've held you permanent residence for two years) so that my kids can one day return if they so choose. there's good things in nz too, but i'll leave the gushing to others.
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