Exposure to foreign cultures
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Friday, 11 May 07 - 08:46 PM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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As a temporary non-working housewife I have decided to spend my time on useful and enriching activities. This strategy does not only contribute to the development of my lovely personality but helps keeping any expectations regarding cooking, cleaning or similar horrific tasks entirely off the radar.
Today's achievement: A full day career development workshop with Taria, an old friend of Brenda's who is now running a consulting company for Maori businesses and career workshops for women. After the initial shock of Taria speaking Maori for the first five minutes and cursing myself for not having checked the workshop language in advance I was relieved to find out it had only been a Maori greeting and prayer.
It was really good and useful to define career goals and to get some direction into what I am doing but the most interesting and unexpected part was the direct exposure to a surprisingly strong Maori culture. Being locked in a room with nine Maori women I spent most of the day feeling very pale and almost white male in my values but fortunately no one seemed to mind.
But wow - it was really interesting and cool. Being a new immigrant whose exposure to Maori culture has been confined to watching "Whalerider" and "Once Were Warriors" it was really exciting and enriching to "participate" in people's prayers and songs (the more correct terms would probably be "shut up and observe").
Being half Italian and not feeling Italian at all I am still not sure I entirely understand how people who are half or even less Maori can identify so strongly with Maori culture but I got some quite reasonable and articulate explanations. I guess I can see how a shared feeling of oppression strengthens a group (same thing as with gay people) and for a completely rootless person who doesn't give a shit about her history and has a phobia of all groups it was extremely interesting to meet people with the exact opposite values.
real life
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Saturday, 05 May 07 - 04:09 PM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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Although we have spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out a new internet scam to get rich quickly and financing an eternal holiday we had to admit defeat and face the brutal and inevitable fact that we will have to lead a life of work and leisure as most other people do.
So, here we are trying to establish a "normal" life in Wellington. I am still out there looking for the right job and have given two presentations about agile development to a company named Redvespa (they're quite cool btw).
I received really good feedback and have to say I thought the presentation was rather brilliant myself. The trick as a first time presenter is to convince yourself you are Olly prior to the presentation and to stick to the idea that you can present as brilliantly as him (I left out the old t-shirt and holes in my socks which was probably the limiting element in reaching his level of ingenuity).
It's funny how job hunting and networking work in this city tho. Everyone seems to work for the government and everyone seems to know each other. The one degree of separation is not a myth and the most important thing to do is to drink coffee and to bump into people. Fortunately this means I can shamelessly piggyback Brenda's network.
On the visa front there's nothing new except that my status has changed from tourist to illegal immigrant. I am waiting for an extension of my tourist visa but that can take up to 45 days and NZ immigration are in possession my passport, so I really can't leave the country. But tourist visa is cool for now and once I have a job I'll get a work permit within 3 to 4 weeks. Oh, well, I'll just keep waiting for my residence welcome package with the obligatory kiwi t-shirt and greenstone (definitely need those or I'll stick out as a foreigner even without opening my mouth).Our house is lovely, we have cool furniture, a great fireplace, and the views over Wellington are absolutely amazing. Unfortunately it's like most (actually all) other houses here: Made of wood (!!) with ridiculous insulation (double glazing is unheard of) and no central heating. Just the most basic idea of heating ALL rooms in a house is a foreign concept to kiwis. (A bit ironic how kiwis are super environmentalist but drive cars everywhere and have no insulation).
On the other hand Sunday shopping is just great, the police are a sweet bunch (they let me off the hook for speeding) and people are really cool and super friendly. I even discovered this great tunnel in Wellington today where they have a tradition of honking when driving through. It's great fun engaging in an impromtu musical concert with strangers and from now on I will go through the tunnel whenever I am even remotely in the area.
Anyway, that's all for now. We have four kids coming over for a sleep over in half an hour and I still have to prepare Brenda's lunch box for her first day at work tomorrow. I wonder whether I should pack stringies or tim-tams and if I should make her promise to eat her apple as a condition for eating the lollies.
talking with the angel
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Friday, 04 May 07 - 10:17 AM (GMT +12:00) By Brenda L in moving to NZ |
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Conversation while putting Jesse to bed last night:
me: I can't believe you're nearly 7, I never imagined having a 7 year old daughter!
jesse: why, did you think I was going to die when I was 6?
Followed by:
me: what's the worst thing you could get for your birthday?
jesse: food of any kind, socks, undies or clothes ... I want TOYS
So I guess that's clear. We have 4 seven year old girls for the night on Saturday ... wish us luck!
Brenda has a job ...
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Saturday, 28 April 07 - 09:51 PM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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The inevitable has happened: Brenda got a job!
She is their new "online producer" which means she'll have to organize the implementation of their online strategy and get a huge system implemented that contains stuff I am not allowed to talk about (confidentiality etc - but I'll tell you if you write me an email but then I'll have to kill you if you don't mind). It sounds really cool as she's totally in charge and has to make it all happen. I have to admit I am very impressed ;-)
And I am quite excited too. Not that I'll benefit from her earning money but I am looking forward to go shopping with her to buy suitable work clothes. I'll definitely have to get her some baggy pants and a baseball cap in case she needs to interview very cool music people and maybe something black for the film parts (I'll ask Karen and Sach what the cool code for film people is) . Also, I was thinking that we might have Russel Crowe or Peter Jackson over for dinner any time soon ...
blogorama
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Tuesday, 24 April 07 - 10:11 PM (GMT +12:00) By Brenda L in moving to NZ |
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Amsterdam in the springtime - from the people we've talked to in the last few days it sounds just lovely there. I can imagine sitting on the deck at Media Catalyst after work with a nice cold beer and good company - we miss you all!
Those of you following Jesse's blog will be pleased to know she's updated it :) It's amazing to watch her total acceptance of the medium - oh yeah, i write this and publish it and then everyone can see it ... what will her world be like in 10 years! A far cry from when I was 16 I'm sure.
We're now in full "find a job" mode - which is a mixture of terrifying, exciting and strange. Will be a whole different life when we have to get up and go to work in the morning, instead of lying in bed for a couple of hours reading books and blogs and news and taking it easy. I'm sure that will get boring soon tho ... won't it? ;-)
So that we don't turn into total couch potatoes though we have joined the gym. Two days into it and it's getting hard to walk ... results will start to happen though, so when you come to visit we'll be all toned and trim (well, as long as we don't keep eating to the extent we have been - no more curry laksa photos sappho, I promise!).
the boxes are here!
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Thursday, 29 March 07 - 09:33 PM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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I am proud to announce that we have managed to emigrate to and survive in the southern hemisphere for two months with 20kgs of baggage and a wee bit of hand luggage.
The boxes with our clothes, books and house decorations have finally arrived. Unexpectedly major administration work and heavy negotiations with customs, the MAF (the ministry of fishing and something) and the box handling company slowed down the process but ultimately natural born organizer Brenda managed to retrieve our belongings with stunning ease.
Seven boxes of random stuff can turn a house into chaos and, believe me, ours did. Overall, taking possession of heaps of useless but charming little (and not so little) things to clutter the house with was a pleasant experience.
The other reason we chose to go by plane was that we need to pick up our new car in Auckland. I am not allowed to go into detail but the purchase involved Brenda, a bottle of wine and TradeMe (the NZ equivalent of eBay). We hope it can drive ...
The proud owner of a BMW ...
getting a life together
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Monday, 26 March 07 - 12:12 PM (GMT +12:00) By Brenda L in moving to NZ |
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Once we'd recovered from the excesses of Friday night, we decided to venture out on Saturday (about 7pm). We went to the movies in Petone, at an extremely cool little movie theatre that used to be a firestation - called The Lighthouse. This theatre is doing it exactly right to counter the onslaught of home cinema, downloads, DVDs etc., Small, cosy room, double couches with comfy cushions, good food, wine (not that we were up to that) ... worth going to the cinema for!
More sunny weather (it never ends!!) so yesterday we went to visit Pepijn and Kate in York Bay - good to talk to someone else who's come from Amsterdam to Wellington - comparing experiences and seeing their lovely house :)
Then last night, in what definitely should have been a photo opportunity (and would've been, if we'd remembered the bloody camera), we had a bbq on the waterfront at the boatshed of my friend Tapio. He'd been out diving and brought fresh paua and crayfish - we sat in front of his boatshed and had a feast. Something very cool about being in the middle of the city having a bbq on the waterfront with the days catch.
wellington boatsheds
Today we have meetings! More talk of possibilities and finding out what we can do here. For those that have asked and are curious about what's out here, so far (with no particular agenda or job options in mind) we've found out more about:
Shift - primarily front-end web/design agency
Provoke - software and user centered design - nice company - where my friend Zef works
Optimation - software development company
Fronde - rather corporate development company where I used to work (was called Synergy)
Katipo - small web design company
Red Vespa - IT consulting and web services
RunTheRed - mobile application development
So that's a small sample - there's plenty more - but it's helping us build a picture of what is possible.
We'll keep you updated!
nothing much
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Saturday, 24 March 07 - 05:02 PM (GMT +12:00) By Brenda L in moving to NZ |
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There's certainly something to be said for days where you lie a long time in bed, drink coffee, eat toast, read books and laze in the sun. Even on this eternal holiday we don't actually get many of those days. Today is one. It probably would have been an even better one if we hadn't been out on the town til 3am last night though. It could also have meant that we actually left the house and went to some of the events happening in the city today. Still, I'm ok with lazing around :)
We've had a week of catching up with people as I slowly resurrect my networks and track down my friends and acquaintances. There are some very cool people doing very cool things in this town - that's reassuring. There seemed to be thousands of people still out on the streets at 2am and there are some very cool bars around ... I guess that could also be reassuring. There were no new strange bugs or insects in the bed when we checked today - that's definitely reassuring. Overall lots of reassurance, satisfaction and a growing awareness that once we get around to it, getting work should be no problem and could even be fun! (Although, we have yet to find out where you can get a decent mojito or caiparinha in this town !!)
Life could be a lot worse :-) Love to you all.
holiday from holidaying
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Friday, 09 March 07 - 04:19 PM (GMT +12:00) By Brenda L in moving to NZ |
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Today we've been out meeting with people and talking about work things - getting a feeling for what's going on in the IT/digital world of Wellington. It seems like there are a lot of good companies around and a lot of opportunities. Most likely not on the scale of Sony Ericsson (unfortunately) .... But it also made us realise that we actually have a vast amount of experience and a great deal to offer wherever we end up. So now we feel quite positive about our options.
Accordingly we're going on another holiday tomorrow. Once more taking the ferry across to the South Island, but this time driving down the east coast as far as Christchurch, and then across the Arthurs Pass and back up the west coast. Hopefully we'll take in some whales, dolphins, beaches, mountains, glaciers, orchards, vineyards, more beaches and general good times in our week away.
But, we'll most likely be offline for the next week - so enjoy yourselves everyone - catch you in a week!
Wellington cinema culture
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Wednesday, 07 March 07 - 01:28 PM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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We went to see "Notes on a Scandal" in the Brooklyn Penthouse cinema yesterday. The movie theater was built in 1939 and they have managed to preserve most of it's original character. (At least that's what I was led believe - haven't been around in 1939 to check).
New Zealand cinema culture is quite a positive shock for a European movie enthusiast: Huge comfy seats, empty rooms and free seating. No commercials at the beginning of the movie, only trailers and there are no queues at the toilets. And it is not only allowed to bring open food and alcohol, they encourage you by serving bottles of wine on silver trays and accepting orders for cafe food. Brenda and I felt a bit stupid having brought our bottles of soft drinks and peanuts from the shop and we'll definitely try watching movies in decadent NZ style next time.
Below my new haircut at the Astoria cafe and the huhu monster in our bed:
history, immigration and rock climbing
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Monday, 05 March 07 - 09:24 PM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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In the spirit of my newly found interest for history we have become regulars at Te Papa, Wellington's fantastic museum of everything. It is located at the waterfront and best of all it is free which gives you the opportunity to just drop in for an hour or two every day (it really changes your habits of going to museums).
Below the Wellington waterfront outside Te Papa on a grayish day ...
Right photo: The Italian section at the Te Papa. Dad, I looked at it for hours - could you send more money please ;-) ?
Other highlights of the day:
I am taking lessons in how to deal with kids from a 6-year old. Jesse's excellent advice today was that "As you are not used to having kids around I have to tell you that you need to be really strict with kids. Not with me, of course but with other kids". Point taken ;-)
And 2 hours of indoor rock climbing ....
claiming the city ...
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Monday, 26 February 07 - 11:22 AM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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Last week was Jesse week which meant that we spent most of our time in Wellington.
We are slowly developing a feeling of "home" helped along by more furniture, a working (and really fast) internet connection and checking out the nightlife.
I am starting to realize that Wellington is a bit on the small side, especially as we can't go anywhere without meeting someone who knows Brenda. Maybe she's just famous ...
Personally I am coping very well with my new hometown noticing interesting little facts such as:
1. The food and coffee are truly excellent.
2. Brenda has developed a food and coffee obsession. I have changed the password to our blog to prevent her from adding a photo of each and every meal we consume.
3. Every New Zealander seems to have at least one New Zealand t-shirt. Wearing this in public is absolutely socially acceptable.
4. There seems to be no city planning in Wellington. Houses are randomly thrown into the hills.
5. Everyone is an environmentalist and loves nature. (The next kiwi who tells me that NZ is the greatest country in the world because of it's beautiful nature I'll have to kill in a very slow and unpleasant manner. Kiwis relate to their nature as Danes to their welfare system).
6. Survival can only be guaranteed if you spend 80% of your household income on insect sprays and go on a killing spree at least twice a week.
7. Not only do they drive on the left hand side, they have also made up their own traffic rules.
8. The weather is great. NZ is indeed a tropical island (at bit on the windy side tho).
9. Going out here is great fun and people are lovely and interesting.
This weekend was Cuba street carneval which is basically a huge street party with lots of food. If it weren't for the apparent lack of orange and canals it could be Queen's day in Amsterdam.
Oh, and to afford all the food and insect spray we have found Brenda a little job as a dog walker. This is Brenda on her first day:
food and other obsessions
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Thursday, 22 February 07 - 02:21 PM (GMT +12:00) By Brenda L in moving to NZ |
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For me one of the surprises of coming back to New Zealand has been the food - everywhere we've been the food is just amazing. In cafe's, restaurants, big towns, little towns, cities and countryside - everything we've eaten has been just fantastic. Not to mention the coffee - also brilliant everywhere. I know that it used to be good here, and I remember first moving to Amsterdam 5 years ago and being quite shocked at how difficult it was to find good food in this major European city (eventually we found the good places and I think the food situation in Amsterdam improved dramatically over the last 5 years). But now the food here is incredibly good everywhere we've been - a hidden bonus for moving to this remote outpost :)
Aside from the enormous supermarkets (I know you can find these in lots of places in the world), there are many many cafes to explore in Wellington. Here's what we had for lunch today: my absolute favourite, the curry laksa. I think originally from Singapore, and found usually in Malaysian restaurants, this is a dish impossible to find in Amsterdam - and I really looked!
Sandy at the TimTam section - just for Sappho Curry Laksa from the Long Bar
Of course there's a downside to having excellent food ... I will need to take up some kind of exercise to avoid turning into a giant blob. Suggestions welcome :)
A decadent life ...
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Monday, 12 February 07 - 09:00 AM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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I am getting used to the decadent NZ life style: Oysters for breakfast and mussels for dinner (we call it fast food and it's about the same price as a cheeseburger at McDonald's in Amsterdam).
Our chef at work ...
I could get used to living here. Other good things are that furniture shops make appointments between 2 and 3 and not between 8 and 5 as they do in Europe and that hospitals and GPs do medical examinations, blood tests and chest x-rays on a walk-in, no notice and same day basis. A bit on the expensive side but I have always been happy to pay my way out of a hassle.
My immigration process is going fine too: Got invited to apply for residency and have sent off all my stuff and x-rays to Johnathan, my south island agent (He says it's the best place in NZ. We'll check it out on the kayaking tour tomorrow). They have to approve me fast though before I eat enough of this good food to be rejected on grounds of obesity (I alternate sea food with eggs benedict).
Our days go with heavy holidaying, brunch, beach and setting up the house - it's a tough life ...
Roller blading and ice cream at Oriental Bay (the city center).
Jesse's box room. My contribution to raising a child (Always thought the little monsters should be kept in boxes ;-) )...
We'll be off for our trip tomorrow ... will be back in 5 days ...
Truth will out ...
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Friday, 09 February 07 - 10:09 AM (GMT +12:00) By Brenda L in moving to NZ |
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Everyone we’ve met in the last few days has told us how crap the weather was, and how wonderful it now is – and it is, or has been, incredible! Today Wellington is showing a bit more of it’s true colours and there’s a bit of wild wind floating around – Sandy thinks it’s a gale, really it’s quite mild! Apparently Danish people would still go to the beach - but I prefer my hair without sand.
Big news of the day – we start to have furniture! We have the most enormous couch (see photo) and hopefully tomorrow we’ll have a mattress as well – almost like real living. Makes it feel less like a bizarre sunny holiday in a very flash (but empty) house, and more like somewhere we live.
There’s not a lot of news tho - we had a very lazy day of reading in the garden yesterday – see if you can spot the blanket between the trees – getting used to having privacy again is quite a treat!
Next week we’ll start the ‘action’ part of our move – going sea kayaking in the Abel Tasman national park – should be fantastic! http://www.seakayak.co.nz/sea-kayak-tours/on_3dtour.htm
day two - getting acquainted
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Tuesday, 30 January 07 - 09:47 PM (GMT +12:00) By Brenda L in moving to NZ |
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Quite a shock to get back to the joys of waking at 6.30am with a bouncing 'ready-to-go' 6 year old ... but also lovely to have that back in my life (not so sure that Sandy feels the same, but she'll get used to it - won't she?).
We both managed to get totally sunburned today just by walking around - even though I knew it was easy to burn here, I forgot just how intense the sun is - consequently we are no longer the palest in the southern hemisphere, but probably the reddest.
Sandy went running (!!) and re-discovered hills. We ate sausage rolls, pies, oysters, mussels, sushi, sweetcorn (not all at once) and drank flat whites in the sun by the lake. We went shopping - oh the joy of a huge supermarket - and taught Jesse how to rollerblade. We marvelled at the lack of people everywhere, the size of aubergines, the richness of the colours. We drove our new car and didn't do too badly with the left hand driving. We saw the comet (a once in a million year event apparently!) in the clear night skies. We played soccer in the street.
Sandy is discovering a previously unheard-of liking for nature - fed by books about Wild New Zealand, adventure sports stories and scenery even she can't help but be impressed by!
It's been a good day 2 - a lead-in to our new 'lazy' life ;-) We look forward to your comments ... (hint hint)
First day in Kiwiland
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Monday, 29 January 07 - 07:54 PM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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A 26 hour flight with no upgrade to business class, half our baggage taken away from us at check-in due to a minor issue and a surprise stop-over in Christchurch was rewarded with stunning views of the country (lots of nature but I managed not to freak out – control is a good thing ;-) )
After the flight I was perfectly ready to meet “the family”: The palest person in the southern hemisphere (except for Brenda), black bags under my eyes and definitely a bad hair day.
They proved to be lovely people though, welcoming the rookie to New Zealand and Jesse was thrilled to see Brenda. Pushed her over at the airport again but we all know Brenda is a lightweight ;-)
We are staying at Brenda’s mum’s house. Lovely with a garden and close to a river with beach. And best of all – it is summer (and 28 degrees)!
Below my first encounter with NZ nature which involved a river beach and a fitness trail (why? why?):
Yay - we got a house
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Wednesday, 24 January 07 - 12:59 AM (GMT +12:00) By Sandy Mamoli in moving to NZ |
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It looks amazing ... there are even palm trees! (I don't care that botanically knowledgeable people might call them something else - those are definitely palm trees! :-)
Not much of a views person normally but this view from our lounge is cool ...
I can totally see myself living in this house. Just hope those really are photos of the house we rented and not some practical joke the landlord is playing on us ...
(More pictures available in the image gallery on Flickr in the NZ house photo set)
... More items are available in my News Archive
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