| Seriously
(and
it’s really hard to be now) yes, theatres are the same here as in the
U.S. but on the upside they don’t charge your pay check for a bucket of
popcorn!
Q: “Can
I get American television, such as NBC? What about HBO or Cinemax?
No and yes. You can get HBO, etc. You cannot get NBC, CBS, ABC or Spike
TV. But if you have satellite (and most people do) Sky News (UK/AU)
shows
the ABC and CBS Evening News every day…a good reminder of why we moved
here in the first place! You can also watch CNN World and BBC World which
to be honest have a much better balance of news as there are actually things
happening elsewhere in the world. U.S. shows like The West Wing, 24, SVU,
CSI, CSI Miami, CSI NY, CSI Bartlesville, etc. are shown but usually a
season behind. So stop watching TV right now and you’ll be fine!
As there is a large contingency of British immigrants here, there are a
number of (good and bad) English Television shows as well. There
is also one Maori channel too (fun to watch, but hard to understand).
Overall the selection is pretty lousy as compared to U.S. television and
even Kiwis carp about it. On the good side the scheduling is erratic too.
The real fun is watching the commercials. If you grew up in a fairly small
town but big enough to have “local” TV commercials, you’ll be right
at home with the likes of the patio furniture store owner with the bad
toupee hawking his wares on prime time!
Q: “How
strong is the dollar?
A: Hmmm…which
one, the U.S. dollar or the Kiwi dollar? Right now the NZ Dollar is
very strong worldwide, as high as it’s been since it was introduced 20
years ago…particularly against the US Dollar which is bad news for Americans
moving here and bringing their suitcases full of money. Note: carrying
suitcases full of money is dangerous and might alert those beagles at the
airport. If you’d like, you can just send it to me in an unmarked brown
paper package and I’ll be sure you get it when you arrive. Or you can follow
our wise financial counsel…leave as much at home as possible and wait for
things to get better.
Q: “How
much would a great beach house cost?
A: Hmmm
again. “Great” is a relevant term isn’t it? On the South Island
you could get something simple for $150K with penguins in the yard or something
fancy on the beach near Auckland for two or three million! It really depends
on a lot of things but beach front property here is less than in almost
any equivalent place in the U.S.
Q: “What
about a nice car?
A: Again…nice?
Most people buy used Japanese imports here…small large and in between,
but mostly small as gasoline is about US$3.20 a gallon right now. These
cars cost about the same as in the U.S. Ford and GM (under the Holden
badge) build and import cars from Australia here. Buying brand new
“new
to NZ” cars, Japanese, European and others is a fairly expensive proposition
by comparison.
Q: “What's
the singles scene like?”
A: Now
we’re getting to the good stuff! Unfortunately (Hi Honey!)
I’m not single so I don’t know much about it however I’m told it’s pretty
good by those in the “know”. There are always lots of ads about
things to do in the newspapers and I think per-capita there are more nightclubs
here than in the U.S. I also hear things are pretty good, particularly
in Wellington a fairly cosmopolitan city. If you’re young (or old)
and single, there’s always something to do.
Q: “Do
Kiwi women tend to date foreigners?
A: Yes,
we know lots of “mixed” couples. When I say “mixed” I mean
people that are from different countries…sometimes different planets it
seems. Sincerely, we are personally acquainted with several couples that
involve Americans and Kiwis. Mixtures of other nationalities are fairly
common as well. Truth be told, this is quite an unbiased nation,
another thing we like. They recently made civil unions legal here, much
to the chagrin of one of the local far-right leaning churches. Overall
Kiwis tend to treat each other on a level playing field no matter the gender,
race,and religion or rugby team affiliate. Well, that last one causes a
few “dust ups” now and again, but most folks get along fine and
enjoy the cultural diversity…what there is of it here in any case. So dating
a “foreigner” would not be unusual at all.
Comment:
Here's a tough one.
Q: “Is there
genuine religious tolerance or just silent bigotry?
A: Apparently
my answer above wasn’t enough…and it’s a good question. New Zealand
was built on social equality. The premise is that no one is better
than anyone else for whatever reason. There are exceptions of course, but
tolerance is much greater here than in most of the U.S. we think. Religion
is not as “popular” here as in the U.S. On the positive side you
don’t have zealots running around thumping Bibles telling you about how
many ways from Thursday there are of ending up in Hell, but then not as
many people attend church. We are church goers of the common variety we
think and have friends that go to church and others that don’t. And no
one thinks anything about it one way or another as far as we can tell.
Overall we feel like this country’s moral compass is in a very good place
and bigotry is rare.
Q: “I have
10 years experience as an IT Project Manager on Wall Street and in a world-class
consulting company. I earn six figures (US dollars). How hard would it
be to get a similar job there?
Comment:
Sit down; you’re probably not going to like this answer.
A: You
can certainly find similar work as I.T. is growing very quickly here. In
fact, it’s the reason we’re here. My wife is in I.T. and I design, build
and host websites for Kiwis as well as companies in the U.S. But…and this
is a super-sized “but”…we can almost guarantee you wouldn’t earn
the same wages. Kiwis earn on average about 25% to 40% or less than
their U.S. cousins. Hence the “brain drain” of talented people moving to
Canada, the U.S., etc. On the upside housing is cheaper, taxes are lower
(no
capital gains), some groceries are less, the air and water is clean,
rush hour traffic in the cities only lasts an hour (it doesn’t exist
many other places), the people are still very friendly and you can
actually relax! It’s a trade off to be sure…but worth it to us.
I hope that
helps resolve some of the uncertainties about what it’s like to live here.
And seriously, thanks to “Bob” and all of the others that have written
thoughtful inquires. (And when those of you on AOL get your spam blockers
adjusted, you’ll actually receive my thoughtful personal answers!)
Moving from
the United States to New Zealand is really a lifestyle choice. If you
expect NZ to be America without as many people, it’s not…hopefully it never
will be. It’s slower, calmer, not as consumer or consumption oriented and
those that show off (“tall poppies” they call them here) are shunned.
People don’t compete to have the best car, the biggest house or the most
money. Kiwis are generally happy people and content with the nice things
that they have. Lots of folks have money but you’d never know it and we
really like that. We both made good money in the U.S. and we’re very blessed
to be able to enjoy what we have in this beautiful “New Middle Earth”.
We miss our old friends and family but manage to stay in touch thanks to
the Internet. We miss Trader Joe’s and lunch at Applebies’. We
long for a hamburger without beets! (Inside joke.) We (and when
I say “we” I mean “I”) miss being able to drive down a straight road
at 70 MPH! We even miss the extra money sometimes. But then we just
step outside, take a deep breath, smell the sweet air, look at the incredibly
blue sky and water and all of that goes away.
I’ve said
it before and I’ll say it again…New Zealand isn’t perfect, but it’s perfect
for us! You may think so too, maybe not. You’ll never know until you
visit…and that my friend is a MUST! And if when you do, could you pack
a couple of bottles of Two Buck Chuck?
Cheerz,
till next time!
The following
are Rick's previous articles for the magazine:
Information
On Emigrating To New Zealand
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