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Facing the
return: the promise of C21st Aotearoa; doubts
of exile; nostalgia for childhood; yearning for the edge; desire to raise
children in NZ; comparisons between cultures: high, low, and deep; working
out the magic and the mundane; and anxiety about whether 'home' is
still the same place. To add to the mix send us your thoughts. Click here for previous responses: January 2004 - August 2005 (14
messages)
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Copywriter, London, UK, 35 Four years in the UK and home is really playing on my mind. The main reason is the dread of having to spend another winter in London. 8 cold dark months under a blanket of gray is no way live. Moving back home is a scary though too. I've done it once before and I was back to London within a year. Damn I miss that place though. I just hope it isn't all selective memory. I'll be taking Holiday in NZ to test the water. |
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Company Manager, Sao Paulo, Brazil I've been visiting your site for the past few years, as I've moved from living in Thailand to China to Brazil, and now can definitely say that I'm ready to join the "coming home" section of the site. The exotic locations and wonderful travel opportunities are great, yes, but I want to give my son the unbeatable experience of growing up in New Zealand. Annual visits home just don't cut it, I want him to have all the deep roots in his homeland that I have ...... yes, I will take a 50 per cent cut in my salary to move back, and yes, I will probably have to take a less exhilarating position than my current one, but oh yes it's worth it! We are packing and planning and expect to be back in Christchurch in about 3 months time. And counting! |
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Financial Publisher, London, UK, 55 I've been away for 8 years. I ran off to see the world when the kids left home. Last Christmas / January I was home for 7 weeks - with the express intention of seeing whether I wanted or could return home. Everything that happened to me reinforced the idea that coming home would be right for me. I could sell my house in London and buy a mortgage free house in Canterbury if I wasn't too ambitious. There was freelance work in my field if I wanted it. Old friends were pleased to see me and wanted me to come home. Family wanted me to come home - and the grandchildren are a draw. Canterbury seems so much more prosperous now than it was when I went away. The weather was wonderful - and I know that helps. I left Christchurch in 30 degrees, and arrived in London in 4 degrees. Point me at the next plane back. However, the complexities of getting the house ready for the market, sorting out my job, thinking about all the places in Europe I still want to visit, and time with my good friends here, and my resolve wavers. I've had a binge of going to the West End theatre lately, and I remind myself that I will miss all this back home. Not that I think that the quality is not there in NZ theatre, but there are fewer productions to choose from. There is no need for the cultural cringe and the automatic assumption that if it's on a West End stage it must be better than anything NZ can produce - this is nonsense. I've seen some dross in the West End with big names attached, and I've seen some truly moving and great theatre in a small theatre in Christchurch.
Sure, I have a romantic vision of how it will be when I get home, but I also
know that I have kept in touch with my closest dearest NZ friends while I've
been away - and that depth of knowledge and love is something I haven't
quite caught here. That's really why, at my age 55, those factors are
perhaps more important than a demanding career in a London that gets harder
to live in every day. |
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Film Producer/Director, Singapore, 58 23 years in Singapore, 5 years in Europe, half my life has been spent outside. Javanese wife, 4 kids, all born in Singapore. It's my wife and kids who are hassling me to live back there in NZ. Singapore has been kind to us, but the cost of living is horrendous and it's a bit like living in Secondary School (sometimes even Primary!). The last few trips I made back to NZ, I had the awful feeling that someone was going to close the gate and I wouldn't be able to get out again. The wife hasn't been there yet - she has an idealistic vision gleaned from National Geographic and the Discovery Channel - kiwis and tuataras in the back garden. Scared as hell at the thought of coming back - none of us give rugby or cricket a second thought - will we fit in? Asian wife? Mixed race kids? I think we'd better hang on to the apartment here when we do take the plunge. Anyone out there in a similar situation? Would love to hear. I've always run my own business, never really had a job so I wouldn't be
looking for employment as such. |
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Consultant, London, UK, 43 My relationship with Aotearoa-New Zealand has always been difficult to explain. My parents emigrated there, from Scotland, in 1967, with me as an 8 year old and my two pre-schooler brothers. Immediately on arrival in Wellington on 13 July, we were assailed with sights, smells and sounds which were new to us. We settled firstly in Morrinsville (a very short stay) and then in Te Awamutu, where we learned to assimilate very quickly. Despite being sent to school in a kilt and having to read in front of the class for hours (the teacher liked the sound of my burr), I lost my accent within months. It wasn't the done thing to be 'different' in the 60s, nor even to be proud of your cultural heritage. So we became 'kiwis' by embracing the outdoor lifestyle, walking barefoot as often as we could (especially on newly pebbled road to 'toughen' up our feet!). I always felt different but secure in the knowledge that my parents had chosen a new homeland for me that was full of endless opportunities. They became home-owners, something they never saw themselves achieving in Scotland. Links with my large extended family in Scotland and England were strong and the clan-based philosophy has a lot in common with tribal and iwi concepts. I visited the land of my birth briefly as a tourist in 1988, to re-establish contact with my many and varied relatives. But that was not enough for me. Finally, as one rather too old for an OE, I secured a job in London in 2001 working in my very specialist field (privacy and data protection). Having lived here for nearly three years, I can confidently say that I no longer think of Scotland as 'home', as beautiful and appealing as it is. I am eagerly anticipating my return to Aotearoa - New Zealand in January 2004 and know for sure that it will always be my spiritual home. Lifestyle, weather and the inimitable spirit of the NZ people are drivers in my wish to return. I do not even have a job lined up but somehow this is immaterial given the somewhat soul-less existence I have experienced in London. However, I have throughly enjoyed being in such a vibrant, exciting city and Europe's proximity but my relationship with London is very much one of love/hate. I look forward to coming back to where I belong!! Maybe I am being too optimistic - time will tell. But I look forward to riding in a bus, walking down the street - and looking at people with smiles on their faces!! |
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Pilot, UK Having lived in the UK for the last 15 years I'm now at a point in life where I'm thinking of coming "home". Is 15 years to long to be away?. Has NZ changed that much in my time away that its now a different country?. Should I keep the memories of yester-year and stay in the UK?. I've got my fingers crossed for what the new day brings!
Rugby Player, Cheshire, UK |
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Document Storage Supervisor,
Sydney, Australia |
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Financial Analyst, London, UK, 29 I have read your website several times in the past 4 years being here in London. I always love to read this one, as it is one of the more optomistic and proactive sites on NZ, rather than the usual depressing kiwi e-literature about brain drain, economic policy yarda yarda yarda. I thought I would drop you a few words to give you my oppinion on coming home. My wife and I are returning to Auckland in October/November following 4 years living in London. I suppose its easiest to answer the questions as they were prompted: What have been your motivations/reasons for returning to New Zealand? That's simple. We want to return to the only clean green place we know as home. I am an avid sailor (when I get the chance), and love the Waitemata. We also seek the relaxed way of life and to settle down - picket fence etc. London is hectic and alive sure, but it is also dirty, impersonal and selfish. What are the things that get you going and the things that get you down? Driving along Tamaki drive to work... thats what I call travel time! The lack of any, thats right ANY outdoor areas in the majority of homes/flats in the UK, gets me down. Or, the fact that on a nice weekend day, 75% of Londoners go to the park. Where's the pool/beach to swim in? The 40 min ride on the tube, with odd people and sess pit, gets me down. Is the song of cicadas, squinting at the sheer blue sky and smell of
snapper on the barbie enough?
Have you been welcomed back with open arms or have people struggled to
understand where you're coming from? Are you confident or anxious about finding work as interesting or
challenging as you have had overseas? Do you have a student loan issue? What are the sounds, sights, tastes and moments that move you? |
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Assistant English Teacher, Aichi, Japan, 26 |
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Film editor/writer, Los
Angeles, USA, age: over 21 |
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Anonymous, NZ |
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Copywriter, Cape Town, South
Africa, age: 32 |
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Click here to have your say. Click here for previous responses: December 2003 - August 2005 (14
messages) |
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