Two Americans emigrate to New Zealand from Colorado,
USA.
We talk about
our life in Nelson, New Zealand.
Both our parents knew about our plans and they were very supportive. We both have relatively small families and once everyone (brothers, grandmothers, etc.) knew about what we were doing, they were shocked at first, but really excited for us. Everyone thought it was very cool.
In fact, one funny story about telling Angela's father: in September 2005 we visited family in the Seattle area and because we were face-to-face with Angela's father, she felt compelled to tell him in person that she was in the process of applying to live in New Zealand. For some reason, she was overcome with emotion before she could get the words out, and did the "I have some news..." Of course Dad thought immediately that she was pregnant--and nothing could be further from the truth, everyone knowing that we don't have and aren't going to have children. But we had this reaction a few times with that lead-in. Funny what other people think is good news!
It seems everyone in the States asked us “what about your family” and many people here ask the same thing. We’ve always grown up in families where we’ve both been very independent. Travel has been a part of our lives for years, ever since Don went to Europe for the first time as a teenager and both of us started travelling right out of college.
We talked for years while on holiday in Europe, the Caribbean, or Hawaii about where we would like to live or even retire, we'd always wanted to live abroad at some point and experience another culture at the same time that we could travel to new parts of the world.. So our families were accustomed to our independent natures.
Leaving work was not especially tough for Don, who had spent six and a half years at the same company doing what he would call “meaningless work.” Most of us get into that rut at some point. Angela had a more difficult time because she was the executive director of a nonprofit organisation in Colorado that she co-founded. As hard as it was to give up all of the hard work, it was a good time for both her and the organisation.
Our friends had become our extended family, so leaving them was equally as difficult as saying goodbye to moms and dads. Friends John and Star in particular had been a ray of light at a tough time, lending us one of their cars for six weeks after we sold our second of two cars in May. They stepped up eagerly to do so, and after we left and our house was still for sale, they took care of it each month doing yard and housework. You just can’t find new friends like that anywhere, and we’ll always be grateful and always be friends.
back to Part 9: 15 February 2006 | Immigration home | on to Part 11: Choosing where to live
