Comming to Auckland

My day started a bit earlier today then I am used to. It was lovely to get up at the same time with Dirk. It is funny to recognize how our morning routines differ. But they fitted perfectly well together. I said goodbye to him and jumped on the plane. Next to me was this lovely lady who excused her self for being so silent (in the Netherlands I never heard that!) because her mother passed way (well, I wouldn’t easily talk to a stranger in the first place, especially not when such a sad thing has happened). The fun thing is that we did end up chatting all the way to Auckland about life, her children, Nelson, Canada, etc.

After landing I was waiting at the conveyor belt. In the Netherlands I was used to tired looking people who wanted to go home as soon as possible. You might already guess what happened. A guy asked me what I was up to doing here in Auckland. Was I travelling around? We had a nice little chat until our bags came.

Next I took the bus to Ponsonby (I love the sound of that) and met up with this lovely Dutch lady (also a designer from Delft) who has lived here for quite some time. She introduced me to some other Dutch designer lady who gave me some advice on the job market for designers. We had a coffee and lunch together. She (the first designer lady) dropped me off at my big meeting with AUT. I was officially not invited for an interview, but the head of the school wanted to meet with me anyway. We ended up having an interesting discussion about teaching design students. Not sure what to expect there. Kiwi’s are generally lovely and kind people. However, it often sounds too good to be true. The Dutch ladies from this morning warned me for that kiwi habit.

I am sitting here at my new New-Zealand friend’s place with some wine and good music having a great feeling about today regardless of what the future might bring.

Food

The week before I left the Netherlands a friend asked me if I knew about the food in New Zealand. If would miss anything. He told me that in his time in Sweden his missed good Dutch bread. I knew that Japan would be weird, but I had no idea about New Zealand. I made you a list of the food that stands out.

Cheese: we are hardcore Dutch about cheese. Here they have this untasty (even if it is called tasty) cheddar cheese. Only good for toasted sandwiches (tosti’s). Luckily we found a cheese man (kaasboer) on the Saturday market who sells all kinds of Dutch cheeses.

Bread: they have all varieties of bread all quite similar to Dutch bread. They call it European style bread, or Swiss bread. We met however two German girls who hated the bread. They missed their German sour bread.

Peanut butter: that is common here as well, but they are not as good as Calvé. They taste too much like butter instead of cheese. Maybe that is why the Dutch call it Peanut cheese?

Boemboe’s or any other Indonesian products: a few things are available in the Supermarket or Asian market, like Singapore sambal, Indonesian Sate from Thailand (?) and soy sauces.

Tui beer @ our spot

 

Beer: You can get Heineken and Grolsch! But they have mean prices. We buy the cheapest beer (Tui) that is already twice as expensive as Heineken in the Netherlands. Yesterday we were at this cute little café at Cable bay where we paid a gruesome $21 for two beers (that is 11,50 euro). If you pay attention to price deals in the supermarket you can get good wines though for reasonable prices.

Fruit & veggies: these are cheaper in the fruit & veggie store than in the supermarket. And better. This is a little bid odd for me. Then you have the “common” veggies like cucumbers and tomato’s  are twice or trice as expensive as in the Netherlands. Avocado’s can be really cheap. And courgettes are really tiny here!

Meat: so far I didn’t find a butcher. I asked around, but Nelsoners are satisfied with supermarket meat, which is of pretty crappy quality.

The green mussels that made me sick

Seafood: very delicious! Big scallops, prawns, oysters and green mussels. Although the latter one made me throw up really bad one night… I even discovered that fish and chips is similar to our “kibbeling”. You must however pay attention that you won’t get dogfish (shark) on your plate (or in your paper). It is a sign of unsustainable fishing (by-catch) and it doesn’t taste really good.

Dirks list:

- Dirk eats carrots like a bunny, but the season is over. They aren’t as tasty as they used to be, so he is sad about it.

- He misses Hamka’s, but he found a good alternative in nacho chips

- He eats every morning a bowl of Cocoa puffs. Something he never did in the Netherlands.

The funny thing is that if you pay attention you can find Dutch stuff everywhere. I found Dutch fruitloaf (krentebrood), Het gouden speculaasje, Edam and Dutch salami (which tasted awful btw). I buy Dutch food occasionally, but we are here for the kiwi stuff off course. And they have a lot of kiwi fruit available.

Dutch salami

#4 Living in Mot and Nelson

Staring: Dirk Jansen and Lenny van Onselen

Studies

Guys, I am so turned around. I cannot believe my eyes, really. You must have heard it before. Dirk has become a real brainy (stuud). He studies heaps from 9 to 9. Sometimes even past nine. In the Netherlands I came to know him as a relaxed guy. Not working too hard. He actually has or had the name to be workshy. Well, he isn’t any more. This weekend is actually the first weekend he has a completely free weekend…I am glad he still likes his beers.

 

 

Two interesting things

Yesterday I went to my local fruit & vegie store and ran into a (Dutch) guy who was also hired by Greenpeace. He worked in the store before he was hired with Greenpeace. Now he was working there again. I asked him why are you here? Did you stop as well? Yes, he said, I did not like that work at all.

Today my art teacher asked me what I did for work. I said I am still looking for a job. Then she asked me what I like to do. I told her that I love to teach. That I had coached design students and that I taught adults how to be creative again. She loves that too. She said she would really want to help me out and that I should come by her house. I could help her there in and around the house if I wanted and we could do some painting together.

Well, these two little things makes me somehow feel better. It is not a tangible job offer, but at least I feel I did make the right choice, I am already running into people I know and that I can make some friends here as well.

#3 Vakantie BramenSonja deel 2

It is all so pretty

 

Kaiteriteri

We knew New Zealand would be one of the best countries to visit for its nature. And it is all so pretty. We hike a lot and every time we stumble upon amazing sights. Not only sights, if you walk in a forest it feels like you walk through the tropics due to the weirdest bird sounds. And the scents are great here too! Hundreds of flowers give off their scent. And even tree barks smell like honey.

Rotoiti lake

Contradiction

Sometimes you can have two experiences in a day that contradict each other. One can make you feel on top of the world, you see all the possibilities and you want to go for it. The other makes you want to go back to crawl on mama’s lap and you feel like a failure. Today I experienced both these things.

Let me explain this. First the bad experience: I received two more rejection e-mails. Meaning that I have 13 rejections out of 20. I never had to experience such an awful thing before (Tes, I am only beginning to grasp how you must have felt).

The good experience – or the better news actually – is that I have numerous possibilities for which I am grateful. I went to an immigration advisor today and he showed me that I have various ways to obtain residency. He was honestly impressed by my working experience. He also kindly said: “I won’t say do not even try to get a job with your experience here in Nelson, but it certainly is not easy.” I can throw in a lot of money and they will help me during the job hunt. I even have the possibility to start my own company.

Wait a minute. That is an interesting thought. When I decided to move to New Zealand I was a bit hesitant of that idea. After some painful months of rejection however I feel different. In addition I stumbled upon this great article. It feels like this guy is one step ahead of me. Why should I feel like shit (sorry) when I have this great talent and ambition? Because I do not fit in a standard? All these ideas and opportunities are floating through my head. Can I become an entrepreneurial immigrant kiwi? Why not? They all are.

#2 School en vakantie met Bram en Sonja deel 1

Hairdo

I do not like to go to a hairdresser. However, here in New-Zealand I discover a whole new range of reluctance to it. For weeks I am pushing it forward to the next day. Do not get me wrong. I do like to have a nice cut, experimental things even, but I hate to sit in front of a mirror explaining what I want. I had many times that I came home with a bad hair cut  mostly caused by bad communication. I already eliminated the unexperienced or old-fashioned hairdresser by going to the expensive Kinky kapper in the Netherlands. How on earth could I explain what I want in English?? How on earth would I know what a good hairdresser is if my only kiwi girlfriend doesn’t know one?? Sigh, all the new things one have to put up with living in another country…