(photo credit: www.iconbar.com)Just a quick, and rather abbreviated update, for friends and family - I've had a recent crash course in how NOT to immigrate to a new country, learning the hard way. Lesson One - don't accept job offers off the internet, especially those without references, no matter how perfect it seems. If it seems too good to be true, believe me, it is. Lesson Two - don't be pressured to move to a new country so quickly for said dodgy job that you don't check out and follow immigration requirements thoroughly! And don't believe what they'll tell you at the New Zealand job fairs in the UK that it's quick and easy to get a visa and work permit in New Zealand, if you have a job offer. Depends very much on the 'job offer'. Lesson Three - don't be a woman and work for a single man with a jealous girlfriend. Lesson Four - make damned sure that you've got enough emotional strength, personal resources and good friends for when it all explodes on you and you discover yourself suddenly homeless, jobless, carless, and sponsorless in a foreign country where you've only been less than six months. Thankfully, I do. And thankfully, it's New Zealand.
At the moment, it's likely to end up in some messy litigation, so that's about all I can really say about my situation, other than - although still homeless and jobless - I'm not as bad off as I could have found myself, and there is reason for me to be happy and hopeful. I will be okay. It's just going to take a lot more work and headaches than I anticipated.
So posts on this blog will be sporadic at best for awhile. But please stay tuned...
7 comments:
My goodness! Sorry, Nonny. Keep fighting the good fight! I've got your book heading to me. So just ask yourself - what would Ben Trinity do?
Gee, what would Ben Trinity do? Tell me to stop whining, I've got it easy by comparison, and at least I'm in New Zealand, not the US? Probably.
As it is, the Christmas season (bah, humbug!) is finally winding down. It's a big time of the year here as it's not only Christmas, but the summer school holidays, so everyone is away. That being said, it's starting to pick up again, I've had some encouraging interviews with various people about various opportunities, I'm in a great place with good people until Waitangi Day (look it up), I've accrued some amazing friends here and all things considered, I'm really okay.
But when the dust settles, I should have an interesting story to tell...
... if the lawyers will let me...
Best wishes for rapid resolution!
We were once stuck in Japan as "illegal aliens". Having a demand for your passport be every bit as anxiety producing as a spy novel makes it out to be is not a life experience I recommend. However, I hope that in your case it becomes fodder for another excellent write.
Congrats on making it to my exclusive, "Finished the last page and flipped straight back to page one to read again" list.
Thanks for an important and timely theme and a fantastic read.
Wow, thanks, mistressp. Kind praise indeed.
At the moment, my life more resembles a really bad made-for-television drama rather than any gold mine for future deathless prose. But this afternoon, I had lunch with a friend at a seaside cafe before we crossed the road to the beach, stripping off to my undies and bra (Kiwis are remarkably laid-back about such things) and going for a swim in the warm waters of an Auckland bay, then sat on the rocks in the sun to dry off while we talked about literature and history and politics, and I thought to myself that for someone whose life had been turned to custard not so many weeks ago, I was having a remarkably enjoyable time.
Despite everything, I have made the right decision to be here. Now it's just a matter of staying here permanently I have to get sorted. And then I can think about the next novel...
Hey, if you wind up in the right place by the wrong path, that's still a win.
whew,
i feel your pain. new zealand is not what it is made out to be. i lived there for three years and can honestly say it was the worst three years of my life.
stay strong, it will all get better when you leave that god forsaken place.
I'd just like to second what Guy said.
NZ is nothing like it's made out to be. It's oversold and under populated and you've got caugght in a trap that has ensnared many.
Keep your head up and use the support network you have to get out the country as soon as you can.
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