Summer in Christchurch

Christmas has come and gone, but didn't really feel like it. We are so used to the fact that christmas is in the winter. I guess that it is a confirmation that the christmas we know in Europe and North America isn't 100% about the birth of christ etc. It's also about getting together in a well lit en warm place eating nourishment for the dark winter-period. Probably a thing the tribes in Europe have done for thousands of years. But before I get all philosophical I better stop right here ;-)

Sale is a big issue here, it is just crazy. When we arrived it was the big Spring Cleaning, after that many different types of Christmas sales (must end Monday, or must end Friday...just to start the next sale next day). After Christmas there was a 3-day long Boxing day sale followed by the End of Year sale, everything has to go, must end New Years Eve, big clearance sale.... And now it is simply Summer sale..... I guess there are no days without any sale, meaning that the sale prices are just the normal prices. So actually, there is no sale at all...

It only takes a 10 minutes drive to the nearest beach which is at New Brighton. No traffic jams, free parking next to the beach and not many people. (All the Dutch are getting very jealous right now I guess) The beach is very long and you can walk for miles if you want to. What does one need more?? New Brighton Pier is also located at the same beach. Every Sunday, a local artiest uses the beach as a huge canvas. He "paints" only with a wooden stick and a rake. Amazing effect and great to look at from the pier. He starts at low tide and finishes just in time. A couple of hours later the piece of art is swallowed again by the water.

There is the thing with the weather forecast: it is never accurate! Today it was supposed to rain but when I look outside it is blue with lots of sun and warm wind, a perfect summer day! Here in NZ, nobody takes the forecast seriously, nobody talks about it (unlike the British ;-) ) and nobody changes their plans because the forecast is bad, the weather will change anyway :-)

The excellent customer-service over here keeps surprising us. You really get the feeling that you're still a Customer (indeed with a capital C!) instead of a person bothering the employer with too difficult a request/question, like we experienced in The Netherlands more and more these past few years. For example; when you send a letter (or an online job-application in my case) you get an email the same day saying they have received it followed by an physical card two days later informing you of the same thing. You actually get a confirmation they received something from you! That is a thing most companies in The Netherlands have thrown out of the windows in their budget-cutting frenzy.
Another example is going to a bank to open an account. No problem even if you are not a NZ citizen. You just walk up to the information desk and he or she will create your account(s) on the spot. Even a credit card is possible. Not a word about can't / won't / do not have the right to do it. They just do it (that Nike-slogan was probably invented by a Kiwi!)

Here are some pictures of NZ-wildlife: First the Kea, cheeky parrots. Then the Pukeko (blue and black feathers) These are really funny creatures, wobbling on their long legs, reminds me a bit of the road runner (mipmip!!). The flower is from a Rata-tree. Those trees are also called Christmas-trees, simply because they are in bloom around Christmas.



Last week we went looking for suitable suburbs to live in the case we get a job and the work- and living-permits. There are some nice neighborhoods in the south of the city, so we will probably look in those areas for a place to rent. On the internet the houses seem ok, but from some of the houses we have seen up close, the quality is not too good. Most houses are not or at most poorly insulated (but the building-laws have recently incorporated that demand). Then there is the almost 10% interest you pay on a mortgage; that is a lot of money considering the rent is not tax-deductible like in The Netherlands. As the housing market is still slightly unpredictable, we will probably rent for a year or so before looking for something to buy. We both have to have a good job if we are able to afford to buy a house anyway.

We hope the job-hunting will be more fruitful in a couple of days when most of the NZ workforce will be returning to work. The number of jobs being posted on the recruiters websites are starting to grow again. We heard that a lot of jobs are not online, but are being spread through the social networks, but we have good hope the headhunters will come up with some good ones.

Some good news on the digital front; we've upgraded our online account (higher data-limit), so we will be on Skype in the evening. And while we have no jobs, probably also in the mornings. So keep watching your Skype!