New Year + Xmas Kiwi Style

Kiwi in IE

You are right we have totally different attitudes to materialism. I get materialism when the point of acquiring is that your family can have fabulous summer holidays and memories (boat, bach, ute, swimming pool), I do not get materialism when the point is to be 'seen' to have the newest product release (swapping perfectly good phone for latest model that comes out a year later, waiting until July to buy new car to get the most of having a 142 number plate). To me that is completely pointless. I would rather drive my crappy 01 car and spend money making sure my kid has enough space to play and has pets, family holidays etc (not necessarily in a UK/IE resort in Spain where all restaurants and pubs sell UK/IE food and drink, just so I can say I am 'going abroad'). A family holiday by a beach, river or lake in Ireland is good enough, and if I'm going abroad I would rather go 'real' abroad (go to Spain to experience culture, food, customs, not a resort that is a mini Ireland but with sun).

The food thing, I am not so much talking about specific Kiwi food, but I think NZ has far, far more variety than Ireland, what is most surprising is that we have more international influence (Asian, Mediterranean, Mexican etc) despite being as OH says, the a***hole of the world while Ireland is in Europe .

The houses here are much warmer and heating systems are not even comparable, but Irish houses are frequently exceptionally ugly. State houses at home are generally far nicer than a lot of homes that average families live in here. New subdivisions in NZ (which I always hated and thought very ugly and generic looking) are like paradise compared to most Irish estates. At least the houses are not identical. I do get the influence of spacial difference but it's not halting my rant at the moment.

I do acknowledge that I am having a big, massive rant of epic propotions and I am being hugely unfair to Ireland, because I moved from a city in NZ to a rural area just outside a rural town here, where attitudes, food etc are particularly conservative and 'traditional'. In order to accurately judge the differences I would have had to be living in New Plymouth or Ashburton.

Mrs OBumble

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

In order to accurately judge the differences I would have had to be living in New Plymouth or Ashburton.

You're being a bit harsh on New Plymouth there .. I actually think of Galway being like NP + Dunedin with some music thrown in.

I think there is a streak of conformity in the Irish psyche that actually makes 'em like the houses/estates looking the same: my (Irish) father used to go on about the lack of rules in NZ about how design/colour, and I never got it 'til I came here and saw row after depressing row. (Cue the Coro. St music ...)

I now know some people here who wanted to do something that would have made their semi-D look different from others in the street. Can't remember what it was exactly, maybe a ranch-slider window or something. But they didn't get planning permission 'cos the neighbours complained that having one place look different was wrong!

And in fairness, if you drive around some of the greenfields estates in east Auckland, you can see a similar thing (with leaks!), though generally painted in more cheerful colours.

BlackEdelweiss

I cant believe that you actually think the NZ houses are better than Irish houses. Maybe houses in NZ all look different from the outside but they all share a common charracteristic inside, they are ****e! I have never seen such depressing, dull, drab, 1970's badly thought out houses in my life and I lived in Ireland in the 70's. We have radiators in Ireland because it gets cold there, it gets cold in NZ but nobody seems to have thought it would be a good idea to do anything about this, well they have I suppose. Curtains!!! Curtains dont stop heat loss in a house, they are just material, it dosent matter if the material is black!!!My wife spent hours scraping mould off the windows in our house every month due to condensation caused by **** housing. Two of my kids had to be treated for asthma related symptoms within 6 months of moving here, both were on inhalers all winter due to the bad quality of housing. NZ is rife with asthma yet people still live in drafty, damp houses. Our front door has a 1 inch gap between the floor and the bottom of the door, in Ireland the contractor would have been called back and asked why the fcuk did he put in a door that was the wrong size. We bought pannel heaters for our last house and sole them to the landlord when we moved out rather than taking them off the walls. When a woman came round to view the house she asked the landlord why there were radiators in the house, was it a very cold house.My landlady explained it as the previous tenants were from ireland and she thought that was ok. We had radiators because it gets very cold in NZ and you need to heat your house. Why is this such a hard thing for people from NZ to understand? Irish houses may look the same on the outside but people take a lot of pride in doing up the inside of their houses as this is where we spend most of our time, our weather does not permit much outside living so we concentrate on the inside. Some NZ houses look nice outside but lots look like slums, they are unimaginative and badly kept and when you add this to the knowledge that the inside also looks like **** you really cannot rate the housing in this country as anything better than 2nd world.
With regard to food NZ is no better than Ireland. NZ is all about meat and if you want a vegetarian option you are out of luck. You have a million varieties of hummus for some reason and you say we only have a small selection of cheese, I have seen about 3 main types of cheese here, tasty, edam and some other crap, anything else and you pay through the nose for it. I have not had manchego cheese since leaving Ireland, you have loads of hallouimi and feta but not much else. What or where is all this brilliant food you mention? I personally like to buy my vegetables in a shop that does not have a layer of flies sitting on the openly displayed food! I like my supermarkets not to have birds flying around, it is cute at the start but that novelty soon wears off. I like to know I can buy a pepper for the same price all year round and not pay $2 one week and $6 the next. You can shove seasonal up your arse, if you cant afford to buy stuff what is the point in having it there. NZ has one of the fattest populations in the world so dont try and tell me that your diet is healthier than ours.
I had a 32 inch tv in Ireland, I could not buy a tv that small here, I have a 50inch as that was the best deal I could get. My boss has a 60 inch smart tv. I dont know anybody in Ireland with a tv as big a mine here. NZ is just as materialistic as Ireland just in different ways.
I could go on and on about what I hate about NZ but the only positive thing I can say is the weather is better. It is the arsehole of the world and I cant wait to get out of here. I have met some nice people and have some nice friends who would probably do more for us than our Irish friends when we were at home but it is just so boring here. We had a really nice day today, a guy from my wifes work invited us out to his farm and gave us a trailer of logs for helping him split some wood, it was beautiful out there and I thought this is something I would like in later life, but it just would not be enough for me to stay here. I want to go to europe and see cities and see different cultures, I want some sun holdiays in spain, I want more from life than NZ can give me. I will be sad to leave as I think this country has not lived up to what my expectations were.

Kiwi in Ie: Dont take any of this as a personal attack on you, I am in the same boat, homesick on the other side of the world, far away from everything and everyone I grew up with. NZ is just not for me. I can see how new zealanders like it, they grew up with it but it is a hard place to move to.

qdawg86

Kiwi in IE wrote: »

Yes because we have nice food and wine. Things that are a bit more imaginative than bacon/cabbage, stews, roast dinners, boiled in jacket potatoes with every god damned meal, and served at lunch time (1 pm)!


Disclaimer:I live rurally just outside a town in Wexford and I do realise I am being irrational and judging the whole of Ireland on this Poxy small town. It is just that I am very homesick at the moment and for all you rave about your potatoes, they suck and you only have three varieties

So what are you saying ? That Ireland doesn't have any nice food. Only potatoes.

Yes you are being irrational. Get out of the rural area if you don't like it and if you can't then shovel some more bacon and cabbage into your gob....at least it will stop you whinging for a minute.

Sorry, who raves about potatoes ?........actually don't answer that I don't care

My point was that a lot Kiwis love their food and wine.....just as a lot of Irish people do.

I can only laugh when people vehemently claim that places like the UK, Ireland, NZ or the States are these vastly different places.....polar opposites, where you will be tormented by the crippling feeling of homesickness.

And the reason ?

The are only like '3 kinds of potatoes' here.

SHUT UP !!!! :rolleyes:

jacksie66

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BlackEdelweiss

This is a conversation I have on a regular basis at weekends.

Me: Did you do anything last night?
NZ Person: No.
Me: Any beers?
NZ Person: No.

Conversation over and commence silence.

How I long to hear a good drunken story full of drunken antics instead of having to feel like the town alcoholic just because I have a few beers at the weekend.

jacksie66

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BlackEdelweiss

1st February 2013. In the north island in a wee town outside Hamilton. I had the choice of Christchurch but thought it sounded a bit better up here.

jacksie66

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BlackEdelweiss

We have a two year visa and have applied for residency mainly because I dont want my boss to know I am thinking of going home as they might get the hump as they paid for us to come out here. I'm glad I came out as I got some experience to get my career started after going back to college but the UK market has picked up and I could get a job there tomorrow. It will take us a while to get the money together to get back to the good side of the world so we will be here for a while yet.

jacksie66

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Cookie_Monster

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

You're being a bit harsh on New Plymouth there .. I actually think of Galway being like NP + Dunedin with some music thrown in.

NP is awesome and anyone who says otherwise is just wrong

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

I think there is a streak of conformity in the Irish psyche that actually makes 'em like the houses/estates looking the same: my (Irish) father used to go on about the lack of rules in NZ about how design/colour, and I never got it 'til I came here and saw row after depressing row. (Cue the Coro. St music ...)

extremely strict planning has an impact as does the general building practices in Ireland, individual builders don't seem to have the interest to do anything other that the standard.
And sure NZ houses may be more colourful and look different but the build quality and standards are like something from a third world country for everything apart from the newest stuff.

We decide to build as we just couldn't find a house worth buying apart from a brand new one with a massive premium.

carnie

Yeah Jacksie.. If you not digging ChCh get out.. I spent the last year in Wellington and I loved it. It's a great city. Could do with a bit of a better nightlife and more gigs but other then that it's a lovely city.

pclancy

BlackEdelweiss I feel for you because your posts are always filled with so much hate for this place that I imagine you're pretty dam unhappy here and are relishing the chance to leave. So for you and your families sake I hope it happens soon!

But I would point out that you're making (as are others which is of course fair enough) quite sweeping generalizations about the whole country, from your vantage point of a wee town outside Hamilton. I assume as you're surrounded by 1970s houses, no entertainment and no culture that you're thinking the whole country is like this? Of course rural NZ is going to be like that, just like rural Ireland. Come to Wellington if you would ike to see culture and have some entertainment. There are plenty of drunken antic related conversations in my office on a Monday morning!

I live in a warm, dry home which is old but very attractive and has been well looked after. I know plenty of friends and family who live in houses with underfloor heating, radiators, insulation, double glazing etc, its all down to the individual whether they kit their house out or not. Not every place is damp and full of issues as you mention, especially nearer the cities where there is much more choice and newer developments.

I own a 32 inch TV, there are many of those and smaller models in any large electrical retailer. Do you seriously think that you can't buy smaller then 50 inch? That must have cost you a bomb!

I shop in a place that does not have flies on the veges, or any birds flying through the aisles and that stocks probably about 50 types of cheese. There are other options then PaknSave you know...:)

For sun holidays you can get to the Pacific Islands for the kind of paradise nothing in Europe can compete with, often for very good package deals. Plus there's the huge expanse and variety of Australia right next door, so surely there are some good sun holiday options here no?

You and Kiwi in IE sound like youre both stuck in crappy one horse towns that are slowly driving you mad...I can empathize having seen plenty of those places but I think its unfair to judge the whole place from your current vantage point.

Maybe do a bit of a tour before you leave and see what other cities have to offer and some of the amazing scenery down south? But yeah sounds like you're certainly making the right choice by moving on elsewhere.

jacksie66

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BlackEdelweiss

I dont think NZ is that bad, it just is not good enough for me to give up my family and friends forever.

CatFromHue

I wouldn't want to stay in Hamilton, let alone a small town outside it, and I like NZ!

Kiwi in IE

BlackEdelweiss wrote: »

I like my supermarkets not to have birds flying around, it is cute at the start but that novelty soon wears off

Hahaha I thought of you this morning BlackEdelweiss when I was shopping in Dunnes and there was a big black crow flying about in a frenzy with equally frenzied staff trying to chase it out with mops and sweeping brushes.