I hope that is rhetorical as I haven't kept records.
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I agree that most of what is on expatexposed.com is from people that have had such bad experiences that they have lost touch with reality, so you get a lot of blind ranting. On the other hand much of what you find on ENZ seems to be from people with blinders on as well, just on the other end of the spectrum. Both sites have snippets of truth that come out now and then.
Hey,
Thanks for the suggestion eassae. I've heard about expatexposed but I haven't been there. I had only heard negative things about people being overly negative about NZ on there. Still I've been told many times you can learn something from everyone. Sometimes you just have to pick and choose.
Thanks Dell,
I'm not worried about the weather. I lived in Western Oregon for 15 years with weather like Southern England. Then NE Washington State for 11 years with weather like Antarctica half the year and the other half like the Sahara desert. That is an exaggeration of course but you get the idea. Now I'm in Florida visiting my brother and dying from the heat and humidity. My favorite weather was Oregon so I think if a Brit likes NZ I will too. At least as far as weather is concerned.
I just think it is a question of degree. I have no beef with persuading people to remove their rose tinted specs with well reasoned arguments. However as you admit expatexposed has a lot of blind ranting, where any attempt at balance is soon shouted down. It is as if a lot of the people should really be in therapy but populate the forum instead.
Just been over to expatexposed out of curiosity. Those people are REALLY angry! There doesn't seem to be a vast amount of balance and I wonder that if being an imigrant has maybe made it easier to make the mistake of thinking that a part stands for the whole, if you know what I mean, so that a bad experience of a school seems to make the whole education system rubbish where as back home they would most probably just conclude that it was a local thing to be solved or another school found?
Hope this helps - what's not good in NZ:
- Salaries are lower -you can earn a lot more in other countries
- The sun is powerful you have a higher risk of skin cancer
- It's really not that good for shopping - the choice is not that good
- There is an under current of issues arising from the Treaty which took sovereignty of NZ from the Maori when it was never that clear that was happening.
- It's miles away from anywhere
- It's in serious debt
- It has a la higher proportion of poor housing than most advanced countries - damp and cold living in winter is a problem for quite a few folk
- Gas central heating is rare to find
- You have to pay to see your GP
- They lock up very high proportions of people
- The suicide rate amongst children is high
- The road system and train system needs improving and upgrading
- The country constantly has minor earth tremours everyday with the risk of a major earthquake lurking.
So there you go lots of genuine negatives!
But we moved in Jan and we really like it a lot - we think it's a great country to live in - if you want to know why it suits us check out:
http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=32309
But remember good and bad are not fixed variables - it depends upon what we value and what is important to us.
All the best with your assessment and decision:nice1