I can't believe it! We've been in New Zealand for a year! Our 1 year anniversary was last week. We were going to go out to dinner, but since we had just bought our first BBQ, we BBQ'd at home instead! So very kiwi! LOL
It has been a very interesting journey for us... for those of you who don't know I am married to a kiwi who moved to the US as a teenager, which is where we met. He still has family here and he just really wanted to come back, so here we are!
I have to say the last 6 months have been much better than the previous 6 months, which has been really good for me. The first 6 were quite tough as I had a hard time being away from my family and struggled to adjust to living in a new place. My hubby found it much easier to slip into life here than I did and he is LOVING it! I have never seen him so happy and at peace. He started work shortly after we arrived and I finally found a job (part-time) about 5 months ago. We've met a lot of people in the last 6 months and are starting to make friends and that has been very positive thing for us and has really helped us feel settled.
We went back to the US to visit our family for a few in October. I was so excited to go back! I was hoping to find some closure and confirmation that NZ is where I want to be and that this was the right move, but I didn't quite get that. It was a mixed bag really... It was so nice to be close with all our family and friends, which was the hard part about defining how I feel about our move. But I was startled to realize how everything was exactly like I left it. Everyone is busy doing this and that all the time and commercialism and materialism still reign. I almost felt uncomfortable with frantic lifestyle there with always being busy, stores and restaurants being open all hours of the day, busy roads and traffic jams, lots of cars and street lights everywhere. I don't miss that at all! I gained a deep appreciation for our simpler, quieter life I live in New Zealand and decided that is what I prefer, especially after getting back here and into our routine. So in a sense I did find some validation that my life here is good.
There are still some struggles here and there, but as time goes on I feel more and more comfortable with my surroundings. Though there are still days when I still can't believe I am here! It is so beautiful and I love being so close to the beach...it's good for my soul. I am so glad things are going better for us and that I am settling in. It doesn't quite feel like home yet, but I am really enjoying our life here and really excited for the future and making a home and life here.