ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DIME…

Contrary to previous accusations about Mondays, today was neither manic nor blue. I had time to think for the first time in a week. I didn’t achieve much but I organised myself in order to achieve more the rest of this week (at least that’s what I tell myself  – why do today what you can put off ’til tomorrow… procrastination is harder work than actually working). Anyway, amongst other bits I organised my To-Do List into three parts – today, this week and next week. So now the list looks a bit shorter and less looming than before, and everything feels a bit less *AAAAGH*-making.

The weekend was uneventful, except that we went out to a Tepanyaki restaurant (one of those places where the chef cooks your meal on the table in front of you) in Lower Hutt with Kiwi’s Dad and Nanny on Friday night. When the chef played a few games with us, like ‘catch the egg’, I didn’t catch the egg and it landed in Kiwi’s Dad’s lap. And it wasn’t hard-boiled either. His legs were well and truly egged. At least it gave Kiwi’s Nanny the best laugh she’d had in a week… On the down side, my stomach decided to complain about the amount of rich foods I was consuming (on a bad day IBS doesn’t agree with oils, garlic, onions, red meat, root vegetables, copious amounts of food in general) and I spent the rest of the evening suffering in the restaurant bathroom, not to mention stopping at McDonald’s on the way home to use the ladies, funtimes…

Kiwi and I went to see Michael Jackson’s This Is It on Saturday, which was pretty good. It’s quite emotive since you know the ending, but I wouldn’t go in expecting to be astounded if you do go to see it – it’s just clips of song preparation, then clips of the song itself, clips of song preparation, clips of the song itself… and so on. Although you can see from the footage that it would have been the most elaborate concert ever staged, and it is tragic it never came about. And Michael Jackson himself moved like he was still in his 20s, and sounded just as he always has.

On Saturday night we trundled off to see some fireworks at Trentham Memorial Park, but being New Zealand Spring, it doesn’t get dark until about 9pm, so the fireworks weren’t due to start until around 9.30, which we didn’t find out until we arrived at 7pm. So having hung around for an hour, getting colder and bored, I wasn’t too interested in waiting for another hour and a half for five minutes of fireworks. We met up with Kiwi Girl and her family for a short while; and Kiwi Girl and me went on one of the carnival rides which were set up around the park. It didn’t look as fun as it was, I love fairground rides – I miss the Hoppings in Newcastle (Europe’s largest fun fair which comes to Newcastle annually for two weeks). We left around 8:30pm and went to rent a scary movie in honour of it being Halloween. Our DVD player turned out to be broken though, so we called it an early night.

Sunday was hot – English mid-summer kind of hot. I spent the day mostly in the garden, sat on a garden chair. Kiwi and I made a big pen on the lawn for the pigs to run around in, so I had to sit with them to make sure no neighbourhood cats came prowling. The pigs didn’t even appreciate it. They sat in one corner, underneath the shade I’d made for them out of towels and didn’t move. They were probably a bit scared by the unfamiliar environment though, but I’d like for them to make the most of the pen while they can; when we move into town we don’t have a lawn.

This week I’ve got so much work to do after work, I’m tired just thinking about it. I start work on a writing project which I’ve kept up from the UK – it comes around every 3 months. It’s only a couple of weeks work, but it’s a couple of weeks of spare time becoming no-spare time, now I’m working full time too. But it’s something I enjoy doing and I know it inside out now so it’s not too much like hard work, it’s just time consuming. Plus I’ve got an article for the work newsletter to write an outline for. I volunteered an idea which I now can’t even think what to write about, so I’m putting it off instead… because that’s how things get done, right? You put them aside and the fairies do it all for you? I thought so.

Anyway, it’s 9.45pm which is way past my bed time – seriously it is, I can’t stay awake in the evenings at the moment. I go to bed around 9.30/10pm and get up at 6am. I need 8 hours, I don’t function without zoning-out if I don’t get my 8 hours. *Yaaaaaawn*

SHITTY MCSHITE

That pretty much sums up about 80% of my day. Nothing particular happened, just an overwhelming sense of being overwhelmed. It’s probably just *that* time of the month talking and I’m overly emotional. I spent this morning feeling teary, had sorted myself out by mid-afternoon then one tiny comment left me feeling a bit teary again. I have no idea where it came from; I think I’m doing okay at work. I’m in a situation where it’s an extremely busy time and I need to pick up the middle of projects and carry them on. And that’s fine, there’s just a lot to take in and I need some guidance, and unfortunately it’s also a time in which everyone else is busy too so it’s not an easy-peasy, breaking-me-in-gently process. It’s a ‘this, this, this, this, this, this…etc need doing – now go’, and I knew it would be like that and I can deal with it. I just wasn’t expecting that many things to keep cropping up which shifts everything else which I’ve just arranged. I am keeping on top of it all. It’s just leaving me feeling exhausted at the end of the day and I can’t just leave it at work, it comes home with me and goes over in my mind all evening, then I dream weird and strange dreams which leave me reeling when I wake up to my alarm and I’m confused as to where I am and what that noise is.

It’s hard too coming from a place I loved and was one of the ‘family’ into a place I feel out of the mix. Obviously I’ve only been there a week, it takes time to be one of the team and have your place within it, but it’s a bit lonely out there in the meantime; just when you need some friends around to vent to – most days were coffee-and-a-vent days at my old work. I miss the banter which made it all so homely. I don’t know, I’m tired and teary again but it’s 9pm and everything seems more dramatic until you wake up in the morning and realise it was your hormones talking. I’ll be fine tomorrow. It’s Friday in the morning and then it’s the weekend and I can forget all about it. Except for the fact I’ve got some ‘homework’ to do.

I need a hug.

KIA KAHA TATOU KI TE KORERO MAORI

For those of you not fluent in Maori, that means ‘let us be staunch in speaking Maori’. It’s the first line of a song which I discovered MADCom will collectively be singing to their clients at their Christmas party – we have a lot of Maori relations through government clients. I’m definitely not staunch in that department… I can’t even pronounce the word ‘Maori’ correctly. I can’t roll my R’s, and you almost need a rolling sound. I have thought about taking a course in Te Reo Maori, and I’m thinking it even more now, since I believe it’ll support me in the workplace. Even if I just learn the different combination vowel/consonant sounds, at least I won’t sound like a complete ‘tard when I’m reading documents incorporating the Maori language.

Kiwi is Maori – pronounced ‘May-or-ree’ by me (this is laughable if you’re a New Zealander), or ‘Mawl-lri’ by people who can enunciate (kind of – I don’t know how to sound it out here) – but he doesn’t know the language really. His Nanny teaches Maori to kids in primary school, maybe I should start with some lessons from her. Even in a country where the main language is English, I feel foreign when I hear people say Kia Ora or Noho oro mai – I think if I was to say it I’d sound trite. But I also sound ignorant when I can’t say names/terms correctly so I owe it to myself and the clients I’ll be meeting to educate myself.

Just a thought for now…

It’s been another day at work with a lot to take in. And I started off the day by tipping a tin of tea on the kitchen floor (such a waste of lemongrass and ginger), and then realising I had forgotten my notebook – I’d left it at home. Inside my notebook was my To-Do List and a bunch of documents (briefs/survey summarys) which were important not only for me but for other people in the office. *Slaps forehead*. Luckily I have the bestest chauffeur Kiwi this side of Upper Hutt and he drove the hour round trip back into the city to bring it to me. He drove me into work and back to Upper Hutt, drove my notebook into work then back to Upper Hutt, then came in to pick me up and drove me back to Upper Hutt. I should get him a black cab.

The day wasn’t all bad – I sorted myself out once I had my notebook back in my hand. But I have a lot more to sort out tomorrow – I have emails flying about everywhere so it’s easy for important messages to get lost amongst the others (I need to organise them into folders) and I have even more bits of paper flying about my desk too. I need a filing system of some description. It really has been too long out of work when organisational skills are defying me…

Anyway, I have to be in the office bright and early tomorrow for singing practice (!). So, away to bed and another chapter of Harry Potter to lull me to sleep… These early mornings are a shock to the system after sleeping in til 9am and taking 2 – 3 hours to slowly get up and dressed (now I have to get ready in 1 hour and 20 minutes – this might sound a lot but my ridiculously thick hair takes 40 minutes of this!). Oh wow, now I’m beginning to appreciate the benefits of unemployment – I should go back in my blog and re-read the posts about inane boredom and feelings of worthlessness – for now I can only remember the ‘good’ stuff of unemployment now I’m reminded of what it’s like in the real world. Lie-ins, lie-ins and… lie-ins. Lie-ins are now only the thing of dreams (except on weekends). Nighty night x

MY FIRST WEEK

Well, my first three days anyway – I started on Wednesday and we’ve had a long weekend due to a public holiday today (Labour Day). Nice way to break me in easily. I’ve been inundated with information and given lots of things to do already – it’s been a lot to take in. Before I started work, Kiwi gave me some sage advice which has made the difference between my feeling overwhelmed by it all or knowing where I’m at and getting on with it. His advice was; keep a To-Do List. So simple. Unfortunately for me my To-Do List turned into a double feature-page in my notebook by the end of my first day, and by home time on Friday it was more of a small novel.

This is good though, I know what’s in store for me on Tuesday morning and over the first few days the time between 8:30am and 5:30pm flew. I’m only on a seven-month contract – the company have a seven-month project which I’ll be helping to ‘account manage’ and at the end of the seven months – end of May next year, they should be able to offer me a permanent position (or extend my contract). So knowing that I’m busy is a good feeling, it obviously means I’m needed. If I remain busy I don’t have to worry too much about my future there.

It’s been a really good week overall and things are finally falling into place all at once. On Monday I was offered the job at MADCom (not the real company name – they are a marketing and advertising company so this makes sense for a pseudonym); on Wednesday we went to view a property in Brooklyn, on the edge of Wellington’s city centre, with Cat Woman and Wetsuit Man, which we are all moving in to mid November; then on Thursday I received a letter from Immigration NZ, finally approving my work permit. They’ve given me a two year permit so I can breathe easy at last until they approve my residency application. Knowing Immigration, they’ll probably approve it in the next few weeks which will make the $280 I paid for the work permit redundant. But I guess for piece of mind, $280 is worth every cent.

So, in the space of a week, life is suddenly how I imagined it should be. Or at least it will be once we’ve moved into our new place. This weekend has been a taste of things to come – no more working weekend days and nights, Kiwi and I can just chill together. I went out after work with Kiwi Girl on Friday night, for dinner and a bottle of wine. We ran some errands on Saturday, did some serious domestic duties, met up with some friends for a drink and watched a movie. On Sunday we went into Wellington to check out the fruit and veg market which is on Victoria Street every Sunday, then walked around town and stopped for a bite to eat and a drink. We also sat down and worked out our budget for when we’re living in Wellington and it all looks good – we’re back to where we were when we were (that’s a lot of where were we’s) living in Newcastle. Basically we’re not rich but we can afford to treat ourselves and go out on dates on a weekly basis, woo!

Anyway, we’re on to day three of the weekend (woohoo! for long weekends) and I have no idea what our plans are for today. Generally just chillaxin’ I think, and maybe a few more domestic bits – although after cleaning out the guinea pigs, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning out my draws, wardrobe and storage boxes (trying to make moving-out easier by getting rid of things I don’t use/wear) and running around Upper Hutt and Lower Hutt running errands, I do feel all out of the motivation to do anything else domesticated this weekend… *Yawn*.

UNEMPLOYED…

…No more! I got the job! And I start on Wednesday… as in tomorrow… as in ohmyfreakin’bejeezus I’ve been un(der)employed for 10 months and all of a sudden I have to get myself out of bed at 6am in the morning and travel for an hour to my 8:30 – 5:30 job in which I’ll be inundated with all kinds of unknown bits and bobs (and by the way the manager I’ll be working under is away for my first 2 weeks of work and wants to hand over her projects to me) and after 5:30 I’ll travel the hour home where I’ll have some dinner and probably a hour or two to myself before I have to get things sorted for the next day at work then go to bed… It’s a long shot from my previous job where I lived 5 minutes walk from work and at least had some idea what I was doing… I’m sure that bit will come in time.

Now Kiwi is busy house/flat/apartment hunting for us as I type. We’re moving in with Cat Woman and Wetsuit Man; Cat Woman has a cat (surprise, surprise) and we have three guinea pigs, so the ‘NO PETS’ clause which 99% of landlords use when advertising their properties is slightly slimming down our choice of places to live. But I’m sure it’ll help us in the long run – if we had lots of options then we’d take ages to narrow it down to a final choice… probably. Whatever, I’m not getting involved in the actual hunt for a home. All I want is a room for a bedroom, a room for an office and some space I can run the pigs around in. I’ll leave it to the others to find a place; I’ve got too much freaking out to do about my new job to be wasting my energy on houses…

I could have started today, but I wanted a day for myself to take it in. Sounds extremo but when you’re out of ‘real’ employment for so long it leaves you wondering if you’ll just give in to it, sign on the dole and spend your days watching Trisha and Jeremy Kyle (believe it or not, they screen both on New Zealand television…) When you finally do get a job you feel unworthy – I’m terrified I won’t have a clue what I’m doing and I’ll crash and burn – during the past 10 months of not getting to interview stage, I’d lost my sense of confidence in myself to do a job of this type, and I thought my experience and skills weren’t as good as I thought they were. But now this job offer has sparked off a sense of pride in myself and the feeling that I can do it.

I imagined that I wouldn’t find a job in New Zealand for a long time which would actually be a career step-up. I thought I’d have to start at the bottom again and find a new niche – maybe work as an assistant/junior position. But in yet another streak of luck in my life (I can’t find it now, but I once wrote a post about how in my life I’ve always got what I wanted/needed), this position is a new rung on my current career ladder, and a higher one at that. It’s too good to be true – do you remember me mentioning they have a TEA MENU and how much I LOVE tea? The job may well have been waiting just for me…

Ooh, Kiwi just told me we’re going house-viewing in 1 hour! Sounds fun. I’m not even showered and dressed yet though so I should really get going…

Did I mention I HAVE A JOB!!! THE JOB!!!

JUDGEMENT DAY

I should find out about the job today… In T minus 3 hours and six minutes… Unless they haven’t received my references yet, but in that instance I’ll hopefully find out what will happen when they do receive the references. So, either way, I should know something by this afternoon. I’m just trying to decide what to wear today – I *may* have gone shopping over the weekend for a work wardrobe (not that I’m pre-empting fate – even if I don’t get this job I’ll need some work clothes eventually) so I now have choices, wooo:

a) a dress and power suit jacket;
b) black skinny jeans and power suit jacket;
c) power suit skirt and I mean business (fake)pearls;
d) shiny skirt and I’m feelin’ fresh white T…

The sky is blue and the sun appears to be shining right now, so the dress could be my first choice. Then again, Wellington can be freakin’ cold even when it’s deceptively Spring-y outside, so I might be better to cover my calves and go with the skinny jeans. Or maybe I should worry about getting out of bed and getting showered and preened before I think about my wardrobe… Eek, T minus 2 hours and 55 minutes!

WAITING… WAITING… WAITING!!!

My day babysitting the office ended with no signs I had or hadn’t got the job. I was hoping to sit down and talk through the test with Top Man and Boss Lady, but I was simply thanked for helping out, asked to come in on Monday at midday for a chat and sent away. For some reason I came away feeling really disappointed in myself, I had the niggly feeling I didn’t make an impression on the test and I hadn’t got the job. I think it had more to do with the fact I woke up at 2am that morning and hadn’t slept since then, combined with feeling drained from worrying about the test and what was in store for me in general, along with knowing I had a night at work ahead of me too – it was a long day mentally and emotionally. I know I really want this job; after spending time at the company I have a sense of their professionalism. They have some important clients, big projects, it sounds like the team works long and hard, it just leaves me wondering, ‘will they find me worthy of them?’

When I got home from work last night I checked my emails and had received one from Boss Lady which asked me for two references to be sent before we meet on Monday. I’ve never had my references checked before so for some reason it makes me feel checked up on. But I’m told that it’s unusual not to check references so that puts my mind at ease – I saw it as a negative thing but I keep being told that checking references is the very last thing before you officially receive a job offer. They wouldn’t check my references if they weren’t planning to employ me. Kiwi and his mum also say they don’t think I’d be asked back in for Monday to be told that I haven’t got the job – they wouldn’t waste time if they knew they didn’t want me, and nobody likes to have ‘that’ conversation in person. So perhaps Monday will be a further interview, or it could be to discuss giving me a short term contract to begin with. Or it could be to bring me in and point and laugh as they read through my test…? Jokes.

I know it appears I am over-thinking everything, and I am, but it helps just to get it out of my head, onto this page and then forget about it until Monday. It’s a case of cabin fever – I’ve become so immersed in job hunting that this opportunity becomes the be all and end all of my current situation.

*EDIT: I’ve just received emails about my availability… that’s got to be good, right?!

THE DAY I BABYSAT AN OFFICE

I am currently sat in a silent office – the silent office which may or may not become my next place of work. Before I go on, I’ll just say that even if I don’t get the job, I’m glad to have spent today here. Because they have a tea menu. Did you get that? An actual menu of t Leaf  T teas which are available to drink in the office… If you haven’t already tried tea by t Leaf  T then where have you been? I’ve only lived in NZ for 9 months and I’m already in love with their teas (and I’m English which makes me knowledgeable in the area of what makes a good tea..ahem). t Leaf Ts are available to buy everywhere, and most cafes (the lovely cafes anyway) sell it. On top of a tea MENU (I can’t get over that, working here would be a little bit of heaven), they have a gumball machine full of giant Jaffas! GIANT JAFFAS!! And you don’t even have to put a dollar in the machine for it to cough up a Jaffa, it’s free!!! And ON TOP of all that, they have bathrooms here instead of toilets. As in real, shower and bath containing rooms. They even have rubber ducks on the side of the bath.

Today is like when you go to babysit at a neighbour’s house which you’ve never been in before, and they tell you to help yourself to anything in the fridge or larder and you discover that they have all your favourite snacks. You’d babysit for free if they asked you to.

Except usually you don’t have to sit a test prior to babysitting. That was the only unfortunate part of today. The test. Oh dear, the test… It had three parts – I had to talk about which three advertising media I would use to target two specific audiences and why. I didn’t want to make sweeping generalisations about the audiences I was given so I kept it short and sweet. Then I was given a table of data which I had to chart in both Excel and Powerpoint. I’ve not had purpose to use Powerpoint before but I managed to create two charts in it anyway. In fact, I was given a PC to use when I am so used to my Macbook that just trying to convert back to using Windows was a test in itself. The test was given to me as a Word document which I had to save as a new document within which I’d answer the questions. I couldn’t even locate the ‘Save As’ command. Yes I am a ‘tard. I had to open a second copy of Word and cut and paste the test in to it, then save it like that…

Aside from the test, everyone in the office seems very nice – a large part appear to have lived/worked overseas and I chatted to the Receptionist who, like me, is a migrant with a Kiwi partner; who, like me, has recently moved here (like me she even lived with the inlaws for a while) and she has recently started to work in the company after months without a permanent position (like me!) - it would be good (if I get the job) to have this in common with someone… I don’t know why, it just seems like a good thing.

Now everyone has left the office for their staff lunch and I’m trying to occupy myself. I’ve been shown where client files are so I can look at bits and pieces about the company, but without actually having a job here I feel I shouldn’t be nosy. It’s tempting to look at their pitch documents, but that would be my personal integrity gone! So I’m sat on the internetz instead, refreshing my Facebook homepage and telling y’all how it’s going without actually knowing anything yet. It’s been 1 and a half hours already (I think they said they’d be away for 3) and the phone hasn’t rung (EDIT, it just rang). I’ve only had to answer the door once to a courier, so this isn’t too taxing really – the nerve-wracking part is out of the way at least. I don’t think they’ll be testing me with a fake-phonecall either… Or will they (EDIT, it wasn’t a fake phonecall)?!

NEARLY THERE…

I just received a call about the Account Manager role I’ve been waiting on. I am (quote) their “preferred candidate”! Top Man made the call and he wants me to go in tomorrow for a test (which sounds ominous but is just proofreading or some such). He also wants me to look after the office as it’s their staff lunch and they need a person to cover the phones and answer the door. I wonder if this will be part of the test and they’ll get someone to call me with some challenge to sort out?! Who knows, but it’s a sign they see me as a trusty, honesty person if they’re going to leave me alone in the office… wahahahahaaaaa… ahem.

Top Man asked me to be in at 11.30am at the latest, and earlier if I can. I’m going to call and find out what time their day starts so I can go in as early as possible  – I want to be all savvied up on where all the information I’ll need is if I am asked questions about client projects, I want to know who is expecting phone calls or deliveries and whether they want me to chase up non-deliveries. I just want to make sure I have enough time so I’m not left sounding stumped or unable to help while everyone is out!

Anyway, I’m hoping this all means I’ve got the job in the bag and the rest is just checking that I’m sane and will ‘fit’ with their team. I’m so nearly there but I’m trying not to get my hopes up too much just in case it’s too good to be true.

*EDIT: Just called back, I’m going in at 8:30am, and all I’m thinking right now is EEK! AGH! and SQEEEE!

THINGS I APPRECIATE AND GETTING POLITICAL

Right now I’m appreciative of Avalon over at Avalon’s Guide. She, like me, is a legal alien, an Englishman in New Zealand (she’s not a man, but ‘Englishwoman’ wasn’t how the song was sung. Well, neither did the song say New Zealand but whatever). Well, technically she’s now a Kiwi since she has achieved her citizenship status – she’s been here many years and I’m glad to have found her blog as I find it really relevant to the position I’m in.

Anyway, Avalon is currently writing a money thread on her blog, with posts about mortgages in New Zealand and investing. I’m not looking for mortgages or investments but she also has advice about overspending and budgeting (advice which I WILL need once I actually have a job and some bills to pay) and conversion rates (NZ$ to GBP£). When I made a comment on her blog a while back about the recently crappy conversion rates and wanting to bring my UK pension over to New Zealand to put it into a Kiwisaver scheme, Avalon took the time to reply to me personally, in an email, and provided some pension information/advice to help me. Now I’m not going to sort out moving my pension until I have my residency, one thing at a time, but her email is stored away for next year. It was great that she, who doesn’t know me from Adam (or Eve), took the trouble to send me a little of her wisdom.

Whilst I’m on the subject of Avalon, her blog drew my attention to a legislation which affects migrants, and could affect me if I am not careful about how I discuss the topic of immigration to New Zealand.

The legislation (The Immigration Advisors Licensing Act 2007) was put in place so that anyone acting/working as an official Immigration Advisor is required to have a license in order to do so. Initially this sounds reasonable and even sensible, we don’t want ol’ Joe Bloggs from down the road telling potential migrants that they won’t get in to New Zealand without his advice and charging extortionate rates simply to fill in an immigration application which they could have done themselves.

The legislation is supposedly there to:
promote and protect the interests of consumers receiving immigration advice, and to enhance the reputation of New Zealand as a migration destination, by providing for the regulation of persons who give immigration advice

However, the legislation is being taken too far. Bloggers and people who comment on migrant forums may find themselves landed with a hefty fine for acting as an Immigration Advisor without a license to do so, just for the act of talking about their own experiences of Immigration NZ and offering advice and support to other migrants. The legislation is working to silence migrants – as Avalon puts it, Immigration NZ are effectively saying to migrants; “Please come to New Zealand! We need 50,000 immigrants a year to keep our country going, and we need your money, but once you get here – please do us all a favour and keep your bloody mouth shut! – Its your money we want, not your opinion”

Now, I read some sentiments on the subject which remarks that if a migrant can’t tell the difference between opinion/advice/personal experience and the services of an official Immigration Advisor, then does New Zealand really need migrants with that lack of intellect? I completely agree; yes, there should be legislation to control so-called ‘advisors’ giving out incorrect advice, but that shouldn’t stop everyday people talking about the subject and offering experience-based advice and support. I myself have received some valuable support and I can’t be specific or thank that person due to censorship – INZ may fine them for helping to put my mind at ease… Tell me that’s not ridiculous?!

Avalon has provided a letter to the Minister of Immigration on her blog, which you and I are welcome to make a copy of and send it, asking him to re-look at this legislation and even scrap it. Unfortunately, shortly after posting the letter on her blog she updated with a post which says the Minister made a statement that he will not be looking to change the legislation. I don’t think this should make Avalon’s letter redundant though, maybe if more migrants took the time to send their thoughts on the subject, he might come back to it.

Now, I’m not very ‘up’ on politics and I usually don’t get political, but this issue is something which has already affected me in a small way and is affecting others in a large way. It is through the experience of others that we learn not to make mistakes, and if we can’t talk/hear about those mistakes then how do we prevent them from happening? It might even be the case that if migrants can’t receive unofficial advice about immigration, then they are more likely to be subject to false/misinformed advice from ‘official’ Advisors and have to pay for that advice, both financially and as dire consequences. People can’t afford the services of more than one official Advisor, so therefore can’t receive more than one opinion – they rely on one person to have their facts straight and they have to trust this person has their best interests at heart. How, without information from more than one source, can a person form rounded and informed decisions and be able to trust that what they are being told is right?

New Zealand sells itself as forward-thinking, they are the number 1 most politically peaceful country in the world, yet they wish to censor and ‘nanny’ migrants who buy into the idea of living in this environment. It’s ironic.