Happytobe
here:Nerfda
Frostand
famllylivein
NewZeafandVorvierJahrenfieldieEntscheidung,mitderganzenFamilievonDeutschlandnachNeuseeland
umzusiedeln.NERlDAFROSTerzählt,wieanderssichjetztihrLebengestaltet. DniiT
hefoutyearssincewemovedtOAuckland,New
Zealand,havcpassedquickly.Yeratthcsame
time,it oftenfcelsasif wc'vcalwilYslivcdhere.
WIehadbeenlivinginMunichfor 15 yeats,when
a jobofferconvincedusrotakeourtWOchildrenand
movedownunder.InGermany,myhusbandhadbcen
maderedundantforthesceondtimeinthreeyears.
Uncmploymentwasrising.TheITindustryh3dn'rre-
covercdfromthedm.comcrisis;Indkanmanagement
srrategieswerereducingmiddle-managemenrposi-
tions.Inaddition,sinccthemid-1990s,it wasstan-
dardpracticcropurolderworkersouttOpasrure.We
wcrenoroptimistieabollthirnfindinganotherjob.
WhenNavman,aNewZc~tlandmanufacturerofnav-
igationand[rackine:sysrems,conracred myhusband
abouta positionthatfittedbisprofileperfectly,wcdidn'r
minknviceabommovil1gtOtheothersideoEthcworld.
NavmanwasaNewZealandsuecessstory. Likethe
NewZealandKonomy,it wasbooming.Th.iswasvery
encouragingweryearsoftroDomicdepressioninGer-
many.Ir wasalsoencouragingtoseethat,inthiscoun·
rrydesperateforskilkdlabQur,agewasnota faetor.
We'veneverlookcdback.I nowrcaHzewehada huge
portionoEluck.WCthoughtwcweremakinganin-
forllleddccision,whercaswe<1ctuallyknewvcrylirtle
abouteveryda}' life here. Havingfew expectations
meamatleastthatwt'h:ldfewerdisappoimmems.Same
friends, forexample,mistakcnl)' assumcdthatthere
wouldbelessbureaueracvherethaninGermany.And
someSouthAfricanse:....pectedthecümate[0bewarmer!
WemadegoOOfeiendsveryquickly,whiehundoubt·
edlyhelpedustosettleinsoeasily.Mostofourfriends
arealsonewimmigmllts.Clearly,beinga lang.long
wa)'fromhornebringspcopletogether.
Irhasnot 311 beensmoothgoing.Bothmyhusband
andrhavebeenm3dcredundantsineemovinghere.36 8usinessSpodighl
Luckily,wefoundit relativclyeasy[0findnewjobsin
Durfields.Myhusb,llldisnowworkingfora brand-new
Kk.u.alld[ amworkingfura publjsheragain.
Life hereissodifferentfromlifeinfurope.Irisa
grcatplaceforfamilies,becauseitis"ceysafe.Yet,at
thesametime,childrcncanstil1cxperiencerealadven-
ture.LikemostAucklandcr<;,forcxample,weareonly
minuresawayframa beachwhereyoucansurfandsail.
Also,becaU5CthepopulationissosmalI,ifyouaregood
a[samethingandworkhardatit, youcan achievc"Ifyou are good at
something and wqrkhard,
you can besuccessful"
recognitionandsuecessmorceasily.Tbcrearemany
Kiwientrepreneurswithrags-to-richesstories.
InNewZealand,onecanescapemanyofthethings
onedoesn'tlikeaboutEurope,suchas~.Butont'
hastobepreparedforotherirritations,suchasa eer-
tainamountofparoehialism,particularlywhendealing
withpubJieinstiturions.AmbitionsCOimproverhcsys-
tem,much likctr)'ingCOimprovea husbandorwife,
will prove frustrating. Iris far better torake New
Zealandfllrwharjeis- a countryoEbeaurifulland-
seapes,hugespaeesand warm~heartedpeoplc.Then
youwillbepleasanrlysurprised,againaudagain. (]I~LtstentothistextOflBusinessSpotlightAudio
NERIOAFROST,originallyfromCanada.hvedinGer-
manyformorethaI! 20 yearsbeforemoving 10 New
Zealand.SheworksasanauthorandMUm.primar-
Ilyinchildrel1'seducationalpyblishing.512009