Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Hi everybody,
I'm married to Stormer999 who is already a member of this forum. We're living in Burnside in the north of Christchurch. We have permanent residency, I'm working in the hospital lab in the middle of what's left of the city and OH is a man of leisure. Our stuff is still on the way from the UK and I dream about sofas. Having up days and down days but clinging on to my sanity (just about). Thank God for the blue skies - I think I'd already be on the plane back home if it was raining! :unsure:

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

lovely to see you posting.
I get where you are coming from about sofa's, lack of sofa's caused a major crying session one evening from myself. think it scared the bejeebers out of OH as I'm usually strong minded and get on with things kinda girl and here he got told by kids that mummy was crying in the bathroom and he found a snotty faced women sobbing her heart out and all I could say is I want my sofa's. But to be honest it was just the whole process of jumping through hoops, things taking longer than they were supposed to and being tired.
It does pass and things do start to settle down when your stuff turns up and you start to unpack and wonder why on earth you packed certain things :D

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Hello Mrs Stormer999. You seem to moved at about one hundred miles an hour ! I mean almost split second timing for your visas arriving 48 hours before you left the UK. More prospective tennants than available rentals but you got one relatively close to your work. We viewed a property on Memorial Avenue. Also, you've started work already (microbiology does this to me: :confused:) and your furniture is yet to arrive. Don't worry if you feel overwhelmed and a bit lost. It will all settle.

We used to live in Linwood. We turned up in Christchurch last March, 3 weeks after the February earthquake. I know where CHL is, right on the edge of Hagley Park.

We left Christchurch at the end of June last year as my husband was offered a job in another city in NZ. After 3 months unemployment whilst living in an unheated house, not to mention the earthquakes, we weren't sorry to leave Christchurch.

Be patient with yourself. You will probably feel better when your furniture etc comes. Having your own stuff around will help you feel more settled. (Some people liken the arrival of their furniture to Christmas coming, I just felt sad and disappointed because it meant that we weren't going home. Homesickness can be a biatch)

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Thanks everybody, feeling better already!

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

You won't be looking forward to the weekend then, sunshine and showers forecasted

How are you finding the nights and no central heating? Whoever invented the snuggie deserves a knighthood. Were you here for the last felt shake we had in April? Mother nature certainly has calmed down on her parties below so she might have had enough *touch wood*. Long way to go until everything returns to what it was.

So I take it your working for CHDB? Are you solely based at Christchurch Hospital (normal or womens side?)? Just the boss works at Burwood Hospital if you ever visit there. CHDB do seem to be very good employers in my opinion as they've treated the boss very well since our arrival.

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

If you really miss a sofa (and I can understands that!), you could try this company - http://www.mrrental.co.nz/For-Rent/C...re/Lounge.aspx. You can rent a sofa on it's own or with other stuff - just a thought, it might see you through until your own stuff arrives :)

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Hello & :welcome: Mrs S. What you are experiencing is entirely normal. It takes time to settle in & make friends. Most of us have been in the same situation & have experienced the same feelings.

Try & get involved in as much as you can & accept all invitations at this stage ;). You will gradually find your feet but it does take time, so in the meantime be gentle on yourself.

Do you know when your stuff is likely to arrive? Having your own things around helps enormously.

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Never you mind my love. :p

Then you're doing well although you'll probably end up barking mad at times. As others have stated it's all perfectly normal after such a huge upheaval. Give yourself time & if you feel like howling , then howl. Better out than in & us lot are always here to lend an ear.

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Entirely normal, we all think we'll be made of sterner stuff and can conquer the world single handed. Ain't so! Being overwhelmingly bewildered and bewildering is entirely what it is and it takes a while to find your feet and get over that constant feeling of being lost and every small deed being a mission; how do I get to, where will I find ad infinitum for every single detail of every single day until it gradually starts to click into place.

You can't underestimate or see it as any kind of weakness. That feeling that everything you once knew is now gone is a huge test of patience and anyones resilience. Simple things take twice as long as they should because you spend half your time lost, trying to remember how to get from A to B and where you saw such and such a thing. You think to yourself how flipping hard can this be? You have to search for everthing in every shop and then they're not in obvious places, everything is unfamiliar and you need to read the labels on all the strange branded things and can't find what you're looking for and look, time and time again.

Top that all off with a new job, new ways of doing things, trying to keep it all together and making a good impression, being on your guard around new people, watching what you say and minding you Ps and Qs. It is a blooming hard act!!

I remember a day having a total meltdown and fleeing from a shop, because I had looked in so many places and eventually when I found what I wanted and asked the shop assistant about getting one, she said they were out of stock. That was it, all over rover, get me out of this useless effing place. I wanna go home, tantrum time!!

I also had overwhelming feelings of being all alone in the world and hated having to rely so much on just keeping it together between myself and Mr Jangles. Nobody else to talk to and treading on eggshells not wanting to make a fuss, cause a scene or an argument because who else is there? That feeling of total disconnection, who's gonna notice if I don't turn up for work? What if I collapsed in the road, who would know who I was and where I came from? I could console myself by the fact that they could easily guess I was a new immigrant from the M&S labels in all my clothes. :rofl:

You have indeed been incredibly lucky that the weather has been abnormally settled and fantastic for this past few weeks, it has given everyone a huge lift, after having had such a pitiful excuse of a summer.

It does of course get easier but it will take time to create some familiarity, some tracks, conversation and some NZ 'history' that's not all about the UK and where you came from.

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Hello and a big welcome to the New Zealand section of BE from the Consierge in Spain.

You will find excellent information in the BE Wiki, not forgetting the Living and Moving Abroad forum that will help you, another set of great help is the permanent threads at the TOP of each forum, they are very pertinent to that particular forum and makes sensible reading.

BE Moderators deal with any problems that arise such as inappropriate posts, spammers etc, you will find their names at the bottom right hand side of each forum's index in bold font. Also there are Consierges who can support and guide you.

Please contact me if I can give you any further help.

Rosemary

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

:goodpost:, actually I think it's a fantastic post. Another BJ contender for Post of The Year ;)

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

I agree!

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Hi there Mrs Stormer!
Hope you're starting to settle in a little bit more. It does take time and BoJ has said it all really:thumbsup:
There's a few of us on here in Chch, I'm near Hornby so not far from you. We should try and organise a Chch meetup sometime or if you want to meet for a coffee sometime then just shout out.

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Thanks everybody, for your kind words. I know you've all been through this but I suppose it's a bit like puberty - everybody thinks they're first ones to experience that particular misery. Also like puberty, it's just a phase you have to go through. :teeth_smile:

Re: Been in Christchurch for a month now.
 

Sounds good - we're off to Welly this weekend but maybe coffee and/or organised riot of the Chch expat contingent soon?