Maz

My parents windows all cried before they got double glazing. And that's in Essex.

But best of luck to you. I hope you like extremes of cold, snow, ice hockey and curling. Heat me up a beer, eh?

Poppy2

Thanks Womat - had read that. As I said we work in healthcare and that is not the case for us, we will be getting the same AL as in NZ. And we knew what AL we would get when we arrived here. That alone isnt the reason for going from here and it is one of the things we accept of Canada. In the UK we were very lucky, but then it comes down to trying to retain staff. A few of the clear benefits to us for working in Canada is that if we work over 40% of fulltime, that employee is entitled to a dental, medical and life ins. plan that the hospital provides. Also maternity pay is 50% of your salary for a year - whereas here it is a pitance ($600 in my case from my employer and then 14 weeks of govt pay). Even in Oz they give women $4000 as a lump sum for each baby from what I gather. I would be better off not working and paying taxes here and claiming benefit - except that I couldnt because I have a dual qaulification and they would not accept that I couldnt work. Also we are getting paid $5000 CAD to move there, whereas here we got $2000 NZD and it wasnt offered freely, we had to bargain hard once we arrived and had heard that others had been paid this. Lots and lots of inequalities in employment and healthcare here in our experience. Working here would have been so much better if it had been more in step with other places. I think everything was fine until I got pregnant and was unable to work regularly for the first 12 weeks due to extreme hyperemisis - I got my 2 weeks paid leave and then unpaid, unless I wanted to get in touch with ACC - who would have laughed their socks off no doubt as it was pregnancy related. Then the whole of employer financial support for me to afford time off with my baby - it had just changed from women getting a lump sum on their return of around $4000, it now is equivalent of $600. That is no encouragement for a well trained, intelligent woman to have babies who will in turn be valuable members of NZ society. But had I been on benefit I would get more money per child and be secure to look after them until the youngest was 5, not needing to return to fulltime employment until the last one was 11. And for women here to not have free dental care in their pregnancy.....I lost the enamel off the back of a tooth - I have yet to have it treated because I cant afford the hundreds of $ it would cost to fix. I have only just returned to work recently and I am juggling the finances to get back on track and have a small baby............wouldnt have been a concern in the UK or Canada. I just dont think that NZ rewards its skilled employees and that is a shame - though I know that a lot is to do with not having a bottomless pot and so few people here contributing into that pot.

Ah, but when *I* am queen, there are going to be some changes round here! 8 weeks AL for all, 4 hour work days and $10,000 per baby to those in paid employment.............dare I say there would be a rush for applications at KFC???

Thanks for the support, understanding and good wishes!

uk+kiwi

You've got my vote, shame the monarchy can't be voted in!

Hubbie gets 25 days annual leave/year. Unfortunately he is 'only' allowed to take a maximum 15 days at a time. Every 2-3 years, we would really like to take one 3-4 week family holiday instead of the usual several smaller ones (that we spend at home) and do something great overseas. Especially when you try to book flights for these things - once we would have been a day over due to the flight timetables and the leave wasn't granted. That really pee'd me off! I think we (he) should have the choice as to how he takes his leave, as long as it is reasonable and planned for. So could you add that flexibility to the policy making too? It's a shame that families have to pay for the most expensive holidays (out of term time) when they are most likely the section of the population with the least funds available to do so. Aaahhh, holidays! - I bought a lottery ticket today!

howardk

I am prompted to enter my first ever comment on a blog site.........haven't even got my own name yet..........so much you write I can identify so closely with that i am jumping in my chair and saying to MOH listen to this!
Thankyou for putting so much into words with eloquence,honesty and humour.........you are surely wasted in a maternity ward .......move overthose crap breakfast tv presenters and let's have some down to earth comments like yours for the benefit of future arrivals to Godszone and those of us already here.You have my admiration. Yes,coming here without a looksee is brave....we did that too........but holiday mood is bound to colour your view of anywhere. The true test for me is how life feels withthe school runs ,homework,fishfingers,shoppingand ultimately,how we spend our family time at weekends. Loved the potting shed reference. My choice of description to my friends in UK-who find it hard to believe- has been garden shed..........so we must be on the same wavelength. I lived more comfortably as a student in Brighton! I have experienced life in Canada and I think you are on the right track.

Poppy2

You were a student in Brighton?? So were some of my best friends - bunch of drunken nutters, the lot of them

Well howardk, that vote of support has surely secured you a place as Prime Minister in my new, reformed NZ. I am glad it wasnt just me seeing the strong similarity between drafty damp sheds and houses here! I tell friends at home that on cold days in winter we have to go outside to get warm and I have on occaission put the oven on with the door open to take the chill out of the kitchen..............

And the random invasion of ants in the kitchen. The prolific spider life of our verandah and the constant removal of webs from the outside windows. And what is with this Environmentally sound image that NZ has..........burning fossil fuel like it is going out of fashion and constant dowsing of weedkiller in the garden?

I agree - if we came on holiday we would have had a very rosey view of things and still come, its not until a couple of years down the track that things have been less than ideal for us. I have met at least 3 families who came on holiday, moved here, to stay no longer than a year and return.

NZ is a beautiful place, no doubt about it, but I dont live doing those great adventurous daytrips everyday. I blame Pak and Save , they have tempted me in with their good bargains but I feel like I am more a Waitrose kind of girl. That sums it up for me.

Maz

Poppy, seriously, are you prepared for how cold it's going to be there?

Poppy2

As prepared as any other Brit Expat who has emigrated there, loved it and stayed. I was brought up on a remot-ish farm, with no central heating so I am pretty sure I know some level of cold. But where we are going we are going back to double glazing, central heating, wood burners for back up and with 3 small children we are mostly homebodies.

We will all need serious waterproof, thermal, ski wear style outer gear for the winter, but there is summer too. Temps up to 28 C on average. This past winter, where we are moving to, has only had one *snow day* and the rest of the time it has been snowless generally, but cold.


I dont tolerate winter here at all. And it may well be the house we have, but there are times when we have wanted to go to bed with hats on its been so cold. We have one gas fire in one room, an ineffective built in wood burner and column heaters in the bedrooms - and we are not unusual, thats standard. And the damp.........photos wrinkled in the frame, stinking clothing, mould on the walls. Its too rustic for me, and expensive to heat, even if ineffectively.

Have you been to Canada? ........Just seen that you are in Illinois, so you may know what a bit of snow feels like being there!! But funnily enough, my half sister who was born and raised in Kenya is living in Illinois, and she copes fine - heck I think we will be fine!

Maz

Yes, I've been to Canada, thanks. Their winters are far worse than ours in Chicago. And of course you know that in the northern hemisphere, the further east you go on a continent, the more severe the weather extremes. This winter past, we had 6 weeks where the high temperature didn't get above -20C. Think very very carefully about that. It's getting down to the kind of temperature where machinery stops working. It puts rather the damper on your life to put it incredibly mildly. Then there's the lack of sunshine. It's utterly depressing. We only had 3 or 4 huge snowfalls this year, but the black snow stuck around for the usual 8 weeks (see here for pics. Disgusting stuff!). Snow is a four-letter word here, and it's not fun "playing" in it because it's always too damned cold!

The phrase "heat me up a beer, eh?" takes on a whole new meaning.

Maz

Forgot to ask - whereabouts in IL does your half-sister live? It very rarely snows in southern Illinois, if ever, and it's very beautiful down there. We spent some time in Carbondale a few years back, did the wine trail thing.

The Weezer

Good luck!
I envy you at the moment, as I'm here stuck in boring New Zealand.
Been to Novia Scotia several times; what a lovely place. And you're close to many wonderful things to see, some of them wild and remote (only an 8 hour ferry ride to Newfoundland), yet you can still feel like you're living in the modern world.
I love the winter and snow. I miss it terribly here. No winter hiking in the snow, no cross-country skiing, no chickadees to break the quiet of a snowy woods. And I've never felt so cold before I lived in sub-tropical Auckland. At least where you're going, you can be outside and enjoy the winter, yet still be comfortable in your home.


Actually the further you go into the interior of the continent, the colder it gets (and hotter, sometimes). The weather in the coastal parts of the maritime provinces of Canada is moderated by their proximity to the sea. This phenomenon is called continentality. Canada is a huge country; it's colder in some places than in others.

Poppy2

Thanks The Weezer, thats how we feel about here, we have never been so cold because we live in cold housing all winter long - that makes a huge difference.

Maz, I hear what you are saying and you are saying it from experience - but much like I dont sound too positive about NZ, you are not feeling/sounding to positive about the winters with you. We are looking forward to the seasons being the right way round and christmas in winter. The Maritimes are known for being more mild than the interior of Canada and so many Brits go there and stay. Its not without consideration, but without going, we cant stay here on the off chance that it gets so cold. Now, I wouldnt go to Oz because constant summer and the high temps in some areas would be dreadful for us - we are more into the colder climate, and the central heating. We have small kids, we want the festiveness of winter pre-christmas - my 4 year old has no idea what christmas is to us because it isnt festive here whatsoever. After Christmas, much like in the UK, all we can do is wait for spring and wrap up warm.

Oddly I know of far more people leaving NZ and going onto Canada and they are still there, many years later. Says a lot to me.

Again, living here in a drafty, damp house that cant be effectively heated is depressing to me. No amount of pretty views and beaches that we can visit together at the weekend makes up for the daily living in what feels like 19th century houses.

soulflour

Why didn't you fix your house up? I'm curious! (nosey! )

Poppy2

We have spent 4 years renovating a 5 bedroom, 3 reception villa that was near derelict. Didnt get to the point where $30,000 was freed up for the central heating and insulation. Not to mention, none of our friends (bar one) have central heating or DVS). I dont think we are unusual, and we had floors, walls and everything to put in.

Turned out well, we have tripled our outlay and now move on. Next time we will get a house that just needs a lick of paint!

southerner

Actually, from a NZ housing perspective you probably are. You are used to, and expect central heating or equivalent, whereas obviously that is not normal in NZ houses, especially in the North Island.

Well done on the house renovation, it must have been challenging but also hopefully rewarding.

Poppy2

That may be normal for NZ houses, but it isnt my preference for living. I dont want to live with dehumidifiers, woodburners, column heaters, fan heaters, electric blankets (our best friend!!) damp and mould. We've lived with it for 4 years and it is not for us. We could move to a small modern box that was easier to heat and most cost effective, but this is not the whole issue for leaving. It is just one aspect.