shepslady

As someone who isnt living in my homeland I am curious to know what some of you think you will miss the most about your homeland when you have made the move overseas. Of course you will miss family & friends but leaving that aside what do you think will be the biggest thing you will miss? I personally have loads of things I miss but if I had to choose I think my number one thing would be the water. I didnt know how spoilt we were in Christchurch with such good drinking water.
The water here taste like swimming pool water & even bottled water isnt much better.
Hope you can come up with some interesting things.

80s Chick

I already posted this on another thread, but it answers your question so I'll stick it on here. Sorry to bore you all.

shepslady

Ok so going by that list if I am to leave out family & friends you are saying you would miss one tv programme more than anything else then??
Oh each to his own I guess. TV isnt that great in NZ but there is still quite a few Brit programmes on & an awful lot of American ones so Im guessing it will all be very different for you then!!
Didnt know there had already been another thread on this so do you think maybe we should just drop this one then

Don

In NZ about the only thing I missed was European heritage and feel and I guess you could include the ease of getting to Europe.

Not just the historical feel of merrie olde England but Europe's jewels incl Florence, Rome, Verona, Venice, Salamanca, Santiago, Toledo, Sevilla, Cordoba, Paris, Coimbra, Amsterdam etc etc are very precious to me and there's zilch to compare with this in NZ.

Also the fun of just popping over to one of about forty different countries in Europe, each one different and individual and special, is absent in NZ though I guess Fiji has its attractions.

terrybr

After 30 odd years, I miss pineapple lumps...

80s Chick

Yeah sure. There aren't many things I think I couldn't do without (but I'm not in NZ so I couldn't say). I haven't travelled much in my 37 years so it's all very well for me to say I won't miss things that much. I've never attached much value to 'stuff' and I have every intention of making attempts to fit in with NZ culture and finding new things to love (and loathe). I'm a bit of a chameleon and can adapt to new environments (if you knew about my childhood you'd know why, but it's far too messy to discuss here). One other thing I'll miss and this is even more shallow:

Celebrity gossip mags
I know it's wrong and they're pure evil but when I finishing studying for a Masters degree in children's literature and discussing Marxist interpretations of Cinderella (I kid you not) it was such a relief to read such unadulterated garbage.

Basically Cindy I prefer to look forward than back. Ask me again once I'm in NZ and I'm sure I'll give you quite a different answer.

Phyl

Pinkie Pie

:scared:

Markk

At the risk of sounding incredibly shallow ( ), I'll miss English beer - and watching my football team ( ). I suppose I'll just have to try harder to like rugby!

shepslady

Not shallow at all Mark I think thats a good honest call. The Beer in NZ isnt too bad with loads of varieties so Im sure it wont take you long to find something to your liking As for your football well thats another thing altogether. Football as you know it isnt as big in NZ as you are used too. There is however a little coverage on the TV but not a lot for minor divisions.

Don

There's plenty of live UK premier league footie in NZ plus the major championships - trouble is it's always on in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning and very soon I couldn't be bothered any more.

But I still missed it.

Franklin

For a while it was the British accent. I started to miss hearing ordinary British accents. It got quite bad, then I went to a movie that had British actors in it and then I got very homesick. I got that unexpected wave of hmmmm, mourning I think. Mourning for British accents. Also, the knowledge that this was a one way trip, no going back, not to live I mean. I left home before my 20th birthday and thought homesickness was well behind me. Came as a shock, didn't really expect it. Another time was when Princess Diana died, I was living in Chicago and felt away from home. Her death was a shock and I wanted to put flowers outside the British Consulate in Chicago (located in the Wrigley Building, yes, the building named after the Wrigley chewing gum family - they also had (for a while) the Wrigley stadium where the Chicago Cubs baseball team plays). I heard that Americans living in the UK on the day the Twin Towers were brought down on 9-11 had similar pangs for home; I seem to recall an article that quoted President Clinton's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, voicing similar pangs for wanting to be home to come to terms with what had happened. Same thing happened when I belatedly bought the last album/CD released by Queen ... and listened to the track "The Show Must Go On". I cried when I heard that track, Freddie sang the lyrics shortly before he died. Freddie died when I was living in the UK, but hearing that track in the USA wiped me out. Just seemed so poignant. I still miss Freddie Mercury, major loss when we lost him. RIP Freddie.

scottish

You dont have to miss the beer, available from most food stores and British Pubs. Saying that its a tad pricey!!!! When we lived there hubby drank Grolsch(sp) or Heiniken (sp).. and so did all his Kiwi mates

babybella

I will miss the National Health service, my youngest went into a Diabetic coma at school last week, rushed to hosp from school. The care and after care he has got is incredible, worst thing for us is that in NZ we will have to pay for needles, insulin etc in the Uk it is all free. I know bigger population in the Uk to pay for it etc, maybe I just feel secure with what I know about the health system now but it scares me to take him back.
KAZ

Pinkie Pie

Kaz, my middle daughter is a diabetic...any pointers on the care provided in NZ would be most appreciated...

shepslady

Not sure how long you have been away from NZ now Kaz but the only thing that will help ease the pain of your sons diabetic expense is the fact he will be whats known as a High User & his prescriptions will only be $3 per item & going directly to the Diabetes Association for his needles etc will be a lot cheaper. Im diabetic too & didnt find it expensive at all. In fact it helped me with other medications as well because I got everything at $3 per item & for me that was for 3 months supply as repeats on prescriptions are free so you only pay for the first month. There is also no charge at most hospitals (public ones at least) so I wouldnt be overly concerned about it too much.