Avid

Yes, funnily enough my doctor out here is German and you can tell she's finding it hard having to pretend to be everybody's friend.

At least she seems to have some basic knowledge of medicine unlike (you can guess where this is going...)

Meat and two veg

If we were money orientated people, I don´t think NZ would be top of our list for a place to live.
I have just been asked why do I wish to relocate to NZ. I´ll list a few points. Perhaps Forum members will write, that what I have written, is pure Eutopia
and silmply doesn´t exist.

English speaking country,
appealing climate,
stabile economy,
relaxed working environment,
friendly people

probably something I should write is why I wish to leave Germany.

Bureacracy,
unfriendliness to strangers ( what I exactly mean probably needs explanation )
queue jumping ( at backeries and at the post office)
inhibitive tax system
humourless society ( I have lots of german friends with humour, Germany also has many great comedians)
I don´t have the sea in my area oh and
everything has to be correct before its done, humans are not machines and a little give and take with each would go down a long way.
It sounds like I´m frustrated or having a mid life crisis, I don´t think I am
because if the climate was better and I could except all the above points I probably wouldn´t want to leave.
If anyone wants to hear the good points about Germany as a matter of interest just let me now, believe me there are many.
bye
Meat and two veg

Nerine

You'd probably get most of the things on your wish list and find you still have live with some of the issues on your Germanic don't like list.

Why not take some time to travel and discover the country.

luvwelly

English speaking country - yes
appealing climate - variable can be just as miserable as northern Europe - milder on the whole and a pleasant dry heat with prevailing winds in Wellington at least! ,
stabile economy - debatable, certainly a low wage economy,
relaxed working environment - can't comment as 'ich bin Hausfrau' I understand nurses in hospitals here work longer hours so I'd check that out....it always looked to me like doctors in Germany just worked a couple of hours a day judging from the Sprechstunden next to the brass plates!
friendly people - on a daily contact basis definitely yes - good customer service but none of Germany's formality.


Bureacracy, - definitely worse in Germany than NZ apart from getting visas - after that all much simpler
unfriendliness to strangers ( what I exactly mean probably needs explanation ) -
no I lived there for a year way back - I doubt its changed that much;
queue jumping ( at backeries and at the post office) - not a problem in NZ!
inhibitive tax system - probably less so but real issues here on level of wages versus cost of living I expect taking in old East Germany made the situation worse in your part of the world
humourless society ( I have lots of german friends with humour, Germany also has many great comedians).....expats on here complain about the NZers lacking the Brit sense of humour a bit like the Yanks sometimes do..I haven't found it myself but apparently the Aussies are even worse 'sense of humour bypass' being an oft-repeated phrase'....lots of Brits here anyway with said British sense of humour whose essential defining characteristic according to a book I read recently was a general flippancy and stubborn refusal to ever treat any serious subject seriously...it's a great coping mechanism and is one of the things I love most about being a Brit. I have lived in other EU countries besides Germany and this was an issue there as well

Lots of meat and 2 veg here as well!

I don´t have the sea in my area - in most places here that could be arranged!


Apart from appealing climate wouldn't Eire also fit the bill for you at less financial cost (you both automatically have a right to work there as EU) and as UK is not in the picture?

Are either of you close to your extended families as the remoteness and distance is maybe a greater downside factor than you realise - even Singapore is 12 hours on a plane away.

I'd love to hear the positives about Germany as I lived there before the wall came down...I should imagine Berlin is very different nowadays.

Meat and two veg

Hi Luvwelly,
it´s difficult to say whether my wife is attached to her family or not. She has lived all her life in Germany and has never lived anywhere else except a 2 month sabbatical in Edinburgh.
I know for a fact I´m not, my grandfather was from Eire and lived for most of his life in England so I must have his roving genes.
My wife said to me if she does move atall it´s only to somewhere hot and sunny.
This thing with humour and our apparent disregard for the seriousness of situations is something as a brit we take for granted.

I´ll now write about something I miss here in Germany and to explain myself
this anecdote will hopefully be explanatory enough.

"A few years ago I travelled alone to England via Calais with my car, as an ex-seaman I chose the ferry naturally and parked on deck 375 or something close to it in any case deep in its hull. When we came to Dover I went down a deep dark dimly lit flight of stairs and came to a locked door. Having tried it a few times I stood and gathered my thoughts, a few minutes later, a couple came they both tried it which naturally brought us into conversation after a few more minutes there must have been 7 to 8 Brits from every part of the Uk, judging by our accents. Suddenly there were stories of ships going down, the Titanic mentioned, fires on Board, ships capsizing, it was hilarious. Probably after maybe 15 or 20 minutes the door opened on the otherside by a crewman. The cars had been driving out on the otherside and it was dangerous to step out. We all smiled, laughed some more, said our goodbyes and left.

This is something I miss, in contrast a group of Germans would have used the time constructively together and drafted a letter of complaint.

You asked what I like about Germany.

I met my wife here,
it is clean and tidy,
virtually crime free, at least where I live

Bye

Meat and two veg

Meat and two veg

Luvwellly,

I mean strangers not as in foreigners, just someone you dont know, take my example from bakeries and post offices and what about driving your car. As soon there is direct contact then it can be quite different, you are then viewed differently.

Meat and two veg

I_Will_Freckle

Re the "midlife crisis" bit.

If you start
(a) wearing a cowboy hat,
(b) growing a goatee beard or
(c) buy a motorbike

then yes, you are having a mid-life crisis.

Nerine

And that's just the women.

I_Will_Freckle

Meat and two veg

Hi I will Freckle,

I just laughed at this listing, my elder brother must have gone through his a few years back

Meat and two veg

Ray

Jack Bauer named his cat 'Chuck Norris.' Why? Because He's a pussy.

Pinkie Pie

Pinkie Pie

Hello gorgeous...

bourbon-biscuit

Emigrating is stressful in the extreme, even for the most stable marriage/partnership. I'm not sure about the wisdom of doing it when one partner needs a lot of persuading.

Ray

Yup ..I agree ....