That was the longest test time and clean up after a class I have ever had. Or at least it seemed like it. I could not wait to call Patrick back and get the rest of the details. When I went home Patrick gave me the name of the company so I did research on it and looked up the contact names on LinkedIn and generally played Nancy Drew. I had to drive down to Salt Lake City to pick Patrick up from the airport the next day. He was so excited that he had me doing research on the computer using his cell as my modem on the 3 hour drive back home!
Never one to let a project lie at my feet, (unless of course you have seen my sewing room) I attacked learning about immigration to New Zealand. One of the first things I realized was that it was going to take time. According to the list of things I had to do, getting a full FBI background check was one of the longest hurdles to overcome. So that meant we needed to get ours done NOW. So on March 10th we headed down to the police station to be printed and then to the bank for our money orders to mail off with our prints. Looking back that was a pretty bold and BRILLIANT move on my part if I do say so myself.
Patrick had his first phone interview with them on Monday, March 9th. This was the first of many to come over the next almost 2 months. He even had to take a series of tests, similar to our version of IQ testing. We were updated as to his progress and told the pool was being narrowed down and he was still in the running. I am just thankful that I was wearing fake nails at the time because mine would probably have become bloody stumps!
While the wheels were grinding away for the New Zealand position several others were looking very good too. Arkansas became a serious contender as did Wisconsin. There was another LARGE company that wanted him but vacillated on where to put him. I was pulling for North Carolina but it was looking like it would be Pennsylvania. A consulting firm put a pretty good offer on the table too that would have had Patrick traveling quite a bit and we could have lived anywhere.
Finally towards the end of April the New Zealand company invited Patrick down for an interview. At the same time 2 more companies started putting the full court press on Patrick to come to work for them. One was in Australia and another was in Hong Kong. And to make it even more interesting, the consulting firm started up’ing the stakes and offering us international placement. Now we were facing some serious decisions and each option carried its own risk/reward ratio and vastly different life styles.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Enter New Zealand
Another one of those life defining moments came on February 19th, 2010 . I can clearly remember the moment. Both Patrick and I were sitting on the couch and it was evening. We both had our lap tops out. The tv was on in the background but neither of us was really watching it. I can’t tell you what I was working on but I clearly remember the moment my husband looked up and turned to me and said, “I just applied for a job in New Zealand.” In my ever so eloquent way, I replied, “huh”. I know, it must me a throw back to our cave man roots. Just a simple shrug of the shoulders “huh” as in no big deal, so what, that happens everyday way.
Patrick will of course laugh at me, but I swear I felt peaceful when he said it. Not scared or excited. Just safe. I just felt like everything was going to be alright.
Fast forward to Friday, March 4th. Patrick had been out of town on a job interview and was on his way back home to Idaho Falls. I had been teaching a Broker Management class all week. On Fridays we test and I have to grade each test and hand out certificates. (No one ever fails my class!) So at the end of the day on Friday I had started the students testing. My blackberry was set to silent and sitting on the desk. My screen lit up with Patrick’s picture. I let it go to voice mail since I could not answer it in a silent room full of nervous test takers. But it lit up again. And again. It was becoming apparent that something was up. Some of the students had started to finish the test by now and were coming up to my desk to have their tests graded.
I was beginning to worry so I grabbed the phone and tucked it to my ear and worriedly whispered “what’s up?” trying to be as quiet as I could while grading a test at the same time. Patrick on the other end was doing his version of extreme excitement ie: voice ever so slightly more animated than usual. (Full range of emotions ranging from exuberance to tears are reserved for me. Patrick’s range is silent smile to slight annoyance.)
He announced to me that he had just received a call from New Zealand and they wanted to interview him for the job he had applied for! Enter me with yet another eloquent reply. I said “you are lying”
Patrick will of course laugh at me, but I swear I felt peaceful when he said it. Not scared or excited. Just safe. I just felt like everything was going to be alright.
Fast forward to Friday, March 4th. Patrick had been out of town on a job interview and was on his way back home to Idaho Falls. I had been teaching a Broker Management class all week. On Fridays we test and I have to grade each test and hand out certificates. (No one ever fails my class!) So at the end of the day on Friday I had started the students testing. My blackberry was set to silent and sitting on the desk. My screen lit up with Patrick’s picture. I let it go to voice mail since I could not answer it in a silent room full of nervous test takers. But it lit up again. And again. It was becoming apparent that something was up. Some of the students had started to finish the test by now and were coming up to my desk to have their tests graded.
I was beginning to worry so I grabbed the phone and tucked it to my ear and worriedly whispered “what’s up?” trying to be as quiet as I could while grading a test at the same time. Patrick on the other end was doing his version of extreme excitement ie: voice ever so slightly more animated than usual. (Full range of emotions ranging from exuberance to tears are reserved for me. Patrick’s range is silent smile to slight annoyance.)
He announced to me that he had just received a call from New Zealand and they wanted to interview him for the job he had applied for! Enter me with yet another eloquent reply. I said “you are lying”
The beginning
Where does one begin? How does your journey begin? As I have contemplated writing this blog to chronicle our move to New Zealand from the US I have pondered this. How did this whole crazy thing start?
The best I can figure is that it goes back to my childhood. I have always wanted to travel and my interest in the world was greatly encouraged by my wonderful Grandpa Sabo. He traveled and explored and always told me about his adventures. He was always sure to send me post cards and letters detailing his and my grandmothers travels. (Yes, I am old. There were no texts, emails or skype when I was little. Just the USPS and phone. As in landline!)
So the flames of the love of travel were fanned early. Then when I met Patrick, he had already been in the Air Force for almost 8 years and lived in England for approximately 2 years and visited numerous other places. Early on we discussed moving abroad once the kids had graduated from high school. We even built our house in Meridian, ID with that plan in mind.
But life has a way of sending you on its own path and we took a detour to South East Idaho and have spent three years here.
Our youngest Mackenzie graduated this spring and that brings us back to the original plan. But not in the way you would think. It all started innocently enough. I had a business in Idaho Falls and Patrick had a good job in Blackfoot. Life was pretty ok. Early on in Mackenzie’s senior year we started investigating colleges. Our little big talker was adamant that she wanted to go out of state to college. (more on her later!) So in October I took her down to Embry Riddle in Prescott AZ.
Patrick had lived in Phoenix and one of my best friends was from AZ. I had always maintained that I would NEVER live there. That it just had to be too hot and ugly. My vision of AZ at the time was a vast desert and cactus and no trees and heat. Boy was I wrong. (About Northern Arizona anyway. I never did make it to Phoenix. ) When we hit Flagstaff and I saw all the beautiful trees and mountains I was taken by surprise. It reminded me of my own home town of Ukiah in northern California. You know how some things just stick out in your memory? Well, I distinctly remember driving and talking to Patrick on my cell phone and telling him how beautiful it was (as if he did not already know this) and how I could actually live there. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he immediately got on the internet and started researching.
Even though both of us had good careers going, neither of us was really what you would call happy living where we were. Southeast Idaho is near a lot of beautiful places and has lots of outdoor opportunities but the winters are LONG. The first 12 months we lived here we had snow fall 10 of them. No joke! We were not miserable or hating life, but the thought of something else was not a bad one.
So back to my story. Patrick started searching and broached the subject with me. I was all for it. I knew he was not totally challenged at work and had a lot of goals he still wanted to reach. So time went by and he started job hunting in earnest. With his excellent skill set and experience the job prospect started showing up. By January it became apparent that he was going to have to give notice to his employer. So in the middle of one of the worst economic times, my husband gave notice with NO JOB lined up. Friday, February 12, 2010 was his last day.
The best I can figure is that it goes back to my childhood. I have always wanted to travel and my interest in the world was greatly encouraged by my wonderful Grandpa Sabo. He traveled and explored and always told me about his adventures. He was always sure to send me post cards and letters detailing his and my grandmothers travels. (Yes, I am old. There were no texts, emails or skype when I was little. Just the USPS and phone. As in landline!)
So the flames of the love of travel were fanned early. Then when I met Patrick, he had already been in the Air Force for almost 8 years and lived in England for approximately 2 years and visited numerous other places. Early on we discussed moving abroad once the kids had graduated from high school. We even built our house in Meridian, ID with that plan in mind.
But life has a way of sending you on its own path and we took a detour to South East Idaho and have spent three years here.
Our youngest Mackenzie graduated this spring and that brings us back to the original plan. But not in the way you would think. It all started innocently enough. I had a business in Idaho Falls and Patrick had a good job in Blackfoot. Life was pretty ok. Early on in Mackenzie’s senior year we started investigating colleges. Our little big talker was adamant that she wanted to go out of state to college. (more on her later!) So in October I took her down to Embry Riddle in Prescott AZ.
Patrick had lived in Phoenix and one of my best friends was from AZ. I had always maintained that I would NEVER live there. That it just had to be too hot and ugly. My vision of AZ at the time was a vast desert and cactus and no trees and heat. Boy was I wrong. (About Northern Arizona anyway. I never did make it to Phoenix. ) When we hit Flagstaff and I saw all the beautiful trees and mountains I was taken by surprise. It reminded me of my own home town of Ukiah in northern California. You know how some things just stick out in your memory? Well, I distinctly remember driving and talking to Patrick on my cell phone and telling him how beautiful it was (as if he did not already know this) and how I could actually live there. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he immediately got on the internet and started researching.
Even though both of us had good careers going, neither of us was really what you would call happy living where we were. Southeast Idaho is near a lot of beautiful places and has lots of outdoor opportunities but the winters are LONG. The first 12 months we lived here we had snow fall 10 of them. No joke! We were not miserable or hating life, but the thought of something else was not a bad one.
So back to my story. Patrick started searching and broached the subject with me. I was all for it. I knew he was not totally challenged at work and had a lot of goals he still wanted to reach. So time went by and he started job hunting in earnest. With his excellent skill set and experience the job prospect started showing up. By January it became apparent that he was going to have to give notice to his employer. So in the middle of one of the worst economic times, my husband gave notice with NO JOB lined up. Friday, February 12, 2010 was his last day.
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