Interview with a New Zealand Resident!

This week I had the privilege of interviewing Terri Palmer, an American who emigrated to New Zealand 22 years ago, she also happens the be Kinsey Waylander’s aunt. She told me that the emigration process takes about three months and is very difficult; she had to fill out various forms with different pieces of background information and then she went to the Immigration Office. Once there, she said that there were a ton of people there in line and they had to wait for days. It took about three trips when all was said and done, but that is how she obtained her residence permit which grants all the normal rights of Kiwi’s except that she can’t be a member of Parliament. She also has a returning residency permit which allows her to come and go as she wishes. She said that the most difficult part of the process was leaving her family and moving all the way to the other side of the world, and knowing that she can’t hop in the car and go visit her family and friends. She informed me of some funny differences between the U.S. and N.Z., the main difference was that they drive on the opposite side of the road and the opposite side of the car, which was very difficult for her to adjust to. The culture is very different and it was a challenge for her to understand all of the peoples’ accents at first. She said that the light switches work the wrong way, the toilet actually does flush the opposite direction and that everyone in New Zealand eats with the fork in their LEFT hand, which is hard to do (I tried it), and Christmas is during their summer so they have Christmas on the beach! She lives in Auckland and one of her favorite thing is being so close to the water and all of the beautiful scenery.

It was amazing for me to be able to talk to someone who has actually made the move to New Zealand, everything she told me was very encouraging and I love learning about the culture and social customs of different countries. She was able to provide me with insight that would have been very difficult to obtain from reading a book or an article on the internet, and it was entertaining to hear how she adjusted to life in New Zealand.

Palmer, Terri. Telephone interview. 3 May. 2010.