so… what do you do?
Since January I have dreaded the question "Where do you work?" because it has largely lead to either the follow up of "What do you do all day?" or pity about how difficult it can be to be unemployed. However, nothing could compare to last night when in the middle of telling someone about a venture I am starting up and explaining that I have only been in the country since January so it's not very far along, I was met with the comment "Well, you know that is six months!"
Yes, I have been living in New Zealand for quite sometime. If you want to get technical though, it's only been 5 months and eight days. Just three months in I was beating myself up for not accomplishing much by my standards so I really appreciate a complete stranger questioning what I have been doing all this time.
Prior to the move, I was obsessed with work. I was finally working in a position I had spent three years pining for, at an organisation that sometimes frustrated me, but that I loved to bits. Back when Seth and I were just friends he often thought that I would never be interested in him because he saw me as a career focused girl who didn't have time for a relationship, and in a lot of ways that was true. My job always took precedence over everything, even my own health and sanity. Even now when talking about Pittsburgh Filmmakers I use pronouns such as "we", "us", or "our". I still see myself as a part of that community even though I am many oceans away and a day away. This year I was only granted a Working Holiday Visa which means that I can work during my time in New Zealand, but only as long as that work is not permanent and does not exceed three months. I was terrified of how I would handle this, how I would cope with not having a job to pour myself into, what I would do for the ten hours a day that Seth is at work.
The first month and a half was easy. Two weeks were spent in a hotel, then the rest of the time was dedicated towards getting the house sorted. There are no Ikea's in the entire country so you have to do a lot of legwork to find decent furniture at an affordable price.
After the initial moving period had passed, I began focusing on the job hunt and finding my place in this Kiwi-world. Finding a job was actually incredibly easy and by the middle of February I had already secured my first teaching gig. Finding my place was a bit more difficult. I tried to connect with some other women that were trailing spouses as well, but there wasn't much of a connection. They were all quite nice, but they were definitely more traditional homemakers and talk often centred around children and taking care of the house. I also got the sense that, as immigrants themselves, they were a bit homesick. Being around homesick people when you too are in danger of homesickness is a bit counter-productive. I eventually began to get involved with the circus community and sewing classes. I knew I had found people I could get on with when a Doctor Who reference was made.
My days were largely spent preparing for my upcoming class, working on improving my personal website, and blogging more frequently. I also began volunteering at my church one day a week. Very early on I began to feel a bit disenchanted with the company I was employed at. It was contract work, which is what I am used to, but the office is located in a completely different city so all communication goes through e-mail. There were no coworkers to meet or interface with. Though they paid fairly well for most jobs, overall the place didn't gel with my values and I spent a good deal of time stressed out by their methods. I decided that I would finish up my commitments to them, then gracefully decline future work.
Around the time I realised that I didn't see a future with the company, I got sad. Back in Pittsburgh the school year was winding down and summer was beginning, I was missing so much. I had also been living in New Zealand for four months and had failed to really connect with the educational community. Coming from a city that boasts "connected learning" and encourages non-profits, librarians, and school educators to get together on a regular basis, Wellington seemed an incredibly lonely place. Anytime I would happen to stumble upon an event that looked interesting, it was in Auckland and generally, it wasn't anywhere near the Auckland airport which would mean a plane ride and various forms of public transport to arrive at the conference.
I did find some solace in education-centric Twitter chats and became ridiculously excited when some of my comments were retweeted and favourited by Kiwi educators. But talking to a screen isn't quite the same as interfacing with real, live people.
In early May my mum suggested I start up my own business. Since my arrival in Wellington there had been a bit of chatter about me potentially teaching kids during the school hols outside of any pre-established company. I finally decided to go for it. I already had heaps of lesson plans in my arsenal, but no equipment. I decided the best way to proceed was to schedule a handful of after-school workshops that were fairly low-tech, hands-on science experiments, paper electronics, and one lone programming class that unfortunately requires students to provide their own device. That part was fairly easy. I've done all that before, it's old hat.
Then came the tough stuff, asking people for help, something that I decidedly do not do. I started small and requested laptop donations, they didn't have to be in good condition, just able to turn on. We could replace hard-drives or outdated operating systems. At first, nothing happened, then, everything happened all at once.
Seth and I were invited to a quiz night and after a comedy of errors were placed at a table with people we did not know. As it turned out, one of our new acquaintances works at a non-profit arts centre catering to adults with learning disabilities and has been specifically looking to add stop-motion animation to their arsenal. From that night everything began falling into place, computers were donated, students began signing up, and people I needed to connect with began popping up in my path. I also began stepping out of my comfort zone and approaching people and organisations that I had no prior connection to. I am an incredibly shy person, just a year and a half ago I thought it was a big feat to attend a gallery opening at Filmmakers by myself.
Now I am well on my way to a partnership with a local community centre in a particularly low-income area of town and I am working towards a Maker Party in late August. Last night I connected with some amazing women who share similar goals to me and met the director of the Mozilla Science Lab. I just applied for funding to purchase some new laptops, but even if that falls through I am confident that something else will come along. All of this has been accomplished in the span of one month.
So no, in the past five months I have not changed the world, but I have given up everything I have ever known to move to a country I always dreamed about with no sense of what would happen next. No friends, no family, no house, no job. Even stepping on a plane that would eventually fly over many oceans was a major feat for me. I have stepped miles outside of my comfort zone and am now working towards creating something great. I may not have a nine-to-five job, but I think I have accomplished quite a lot.
Yes, I have been living in New Zealand for quite sometime. If you want to get technical though, it's only been 5 months and eight days. Just three months in I was beating myself up for not accomplishing much by my standards so I really appreciate a complete stranger questioning what I have been doing all this time.
Prior to the move, I was obsessed with work. I was finally working in a position I had spent three years pining for, at an organisation that sometimes frustrated me, but that I loved to bits. Back when Seth and I were just friends he often thought that I would never be interested in him because he saw me as a career focused girl who didn't have time for a relationship, and in a lot of ways that was true. My job always took precedence over everything, even my own health and sanity. Even now when talking about Pittsburgh Filmmakers I use pronouns such as "we", "us", or "our". I still see myself as a part of that community even though I am many oceans away and a day away. This year I was only granted a Working Holiday Visa which means that I can work during my time in New Zealand, but only as long as that work is not permanent and does not exceed three months. I was terrified of how I would handle this, how I would cope with not having a job to pour myself into, what I would do for the ten hours a day that Seth is at work.
The first month and a half was easy. Two weeks were spent in a hotel, then the rest of the time was dedicated towards getting the house sorted. There are no Ikea's in the entire country so you have to do a lot of legwork to find decent furniture at an affordable price.
After the initial moving period had passed, I began focusing on the job hunt and finding my place in this Kiwi-world. Finding a job was actually incredibly easy and by the middle of February I had already secured my first teaching gig. Finding my place was a bit more difficult. I tried to connect with some other women that were trailing spouses as well, but there wasn't much of a connection. They were all quite nice, but they were definitely more traditional homemakers and talk often centred around children and taking care of the house. I also got the sense that, as immigrants themselves, they were a bit homesick. Being around homesick people when you too are in danger of homesickness is a bit counter-productive. I eventually began to get involved with the circus community and sewing classes. I knew I had found people I could get on with when a Doctor Who reference was made.
My days were largely spent preparing for my upcoming class, working on improving my personal website, and blogging more frequently. I also began volunteering at my church one day a week. Very early on I began to feel a bit disenchanted with the company I was employed at. It was contract work, which is what I am used to, but the office is located in a completely different city so all communication goes through e-mail. There were no coworkers to meet or interface with. Though they paid fairly well for most jobs, overall the place didn't gel with my values and I spent a good deal of time stressed out by their methods. I decided that I would finish up my commitments to them, then gracefully decline future work.
Around the time I realised that I didn't see a future with the company, I got sad. Back in Pittsburgh the school year was winding down and summer was beginning, I was missing so much. I had also been living in New Zealand for four months and had failed to really connect with the educational community. Coming from a city that boasts "connected learning" and encourages non-profits, librarians, and school educators to get together on a regular basis, Wellington seemed an incredibly lonely place. Anytime I would happen to stumble upon an event that looked interesting, it was in Auckland and generally, it wasn't anywhere near the Auckland airport which would mean a plane ride and various forms of public transport to arrive at the conference.
I did find some solace in education-centric Twitter chats and became ridiculously excited when some of my comments were retweeted and favourited by Kiwi educators. But talking to a screen isn't quite the same as interfacing with real, live people.
In early May my mum suggested I start up my own business. Since my arrival in Wellington there had been a bit of chatter about me potentially teaching kids during the school hols outside of any pre-established company. I finally decided to go for it. I already had heaps of lesson plans in my arsenal, but no equipment. I decided the best way to proceed was to schedule a handful of after-school workshops that were fairly low-tech, hands-on science experiments, paper electronics, and one lone programming class that unfortunately requires students to provide their own device. That part was fairly easy. I've done all that before, it's old hat.
Then came the tough stuff, asking people for help, something that I decidedly do not do. I started small and requested laptop donations, they didn't have to be in good condition, just able to turn on. We could replace hard-drives or outdated operating systems. At first, nothing happened, then, everything happened all at once.
Seth and I were invited to a quiz night and after a comedy of errors were placed at a table with people we did not know. As it turned out, one of our new acquaintances works at a non-profit arts centre catering to adults with learning disabilities and has been specifically looking to add stop-motion animation to their arsenal. From that night everything began falling into place, computers were donated, students began signing up, and people I needed to connect with began popping up in my path. I also began stepping out of my comfort zone and approaching people and organisations that I had no prior connection to. I am an incredibly shy person, just a year and a half ago I thought it was a big feat to attend a gallery opening at Filmmakers by myself.
Now I am well on my way to a partnership with a local community centre in a particularly low-income area of town and I am working towards a Maker Party in late August. Last night I connected with some amazing women who share similar goals to me and met the director of the Mozilla Science Lab. I just applied for funding to purchase some new laptops, but even if that falls through I am confident that something else will come along. All of this has been accomplished in the span of one month.
So no, in the past five months I have not changed the world, but I have given up everything I have ever known to move to a country I always dreamed about with no sense of what would happen next. No friends, no family, no house, no job. Even stepping on a plane that would eventually fly over many oceans was a major feat for me. I have stepped miles outside of my comfort zone and am now working towards creating something great. I may not have a nine-to-five job, but I think I have accomplished quite a lot.
