Kiwis in America

It has always amazed me that so many New Zealanders start up conversations with strangers more often on rugby than using something safe like the weather. Now I have nothing against rugby at all. I can be in a room with people screaming and yelling at the TV and still read my book quite happily. Taxi drivers would start up conversations with "Good game yesterday, aye?". Not wanting to say anything that would encourage a conversation where I couldn't contribute anything meaningful I would say something like "Is Craig Green still an All Black?" and that would end it quickly. It was a great way to ward off anyone really. For the rugby experts I did go to Rugby Museum of New Zealand and found that he played 20 tests between 1983 and 1987 and now he's getting famous all over again or perhaps for the first time here on this lens in USA!

One great shame of my life is that I only learned to eat oysters when living in Macau. It seems that the bland oysters full of poisons from the polluted seas off Hong Kong tasted better than Bluff Oysters. However on my return to the deep south I found that in my 49th year of NZ life I could now eat them, and then I was willing to be introduced to the world of Toheroa patties. It has been hard to find them on any Wisconsin menu and now I can't make up for lost time.

I'm a well traveled girl but it is really only until you live in another country that you really dwell on being a New Zealander. I lived in Macau in 2005 and found that because I expected everything to be so totally different that I was ready for anything and often pleasantly surprised when things were often similar to home despite often having to do charades to get myself understood. Here I expect so much to be the same and find so many things so different it can be frustrating. The fact that you're charged more for using a debit card than a check/cheque and having to use pennies again.
Enough whining - on to the good stuff!

BTW - If you're wondering about my choice of photo in the introduction where I could have chosen from a gazillion fabulous photos of New Zealand I just love the way this photo of a bach at Taylors Mistake near Christchurch epitomizes the Kiwi can do attitude. I bet they can't get insurance though!

...I can move the car or park it but not shift it!
Aiso, I have to write the date with the month first, drive on the Wrong side of the road and receive my pay every two weeks instead of a fortnight and no one luxes or hoovers the floor. Making a form for work I put instructions for ticking the box which apparently was unfathomable and my cheques need checking!. I bought my American husband a small book of Kiwi slang which sits in the smallest room in the house and apparently has opened up a whole new world of linguistics.
A couple of amusing pages on the topic are www.uber.nu/2001/06/22/
and a guy called Richard Seaman aka The Flying Kiwi has a page on the topic
www.richard-seaman.com/USA/Life/Language/AmericanVersusNewZealandVocabulary.html

Do we ever get used to the snow? I learnt to snowshoe this year which wasn't on the 50 things I had to do before I die, but if you want to go anywhere in the winter in Wisconsin you gotta learn!
I envy all the coastal New Zealanders.

There is a great little Yahoo Groups on Kiwis in America and its full of people struggling to get their green cards - coming into the USA on fiance visas or getting married over here. It is quicker (less competition) to get married in New Zealand and do all the paperwork over there through the American Consulate in Auckland. Make sure your spouse or prospective one has got all the affidavits and personal information and stuff signed by notaries in USA. It took me 6 weeks to get it all done including Xmas break. Of course you still have to go through the 2 year period here before you get permanent residency status. They want to check it is not a marriage of convenience when really it is one of inconvenience! How more inconvenient can it be than to commute between say, Invercargill and anywhere that is not LA.

For more information on this and other things you ought to know about living here and also about your civic duties such as voting in New Zealand, or what to do if you lose your passport or how to get on the register of Kiwis overseas (a great help if you're caught in an area of disaster such as a tornado) go the the New Zealand embassy website
NZ Embassy:Information for New Zealanders living in the USA

And for those who like a romantic story - yes we met on the internet and after 6 months of lies and sending photos of famous models he decided to check me out in person. Fortunately he had a forgiving nature or just happened to prefer short, shall we say sturdy women with fashionably greying hair. After being fairly sure he wasn't an ax murderer, I took him around the South Island, introduced him to whitebait and toheroa patties, huts in Skippers Canyon, a seaside stay at a friends hovel at Kaka Point in South Otago, horseriding on deserted beaches, Stewart Island, NZ wine and generally showed him one hell of a good time. A couple of trips to Wisconsin over the next 2 years, a job in Macau in between then a wedding in good ol' Invercargill. And we are going back to live in NZ in a few years. I bought some coastal NZ just in case it was all sold by the time we go back.

If you live anywhere near Los Angeles or are in the area prior to Christmas, you can attend the Kiwis in LA xmas party at the NZ Consulate. It costs about $40-50, but the food is fabulous and so is the venue and its a chance to mingle with the hoi polloi and just plain ol' polloi. 2007 Greg Johnson played accompanied by the soothing sounds of lamb crackling on the grill. Super NZ wines and beers were part of the deal too. You have to pre book.

While most of us will travel Air New Zealand and/or Qantas consider Air Tahiti which until recently flew out of New York but now only LA and goes through Tahiti funnily enough. You can have a free stopover too. It only goes to Auckland although they will arrange connecting flights but personally if you have your own Air New Zealand airpoints account it is usually cheaper and easier to book internal flights online. You can subscribe to email alerts at Air Tahiti Nui and to get emails on deals stateside from Air New Zealand make sure you get the alerts from their .com site not their .co.nz site otherwise they will all be specials from New Zealand. Subscribe to both. Air Pacific and Fiji also have deals but they are often booked out a long way ahead. More power to them.

Help me out people - let me know of any online and offline groups out there.

Los Angeles Kiwi club has a great site with an events page and a fascinating bios page. Add yourself if you live there.
Kiwis in LA

San Francisco Kiwis have what seems to be a well established website and social circle.
sfkiwis

Another San Fran group for Aussies, Kiwis and South Africans. Events look to be well attended.
San-Francisco-Bay-Area-Aussies-Kiwis-and-Saffas

If you are in Texas there's is the Australia New Zealand Society of Texas. Along with social and cultural events they have a weekly playgroup.
Tanzot.org

The long standing Southern Cross Club promotes friendship amongst Aussies, Kiwis and Americans. A good business and social contact group. The site appears to be updated infrequently.
Southern Cross Club

New York has a thriving circle of kiwis. This website has extensive links to other regional groups however some of them are no longer current.
Kiwi Club of New York

Mentioned before - Yahoo Groups. Kiwis all over USA write on a range of topics but predominantly life in USA and nostalgic Kiwi stuff. Similarly there is a yahoo groups for Kiwis in Florida but it seems to be pretty stagnant - maybe you could revive it?
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Kiwis-in-America
www.groups.yahoo.com/group/Floridakiwis

Another Florida one that looks like it is alive and well is the South Florida Aussie Kiwi Club

Finding a rugby club is a sure bet there's kiwis in it. This provides some good links to clubs across the states
www.ambassadorsshield.com

Did you play Netball at home? This site has a lot of information and there are links to various regional clubs with their own websites. Lots of Brits, South African, Kiwis and Americans and Blokes!!
Netball America

If you are looking at networking for business interests be sure to check out if there is a ANZACC (Australian New Zealand American Chamber of Commerce) near you. They often are a great source of social events too. The Chicago chapter has a comprehensive list of regional chapters
ANZACC Midwest

In Atlanta, Georgia, along with a New Zealand Honorary Consul office, there is a social group with a small membership charge.
New Zealand American Association in Atlanta

A new club has been formed in Dallas/Fort Worth area, Texas in 2008. No website yet but they are off to a stellar start. At their first meeting in August 2008 their guest speaker was Peter Snell. Click here to contact The Kiwi Koala Club