Observations on Living Overseas: Expatriates in New Zealand

Daniele and I both agree that the downside to our adventures is that neither one of us feel as though we belong anyplace any more. Daniele does not feel at home in France and has no desire to move back there; neither one of us feels like California is home any more. On Saipan and in Saudi Arabia, we were part of a vibrant and interesting expatriate community that made it all worthwhile. In many ways, living away from home in a subculture of expats is like having a temporary extended family, something we never had in Fairfield, California, where we didn't even know our neighbors.

We are now living in New Zealand. In this past week, I discovered that some of the parents I have met at soccer practice and bumped into at school while picking up children are not all native Kiwis. Two dads I talked to in casual passing are recent immigrants from the UK. Another couple I met even more recently escaped from East Germany before the wall came down. I have met a surfing instructor from California (married to a Kiwi), a German chef (also married to a Kiwi), and two teachers from Southern California. Then there are Fiona and Allan Ross, who live just up the road from us. They emigrated here eight years ago from Aberdeen, Scotland. While at Anne-Marie's horse riding school, I met another couple, again from California, who live not far from my mother in Santa Cruz County. They came to New Zealand on vacation a few months ago, fell in love with the Taranaki – Oakura to be more exact – and bought a house here. They flew back to California last week to get their NZ resident visas in order and take care of family matters before returning to the Taranaki to "grow old and die."

At about the same time I was discovering we are not alone here in the Taranaki, I read that fully 20% of New Zealand's residents were born overseas. The vast majority has come from the UK. Emigrants from India and China are a close second and third. Only three-percent come from the US, but who knows … after I get done writing these letters, those statistics may undergo a radical change. Then we will have to move again – Papua New Guinea, perhaps. I hear you can get five acres there real cheap.

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