Yes, the other side for me is New Zealand. It won't get closer to that for some more months. I never believed that moving to a different place could change someone so much. I've always believed, it's not possible to change the people, but we can always work on their habits. This blog post is dedicated to exactly that - habits, lifestyle, places, and a bit of what I've been doing here in the last 3 months.
Matakauri Lodge, January
Locals
Not a secret, I've spent my 1st 3 months in NZ here! Queenstown is an amazing place to start, save up, and hit the road afterward. This is definitely the city that tourists love. Almost everyone I've met here is from another country in the world instead of NZ. Every second person here is staying in Queenstown only for an average time of 3 months and then just as I'm planning - moving to another city or goes off exploring. Everyone here is amazingly polite and positive. At 1st I couldn't really believe that it's the way they just are. Completely different from what I'm used to seeing and dealing with.
Jobs
Here are so many available vacancies, if you're a person with experience, they are going to love you. That happened to me - I started my 1st job in New Zealand exactly 3 months ago as a sales representative. Remember I told you that The Work and Holiday VISA allows people to work for one employer only for max 3 months?
That's it! Now I'm already on a new journey, working from my living room or whichever place I want. The minimum salary in New Zeland is 17.70 NZD/h (9.97 EUR) and starting April it'll jump up to 19.00 NZD. I want to believe, I got very lucky - I also received incentives from what I actually sold. As it's the biggest gift shop in Queenstown, they had almost everything - parties, products, a nice attitude.
This was my 1st real experience working in a retail store and I loved it. It's so much easier to read people when they're just in front of you and they're on their vacation! You won't believe that was one of the most entertaining jobs I've ever had. I feel like a "fish in the water" when I can present something to fun, open-minded people. OK, we can stop a bit here. People are different and most of them can be easily read.
Part of my colleagues, March
The place where they come from already gives 80% of the information on how I should talk to them. Europeans want their space and don't like any attention, also, not very friendly. Funny that I'm Europian but I like talking with people. Asians like facts and numbers. They know salesperson knows more that they do and most of them don't feel confident using other languages. People from the USA, Canada, and Australia - always friendly, ready to chat, share their stories and love to have a good laugh. I'm very happy I had a chance to learn about different people from Asia. This was my 1st experience working with them daily, so I stayed open-minded and now I know, they're very lovely people, who need more time to trust others.
Lifestyle
Can't skip this one. Here people love their families and the world knows it. Several times I've seen how people take their dogs to work for the whole day. Here people work to spend more time with their families, they don't work to work more as I remember Europeans doing (yes, me too). As there are so many outdoorsy activities, people tend to live healthier. They love mountain biking, hiking. Finally, I could try proper hiking too - Ben Lomand, Bobs Cove and Queenstown Hill.
Ben Lomond peak, January
What's really going on?
I like New Zealand as you might notice if you follow me on Facebook or Instagram. So far I haven't really seen the real New Zealand because this was the time for saving up, understanding where to move, etc.
Still, I feel like I made the best out of this time - worked full-time, joined the boot camp, starting healthy eating, made some great friends, showed people how to celebrate Christmas. More about the boot camp you can find on my Instagram profile under highlights #bootcamppart1 and #bootcamppart2. It all happened at Industrial Fitness Gym, with the amazing boss trainer Hannah. The main reason why I joined it - I've never been too confident and the only way how I believe I can fight myself is jumping out of the comfort zone - talking with my accent, keeping myself accountable.
Boot camp girls, the ones that survived till the 8th week, March
I'm seeing so many girls reaching out to me, asking for a piece of advice - how do I start, how can I be healthy, how can you find time for all that, etc? Not that this decision took me a lot of time - I'm making my own Bootcamp for girls that have all these questions "Ambitious Steps - Active" (we start 08/03/2020). Definitely not for everyone, but if you want to make some changes in yourself, you're welcome to join now.
What's next?
I'm not sure.
100% I'm not sure. I have great goals for my new business and the boot camp is starting tomorrow.
In the middle of March, it'll be time to travel! Some interviews for new jobs are already scheduled but at the moment, all I want is to enjoy International Ladies Day with songs from Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Etta James.
Thank you for all the support you're sending my way! I appreciate every single comment, feedback, and smile. Enjoy your day!
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