Auf Wiedersehen! Swapping GERMANY for NZ

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In this week’s Moving to New Zealand episode, you will meet Tobias. Tobias is a member of our private NZ Ahead community.
Tobias and his wife desperately wanted to leave Germany to start a new life. After making a short list of seven contending countries, they opted for New Zealand.
They arrived in Christchurch 6 months ago, facing many obstacles along the way. Now they are here,
Does Tobias feel welcome?
What would he do differently?
What does he struggle with the most when it comes to the kiwi culture vs. German culture?
And….the question we’re all desperate to know…which were the 7 countries on the list, and why did they choose NZ?
Listen to the episode to find out!
Enjoy this story! 😊

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#newzealand #movingtonewzealand #movingfromgermanytonewzealand

imagine living in a country that was structured and planned and everything was on time and everything was just solid and Brilliant and good and then moving to a country that was a little bit more LAX say and everything was a little bit more easy that is what it felt like for Tobias when he left Germany to move to New Zealand the image of Germans in countries is we are disciplined we are correct we are on time that and he said kiwis are a bit scared of that in this week’s episode you’re going to meet Tobias Tobias is a member of our private NZ ahead community and he left Germany to move to New Zealand with his wife and his two little cats and today he’s going to share all about what that Adventure was like so let’s Jump On In and meet Tobias NZ ahead coming to you from tanaki New Zealand got it got it got it Toby welcome to the NZ ahead podcast I’m so excited to have you here do you know you are our first jour ger guest ever to be on this podcast thank you for having me and join me yeah the the group there are not many Germans so I was surprised because a lot of actually think of New Zealand as a wonderful country yeah well let’s just jump straight on in there let’s let’s let’s talk about who you are and why you are in New Zealand and and where you’ve come from let’s just if you just like to introduce yourself that would be absolutely fabulous um originally come from stutgart with the which is in South Germany and I met my wife Judith at the University basically just moved together after we finished our study near Lake Constance with is close to the border to Austria and swiss for over 12 years now we are both it managers so started as software engineers and became team leads and managers yeah so that’s basically the rough summary of our history and why we moved to New Zealand things came together a bit so we had paid our apartment we both have in our jobs had enough experience that we would say yeah that’s fine that works out we were both a bit unsatisfied with our jobs at that moment so it was not bad we were happy but still open for something new and as we already thought about migrating to New Zealand seven years ago we just thought there well maybe it’s time to just think about that again and that’s basically how things started moving in I think August September 22 22 right so you had you ever been to New Zealand before no we were never in New Zealand the funny thing is we did an rational benchmark in the end so really objective Benchmark of countries that we would like to live in and then we just said well we don’t want to learn a new language so for example countries like Sweden Portugal or Spain were basically gone at that moment because we both didn’t want to spend the effort in time we were lazy at that point regarding languages then in the end there was seven countries left which were New Zealand Australia Canada USA Singapore Ireland and Netherlands right and then we just benchmarked them regarding their social policies regarding political situations social situation people country culture and all these things and in the end new zean wasn’t number one Australia number two and Canada number three it’s weird is Canada always it always is like in one of those top boxes isn’t it where Canada or New Zealand it’s it’s comes up every single time uh we also watched the YouTube channel that was basically comparing countries with each other so why you would want to move to a country and why you wouldn’t want that was also helpful just to get an idea because for example we didn’t think of Singapore because I don’t know why so it was not on our initial list but it became an option once we had some more information about it and I think that’s something that I would suggest to everyone just if you if you consider moving from your country to another country just be open-minded and look around if you I mean if you have one specific Target of course you don’t need to but for us it was super helpful you know what I can’t I can’t wait to into this show because I think you’re not only are you the first German person I’ve ever interviewed on the podcast but a lot of people that we talk to move from the heart and they make emotional decisions and they’re like oh yeah we want to just move to New Zealand because you know we want to be free or we would just want this better lifestyle but including myself I’m talking about myself here as well you can’t quite put your finger on why it is you want to move to New Zealand so the thought of you two you and Judith sitting down and writing this list of seven countries and then going through it one by one going well does it does it match this does it match that that’s just fantastic and I just think what a flipping brilliant way to decide where you’re going to live so I’m really really interested later in the show to work out whether that played out and worked out for you guys having never very rational objective way to to select the country that’s true so it was not by heart as you said though actually before we move on why did New Zealand play first over Australia what was it that tipped the scales that made you think no not Australia I’m going to New Zealand it was basically the people so Judith best friend traveled around the world for a year and he stayed for a pretty long time in Australia and New Zealand so we had firsthand information on how people are how the country is and so on and he said yeah the TV people are nicer they are more polite you can have a proper discussion with them with she didn’t experience in Australia that much also the countryside so that was also an option Australia is basically a huge land but in the end everything happens in the big cities it would be very crowded again and that was something that we found very nice in New Zealand that there are not that many people around here even in cities like Christ Church even if it’s crowded it doesn’t feel crowded for us German because the big cities are completely different in Germany than I mean in the UK I guess exactly the same it just feels completely different yeah that t the scale in the end something else we liked how New Zealand treats the mai situation you can argue whether specific decisions are good or bad that’s up to everyone but I think just discussing about it and addressing the situation was something we said yeah well from a social and cultural point of you that’s something we appreciate and we value someh and I think those were the reasons we said yeah seems to be a nice place to go yeah yeah well I’m certainly glad that you did and you are here and I forgot to mention that that you are living in Christ chur so but before you and Judith and you’ve got a couple of cats as well that you brought over they’re your babies aren’t they yeah so so before you Judith and the cats arrive or you’re living in Christ Church let’s just rewind it and go back to your decision so you’ve had these seven countries on the list you’ve crossed them off you don’t want that you don’t want Singapore you don’t want Australia you don’t want Canada you want New Zealand but I know that there were a couple of things there that even though you’ve done all this like strategic going through planning there were a couple of things that you say that me and you have talked about that that would make pulling you back to Germany and and like thinking oh should we should we leave Germany can you just share what maybe one of those things was that you were just thinking oh just holding you back a little bit and why not to leave Germany what what what was that those considerations came later when I was here for three months in New Zealand so this where where sometimes what I well do we do the right thing something like that when we’re back in Germany and we took the decision and we agreed on what we want to do so that we want to move to New Zealand we basically started executing so we had the plan in our hand and said well that is that is what we want we discussed how we would like to tackle it there were different options in the end we said okay one of us will hand in his notice so quit the job so there is no limitation in time or that you’re most fle as flexible as you can in the end we hired an immigration adviser in Germany that took care of everything for us from a organizational point of view regarding visas and all the other stuff because we didn’t want to tackle that on our own that was Bucy and we would have to do enough other things once we moved that it’s fine with that we PID for that service that’s perfectly fine so we can justest everyone to do it that’s that’s what it is yeah and then I hand it in my notice my post was a bit surprised that I quit but in the end understood it and I mean the cool thing was he even offered me to just wait with the quitting my job or handing in the notice because he said well if you if you’re there and you think about it that it’s different this discussion never happened um and you can just continue working so that was fine that’s nice that’s nice to have that flexibility isn’t it so let let me just make sure that so you you have this decision you you want to move to New Zealand both of you are quite a little bit disheartened with your jobs in Germany you want to you want to move over to New Zealand so you one of you hands your job in gives in the notice yeah and then you come over to New Zealand to do a wrecky that’s right that’s what you did wasn’t it yeah basically I went to New Zealand for three months while Judith was still in Germany working until end of May so a bit longer and the basic idea was that I would just travel around the country have an impression of what we expected to see that this is true and that we don’t have any unpleasant surprises I just moved here traveled around country so a lot of cities I changed my mind quite a bit where we want to end up in the beginning we said uh Oakland would be great Wellington would be great and maybe Hamilton or Tanga so those four areas and in the end Tanga remained it’s still a beautiful area and then we I didn’t like Oakland it’s just not as nice reminded me a bit of Berlin and Germany so a bit gray a bit dirty I mean still much cleaner Ben itties in Germany but still I was tanaki area is super beautiful really this would be yeah seem to be some nice people no that was beautiful and Christ Church surprised me we didn’t want to go to Christ Church actually but um the initial thoughts were it’s in the South it’s cold we wanted actually to be more in the warmer area on let’s say more tropical climate and yeah it’s so far away from everything else most of the things are on the North Island so touristic stuff but the character of Christ Church actually got me somehow so the earthquake is still visible everywhere well not everywhere but in a lot of places but it has a charm so and this is why I said well this is an option too and then got a job or I got a job offered that actually matches Judah skill set more than it did mine then things began going unplanned because oh no yeah so this is the idea was that I moved to New Zealand check everything up say well well that’s fine we we move on then find a job right sorry was Judas still working back in Germany while you in New Zealand and you still had your flat and everything like that you still had all everything was over there so all you were doing was coming over to New Zealand and giving it a good look around check out where you want to live see what the job situation was and then you were going to report back to Judas and go yay or nay we’ll move over is that right okay I’m with you yes we we decided that we would want to make a decision by the end of May so two month time then we would make a decision and move on as I said so everything was as we expected the only thing that didn’t work out was the job thing I just didn’t get an interview because having no work visa so I was surprised that it is that hard to find a job yeah I was just I didn’t get one so I failed in that regard so it wasn’t the right time yeah yeah but I had a copy with a recruiter here in in Christ church and was talking to her about it and she said well I might have a job for you I’m more the software it guy and my wife is more on the hardware side and she offered me a job for a team lead position as an team leader of Hardware software developers or hardware near software developers well I thought I could apply for the position but maybe Judith has better skills that for that and then I just sent her the job description and at that moment she was on B with her mother because they wanted to have a a vacation together for the last time before she moves to New Zealand yeah and I just wrote a well here’s a job we need to apply within a few days where is your CV and she didn’t have one so we started well while she was sitting at the pool with her mom she sent me some messag yeah please write this into my CV and I was sitting here in New Zealand typing her CV spending it B she corrected it again and so that was back and forth then she applied and yeah I mean obviously we are here so it went pretty well but it was super stressful for her because she quit end of May so 31st of May yeah and she already had two interviews via um Zoom at that moment and but they wanted to see her in person at least once before she signs the contract so she had to get to New Zealand so she bought a ticket end of May one or two weeks before she left and between her last day at work and the moment she took the plane was about four days so super stress super stressful yeah yeah so really super stressful she was really annoyed let’s it like that annoyed you forgetting her the job or that she didn’t have any time off or what basically both I hate picking up things and moving on so I didn’t want to Peck all the things organize the whole Transportation stuff I’m more the guy that’s like hey well a new country let’s find a home let’s go on prepare everything and that was the plan so I prepare everything she could she would have one or two months off a bit of vacation can pack all the stuff and then just arrive here and everything is prepared yeah and um yeah in the end it went exactly the other way around we both did what we didn’t like to do yeah so that was really stressful and she just hardly managed to say goodbye to her family she wasn’t even able to say goodbye to most of her friends that was really rushed in the end yeah and she was really done once she arrived Bri sh so she had to take a day just sleeping and getting some energy back so so let me hold you there let me just let me just pause a minute so because I need to process this in my B brain so so you decide to New Zealand you’ve got your seven countries number one is New Zealand you come over you go around the country you look around you get to Christ Church there’s a job that say that they say oh yeah this would suit you Toby and in your mind you’re thinking hang on a minute no Judith can have this job I can that she can come over here and have this job and she’s on holiday with her mom in in barley they write her you write your CV and get her the job and all this and then she moves over she hands in a notice at work in Germany and moves over to New Zealand to take this job is that right the job in chis yeah that’s correct go that was the job in Christ j oh my gosh so that poor maximizing maximizing the CH so we just did everything to have my former boss at work said well I understand what you’re doing because he fully understood why I would quit instead of just taking a three Monon unpaid vacation or something like that because he said yeah I fully get it if you have a dream or if you have a goal you should put 100% of your energy just into that goal and move on and then don’t care about what it means to leave your job or whatever because it’s your German boss that said this yeah my German boss said that to me um uh yeah we had a pretty good relationship so we were both always straightforward and so that was actually easy going so yeah so New Zealand she arrives here and then what what do you do where where do you go do you go back to Germany to sell the flat and so no we we had almost two weeks here together so after three months being separated from each other we met here again oh that’s nice and then and um at 10 or 12 days where we could just travel around the country a bit together and enjoy the time here but of course we also had to organize stuff by the time I knew how to um get your um I don’t know AA membership we did because we didn’t we said well if we’re in a new country just pay for it for a year and you you don’t have to think about that problem if something if your car breaks down a lot of other stuff we had just to figure out getting her bank bank account uh stuff like that but we also we wait went to Lake pickup who had a weekend there so we spent some quality time but also some work that we had to do yeah after 10 12 days I left the country on the last day of my tourist recycle so I think it was really the last day after exactly three months and you I went back to Germany poor Judith I mean I mean you are here because you love New Zealand you might be moving to New Zealand living in New Zealand or you might just spend your days dreaming of visiting this gorgeous country we love New Zealand as much as you do we have compiled a short and very unique 5day video series showcasing life in New Zealand what it’s really like these videos are real they are exclusive and best of all they’re absolutely free so if you would like to view New Zealand from the inside out and find out what life is really like down here sign up now and every day for 5 days we will send you a personal three minute video showcasing some brilliant aspect of life in New Zealand you are going to love it go to www.it drama.com love enzed we can’t wait to share those videos with you okay let’s get back on with the show poor Judith I mean good on this woman I mean I think we should have had her on this this call but yeah what that takes an awful lot and she’d never been to New Zealand before um is her English as good as yours obviously is because she got the job so her English must be excellent yeah we we both speak English in our working environment and that helped us of course to okay just find context here and and did you just say to her oh okay love you’ll be all right you just sit tight here and I’ll go back to Germany and get everything sold and sorted and I’ll be back when I can is that what you said pretty much yes so it’s it’s sounds a bit cool if you phrase it like that but yes this is what I did that’s the way it is Toby yeah that’s that’s how it go but that’s how it needs to be yeah yeah and and like you say that is how it needs to be and you know what I love this because this is a perfect example of jumping on an opportunity that’s like you say if you’re going to go for this dream and there’s this job here and good on Judith for being flipping brave enough and up for it that she would and you worked as a team and she’s over here and she’s like no you just go back and sort the house and everything out and get the Caps over and just do what you need to do and I’ll hold the for here in Christ Church I just think you’re an amazing team for doing this and I just yeah I’m just intrigued I just I I can’t ever imagine me doing that with Brian I don’t think I’d be brave enough so yeah H absolutely hands-off so tell me what the how was it when you went back to Germany just being a part and like did she say she liked New Zealand or was there any time that she said you know what I don’t really like it here don’t bother selling the flat because I think I should come home was there any of that I mean this this is what we already agreed on before we even started so that everyone of us could just say well that’s it for me we’ll stop it here we fly back to Germany and that’s it so this is something we already discuss what happens if we don’t find a job for example we already planned that if I I wouldn’t manage to find a job she would just then go to New Zealand and try it on her own right we said that if somebody dislikes it for whatever reason or feels unsafe insecure whatever it is just say no and we go home to Germany and find a new job there because I think it’s an important decision it has some impact on your life I guess and everybody should be able to just say yeah no I don’t feel comfortable with it anymore because that can happen and this also why we drove around the country while she was while we were here together just that I could explain a few things exchange The Impressions that I had of the country then she could also see more than just Christ yeah so that that was an option for every one of us I think the we said we are really sticking to the plan no matter what once the container is gone and when the cats are on their way to New Zealand so those were the two things that we said okay once this happens we are done because the container costs about 16,000 from Germany to New Zealand so it’s pretty expensive 16, said we 16,000 yet how big was the container 20 ft not not the big one the small one 15,000 Euros oh my God that’s gone up in price isn’t it I mean it did so it was about three or 4,000 before Co and since then wow it just went upwards all the time I mean I didn’t pack all the um the boxes and all the stuff we had we work with the company together they packed everything for us put it into container so because I would have it would have taken me weeks or months to to to do that alone or with even with friends and I didn’t want to ask the friends doing it because yeah just didn’t it just didn’t F feel right for me at that point yeah yeah so we worked with a company together that packed everything F within three days put it into container and sent a container away let me just pause you pause you I’ve got a question I’ve got a question so first of all God this is brilliant so w so you I’m I’m going back to Judith I’m going back to Judith now Zealand do that yeah and um and you two now I’ve got even more respect and admiration because you two have got the kind of Rel relationship that have said to each other look if any of us either of us re feel that this is the wrong choice that we’re not happy that you know we want to call it off we can do that we can just come straight back to Germany and we can carry on but Judith once that container leaves that’s cost me 16,000 I don’t care if you want to come home not and that’s the end of it yeah you will be right at that moment so yeah before we move on to the to the rest of the story can I just ask you know when you came over to New Zealand for three months you and you and you you know and you met Judith for that two weeks and everything hand on heart was there anything that you thought oh no I don’t that wasn’t what I expected like in that three months that you came over was that because I know you just said that you were preparing Judith for things that when she came over was there anything was it all positive or was there anything negative that you thought look you need to know about this because this is a bit rubbing or anything like that so nothing that surprised us so we actually prepared really well to be honest we were surprised we didn’t expect that but everything everything that is in the end that we knew would be an issue for example finding houses I mean that’s not within the three months that I was there but we already knew that houses are built differently here than they are in Europe especially in Germany so that was we we knew about it we knew if you go into smaller cities you have to this a bit American style where you have the Main Street and all the small shops on on each side and they look crappy just like that but they done look super crappy and you would never go in there and I didn’t do it for the first week or so until I realized well if I don’t do that I will not visit any shop here in newal it’s yeah that’s just how so yeah it’s not as important as it is in Germany that your shop looks fancy or stuff like that it’s just a different culture and I think that was something that still surprised us because you have to change it and something that also was for me personally great was not having people around you not even Judith so that was even a good part of being separated for three months because as you said we are a team and we usually always discuss things like or make decisions like we did with New Zealand so discussing it Pros cons worst case scenarios how to handle them and then we take a decision but this also or as a result you don’t really think about your own that much so you don’t reflect on things what is important to you because you’re in this constant way of improving your situation talking about things you want to do and you rarely have a moment where you can just sit there think about things and then it’s one or two days at Max but not three months and not having to take care about a job and also not taking care about money because Judith was was still working working in Germany you could really relax so you really could sit at the beach for 4 hours and just think about something and enjoy it then enjoy the the sea the water and then go back home have have dinner in the evening in a restaurant and then that’s fine yeah this is something that helped me also being even more secure about what we’re doing because I think I will do fine here in New Zealand those more there more relaxed attitude and this this will help me a good thing you’re whip the Kiwis into shape with all your planning and your uh your project management and your yeah that might be a problem that’s true and my German direct talk yeah maybe I love it I absolutely love it so before again I know I keep saying before we get to the part about you arriving in Christ Church and living your life together here in New Zealand I’m interested to know what was the worst case scenario like when you sat there and planned and you said right okay we’re going to move to New Zealand what would have been like what how would you define a worst case scenario like if this if this is this then we will just leave it and come home what what would be the Tipping Point forew do you think worst case scenario so our worst case scenario was in the end that we both quit our jobs in Germany and each of us would be in New Zealand for three months without getting a job and then we would have been so that was the worst case because we then wouldn’t have an income anymore we would have to find new jobs in New Zealand then the question is because we had an apartment in Germany would we get a job nearby the apartment or would we have to move there as well so we would have spent a lot of money for getting to New Zealand we would have spent a lot of money traveling around we wouldn’t have a job anymore and we might have to move in Germany and then sell our apartment anyway and move somewhere else so this was basically the worst case scenario but what also made us realize what made it easier is it’s just money and we were aware that we could easily burn I don’t know 50 to 80,000 doing that or even maybe € 100,000 most terrible case and it would be a serious setback and I mean at that point we didn’t have the money without selling the apartment that was the worst case scenario and then we said well it’s just money and the question is would we regret not doing it yes later on because we talked to a lot of people back in Germany when we thought about moving whenever you ask all people what do they regret we we just rarely get the answer yeah I should have bought I don’t know that car or that apartment or whatever it was almost always think like yeah I got the offer I don’t know for a job back then but I was too scared to say yes or like we did yeah you now in a situation where everything aligns you have the money you have the experience um you have a stable relationship as you said where you can be your part for har year without ruining your relationship you have friends you are stable enough to face some trouble and all the things line and then the question is do you make the final step yes or no and we said yeah well let’s just do it we would we would regret not trying in the end and this was the last tip where we said okay yeah let’s just go that’s brilliant I love that and that’s ex exactly what we’ve that’s always been our philosophy is like well okay don’t do it but imagine how you’re going to feel in 10 15 years time when you look like so I’m so so glad you did can I just ask did when um just on a like Visa I don’t want to Deep dive into visas but just I know people will be interested so did Judith just tell me about your visa and Judith’s Visa did she get a Visa because she had the job offer did they sort all the Visa out for her yeah the company she’s now with was familiar with immigrants so they were also accredited already I think as we working with an immigration adviser they communicated with each other so it wasn’t smooth there were still some hiccups because sometimes the immigration advisor got the wrong document from the company or we had to provide some information these are things so for example Judith police report was older than six months and we didn’t notice that so she didn’t renew it before she left Germany this became a huge issue because we had to go to the console of Germany here in Christ Church and you just got an appointment every two weeks or three weeks or something like that we spend a lot of time getting the police reports so that the Visa could be approved and all these things come together so preparing the documents is something that is really important I guess yeah yeah so you should have everything in place our immigration advisor gave us a list of things that we should just prepare at hand in digital form in the end everything went well so we had all the documents available once she got her work visa I applied for the open work visa for 3 years and julus Visa is connected to the company she’s working at right we already appli for residency so when when um they changed the way of how you apply with the point system and they changed that we were lucky enough to have everything there to just apply for residency before they changed it we expect to have it in April and then the next steps in the plan will be executed like by and stuff like that yes yes so you on a partner Visa that um lasts for three year a threeyear work visa that’s that’s yours you’ve apply for Visa as well yeah yeah and um it makes a difference so I have interviewed now it’s still tough to from coming from overseas companies are still a bit reluctant to get in touch with you because I had a contact to in CEO here in Christ church and we were drinking a coffee together and he told me yeah well if you’re from Germany as you said so this the image of of us Germans in countries is we are disciplined we are correct we are on time and stuff like that and he said kiwis are a bit scared of that because it’s just different culture and so bringing you as a team lead or manager can be tricky because they are afraid that you just ruin their whole culture in the company yeah because you’re too German for them and they said yeah you just need to be a bit patient and it will work out but he also told me yeah don’t expect that you have a job within a one or two weeks if you want to go into into a team lead position or something like that it will take some time yeah do you know what Toby I think you would be I can’t think of anyone better to employ that if I wanted someone to manage my I just that’s ni better so you’re here in Christ Church now how long have you been in Christ Church I arrived at the end of October beginning of November I arrived here actually one day before June birthday oh and she basically said if you’re here on my birthday we will have a problem and well okay I try yeah and um in the end that was we had a bit of trouble with getting our cats here because of all the regularities and requirements that there are here for for animals so everybody that has an animal cat be the dog cat um prepare early on so we actually even we made decision in December 202 22 and even though we still had to wait because um we our cats were not vaccinated against rabies and you need to wait six months before you can actually eat the country with the cats right when you move to New Zealand so these are things that you just need to be aware of yeah same for example motorbikes you have to own a motorbike for at least one year on your name so um if it’s not um on your name for a year you cannot bring it with you and these are the things that you need to be aware of and plan ahead of time so that just just that you are prepared right um could you bring it with you and then just like do you have to pay duty is that what you mean you’d have to bring it over and you’d pay all like it wouldn’t be like yeah then you would I me yeah so I it’s then it’s a normal import um um for us basically we could bring everything with us for free brilliant that’s fantastic uh so for free for the 16,000 free yeah exactly 16,000 um be so when you come to I’m really interested in this actually because what that guy said to you about the about the um the culture in Germany have you because you know Germans are known for being everything I mean everything that the Germans do is just like really solid and you know everything they make think really good things and like you say we have this impression that you’re very on time and like if you wanted something to be done then you know it’s just like that’s what I’m saying I can’t think of a better person employee have you has there been any conflict have you have you thought oh you’re driving me insane kiwis because of their attitude because he’s right kiwis have got this very laidback Leisure before work kind of attitude haven’t they you know yeah how has that felt coming from Germany and stepping into this new life in New Zealand how has it felt for you and and for Judith it felt pretty good we are we are also both laidback person so yeah don’t take ourselves too serious or yeah things will be all right we will find a way um so that’s our attitude of it so that fits pretty well this is why I also think I will feel fine here so I will be good there are some things that you just have to know I guess K will never tell you no that doesn’t work because of or at least that’s my experience they will always be polite and try to not say anything negative and that’s something you need to just to be aware of so for example if you apply for jobs um they say yeah I will contact you later on once I find something and then you exactly know yeah well then they just don’t have anything for you right now or they are not interested in you and these are the things that you just you would get more direct feedback in Germany that in in such cases they would simply tell yeah sorry your skills that doesn’t fit our requirements see you goodbye right and so these are things you just have to be aware of yeah um but I was working for us company and they are a simul in that regard coming from a German country and then talking with us colleagues in the beginning it was a bit difficult because as you said the Germans say okay the meeting start at 8:30 and we are online at 8:30 727 yeah and then then we then we then we discuss about why uh the topic why we met and we don’t start with oh how you doing um oh I would went out to a beautiful restaurant yesterday nobody cares in Germany about things like that so that’s the culture difference in the end but as I was working for a US company I was prepared so I knew that this was something coming into it yeah yeah yeah so do you like it yeah I like I mean I appreciate to be honest because in Germany when I went home from Germany after three months you get off the plane go into the airport and then you see the people and they are unfriendly unhappy did they it always looks like they don’t want to work doesn’t like to work don’t like to work there and they’re just unfriendly and that’s this the difference between New Zealand and Germany in that regard that is huge so this something you immed realize once you’re there ah they are so grumpy the Germans that is so annoying yeah and um people here if you get into a restaurant and even if people ask yeah how are you doing um it helps to just create a different atmosphere I mean of course they don’t care how I actually feel but but um it creates this atmosphere that it’s more friendly more relaxed and I appreciate it that’s awesome yeah and yeah so and I can see why I love that you’ve just described that absolutely perfectly because yeah you’re absolutely right it’s just that whole softness isn’t it it’s just a you know because part of me then when you were saying about Germany I thought I’d quite like that I’d quite like it if people were really direct with me and like really like you know there’s one part that I would think yeah that would be good rather than this because honestly I would be the world’s worst I’m like oh yeah well I really like you and I really oh I love your shirt and but trouble is we haven’t really got a job for you but it doesn’t matter because there probably will be and that that’s that’s what I you know like the Brits tend to be like so the the thought of someone just going no I’m sorry I don’t like your shirt and you haven’t got the job you know it’s just that’s quite attractive but living that life every day and like you say getting up in the morning and everyone just looks a little bit grumpy and miserable and you just I also yeah can relate to that and I just think what nice a way to come into a meeting and someone go oh how’s your day like even if they don’t care it’s just like how is it going today like how are the kids and how are the cats and like you know and just yeah you just it’s nice just to have that softness isn’t it so yeah yeah fantastic is the I’ve got a couple of questions here before before I let you go would you would you do it again if you had the chance would you do it again okay yeah definitely yes there’s no question about that was it all worth it was it all worth splitting up from Judith and just being away and 16 Grand on the container and all the rest of it was it all worth it in the end this is something I can tell you yet I think for now yes we enjoy how things are going um but I can tell you in three or five years I guess because I think that’s the timeline where you can say yeah it was the right right move or not I can tell you I don’t regret it and I’m happy mostly happy how it is so getting a job is still Al I still need to find a job but um that’s basically the only thing that is not perfect right now and other than that we are fine um have you getting a job you’re just waiting for the right job you mean yeah so I have interviews and looking for a job that that I would like to work on at some point I might have to take another job that is not perfect for me but um for now as Judith had a job we just said well just look for something and if it takes a month or two longer that’s fine yes yeah you just you’re just surviving on one wage at the moment and just like you’re just using a bit of savings and get that job sorted that’s fair enough yeah lots of people do that and the right job will will come along and um yeah like I say yeah I think so too so yes definitely definitely is there anything about Germany that you desperately miss that you think oh I really miss that yes I do beer oh really beer I was hoping you of course I do know all those ipas so we coming from the lake of constant there are a lot of smaller breweries and they have all different beer but it’s all this um German reinheit sko thing so that only three ingredients and so it’s basically no ipas no no or no no is wrong but most of the beer is classic beer in the end with different taste more hoppy or a bit lighter to drink things like that um and this is something I didn’t find here I get used to the ip8 by now I found some that I really enjoy and like but this is definitely something I miss and um a same a bit with the food there is a lot of bried stuff here in New Zealand and sometimes I miss um the other things and the problem is both Judith and me were too lazy to cook right so we always so we sit here in the evening especially in the weekend and think ah do we want to cook and I know just let’s go into the city um we we live nearby so it’s a 50 minute walk into the City and then we just go into City and have dinner there um so there’s something you could change but um other than that at the moment actually not I mean of course meeting friends or stuff like that you have a few friends that you that you really missed um but that’s not a surprise I mean that’s something that was clear from the beginning same with parents with family if you leave if you literally move to the other side of the world then um there won’t be uh much yeah I mean FaceTime and all the stuff makes it super easy to talk with each other so you’re still connected but you just can’t read but that’s fine for the for the most part so that’s okay what’s your favorite German food that you can’t get in New Zealand what is it that you if you could have one thing from Germany one food what is it that you miss the most H didn’t think about that um I’m sorry this wasn’t on I [Laughter] think um actually nobody asked me the questions just yet so um I think it’s the the classic food so so something like um I don’t know the English word called basically some some some some food that this typical German like sper or things like that so these are things that that I miss yeah um but yeah I about German food that’s the reason I asked because I’m a big foodie I love food but I don’t know many German dishes that you would think like you know like if you ask an English person they might say oh I miss a Cornish pasty or I miss a you know steak pudding or whatever but I I don’t know enough about German food that’s why I asked I’m sorry I put you on the spot no no that’s fine off I just had to think about it and but I I think so these These are these are the things I I miss from a food perspective but on the same here it was fear from the beginning that it would change and um I mean you leave a country because you want to change something and I never understood why people would want to have the things that they have in Germany or in their forign their original country why they would want to have the things in the new country as well if if you want to have that then just stay in your country and be happy um or be unhappy whatever it is but um if you decide to move to a new country go to a country where you wouldn’t like to live and where you would like to adopt to the culture and if you don’t if you don’t feel well with that just stay where you are or or take a different destination yeah that is such good advice I mean I mean I feel a bit embarrassed now that I’ve just admitted to you that I miss Cornish pasties because you can’t get a decent Cornish pasty in h New Zealand to be honest I don’t know what it is flipping lovely it’s lovely but I know I know what you mean I know what you mean Toby so many times we hear people you know and and I get it you know we all do it it’s it’s natural to just think oh I really miss this but to be honest the world is so if it’s just little things like HP Source or a certain mushy pea brand or like you say a German pickle or something like that that you think you can get it online and you can get it shipped over if you’re that desperate for it yeah I think what you’re talking about or certainly what I was thinking when you were saying that is when people say things like oh you know they they don’t they don’t teach the kids the same here or you know I don’t know it’s just like that like big things that you think why did you move then of course it’s not like that you know yeah there are there are lots of examples and I can’t think of one now um but the people people say that you think didn’t you think about that before you this isn’t America this isn’t the UK this isn’t you know Germany whatever all those countries it’s New Zealand you know you’ve got to come and embrace New Zealand for New Zealand like you know yeah I’m glad you said that that’s that’s really that’s a really really great point to remember as well for those thinking of moving to New Zealand so yeah so for for example for me what what is you asked me what regret about New Zealand I don’t regret about it but I’m a technical guy so I have a lot of servers PCS whatever I like those technical fancy stuff and that is so super expensive here in New Zealand right so I won’t buy much of them anymore so that’s something that that I was aware of before and that is a sacrifice I had to make when I moved to New Zealand yeah and I think these are the things you just need to be aware of and to think about what what’s important to you um um will you be happy with the situation in New Zealand or wherever you moveed to will you be happy with this specific situation because something that we were also told is if you have an issue in um at home or if we would be unlucky at home because I don’t know the marriage is bad or we are unsatisfied with our life or whatever moving to another country won’t solve those issues you will you will be happy for half a year and then those problems will pop up again um if you I don’t know have problem with yourself or whatever it is fix them first then go to another country because it makes things so dramatically more difficult um julith and me we could me we could rely on each other and that was super helpful um if she had an issue here she just called me we went through it together um and figured out how we would like to do it same for me if I had questions or struggled once or in a while we just had a talk we actually almost had a call every evening um just to say hi for example um and if you if you have an instable relationship or whatever the problem is my advice would be do not move because things will get hard enough and the problems you have at home you will take them with you for sure yeah that’s good advice then you will have them here in a new country uh without your social with your friends with all the people that you are used to and it will be much harder than it is in Germany or in your country that’s such good advice um I just wanted to ask you how did you find our community because we me and Brian always think this we’re like quite a few ger I know we were saying earlier that not to you like not many Germany people are not many German people are in the community but it surprises us how many people reach out to us from Germany so I always think how did you how did you find us was how how did you come ACR it was the YouTube channel a YouTube channel it was the YouTube channel so as I said we we watched a few YouTube channels to get a better picture we had a neighbor who told us things about New Zealand they were working here for two years um but getting in contact with this community was really through YouTube right and then just once we once we made the decision that we would move we had said yeah well then just let’s being part of it try out do we benefit from it how does it feel to be there and um this is how we how we did it I mean this is I watched some of the videos at the airport because I just signed up three days before I left or something like that and um yeah so this is how we got in contact with the community so that helps a lot um and also to get a better I mean what I I can openly say because I’m in the community so it’s not just um saying nice things so what I really like about what we like about your videos is that you also talked about things like um I don’t know when when um all the stuff that got so expensive in New Zealand so for example the X situation where X got super expensive um and it seems like completely unimportant in the end because um who cares about X but it shows you how things can quickly change in New Zealand so and and this is some things that we thought of okay if we’re in New Zealand it can also easily happen that for example if Co something like Co happens again or whatever it is that that you don’t get the stuff into New Zealand um you will be self-sufficient that’s fine but um you have to accept that things get incredibly expensive or tomatoes in the winter for example yeah I mean $13 per kilo that’s that’s a number get me started don’t get me started on the price of avocado but but it helps you so much to get an idea of where you’re going to because um all of the other things like like how it does the Visa Stu work it’s nice to hear but this is something I can read online so New Zealand has some incredible online Pages that’s really awesome you get every information you need I completely I organize the the transport of our cats completely based on their online page yeah that was absolutely awesome there have some pretty good documentation if you want to find out things um and uh now I lost Dr but what you’re saying is right but yeah it helps you a lot so all these things of this this live topics that you face on a daily basis in the end I think these are the things why we why we stick to your uh um stick to your videos and continued watching because um it felt like a lot of other channels just always like yeah well new is beautiful blah blah blah blah but yeah it’s not beautiful New Zealand is not Utopia yeah so there are there are bad things here too so um and I think that’s important that not only telling people how beautiful it is it definitely is and if if if you’re like me and say ah I like the relates people and being a bit more laidback and more self for example you have to take care of yourself in New Zealand a bit there is not much Social help compared to Germany um what you mean but if you’re fine with that’s okay yeah so um or social insurance for example health insurance in in New Zealand so if you have an accident newal is absolutely perfect um but in general it’s less you have less um Health um yeah less support when it comes to I don’t know cancer or other things that are um not an accident that just happened so that can be can be an issue in New Zealand and I things like that to know is important because in the end this is what what will bite you these are the things that you just need to be aware of and you tell things like that and I think that’s good we try to I’m sorry I didn’t mean to just jump in there and like it feels like I’ve just said to you oh tell me all the lovely things that you love a about that’s I’m still here so there is a reason why I’m still here right thank you thank you I was sitting there then thinking oh God it sounds anyway thank you for that that’s lovely and yeah we do try and and and show the real life and let’s just end this video actually by giving some real life advice because is there anything that you think that I mean because obviously we we’re not German we we can only give like the UK and we can interview people from like yourselves but is there anything if you were sitting out there now and you were in Germany and you were thinking I want to move to New Zealand it’s just going to be such a better life everyone’s going to be so friendly no one’s going to be miserable it’s just going to be lovely in New Zealand is there any piece of advice that you can think of that would help someone in that situation keeping it real just what would you say to someone in Germany now that they was thinking about moving to New Zealand so I think what is important is talking to people that already lived in New Zealand for quite some time if you have the possibility to talk to someone who worked here for two years like our neighbors did um or um find someone who had was on vacation that’s super we spent a few evenings talking to these people just to understand they they told us housing in New Zealand can be crappy as hell um just the the windows super thin just one glass in it and all the things or one sheet of glass in it and um mold can be an issue just so be careful if you look for a house if it’s too cheap just don’t take it because there is a reason why it is so things like that are important to know know and it’s and then just try to get as much information as you can so I spend evenings over evenings just reading through blogs through New Zealand websites also to understand what are the conditions what do you expect everybody needs to know what to expect from from New Zealand if you move to New Zealand what do you actually expect and then check if do a reality check if these things that you actually want to get and that you want to achieve that this is possible so for example you have to be aware that you cannot simply buy a house once you move here that was our initial idea we sell the apartment in Germany we move here buy a house here and everything will be fine and then if we figure out after two years we don’t want to live here we sell it again and move on yeah it doesn’t work like that and these are things that can completely derail your plan if you have one and just make sure that everything you expect and what is important to you that this can actually be achieved or is reality and not just something who tells you how wonderful New Zealand is I mean also typical German point of view so we don’t look for the good things we just look where we can fail or what we dislike and um but this approach helped us a lot because we didn’t have the wrong expectations yeah yeah and this is something I would I would tell anyone independently from Germany or not um that that to to think about for me for example what I love another thing is how um this how for example Tech system works here you don’t have to do a tation not necessary they will figure it out for you and in Germany it’s an I don’t know two weekends time you spend two weekends to get this thing ready uh send it away and then to get your money back and these are the things if you but you also cannot get a lot of things back so you just have to pay your tax that’s it and um if if you if if this is what you look like then you the right country if you like to play with the Texas and get some money out of it it’s the wrong place and it can also be things like that or you have to be aware that things sometimes take a bit of time here in New Zealand it’s not like you you bring your bike into the garage and they tell yeah we’ll take care of it and then it’s not like one or two days later you get a call and yeah we sorted everything out for you and so on sometimes you have to call after a week or two um and if you are a kind of person that cannot deal with that that’s the wrong country for you and um these are just things you need to think about who you are what you dislike as a person and then just evaluate if this is the right country for you based on that because just because it’s the right country for me or for you or for for someone else don’t believe them that it’s the right for you too verified that’s really good advice actually that’s so true yeah that’s really great advice do you wake up in the morning and just think I me tell the truth do you wake up in the morning and just think oh so glad that we moved to New Zealand do do you ever do you do that uh not in the morning because I’m a bit grumpy in the morning um they’re all grumpy over there um no but so we think a lot of it when Jud and I go to having breakfast on weekends so what we what we really do here is a lot more than we did in Germany is just going out having breakfast somewhere um having a coffee having dinner lunch whatever it is um this is somehow part of the culture in New Zealand and this is something I say yeah that’s we we didn’t do that in in Germany we I think you can count on one hand the number of times when we had breakfast on weekend at home really we actually yeah so we every Saturday and Sunday if it’s possible we just go outside somewhere and sit in the Sun and have breakfast or a coffee or or things like that and that’s quality of life where I thought yeah this is something I didn’t expect to so that’s a surprise for us that we do it that often and it stays like that we thought yeah okay in the beginning everything is new we’re in a good mood um um we will but we didn’t expect it to continue we just keep it like that but but by now that’s something we do every weekend yeah and um this is the moment we say yeah good that we did it oh that’s fantastic and I just want to reassure you actually and I’m telling the truth here 14 years later I still think that too I still think we’re still it still feels good you know it still feels like we’re doing that thing like you say it’s just like you do you’re so bang on because it’s like at first you think oh it’s just because we’ve only just moved here this will end you know this is just like you know the what’s it called the honeymoon period And this is not this is not me saying that everything’s perfect I’m not saying that I’m just saying like you you’ve used like going for a coffee as an example just like just I don’t know just like things like going for a swim in the sea or you know going and sitting on the beach and just like with a glass of wine and all those things that we never did in the UK and you think oh I’m only doing it because it’s like all fresh and new but it’s never stopped and that’s it that’s that’s our life now and it’s just it’s yeah so yeah I’m going to second that so thank you so much for sharing that oh Tobias I could just talk to you for absolutely ages and I’m sure I know for a fact there’s going to be German people out there listening because like I say we don’t have that many German people on just chatting about coming from Germany so it’s just been fantastic and I know they’ll be listening going don’t let him go just ask him loads more stuff so wouldn’t it be fantastic if we can meet up again in six months or a year or whatever whatever you want and just go and see how you’re doing in in New New Zealand you can tell me about your fabulous new job that you’ve got and um how yes you can and just like life and how it’s planning out for you would you would you be able to come back and of course okay of course enjoyed it until next time thank you so much Toby for joining me and for just sharing your journey I’ve absolutely love listening to it so thank you so much and I will speak to you again in six months to a year whenever that time is right we’ll make it thanks for having me enjoyed it was awesome give Judith a big kiss for me won’t you and tell her I think she’s an absolute will she’s up there for me now Judith yeah she she already said she will watch the video and I’ll be better nice but okay Toby I’ll speak to you soon no okay yeah see you bye bye by I really hope you enjoyed that show as much as I enjoyed recording it if you’re moving to New Zealand and you are interested in joining the slack group the private community group that we raved about and talked about on today’s show then you need to head over and get our free 5-day video guide this is a video guide that sends you a video every day for five days sharing some aspect of what life in New Zealand is like it’s absolutely free and then when you get to the fifth day you’ll be given the option of whether or not you want to join the private community the one that we talked about it’s a fabulous fabulous resource I don’t need to say anything more because you’ve already heard all about it go over take the free 5day video guide get to day five and then you can decide whether or not you’d like to be a member and join our private Community along with me and Brian and all those other fabulous people that are walking along the same path as you and making the move to New Zealand so head on over to www. NZ ahead.com slf free head on over to www. NZ ahead.com slf free and get your free 5-day video guide get to day five and then you decide if you want to come and join us in our private membership group I hope to see you on the other side imagine this you live in America with your family your husband is in the military and then suddenly he gets injured and he decides to do a different career he thinks why don’t we move to New Zealand and I’ll become a chef so you move all your family to the other side of the world and you start again how would that look hearing all of these people talk about how prohibitively expensive New Zealand is I sat Scott down cuz you know he’s the money guy like a couple of different times and I was like we need to have a talk cuz you’re telling me that we can afford to live here but from what I’m hearing in this week’s episode you’re going to meet Katie Katie was that wife who Moved with her family to the other side of the world to start a completely new life and you’re going to find out exactly what that looks like