New Zealand = Great (Almost)

I Love my country, even though I’m not living in it. I think New Zealander’s are great people, innovate, smart, cunning – so on and so forth. Many great things have come from New Zealand the movies are excellent, we had/have a few great scientists, we were the first to climb Everest, had the fastest land speed record on a motorbike – Indian (not sure if it still holds). New Zealand’s environment is wonderful, health care is fine, no dangerous bugs or animals, cities and towns are generally safe. It’s almost everything you want from a country, almost.

To put it frankly, I think New Zealand would be the perfect place to retire. That’s it. I don’t want to work there because over qualified people are under appreciated and underpaid. I’m not being a sourpuss, but take for example the I.T industry. I have found that companies hiring are usually looking for people with minimum two years experience – for help desk positions. Newcomers to the industry are starting on as little as 25k a year.

This is insane. I am working in Japan, teaching English at junior high school – something I really don’t need any qualifications for and I’m getting paid almost double. So, my perspective on things is this: bring up your family in New Zealand, study in New Zealand, retire in New Zealand, but don’t work in New Zealand.

These aren’t the only reasons I choose to live in Japan. Tax is less over here, Alcohol is cheaper (Not beer), I love technology (And live less than an hour away from Akihabara) , my girlfriend is Japanese and I like big cities. But I think I would be more likely to return to work in N.Z if people got paid what they are worth.