Land of Migrants

Kiwi Career Success Seminar
at Auckland Chamber of Commerce

Helen, the lady wearing a red top, kept me busy for the past three days. She facilitated the KCS seminar which covered things like the Kiwi work environment, tailoring your CV and cover letter and basically just equipping us migrants with all the right tools and linking us to their members. Did you know that 80% of jobs in NZ are not advertised? That most of the businesses here are SMEs. And that networking is essential? And it's often important to have NZ work experience. With this goes volunteer work. Volunteering seems to be well advertised to migrants as the best way to have their first NZ work experience.

It's great that there are so many programs here that aims to help migrants get settled. Maybe it's coz NZ is the 2nd highest migrant-welcoming country in the world. They even got all these refugees.

During the seminar, we found out that there were a handful of us who came in via Silver Fern Visa. We all got some strict personal deadlines on job seeking. There were the wives of principal applicants who are now looking into joining the workforce.

It's also a good experience just to be around people with different cultural backgrounds. Each one shared their challenges during job hunting and the cultural differences in the recruiting/ job application scene. After our mock interview session on day 3, everyone wished me well for my two interviews today. And that alone is already a big pat on the back for me for they've certainly given me that moral boost.

Walking Along Symonds Rd

Motorways, and the Familiar Routes

In one of my walks at the city, I had to cross a bridge to get to where I'm headed. And the bridge was actually on top of this motorway. It was a Sunday and there weren't much people in the city, except maybe tourists or city-dwellers. I took a photo of the motorway coz I think that's one of the many ways for me to reach home, which is towards Waitakere.

I like the walks though it can also be challenging for me not because of the distance but because the wind can get too cold even if the sun's up, especially in the city.

Then in the middle of this busy road called Symonds, my eyes fell towards this patch of green which I first thought was a park.  There it was, looking exactly as how they do in those spooky movies. An old graveyard, and there were quite a few patches of these in Auckland CBD. I'm ot sure if they're kept there for heritage purposes but they sure do give some character to this unknown city.

Graveyard near Grafton Rd

Then I finally made it to my destination, The Langham. I went inside the lobby where it's nice and warm.

Sunday lunch with the Cityfolks

With Myn at The Langham Hotel

While it may look familiar, the Langham brought so many corporate memories from home. So there I was being the first to arrive at the hotel since I'm the one coming from the suburb. Myn and her friends
lives in an apartment within the city and being around them brought a very familiar vibe. As if I'm back in Makati again.

These kind folks that I've met over at lunch takes joy in finding some good market finds for fresh seafood, in filling up their luggage with all Filipino food ingredients despite the risk of it being quarantined in the airport, and of course in the many holiday adventures that they've tried, or have at least considered or just looked upon.

They're all practically neighbors and everyone liked good food, whether homemade or as takeaway. They know where to find them in the city. They've been mostly living in Auckland for at least 4 years and enjoys the convenience of city-life.

After lunch at Eight w/ Waltz, Myn, Joy & Anne

Family Places at Auckland

Yesterday I went to places that's great for families with small kids. At Crystal Mountain, guests are encouraged to pet farm animals, ride a pony and ride a train. They even have some kiddie rides,  including a small rollercoaster where my two-year old flatmate simply had a blast! Afterwards it was late lunch at Western Springs Park, just across Auckland Zoo. There were so many families out today coz the sun's out and it's probably the first warm Saturday after winter. We still have the zoo in our itenerary for the day so eventhough it would have been great to just lie around in the park all day, we had to go again.

Auckland Zoo was full! There were a lot of folks with small kids, mostly toddlers either strapped or on strollers. The zoo got a variety of animals and blends in some natural history of NZ as well as some environmental campaigns.

We were in there for about 3 hours and I really felt exhausted. I've been out all day the day before and here I am again walking about. 

Kangaroos

 After the zoo, we drove to up to One Tree Hill. The hill is like a far with sheeps grazing in the pasture. That's the interesting contrast that's probably unique to Auckland, having a farm or a horse in one's backyard within Auckland. The house owner on where we went to just a few paces from our place owns a horse! And i see a lot of boats parked next to the garage in the homes here.

Sheep in their pasture, One Tree Hill

As the sun sets, I got occupied with trying to feel my numb fingers and in trying to get a nice view of Auckland at dusk. I can see how big Cornwell Park is and how many Sakura trees there are. I'm sure it's all going to be beautiful when the flowers bloom. I miss my kids more.

Dusk at Auckland Central

Family at North Shore

Facebook does bring people together. So there I was again at Takapuna Central Platform 2, stepping off the bus and walking towards the direction of Fresh market, which is just across Burger King. Then I saw a familiar face, whom I was studying just the other night on FB. It's Tita Cynthia with her son Jod. They drove me around Takapuna and Milford first just to show me around and then rode all the way up to Albany to check on the new house and the new housing development site that was being offered them. I met Floyd who worked at Chelsea, the largest sugar factory in NZ.

View from Mt. Victoria

View of Rangitoto Island 

Lake Road on the right; Takapuna towers on the left

I met a couple of people afterwards, from the Apoderado side of the family. We even took a photo of Tita Vinda since the Villamayor siblings(Dad's generation) have been very close to her and probably hasn't seen her for a while. She still doesn't have a facebook page and has almost given up on ever using it.

My day started out great, with a nice long walk to the bus stop at Te Atatu Road. The trip to the city was uneventful. It's really the road trip around Northshore with my aunt and cousin that made my day. A couple of hours rest in their house at Milford then another road trip at night with Tito Boy. He drove us around the city up to Mission Bay. It was Friday night and there were a lot of young people out on the streets and in bars and clubs. The city was picturesque with it's pretty skyline. I wasn't able to take a photo though since we were inside the car the whole time.

It's great to be around family. It brings back all the memories of our family reunions in Dolores.