Jobs, Storms and Greencards.

So, most people reading this will probably already know that I managed to find a job. I started in the last week of September and I seem to be pretty good at it so far. The job is in call centre customer service, which I seem to be unable to escape, for a Health and Benefits Outsourcing company. That might bear some explanation for my NZ friends and family so here goes: the company basically takes the work from HR departments of other companies (outsourcing the work but not off-shoring it - as Mitt Romney likes to point out) to manage the benefits that the employers offer. One cannot survive long in the US without medical, dental, vision, long and short term disability and probably a number of other insurances. Employers here tend to offer these benefits to employees at a lower rate than they could purchase them on their own - known as group policies because the insurer gives a discount since it's expected to be bulk coverage - and also subsidise the premiums heavily - usually around 70-80% from what I've seen of good employers.

I like the job, it's interesting and it's certainly teaching me important skills to do with dealing with insurance carriers and understanding benefits that I would never ever had needed in New Zealand, but there is one problem. Well, perhaps 2, really. It's only a temporary job, to start with, so I don't have the stability I need to move out on my own with my husband. This time of year is known as "Open Enrollment" for the insurance industry and it's when most employers allow their employees to make changes to their benefits. They usually can't make changes any other time or year unless they have something major happen they they get married, have a child, get divorced and so forth. So, as you can imagine, it's a very busy time of year. The company I am temping for hired about 200 extra employees for this season and they won't have work for all of them once the season is over. That means that some people will be out of a job come January 31 of 2013.

The other problem is that it doesn't pay well enough for me to be able to support my husband as the main (if not technically quite sole) breadwinner. It doesn't offer employer subsidised group insurance at all unless I get "converted", as they call it, to permanent employment. I don't even know what hourly rate I would be offered if they wanted me to convert or if I would even get a pay rise except for being offered benefits. So much uncertainty.

To top it all off: my in-law just lost his job because the contract, which was meant to be for 3 years, ended due to the research project he was hired for being cancelled. So he has less resources and is stressed and taking it out on us by expecting us to pay for everything we need - which, as mentioned previously, we cannot afford to do. I'm trying to save up so that we can purchase our own car and pay for a deposit on an apartment and all that expensive stuff. The sooner I can do those things then the sooner he can sell his house and move closer to work opportunities and the entertainment that he enjoys. I guess it's hard to see the medium and long term when money is tight and you're not feeling very reasonable.

You may also have heard of Hurricane (or tropical storm as she was down-graded to) Sandy. She passed this way and I was forced to stay overnight away from home in a hotel paid for by my employer. It wasn't too bad as it was a nice hotel. I had to share the room with a co-worker but she was really nice and into RPing and LARPing so it was a nice evening. I sort of want to be friends with her now but I'm not sure how to approach her. I don't even know where she sits at work because the place is a maze of cubicles that I still get lost in occasionally. At home during the storm the power stayed steady and no damage to the house or people was sustained. Many are still without power in New York and New Jersey so we were very lucky that it we just got an edge of it and not the full force.

Lastly, my greencard arrived unexpectedly last week. I was expecting to have to apply for another work authorisation card since mine was only good until April 2013 and the processing time for greencards at the California immigration services (where my application was moved to expedite it, apparently) was 16 months when I last checked so that would have put me at July 2013 before I received my greencard. And I wasn't even certain if they were going to request a second interview here in the US, as they are entitled to do, so I really wasn't expecting it to arrive so soon. Still, one less thing to worry about it always good. So, as of October 2012 I am officially a conditional permanent resident of the United States of America for 2 years. Complicated, huh? Well, once the 2 years is almost up (90 days before it is up, in fact) I will be required to apply to have my conditional residency removed if I wish to remain in residence in the US of A. Then, after 3 years of continuous residence in the US (and if I meet a list of other requirements like still being married to a US citizen, having lived with him the whole 3 years and having been present in the US continuously for 18 months prior to applying, to name a few) I can apply for Naturalisation to become a US Citizen.

At first when I was considering moving here I thought that I would never want to be a US Citizen. And I still don't, really, if I have to be honest about it. But there are downsides to being only a permanent resident. Such as: if I leave the US for more than a year they can refuse to let me back in. They can also refuse to let me back in for any reason at all, if they so choose, and they don't even have to tell me why. That uncertainty really sucks. There are downsides to being a US Citizen too. Becoming a target for Anti-US forces (paranoid, huh?), having to file tax returns in the US for the rest of my life even if I don't live there and being targeted by the nasty and big dollar political industry as a potential voter. That last one really gets my gall because I feel like Abby from youtube (If you haven't seen the "Tired of Broco Bamma and Mitt Romney" video on Elizabeth Evans' channel, you should) and I'm not even targeted by all the ads, volunteers, cold callers and flyers that SuperPACs and campaigns are sending out. I really do feel badly for the voters of the US.

Well, if anything else interesting happens then I'll try to update. I'm so homesick it's not even funny. Keep NZ warm (figuratively speaking) for me, guys! I'll be home as soon as I can. I think even husband is sick of the US now. He's even said he could put up with Wellington's earthquakes and he was not as all tolerant of them previously so it's a good sign. Now, just to figure out how to afford to return. Put your thinking caps on and let me know if you have any brilliant ideas that are within the law.

I miss you guys!

~Be

P.S. I have my driver's license now also. I have to get it before I could really start applying for jobs in earnest as driving is really the only reliable way to get around here with jobs 20+ miles away.

Biometrics and Combo Cards

My biometrics were taken back in early April, about a month ago now, and it was a relatively painless process. I filled out a form and waited for a little while then had someone roll my fingertips over a scanner a few dozen times, I assume to get perfect prints, then take my photo and let me go. I took the subway and commuter train back from Boston to get home from the appointment. I only got slightly lost - went one stop too many and had to back-track - but hubby picked me up at the station and now I feel like I could take the train again. I was pretty hesitant about it at first and so concerned that I would get lost but it's pretty well marked and there were station staff around for when I did get lost.

As I said, it's been about a month since the biometrics appointment and I received my Combo card in the mail yesterday. For those of you not going through the US immigration process; a Combo card is a combined Advanced Parole and Employment Authorisation Document (EAD) which basically means that I am now allowed to travel outside of the US without abandoning my Adjustment of Status (immigration) application and I am legally allowed to work for pay in the US. The combo card is valid for 1 year but I should have my green card by that time so I'm not concerned about that. Besides, I can renew it if my case is still in processing after a year.

So now the problem of getting a job. I want to work in IT. I know I'll have to start low on the ladder, as I only have a diploma and zero paid IT experience, but I'm not even sure I can get on that ladder here without 2-3 years IT experience and local references. I can't work food service because of my sensitive skin which causes excruciating eczema and contact dermatitis on my hands if they get wet too much (even wearing gloves my hands sweat) or come into contact with allergens such as cleaning liquids and essential oils (like orange oil which is in a lot of cleaners). I also can't really work retail because I can't stand for long periods without experiencing back and foot pain. If I'm cooking at home for more than an hour I get pain so I doubt an employer would put up with that. That leaves low-level desk jobs like data entry, call centre operator and receptionist. I really want to run a mile from those jobs but work is work, right?

The other thing to consider work jobs is the commute time. Living in Wellington city it wasn't really possible to have more an a 1 hour commute because I never lived that far away from the CBD even by bus. Now it's 2 or more hours one way from here to the closest major city - Boston - depending on the traffic. The closest job openings that I am finding are 20 miles away and I'm not even sure they're on the train route. I can't drive a car, I never learnt and don't have a license for it here or in NZ, and I doubt hubby would be up to driving that far and back twice per day and especially not if I have a morning start. But these are all puzzle pieces that will come together if I just keep trying to make them fit, I guess!

Wish me luck, guys.

Big Brother and Lethargy

So, the first bit of news is that US Immigration (USCIS) has received my application for Permanent Residency and have given me a Biometrics appointment for early April. It's in Boston so I'll have to get a ride in with my father-in-law and then wait around until he can get away from work to take me home again. I had a look on a map at how far the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is from the USCIS office is - 20 minutes by bus or about an hour walking - because I've wanted to go there since my first visit here in 2010. That museum lent a collection of Monet paintings to the New Zealand National Museum in Wellington called Te Papa and I had the pleasure of seeing them with my Mum and little sister a few years ago so I think that's what's really tempted me because I've had a taste of their collection and I want some more! I'll get there eventually. I need to study the road rules here so I can get a learner's permit. It's frustrating for me, being so used to independence in most matters, to be reliant on others for transportation.

Speaking of cars; there has been a navy blue car with black tinted windows acting suspiciously-like the driver inside it is spying on our house. We live at the corner of two quiet suburban streets with a col-de-sac off the intersection of them and so there isn't much traffic from people other than residents and their guests. But this car I saw one morning when I went out to check the mail and let the dog relieve himself. It was just sitting on the col-de-sac with the right side of the car parallel to our house and it stayed there while I got the mail in and waited for the dog to do his business. Then when I went back inside I told hubby about it and he peered out the window at the car which then drove off as though uncomfortable with the scrutiny. That would have been strange enough but the car came back another day soon after that! This time we had just come home from the grocery store and hubby said he saw the car drive slowly down the street past our house and then, once the car had passed our house and turned into the next street so the driver no longer had a good view of it, it sped up and drove off. It definitely looked like the driver was trying to get a good look at us.

Now, I would brush this off as paranoia from watching too many crime dramas but apparently it is very common practice for insurance companies here to hire private investigators to video tape and photograph clients who have made insurance claims with them to try to find evidence that they are not actually injured or physically disabled. It's actually happened here, at this very house, before. My later mother-in-law was physically disabled for at least 20 years with terrible back injuries and pain. The insurance company followed her with P.I.s for a long time before finally giving up since they couldn't find her doing more than she had claimed to be able. Apparently this is all legal but heck if it isn't creepy. It's possible that the Social Security Administration (US equivalent of Work and Income for my NZ readers) has hired a P.I. to investigate hubby since he is on disability payments with them due to his mental health problems but it's also possible that it's a hired goon of the Immigration department making sure that I am living here and having a genuine relationship with hubby. The latter is a little more creepy to me as it makes me wonder what type of evidence they would need to gather. Both scenarios disturb me in the fact that it would be US tax-payer money paying for these spying operations and hopefully it's not standard practice. Then again perhaps it saves the government more money in immigration/benefit fraud than it costs to hire the P.I.s. Who knows! The US is actually, in some ways, more kooky than the portrayals of it I've seen on TV.

And I've been watching a lot of TV lately. Back in NZ I barely ever, if ever, watched TV because I was terrible at being available/remembering when a show I wanted to watch was on. I also had no interest in watching whatever prime time had to offer unless I actually liked it and lacked paid/cable TV along with the means to conveniently record it for later viewing. Here I have use of a Tivo and a TV in our bedroom (always a bad idea but we do what we can with the space we have) so it's disturbingly easy to consume TV in a convenient way. I have found, though, that I've quickly caught up with programs that I only saw a little of in NZ and tired of them already. The majority, and I am not exaggerating when I say this, of television in the US is made up of reality shows. There are trashy ones like Jersey Shore, 16 and Pregnant and Toddlers in Tiaras but also shows about Hoarders dealing with their problems and even reality shows on the history channel. I'll admit that some of these shows are watch-able (hubby likes Myth Busters for example) but the majority are atrocious. There are plenty of House Wives of [Insert Affluent Suburb Here] and even a show about a psychic from Long Island. Her accent from the ad for it is very grating to me. It really is that there are so many channels and nothing on.

But I've become very wasteful with my time. Not that playing Skyrim is a waste of time, banish the thought, but it is a little unbalanced if I play that for 12 hours in one day. Oops. It's just that I have so much time now that it's become a valueless commodity. I am aware that my days of time abundance will come to an end once I have my visa so I can start looking for work but the thought makes me less inclined spend my time wisely and more inclined to squander it. Damn you, brain! Do what I tell you! Be motivated to write and clean and cook and organise. Then again I can't really blame myself for feeling a bit burnt out. Back and forth between NZ and the US 3 times (2 return trips and a final one-way trip) in the space of 10 months while completing an IT Diploma and moving my entire life over to the other side of the world then getting married and dealing with US immigration at the same time would be taxing on anyone. I've never been very patient with myself, though. I guess this is a good opportunity to practice. I feel like now that I've been allow to slow down that I've come to a halt. I need to get outside and exercise more. It's getting too hot for me to be out during the middle of the day now that Spring has arrived but the evenings aren't too bad so I'm sure the dog would appreciate more walks. That's enough rambling for now. I might go play Skyrim after I get hubby some breakfast. Then walk the dog tonight.

Back in the USA

We arrived back in the US at the end of the first week of February. The point of entry (PoE) we used was Los Angeles because the airline we wanted to fly across the US with didn't fly direct from San Francisco. I was sort of nervous when we got there because everything had been such a trial up until that point that I was expecting something to go wrong or to have to wait around for hours to be processed as a fiancée to a US Citizen on a K-1 visa. Much to my surprise and delight it was the easiest and quickest part of the process thus far. The immigration officer opened my sealed envelope with all my documents in it from the US consulate in Auckland and asked a few questions then took my fingerprints and a photo, stamped my passport, told me we had 90 days to marry and let me through.

It took us a few days to manage to get to the Town Clerk's office to apply for the marriage license and then there is a 3 day wait for the license to be issued. The day that it was ready we had booked an appointment with the Town Clerk to officiate the marriage and we were married that very morning on 16 February. It was just the 4 of us: the Town Clerk herself, my (now) father-in-law, the groom and me. We couldn't stop grinning at each other, hubby and I, throughout the ceremony. We just wore comfortable clothes and funnily enough I was wearing the very same top that I wore when I first met my husband back in 2010 at the airport. He had joked in the past that I should wear that top and some jeans when we got married because I had expressed how wasteful I felt it was to buy a lavish dress I would only wear once. The words that the Town Clerk (who had the same name as my late mother-in-law) used were beautiful and religiously ambiguous enough that we were comfortable and pleased with them. The Town Clerk then gave us 3 official copies of our marriage license with our brand-new name on it. We both changed our surname to a portmanteau combination of our father's surnames. I won't list it here since, as far as I know, we are the only two people in the world to have that surname.

Since days before the ceremony I had begun to prepare my Adjustment of Status (from K-1 fiancée to immigrant/permanent resident wife of a US Citizen) application documents. It's been about 2 weeks now since we were married and I finally, yesterday, sent off my package with all the documentation needed for this next stage. The package was huge and it took a long time to complete. While I was in the process of preparing it I actually applied for a Social Security Number (like an IRD number for NZ readers) and it arrived very quickly so I was able to include that information in my application. Now that I have an SSN I can apply for a bank account and a driver's license. I've never driven a car before but I have drive motorbikes and scooters for a few years so I think I'll be a good, defensive driver. I find it hard to imagine being comfortable driving a car - they're so big! I feel like it would be hard to gauge how close to other cars, the edge of the road and other objects each side of the car would be while driving. I don't even want to think about parking yet.

I'm not authorised to work or study in the US yet - those privileges are part of the approved permanent resident status perks - so I'm still chafing for that right. The next step in the process is to hear if US Citizen and Immigration Services receives and accepts my adjustment of status. Once that happens then they will give me an appointment for biometrics. After that I may or may not have another interview to establish that my marriage in genuine and I'm not an undesirable immigrant. I think that's their reasoning, anyway, but they don't give any details on the purpose of much of their requests. Anyway, hopefully one interview is enough and that will be the final hurdle until I have to renew my permanent residency 21 months (it lasts 24 but you have to apply again 90 days before it runs out) and ask for the conditions to be removed.

Immigration to the US is certainly not for the faint of heart or people who can't stomach paperwork. If I had known all the work involved ahead of time then I might have looked for another way to be with husband. But, as it stands, I still don't know how we could have done it an easier way. Our circumstances don't leave much opportunity for flexibility. Hopefully things will change and there may be a time, if we so decide, that we can move back to New Zealand. But the foreseeable future is here so I guess I should start getting used to it.

Against My Better Judgement

Every time I tell someone that I am in the process of emigrating to the USA I am invariably asked: "Why?" This isn't just by my fellow Kiwis, by the way. I was asked this by fiance's therapist, his physician, his medication doctor, his father and his minister - all of whom are US Citizens. If, they say, we have more friends, family, social opportunity, access to all the benefits of an international city, public transportation and job opportunities in New Zealand then why are we going to live in the US?

The answer is that fiance isn't in a place in his life where he would be able to emigrate to NZ. His mother passed away in January, he has yet to have his first permanent paying job, he's not yet financially independent and he wouldn't be able to prove to NZ immigration that he wouldn't become a burden to the state. I, also, am not in any state to take on the role of being his financial support. I am not currently employed (though if I weren't leaving NZ in less than a week I'm sure I could quickly rectify that situation), I don't have any savings and I do have a sizeable student loan debt. Clearly, I could not convince the NZ government that I would be able to support him since I'm not even supporting myself at this moment in time.

I know that this is our only option, at present, if we want to be together physically in the same location for an extended period of time. But even though I know all of this; something feels amiss.

I thought that I would be relieved and happy once I had the fiancee visa in hand and knew for certain what direction my life was going to take from this point forward. Instead I feel that I am going against every logical thought and subconscious instinct for survival that I have ever been taught or picked up in my short life-time so far. It was quietly disconcerting to be constantly asked why on earth I would even contemplate moving to live in a place that many people I know don't even want to visit - let alone live - but I managed to brush it off and people seemed to understand when I explained the situation to them. But now it just seems to be more evidence to give credence to the feeling that I am making a catastrophic mistake.

I've met at least half a dozen US born NZ residents who said that it was their dream to live in New Zealand and now that they are here it is all they ever wanted and more. I honestly cannot imagine saying that about the US at any point in time. Much of the social sentiment there that is portrayed in the slanted media is diametrically opposed to all my personal feelings and beliefs. Even our slanted media here in NZ is not as far fetched. It's undeniable that the US has more crime, poorer primary and secondary education (1-12 grade), more expensive tertiary (college) education and is much more of a political target for international crime such as terrorism than tiny, relatively unimportant NZ. As an example: the Global Peace Index of 2011 puts NZ at 2 (the lower the more peaceful) just after Iceland who took the number 1 spot and the USA is at 82 - 2 points higher than The People's Republic of China at 80. Minimum wage in Massachusetts is lower than NZ minimum wage (even after converting the currency) and worker's rights are poorer from what I have researched.

Don't get me wrong; NZ is far from perfect. But I do, in some respects, acknowledge the fact that I am down-grading. In other areas I am upgrading - I may be able to make more money there simply because US dollars are worth more. But I may find that I need a Bachelor of the Arts degree, at the very least, to make the sort of money I would need to offset the increased cost of living. Getting that degree, without government aid which I won't likely be entitled to while a mere resident, will be a lot more costly and likely more difficult. I may also need a minimum wage job to begin with to gain a local referee for my resume.

I guess the moral of the story is that I don't really know what I am doing. I'm just throwing my cards into the wind and hoping that some of them will turn up Aces. Looking back at April of 2011 I seemed to be a lot more zen about it than I feel right now. Here's a quote from a tongue in cheek FAQ that I wrote up for my friends and family to read:

"Q. Aren't you worried about [insert stereotype of US culture here]?!"

"A. Not really.  With common sense and awareness of my surroundings I think I can keep myself out of trouble.  Like attracts like, I believe, so if I'm calm and reasonable then likely those around me will be too."

I guess my problem at the moment is that I don't feel calm or reasonable. I'd better do some meditation before I get to that TSA check-point in Los Angeles.

My US Fiancé(e) Visa Interview

Today was the day of my immigration visa interview at the US Consulate General in Auckland, NZ. I flew up the night beforehand because my appointment was for 10am and I couldn't get a flight early enough in the morning to give me a good leeway. A friend I knew from high school put me up for the night and it was great to catch up. For the past 2 days I've been so nervous and wired that it's been hard to eat, sleep or sit still for too long. So I went to bed about 11.30pm yesterday but tossed and turned most of the night. I found myself awake at 7am with the feeling like my eyes were being held open wide. I tried, in vain, to sleep for another 20 minutes then I got up to get ready.

My friend kindly drove me to the Consulate before she went off to work and that meant I was plenty early. I was happy about this because I desperately wanted to get it over and done with while at the same time I was mortified at the idea of being late. I mulled over the idea of trying to find something to put into my stomach, having been to nervous to eat at my friend's place earlier, but after seeing that the café in the same building as the Consulate had nothing I could eat I decided to just be early.

I had my suitcase, documents in a plastic document holder and my handbag with me. The security guard at the, for lack of a better word, reception area x-rayed my bags and stored them for me before giving me a laminated number so I could retrieve them once I was ready to leave. I went through the metal detector and he prodded my document case for anything untoward. Once I was cleared then I was told to got on through the door and up to window number 5 to press the buzzer.

Behind window number 5 (and all the other windows) was an office with the usual office furniture and employees. After a short wait a smiling woman with a US American accent came to greet me and introduced herself before explaining that she was going to go over my paperwork with me. She had the stack of papers I have been in the process of filing since March 2011 and it was slightly nostalgic to see them all again. She was so friendly and nice but I was still very nervous. She told me not to be nervous, that this wasn't the part to be nervous in, and that I should feel free to ask her any questions I might have. Once we had gone through all the details and confirmed my address and phone number she said something which surprised me. She said that she had to thank me because she had been doing a lot of paper work when I came in and it had been stressing her out. She went on to say that I had been so calm during the time she talked to me to go over my details that it had calmed her down a lot. I told her that I was only outwardly calm but she still insisted that she felt a lot calmer thanks to me. I thought it was quite nice and I felt like maybe this interview wasn't quite so bad as I had expected it to be.

I guess what I had thought would happen was that I would sit in a stuffy office room and a middle-aged woman behind a desk would judge me and tell me why I wasn't suitable for permanent residence in the USA. Well, that was the catastrophic situation that my subconscious was working on in the shadowy corners of my mind, anyway.

I sat for a while and eventually an inexpressive male voice called my name through a microphone at the window marked "Interview 3". I approached it to find a man with all my paperwork. He asked me to sign one of the documents which required a consular officer, such as himself, to witness my signing it. I tried not to let my shaking be too visible. He then went through a list of questions to do with details about my fiancé, his date of birth, education and vocation to his father's vocation and income. Finally, when I thought he had gone through every possible objectionable detail about me and my situation he just wound things up. He said that I needed to send them, via email or fax, proof of my future-father-in-law's income. He said that otherwise things looked "fine" (if I remember correctly, I think that was the word he used). I was too petrified of him to ask if that meant I would be granted the visa, I was too scared of asking him anything because he seemed to be putting on a purposely cold front, so I left with a feeling of nothing having been resolved. I picked up my bags in exchange for the little orange laminated card with the number 44 on it I had been given and went downstairs in the elevator.

I called fiancé and woke him up. Poor fiancé had only managed to get to sleep at 3am - he was as wound up about the interview as I was. We had a disjointed conversation because he wasn't very awake and then I let him go before trying to text future-in-law with the request for proof of income. I then stumbled my way to the airport bus and stuck my head in my book all the way to the airport which took about 40 or so minutes. At the airport I finally got a couple of strawberry frosted donuts in my tummy and got down to the business of waiting for my flight which was a couple of hours away at least. My PSP was sufficient distraction for a while but then I became too tired to do much other than sit there and wait for the boarding call. The relief from being on edge for 2 days had finally caught up with me and no doubt the lack of restful sleep didn't help.

I managed to read most of the way through the flight and it took longer than expected since we were delayed in taking off. I had to stop as we began to descend into Wellington airport, though, because the turbulence was so bad that I had to focus on keeping my donuts down. My Dad picked me up from the airport and took me to get groceries before taking me home and I was greeted by an enthusiastic fiancé who squeezed me like there was no tomorrow. He had probably been worrying, like I had, that there might not be a tomorrow for us if I somehow failed my visa interview.

It turned out that future-in-law didn't receive my text message so fiancé has emailed him the details of what he needs to do this evening as I write this. I cooked a lovely dinner for myself of brown rice, baked tarakihi with garlic and rosemary with vegetables on the side. It's sitting nicely in my stomach and my eye lids are heavy so I might just leave it there. Sorry for any rambling, typos or grammatically nonsensical sentences. I am tired and must be forgiven for such things. At least this once.

New Zealand Summer and New Year

Well, we've been back in NZ for about a month now and we have been playing the waiting game an awful lot - it would seem to me.  I did the medical exam required for my visa application the day after we arrived back, including a routine chest x-ray for signs of tuberculosis, then I did my blood and urine tests the next day once I had rehydrated a bit from the plane rides.  The doctor said that he saw no indicators that I wouldn't meet the health requirements for the visa so I'm not too concerned about that part of the process.

Once all that was done I could send off the last of the paperwork and a week or so later I received a letter with my appointment for the US Consular interview in Auckland.  It's at the end of January so there will be much twiddling of thumbs until then.  If the visa is approved then I should receive my passport, with visa included, back about 3 business days later.  A high school friend of mine has said I can stay the night in her spare room so I'll be flying up to Auckland the day before, since the appointment is at 10am, and then flying back to Wellington that afternoon.  I managed to get the tickets on sale with Jetstar for $39 NZ each way before tax so that's a slight relief on the financial front. 

Speaking of finances; I've been applying for jobs but a recruitment agent said that not a lot is going on at this time of the year with most roles starting late January or February.  Since we plan to leave pretty much as soon as I have the visa in my hands there would seem little point to accepting even a temporary role in mid-late January.  I'd probably have to leave before training finished if it were anything more than a very basic temp job.  Still, it's a requirement that I apply for jobs because of unemployment payment rules and when I tried to explain the situation to them they didn't want to hear about it.  They will be summoning me sometime after 9 January to provide evidence that I am seeking employment.  It's all incredibly demoralising, actually.  Paypal have also decided to lock fiance out of his account so he has to wait until his US bank opens on Wednesday (NZ time) before he can get his bank account number to unlock his paypal.  I don't understand why his online banking doesn't display his bank account number as mine does.  It's terribly inconvenient and this isn't the first time we've needed his account number yet been unable to obtain it.  Perhaps some feedback to his bank is in order.

On a less whiny note: the pohutukawa trees are starting to bloom in earnest now so I plan to get some good pictures of them to remind me of my home town when I'm living in the frozen north.  There have been so many tui birds around where we live - I don't think I've seen them so often in my life!  There's one which seems to come to perch on a branch that can be seen from the living room window most days and sings for us.  I even heard one imitating a car alarm one morning which I found amusing and quite impressive.  Anyway, fiance wants to go out for curry so I better get organised.