1 Year in New Zealand as a Filipino
I decided to look back at all of the pictures I’ve taken since I arrived here.
I went through all of my photos twice. Each picture triggered a different emotion within me. After some thought, I decided to weave all of these together into a single narrative.
Living in the bottom of the world away from everyone can get pretty lonely. So, I thought sharing these pictures with you can give me some semblance of familiar company. Maybe, it can also help clarify some of the perceptions you may have about how it’s really like living in New Zealand.
My Routine
This is my apartment building. It was a train station before, which explains why it looks so cool.
This is what my room looks like.
As you can see, it’s a pretty small room. Before, I usually just scattered my stuff all over the place whenever I got home. If I did that now, I’d run out of room to walk around.
Like most of you guys, I used to have “The Chair” where I just dumped all of my clothes on. You’d think I would be more organized by now. But, as you can see, I just replaced “The Chair” with “The Closet Door”.
This is the common area.
It’s also pretty small. It has a sink, a fridge, a toilet, and a couple of shelves. All of this I share with two other people.
This is the corridor outside of my unit.
It’s in the same floor where the garbage room is. I always forget to throw my trash whenever I go out, so this is pretty convenient.
I’ll leave it to you to figure out where the exit is.
This is the staircase to the outside.
It’s always filthy and stained with all sorts of crap. People need to carry their cooking stuff up and down this staircase because the apartment has a communal kitchen above.
I used to cook food all the time. Now, I’m just lazy. I can’t wait to move to a different apartment that has its own kitchen.
This is the laundry room.
It’s a mess. A load of laundry costs 3 dollars. An hour for the dryer costs another 3. Some of these also have a bad habit of choking on the third dollar you place inside the coin dispenser.
Sneaky bastards.
This is the nearby park.
I didn’t really get to hang out it parks that much before moving here. Sometimes, I go here just to read a book. It makes me feel like I’m in a movie.
This is one of my favourite spots.
I live near the harbor, so it’s easy for me to go here when I need to think. I was a bum for a couple of months, so I went here a lot to pass the time.
This is where I wait for the bus to go to work.
The buses here are usually late for a few minutes. Honestly, it’s not that bad, especially if you know what it’s like back home.
This is Fort Street.
It has a bunch of fancy restaurants and a few strip clubs. If you compare it with how the streets are back home, you’d probably laugh at how “busy” it is.
This is Queen Street.
Everything within the city happens here (or near here). Lots of drunk people walk around this street during Friday night.
People say New Zealand is one of the safest places you can live in. But, I prefer staying away from this place when it gets too busy (and rowdy).
Places and Events
This is Eden Park.
It was one of the first places I went to when I arrived here. It pretty much set the tone for how my life would be like living here.
This is the view from Mount Victoria.
The city across the sea is Auckland CBD. The needle-like building at the bottom right is the Sky Tower.
This is the lantern festival that was held last year.
I met a friend here. We still keep in touch. Apparently, her sister studied in the same university as me.
Small world.
This is a protest about the TPPA agreement.
I was on my way to the gym when I noticed the crowd gathering along Queen Street. I spent a couple of minutes watching the whole thing.
This is a handgun featured at an exhibit I went to.
This was the same gun Leon S. Kennedy used in Resident Evil 4. It made the entire game so much easier once you got all the upgrades.
This is an art exhibit held at the harbor.
Pretty bold place to have an exhibit if you ask me. Good thing it didn’t rain that day.
This is a family marathon that was held at the beach.
I didn’t plan on seeing this when I went there. Still, it was nice hearing all of the laughter around me.
This is a cider and beer festival that I went to with a friend.
I mostly got ciders (one of which is apparently made with “unicorn tears”). I never liked the taste of beer.
A friend told me that the ciders looked like fucked up urine samples. Gross.
This a gaming event that was held at the computer museum where I worked before.
I didn’t get paid a lot (and didn’t get paid at all later on). But, I definitely enjoyed the time I spent working at this place.
These were the prizes we gave away during that event.
Trends
This is an article about how fresh graduates fare in “real life”…
… and how much they typically earn.
This is a recent article about the growing Asian population in New Zealand.
People are still learning to adjust.
And finally, some cool stuff
- The name of this store
2. This ready to eat whole chicken (perfect for lazy people like myself)
3. This piece of art (my friends at the museum have paintings like this all over their house)
4. This dude (he’s a long time supporter of the computer museum I worked for)
5. This ad
6. Junk Sauron…
7. … and his xenomorph friends
8. This concert (pretty excited about this)
9. Free food
10. This sign
Want to know more about New Zealand?
This article talks about the salaries and typical expenses you can expect if ever you decide to move here.
On the other hand, this article talks about the misconceptions people have about living abroad.
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