I was going to work in New Zealand. I decided where I would live about 10 days before I went. You can see how I found a board here. This is the following story of this.
My flatmates had two homes. One was in Mangere, a suburb of the Auckland region. The rent was 150 NZD per week, which is extremely cheap. The other was in Auckland City. The rent was 200 NZD, which is really cheap for its location. I wanted to view the homes and decide which I wanted to live in. But, I had already started a job hunt. I had not yet got a job. I guessed there are more job opportunities in the city. I was determined to live in the city.
I landed at Auckland International Airport around 23 p.m. I was so excited about the start of my new life abroad. I connected my phone to free Wi-Fi at the airport. I needed to check messages to see if my flatmates had arrived. My flatmates are kind enough to come pick me up and take me home for free. I was impressed by how kind they were! I turned off flight mode on my phone. I didn’t know how they looked. They didn’t know my looks, either. They sent me a picture of what they looked like.
I finally found them and we shook hands. They were old in their 50s. A husband and a wife. He was an English native. She was an Asian. They looked kind. I was relieved. But, I was nervous and awkward a little bit.
I was in their car. The husband was driving. I was beside him in the passenger seat. I told them that I was going to live in the one in the city.
It was easy to understand what the wife said. But, difficult to understand what he said. He was an old English native. He can understand me more. It was a bit tough for her to understand me. I talked with people, including English native speakers over the phone almost every day. I was confident about communication in English. But, I lost a bit of confidence.
It was about 30 minutes drive. We went home. I was tired because of the long flight. I took a shower quickly and went to bed.
I didn’t get a job yet. My future was unclear. But, I was not worried about it. I was just excited. Everything was new in New Zealand. I needed to speak English all the time, which I had rarely spoken in my home country. I was surrounded by non-Japanese people. Almost all of the people in Japan are Japanese. So, it was new for me.
My flatmates were incredibly kind. But, I was not sure then that I would not get along with them in the near future.
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