The inside story of a KIWI in the MOM office
Lesley-Anne is a highly valued member of our reservation system management team. Read her journey about becoming the resident Kiwi in our Australian workplace.
The trials and tribulations of moving to and working in an office environment in Australia with a Kiwi accent! Where does one start… lordy, it is a whole different world let me tell you. We really should get the basics out of the way… No, we don’t eat Fush and Chups but we do indeed enjoy a great feed of Fish and Chips, but not Feesh and Cheeps.
Getting off the plane with a suitcase and dreams of a great new life by the beach is a dream for many, but gosh there are a lot of wildlife creature things here that are out to either scare the living daylights out of you or they just simply want to eat you.
First night what do I find but a rather large gecko looking down from my bedroom ceiling, so thinking now that I may never sleep again I finally get a few hours only to be woken up in the middle of the night by the large blazing sun, okay so if I am going to sleep again its never going to be for long… what have we done?
Now for the fun stuff:
Working in an office. There are certainly issues with what things are… what the heck is a texta… well, I learnt early on it is a felt pen. Next comes the problem of asking for a pen, yes, a pen not a pun or a pin, believe me, this happens a lot. Who would have thought that speaking the same language could cause so much amusement for others? Let’s not talk about the time we had to move desks and find the disks to update something for the printer. They say laughter is the best medicine, lets say everyone here is incredibly healthy with having a kiwi in the mix!
I have some lovely clients who have come to enjoy some great banter, and jokes and a few of them even enjoy watching the All Blacks. But it’s new clients, ones who just ask so North or South, well, to be honest, I did not realise there was such a difference, surely, we are all kiwis who all just speak with completely different vowel sounds than you Aussies? I did not realise that our accent was so broken by islands. I knew that the Southlanders had a habit of holding onto their Scottish roots but that was as far as it went for me. Gosh still learning interesting things in my mid 40’s.
After being here a good number of years I can confirm that although I am still most certainly not a fan of anything Reptile or Araneae I do not freak out quite as much when a gecko chatters meaning they are close by or a large golden orb spider has woven an amazing web on the outdoor umbrella, a stick insect will still stop me from hanging a load of washing outside, I may never get used to all these creepy crawlies.
I am now sleeping through the night and the 4:30am sunrise does not even cause me to stir until either the alarm goes off or I am ready to wake up.
Winter now is a bit of a struggle with the addition of sheepskin slippers by about year 6. I always thought that living here was just an extended holiday and I was here on my terms and that I would be able to leave at any time to go and pick my life back up in NZ at the drop of a hat.
Well, something has changed… COVID-19 reared its ugly head and I find myself torn on whether to pack up and go back home where if needed there would be support, both from my family and if needed the government, but here’s the thing. Right now, I am not ready to go home for good, I just want everyone to stay safe, do the right thing and get back to a new normal with Trans-Tasman travel to be available without restrictions. I really enjoy my life here on the Sunshine Coast and I don’t want the decision to go back home be forced on me… yes, I will go back home one day for good but it is just not that time yet.
Massey team and clients, you are stuck with me for a bit longer yet. LA x