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Despite what many Kiwis may think, New Zealand is a paradise when compared to the way most of the world lives.
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Searching the New Zealand Statistics Departments website, I discovered that it is estimated that more than one million New Zealand citizens live outside the country. I happen to be one of those kiwis that make up this statistic.
Recently my wife made the comment that soon I would have lived more years away from New Zealand than I actually lived there. This was a bit of a shock, but when I did the calculations I saw she was correct.
My reasons for moving to Brazil were varied, but the principle one was that on one of my trips here I met my Brazilian wife. When we married we made a decision to live permanently in Brazil, based more than anything, on my wife's cultural responsibilities. As she is the only surviving child she has an obligation to look after her aging parents. We have an agreement that after her parent’s die (they are both currently very healthy) we will possibly move back to New Zealand.
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I am not one of those expats who pretends they still live in New Zealand by finding some ANZAC-themed pub, spending their days there watching rugby games while mouthing off about how bad their adopted country is in relation to New Zealand, but I do read publications like Stuff several times a day in order to keep in touch with the situation in New Zealand.
Despite what many Kiwis may think, New Zealand is a paradise when compared to the way most of the world lives. Brazil for example has an undeclared civil war raging where more citizens are killed (many by the police) each year than are currently dying on the streets of Iraq. In addition, corruption has now reached such levels that it is threatening to topple the economy.
The question I am most asked when Brazilians discover I am from New Zealand, is what an earth am I still doing in Brazil. (They cannot understand why someone would want to exchange the quality of life of New Zealand with that found in Brazil).
Sometimes I worry about what type of reception we will receive if we decide to move to back to New Zealand. Though we will have amassed sufficient resources to establish ourselves if we move back, there is the question of pension rights and state care as we get older. (Though I have not contributed directly to the tax system in NZ for many years I have generated a steady stream of export dollars for NZ through my activities in Brazil).
I wonder if New Zealand is prepared for a wave of expat baby boomers returning to their native home?
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