Woo - Hoo

"We're going to New Zealand,
Where the Kiwi is king,
and the locals eat a barbie on the sand"

"We're going to New Zealand.
Where the Sheep reign supreme
and Christmas is spent in the sun"

"We're going to New Zealand"

Lots to catch up with

I've been a little neglectful of this blog recently, well quite a lot actually.  It's not that I haven't wanted to commit our news to cyber space, I have thought about it a lot, it's just that I have been so busy my feet haven't touched the ground.

So here comes the long catch up ....

1. The Job Interview:

I had the interview, we tried to do it over Skype but the microphone was in the loft and as I'm such a short arse it was not possible for me to get it.  So Martin (the minister from Auckland) phoned me at 11:30pm his time.  We had a lovely long chat about many different subjects and discussed faith and my position rather a lot.  It was an extremely random interview, we had none of the standard UK questions of "why do you want this job?" or "what can you offer our company?".  Actually it was rather refreshing to just talk.  I did get offered the job but due to a hold up with our visa (more on that in a minute) I've not been able to accept, although at the moment it is still mine as no Kiwi's have applied, let alone accepted!!  Martin has invited R and I to worship in his church when we arrive so at least we can start forming networks.

2. The Visa Delay:

We were hoping to have our visa by the end of August but at the moment it is looking more likely to be with us sometime during October.  This has all been down to the medical examiner, we thought that I would be the problem child (figuratively speaking) with all of my health related issues, but in actual fact it has been R.  7 years ago he had to have an operation to repair his shoulder, since that time it had repeatedly dislocated.  We had to get an MRI done and provide a consultant's letter so that they could work out whether we would cost NZ a great deal of money.  Additionally we had the added complication of the Radiographer not filling in a report to say we had no TB etc etc.  We've now managed to provide all of the additional evidence so fingers crossed.   Also R is fine apparently it is just his shoulder shoulder muscles are not strong enough at the moment, so lots of physio required.

3.  House Decoration / Clearance:

Having now made the difficult decision to sell our house, we've been spending the last few weeks smartening the place up.  For the first time in history we have not only 1 but 2 taps on our bath!!!!!!!!  Following on from the estate agents recommendation we've spent two weeks in the bathroom gutting it and redecorating, so the 1970's wall paper has gone, the strange 'bird' patterned tiles are gone and the dodgy light come heater thing has been eradicated.  

We've also begun the equally hard task of deciding what we can and cannot take, and seem to have spent days surrounding by bags and piles of clothes, and various assorted paraphernalia from old computers, to floppy disks and ancient tools.  I think R has found this task more difficult than I as once I've made the decision for it to go it goes regardless of any other feelings.  

Additionally we've had to invest in some more furniture to accommodate our ever growing Cd collection, as for some reason I cannot do without  music and am always finding new artists.  Although I have the music on the PC for us it's not the same as holding the CD.

Who's A Clever Girl?

Just last week, I was doing the trawl around the job sites in an attempt to find Richard a job when I stumbled across a site called "Youth Train".  They specialise in placing Youth Workers in churches.  On the website I saw an advert for a Youth Worker in a Chinese Presbyterian Church.  I decided to find out more about the position and now I am due to have an interview via Skype, once I have submitted my CV.

Interview Done ... Outcome Pending

Well we had our interview, or should I say Richard had our interview, seeing as he is the principal applicant.  My job at this moment in time is not deemed 'essential ' for the job market.  It does make one feel a rather uninspired and inadequate.

The interview went well although we are still waiting for a decision to be made.  This is all due to the fact that Richard managed to re-dislocate his shoulder a while back playing badminton of all things.  We are hoping that we will have an outcome soon, as all this waiting is proving to be rather stressful.

Interview Immenent

Tomorrow is D-Day.

Interview booked

Telephone primed and ready to go

Fingers Crossed

Good Luck

Case Officer ... Check Part 2

Today we had a response from our case officer ... we know her name Katie Baker and she has requested that we send more proof of the fact that we have been living together for 12 months or more.  I would have thought that photos from the past 12 years, joint bank statements, a mortgage statement, and a letter to us would have been enough (but apparently not). 

We have also been asked to have a telephone interview and have several dates, so once we have decided on which one we'll post it here.

Case Officer ... Check

Last night, upon checking the good old e-mails we found that we now have a case officer assigned to us. 

I am so happy as it is another little bit of progress (and it didn't quite take the full month)  although we have to wait 10 days for them to review all the paperwork, check that what we have said is legitimate. 

Once this is done they will then contact us, so hopefully by August we will be having our interview.