It’s been a little over two years now. Because our visa will expire in January and we’re not quite ready to leave Wellington yet, we applied for residence permits recently. We were prepared for a ten month wait, since that’s how long residency applications can take.
Well… Today we received news that after our next overseas trip, we won’t have to queue up at the border with the tourists and other rifraf anymore: we’ve been promoted to residents and we’ll be allowed to join the special (and sometimes shorter) queue for locals.
We realise this might not be terribly happy news for our friends and family in the Netherlands, but it doesn’t mean that we’re gone forever. It just means that things will be easier for us: we can stay for as long as we want, do whatever job we like, get a home loan and a credit card with less hassle and vote out the conservatives next time there’s an election.
Ever fancied a virtual stroll through our fair city? Google did the grunt work by driving their camera vehicle around town. You can enjoy the fruits of their labour, and a walk through our beautiful streets, through Google Street view:
We’re packing this weekend, shifting next weekend. It’s stunning summery weather today with nary a breath of wind, and Feestpaleis 3.0 is still squeaky clean and empty, so we decided to snap some pictures to give you a first impression of our new pad. It’s slightly smaller than our current Feestpaleis, but it has good storage and it’s a lot warmer and more sheltered. And the beach is right across the road ofcourse…
Stumbled upon this promotional video by Victoria University, about the Te Aro Campus, location of the Faculty of Architecture and Design, which is where I work:
Hey everyone! Look what’s on TradeMe since today!. Yesss, it’s our beautiful little Feestpaleis, and it’s yours for the taking! Why? Coz we’re moving, to Feestpaleis Mark III!
We found a cute little place literally a stone throw from where we are now: right below us down the hill. Our new place is about 30 seconds walking from the beach, is sheltered and insulated and even has a dishwasher!
Moving couldn’t be easier: We’ll just throw our stuff down the slope!
Hi y’all! Two weeks ago, I started a new job, and I can tell you it’s really pretty awesome. After several years of corporate slavery excitement in the fast moving commercial IT world, I’ve gone back to the bureaucracy inspiring academic environment of the University.
I am working at the School of Design of Victoria University, where I am responsible for the IT and technology environment of the Digital Media Design programme. Part of my work is managery-type stuff, which means running from meeting to meeting and trying very hard to get things organised, another part is system administration, while yet another part is working on kick-arse technical projects for researchers, including playing with electronics, a 3D virtual reality environment, cutting edge web development etcetera.
The Digital Media Tech team consists of two people: myself and Terry, who’s running the whole Studio environment for students, including Mac desktops, an Avid video-editing suite, some pretty funky equipment such as HD cameras and midi-controllers, etcetera.
My new workmates are a pretty cool bunch, they’re fun to hang out with and they are working on some really interesting projects. So, as you will have guessed by now, it looks as if this is just the place for me: new and cool technology, creative and inspiring people, a little office for myself and the opportunity to do things the way I think they should be done.
Winter in Wellington… it can be fine and sunny in the morning and change drastically in just a few hours. I shot a few pictures from our most recent storm - we couldn’t sleep at night because of the howling winds that battered our house. Everything was shaking. I got up before sunset and watched the waves crashing over Island Bay’s seawall. Here’s the video:
I’ve started doing yoga about a year ago. Willemijn and I go to a class twice a week, which has been (and still is) improving my strength, flexibility and balance tremendously. It has improved my surfing as well, which was one of the reasons I started doing it. Also, Bridget is simply the best yoga teacher imaginable. Her website is called Yoga By The Sea. I stole a great photo from her website showing Bridget on the beach in Oriental Bay, doing a pose called Natarajasana (Dancer pose):
Hi, we're Will and Gert. In September 2006, we
moved from Utrecht, the Netherlands
to Wellington, New Zealand,
exactly 18,558 kilometers away, as the crow flies.
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