An update about my life #1

𝐎𝐤𝐚𝐲 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐈 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫'𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟗 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐲

𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧, 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 

𝐎𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞

𝐒𝐨 𝐈'𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞. 

#1 ：𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆

2 months after my surgery, I got an email from NZ immigration stating that I was granted a Job Search Visa —— 𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙁𝙚𝙧𝙣 𝙑𝙞𝙨𝙖 to work in New Zealand. My gosh! Things had never gone so well in my life before and it was like a dream come true! I had been applying for this visa for the past few years and I can't believe I got it last year! Sadly, I'm the last batch of applicants to receive this visa. They discontinued the visa in 2020. 

I had a job back then, a Content Writer cum Translator at a local mobile applications company in Penang, Malaysia, and had to send in a resignation letter to my boss during May so that I could have time to pack my belongings or tidy my room. I resigned on June 16th I think, and had about 14 days to pack everything I wanted to bring to NZ, brought a lot of stuff to Poslaju every single day. If I'm not mistaken, the total of my parcels were about RM2000++ or more cuz there were 7 boxes to ship to NZ and they are heavy, of course, I had 20KG of baggage weight to bring along with me. 

I arrived in New Zealand on July 1st. To be honest, I didn't expect myself to enter NZ that early, I was aiming for August or so but I suddenly found a cheap flight on June 30th that was about RM1700++ and they only had promotion ON THIS DAY. So I and my mum came to a conclusion that I'll take this flight, considering other flights were RM3000++ and above. My colleagues came to send me off on the day of departure, sending me gifts and wishes, I was really blessed they came to send me off cuz I didn't felt alone! 

#2  ：𝑳𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒁𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅

After about 18 hours flight, and a 3 hour transit in Singapore's Changi Airport, I finally arrived on July 1st. My boyfriend came to pick me up, and got me loads of my favorite things upon arrival. He made me a huge welcome board, brought me Brown Rice Green Tea and noodles in case I was hungry. In fact, I was indeed hungry after a long flight! 

We then took a Skybus to our accommodation, it was an Airbnb place my boyfriend has rented for about 3 years and we lived with our landlord as we only rented a room. The room was pretty small I'll have to be frank but the entire place is so clean and our landlord never asked us to clean the toilet lols. He cleaned it all by himself! Really impressive! 

So my first 2 months in New Zealand was like a holiday for me. I wanted to take a break from the hustle and bustle in my previous working days. I worked non-stop ever since the day I graduated so I thought I deserved a break since I'm in a country, a new place that is so stranger to me. I wanted to explore and get used to this place before I get going with my job search. However, things didn't go that well for me after the 2 months break. 

#3 ：𝑱𝒐𝒃 𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉

I underestimated everything. I thought I'll be at advantage to find a job here considering I'm multilingual. Everyone in Malaysia told me that I'll get a job real soon as long as I know 2 languages, at least. I was wrong. It's May 2020 now and I still haven't gotten a job. I went for several interviews but I was turned down. I applied for jobs at various companies and some never even contacted or turned me down before I even went for an interview. I guess this is the difference between finding a job in NZ and in Malaysia. You'll get turned down before even going for an interview. I mean, back in Malaysia, employers will try to have a meeting with you to see if you're fit to work during the interview. I was shocked. I never got the chance to go for an interview and I was already turned down. 

#4 ：𝑪𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓

Okay peeps, this is the part where confusion hits me hard, just like in the Pokemon movies. I didn't know we needed a cover letter until I applied for my first job. Like back in Malaysia, we only required a CV or a Resume when applying for a job, so I've never really bumped into a situation where a cover letter is needed. Obviously, I didn't know what to write in a cover letter and was unsure about the professionalism of a cover letter. This was one of the obstacles I've met during my job search. 

I joined a job search workshop near my Airbnb and I met so many new people there and we're even friends till today. I asked. Is it very hard to get a job in New Zealand? Many of them answered yes. My heart sank when I knew some of them couldn't even get a job after 9 months or a year. They told me that I am quite new to this country so it's normal if I didn't have a job yet, so they told me to not be disappointed with myself about this issue. I just couldn't. I've never had such a long break in my life. There's this Chinese saying that goes "话不能说得太早" which means do not speak too early of yourself. I did want to take a break upon my arrival in NZ right, I got what I wanted but there was no turning back. I lost to my job searches, I lost to earning my first income in NZ but what I didn't lose was, my relationship. I finally ended my 3 years of long-distance relationship. It was hard but worth it! 

Speaking of "long-distance", I am going to stop here since it's getting pretty long-winded and I have a few more parts to go. 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘂𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁, 𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲𝗱 ! :D