Easier Said than Done
There are a bunch of things that have been meant to be put on the blog but haven’t ended up here. Still planning on finishing the daily diary of the Kiwi Experience tour, but for now here are some recent happenings.
New Wheels
After 6500 kilometers on the Trek 1200, she has a gnarly break in the frame. Two weeks without a bike was unbearable, but two days ago I scooped almost the same exact bike as the first bike I bought in The States, a 2006 Trek 4300. I think I rolled a 2005 in Austin and it was definitely some of the best money I have ever spent(paintball gun was probably the best money ever spent). I spent many many many early morning hours and evening hours putting in sessions in the Greenbelt, downtown, on the UT campus, and at Walnut Creek giving it all the hell it would take. Eventually, I killed it in a regrettable mishap. In honor, I have purchased its younger brother in almost mind condition for a measly 225 NZD. Like the Trek 1200, someone had purchased a bike with the intention of undertaking a new hobby and after a few rides had let it gather dust in their garage. This thing will get more than the love it deserves with me. On a side note: Put in about 5000 Miles since leaving The States. Who knows how many on foot and in the water? Ridiculous.
The Job Situation
I still have not secured a proper job. New Zealand takes approximately a two-week holiday from Christmas Eve to around January 13th. With this, there is not much opportunity of landing a job or undertaking job seeking activities until around mid January. Plenty of time during this period to polish the resume/C.V. and review job search processes and previous cover letters. It has been over 4 months since landing in New Zealand and in this time I have not been in a structured working environment. To get back into the swing of things and also attempt to get back into positive cash flow I have spent a few days working casually for a labor company, Allied Work Force. Quite a few backpackers/students work here and there are some good laughs and good times to go along with the hard work. Received the pay stub for the first weeks work today. We movin’ on up.
Some Advice about Moving to a New Country
If you can hold out, before migrating to another country get at least 5 years of professional experience. This will make your job search activities go much smoother. Even better, secure a job offer before moving to another country. Another option is to work for a multinational corporation and request to be transferred to an international office. If you decide on my plan of action, know that moving to a new country without a job and less than five years professional experience is going to be a challenge in the job department. Finally, save as much and bring as much CA$H as you can. I sort of winged it and while I have made it this far it could have been easier and less stressful with some more money in the bank. Additionally, without some lucky breaks I would be back Stateside right now. On the flipside, people tend to(I like to believe) live within their means. From what I’ve seen, if you bring a lot of cash, you will probably spend a lot of cash. If you bring a little cash, you will probably spend a little cash. An American expatriate has written some more solid suggestions here:12 Tips For Moving to a Foreign Country.
Decisions
While less stressful than prior periods of life, trying to keep everything going forward in New Zealand has caused me to neglect some of my compulsive planning activities I typically undertake. While most everyone here and around the world will be getting blitzed out of their gourd, I will most likely be flushing out goals and an outline for 2010. Easier said than done. I will probably come up with a threshold date that will determine whether or not I will return to The States if not professionally employed. There are a few contributing factors for coming to this decision. I am thinking this will be sometime around April, but have not decided yet. If I can, I will ride out summer here and then get summer in the Northern Hemisphere. If able to snag something over here, I have some great plans in the mix for Auckland and regardless of wherever I end up, I am making progress on polishing Spanish, obtaining a CCNA, learning some more programming languages, and STILL practicing GMAT(Without a doubt, GMAT is the most annoying thing I have ever done). Got quite a few objectives piling up and need to make a time estimate for each of them and get each of them scheduled.
Back to the Beginning and some New Ideas
With the death of the roadie and the rebirth of the mountain bike, I have postponed undertaking Ironman New Zealand in March. I am still keen on completing an Ironman in 2010, but am looking at ones later in the year in Asia, Europe, or Africa. I am returning my focus to running. Running is how I got into triathlon and I have let my love of running wane a little while focusing on triathlon. I love triathlon, but running is my first love. Auckland is a great place for both triathlon and running, but I especially love running here. Additionally, I have lost some of the original fire and desire I used to bring to training and without this putting in the hours is getting harder and harder. I have the discipline, but am lacking the passion right now. Finally, I would like to utilize the resources required to properly complete an Ironman to focus on integrating in New Zealand and employment. Once establishing this base, it will be easier and more appropriate to focus on Ironman distance events. I still plan on keeping up my endurance through long distance swimming, biking, and running, but will sacrifice some of the intensity and regiment that I normally dedicate to IM training. Adventure Racing might be on the horizon. Ironman is A LOT of road action. Adventure Racing brings some of the Ironman type action out into the bush and adds more arts like kayaking, orienteering, teamwork, and critical thinking. Doing some research and I think we will see some Adventure Racing in 2010.
