KEY POINTS:
Dr Sapna Samant, 40, media company director, Auckland. From India, six years here.
"The first thing that struck me when I came out of the airport was where are the people?' I found it refreshing, I think I was in a misanthropic phase, I just wanted to get
away from people.
"New Zealand women have a tough kind of strength, they're very inspiring, but they can also be very stroppy. Indian women are expected to live out their lives as dictated by the rest of society. I don't think people understand that, in Asian cultures, it's still the women who keep society together. "I come from a conservative family. My mother is a housewife, and she was particular that my sister and I got an education. As a GP, I had a fair amount of freedom in India but here it was a total unshackling. "I was empowered. Living here alone, I've had to figure out how to change the light bulb and work out the specs for my camera. In India, women wouldn't discuss technical things because it's the guy's job.
"It was a shock the first time I saw New Zealand men cleaning and mopping the floor. Kiwi men are comfortable with female independence but it's still hard sometimes to have an intelligent conversation with a Kiwi man.
"I think Asian women are still an exotic beast to Kiwi men. Sometimes, they find it hard to deal with an Indian women who's wearing traditional dress and speaking about politics or sport in impeccable English. "I enjoy working in New Zealand. I'm treated like an equal and I can treat other people as equals. There are very few egos, whereas in India, the hierarchical structure is very rigid.
"There's immense dignity in labour here. I was an usher while I studied, and I didn't feel ashamed, but in India it's only a lower socio-economic strata that does this job.
"It's a great place to bring up kids but sometimes it's too politically correct. If I shout at my niece, it's because Indians talk loudly and sometimes it's important to shout at kids. "New Zealand society is a mixture of liberal and conservative. People are proud to say they're left-wing or Green. You'd be shot if you said that in India! "I love living here. I love the indigenous culture, that's giving a base from which you can move. I think we will be an amazingly beautiful people in 30, 50 years because there will be this amalgamation of cultures. I can't wait to be a part of that."
