Twenty years in Aotearoa was the perfect excuse to go out and celebrate with just a few of the friends who have helped me feel at home in my adopted country.
OPINION
A year used to feel like a long time. And in many ways, it is. As the opening lines of the second act of one of my favourite musicals Rent, reminds us - a normal year consists of "five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes".
Even my mathematically challenged brain, that has always struggled when there are more than two or three zeros on a number, can recognise that's a lot of minutes. And when it comes to considering how many minutes there are in 20 years, my brain can quite quickly come up with the answer - lots and lots. (That's a technical term, honest).
The point of that song is how do you measure a year - it's far more than simply minutes. It's about sunsets seen, coffees drunk, laughs shared with friends and the love you have experienced and felt.
So why am I talking about minutes and years and decades? Because this week I have realised just how many sunsets and coffees, laughs with friends and moments with those I love I have had the luxury of experiencing here in NZ, as I realised it is now 20 years I have lived here.
This weekend friends and I went out to celebrate that momentous milestone. Technically we were three months late as I actually first stepped off that Singapore Airlines flight at the end of August 2001, but we couldn't celebrate then thanks to a lockdown and it's taken us this long since to find a night that suited us all.
When I did step off that plane, I had just the allowed luggage allowance of two suitcases and one cabin bag, which seemed ample at the time given I was only coming for a few weeks holiday. Many years later, I have slowly managed to move most of my "stuff" here thanks to eternally patient parents who, every time they fly out to visit, faithfully bring some more of my belongings from their attic with them.
Twenty years ago, Aotearoa New Zealand was simply a place I planned to visit, to explore and enjoy, but not to settle in. I had been living in the Middle East before that, and decided to visit Aotearoa New Zealand on a bit of a whim. Well, admittedly there was also "a boy" involved, but let's just say my love for this country has truly outlived any feelings for said boy!
Failed romance aside, what had really put New Zealand on my travel radar was the way its citizens described it. In my time in the Middle East, I had met people from all over the world, and while most of the expats told me why they had left their original country, only the Kiwis told me while they planned to return to it. There seemed to be a clear difference - other expats could list all the reasons their home country was a disaster and they had no plans to live there again, while the Kiwis were busy earning money, enjoying an OE, but all with plans to return home when it came to raising a family and buying a house.
Now, 20-and-a-bit years later, I have found my own home here. I never did use that return half of my airline ticket, because it turns out those expat Kiwis I knew back then were right - Aotearoa is the perfect place to settle down and raise a family, and I am happy to be raising my own family here, and very proud to call it home.
Right now of course, I couldn't even use that return ticket if I wanted (or could find it), with the worldwide pandemic forcing many countries, ours included, to close their borders and cancel millions of flights. Our children haven't seen their grandparents in England for more than two years as a result and I won't pretend that's easy. Nor is it easy being unable to visit my amazing grandmother in Africa or my husband's family and friends in Germany.
Talking to my father this week however, I was reminded just how lucky we are. He and my mum are naturally desperate to be able to see their grandchildren again but one comment from him gave me a really good reality check.
"I can't think of anywhere better for you to be right now, than in a country relatively free from Covid compared to the rest of the world, well protected and able to enjoy much of the trappings of normal life."
Twenty years ago, being unable to leave a country, be it the UK, Aotearoa, the Middle East or anywhere else, would have made me feel trapped. Now it makes me feel safe. That's not to say I don't have cabin fever, I will admit to doing a small happy dance when the Government announced plans for next year's border openings, but if I have to be stuck anywhere in the world, Dad is quite right, Aotearoa is certainly the best place to be.
So here's to another 20 years of coffees (and let's face it, NZ has some of the best baristas in the world), sunrises and sunsets and plenty of love and laughter. Thanks Aotearoa, for letting me call you home.
PS -Twenty times five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes is ten million five hundred twelve thousand apparently, thanks Google, and thanks to all the friends who have helped make every one of those minutes I've spent here in Aotearoa so enjoyable.