It's been quite strange having Ashlee back at home.
She left in 2010 for a gap year in Australia and just never came home. Love got in the way :-)
Up until then, we'd been a balanced home of 2 males and 2 females. Once she left it kinda felt like I was driving a car with only three wheels. I found myself living in a house full of testosterone, Greg and Traevis head butting all the time, me in the middle trying to calm things down. It took us about a year to adjust to the unbalanced energy.
Now she's back, it feels like I have to learn to drive again with four wheels instead of three.
Greg's trying to play father again, but she's having none of it. She's a grown woman of 27, having lived on the other side of the world (when we were in the UK) for 6 years, been through all kinds of difficulties on her own, so trying to treat her like a young teenager is not going down well.
Ashlee has been trying to rope me into running every day with her.
Sigh I suppose I could try, but cannot envision myself doing it.
It's beliefs, isn't it? Once I get over the belief that it's not me, I will probably do it.
Anyways, Ashlee has landed herself a job. It's very easy to find work here, just like in the UK. Again, I suppose it depends on what we believe.
In 2008 when the financial world went through a bit of a depression, everyone was saying how difficult it was to make sales/find work. Greg didn't buy into that view and his ability to sell was not affected at all.
Our friend (my work colleague who came over with me from the UK) has gone back to the States to visit family. He was so worried after reading all the media hype. He doesn't have much good to say about his home country, which he left at 18 to live in London. Says he will never go back. He's not the only American I know living outside the country who have said similar. They say that once they leave the country, they realise how bad things are there compared to elsewhere.
I suppose it is the same as us when we left South Africa. We didn't realise how much propoganda was shoved down our throats by the controlled media until we moved to the UK.
But...we always thought the UK was very liberal and no propoganda in sight. I discovered otherwise on arrival in New Zealand. For example, we were told in the UK that tissue salts (New Era) were no longer being made as the factory had shut down after being bought out. I couldn't get them anywhere, despite doing online searches, until I got here and amazingly they were on the shelf at my local health shop. Turns out that the medical profession in the UK has become very strong in their anti-homeopathy stance. They are trying to do the same with vitamins bought over the counter.
So, happily New Era tissue salts are still being made.
Makes me wonder what propoganda NZ has, besides showing to the world the squeaky clean green image they try to portray to the rest of the world, that doesn't really exist.
Back to my friend...his parents came over from Texas a few months ago to spend time with him. His mum has been to London several times so it used to seeing different cultures rubbing shoulders and living together harmoniously, but his father has never left the USA and was amazed that this was possible. It made me wonder...surely it can't all be bad?
But again, it comes back to our beliefs and what we make of a country to fit into our reality. We could go live there and not see any problems whatsoever, unless we buy into and believe all the hype.
Interestingly our friend mentioned that all Americans living outside the USA have to pay taxes, both to the country that they reside in as well as to America - so double taxes.
That is just...weird. Both South Africa and UK were notified that we were leaving and since then, no tax demands. If we ever go back to either country, all we have to do is notify them.
It sort of helped to answer a question I've had for a long time - why do I have to submit an annual tax return to the USA for the books I've sold to readers in the States on Amazon UK? I get this request every year despite having taken my books off the market. They are quite demanding. about it too, if I don't comply :-(
Today we are doing another long walk up a mountain hiking trail in Ngaruawahia - lol - it's taken me a long time to learn to say that word properly.
She left in 2010 for a gap year in Australia and just never came home. Love got in the way :-)
Up until then, we'd been a balanced home of 2 males and 2 females. Once she left it kinda felt like I was driving a car with only three wheels. I found myself living in a house full of testosterone, Greg and Traevis head butting all the time, me in the middle trying to calm things down. It took us about a year to adjust to the unbalanced energy.
Now she's back, it feels like I have to learn to drive again with four wheels instead of three.
Greg's trying to play father again, but she's having none of it. She's a grown woman of 27, having lived on the other side of the world (when we were in the UK) for 6 years, been through all kinds of difficulties on her own, so trying to treat her like a young teenager is not going down well.
Ashlee has been trying to rope me into running every day with her.
Sigh I suppose I could try, but cannot envision myself doing it.
It's beliefs, isn't it? Once I get over the belief that it's not me, I will probably do it.
Anyways, Ashlee has landed herself a job. It's very easy to find work here, just like in the UK. Again, I suppose it depends on what we believe.
In 2008 when the financial world went through a bit of a depression, everyone was saying how difficult it was to make sales/find work. Greg didn't buy into that view and his ability to sell was not affected at all.
Our friend (my work colleague who came over with me from the UK) has gone back to the States to visit family. He was so worried after reading all the media hype. He doesn't have much good to say about his home country, which he left at 18 to live in London. Says he will never go back. He's not the only American I know living outside the country who have said similar. They say that once they leave the country, they realise how bad things are there compared to elsewhere.
I suppose it is the same as us when we left South Africa. We didn't realise how much propoganda was shoved down our throats by the controlled media until we moved to the UK.
But...we always thought the UK was very liberal and no propoganda in sight. I discovered otherwise on arrival in New Zealand. For example, we were told in the UK that tissue salts (New Era) were no longer being made as the factory had shut down after being bought out. I couldn't get them anywhere, despite doing online searches, until I got here and amazingly they were on the shelf at my local health shop. Turns out that the medical profession in the UK has become very strong in their anti-homeopathy stance. They are trying to do the same with vitamins bought over the counter.
So, happily New Era tissue salts are still being made.
Makes me wonder what propoganda NZ has, besides showing to the world the squeaky clean green image they try to portray to the rest of the world, that doesn't really exist.
Back to my friend...his parents came over from Texas a few months ago to spend time with him. His mum has been to London several times so it used to seeing different cultures rubbing shoulders and living together harmoniously, but his father has never left the USA and was amazed that this was possible. It made me wonder...surely it can't all be bad?
But again, it comes back to our beliefs and what we make of a country to fit into our reality. We could go live there and not see any problems whatsoever, unless we buy into and believe all the hype.
Interestingly our friend mentioned that all Americans living outside the USA have to pay taxes, both to the country that they reside in as well as to America - so double taxes.
That is just...weird. Both South Africa and UK were notified that we were leaving and since then, no tax demands. If we ever go back to either country, all we have to do is notify them.
It sort of helped to answer a question I've had for a long time - why do I have to submit an annual tax return to the USA for the books I've sold to readers in the States on Amazon UK? I get this request every year despite having taken my books off the market. They are quite demanding. about it too, if I don't comply :-(
Today we are doing another long walk up a mountain hiking trail in Ngaruawahia - lol - it's taken me a long time to learn to say that word properly.
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