Mishaela – Avondale
“The last text message I sent would have been to my sister 10 minutes ago.
After work, she visited me last night and we just had a little catch up. I was just seeing if she was alright and wishing her a good day. She lives on the North Shore and we haven’t caught up in awhile. So, she just came over and we talked about what we’ve been up to.
I’m used to living in small towns, so navigating around the place was pretty difficult at times, but I have met some good people, along with not so good people. My initial reason for moving [to Auckland] was for bigger opportunities I guess, but I think when you’re from a small town it – it seems easier than it actually is here. I would say it’s much nicer to live when you’re more well-off, I guess. So, not having much money doesn’t make it that easy to be here.
I found it the best here in Avondale, to be honest. I live in a block of flats where everybody sort of knows each other and talks to each other, which I found is the most social neighbourhood I’ve lived in of all the places. You would think that it would be too noisy, or lack of privacy, or something like that, but generally everyone gets along pretty well, especially all the kids. They play outside together, which I think is the part that brings everyone together.
I see a lot of different cultures and I think it’s nice, because where I come from it’s not very culturally diverse. It takes a bit of getting used to.
I have one son, and one on the way – he is the utmost importance to me. Especially with a lot of dark things going on in Auckland lately. All the kids safety is most important, and the good thing is that where they play together they’ll always have eyes on them. People are always watching them, whether we’re inside or not – I won’t let him walk anywhere without me or without a trusted adult or something like that.”
