Aya | Remuera
“So, my name is Aya and I live in Remuera. My partner and I have a Kiwi friend, and he’s always nice, but the one thing he has been very nice to us with is he helped my partner get a job.
My partner wanted to work in one particular area, but he didn’t have any experience. But this friend works in this particular area my partner wants to work in so he always tries to help us to find a way to join. He actually offered one job to him, so now my partner is working in an industry he really wanted to work in.
I’m from Tokyo, and I know Tokyo is one of the most exciting cities in the world, but I thought I needed a change, so I decided to go abroad. I first went to Australia to study English and that’s where I met my partner, and we decided to come, move to New Zealand, because we’ve been told how beautiful and friendly this country is, and we really love living here.
People are very friendly, and I didn’t expect it. I live in an apartment and people in the apartment always say hello to me. It’s very friendly, I was surprised.
I think friendship is very important, but to me, I don’t need many friends with a shallow connection. I just need a few friends who I can share all my experiences, I can rely on, and I just really appreciate what he did to us.
I found it very difficult to find a local friend first because I couldn’t speak English much. But I went to a yoga studio to do yoga every day, so once I tried to speak to someone, and we share the same topic, which is yoga, that’s how I make friends. One thing I can recommend to someone who wants to find local friends is I think you should join the community and find the same topic and share experiences.”