Silvia | Arkles Bay
“Yesterday we went to the school where my little daughter is going to study, so she was enjoying there, a new place. It was a beautiful day.
I think that New Zealand is a fantastic place for that as far as I have been able to experience here.. I just went out for a walk in the beaches. Everything is so close, and so amazingly beautiful. Something that I use a lot to cope with stress and all the tiring challenges of studying English. So I think it’s a great place to do that, with family alone, and so secure, so we can enjoy our life.
I am from Brazil, so I’m here in New Zealand for almost one year now. I lived in Brazil my first 53 years of life, it’s not a secure place, so we didn’t really identify with all the situation, the country, so we dreamed of coming overseas to New Zealand. I have a sister living close, well not so close in Australia. We wanted it so much, and really it’s something that is a long-term plan, of coming overseas. Adapting to a new country is not really easy, but I feel very well here in this place. We value beauty. I say We, because I’m with my small family; my husband and youngest daughter here, and we like the silence. We like all the possibilities of being free here, walking around and going to so many places. The part that I know from New Zealand, that’s here in Whangaparoa, has so many possibilities of places to view nature and to feel well. As I said, school is open in the weekends, so you can even play there. So, that’s fantastic.
The school here is a little bit different from Brazil. Primary school starts at five years old, and it has some fences, but the gates are open. That’s really awesome and amazing for us, because the [level] of security in Brazil, everything is closed. The children are like in a prison when they are in school, because they need to be secure there. Of course, school’s not open in the weekend, otherwise people would come in and steal things and damage everything. But here, the Whangaparoa Primary School where she’s going to study has a bike track. People come with their bikes and there are three playgrounds. Children are playing there. You can do a picnic there, and everything is so free, and you see lots of children that are even alone, and it seems that everybody feels that safety for that. So we can feel that family thing, and going out is something that’s really available. We are going to make a visit on Tuesday there, so tomorrow. In fact we actually don’t know the school, but we went there for her to know the place, and she felt really well. So now she knows where she’s going to start her studies in May.”
