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So the sense of community is definitely a pro living in small town. What about some of the cons? Did you feel like I just can't get used to this, especially initially.
So there are a few things I mean the lack of food options was a big thing, like I really miss Chinese food; entertainment, I mentioned karaoke before, there was karaoke, but you'd have to go to someone's house to do it. Karaoke in the sense of like karaoke rooms. This does not exist.
If I wanted to go to the... there was a supermarket but it was fairly small. So the shopping options were fairly limited; and public transport, there was no public transport if you didn't have a car, you had to walk, because New Zealanders traditionally live in houses with big gardens, not apartments. Walking into town could actually be quite a distance.
I see, what about the quietness? Because one thing that I couldn't take when I just spent a few days in English countryside, it was too quiet. It was driving me crazy. How did you handle it?
That didn't bother me to be honest. I remember like when I first moved from New Zealand to Beijing, I... this was the year of 2000 and I was staying in Daxing district, and I would just get woken up every morning by thousands of bicycles and bike bells. I struggled with that. I did not struggle coming back to New Zealand with the quietness.
I think it's also because you grew up in a smallish town. Right?
I grew up a in a city of about 65~ 70,000 people. So a small area, a low populated area.
When you move back after all these years living in Beijing to this 4,000 people town, did you notice that your lifestyle has changed or your perspective about things have changed?
Absolutely, hugely.
So when I lived in Beijing, I had this... it was almost like a feeling of being invincible in some ways, you could go out. It felt like anything was possible in China, that might have just been the time that I was living there around the Olympics, prior to the Olympics, and around the time of the Olympics.
It was very high profile...
It was just fanatic and it was always stuff going on. There was always opportunities and people were just so optimistic and positive. I was caught up in that. I loved it.
Coming back to New Zealand. Everyone was very sedate, very quiet, probably quite pessimistic compared to the optimism that we've been feeling in China.
Am I to understand it's kind of like people in Beijing especially back then, no matter if you're Chinese or not Chinese, you felt like there's so many opportunities, so anything can happen, I can make something out of myself. I don't really know how big a success that I can land in the future.
But going back, it's more like how your life's gonna be.
I'd say so, I've obviously got older as well. So I've been back in New Zealand, living in New Zealand for the past 10, 12years. I've aged as well. So I'm quite happy going to bed at 9 o'clock.
Actually, this is my next question. What is the life like in small town, New Zealand, if you have to walk us through a typical day, not just you, I know you have your business, you have actually a lot of things to do, but for an average New Zealanders living in a small town. What is their average day like?
Yeah, most people that live in small towns, I just like everyone else. They would either go to school or have a job. In small town, New Zealand, unemployment is probably a bit higher than in the cities. So there will be.. I mean unemployment is still fairly low, but unemployment does exist. New Zealand has a pretty good social welfare system.
So if you are unemployed, you get paid weekly. The chances are if you're living in a small town, everything is gonna be much cheaper.