London life begins

Kaz checking out B-palace
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Arriving to set up shop in London was never going to be easy, and honestly, I don't know what we would have done without the amazing generosity shown to us by my uncle David, Aunt Sarah and cousins, Marnie and Jonah. They have been so welcoming to both Karen and myself and have looked after us so well from day one.

It's been amazingly nice getting to hang out with them all and getting to meet my cousin Jonah (7yrs old) and seeing Marnie again (10) who when I last saw her was only 2 and a half! They are such great kids and a real pleasure to hang out with. One of the biggest drawbacks from growing up in NZ has obviously been the fact we had to leave our relatives behind, in NZ it's just my immediate family. So, getting to hang out with David and Sarah again is awesome.

some fuzzy hats
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Plus there is also the added bonus that we can take trips just an hour south to visit my grandparents, something not easily done from Levin, Wellington or Takeo!

For the most part our first month in London has been keeping our heads down and looking for work/a flat. I was lucky to strike a job pretty quickly thanks to a friend from Japan, Kate. She told me of a position going at her work, a small company who do management development workshops and were in need of a new person on front office as a Marketing and Administration assistant, I thought, "I'll 'ave that!" and put through my CV, got an interview, and secured a job!

the back entrance to the horse guards
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That put the pressure off us both and we switched focus to a flat, something we quickly realised can take a while! We knew the area we wanted to live in, a price range we could go for, and the rest was up to what fell to us on "gumtree". Day after day it seemed all we did was look at the website again and again, crossing our fingers each time hoping that maybe 'this time' there would be something standing out at us. Finally we struck gold when we viewed a place that we instantly took a liking to, thankfully it turned out the landlord liked us too and before we knew it we had a place to live and a nice Australian couple, who Karen met randomly, to live with.

Karen having a short day
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We haven't moved in just yet, as it wasn't available immediately, but we have it secured and that was good enough for us to be able to breathe a huge sigh of relief. It's located in Battersea just near the Clapham Junction train station.

The week after we got our flat sorted the final card fall into place and Karen got a job doing admin work for an American oil company (something she wasn't too happy about). However, on her first day there a position came up at my work so she quickly relenquished her position working for Uncle Sam and his oil digging ways, and before I knew it I were catching the train to work with my wife beside me! Niiice.

rather comical guards
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When we haven't been solely focused on jobs and flats we did spend the weekends off exploring the city, taking in some of the touristy, but awesome, sights.

In terms of sight seeing we have been doing most on the weekends and on our first Saturday we went round exploring the city centre without a map, the best way I think. We soon found ourselves walking past; Buckingham Palace, the Horse Guard Museum, Downing Street, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and across the Thames.

red bus, awesome building
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It still blows me away, after being here over a month, just how much history there is here and how impressive all the buildings are. And, while the people aren't the friendliest, and we sometimes really long for the Japanese politeness and amazing customer service, it's London, that's just how it is and everything else more than makes up for any shortcomings in the customer service department.

As London life begins for us I know we are going to have an absolute blast here and I am very excited about whats in store for us over the next year or two. So many people in NZ seem to think of going to London for an OE as boring and "all kiwis and aussies do it". But, just one month in it is EASY to see why they do. It's a fantastic city with so much on offer, so much opportunity and is so well placed with the rest of Europe at it's doorstep, what I want to know is, why wouldn't you want to come here for an OE?!