Hot water beach and German immigrant culture shock

We spent a few days in the town of Thames, a bit east of Auckland around a bay called The Firth of Thames. We explored the town and the area, and on Sunday we drove north up the peninsula's west coast to the town of Coromandel, a quaint small town having a motorcycle convention the day we arrived for a visit. There were mostly older people walking around in black leather pants (what's with that?), and looking at each other's chopper or hog motorcycle. There was also a community band in the street playing hits from the sixties and seventies, so we stopped off at a cafe to enjoy a flat white while listening to the band. The kids have been drinking ginger beer lately, which is much like ginger-ale but with a much stronger ginger flavour. So I bought them another brand of ginger beer called 'Frank's Damn Good Ginger Beer', which they enjoyed, as much for the name as the flavour.

We then drove across to Hot Water Beach on the east side of the peninsula, where we watched the kids dig a hole in the sand to contain their own little hot tub. The beach is special because there is lava a couple of miles below the surface, left over from a volcanic eruption millions of years ago. The lava is still hot, and heats up the water above, creating a steamy section of sand on one part of the beach. It was curious to see everyone building their hot tubs out of sand, including Elizabeth and John, all next to each other. It reminded me of a bird colony on a rocky cliff, with each bird family claiming their small section of land for their nest. It was fun, but you had to be careful not to burn yourself since some of the sand could get up to 65 degrees Celsius.

In Thames we stayed at the bed and breakfast of Mathias and Elena, immigrants from Germany, who arrived here five years ago with their five children. Besides the warmer weather, they moved to New Zealand so their kids could go to school in a more lassez-faire environment, where they could learn and make mistakes at their own pace, and where the whole family could explore their own interests with fewer social constraints. In Germany Mathias was a doctor in a small town, and they felt constrained by social pressures to act as a doctor's family is expected to behave. But here in New Zealand they find they are less defined by their jobs, and this has given them more encouragement to try other things. For instance they just opened up a bike shop, not something doctors typically do in Germany.

But their story is also a cautionary tale for would-be immigrants. While their kids are thriving in this new culture, the parents are contending with some of the typical issues many immigrants face, such as re-starting careers at a more junior level, isolation from friends and family back home, and adjusting to a new culture and way of thinking that has its negatives as well as positives.

Mathias has been practicing medicine in New Zealand for a few years now, and said that he sees more mental health issues here than in Germany, more drug and alcohol abuse, and more family violence. He has a theory that New Zealand is more of a 'happy culture' than Germany, meaning people act more positive here than in Germany and expect others to do the same. Consequently people here are less likely to discuss or listen to others' problems. This aggravates depression issues for those who feel they have few outlets to seek help. I don't know how accurate this is, but he told an interesting scenario to expand on his point. Suppose someone dreamed of a paradise with better weather, where he thought all his problems would then fade away. But then suppose that once he emigrated to this paradise he was still not happy, but he no longer had the dream that moving to paradise would solve his problems. He might end up more unhappy than if he hadn't emigrated in the first place. I couldn't help but wonder if he was speaking about himself in some small way. I certainly learned more about their life in Germany from these chats than anything. They do plan to move back to Germany once the kids have grown up.

We are a few short days from Saturday when we fly out of Auckland for Fiji. With five weeks in New Zealand, we will have spent more time here than anywhere else. We've enjoyed our time in New Zealand. There are obvious differences in climate, flora and fauna, which we've had fun exploring, especially around the South Island with its spectacular mountainous scenery and endless rolling pastures. 

But what strikes me most about this country is its similarities to Canada, more so than its differences. The way New Zealanders think and act, their whole culture and outlook, seem almost identical to Canadians in most respects. If Canadians and Kiwis spoke English with the same accent, I think I would be hard pressed to see much difference. Visiting New Zealand is both interesting and commonplace. It's always interesting to visit a new place, and there are always new things to explore and discover. But it is also commonplace, since the people remind me so much of Canadians. It's a bit strange, but also comforting, to be on the other side of the world and still feel like you are still in your home country to some degree.

Here are the kids at Hot Water beach.