 I have been living in New Zealand for five years. I cannot believe it. So today I thought I'd take some time to reflect on five things that I have learned since living here in New Zealand. Welcome back to my YouTube channel guys. If you don't know us we are a family of six. I have been living in New Zealand now for five years. So today let's talk about five things that I've learned. I'm going to talk about things maybe that I haven't mentioned before or going more depth or just have an actual reflection. So you're not going to miss all five. They're really good. I thought through them and really kind of put some things out there that I don't think I've mentioned before. So stay tuned and subscribe below. Here we go. This video is sponsored by Skillshare. Skillshare.com is a wonderful online community where creatives can get together and learn from each other. So check it out. Skillshare.com. Okay number one, the best things in New Zealand you will find at the end of a gravel road. You heard me. The exploration, the untouched beauty of New Zealand is like no other. And when you are on a map and you're like I want to go to check this out or somebody, a local, maybe recommend something and you hit a gravel road. That means that you are about to get to the most exciting place. I'm telling you all the best stuff in New Zealand comes at the end of a gravel road. And sometimes you're on that gravel road for a really long time. You're like where are we going? Are we going to be able to get out of here? Because sometimes it's a gravel road and it's really windy and it just kind of goes forever. But I'm telling you stick to that road because at the end of the gravel road you will not be disappointed. So yes if you are visiting New Zealand, when we start opening up our borders, definitely be excited when you hit the gravel road. Now the second thing that I've learned and come to appreciate living in New Zealand over the last five years is Kiwi ingenuity. It's like second to none. Now they just figure things out. If they need something, if they have to fix something, they fix it and they deal with it with the materials that they have on hand. They're very smart and creative and a whole new meaning to DIY. Do you like to do it yourself? A whole new meaning and it's amazing and it's part of how they're educated here. People are encouraged to think outside the box to figure stuff out. It's not like you know XYZ and then that's the answer. They're very much encouraged in the education system to be out of the box thinkers and you see that in just daily life. So they're DIY, they just they don't really think about not fixing things themselves. People they just are doers here and they know how to they know they have a lot of skills and it's not limited to gender roles either. If you notice like all the men cook here generally and all the women like I've had landlords that are like in their 70s climbing up ladders changing light bulbs and you know the female and like you just don't yeah like and it's great you know I mean I think in general the world has broken out of a lot of gender roles but specifically in New Zealand you see it quite a bit with so many female leaders, female prime minister, you know just like just a whole new just more of an acceptance I've noticed compared to where I'm from in the US and the Midwest and so yeah they put a whole new view of DIY and they're very creative so like for example when I take my kids to like a camp like they're like homemade water slides and like homemade ropes courses and things to do and like that works and it and it works here because we don't have the same level of like liability issues are suing and so you know they don't they value the fun and so they're very creative and what they come up with and what they do and they think oh this would be cool and this like this just like the way that they think about things you are notice you can tell that they have been trained and to think that way and to be exploratory and creative so it's really great you cannot beat Kiwi ingenuity. Okay number three the third thing that I've learned living in New Zealand for five years has been just slowing down and living life and valuing living life over working and accomplishing and accomplishing and working and I have to say that I have recently reflected personally on my life and how you know you you love the idea of like work-life balance and slowing down and doing that but the reality of that when you coming from a culture that doesn't value that that it's not easy to just jump into that like initially it is you're like oh my gosh finally I could relax and there's no pressure and there's no stress but then I find myself that I started to go back into you know kind of how you were raised and how you're you know like the values that you have and I find that I'm working really hard and I've started all these businesses and I'm and I'm doing all of these things I'm like why am I doing this you know because you don't realize how much you value that sort of accomplishment and goals and doing and there's nothing wrong with it but it's just it's good just take a step back and reflect and think you know here they just value living life to the fullest to the best and you just kind of see that in all of their decisions and what they focus on in life in terms of work in terms of family time and how much vacation time that they take and that's just kind of you know normal and what they value and I just really noticed that recently as I started a couple companies like you know it's very American of me to do this you know but it's also very easy to start businesses here and small businesses thrive here and so there's all these other reasons and I enjoy it but it's so interesting that we've kind of you know it's kind of ingrained to you you know entrepreneurship and accomplish accomplish or Carter you know because I'm not feeling a lot of pressure other places and so you feel like you have time to do these things and so it's an interesting reflection but it's a it's taken me time to say hey what do I value what should I be putting my time into and just noticing that I've had to learn how to value the life family balance and life work balance and it just doesn't necessarily come natural and so that's something that you've learned if you've come from a culture that's just you know push push push push that it's hard to kind of just in every area just kind of stop pushing so that's the third thing I've learned. 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The second class that I would highly recommend is if you're on Instagram which we all are is a video on how to tell your story in like one minute or less on Instagram by Hallease Harvez and it's so good and she is just so wonderful to listen to and so calm and I really learned some really good techniques with jump shots and if you're at all involved in the marketing world like I am you all know Gary Vanderchuck. He has a great video on here about context is key when talking about social media. I highly recommend watching this. Everything is so good that he always talks about it learning how each social platform has its own context and how you need to present information differently across different contexts. Skillshare is built as an online community for learning. That's all it is. There's no ads on this platform you just go in and you can just learn it. You just learn what is convenient for you whether you're just I do it when I'm waiting for my kids out of sports or if I'm on the bus or if I'm just traveling around or going for a walk I'll just listen to it in my ear and it's just great. It's a great way to constantly upscaling your skills and your creative and getting motivated to try a new thing. There is no reason to not try Skillshare today. Click on the link below in my description and you're going to get one month of Skillshare for free. Normally you get 14 days. If you click on my link below you'll get one month for free so there's no reason to not try it today. So go check out skillshare.com and at number four the fourth reflection is let's talk a little bit about education. So as you know I have four children and it was really different for us here secondary schools which would be high school. There's a lot of same-sex schools so they wear uniforms and it's just an all-girls school and an all-boys school and it's just very common. It's not everything you can find co-ed schools and you know they in every area as well but it's just surprising how many are same-sex schools and so it's interesting. So initially when I walked into it I was like oh that's nice just imagine all the problems you eliminate not mixing boys and girls right so from the boys perspective from the girls perspective and just all the dramas that exist because I kind of feel like you know you throw the opposite sex and then that's what creates the drama for girls anyway and so I was kind of excited about my kids doing that. So my kids go to same-sex schools and now that I've lived here for five years and a little bit of reflection on this I think obviously with girls you have that tendency you know like if you're in the groups and they're clicky and girls can be pretty mean to each other and and I think that that happens whether they're in the same sex or a co-ed school but I've also noticed that my girls are very comfortable with themselves and don't having this lot of pressure to look a certain way when they go to school or you know they're just very comfortable without makeup or without doing their hair or just just I've just noticed with working with girls on sports teams that they're just very comfortable with themselves and I think that works and that's one of the positives and there isn't you know there's always going to be pros and cons to everything and boys too like you know the boys have like this brotherhood and like this bonding that they have and they all get along much easier and don't have you know different expectations of each other but I did notice that when you go to like an all-boys school man boys definitely benefit being around girls in terms of hygiene in terms of like it's like you go to the school and you get that can't believe the smells and you know they just they just don't know and even like sometimes the communication skills because they're just not around girls who just like communicate all the time and they just kind of are grunting or you can barely tell what they're saying and and this is just you know things that boys go through so there's pros and cons to both right so you have you know and girls are not learning a lot they're getting petty about things that they don't have boys there to kind of it's not a big deal right you know like just who cares and and some girls you know will just you don't have guys as friends just works better for their personality if they're not you know whatever emotional levels and that sort of thing and logic and so it's interesting that it's really cool to do oh I don't think that there's a disadvantage to do a boy's school or a girl's school or a co-ed school but a little bit of reflection on how much it does benefit them to have the other in their lives and they do but it's when you have them in there in your life like on a daily basis I think it helps you kind of grow as a person and so so there's pros and cons you know with both but I just thought that was a little reflection on same-sex schools here in New Zealand that I just don't see as much in the US and number five the last reflection I'm going to share with you is something I've talked a little bit about on my tiktok channel that got a lot of attention is that in the US like safety is always going to trump fun because of suing and liability and and I think in New Zealand with the ACC you know they're just more willing to do things that are just actually fun and so like what would be considered dangerous in the US is is okay and fun here like for example like if you go to like the park system here in New Zealand there are things to do for all ages even adults that is super fun like zip lines you just kind of go flying as fast as you can and just some crazy really kind of creative QE ingenuity again really fun things at parks the parks here are really fun and it's just I'm just seeing things like as I just noticed with my kids at parks in the US were just really you know extra safety that just as the years have gone down they've gotten more and more boring and like the ground has to be a certain way and you can't do this and you can't do this all the stuff that you can't do whereas you don't get that here you there is a lot of fun to be had for kids here now of course they can get injured but it's just a part it's just a part of learning about yourself pushing your limits and I think overall is beneficial for children so also another example is like jumping off wars jumping off bridges just jumping off a lot of things that they don't even hesitate here and they do it and they just go sliding down things natural waters falls and it's okay and we're just gonna take the risk and obviously you have to use your judgment and be safe but it's just very very different on the level of things that you would be allowed to do in New Zealand compared to the US it's quite different even like you know I recently went on that jet boating tour in Queen's Town I'm like I just don't know that you know in the US you even consider the idea of going super fast through a canyon on a boat and you're not really strapped in you just have like this little thing and I just don't think that you even think about that but here it's like oh yeah I bet you we could take a boat you know and like talking with people here they're just always like oh I bet you we could do this and this would be fun and this would be an adventure some and there's just no hesitation so it's really fun for kids and really adults being in New Zealand because you can really do a lot of things that you're not allowed to do because of safety and liability concerns like you'll see kids climbing I'll be at a restaurant kids are climbing things and climbing trees and going super fast are there scooters down things and you know of course there's going to be disadvantages and it's not that New Zealand doesn't encourage safety of course but they're just not over the top about it and you know if they if they think something is actually dangerous they'll tell you like when you're trying to climb the volcano this may not be a good day because of the weather and they'll tell you but they'll still give you you know you have to make the decision so they'll still give it up to you so they're not like real controlling about it but they'll just be really honest about the risks for you and then it'll be updated daily so so that's really cool and just very different as an American being in New Zealand well I hope you enjoyed my video this week guys please share your experiences and your stories about what you've learned when you've moved overseas anywhere in the world I would love to hear your story and thank you again for skill share for sponsoring this video and just remember the first thousand people that click my link below get a full free month of skill share so check that out and yeah just share your comments make sure you subscribe below if you like this content there's obviously a lot more that I could have said but you know I don't like to make these too long for you so definitely leave your comments leave your stories and definitely check out my new American recipe book with all the American recipes adapted to New Zealand and Australia ingredients and temperatures so if you like what you see subscribe to my channel and I will see you guys next week thanks