After two peaceful years in Awanui, it was time for the next big step — I needed to become a nurse again.
To do that, we had to move to a bigger city with a nursing school. So we came to Whangārei.
It felt just right — a beautiful place with everything we needed: a hospital, a university, and the kind of quiet community we had grown to love.
We had finally received our residency. My husband kept working, and we saved every dollar we could. With all our effort, we managed to buy our first home — a small, modest house near the hospital and university.
We took on a big mortgage, but it was worth it. It was ours.
Studying in English was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
Even though I had been a nurse before, starting again in a second language felt impossible at times.
It took me five years to pass the English tests and get into the program.
But I did it.
After eight long years in New Zealand, I finally became a registered nurse again.
We were now two nurses, working side by side in Whangārei Hospital.
For the first time, life felt steady — not just surviving, but truly thriving.
And around that time, something else began to grow — my dream garden.
I had sketched it in notebooks since we first arrived. It took years of planting, watering, and waiting.
But one day I looked around and realised — it had all come to life.
We had come so far.