Monday 28 March 2016



GEOCACHING! COMICS! ALMOST NORMALITY!

We have been staying very busy over the last week. I've found something similar to normality, for now! Tash and I have both gotten back into the swing of doing our comics and making a presence online once again, and we have both been making an effort to go for a decent walk on a daily basis. Despite eating quite a lot of chocolate, I'm actually loosing weight! I do really think that it is because I am no longer eating sushi (SUSHI IS ALMOST NON EXISTENT OVER HERE) but that's not really a bad thing... my tummy was getting a little bit podgy XD

Tash and I have also been doing a thing called Geocaching while over here quite a bit. Geocaching is basically a global treasure hunt which is all entirely set up and maintained by it's community. It really is such a good excuse to make walks a lot more fun but also look like a complete weirdo in public! :D Tasha and I spend about 40 minutes nearby a cattle grid and gate looking for a cache that was basically RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR NOSES THE WHOLE TIME!!
....

But hey, it's a mega fun challenge and I would totally recommend to anyone who wants to get outside and look like a complete weirdo! All we use is the app on our phones and a little bit of luck! DO IT!



We have also been planning out some fun things to do in the future including going to a comic convention over here called Thought Bubble with an awesome friend of ours in early November this year. One of the people who originally made me want to get into comics is going to be there (which I only just learned this morning) and there are also a few other amazing comic peoples there who we are wanting to meet, so I can't freakin' wait for it!!

We are also planning to go to Ireland this year as well! My family tree links me back to Ireland and I am wanting to fulfil a promise I made to someone back in New Zealand while I am there.
I am learning that it is great to always have something there to look forward to and work towards, so I am going to make sure that there is always something there to work towards every day!



Other than that, life has been chugging away as mentioned below in my previous posts. I know where mostly everything is around the area I am in, I'm just not entirely sure how to get to most of it from our place though, but good things take time! :D I am making my mark on this place I now call a home and have already ripped up all the curtains and buried them in the backyard but I don't think Tasha has noticed yet. It is also sinking in now that everything is so very close when before it was on the other side of the planet, especially with the recent Brussels bombing which was just over the channel...

ANYWHO, I'm going to go eat a sandwich and draw this Easter Monday away until my arms get rigamortis! BYE! :D

Saturday 19 March 2016

ALMOST AT THE END OF WEEK ONE!

WOOOO!! So we are coming up to the end of the first week here in good ol' Blighty and I have enjoyed it a lot! Just seeing all the different places, people, and tasting all sorts of kind of  strange yet yummy food has been amazing! To sum up the past three days, here's some bullet points!:
  • Chameleons
  • Playstation 4's
  • Pastries
  • Forests
  • Tiny deceased geckos named Merry 
  • Super energetic three legged dogs named Marley
  • Burritos
  • Jet streams
  • Re-setting up of computers from scratch
  • Freezing cold bus stops
  • More silly kitties
  • Skyping families
  • Heathlands
  • DELICIOUS YOGHURT!!! @W@


It hasn't all been exploring pastries and tasting new forests though. We've been making our way through the last of the visa guff, and heading towards getting that pesky National Insurance Number sorted. I have just filled out a form that was sent to me to keep the ball rolling (they said form was meant to get to me within 7-10 working days, but it pretty much arrived a day after calling up the Job Centre, HOORAY!) Now we are back to just waiting and cleaning up a bed full of burrito crumbs after last nights gaming and 'Walking Dead' session!


Yesterday we tested out the bus system here to give me some independence while Tasha is at work, and it seems pretty straight forward to get around. My only concern is that 90% of the buses sound like they are on the brink of snapping in half and before flying a mile into the air and exploding, but I'm sure they are safe enough...

I have also recently learned that it can get FREAKIN' COLD here in the UK. Yesterday it was a high of 7 degrees Celsius with a nasty wind chill, and even my almighty jacket, single glove (Tash and I had to have one glove on each because we only have one pair!) and my slightly feminine Tasha-pre owned scarf was not enough to stop me from dying.

That's right. I'm dead.
I'm actually physically dead.
I'm actually totally joking.
I am not dead.



Despite the grey skies and bitter cold, I am still having a complete blast! Knowing that I have made it this far, from that little skinny kid hiding from the world in his bed in small town in New Zealand, to the other side of the freakin' world is something I would have never have predicted, and it is all finally sinking in. It just makes you fully realise that life can really just take you pretty much everywhere if you just take some risks and keep a look for those opportunities.

Also, being with your ultimate bestie is by far the most amazing way to spend your life and I wouldn't change it for anything, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. Tasha really had just made this transition of my life so easy and smooth and I cannot thank her and her amazing family for making this that it is right now. <3

We are now going to get ready to head off to get some food for the cupboards as they are growling, and then zip to watch Deadpool together! Odds are we will come back and either snuggle up and watch something or play a game or something (SHANE IS A LITTLE ADDICTED TO STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT ON THE PS4 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!)  It's another cold day out there so I can't think any other amazing way to spend the beginning of the weekend. <3

Wednesday 16 March 2016

SO THEN-



As I type this, it is 9:49pm on Wednesday the 16th of March using Tasha's absolutely horrible keyboard which was no doubt made in the 1800s. We both woke up at 2am this morning we presume because of jet-lag from the flight two days ago, or maybe because we are just amazingly synced up together. We also accidentally slept 6 hours together at lunchtime because of this so now both our clocks are messed uP HORRIBLY AND I'VE ACCIDENTALLY HIT CAPS LOCK AGAIN FOR THE 5TH TIME IN TWO MINUTES BECAUSE THE KEYBOARDS HERE ARE DIFFERENT FROM NEW ZEALAND ONES. Tasha also just walked by with a bucket of water from her pet Axolotl tank while grunting 'WWWHYYYYYYY'.

I am fairly happy with how the move has gone from NZ to the UK, it's pretty much what I expected. The weather is a lot colder than New Zealand (NZ is just coming out of an amazing hot summer!), there are pigeons, and I keep waking up in a web of Tasha's hair every morning so far, so YA!



Today we went down to a tiny little miniature post shop to pick up my Biometric Resident Permit which is the very last step of the whole visa process, so it's finally all done and dusted and I can now focus on making a life here! It's super nice knowing that thAT'S IS ALL DONE AND I HAVE HIT CAPS LOCK AGAIN HAVEN'T I.

I also called up the Job Centre to get my National Insurance Number (NIN) application started! It will take about 6-8 weeks in total to complete because the David Cameron has to hand write every application form, or something like that.

Tasha also called up the Council to get me onto the Council tax bill, WHICH TOOK AGES BECAUSE THEY ACCIDENTALLY HUNG UP ON HER FIRST TIME ROUND!

Word of warning to anyone who want's to move to the UK...YOU NEED PROOF OF ADDRESS FOR EVERYTHING! Such as registering for the NHS, opening up a bank account etc. So having your name on a Council Tax bill is super handy. Get that done ASAP if you can!

The next big thing to start focusing on is a job for me! I have a feeling that I am going to end up on a IT helpdesk like I was previously but I think I might end up dabbling in some random jobs first just to test the water a little while I can. Here are list of jobs I would like to try:
  • Book shop worm
  • Finger food collector
  • Food storAGE UNIT CAPS LOOOOOOOCK
  • Light shade mechanic
  • The newest member of Moulin Rouge
  • Tasha tamer
If anyone has any of these positions open then please message me ASAP.

Photo credit to Tasha Dancy 2016

Monday 14 March 2016

About

What's this blog all about???


I've just moved to the UK from New Zealand for two years on a Youth Mobility Visa and have decided to make a blog to keep a diary of my adventures here, as well as hopefully provide a useful insight to others who might want to do the same.

Who Are We?


We are Shane and Tasha, a couple of crazy asexual comic artists who have a hunger for adventure! Originally meeting online, we instantly struck up a friendship, where we would talk for hours about the places we wanted to visit and what we had on our bucket list. 

It had been settled that we definitely had similar interests in what we wanted to do, and that it would be flipping awesome to do it together, the only issue? We lived on the opposite side of the globe from each other. Literally...I come from New Zealand and Tasha's from England.

So to make a start, Tasha booked her ticket to New Zealand, a place she had wanted to visit for over 10 years now. We thought it'd be cool to do it during her birthday, plus it gave us an excuse to do something a bit more crazy, so we settled on Skydiving onto a traditional North Island beach!



After that our taste for adventure grew, soon after Tasha arrived back in the UK I booked my ticket to spend a month over there. We had 6 months to plan, so we knuckled down and started booking what we could. 

Tasha did a LOT of driving, we explored a lot of Dorset and around London. I saw my first grey squirrel in Hyde Park! (Yes, I was VERY excited by this!) and my first red squirrel at Brownsea Island waaaayyy down south (Even more excited by this!). The culture in the UK amazed me too, it made me realise just how young New Zealand really is. 



To say the least, I felt one month was not enough. Tasha and I grew closer by the end of it, and decided to make it official and become life companions (our asexual alternative to 'boy/girlfriend'). It was pretty painful leaving, but we kept positive and thought about looking into me getting a Visa to stay in the UK for longer.

Tasha then contacted me and told me about the Youth Mobility Visa which is available for people aged from 18-30 in selected countries, where you are able to stay in a country for 2 years and work. Perfect!

My Visa was thankfully successful, and now I am finally living in the UK with my best friend!

I hope you enjoy reading through my blog as we continue our adventures together, and that perhaps it will inspire you to do the same. There's a LOT of world out there to explore, it's a shame to let it go to waste, and let's face it. It's so much more amazing when you can share it with your best friend :)