{"id":7216,"date":"2026-03-27T18:22:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T05:22:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/?p=7216"},"modified":"2026-03-27T18:22:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T05:22:38","slug":"d-in-wonderland-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/27\/d-in-wonderland-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"D in Wonderland \/ Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I came to New Zealand in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time, I was on a working holiday in Australia when my closest friend, J, suggested I come over. I applied for a working holiday visa just before turning thirty, and fortunately, it was approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s how my New Zealand journey began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as it overlapped with the COVID quarantine period, what was meant to be a limited stay stretched on, longer and longer, without end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhere along the way, I parted ways with J and made my way to Christchurch\u2014the largest city on New Zealand\u2019s South Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I lived in hostels, drifting from one job to another. At one point, I found myself entangled in a bad relationship after meeting the wrong man, which caused me no small amount of heartache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as I was beginning to consider ending it all and returning to Korea, I happened to find a job\u2014
and that\u2019s where I met M.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slowly, we became a couple. Then we began living together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before I knew it, seven years had passed since I first arrived in New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are still together\u2014
as partners, as housemates, and as best friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the year before last, we visited Korea. The crowded cities and astonishing convenience of everyday life felt both welcoming and strangely unfamiliar at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in that moment, I realized\u2014
I had grown quite used to life in New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s when the thought came to me:
wouldn\u2019t it be interesting to write about the differences between life in New Zealand and Korea, as I\u2019ve experienced them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cD in Wonderland\u201d began from that simple idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, I want to make one thing clear\u2014
this is, first and foremost, a personal account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t live in Auckland, where many Koreans reside, nor in Wellington, the capital. My life is based in Christchurch, a relatively small city on the South Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had little to no interaction with the Korean community here, so my experiences may differ from others\u2019. From time to time, you may also come across the perspective of M, who was born and raised in New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, I hope you\u2019ll read the following essays lightly and with enjoyment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And with that\u2014
I bring this introduction to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To everyone reading this,
wherever you may be in the world,
I wish you peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I came to New Zealand in 2019. At the time, I was on a working holiday in Australia when my closest friend, J, suggested I come over. I applied for a working holiday visa just before turning thirty, and fortunately, it was approved. That\u2019s how my New Zealand journey began. But as it overlapped with … Continue reading D in Wonderland \/ Introduction<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79],"tags":[96,92,82,94,95,91,93],"class_list":["post-7216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-in-wonderland","tag-christchurch","tag-daily-life","tag-essay","tag-korean","tag-korean-living-in-new-zealnad","tag-life","tag-new-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7218,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7216\/revisions\/7218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madame-dee.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}