For most people, moving is a huge change. For teacher Brian Mowry, moving out of the country is no big deal. Along with his two kids and his wife, Mowry is staying in Kaitaia, New Zealand, for six months. 

“It’s always been in us — in our DNA,” Mowry said. “When this opportunity popped up to be able to spend six months living and working in New Zealand, we jumped at it once we realized it would work for us.”

Mowry and his family have traveled to New Zealand before, so they know what to expect. To prepare his children, he isn’t doing much in terms of experiences due to the primary language in New Zealand being English. Mowry hopes his kids will become more courageous after this experience.

“I’m glad they’re going to be the weird kids, so they are forced to stand out in one way, shape or form and have to deal with that,” Mowry said. “It seems like a lot of the goal of people is to stay under the radar, and this will force them to not be able to do that. Being uncomfortable helps develop grit and who they are a little bit more.” 

While in New Zealand, Mowry will educate his kids and put them through school while his wife is at work as a primary care physician at two clinics. 

“The reason why we can come in as foreigners is because they can’t find doctors to take those spots,” he said. “It’s a little bit of an underserved community, heavily indigenous of the Maori people, so she’s going to be working there in those clinics.”

While away from America, Mowry plans to take a break from teaching. 

“I might get back into podcasting and try to write a book,” he said. “I’m going to cook all the meals, do all the shopping and all the cleaning while my wife’s working. I think I might get into Tai Chi.”

With Mowry’s previous experiences of traveling out of the country, he has no worries about this move. 

“We’re going to a place where everyone speaks English,” he said. “I moved to China in 2002 — that was insane. This seems really simple actually. That’s because of the experience. Once you experience something you’re not as scared as you would be the first time, so it’s good to keep that in mind.”

Mowry looks forward to living in such a natural environment containing less human impact. He is interested in seeing all the cultural differences and understanding how people think differently. The majority of people in New Zealand have Polynesian ancestry, so it’s a different culture and mythology. Mowry is enthusiastic to live outside of America again and experience the differences. 

“It’s really easy to get stuck with tunnel vision in your world,” Mowry said. “When you live internationally, you’re forced to get out of your world, and I enjoy that. I find it very rewarding, too.”