Meet the Global Families of Puget Sound

Who lives here? Matt and Jacquie Bates, and their sons: Caleb, 6, and Conrad, 4. Matt, 38, is a software development manager at Amazon. Jacquie, 36, worked as a purchasing officer before the boys were born and is now a stay-at-home mom. The Bates family moved to Seattle from New Zealand for Matt’s job.

Where? South Lake Union

When did you move here? September 2015

What, if anything, did you know about Seattle before you moved here?

Jacquie: Rain and clouds. Intense evergreen forest. Boeing. The high-tech industry.

Matt: Liberal.

Do you plan to stay?

Jacquie and Matt, in unison: No.

Matt: We haven’t got a date, but we’ll take the kids back to the grandparents. It’s an adventure, not a lifetime decision.

Jacquie: We feel like expats, not immigrants.

What has been the biggest challenge in moving to Seattle?

Jacquie: Well, I guess it’s just far from home. It just doesn’t have our old friends here. Our family will expend large sums of money to come see us. But our friends have got large mortgages and small children.

Matt: Everything in the states is hard. Health care, banking, insurance. Taxes. Crossing the border. All the stresses of being a noncitizen.

What one parenting practice sets you apart from other families?

Matt: Conrad didn’t wear shoes for nine months before we got him to wear shoes. In New Zealand, it’s a shoes-optional country. They should have shoes, but they don’t have to wear shoes.

Jacquie: In Seattle, it was highly inappropriate, and we got a lot of flak for it every day. People who visit New Zealand are quite surprised to see adults walking down the street without shoes.