I imagine that when reading these blogs, that many/most/all who read it have a hard time believing that what we are expressing can be true. Is this just simply about being in a new place and away from the normal stressers of life? Certainly the pictures are beautiful and the stories interesting, but is it really all it's cracked up to be? I guess I don't know, for sure, but there are a number of differences that make what we are experiencing both wonderful and irreplaceable. So, with this difference in mind, Carolyn and I began to make a list of these things that are things we've taken to calling "typical Kiwi." The following list is not exhaustive nor in any particular order and will be added to periodically, so you may want to come back to this blog once in awhile. Some have already been mentioned in other blogs.
1) Language - Yes, they speak English, but a true Kiwi is sometimes very hard for me to understand. Although I have been told here that I talk too fast (that's also true in the states when I'm excited, for sure), I cannot, for the life of me, understand more than 50% of a phone message. In fact, there have been a few that I have given up on because it is just too frustrating.
2) The Toilet (Carolyn things that bathrooms in general are a good place to begin when trying to get a feel for a new culture) - We call them bathrooms. They are everywhere in this country. They must have more public toilets per capita than any other place in the world. They are clean, always well-stocked, and in virtually every town we have come to. If a town doesn't have one you are welcome to use one in the restaurants and cafes. One that I used today in Paraparumu Beach had a check list of the things that were cleaned and when. They cleaned the toilet at 6:00 AM. The items checked were commode, wash basin, floor, walls, and CEILING. Yes, they washed the ceiling. I should have taken a picture of the check list for this blog, but didn't. You'll have to trust me. In case you are wondering, the toilet paper was stocked in the PM, no specific time given. Oh, the toilet flushed automatically, the sink came on automatically, the soap came on automatically, and the hand dryer came on automatically. Their were no paper towels, it's a waste. They can also flush in two ways. One side of the button is to flush pee, it uses less water, the other uses more water. It makes a lot of sense.
3) Playgrounds - they have what I consider the most dangerous playground item ever invented. We think it's called the flying something-or-other, but I would name it the child decapitator. It is dangerous in itself because the child is raised above the ground and spinning around, but the real danger is that little kids seem not to be able to see the decapitator coming as they gleefully race closer to the thing to see what the other kids are doing! I have seen at least two children get hit so hard by this thing that I couldn't understand how they got up. I exaggerate, but it scared me to watch the hits happen. The picture speaks for itself. Kiwis in general are more sensible and less PC about things that could cause injury, and in most ways this is refreshing. Playgrounds still have seesaws, for example (read...fewer lawyers and less lucrative lawsuits). I loved those growing up. We sue, they don't - therefore we no longer have the seesaw, they do (you can see one end of one to the left in the picture.4) Driving - they are on the left, as you know. This is the easy part. The more challenging thing is the abundance of windy roads with no guardrails. I'm pretty sure Kiwis simply don't believe in them...wimpy. No lawsuits is probably another part of it! Every now and then, on a REALLY windy road, you may see something that resembles a guardrail, but it's really made from fishing line and bamboo poles or something very much like it! We believe these rails are probably designed to keep the sheep (not the people) from getting killed.
5) Electricity - there are switches on the plugs so you can turn them off is you are not using them. They look just like the light switches here, so there is no confusion. It's also 240, so if you get something stuck in one of those you're pretty much dead. Guess how many times we've thought we were making toast only to come back from making something else to find that the bread is still bread.
6) Food - a friend of ours calls this the a-la-carte country. You have to order everything separately. For example, in order to get fish and chips, you must order fish and chips. If you order fish you get fish, if you order chips you get chips (French fries). In most of the places you pay before you get your food. There is no tipping, unless you get incredibly exceptional service, and there are no added taxes. So, if you order fish and chips for 12.5 (12.50), that is exactly what it costs. So, when you first come here it seems like food is expensive, I'll write about that in a minute, but it isn't really when you add up what it would have been in the U.S. (they call it America, but they can't tell you why). Did I say you usually have to pay for ketchup (which isn't good anyway, so you really don't want it) and things like plastic ware? Once you get used to it, it's really quite sensible (see, there's that word again), as it keeps you from having 5,000 extra ketchups and salt packets shoved in your food bag that you then throw away! Kiwis tend to be pretty conservation focused as a lot.
7) Grocery stores - there are only really about 3 store chains, Pak-N-Sav, Woolworth's (no, not the dime store), and New World. Although there isn't any scarcity of items, there is the mentality that if they are out of an items this week then come back next week if it is important to you. Otherwise, don't worry about it. Produce is very fresh and very affordable. Other items are variable in terms of costs. Mostly, when I first came here, I thought all the food was outrageously expensive. Now I've rethought it. First off, it's so much fresher and wholesome than we get. I believe they don't actually stuff all of their foods with corn additives (read "fill them up cheaply"!) like we do. You get produce that's in season, so it's always good, but not always available. Did I mention "sensible"???
8) Gas - Wow, I figured out today that it is about $7.00/gallon NZ. That's just under $6.00.gallon U.S. We don't drive very often if we don't have to. In fact, we borrow a car from some friends once in awhile, but don't use one more than once or twice a week. We rent a car for the other occasions when we need one at about $40.00 NZ plus gas. When we shop (read Carolyn ,thank you dear) we try to get enough for the week or we have friends pick items up for us as we do for them. It's a great way to go, I think. Sensible.
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) Sports - Rugby, Rugby, Rugby, Cricket, Soccer and Netball. Did I mention Rugby? I'm sure they have basketball, but I have not heard anything about it. Last Friday night we went see the Wellington Hurricanes rugby team play in the second to last regular season game (last home game). It was a must win for them. If they won, they were assured a semi-final spot in the playoffs. It was a blast, though very cold, windy, and raining, which is pretty typical this time of year. We sat in the family seats, which means we were sort of under cover but not really. Layers and waterproofing were the name of the game. WestPac Stadium seats 35,000, but there weren't more than 20,000 there. The Hurricanes are a pretty good team. They beat their opponents, Western Force from Perth, Australia. I'm used to seeing 60 guys on the field or on the sideline in American football, but these teams only carry 22 players. Interesting, too, for this league, is that each team is made up of hometown boys. It is not made up of recruited players who get traded around as it is for our pro teams.Speaking of local sports, the kids all had their first soccer game yesterday, playing for the Paekakariki local teams. No pictures of Abby because the camera man stayed with the home team. I don't understand Cricket at all, so I won't try to explain it, even if I could.
10) T.V. - nobody has watched T.V. since they have been here, except on the few nights when we stayed in a real hotel (as opposed to a simple youth hostel type place) on our travels. What little Kiwi television I have seen has been pretty...hmmm...hard to explain. I watched Wheel of Fortune Kiwi style and was amazed by how low the money values were. There was one game I watched when the highest dollar value you could win was $500.00. I haven't watched it in the U.S. for a long time, but the minimum was $500.00. I like the lower one. There are so many things to do OUTSIDE that they kids have never felt the need or desire to watch T.V. We are seriously considering getting rid of the cable at the lake and just have movies. That's what they like the best anyway.
10) Weather and other sort of related things- Weather here is a spectator sport. It is NEVER idle conversation. When they talk about the weather, which is literally unpredictable, the meteorological talk is about lows, highs, southerlies, wave fronts, winds (which have been huge), etc. There are a number of people who rely heavily on the weather for their livelihood... and for surfing, of course. The cloudbursts are legendary, though I have not seen any here like the ones I saw in Texas, though there are more than enough stories from trusted Kiwis to know that Texas storms come close, but not quite all the way. Don't worry Texas, you still beat NZ in the tornado department. Not with earthquakes, however. I'll just say that you can go to a NZ website that shows you where all the rumbles have been for the day. Also, when you first work in a place they inform you of the evacuation area in case of a quake.
I have seen more rainbows in my time here than I can remember seeing in my life. These are not just rainbows that you can see only part of like every other rainbow I have seen. There have numerous occasions when I have wanted to stoop down and pick up the pot of gold... on both ends of the rainbow. Pretty incredible.
11) Insects and other multi-legged things- Well, not quite. First, there are no snakes here. Also, if I remember correctly, there is only one poisonous spider and it is rare. There are no native mammals, everything here has been imported. Possums, stoats, rabbits, sheep (12 million), cows, horses, rats, mice, etc. There are now lots of all of them. The first couple of species were brought here by the English so that they could feel more at home here and so they could hunt. They now spend millions of dollars a year attempting to eradicate them. It turns out that these hometown mammals are destroying the crops and the native bird species. If you recall from another entry, we have to heat our house with wood because they don't have central heat or very much insulation. We also don't have screens because, it is said, there are no insects here - besides the flies, bees, moths, and the most frustrating biting insects I have had the chance to encounter. We need screens when it is warm! Mosquito bites are not really much fun ( I haven't gotten any here), but the itching goes away fairly quickly. The sand flea bites leave what look and feel like permanent bumps that each itch in-di-vid-u-ally. Fortunately they only itch at night when your trying to go to sleep. The fleas are probably the only negative I will take away with me on this trip, though, in the grand scheme of things, that's not really that bad.
So, that's all I can think of for now, but I know there are many others to come. Of course, the themes for most of our blogs have been the incredible beauty, literally at every turn and over every hill, the kindness and the patience of the people, and the low stress life that can be led here. We thought you might appreciate a little culture this time!
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