Verbage

I know I have so much to catch up on from our travels these past 2 months, but I'm toying with the idea of making that a separate blog because we literally have 2,000+ pictures. I don't know yet. I think I just want to keep this blog as a record of our daily life. So, to start that out, here are a few kiwi words I love so far, especially with the New Zealand accent:

• Choice = "It's choice to have you here, mate."
• Sweet As (or anything *as) = I guess the ending of this phrase is just assumed...sweet as anything you could imagine I guess. But everything has an 'as' on the end, for dramatic effect. Windy as, fat as, fast as, mean as, etc, etc.
• Pardon = As in, "I beg your pardon" or "please clarify". Warms the cockles of my heart to hear the youngsters say it rather than "huh?"
• Mummy and Nan
• Daddy and Poppi
• Reckon = "I reckon..."
• Fellas = applies to any gender here, it's more of a way to recognize a group
• Yous = as far as I can tell, it's a combination of You Guys. We're often greeted with "How're yous getting on?"
• Take-Aways = not many sit and eat restaurants here without paying an arm and a leg, just quick grab and go stuff. There are a million take-away places everywhere!
• Cheers = sometimes a "thanks", other times a farewell
• Mobile instead of 'cell' phone
• Petrol instead of gas
• Heaps = a lot, tons, many. And since they talk with their eyebrows here, it's always accompanied by a slight headnod and raised eyebrows.
• Feed = Food, Feast, Let's Eat, etc. As in, "We had a huge feed." or "Let's go get a feed."
• Mate = Friends; applies to guys and girls.
• Mean = Awesomeness. As in, "Oh man, that concert/movie was mean!"

And because I think every post should have a picture with it, here's me at the beach of Mt. Manganui near Tauranga, where we spent a few days before moving into our apartment. The beach had HEAPS of sea shells! I was really missing the little nieces and nephews and knew they would have just loved it there!