About New Zealand

A few generalizations about things I've observed while in New Zealand:

• Their sirens are seriously the loudest thing I have ever heard! (really, this was not going to be at the top of my list as I thought about it last night, but after being kept awake by them all night, it's all I can think about this morning.)
• The locals speak so softly! Half of the time at church I can never hear the prayer. And I'm only a few rows away! Once I was pretty much in front of her!
• Americans are loud. And sometimes obnoxious.
• They don't really do fruit salads here as a side dish for dinner. It's usually a dessert. The few times we've hosted or been to a dinner party with locals, I get strange looks for putting a fruit salad on the dinner table.
• There isn't a very strong selection of breakfast cereals. I think we've found 2 that we like and will probably stick with until we leave.
• There isn't a whole section in the grocery store aisle for salad dressings like there is back home. No ranch. No italian. Not much really, but a few vinaigrettes.
• While I'm on the subject of food, there is no yellow cheese here. It's all white. Some of it really stinks. Jon is in heaven!
• Auckland is a very pedestrian-friendly city. So easy to get around and every intersection on the main street completely stops traffic every 2 minutes to allow peds to cross diagonally. Very nice.
• Driving on the left side isn't that difficult. But they have some strange rules about right of way, especially when turning left which you'd think would give you the right of way. It doesn't.
• Jon and I are now grunters. The kiwis find it perfectly acceptable to answer someone with a small "mmm" (which is made in the back of your throat with your tongue pressed to the roof of your mouth, while you give a slight chin jab into the air) or is it more of an 'uhn' sound? Either way, it's a complete sentence in itself.
• Nothing is edited here. Nothing! You know Chef Ramsey and all his profanities that get bleeped in America? Well, they don't here! And I've seen my fair share of male genitalia while flipping through the channels. I no longer wonder why our friends were so strict with their kids and their TV viewing!
• My friends tell me there are less particles in the ozone above Australia and New Zealand, so the sun is more fierce. I don't know if I believe it, but sometimes it does seem sooo much hotter!
• They call it "Drink Driving" instead of Drunk Driving. No idea why, but you'll see billboards and hear commercials about drink driving all the time!

We still love it though! Their candy and ice cream is incredible! Every day I watch as the ocean changes from a dark blue to teal to turquoise as the clouds pass. And each night I watch as the sky changes from blue to gray to pinks and purples and oranges as the sunsets. It really is a heaven on earth!

The skyline of Auckland from across the harbor. We live just to the left of the tall SkyTower.