Differences

Yesterday and today I haven't done a whole lot just basic bumming and stuff but I was taken up to the top of a mountain yesterday afternoon so I could look out over Tauranga. If you wanna sound like a tourist, pronounce "Tauranga" how it is spelled and how I was pronoucing it, "ta(or tour)-rang-ga". If you wanna sound Kiwi it is more like "tao-rung-ga." If you want a bit of a taste of how I'm doing in New Zealand, google NZ and try pronouncing city names. Yeah, I'm lost too.
I don't have any pictures beyond the ones I took the first two days because the batteries in my camera died and the ones I brought along with me are crap. And I don't have any money yet to buy new ones.

Bathrooms are quite different in New Zealand. For one thing they are "toilets" not "bathrooms." You do not go to the bathroom, you go to the toilet. For another thing, I'm not sure if this is standard but in every place except one, the toilet is actually in a separate room from the sink, bathtub, shower. The room is like your average public bathroom stall just twice as long. And the toilets don't have a lever you push, they have two buttons. I believe one is for like a half/water saving flush and the other is a full flush.

Mullets are everywhere. My Aunt and Uncle's neighbor just had a friend over who was rocking a massive mullet and Magnum P.I. mustache. And it is totally okay here. I would scream that the 80's are over but I dress 80's sometimes so I have given up my say in that matter.

Peanut butter is not eaten here. Reese's can barely be found. When you want something to put on toast it is either jam or Marmite which is a yeast spread that tastes like soy sauce. I tried it once back in the states when my cousins brought it over. I will possibly try some on toast because my cousin Cate raves about it. That is as long as she makes it. :-P

Coffee. You can't get real coffee here. You can buy lattes and mochas but not plain old coffee. Except for instant. Matt and Susie were lucky enough to find a drip coffee maker and if they look hard enough, they can find real coffee grounds but it is difficult.

No Verizon! :-(

They drive on the wrong side of the road. And they go through traffic circles (roundabouts) clockwise. That really messed me up. The driving on the other side of the road, okay I could deal with but clockwise through roundabouts: freaked me out. Havalah is probably going to teach me how to drive over here. Apparently because I am over 18, I can drive here with my NH license for a year. So she will probably teach me so that if something happens and I have to drive to the store or get my self from my cousin's to my aunt and uncle's, I can.

There are cows and sheep everywhere! It is really cool actually. There are big and little farms all over the place. Even when you're in the city or near the city, it is not uncommon to see fields of sheep or cows or both.

No Walmart. Just Warehouse which is smaller.

Grocery stores. The cheapest place is Pak-N-Save. It is like Sam's Club in its setup. Cement floors, pallets all over the place, etc. But you buy regular quantities like at Shaws.

(posted on Sunday August 9th at 5:25 pm)