Imposing Myself on My Parent's Midlife Crises: The First Week

Rachel here to give some highlights from my first week here. I feel as though I've been here longer than a week. The journey to New Zealand, which was somewhat torturous at the time, now seems like a distant memory. I've been soaking in the relaxed environment here and trying to catch up on my sleep. I've actually enjoyed helping mom with every day tasks such as grocery shopping, laundry, and gardening. I feel like a completely different person, a very natural, green, hippie-ish person, when I'm gathering tomatoes from the garden, hanging clothes out on the line, or starting a compost heap. (And just to be completely honest, sometimes I do pretend I'm a different person. Just for fun. Mom always said I had a great imagination.) I'm really excited to put some of the more domestic things I'm learning into practice when I get back to America.

Mom and I went to Ocean beach on Tuesday and jumped through the waves. The fact that we got in the water at all was a major victory. It was not warm, folks.

Mom and I also made it to Whangarei Falls.

Dad had Saturday off so we all went to Whale Bay.

Dad took the opportunity to rock his New Zealand "cowboy" hat!

Last evening we went to Mair Park and hiked to the top of the peak there. The view was amazing!

But the hike, which was relatively short but very steep, was exhausting.

If we look sweaty and frazzled, it's because we are. That hike was no joke.

My first week has been a lot of fun. I have gotten to try some new food (we went to an Isreali restaurant called the Fat Camel yesterday), visit some gorgeous places, and I even got to drive on the left side of the road (I haven't seen mom grip the door handle that tightly since I was 15 and learning how to drive). I can't wait to see what other experiences New Zealand has in store!

Rachel's here

Just a short post to let you know that Rachel is here safely. We are having a good time visiting art galleries and stores that Steve doesn't care for. We have also made it to the beach. Steve will be off for the next four days and we will do some more beaches and sight seeing. I will have Rachel write a short post about her first impressions here and she will upload some of her pictures. It should be fun.

Kauri Forest

Kauri Tree

Kauri Tree that is 800 years old. Knots are the gum

wooden path

Moutain view reminds me of Roanoke

We spent the day yesterday exploring the Kauri Forest. The Kauri is a large delicate tree that only grows over here. We saw a few that were 800 years old. The tree is so delicate that they make a path that goes into the forest and you are not allowed to go off the path. Most of the path is a wooden walkway so you don't even touch the ground. The tree's roots grow close to the surface so even walking on the dirt by them can cause them to die. They bleed a gum substance. It starts out looking like a plan rock but every 6 months or so it changes as it dries. It eventually becomes what looks like a clear amber stone. As we traveled through the mountains to this forest I felt like I was back in Roanoke. It is such a similar look. One might think what is the big deal you can see this in America. It takes a closer look to see the difference. The forest has deciduous trees (lose leaves), coniferous trees (cone bearing ), kauri trees, and palm trees. Are you glad that I home schooled my kids an know these terms. I have never seen this combination together. It isn't that you might not see most of these trees in the states but just not all in one space. I have never seen such a variety of fol age in one area.

Eating Out

I thought I would talk about eating out. I have explained some things but I thought I would explain more. The traditional restaurants are much the same as at home. They specialize in a cuisine like Chinese, Seafood, Italian, Japanese, or Thai. It all tastes a little different partly due to their preferences and partly due to the fact that ingredients are not the same. For example , in the Italian restaurant their salad has many more varieties of lettuce. They also put olives in whole and with the pit. Pizza has very little sauce and it tastes different. They often put seafood and barbecue sauce on it. Things like sausage and pepperoni are also spiced different. They don't like things as spicy here so we have not seen a Mexican restaurant although we are told they exist in Auckland. Also when we have eaten Chinese there is at most only one pepper beside the spiciest dishes
Next are the cafes. Most people go in an get their coffee or tea here. You can get a sandwich, pastry, quiche. or some sort of pot pie. There are a few differences in them but mostly their menu is the same.
They have several American chains with McDonald's leading the pack. They have less options on their menu and there is no super size. Their medium in our small cup. They also have a cafe in ours. It uses real coffee cups and plates. They sell Lotte's, cappuccino , tea etc as well as muffins and pastries. Pizza Hut is here and their combos come with chips(fries). Kentucky Friend Chicken is here and as I said the popular combo comes with mashed potatoes and fries. Subway seems to be the only chain that is pretty much the same. There is a Starbucks in Auckland but not here. I am told the Kiwis are fussy about their coffee so they don't in general like Starbucks.
Next comes the bakeries. They are open early in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon. They have many types of pastries (which they call donuts), desserts ( not as sweet as ours) and lunch food consisting of pot pies, quiches, and sandwiches. This is their cheap fast food. Nothing is cheaper that buying a mini quiche or a pot pie to take to work. McDonald's cost much more.All of the bakeries seem to have the same things in them no matter where you are.
Lastly their are the Take Aways. They are everywhere . They are almost always run by Asians. There are two types. One has a Chinese and New Zealand menu. The other just a New Zealand menu. The Chinese ones usually have a buffet. They give you a Styrofoam container for a price and you fill it as full as you can. You can just order one thing off the menu if you choose. They like the regular take always offer New Zealand favorites. Fish and chips is always on the menu. The fish is fresh and depends on the catch of the day. It is always breaded and comes to you wrapped in unused newspaper. They sell hamburgers or an American hot dog. They bread all sorts of things.They sell breaded imitation crab, breaded, mussel, breaded squid, and breaded sausages to name a few. The one, however, that grabbed our attention the most was the deep fried mars bar. We saw it on the menu at several take aways and we just had to get one. Yes it is breaded in the same batter as the fish and then fried. We thought fried ice cream sounded weird but was good maybe this would be, too. Wrong. I'm glad we tried it but once was enough. It took all the sweetness away from the candy bar which to me is the whole point of a candy bar. Well I hope this helps you understand the ways of dining out should you ever come to New Zealand.


Deep Fried Mars Bars

Goat Island

Goat Island

Kauwa Island

Mansion House

Steve and I went for a 2 day trip to Goat Island and the surrounding area. It is a Marine reserve. We were able to go on a glass bottom boat and see all the underwater wild life that they work so hard to preserve. We were planning on snorkeling but the water was 60 degrees and I'm just not bold enough for that. Many were out in their wetsuits having fun in the water just not us. We also got to boat over to an island called Kauwa. It was a major copper mine and the main house was turned into a mansion. What we did not know was that the boat we took was also a mail boat. It started out a little frustrating with all the stops but then I started to embrace part of the culture here. There are many islands around that people choose to live on. This particular island has mostly vacationers but there are about 300 who live there year around. There are usually no roads on these islands. Boat is the only way to get supplies. There is one cafe on this island but they carry the newspaper, bread and milk so that those on the islands can have easy access to them. Everyone seems to help everyone. People were on the dock when the boat came in. They know the captain and were very appreciative to him for bringing there supplies . The boat carried mail, groceries ordered, and anything else people ordered from the mainland. Along with that it carried people touring as well as residents who live on the island. Everything has to do double duty. The boat doesn't make enough money doing tours so it does the mail and supplies. This would not happen in the US. The mail would have to have its own people . The groceries their own delivery people and no one on a cruise in America would tolerate making so many stops. People here, however, see it as a normal part of life. You do what you can for each other and to make money. It may have taken longer to see the island but I was glad to get a glimpse of people helping one another out.

communication

This last week or so has been slow for me. Steve is working 10 hour days and is extremely busy. He has worked 9 out of the last 10 days and is scheduled to work one more before he has a couple of days off. It has been an interesting time for me. This is an English speaking country so you would think that adjustments wouldn't be to much. I thought that I would share with you some of the interesting words and experiences I have had regarding differences. First the most obvious is driving on the right side of the road. This seems obvious but your blinker and windshield wipers are also opposite so I can't tell you the number of times that I have gone to turn a corner and turned the windshield wipers on. The speed limits are 50 and 100 kilometers. Petrol is sold per liter and roundabouts are very common. The temperature is 24 C. My oven temperature goes from 0-250.
In the grocery story things are sold in grams , kilograms and liters. Add to that the fact that a New Zealand dollar is equal to 71 American cents and you can see how I have trouble figuring out what is a good deal. I went and saw Scotch Steak was 17.99 a kilogram. First what is a Scotch Steak? Then I have to do both dollar and kilogram conversions. You get the picture. Things are often named different things. There is a kamara vegetable. There is crystal sugar and icing sugar. You also have regular bacon ( which looks like ham) and streaky bacon (which looks more like ours). You can by Oreo or chocolate chip biscuits. If you are thirsty you can buy a fizzy drink.
They have restaurants, cafes and take aways. In a restaurant you can by the meal as a main on an entree. What does that exactly mean ? Chips come with most meals but once I saw a Kentucky Fried Chicken meal that came with both chips and potatoes and gravy. Why?
My neighbor speaks clearly but we still have some communication issues. She wanted to know what I was fixing for my tea this evening. She was going home to fix her tea because she was downright peckish. She also keeps a close eye on her grandchildren even though others might find her cluckish( clearly reference to chickens are common). She is on holiday for a week and a half. She might go to the batch on the beach. She also wanted to get gas for her boat and fishing bait so she wouldn't be fluffing around in the morning. Some words make sense and others are a little vague.
I put some signs below to show some differences. The signs in the store have been interesting. You can by sandals or jandals. Who knew? The sign that took me most by surprise was the sign that was in the women's section. They had singlets and boob tops on sale. Yes that is correct and not a typo. I hope you have fun guessing what all these words mean.