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.