Multicultural Kiwis

One of the things that struck us early on was the completely unselfconscious mixing of every race, color, nationality, ethnicity, and culture here. Everyone mixes in marriages, social groups, and commerce. The rule seems to be, “Find a good person and start your family,” or a business, or anything.  We see a very comfortable interaction in our daily life in the shops, on the street, at work and at church. And it also produces some very attractive people of combined physical heritages.

Last month we went by assignment to the Waikato Diversity Conference in Hamilton, particularly to be a presence for the Church in the religious diversity forums. We were surprised to learn there are some tensions we didn’t know about beneath the surface, but New Zealanders do enjoy important protections under the Treaty of Waitangi—honored similarly to our Constitution. We were particularly interested in the presentation by the Muslim representatives and hearing about their struggle to feel understood as law-abiding and contributing citizens here.

We were glad to see Tonderai again, having first met him at the J. Reuben Clark Law Society meeting in Gold Coast, Australia. Tonderai is a lawyer in Hamilton specializing in immigration law. He and his family are from Zimbabwe and he is a lovely person—always positive, warm, energetic, and a delight to be around.

Craig, Tonderai, Bob

There was a marvelous cultural evening with foods and performances by many heritages represented. Most of the foods were delicious but Jan had difficulty figuring out how to get one of the desserts cracked off the huge pyramid where it was served. Everyone in the line behind her pitched in with advice and encouragement and she finally ended up with a great deal more on her plate than intended. Fortunately Bob didn't have the camera at that moment.

There were African drummers—and very cold they must have got that evening, too!

One of the African Drummers

There was classical Indian music.

Lester on Sitar and Todd on Tanpura

Jan’s favorite performance by far was the Wai Taiko Japanese drummers. The performance was dazzling in its power, athleticism, and choreography. We could feel the vibration of the drums clear into our chests and bones! (Natalie, if you’re reading this, one of the drummers reminded me uncannily of you.) Unfortunately this performance was outdoors and none of our photos had enough light. But if you ever have the chance to see the Wai Taiko drummers, don’t pass it up!

The Columbian Kiwis danced. Bet you never thought about Colombians being in New Zealand; we certainly never had before now.

The Colombian Dancers

We also heard Yao, an internationally recognized performer from China.

Yao plays gu-zheng

 

All in all an interesting trip and many new insights for us.

Our Flat

The first flat we moved into here was very large by NZ standards, with 2 bedrooms, a separate lounge and kitchen, an enclosed garage, and an enclosed, paved backyard about half the size of the flat. It was just 2 blocks from work, which was a big plus since we don’t have parking in our office building and there is no free (or even reasonably priced) parking in downtown Takapuna.

But the flat was very rundown, not clean, and had a lot of mildew. After a couple of months we went looking and found a place that works much better for us. It was completely remodeled two years ago and is clean and bright, with bamboo flooring and a completely modern kitchen and bath.

One downside is that it’s in a suburb. It's only a 10-15 minute drive from the office but we have to park in a nearby neighborhood and hoof a kilometer into work. Still, a morning walk is always nice.

The other downside is that the entire flat is only 480 square feet and a 4-foot wide deck. (We can’t pass one another at any spot in our bedroom, nor in the kitchenette.) However, we’re kept –most of the time—from getting claustrophobic by the fact that 3 of the walls are glass and the views are lovely. The landscaping (gardens) here are often designed to let in the light but provide privacy and that’s exactly what we have.

Our Flat in Campbell's Bay

The whole front of the house is glass, with just a pillar between the double doors and the big windows next to them.

View out the front wall of the flat in winter

View out the kitchen wall above the sink in winter

Everyone has clotheslines here--probably partly in self-defense because electricity ("electric") is so shockingly expensive. However, the climate is very damp and so far we haven't mastered the art of getting the clothes dry before it starts to rain!

South-ish view out the bedroom wall in winter (with clotheslines)

North-ish view out the bedroom window in winter

Accent-ental Enlightenment

The vowels in the Kiwi accent are pronounced entirely differently than in the American accent. One of the most readily noticeable differences is that the short-e sound (“bed”) is pronounced by Kiwis as what we call a short-i sound (“bid”).

Dead is “did”.

Said is “sid”.

Heather, Bob's secretary, is “Hithah”.

Level is “livil”.

Step is “stip”.

Ten is “tin”.

Never is “nivah”.

Red is “rid”.

So when one of our church leaders mentioned to Bob recently that he was going to bless some people, he said he was going to “bliss” them. Isn’t it a delightful thought? Be sure to scatter some "blissings" along your way today!

Kiwi Cash

Isn’t Kiwi money pretty?

Jan is especially intrigued by the transparent silverfern shapes and ovals on each bill. The ovals have the denomination—also transparent—imprinted in them.

Kiwi Cash

The dull-gold-colored coins are dollar coins. Kiwi cash also includes $2 coins, which look just like dollar coins except twice as thick. (We didn’t happen to have one at the time of the photo.) The larger bright silver-colored coins are 50-cent pieces, and the silver-colored coins with scalloped edges are twenty-cent pieces. The copper-colored coins are not pennies; they’re what we call dimes in America. They are the smallest value coin in Kiwi money.

If the smallest value is 10 cents, you may ask how a merchant gives back correct change on a purchase of, say, $120.46. The answer is that the merchant doesn’t give back correct change. The buyer is charged $120.50 and the receipt has a line-item that reads “Rounding: $.04”, so we’re actually charged more than the marked price on everything!

On the other hand, Kiwis shopping in America would likely be offended by having sales tax added at the cash register, since the Goods and Services Tax (15%) is already added to the marked price right on the shelf here.

It‘s a good thing the money is pretty, because one needs a lot of it to live here! 

That's US$4.56 per white missionary shirt; Jan does a lot of ironing...

 

Let’s play a little game about Kiwi costs it. We’ll even give you a head start by telling you the price in current U.S. dollars of a few items that we either don't have on hand, or are in our possession but not in photographable condition:

Lamb roast the size of Jan’s fist: $30.71

Beef pot roast the size of Jan’s two fists:  $22.41

Chicken (not free-range organic chicken, just plain old chicken-chicken): $4.98-$8.30 per pound depending on the week

Twelve-pack of Barq’s Rootbeer (only at the American store and only as available) $16.60

Very small head of iceberg lettuce: $4.10

Stick of Old Spice deodorant: $10.20

Radishes:  41 cents per radish

Tube of Chapstick classic: $3.90 Woo-hoo! On sale! It’s sometimes $4.98 per tube

Low-dose aspirin: 17 cents per aspirin

Having shoes stretched at the cobbler: $38.25 per shoe

Can of A&W Rootbeer (available only at the Chinese vegge mart—Huh?): $1.27

Ready to play? Really. Grab one of those sticky notes right there beside the keyboard and jot down your best guess about the following items. The answers, converted to U.S. dollars, will appear below the pictures and you can compare your guesses. No peeking now! Try to guess the Kiwi cost of:

Button Mushrooms

Can of Spray Starch--for ironing white missionary shirts

Quart of Mayo

Emery Boards

Bay Leaves

Diet Coke: Grocery price, not vending machine

Large Size A-1

One Sheet of Very Lightweight Cardstock

Vitamin E Capsules

DMC Embroidery Floss

Bob's One-and-Only KC Masterpiece BBQ Sauce

Limes

Estee Lauder Equalizer Make-up

Ready to check your guesses? You really wrote them down, didn't you?

Button mushrooms: $4.98 a pound.

Can of spray starch: We’ve found it pretty consistently for $4.98 a can at one shop, but it can cost $7.22 a can.

Quart of mayo: $9.96. Woo-hoo! On sale!

Emery boards: $10.79 apiece

Bay leaves: $1.66 per leaf

Can of Diet Coke: 85 cents

A-1 Steak Sauce (only at the American store and only as available): $12.45

Cardstock: 68 cents per sheet

Vitamin E capsules: $2.55 per capsule

DMC embroidery floss: $1.57 per skein

KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce (only at the American store and only as available): $8.71

Limes: $19.09 per pound

Estee Lauder Equalizer make-up: OK, this was a trick question. Jan can’t buy it here at all. But a tube of Maybelline mascara costs $18.26.

Journey to the Land of Oz

Imagine discovering we’ve been mispronouncing “Aussie” our entire lives! The correct pronunciation is “Ozzie” and Australia is frequently called “Oz”. We didn’t learn this until we were in the airport on our way to Oz last June, flying to Brisbane (“BRIZZ-bn”) to attend a joint conference of all Pacific area chapters of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society. Law Society We enjoyed 3 days of meetings and activities in Gold Coast, Australia. 

Bob was on the ice-breaker panel debating the question Only Lawyers and Painters Can Make Black White and White Black. He claims his side was "home-towned" because the judge and opposing counsel were all Ozzie, as well as most of the jury. (To say nothing of the fact he couldn't understand their accents!) But the American team won the debate despite Bob feeling hampered by his partner's insistence on treating the topic seriously--which Bob of course did not.

Our hotel was just a few blocks from the beautiful white-sand beaches that reminded us of Florida. 

Gold Coast View from the Highrise - Photo by Craig Christensen

Beach View from the Highrise - Photo by Craig Christensen

Gold Coast is a surfer’s paradise, but we were unaccountably there during the coldest weekend in living memory. We took a few walks for exercise but didn’t get the full effect.

Bob on the Beach at Gold Coast

 

However we met some fine people and made new friends, some of whom we continue to connect with here in New Zealand.

On the Saturday we joined the conference activity at the Currumbin Wildlife Reserve. Jan unfortunately forgot the camera entirely so we can only tell you we were surprised to learn that those cute, cuddly-looking koala bears, when not in a drunken sleep from their eucalyptus diet, can be quite fierce. The appealing pictures never show you the 4-inch claws and how their eyes turn red when they try to come after you!

There was also—fortunately at a good distance—an enormous saltwater crocodile about 25 feet long. It was possibly the creepiest thing we’d ever seen.

Jan got brave and pet a kangaroo that was running loose in the reserve and was surprised to discover it wasn’t soft, but rough and wooly like a sheep.

Bob did try to take photos with his phone but the only one that turned out was Jan with the aboriginal dancers.

Jan with the Dancers

 White dirt such as we're kneeling in is dotted, patted, and streaked onto the dancers' bodies to create ceremonial decoration. You can see the designs on a couple of the performers.

On the final day we went to Sea World, quite a bit downsized from the American version. One of Jan’s favorite photos of the day was the penguins: A new section of their exhibit had just been opened above the waterline, and the penguins were fascinated by the people behind the glass!

Penguins Gawking at the Tourists

Jan has a lifelong love of riding carousels, unquestionably acquired riding the beautiful carousel at San Francisco Zoo as a little girl. SF Zoo Carousel  So she didn’t pass up the opportunity to ride an Ozzie carousel at Sea World.

Jan on the Carousel

We wondered for a time if our return flight would be able to depart. Ash blowing across the sea from the Chilean volcano had grounded most air travel, but Air New Zealand was still flying out--albeit on a much lower flight path than normal--and we arrived back safe and on schedule.

(And Melbourne is prounounced "MELL-bn".)