Despite NZ being a western-style social welfare democracy, we daily confront cultural differences that remind us that Americans are not at the center of the universe. Driving rules: When you approach an intersection and you are making a left turn, you must yield to any oncoming traffic making a right turn, which means those crossing your lane, were you to travel straight, have the right of way. I have not mastered this subtlety, but neither have many drivers in Auckland, so everyone is confused at intersections most of the time.
The grocery store has endless entertainment opportunities in every aisle. Lovely venison, whole goat legs, fresh green-lipped mussels, endless varieties of cheese, mango and passion-fruit juice. Cherries are NZ$20/kilo (a lot), blueberries are cheap at NZ$2 per "chip". Cannot buy fresh or frozen cranberries at any price, but they do have whole turkey and cranberry sauce in a can. A popular dessert is pavlova, which is a cake-sized meringue cake topped with whipped cream or custard and fresh fruit. My favorite aisle is the pet food refrigerator case, which I mistook the first time for the frozen ground beef wares. While they sell dried kibbles, these rolls of pet food must be pretty popular.
Winna, Butch, and Basics brand dog rolls, along with Perky Venison in 90 gr packages.
Market segmentation rules - you won't find a Costco shopping experience here. Every retail space seems full, with 5 table restaurants, dressmakers turning out unique clothes (fashion design is a popular university course). We saw an installer of gas-pump assisted lifts for the rear automobile doors advertising on tv. The drycleaner, however, seems to be supplementing her income with Indian delicacies.
Maori/Pacific Islander hip-hop is popular, and the language is being adopted by the mainstream: Monsta, Mista, Busta this-and-that to go along with Winna dog roll. The discount hifi/audio announcer voices are all the same though.
Christmas decorations in town are minimal, maybe everyone's spending too much time at the 'bach" (summer cottages) to bother. The kids are out of school, out of uniform. Tattooing for adults is mainstream, not just Maori, but piercings are reserved for the 'paheka' (European heritage) youth. All sorts of people wear massive greenstone carvings, just like in the Whalerider.
I paid NZ$40 to fill up the tank with 40 liters of petrol, which should take us 400km. Cars are imported from the Japanese used-car stocks, including a Japanese licensed BMW that is a very down-and-out cousin the Germans must be ashamed of admitting into the clan. We are driving a beat-up 1.6 l Nissan, no interior light, no auto-anything except transmission, about 90,000 km on the odometer, and it looks pretty ordinary. Ford has a new model of the Fairlane here, but have seen not one Explorer, Hummer or similar assault vehicle. I can't imagine parking a Suburban.
It's not just the cars, everything is tiny. Streets, houses, washing machines. Everyone hangs their laundry outside - electricity is too expensive, even though people have dryers in case of true need. Michael's is mounted upside-down over his laundry sink because there is no floor space in the laundry room. Most households also have a de-humidifier to knock back the dampness and thus the mold. Rubbish removal is by private contract, there's only one option for cable, and it's satellite tv with 10 channels at NZ$75 per month, but you get rugby that way.
I held a cricket bat the other day - it was one thing that was bigger than expected, and heavier. The salesman showed us the cleats for cricket players, but they didn't have any with spikes that the bowlers wear. We'll see those Saturday at the Pakistan-New Zealand test match in Hamilton.
Comments (1)
Ann,
This is wonderful! I feel like I'm right there with you. Great observations, and detail. Thank You.
Posted by Mom | December 20, 2003 12:21 PM
Posted on December 20, 2003 12:21