The mountains were gorgeous this morning. 

 More kiwi slang and commonly heard phrases:

Arvo = afternoon

Good on ya!

hard case = funny, witty, or colorful character

“Ka pai” is Maori for “well done”

“Do the mahi, get the treats” means if you put in the hard work, you’ll reap the rewards

 The kids and I went for a bike ride through the botanical gardens before dinner. It was really beautiful. 

 Bekah got her first goal at hockey tonight! Her coach promised the team chocolate bars at their training on Tuesday if a girl scored a goal - well, they ended up with 3 goals from girls on the team tonight!

He aha te mea nui o te ao -

What is the most important thing in the world?

He tangata, he tangata, he tangata -

It is the people, it is the people, it is the people

Chris and I went to a blown glass garden just outside of town. We were a bit bummed that we weren’t able to see the artists at work since they are away until July, but the garden was lovely.

 

I made mini cheesecakes for Chris and I’s 18th wedding anniversary. I had to buy “digestive biscuits” to make the crust since they don’t have graham crackers here. Turns out, they are very similar and the cheesecakes turned out great!

Our car here is a Japanese import. This is incredibly common in the used car market here. When you start the car, a woman’s voice says something in Japanese. I like to imagine it says, “have a safe drive” or “you look beautiful today.”

The trouble is that since I don’t speak or read Japanese, I also have no idea what it is saying when any error message pops up… today it beeped and flashed a red box with something written. Then it went away. There’s nothing lit up on the dash so I have no idea what the notification was for. 

 

Murals in town.

 

 

 

 Unfortunately, my next New Zealand slang to share is that I’ve been crook since yesterday. That means I’ve been unwell. 

In America, when someone lives very rurally, we say things like “they live out in the boonies” or they live “in the middle of nowhere.” I’ve even heard “out in east bumble.” But here, it’s “out in the wop wops.” 

I swear NZ slang is the best. Haha

I’ve never lived in a windy place. Here in New Zealand, “windy” is as much a weather type as “sunny” or “rainy.”

In North Carolina, strong winds came with storms or right before bad weather moved in. Here, sometimes the wind gets crazy but nothing else happens. 

I have off on Mondays so it’s become a bit of a standing coffee date with Chris which has been very nice. Today was a flat white and caramel slice. Yum!

  D

One thing I love about winter in Taupo is that every morning and every evening, it smells like a campground outside. Many homes are heated by wood fire stoves so when it’s cold, you can smell everyone keeping warm. I love that smell. 

On Sundays there is a market in town with farmers, bakers, food trucks, and art sellers. It can get pretty busy between locals and visitors. I was surprised that I found it less overwhelming than similar crowded places back home, until suddenly it hit me - there is no generator noise. The food trucks are connected to a power source in the park so it’s a lot quieter! You can actually enjoy the live music being played at a reasonable volume. 

New Zealand isn’t really colder than North Carolina but it is less climate controlled. It was 11 degrees Celsius INSIDE our house this morning. That’s about 52 Fahrenheit. It was hard to get out of my warm bed to turn on the heat pump in the living room. 

The beds all have heated mattress pads and none of the kids have said it was too cold at night. Bekah even sleeps with her bed turned on and a fan blowing directly in her face like a psychopath. 

I had someone tell me that their kid was wagging school. 

Turns out, that means playing hooky! 

Turns out, patients in New Zealand can be just as frustrated by antibiotic stewardship as patients in America.