What's Different: New Zealand
When we first moved from Petaluma to Binghamton we tried to post our thoughts about the differences, both positive and negative, about the experience before we lost sight of them in the daily routine (ie. became assimilated). Due mostly to my own state of mind at that point I regrettably focused too much on the negatives, so I'll try to balance that out a bit now with some negatives about our recent move to the South Pacific.
For starters, the moon is upside down! Last night on our drive home from Island Bay we caught a gorgeous view of the moon rising over the hills and shining full over the Cook Strait. It was enormous, beautiful and as I mentioned, upside-down. Very uncanny, and sadly supportive of Mark!'s theory that we are walking around upside-down.
Secondly, gasoline (aka "petrol") is ridiculously expensive, upwards of $7 a gallon if I understand the conversion correctly. I can recall paying less than a dollar a gallon when I was in college, especially on tours of the South, but I'd have to guess it was never that affordable here. On the bright side prices are fixed by the government so you don't have to wonder if the guy across the street is going to take less of your money - it's the same price everywhere. Too many years of comparison shopping still makes me look and see if they're following the rules though.
Third, modern communications like cell phones and the internet are very expensive too, and loaded with strange rules about usage. For example, if you call a cell phone from a land line the land line is charged for the call (although come to think of it, that would keep all the telemarketers away wouldn't it.) Internet usage is limited to download and upload amounts per month, once you exceed those numbers your connection changes to dial-up speed. Between the two (and the fact that the two cell providers, Telecomm and Vodafone both have their own music services and refuse to negotiate with iTunes) I don't think we have a chance of using our iPhones as intended again, at least not here in Oceania.
Fourth (and this one's just for you, Dan) the sports section of the paper is just called 'Sport', like there's only one. Sometimes it seems like there really is only one and it's called rugby (which I've found is enjoyable to watch in a "Can you believe he got up after that? And there's no protective gear??" kind of way) but there really are more and it's just misleading.
There are some other obvious ones (like going from our quiet cul-de-sac in Endicott to the heart of downtown Wellington) but I'll try to save some for future "What's Different" posts. Keep your eye on that moon, and tell Spring hello from us - it doesn't quite feel like winter here (no ice to scrape or heaps of snow to shovel), but when the wind picks up you can tell it's blowing off Antarctica!
For starters, the moon is upside down! Last night on our drive home from Island Bay we caught a gorgeous view of the moon rising over the hills and shining full over the Cook Strait. It was enormous, beautiful and as I mentioned, upside-down. Very uncanny, and sadly supportive of Mark!'s theory that we are walking around upside-down.
Secondly, gasoline (aka "petrol") is ridiculously expensive, upwards of $7 a gallon if I understand the conversion correctly. I can recall paying less than a dollar a gallon when I was in college, especially on tours of the South, but I'd have to guess it was never that affordable here. On the bright side prices are fixed by the government so you don't have to wonder if the guy across the street is going to take less of your money - it's the same price everywhere. Too many years of comparison shopping still makes me look and see if they're following the rules though.
Third, modern communications like cell phones and the internet are very expensive too, and loaded with strange rules about usage. For example, if you call a cell phone from a land line the land line is charged for the call (although come to think of it, that would keep all the telemarketers away wouldn't it.) Internet usage is limited to download and upload amounts per month, once you exceed those numbers your connection changes to dial-up speed. Between the two (and the fact that the two cell providers, Telecomm and Vodafone both have their own music services and refuse to negotiate with iTunes) I don't think we have a chance of using our iPhones as intended again, at least not here in Oceania.
Fourth (and this one's just for you, Dan) the sports section of the paper is just called 'Sport', like there's only one. Sometimes it seems like there really is only one and it's called rugby (which I've found is enjoyable to watch in a "Can you believe he got up after that? And there's no protective gear??" kind of way) but there really are more and it's just misleading.
There are some other obvious ones (like going from our quiet cul-de-sac in Endicott to the heart of downtown Wellington) but I'll try to save some for future "What's Different" posts. Keep your eye on that moon, and tell Spring hello from us - it doesn't quite feel like winter here (no ice to scrape or heaps of snow to shovel), but when the wind picks up you can tell it's blowing off Antarctica!
Not only is the moon upsidedown, but all the stars are different too. Say goodbye to Orion's Belt and hello to the Southern Cross. My Australian friend insist that the stars in the Southern hemisphere are far more beautiful than the Northern hemisphere.
Isnt rugby great?!?! I almost took that up here but I figured mom would kick my butt... I hope everything is going well!!