Kia Ora,

While they definitely speak English here, some of the words used can be very different and sort of fun.

Kia ora – NZ welcome from the Maori language
Sweet as, bro – roughly “that’s cool”
no worries – a very popular way to respond to any sort of apology
she’ll be alright – everything will be okay
papers – a term for classes or courses taken here, e.g. “I am taking two math papers”
a flying fox – a zip line (My friend wasn’t even aware of what a zip line is)
a carpark – a parking lot
Philadelphia – cream cheese (although this is apparently common for those who don’t live so near Philly)
toilet – not bathroom
Jandals – sandals
a penguin – nickname for the 5 dollar bill, which has a penguin on it, e.g. “I’ve got a penguin”
fresh up – a name brand juice, flavored apple and orange together
L & P – their lemonade
z = “zed” – not z = “zee”
Kiwi – a NZ person, a green fruit, or a flightless bird

There’s also a host of other cultural differences that I’ve picked up on so far:
1. Drivers will actually stop at crosswalks and wait until you comely cross to drive, but will nearly hit you if you attempt to cross the road in any other place.
2. Wellington is one of the cleanest cities that I have ever seen. However, despite being so clean, there are very few trashcans around and I have yet to see a street sweeper. Instead, it seems to be a cultural policy not to litter, but rather to carry your trash around until eventually you do manage to find a trash can or you go home. Similarly, there is much less graffiti than one might expect to find in a city and often the graffiti you do see might even be very beautiful.

 
3. Everyone is super super friendly! even more so than I might have guessed they would be.
4. If you wait for the servers to bring you a check in a restaurant, you will sit there for the rest of your life. Instead you must pay at the bar.
5.No one tips! and tax is already worked into the prices. So when you see the price on an item, it is the real price.
6.Walk on the left; drive on the left.
7. Prices are really very different. Some unexpected items are very expensive. For example, you’ll pay an arm and a leg for sunscreen, but lamb costs less than chicken. (This makes sense as there are more sheep than people in NZ). Also a regular spiral notebook might cost about US$10!
8. They don’t refrigerate their eggs! You go into the store and see boxes of eggs on the shelves like chips or cereal. Clearly something is wrong with this picture. Either Americans waste energy in refrigerating our eggs or there’s something really different about NZ eggs. (I haven’t purchased any yet, but I’ll keep you posted.)
9. They are a lot more liberal about what can be publicly posted. For example, note the billboard below.

In other news, today I went to Newton for a casting call for elf extras for the Hobbit. Unfortunately, they were looking for people over 5’7″, which is so not me, but I went anyways with some taller friends. We stood in a really long line for a while, until we were let into the building, a NZ dance studio. From there, those tall enough filled out an application and were led into small rooms where pictures and measurements were taken. Once we got into the building, everything moved really fast. I just hope one of my friends will be chosen, because they would be really neat. I also found out that I am short enough to have been cast as a hobbit extra, but unfortunately they had already finished those casting call, before I arrived.

One day, I went to an inflatable party, which had an inflatable obstacle course, human fuse ball, and twister.

Also, since I live so close the the botanical gardens, I also went there again. Aren’t the flowers so beautiful?

Location: Hutchinson Rd., Newton, Wellington, New Zealand