NZ Life

Jim just posted some picture of Kyoto, Japan.  Go to the Flickr site or follow the this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalafut/sets/72157594372430988/

The problem with living in different countries that speaks “English” is, each country uses the language differently.  It sounds different and people use similar words differently while speaking and writting.  When it comes to “slang”, that is a different area altogether.  The title of this post “A bunch of crock”  was my creation due to my lack of familiarity when it comes to American slang.  I meant to say “that’s a bunch of crap” or “that’s a crock of shit” …..  but it came out as “that’s a bunch of crock”.   Obviously, being the “foreigner” (I seem to be the foreigner eveywhere lately :-)) i did not even realize that i got it wrong until I said that to Jim on a topic broadcasted on tv.   I promptly got this blank stare back.   The look, I’ve seen before basically says “I have no clue what you have just said” :-).  A bunch of crock?… crock pots?  Ahhh.. here we go again.. lesson 921, honey it’s a “bunch of crap” or “a crock of shit”.

Not the most highly intellectual blog, I must say but thought it was interesting.  I wonder how much more slangs that I accidentally used incorrectly.  When I return from NZ, I should have another bag of mixed, confused, newly invented Kiwi slang to use after I have completely butchered American slang.

I sent my absentee ballot in a few weeks ago, have been watching the polls daily, and catch what news I can about the election. There is a bit of coverage here, but nothing like the US media–which is both good and bad, but mainly good. I can access most of the news and analysis that I want over the net and don’t have to dodge the lame campaign ads and looping sound bites. Nothing but serious research here… And now I’m off to watch that HBO “Hacking Democracy” video that everyone is hyped up about. 🙂

Hell Pizza is a successful restaurant chain in New Zealand and one of my favorite take-out destinations. Their flashy website and ads are quite clever, but I did a double-take upon seeing a big billboard with this on it:

These have been around for a while and there was some debate over the appropriateness back in 2005, but they’ve obviously stayed put.

This morning I took a walk on a path behind the Trimble Navigation office.  In the 15 mins of walking, I had many people in work clothes and school children cycling pass me.  I guess that is a sight I will not see in Peoria, IL.  I don’t think our diet in the US differs that much from NZ but the difference is people here do tend to get out more often for walks and other social activities.  The area around Christchurch has plenty of walking paths versus the single one closer to town which is Rock Island Track.  I remember being so glad when Riverplex was built and they also put in a walking/running path behind the facility.  The road in Christchurch also has biking lanes put in which makes it relatively much safer compared to ridding a bicycle on War Memorial Dr or  Route 6 with semis passing you at 75mph.

Around Christchurch there are also social rugby teams, netball teams, recreational cycling and many more activities generated by the community themselves with a little help for the city council.   What of Peoria?  I definitely think the Race of the Cure, Steamboat and Recreational Volleyball is a start but there is room for improvements.

Libraries… is another item that I see quite visible all over Christchurch. It does not have to be massive, grandios, or super high-tech.  It just has to be functional and practical.  A corner library shared by a couple of subdivisions maybe? 

I like Peoria, and miss it but I wish there are more significant little changes instead of massive project that is suppose to be the silver bullet to all problems. 

 

I guess our trip to Fiji was timed right. There is a lot of coverage here about a possible military coup, and Australia and New Zealand are preparing evacuation plans in case the situation deteriorates. There were Fijian coups as recently as 1987 and 2000.

There are reportedly about 3500-7000 Kiwi tourists in Fiji at any given time. A lady was interviewed by TV3 just before departing for Fiji and seemed a little more comfortable than I would have:

“…I just told my family I might be coming home on a boat instead”, she said.

While a tale of being evacuated by the military would make an excellent blog entry, I’ll pass.

Photos! 135 of them, pared down from over 500. I haven’t made it to comments yet, but those will be forthcoming slowly but surely. The standard photo set format can viewed as usual, but I’ve also ‘geotagged’ these photos as well. This is a relatively new, very cool Flickr feature that lets you attach coordinates to each photo and have them displayed on a map. To get started visit:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalafut/sets/72157594348060382/map/

Drag the map and zoom in to various areas of NZ with your mouse (double click or mouse wheel) and notice how the little map markers split apart (it can take few seconds to update). Click on one of the bubbles and browse photos from that area. And if you want to see everyone’s photos for that area, click the “Clear All” link to remove the filter.

At first this feature sounded a bit gimmicky, but after sorting through dozens of NZ of lake photos that all look alike, I’m starting to appreciate geotagging 🙂

I spent a little less than 2 weeks in Peoria late September for work.  It was nice to go back home and check out the changes in Peoria.  It was also nice to visit friends and have a good chat.  I stayed at AmericInn, Peoria for a couple of days before moving to Anh’s house.  When the housekeeping helper started calling me “Hey babe!!”  that was enough.  I don’t need anyone referring to me as “babe” going through my stuff!!.  So I seek sanctuary in Chillicothe.  It was nice to stay with Anh, Robbie and Jim (Anh’s Jim not to be confused with my Jim 🙂 ). 

Dinner with Andy,Becky and family and Raj is always a delight.  Thanks for coming to dinner.  We’ll have to do that again next time I am back.  I am still anticipating Lauren to be almost as tall as me when I return next year!!.  As for Alex, I still think he is the jolliest baby I’ve ever met.

Dinner with Ioan, Ali and Rashina, and Huzefa at Flat Top was fun especially when we “married folks” get to pull Huzefa’s leg on “married life”.   He seems quite distraught when we told him that buying funiture online is coming to an end :-).

We completed the first part of our South Island road trip. We made stops at Queenstown, Te Anau, Milford Sound, Franz Josef Glacier, and Punakaiki. I must say the highlight for me personally is hiking up the Franz Josef Glacier. Even though it was raining the whole time we were hiking, the view and the experience of hiking on a glacier was still fantanstic. Half way hiking up the glacier, there were rocks falling off the opposite walls of the mountain. The noise that it made sounded as though a plane was flying right above us. We’ll have to post some pictures of the glacier soon.

Food stops on the way: