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Published: July 12th 2010
Top 10 Signs You've Been in New Zealand For a While... 10. You can easily explain the difference between a kiwi, a Kiwi, and kiwifruit.
9. You think absolutely nothing of a cow or sheep jumping in front of your vehicle.
8. You dig into a box of Kraft macaroni and cheese (compliments of Mom and Dad) and think you've died and gone to heaven.
7. You're starting to think it's normal to come home to a house that is a constant 42 degrees INSIDE the house.
6. You watch movies such as "Australia" and "Finding Nemo" and don't even notice the accents.
5. Expressions such as "Sweet as," "Cheers," and "No worries" have slowly crept into your vocabulary.
4. You no longer need to mentally convert kilometers, kilograms, Celsius, milliliters, or grams.
3. You receive a US$1 bill for a tip and excitedly jump up and down because you've nearly forgotten what it looks like.
2. You finally (and without thinking) go to the right (and correct) side of the car to get into the driver's seat.
1. You think it is 100%!n(MISSING)ormal to pick up a hitchhiker or hitchhike yourself!
Which reminds me of my very
first hitchhiking experience, a couple of weeks ago...
A blond, a brunette, and a redhead were standing on the side of the road, attempt to hitch a ride up to the Remarkables Ski Field. We figured our odds were pretty good that a passing guy would like at least
one of us, right? Correct!! Literally the very first person that went by, an Aussie guy in a pick-up truck, pulled right over and invited all three of us to throw our boards in the bed and hop in! Let me assure you that hopping into a vehicle with a total and complete stranger is a VERY bizarre feeling. However, this being New Zealand, it is one of the preferred methods of transportation, so I figured I needed to try it at least once to have a full "Kiwi" experience. So I did, with a couple of girlfriends who assured me that it would be just fine.
And it was! Up the mountain we went in the back of this guy's pick-up truck, and off we went snowboarding all day. Late afternoon, we head down to the parking lot and figure it's going to be just as easy to
hitch a ride back to the bottom of the mountain where my car was awaiting. Piece of cake, right? Wrong! We're standing there with our thumbs out for fifteen or twenty minutes, watching car after car zip right past us without giving us a second look. Perplexed, we look at each other, wondering why it's suddenly not so easy to get picked up. Then it dawns on me. We're all wearing our ski hats! Sure enough, as soon as we whip off our hats and let the hair fly, literally the next vehicle pulls over - two British guys who gladly offered us a ride to the bottom. The moral of the story is: If you're going to hitchhike, let your hair hang down. It will get you a ride every time!!
So it's been a busy couple of weeks! Winter season is here, and it is reminisce of our winter back home...all of a sudden, the streets are overflowing with cars, restaurants are packed, and people are buzzing around everywhere, mostly in their ski gear. The population of Queenstown swells from a modest 13,000 during the summer to (I'm told) as many as 30,000-40,000 during these couple months
of winter. The hotel has gone from painfully quiet to an explosion of activity - most bar shifts I work don't end much before 1 or 2 in the morning now. Jeremy's crazy busy on his breakfast shifts, sometimes not getting home until mid-afternoon by the time they clean up and reset for the next day. After several months of quiet, we can't complain, but the contrast is shocking.
So! I know you're all wondering how our swing dance performance went to "Zoot Suit Riot" last weekend. Well, I'm happy to announce that it was (pardon the pun) a swingin' success!! We dressed our finest and headed out to the performance hall in Arrowtown, where we joined our friends for their bi-annual "Talent Night." Amongst the skits, songs, and dances represented were Grease, Back to the Future, Abba, The Sound of Music, New Kids on the Block, Footloose, and the Beatles. Jeremy and I, along with our friends Kylie, Mark, Jess, and Rafael, geared up for our '40's-style swing dance - and nailed it!!! Everyone loved it so much we actually ended up doing an encore performance at the end of the night. It was so much fun, it
made all the sore muscles and long rehearsals from the past 6 weeks more than worth it! Somehow (this never happens), I managed to forget my camera, so I'm at the mercy of other people's photos. We did get a video, which unfortunately, due to our internet data restrictions, we can't upload at the moment, but for anyone who would like to see it, we're bringing a copy home, not to worry!
What else? Snowboarding has become our new obsession, the bug has most definitely bit us both. We've both improved dramatically the last two times we went, tackling the intermediate slopes and really working on getting our edges and improving the quality of our stops. On Saturday, we were actually going to try to go up the lifts for the first time, but alas, Jeremy forgot his wallet at home (hence, his lift pass)...so next time!! You'd be amazed how warm the mountain gets during the day when the sun is shining - we both end up going down to just a thin shirt halfway through the day. Our falls are getting more infrequent, though as our speed and confidence increases, the falls that we
do take are
a little harder! It is so much fun, I must admit...I wasn't expecting to like it nearly as much as I do. (I'm one of those types who typically gives up on something in about 30 seconds if I'm not good at it...patience is definitely NOT one of my virtues...)
Saturday was an "unofficial" anniversary for us - three years since our first date (geez, where does the time go, anyway?). We treated ourselves after a long day on the mountain to a steakhouse in town called "Flame"...and nearly died and went to heaven. Twelve ounces of juicy, cut-with-a-fork filet mignon, baked potatoes, a couple glasses of amazing South African Cabernet, and a dessert shot consisting of creme de menthe and a creamy African cordial called Amarula - similar to Bailey's Irish Cream, but with a fruity twist. Absolutely delicious - it was a splurge well worth it, as we've barely touched a steak since we've been in this country!
So, for the next couple of months, it would appear that our lives will be filled with long hours at the hotel and sneaking up the mountain to snowboard whenever we get the chance. Our district convention is
the final weekend in August, and will require a 7-hour drive back to Christchurch for the long weekend. We are also (tentatively) planning a road trip of the South Island for the first week in September with our British friend Stacey and some of her friends who are flying over from the UK...but we'll see how it goes! For now, I can honestly say that for two pathetic Floridians, we're handling our first winter pretty darn good!!
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Joe Smuin
non-member comment
Blizzard?
Where exactly is the blizzard??