1) Everyone here refers to his/her spouse or significant other as a 'partner.' Back home, saying that you had a 'partner' had a certain connotation to it, but here it's just a reference to a husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, or life partner. I did find out that the institution of marriage is not nearly as dwelled upon here as it is back home...a lot of people choose to live together with their partners without necessarily taking a walk down the aisle. So much for getting into wedding planning here!
2) Gelato reigns supreme! Back home every other block had a frozen yogurt place...here, not so much. But, fret not, there are so many gelato shops and cafes that serve homemade gelato in all sorts of wonderful flavors. I feel an addiction coming on...
3) Church services are more than 50% music and singing. We've been to 2 different churches now and both have very extensive music sessions. They both had very talented musicians and sang a few songs that we knew, but we realized we were singing for almost 35 minutes at the beginning of the services!
4) Restaurants serve eggs at almost any time of day, but they tend to serve baked beans for breakfast. The egg thing maybe isn't that strange, but I don't think I've ever seen baked beans served in restaurants, let alone for breakfast.
5) Cars always have the right-of-way...not pedestrians...and cars do not like to stop for you.
6) It's not legal to sue any person or company. So if you slip in a restaurant because their floor is wet, you can't sue them. Granted, the free nationalized medical coverage here will cover any accidental injury or surgery, but no such luck for people trying to earn an extra buck or two for damage inflicted.
7) Kiwis say 'double' in front of double numbers. So my NZ phone is 026-68814...they would say that as '2-double 6-double 8-1-4.'
8) They have 2 kinds of boxed cake mixes...chocolate and vanilla. Not much variety, but the Duncan Hines brownies I got from the American Store were super delish!
9) The native people of New Zealand, the Maori, are highly revered here. As you may have seen in the video from my last post, the haka is everyone's favorite part of the rugby match (except for winning, of course) and it must always be led by someone of Maori decent. Also, the NZ national anthem has 2 parts...the first is in the Maori language then the second part is the same words, but sung in English.
Ok I think that's all for now, but I'll keep you posted!
Cheers!
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