I wanted to check in on the blog and let you know how everything is going. I know Evan has talked a lot about the city and the culture so I hope I am not being redundant!
The first thing that you can't avoid noticing is the hills. The whole city is basically on the hill. It provides a great view but it hard when you're trying to get home. This is because we live at the top of the hill and the downtown area or CBD(Central Business District) is on the harbor and thus, down the hill.
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| A little blurry but a great view of the city! |
The second thing that is most obvious is that people drive on the left side of the road. Now that doesn't seem to important unless you are driving but what you forget about is that people also WALK on the left side of the sidewalk. So far, that has been the hardest thing about living in Wellington! It's been a hard habit to break. Fortunately, it seem the Wellingtonians are fairly familiar with Americans and aren't too annoyed by us sometimes being in their way.
So the next topic may break a few hearts. It has to do with the toilets. Growing up in school, it was taught that on the south side of the equator, the toilets flush counter-clockwise due to the rotation of the earth. That is what we've been told. But we have yet to see the magic yet because they don't have toilets like we do in America. The toilets here are more like ones on a plane. There isn't much water in them and they kinda just suck it straight down. It's very sad in deed, but maybe things will be different once we get to Australia!
A couple other things that have been a bit different here in NZ. For one, I never realized how much I would miss turkey. I always took a turkey sandwich for granted. At the Weir House, we have sandwiches for lunch but no turkey at all! I've been told that the land of New Zealand makes it difficult to have turkey farms. Because of the lack of turkey, chicken has taken over. For instance, we have had chicken sausage for breakfast and chicken burgers for lunch. Just a bit strange.
Lastly, the one thing that you'll notice about buying stuff in New Zealand is the prices. They do things a bit differently here. So when you see a price on the shelf, that is the price inclu
ding the tax(12.5%). So at first glance you think that everything is super expensive because you forget about the tax. Once you get used to it though, it's quite nice. There is no need to try to do math in your head to figure out what the cost of the item will be.
Well, that's it for now! We are going to try and get the About Us page filled with content soon. Also, we'll be adding a page about our trip and all the stops along the way as well as some Kiwi Lingo we've been picking up.
ding the tax(12.5%). So at first glance you think that everything is super expensive because you forget about the tax. Once you get used to it though, it's quite nice. There is no need to try to do math in your head to figure out what the cost of the item will be.
Well, that's it for now! We are going to try and get the About Us page filled with content soon. Also, we'll be adding a page about our trip and all the stops along the way as well as some Kiwi Lingo we've been picking up.
-Davis
This is a box in the dorm outside of my room. It looks like a preparedness kit for earthquakes.
