Moving to a new country halfway across the globe seems quite daunting and overwhelming when you first think about it. Let's be honest, prior to this move, driving across Denver was often a challenge (more on my geography skills later). However, after packing some boxes, shedding some tears and boarding a plane (it certainly helps if your fiance can get you upgraded to first class :-) I'm realizing more each day how life is both totally different and yet totally the same here on this Island in the South Pacific as it is at home in The Rocky Mountains.
I've officially moved to New Zealand and we live in the small area of Albany which is located on the North Shore which is North of the Harbour Bridge in Auckland. If I were telling someone in NZ where I live I would say "North Shore". If I was telling someone on the North Island where I live I would say "Albany" and when someone from outside of NZ asks -I live in Auckland. Auckland is the biggest city in New Zealand with about 1.4 million people. The North Shore technically has it's own "city council,"mayor and tax structure but is a mere 15 minute drive across the bridge to
downtown Auckland. Albany is a newer suburb of Auckland which is closer to the water and our house looks out over an inner harbour bay with water from the Pacific Ocean.
Malls.....Within Albany is the largest "mall" in New Zealand that just opened up December of 2007 (
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/4256874a22401.html for info on the new mall). In the mall it has everything you would expect in an American Mall including a
KMart, Body Shop, Borders Book Store, Timberland, Shoe Stores, Clothing Stores, Home Shops and a food court. The prices are higher on items that are imported from the US but items that are manufactured in the Pacific area (i.e. Australia) are similar priced. In this mall is a "Farmers" which is their version of a Macy's which has home items, clothes and most major cosmetic counters such as Clarions and Bobby Brown.
The difference is that they also have their larger grocery stores in their malls, the food court has an abundant choice of sushi and
Thai food and just about every place around town has a cafe'.
Coffee....Aucklanders love
love their coffee and we aren't talking about Starbucks. If you order a coffee in New Zealand you are going to get a version of the American Latte. If you want a latte you order a "flat white" although you can also get
cappuccinos ect. However, you will be very hard pressed (pun intended) to find any filtered
Folgers in any
restaurant or house in town. While shopping around furniture stores at least 3 of them has in store cafes
serving coffees and baked goods. -And yes there are a few Starbucks in town but I'm guessing when they have customers they are not from around here as their reputation here is that they burn their beans....(is that pun as well?) The average flat white is about $3.80 Kiwi (about $3 US)
Movies.....Within the WestField Mall in Albany is also a huge movie theatre (pics on their website as well as a listing of the current movies
http://www.skycitycinemas.co.nz/Albany.cmsx) In other
Americans' blogs I had read that the "NZ Movie Experience" is completely different. I found it to be exactly the same except for this movie theatre was nicer than ones at home with large comfy seats (one theatre has bean bags) with stadium seating and popcorn concessions in the hall. The price tag was a big steeper with a total of $32.00 Kiwi for us to both go to a movie on a Sunday night (about $24
USD or $12/ticket). And yes they get the same movies as America but they come out about 6-8 months later than the US releases. There are also choices for movies in Chinese and some local Kiwi flicks but the advertising (even on the tv) shows a dominance of US film.
Driving....Driving itself is different yet the same from meandering through American neighborhoods. The big difference is that Kiwis drive on the left side of the road. This sounds easy enough until you realize that right turns are across traffic, you must look a different direction for on-coming traffic and my biggest adjustment is not driving too far to the left (a few close calls with the side mirror already). The other difference is that in the States we have 4-way stops in just about every neighborhood. Here it's all about the round-a-bout and yield signs. I don't think I've seen a stop sign yet. Again this takes some getting used to and when it's a two or three lane round-a-bout I just start sweating since I feel like there are cars coming in every direction.
And if you hear a car horn that means you got "tooted" instead of honked at. During rush hour you can hear lots of tooting on the motorway (highway). Call me immature but when Brendan says that someone "tooted" at me, I just giggle... :-)
Food....Many people from home are curious about the local cuisine here in NZ. Sticking with the different same theme it applies to the food as well. Overall my conclusion after visiting a few times and visiting their grocery stores and local cafes is that Kiwis have healthier food than the US. As Cafe's are very common here you can always find baquette sandwhiches (not wrapped in plastic) and food even at small delis seems to be much more fresh and healthier than a lot of our American burger and fried options. At the grocery store, I think that in part becuase everything is imported, but also given the ingredients, I find that there are less "packaged" dinners in NZ and instead more fresh ingredients. The grocery store near our house has just about everything you would see in an American store but it has more fish, LOTS more lamb products (including lamb sausages) and NO TURKEY! I was warned that sliced turkey sandwiches was not a big thing in NZ but you literally can not buy turkey in the deli nor can you buy a turkey breast in the meat department. It looks like that when I introduce Thanksgiving dinner over here I will have to improvise. Instead you can get sliced chicken for deli meat, but at around $20 per pound (US) I'm not sure I"ll make that mistake again. Sliced ham seems to be the much more popular as well as economically option.
My other concern was the ability to find Mexican food ingredients which this new store does have a small section that has taco shells,taco seasoning and salsa. They even had a couple of cans of refried beans, but in general Mexican food is not very popular in New Zealand and instead on the North Island they have a lot of Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian food. Since there are so many Asian immigrants the above food is quite good and can be found around almost every corner.
WEATHER......and heat pumps? So far one of the biggest adjustments is to remember that I am in the Southern Hemisphere and that August is actually winter-time. When I left Denver we had two weeks of solid heat over 95'F. Here when I wake up it is 9'C. Just trying to remember that Celcius vs Farheniet part is a bit of a tricky subject and then when I try and remember that I'm actually in the equivalent of our March I continue to forget.
Winter in the Auckland area brings colder days and lots of rain. I'm told that this winter is one of the rainest in history but I kind of like the foggy mornings rising above the water and the cool nights. And yes it does get quite cool here. The interesting part is how they heat (or don't) heat their houses. Brendan lives in a newly constructed house and yet it was built without any type of HVAC system. No furnace, No air conditioner and this is the norm. While Auckland is know for "mild" temperatures as it doesn't freeze and rarely gets above 90' F Auckland does have very high humidity so the cold feels colder and the hot feels hotter. Regardless one Kiwi told me "I heard of a guy in America that had a heat pump (furnace) that he had pump heat into every room in the house even if he wasn't using that particular room" The guy was fascinated with the fact that in America central heating is the norm. Kiwis are very energy conscious and they find heating a room that you are not using to be quite wasteful. Instead most Kiwis use a fireplace to take the chill off or use a space heater. But 9'C with humidity is COLD!. For this house Brendan has been installing a "heat pump" which is like our HVAC units that pumps water which is heated or cooled in the summer and then blown into the house. This should be up and running soon so stay tuned.......
CELL PHONES......Most everyone in NZ has a cellphone but they aren't the catch-all, attached at the ear, never leave home without it device that they are in the States. ...for a few reasons and mainly it's cost. I went to set up my new cellphone plan the other day and the salesperson asked me how many minutes I had used in my old plan. I told her "you don't want to know" and then admitted that I used 2,600 minutes the month prior. Now in my defense US plans include in-coming and out-going calls and I didn't have a home phone and I used that phone for work....Ok ok I talk alot!
Well needless to say they don't have any "unlimited" calling plans in New Zealand. The first plan starts at 20 anytime minutes. The next one is 60 anytime minutes and then multiples thereof. I signed up for a basic plan with 60 anytime minutes (in-coming calls are not counted), 600 text messages within NZ and one "best mate" (unlimited calls and texts) for $39.95 a month. For an extra $10 I added free weekends for calls and text messages. So the basic plan is about the same cost. However, they have different rates if you are calling a land-line vs another cell phone and then it depends on which cell phone company you are calling (we have AT&T, Sprint, Verizon ect and they only have Telecom and Vodafone). There are particular rates when calling from a home phone as well with different rates if you are calling a landline or a cellphone and which area of town you are calling. I'm kinda scared to get our first bill!
Basically texting is the cheapest option and otherwise it's very common to make/receive calls to your home phone (I hadn't had a home phone is over 5 years). International texting isn't too high at .17cents (kiwi) per text which is about .11/text US. The salesman told me that a few other companies are forming so more competitive plans may become available.
I was able to use my same blackberry that I used in the States. When I purchased the phone in May it was about $250. Here the exact same phone is $850 Kiwi (about $600 US!!!) and yes the Iphone craze has hit overhere but the plan costs are outrageous....about $6,000 for two years!
MORE TO COME>>>>>>>>
