First trip home!

Hello and sorry for the delays in my postings. The great thing about traveling a lot is the travel. The bad part is that you never seem to have enough time to get anything done (blogging, sleeping...you know the basics). I am now in L.A. after my first trip back to Colorado since my move to NZ. It was great and hectic. Sorry for those I wasn't able to connect with but I guess that means you have to come visit me now :-)

I've written a few things on the differences I've seen in NZ and now after returning I've noticed some "differences" in the U.S. as well. First and foremost it's so much bigger! In NZ I live in the largest city in the country (Auckland is about 1 mil) but it seems small by comparison. When I landed in LAX after a 12 hour flight I looked like Crocodile Dundee staring at the skyline and trying to maneuver my luggage cart onto the elevator crammed with about 15 other people...at one point I just watched as hundreds of cars whizzed by. I also immediately noticed the use of cell phones and blackberries. Now as a recovering crackberry addict I understand the benefits but now living in NZ I only have 60 minutes on my cellphone and blackberry service is just cost prohibitive so returning to the lands of 3,000 anytime minutes was a change. Finally, the shopping. Wow. Some could accuse us Americans as being obsessed with consuming but I have to admit I miss some of the selection while I'm on our little island. When I first walked into Target I was walking around in awe. So many choices! In NZ you can get pretty much anything you can get in the States but all the choices aren't in one place and you're going to pay a lot more for it- so seeing rows of shampoos and streets full of large shops was almost a shock. When I lived in Denver I felt like I had to go to L.A. or New York to really access a big city with big-city options. By comparison, Denver is now my new mecca. But like all good things too much of it was overkill and after experiencing Cherry Creek mall with Christmas crowds more than once I did get a craving for some small town Kiwi shopping.

As always my trip home was busy and I didn't get to do half of what I'd planned. However I did get to hang out with my nephews and learn that Brady can read heavier books than I, Cory is going to be the next Zach Effron, Rylie likes to body slam my dog and Lucas taught me the valuable lesson of saying "hi" with a cute smile can get you out of any awkward situation.

My parents were amazing as always including when I wrecked my dad's car I borrowed and driving me to the airport at 4am this morning to ship the dog. The siblings are great and the Dunn household is never a dull moment.

I am now in LA and just dropped Dempsey off at the USDA before he boards a plane to NZ. He will arrive there a few days before I do and has to remain in custody for 30 days. The process has been a project (to say the least) but I'm excited to have my little friend in our house abroad. I can't wait to see his reaction to the ocean.

As always we'd love some visitors and until then, send me your holiday news and I'll be share my first Christmas away from my family. If you're going to be away doing it with your love and on the beach is a great alternative!

Merry Merry to all
-C

DIY it's in their DNA

Kiwis are very DIY (Do it Yourself). They pride themselves on not using guidebooks, they don't ask for directions (or use those silly GPS instructors), rarely use recipes and they always fix things themselves. Here is my new favorite commercial showing both their sense of humor and DIY attitude

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqRVqXMyzhM

Obama-rama

"A new era after the Bush Administration" has been heard on t.v. stations across the world and New Zealand is no exception. Yesterday, as Americans stayed awake for election results it was a few hours earlier here- but the t.v. coverage was still in full force. From noon until 8pm here it was "all election- all day" and I was glued to the t.v. just as if I was living in Denver. The kiwi news anchors provided a great "outside" perspective for this American snuggled on the couch and to be fair I needed some of the "explanations" on how the American political system and voting system works as I never quite know how to defend the 2000 election when Kiwis ask about our Electoral College. Most of the news shows switched in and out of CNN and Fox News coverage so I got plenty of American perspectives as well.
Once the results came in the excitement from Kiwis was the same as those cheering on Obama in Chicago (and I may have jumped on the couch as well). In fact the news showed a few local council offices in the Auckland area that are flying the American flag today. Two American citizens living in Auckland admitted that they were going to burn their passports if McCain won-and have been claiming to be Canadians. Kiwis are excited about America's new president but the excitement comes from a few different angles. First, America is New Zealand'ssecond largest importer of Kiwi goods and therefore a good American economy is a good Kiwi economy. Free trade with the U.S. is also a topic of interest here for local businesses. Many exporters are paying a 7% duty to import goods and McCain's proposed initiatives did not include a free trade agreement with NZ. Kiwis are hoping that Obama will open the exchange opportunities. I think that Kiwis also share the view of a many other non-Americans in recognizing what a superpower America really is. Will Americans stay up all night on Friday to await the results of the election in New Zealand? I think not, nor do I think that any other country watches others elections quite as closely as the whole world has been watching the American showdown. Just as I was surprised at far and how intensely 9/11 affected those in New Zealand I am again reminded at how influential the USA is to every country in the world. The negativity from health care, the war and the economy echoing from American headlines has depressed the world and it seems now that the world has a renewed sense of hope that if America is going to get a turnaround so can their own country.

There is also the race issue that is getting plenty of press here as well. New Zealand news reports have been showing footage from the days of US desegregation, Martin Luther King's speeches and "Ugly Face of Chicago in 1966" commenting on how far America has come in such a short time. The interesting thing is that Aboriginees in Australia only received the right to vote in 1967 and that same year New Zealand finally allowed their native Maori party to sit on Parliament. Apparently we all have a sorted past when it comes to racial equalities and it's only been 40 years since we started on the better path.
I wonder if the American population will feel more united or more divided now that Obama's race is even more relevant. I wonder too how it will affect race relations in the rest of the world...including this side of the pond. Whether Americans want the responsibility or not, the entire world watches how we act, what we do and for many social issues......we set the standard. I hope that we can live up to it!

Kiwis also have their national election this coming Saturday (Friday for you Yanks) and these citizens are stressed about their government and the state of the country as well. NZ unemployment is up to 4.2% with 16,000 more unemployed Kiwis than last year at this time. And the NZ stock market fell today along with the DOW and the Kiwi dollar is still remaining very weak against the US dollar (almost the lowest in history). However, it's interesting because New Zealand basically has a Democratic leader now (closest comparison) and everyone (even local Americans) seem to think that their National Party (closest to our Republican Party) will be the saviour for NZ. Americans want more government: Government health care, Government education, Government Aide. Kiwis currently have a lot of government (including health care ect) and now it looks like they want to take a step back. Many candidates are running the slogan "we don't want to be your nanny like the current reign" inferring the current system is "too" involved in Kiwis lives. Is more better or is more just more?
This is an interesting time for me to sit back and observe both perspectives. I hear Kiwis supporting Democrats in the States but Republicans in their own back yard....hmmmmm

While not even all Americans support our new leader (which is a whole other blog) I think that everyone can agree it's time for change. I think that everyone in the world can also acknowledge that Obama has promised quite a lot and I hope that everyone can remember that even Rome wasn't built in a day. So for now the American image is a bit restored (I truly think that that average non-American has a bigger disdain for President Bush than the average American Democrat) and I hope that the good spirits and commitments continue to get us all out of this economic and moral slump!

.........and as a side note: you'll be happy to know that on the news tonight the anchors are "investigating a golden doodle" since this is the dog that Obama's kids have requested. Kiwi's are confused enough by our interest in our pets and now that designer dog breeds are officially introduced I'm laughing at their baffle/fascination. My dog will be running the Auckland streets soon enough and I can only imagine trying to explain what kind of dog my snub nosed Boston Terrier is.....breeds are a bit more basic here :-)

Posting from the Palace

Here is a notice from the Queen of England sent to Americans.....It could also be sent out by just about any kiwi


To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth IIIn light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately. (You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories (except Kansas, which she does not fancy).Your new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.To aid in the transition to a British Crown dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'colour,'favour,' 'labour' and 'neighbour.' Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letter s, and the suffix '-ize' will be replaced by the suffix '-'ise.'Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. (look up 'vocabulary').
2. Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as ''like' and 'you know' is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication. There is no such thing as U.S .English. We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take into account the reinstated letter 'u'' and the elimination of '-ize.'
3. July 4th will no longer be celebrated as a holiday.
4.You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers, or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not quite ready to be independent. Guns should only be used for shooting grouse. If you can't sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not ready to shoot grouse.
5. Therefore, you will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous than a vegetable peeler. Although a permit will be required if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public
6. All intersections will be replaced with roundabouts, and you will start driving on the left side with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Both roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.
7. The former USA will adopt UK prices on petrol (which you have been calling gasoline) of roughly $10/US gallon. Get used to it
8. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call French fries are not real chips, and those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called crisps. Real chips are thick cut, fried in animal fat, and dressed not with catsup but with vinegar.
9. The cold, tasteless stuff you insist on calling beer is not actually beer at all. Henceforth, only proper British Bitter will be referred to as beer, and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as Lager. South African beer is also acceptable, as they are pound for pound the greatest sporting nation on earth and it can only be due to the beer. They are also part of the British Commonwealth - see what it did for them. American brands will be referred to as Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine, so that all can be sold without risk of further confusion
10 Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie Macdowell att empt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.
11 You will cease playing American football. There is only one kind of proper football; you call it soccer. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which has some similarities to American football, but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like a bunch of nancies).
12 Further, you will stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the World Series for a game which is not played outside of America. Since only 2.1% of you are aware there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. You will learn cricket, and we will let you fac e the South Africans first to take the sting out of their deliveries.
13 You must tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us mad.
14. An internal revenue agent (i.e. tax collector) from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all monies due (backdated to 1776).
15. Daily Tea Time begins promptly at 4 p.m. with proper cups, with saucers, and never mugs, with high quality biscuits (cookies) and cakes; plus strawberries (with cream) when in season.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

Kiwi Speak-Part 2

Ok, so when I first arrived in NZ I published a post of some "unique" terms that Kiwis use and after a few more weeks of living down under I thought I would provide an update. They are not in any particular order other than how I randomly started writing them down

• Nutter: used to refer to a crazy or odd person i.e. "Did you see that guy run across traffic, he was a total nutter" the funny thing is this is a "real" word in the Oxford dictionary so we'll blame this term on the Brits speaking of Brits you refer to them as "POMMES" here as they are "Prisoners of Mother England"
• Lolli-water: term used to describe a fruity alcoholic drink. At first I thought this was just a "Brendan term" (I could do a dictionary on his sayings as well but that's a whole other blog :-) until I heard it referred in a PSA saying "Just because it tastes like lolliwater doesn't mean it's any less dangerous to drink and drive"
• Paddock: used to explain a small farm or grassy area or field
• Lifestyle Block: this is a very common term to describe someone who is living on an area of land that is larger than a house plot but smaller than a farm or ranch i.e. 5-8 acres with animals is a "lifestyle block" some city folk also refer to as a "life sentence block" given the extra time and work a small "hobby farm" can entail
• "Cheap as Chips" this is probably one of the most common terms I've heard since I've been in NZ. It refers to when something is a really good deal and/or very inexpensive. "Hey mate did you hear about the Air New Zealand flight discounts between LAX and Auckland? They're cheap as chips" (remember that "chips" here are actually french fries)
• Moorish: Again this is a term I thought Brendan made up but once again t.v. confirmed in a recent food commercial that "moorish" is a "real" word. It refers to when you are eating something and you can't just have one so you want "more" i.e. "I've got to stop eating all these bisquets but they are so moorish"
• Pickish: Also a term used when snacking. Americans may say "grazing" It's used when you aren't really hungry and/or you aren't quite sure what you want to eat so you are feeling "a bit pickish"
• "Cry Off": A term used when you cancel plans and/or try and get out of plans. i.e. "Hey we are still a bit jet lagged from our China trip so we're going to cry off our dinner plans tonight"
• Scodie and Hodie: These are slang terms to describe when something or someone is a bit sketchy and/or dirty, scummy, lame, dodgy, low budget (you get the picture) i.e. "I think we should throw out this pillow it's getting a big scodie" Apparently these are slang terms that were used more in the 80's like our version of "sweet" or "lame" but I'm bringing them back into the mainstream
• Munt, Munted or Munter: Munt or Munted is like saying something is "trashed" in the states i.e. "I had a bad accident and my car is totally munted" or "look at my hand, it is totally munted after that biking accident" A "munter" is used to describe someone who is stupid or acting stupid "i can't believe you did that, you are such a munter (or munta)
• Bogan: Usually used to describe someone who is young, usually wearing black, has longish hair (almost like a mullet) usually acting immature, is obsesses with rugby, shows up in groups at the beach and plays loud music. For some it's somewhat of an offensive term used to describe someone from a lower economic class, but most use it as a way to describe a "trouble maker" (also used in the song Back in Black by ACDC)
• Drop Kick: this is a term to describe someone that is a loser or is bad news i.e. "I heard her boyfriend is a total drop kick" -it's a term stolen from rugby verbiage
• Candy floss: Cotton Candy
• Crook: Feeling sick i.e. "I got a bit crook when we went to China after eating all the random food"
• Gumboot: The actual shoes like rubber galoshes are called "gumboots" which apparently every kiwi has. They wear them to do yardwork, when it's muddy, out on the farm...... but it's also used to describe anything commone i.e. "i"ll just have some gumboot tea" would mean very basic black tea as would be served on a construction site by workers in gumboots
• Lawns or Garden: this seems obvious on what it's referring to but Kiwis don't "mow the lawn" they mow the "lawns" or they "work in the garden" even if they only have grass.
• Pram: a baby stroller
• Cot: a baby crib and if you "throw your toys out of the cot" that mean you just threw a fit (used for adults as well) i.e. "She was the worst employee she talked back and threw her toys out of the cot..."
• Shattered: used to describe if you are really tired i.e. "I'm totally shattered and can I could barely get out of bed"
• Shorts: the previews before a movie

Political Dollars and Sense?

Americans will be attending the voting polls in record numbers (hopefully) on November 4th to choose who will be our next President with hopes that either Obama or McCain (and their dream teams) will be able to fix the financial crisis, re-work the health system and end the war in Iraq within the their first two years in office -the final two years will solve global warming and buy back our businesses from China of course.

On November 8th, Kiwis will also flock to their polling sites to elect both members of Parliament and their next Prime Minster (which is done on the same ballot). But the campaign ads here in New Zealand just started about a week ago.
So while all you Americans are fast-forwarding your dvr's through all of the political commercials and think I'm lucky to have missed them, consider the trade off of explaining how the American campaign "trail" works to inquiring minds here in the Pacific.

There are many differences between the American and the New Zealand political systems including more than two parties running for the head spot (I think they have about 5 major parties), they have a Parliament and Prime Minister instead of Senate and Presidents and the most shocking part is that the NZ candidates just "officially" announced their candidacy this past Sunday and only really starting campaigning (via billboards) about 6 weeks ago when the election was actually announced (they don't do it on the same day or same years as we Yanks do).....which means they just started spending campaign dollars.

"Campaigning" in New Zealand does involve debates (which are quite colorful), t.v. ads and billboards but they started and continue their campaigning for less than 3 months total. Granted the Kiwi Candidates only have to travel up and down the country which is like Obama driving from Denver to Telluride...but it is a bit hard to explain how and why our candidates travel around the country, multiple times- Stay in expensive hotels with teams of people- Have expensive and continual t.v. commercials, high-end "fund raising" dinners, multiple debates.....ect ect.

It is a little bit hard to defend (or explain) how Americans are in a serious financial crisis yet our presidential candidates (who are supposed to be the ones that cure our financial woes) are the ones spending so many greenbacks. As of September 21, 2008 Obama had spent $377 million and McCain had spent $149 million according to the Federal Election Commission and now reports indicate that between the two candidates they have raised over $1 billion dollars which they will continue to raise until election day. This doesn't even begin to include the money raised and spent by Romney, Clinton, Edwards.......
I'm not sure if NZ candidates have a limit on how much money each party can spend on election campaigning and I couldn't find any information indicating how much had been spent. But in 3 months, a few commercials and billboards surely isn't reaching the billion mark.

I still think that America is truly the land of opportunity and offers more political and social diversity than a country like New Zealand but is spending money the country clearly doesn't have on smear ads and mud-slinging the best representation to the rest of the world on how the rest of Americans respect the dollar?




here's the link for NZ voters if you want to learn more on their system and voting process
http://www.elections.org.nz/

To read Helen Clark's (the incumbent) campaign nomination speech (and compare the differences of "major concerns") http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0810/S00261.htm

The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is on the list of the "Seven Wonders of the World" and after visiting it I can appreciate why. The constructed stone wall took over 2,000 years to build, stretches over 5,000 kilometers and was built by hand before modern tools or transportation was available. In fact I am not even aware of any large animals in China to help drag all these stone blocks up the mountain? It's even more impressive when you see the terrain that the building occured. Very dense trees, steep inclines and the weather ranges from snow storms to 95' with humidity. As the stories go, many Chinese citizens were born, worked on the wall and died on the wall only completing a small piece of the construction.

There are seven areas of the wall that can be visited by tourists, 5 of which are near Beijing and 3 that were open during our visit. The Badaling section has a reputation for being busy so we went to Mutianyu section for our visit and we were very lucky as it was not very crowded on the day we went as I think that people thought it might rain so they stayed away. Mutianyu is about a one hour drive outside of Beijing and we hired a private driver that we were able to barter with to about $20 per person. Once you arrive the wall site you walk up through a group of street vendors offering everything from postcards to cold drinks and "best price for you" shouted at every corner. Visitors have the option of walking to the wall (about a 30 minute hike) or taking the tram/chairlift to the top. There are two points of entry both in the middle sections of the wall so you can choose to walk one direction, back track and then go to the other end. We ventured to the highest point of the open wall. The wall is surprisely wide (about 15 feet wide) with carved stone steps with a minimal rise but the wall itself is very steep as it cuts into the surrounding mountain range. (bring walking shoes becuase it is quite a work out!) About every 500-750 feet there is a watch tower that military would stand guard and still be able to see the next post. All of the public sections of the wall have been repaired but it was still in amazingly great shape considering it's over 2,000 years old and has had millions of tourist walk on it. The non-tourist areas of the wall are not in as good of shape and almost completely overgrown with trees and you can see areas of the wall that are falling down. I wonder if at some point there will be a mission to clear out and rebuild other areas of the wall.
Once you've walked on top of the wall gazing out at miles of mountains and the serpenting structure you can either hike down or take an alpine slide to the base. ....of course the boys had to race

It's an amazing structure and somewhat of a bizarre concept to build a wall around a city to both "protect" those inside and "keep out" those on the outside. It stretched over 7 government regimes and cost endless amounts of money.....wait isn't the American government considering something similar on the Mexico border?