#3 Vakantie BramenSonja deel 2

Yeah, that’s different

A list of some cultural differences noticed so far:

1. Cashiers placing your groceries directly into a bag after scanning.
2. Girls wearing questionable outfits to the club. It often barely covers their private parts.
3. People bring their own boose to a party.
4. Beer is way more expensive, but petrol is way less expensive.
5. Banks charge you for almost every transaction or withdrawal if you do not pay attention.
6. Even tasty cheese has no real taste.
7. Most houses have no doorbell, and if they have it often does not work (like ours).
8. People are overcautious in entering the roundabout.
9. People drive a bit under the speed limit instead of a bit above.
10. Two opposite cars turning into the same lane: the short curve gives way to the long curve (that rule is under discussion at the moment as it causes more accidents than the normal rule does in the rest of the world).

#1 De reis van Dirk

Time is flying

After more than a month living in Nelson it is time for another blog post about our new life. The dust is settled and the paint is dry. Everyday we are discovering great and funny things in this country. In the Netherlands we know something like “skirts day” (rokjesdag). Over here, on the first beautiful spring day you have “beach outfit day”. Girls walk in really short shorts, tops (spagetti bandjes) and jandals (flip-flops). Guys walk with winter hats (mutsen) in swim shorts and bare feet.

Anyway, we really love the country, the beautiful sights and places. We already have our special place up the hill. We go there for a drink and watch the sunset. That is so amazing! Other times we go out for a nice walk or play a game of golf on one of the courses.

The people over here are friendly and always in for a chat. I am still struggling with the accent. Especially over the phone it is quite difficult. The kiwi’s are however struggling with my accent as well. If I introduce my self (and I have an easy first name I think) they always understand it as “Lene”, “Lini” or “Nelly”. I guess the name is here not as wide spread as in England or the USA. Dirk’s really Dutch name is somehow a bit easier, but it can be heard as “Doug” or “Kirk”.

Well, so far we love it and we are amazed that we are a long time from home already. Actually this place feels like home as well. There is no interesting news on the job front yet. It is quite hard to find something in the area that fits my profile. Other jobs are available, but I do not have enough experience for them. Hopefully better news next time. Dirk is doing really well in school. He is second best student in the class. I am not afraid anymore to fly in a plane with him, he knows so much! So when he is ready to bring someone along I would definitely go with him.

First week

My first week in Nelson is behind me. It is exiting and exhausting at the same time to settle in. It feels like I would know how to handle things, but I don’t. For example, I tried to get a NZ drivers license. Dirk got his very smooth without having to show his translated license. Therefore I did not get it translated and went to the AA (de nieuw-zeelandse ANWB) with my Dutch license. Well, of course they did not accept mine. So, I went to the translation service company thinking they would translate it on the spot or in a few hours. Of course not! I have to wait four days. In the mean time I have no license at all. Bummer.

So, today I am a bit exhausted from running back and forth. But if I look outside from behind my laptop I see the most beautiful view I could never have had in the Netherlands. There are many more plusses to be here, of course. Let me tell you about the new and fun things I found.

You know, whenever you are in a plane and they have these small screens in front of you, they will most likely show you a boring safety movie. Well, not with Air New Zealand! They have this over the top funny safety movie with the All Blacks as main theme. The All Blacks is New Zealand’s rugby team, and rugby is huge over here. You can find them everywhere! We even have an All Blacks clock in our house. So, even at home we cannot escape them.

Something else are the beautiful flowers over here. Even though it is early spring many flowers bloom, and not only the spring flowers like daffodils (narcissen) and tulips. And after a short shower it will smell delicious. It is a treat to walk a bit around here. Even in our neighbourhood it is beautiful to walk. In 15 minutes you are down at the sea road and add an extra 15 you are at the beach.

The kiwis are a very friendly bunch, even the imported ones. Every one is in for a small chat. Sometimes I do not understand half of what they are saying, because of their mumbling habit. However, they really know how to talk about “koetjes en kalfjes” (chitchat). All though I am a bit hesitant myself (I am not so good in chitchatting), I feel good afterwards. It makes things a lot more fun if you know a bit about each other.

Today I learned that counting to ten is a valuable skill. Chill, chitchat and look at our great All Blacks clock!

View from 'our' mountain