So far I have been living and working in Queenstown for a little over two months, and although nothing monumental has gone down, I can share a few fun tidbits with you.
First of all, I experienced my first New Zealand Christmas and my first Christmas away from home. Although it was sad not to be with fam and friends, it was so different than a Wisconsin Christmas that it ended up being just fine anyways. The main difference is the fact that xmas is actually in the middle of summer here, so bbqs on the beach are the norm and ugly xmas sweaters don’t exist. Seeing Christmas decorations around town is pretty weird when you are hot and sun burnt.
Anyways, the festivities began with our Rydges Hotel Christmas party a few days before Christmas. This of course was a traditional bbq on the beach complete with great food, sunshine, and plenty of refreshments. I said “Merry Christmas” to someone and they looked at me like I was crazy. Will admit, the whole thing did not feel in anyway “christmasy” but it was tons of fun regardless. On Christmas Eve, my friends and I bought cheap light up santa hats that played Christmas carols and decided we would do the most “christmasy” thing we could think of, go ice skating at the local rink. Well, unfortunately the ice skating rink was closed for the summer, so we headed to a bar instead and chilled outside for the afternoon. Later that night at a different bar, the mood was actually surprisingly christmasy, with everyone wearing the same santa hats (only one budget store in town) singing Christmas carols and saying “Merry Christmas.” At midnight, we began singing a wonderful rendition of “The 12 days of Christmas,” which is actually a lot more difficult than you’d think. Anyways, ended up being a very different but fun Christmas Eve. Christmas day was kinda uneventful, jumped off the pier into the lake (which is so cold incredibly cold that most people never go in). Worked Christmas night in the restaurant, and that’s about it!
Other than that, I have basically just been working, hanging out, hiking, and relaxing. Can’t complain about work, it’s more of a social outing than an actual job. We do get quite busy and waking up at 5:45am for my 6am shift isn’t the most fun thing ever, but can’t say I am stressed. Will probably work here for a couple more months until I start traveling again.
Some funny things about New Zealand/Q-town….
Campervan culture. As you may have read from my earlier blog, I did travel the north island in a campervan, and even then I did not realize how common the things were. Living in Q-town, campervans are everywhere. The entire walk from my hotel to town (which is only 5 min) is completely lined with campervans. And many of these people are not just traveling, they are living in those campervans for a while. In fact, one of my co-workers lives in a van that he parks in front of the hotel. Although back home this would we would view this as desperate and homeless or at best extremely hippie, here is it entirely legit and not at all alarming.
It’s Saturday everyday. There is literally no way to distinguish between days here. Going out, a Sunday will be just as busy as a Saturday, Monday just as busy as a Friday, etc. People will be laying out in the parks in the middle of the day on a Wednesday or Saturday The only way to tell is the different daily drink/food specials. This works well for me, as my job is not exactly a 9-5, Mon-Fri, but it’s still pretty weird. There are just so many people traveling here or working random touristy jobs that no one has a normal schedule. It will be weird to experience a true weekend again.
Kiwi Lingo. Love how when asked, “how are you going?” (not ‘how’s IT going’ or ‘how are YOU’) I could easily respond “Pretty choice.” ‘Jandals are ‘flip flops,’ ‘ta’ or ‘cheers’ is ‘thanks’ but rarely do I ever actually hear someone say ‘thanks’ or ‘thank you.’ ‘Lollies’ are ‘fruit snacks,’ ‘sweet as’ instead of ‘cool’ or ‘sweet.’ ‘Knackered’ for ‘tired,’ ‘skull’ instead of ‘chug.’ If you want to say someone is a cool person, you would say ‘he’s got good value.’ And then there are new inventions like the ‘chipbutty,’ actually British not kiwi, which is a buttered piece bread with chips (fries) and ketchup (‘tomato sauce’ in kiwi) folded inside to make a little chip sandwich. Fruits and veggies are a whole other sich, with ‘rock melon’ not ‘cantaloupe,’ ‘capsicum’ not ‘peppers,’ ‘kumara’ not ‘sweet potato,’ ‘coriander’ not ‘cilantro.’ And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. If you order a lemonade you’ll get Sprite. ‘Biscuits’ are ‘cookies’ and trying to explain to people what we would consider a ‘biscuit’ proves quite difficult. The KFC does not serve biscuits, so this does not help. Not to mention ‘dinner’ is ‘lunch,’ ‘tea’ is ‘dinner’ but this doesn’t usually involve tea, and ‘morning tea’ I believe is ‘lunch.' ???
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