I have spent the past
few weeks settling into what will be my normal life for the next year, and I’m
still having a great time as I become more comfortable with my surroundings. Now
I know my regular routines for taking care of my charges, and I’m reaching out
to new people and exploring different activities and parts of the city. In
general, I believe I’m settling in quite nicely. I can’t believe I’ve been here
an entire month!
People back home have
asked me about the earthquakes that hit NZ recently, but they were much farther
south from where I live, so we haven’t been affected here at all. More
noticeable has been the nasty turn in the weather, which stayed cloudy, windy,
and drizzling for much of the past couple of weeks. This picture pretty much
sums up a typical winter day here, so I’ve been wearing out my rain coat.
The last newsletter
conveyed that my top challenges were driving and understanding Kiwi-speak, so
I’m happy to report that I’m conquering both! The roads are now easier to
navigate, and although I’ve taken the scenic route to more than one
destination, I’m familiarizing myself with street names and traffic patterns. That
said, driving is hindered here because the street signs are rather sparse, so
when I do get mixed up going to new places, I have a lot of trouble figuring
out where I am. Communication still remains the most common obstacle for me
(see the vocabulary section), but I’m more comfortable with asking others to
clarify what they said.
More Kiwi vocabulary:
- Marmite – a horrible, horrible spread they put on toast here. It tastes like salty tar, and it’s probably about as nutritious.
- lemonade – Sprite. I’ll need to introduce them to actual lemonade.
- pudding – any dessert one eats after a meal, whether or not it’s actually a pudding
- zed – what they call the letter “z”… but they still pronounce it “zee” when singing their ABC’s. Confuzing.
- flash – fancy
- buggered – broken; the fate of many toys around the house
- whinge – whine; what the kids do when a toy’s buggered
- knackered – exhausted
- Pardon? (pronounced “PAH-den?”) – what they say when they want you to repeat yourself. I’m slowly adopting this
My focus for the past few weeks has been to
find ways to meet locals and get away from au pair-related atmospheres when I’m
not working. That has included going to yoga classes and joining a very
laid-back water polo team—so laid back that they don’t hold practices, they
just show up once a week to play games. I didn’t score any goals in my first
game, but don’t worry: I intend to bring honor and glory to America with my
water polo moves before the end of the season.
Another cultural
outing was couple weeks ago when I went to trivia at a restaurant. I thought
that I probably wouldn’t do that well since most of the questions would be
oriented toward locals. I was right. I talked a German au pair into going with
me (I wanted our team name to be something like “Foreign the Afternoon,” but we
settled on a portmanteau of our names), and we came in dead last. At least a
third of the questions were about cricket, rugby, or soccer, and a good number
involved pop culture that only Kiwis would know. However, I did score a point
for knowing that the New York Giants are a football team, and my social studies
education degree served me well on geography questions. Regardless of the
pitiful score, we had a good time!
I must say, though, that
even though I’m still very excited to be here, I certainly have moments where I
miss what’s going on at home. I missed being at the end-of-season banquet for
my lifelong swim team. I’m now missing coaching another season of fall water
polo. I have missed and will be missing family members’ birthdays. It’s a
comfort, though, to know that all those I wish I could share those moments with
are thinking of me here and miss me. I’m glad I have lots of someones to write
home to!
However, instead of
letting myself get homesick, I embrace all the opportunities to encounter new
things, and occasionally I have my camera with me as I do. The picture on the
next page is actually from the ferry ride to Waiheke that I wrote about in my
last letter. The tall, pointed structure you see in both photos is the Sky
Tower, which was once the tallest structure in the southern hemisphere and
remains (as far as I can tell) the only recognizable feature in the Auckland
skyline. Hopefully in the next month I’ll get a chance to venture outside of
Auckland, so stay tuned for more pictures of my adventures.
—Lenora
No comments:
Post a Comment