To give you a good idea about what Kiwis are like, watch this police recruitment video.
Or the prime minister, replying to a recent not so subtle request by a popstar...
On this note, Air New Zealand have released a video that explains why you had trouble understanding what she just said. In fact, you are in good company...
So, while I really can't be sure I actually understand what people say to me, I think New Zealanders are some of the friendliest people I have ever had the immense pleasure of meeting. I have had situations where a bus driver would stop the bus, get out of his seat, waddle all the way back to me just to remind me that this was my stop, or was it not? Imagine that in a big city in any other country!
Maybe that is the secret of New Zealand, the fact that even the big cities have this small town charm to them. And in the small towns, you get the feeling you're home, even though you've really just arrived.
Sometimes though, you get reminded how different the culture here is, after all. Like the other day, when I received an email from the organisers of the trail run I have signed up for: they informed me that "Te Kawerau a Maki have declared a rahui will be placed on the Waitakere Ranges".
Now, that is not a sentence (or indeed a situation) you are likely to come across outside the Pacific Islands!
More on that next time...
Or the prime minister, replying to a recent not so subtle request by a popstar...
On this note, Air New Zealand have released a video that explains why you had trouble understanding what she just said. In fact, you are in good company...
So, while I really can't be sure I actually understand what people say to me, I think New Zealanders are some of the friendliest people I have ever had the immense pleasure of meeting. I have had situations where a bus driver would stop the bus, get out of his seat, waddle all the way back to me just to remind me that this was my stop, or was it not? Imagine that in a big city in any other country!
Maybe that is the secret of New Zealand, the fact that even the big cities have this small town charm to them. And in the small towns, you get the feeling you're home, even though you've really just arrived.
Sometimes though, you get reminded how different the culture here is, after all. Like the other day, when I received an email from the organisers of the trail run I have signed up for: they informed me that "Te Kawerau a Maki have declared a rahui will be placed on the Waitakere Ranges".
Now, that is not a sentence (or indeed a situation) you are likely to come across outside the Pacific Islands!
More on that next time...
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