It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Okay, it's not really looking a lot like Christmas as we know it.  Firstly, it's summer!  There is no snow around here, only temperatures in the high teens or low twenties.  It rained this past week...not just any rain...solid, downpour rain...all day!  There are signs of Christmas though, in the forms of shopping sales, decorations, Santa villages, etc.

There are Christmas trees at places like the mall and the town 'square' area.  The town square is located in the Central Business District (CBD).  If you want to see a live camera feed to Garden Place ('downtown' where the Christmas tree is located) click here.

 The tree is 25 metres tall (it's pretty big)!

 The 'suburban' mall known as The Base (Te Awa) - Santa display

 take pictures with Santa

 back to the tree in the CBD, all lit up at night

More New Zealand Vocabulary

I am increasingly finding that many words are 'cutie-fied' in New Zealand.  What does that mean?  Simply take a word, concatenate it, and add a y (or ie)

Examples:

Sunnies ==> sunglasses

Kindy ==> Kindergarten

Nappies ==> okay, this one is a bit different.  Nappies is another word for diapers

Short story:

During one of our weekend trips, we were looking for something to do in town.  I went to the information centre (known as the i-site, in various New Zealand cities) to get some ideas.  The nice lady behind the counter looked through a book of local events, and informed me that there was a Kindy Gala going on during one of the weekend days.  Okay great...but what's Kindy mean, is what I thought to myself.  So I asked.  She told me it's short for Kindergarten, which is the german word for a class of preschoolers.   The kindergarten part I knew, of course.  We use the same term in Canada.  The kindy part of it, I did not.  I have never heard of kindergarten referred to as kindy.  I have however, heard of kindergarteners referred to as kindies.

btw, this word 'kindy' was used in a newspaper article to promote the event.  It's not just a spoken word in New Zealand, it gets recorded in formal print work as well!

Tauranga / Mount Maunganui

This is a day trip you can do from Hamilton.  It's about an hour and a half to drive over there.

In Tauranga, you can check out the local gallery and eat at our fav Fish and Chips place.

It's a short drive over to Mount Maunganui, where you can take the short hike up to the top (45 min or so going up).  You can also walk over the short sand bridge to what once was an island until it was connected by this sand bridge apparently.

There has been a lot of news lately regarding Tauranga.  There was a major oil spill just last week.  The following are pictures taken either that day, or before the spill of the container ship, Rena.  Let's hope the wildlife and surrounding areas do not suffer too much damage.

boats on the beach

balancing rock in the distance (actually, it's one piece)

 log on the beach

 Mount Maunganui

 view part way up the Mount

 stairkeeper (you shall not pass!)

 bird that landed on the bench behind me

 sheep lounging under a tree on the Mount

 surfers

fish and chips at Fresh Fish Market in Tauranga

New Zealand Speak

Each country has their slang...here is more of New Zealand's

Today's word:

FLASH

Usage:  That's a flash car.
Meaning: fancy, expensive

and on that note...

Today's second word:

DEAR

Usage:  The flash cars can be quite dear.
Meaning: expensive

Rugby World Cup - Canada vs New Zealand

It's a game you can't miss as a Canadian, in NZ.  Didn't catch it live, in the stadium, but at least live on TV.

• Less than 3 minutes into the game, and Canada scores the first few points with a penalty kick.  3 pts on the board, and leading New Zealand! Yay!!  It's looking good.
• Then Canada loses its lead at about the 7 min mark - new score 7 - 3 for New Zealand.
• A whole bunch of other points were scored by New Zealand, and just before the end of the first half, Canada scores their first try - score is now 37 - 8 entering the second half.
• Canada scores the first try of the second half...NICE! 37 - 15, New Zealand leads.
• Shortly after that, NZ answers with 7 points -> 44 - 15
• Final outcome - 79 - 15 New Zealand wins.  Not surprising, but Canada did put up a good fight.  Good job Canada.  The match included a head on collision with Canada's captain, and one of the New Zealand players.  Ouch!

Daylight Savings Time

Spring forward, fall back!  That's usually how you remember whether or not to set your clocks forward or backwards during daylight savings time changes.  Usually, you associate September with the beginning of autumn in Canada.  In New Zealand, it's spring around here, the first day of spring was September 1st.

September 25th, 2011 - Daylight saving time begins - you spring forward, setting your clocks ahead by one hour.

If you're living in Toronto, and want to know what is a good time to have a chat with your kiwi mate in NZ, refer to this chart.  The overlapping green and pink areas are the time slots where you're both likely to be awake (YMMV).

C

New Zealand Speak!

A few weeks ago, you got Lesson 1: Kia Ora.

Lesson 2: Heaps


Although commonly used as a noun in North America (i.e. a big heap is analogous to a big pile), in New Zealand it is an adjective
Meaning: lots of, a large amount of
They like to use the word alot in New Zealand...in conversation...in commercials
Example: There are heaps of people in New Zealand who use the word regularly.