As I am still recovering from jet lag at 5 am my time I found it the perfect time to make a post. I was hoping to avoid this by sleeping all night on the plane but the mental exhaustion of such a trip coupled with the pitiful sleep I was able to catch made that an impossibility. Mostly it worked out thou , I fell asleep yesterday around6pm our time so 10 hours later I'm getting up feeling refreshed. It's better to be up early rather than late. Thank God for those little eye shades they gave me on the plane; they are a lifesaver.
After landing I found a few oddities. Some of them I knew about but to know about something and experience are two completely different things. For example, you can know what music is but if you go to a concert and experience music for the first time it is a completely different realization. None of these are as grand as being introduced to music but the curiosity of such small changes in my environment are small adventures in themselves.
1)Driving & Crossing the street
As most of you know, in New Zealand they drive on the other side of the road and their steering wheel is on the opposite side of what we are used to. Of course I knew this coming over but it didn't quite prepare me for the bus ride as apparently all bus drivers here drive exactly like they do in Birmingham, Memphis, Atlanta, Auburn, and St. Louis ...fast and all over the place. That coupled with being on the opposite side of the road, left turn when red and the speed limit being 100kmph made for an exciting first 30 min out of the airport.
Now 100 kmph is only about 62mph but when your swinging thru a bus, staring out the window like a tourist , and trying to ge
t feelings back in your legs after a 12 hour flight it's an adventure. Most of the speed signs that I have seen in the city are for about 50 (31mph) so it's not as crazy.
Crossing the street here is EXCEPTIONALLY SAFER than it EVER was in Birmingham and am absolutely thrilled about how people friendly the sidewalks and traffic is. Unlike Birmingham, there are massive side walks that are covered from the sun or rain, free inter city busses to take you around to the larger areas, and a some special rules about crossing the street that I didn't know about but learned from watching others.
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| Look how amazingly awesome this McDonalds looks! It's in a nicer building than some banks |
(just a note, I want to point out that this bank looking building is actually a McDonalds and it is amazing with two exceptions. 1) no plugs to plug in computer but if they did people wouldn't leave and 2) their soda tastes weird but that's everywhere so not their fault)
Crossing the street works mostly the same way it does in the states but there are a few changes. The little green man actually is animated and is shown walking and then a little red man with a timer pops up so you know exactly how long you have to get out of the street. Also, it beeps at you, angry solitary beeps mean don't cross and a happy trill peep means cross. Very good for people who have a hard time seeing or are looking down at newspapers or something.
Lastly and to me the neatest, safest and most efficient thing is that the lights treat people as a form of traffic. Let me explain; In Birmingham you are trying to cross the street while people are trying to turn who may or may not be looking and they may stop or you might be forced to and if you stop you don't make it across the street but if they stop they can get t-boned yada yada yada. Here one direction of traffic goes, then the other and then the people go. Just walking thru the middle of the intersection and across the streets, no cars to look out for or bikes just people. And that's another thing, people here don't run lights like they do in Birmingham. Sweet.
2) Coins as money
Yes we use coins as money in the states but I have never paid with dollar coins. It was the oddest sensation to give some one a $10 bill and get back two coins when the cost was only $6. There was a "heeeyyy :( " in my mind and then an "OOoooh" followed immediately by an "ooh!". Two dollar coins and one dollar coins are used all the time. Nifty since they are so common and paper tears so easy. This surely skimps down on the money replacement costs and time.
3) Eco Friendly
The plugs in the wall have on/off switches to save on power. The toilets have half flush (half the water) and whole flush to save on water. There is tones of public transportation and lots to walk to to save on gas costs.
4) Language & Food
Yes english is their national language and most everything is in English and a few other languages. Except food at the grocery store. Apparently they directly import a bunch of stuff because it's either in Chinese Japanese, or what I think is korean (maybe Vietnamese?? ) but either way I'm going to loose a lot of wait from either not eating mystery food out of a bag or because there is a sushi stand on every corner. EVERY CORNER.
I'm sure there are more Oddities I have yet to discover, but that makes it exciting. We shall see.
