- "Sweet as", "Cold as", "Great as", or "[insert your favorite adjective] as". For example, "How was your weekend?" Replies, "Sweet as." It's a very functional phrase.
- Pre-school education is focused on physical activity and virtues rather than traditional school curriculum (ABC's, etc).
- "The Secret Lives of Dancers" New Zealand Royal Ballet reality TV show. Yummy.
Dislike:
- The designer jeans in all of the top stores are "Lee" or "Wrangler" jeans. They're not you're traditional Lee or Wrangler jeans though - they actually look cool and sell for over $250 NZD ($175 USD). However, I will never buy designer Lee jeans - at least not since I was 7 years old.
- The shops all close by 5pm and are only open a few hours on Saturday and not at all on Sunday. This includes the mall. When are we supposed to shop?!
- Gas is $1.77 NZD/liter which is $4.70 USD/GAL.
- Potential for natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis.
- Tennis shoes are outrageously expensive. We'll be leaving extra room in our suitcases to load up on shoes when we make our trip back to the states.
- The golf courses use meters instead of yards for their distances. Josh golfed an entire round a club short before he realized this. He thought it was the wind.
Different:
- Kids frequently don't wear shoes in public or outside. We saw a grown man in the grocery store tonight with bare feet.
- Profanity and nudity on prime time TV.
- The mailmen ride little mopads on the sidewalks like madmen and tear up our yard when they deliver our mail.
- The country is so small. The earthquake in Christchurch did not immediately effect us, however the whole country is affected by the impact that it has on goods and services. When a city like Christchurch of 250,000 is upset, it has a big impact on a country of only 4 million people.
