Settled!

I think I've finally found a place to abode here in Wellyworld. It's a lovely room I'm renting in the home of Margaret, a retired science teacher. The weekend so far has been splendid (I moved in Friday), and I have high hopes for the future. Mostly I'm just glad to be done with the search for housing - I was getting pretty exhausted, and I'm hoping the much needed newfound rest will finally rid me of this blasted cold so I can focus on my work.

Otherwise Wellington is a pretty easy city to settle into. There is the difference of dialect - it's mostly the Queen's English, but I've accumulated all sorts of unique Kiwi words and phrases. Here's a short list of a few (NZ - US):
togs - swimsuit
jandals - flip-flops
dub-dub-dub = www...
kumara - sweet potato
bach - holiday home
lollies - candy
courgette - zucchini
dairy - corner store (think 7-11)

Actually the dairies have been really handy, especially when I was hiking up the long hills to look at places to rent. Turn a corner and there's usually one popping up right in the middle of a neighborhood, full of cheap refreshment.

Which brings me to Cookietime cookies, a NZ exclusive. Someone please come visit me so I have an excuse to visit their factory on the south island and indulge in delicious fresh cookie samples. These cookies are great, mostly because they're made with loads of butter and sugar and gigundo chocolate chunks, and they're fairly cheap, all of which is admirable in something mass-produced. I've only tried the dried apricot and chocolate so far (healthy because of the apricots yeah?) but I'm told that a microwaved double-chocolate cookie is the path to true bliss.

I'm planning the trip to the factory now... maybe a pilgrimage by bike to ensure maximal enjoyment and minimal guilt...

It's not all fun and games here - there are a few surprises. For instance, the public library charges a fee for checking out most items! Having been a loyal library patron since I could hold a book, I was fairly well shocked by this. Bestselling books, movies, audio, magazines... all have borrowing fees! It's not much, though, and supporting a library is still preferable to supporting... well, most other things.

Speaking of putting your money where your conscience is... Most of the grocery stores I'd found here are very corporate, but I tried out a market downtown today that I'd been told had the best fresh local NZ foodstuffs. I got there and it was packed with shoppers, but well worth it! NZ is about the same latitude as California, so it's a cornucopia of delicious produce, and I was able to pick-up fresh beans, peaches, peppers, etc. for reasonable prices. I also got a small fillet of tarahiki, pronounced with the emphasis on the "hi" where i's are long e. It's a local species and cooked up really nicely in a typical white-fish way. I figure a combination of studying, field visits, and a few visits to the fish market should eventually get me a firm knowledge of the fishes of Oceania.

All the best to you in the north.