More ruckus

 This is from a few nights ago.  Yep, it's a paddy wagon.   Outside our apartment.  Yep, they're stuffing someone inside it.  It was a woman who wouldn't stop shrieking about something, at about 9:00 at night.  They only picked up her, though... she had a pretty spacious ride back to jail!

Oh noes!

Yep, it's happening.  The leaves are turning and falling.  I can't believe it's this time of year already, but the days are shortening, the nights are getting cooler... I guess I have no choice but to come to terms with autumn after two back-to-back summers.

Mmm, refined sugar.

Happy first birthday, Arram!  (OK, his birthday was yesterday, but he doesn't know that.  We wanted to take our time for Cake Day.)

The candle was pretty fascinating and we had to drag him away from the danger.  Amiri helped by blowing it out for him.

Initial indications were that birthday parties are no fun.

(Remember that photo of him YELLING when he was about a 

minute old?  Flash forward a year... )

But then his big brother showed him the ropes.  Big brothers are helpful like that.

So, OK, after some frosting-coated coaxing from Mama he figures he'll be a sport and try a taste on his own.

Hey, that's not bad.  Not bad at all.

He was even a big boy, using a fork and drinking his milk from a big cup.

The cake ended up a wreck (as intended).   The boys got two baths apiece--the first for removing crumbs, the second for actual cleaning.  It was a good day.

We're having the cake tomorrow, so stay tuned for chocolatey updates

Except possibly for this.

I want Bhai's macaroni and cheese.

Is this the cutest thing you've seen today, or what?

This is what they do when Amiri is supposed to be taking a nap

How I became an Aucklander

So I was running errands today, wearing flip-flops.  Then they broke.  Just flat-out broke off my feet.  I couldn't salvage them.  Oh no!  I'm shoeless in the middle of the city!

But then I realised I'm in Auckland and I'm not shoe-LESS, I'm shoe-FREE.  So I tossed them out and continued my errands barefoot, until I found a shop that sold jandals.

Tourist trap in motion

It's three strap-you-in-tight seats inside a cylindrical steel cage, connected on either side to bungy cords that extend to the top of towers.  Nervous people climb in, the operator pushes a button, and the bungy cords begin to tighten... until....  you'll see...

El Faro

We had the best dinner ever!  There's this wonderful place called Elliott Stables, which is a neat little rabbit's warren of restaurants built into some old brick warehouses.  We decided to try a Spanish place for tapas and try lots of things.

We started with hard-boiled quail eggs to peel and dip in cumin salt.

Then panko avocado with a sweet kiwi-onion salsa.

And a big pot of fresh mussels steamed with a sauce of parsley, lemon, capers, and anchovy, served with a bed of spicy greens and a vinaigrette.  Wow, so good.

Kiwi accents

More about the NZ accent:

1.   Our babysitter pronounces her name as 'Amander'.

2.   I was aware that our little boys are going to grow up with Kiwi accents.  But I can't believe that it's happening already!  Amiri corrected my pronunciation the other day.

So he has learned lots of songs in school--like, Row row row your boat, Old MacDonald, and Twinkle Twinkle.  At home, we did a duet of his favorite song ('Tintoo tintoo, la-la-la') and he listened carefully as I sang 'Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are.'  Then he said, 'No, mommy.  Not starrr.  Staaah.  Aaaah.'

Here's our happy little boy waiting for his dinner

No reason, just because

Here is the view from our balcony toward the right (west).  That is part of the Viaduct harbor, where Fly Emirates docks their yachts.  The blue umbrellas are outside of the Sierra Cafe.   Our doctor is around the bend.  The convenience store is just to the right of the trees on the lower right.

That spot's only drool, by the way.

The boys had a wonderful game of catch on Amiri's bed the other day.

That's right, no pants... we don't judge.

Hmm, what does this ball taste like?

Hey, it stays there!

And then Arram ran away with the ball and Catch was done.

Technology differences

Here are some modern-technology things that are different in New Zealand:

Electrical outlets:  Here's what they look like.  Two angled prongs, and a third prong in the middle for the ground.  Importantly, they run at 230V instead of 120V.  So this means that if you buy a cheapie travel adapter that just makes it so that your American hair dryer will fit into the NZ plug, you might still fry the thing when you turn it on.

The switches are to turn on/off each outlet.  I guess they're there for safety, or convenience, or something.  Because pulling out a plug is hard?

Phone numbers:  In the States, they are ten digits, in a consistent 3-3-4 combination.  123-456-7890.  Here, they are 8 to 11 digits depending on who your phone network is, and they're arranged in any wacky combination that people choose to present them.  Imagine the looks you'd get if you rattled off your phone number as 12-3456-789-0.

Internet:  We have cable internet here, same as in the States.  Back in California, the only decision to be made was which company to go with.  When we signed up here, though, we were given a curious menu of options.  'Most people like the 100GB package,' they told us.  Internet usage is metered here, much like how you buy a plan with so many minutes per month for your cell phone.  It is weird to have to weigh whether or not you want to click on a link... not because you're worried about how long it will take to load (like in the days of dial-up yore), but because you don't want to inadvertently open some pdf that will needlessly eat 1.2% of your month's bandwidth.

Asking, receiving

I complained just the other day about my forced Doritos fast.  You were all shocked and horrified, I'm sure, at the deprivation I've suffered.

But who heard my wailing and took pity on my plight?  Yes, my excellent spouse, he of the good observation skills.  It turns out that they actually started selling Doritos in this country LAST WEEK and I hadn't even noticed it.  But he'd seen them on the shelf, and upon reading my desperate blog post he surprised me.

Nacho Cheese flavor is called Supreme Cheese here, but the recipe is the same.  Let me tell you, they were SO GOOD.

Cake time!

I think Amiri has been paying attention in school.  At least during the birthday parties, that is.  He has a new favorite game at home.

He uses one of his puzzle boards as a tray, and lays out his wooden blocks on it in neat rows or stacks.  Then he carefully balances the tray and carries it around to each of us, announcing, 'Cake time!  Cake time!  Take a piece of cake and eat it!  Yum!'  And so we dutifully take a piece of cake and pretend-eat it, to much glee on Amiri's part.  Then we remove the blocks from Arram's mouth, since he doesn't grasp the concept of pretend-eating.  And Amiri re-arranges the cake on his tray and starts again, this time singing 'Happy Birthday.'

Things I miss

I've already mentioned that there are some things you just can't get here.  Five months on, here are things I miss.

Non-oatmeal hot cereals

Doritos, or any corn chips, really

Taco Bell

Morningstar veggie burgers

Health-food stores

Non-roll-on deodorants

The Food Network: Anthony Bourdain, Andrew Zimmern, and Guy Fieri

The Discovery Channel:  Mythbusters


(Note, I did not post this in a passive-aggressive attempt to solicit gifts.  It is for compare-contrast purposes only.  Do not send stuff.  I'll tell you up-front when I want some gifts. :-)

In the States you'd probably have to crash a White House party to do that...

So my work mate went to a gala event for her brother the other day.  He was getting an award for being a top NZ scientist.  The presenter of the award?  John Key.  The Prime Minister.  Ann said that she chatted with him for five minutes after the ceremony and he was very personable.  She sounded a bit starstruck.  I was thoroughly impressed as well, that a regular person got to meet the Prime Minister. 

But then Adnan reminded me that in a country of just four million, well, it's kind of like getting to meet the mayor of LA. 

Not so much a story... but, since a picture tells a thousand words...

I was waving to him from behind the camera.  Notice that he is wearing a 'Property of Kindercare' loaner shirt after being the messiest little boy in the world at school today and having gone through all three backup outfits we'd brought for him.  Also, if you listen carefully, you may be able to hear Amiri's triumphant announcements from the bathroom.




This one is kind of self-explanatory.  He still crawls funny, but he's fast now.

Excuses, excuses

I wrote 19 pages of SCIENCE! today.  So, I am typed out and my brain is smoking.  I will tell you a story tomorrow.

Arram gets a post all his own

Arram waves and plays peek a boo now, covering up his eyes, and then laughing.  He loves to hug and clings to our necks.  He even likes to hug his brother.  He's so sweet.  And he's juuuuuust about to walk, I can feel it...

Hot Water Beach

Here's a place I want to visit, once the boys are a little older.  Out on the Coromandel Peninsula (the Door County of the North Island), is Hot Water Beach. 

New Zealand has lots of natural geothermal hot springs.  Hot Water Beach is one of them.  Hot mineral water bubbles up from the ground, percolates up through the sand, and then seeps out into the ocean. 

Here's how you enjoy Hot Water Beach.  Go when it's a little cool so that you can see the sand steaming.  Pick a spot right at the edge of the waves.  Use your little sand spade and your hands to dig a hole big enough to sit in.  It will fill up from below with hot water.  Be careful not to burn your hands.  Use your bucket to add cool ocean water until you have the perfect temperature.  Climb in and enjoy your natural hot tub.

Here are more things that are different about New Zealand

The clouds move really fast overhead.

There's no such thing as a water shortage.  So carry on power-washing your sidewalk.

There are fewer multi-national chains, and more mom-and-pop shops.

If you want to say 'this and that' to indicate a vague variety of things, you say, 'odds and bods'.  Or, 'rats and mice'.

There is no Taco Bell.  This is both a blessing and a curse for me, personally.

What's an injury lawyer?  And why would you waste your money on health insurance?  And what do you mean that your summer jobs didn't come with vacation time?  And what's it like to travel more than 100 miles from home?

You don't have enough money?  It's OK, take it anyway.  I know you'll come back next week and pay me.

'This strikes me a bit odd...', instead of, 'No no no, this is all wrong.'

Houses are small.

Dress codes are significantly less formal.  Apparently bare feet are acceptable in the workplace as well.

Who needs a contract when we can just shake hands?

I photoshopped a road crew sign ha ha i'm so funny

The kitchen sink special

It was a beautiful day today.  Sunny, but not too hot.  I wanted to take advantage of the nice day and get out of the office for lunch.  A few days ago, Adnan and Google Earth had helped me find a takeaway place not too far away.  It's not all residential near my work, after all!

 

It doesn't really look like much, does it.  Just a standard little row of storefronts in a lower-middle class neighborhood.  Inside, the shops are perfectly nice and have a friendly greasy-spoon atmosphere, as they should.  Next time I'll have to try the chicken place next door, and then the Savoury Bakery on the other side.

I asked the owner what the best item on the menu was.  We had some language difficulties.  I ended up ordering the house special hamburger without really understanding what it was.  The paper-wrapped parcel he handed me a few minutes later was big, heavy, and hot.  I felt like an adventurer unwrapping it to discover what it could be.  It turned out to be a beef mince patty, with Tasty cheese (a NZ favorite!), pineapple, grilled onions, tomato, sweet chili sauce (of course...another NZ favorite), and... a fried egg.