Cultures Collide...

After such an epic adventure, Sunday (17th) became our day of rest.  We engaged in conversation with Alicia and began to compare the New Zealand and American cultures.  The first topic of conversation was a no brainer: drinking games.  Beer pong exists here only in the movies.  How tragic.  We plan to remedy that.  There are many similarities in our drinking cultures, however.  For example: Ring of Fire = Kings, with pretty much all the same rules.  And in New Zealand, you do not "chug" a beer; you "skull" a beer.

There is one NZ tradition that should absolutely be adopted in the U.S.  On one's 21st birthday, they are given a large key to life ("Hey mum, where's my key to life?" - Mai) and they are required to drink a yardy ("Hey mum, where's my yardy?" - Brian).  A yardy is a yard long glass that holds 16 or more beers.  In Australia, if the person cannot finish the yardy, they hand it off to their family and they help finish.  This is not allowed in New Zealand.  One must finish the entire yardy themselves.  As displayed in the video, even if they vomit into the yardy, they must continue.  Another person holds and spins the yardy so it doesn't spill all over, but that's the only help given.  Solid.

Another language lesson!  The word "hori" is a derogatory term used to describe someone of low class or someone who is dirty .  Who knew?  Also, Mai and I played with an orange cat that Mai named Charlie.  He is a stray that Alicia started feeding, so he comes by every so often.  There may be more to that cat than meets the eye...

The first half of Monday (18th) was spent in the Public Library, catching up with loved ones and doing some research using the free wifi.  Upon arriving back at the hostel, we found the puzzle (a gift from m'lady, Amanda) that we started the night before had a large portion put together!  For the rest of the night, almost everyone staying in the hostel helped out here and there with the puzzle and come one in the morning, it was completed!  And I was able to read the wonderful message on the other side.  Afterward, we all watched a show together.  A show of epic proportions.  A show capable of crossing all cultural and language boundaries.  A little show called... Family Guy.

Sweet Az

Welcome to Kerikeri.  About a 4 hour drive north of Auckland, Kerikeri is a small town part of the Bay of Islands.  Keri Central Hostel, our home for this week has a vastly different atmosphere than our previous stays (doesn't feel like a dorm at all!).  The hostel is managed by Alicia & Colin (a 23 year old couple). We're sharing a room with three Argentineans, who also have a few friends in the area (Spanish speaking abilities would be so useful these days).

The first day (Friday, Jan 15th) Mai had a moment of inspiration as we peppered the brand new AVP volleyball in the front yard of our hostel.  Each time we peppered the ball in a new place, we would write the location and date on it.  Brilliant!  That night consisted of much cultural exchange.  Although Mai may not agree, I learned from Juno (a native New Zealander or "Kiwi") that putting butter, ketchup, and sweet chili sauce on a slice of bread equals... DELICIOUS!  (Brian is CRAZY.  No one likes ketchup sandwiches... except maybe Greg).  We also learned New Zealand phrases like "Sweet as" while explaining to one of the Argentineans that the word "brand" in "brand new" didn't mean a company brand or to mark something.  

Quote of the night:

"How do Americans greet each other?"

"They go, 'Hey baaaabes' right?"

Mai and I: "Haha, no, not quite." (or not at all). 

On Saturday, the 16th, Mai and I decided to go exploring.  We walked down to New Zealand's oldest stone building, the Stone Store (top).  and also saw the oldest wooden building, the Mission House (bottom).  We also went in search of the nearby "fortress" called the Koroipo Pa and found that not only was it not much of a fortress, it no longer existed!

To get over our disappointment, we went for a walk in the nearby forest.  It was destined to be a good walk considering right before it, we saw two Eastern Rosella birds fly by!  The first thing we came across on our walk was a set of small waterfalls, followed closely by the Fairy Pools.  We journeyed on and after another 30 minutes, we finally reached the enchanted Rainbow Falls.  After marveling in their beauty, we decided to conquer them by traversing the jagged, slippery, moss-covered rocks until we were under and engulfed by the falls themselves.  Clearly this picture below, isn't documented proof of our conquest per se (we couldn't bring Mai's expensive camera under the falls!).  However, there are two random travelers somewhere out there who took it upon themselves to photograph our joy and jubilation as the falls rained down upon us.