Traveling Home: Day Two

5/13/2014

We arrived in Auckland around 5:00 a.m. and we were very excited to be there. Back home it was around 1:00 p.m. the previous day.

You enter the Auckland airport right off the plane and immediately you’re in a new world. One of the first things we saw when we got of the plane was this magnificent, Maori inspired, entrance. Just outside of it was the currency exchange. So we stopped to get some money.

Right by the money exchange there was Maori music playing and a big carved out archway over the entrance to the next stop in the airport. It was the Maori/Kiwi way of welcoming you to their country. Everyone we ran into welcomed use by saying, “Kia Ora” which is a Maori form of welcoming, and it literally means, “good health”. As we entered I could immediately feel that New Zealand was a land of great hospitality as everyone greeted us with a smile, asked about where we were from, and expressed how happy he or she was to see us.

While my dad and uncle were busy getting our paper American money exchanged for plastic New Zealand money I took this selfie to let everyone at home know that I was okay before my time ran out on the internet. If I look tired, it's because I am.  But, if you look close, you will see the slight bit of make-up that survived the entire trip from Maryland. Everywhere I went had free wifi... for five minutes. Then you had to pay more than $5 for every minute you used it. Needless to say, I did not see the internt often. So if you saw me uploading massive amounts of pictures at a time, it was because I finally found free internet and wanted to share a little bit of my adventures before they became outdated and irrelevant. 

From the money exchange we walked through one of the biggest liquor stores I had ever seen. I kept my eye out because the items were all tax free, but there was not a thing in sight that would not leave you a little buzzed for the day. Well, except there was a spinning wheel with a lady dressed in a red sparkling dress. If you spun the wheel and won, you won a car. However, the car could not be used back in States, and probably would have cost way more than it was worth to ship it there. 

After the world's largest liquor store we went through customs. It was kind of terrifying at first until we got to the lady who stamped our Passports. She was incredibly nice and welcoming. She asked us about our trip, and why we were in New Zealand. We shared with her that my Dad and Uncle were originally from Dargaville, and we were back visiting family. 

From there we grabbed our luggage. I was kind of nervous because I did not see our luggage at first. I was afraid it might have gotten lost, which would be a big issue.

After we got our luggage we entered the next stage of customs. This is where where we experienced  the first of New Zealand’s extreme efforts to preserve their country and their way of life. First, we talked to a man about the information we filled out on a card that was given to us on the plane. This card asked questions like, "Have you been on a farm recently?", "Do you have boots with you?", "Do you have food with you?", "How long are you staying here?", "Where are you from?", and so on. New Zealand takes protecting their environment and way of life very seriously. Trying to sneak something in could cost you hundreds of dollars. There were signs everywhere instructing you to throw away all fruits and vegetables or risk a $400 fine. My uncle, dad, and sister all had boots. This meant we had to be pulled aside. I watched as the very friendly woman checked out their boots, looking for dirt. She decided that all three pairs needed to be washed thoroughly. She asked me about my tennis shoes, but cleared them because they did not seem dirty. As they were being washed I looked around to check out my surroundings.

            Behind us was a Maori couple that just came in from Tonga. The man was wearing the Maori skirt. There was another man standing next to us in line that had on a similar skirt. I later learned this was an island skirt. I never completely learned the meaning. The Maori couple had bags and bags of plants. Some needed to be washed and then they would be okay, and others were going to be burned. They were having a misunderstanding with the officers, but what amazed me was how calm the officers remained as they attempted to explain to the Maori couple why they had to do this. This amazed me because back home if you stepped out of line sometimes the officers would yell at you and not care if you understood why. I always felt back home that everyone believed the worst in you. But here I felt everyone believed the best in you, but they were still strict to the rules. Not letting things through, but also being very understanding and legitimately hearing people out. 

            Once we were cleared we were sent on our way out into the main part. 

This was a statue that could be seen once you entered the main lobby. It was from The Lord of the Rings. I had recognized it from another one of my friend's photos when she visited the area. It read, "Please do not touch. Borrowed from Middle Earth".

         We were hungry and we saw a McDonald’s and thought, “There’s something familiar.” But once we got there we realized the menu was completely different from ours, similar, but not the same food. For instance, there large coffee was our small, and all the breakfast sandwiches contained different ingredients. I ordered a hash brown while my Dad and sister ordered something else. We had a little bit of confusion when the lady asked us if it was take away. We soon realized that “take away” was their equivalent to “to go”.

            Then our rental car company arrived in a van to help take us over to the car rental place. In New Zealand they call vans people movers, and trucks, utes (pronounce like “youts”). We hoped in the people mover and made our way to the car rental place. 

This was my attempt at trying to capture what it was like to drive on the other side of the road.

            Driving on the left side was an interesting experience. I kept getting scared when a car would fly by on the right because it freaked me out. Once we arrived there we were assigned a vehicle, but soon realized there was a mix up. What we wanted was a people mover to seat our entire luggage, and us, but what we got was a tiny car. Tiny cars are common here, and I have not yet found a car that did not look like a miniature version of an American car. A few minutes later and we had a people mover, but the engine went bad before we go too far from the rental company. One more try later, and we were good and on our way. 

            But unfortunately, this car was a Japanese car. This meant that all instructions and navigation unit orders were in Japanese. This was one of the first evidences I had seen of the recent immigration of Asian countries. But what I had later learned is in Japan they up taxes on your car when you’ve owned it for three years, according to a local kiwi. This means the Japanese are encouraged to buy new cars every few years. The old ones are then shipped over to New Zealand. Where they are apparently used as rentals.

            Then we finally arrived at my great Aunt Ann’s house in Auckland. Her house was beautiful and simple. 

In her garage was a small apartment that she rented out. The picture is of her garage. The apartment is on the right of the parking space. With Ann was my grandmother who had already been there for a month or so. Auntie Anne was very sweet and hospitable. She immediately asked us if there was anything we needed. She even offered a bed for my sister to sleep on since the jet lag was really getting to her. We sat and talked for a little, and exchanged pictures of family members that could not make it with us to New Zealand. 

Ann talked to me about church, and why I decided to start attending. I soon learned that she was very religious and attended a church near by. She was also a part of a woman’s Christian group in Ruawai where she last lived. She currently holds Bible studies at her home. She was very elated to hear that I chose to follow Christ. This was refreshing since most members of my family have nothing to do with religion. Not that they dislike it, they just do not recognize it as a part of life.

This was a piece of art inside Aunt Ann's house that I found intriguing.

I was also shocked by everyone’s awareness of not only their own politics, but ours as well. They began to ask us about major events happening in our politics. This surprised me considering I could not reference anything happening in their politics, nor could I tell you who their prime minister is. They discussed with me about how everyone in New Zealand is very aware of politics, and joked that sometimes the citizens know more about what is going on then the politicians.

Outside of Ann's house there were trees that looked like pine trees, but the needles were upside-down. 

         Also, when I used her bathroom I learned that toilets in New Zealand have two buttons they use for flushing. This gives you the option to use less water when it is not necessary to have all of the water. You know, for liquid deposits. And the larger button was for more water. You can guess why one would need more water. This helps to conserve water. Which was another example of their efforts to preserve their environment. I later learned that many countries find it weird how much water Americans waste when flushing. Now I find it weird as well. As you can see the toilet bowl itself even holds less water. And yet during my entire experience there the toilets never got clogged.

            We had lunch that Aunt Ann prepared for us. It was delicious, pumpkin soup and bread. Their pumpkins are not like ours. They have lost of flavor, and almost taste sweet. On my bread I put some Vegemite. Surprisingly it was not as bad as I thought it would be. It was very salty however, and was much better when mixed with peanut butter.

This is Aunt Ann's pumpkin soup. To be honest when it was first put down in front of me I was very suspicious about how it would taste. But it was very savory and delicious. It was also very filling, so I was not able to finish it. 

This was the array of bread combinations that I tried. Peanut butter and banana. Vegemite. Butter. The New Zealand butter is different tasting. I was never really able to figure out what was different. Later I added peanut butter to the vegemite because it was extremely salty and the peanut butter made it better.

Throughout the trip people often commented on how all I drank was water. What can I say, I was thirsty. The cup next to mine is a fruit juice of sorts. It was very tangy. That, however, was not my glass. They set our glasses on the left side of the place mat. I often accidentally tried to drink from the other glass on my right out of habit. Thankfully Aunt Ann never noticed it. If she did, she did not say anything about it. 

My grandmother, father, sister, and I went to an indoor shopping area, that was like a mall, so my sister could get cell phone service while she was here. Outside the shopping center there was a man that looked like he was of Maori descent playing guitar for tips. He was singing Christian songs. I wanted to talk to him about it, but we were rushed to move on. What amazed me was that I knew the song he was singing. It was “How Great Thou Art”. Though I never got to talk to him he spoke to me with his song. That was when I realized that things here were not as different as I thought it would be. I felt at home, and not like I was on the other side of the world.

Dad, Morgan, and I also walked from Aunt Ann's house to a local gas station. While there I found all sorts of interesting treats.

If you look closely you'll see that KitKat is owned by Nestle in New Zealand, where as it is owned by Hershey in the States. I soon learned that I like Nestle's KitKat combinations A LOT better. 

            Then my Aunt Joan came over. Joan was great. She had two hearing aids, and was hard of hearing, but she loved talking with us. Apparently she had just gotten new hearing aids that she was still getting used to. At one point she asked us if there was a radio on. But we found out that she was hearing people talking in another room. 

            My Dad’s father was the oldest of four. My grandfather, Rodney, great uncle Clive, great uncle Mervyn, and Great Aunt Joan were all siblings. Joan was the youngest. Rodney died in a car accident when he was 40 and my Dad was 7. Clive died in his twenties of a form of cancer. Mervyn, Aunt Ann’s husband, died of lung cancer when he was older. I remember hearing about Mervyn's passing and how upset it made my Dad. Joan had suffered a stroke recently and had some problems as a result. Because of this she was put in a nursing home. In New Zealand they call nursing homes resting homes.

            After Joan arrived, and we talked for a little bit, we all went to Mission Bay, a small beach a few minutes away from the house. 

The water was freezing. But I wanted to be able to say that I had experienced the New Zealand water.

These were the trees at Mission Bay. 

It was beautiful. The sun was setting on the water. There were dormant volcanoes everywhere. Seashells were washed up on the shore everywhere. Unfortunately the water was cold since it was their fall season, almost winter.  

            After a quick walk on the beach we decided to go driving around the city that was only a few minutes away. 

This is the New Zealand Yield sign. 

This was a cool house that we walked past. I found it's design to be very fascinating.

This was a pool on the left side of a bridge that we walked on. As you can see it has been drained for the fall and winter. All the water in it is rain water. I have learned that the fall and winter here are very rainy seasons. 

This is the bridge we walked on.

This was the road that passed underneath the bridge.

The city was visible from almost everywhere in Auckland, and was only a few minutes away.

A cactus plant in a garden area we walked through. It had people's names etched onto it. 

This was my attempt at etching my own name onto it. "Brooke from USA 5/13/14"

Me and a massive, awesome, tree.

And... my eyes were closed. If I'm outside, and the sun is out, there is a 95% chance my eyes are squinted shut. The curse of blue eyes. 

A church we passed. 

The "Champion of the World" All Blacks store. 

The famous sky tower. On our itinerary was the idea that we could bungee jump from that, or walk on the edge of it. Unfortunately we ran out of time. Aw... what a bummer... *please insert sarcasm here*

Awesome houses along Mission Bay.

We passed their University, which was amazing. It was right in the city. The students could walk right out of class and into our car if they wanted to. The walls were glass, and you could look right into to where the students were working. Which was fun for us, but I'm sure distracting for the students. 

Then we went back to the house and ate the dinner Ann prepared for us. 

It was meatloaf, mashed potatoes (or mash as they call it), cauliflower and broccoli, and roasted vegetables with a curry cheese sauce. You can see a green roasted vegetable on the right side of the picture. That is New Zealand pumpkin. 

Then for dessert we had the famous Hokey Pokey ice cream, which was vanilla ice cream with clumps of butterscotch. I would do anything to have Hokey Pokey ice cream, or any New Zealand ice cream, to make it's way to New Zealand. It was fantastic. 

After dinner we headed to cousin Andrew and Jane’s house. Andrew is Ann’s second oldest son. He and his wife Jane, who moved to New Zealand when she was young from Ireland, have two children, Jack and Caitlin. Jack is fifteen. I had met him when he was two. 

This is a picture from when I first met him.

Caitlin is ten. They had a terrier mix, named Buzz, who loved to jump up on us. This reminded me of home since we have four dogs ourselves. They showed us where we were sleeping. Morgan and I were sharing Caitlin’s room. I headed straight for bed since I was exhausted from the trip. But not before I blew a fuse plugging in my Ipod. I had the correct adapter, but it turns out the plug I got from one of my residents was bad. It was definitely a scary experience for me. But it was no big deal. In New Zealand sockets have switches next to them because the electricity current is so strong you don’t want to plug or unplug anything while the outlet is on or you might receive an incredible shock to your system. 

Reflections:

            Immediately New Zealand felt like home to me, but better.

The streets were flooded with trashcans and recycling bins, displaying at a small level their love for their environment. Kiwis and Maoris feel a responsibility for the land since they live off of it. Something I wish Americans would agree more with. 

With my observation of their small sized cars I could see American greed in their reflections as I began to realize that the idea of having giant SUVs in order to have lot of space and luxury was not a thought the Kiwis had.

It was also incredible to me how much everyone knew about their politics. It inspired me to want to know more about what is going on in our country. Sadly, I would not even know how to find that information if I tried. The irony is I probably could have gotten all I needed to know just by sitting down with a Kiwi for a moment. Not only did they know our current issues, but the current issues of many other countries. For such a small country, they have a big worldview, and for such a big country we have such a small worldview. We could learn a thing or two from the kiwis.

 This was a view from Aunt Ann's house.

 This was a light switch in Aunt Ann's bathroom that displays that there is a switch for everything.

 Morgan and I found it fascinating that the door from outside to inside opened inward. This often confused us as we tried to pull the door outward. We thought it was different from home. But then when I came home I realized that most doors actually open inward. I'm not sure why we were so confused. I blame it on the jet lag.

 Although you can't really blame us because our sense of direction has been confused since the moment we sat down in our first Kiwi car. 

Fun Fact: Everyone used to be on the left side of the road. This was because when people road horses, if they were right handed, they would carry their sword on their right. So riding on the left side gave them the ability to travel and be prepared for attack. When carriages that required many horses were introduced drivers sat behind the left back horse to prevent from cracking themselves with the whip. Because of this they changed to the right side of the road in order to get a better view. 

Apparently some countries never got the memo...

 This was a volcano that was not too far from Aunt Ann's house. I later learned there were hundreds of volcanoes in Auckland. Around 50 were dormant. Which means they could be active at any time, but just not at the moment nor have they been for a while.

 And finally, this was the door to the bedroom I was staying at. If you look closely you can see that the door handle is very high up on the door. This was very common in New Zealand. In fact, when I returned home I was very thrown off when I found the door handles to be lower than I thought.

That concludes my second day.