I put together a little Q&A to give you a feel of where we live.
1. Where do you live?
In this house in Khandallah, which is a suburb of Wellington. I say suburb but we are only fifteen minutes from the central business district (CBD). I would not consider this a suburb by a U.S. city measure.
This house has a lovely and large gardenia bush in the front yard. Generally, houses are situated very close to each other and the yards are quite small. The garages are in the front of the yard and the houses sit back from the road.
When Matt first arrived, he took the train everywhere. It is right up the street from the house.
2. What is the weather like?
Unpredictable. The weather report usually reads something like, “today it is going to be sunny, cloudy, windy and rainy.” I wonder why they even bother to give a forecast at all. Today is a good example. The forecast had been for sunny and mild. It was partly cloudy, windy and cold.
It is winter here and we are heading into what would be similar to our December. But the temperature at least stays pretty much the same—in the 50’s, anywhere from 53 to 59, during the day and the mid- to high 40’s at night. Sometimes it can get a little warmer or a little colder. One day it went down to 32 according to my weather station. even so, there is not going to be a hard freeze or snow. We are looking primarily at rain.
3. What are the people like?
Very nice so far. They make me want to be nice back. They speak with an accent that, like the U.S., varies according to where a person grew up, education level and the like. Some folks are very easy to understand and for others I need subtitles. Of course, they think I have an accent too. When I see a New Zealander looking at me and clearly not understanding what I am saying, I’ll say, “I sound funny, don’t I?” That usually makes them laugh because to them I do sound funny–American with a faint Pittsburgh accent. But there is a lot of American t.v. here so for the most part, they understand us better than we can understand them.
They have their share of phrases and colloquialisms that we are learning. We might say “figured it out.” They say “sorted.” We might say “sweater,” they say “jumper.” Of course, that is British. As Churchill said, “two countries divided by a common language.”
4. Is it as beautiful as people say?
It is pretty nice. Very green with lots of large trees (I call them “ents” from Lord of the Rings), lots of ocean, and lots of sheep on the hills.
5. Is there crime?
There is crime in every city but not where we live and not that I have noticed. It is actually pretty uneventful here.
6. I heard they don’t have guns.
There are guns here, but after a mass shooting in 2019, they banned assault style weapons and limited magazine sizes. People voluntarily turned in their assault weapons. Yes, it only took one mass killing. It is also very hard to get a gun because you have to get a license. No one can buy a gun without a license and that includes private sales. The license and the sales have to be okayed by the police who will verify that you qualify by having a license.
To get a license, you have to show you have a legitimate reason to own a gun. Owning a gun in anticipation that you need it for self defense is not a basis to get a gun. But they do hunt here, and people can have hunting rifles no problem. You also have to pass a mental health check, prove the lack of a criminal record, and have no record of drug use. You also have to prove you can store the gun safely.
It is all so refreshing!
Believe it or not, we have seen a gun store that seems to be taking a page from the U.S. and the NRA, but that is really unusual. For the most part, they don’t understand our gun culture and it is embarrassing to even try to explain it.
A Yank Among the Kiwis 