People, Plants and Rugby

I initially dismissed how difficult internet access is here, so a few days without it has done me good. My internet was cut off for a few days due to payment complications, and I had to pay (per webpage!) to use school and/or internet cafe computers, so I figured I'd wait.

Now that I'm back, I have a few adventures and realizations to divulge.

On Tuesday I went to the Wellington Botanical Gardens with a few of my friends, although I must admit it was a little too hot for us to explore the entire hilly landscape. It's only a cable car stop away, and it's free, so we can definitely return. Here are a few picture highlights:

The view of Wellington from the gardens (plus the cable car that hauled us up there):


In the greenhouse (with cousin Nikki below)






After being too stingy to go out at night (not to mention exhausted at the end of the day from so many stairs), I finally decided to go out with my friends on a Wednesday night. The night was cut short from a small accident, and when I returned home I immediately wrote out my recap of that odd evening:

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20/2/2008
So tonight was an incredibly insightful night when it comes to the people of this country. After hanging out with some very friendly university kiwi’s in a nearby flat, I headed into Courtenay Place- the club and bar street- with some of my American girl friends. When one of my friends crossed the intersection on Terrace Drive, she got hit fairly hard by a biker who was whipping downhill. I saw my friend and the biker collide and tumble to the street, and was immediately scared for them. We moved both of them out of the street, and transfered their things to the sidewalk.

The old man seemed to have hurt his arm from the spill off his bike, and my friend had quite a few scrapes but seemed more shaken than hurt. She felt horrible for stepping in front of him, but instead of placing blame he just asked her whether she was all right.

Now, tonight also happened to be the first night on campus for most of the University freshmen, so droves of 18 year old partiers were heading past us to the bars. Most of them asked if we needed help, and a group of incredibly kind freshman kiwis stopped to help in spite of our insistence that we were alright. They put down their beers, and helped us pick things up, checked the old man’s arm and our friend’s health, and then called the biker’s wife for him. In the midst of their first night out on the town, these strangers took their time checking everyone’s health and waiting with us.

Once the biker's wife arrived to pick him up, she began asking my friend for her contact information, and my first instinct was to assume the wife was planning on suing her for crossing the street illegally. Then I remembered that people can’t sue for medical expenses in New Zealand, and realized the situation was the complete opposite of what I’d suspected when the wife said “I’ll call you tomorrow to make sure you’re alright; If you’re not, I want to drive you to the hospital.” She touched my friend’s cheek and said “’is alright, dear”.

I’d already decided that kiwis were generally friendly after socializing, chatting and asking them for directions, but it was in this situation that it struck me: it goes beyond mere affability, it’s a complete cultural difference. In America people tend to stare at accidents they are not involved in, but often avoid offering help. And if Americans are involved in an accident, we seek out any compensation we can get, through blame and endless legal procedures; it’s about war, fighting, getting whatever you can for yourself. Last night, everyone seemed concerned about the wellbeing of everyone else, including complete strangers who undoubtedly had more fun things to do with their time. In America I tend to be suspicious of the kindness of strangers, but it’s not such an anomaly in New Zealand, and at the risk of sounding horribly sentimental, I think that’s amazing.

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So there you have it. There are exceptions to every generalization, of course (not every kiwi is nice, not every American is cold), but I have found that this cultural difference tends to be true of the kiwi population in general, at least compared to Americans. And my friend is, luckily, still perfectly healthy minus her scrapes and bruises.

On Thursday night I invited a bunch of American kids over for tacos, burritos and margaritas. We bought and prepared all the meat, guacamole and other ingredients, as a makeshift homage to our popular home cuisine; Latin American food of any variety is rare and expensive in New Zealand, and we realized that we’ve taken for granted such easy access to good and inexpensive Mexican food (I have been especially guilty, coming from California). The margaritas were also a pretty special occasion, since my kiwi flatmate Will got a bottle of Jose Cuervo as a gift, and hard alcohol is anywhere from double to triple the price here in New Zealand (they're much more into local wines and beers).

Friday I went to my first Rugby game, supporting the Hurricanes, the Wellington city rugby team. It was great fun, and I concluded that even if I'm still a bit hazy on the rules, I definitely like Rugby much better than I like American football. The ball is in play for much longer period of time, which means there is a lot more action, tackling, and running going on. And I will dare to assert that rugby players are a million times tougher than American football players. Why? They tackle, run, kick, and scrum (the shifting and shoving huddle that usually ends up in a huge dogpile) with absolutely no padding, and because there are no time-outs in rugby, they need the stamina to hustle the entire game.





The Hurricanes ended up narrowly winning, which definitely led to a night of Wellington city cheer.

Today my friends and I visited Te Papa, the national New Zealand museum, but we only managed to visit one wing of one floor, because the place was absolutely huge. I'll probably post on it when I visit more sections. Until then, I'm off to the Wai Te Ata flat barbeque (already smells delicious from my window). Cheers!