Final Thoughts on New Zealand

Written on my iPhone 7 on 6-7-17.

     We are sitting in the Wellington Airport, sans James.  Sigh.  It's the two ladies and me from here on out.  We fly back to Auckland tonight for one last stay at a hotel, and then we fly back to the United States of America tomorrow.  It's difficult to believe that this trip of a lifetime is nearly over.  Soon, it will be back to reality, and that reality is mostly The First Tee.  Until then, however, I still intend to "be" on vacation.  Mostly, I've stayed unplugged from anything that was work related.  I have an e-mail I need to reply to for Brian (last name) for my summer's Time to Teach training, and I need to get things going with Dr. Johnny (last name), too.  It will all happen in good time.

     I had some more New Zealand things to write about, so here I go.  First, everywhere we walked, we were in danger as Americans.  No, not because of Donald Trump, although he is heavy on the minds of New Zealanders, according to a few of the interactions I've had here, and some of the news reports, also.  It's because...

it's our tendency to always look left when crossing streets.  So, whenever we crossed a street, I would shout out, "Look right!"

     Then when we reached the halfway point, I would shout, "Now, look left!"

     It helped.  Belinda and Danielle would laugh, but we did not get smashed once.

     Also, I admired and appreciated some of the differences here.  For example, every toilet, except for the one in James's flat, have the option for two types of flushes.  Furthermore, every outlet, and I am confident I can say every one, had a switch to turn it off or on.  So clever!  Why don't we have that in America?

Written on my iPad Mini later on 6-7-17

     I wrote about some other stuff about New Zealand on my iPhone earlier today, but I did not get it transferred to my iPad Mini yet.  I talked about some of the quirky, cool things that New Zealand has that we don't have in America, like the two options for flushing and the on and off switches on outlets.  

     I wanted to also add that I do notice a difference in the people here.  I am writing this as we fly from Wellington to Auckland.  They are quieter and less boisterous, that's for sure.  They are humble and kind, just like that Tim McGraw song says.  They are very quick with a "No worries, mate," and they are over the top with kindness and generosity.  

     Here are two examples.  When we first walked into James's work building, we had no idea where to go.  A co-worker picked up on this immediately and gave us the help we needed to find James.  Another one of James's co-workers, Aaron, filled in for a meeting James was supposed to attend when we were on our way to the Weta Workshop.  Aaron, like most of James's friends, would help out like that in a flash, and they all gave us their best advice as to what we should do while we were in Wellington, including having dinner at Havana, which is exactly what we did last night, our last supper together.

     I will miss those kind attitudes, although most Americans can be just as polite.

     One other thing I will miss is a really good "flat white."  That's what they called a coffee with steamed milk.  They were delicious, although some were better than others.  The one I had at the Poppies Winery was definitely the best, but the one I had just this morning at the Boat Cafe was also just as delicious.  As I drink my airplane coffee, I am missing them more than ever already.      

  
That's enough for now.  

Until next time...