No More Shopping, Mother

I have been to the street bazaars of Hong Kong, and to the souqs of Dubai. I have spent time inside Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, and on Champs Elysees in Paris. I have seen the fashion streets of Milan, and London's High Street. I also had a stroll through Beverly Hills and even the Wal Marts and Targets of that large consumer country known as the United States of America.

You will find in them all the goodies and stuff that you can ever imagine money can buy. You will drown in the people that flock to these hallowed grounds of shopping. I always was fascinated by this phenomenon. Consumerism was always king in the Philippines, sharing the same philosophy in spending as that of the Americans. In fact, this little country has two of the largest malls in the world.

Arriving in New Zealand changed all that. It is not that consumer products here are lacking. You can almost buy everything you need and want, albeit limited. But it is just that there are a lot more things to do than being boxed in a mall. Here, you would rather go to the grocery and buy food to bring to that special place in the mountains. You would rather spend the day mountain biking through the woods, or go tramping to see the scenic views of the hills.

It is the kiwi way of life. In fact, for being a first world country, the average age of cars here in New Zealand is 12.5 years, more than double that of the United Kingdom at 6 years. What does that mean? It means that an average kiwi really do not care that they have the newest and shiniest cars in life. It means that they would rather spend their money on houses, as evident on household expenditure numbers from Statistics New Zealand. And this further points to the fact that there is that everlasting kiwi dream of someday owning that magnificent house with a view of the mountains and the sea (or is it just me?).

So if you are planning to go to New Zealand for a shopping spree, then you should better think twice, or you will just end up with a bunch of kiwi wools that would probably be useless in the hot paradaisal islands collectively called the Philippines. But I promise you there are a lot more fun activities you can do to spend your money with.

A Most Surprising and Fascinating Trip

Yesterday (21.June.09), Simon drove us up the coast and unto a park just a few miles past Kaikoura. He was mentioning about seal pups playing while their parents are off to sea to hunt for food. Little did we know that it was a sight to behold, and one that would stick with you especially if you love animals.

The trip as it is was already a sight in its own right. We departed Christchurch through the small town of Kaiapoi and unto SH1. The scenery kept us awake the whole time, with barren trees because of winter, and the snow capped mountains of the Southern Alps clearly visible even if its a hundred miles away. Our drive swept us through some quaint towns such as the balut's favourite Omihi (which still elicits a smile on my face even though I have been past this town more than a couple of times already) and Cheviot, before winding up the mountains and down into Kaikoura District.

We also saw a hawk by the road feasting on a dead possum. We drove past sheep farms, deer farms, and even some wine estates with its vast grapevines.

The last leg took us on a coastal drive with the sea waves pounding on rocks to our right, and the gentle hills with streaks of snow at the top to our left.

As we reached Kaikoura, we stopped at a very nice cafe to get ourselves some lunch, courtesy of Simon. Onie, Christine, and Simon had pan fried fish and I got myself a very nice and creamy seafood chowder. Bea had potato wedges.

After lunch, we pressed on and reached a park just beside the road. It was a mere 10 minute walk up a slight incline to reach a small waterfalls. But that is not what we were there for. We were there for the baby seals. See for yourself!

The Most Peaceful Nation

As you may have already heard, New Zealand was judged as the most peaceful nation on Earth by the Global Peace Index, topping such countries as Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Austria and Sweden. Yes, the land of the tough kiwi blokes are full of softies after all.

Hard to believe when you often see the typical kiwi as that Marlboro cowboy sort of toughie but with no boots. And I mean that literally. They walk the streets on barefoot. Maybe they just believe in their hearts that New Zealand is the land of the 'Lord of The Rings', and that they must walk in the fashion befitting a hobbit. But you must try it sometime because it is so liberating, and it brings back memories of our childhood days when we used to kick off our shoes from school and ran loose in the house, er, garden. (No slip up there, and I still stand by my story that it was Kraut, the german shepherd, who broke the precious vase that afternoon while I was the only one in the house.)

Seriously, though, it is not surprising that New Zealand tops the list. I mean this country has the perennial history of sending scores of troops overseas to war that came back seriously depleted. These guys are lovers, not fighters. They would just not admit it. C'mon, think about Russel Crowe, who is a kiwi, and you will figure it out. Hint, he won best actor in the Academy for his work in ''The Gladiator', but most of you will remember him more as that dapper, romantic but hallucinatory professor in 'A Beautiful Mind'.

Toughness is not innate. It is taught. I have seen how the kiwis raise their children, and to be tough is instilled at the youngest age possible. Young kids the age of Nathan and Pio are left to hang on a tree, or swing as high as three times their height. You can just picture out in your mind Mommy fainting at the first sight of this.

Yes, these kiwi kids are brought up to be rugby legends the likes of Colin Meads, or the more marketable Dan Carter who earns in the millions. No wonder New Zealand never run out of superb rugby players.

But that just must be it. I mean, how in real life would you see a bunch of heavy set guys grappling and tackling each other, almost always ending up bloodied, and yet come out friends after a round of rugby game? This is tough, man, and I know because I came from a brood of four boys and no girls. Our play was not as rough as a rugby game (not even close), but if one of my brothers as much as pinched me, we would have ended throwing punches at each other that would go on way past bedtime and even until the next morning (which I can still distinctly remember doing inside the car on our way to school!).

Inside the tough exterior of a kiwi lies a soft heart. It is the country that contributes the largest to the UN Peacekeeping efforts. It is the only country that has a very good relationship with its neighboring countries (well, you might argue that there is only Australia, but let me remind you that it is considered a continent). And most of all, it is the land of that skirt wearing dude who is best remembered for his dramatic role as a scholarly professor with a beautiful mind.

Lolly Folly

Lollies! For us balut eating brownies, that word may sound really weird. Try to take a moment and see if you can think what that word means for the kiwis and aussies as well.

Nope, it is not what you think. Lollies are what we call candies in our part of the world. And people here are crazy about these stuff. We eat lollies for afternoon tea (merienda).

At parties, people actually bring lollies for appetizers.

We also have lollies when we go to the cinemas. And to top it all up, domestic airlines offer either chips (chichiria), biscuits (cookies), or lollies as cabin food. Yup, these things are actually given the same level of credence as actual food.

I remember when we were younger, I would get scolded for eating lollies for lunch. Now I actually do that and I do not seem to feel guilty.

Of course one can argue that there are almost no nutritional value in lollies, but when you are so busy and no time to go down to the corner and grab something to eat, lollies are your best choice, second only to fish and chips, my all time favorite!

Ah, fish and chips! *sigh, staring dreamily*

But that is another story!

The Cold, The Flu, and the Camera

It has been three months since we landed here in New Zealand. And what a difference this country has transformed itself. When we arrived, the trees were green and the days were longer. Now the leaves are brown and most are lying on the ground. Sunrise comes at half past seven and starts to hide at half past five. It is very unlike a brownies' tropical domain where I came from.

Winter has officially arrived in this part of the world, and it is not welcomed by everyone. It is that time of the year when people begin to get crazy and depressed. But that does not seem to bother us kiwi baluts. Life goes on for us, albeit a little bit colder.

Er, I may have understated that a bit. Let me rephrase that part. It is a lot colder. In fact, way, way too cold. Just this morning, I woke up to a -1 degree C temperature. Our bed was warm and kept pulling me back like a maiden's call on a dreary winter voyage. How could it not be when we had four layers of blanket on us.

On my way to the office, I had to wear four layers of clothing as well. It kept me warm enough to brave a walk across a park for a longer but more scenic route, a habit that I had picked up from Pom's GPS.

It is also the time for colds and flu, swine or otherwise. Of course my trimmer body now belongs to the latter. But with three more months to go before it gets warmer, I may be back to my swiney self in no time.

And winter not only affects humans and swine. It also got into my camera. Yup, something happened to its sensors and Canon has to replace it. So I could not share any pictures for at least a month.

But, as I said, life goes on. And just before my camera gave out, we were able to make a loop through the hills of Banks Peninsula. Our drive took us from the hills of Sumner to Godley Head, down to the ports of Lyttelton and up to the peaks of Port Hills before descending to the city fringes of Christchurch. It was very cold that day, so we just survived a few minutes on the peak, but long enough to get the beautiful picture of the peninsula opening to the sea and a rainbow in the horizon.

It has been more than a week since and I am eager to go out there and explore more. Maybe on my next post I will be sharing more of my adventures. Until then this piece will have to do. *sigh*