I was still feeling the binding rage yesterday and therefore felt it best not to post...

I lie, I actually attended the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra performance last evening at the City Hall. City Hall being a building where they operate municipal affairs from AND where there's a beautiful orchestra hall with 3 balconies and seating about 1000 people. Just like home. It was a fabulous performance with the Philharmonic comprising mainly of strings. For a long (embarrassingly long) time, I thought a Philharmonic was a choir from Philadelphia. I was really confused when we say one in Boston. Anyway, they performed Brahms first symphony and then a number of Opera pieces accompanied by Angela Brown, an American Opera singer. I learned yesterday that students can get tickets 15 minutes before the show for only $10 (that's New Zealand $. In Cdn $ that's a mere $9.83). There are only crap seats left (straddling pillars, being behind the musicians, you know) but I lucked out and met a women who had an extra ground floor ticket which she sold to me for that great $10 rate (they normally range from $30 - 80) so I had a wicked seat to boot!

Alright ... more differences...
The standard paper size is different - I think it's about 9x12.
Everything is 2 hole punched and binders are 2 ring vs 3 (or they're ring bound , but we won't go back there).

I know these seem like stupid things but they are things we so take for granted that I'm amazed to see they are not the same everywhere. If you got that...

Kiwis always say bye in this quiet sad sort of way, like they really don't want to hang up or leave you. It's an endearing trait.
Everyone here has traveled somewhere. I think it must come from the Island mentality, the feeling of isolation. People my age are strongly encouraged to get their "OE" (overseas experience) and it's referred to like it's part of their education. "Where did you go for your OE?" "Oh he's on his OE, will be back next summer." And really it is. Great mindset - think we should all have more of it. More people here know where PEI is than I met the entire time in Ireland. (Actually, I can only remember 1 person actually knowing where PEI was in Ireland. He was my neighbour in Ballyconneely and I went to his door to let him know his cows were out. Turns out he used to live in Boston and his roommates were none other than the Charlottetown Gillan brothers.) Tis a small world...

A lot of things that are different from home are actually British and I experienced them in Ireland. Example 1: sausage rolls. They were just served with Friday morning tea (it was someone's birthday celebrations). They are sausage --mushier then what we're used to -- wrapped in pastry. And, sorry Sarah, they're good in the heart-stopping, aterary-clogging sort of way.

What else... well, the Maori jewelry (the white bone necklaces that are most common) are for the most part fertility symbols. Many of you will absolutely not receive these as a souvenir. When the Maoris perform their ritual dances, they make a lot of scary faces and stick their tongues out about 3.5 feet in a wonderfully unappealing lizard-like manner. This is to instill fear in their opponent and to say "I'm going to eat you, rip you apart with my teeth" and other scary things.

Why such a potpourri of thoughts today? I'm at work and well, once the mail is sorted and delivered (by about 9am) my only task for the day is to answer the phone. It rings probably once every 5 mins on average. And that's it. They expect no more from me... I feel guilty not doing work, especially when they're all super busy, but they don't care. Whatever works. I have a beautiful view of the harbour that I can spend long times gazing out on.

Speaking of potpourri... anyone remember that short lived tv show? Brought some of Summerside's best to the limelight...