Some more Kiwi-isms...

Garage is pronounced GAR-agsh. They have have interac (first place I've ever been to outside Canada that does!), only it's call EFTPOS. When you phone someone, you don't call them AT 555-5555, you ring them ON 555 5555. Actually, people mess up the pattern a lot so you could be given the number as 55 555 55, 5555 555, 555 55 55, 55 5555 5, etc. Hard to comprehend sometimes.

Every plug has its own switch. You have to turn the switch on for the outlet to work. There's Australian Price is Right on every evening. C'est fromage. There's also Aussie Millionaire. The only time I saw it they were doing Blind Date millionaire. Not cool at all.

The time changes this weekend. We "fall" back, leaving us 16 hours ahead of Atlantic time. When you "spring" ahead (in 2 weeks???), there will then be a 15 hour difference in time. This seems to confuse a great many people but it's okay. Just blame it us being bottom feeders way down the other side of the globe.

Maps - the standard map here has the Northern Hemisphere on top, however, Aus & NZ are in the middle, dividing the map through Europe/Asia. I've also seen ones that divide the Atlantic ocean, leaving poor ole PEI way over to the right of the map. But the really cool ones have the Southern Hemisphere on top, Aus/NZ in the middle. Really messes with your perception of the world. Who ever said North had to be on top?

Trying something a little risk-ay here... hope that what you see is a picture of 2 little curly-heads - Raeanne Perry & John Mayer!

BAREly there, to BEAR arms, have BARE arms, BEAR a grudge, BARE its teeth, grin and BEAR it, BEAR down, room is BARE, BEAR with it, its BEARable.

Thank you to those who tried to help with this one (even those of you who will be surprised that the above usages are correct, particularly Ms. Bear Is For The Animal Only). In the end it was the good ole Concise Oxford English Dictionary that I finally realized sits right beside me on the desk. (I’m actually on a chair beside the desk which the book is on, not on the desk beside the book, just to clarify). As most have you have probably noticed, me grammar ain’t de best, wha. Although in Grade 11 English I did use a perfect absolute in one of my papers. I really hope someday Blair Arsenault will tell me what a perfect absolute is.

Hope all are enjoying their St. Pat’s Celebrations as you should be in the midst of them now. A friend of Pam & Beck’s is in town after spending the last 2 months backpacking NZ (and the last 2 nights giving us the lowdown) so we headed out for a celebratory pint. The Irish pubs were too full of followers of the Irish faith who had started their prayer and absolution much earlier than us, so we went to Shakespeare’s, a microbrewery, for a taste of Albert Street’s finest. We were welcomed by some Kiwi’s made curious by the arrival of Canadian’s at an English pub to celebrate Ireland… it was an international affair! A walk around to see the green everywhere, even in some faces… a beverage in the park and we respectable young ladies were home by curfew.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Enjoy some Lucky Charms, blood pudding and a pint of Guinness to celebrate good ole St. Pat - and that's just for breakfast!

Not much to report today and typing is limited due to sore hands (packing and twisting and lifting and hurting makes for little type).

Today is also the anniversary of my shark attack/suicide attempt/rescue of a small child from a cement mixer... otherwise known as me falling off a chair (soberly), breaking my arm, and giving myself a scar (Scarm) to lie about for the rest of my life. Oh happy day.

It's 4:54 - I'm soon out the door.

I've added a new link... Ms. Sarah Elizabeth Denman, fellow native S'sider gone astray, has started blogging her journey in Australia. She landed there in January and is now calling Brisbane home. She was in England last year and has kept trucking down to the land down under. If you're wondering who Paul is, he's her Brisitish souvenir! What will she bring back this time??

Monday seems to have become grocery night. We've found a new store (Woolworths) that is more comparable to what we're used to (but they have somehow refrained from selling gifts, baby clothes and rocking chairs). Did there used to be Woolworths in Canada? Wasn't it a department store?

Anyway, the only thing that really makes grocery shopping bearable (barable? Someone please help!) is the wine holders in the shopping carts. It's just so thoughtful! At the front of the cart there is a plastic piece so that you can stand a bottle of wine up in the corner. These are my kind of people. Of course you can't drink the wine while shopping (which might even make grocery shopping pleasurable), but I'm entertained nonetheless.

Only other news I think I can muster is the fact that at this very moment, as I type, Raeanne Maria Perry is meeting John Mayer in Montreal. Not for a romantic rendez-vous (not that he or his security knows about anyway) but prior to his show. Pretty cool, wouldn't you say (for those of you who have any clue who or what I'm talking about!)?

Lesson of the day: routine life makes for boring blogging.

Beware the ides of March....

Happy B-day to Roberto Baynini & the Soooooooooooooooooooozzzzz! Hopefully this pic posted of Suzanne et moi; you'll have to check Chad's site to see a festive Robert!



No real adventures to report... found St. Luke's shopping centre yesterday (the weather just wasn't nice enough to promote outdoor activity, yet I couldn't waste the day. What's a girl to do?). Made a few purchases, but am disappointed to report that my new shoes are hurting my feet. Thye weren't the first pair I wanted to buy. I hummed and hawed about another pair until finally I said I'll take them. The sales girl took them to the cash but had to ring another couple in first. There was confusion about what change was due and the poor woman got quite flustered. She took a minute before she rang me in but then realized that in all the confusion she had given away my shoes! And they were the very last pair in my size!! She was determined that I would buy them, trying to get my number to call me when they were returned and to even sell me the half size smaller! The highlight though was when she did laps around the mall trying to find the other people to switch bags! May not have gotten shoes, but I did get entertainment!

Sorry for the lack of personal emails in the last few weeks - all the sudden everyone seemed to realize that I had no work to do and are quickly making up for lost time. What's that all about?

Okay - I'm offended. Don't know if you ever notice the banner ad on the top of the page. It changes ocassionally and is always in some way related to the blog (Chad's was about irons for a long time but now ahas turned to an Aremenian dating service). Anyways, mine is always something NZ, but now it's "geek products for Kiwis". Is that what this blog says about me? I'm a geek?? Bare (bear?) my soul and this is the feedback I get?

I'm trying to figure out how to post pics on here. Not sure if I'm doing it incorrectly or it just doesn't want to work... bear (bare?) with my while I try again tomorrow. I will also post more pics tomorrow (hopefully) as this computer doesn't seem to want to let me do anything... including type!

Another fun weekend in the city... as at home, the fine weather prefers to come out on weekdays, but that 's okay! Friday night there just happened to be a party bus travelling between all the Irish pubs in pre-celebration of everyone's favorite Saint, so we took advantage of the free transportation to see some of the suburbs. We looked up & down the street, then walked into the pub.

Saturday there was at St. Patrick's Day parade on Queen Street at noon and the some Irish music and festivity at the market. It was only noon and the beer tent was full (I saw this one from the oputside only). We were too busy as it was off to the Pacifika Festival. It's a huge celebration of the Pacific Islands. It was held in a park outside the city centre, and the park was divided into sections for each country (Samoa, Cook islands, Fiji, etc) where they had food and craft stalls and music and entertainment representing the culture of that country. There were 150,000 in the park yesterday as it's really just a 1-day thing. That's more than the population of PEI all in one park. Great afternoon with lot's of new things all around us. The coolest was probably the hut in the Samoa village where they peeled coconuts by driving them onto a large spike, then a man held them in one hand as he wacked on them with a machete (not sure at which stage it turns from just a giant knife into a machete, but this was big), stuck a straw in them and wham - you had fresh coconut juice, drunk straight from the coconut.

Last night we opted to lay low and go to a movie (Stuck on you, highly entertaining, although I am a cheap laugh). We went to New Market to try and see Lost in Translation but it sold out as we arrived at the ticket counter. I 've gone to the movies more here than in the past year total. Fun times.