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Waitangi Day!
I don't think there are any Kiwi's reading my meanderings, though there are Kiwi's on Flists of Friends. There's a couple two-three or more Ozzies (which is properly spelled Aussies, but pronounced the way I spelled it, eh?) but they've got a different day to celebrate.
Why do I mention Waitangi Day if I'm not a Kiwi? Here's where I'm supposed to day, 'It's a long story, and...' and then bore you with the long story. Thing is, it's not a long story. We spent a month there some years back, and I came away from that experience profoundly moved by Kiwi's friendliness and hospitality, and by the beauty of what we did see which really comprises South Island. That's the start.
The other thing I observed (this for the benefit of my Aussie readers... pronounce that correctly now, you Yanks), I clued in to because of where I grew up. Namely, along the shores of Lake Huron, which is Yank on one side and Canadian (Canuck) on the other. My mother's family came to the States through Canada from Ireland, and I've still cousins living in Ontario. Because of the way my ear and brain are connected, I'll start sounding like locals fairly quickly; toward the end of my stay in NZ, the Kiwis were asking what part of Canada I came from. But that's not what I clued in to.
Canadians and Yanks have a sort of love/hate relationship, much like siblings in a nuclear family. We can gripe and jump on each other, but nobody else better try it. Aussies and Kiwis exhibit very similar traits towards each other. And that just rather brought me to like the both of them even more.
I don't think there are any Kiwi's reading my meanderings, though there are Kiwi's on Flists of Friends. There's a couple two-three or more Ozzies (which is properly spelled Aussies, but pronounced the way I spelled it, eh?) but they've got a different day to celebrate.
Why do I mention Waitangi Day if I'm not a Kiwi? Here's where I'm supposed to day, 'It's a long story, and...' and then bore you with the long story. Thing is, it's not a long story. We spent a month there some years back, and I came away from that experience profoundly moved by Kiwi's friendliness and hospitality, and by the beauty of what we did see which really comprises South Island. That's the start.
The other thing I observed (this for the benefit of my Aussie readers... pronounce that correctly now, you Yanks), I clued in to because of where I grew up. Namely, along the shores of Lake Huron, which is Yank on one side and Canadian (Canuck) on the other. My mother's family came to the States through Canada from Ireland, and I've still cousins living in Ontario. Because of the way my ear and brain are connected, I'll start sounding like locals fairly quickly; toward the end of my stay in NZ, the Kiwis were asking what part of Canada I came from. But that's not what I clued in to.
Canadians and Yanks have a sort of love/hate relationship, much like siblings in a nuclear family. We can gripe and jump on each other, but nobody else better try it. Aussies and Kiwis exhibit very similar traits towards each other. And that just rather brought me to like the both of them even more.
