About a month ago, I saw a question come up on a writer’s group I’m a part of.
Rebekah W asked,
For a book I’m planning right now, it involves some English people (from England) coming to New Zealand.
I assure [you] New Zealanders aren’t as weird as we seem :p But, I was wondering if you think anything is strange about New Zealand? Like are we unusual in some way?
I can’t really pick anything, having lived here all my life, but I guess to visitors it must seem a little weird, different culture and all.
So I rose to the occasion and ended up replying with about 1 ¼ pages worth of differences we’ve noticed between here and the States. So I thought I’d share them with you. Maybe you’ll enjoy reading about them.
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I replied: I moved here from the States in 2009, so I think I might be able to help a little. :) We went back about six months ago for a visit, and I think I got more culture shock going that way than I did coming this way! Anyway, here are a few differences I’ve noticed.
In Nature:
1. How many rivers there are—and that they’re braided. We had rivers in the States, but they were never braided. Here, you can see the gravel bed, whereas in the States I’m pretty sure you couldn’t most of the time.
2. The sounds of the different kinds of birds. I had never heard a magpie before coming here, so it was a bit of a shock to hear! Now that I know what it is, I love the sound.
3. All the native bush. In Michigan where I lived, I don’t think I ever saw bush quite like the stuff here. Here it’s wild, rugged, dark, slightly spooky…compared to the States, it’s a lot more fascinating (okay, maybe that has something to do with the fact that I didn’t grow up around it?). In the States, the only thing I can remember was trees with some—not a lot—of underbrush. So taking a walk through the bush here is quite the amazing experience for me!
4. The black sand on the beaches! In Michigan, there is pure yellow sand, no matter where you go. But here it’s black and slightly more “grainy”. Michigan sand is yellow and finer. I don’t know if this would be a difference from England or not.
5. When we came here, Mum had a lot of problems with getting directions wrong because of the position of the sun. (In the Northern Hemisphere, it’s in the south part of the sky, and here it’s in the north part of the sky.) So she would often confuse north with south, and vice-versa.
6. The weather is so changeable! Like one person said, you can have all four seasons in one day here! England might be similar, because they’re an island country too. I don’t know. But in the States, you’ve either got summer, autumn, winter, or spring. It usually doesn’t come all in the same day. :)
…and I shall come next week with the differences in culture that I’ve noticed.
So, have you ever experienced culture shock?
~Esther
This was an interesting post! I must say, some things I take for granted simply because I've known them all my life.
ReplyDeleteDo we seriously have black sand??????????????????????????????????????????
Isn't our sand a whitey-creamy-grey? Maybe you're thinking of rocky beaches with black rocks???
The visible gravel on the river bed was interesting. As I said above, I have never really thought about it being different in other parts of the world!
I have only been once out of this country, to Australia for a ten day holiday. I don't think I really experienced culture shock, although we were in Brisbane and it certainly had the 'big city' feel. But I guess Australia is closer to New Zealand in culture and nature than most other countries are. :)
You have black sand in some places on the coast, anyway. It does differ from beach to beach. No, I'm not thinking of beaches with black rocks. :)
DeleteGore Bay has very dark sand. It's very coarse, too--not fine.
DeleteVery interesting post Esther! So neat to hear the differences!
ReplyDeleteOh and Bonnie, black sand is from red volcanic rocks (Im pretty sure, or at least it is in the north island)
Hmm...guess I don't talk about these things much? :)
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