Phrases here are pretty Sweet-as

Dec 2: It's hard to pick up the lingo and distinguish it as New Zealand speak. The flat has 1 New Zealander: Heath, 1 Columbian: Leyla, 1 Aussie: John and 2 Americans: Gord & Me. John's girlfriend, Briony, who frequents the flat is from England. So I'm learning heaps of new phrases and different verbiage, but I have no idea if it's kiwi/aussie/or brit speak. A very kiwi thing is to say sweet-as. It almost sounds like sweet-ass especially with the kiwi accent. It's the equivalent of cool or awesome. They also like to add "as" to other words to emphasize the word. For example, that climb was easy-as or that whale is beached-as. That would be a really easy climb or a really beached whale. They also call sausages, bangers. I have no idea why. Crook means sick. Like Gordon was so crook last night.

Speaking of Gordon, he had too much to drink the 2nd night I was in town and created cautionary tale #1. We were at some random dude's house celebrating someone's visa. I was ferrying him home in a cab and he yammied all over the place. Turns out there is a $300 fee for "soiling" a cab. Later we found out that it can cost upwards of $500 in fees for vomiting in a cab. So word to the wise, do not, under any circumstances, get vomit in a cab. Vomit in your purse, backpack or take the shirt off your back and throw up in that. If you mess up their cab, they have to get it cleaned and can't work that night or the day it's getting cleaned, so you have to pay or they'll call the cops. Are we more lenient in the US or have I just never been in a cab during a regurgitative episode?

Back to kiwi-speak, they also say keen when they're really into something. Instead of sandals, they call them jandals. They call them jandals because they think of them as japanese sandals. I kid you not.

The flatmates have gotten into their heads that I have an odd fondness for broccoli. So much that I have been nicknamed Moccoli. Go figure. Also I think my lactose intolerance may have been all in my head. Yesterday, we demolished some ice cream and then we had an incredibly rich chicken alfredo and I felt fine. Hooray. Also NZ ice cream is a bit different from US ice cream, but the general principles are the same: cold, creamy, sweet and dairy. The taste is a bit different, but it's delicious. I would recommend avoiding the Goody Goody Gum Drop flavor. The vanilla ice cream is great, but the first bite reminded me of a marshmallow. They also call gummy candies, "lollies." There is another strange chewy candy called Pineapple lumps. These have been nicknamed Plumps. They aren't very good, so feel free to not eat these if you visit NZ.