Kiwi slang lesson 4:
several common words and phrases to use with friends
knackered: the Kiwi version of "tired".
dear: to be incredibly expensive, or of great worth.
snapped: to be caught red-handed
feed: a big meal
ra...ra...ra...: to be compared to the U.S. version of "blah blah blah", an expression used when describing someone who is ranting angrily. Pronounced the same way that cheerleaders in the U.S. yell for teams.
conversation example:
"oy bro, I was quite knackered after that massive feed"
"where did you go to eat?"
"Bacchus, in the Octagon"
"aw yeah? I heard that place was quite dear"
"I reckon bro, I'll be snapped when my mom looks at my credit card statements, 'what were you doing eating there? ra...ra...ra...' "
Once again, I have to apologize for not posting for awhile. These past two weeks have been a blur of little trips to Balclutha, the Peninsula, wine and dinner at the Mannequin chef Shaun's house, bus rides into downtown Dunedin with Sarah, and of course, work.
Here's a collage of pictures: my flat, where I work, and other odds and ends. I hope that you're fitting your Kiwi slang lessons into your day-to-days.
This is 28 Pentland Street! The long awaited tour of my flat commences now! Notice the strange fence/gate in the front, I am at a complete loss to describe it's function. There's Simon coming home from class on his bike. I would tell you to check the scale of our house to Simon's height, but keep in mind Simon's giraffe-like height.
We went to Balclutha for a few nights to visit with Simon's parents last week. Simon's mom made a really delicious pumpkin soup and casserole, and insisted that I sleep in an actual bed and not on the floor. I ended up kicking Roy out of bed, but he was seriously happy to be able to play video games with Simon into the wee hours of the morning. This picture is taken on the street that Simon's parents live on- Boyd Street.
This is the stream behind my house, there's a hiking trail on the right and on the left is my backyard.
This is the hill at the top of my road, Pentland Street, notice the sheep in a line. Every morning before I go to work there are always sheep grazing on the hills around the house. There are a lot of farms, and beautiful houses on the hills around the valley, whereas the valley itself is mainly cheap flats (see above).
This is the street entrance to the Mannequin. I put those signs out everyday I open!
This is the inside of the Mannequin, what I see when I'm working. Because it's winter there isn't much seating outside right now, but in about a month there will be about eight more tables to cover in the sun. This picture was taken at the front of the cafe/bar/restaurant where the seating is higher.
The conservatory and outdoor seating are seriously treacherous with coffee in hand. A "long black" is made by putting a double shot of espresso on top of just enough hot water; they "go bad" within 30 seconds, so you have to get them to customers fast or re-make them. I ended up tripping outside and almost spilling a customer's long black on his head in my hurry. Woops.
That's where you can see me standing semi-frazzled and incredibly busy on most days of the week. On the left approaching the bar is Jana, my manager. She doesn't look that frightening, but you seriously have to trust me on this one...
Anyone who knows Simon, knows that he's obsessed with food. Here he is with that big grin on eating a filled croissant out front. He's pretty excited.
Once again, another picture taken on the road from Simon's parents house. I asked Simon what those mountains were called and he replied, "Mountains? Abi, those are hills".
The view out the window of 28 Pentland Street. June the cat lady lives two flats to the left. The flat on the immediate left is owned by a Scottish couple- Alex and Kathy. In their mid-40s, they are incredibly kind, and own an enormouscat named "Warlock".
The orange stuff growing on that hill is called "flax" and is a pretty serious rope product used at first by Maori iwis (tribes), but now commercialized nation-wide.
This is the stream behind my house, there's a hiking trail on the right and on the left is my backyard.
This is the hill at the top of my road, Pentland Street, notice the sheep in a line. Every morning before I go to work there are always sheep grazing on the hills around the house. There are a lot of farms, and beautiful houses on the hills around the valley, whereas the valley itself is mainly cheap flats (see above).
This is the street entrance to the Mannequin. I put those signs out everyday I open!
This is the inside of the Mannequin, what I see when I'm working. Because it's winter there isn't much seating outside right now, but in about a month there will be about eight more tables to cover in the sun. This picture was taken at the front of the cafe/bar/restaurant where the seating is higher. 
The conservatory and outdoor seating are seriously treacherous with coffee in hand. A "long black" is made by putting a double shot of espresso on top of just enough hot water; they "go bad" within 30 seconds, so you have to get them to customers fast or re-make them. I ended up tripping outside and almost spilling a customer's long black on his head in my hurry. Woops.
That's where you can see me standing semi-frazzled and incredibly busy on most days of the week. On the left approaching the bar is Jana, my manager. She doesn't look that frightening, but you seriously have to trust me on this one...
Anyone who knows Simon, knows that he's obsessed with food. Here he is with that big grin on eating a filled croissant out front. He's pretty excited.
Once again, another picture taken on the road from Simon's parents house. I asked Simon what those mountains were called and he replied, "Mountains? Abi, those are hills".
The view out the window of 28 Pentland Street. June the cat lady lives two flats to the left. The flat on the immediate left is owned by a Scottish couple- Alex and Kathy. In their mid-40s, they are incredibly kind, and own an enormouscat named "Warlock".
The orange stuff growing on that hill is called "flax" and is a pretty serious rope product used at first by Maori iwis (tribes), but now commercialized nation-wide.* * *
This week Jana told me that she "reckoned" that I was probably the most confident worker they've had at the Mannequin. After I rolled my jaw up off the floor, she told me that she thought it was because I was American. Kiwis are consistently trying to be humble, accommodating, agreeable. Jana and I talked about the difference in cultures, and she said how she "loved America" because "everyone was confident". I thought this was something really interesting to think about; I'm learning a lot here about New Zealand sure, myself obviously, but also (and this is going to sound exasperatingly cheesy) what it really means to be an "American". What are your thoughts on this? What is an American? What do we stand for? Who are we as a people?
Jana's been leaving me alone more and more, which is nice. Another newbie is being hired, so I won't be the new person anymore. When I heard the news that Jana was looking at CVs I literally ran into the kitchen and did a dance in front of Sarah with the soup ladles. I locked up for the first time alone last night. If anything was stolen or broken into I'd be to blame (said Jana), this scared the crap out of me. I almost locked myself into the shop, but at the last minute figured out how to get the deadbolt unlocked and escaped before the alarm went off. In other words: work is actually all right. I know a few "regulars" which is a cool feeling, and I can handle looking after the front of the restaurant myself, which is a relief.
* * *
Other culturally Kiwi things. Every Kiwi that I know is obsessed with the Kiwi drama "Outrageous Fortune" (this was the best youtube clip I could find: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57bGt0sUhds&feature=related). Sarah from work has insisted that I watch all four seasons as soon as I possibly can in order to actually assimilate to New Zealand life. She let me borrow Season One, and now Simon is addicted. Every time we've both home he asks me eagerly "Outrageous Fortune time?".
* * *
I'm feeling a lot more settled down. I have volunteering at the fat duck place tomorrow, which I'm sort of excited about. I also have received my first library fine! You know what that means... I've officially arrived in New Zealand!
Post again soon, this time I mean it.
Hope you are well.
Cheers,
Abi
