Some interesting things

Friday, February 19, 2010

Having been in New Zealand for a week, I have realized some amazing things. There aren’t bugs here. I had to run to the bank yesterday and while I was sitting there this tiny little moth was flitting around. The lady was annoyed but I’m thinking, “be careful, this is an endangered species.” The windows don’t have screens on them. Even at the bishop’s house last Sunday, he had sliding glass doors in the living room that went out to the back yard. I guess they are open just about all the time. I occasionally see a spider web but I’ve only seen one tiny spider. Someone said they have a lot more bugs on the west coast. I’ll let you know when we go there.
It rained yesterday…all day. If we had been in Cedar we would have been concerned about flash flooding. We probably got about 2-3 inches. It seems the pattern is: one overcast day, one rainy day, one sunny day. Today the sun is out and all the windows in the flat have condensation on them. We are to occasionally open all the windows which helps with the condensation. I will probably be washing the windows on a regular basis to keep the mold down. Luckily my allergies are pollens. I haven’t had any problems with allergies so far.
Interesting finds: I can’t find graham crackers. They don’t seem to have canned pumpkin. Hamburger is about $4.50 a pound and chicken isn’t much cheaper. Gas is about $5.00 a gallon. When you convert most things from New Zealand dollars to US dollars they are about the same. When you go to the grocery store, they have most things you need but in the US we are used to having several varieties of things to choose from. There may only be one option and it may be more expensive. They have Oreos but they are about $5 for a small box. Jack and I drove about 10 miles to Hornby to shop the other night. (Hornby is a western suburb of Christchurch.) Of course we stopped at the MacDonalds there for dinner. After, we commented on how spoiled we are as Americans. Of our food, we expect several varieties to choose from and at very low prices. We spend about the least amount on our food of any country in the world. Or as the Animal Scientist would say, “10% of the people grow 100% of the food.”
It looks like a beautiful day. We have students coming over for dinner. I will make lasagna because I actually found two pans that would fit in the oven. If I put salad in the big cooking pot, I can serve dessert on the cookie sheet. There is a yard sale in town tomorrow. If I take my measuring tape, maybe I can pick up a few more pans to cook something different the next time. It just needs to be able to fit in a small oven and a small refrigerator. We’re getting creative.