New Zeland is a fantastic place. Just one of those places you have to see before you die. Put it in your bucketlist and get it done. That being said, there are some things about this country that as a foreigner, I don’t think I could ever get used to. Not things that strike me in a bad way, but just so different from my Mexican background, or my Mexico City constant-crazyness culture, that I could never look at them without being surprised.
Without further ado, here is my personal list of Kiwi things I find culturally shocking:
1) Incredibly relaxing yet mind-blowing barefootedness which can be spotted everywhere form the beach, to the supermarket and even the airport. People in New Zealand know what is good in life and taking your shoes off (all the time) is a part of that.
2) Noise-offs and people’s extreme desire to show off their car which takes place in every city in New Zealand that has cars and people, so basically, everywhere. I have to admit this one is not an enjoyable one, because…well, it makes people look very conceded and unaware of the fact that every time their car engine roars, a ton of pollution is released into the world.
3) The internet in New Zealand sucks and it is limited…LIMITED!
And then you realize that New Zealand is a developed country that should have an outstanding internet service.
And then you also relaize you are from a developing country that has better-and way cheaper- internet service than New Zealand.
And then you learn that McDonald’s offers free Wi-Fi to its costumers.
And then you thank the burguer-making gods of the Universe.
But then you realize that the Wi-Fi at McDonald’s is also LIMITED…and sucky.
4) Kiwis have intense, completely-different-from-anything-you’ve heard-accents. If you want a guide to New Zealand English (some people call it Kiwinglish) see the one below:
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| Source: http://kiwiscots.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/kiwinglish-11-last-tutorial.html |
5) Kiwis are always upbeat, happy and ready to wish you a good morning, a good day and basically a good life. This is not a bad thing at all, in fact, I love this about New Zealand; people are so kind and chatty. They are just good, honest people. But being from one of the largest metropolis in the world, you kind of forget people can be as nice as Kiwis are.
On that note, I hope you have a good morning and good day (depending on your time zone) and generally a good life. Cheers!
