Arrived in Auckland late Thursday night Feb.22. So far it has drizzled, rained and down poured! Am I in Seattle once again?! That's not all they have in common though.
1)Rain (as I have mentioned)
2)large Asian immigrant population (yes I can get as much Thai and sushi as I want, YEAH!)
3)Both places celebrate the Native culture every where you turn
4)Both are small for a "big city"
5)Both are port cities
6)Crime isn't as evident
7)Very clean for a large population living together
Okay so each of these similarities have something slightly off so you can tell them apart....
1) How the locals deal with the rain....in Seattle you can tell locals from tourists by the rain gear. tourists carry umbrellas with a look of either glee (yes, I'm in Seattle and it really does rain all the time) or annoyance on their faces. The locals pull the hood up of their jackets with a look of resignation on their faces. So, being a girl from Seattle I of course do not use an umbrella during the rain here and pull up my hood looking around smugly at the tourists with their umbrellas. Then I see how the locals are reacting. Nothing. I'm talking no umbrella, no hood , just bare heads being exposed to the rain looking for all the world that it is sunny outside. This behaviour occurred even during a downpour! These people are hardcore!
2)while there is a large Asian population and food joints all over the place...I have yet to find a single Teriyaki joint which are on every corner in Seattle. Apparently, Auckland's answer to the lack of Teriyaki places is to put up a kebab place every 5 steps.
3)the Native culture here is Maori (kind of Pacific Islander meets Native American) and you see its evidence in every street name, many harbors and town names, and various symbols, tattooes and carvings everywhere you turn. However, unlike Seattle the actual Maori people are still part of the population. Just go to a night club and every bouncer is Maori. The Maori male is known for his large, intimidating size so they are regularly employed as bouncers, security guards and crowd control
4)Auckland is much smaller. This is the largest city in the entire country and it has 1.2 million people!
Everything else is pretty much the same!
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1 comment:
I cannot TELL you how happy I am that you started this blog. I can't wait to read about your adventures.
I hope you find a teryaki place. Tell me, do they actually pronounce "kabab" as Kuh-baaab?
Very cool, so what's your first job?
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