Pineapple lumps, light switches, and judder bars

It is about bed time here, and i'm sitting in my bed waiting for my room to warm up. Heating the room is a daily pre-bed time routine, as well as a pre-wake up routine. I will turn on my little space heater and then sit bundled in my bed until it gets really warm. Then I turn the heater off because running it through the night would become too expensive, snuggle up in my covers and sleep until my alarm clock rings, unless I wake up because of the cold. Then, when my alarm clock rings, I turn the heater back on, snooze, and by the time I actually wake up, my room is nice and warm again. This is a comfortable energy efficient way of living, I think.

A week of classes has gone by, and to think about it, it wasn't that bad. The campus is much bigger than I thought it would be, mostly because I think of Bryn Mawr as a campus and Otago is.... well... many times bigger. My farthest class currently takes me about 20 or 25 minutes to walk to, and my closest is about 10-12. The campus is beautiful, despite its size, and much of it reminds me of Bryn Mawr. There is a bridge with a lantern above it (I don't have a picture yet), and the Archway looks much like the Pems.

One side of the Archway

The other side of the Archway

Also, there is a river that runs through the campus and one can often see ducks and seagulls meandering about. Actually, the river is where I first encountered a pair of paradise ducks. Paradise ducks are indigenous to New Zealand and they live in pairs. They are shaped like ducks, but their plumage is different. I was walking back from class one day and spotted them. As I was avidly taking pictures, a passerby explained that Paradise ducks have mates for life, and always stay together. They are quite pretty, and very monogamous. They seem like a lovely couple, and I often see them around the river near the clock tower.

The clock tower

Part of the river

Paradise ducks!

As this post is not incredibly long yet, I might as well write a bit about how New Zealand is different from the US. Here is a small list that i've developed so far:

• Candies are called "lollies" and so far I've had Pineapple Lumps and Buzz Bars. Pineapple lumps are chewy pineapple taffy like stuff covered in chocolate. Buzz Bars are marshmallows and layer of caramel covered in chocolate.
• Kiwi's often use the word "wee", which I am quite fond of. "Look there at those two wee houses."
• Speed bumps are called judder bars.
• Cookies are called biscuits, and I think biscuits are called buns. Chips are called crisps and fries are called chips.
• The light switches are backwards, so you flip up to turn off and down to turn on. Every power outlet also has a switch next to it to turn the electricity on or off. By switching the switch off at an outlet helps save energy.
• New Zealand bills do not rip. I was afraid to try until many Kiwi's confirmed it. You can try really hard but they won't rip. Don't try scissors though because you can still cut through them.
• The eggs are not refrigerated. New Zealand supermarkets are much like those in the US, but I can never find the eggs because I go look for them in the cold section.
• I think the whole "toilets-flush-the-other-way" thing is a myth. My toilet just goes FLOOOSH in no particular direction.
• You don't need to tip at restaurants and such. It is not common but you are allowed to if you want to. 
• Tax is included in everything, which is nice because you pay what you see on the tag. Except almost everything is more expensive to begin with. Though, wine is pretty cheap, and pretty decent, but anything else (imported hard stuff) is reeaally expensive.
• There are no pennies or nickels. Everything is rounded. Sometimes I forget that coins can be up to $2. 
• Most people (students?) line dry their clothing. Drying is expensive. Our flat rule is one dry cycle per person per week, which is actually really nice. I just did laundry today, and about half of my stuff got dried in the dryer and the other half is on the drying racks right now.

So just a bit more about life in Dunedin before I head to bed. I am enjoying Dunedin quite a lot. It is the second largest city after Auckland. Though, I wouldn't compare Dunedin to NYC or Boston, because they are very different. There are about 125,000 people in Dunedin but about 22,000 of them are students. So if you can imagine, every summer there are 22,000 fewer people in the city. Anyways, i've gone out a few times, explored parts of the city, including the beaches that I mentioned in he previous post. On Tuesday (the second day of clases), there was the Castle Street keg party, which I briefly walked through to get to my flat. Just a vague summary of it, to spare you the details, people get dressed up and drink a lot. As for an idea of the costumes, there were pink cows, lumberjacks, and others. Feel free to use your imagination because whatever you think of was probably there. Anyways,  ta-ta for now...

They are asleep... which I will be too, momentarily.