Vacation or Holiday

We've been here long enough now that we've found ourselves adopting some of the local lingo. Whereas we would say vacation, the locals call it a holiday. That sounds much more relaxing and romantic, like something out of an old F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Even though he's American. Nonetheless, we've taken to calling this our NZ holiday. It's hard to believe that we still have an entire country still to come!

We began the day waking up at the Silver Fern. Apparently, the grandparents didn't get the news that the beds had bedwarmers. It is a brilliant invention, really. It is basically what we would call an electric blanket, only it is placed under the sheets. So, you can turn it on as your going to bed and be cozy (there's no such thing as central air/heat here). Yet, while we were so cozy that we woke and turned off our bedwarmers, they woke up freezing. Apparently, we forgot to mention it to them. Oops.

We had an amazing breakfast at the hotel and then hit the road back to Auckland. Anne and I had a meeting with a local pastor set up at 1 and so we knew we didn't have much time to waste. Still, we managed to stop in Tirau for some shopping. I won't say yet what we bought, as much of it was gifts. But we had fun and the shopkeepers were very nice. We were sad that the Christmas shop in town was closed but this is not exactly tourist season. We picked up a few "flat whites," the local lingo for what we would call a latte, and headed on the road again. Everywhere you go they are slinging espresso. I've never seen so many coffee shops, with nary a Starbucks in site. But even the Chinese take out (or take away, as they call it) has a really nice espresso machine.

We got back to Auckland with about two minutes before our lunch date arrived. Anne and I really hit it off with this couple. We had met him in Dallas just briefly, but were glad to spend more time with them both. They took us to a buffet sort of place that was like the Kiwi equivalent of a Golden Corral. They had everything from sushi to roast beef to fish and chips. They even had something in a soup tureen that was labeled "chili con carne." Words fail me at this point.

Don't tell the others, who were back at the hotel, but they drove us to look at their church, which happened to be very near One Tree Hill. It is a beautiful locale from which to view the city, and we got lots of great pictures. Since I'm typing from my phone, I'll post them later. We also saw a double rainbow. We're still wondering what it all means...

It was a good visit with them. We got to share some of our impressions of the NZ church culture, and they helped us process through a great deal, too. We'll be reflecting on it for a while.

We met up with the others, and we planned to go out for a nice dinner. But, after scouring our guidebooks to find what looked like a good restaurant, and then after scouring our maps to see how hard it would be to drive there, we gave up and walked around the corner to the Chinese Take Away/Fish and Chips Shop/Coffee Bar and ate. These people could use some small business consulting. And maybe some spelling help as one item on the menu is a "fluufy."

We caught a little bit of television, too after dinner. (Just for the record, we had some fried rice and cashew chicken without the aid of soy sauce. Barbaric!) the TV was on the UK channel, and wow. Anne and I almost never watch TV, but if we lived in the UK, we'd watch even less. It was dry as toast and poke-out-your-eyes dull. And that is the most culturally sensitive thing I can say about it.

Now, we are concluding our nightly ritual. Me staying up for a bit to blog and read, and Anne falling asleep, waking about 3am to read the blog. I keep telling her that she can blog, too, but to no avail. Maybe tomorrow. We're meeting two other couples tomorrow, so we'll let you know how that goes.