FIRST IMPRESSIONS

As someone who has never left North America...and only been to Mexico and Canada for a day's trip, traveling to the other side of the world is very intimidating.  Check out the wikipedia page if you want to get a sense for the country as a whole.

Here are my FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

1.  IT'S NOT THAT WEIRD

The culture here is a bit different, but everyone speaks English (kind of).  You can find McDonald's and Starbucks and Subway.  But you might miss out on Taco Bell and Chipotle, and you'd be hard-pressed to find real Ketchup.

2.  IT'S SO WEIRD

-  Driving on the left side of the road / on the right side of the car is extremely hard to get used to, but only the first few days are bad.
-  The island is only about 100 miles (160 km) wide and it contains ALPINE, RAINFOREST, GLACIER, PLAINS, and COASTAL terrain.  Everything is extremely lush and green, and don't count on the weather staying the same for more than about 20 minutes.
- Getting ready for Winter?  ... It's about to be Summer down here :-D

a sunset on top of a parking garage

3.  COLLO-KIWI-ALISMS

KIWI - a New Zealander (also a native bird and fruit)
CARPARK - parking lot
TRUNDLER / TROLLEY - a shopping cart
RING - (verb) to call on the phone
ZED - the letter "Z"

Commonly said expressions:

"SWEET AS" - akin to "right on" or "wicked"
"GOOD AS GOLD" - hear this one all the time
"NO WORRIES, MATE" - constant
"CHEERS" - this is used everywhere, all the time. basically means "later"

double rainbow outside my motel