New Zealand terms

These terms are used on a daily basis in New Zealand. Some of these terms are also British:

• flip flops- jandals                                 
• crosswalk- zebra crossing                 
• counter- bench        
• middle school- intermediate school
• ketchup- tomato sauce
• blanket- rug
• sausage- bangers
• soda- fizzy drink
• sneakers- sand shoes
• remote- flicker
• candy- lollies
• saran wrap- glad wrap
• bathroom- toilet
• window shopping- mooching
• trash- rubbish
• fries- chips
• cookie- biscuit
• silverware- cutlery
• grill- BBQ
• stove- grill/hob
• seed- pip/stone
• doesn't worry me- skin off my nose
• close pins- pegs
• pepper (the fruit)- capsicum
• eggplant- aueergene (pronounced a-bear-gene)
• igloo- chilly bin
• trunk- boot
• aluminum- alumenium
• bag/ back pack- ruck sack
• wrench- spanner
• gas- petral
•   mailbox- letter box
• flashlight- torch
• eraser- rubber
• ruined- stuffed
• stuffed animal- soft toy
• windshield- wind screen
•  sunglasses- sunnies
• sidewalk- foot path
• white out- twink
• sweater- jumper
• swimsuit- togs
• truck- lorri/ ute
• popsicle- ice block
• wheelie bin- recycling bin
• cafeteria- tuck shop/canteen
• oatmeal- porridge
• purse- handbag
• hungry- peckish
• blinker- indicator
• little- wee
• friend- mate
• morning/ afternoon break- morning/ afternoon "t"
• cinnamon bun- Chelsea bun
• vacation- holiday
• thank you- cheers
• stroller- pram
• apartment- flat
• roommate- flat mate

New Zealand Pictures

When Annie and I (Katie), traveled to New Zealand in February, we took several pictures. Here are a few of our favorite snapshots:

Ellis Island

I went on a trip for school last year to Ellis Island. My class visited the Ellis Island museum and were strictly told not to get off the ferry when it arrived at the Statue of Liberty. We explored the museum for three hours. After that, we exited the museum, checked to see that everyone was accounted for, and headed back on the ferry.

Once we were back on the bus, we were already far behind our schedule because once we got off the ferry, the buses did not show up for half an hour and the buses were scheduled to be in the parking lot at Ellis Island when my grade got off the ferry. Once  the grade was in the buses, I had no way to contact my dad to tell him the buses were running late.

Once we were back at school after school hours, my dad went over to me and showed me where he was.We strolled over to the car, entered, buckled our seat belts, and my dad started the engine. When the engine did not turn on the first time, we did not panic; my sister and I panicked by the third time the engine would not start.

Annie and our dad explained that they were waiting in the parking lot for an hour with the car running because the buses were scheduled to come at that time. I explained that the buses were late and I could not call home because I forgot to bring my phone. By that point, all of my classmates had departed with their parents to return home. The three of us exited the car and entered the school. We entered the office conveniently to the left of the entrance and called someone to tow our car.

We returned to the car and waited in the parking lot for two hours. Every fifteen minutes, our dad would exit the car and check the time by looking through a glass window in a nearby classroom. After two long hours of silence and frustration, we decided to check the upper parking lot to see if the car towers were up there. We discovered they had not come at all even though we stated our location and it had been two hours since we called.

At this point, it was around seven in the evening and the buses arrived at five in the afternoon. I gazed over at the elementary school next door and noticed a blue Subaru pulling into the school parking lot. I shared the news with Annie and our dad and we strolled over to the school. We found the front entrance and entered. The lights in the school were on and we made our way to the main office. While our dad called our mom to come get us (she had just come home from work), Annie and I dashed to the bathrooms down the hall.

After our dad made the phone call, our mom arrived in the parking lot ten minutes later.

The next day, our dad's car was still in the parking lot. He had to call someone to tow his car to our house. This time, they showed up and brought the car to the driveway.

Keep Calm and Carry On

Annie received a notebook for her birthday this year that said "Keep Calm, and Have a Cupcake". Ever since then, we had been repeating this saying throughout the day. At random moments throughout the day, we would say: "Keep calm and have a cupcake".

When Annie got the notebook, she believed that if she wanted to be calm, she could convince our parents to let her have a cupcake so she could calm down. Our parents never agreed to let Annie or me, Katie, to eat a cupcake to calm down.

While in New Zealand, we discovered a new version of "Keep calm and have a cupcake":

Although we love the saying "keep calm and carry on", we will always love "keep calm and have a cupcake".

Little things

My sister and I are obsessed with little things. We eat with "little spoons" that can hold about one pea at once. I suppose it's simply one of our quirks. Every time we spot a "little thing", we point it out to the other and we chat about how much we adore the object. All it takes is one little dachshund to stroll by for the two of us to drop what we're doing and chat about the little creature.

While we were in New Zealand, we discovered that they had a mandarin tree in their backyard. When we wandered over to the tree, we discovered the treasure trove of "little mandarins" along with other assorted "little fruits"

No matter where we travel, we will always look for items that make us smile (such as "little fruit").

Goldie

Goldie is the cat we met at our aunt's house in New Zealand. Ever since our first day, Goldie resented us. If he so much as saw us in the room or caught our glance, he dashed from the room out to the patio or through the cat door in the back. This type of behavior continued through our two weeks there.

Once or twice one of our cousins would pick Goldie up and bring him over to my sister and I. When he was carried over to us, he glanced once in our direction then tried to wiggle out of their strong grasp. Once he started squirming, both of us realized this was too much to ask for from a tabby cat so we told our cousin to put Goldie down.

The only reason why Annie and I cared about why Goldie disliked us was we loved Goldie. We could not remember the last time we pet any animal so we decided on the first day that it should be Goldie. Although we never felt his fur, we assumed that it was very soft.

Frenchie

My sister and I bought Frenchie when we went to Miami a year ago. Halfway through the trip, our family decided to go to the mall. Upon our arrival, it began to rain. Unlike most malls, this mall was conveniently outside with the shops a few yards apart. Since the rain was unexpected, we did not have an umbrella with us so we dashed into the nearest store. Before we entered the shop, I saw the name of the shop: Urban Outfitters.

Once we were inside, we found an area for books, clothes, and mustache merchandise. While we were there, we decided to snoop around. My sister, mom and I wandered over to the mustache merchandise while my dad explored the books.

At the mustache section, we found mustache cups, fake mustaches, mustaches with glasses attached and rabbits with mustaches (a.k.a. labbits). My sister and I looked at the fake mustaches envisioning what we would look like if we had facial hair.

Meanwhile, my mom was staring at the labbits. Seconds later, my mom picked up a labbit and placed it on my shoulder. I put the labbit in my small hands feeling the texture of him discovering the softness of the fur. We examined the labbit and found a pair of ears, four stubby feet, a small tail and a handlebar mustache.

My sister and I wanted the last syllable of our names should match with the labbits. (We wanted his name to end like our names: Katie (the writer) and Annie.) Our last trip was to Spain (we went to Madrid) so we wanted his name to begin with an European country. "Spainie" did not work so we tried neighboring countries such as Portugal and France. Portugal did not fit ("Portugalie" did not sound right), so we tried France. "Francy" did not fit him so we thought of what language they speak. In France, they speak french. Therefore, the labbit's name would be Frenchie.

Totoro

Totoro is in a Japanese movie called My Neighbor Totoro. My Neighbor Totoro is about a family moving to Japan to be closer to their mother in the hospital who is recovering from an illness. Upon arrival, sisters Satsuki (pronounced saht- ski) and Mei (pronounced May) explore the outside of the house and sprint across the yard.

One morning, Mei notices two rabbit ears in the grass. Mei follows her three-year-old instincts and chases after them. The pair of white rabbit ears advances quickly under the house to try to lose Mei. Mei discovers where the ears went and chases after them into a small opening in a bush. She is led through a series of tunnels to a large camphor tree. She watches the white creature jump into the opening in the tree and follows.Once Mei is inside the tree, she lands on top of a larger version of the white creature she followed earlier. She asks what his name is and interprets his roars as "Totoro".

One rainy night, Mei and Satsuki are waiting for their father to come home from work at the bus stop. Satsuki is carrying two umbrellas with Mei sleeping on her back. Satsuki carefully places an open umbrella on top of Mei. When Satsuki glances at the ground, she sees a pair of furry feet. When she looks up at the creature, she realizes this is the "Totoro" Mei has told her about. Satsuki hands Totoro an open umbrella and Totoro covers his head with it enjoying the sound of the rain on his umbrella. Moments later, a "cat bus" (a moving bus that looks like a cat) appears and Totoro hands Satsuki a bag of acorns and steps in the cat bus. A few minutes later, their father arrives.

That night, Satsuki and Mei plant the seeds in the garden. While they are asleep, Totoro and the two other white creatures do upwards motions with their hands to make the seeds sprout. Satsuki and Mei wake up during the dance and join in. The seeds quickly turn into tall trees. When they awoke the next morning, the seeds were not trees , however the seeds had started to sprout.

The girls learn that their visit to see their mother was postponed because she was getting worse instead of better. Satsuki takes in the news very hard. Instead of being upset, Satsuki yells at Mei for not understanding what was happening to their mother. Mei decided to head off the the hospital (about 4 miles by foot) with an ear of corn because she believes the corn will make her feel well again.

Mei's disappearance prompts Satsuki and her neighbors to search for Mei. Satsuki was unable to find Mei, so she dashed to the Camphor tree to ask Totoro for help. Once Satsuki explains Mei's disappearance, Totoro calls for his cat bus and the cat bus leads Satsuki straight to Mei with her ear of corn.

Two Peas in a Pot

My sister and I are know each other very well (just like two peas in a pod.) However, there's a reason why we're called two peas in a pot. I'll explain why.

While we were brainstorming ideas about a blog, we created a list of words that could possibly be incorporated into the title. Once we generated a list with about twenty words, we realized the idea wasn't going to work. Afterwards, we suggested random names. For a while, we thought of doing two ___ sisters but we were unable to brainstorm the middle word. We gave up for a minute or two trying to find a name that was original, creative, and also described what we would blog about. One problem: we had no idea what we would call it or what we would blog about. 

Next, my sister and I generated a list of sections we would talk about on the blog. (The sections will be up shortly!) After brainstorming, we thought of some categories. Once we decided our topics, it was time to get back to find the right name. At this point, my sister and I threw in the towel and decided to ask our mom and aunt to help. (Our aunt does not live with us. We went on vacation to see her in New Zealand. The trip from the east coast of the U.S. to her home in New Zealand took around twenty hours one way. Except, we're saving posts about New Zealand for a later date.)

After a few suggestions from our mom and aunt, our aunt suggested the blog name should be: Two Peas in a Pod. After consideration, both my sister and I agreed on the name. Next, my sister seemed excited to draw the logo. I let her draw because of her excitement plus my drawing skills are quite poor.

When my sister returned, she came back with a photo that looked like a butcher knife (at least that's what I thought she was showing me.) I told her what I thought it was. She explained that this was a picture of two peas in a pot. I told her the saying was two peas in a pod. However, I thought the idea was cute and unique so we changed the d in pod to a t. Now we are two peas in a pot.