1. Their accent and some of the vocabulary such as wee. They use the word wee all the time as in I have a wee lamb at home or put a wee line under the title of a book. Also, a bathroom is a room with a bath, toilets is a room with a toilet. Don't call a toilet and bathroom or they'll laugh. Garbage is rubbish and it belongs in the rubbish bin. Sandals are jandals, cookies are buiscuits, and tea is supper. Also, their e's and a's are pronounced a little different which is usually when I notice the accent the most. Some of my students still pronounce certain words. They also spell many words differently such as programme and centre.
2. Many people have asked so I will answer... The toilets here do not actually spin in the opposite direction. They actually don't really spin at all, you just push more of a button and the water kinda gushed out.
3. The cold water from the faucet takes a little while to actually get cold. It starts cold, gets warm, gets really hot and then is cold again...
4. Everything tastes a wee bit different as well. Even name brand things such as Twix and Snickers taste a little different. Ketchup is rarely used and ranch seems to be unheard of. The portion sizes are also much smaller (something I wish I could bring back with me, but I doubt it) They also have a lot of chicken flavored things such as chips and cracker and barbeque sauce is also really popular.
5. They have religious education in school. It was so weird for me on our first Friday to have the religion teacher, Debbie, come in and starts her lesson off with a prayer and then talks about Jesus and God with the students. It seems to be very nondenominational and there are still a few students who do not participate, but it's so strange to have this in school.
6. They use the metric system and temperature is in Celsius-I'm still not used to either.
7. Mullets and rattails are really popular with the boys here. Most of the boys in my class have one or the other.
8. There are more sheep than there are people. They are everywhere. Seriously.
9. It is really important to have good penmanship and they encourage all artwork to be very neat and tidy as well. My teacher tells the students that if their work isn't neat, he'll tear it up. He explained that he usually only does this to set an example, but then it helps them feel a sense of pride for the work they complete. They also put all of their artwork on display in the room somewhere. So neat to have art lessons right in the classroom.
10. The teachers are generalists so they teach regular classroom subjects such as reading, math, and writing, but they also teach art, PE, music, and fitness. They also encourage using some words from the Maori language which leads to my next one...
11. They have strong ties to the native culture of Maori. All of the students have a Maori language lesson once a week and there are also several who go to Kapa haka once a week to learn more of the songs and dances from the Maori culture.
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