Say what?

Well, Grandma wrote me an e-mail today saying that the Dutch expression she says, "Is something like" "Oh how my honda taka." Huh. I just have a strong feeling that she doesn't say, "My hand itches," whenever she's frustrated. Stay tuned on that little mystery, still working to decipher that one.

Bryce and I met our American friend at Regional Wine & Spirits today for a free (!) beer tasting. Yum. We went off to Scopa for some pizza-- where I tried to be devious and order a feijoa vodka drink for my friend. She wasn't having it so I had to drink it-- that's karma for you.

We walked to the Downstage Theatre to watch Le Sud, a cute play about what would happen if the French had really settled the South Island. The first 5-10 minutes of the play was entirely in French, which freaked us out at first... when will the French end?? This is a French play?? But luckily the English started up so I could understand what was going on. I could understand about 1% of it with the gestures and such-- I was actually surprised I could understand that much.

There were a lot of jabs towards sexuality and ethnicity that I was pretty surprised about; in a phone call to President Obama, one actor said, "Yo yo what's up n---? How's the ho and the chillin?" It was a little bit of a shock for me to have a non-African American use the n-word in public, I had to review the statement over in my mind to make sure that I heard correctly. What with the non-politically correct speech and the references to kiwi culture, I definitely had a kiwi experience for the night. There were tons of jokes that definitely went over our heads.

feijoas

I had speech therapy with a little girl today while her grandmother watched, knitting. In the kitchen, her mum was baking up a storm. It was pouring down rain outside and inside it was nice and comfy and warm. It's amazing to be let into someone's house like this.

When speech was "all finished," the mum gave me a freshly baked feijoa slice, wrapped in wax paper. ("Slice" is the kiwi term for a dessert bar). Feijoas are a fruit that originate in South America and held in high regard here. They're pronounced with the "j" sound here in NZ. Many people have their own feijoa bushes and they're in season now, at the beginning of winter. Bryce and I are having a hard time getting used to their taste, especially when eaten fresh. In pastries they're easier to handle though.

Bryce was at a cafe the other day with a coworker; they ordered two quince danishes. The woman behind the counter said that there were no more quince available, but how about feijoa danishes? The coworker, without conferring with Bryce, said, "Oh yeah yeah that's fine." Bryce said he made a little inward squeak but couldn't say anything. He said it wasn't bad though :-)