Boy Racers

The term "Boy Racer" refers to a phenomenon that has spread through out New Zealand in the past few years. Boy Racers are teenage or twenty-something boys who modify their cars and drive irresponsibly, illegally, and generally disturb the local community through noise and vandalism.

The cars driven by Boy Racers are extremely modified and extremely ugly. Typical modifications for a boy racer include:

• Hideous paint jobs, often including patterns, words or images
• Ridiculously large spoilers
• Huge, earth-shattering exhaust pipes
• Engine modifications
• Neon lights underneath the car (this is my favorite)
  
• Lowering
  
• Wide race tires
  
• Loud sound systems

In fact, Boy Racers have become such a problem in New Zealand that 5 % of road deaths are caused by Boy Racers. In 2003 the Land Transport (Unauthorised Street and Drag Racing) Amendment Act, also known as the "Boy Racer Act," was signed into law. The Act is aimed at street racing and burnouts in public places.

Under the law, illegal activities include driving a car in an illegal street race or accelerating in an unnecessary way. Other infractions include wheel spins, "donuts" or driving a car in a way that causes the car to lose traction. There are heavy penalties for breaking the law, such as jail time, car impoundment, and fines.

Apparently, the law has helped police collect and impound many cars, but the Boy Racers continue to be a problem. A hospital in Christchurch has to move their patients on the weekends because the noise caused by Boy Racers on the street below is so bad. In January, a Christchurch policeman was ambushed by 300 Boy Racers who threw bottles at his car and shot at him with air rifles. The policeman just drove away, leaving the Boy Racers to their own destructive devises.

After the incident city officials and the public called for more aggressive laws to deal with the Boy Racer problem, including crushing their seized cars to get them off the road. The Boy Racers responded by threatening the Christchurch Mayor for his tough stance against them. They parked their cars outside his home, yelling and revving their engines.

Hmmm, so much for law enforcement.

Dunedin definitely has its share of Boy Racers. A walk down George St (the main street downtown) is not complete without engines revving, tires screeching, and music blasting from tinted windows. Grassy areas and parking lots often have tire marks from a cars doing donuts. The other night, I laid in bed listening to Boy Racers driving all over Dunedin until the wee morning hours. Every time I see these cars I have to shake my head and laugh. The cars are so ridiculous looking! And then I sprint across the street to avoid getting run over.

The Cadbury Easter Bunny

Did you know that the Cadbury Company has a factory in Dunedin? Yeah, I didn't either before I moved here. Some days the air smells like chocolate and you know the factory is making up a big batch of goodies! You can take a tour of "Cadbury World" and learn how their chocolate is made. I haven't made a visit yet, but I'll report back when/if I do.

The Dunedin Cadbury factory opened in 1930 and now produces some of New Zealand's favorite candies including Pinkys, Jaffas, Perky Nana, Chocolate Fish, Freddo, Wine Gums, and Pineapple Lumps. And now that Easter is upon us, the shops are filled with all the Cadbury Chocolate Bunnies and Creme Eggs you could ever want. (Alas, there is not a colorful, sugar-coated marshmallow Peep in sight....)

I always wanted the Easter Bunny to leave some of these eggs in my Easter basket, but it's probably better that they never appeared. Honestly, I've never actually managed to have more than one bite of these sickly sweet, gooey eggs. I'd rather eat a box of Peeps!

You can check out Cadbury New Zealand here:
http://www.cadbury.co.nz/

And just for fun, check out the Peeps webpage!
http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com/

Hope everyone has a Happy Easter!

Fall

Fall has arrived in Dunedin, with crisp blue skies, and yellow leaves. Take a look!

Bacon Buttie!

I've discovered something that makes the 8:30 am Saturday morning Farmer's Market worth getting out of bed for (besides the excellent fresh fruits and veggies, of course): The Bacon Buttie.


A Bacon Buttie consists of 2 slices of white bread (as in Wonder) packed with hot, salty bacon, caramelized onions relish, mustard and ketchup. The Bacon Buttie is extremely popular and there is always a long line to order one. I think I'll have to start making them at home during the week....

Mmmmm, bacon!

Death by Cold

Oh boy, the days are becoming shorter, darker, and colder here in the southern hemisphere, a reminder that winter is fast approaching. Winter in Dunedin means a bitterly cold house, and just in case you still weren't convinced about the severity of cold New Zealand homes......

Last week, one of Dunedin's weeklies published a story about HomeSmart, a research program designed to investigate how to help Dunedin home owners keep their houses warmer during the "bitterly cold" winter months. Research shows that because of Dunedin's location and a high number of old wooden houses without insulation, homes here are even colder then others in New Zealand. The research team leader said that she had heard stories of people waking up to "frost on the duvet covers and ice on the inside of their windows" (Jones, Pam. March 26 2009 Dunedin Homes in Winter to be Studied. The Star. pg 4). Friends of mine have warned me that during the winter months, houses are often colder than the refrigerator!Brrrrr......

Previous studies have also looked at cold New Zealand homes. A 2006 study by the Commissioner for the Environment, showed more than one million people were living in cold, damp New Zealand homes below the minimum temperature of 18 degree C recommended by the World Health Organization.

In a presentation made to the NZ Government Treasury, Otago University researcher and healthy-housing expert Philippa Howden-Chapman demonstrated that New Zealand has low building code standards and there is high level of deferred maintenance, leading to poorly built homes that are cold and damp (Howden-Chapman. 2006. Housing in New Zealand: private assets with public consequences).

But that's not all. Recent studies also suggest that there is a relationship between cold homes and poor health. A 2007 study at the University ofOtago found that 1600 New Zealanders die every winter, more than during other season (Davie GS, Baker MG, Hales S, Carlin JB. 2007. Trends and determinants of excess winter mortality in New Zealand: 1980 to 2000. BMC Public Health 7:263). The researchers suggested that warmer homes could help keep people healthier during the winter.

So what's the problem? Why don't we just crank up the heater? Well, energy is extremely expensive in New Zealand and central heating doesn't exist. There is no gas main so most homes are heated with a heat pump, a heater/air conditioner contraption that converts outside air to warm/cool air inside your house. Heat pumps are becoming more and more popular as a "greener" alternative to coal (yes, coal is still used here!) and wood stoves.

We have 1 heat pump in the living room/dining room/kitchen. It works OK when the door to the rest of the house is closed, but this means that only one room is warm while the rest of the house is frigid, including the bedroom. And for some reason it's mounted by the ceiling, and heat rises, right......?

Anyway, here is a link to a good article about these studies and the consequences of a cold home.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/461848

Hope you are warm and healthy!

The Barfies are Back!

Fall is upon us here in New Zealand and another school year is underway at the University of Otago which means the students are back in town. In a big way. Here in Dunedin, Uni students are known as "Scarfies" due the traditional blue and gold scarves worn to rugby games during the freezing winters. However, I like to call them Barfies, due to their drinking habits.

Compared to the States, New Zealand takes a very relaxed attitude toward drinking, with 18 the drinking age and drinking allowed in most public areas. From what I've seen, Barfies definitely take advantage of this freedom and take partying to a whole new level, a scary one. On any given night you can see hordes of young drunk students stumbling out to the pubs or find a couch burning party at some one's flat. On Saturday and Sunday mornings, Dunedin streets are filled with trash, broken furniture and smashed bottles, sidewalks are splattered with puke, dark corners smell like urine, bikes lie vandalized in bikes racks, and sometimes, even store fronts and cars are vandalized.

Now, I'm familiar with partying in college, but I have never seen a University involuntarily encourage it or a community so accepting of its negative consequences. Most people seem to have the attitude that it's "just kids having fun." Cleaning up puke for the hundredth time: Fun? Hmmmmm.

The front page of the freshman orientation activity guide published in a weekly paper advertised sales on cases of beer. This years annual "Freshman Toga Parade" (think Animal House) down Dunedin's main street turned into a violent riot with vandalized cars and broken store-front windows after older students living above the stores began throwing trash, food, vomit, and feces (yes, you read that right) down on the new students below. Shop owners were outraged and posters went up all over campus asking students if this type of behavior is what they wanted their degree to represent. However, no other steps have been taken to curtail student partying and only 3 out of over 2,000 students were arrested. Furthermore, the legal, cultural and psychological consequences for bad behavior are not very harsh or severe here so why should anyone care?

OK, I just have to ask, who in their right mind would allow thousands of drunk teenagers to have a toga party in the middle of the city??

Ode to my House

Summer seems to have ended, marked by 4 days of cold rain. Dunedin houses are not well built and most are uninsulated, making for a chilly, damp house. Here is an ode to our own house...

Oh House!

My cold, cold house!
You welcome in the Arctic winds
With paper-thin plywood walls and no insulation
Doors with breezy gaps and windows that rattle
A house with one heat source that only warms the living room
leaving the bedrooms freezing

My ridiculous, impractical house!
Without a vent for a clothes dryer
or an electrical outlet in the bathroom
With a stovetop positioned in a corner that requires advanced yoga to use
A house that once locked from the inside, can only be unlocked with keys
making a quick escape impossible

My cheap, unattractive house!
With textured wallpaper in appalling colors
Curtains from unwanted fabric in the remnant pile
Gaps and uneven lines in the woodwork
A house with shoddy cabinets, plastic counter tops, unsecured faucets and mismatching carpet

Oh House!

An incompetent contractor built you
without using levels, T-squares, or chalk lines
He was not aware that kitchen cabinets and refrigerator doors need to fully open
in order to function properly
An incompetent contractor who forgot to put the bathroom doors back on their hinges
Who left behind pipes that drip, wood scraps in the backyard
and carpet tacks sticking up through the carpet for bare feet to find

Oh dreadful House!
I see your mates all over Dunedin

Chinese Democracy in New Zealand?

Yes, Chinese Democracy is alive and well in New Zealand, in the form of the latest album from Guns n’ Roses, that is!

Remember Guns n’ Roses, those long-haired, bandanna-wearing rockers who welcomed you to the jungle back in 1987…? Well, Axel Rose has certainly found an enthusiastic and dedicated audience in Kiwis. In fact, from what I’ve heard, Guns n’ Roses appear to be an institution in New Zealand. The airwaves are crammed with songs from Chinese Democracy, and on any given Friday night, pubs are wallpapered with Axle’s voice screeching out Sweet Child Of Mine.

Now I like Guns n’ Roses every once in awhile, but it still strikes me as odd that out of all the great American rock bands, Guns n’ Roses would be so incredibly popular here in New Zealand. It’s almost as bizarre as David Hasselhoff’s über popularity in Germany. Almost.

Just Bulldoze and Start Over!

Compared to the insanely expensive California real estate market, homes are cheap around the South Island, especially here in Dunedin. There are many factors that contribute to the housing market: the weak economy, the overall low cost of living in New Zealand, the surplus of empty homes on the market, the low-quality of construction….Of course there are some very up-market homes too, especially new houses in Queenstown, but they are generally few and far between.

What ever the reason for inexpensive real estate, its astounding to look through the property paper delivered to our home each week. $150,000 US can get you a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom home with a 2-car garage, “rumpus” room, and incredible views, often of the ocean. Imagine the cost of that in California!

Unfortunately, many of the homes are very old and need (a lot of) work. Many ads include the words: DIY, Has Potential, Renovate, Needs Work, Rebuild, and TLC. And yes, I've even seen “ready to renovate or just bulldoze and start over.” Seems like owners just let homes go here.

I especially love the tag lines that Realtors use for each house. They must put a lot of work into creating these.

Here are some gems I found last week:

Vendor Wants Action
Renovator’s Delight
Watch the World Go By
Gilt Edged Investment
Potential Plus
Oozes Character
You Can Be Happy Here
Calling All Handymen
Honey, Stop the Car
Restore, Restore, Restore
Good Bones, Great Potential
Warm As
Bachelors/Bachelorettes: Come and Get It

And my personal favorite….

As Scarce as Hen’s Teeth

Dunedin Wildlife

A Mullet in its natural habitat on the streets of Dunedin.

Where Dial-Up Goes to Die

Do you know how much Internet bandwidth you use per a month in your house? Yeah, me neither. But here in New Zealand you need to know.

For home Internet access, you must subscribe to packages according to how much bandwidth you plan to use per month and the speed you want. This applies to both uploading and downloading. If you happen to go over your monthly limit, your access is slowed to dial-up speed. Goodbye podcasts, YouTube, Skype, and streaming radio. *Sigh*

Coming from the U.S. where Internet is fast and use is unlimited, I have absolutely no idea how much bandwidth I use. We don't have Internet at home yet because all the plans in our area require a land line, which we don't have and don't want to pay for. There are so many different packages and add-ons that it gets a bit overwhelming. Here are some packages offered by the main Internet provider. Let me know if you can make some sense of it.....

Broadband Plans	Speed (Downstream/Upstream)	Usage Allowance	Monthly Charge	Additional Usage
HighSpeed 10G	Up to 4 Mbps / 2 Mbps	10G	$54.95	1G packs at $2.95 per pack
LightSpeed 20G	Up to 10 Mbps / 2 Mbps	20G	$79.95	1G packs at $2.95 per pack
LightSpeed 40G	Up to 10 Mbps / 2 Mbps	40G	$109.95	2G packs at $2.95 per pack
LightSpeed 80G	Up to 10 Mbps / 2 Mbps	80G	$149.95	2G packs at $2.95 per pack

We are looking into an unlimited wireless option but the initial set-up costs are astronomical and speed cannot be guaranteed at any one time.

I do have fast wireless Internet access on my computer through the research I do at the University, but my use has to be paid for according to how much I use. When the IT department help set up my personal network, I asked about bandwidth use but they couldn't tell me how much the average student uses.

It would be nice to have some sort of Internet usage meter on my computer to let me know how much bandwidth I'm using and the associated costs. For now, I'll just use the University network until I get a bill.

Mullet Spotting

I'm sorry, but the mullet has got to be the worst hairstyle ever created. Why on earth would you want to look like Billy Ray Cyrus or a porn star? Unfortunately, variations of the mullet, including the repulsive rat tail, are extremely popular here in Dunedin. Both men and women sport these hideous hair creations, which are often emphasized with colored highlights. I've even seen one guy with leopard spots bleached into his mangy strip of hair. Sadly, little boys, as young as 4 or 5 years old, have mini-mullets to match their dad's stunning mud flap.

Mullets have also infiltrated the sports arena. In fact, some sportscasters have even commented on the trend, questioning the players' choice in hairstyles. The photo above depicts a rugby player from an Otago team, the Highlanders, who has apparently started the mullet trend on his team.

A few years ago, there was a resurgence of the mullet in the U.S., but this trend tended to be more of an ironic fashion statement than a serious hairstyle. People had mullets as a joke. Not so in Dunedin. Here, you can have your business in the front and party in the back, too.

Uncle Bob's Birthday

Robert Burns, widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, turns 250 this year. Also known as Rabbie Burns, Scotland's Favorite Son, or simply The Bard, Robert Burns is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death, became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism.

A cultural icon in Scotland, Burns is also celebrated by the Scottish diaspora around the world. Dunedin (Scottish Gaelic for Edinburgh) was founded by Scottish settlers, including the nephew of Robert Burns, and continues to maintain a strong Scottish heritage. A bronze statue of Burns, usually topped with seagulls, sits in the city's central Octagon. This week, Dunedin celebrates Burns' birthday with song, dance, poetry readings, and even a haggis feast. Oh boy, sheep heart, liver and lungs boiled in sheep stomach!

Perhaps Burns' most well known poem/song is Auld Lang Syne, which is sung during New Years Eve celebrations (you know, that song no one seems to know the words to). Another famous poem/song is A Red, Red Rose, which has always been a favorite of mine. Here are the lyrics:

My love is like a red red rose That’s newly sprung in June; My love is like the melodie That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in love am I; And I will love thee still, my dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun: And I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only love And fare thee weel, a while! And I will come again, my love, Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.

So put on that kilt, pull up those socks, break out the bagpipes, and toast Uncle Bob's birthday with a wee dram of whiskey! Slainte!

Where the Streets are Made of Glass

Ever since I arrived here in Dunedin, I've noticed a very strange phenomenon: Dunedin is covered in broken glass. Brown, green, blue, clear....shiny, sharp confetti collecting in the gutters. Car parks shimmer with a sea of glass shards and jagged bottles lie scattered in the weedy empty lots. You could make a mosaic of ancient Roman proportions with all the glass in the streets and on the sidewalks. It seems that young (and perhaps older) Dunners find much satisfaction in breaking glass bottles after emptying them. It's possible that allowing drinking on the streets, combined with the lack of adequate rubbish bins (forget recycling!), contributes to the abundance of broken bottle glass that litters the town. Glass from vandalized storefront windows also accumulates on sidewalks, turning a shopping trip downtown into a hazardous hopscotch.

And here's another strange thing: many Dunners walk barefoot. Now I understand wanting to be barefoot in the park, at the beach or in the botanical gardens, especially on the few precious hot days here, but walking barefoot on the glass-strewn streets of Dunedin just seems plain stupid. One wrong step and you have just landed yourself in the Dunedin hospital for a tetanus shot. Not to mention the possibility of toe amputation from the hypothermia-inducing icy winds that regularly blow through town. OK, a bit far-fetched, I know.....but those who walk barefoot in Dunedin have rocks in their heads. And glass shards in the soles of their feet.

Update: November 19 2008

An update from November 19, 2008:

Well, I'm a bit more settled in here now and my boyfriend and I are exploring our new home together. The weather is warming up with Spring, although we still get schizophrenic weather changes daily! 2 weeks ago we had snow and 40 degree temp - in the house! I have yet to hear a good explanation as to why Kiwi homes are so poorly made and not insulated, I don't care what anyone says, shivering in wool clothes under 5 wool blankets is not an adventure and does not build character!

We have explored the Otago peninsula we live on and caught sight of the royal albatross colony, the birds have a 9ft wingspan!! They look like pterodactyls flying among the seagulls! No penguins yet, we have to time it right since they leave for the ocean at sunrise and only return at sunset, which is 9:30 these days. So many flowers are in bloom right now, they smell so good and attract the most enormous bumble bees I've ever seen! We also recently visited the Otago Museum which is a wonderful natural history museum filled with specimens and collections. There is even an ancient Mediterranean collection! It is a great place to learn about Maori and New Zealand history, and about the crazy plants and animals that are here, although many endemic species are on the brink of extinction. Even after leaving the Cal Academy of Sciences in SF, I am very impressed by the museum!

We have discovered some great restaurants and new foods in the grocery stores, like roasted chickpeas, feijeoa juice, passionfruit jam, fig & kiwi ice cream, crispy coconut cookies, and venison! I've also been sampling the many NZ white wines, although I must admit that I'm still partial to reds. The wine aisle is very overwhelming and I have no idea where to begin sometimes. The whites are very green and herbaceous (that's the Kiwi description). I do enjoy the many Rieslings though....

We haven't decided what we will do for Christmas yet, most Kiwis head to the beaches for a 2-3 week holiday, so maybe we will venture out too. I started driving our teeny-tiny car last week and have to remind myself to stay to the left, especially on the roundabouts. It can be kind of scary sometimes! We did find a very nice bike for me so I will be able to ride into town, although drivers are very unaware and unfriendly to bicyclists, so I'll stick to the sidewalks.

Now that my thesis is done, I've been able to focus on looking for work. Keep your fingers crossed!

My boyfriend has made a small group of friends here and we have dinners, movie nights, and outdoor adventures with them. It is really interesting how Dunedin is such an international city. Last weekend we went to a dinner party with an Italian, 3 French, 1 Hungarian and a Malaysian! It's so fun to learn about other cultures, hear new languages, and share what each of us miss from our homes.

We miss NPR, cheap fruits and veggies, predictable weather, a variety of cheeses, unlimited Internet access, fresh herbs, pounds, ounces, Fahrenheits and miles, and the general silliness of American life. Although New Zealand has enough of its own idiosyncrasies that we are learning to live by. Some of these include: not keeping eggs refrigerated, calling shopping carts "trundlers," pronouncing the letter z as "zed," giving the weather forecast for the entire country on the radio, "tramping" instead of hiking, adding an "r" at the end of a word that ends with a vowel, discussing heat pumps and coal burning stoves at dinner parties, calling bell peppers "capsicums," sleeping with a hot water bottle, enjoying the coffee, tea, milk and sugar that NZ employers legally have to supply to their employees, and being prepared for all types of weather everyday.