Importables

As I'm leaving for the States in a little over a week, I've been thinking more and more about things that we should import. Now, Kiwis should be importing many things from the US. The two most immediate things are, to my mind, fixed heating units in housing and closets. Closets are a good thing, and not that hard to make. But they're hard to find here, amazingly. And there are other things we could use: our cable TV is the equivalent of US cable TV in the early 1990's (pre-digital), the service isn't as good, etc. But Americans could also learn a thing or two from Kiwis. Here are a few:

• Roundabouts. You'll occasionally come across these in the US (NW 25th St. in Portland comes to mind, although there they seem more like speed restrictors than traffic-flow enablers). But they're all over here. I thought I'd find them difficult to navigate (in addition to the other problems of driving on the left), but it turns out that they are great, mostly because they eliminate the need for stop signs and traffic lights at smaller intersections, where in the US you'll wait for 2 minutes even though no one's going in the other directions.

• Two-flush toilets. Here's one for the aspiring entrepreneurs out there. My guess is that Americans prefer to be environmentally conscious when there is little or no sacrifice in doing so. The two-flush toilet--that is, a toilet with two flush buttons, one for the full flush and one for the half-flush--is perfectly suited for such an attitude. There are no one-flush toilets here, at least none that are newer than 20 years old. I can't explain why they're not ubiquitous in the States.

• Festivals. Last night I went to a Diwali festival, which--if I understand properly--is roughly the Indian equivalent of what Christmas is in the US (in terms of significance and celebratory enthusiasm). It was great--tons of awesome Indian food, crafts, dance, music, etc. Obviously the central constituency of this event was Wellington's sizeable Indian population, but it was set in Civic Square, and like most things here was widely integrated. In July, there was a month-long, world class film festival. Just up the road, the Martinborough Wine Festival is coming next month. This weekend is a small but good-looking Jazz Fest. Americans, of course, have their festivals, but most cities tend to do only one or two major, community-wide festivals a year (putting aside niche festivals, like one at an art museum or such). That's a mistake. Full-on festivals are fun, community-enriching, and horizon-broadening.
  

Summer!...summer?

Summer's here! We in the education industry often measure our seasons according to the academic calendar. For me, summer always starts when classes stop at the end of the academic year. That happened last Friday. Here, though, they do draw out the final exams, so that they take three weeks, as opposed to the usual one in the US. That's more of a pain for me, as I like to get the grading done quickly. But it is more civilized for the students.

In general, the job is very civilized in that sense. I'm starting to think of it as a form of bribery, in fact. Our terms are 14 weeks long, but that includes a two-week mid-term (spring and fall) break. Plus it's a light teaching load--three courses per year. The practical upshot of all of this is that my summer is lasting from Oct. 6 to March 1--almost 5 months. And then next term I'm only teaching one class that meets once per week (for 3 hours), so I'm essentially teaching only one class for the next 9 months. Lots of time for research. I have to admit, I am missing teaching, at least a certain kind of teaching, namely the lower-mid level undergrad course with roughly 25 students. I think that's actually a great kind of class, but here I've only been teaching either 100+ intro lectures (which I'm liking too, but it's a different kind of thing) or grad seminars.

Anyway, summer's here...except the shortened academic year makes it not feel like summer at all. It's still early spring, roughly the equivalent of early April in the US. It feels a lot like early April in Portland many days--rainy, in the high 50's or low 60's. I still haven't seen it crack 70 more than once, actually. One of the tough things about moving to the southern hemisphere when I did is that you also miss the US summer. So I haven't had a real summer for 13 months and counting. And then I go to the US in November, to continue my Endless Non-Summer. It'll be nice to get back at the end of that just for the weather. Thankfully, though, I did move from LA, where even the rainiest winter on record felt like summer, with about 3 weeks of spring sprinkled in there.

Restaurants

Keeping up with the recommendations theme, here are some for the gastronomers out there.

We'll arbitrarily set the following scale for prices in NZ$ for a menu's average mains (what Americans call "entrees", which here refers to, in a more etymologically correct manner, appetizers):
Upscale=$33+
Mid-High=$25-32
Mid=$16-25
Low=$15 and under

Keep in mind also that drinks are fairly expensive here (though you can get a $5 beer anywhere, it seems), you often pay extra for sides (e.g., veggies), and there's no tax or tip. Right now, the US exchange rate is about US$0.68=NZ$1, so that $25 main is US$17.

Upscale (Note: All of the following are what they call "European," i.e., cross-genre continental fare, heavy on the meats, etc. Note also, though, that you can find vegetarian food almost anywhere.)

• Logan Brown. Former banking building, fairly formal. Very nice, great food...and expensive. Has a pre-theatre prix fixe menu for $35 if you can finish before 7:00. Note that unlike, say, NYC, it's not about when you start but when you finish.
  
• Corner of Cuba and Vivian.
  
• Boulcott Street Bistro. Located in one of the oldest homes in Wellington. Friendly staff, very good cuisine. Reportedly also has a pre-theatre menu.
• On Boulcott Street. Hard to find if you don't know it. Take a taxi.
• Pravda. Despite the Russian theme, nice continental fare. A little more seafood-y than the others in this category, which is nice.
• On Featherston in the CBD, close to Parliament.
  

Mid-High

• Matterhorn. More European. Good restaurant if you want to transition straight from dining to drinking (see "Bars" post).
• On Cuba, just up from Dixon.
  
• Kazu. Hard to find good sushi in Wellington (sadly, after it was all around in LA). Not at Kazu, though. I recommend the "Go Go Bangkok" and "Mt. Taranaki" rolls. Mmm.
• On Tory, towards the Harbor from Courtenay Place.
  

Mid

• La Bella Italia. Awesome gourmet/deli of the Italian variety. Some prices will go down into the Low range (e.g., for paninis). I believe it's lunch only. Also good for specialty groceries.
  
• This place is in Petone, the town just north of Wellington. If you ever have an open afternoon with nice weather, it's a ten minute drive to a charming town. A bit like what Sausalito is to SF (including great views of the bay and the city), except very undeveloped. If I ever wanted to invest in a vacation home in a location that's great to visit, has cheap real estate, and will likely be much more developed in twenty years, this would be a promising place.
  
• Take Highway 2 out of Wellington, exit at Petone. Take second left off the roundabout, to road that travels along the beach. Take a left on Nevis St., your first or second left. Restaurant on your right.
  
• Daawat. My favorite Indian restaurant here. You can find Indian on almost every corner, and it's hard to go wrong, really. But this one is great--best naan in town.
• On Manners Mall.
  
• Oriental Thai. Good thai food.
  
• On Cambridge/Kent, up a couple of blocks from Courtenay Place.
  

Low

• KK Malaysian. "Malaysian" here seems to mean a unique hybrid of Indonesian with other southeast/east asian foods (e.g., Chinese, Thai, etc.). This should be priced higher than it is. Really yummy.
• On Ghuznee, between Cuba and Taranaki.
  
• Abrakababra. Turkish/kebab place. Solid, relatively cheap food.
• On Manners Mall (next to Daawat).

• You can find moderately cheap eats in lots of places. Tons of cafes, take-away, fish-and-chips, etc. One of my favorite cafes is "10" on Kent Terrace and Courtenay Place, next to the Embassy Theatre.
  

Bars

It's started to dawn on me that I should list things that I like more often, in case any of the Lucky Few ever come down here. That way they'll have some recommendations. As I travel more, I'll post on that a bit, but there are also the regular things about Wellington. Since I've been talking a bit about the bars and restaurants, that's as good a place to start as any. Obviously, by the time any of the Lucky Few make it down here, many of these places might be gone. But here's a list of bars anyway. Restaurants to follow. I'll update in the "comments" section.

Bars:

• The Matterhorn. Good ambiance, great outdoor patio (no smoking inside in NZ). Apparently they make a great mint julep and also have a nice list of "stickies" (after-dinner liqueurs).
  
• [On Cuba Street, just up from Dixon.]
  
• Motel. Very laid-back, kind of hipster lounge. Good gin and tonic. Probably my favorite watering hole.
  
• [Off Tory, just up from Courtenay Place--a bit hard to find as it's off a back alley. It's all very speakeasy.]
  
• UU. A little snobby (tough getting past the bouncers, at least if you're a guy), but good fun inside. It's all mirrors--the bar, the walls, the ceiling. Not the floor (for obvious reasons, I assume). And they have a dancing pole in the middle, which is great when you want to get your drunk friends to embarrass themselves (a temptation to which I myself have not yet succumbed, thankfully). Good DJ if you're looking to dance to something besides techno, such as soul or rock music.
  
• [On Courtenay Place, near the intersection with Blair or Allen].
• Hummingbird. Sedate, elegant place. Bit of an older crowd, nice outdoor seating, especially for people-watching as they're stumbling around Courtenay Place.
• [On Courtenay Place, near Blair or Allen.]
  
• Vespa Lounge, Go Go, or Sandwiches. For the very late or early morning drinking. Vespa has a cool lounge feel. Go Go has dancing and a nice outdoor patio/bar--but do not drink the Tequila there; I had some brand I'd never heard of, and it made my face go green.
  
• [All in the Courtenay Place/Blair/Allen nexus.]
  
• When in trouble, just find a good-looking location on Courtenay Place. Tons of bars. You can't miss it.
  

Like manna from heaven

For my birthday (yesterday, here), my bro and my sis-in-law, conjunctively known as Amandrew, sent a very large box. I opened the box and found chips. Lots and lots of chips. A great taste of home, and now I can't complain about the chips here! Awesome.

This will contribute, of course, to my already healthy weight-gain. I'm walking a ton more than in the last several years (it's a walking city), but all the yummy eating out and the beer have made me a bit more, well, healthy. (Another downside of the upside.) But as I told Andrew, I'd much rather gain the weight off the US chips than the NZ chips.

Stuart disagrees. He's originally an Australian, and he lived in the US for about nine years, I think. He wanted to know why I liked American chips better, since he had the opposite experience. I told him that American chips are better because (1) they're not burnt and (2) they're not ridiculously thick. He replied that Kiwi chips are better because (~1) they're not undercooked, (~2) they're not waif-like, and (3) they make you go "mmmm." Clearly I need a comeback to (3).