Introduction
I've decided to share with you some interesting "curiosities"...some "details" about the place where I am living now...when I remember some thing that I find interesting for you to know (namely, comparing Portugal/Europe/Northern Hemisphere to the life in New Zealand/Oceania/Southern Hemisphere).
Some suggestions to be applied to portuguese culture will also be written...as I came here to try to improve myself (hopefully, in many different senses), I would be pleased if my home country (at least the people who agrees with my point of views) would gain something with my shared experience that I got by feeling this new zealander (and others) cultural experiences.
Obviously, this (sometimes criticising) do not mean that I do not admire my home country - I really do love Portugal! :) I just believe that we could improve in many different manners - anyone who does not agree with anything and wants to express him/herself, is wellcome to post (since it will be done in a propper way).
Additionally, if you have any suggestion (for instance, any doubt you think I might be able to clarify) for me to write about, just let me know (by email or post).
Finally, please, correct me, if I am saying something wrong/not correct (namely regarding any possible misinterpretation).
Clothes
Shorts
During the Summer season (at least), many people dresses shorts , rather than trousers, in their daily life (though it is not as warm as the portuguese summer) - they even use shorts in their "working suits", instead of trousers. For instance, the bus drivers or the train ticket controllers, they often have shorts in their uniforms (working suits).
Social life
Formalities
This is something I've been criticising in Portugal: we are a country full of useless formalities. And now, living in a different (and, certainly, not less developed) country, I can say for sure: it is not because we treat everyone as doctor (even though they are not medics, neither have a doctor degree) that we are able to improve. In my modest opinion, it might be even worst to have those formalities.
For instance, I call my supervisors for their first name, as they asked me too. And they are doctors, internationally recognised as so. They hold a PhD degree (and, maybe, even post Doc). And they are professors in the university - more than 50 yeards old each.
For who is not in the context (especially for non-portugueses), in Portugal, the people who have a bachelor/licentiate degree (if you can't label him/her as architect, engineer, nurse or so), has a doctor (doutor) title. As example, a sociologist is a doctor; a counter is a doctor; a biologist is a doctor: and so on and so on). Why not to call them sociologist, counter and biologist? It doesn't make them better neither worst, but it will certainly not create misunderstandings, as when you call them doctors - you won't think that person is working in an hospital (afteral, what is the language for? Create communication or misunderstanding?).
Or why do we always have to use the professional title (sometimes, even outside the professional context)? Why can't I be just Joao, instead of "engenheiro"? I do believe that the most important is that we respect each others, whatever is the professional title of each one. And respect should be independent of each one's professional title - the names that our parents gave us should be used by theirselves to lable each person.
This are just some examples of formalities.
The sky
The moon
Besides the fact of being possible to watch some different constellations from the ones we are used to in the northern hemisphere, the moon here has some peculiar "point of view", taking into account the northern hemisphere as reference. For instance, the waxing (growing larger) and the decreasing (getting smaller) of the moon happen opposite directions from the ones I am used to watch.
In Portugal, we are used to say that the moon is a liar. We call crescente to waxing and decrescente to waning. But, when the moon is in a D (from decrescente) shape, it is actually crescente (waxing); and the other way around: when it has a C (from crescente) shape, it is actually decrescente (waning).
In abstract, here, the moon is a trustful heavenly body.
The language expressions
As I have never lived in an english language speaking country, I'm still not sure about which expressions are typical "kiwi", but I am certainly not used to them (at least in the context they are used to):
Cheers - this word is used in many different contexts - besides during a "toast", they often use it as "thanks", "good bye", "you are welcome", and so on (this was not a complet surprise for me, but now I hear it so often that I would like to share it with you);
Sweet (as) - it happened to me hearing someone saying: "sweet as". I guess I was a bit confused at the moment, but I concluded that I didn't hear it properly (obviously, you can misunderstand this expression if you are not used to live here). By saying this, people mean something like: "cool", "great", "nice" - basically, some kind of informal "agreement expression".
Driving
It is common knowledge that in (some?) commonwealth countries like UK, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand (and so on) the traffic circulates in the opposite side, i.e., while in Europe (except UK) we drive in the right side of the road, in these previous mentioned countries, we drive in the left side of the road.
However, in New Zealand, there is a very an awkward 'right turn rule', which states that, if you are turning left into a side road, you must give way to oncoming traffic which also wishes to right-turn into the same side road.
Moreover, usually, in a cross, the traffic lights appear twice: before and after the cross, unlike in Portugal, where the traffic lights are only before the cross.
