Sweet As
My wife Michelle had a lifelong dream to visit New
Zealand, so several years ago we made it our destination to celebrate our 40th
wedding anniversary. There are some
interesting peculiarities about the country, some I knew ahead of our visit,
and some I discovered during our trip.
For example, I knew that the kiwi was a flightless bird, but I didn’t appreciate
that there are five distinct types of kiwis.
Nor was I aware that there are actually 16 species of flightless birds
currently living in New Zealand. Another
11 species of flightless birds are now extinct, some just since that arrival of
European settlers.
It took us about 45 minutes the first evening that we
went out to dinner to encounter another difference. Our waiter had done a fine job for the entire
meal, but for some reason he seemed uninterested in finishing the job. He had been helpful and prompt in taking our
order, the food came out tasting delicious, and he had stopped by a couple of
times to fill our water glasses and check in on us. But it didn’t seem to make any difference to
him that our plates were obviously empty and that we were ready for the
bill. In fact, he passed right by us
several times. Finally, I managed to
flag him down. Upon further discussion
it turns out that the customer must request the check. It is considered rude manners for the wait
staff to appear to hurry a customer along.
I must say that it was a refreshing approach from home where, once it’s
apparent that you aren’t going to order anything else, the bill is presented
quickly so they can get other paying customers churned through.
Another obvious difference is that they drive on the
other side of the road. I was careful to
refer to it that way, and not as driving on the wrong side of the road. It probably took more effort feeling
comfortable in the driver’s seat with all of the controls necessarily shifted
around opposite, than it did in remembering to actually drive on the other side.
We also discovered a phenomenon called a hot water
beach. They actually rent you a small
shovel on these beaches. You use them to
dig down about two feet into the beach sand to find water from underground springs
heated by geothermal activity. All of
the beachgoers digging in the sand reminded me of hatching sea turtles trying
to escape their sand nest and make their way to the nearby surf.
I wasn’t aware ahead of our visit that New Zealanders
are obsessed with honey. We limited our
trip to the northern island so we didn’t spend the entire trip in the car, but
even just in the north, every area that we visited made claim to being where
the best honey in the world was found.
Shop owners seemed to be able to recite all sorts of local proofs for
the ultimate honey found in their area.
My palate was untrained so a true best honey was beyond what my taste
buds were able to determine.
One language quirk was the popularity amongst the natives
to us the phrase “sweet as”. They never
finished the comparison. I suppose that
open-ended phrase was polite in letting the listener fill in the blank to their
own tastes. Or, perhaps it was intended
to imply that there was no comparison that could adequately picture their
current happiness. I did see it on a few
t-shirts and sweatshirts, probably worn by tourists, but the locals seemed to
delight in weaving the phrase into their conversations profusely. I never acquired a desire to use “sweet as”
back at home. I’m sure it would just irritate
listeners who would be waiting impatiently for me to finish the comparison.
I am assigned as deacon to three linked parishes on
the near-west side of Green Bay. We had
to eliminate one of our weekend Masses recently because one of our two resident
priests was assigned elsewhere. While it
is always difficult to adjust to change, one positive for me is that it
simplified my weekend to preach. As the
only deacon for three parishes, on the second weekend of the month when it is
my privilege to preach at all of the Masses, that required me to hustle to get
to the next Mass since on Sunday mornings we had an 8:00 Mass at Annunciation,
then a 9:15 Mass at St Jude, and finally a 10:30 Mass at St Joseph. Our new Sunday morning schedule is an 8:30
Mass at Annunciation, and a 10:30 Mass at St Joseph. That now affords me the time to linger after
Mass and greet people.
Two weeks ago, after the Mass at Annunciation, I was
standing outside on the steps visiting.
A little girl, about three or so came running down the steps with her
arms spread almost as wide as the smile on her face. I knelt down so she could give me as big a
hug as such a little girl could give.
Her father was hurrying to catch up.
I told him that she made my week.
He smiled as wide as she, and said, “She said that she had to go give
Jesus a hug!” Wow, that made my
year! Sweet as I thought to myself; sweet
as.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
Photo by LARRY WILLIAMS on Unsplash
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