Thought of the Day 02/03/2015: What's Wrong With This Treadmill?

It was my first day of work (which was kick-ass, but an article of its own which I don't have time to write just now), so naturally I wanted to start my day out right with a run at my new gym, CityFitness. I entered my normal speed of 6.3 and began to move with the belt. Imagine my confusion, however, when the pace the belt achieved barely hit my walking speed. Immediately I suspected that the treadmill was faulty, but that only latest a moment before the face-palm set it. The speed, of course, was in kmph and not mph! Literally giggling out loud, I began to play with the setting to figure out my normal pace in kmph. Due to its nice even number and easy light running speed, I settled on 10.0 which is actually 6.2 mph, so I got it pretty damned close!

Into the metric system at 10 kmph!

Anyway, all these little differences (which I've mentioned in my previous blogs) is what keeps NZ novel and fun. Simply altering the way things are spoken of or presented in stores keeps me on my toes, typically having to rely on social context to pick up on meanings before my ignorance is  made apparent. Here are some more examples:

NZ Weight
During my health assessment for work the nurse took my weight, which I assumed would be taken in kilograms, a pretty easy conversion from pounds (1kg = 2.2lbs). Instead, she declared that I was a little over 8 Stone. Since weight is a topic I'd rather not think about, I was extremely happy that that number was positively meaningless to me; and I plan to keep it that way!

Capsicum 
I actually had to google the term before I realized this word simply meant bell peppers! For some reason the word reminded me of capers and I thought it was a spice. 

Jandals
The first time I heard this phrase, I assumed the speaker was attempting to pronounce sandals with a speech impediment.

The NZ Light Switch
Since my arrival I found something odd about these switches, but didn't realize what it was until last night. This switch is in the off position, one presses the switch DOWN to turn the lights ON. It's opposite of its US counterpart where you lifts up for the on position. 

Kumara
I suppose a cuisine savvy traveler would not have as many 'huhs?' as I've had, because most of the terms that stumped me related to food. Kumara crisps (another vocabulary deviation itself) are very popular here. I assumed it was some sort of root vegetable, but not so, it's simply a sweet potato chip!

Crisps Vs. Chips
 More than a couple of Kiwis have expressed their frustration at receiving potato chips instead of french fries upon ordering chips in America, haha. Here, crisps are 'chips' and chips are 'fries.'