Adventures of the Brown Kiwi's: These are the People in the Neighborhood...

Living in a new place has its challenges. I've never been one adverse to change (can you tell?).
Our first couple of days in our new place has proven interesting...

What is that Racket?!
Yesterday, I was unpacking around the house and I heard these ungodly shrieks and sounds. What is that noise? It went on and on and sounded slightly familiar. When I looked out the window, I saw the strangest sight. There were children outside! Gasp! And they were playing---Outside!! I had forgotten what that sounds like. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen an entire neighborhood of children outside for hours playing. They didn't have a PS2 glued in front of their faces, or Wii controllers permanently attached to their hands. They didn't even have toys! They were playing like we did--with good old fashion imagination. It was an awesome sight. To see them running and screaming and laughing. So 1970's. What was more impressive was the amount of time they spent running and playing. I listened to their play for hours and finally, one by on they were ushered back indoors for evening "tea". And just like us, I heard the usual protests:
"But Moooom, we're still playing"
I feel like I bumped my head and landed in another time.

The Fight That Never Was....
Around 1 oclock in the morning we were awakened by a loud alarm. We jumped up, terrified thinking that someone was stealing our car (highly unlikely). By the time we peered out of the window, the alarm had stopped and we couldn't figure out if it was our car of a neighbor's car that had gone off. We climbed back in bed and about a half an hour later, the alarm starts blaring again. We jump up, again, ready to turn off the alarm but realize its not our car. It's the neighbor's car. It actually looks like he was doing some work on the car--at 2 o'clock in the morning! Bruce shuffles off to bed but I saw another neighbors door open and a guy storm out and stomp right over to the the "midnight mechanic". I opened the window so I could hear the ensuing battle better.
"Bruce, psst, Bruce, wake up! It's about to be a fight! Come here!"
He looked less than eager to see the fight.
"Get out of that window before you get shot"
That is HIGHLY doubtful in New Zealand. The police don't even carry guns.
I ignored Bruce and continued to watch what I thought was going to be a WWF brawl.

Here we go!....

Angry Man: "For F*cks Sake Mate, What tha hell are ya doin? Its 2 o'clock in the bloody morning!"
Midnight Mechanic: "Sorry Mate, didn't mean to wake ya"
Angry Man: "Hell ya ya woke me! You woke the whole bloody neigborhood! Keep it quiet!"
Midnight Mechanic: "Sorry mate"
Angry Man: "For F*cks Sake Mate, what's wrong with ya?"
Midnight Mechanic: "Look mate, I don't do drugs, I don't smoke pot but I am an alcoholic"
Huh?
Angry Man, seeming calmer and feeling sorry: "That's all right, mate. So whattaya workin on here? Is this a classic?"
Midnight Mechanic: "Ah yeah mate, its a 1978, blah, blah....."

I was highly disappointed. Its 2am, the entire neighborhood has been rudely woken up by a blaring car alarm and the one angry neighbor who storms out in his underwear to confront the guy is now having a chat about the fine points of restoration of 1970's cars!!!! Seriously?! If this was back home I'm sure Phoenix PD would have been called by now and I'm pretty sure that I could have been shot by a stray bullet. But this is not Phoenix. Its more like Mayberry in 1956. Where you can wake your neighbours on a weekday and end up having a beer over a carburetor. Total twilight zone. The one good thing is I did learn that some Kiwi's have an extraordinarily original way of putting curse words together. The one that Angry Man uses is quite common here. So much so that people have a shorthand text for it...FFS! Gotta Love the Kiwis!!!

Its Not Easy Being Green...
The one good thing is that I'm trying to assimilate and NOT impress upon people the fine points of modern equipment and weapons. (hee-hee).
The one thing that I do NOT understand is the "hanging of the wash".
Anyone that has come to New Zealand knows that these people don't believe in using electricity. They are brilliant conservers of energy and protectors of the environment. However, we live in a modern time and there are things that I truly CANNOT go without. The clothes dryer is one of man's greatest inventions (next to Internet and NCAA Football). Dishwashers and Tylenol rank highly in my book too. Anyway, very few people in New Zealand have clothes dryers. I always assumed that was something that you have. I have never "hung out the wash". What is hilarious is that when we went to go buy a washer/dryer we had to tell the salesman we wanted a dryer! He just assumed we just wanted a washer! I promise, if they didn't have washers and used scrub boards or rocks I don't think I could have made it this long!
One of my friends at work was trying to understand my position. We could find no common ground.
I have to admit, she had a good point.

Her: So you lived in a desert, it never rains and the temperature is usually 100F degrees in the summer?
Me: Yes
Her: And you still use your indoor dryer?
Me: Yes
Her: Why don't you just hang your wash out to dry?
Me: Why would I? I have a dryer?
Her: Why would you use that electricity?
Me: Uh....i dunno? (boy, i feel stupid)

I also couldn't tell her that having laundry "hung out" was in direct violation of most neighborhood associations back home and it could bring down your property value (good thing that pesky housing collapse fixed that problem!) or that laundry hung outside elicits tons of "You May be a Redneck" comments from friends and neighbors.
I really felt stupid when I thought that I actually BOUGHT some Downy Fabric Softener and dryer sheets that are "Outdoor Fresh Scent"!
So, I gave it a try....I took her advice and instead of "running the dryer" I hung my wash out on the line.
2-3 hours later, the clothes were dry and smelled just like my Downy "Outdoor Fresh" scent. Except this was the real thing!