As my time here draws to a close, I've been trying to think of advice that would be helpful for future Fulbrighters. (I'm also procrastinating on all that I need to get finished before time runs out!)
Books You Should Read
1. Any piece of fiction by Witi Ihimaera-- it'll give you a taste of a very famous NZ author and life in New Zealand.
2. Culture Counts, by Russell Bishop and Ted Glynn. The whole book is great, but there's one chapter that gives a great overview of the history of education in NZ.
3. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, by Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Reading this made me much more aware of the context I was walking into as I attempting to carry out my (very informal) research.
4. Fairness and Freedom, by David Hackett Fischer. It's long and I didn't finish it, but it's helpful because it teaches you NZ history alongside US history, so you have points of reference.
5. Struggle Without End, by Ranginui Walker.
Public Transportation
To get around, they have these magic little things called a Snapper card. You purchase it for $10, then "top it up" with however much money you want. When you get on a bus, you tap on and tap off, and it calculates how much you owe, based on how many zones you went through. If you forget to tap off, you get charged as if you never got off. :( Bad news. Oh, and they charge you 25 cents every time you add money, I guess encouraging you to put large sums, rather than a few dollars here and there. You purchase all of this at any convenience store or bodega-type place, so maybe the store owners get the money?
Given all of that, you might be wondering why anyone would use a Snapper card? Well, it gives you a discount on your fare. I haven't calculated how much, but enough that it appears to add up. And you can use your Snapper card for other stuff, like paying for street parking. Metlink is the place to go for bus routes, Snapper has a website where you can register your card and track your spending, and Tranz Metro has train information.
Books You Should Read
1. Any piece of fiction by Witi Ihimaera-- it'll give you a taste of a very famous NZ author and life in New Zealand.
2. Culture Counts, by Russell Bishop and Ted Glynn. The whole book is great, but there's one chapter that gives a great overview of the history of education in NZ.
3. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, by Linda Tuhiwai Smith. Reading this made me much more aware of the context I was walking into as I attempting to carry out my (very informal) research.
4. Fairness and Freedom, by David Hackett Fischer. It's long and I didn't finish it, but it's helpful because it teaches you NZ history alongside US history, so you have points of reference.
5. Struggle Without End, by Ranginui Walker.
Public Transportation
To get around, they have these magic little things called a Snapper card. You purchase it for $10, then "top it up" with however much money you want. When you get on a bus, you tap on and tap off, and it calculates how much you owe, based on how many zones you went through. If you forget to tap off, you get charged as if you never got off. :( Bad news. Oh, and they charge you 25 cents every time you add money, I guess encouraging you to put large sums, rather than a few dollars here and there. You purchase all of this at any convenience store or bodega-type place, so maybe the store owners get the money?
Given all of that, you might be wondering why anyone would use a Snapper card? Well, it gives you a discount on your fare. I haven't calculated how much, but enough that it appears to add up. And you can use your Snapper card for other stuff, like paying for street parking. Metlink is the place to go for bus routes, Snapper has a website where you can register your card and track your spending, and Tranz Metro has train information.
Tourist Info
Two places you should know about: iSite and the Department of Conservation store. Both have more maps than you can possibly need. The iSite has everything touristy, whereas the DOC place has things related to camping/hiking/etc. It's sort of like visiting the BLM office or the Information Center at any national park in the US.
Phones
I brought my unlocked iPhone with me and getting it up and running took about 10 minutes. I went to the 2 Degrees store, purchased a pre-paid plan, and they put it on my NZ sim card. The $20 plan is good for 1 month and includes 500 GB of data, unlimited texts with other 2 degrees people in NZ and Australia, 100 minutes of phone calls in NZ and Australia, and texts. If I find that it's not enough data, I can go back and add more or move to a different plan. Seems easy enough so far. The biggest thing is learning how much data I use in a typical day. Six days in and I was at 90 MB until I emailed one video, bumping me up to 200 MB cell data used. Lesson learned! Having to pay for data makes me much more conscious of where there is wifi available.
Internet
Speaking of wifi... my rent comes with 40 GB internet. Since I don't really know what that means, I tried googling around to see what people said. Most of what I read seemed to say that 40 GB is plenty as long as I'm not streaming movies, games, and Youtubing for hours. So, I've stopped listening to Spotify and I haven't been watching the random videos that appear in my life via Facebook or the news. But still, I'm not really sure if I'm playing it too safe or not safe enough. My agreement with the landlords is that I'll pay for anything that goes over... and I don't even know how much I'll get charged if I go over. Now that I think of it, maybe I should ask?
The Airport
The Wellington airport is cute and small and customs was quite easy. I was picked up at the airport, but if you're not, there's easy bus service into Wellington on Bus 91. It's a 16 minute ride to my Courtenay Place, which is right downtown (or the CBD as they call it) and the cost is $9.
Groceries
New World Market is a local chain and from what I can tell, it's comparable to your average supermarket in the US. Commonsense Organics has the look and feel of a co-op. With the exchange rate as it is (really good for the USD), prices at both seem comparable to their US counterparts. I'm sure there are some things cheaper and some more expensive, but so far nothing has stood out as outrageously different.
Banking
I have and account with ANZ and it couldn't have been easier. While still in the US I went on their website and opened an account. It took 48 hours to be official and then they emailed me the info needed so I could wire myself some money. Wells Fargo charged me $35 to wire money. Yesterday I went in, showed my passport and proof of address and they showed me how to use their online banking tool and got it set up so I'd be sent an EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale) card. Essentially I use it like an ATM card-- to get money out at ATMs and to purchase things from my bank account.
Gifts
Unlike some countries Fulbrighters are sent do, people here in New Zealand have access to basically everything you have back at home. So, when it comes to giving gifts my thought is that making food special to your family or region is probably your best bet. It's very common to bring a gift of food to people, so bring some of your favorite recipes from home and make those. Books are expensive and some are hard to come by. Since my partner joined me part way through my time in New Zealand, I had her bring some books that I knew would be perfect for my host teacher and advisor.
Travel
Of the "Great Walks" I did two and I'd recommend both equally: the Whanganui River and the Milford Track. Both were outstanding, but the Milford Track is more famous, so you'll need to book early. We did the Whanganui River over Easter weekend (big holiday here) and the Milford Track over the two week holiday in the middle of the term. This was the last possible week to do it, as then the track closes for the winter, but the weather was amazing. I also did a long weekend up at the Bay of Islands, which was really beautiful! Auckland itself was fun, but I'm glad I did that with my PD grant, because I enjoyed seeing the city from the perspective of someone living there--finding my way around to visit schools, etc. As a tourist destination, it was less exciting.
Two places you should know about: iSite and the Department of Conservation store. Both have more maps than you can possibly need. The iSite has everything touristy, whereas the DOC place has things related to camping/hiking/etc. It's sort of like visiting the BLM office or the Information Center at any national park in the US.
Phones
I brought my unlocked iPhone with me and getting it up and running took about 10 minutes. I went to the 2 Degrees store, purchased a pre-paid plan, and they put it on my NZ sim card. The $20 plan is good for 1 month and includes 500 GB of data, unlimited texts with other 2 degrees people in NZ and Australia, 100 minutes of phone calls in NZ and Australia, and texts. If I find that it's not enough data, I can go back and add more or move to a different plan. Seems easy enough so far. The biggest thing is learning how much data I use in a typical day. Six days in and I was at 90 MB until I emailed one video, bumping me up to 200 MB cell data used. Lesson learned! Having to pay for data makes me much more conscious of where there is wifi available.
Internet
Speaking of wifi... my rent comes with 40 GB internet. Since I don't really know what that means, I tried googling around to see what people said. Most of what I read seemed to say that 40 GB is plenty as long as I'm not streaming movies, games, and Youtubing for hours. So, I've stopped listening to Spotify and I haven't been watching the random videos that appear in my life via Facebook or the news. But still, I'm not really sure if I'm playing it too safe or not safe enough. My agreement with the landlords is that I'll pay for anything that goes over... and I don't even know how much I'll get charged if I go over. Now that I think of it, maybe I should ask?
The Airport
The Wellington airport is cute and small and customs was quite easy. I was picked up at the airport, but if you're not, there's easy bus service into Wellington on Bus 91. It's a 16 minute ride to my Courtenay Place, which is right downtown (or the CBD as they call it) and the cost is $9.
Groceries
New World Market is a local chain and from what I can tell, it's comparable to your average supermarket in the US. Commonsense Organics has the look and feel of a co-op. With the exchange rate as it is (really good for the USD), prices at both seem comparable to their US counterparts. I'm sure there are some things cheaper and some more expensive, but so far nothing has stood out as outrageously different.
Banking
I have and account with ANZ and it couldn't have been easier. While still in the US I went on their website and opened an account. It took 48 hours to be official and then they emailed me the info needed so I could wire myself some money. Wells Fargo charged me $35 to wire money. Yesterday I went in, showed my passport and proof of address and they showed me how to use their online banking tool and got it set up so I'd be sent an EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale) card. Essentially I use it like an ATM card-- to get money out at ATMs and to purchase things from my bank account.
Gifts
Unlike some countries Fulbrighters are sent do, people here in New Zealand have access to basically everything you have back at home. So, when it comes to giving gifts my thought is that making food special to your family or region is probably your best bet. It's very common to bring a gift of food to people, so bring some of your favorite recipes from home and make those. Books are expensive and some are hard to come by. Since my partner joined me part way through my time in New Zealand, I had her bring some books that I knew would be perfect for my host teacher and advisor.
Travel
Of the "Great Walks" I did two and I'd recommend both equally: the Whanganui River and the Milford Track. Both were outstanding, but the Milford Track is more famous, so you'll need to book early. We did the Whanganui River over Easter weekend (big holiday here) and the Milford Track over the two week holiday in the middle of the term. This was the last possible week to do it, as then the track closes for the winter, but the weather was amazing. I also did a long weekend up at the Bay of Islands, which was really beautiful! Auckland itself was fun, but I'm glad I did that with my PD grant, because I enjoyed seeing the city from the perspective of someone living there--finding my way around to visit schools, etc. As a tourist destination, it was less exciting.