Greetings from New Zealand.
Officially, I'm here consulting for a company and putting together a US market-entry strategy for the commercialization of their product. In between, I'm exploring the Kiwi world and the Maori culture for the duration of January.
Ringing in 2008 from New Zealand was quite special, with sunsets at 10:30pm and sunrises at 6am. Temperatures are a comfortable 70 degrees, and nights drop down to about 50.
The coffee here is exceptional, although I got surprisingly flustered when ordering my first cup of coffee. I still don't completely comprehend the full bevy of coffee offerings, as I get a different answer every time I ask for clarification. However, the average coffee here is x1000 better than anything I've had in the US. I've been downing so many cups that I get ripping headaches every morning from caffeine withdrawal while sleeping. Yet despite the pulsing behind the eyeballs, I can't stop indulging. Between Aleve and cups of "long blacks" and"flat whites", my waking hours are fueled by alternating legal drugs.
Efficiency is a foreign concept when it comes to Kiwi dining. Since there is no tipping of the wait staff, it takes about 1-4 hours to finish a meal, although the food here is quite spectacular and the trade-off is arguably worth it. Between the venison and the racks of lamb, my second brain (aka stomach) has settled quite comfortably without the company of the Black Angus.
The place where I'm staying is "cute" (in NYC terminology), with a corner studio on the top floor of the building. I was shocked to find that internet access in New Zealand is a surprisingly valuable commodity. All the hotels I've stayed in quoted me rates of about $10 for 30 minutes. For the past week, I've grudgingly frequented internet cafes, which are a bit cheaper. I see a huge business opportunity here with disruptive technologies, and part of me would love to import a new business model that would break the stranglehold that hotels and internet cafes have on internet access. I would do this not for turning a profit, but for simply in support of my belief that internet access should be free for all. But then I stop and remind myself that my views on technology have radically shifted in school. Fortunately, the client company has now set me up with fast access in my flat. Still, there's even an opportunity to run a monopoly here. It really wouldn't be that hard, if anyone is interested...
More random observations later.
