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Yes, that is a photo of Bron, a Korean friend and I in Times Square. And yes, Liv, you will be pleased to know we sung New Zealand's beautiful national anthem there, fulfilling clause 5 of the challenge you set me. Maybe it wasn't quite top of the lungs, but I think any listeners would agree we did a pretty darn good job, if the listener was tone deaf, and didn't realise we weren't supposed to peter out on the second half when we forgot the lyrics... We did it with pride though, and that's what counts! (Well, maybe the others were a little embarassed, but I truly do love that song.)
And here are the results of the rest of the challenge as set by Liv - I'm happy to say I've completed 7 of the 10 of them to some extent or other, though I think I have gone a little over the time limit set me:
1) You have one day, with US 50c, (if you succeed I'll pay you back when you get home) to buy as many things as possible (no double ups)... and the more variety the more points. (I did it here once with a friend - you'd be suprised how cheap washers and screws are in the hardware!!)
Sorry, haven't quite gotten around to this one, partly cos I don't shop much.
2) Find someone with the same initials as you...
I must be unique cos I can't think of ANYONE with the same initials; I even tried my Facebook!
3) Promise yourself that for one day - no matter where you go - you'll never use an elevator or escalator of any sorts!
Oooh, what a toughie! Do I also have to give up taking my car to check the mail down the drive? And getting drive-thru coffee so I don't have to get out and walk?
Actually, we're not as lazy as you think. Seriously. We don't even have elevators to our third floor apartment. So it wasn't really too hard when I set myself the challenge Monday.
4) Find 6 different people from 6 different countries and learn to say "alfalfas are disgusting" in each language (and report back to me) - if they don't know alfalfas feel free to substitute in brussel sprouts or something...
Tua ngok nga kaya kayang - Amy, a mate of mine from NZ who is Thai
Alfalfas are deesgusteeng / blah - Wendy, an Aussie from the NY youth hostel
Alfalfas sind ekelhaft - Sarah, a classmate from Germany
Alfalfas hin nanchi - Iwen, an Asian American who speaks Cantonese (wasn't sure of the word for alfafa though - maybe a foreign concept in China?!)
Konynamul mat obse - MK, my Korean flatmate
La alfalfa es desagradable - Saul, a friend from Mexico
5) Walk down the biggest street near where you live, preferably a square or something - stand in the middle and do the NZ anthem - Maori & English - at the top of your lungs!
See above.
6) Find a pack of cards and ask a stranger to play a game of memory with you in public.
Haven't quite found the perfect opportunity for this one... yet!
7) Find someone who has a skipping rope - and skip down the street for your exercise... (If you don't have one you're just going to have to do it anyway pretending you have one...)
Bron and I bust this one out on a New York city street. No skipping ropes though: I don't know if it was no-skipping-day or something but the usual hordes of people out walking with their skipping ropes must have been hiding, so we couldn't find a single soul to borrow one off - but we skipped merrily anyway!
8) Teach someone the Maori alphabet.
Taught a Korean dorm-mate at the youth hostel the vowels, which she already knew as the English vowels! [Roughly: aah ear ee oar eww.] Or was it just me getting a little confused?! Tried teaching 'haka mana para ta nga a nga wha' too but that may have been a little too complex.
9) Next time you go out for a meal/event talk the whole time to whoever's your waitress/hostess/whoever with an American accent, then at the end see if you pulled it off for them to believe you...
I ordered a meal at the dining court tonight in American: "Could I please have a hambuRgeR, and moh-zarella sticks?" How convincing it was, I'm not sure, cos the guy didn't seem to understand Bron when she asked him to guess where I was from. Are NZ accents really that hard to get?!
10) Make alfalfa pizza and make your friends all try this "delicacy" - but make sure they don't think all Kiwis eat that stuff!!
Bought some alfalfas with me to the dining hall last night and got them to put 'em on my pizza. The verdict? Well, Joy liked them...
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