New Zealand Feels America Adjacent...ish

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]So, New Zealand feels strangely familiar. Um, not it doesn't feel foreign. It doesn't It doesn't feel like a foreign country.

[00:00:07]Um, but it doesn't feel like America either. It feels kind of America adjacent is same but different. Um, anyway, like for example, uh, rubbish recycling uh, America obviously it's called trash, it's called a rubbish year. I'm loving the lang the words. Um it's it's really fun. Uh rubbish is way way more dope than trash. So um anyway, there's uh there's four bins here. Um which is very different. Um in America there's two. We have rubbish and recycling and that's it. Um all of our food scraps go into the into the rubbish. Um so here uh very different. Um there are four separate bins. You have food scraps in one, you have glass in one, you have other recycling in one, and then um what's left over is trash. There there's much less actual rubbish um than in America um because of the the extra sorting uh which is brilliant. Uh I it's it's so much better. Um a lot less waste. Um and also here you uh you pay for trash collection. So or rubbish collection. uh we we had to go to the local store and buy these yellow tags for the trash can. It was four bucks um to dispose of the the rubbish.

[00:01:34]So anyway, different uh very different than America. Um and also rubbish bin tiny um you have to find ways to to produce less garbage overall because um yeah, in America we had two trash or rubbish bins. Um, and they were both twice the size of the of the one rubbish bin that we have here.

[00:02:02]Um, but somehow we're w with all of the the extra collection ways um and food scraps and a separate one, etc. Um, it's working out. Anyway, we're uh we're all doing our part to be way less wasteful and um it feels much more intentional when it comes to to waste and that I I love that. Um it's been really cool. Um you know, in America, I feel like recycling kind of feels almost like like the exception for some people.

[00:02:33]Um but but here I think like rubbish almost feels like the uh the exception.

[00:02:38]uh was something we were a little stressed out about moving here is like what are how are we going to deal with the the trash collection system um based on how much um whatever waste waste we produced um back in the states but it uh it hasn't been a problem again I think everything feels much more intentional so um like tr like so another one that uh is kind of like trust is big um like there are fruit and veggie stands on the side of the road like in front of people's cribs um where it's like an honor system um for payments like nobody's watching the money. It's like hey you can have these oranges for $6 and they're everywhere. I guess people have their own little gardens and fruit trees all over the place and I'm sure you know if you have an orange tree you can't possibly eat all the oranges off of it. Um, so they'll put them out there um with a little box for money. Um, and that's uh anyway interesting. Um, I I love it.

[00:03:42]It's super cool. Um, wouldn't happen in the States. Um, somebody would would jack your oranges probably. Um, so and then um neighbors here like just come over immediately and introduce themselves. Um, the neighbors on both sides um have have been over um to say hello pretty immediately.

[00:04:02]uh and and ask, you know, our questions, ask our stories. Um that all kind of surprised me. Um people seem less less guarded here. I I was told that people may seem more guarded. Um there's definitely different social assumptions, but um the the humans I've been in contact with here uh just they they pay closer attention.

[00:04:29]They seem to care more. I don't know.

[00:04:31]Um, in America everything's so divided and tense that uh I don't know. It's hard it's hard to explain until you felt it. Um, so it's it's it's not dramatically different, but like you it's different. Um, okay.

[00:04:47]So like no, there's no tipping here. Um, we keep looking for the tip line.

[00:04:51]There's there's not one. Um, it if feels super weird at first because in America you tip for everything. It didn't used to be that way. They used to just tip for things that were like standard to tip for like a waitress at a restaurant is in America that's standard. Um I mean there's a handful of things that are are standard there. If somebody helps you with your bags or or valet parking um but the guy who brings your car to you, you would give him $5 when he brings you your car. Um, if you go stay at a hotel and there's a a bellman who helps you with your bags um upstairs, you would give him um you know5 or $10 when when he got to your room and offloaded your bags. That doesn't exist at all here from what I could tell. Um our driver that drove us from um up in Auckland over here to Amakaroa um unloaded all of our bags into the house and I we don't know what to do. It's like we supposed to tip we're supposed to tip this guy. Um but no, everyone's said do do not tip. Um so you guys can let me know in the comments if that uh if that is 100% true. It has felt weird, but um it does seem that nobody tips and uh I certainly don't want to uh embarrass myself culturally any more than I already am doing so here. So, uh, side note, um, about embarrassing myself culturally, somebody mentioned in the comments that at the end of my videos, I threw up this like peace sign, um, as a I just always have. It's like means like peace. Um, I was just kind of like a I don't know. It started for my first video and I so I stuck with it. It happened accidentally. Someone was like, "Hey, you know, in New Zealand that means like piss off or f off." Um, and I did not. Um, obviously that's not was not what I meant or what my intentions were um behind it. I think that's clear, but um just out of uh out of cultural respect um I'll make I'm I'm still throwing it up. I'm just I'll flip it around. Um so anyway, I just wanted to I just wanted to touch base on that. Um anyway, I I would say that um I do feel like here you don't realize how much um how much mental space tipping occupies um and how much all of that's just gone.

[00:07:12]I was tell telling a realtor a crazy story the other day. So, literally, we were in LAX uh airport um waiting to to fly here and I went up to a a kiosk.

[00:07:24]Um this is how bad tipping culture has gotten. I'll give you a couple examples.

[00:07:28]So, if you go to Subway sandwiches or McDonald's or I mean whatever, you literally order your food at the counter and then when you tap your credit card to pay um a tip screen comes up with a suggested tip amount of 18%, 20 25%. And uh the people are watching you so it's very uncomfortable to press no tip button.

[00:07:54]Um, but it's even gotten I mean literally you go to a a like a dare they call them dairies here um like a little convenience store or something and um buy a candy bar and in America the the kiosk will ask you for a tip um just for somebody bringing up your um candy bar which is crazy. U and in LAX I bought a water for $6, a bottle of water um from a machine. Not not a machine exactly. I mean, you can pick the water up off the off out of the cooler or or I think you guys call them chili bins, right? Which is also awesome. Um, but literally I ordered it from like a robot. I ordered it from a computer, paid and it asked me for a tip on a $6 bottle of water and there was zero human interaction. So, um, to to we talk about tipping culture, it's dramatically different. Um, and also I was like, why the hell I'm not going to tip a freaking robot. Anyway, um uh speaking of robots though, um and I don't this probably has nothing to do with New Zealand um o over America. I'm sure these probably exist both places. I just hadn't seen. So where where we're staying, we are on a golf course in this Airbnb. There's definitely like AI powered robot golf caddies. Um I just saw somebody's dude this like golf cart like not his golf cart his clubs like his caddy was just driving to the next hole and he was like following behind it um in the backyard. So that was odd. Um, and then the other day we were walking through a neighborhood and uh we just stopped um because there was like a robot lawn mower um that was just like cruising around dude's lawn and we that was very unexpected. I mean I had like a like a Roomba like it uh vacuums my home um back in the States but I have never seen an autonomous lawn mower um that was that was new. So anyway, we probably have both those things back in the states and I was just unaware. But um anyway, nobody seems impressed about that stuff there. So I don't know why I was I was trying to some degree to escape some of the the technology. Uh and I'm definitely going to talk about that more in future videos. Uh unfortunately, it seems like it's going to be everywhere. Um it it's it's here, too. Um but anyway, okay. So what's up with the stubby paper towels? There's like I guess they do sell regular paper towels, but since we got here our Airbnb, the paper towel holder, the paper towels that are on it are like half the height of it like a little bit bigger than a toilet paper roll. Um, so that's messing me up. Um, also, dude, y'all's hedge game here in New Zealand is on point. The hedges are ridiculously good. I don't know if this is everywhere or if it's just in Amaroa where um hedges wild like we have hedges in America. That's not anything new to have a hedge but um you guys have hedges everywhere and some of them are 30 foot tall and they're completely perfectly manicured and they're it's just wild.

[00:11:00]I've never I've never seen anything like it. Um so uh that was stood out. Um, we were driving around with our realtor a couple days ago and uh I was like, "Dude, y'all's hedges are crazy." Um, and he's like, "We love a good hedge." Um, hedge.

[00:11:17]I like it. That's good. Um, we love a good hedge. Oh, me and my wife both cracked up. Um, anyway, I hope I could pick up on this accent at some point because it's cool. Uh, anyway. Okay. So, let's say the feeling here in general to me just feels calmer than the States. um just way less hustle. Um I don't know.

[00:11:40]It's hard to explain. Um everything here here feels familiar. Um but but also somewhat emotionally different. Um everything feels more still. Uh you know, I don't know. It's it's hard to explain. Uh it's why I kind of said same but different. I mean, street signs kind of look the same. I mean, people kind of look the same.

[00:12:04]uh grocery stores or it doesn't feel like you're in it doesn't feel like you're in a foreign country. Exactly. Um but it's beautiful anyway. I I I'm in love with it. Uh really happy we're here. So um yeah, it's like um it nothing that's radically different thus far that I've noticed. Just like lots and lots of little things. Um I don't want to do some stupid 25 things that are different list. We'll we'll talk more as I notice more things. Um, but I uh I just wanted to pop in and and tell you guys how it's been going and uh thing things I guess I've noticed. Um, New Zealand is not America, but it is America adjacentish, you know, um, hence the title. So, uh, anyway, I'll be back soon with uh more updates. I'll give you guys a a quick little update actually. Um, we did find a home um that we fell in love with and we put an offer in on it yesterday morning um in mind. Uh, so we're very excited about that. We'll see. We'll see how that goes. Um, I got uh I think the Breville uh barista. I don't know was the the coffee maker. I put it I I posted it last night. I'm very excited about this. Um, in America I made stupid drip coffee um out of a whatever like a cheap You could either have a coffee pot and you just turn it on and add some preg groundown be you know grounds or um I I had a curig essentially um and it made coffee in comparison to the coffee here. And so um I see these machines everywhere and I was like I am learning how to do this um because I love coffee. I drink a lot of it more than I should probably. Um and anyway I've been fighting with that thing for a day or two. Um and I think I finally got it got it sorted. Uh so uh where we're having delicious coffee at home and it is cheaper which is nice. Um anyway uh oh we might take the kids to a movie tomorrow and I just saw that when we went to go book it that there's day beds in the movie theater. Um there's reclining chairs, single day beds, double day beds. This is legitimate.

[00:14:17]I've never seen or heard of this. Uh way cool and uh excited about that. Uh we're going to go see a movie tomorrow um with the kids. I think the Sheep Detective movie. Um anyway, so uh all right. Well, we're settling in. Um we're we're getting there. We're getting the driving down and uh we're we're having a blast.

[00:14:38]Anyway, I think that does it for this one, guys. Uh I'll be back with more updates. Uh and a lot more content. I've been working on on a bunch of different stuff here here in the background. Uh so, uh I would love to continue this conversation all in the comments with you guys. I'm having so much fun. I am struggling to get to all the comments, but I enjoy reading them. So, uh, whenever I have any free time, um, I I try to pop in and and read them and and have conversations with with all each and every one of you as much as possible. So, thank you for being here.

[00:15:10]Um, and uh, I guess until next time, uh, I'm Justin and in a world moving faster than ever, still human.

[00:15:17]>> We still human.

[00:15:21]Feel your mind.