the short black & the short post

After watching blog posts pop up from multiple friends over the past few weeks,

I've been aware of how terribly I've been neglecting my own page.

I'm throwing my habit of big posts to the wind and saying LONG LIVE THE SHORT POST! (Thanks to inspiration from a few friends, including Jenny from Finland, who's awesome blog can be found here.)

To tie in a clever post title (you gotta have one), I wanna give a shout out to the coffee culture of New Zealand. 

Baby's first flat white:

For those who don't know:

Flat White: One third espresso, two thirds steamed milk, and a touch of swirled froth to top it off. It's kind of like a latte, only better. (I hear you can get them in the states now!)

Short Black: Essentially a shot of espresso in a cup. (Hence the title of this post.)

Long Black: A shot cut with a bit of hot water, and is about the closest thing you can order to a regular drip coffee, apart from an Americano. (This is probably what you'll get when you ask for a black coffee, which I learned the hard way.)

Despite finally understanding the coffee menu here, I've been relying on my own methods in the morning with the cheap mini French Press I bought (which they call a "plunger" here).

One thing I've learned about New Zealand is that not only do they use the 

metric system - like just about everyone else in the world except the US - but they measure things a little differently all around.

I've come to realize that any adjective used by a Kiwi (a local) will probably, in reality, be much more extreme. 

If someone tells you the coffee is strong, it'll be stronger.

If someone tells you a hike is steep, it'll be steeper.

If they tell you a pepper is spicy, it'll be spicier.

If they tell you something is beautiful, it'll be beautifuller. 

... I mean more beautiful.

Not to say that they're using understatements. They're just about all simply way harder core than any American I've ever met.

(I could write a novel called "Things I've Underestimated and How They've Almost Killed Me" and I've only been here a month.)

I've had to readjust my understanding of the scale of sheer intensity of everything here.

For instance, I've had to appreciate the fact that a hard trail here doesn't mean the same thing as a "hard" trail in the States.

Here, "hard" means that you will be traveling straight up for the entirety of the 6-hour trek, use your hands as much as your feet, and will probably face multiple near-death experiences with rivers, cliffs, and exhaustion all within the same hour. And then you'll have to climb back down.

The views - if the clouds aren't too dense - certainly make it worth it though.

And the only ways to get views, such as this one of Mt. Cook, the tallest mountain in NZ, is to earn them!