We're Amurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkan.

Went on a quest last weekend to meet some new people.  Ended up at Carolines and Stellers.  We asked people where everyone is and they replied, "You're kind of in the wrong city."  And so we've decided Wanganui is like the Menomonie of New Zealand.  But we did meet a few students who live in Palmerston North (aka Palmy) and a couple guys who are doing their Masters Honours (not the same as Masters) in Graphic Design at Ucol the Whanganui School of Design (WSD).  They seem pretty alright.  One of them, Sean, was being extremely chatty as me, Beth, and Liz bombarded him with questions.  He said he's seen us walking around town and could tell we were American by our straight teeth when we smiled.  He also advised us to go camping and spend time more time with nature.  We said we have no camping gear and he replied, "tha's alroight, jus borrow some from a mate."

Speaking of accents.  Here's a conversation I had with another guy, Ryan:

*cue loud music in a small space*

Me: I CAN'T UNDERSTAND A THING YOU'RE SAYING BECAUSE IT'S LOUD IN HERE AND I'M NOT USED TO YOUR ACCENT.

Ryan: I WATCH A LOT OF AMERICAN TV SO I CAN TELL WHAT YOU'RE SAYING JUST FINE.

Me: OH YEAH?

Ryan: YOU PRONOUNCE EVERYTHING.

Me: YOU DON'T!

Now lets talk politics.  Its kind of fun being abroad while the 2012 presidential election is near its peak.  During our conversation with Sean he kept saying, "Ron Paul? Ron Paul?" kind of like the seagulls saying "Mine?" from Finding Nemo.  And Fahd is all, "Of course we're interested in who wins the election...we want to see who will [screw] us over next." Liz and I panic as we haven't exactly been keeping ourselves well informed about it much...and we wondered if these people would make better Americans than us.

And we have another roommate.  We only met her briefly as she dropped off her things in her room.  But her name is Li Leslie (sp?) and she's from China (I think?), so that's pretty cool.