Schools, snakes, and chicken in a can

Some things stay the same, despite international borders, and one of them is school fundraising.
The kids' Auckland school is raising money by asking kids (and parents) to sell chocolates and lollies on their behalf.
Of course, C. and H. wasted no time dragging me out into our neighbourhood to make inroads into their boxes of snakes.
At home, we'd have had no shortage of buyers to guilt into taking a few packets off our hands - neighbours, friends, relatives. But now we live in a fairly trendy development of townhouses close to the city, and haven't really gotten to know anyone. The body corporate discourage door-to-door salespeople, and even junk mail is a no-no.
So I really wasn't sure how our new neighbours would take to unsolicited visits from young kids pushing sweets. But I needn't have worried. One woman bought five packets, while another bought two, despite having started a new diet with Jenny Craig. One man gave Chase $5 for $4 worth of snakes, and insisted he keep the change.
We even ventured into a couple of nearby offices, where the kids were warmly welcomed and inundated with sales from office-workers with the afternoon munchies.
It was all really sweet (pardon the pun).
Last night, Kyle enjoyed another must-do Auckland experience - a Kiwi Octoberfest. From what I can tell it mainly involved lots of beer-drinking and meat-eating, as opposed to a full-on cultural experience, but he really enjoyed it. Particularly the sight of his boss dressed up in Lederhosen!

Speaking of Kiwi experiences, C. has discovered a food I never came across in Australia (but maybe I was looking in the wrong places?) It's chicken in a can.

It's found in the supermarket where the salmon and tuna is sold. At $2-plus for a small tin, it would probably be cheaper to buy the whole chicken!

I can't bring myself to taste it, and H. says it's gross and disgusting. But C. loves it!

Mmm ... canned chicken

This is what it looks like...

So tasty, Dad wants some too!