Birthday, Politics, Parliament

I had a pretty wicked birthday celebration, lasting 3 days to compensate for my birthday in NZ and the States. It involved a lot of singing, movie watching, and hanging out with my friends that remain. I even dressed up as a mummy on Saturday for another person's birthday, but no one else dressed up. It was slightly embarrassing for a while, but I had fun with it.

Sunday (29 june) I went to Wellington to hang out with a friend and be a "reader-writer" for kids with learning disabilities. It was pretty cool being a reader-writer, as I got to see what kind of stuff the kids learn in NZ. Most of it was the same, but there was a section in the social studies portion that irked me a bit. There was a section covering the 2008 presidential elections, and I kid you not, these were what the articles were essentially about: people who voted against Obama because of his race ("the racist belt" among other things), and the people who voted for McCain were poorer and less educated. My personal favorite though, was an article from the Rolling Stone calling Bush the best president since Bill Clinton. The Rolling Stone, really? I think laughed while reading this one to the kid. If these are the things NZers are hearing about US politics, no wonder they love Obama and hated Bush. Then again, it's not so different here. Anyways, enough about that...

Last Wednesday I took a tour of Parliament, and at the end I got to watch the beginning of a session. It was hilarious. I remember watching part of a session of the House of Commons in my Politics in Europe class, and it was quite similar to that - it consisted of a lot of yelling back and forth and over each other and attacks on another party, especially by the PM John Key. I wish I could have stayed a little longer to watch...

Well, happy 4th of July everyone! Wish I could be there to engage in some American activities, like eating an American hot dog, watching fireworks, and throwing around the old pigskin, or even just some summer activities like swimming. That's ok, I'm sure I'll get more than my fix when I get back. I seriously might overdose on hot dogs...

A Continuation...

I thought I'd finally elaborate a little about my last week of school and the All Blacks game in Wellington...

I had my last exam last thursday, and it went alright- did well enough to pass I'm sure... Not that I was ever bombarded with work, but it feels nice to be done and not have a nagging sense that I should be studying or reading something for school.

Most of the day on Friday was spent packing up my stuff and cleaning out my dorm room, a bittersweet experience, and then I moved into my new place with a friend on the volleyball team. It's still pretty close to campus though, so it's just a short walk to see my remaining friends. The only killer is that there's literally a hundred stairs to get to it.

Saturday morning I left for Wellington, both for another volleyball tournament and for the All Blacks game. Volleyball was business as usual, but once I left the gym, it was party time! Haha wow... I met up with Ray at the hostel she was staying at, and we walked to the game from there. It was pretty incredible: it seemed like the whole city was walking to the game, thus the streets were packed. The atmosphere was electric both inside and outside of the stadium, what an experience!

The stadium actually wasn't very big compared with what I'm used to- you could probably get a sense of the size from the video if you watched that. Also, we were in the second row, and those were the cheap seats. Obviously we didn't have the best view of the entire field, but we didn't really know what was going on anyways so it was pretty cool to be that close. And there were some French fans sitting behind us yelling in French, so I enjoyed that. It was fairly cold out, so we went all bundled up, but that didn't help much when the wind was blowing and the rain started to seep through the layers. However, sitting at the game was nothing compared to the walk back: it started pouring on us and there was like 90 mile an hour wind threatening to blow us over. BRR!

Oh goodness, here I am talking about the weather like anyone cares... so about the game... Well, the All Blacks won, but I can't remember the score. Haha, that's about all I have. I still don't understand all of the rules, but it's easy to follow and fun to watch so I guess that's all that matters. Apparently some girl ran onto the field and was hard out tackled by a security guard, but I missed that...

After the game a few of us went out on the town, which was, not surprisingly, hoppin'. It was Ray's last night in New Zealand, so needless to say, it was a late night. I had a game at 10 on Sunday morning, and let's just say I was tired to the point that I could barely keep my eyes open between points. My team enjoyed making fun of me, but I have to say that I played surprisingly well taking my state into consideration. I took a nap in between games and woke up feeling much better. Unfortunately we ended up losing to NZIS in 5, but there'll be more opportunities to play them in the future. We got back to Palmy around 5pm, and I was in asleep by 830pm and slept until 930am the next morning. 13 hours of sleep. It was greaaaat.

I decided to go on a three day raw fruit/veggie detox just for kicks, and I was actually able to do it, although I probably didn't eat as many veggies as I should have... I surprise myself sometimes. So that's pretty much the highlight of Monday-Wednesday. Oh, and immediately after a detox, it's a bad idea to have a red bull and a giant burger with fries. Just saying...

Well, I'm 22. Crazy. I'll tell of my birthday extravaganza next time :)

All Blacks vs. France

Hopefully I'll add some more text here soon, but thought i'd put up this video from the All Blacks game versus France in the meantime.

this is the order of the clips: NZ national anthem, man chasing french chicken, the haka, a short clip from the game

Finals

I have to say one of my least favorite things about NZ has been their finals system... I've made several references to finals over the past few weeks, mainly highlighting the fact that I only have 3 over a two week period, with a one week study break beforehand.  First of all, this is just a recipe for me to feel like a terrible student.  It's completely unnecessary for me to study that much for the classes I'm taking.  Just give me a couple of days and I'll be fine.  And I can defend my point because I had two finals this past week and they went quite fine- I even took quiz night study breaks. (By the way, we won quiz night one night.  HOORAH!)

In addition to feeling like I should be studying constantly for three weeks, the actual administration of the exams seems a little over the top.  It's like taking the SATs or something:  they check our IDs, allow us to only bring in pens and water, and the professor isn't actually there, instead there's about three random people walking around keeping people in check.  Some people even have exams on Saturday, yuck!  Moreover, the exam period is three hours long, and it's taken me at least two and a half for both of the ones i've taken thus far.  After writing three philosophy essays in three hours, my brain was completely fried.  Not cool.  But in spite of everything, I guess I shouldn't complain, as these are the only exams I've had to take all semester...

I have one final left, Sports History, this Thursday, and then I'm done!  CRAZY!  How long have i been here now?  5 months?  Pretty unbelievable.  It's one of those things where I feel like I just got here, but at the same time like I've been here forever... It's pretty weird too, because a lot of my new friends are going back within the next week or so, and I'll still be hanging out.  I'm going to miss them heaps, hopefully this won't be the last time I see them.

I'm starting to miss home a little more- don't get me wrong, I still love it here, but I could really go for some solid home cooked meals, or even just a real hot dog.  Mmm... hot dogs [drools].  And I definitely would like to see family and friends, and (attempt to) cuddle with my cats.  But, I'm sure these next two months will go by just as fast as the rest of my time here and before I know it, it'll be time to head home.  Hopefully I'll make the most of my time here and go on some killer adventures.  Safe adventures, of course.

My birthday is coming up, and I'm pretty excited about celebrating it in NZ just for the sake of being in another country.  But alas, as usual, it's going to be difficult to round people up for the celebration, as people are traveling/going home during the semester break.  I'm sure it'll be just fine though.  Hm... 22... interesting...

Random note:  my use of "y'all" has become a rare occurrence, and I'm wondering whether two months of living with a kiwi (with a fairly strong accent I may add) with further diminish that.  

oh i don't know

Last week our dorm played in the social leagues basketball championship- I scored a few points and grabbed a few boards, but we ended up losing by about 12 points.  There was a fight at one point, and as it's co-ed, it was kind of amusing to see the girls just walk to the side and chat while the guys battled it out.  Apparently one of the girls on their team played for the NZ national team.  It's funny how many people I've met that have been on a national sporting team.  I guess that's what happens in a country of just 4 million people...

I did a lot of lazing last week since the semester is winding down.  Hm... I'm not sure how to elaborate... The "Life on Mars" finale was terrible...

On Sunday a bunch of us went to see Angels and Demons.  I have to say that movie etiquette is much better here.  An usher actually went up to someone and told them to turn their phone off that hadn't even made any noise.  What's more, the guy actually listened!  Impressive!  The movie itself was disappointingly average, and at risk of sounding like a broken record, the book was way better.  

I have to say that I'm so glad that I'm staying longer.  I was originally supposed to leave 20 june - in 3 weeks.  I really can't imagine leaving that soon.  Although I could use some sun and sweltering heat...

Mostly in Napier...

I'm sure you guys have been wondering where I am and sitting by the computer waiting for a new post, so I won't keep you waiting any longer.

Last week, the one and only Stephanie Figgers came for a short visit, so Ray and I took here around Palmy and a bit of the east coast.  

Tuesday morning we went to pick up a rental car from a BP, which was a bit odd, but it had a sweet interior so we couldn't complain.  We drove a couple of hours to Hastings/Napier for a wine tour, but about an hour before we were scheduled to go, the guy called and said he had to cancel.  No worries, though, we went to a tourist info place and they got us fixed up with another one that was supposed to be at about the same time.  Unfortunately, the lady, Val, was about 45 minutes late, was a new tour guide, and was driving a standard van (she hadn't driven a standard in years).  After stalling once, getting slightly lost, and hitting a curb (or kerb, I refuse to spell it like that), we finally made it to our first stop, an "olivery."  I tried an olive, but it was way too salty for me to eat by itself, and some vinegars and "salsas".  It was an interesting experience, but i don't know, I guess I need to develop a liking for olives and oils before I go back to one.

After the olivery, we set out for our actual wine stops.  And I basically confirmed what I already knew - I'm a red wine person.  I tried all of the whites, but they were too sweet and just didn't do it for me, though I must say that chardonnay or viognier would be my top choices.  It was fun tasting the reds too - I had never had syrah before so that was fun.  In all, we went to three wineries, and had a "cheese break" at one of them, which was a delight.  The last winery we went to, the Mission, was apparently the oldest in NZ - it was once a Catholic (?) mission and was later turned into a vineyard/winery/restaurant.  They were a little snooty at this one, but  it was a really nice place and had a beautiful view.  Here's some pics:

^view from the restaurant

After the wine tour, we headed into Napier to find a place to stay for the night, and decided on a hostel/backpackers right across from the ocean ($20 NZD a night! haha).  We made Ray watch Hostel II with us the week before, so she was scared that we'd be drugged and sold to psychos, but I assured her that that only happened in Slovokia.  And obviously, that did not happen to us.  After checking in, we went to search for a place to eat, and settled on bar food (garlic bread and soup that looked like baby food- it was pretty good).  I also had my first gambling experience, losing $6 on the pokies (slots).  It was fun, but don't worry, not that much fun.  Following that thrilling outing, we headed back to the hostel, and got ready for bed... at 8:30.  Yeah, so it was a long day.

The next day we got up and wandered around Napier for a couple of hours, our last stop being "Opossum World", which we thought was a souvenir shop.  It was- sort of.  But it was also a possum museum, filled with stuffed possums and their history in NZ.  Please just look at this picture of one of the things they had:  

Yes, those are possums caroling on top of a car. WHAT?!  I don't know, but I thought it was pretty hilarious.

That made me completely lose my train of thought... Oh, after that delightfully unexpected stop, we made our way back to Palmy.  I drove the whole way, and I'm quite proud of myself, even though the double roundabouts were confusing as.  That night we went to a quiz night, which was cool, even though we didn't win.  They kept bringing us free food, so I can't really complain.

Thursday night was the usual for me, although this time we were able to introduce Steph to the NZ karaoke scene.  It was a good night.  

Friday night was pretty low key - we just ate some homemade flautas and guacamole courtesy of Steph and watched some movies.  Oh how I can't wait for some OTB when I get back...  

Saturday and Sunday I headed back to Napier, this time for another volleyball tournament.  We ended up beating the team we lost to at the last tournament in the finals, so yay sweet redemption.  It was also fun because I got to know some of my teammates a little better and was reminded of one of the reasons why I love NZ so much- they're just nice, good people, and they were very keen on helping me figure out what I'm going to do for the two extra months I'm here. 

This week is the last week of lectures, which is odd since we still have a month left, but hey whatever.  I need to find a hobby... I mean, I'm going to be studying constantly for the next month.  Yeah, that's what I meant... 

Well, I'll try to be better about updating, though I'm not sure if anything exciting is going to happen during the next three weeks... 

Baby, it's cold outside

Wednesday afternoon, the Massey international office put on a little "kiwi culture afternoon."  We got some free food  like marmite and toast, minced meat pies, pavlova, and even some wine and cheese haha, played traditional games (toss the gum boot, poi, etc.).  They also had some NZ music on in the background, as well as Flight of the Conchords on the TV.  Haha, it was slightly over-stimulating, but it was fun nevertheless.  In case you're not familiar with it, the Flight of the Conchords is a show/comedy duo from NZ, but their show also comes on HBO back home I believe.  Oh and they gave us a little gift bag too!  They're very accommodating to international students here...

Other than that the week was just more of the usual:  classes, volleyball, and a little singing.

Only one other person showed up to my sports history class today.  I felt kind of bad for the professor, what a waste of time!  It was kind of funny though.

It's pretty wild, I only have two weeks of class left after this week, a "study break" week, and then the two weeks of finals.  Wowzas!  

I actually thought about it, and it's quite sad, but I won't really have a summer for another year if I stay here until august!  Bummer!  It's getting rather cold here- I even busted out the gloves today.

Here's some clips from the break... the first is of the sperm whale, and I love how you can hear my mom and me laughing at how anticlimactic it was after watching it float for 20 minutes; the second is of an orca; and the last is of some seals.  Don't worry, I'm not planning on going into the film business.