sunset

just wanted to put these pictures up.  i'll make a new post after the weekend

observations 2 and other stuff

here's some more random stuff i've thought of since last week...

kiwis love theme parties.  i've told y'all about the foga party, but last weekend i also went to a neon(fluorescent) one, i've heard about a foam party and a general costume party, and i saw some people walking around in superhero costumes or something like that

they don't say "bless you" or anything else after someone sneezes.  i thought that was odd

i haven't seen very many diet cokes, not to mention any pepsi or dr pepper, and sprite zero is more common than the regular stuff.  there isn't gatorade, powerade monopolizes the sports drink category.

they call mcdonalds "mackers", or at least a commercial does.  on that note, other fast food places i've seen are kfc, pizza hut, and burger king.  however, they are definitely not on every corner like they are here

most toilets have "half flush" and "full flush" options

in general, the guys wear shorter shorts than the girls.  the guys shorts are mid thigh or a little higher, and the girls' are usually knee length

the guys like to walk around barefoot everywhere- on campus or in town

in case you're interested, my classes are pretty small, having around 15-20 people in each.  and we're supposed to address the prof by his/her first name

this is from a long time ago, but it's worth still putting up.  silly sheep.  sorry about the lady's head in front of me.. haha

observations

i figured it was time for some fun "facts" about NZ...  i'll keep adding them as i remember, but here's a few:

yes, a lot of the guys here have rat tails and mullets.  the rat tails aren't terrible because they're usually accompanied by a faux- or mohawk so it doesn't look too bad.  but man have i seen some SICK mullets!

a majority of their tv shows are from the states, but they're a year behind in airing, so i can't watch shows online because of a licensing issue... so i'll have to wait until i get home to watch the office... bummer

there's a huge cadbury (like the chocolate) factory in dunedin on the south island.  almost all their candy is cadbury.

new zealand likes to name things by characteristics of the items or what it looks like.  there's tons of these, but my favorites and the only ones i can think of now are sticky plasters (bandaids) and throaties (halls/cough drops).  these aren't too crazy, but there a candy called crunchies and pinkys, as well as a cheetoh-like product called twisties.  i'll add more when i come by them

a little taste of other kiwi lingo:  togs=bathing suit;  jandals=flip flops;  lollies=candy; chippies, crispies, crisps=chips

history, foga, and clubs

Yesterday was an interesting day.  I was so lost in the sports history class:  not only do i know very little about the sports we were talking about, but i know very little NZ and british history (at least not well enough to keep up).   it was alright because it was just lecture for the first half, but then we read a short article and proceeded to discuss it.  it was about the history of south african racism and rugby.  the teacher asked me something about rugby history and i had no idea what he was talking about.  oh well, i guess i'm getting what i wanted- to learn about their sports which i know nothing about.

later on i ended up going to the "foga" party, and it was actually pretty fun albeit a little gross.  there was a live band and a foam machine.  we pretty much just picked the foam up off the floor and rubbed/threw it on each other.  i hope someone puts some pictures on facebook so i can transfer them over here.  my toga looked awesome too. haha

today was clubs day on campus, ergo all the clubs had a table set up in the center of campus where we could sign up.  lyndsay (one of my flatmates) and i went a little crazy and signed up for several clubs.  if i'm remembering them all, i signed up for the alpine club (outdoorsy stuff), the surfing club (they'll teach us and let us borrow boards and wet suits!), the summit club (more outdoorsy stuff), the fire club, ultimate frisbee (i'll probably never do this one, but i was standing by the table and the guy told me to just sign up), and, if i'm not forgetting something, volleyball.  i asked if they needed a setter and they said they did, so i'm going to try to go that route.  plus, they only practice once a week for two hours, so i'm down with that.  there's only two tournaments while i'm here though, so i might lose interest.  we'll see how much of this stuff i can handle, and i think it's going to be an adventure...

school started today...

classes (they call them papers) commenced today, and i had sports history at 9am, world politics at 1pm, and modern philosophy at 3pm.  we mostly just got syllabi today, but the classes are normally two hours of lecture each class period, twice a week.  it seems like a long time, but i think the profs encourage discussion so maybe it won't be too unbearable.  plus they seem to be pretty cool classes.    there's only one exam, a final, for each paper that is 50-60% of the grade, which is a little daunting, but they've already given us previous exam questions so that's good.  other than the final, i'll have one to two essays (20-25%) and possibly a presentation or participation grade.  it kind of makes me nervous to not have anything due until april though... i don't have my other paper (politics of culture) until friday.  yeah it's only once a week for two hours as far as i know.

it's way different from what i'm used to, so if you're interested, the breakdown of my schedule is as follows:  monday 9-11, 1-3, 3-5; tuesday 3-5; wednesday 3-5; thursday none; friday 9-11, 1-3.  not too bad- at least i get most of my classes done towards the beginning of the week.

it's "super O week" here, which apparently is a pretty big deal.  i guess the first week of the semester is like a big celebration.  tomorrow there's a "foga" party (foam-toga; i'm not sure if that really appeals to me), there's also several bands playing on campus throughout the week and some new zealand comedians that are coming.  i'm sure there's free food somewhere in there too.

we're also trying to get a weekend trip set up to go to the bay of plenty and cape reinga (to go dune surfing!).  hopefully we can get that going before everything gets too crazy with school.  oh yeah, and unfortunately, i don't think i'll get to see an all blacks rugby game - the only game reasonably close is in wellington and it's june 20 - the day we're flying out :(. oh well, we'll just have to go see the super 14 or whatever they are.

Belated video 1

I've finally figured this posting videos thing out thanks to kyle's technical help, so that's why this is a little late.  i'll try to put some others up eventually.  

this is what zorbing is.  this isn't a video of me, but i wanted y'all to see it in action.  and this is actually a person who was suspended in the ball, so just imagine people sliding inside.

volleyball and second degree burns

so i've already told a few people, but i'm being actively recruited by the volleyball team here, haha.  on one of the first days of orientation, this lady came up to me and asked me if i played volleyball.  i guess i just look like a volleyball player.  so she told me that they needed a middle (gag) and when they were practicing.  the next day i was at the mall (or "the plaza") and this lady came up to me and did the same thing.  I'm not sure what i'm going to do yet, but i think i'm going to at least check it out and see how serious it is and what position i'd have to play.  

On a related note, there was a campus wide volleyball tourney where all the halls played each other.  we had a pretty solid team and we won, undefeated, and we got a t-shirt.  it was funny though because a lot of the kiwis didn't wear shoes to play.  in fact, they don't wear shoes to a lot of places, like walking around downtown.

we also went to foxton beach, which is only about a 30 min drive from town and it was pretty cool.  i did, however, get completely fried.  i mean bad.  like second degree burns.  apparently the ozone here is bad so you have to make sure to pile on the sunscreen.  i didn't know this until after the fact, so being a texan, i was thinking i could handle a few hours in the sun without sunscreen. oops, boy was i wrong.   that was one of the most painful nights ever.  now i know, and knowing is half the battle.   Ray took a picture of my pathetic state, and although it's sideways, i think it shows my burns all too well.  that was my posture of choice for the majority of the night - it was the least painful.