I am once again stateside, after a 30 hour journey and being in two places for a full day. Kind of trippy, but kind of cool. I slept for fifteen hours last night, and I feel like I'm slowly getting used to the time change. It's wonderful to be back in warm weather and to see friends and family again. I had a delightful welcoming party at the airport, and no issues with my bags or anything so it's all good. I start work tomorrow, so it'll certainly be a busy next few days.
This will be it for my blog, seeing as I am no longer exploring Oceania, so everyone can turn their full attention to South America and Michelle's adventures there.
Hope all is well with everybody! Lots of love!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
I'm going ho-ho-ho-home!
Exam went fine. I know I missed some of the multi-choice ones, but it's not my fault that I wasn't prepared to know the Hawaiian word for "slack-key guitar." I kicked bootay on the essays though.
I am living off of a loaf of $1.05 bread and a half-carton of milk, plus two green capsicums and three hard kiwifruits. Thankfully Dan and I are going out for dinner tonight so I won't be stuck trying to cook some weird toast with kiwifruit concoction. I am on cup two of tea, and only have six bags left. Hopefully I'll be able to use them up before tomorrow.
I am trying to figure out why I thought it was imperative to bring so much stuff over here. Next time I go anywhere, I'm just bringing three t-shirts and a pair of pants and enough socks and underwear to last me the whole time.
I am living off of a loaf of $1.05 bread and a half-carton of milk, plus two green capsicums and three hard kiwifruits. Thankfully Dan and I are going out for dinner tonight so I won't be stuck trying to cook some weird toast with kiwifruit concoction. I am on cup two of tea, and only have six bags left. Hopefully I'll be able to use them up before tomorrow.
I am trying to figure out why I thought it was imperative to bring so much stuff over here. Next time I go anywhere, I'm just bringing three t-shirts and a pair of pants and enough socks and underwear to last me the whole time.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
2 posts in less than 24 hours, WHAT?
I have nothing to do before my exam. I feel fine about it, I'm not worried about it, and I don't feel like studying any more will help me. In that spirit, I've spent the last hour playing Text Twist online, making lunch, and getting my room checked by Tony from Uni Flats instead of studying. I just want this exam to be over. In the spirit of procrastination, I present to you a series of lists describing the leaving-NZ-coming-home process.
Things I Am Going to Miss About NZ:
1. Traveling every weekend to heaps of gorgeous new places that all look shockingly different, despite the small geographic size of the South Island
2. The Arcadia students that came on my program, and being able to drop by everybody's flat in a matter of minutes walking distance
3. Seeing sheep everywhere, even five minutes outside major metropolitan areas
4. Gladys the Gladiator, our strongas car who survived driving miles and miles over gravel roads, thousands of miles up and down the country, fording a few streams, and 24 years of life. She will be missed.
5. The friendly people everywhere, and how eager they are to talk to you, and how when they ask "where are you from" and you say "the States," they laugh and say "I know, but WHERE in the States?"
7. Living next to the childcare center and waving at the kids, especially when they're outside playing and wearing these goofy bright red hats to keep them warm
8. Living within walking distance of everything I need
9. The view of the mountains and Mt. Cargill and the park from my flat
10. Eating heaps of pumpkin and parsnip and other seasonal veggies
11. The phrases "heaps," "mate," "good on ya," "sweetas"
12. Actually, just being able to add "as" to the end of any word
13. Driving on the left side of the road (it's really grown on me)
14. Ending websites with ".co.nz" and reading it aloud as "dot co dot en zed"
15. Being able to buy Tim Tams at every grocery store, convenience store, dairy, gas station, etc.
16. Jane (our Arcadia program leader) and her giant grin and enthusiasm whenever we share our adventures with her and her cute emails that always start with "kia ora, Otago-possums" and end with "huge hugs, Jane"
17. Walking by extraordinarily cool gothic architecture on an average stroll through town
18. Joe's pineapple macaroni and cheese and quiche, the only two foods that he cooked almost the entire semester; Evan's food experiments that sometimes turned out delicious and sometimes turned out overspiced; how Jane always made me special lentil patties every time she made hamburgers; Jess's choco-nana muffins; the fact that Joe always hid in the pantry and tried to scare people by popping out; all of us shoving into the lounge to cuddle on the couch to warm up; the fact that Evan left coffee grounds EVERYWHERE whenever he tried to make coffee (actually, I might not miss that so much); playing Scrabble at dinner when nobody wanted to do homework; and generally anything related to the shenanigans of 515 Great King Street
19. The fact that as much as I loved my flat, I spent equally as much time at Dan and Patrick's because they heated their flat and how by the end of the semester, I had practically moved into their kitchen to get my studying done in a warm place (don't worry, I chipped in for their power bill too).
20. Getting a student discount almost everywhere in Dunedin
Things I Am Not Really Going to Miss About NZ :
1. Eating PBJs every weekend we go hiking--who woulda thunk they'd get so average after a while?
2. Seeing my breath indoors
3. Really, just constantly being cold whether it's indoors or outside
4. Having to wash my clothes 4 days before I'll need them because that's how long they take to dry
5. Never having a dry towel because things don't dry fast enough in our flat
6. Always having to eat Watties brand "tomato sauce" instead of regular ketchup
7. The fact that they have no idea what Mexican food is supposed to taste like and add celery and cabbage to burritos
8. Seeing sheep poop on the road constantly and wondering if you're stepping on it every time you walk through farmland
9. The kiwi mullet and the boys that thing they look cool with it (side note: Dan went to get his haircut yesterday, and the barber asked "do you want me to leave some in the back?"). Also, all the boys running around in short shorts that flap up all the time and the way they awkwardly don't even seem to notice.
Things I Am Looking Forward to at Home:
1. Seeing friends and family again
2. Lots and lots of food: cheerios, my SmartStart GoLean Crunch cereal, safeway brand macaroni and cheese, anything purchased from Trader Joe's, bagels and cream cheese, having fresh summer fruit veggies in season (pleeeeease say strawberries and blueberries and cherries are cheap now)
3. My hugeas bed and the fact that I won't have to put a hot water bottle in it to warm it up before I get in
4. Being able to turn right on red lights legally, and just generally being back in The Rock
5. Portland and subsequently, #6 and being able to explore even more areas of #5 now that I'll be allowed in
6. My birthday!
7. Summer weather and being able to wear all the tank tops I thought maybe I'd have a chance to wear in Dunedin (yeah right)
8. Having a more fully-stocked pantry and fridge
9. A fuller collection of shoes and clothes to choose from
10. Eventually going back to Oxy and seeing friends I haven't seen in eight months, and some in over a year
Things I Am Going to Miss About NZ:
1. Traveling every weekend to heaps of gorgeous new places that all look shockingly different, despite the small geographic size of the South Island
2. The Arcadia students that came on my program, and being able to drop by everybody's flat in a matter of minutes walking distance
3. Seeing sheep everywhere, even five minutes outside major metropolitan areas
4. Gladys the Gladiator, our strongas car who survived driving miles and miles over gravel roads, thousands of miles up and down the country, fording a few streams, and 24 years of life. She will be missed.
5. The friendly people everywhere, and how eager they are to talk to you, and how when they ask "where are you from" and you say "the States," they laugh and say "I know, but WHERE in the States?"
7. Living next to the childcare center and waving at the kids, especially when they're outside playing and wearing these goofy bright red hats to keep them warm
8. Living within walking distance of everything I need
9. The view of the mountains and Mt. Cargill and the park from my flat
10. Eating heaps of pumpkin and parsnip and other seasonal veggies
11. The phrases "heaps," "mate," "good on ya," "sweetas"
12. Actually, just being able to add "as" to the end of any word
13. Driving on the left side of the road (it's really grown on me)
14. Ending websites with ".co.nz" and reading it aloud as "dot co dot en zed"
15. Being able to buy Tim Tams at every grocery store, convenience store, dairy, gas station, etc.
16. Jane (our Arcadia program leader) and her giant grin and enthusiasm whenever we share our adventures with her and her cute emails that always start with "kia ora, Otago-possums" and end with "huge hugs, Jane"
17. Walking by extraordinarily cool gothic architecture on an average stroll through town
18. Joe's pineapple macaroni and cheese and quiche, the only two foods that he cooked almost the entire semester; Evan's food experiments that sometimes turned out delicious and sometimes turned out overspiced; how Jane always made me special lentil patties every time she made hamburgers; Jess's choco-nana muffins; the fact that Joe always hid in the pantry and tried to scare people by popping out; all of us shoving into the lounge to cuddle on the couch to warm up; the fact that Evan left coffee grounds EVERYWHERE whenever he tried to make coffee (actually, I might not miss that so much); playing Scrabble at dinner when nobody wanted to do homework; and generally anything related to the shenanigans of 515 Great King Street
19. The fact that as much as I loved my flat, I spent equally as much time at Dan and Patrick's because they heated their flat and how by the end of the semester, I had practically moved into their kitchen to get my studying done in a warm place (don't worry, I chipped in for their power bill too).
20. Getting a student discount almost everywhere in Dunedin
Things I Am Not Really Going to Miss About NZ :
1. Eating PBJs every weekend we go hiking--who woulda thunk they'd get so average after a while?
2. Seeing my breath indoors
3. Really, just constantly being cold whether it's indoors or outside
4. Having to wash my clothes 4 days before I'll need them because that's how long they take to dry
5. Never having a dry towel because things don't dry fast enough in our flat
6. Always having to eat Watties brand "tomato sauce" instead of regular ketchup
7. The fact that they have no idea what Mexican food is supposed to taste like and add celery and cabbage to burritos
8. Seeing sheep poop on the road constantly and wondering if you're stepping on it every time you walk through farmland
9. The kiwi mullet and the boys that thing they look cool with it (side note: Dan went to get his haircut yesterday, and the barber asked "do you want me to leave some in the back?"). Also, all the boys running around in short shorts that flap up all the time and the way they awkwardly don't even seem to notice.
Things I Am Looking Forward to at Home:
1. Seeing friends and family again
2. Lots and lots of food: cheerios, my SmartStart GoLean Crunch cereal, safeway brand macaroni and cheese, anything purchased from Trader Joe's, bagels and cream cheese, having fresh summer fruit veggies in season (pleeeeease say strawberries and blueberries and cherries are cheap now)
3. My hugeas bed and the fact that I won't have to put a hot water bottle in it to warm it up before I get in
4. Being able to turn right on red lights legally, and just generally being back in The Rock
5. Portland and subsequently, #6 and being able to explore even more areas of #5 now that I'll be allowed in
6. My birthday!
7. Summer weather and being able to wear all the tank tops I thought maybe I'd have a chance to wear in Dunedin (yeah right)
8. Having a more fully-stocked pantry and fridge
9. A fuller collection of shoes and clothes to choose from
10. Eventually going back to Oxy and seeing friends I haven't seen in eight months, and some in over a year
Monday, June 16, 2008
One last hurrah
I have returned, back from my very last NZ adventure for now. We went out to Methven, this tiny ski town SW of Christchurch, and did some cool day hikes. The boys got some skiing and snowboarding in too while I took a day in to study for my last exam tomorrow. We stayed at this really fun hostel where everybody hung out together and met some hilariously funny British guys. One night, we went to one of the two pubs in town (the Blue Pub and the Brown Pub) to watch some rugby since we figured we might as well kiwi it up before we left, and had a great time talking with the Brits and learning their favorite slang (instead of saying, "that movie sucks," they would say "that movie was pants," they used the word "snog" instead of "kiss" and they also said "wanker" [pronounced wankah] a lot). It was great fun. Our hikes were pretty wicked too--one hike, we had to snake our way up this stream to get up to the waterfall and we ended up crossing the stream via unstable, slippery rocks thirty-one times. We managed to keep our feet dry until pretty close to the end, but we all ended up slipping in at one point. Dan and I did another one where we got to climb around some more rocks in a stream and took in this magnificent cliff view. It was a great last hurrah in NZ.
Now it's back to business--I took care of a bunch of errands today like trying to figure out how to get rid of our car (once it failed the Warrant of Fitness test, it made it virtually impossible to sell it to any private buyer), and doing some last-minute errands that we needed the car for. It looks like we're taking it to a European Auto Dismantler or something, and they're going to give us $200 for it. We calculated that we must have put over 5,000 miles on it, and that's a conservative estimate. Either way, we certainly got our money's worth out of it. Almost all of the other foreigners that bought cars over here have had something tragic happen to their car that's left them stranded, so we really lucked out. Tomorrow it's really going to sink in that I'm leaving soon--I'll take my last exam, I'll figure out all my finances and somehow I need to close my bank account. The boys will take the car in while I take my exam, so I'll be car-less and bank account-less, making me more of a tourist and less of a permanent resident.
Coming home is such a weird phenomenon--there's so many things to look forward to about home, and so many things to miss about New Zealand. I think every study abroad student goes through stages of being overwhelmingly excited to go home and overwhelmingly sad to close such an important chapter of their life. Even though I would desperately love to come back here, I know it's not going to be the same place as I left it and I certainly will be different when I come back. I think coming to terms with these changes and making them a positive part of your life is one of the hardest things about constantly leaving places and experiences and people you love. As one of my good friends Elizabeth wrote in her blog about leaving Chile after spending three plus months there (E-Cuts, I'm shamelessly stealing your words because you just expressed my feelings so eloquently), "It may seem a little silly but I am realizing that people and pets are not the only things we mourn; on the contrary, experiences and places are very much living, breathing entities to which we have to say good-bye in the same way we would a loved one." Still, saying goodbye to a country and to people I've grown to adore is a small price to pay for getting to spend four+ glorious months here, and isn't college supposed to be about finding new things that you love? It's so hard to express how important and shaping my time here has been and how much it's enriched my college experience and made it so much fuller.
So adding this ridiculous mix of emotions on top of a 19-hour jetlag and a 30+ hour series of flights, I have a feeling I'll be somewhat disoriented upon my arrival. I'll have to pull myself together quickly though, because I have less than 40 hours after I arrive before I have to be ready to get a zillion first and second graders excited to learn. If nothing else, jumping into work will force me to make the transition from NZ to home quickly, if not make it any easier.
To keep this entry from being entirely nostalgic and a free-for-all ramble on my transition, I'll save my lists of Favorite Things About NZ and Things I'm Looking Forward To About Home for an entry tomorrow when I won't be procrastinating on my studies.
Loooooove to everybody at home, and see you soon for those of you in the general NW region!
Now it's back to business--I took care of a bunch of errands today like trying to figure out how to get rid of our car (once it failed the Warrant of Fitness test, it made it virtually impossible to sell it to any private buyer), and doing some last-minute errands that we needed the car for. It looks like we're taking it to a European Auto Dismantler or something, and they're going to give us $200 for it. We calculated that we must have put over 5,000 miles on it, and that's a conservative estimate. Either way, we certainly got our money's worth out of it. Almost all of the other foreigners that bought cars over here have had something tragic happen to their car that's left them stranded, so we really lucked out. Tomorrow it's really going to sink in that I'm leaving soon--I'll take my last exam, I'll figure out all my finances and somehow I need to close my bank account. The boys will take the car in while I take my exam, so I'll be car-less and bank account-less, making me more of a tourist and less of a permanent resident.
Coming home is such a weird phenomenon--there's so many things to look forward to about home, and so many things to miss about New Zealand. I think every study abroad student goes through stages of being overwhelmingly excited to go home and overwhelmingly sad to close such an important chapter of their life. Even though I would desperately love to come back here, I know it's not going to be the same place as I left it and I certainly will be different when I come back. I think coming to terms with these changes and making them a positive part of your life is one of the hardest things about constantly leaving places and experiences and people you love. As one of my good friends Elizabeth wrote in her blog about leaving Chile after spending three plus months there (E-Cuts, I'm shamelessly stealing your words because you just expressed my feelings so eloquently), "It may seem a little silly but I am realizing that people and pets are not the only things we mourn; on the contrary, experiences and places are very much living, breathing entities to which we have to say good-bye in the same way we would a loved one." Still, saying goodbye to a country and to people I've grown to adore is a small price to pay for getting to spend four+ glorious months here, and isn't college supposed to be about finding new things that you love? It's so hard to express how important and shaping my time here has been and how much it's enriched my college experience and made it so much fuller.
So adding this ridiculous mix of emotions on top of a 19-hour jetlag and a 30+ hour series of flights, I have a feeling I'll be somewhat disoriented upon my arrival. I'll have to pull myself together quickly though, because I have less than 40 hours after I arrive before I have to be ready to get a zillion first and second graders excited to learn. If nothing else, jumping into work will force me to make the transition from NZ to home quickly, if not make it any easier.
To keep this entry from being entirely nostalgic and a free-for-all ramble on my transition, I'll save my lists of Favorite Things About NZ and Things I'm Looking Forward To About Home for an entry tomorrow when I won't be procrastinating on my studies.
Loooooove to everybody at home, and see you soon for those of you in the general NW region!
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Rachel 1, Exams 0
So I totally DOMINATED on my first exam, I think (knock on wood). I totally overstudied, which is better than the alternative of understudying, and I knew the information in a much more nuanced context than we needed to. Hopefully that came through in my answers. All the questions were pretty simple and basic, and I was confident that I knew the correct answers and more to the questions. I suppose that makes sense--it's a 200-level class, and at this point in my academic career, I should be prepared to do well in a 200-level class.
Going to the exam itself was terrifying--there was this scary old man proctoring the exam and he kept pacing up and down, yelling at people who weren't properly filling out their cover forms on the Official Test-Taking Booklet, and glancing neurotically at the clock. We had to leave all our bags at the front of this giant auditorium with our cell phones off, and they had cell phone detectors to see if anybody secretly had theirs. If people had to leave, they had to sign a "T" with their hands and then a proctor would escort them to the restroom. You can't leave the exam during the first hour or during the last fifteen minutes, and they scan your ID card to make sure it's not a fake one. It's crazy! I can't believe they take their exams so seriously.
That being said, my first one is DONE! And my second one is a 100-level class, which means the exam is going to be ridiculously easy. I hope. Not that I'm not studying. It's not till the 18th, and today I brought out my notebook and started making flashcards, so I'm on a roll.
Loooooove to the warmer United States folk from the freezing Antarctic-esque NZ folk!
Going to the exam itself was terrifying--there was this scary old man proctoring the exam and he kept pacing up and down, yelling at people who weren't properly filling out their cover forms on the Official Test-Taking Booklet, and glancing neurotically at the clock. We had to leave all our bags at the front of this giant auditorium with our cell phones off, and they had cell phone detectors to see if anybody secretly had theirs. If people had to leave, they had to sign a "T" with their hands and then a proctor would escort them to the restroom. You can't leave the exam during the first hour or during the last fifteen minutes, and they scan your ID card to make sure it's not a fake one. It's crazy! I can't believe they take their exams so seriously.
That being said, my first one is DONE! And my second one is a 100-level class, which means the exam is going to be ridiculously easy. I hope. Not that I'm not studying. It's not till the 18th, and today I brought out my notebook and started making flashcards, so I'm on a roll.
Loooooove to the warmer United States folk from the freezing Antarctic-esque NZ folk!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Exams are stealing my soul
Okay, first off, muchas gracias to the many comments on the last entry...though perhaps it was a result of my shameless begging on Michelle's blog, it was much appreciated and it's always exciting to come home and see a new comment on my blog.
That being said, I am officially sick of social constructs. According to my media studies class, everything is a social construct: Orientalism is a social construct designed by the West to appropriate themselves as superior to the East, national identity is a social construct furthered by the development of print technology, and nations are social constructs with imagined communities within them defined by political borders. It's like Oxy all over again.
My first exam is tomorrow, and I'm not pleased with the exam process: I have to bring my ID card and placed in the top right-hand corner of the desk, it's held in a room I've never been to, if I bring in liquids, it has to be in a sealed clear bottle with a pop-top (making my Nalgene unacceptable), I can't bring food, if I need to go to the bathroom, I have to raise my hand second-grade-style and someone escorts me and stands outside the stall while I do my business. That sounds incredibly over-the-top. AND it's on a Saturday, and that's just really unnecessary.
Back to social constructs, diasporic communities, and armchair imperialism (furthered by the globalisation of modern media). Wish me luck tomorrow!
That being said, I am officially sick of social constructs. According to my media studies class, everything is a social construct: Orientalism is a social construct designed by the West to appropriate themselves as superior to the East, national identity is a social construct furthered by the development of print technology, and nations are social constructs with imagined communities within them defined by political borders. It's like Oxy all over again.
My first exam is tomorrow, and I'm not pleased with the exam process: I have to bring my ID card and placed in the top right-hand corner of the desk, it's held in a room I've never been to, if I bring in liquids, it has to be in a sealed clear bottle with a pop-top (making my Nalgene unacceptable), I can't bring food, if I need to go to the bathroom, I have to raise my hand second-grade-style and someone escorts me and stands outside the stall while I do my business. That sounds incredibly over-the-top. AND it's on a Saturday, and that's just really unnecessary.
Back to social constructs, diasporic communities, and armchair imperialism (furthered by the globalisation of modern media). Wish me luck tomorrow!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Franz Josef glacier
If finals weren't looming in the not-so-distant future, I would be glowing with happiness from the last weekend, but alas, finals have cut my happiness-basking short. Still, this weekend was fabulous and was definitely one of the highlights of my semester (though really, what part of this semester hasn't been part of the highlights?). We went out to the West Coast to Franz Josef glacier, one of two magnificently huge glaciers that dominate NZ's west coast and provide a much-needed tourist base to sustain the communities out there. It's about a seven hour drive from Dunedin, and it's almost entirely windy, sickening roads. We didn't leave till 5, so it was a really long night full of carsickness from almost everybody in the car, extreme exhaustion, and general crankiness. We had booked an 8:15 AM full-day hike on the glacier, so we were really short on sleep the next day. Despite the not-so-pleasant beginning to the trip, the glacier was totally worth any grumblings at the beginning. We walked through the forest to get there, and then climbed over this giant rock (ordinarily, you can just walk out directly, but the glacier river had recently changed paths, so we had to maneuver the rock) complete with ladders, chains, and rails. It was pretty cool. We got to wear crampon spikes, and then we climbed up onto the ice!
Climbing up the glacier wasn't as dramatic as it sounds, since the guides cut out stairs from the ice to climb up, but it's pretty slippery and you have to make sure you're using your crampons right. The first part of the glacier is kind of this ugly gray, dirty color, but once you get past that, it's really wavy bright white ice that's really cool. We got to go through lots of really narrow channels, which are the most fun part because you kind of feel like a penguin sliding around in-between cracks. There were some parts where we got to climb up an ice cave, walk through crevasses, and one part we got to do some ice climbing and pull ourselves up with a rope through this super narrow area (I actually got stuck...my pack was too fat, and I couldn't move for a couple seconds...it was kind of embarrassing). Since we did a full-day hike, we got to hike up high enough so that we could see blue ice and go through one of the biggest ice caves on the entire glacier. We got really lucky too, and got gorgeously clear weather even though by all forecasts it was supposed to rain (both NZ weather and NZ forecasts are notoriously unpredictable and unreliable).
After a nice long day on the glacier, we came back to our super-cute hostel and lounged in the outdoor hot tub (so nice!) and made some really yummy pumpkin/roast garlic risotto, and watched terrible New Zealand soap operas and called it an early night. The next day we had a cruisy, relaxing morning and spent the whole day just exploring town, walking around, taking in views of the glacier, eating good food, and generally enjoying ourselves. It was really nice to have some down-time.
My first final exam is this Saturday--that's right, it's on a Saturday...it's every student's worst nightmare to have to study for an exam on Friday night and take it on Saturday--and I actually ran into the lecturer at the supermarket today. I felt like a second-grader who's just discovered that teachers live in town and go out and do things, but I got nervous and didn't want him to see me when I could have been studying for his exam, so I hid behind the bread display until he passed. It was mildly mortifying.
I made brownies last night, marking the very first time I have ever made brownies from scratch! Until I was about fifteen, I legitimately thought that everybody made brownies from a box, since that's all we ever did. It was surprisingly easy though, and they turned out so good that I snuck out of bed at 6:30 this morning when I was awake to go eat one and then promptly went back to sleep.
PICTURES:
The glacier is absolutely huge and makes everybody look tiny.
Crampon attack! Except Patrick almost fell over and spiked me in the face and it was incredibly close to becoming a massive ice disaster.
Me in a really cool ice cave.
You can almost see how it looks like a giant wave just got frozen into ice instantaneously.
You can see just how high up the glacier goes--we went up there! Up to the blue/clean white part.
Ice tunnel! So cool! This is after I un-stuck myself.
Crevasse.
You can see that at the beginning, our guide chopped out stairs with his ice pick for us to climb up.
Me and Patrick in a narrow part.
The full glacier, looming ahead.
From here, the glacier was still 2.3 km away! It is so huge.
Dan, me, Drea, Alice, Patrick.
Me and Patrick again.
You can see that all of the ice is really bumpy, not so smooth.
Climbing up the glacier wasn't as dramatic as it sounds, since the guides cut out stairs from the ice to climb up, but it's pretty slippery and you have to make sure you're using your crampons right. The first part of the glacier is kind of this ugly gray, dirty color, but once you get past that, it's really wavy bright white ice that's really cool. We got to go through lots of really narrow channels, which are the most fun part because you kind of feel like a penguin sliding around in-between cracks. There were some parts where we got to climb up an ice cave, walk through crevasses, and one part we got to do some ice climbing and pull ourselves up with a rope through this super narrow area (I actually got stuck...my pack was too fat, and I couldn't move for a couple seconds...it was kind of embarrassing). Since we did a full-day hike, we got to hike up high enough so that we could see blue ice and go through one of the biggest ice caves on the entire glacier. We got really lucky too, and got gorgeously clear weather even though by all forecasts it was supposed to rain (both NZ weather and NZ forecasts are notoriously unpredictable and unreliable).
After a nice long day on the glacier, we came back to our super-cute hostel and lounged in the outdoor hot tub (so nice!) and made some really yummy pumpkin/roast garlic risotto, and watched terrible New Zealand soap operas and called it an early night. The next day we had a cruisy, relaxing morning and spent the whole day just exploring town, walking around, taking in views of the glacier, eating good food, and generally enjoying ourselves. It was really nice to have some down-time.
My first final exam is this Saturday--that's right, it's on a Saturday...it's every student's worst nightmare to have to study for an exam on Friday night and take it on Saturday--and I actually ran into the lecturer at the supermarket today. I felt like a second-grader who's just discovered that teachers live in town and go out and do things, but I got nervous and didn't want him to see me when I could have been studying for his exam, so I hid behind the bread display until he passed. It was mildly mortifying.
I made brownies last night, marking the very first time I have ever made brownies from scratch! Until I was about fifteen, I legitimately thought that everybody made brownies from a box, since that's all we ever did. It was surprisingly easy though, and they turned out so good that I snuck out of bed at 6:30 this morning when I was awake to go eat one and then promptly went back to sleep.
PICTURES:
The glacier is absolutely huge and makes everybody look tiny.
Crampon attack! Except Patrick almost fell over and spiked me in the face and it was incredibly close to becoming a massive ice disaster.
Me in a really cool ice cave.
You can almost see how it looks like a giant wave just got frozen into ice instantaneously.
You can see just how high up the glacier goes--we went up there! Up to the blue/clean white part.
Ice tunnel! So cool! This is after I un-stuck myself.
Crevasse.
You can see that at the beginning, our guide chopped out stairs with his ice pick for us to climb up.
Me and Patrick in a narrow part.
The full glacier, looming ahead.
From here, the glacier was still 2.3 km away! It is so huge.
Dan, me, Drea, Alice, Patrick.
Me and Patrick again.
You can see that all of the ice is really bumpy, not so smooth.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
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I go home in less than a month now, which is a weird thought because New Zealand is feeling more and more like home to me. By the time I'm done with college, I'll feel like home could be any number of places I've been--Los Angeles is certainly a home, New Zealand is home, Israel felt like home in a different kind of way, and Vancouver is certainly home. College life seems to put you in a constant state of liminality, but I feel like I'm just now beginning to appreciate that instead of get frustrated by it.
After stressing hardcore on a hugeas essay I had to write (they call papers here essays, and courses are called papers, so 'I write an essay for my media paper'...complicated. Plus, if you say "paper" to refer to essays, they get really confused), I turned it in on Friday and spent the rest of the day gloating about being done. I went to the Saturday Market on Saturday really early (read: 8:00 AM) and got this delicious extra-sharp cheddar cheese (I am so sick of edam cheese...it's all my flat buys! Why don't they see the joy that is simple cheddar cheese?!) and tried to buy challah, but the baker was out. We bought flat veggies and fruits and then I stopped off at this giant book sale going on. It's held at this huge theater in the Octagon (our downtown area) and benefits a local charity. It's this GIANT collection of cheapas books, all $3 or less, and it's open 24/7! It's like the best thing ever. I got a trashy mystery novel that looks like a John Grisham wannabe from the 70s and a scandalous story about a pool boy and a murder in the neighborhood. It looks like good reading to entertain me when I just can't study for exams anymore, and I can always read it on the plane. After stopping for delicious filter coffee, I decided to reward my huge amount of activity before 10:30 AM by watching movies, napping, and cooking all day long. Sounds like a good day to me.
Today we went down to the Catlins, the southernmost part of the South Island. Just driving down there is an incredible experience--the hills are lush and rolling, everything is green, there's sheep everywhere (so what else is new? Sheep DOMINATE New Zealand), there were cows on the road being herded to a new place, there's really still ponds with the reflections of the mountains...it's absolutely gorgeous. We started off at Cathedral Caves, this giant, open cave right by the ocean. It really does look like a cathedral, the ceiling is full of cool designs from all the rocks, and the sides have this bright purple rock. It's awesome. You can only get out there during low-tide and we were there a little early, so we had to run across the water and get our feet a little wet. Plus, once we were in the cave, the water kept gushing in and we had to outrun it.
After that, we drove to this petrified forest right near the Very Southernmost Tip of New Zealand That's Closest to Antarctica which has been there for 160 MILLION YEARS. That's the Jurrasic Period! There's all these tree trunks and stumps that are petrified in rock, and even some plant prints. It's mind-blowing to think that I was touching something that's been around for 160 million years. 160 million is a number that I use to exaggerate things, like "it's about -160 million degrees in my flat," or "I just ate my weight times 160 million in Tim Tams," not a real number of years that things have been around! I can't even comprehend that much time.
We saw a few waterfalls (been there, done that), and then drove out to Jake's Blowhole. It's a 55 meter deep cavern with a 200 meter canal that leads to the ocean and the water just sweeps in this blowhole and crashes and booms so loudly. It was quite cool, though slightly nerve-wracking after we determined that if you fell in, you were definitely whale food.
Finally, we finished off the day at Nugget Point, this spit of land that has a lighthouse on it and is named after these giant boulders that stick out of the ocean that look like gold nuggets. All of the Catlins has this real rugged feeling to it, and walking to the lighthouse, you walk along a beach with crashing waves, jagged rocks, and really steep cliffs. It's incredibly powerful and beautiful and one of the nicest, most natural parts of New Zealand we've been to.
Now, it's back to real life for me...I have a final presentation to give tomorrow, a final exam to take on Wednesday, and the West Coast and glaciers to hit up next weekend! Despite my looming exams, I am so ridiculously happy here that I can't even be bothered to worry or stress too much about the upcoming academic pressures.
Loooooooove to everybody at home!
Nugget Point lighthouse at dusk.
The purple rock along the sides of Cathedral Cave.
Spit overlooking the petrified forest with the Pacific Ocean against it.
Gladys the Gladiator, our trusted mode of transport, gleaming against the rolling hills of the South Island.
Jake's Blowhole with the water gushing in from the ocean.
The outside of the cave--note the water along the beach that we had to wade through.
Looking out to the water from the inside of the cave.
Awkward picture of me standing on top of 160 million year old trees. Patrick was trying to get the waves spraying in the background, hence the bored look.
Petrified forest! Even though it just looks like boring rocks.
Crashing waves against fossilised rock.
Petrified tree trunk!
After stressing hardcore on a hugeas essay I had to write (they call papers here essays, and courses are called papers, so 'I write an essay for my media paper'...complicated. Plus, if you say "paper" to refer to essays, they get really confused), I turned it in on Friday and spent the rest of the day gloating about being done. I went to the Saturday Market on Saturday really early (read: 8:00 AM) and got this delicious extra-sharp cheddar cheese (I am so sick of edam cheese...it's all my flat buys! Why don't they see the joy that is simple cheddar cheese?!) and tried to buy challah, but the baker was out. We bought flat veggies and fruits and then I stopped off at this giant book sale going on. It's held at this huge theater in the Octagon (our downtown area) and benefits a local charity. It's this GIANT collection of cheapas books, all $3 or less, and it's open 24/7! It's like the best thing ever. I got a trashy mystery novel that looks like a John Grisham wannabe from the 70s and a scandalous story about a pool boy and a murder in the neighborhood. It looks like good reading to entertain me when I just can't study for exams anymore, and I can always read it on the plane. After stopping for delicious filter coffee, I decided to reward my huge amount of activity before 10:30 AM by watching movies, napping, and cooking all day long. Sounds like a good day to me.
Today we went down to the Catlins, the southernmost part of the South Island. Just driving down there is an incredible experience--the hills are lush and rolling, everything is green, there's sheep everywhere (so what else is new? Sheep DOMINATE New Zealand), there were cows on the road being herded to a new place, there's really still ponds with the reflections of the mountains...it's absolutely gorgeous. We started off at Cathedral Caves, this giant, open cave right by the ocean. It really does look like a cathedral, the ceiling is full of cool designs from all the rocks, and the sides have this bright purple rock. It's awesome. You can only get out there during low-tide and we were there a little early, so we had to run across the water and get our feet a little wet. Plus, once we were in the cave, the water kept gushing in and we had to outrun it.
After that, we drove to this petrified forest right near the Very Southernmost Tip of New Zealand That's Closest to Antarctica which has been there for 160 MILLION YEARS. That's the Jurrasic Period! There's all these tree trunks and stumps that are petrified in rock, and even some plant prints. It's mind-blowing to think that I was touching something that's been around for 160 million years. 160 million is a number that I use to exaggerate things, like "it's about -160 million degrees in my flat," or "I just ate my weight times 160 million in Tim Tams," not a real number of years that things have been around! I can't even comprehend that much time.
We saw a few waterfalls (been there, done that), and then drove out to Jake's Blowhole. It's a 55 meter deep cavern with a 200 meter canal that leads to the ocean and the water just sweeps in this blowhole and crashes and booms so loudly. It was quite cool, though slightly nerve-wracking after we determined that if you fell in, you were definitely whale food.
Finally, we finished off the day at Nugget Point, this spit of land that has a lighthouse on it and is named after these giant boulders that stick out of the ocean that look like gold nuggets. All of the Catlins has this real rugged feeling to it, and walking to the lighthouse, you walk along a beach with crashing waves, jagged rocks, and really steep cliffs. It's incredibly powerful and beautiful and one of the nicest, most natural parts of New Zealand we've been to.
Now, it's back to real life for me...I have a final presentation to give tomorrow, a final exam to take on Wednesday, and the West Coast and glaciers to hit up next weekend! Despite my looming exams, I am so ridiculously happy here that I can't even be bothered to worry or stress too much about the upcoming academic pressures.
Loooooooove to everybody at home!
Nugget Point lighthouse at dusk.
The purple rock along the sides of Cathedral Cave.
Spit overlooking the petrified forest with the Pacific Ocean against it.
Gladys the Gladiator, our trusted mode of transport, gleaming against the rolling hills of the South Island.
Jake's Blowhole with the water gushing in from the ocean.
The outside of the cave--note the water along the beach that we had to wade through.
Looking out to the water from the inside of the cave.
Awkward picture of me standing on top of 160 million year old trees. Patrick was trying to get the waves spraying in the background, hence the bored look.
Petrified forest! Even though it just looks like boring rocks.
Crashing waves against fossilised rock.
Petrified tree trunk!
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Proof that I really actually go to school here and not just travel the entirety of the South Island:
I have stayed home this weekend to do homework instead of going to Stewart Island to go backpacking. I decided it wasn't worth spending from $250-300 for a 3-day backpacking trip, and I decided that the urgency of my upcoming essay due Friday and my test on Wednesday demand that I stay home. I actually got a decent amount done, and had plenty of time to lounge around.
I am slowly falling in love with Paul Simon's album Graceland. We're studying the tracks Homeless and Under African Skies in my world music class, and he does some really cool stuff on there. We have a test CD and we're required to know the title and artist of all the tracks, as well as be able to discuss the instrumentation and the social implications of the pieces. Some are really easy to recognize (Bob Marley's Exodus, anyone?) but I keep getting the Javanese and the Balinese gamelan pieces mixed up. We have some cool music from Zimbabwe using a mbira (thumb string piano) and a Japanese salsa band. It's pretty sweet.
Oh, and a quick brag session: I applied to be an Alumni Ambassador at Oxy, and got the position! I'll be attending various student/alumni events and working with the Student/Alumni Relations Committee to present the most accurate student views of Oxy today. It's an exciting time to do this, especially with the opening of the new dorm and a new president at Oxy, and I'm jazzed to participate.
Since I don't have new adventure pictures from this weekend, I thought I'd share some more from last weekend.
Panorama view from the peak of the McKinnon Pass.
Dan and me by Sutherland Falls, the tallest waterfall in all of NZ.
Dan, me, and Patrick with the mountains in the background--check out the rainbow in the background as well!
Pretty waterfall along the way.
The last stream crossing we made before reaching Sandfly Point, the end of the track.
I am slowly falling in love with Paul Simon's album Graceland. We're studying the tracks Homeless and Under African Skies in my world music class, and he does some really cool stuff on there. We have a test CD and we're required to know the title and artist of all the tracks, as well as be able to discuss the instrumentation and the social implications of the pieces. Some are really easy to recognize (Bob Marley's Exodus, anyone?) but I keep getting the Javanese and the Balinese gamelan pieces mixed up. We have some cool music from Zimbabwe using a mbira (thumb string piano) and a Japanese salsa band. It's pretty sweet.
Oh, and a quick brag session: I applied to be an Alumni Ambassador at Oxy, and got the position! I'll be attending various student/alumni events and working with the Student/Alumni Relations Committee to present the most accurate student views of Oxy today. It's an exciting time to do this, especially with the opening of the new dorm and a new president at Oxy, and I'm jazzed to participate.
Since I don't have new adventure pictures from this weekend, I thought I'd share some more from last weekend.
Panorama view from the peak of the McKinnon Pass.
Dan and me by Sutherland Falls, the tallest waterfall in all of NZ.
Dan, me, and Patrick with the mountains in the background--check out the rainbow in the background as well!
Pretty waterfall along the way.
The last stream crossing we made before reaching Sandfly Point, the end of the track.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Good coffee has returned to my life
So one would think that Otago, a university of over 25,000 students, would be prepared for students to be freezing in their flats and need a warm space to study, but noooo--all the study spaces are constantly taken, half of them by students who aren't even physically using the space but have saved it by placing their textbooks, readings, computers, backpacks, whatever in the chairs so that no real student can come use it. It's desperately annoying. Also, their collection of books is severely lacking. I have a giant list of books that I want to reference in my paper, and only two were at the library, and only available for checkout for two hours. So irritating. The one time I want to use the library for research and it's not even helpful! I requested a few books from the Wellington Uni library, but who knows if they'll come in time to be useful for my paper.
The other day for my music class we had an African drumming workshop which was really cool. We learned a couple West African rhythms on the djembe and even synched them with some other ones on different types of drums. I think I want to find a drum circle somewhere with a spare drum and join in, Folklife-style. Maybe in my next life I'll come back as a wandering musician who joins drum circles everywhere and only showers a few times a year.
Yesterday was the capping show, which is an annual show for the upcoming graduates. It's hard to describe, but it's kind of a combination between Mr. Hudson's Bay (a fundraiser where senior boys dance around and perform "talents," to raise money for cancer research), Saturday Night Live sketches, and a comedy show. They had the girls and boys a capella groups (the Sextet and the Sexytet) perform, and all the boys from a freshman residence hall performed a ballet complete with see-through tutus and tight briefs. The whole show was extremely edgy, mildly offensive, and very college-oriented. It poked fun at local advertising on TV, school administration, the campus security, and various hick-towns around the South Island all while revolving around a Batman theme. I went with Jess and Jane, my kiwihosts, which was a good idea since they were able to explain a lot of the stuff that I didn't get.
Today I went out for breakfast at this place called The Governor's for the sole purpose of finding filter coffee. I am sick of paying upwards of $4 for a basic latte or long black, and all of NZ coffee is espresso-based, making it really expensive. Governor's has filter coffee for $1.60 and refills for $1! I was so jazzed. I can get 3 cups of coffee for the price of one ordinary one from another coffee place. I'm definitely going back soon, I've missed good coffee in my life.
Oh, and one morsel of joy: we made pizzas last night, and mine was delicious. Think whole wheat crust, tomato/garlic/basil sauce, mozzarella cheese, roasted pumpkin, pineapple, red pepper, onion, spinach, broccoli, garlic salt, mixed herbs, and a drizzle of olive oil along the crust. SO GOOD. Just let that sit in your mind for a bit.
The other day for my music class we had an African drumming workshop which was really cool. We learned a couple West African rhythms on the djembe and even synched them with some other ones on different types of drums. I think I want to find a drum circle somewhere with a spare drum and join in, Folklife-style. Maybe in my next life I'll come back as a wandering musician who joins drum circles everywhere and only showers a few times a year.
Yesterday was the capping show, which is an annual show for the upcoming graduates. It's hard to describe, but it's kind of a combination between Mr. Hudson's Bay (a fundraiser where senior boys dance around and perform "talents," to raise money for cancer research), Saturday Night Live sketches, and a comedy show. They had the girls and boys a capella groups (the Sextet and the Sexytet) perform, and all the boys from a freshman residence hall performed a ballet complete with see-through tutus and tight briefs. The whole show was extremely edgy, mildly offensive, and very college-oriented. It poked fun at local advertising on TV, school administration, the campus security, and various hick-towns around the South Island all while revolving around a Batman theme. I went with Jess and Jane, my kiwihosts, which was a good idea since they were able to explain a lot of the stuff that I didn't get.
Today I went out for breakfast at this place called The Governor's for the sole purpose of finding filter coffee. I am sick of paying upwards of $4 for a basic latte or long black, and all of NZ coffee is espresso-based, making it really expensive. Governor's has filter coffee for $1.60 and refills for $1! I was so jazzed. I can get 3 cups of coffee for the price of one ordinary one from another coffee place. I'm definitely going back soon, I've missed good coffee in my life.
Oh, and one morsel of joy: we made pizzas last night, and mine was delicious. Think whole wheat crust, tomato/garlic/basil sauce, mozzarella cheese, roasted pumpkin, pineapple, red pepper, onion, spinach, broccoli, garlic salt, mixed herbs, and a drizzle of olive oil along the crust. SO GOOD. Just let that sit in your mind for a bit.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Don't hold your horses
I have returned from the Milford Track and have survived all 53 kilometers of it. I wish I could properly describe the absolute picturesque nature of the track. It is the quintessential New Zealand tramp, and has earned every ounce of that title. It encompasses so much of New Zealand in one area: it has tons of flowing waterfalls, incredible plants and greenery, rivers to ford, huge looming mountains to climb, peaceful lakes in hidden spaces, grand open plains, giant rocks and boulders, friendly backpackers wherever you look--this has easily made my top three coolest weekends in New Zealand (I refuse to pick favorites, but this is awfully close).
We left Dunedin on Thursday afternoon and spent the night in Te Anau at a quiet backpackers. It was Dan's 21st birthday, so we ate dinner at a sports bar in Te Anau and prepared for the next day. We got up super-early on Friday to park our car at the DOC and took a boat from Te Anau Downs out to the starting point of the track. It was raining on the boatride so I got nervous that it would be raining the whole time, but when we started out it was just drizzling. The whole first day, we hiked along a winding river. We condensed the track and hiked the first two days in one, so we hiked past Clinton Hut and onto the next one. We had gorgeous views the whole time of the looming mountains with fresh snow on top and open plains. The last two hours were uphill, and we finally got to the hut right before nightfall. After some delicious tramping dinner of pre-packaged pumpkin and garlic ravioli, we called it a night at 8. Since there's no electricity, there's really nothing to do and everybody just goes to sleep!
Day 2 was the coolest day by far--we hiked up the McKinnon Pass, up past the treeline and into the snow! We had snowball fights all the way up and stopped a number of times to marvel at the absolutely breathtaking views. The view from the top was just stunning--we were standing knee-deep in snow, staring at the mountain peaks surrounding you at eye level and just breathing in fresh mountain air. There were some frozen ice lakes that were so beautiful and some seriously awesome scenery. We even saw an avalanche happen on a nearby mountain. It was incredibly sobering, and we decided we should probably get down the mountain quickly. It's harder to do when you're sludging through slush and snow, though, and I definitely did the splits a few times slipping down in the snow. After crossing a few streams and rivers, we heard this booming, thunderous sound echoing throughout the canyon and looked over to see this giant rockslide down the face of another nearby mountain. It was so loud and so consuming, it was absolutely crazy. We hiked down the rest of the mountain on onto Sutherland Falls, the tallest waterfall in all of New Zealand. We put down our packs and hiked out about an hour out there to see all its splendor. It created a huge amount of wind, and the spray stung our faces with the cold wind. By the time we got back to our packs, it had started raining and we had to hike the last hour in the rain. Back at Dumpling Hut, we dried off by the fire (there was dry wood there! Yesss!) and ate dinner. Everybody else was in the same predicament--drying off their clothes, trying to get warm by the fire, it was a really cozy environment.
Day 3, we hiked along the side of the mountain to Sandfly Point, where a boat came and picked us up. We saw the usual--luscious greenery, booming waterfalls, crossed avalanche paths, climbed over fallen trees and rockslides, walked through streams and rivers, and breathed in the sight of those giant snow-capped mountains--you know, no big deal. 53 kilometers of awesome sights. It's such an incredible place to be, and I feel small even trying to put into words the sights we took in.
All in all, it was one of the coolest weekends of the entire semester, and definitely worth all the time it's taking to recover! I'm nursing two blisters, some seriously sore muscles, and some really wet clothing and supplies. Now it's back to the usual grind of school, papers, exams, and all that comes with being back in Dunedin. It's Janey's 23rd birthday today, so we're heading out to Moeraki for a birthday dinner (I'm off the hook for cooking tonight!) and celebrations out there. Should be a good time!
Big hugs to everybody at home, lovelovelove!
Pictures:
Patrick, me, and Dan by a waterfall on Day 3, about 29 miles in.
Patrick, me, and Dan at the peak of McKinnon Pass.
Day 1: the plains with the river we followed. Check out those snowy peaks in the background.
The sun cresting over the peak of the mountain we climbed up, day 2.
A frozen pond at the top of the mountain.
Dan, Patrick, and me at a different spot, about to head down the face of the mountain again.
Trees reflecting on Hidden Lake, day 2.
We left Dunedin on Thursday afternoon and spent the night in Te Anau at a quiet backpackers. It was Dan's 21st birthday, so we ate dinner at a sports bar in Te Anau and prepared for the next day. We got up super-early on Friday to park our car at the DOC and took a boat from Te Anau Downs out to the starting point of the track. It was raining on the boatride so I got nervous that it would be raining the whole time, but when we started out it was just drizzling. The whole first day, we hiked along a winding river. We condensed the track and hiked the first two days in one, so we hiked past Clinton Hut and onto the next one. We had gorgeous views the whole time of the looming mountains with fresh snow on top and open plains. The last two hours were uphill, and we finally got to the hut right before nightfall. After some delicious tramping dinner of pre-packaged pumpkin and garlic ravioli, we called it a night at 8. Since there's no electricity, there's really nothing to do and everybody just goes to sleep!
Day 2 was the coolest day by far--we hiked up the McKinnon Pass, up past the treeline and into the snow! We had snowball fights all the way up and stopped a number of times to marvel at the absolutely breathtaking views. The view from the top was just stunning--we were standing knee-deep in snow, staring at the mountain peaks surrounding you at eye level and just breathing in fresh mountain air. There were some frozen ice lakes that were so beautiful and some seriously awesome scenery. We even saw an avalanche happen on a nearby mountain. It was incredibly sobering, and we decided we should probably get down the mountain quickly. It's harder to do when you're sludging through slush and snow, though, and I definitely did the splits a few times slipping down in the snow. After crossing a few streams and rivers, we heard this booming, thunderous sound echoing throughout the canyon and looked over to see this giant rockslide down the face of another nearby mountain. It was so loud and so consuming, it was absolutely crazy. We hiked down the rest of the mountain on onto Sutherland Falls, the tallest waterfall in all of New Zealand. We put down our packs and hiked out about an hour out there to see all its splendor. It created a huge amount of wind, and the spray stung our faces with the cold wind. By the time we got back to our packs, it had started raining and we had to hike the last hour in the rain. Back at Dumpling Hut, we dried off by the fire (there was dry wood there! Yesss!) and ate dinner. Everybody else was in the same predicament--drying off their clothes, trying to get warm by the fire, it was a really cozy environment.
Day 3, we hiked along the side of the mountain to Sandfly Point, where a boat came and picked us up. We saw the usual--luscious greenery, booming waterfalls, crossed avalanche paths, climbed over fallen trees and rockslides, walked through streams and rivers, and breathed in the sight of those giant snow-capped mountains--you know, no big deal. 53 kilometers of awesome sights. It's such an incredible place to be, and I feel small even trying to put into words the sights we took in.
All in all, it was one of the coolest weekends of the entire semester, and definitely worth all the time it's taking to recover! I'm nursing two blisters, some seriously sore muscles, and some really wet clothing and supplies. Now it's back to the usual grind of school, papers, exams, and all that comes with being back in Dunedin. It's Janey's 23rd birthday today, so we're heading out to Moeraki for a birthday dinner (I'm off the hook for cooking tonight!) and celebrations out there. Should be a good time!
Big hugs to everybody at home, lovelovelove!
Pictures:
Patrick, me, and Dan by a waterfall on Day 3, about 29 miles in.
Patrick, me, and Dan at the peak of McKinnon Pass.
Day 1: the plains with the river we followed. Check out those snowy peaks in the background.
The sun cresting over the peak of the mountain we climbed up, day 2.
A frozen pond at the top of the mountain.
Dan, Patrick, and me at a different spot, about to head down the face of the mountain again.
Trees reflecting on Hidden Lake, day 2.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
my new favorite fashion statement
I forgot to mention in my last post my latest habit of wearing my Birkenstocks with socks on. Ordinarily, I would be appalled at myself--socks with sandals? What am I, a middle-aged tourist? However, the freezing weather demands socks, and in my excitement in going to Oz before here, I overpacked on the sandals end and underpacked on the sneakers end. Either way, I don't like wearing tie-shoes, and I love slipping on shoes, and I always wear socks around the house, resulting in the disaster that is Birks with socks. I tried to legitimize it by telling myself I really only did it when walking down the corner to the convenience store or to a friend's flat, but I found myself doing homework in the library with them on the other day, and I even went to class like that! I am a walking fashion disaster! Not that New Zealanders are much better--everybody wears these silly boots with kitten heels and these hideous black puffy jackets with really tight jeans. Nobody seems to understand the beauty of just simple hoodies and t-shirts. Oh, and way too many guys rock the mullets and short-shorts, even in the dead of winter! So my socks and sandals are looking better by the minute.
Evan says everybody in Vermont does it, so I'm considering saying that everybody in Washington does it too.
Evan says everybody in Vermont does it, so I'm considering saying that everybody in Washington does it too.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
I am conditioning my hair to behave
I have nothing to announce except that I got conditioner for the first time since I was like 10 and I now have no tangles and my hair is smooth and slightly less frizzy.
I'm going on a four-day tramp through Milford Sound (I'm such a tramper) and it's going to be freezing cold. It's supposed to be done in four days but because we're hardcore and because I'm going with two boys, we're going to try to do it in three days. I'm a little nervous for my legs (I'm going to be DEAD by the time we're done), for my fingers (those are the first to freeze if you get frostbite), and for the lack of tea that I'll be experiencing during those four days. I've grown accustomed to drinking four cups of tea or hot water with lemon a day, and I'm sorely going to miss that on the trail. I started packing my stuff and could barely lift my backpack, so I think my tradition of sorely overpacking is going to bite me. I think I just need to get used to the idea that no matter what, I'm going to be cold at night and just suck it up and not pack three thousand sweatshirts.
Last night Evan made pumpkin pie and it was like tasting Thanksgiving in a pie. It was so good. We also heated the lounge (yessssss!!!) and watched Arrested Development for two hours, so it was a good night, AND I figured out that if I stuff my hot water bottle between my sweatshirt and my coat, it really heats me up. I finally finished my term paper too, so after my next class, I'll officially be done with that and just need to present my project and take the final! It's a good day.
I'm off to research the American Jewish community's diasporic relationship with Israel and discuss how that is negotiated by modern forms of American media, mainly online forums. Once I motivate myself to leave and go into the cold to walk to the library, I feel like my research will really catch fire.
Lots of love, and lots of jealousy to those that are finishing up with school for the year!
I'm going on a four-day tramp through Milford Sound (I'm such a tramper) and it's going to be freezing cold. It's supposed to be done in four days but because we're hardcore and because I'm going with two boys, we're going to try to do it in three days. I'm a little nervous for my legs (I'm going to be DEAD by the time we're done), for my fingers (those are the first to freeze if you get frostbite), and for the lack of tea that I'll be experiencing during those four days. I've grown accustomed to drinking four cups of tea or hot water with lemon a day, and I'm sorely going to miss that on the trail. I started packing my stuff and could barely lift my backpack, so I think my tradition of sorely overpacking is going to bite me. I think I just need to get used to the idea that no matter what, I'm going to be cold at night and just suck it up and not pack three thousand sweatshirts.
Last night Evan made pumpkin pie and it was like tasting Thanksgiving in a pie. It was so good. We also heated the lounge (yessssss!!!) and watched Arrested Development for two hours, so it was a good night, AND I figured out that if I stuff my hot water bottle between my sweatshirt and my coat, it really heats me up. I finally finished my term paper too, so after my next class, I'll officially be done with that and just need to present my project and take the final! It's a good day.
I'm off to research the American Jewish community's diasporic relationship with Israel and discuss how that is negotiated by modern forms of American media, mainly online forums. Once I motivate myself to leave and go into the cold to walk to the library, I feel like my research will really catch fire.
Lots of love, and lots of jealousy to those that are finishing up with school for the year!
Sunday, May 4, 2008
A recap of the really witty entry I had written but that got erased
I had a big long post all written up, but it got lost in the posting process and now it's gone. It basically gushed about how much I love being here, I discussed how I basically laid around in bed and watched movies all weekend, and I talked a lot about some really good food I've been eating. I complained about how cold it is everywhere here (I can always see my breath in my flat, it's consistently warmer outside than inside, and it's about 2 degrees now) and I discussed ways of staying warm (hot water bottles, about seven hot drinks a day, cuddling with friends under the covers, and wearing about six layers at a time until you're so bundled up, you practically waddle everywhere and your mobility is decreased by about a ten-factor).
I talked about how Alice's parents are here in NZ and how we went out to Oamaru to meet up with them and saw the Elephant Rocks, these really sweet rocks in the middle of nowhere, and how we tried to see the blue-eyed penguins (NZ is really a lot closer to Antarctica than you think it is) but how her parents ditched out because they were too jet-lagged.
I talked about how I got to work with a seven-year -old and made the cutest mural of farm animals, played with bubbles, chalk, and balloons outside, and got class credit and will do my term project on it. I think I spent a lot of time describing my project, but it was probably pretty boring so I'll skip that part.
I'm sure there was more to it, but I forgot what else.
I made stuffed bell peppers for dinner today and they were really good. I went to the gym and worked out where I felt hot for the first time in months and appreciated the cold air coming in through the open windows. Then I got in the shower and saw steam coming off me when I got out in the freezing air. I just can't win.
Lots of love to everybody at home, if you have sun shining appreciate it because some of us are freezing our tucheses off!
I talked about how Alice's parents are here in NZ and how we went out to Oamaru to meet up with them and saw the Elephant Rocks, these really sweet rocks in the middle of nowhere, and how we tried to see the blue-eyed penguins (NZ is really a lot closer to Antarctica than you think it is) but how her parents ditched out because they were too jet-lagged.
I talked about how I got to work with a seven-year -old and made the cutest mural of farm animals, played with bubbles, chalk, and balloons outside, and got class credit and will do my term project on it. I think I spent a lot of time describing my project, but it was probably pretty boring so I'll skip that part.
I'm sure there was more to it, but I forgot what else.
I made stuffed bell peppers for dinner today and they were really good. I went to the gym and worked out where I felt hot for the first time in months and appreciated the cold air coming in through the open windows. Then I got in the shower and saw steam coming off me when I got out in the freezing air. I just can't win.
Lots of love to everybody at home, if you have sun shining appreciate it because some of us are freezing our tucheses off!
Monday, April 28, 2008
woof! wwoof!
All right, it's the moment you've all been waiting for...pictures from the past two weekends! Browse the pictures and comment away to your heart's delight! Lonely wolf, no snarky comments about the low level of begging I've reached.
The caravan I stayed in while wwoofing in Cheviot. I think it's probably older than I am, but it's still pretty sweet.
Nappy Nap beach, the beach where we gathered seaweed for the compost pile. I rode the bike back out there later, and spent a long time watching the waves, totally mesmerized by the crashing noises and the in and out motion of the waves. So cool. In my totally objective opinion, the Pacific Ocean is certainly at the top of the list of Coolest Oceans in the World (nerdiest list ever).
Peter the Peacock, their pet peacock that turns 21 about two weeks after I do.
Maggie, the rescued magpie that was terrorizing me the entire time. She's not as friendly as she looks.
The sheep, one is Gordon and the other is Ferdinand.
Me in the vegetable garden, where I spent most of my time.
The entrance to their property.
A kea we found on the hike in Arthur's Pass. So cool!
This is from the past weekend at Arthur's Pass, this is the cave we went caving in.
Evan climbed up the rocks and took this looking down on all of us.
To get in the cave, you had to go through this really deep section of water. Everybody else just pulled up their shirts a little bit so they didn't get too wet, but I had to swim through because I was too short.
At the top of Avalanche Peak, the ridge of the mountain was really jagged and the edge of the mountain was also really rocky and steep. It was mildly terrifying.
Castle Hill, where they have the weirdest rocks in the middle of nowhere. The boys climbed up this big one, but since they already got up there, nobody was left to give me a push and I wasn't tall enough to climb up. Sometimes being short has its disadvantages.
I probably spent a collective six hours raking leaves from under this tree--I had to rake on two separate occasions. Doesn't it make more sense to only rake once, once all the leaves are gone? Still, it was quite picturesque.
During the Avalanche Peak hike, we had this amazing view right after we hiked up past the treeline. Jane, me, and Patrick.
The whole group at the top of the hike. From left to right on the back row it's me, Bart (Evan's friend from Middlebury), Jess, Evan, Dan, and in the front on the left, Patrick, Jane, and Joe.
At Castle Hill, playing around in the rocks. This is pretty much Joe in a nutshell.
The caravan I stayed in while wwoofing in Cheviot. I think it's probably older than I am, but it's still pretty sweet.
Nappy Nap beach, the beach where we gathered seaweed for the compost pile. I rode the bike back out there later, and spent a long time watching the waves, totally mesmerized by the crashing noises and the in and out motion of the waves. So cool. In my totally objective opinion, the Pacific Ocean is certainly at the top of the list of Coolest Oceans in the World (nerdiest list ever).
Peter the Peacock, their pet peacock that turns 21 about two weeks after I do.
Maggie, the rescued magpie that was terrorizing me the entire time. She's not as friendly as she looks.
The sheep, one is Gordon and the other is Ferdinand.
Me in the vegetable garden, where I spent most of my time.
The entrance to their property.
A kea we found on the hike in Arthur's Pass. So cool!
This is from the past weekend at Arthur's Pass, this is the cave we went caving in.
Evan climbed up the rocks and took this looking down on all of us.
To get in the cave, you had to go through this really deep section of water. Everybody else just pulled up their shirts a little bit so they didn't get too wet, but I had to swim through because I was too short.
At the top of Avalanche Peak, the ridge of the mountain was really jagged and the edge of the mountain was also really rocky and steep. It was mildly terrifying.
Castle Hill, where they have the weirdest rocks in the middle of nowhere. The boys climbed up this big one, but since they already got up there, nobody was left to give me a push and I wasn't tall enough to climb up. Sometimes being short has its disadvantages.
I probably spent a collective six hours raking leaves from under this tree--I had to rake on two separate occasions. Doesn't it make more sense to only rake once, once all the leaves are gone? Still, it was quite picturesque.
During the Avalanche Peak hike, we had this amazing view right after we hiked up past the treeline. Jane, me, and Patrick.
The whole group at the top of the hike. From left to right on the back row it's me, Bart (Evan's friend from Middlebury), Jess, Evan, Dan, and in the front on the left, Patrick, Jane, and Joe.
At Castle Hill, playing around in the rocks. This is pretty much Joe in a nutshell.
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