Rugby and Hell Pizza

I got to see my first Rugby game last Saturday night! The Wellington Hurricanes played the Sharks, a team from South Africa. It wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be but I didn't really know what was going on either so maybe next time I will try to learn the rules instead of just cheering when everyone else does. The game was only 80 minutes long but it was really interesting to see a completely different sport than I'm used to! American football doesn't really have anything on Rugby :) One guy's eye was bleeding but he kept playing! It was pretty awesome.

After the game a group of us went to Hell Pizza which is the first real pizza I've had since I've been here...usually they put bbq sauce on everything and it's just not my style. But Hell pizza is kind of like Mesa pizza in Dinkytown where anything you want on your pizza you can get :) It was delicious and we ate 3 pizzas, between 7 people so it's not as bad as you think.

Other than that, this weekend was pretty non eventful, I'm working really hard to get a bunch of my school work done before break because I'll be gone for 13 days on a great road trip to the south island :) I'm sure I'll have a huge blog about that when I get back but so far, we are going to be living out of our rented car and a 4 person tent that we bought off of new zealands version of craigslist and we are going to have a LOT of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

I do have to register for my University of Minnesota classes while I'm on break so I'll be on the internet at least once but other than that i don't think I'll be on much but when i get back I'll try and call a lot of people because I'll have a phone to hook up to my magic jack, right now it doesn't work very well with me just talking through the computer.

I hope everything at home is going well and I hear the weather is getting nice! I'll talk to you all soon!

where has time gone?!

I can't believe how fast this week, actually all of the weeks are going! It's almost April already and that means my halfway point is fast approaching! When I get back from my trip to the South Island I will be over half done with my trip!

It's so hard to believe that I only get to spend five months in this incredible place. I definitely could do this for a year or even years and never see everything! This trip does make me want to travel more and see more of the world and even of the United States! I will definitely come back here one day and do all of the small islands surrounding it and Australia of course but that would be a month trip all on its own.

We have officially booked our tickets to the South Island so I will be gone from April 3rd through the 16th so 13 days of travelling...I am so excited! We are taking the ferry down and then flying back super early in the morning on the 16th but it will be so much fun. There is a group of 5 of us and we will be sleeping in the car and in tents the whole time...should be an interesting experience!

Other than my excitement for my trip there isn't much to report! I'm keeping it low key for the next week so I can have a little more to spend on my trip. Tonight one of our flatmates has a singing gig at one of the local bars so that will be fun!

The weather here has been so crazy every day. Yesterday it was pouring rain and the day before it was beautiful and sunny. But the day before that the wind was so bad that they had to close entrances to our school because the doors kept opening up. I have never seen wind like that before!!

Until next time, I hope everyone at home is enjoying the beautiful weather! I hear it's getting nicer everyday!

Tapu te Ranga Marae

Where do I start?!

This weekend was another completely new and exciting/exhausting experience for me! For my Race, Gender and Development class we had to spend a weekend at a Marae, which is a Maori meeting house. I think I've wrote about it before but I don't remember. Anyways, we had to sleep, eat and have hours and hours of lectures from Friday afternoon through Sunday noon. It was exhausting and there were some very frustrating moments but overall it was a great experience.

A little history about the building...this picture is just the driveway and the front of the building...it has 10 levels, 2 of which are underground and it is made completely of recycled materials and wood. It holds the world record for largest wood-only building. The inside also holds the worlds top three records for largest deer heads. It is a communal living environment and as of now around twenty people live there full time, including Bruce, the owner and his many children and grandchildren. He is 73 years old, has 13 children, the youngest of which is only 8. Age definitely hasn't slowed him down! :) He has over 80 grandchildren and a few great-grandchildren as well. I could go on and on about him because his story is just so great but I'm sure someone will write a book about him someday.

About the Marae, it is unlike any other marae because it is so large and doesn't follow traditional standards for the building layout. I don't know the details but that's what we were told. The way the building was built is completely illegal in New Zealand but Bruce was friends with the Mayor of Wellington at the time so he got a free pass. Apparently they still have issues with the council but Bruce just overlooks it and keeps doing what he's doing. It's like a hippie version of the Maori and it's great!

As far as the school part of the trip that was no fun. We had 4 hours of lecture Friday night, 8 hours of lecture Saturday and 3 hours Sunday morning and all of the lectures required us to be sitting on the ground on a hard wood floor for hours...I am sooo sore. My whole body aches and I didn't retain much information but I love learning about the Maori culture so it was really exciting. I am glad that weekend is over!!

Coming up I have so much to do it's overwhelming! Break starts the first weekend in April so I have to start planning that trip and figure out all the logistics. I have more school work than I can handle and I have to get groceries and do laundry very soon. So much to do so little time!

I will talk to you all very soon! Cheers!!

St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

What a night it was! Our housing staff arranged a harbour cruise for our house. It was only ten dollars and they drove us around the harbour for about an hour. Seeing the city from the water at night was incredible. It was abnormally cold yesterday which made being outside on the boat slightly miserable but it was worth it for the view. After the boat a group of us just went back to our housing to get ready and then we headed out on the town! Wednesday nights are usually pretty busy because their Wednesdays are equivalent to our Thirsty Thursdays but because it was St. Patty's Day it was crazy everywhere! New Zealand doesn't have green beer though, so I'll have to experience that next year.

As far as the rest of the week, I made a good old American meal with burgers and corn on the cob for a few people and then we of course had ice cream for dessert :) It reminded me of summer grilling and I must say, the burgers weren't half bad!

Cooking for myself is much more challenging here because I feel like I'm never getting proper nutrition and meat is so expensive so it's hard to get my protein. The milk doesn't taste right here, it's almost sour it seems like but not completely and it leaves a weird after taste in my mouth so I haven't been drinking much milk. I have plenty of pasta and juice though because those are both cheap and easy. The peanut butter from home is going fast and I have at least one PB&J everyday. That's pretty much the only thing I can bring up to campus with me when I have long days in class.

I had to write my first paper this week in the New Zealand format which made it more difficult for me because I am so used to just essays and paragraphs but here they require headings and subheadings and a different way of citing sources so I think it took me much longer just for that reason. I don't know what they expect so after I get this grade back we will see!!

This weekend coming up I basically have a 3-day field trip for one of my classes. We are visiting a Marae in Island Bay and I still haven't figured out how I am getting there but it will all work out I'm sure. A Marae is basically a Maori meeting house and it is the most sacred of their rituals. There is specific protocol we have to follow so I have been very intimately learning about the Powhiri (Ceremony) Process and everything that goes along with it. I have had tons of readings this week in preparation and because I'm not native to New Zealand I never had the introduction to Maori concepts and traditions in primary school like everyone else. It's really exciting and interesting to learn about but very challenging as well!

I think that's all for now! I'll write again after my Marae experience!

not much to report!

Sorry everyone for not writing this week but there hasn't been much excitement! I'm into my second week at school now and tutorials started this week so I've been pretty busy walking up the stairs of death multiple times a day. A tutorial is like a tutor session with about twenty people in it and you just ask questions that will hopefully deepen your understanding of the readings and the lectures. Most are mandatory so I'll be busy every week now! My first assignment is due this coming monday and it's a pretty hefty paper so I'll be working on that all weekend!

Hmm...this past week I did go see two movies...Alice in Wonderland and Shutter Island. Alice was not as good as expected...but I'm sure those of you who saw it at home understand why. It just wasn't funny or as entertaining and I had hoped. Shutter Island was incredible. I would definitely recommend that one!

I've started planning my spring break trip to the south island. It's going to be interesting and I hope everything works out! My plan so far is to fly down to one of the cities that are farther south and rent a car there and drive our way back up to the ferry and take the ferry back across to Wellington. Cars are pretty cheap to rent and that way we aren't suck on a bus with no opportunity to deviate and take a random day trip somewhere. I'm getting excited...it should be quite an adventure!

Oh, one interesting thing that happened! Last night we had a pretty intense storm here that knocked down a bunch of trees and tore some roofs off of buildings. I had been inside so I didn't really know how intense it was but it was a bad one! It's the only real bad weather we've seen so far in Wellington!

I stole this picture from the news but it's the storm front moving across Wellington Harbour! Pretty intense!

Well I think that's all for now! Sorry about the delay in postings! I'll try and write more frequently this next week!

martinborough

Well it has been a fun weekend!!!

On Friday afternoon, me and 5 other girls went to Abby's house, one of our Kiwi flatmates houses in Martinborough. We took the train an hour north and her parents picked us up from the train station. The train ride was incredible...there is never a bad view in New Zealand and the train cuts through the mountains to go faster and one tunnel takes 15 minutes to get through.

Once we arrived, her parents showed us around their 3 acre farm. The farm itself is little and now they only have cats and chickens but they want more animals in the future. Most of their farm land is owned by the family behind them but their house is absolutely incredible! It was built in the 1800's and was a slave owner home so there is a separate area that has a shower bathroom and sleeping quarters. All of the ceilings are vault ceilings and have art deco designs on them. The doorways and window frames are all bordered with a new zealand wood that is just beautiful. There are 7 bedrooms and so many random rooms that it's hard to keep track of where you are in the house. The garden has a path and multiple bridges over the little creek that runs through it and they also have a tennis court that is fenced in and everything.

I am still blown away by what the house looked like and how easy going her parents were and how much food they gave us! We sat outside and ate in the garden at night after her parents had a new zealand style barbeque which consists of grilling chicken kabobs basically and sausages. We had potato salad and wine and garlic bread. It was fabulous!

We stayed overnight and Saturday morning we went to the Martinborough County Fair which had tons of vendors and food and stuff. I got a lot of touristy stuff and some really fun souvenirs which I can't wait to bring back and show everyone! I'll try and post some pictures later but once again we still don't have internet so it's hard to get pictures uploaded when I don't get more than ten minutes on my computer.

Who knows what this week will bring...I'll keep everyone updated!!

Finally 21!!

Well my birthday was a blast :)
During the day I just went to class and took a nice little nap and then a group of probably 30 or so went out to the bars...we even went to a karaoke bar!! yes, i sang but I didn't go willingly!
I am proud to say I remember the whole night and it was just so much fun. Probably one of the best 21st birthdays anyone could ask for :)
A few of us at the first bar

The karaoke bar!!!

Some of my favorite ladies :)

The whole group!!!

address change....again :(

so sorry everyone but the address that I gave you to send packages too apparently doesn't exist so just send everything via the accomodation office...

sorry...the disorganization is worse here...

and I still don't have internet...lol