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!
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