Soo, probably no one will read this post, but I feel like I should do it anyways. It's 2 months overdue, but the end of the semester was a little hectic with one last trip, finals, goodbyes, and packing. Since being back, almost everyday I think of my trip and how I just want to go back, so I figured that if I didn't finish my blog, it wouldn't really be over. That's clearly not true, and as with journals, I feel like I started it and then never finished it, but I am determined to finish this one! So here is one last post about my final trip in NZ.
Sarah and I left during our week long study break (because who studies for finals? a lot of people, actually....) the day before it was supposed to snow. We sadly missed the snow in Christchurch (what is it with me and missing snow?! It snows in Salem when I am not there, it snows in Christchurch when I'm not there-- two places it rarely snows. Boo....) but luckily we made it out of ChCh in time for our trip. After some issues with the car rental company, we were on our way from Christchurch to the glaciers. We got to Franz Josef that night, had some food and checked into our hostel and promptly went to bed. The next morning we checked out and went to the skydiving place only to find out they had cancelled the day's skydives due to weather. We were less than pleased because we were on a very tight schedule to get back to ChCh in a timely fashion. We booked for the next day at 8 am and went back to the hostel for a day of movies and wine. Not how we'd planned to spend the day, but still fun!
The next morning we went to the skydiving place to check in for our 8 am skydives, and they told us they were cancelling it and would put us down for the 10:30 skydives. Again, we were less than pleased. We wasted some time and then FINALLY after much anticipation checked in for our skydives. We skydived from 19,000 ft. (highest tandem skydive in the world! Go big or go home, right?) and it was the most terrifying and incredible experience I think I have ever had. Ever.
We then drove from Franz Josef to Queenstown where I was going to bungy jump. On the way, Sarah hit a bird and cracked our windscreen. It was this rather large blue bird that caused quite a lot of damage and lucky for us, we were forced to purchase insurance. Needless to say, we were not happy about paying for insurance (it nearly doubled the price of the car rental) but since we had it, we didn't have to pay to get the windscreen fixed. I think there is an obvious lesson learned there. We made it to Queenstown that night and had some delicious Mexican food (one of the things I missed quite a bit while in NZ) went out for a bit and went to bed since I was booked for the earliest bungy jump.
The next day I bungy jumped from 134 m, which was scary in it's own way. The people who were in my group were all terrified, but I was super calm (because I had, you know, skydived from 19,000ft the day before...) but when my turn came to jump it was almost a little scarier than the skydive because when you are skydiving, the instructor strapped to your back pushes you out of the plane whether you are ready or not, but with bungy jumping you have to fling yourself off a ledge into the air. I did a beautiful swan dive for the first 4 seconds, then flailed like a dying fish for the last bit. A very fun experience indeed.
Next stop was Invercargill/Bluff/Slope Point. It was very cold in the south... Very cold. Bluff was interesting, not much there, but still cool and we had dinner at an Irish Pub in Invercargill before driving to Slope Point for accommodations (of which there were none) so we were instructed to stay at Curio Bay. We nearly missed the town driving through and there was only one place to stay and the lady was NOT happy that we were knocking on her door at 7:30 pm for the night. Oh well, it was a pretty nice place. The next morning we were up early and we went and saw a petrified forest and we went to Slope Point (the southmost point of NZ) where we got caught in a rainstorm in the middle of a farm of sheep and then sprinted back to the car. It was good to see but there's really nothing there but a sign....
We drove to Tekapo where we wanted to go stargazing at the Mt. John observatory. It was probably one of the coolest things I did while in NZ. We saw so many shooting stars, tons of constellations, and got to see Saturn & it's moons through a telescope. Not to mention hot chocolate. We dressed so warmly, seriously I have never worn so many layers in my life. It was so cool and we both really enjoyed it.
The next day we drove to Mt. Cook where we did a couple short hikes for good viewpoints before heading back to Chch. It was such a good trip and a great way to finish out the semester. We went back and studied for finals, had a few more memorable nights, and said our goodbyes.
Being back in the States has been fun, but I miss it every day. I feel like culture shock has been more of an issue on this side than when I first got to NZ. I had an amazing time and met some amazing people and I won't ever forget my experience. I've had a good summer but I am gearing up to start the new semester, which I am really looking forward to. Over and out, I think this might be the last blog post maybe ever? We'll see. I've been told journaling is good so maybe I'll attempt that; I'll add it to the ridiculously long list of goals I've got going. The end!
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Part Three
So picking up where I left off.... And as per request, I'm making all the pictures in this post bigger, enjoy!
I was meant to start classes again on Monday the 23 of April, but there was an unfortunate miscommunication about the dates of my break when the travel plans were being booked and so my parents let me skip a whole week of school to travel with them. It was nice, I ended up having four full weeks of break.
So, Saturday, April 21... Long drive from Nelson to Greymouth, where we were staying at a beautiful B&B right on the beach. As a Colorado native, I will always be partial to mountains, but whenever I am at the beach I am always amazed.
On Sunday we drove up the coast a little ways to visit the Pancake Rocks. Along the way, we stopped and did some little walks and had a picnic by the beach. The Pancake Rocks were super neat, I've never seen anything that looked like that before.
On Monday we drove from Greymouth down to the Glaciers for one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. When I was with the group of people on my first week of travel, we went to Franz Josef glacier and it was awesome. The glacier was super cool and we had a really fun walk, but with my parents, we did a HeliHike of Franz Josef. As in, we took a helicopter, landed on the glacier, put crampons on and hiked on the glacier. WE RODE IN A HELICOPTER!!!!! IT WAS SO COOL!!!!! Then, WE WALKED ON A GLACIER!!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! SO. MUCH. FUN. As you can tell, I particularly enjoyed this part of the trip. Definitely on the "Top 10 Coolest Things I've Ever Done" list.
WE HIKED ON THE GLACIER! WE RODE IN A HELICOPTER! YAY!
Okay. Moving on... the next day, we drove to Lake Matheson because it's meant to be just gorgeous. We were going to try to see the sunrise there, but our family has a hard time mobilizing, particularly early in the morning. Some members of our family (cough, me, cough) are especially grumpy in the mornings, while others (cough, Dad, cough) are much too chipper in the morning. I was not pleased that we were taking so long to get out the door and that we watched sunrise happen on our way to the lake (but we did make it out the door by sunrise! That is pretty amazing for our family...) and I was so frustrated that we were up so early and we weren't even going to get the sunrise. I expressed my frustration to my dear father, who then became a man on a mission to get his daughter to the lake by the time the sun actually rose over the mountains. Those of you who know Harry Newman may know that he doesn't move quickly. He doesn't drive quickly or aggressively unless someone really pisses him off. I have never seen him drive so aggressively. He may have even been going a little over the speed limit. Shocking, I know. Once we finally made it to the lake, we parked the car and got out expecting the lake to be a 5 minute walk where we could promptly get out our cameras and take pictures of the sun rising. We assumed incorrectly. The lake was not a 5 minute walk. The lake was a 45 minute walk. I have never seen my father walk so quickly. He was on a mission and I basically had to jog to keep up with him. Silly me, wore my Birkenstocks-- not good for walking as quickly as possible. We made it to the lake just in time. There were a few people there with really fancy cameras and we knew that if they were still there we hadn't missed out on our opportunity to get some good pictures. Turns out we were pretty lucky as well because we ran into a guy who said that he had been there the previous 4 days and that the day we went was the first clear day that he'd been there. We got some pretty great pictures and then had a lovely breakfast at the Cafe. It was quite the adventure. Who knew that he could move so quickly?!
After the excursion at the lake, we drove to Queenstown where we had Ferg Burger for dinner. Ferg Burger is well known for having some of the best burgers and we were definitely not disappointed. We had a pretty boring night in and went to bed quite early because we were planning to get up early the next morning. We got up just in time to see a beautiful sunrise over the lake! We did a fun hike up to the top of the Gondola where we had an incredible view of Queenstown, the lake, and the Mountains. We rode the gondola down the mountain, had ice cream for lunch, and then drove to Te Anau where we went to see the Glowworms! It was so cool in the cave, it looked just like the starry sky! Glowworms are really neat, they only glow when they are hungry so that they can attract their food and then they lure it in and eat it. Pretty cool little creatures. It was a lot of fun.
On Thursday the 26, we drove from Te Anau to Milford Sound where we did a really cool nature cruise. It wasn't sunny this time around, but Milford Sound was still incredibly gorgeous and it was really awesome to go on the boat ride around the Sound. We saw dolphins and seals!! I still think that Milford Sound is one of the most beautiful places I've been but since I talked about it so much in the last post, I'll keep this short.
On Friday we went back to Queenstown for the night. We drove to Arrowtown in search of a winery. Arrowtown is an adorable town that reminded me a lot of Breckenridge. It was beautiful with all the leaves changing colors. We stopped by a winery on our way back to Queenstown before having pasta for dinner. (It was Friday after all... Had to have our pasta night!). My dad said he'd do a pub crawl with me. We started our night at a fun Irish pub with live music, drank one pint each, and decided we were too tired to keep going. We had a great time, but we didn't do a very successful pub crawl. We'll have to work on that next time...
On Saturday we had a long drive from Queenstown to Christchurch where my parents left me and went to Wellington and it was back to reality for me. Lots of catching up to do. My term break adventures were just awesome. It was so cool to see so much of the South Island. I hope to make it to the North Island at some point, but there is just so much to do here that I'm not sure if it will happen or not. I will post soon about my trips to Dunedin and Lake Tekapo, and this coming week during our study break I will hopefully be doing some more traveling. I have officially finished classes and I am leaving this wonderful place 3 weeks from today.... I am excited to go home but I am really sad to be leaving here. I promise I will be better about updating my blog for the remaining 3 weeks here!
I was meant to start classes again on Monday the 23 of April, but there was an unfortunate miscommunication about the dates of my break when the travel plans were being booked and so my parents let me skip a whole week of school to travel with them. It was nice, I ended up having four full weeks of break.
So, Saturday, April 21... Long drive from Nelson to Greymouth, where we were staying at a beautiful B&B right on the beach. As a Colorado native, I will always be partial to mountains, but whenever I am at the beach I am always amazed.
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| Sunset from our B&B |
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| Pancake Rocks |
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| Pancake Rocks |
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| Picnic on the beach |
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| Sunset on the beach |
On Monday we drove from Greymouth down to the Glaciers for one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. When I was with the group of people on my first week of travel, we went to Franz Josef glacier and it was awesome. The glacier was super cool and we had a really fun walk, but with my parents, we did a HeliHike of Franz Josef. As in, we took a helicopter, landed on the glacier, put crampons on and hiked on the glacier. WE RODE IN A HELICOPTER!!!!! IT WAS SO COOL!!!!! Then, WE WALKED ON A GLACIER!!!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!! SO. MUCH. FUN. As you can tell, I particularly enjoyed this part of the trip. Definitely on the "Top 10 Coolest Things I've Ever Done" list.
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| Franz Josef Glacier |
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| GLACIER! VIEW FROM OUR HELICOPTER! |
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| OUR HELICOPTER! |
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| LOOK! WE ARE HIKING ON A GLACIER! SO AWESOME! |
Okay. Moving on... the next day, we drove to Lake Matheson because it's meant to be just gorgeous. We were going to try to see the sunrise there, but our family has a hard time mobilizing, particularly early in the morning. Some members of our family (cough, me, cough) are especially grumpy in the mornings, while others (cough, Dad, cough) are much too chipper in the morning. I was not pleased that we were taking so long to get out the door and that we watched sunrise happen on our way to the lake (but we did make it out the door by sunrise! That is pretty amazing for our family...) and I was so frustrated that we were up so early and we weren't even going to get the sunrise. I expressed my frustration to my dear father, who then became a man on a mission to get his daughter to the lake by the time the sun actually rose over the mountains. Those of you who know Harry Newman may know that he doesn't move quickly. He doesn't drive quickly or aggressively unless someone really pisses him off. I have never seen him drive so aggressively. He may have even been going a little over the speed limit. Shocking, I know. Once we finally made it to the lake, we parked the car and got out expecting the lake to be a 5 minute walk where we could promptly get out our cameras and take pictures of the sun rising. We assumed incorrectly. The lake was not a 5 minute walk. The lake was a 45 minute walk. I have never seen my father walk so quickly. He was on a mission and I basically had to jog to keep up with him. Silly me, wore my Birkenstocks-- not good for walking as quickly as possible. We made it to the lake just in time. There were a few people there with really fancy cameras and we knew that if they were still there we hadn't missed out on our opportunity to get some good pictures. Turns out we were pretty lucky as well because we ran into a guy who said that he had been there the previous 4 days and that the day we went was the first clear day that he'd been there. We got some pretty great pictures and then had a lovely breakfast at the Cafe. It was quite the adventure. Who knew that he could move so quickly?!
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| Racing the sun to the lake.... |
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| Perfect reflection from the lake |
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| Lake Matheson |
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| Daddy & I |
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| Family Christmas Card? |
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| Queenstown |
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| Milford Sound |
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| Waterfall! |
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| Autumn in Arrowtown |
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| Pretty colours! |
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| Chard Farm Winery |
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| Grapes! |
Friday, June 1, 2012
The Term Break Adventures, continued...
If you thought that last post was long, I can assure you that this one will be longer. It has pretty pictures though! This part of the break starts on Saturday, April 14.
So after a long night of unpacking, essay writing, washing clothes, wine drinking, repacking, and little sleep, I met up with my parents!!!!!!!! They drove down to Christchurch from Kaikoura and picked me up. We drove part of the way to Kaikoura and stopped a winery for lunch. It was beautiful and the food was great. We caught up a bit (because unfortunately I don't talk to my parents as often as usual while I'm on the other side of the world), and then drove to Kaikoura. We went and saw some seals that night, which was pretty neat.
The next day, we had a tasty breakfast and did a wonderful 4 hour
hike/walk around the Kaikoura Peninsula. We saw more seals and vistas
with the most beautifully blue waters I've ever seen (although I've seen
a lot of really blue water here... I don't understand how the water
here is so blue everywhere. NZ is gorgeous) and had a fun picnic of
sausage, cheese, bread, apples, and wine before driving to Blenheim for
the night.
In Blenheim, we stayed at a B&B on a vineyard. We were greeted with the tastiest tea cookies and had dinner at an incredibly tasty restaurant in town. I had salmon risotto that was so good. Blenheim and Nelson are part of the Marlborough region which is famous for its Sauvignon Blanc (which you may know is my favorite type of wine). We stopped at a winery on our way out of town the next day after a wonderful breakfast fixed for us by Evelyn, our wonderful host. If/when my dear friends and I own a winery/vineyard/B&B/restaurant, that was pretty close to how I imagine it to be. Might not ever happen, but we can dream, right?
We drove to Nelson on 16 April and drove into Nelson just in time to see a wonderful sunset. We stayed at the most adorable hotel that had rooms in English cottage buildings. It was so cozy and unique. We had dinner that night at a wonderful Indian restaurant (another thing I LOVE about NZ... the Indian food here is amazing; even the mediocre stuff is delicious). Nelson is such a fun town, I would love to go back while I'm here but I don't know if I will get the chance. The next day we were still in Nelson so we did a short little hike up to the geographic center of New Zealand, had a picnic in the botanic gardens, and walked around town a little. We had dinner at an amazing restaurant with outstanding food that overlooked the ocean. Our stay in Nelson was lots of fun, and we came back a few days later (Friday night) after our trip to Abel Tasman. Because it was Friday, we had pasta (family tradition) that was also so good. Moral of the story: Nelson has really good food.
One of the coolest things we did on our trip was our 3 day sea kayaking and hiking trip in Abel Tasman National Park. On Wednesday we began our journey in sea kayaks (did about 20 km on day one) and we stayed the night at Torrent Bay in an incredibly classy lodge. It was fun to meet other people who were doing the same trip we were but instead of kayaking, they were walking the whole thing. Day two, we kayaked 10 km, and walked 10 km to another lodge. It was really neat, we only carried what we needed for that day and all our overnight stuff was transported by boat and was waiting for us at the lodge. Friday was a shorter day of walking and then a boat ride back to the start. It was really cool to take the boat ride and see how far we had walked and kayaked; it really was quite a long way. We also saw jelly fish, seals, and blue penguins!! Abel Tasman is gorgeous and it was such a fun adventure.
As previously stated, we returned to Nelson on Friday night for pasta and had a wonderful dinner. Stay tuned for part three... it will resume in Nelson on Saturday, April 21. Get excited!
So after a long night of unpacking, essay writing, washing clothes, wine drinking, repacking, and little sleep, I met up with my parents!!!!!!!! They drove down to Christchurch from Kaikoura and picked me up. We drove part of the way to Kaikoura and stopped a winery for lunch. It was beautiful and the food was great. We caught up a bit (because unfortunately I don't talk to my parents as often as usual while I'm on the other side of the world), and then drove to Kaikoura. We went and saw some seals that night, which was pretty neat.
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| Seal colony |
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| Kaikoura |
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| View from the top of the peninsula walk |
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| More seals! |
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| Parents and Evelyn |
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| Korohi Vineyard |
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| Mmmm... breakfast |
We drove to Nelson on 16 April and drove into Nelson just in time to see a wonderful sunset. We stayed at the most adorable hotel that had rooms in English cottage buildings. It was so cozy and unique. We had dinner that night at a wonderful Indian restaurant (another thing I LOVE about NZ... the Indian food here is amazing; even the mediocre stuff is delicious). Nelson is such a fun town, I would love to go back while I'm here but I don't know if I will get the chance. The next day we were still in Nelson so we did a short little hike up to the geographic center of New Zealand, had a picnic in the botanic gardens, and walked around town a little. We had dinner at an amazing restaurant with outstanding food that overlooked the ocean. Our stay in Nelson was lots of fun, and we came back a few days later (Friday night) after our trip to Abel Tasman. Because it was Friday, we had pasta (family tradition) that was also so good. Moral of the story: Nelson has really good food.
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| My wonderful parents :) |
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| Geographic Centre of NZ |
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| Our kayaking group |
As previously stated, we returned to Nelson on Friday night for pasta and had a wonderful dinner. Stay tuned for part three... it will resume in Nelson on Saturday, April 21. Get excited!
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Rewind to April: Term Break part one
So I have been failing miserably at updating this blog, I'm terribly sorry. I haven't had a chance to write about all my adventures during the month of April yet, it's been a pretty hectic month. Bear with me, this is going to be a long post with lots of pictures. So, rewinding back to Sunday, April 8...
Zoe and I were planning to go on a trip with some of the other people from Zoe's program, because one of them had bought a van on her arrival to NZ and was taking it around the South Island for a little road trip. We started that afternoon and drove through Arthur's Pass and Hokitika and camped for the night at beautiful Lake Ianthe.
From there we drove down the West Coast to go see the Glaciers. We stopped at Fanz Josef and did a short little hike to see the Glacier. Unfortunately, there is a certain point where you have to stop unless you are on a guided tour for safety reasons. The glacier was so cool and I really enjoyed that part of the trip. We stayed the night in the little town of Haast, where we had a little cabin to ourselves. It was quite rainy out, and we decided we'd be more comfortable not in tents.
On Tuesday we continued down the coast through Haast Pass which was a beautiful drive of greenery and waterfalls. We stopped in Wanaka, had a delicious lunch, and walked around the lake before continuing on to Queenstown for the night. Queenstown is especially known for its nightlife, so we had no problem finding things to do on a Tuesday night. Wanaka and Queenstown are two of my favorite places so far in New Zealand; they remind me of home a little bit, but they are also so completely different. We left bright and early the next morning to head on to Milford Sound.
Milford Sound is probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Ever. We got there around 3 in the afternoon and it was a perfectly clear day. We walked around a bit and I even went for a nice 45 minute jog around the area. It was so awe-inspiring. That night we went star-gazing by the river, and the number of stars we saw was incredible. We could see the whole milky way and we saw shooting stars. It was so amazing. If you ever get the chance to go to New Zealand, go to Milford Sound. Do it. It is awesome.
The next day, we headed back to Te Anau where Zoe, Ashley, and I all stayed for the night while the others continued on their adventures. Zoe and Ashley went to see the Glowworm Caves, but I passed on that because I was going to be doing that with my parents a couple of weeks later. We went out for pizza that night and had some truly outstanding pizza.
Friday was a long day of travel by bus-- Te Anau to Queenstown, Queenstown to Christchurch. I had an assignment I needed to do that night and I needed to unpack, wash clothes, and repack before meeting up with my parents on Saturday. It was a week of lots of fun. I met some really interesting new people who gave me some new perspectives on everything, and had a lot of time to think about some of the things that are most important to me. We had several nights where we all cooked together and made stir fry or quinoa. I had a wonderful trip!
Zoe and I were planning to go on a trip with some of the other people from Zoe's program, because one of them had bought a van on her arrival to NZ and was taking it around the South Island for a little road trip. We started that afternoon and drove through Arthur's Pass and Hokitika and camped for the night at beautiful Lake Ianthe.
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| Beach stop in Hokitika |
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| Hokitika |
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| Lake Ianthe |
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| Glacier! |
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| Franz Josef Glacier |
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| Playground in Wanaka |
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| Sunset in Queenstown |
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| Milford Sound |
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| Part of our travel group; Tori, Ryan, Ashley, Me, Zoe |
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| Awesome waterfall |
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| Whole group; Alex, Caitlin, David, Ryan, Tori, Ashley, Zoe |
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| Sunset in Te Anau where I was reading by the lake |
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Apples to Apples
Sorry for the long break in posts, it's been a really busy several weeks. I had a week of midterms (did really well on all of them!), a week of being incredibly ill, 3 weeks of adventures, and a week and a half of playing catch up to all the things I neglected. I can't wait to tell stories and show pictures from my adventures, but that time is not yet. Soon, I promise.
Today, though, I have some interesting observations. We were all told before going abroad that we would experience culture shock at some point. I don't really feel like I've experienced culture shock yet. I don't even really feel like New Zealand is all that much different than what I am used to. And most surprisingly, I have only felt a little homesick a handful of times, which for me is a huge deal, because even when I'm in Oregon I ache for Denver almost daily. Here, though, things are good. I'm more relaxed, less stressed, happier, and I'm really enjoying it. When I do get homesick, I've got letters and notes from my friends and sisters that I can read and feel better. Thanks to the wonderful people who've sent me packages and letters, it means the world to me!! Anyways, this is not the point of this post.
Last night, I was hanging out with a group of people: 2 Americans, 1 Canadian, 1 English girl, and 4 Kiwis, and we decided to play Apples to Apples. We had a great time, and those who'd never played caught on pretty quickly. It was an interesting experience though, because I had never noticed how American that game is. It never seemed particularly American to me, because I wasn't paying very close attention and I understand most of the references to people, places, events, etc. that come up in that game. Last night was the first time that I felt so conscious of my identity as an American, and it was a strange feeling.
Other than the fact that there are some differences in words and phrases, or lifestyles, or foods (like Feijoas-- I had never heard of a feijoa until recently... I might have a new favorite fruit), most of the time I feel pretty connected to the culture here because it isn't very dramatically different from my own, but during our game last night, I realized that there really are a lot of subtle cultural differences that weren't previously very obvious. For example, cards about "The South" or "The Midwest" or "Watching football" all have different meanings in the States than here (and could even be quite meaningless here), and it took some getting used to when Zoe, Shevelle, or I played cards we thought were particularly funny and no one else understood the joke. Of course, those differences seem obvious now that they are on my mind, but I guess assuming that everyone else would understand was awfully ethnocentric of me.
It was a really fun evening, and we all had a great time, but it really made me stop and think about how there are things that I know about my own culture that I assume everyone else knows, and made me wonder what subtleties exist in New Zealand that I don't know about and don't acknowledge. How can I be more aware of these, and what can do I do minimize my cultural ignorance in times like that? It wasn't too big of a deal, but it did give me something to think about.
Anyways, I'll update soon with pictures and stories, so stay tuned. Over and out.
Today, though, I have some interesting observations. We were all told before going abroad that we would experience culture shock at some point. I don't really feel like I've experienced culture shock yet. I don't even really feel like New Zealand is all that much different than what I am used to. And most surprisingly, I have only felt a little homesick a handful of times, which for me is a huge deal, because even when I'm in Oregon I ache for Denver almost daily. Here, though, things are good. I'm more relaxed, less stressed, happier, and I'm really enjoying it. When I do get homesick, I've got letters and notes from my friends and sisters that I can read and feel better. Thanks to the wonderful people who've sent me packages and letters, it means the world to me!! Anyways, this is not the point of this post.
Last night, I was hanging out with a group of people: 2 Americans, 1 Canadian, 1 English girl, and 4 Kiwis, and we decided to play Apples to Apples. We had a great time, and those who'd never played caught on pretty quickly. It was an interesting experience though, because I had never noticed how American that game is. It never seemed particularly American to me, because I wasn't paying very close attention and I understand most of the references to people, places, events, etc. that come up in that game. Last night was the first time that I felt so conscious of my identity as an American, and it was a strange feeling.
Other than the fact that there are some differences in words and phrases, or lifestyles, or foods (like Feijoas-- I had never heard of a feijoa until recently... I might have a new favorite fruit), most of the time I feel pretty connected to the culture here because it isn't very dramatically different from my own, but during our game last night, I realized that there really are a lot of subtle cultural differences that weren't previously very obvious. For example, cards about "The South" or "The Midwest" or "Watching football" all have different meanings in the States than here (and could even be quite meaningless here), and it took some getting used to when Zoe, Shevelle, or I played cards we thought were particularly funny and no one else understood the joke. Of course, those differences seem obvious now that they are on my mind, but I guess assuming that everyone else would understand was awfully ethnocentric of me.
It was a really fun evening, and we all had a great time, but it really made me stop and think about how there are things that I know about my own culture that I assume everyone else knows, and made me wonder what subtleties exist in New Zealand that I don't know about and don't acknowledge. How can I be more aware of these, and what can do I do minimize my cultural ignorance in times like that? It wasn't too big of a deal, but it did give me something to think about.
Anyways, I'll update soon with pictures and stories, so stay tuned. Over and out.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
How to beat a bad case of the Mondays
It's been a while since anything exciting happened. Last week, I received two packages and some letters. The first package was from my amazing friend Andrea, of whom I am so proud. For those who don't know her, she's pretty much a rock star and I am so lucky to have her in my life. She totally brightened up my day (which was grey and rainy, a la Oregon; I was not amused) with her gift of silly things, chocolate, baked goods, Toy Story stickers, and much more. The other package was from my beautiful Pi Phi sisters, who sent me some magazines, American candy, Easy Mac (which came in very handy this weekend), and most importantly, tons of kind letters that made me feel so loved and missed that I nearly cried. I miss them all so much and it was such a nice reminder that sisterhood knows no limits. I am so thankful for the awesome people in my life, and I don't know where I'd be without them.
On Friday night, Marijke decided to heat things up in the flat and have a giant game of Lava Floor. From 5-8 pm, we lit lots of candles, turned all the heaters up, had red and orange balloons flying around all over the place, and very strict rules about where we could and couldn't step. We played loud music and danced all over the place, and had a blast reliving our childhood in a much more grown-up manner.
After last week's fun, this week was seeming pretty dismal. I didn't get much sleep Saturday night, and this week is crazy busy with midterm tests and papers. Monday rolled around and I was just not feeling good. We were supposed to get Indian food on Sunday for lunch but the three places we went were closed, so we settled for some mediocre Thai food instead. On Monday I asked Sarah if she wanted to go get Indian for lunch and she said yes, as did Marijke and Aman. We ended up having a great spontaneous flat outing. We got Indian food for lunch, then walked to the mall where we went to a fun little chocolate shop, where Aman and Sarah split the chocolate fondue and I got a warmed brownie with molten chocolate on it. Mmmmm. So tasty. As we were leaving the mall, we decided to stop by and see what movies were playing and it turned out that we were just in time for "21 Jump Street." I have to admit, I was quite skeptical at first but it ended up being extremely funny and I think we all had a great time. So, moral of the story: when life gets you down, go have spontaneous adventures to cheer you up.
And now off to my first midterm... wish me luck...
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| All the things one needs to cheer them up :) |
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| My sisters have really nice things to say and really nice handwriting :) |
On Friday night, Marijke decided to heat things up in the flat and have a giant game of Lava Floor. From 5-8 pm, we lit lots of candles, turned all the heaters up, had red and orange balloons flying around all over the place, and very strict rules about where we could and couldn't step. We played loud music and danced all over the place, and had a blast reliving our childhood in a much more grown-up manner.
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And now off to my first midterm... wish me luck...
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