I love New Zealand, I love wine, I love wine in New Zealand!

YAY Wine Appreciation tour of New Zealand
This weekend I went on a cool trip through the University rec center to see wineries in the Otago region. We left at 7:30 Yikes! and we visited 5 wineries Sat. having tastings at all of them and lunch at the third I believe- by that point how could I remember we really needed it. The first place we had lunch was also very cool because they had an aroma room where they separated out all possible smells that could be in the wines and covered some of the labels up so you could smell and guess.
We stayed in Queenstown overnight and Sunday we enjoyed 3 more wineries and another delicious lunch of breads and cheeses and olives and sun dried tomato spread and salami and chutney and salmon. We were all feeling pretty lovely on the way home when we stopped for fresh fruit frozen yogurt. Then the 11 of us were driven back by our group leader/designated driver along one of the most beautiful drives I've ever been on. I rode in the front, because all the winding made me feel sick, and we listened to Sufjan Stevens. Wine Lessons~ I thought I'd share some of the things I learned- what I remember at least- It was really helpful going to so many different wineries and trying so many wines in a row. You can really start tasting the different nuances of the wines.
Lesson 1-
New Zealand produces a very small amount of the world's wine but they are fast becoming well known. They have won numerous international awards including the Burgundy and Pinot Noir Trophy at the world's largest and most prestigious wine competition in London. Beating out French wine for the first time ever with one of the wineries we visited's 2000 Pinot Noir reserve.
Lesson 2-
Pinot Noir is one of the more difficult grapes to grow, but for some reason the grapes love the variable climate of the Otago region. The region is now one of the top 5 producers in the world for Pinot Noir. The wineries in the region mainly produce whites~ Riesling, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris (same grapes as the Italian Pinot Grigio) and then Pinot Noir of course, the only red. There was a winery that had a plot of cabernet sauvignon in some "hot" soil they said. It was good wine, that's all I know.
Lesson 3-
Everyone always talks about wine having flavors of strawberries or thyme or something and I never understood that. Well its not that they put strawberries in to ferment with the wine. The reason it tastes similar to other fruits or florals is because the skin of the grape has similar chemicals in it as strawberries or something for example. The grapes in Otago often are smaller so they will have a greater ratio of skin to fruit and therefore are often fruitier. The thyme or lavender or dust even in the area also contributes to the overall taste of the wine slightly because the grapes can't help but be affected by their environment.
Lesson 4-
All grape juice is white/clear. Red wines get their color from being fermented in the skins for awhile. Rosé wines are often either a mix of white and red wines, but in Otago some wineries do a Pinot Noir rosé where they just keep them in the skins for half the time and create a rosy color rather than a deep red. These wines are quite good in my opinion.
Lesson 5-
They used to put rose bushes at the end of the rows of grapes because rose bushes are more susceptible to disease or problems and they offer an early warning sign for the vineyard. Now they are rarely used because the technology of grape growing has moved beyond the "canary in the coal mine" alarm system. Also on protection, the grapes have nets on them this time of year because they are growing ripe and the birds in the area have developed a taste for Pinot Noir. For frost, they plant the grapes on a slant and use blowers to blow the cold air down and away from the grapes. In extreme cases they use the local helicopters that take people up skydiving to come and hover over the grapes pushing the cold air away.

I think that wine intrigues me so much because its a lot like people

Why People are like Wine
~There are so many different components in a wine; smells, tastes. What the interpreter finds in the wine depends on their own background. Different interpreters may notice different characteristics in the same wine. ~Some years are better than others. Some are drier, wetter, etc. It really just depends on what's going on. ~It doesn't matter how critically acclaimed a wine is. A wine may be named best in the world and while all may be able to appreciate the quality of that wine, that doesn't mean you will like it. It may not suit all different tastes. You may prefer wine in a box.But if that makes you happy then the box wine means just as much if not more than the fancy wine. ~ It seems that younger people often enjoy younger, lighter, and fruitier wines. As we get older we can often appreciate the complexity of a full bodied, well aged wine. ~Nature vs. Nurture- both the environment in which the wine grows and its natural genetic components contribute to the way that the wine will age and taste. I'm sure there are others, these are jut the ones I happened to think about.

There is nothing like jumping off a bridge to make you remember that you are alive
Our wine tour took us by the oldest and one of the most famous commercial bungee jumps so two people from our group decided that they really wanted to do this and we stopped for them. It is the kawarau bridge bungee jump. 43 meters- about 141 feet. So this guy, AJ Hackett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.J._Hackett), not only decided to tie himself to a super stretchy rope and throw himself off of things like the Eiffel Tower, but decided, hey, lets get people to pay us money to tie them to stretchy rope and push them of bridges and things. Brilliant! What do humans love more than to be reminded of their own fragility briefly before returning safely to the ground adrenaline pumped? Its over so fast and hardely worth it, but Its totally a head trip because you are fairly safe I would say. Your head still inevitably says don't jump off a bridge. I think it satisfies another sort of human urge too. You know how when you stand on something really tall and look over the edge for the briefest of moments you have a small urge to know what it would be like to jump? I mean of course you don't do it because you would obviously die and we are programed generally not to do things that will make us die. But here, you can jump. Its safe to just jump.
Everyone relax, I probably won't go jumping off bridges, its kind of expensive. But the thought when watching them occurred to me that I think I could do it. Could do it, not want to do it. Particularly this one b/c there is water at the bottom and I could easily think of it as me diving into the water, only right before slamming my head through the surface and toward the not so deep bottom, I would safely be lifted up again. This wouldn't work with all the bungees, but for this one I was vaguely reminded of water country where the high divers dove into a really deep pool from a crazy height. For me, if I ever did it, it would be more of a satisfying my childhood urge to be a great high diver at water country rather than the adrenaline, because I hate being scared. Its not fun for me at all. I would not pay someone that much to make me fear for my life. Not cool for me, but lots of people are into that. Could you jump off of a bridge? I didn't think I could until I looked at it.

Some tips on self defence
I have enjoyed all of my classes so far, we did some contact improv in Improvisation today and my religion class and psych classes are going well also. I keep having to miss Qigong for various reasons but have kept up with self defense. Yesterday we learned about how to get out of grabs and headlocks and strangles and I think he said at some point we would learn some knife fighting....interesting....?! You better watch out I guess when I get back. I'm still not amazing at practicing things without accidentally hurting people. Andy expressed his concern, but I said I certainly wouldn't purposely hit him too hard with my elbow or something, haha. So I do have a few simple tips to try and remember on self defense.
~Try to avoid getting to the point where things are physical. It is not cowardly to run away as fast as you can and avoid a bad situation. Trust your friend/foe instincts.
~If faced with a life/death or extreme harm situation go for the eyes! Use anything-especially your thumbs to poke the eyes, it will not be pleasant and will disable and distract your attacker
~Just because you have less strength than someone else doesn't mean you should give up. You can be quicker and smarter and know ways to apply less force to do greater damage. Rather than use fists, use elbows and put the weight of your body into it. When aiming to hit something, aim through it a few feet. Use distractions to get away.
~If someone grabs your wrist or arm, the most important finger for them to hold on to you is the thumb, so make their thumb let go. You can twist your arm in to make them let go or bite or hurt the thumb
~if someone is way taller than you- bring them down, either applying a force to the groin or hooking your leg around and heal in the crook of the leg behind the knee ~ mainly do something! most of the moves require some demonstration so its hard just to tell you.Our teacher is a big guy so he's good about letting us try these things and feel more comfortable about it, if nothing else I think it builds confidence.

Caring about Kiwis
I think things are going well between Andy and I. It is hard knowing that in the end I'm leaving and we are both going to be upset about that. Its inevitable. I am a big girl though and I mean yah we haven't been dating all that long, but long enough to start caring about each other. Any relationship even if just for a little while takes some attention and I am not too keen on half-assing a relationship. That hardly ever goes well for anyone. I think the best we can do is be realistic and aware of the circumstance but not let it make us less genuine because we are afraid of getting too attached. We've talked about it and are on the same page so that's good I think. I try not to worry about it too much, I am a classic over thinker. But yah, we still have fun together and its nice to have someone around that I spend a decent amount of time with and who knows me a little better than a lot of other people here.
All of you who knew me as a child, or even a year ago probably, would be amazed because I have been learning how to cook things I don't normally eat with him and I actually like eating things in stir fry or curry or something like zucchini and mushrooms and peppers and all kinds of spices I don't normally use. I'm getting there with the whole cooking thing, branching out from Italian. I do eat at Andy's flat a lot haha. I really get along well with all of his roommates and they all make such great food, Matt makes home made bread and Kitty likes to make desserts. They're all about fresh food and cheese is a separate food group. They also have a huge tub of kalamata olives. Yum! I guess with a woman as well, the way to her heart is through her stomach. Or with me speciffically through cheese and olives....
All in all going well. No worries about me you guys, I've just told you I can beat people up fairly well because of my self defense class, so ultimately I can protect myself, though I doubt I would ever need to protect myself against Andy or any of my other guy friends here. As far as protecting myself emotionally, I don't think getting hurt can be helped in this situation but you know, I understand that and am ok with it. Sometimes we miss out on good things because we aren't willing to be a little vulnerable with other people. I've noticed this a lot in myself with all these crazy travels. So I guess we'll see.


Sorry I have been taking so long writing. I have been traveling for the past several weekends and I actually have had to do a decent amount of school work. So I start organizing pictures and writing and generally get sidetracked. I think this weekend I might take a break and just do some school work. Maybe get my hair cut, its getting a little unruely, and look for some warm clothes. They have really fun second hand shops here on account of all the students. So here are some pictures! I hope you all have a good day! http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martin

sorry old again-(Mar. 19th) ~accept the offer form albi

Sorry that I've taken so long to write this email- you see I have started to write it several times,but I have generally been just too busy to get to things- I'll explain further down~ Its all out of order too so sorry.

Self-pity party of a few days ago
It is an amazingly beautiful St. Patrick’s day in Dunedin, and I’m outside the library in the sun, just allowing myself to wallow a bit in my own self-stupidity. In a moment I’ll let it just be funny and not feel so bad about it, but I need a moment to feel ridiculous. So, I’ve not had a phone for about a month here because I figured that I had one that could be sent here and that would save me some money. Horrible planning on my part, I pestered my mom a bit to send me the phone and she was finally was able to, it cost a little bit, but still worth it I figured. I go to the phone store today and ask for a sim card and he takes my phone to make sure it fits, opens the back of it and lifts the sim holder and takes out the Italy card. In one moment the truth washes over me. I am an idiot. I was supposed to send the sim card back to the company I rented it from when I was in the states, instead I sent them the battery for the phone. I have no phone battery but I do have one Italian sim card. Ahh. The company said that they got the rented items back and were done with it, no one seemed to notice that I sent a battery instead of the sim card. So now, what to do. It will take awhile and be pretty expensive to get a new battery plus the sim card, it would be less just to buy the phone I was avoiding buying in the first place. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it today. Maybe tomorrow. On the other hand I guess its been nice to feel like I am a bit unreachable, though my friends wouldn’t agree. So yah, feeling pretty dumb about now. But I’ll deal with it.

Rest of the Day
So at that point two days ago I was feeling pretty crappy. Not only the phone situation but I was quite bogged down with fast approaching deadlines particularly on my honors applications. You see I generally get my school mail forwarded to my gmail account. Well when the password for my school mail was updated I failed to update that info in google, so my school mail wasn't forwarding for 3 weeks. I was suspicious and tested it by emailing myself which worked. Anyway I figured it out eventually and fixed it then ended up with about 300 emails to go through, some of which are very important and required attention asap. Ewww. All of this coinciding with me realizing that I've done no work the past three weeks at school here and I should go ahead and do all of it now. So I was going through emails and who should contact me, but Sarah Abboud (one of my friends form UR that played Ultimate with me and was a senior when I was a 1st year)! She was here! She's in a masters program for marine biology that was doing some field stuff in the south pacific so she and one of her friends in the program were traveling around New Zealand for their break. So it made the day much better and I went and met her and her friend and we went to the botanical gardens and down town and then the next day they went to Cadbury and a beer factory while I did work, then we all met back up again later and went to see Penguins and Seals at a wild life reserve! They were so cute. We went out to see them on this amazing four wheeler thing. We got pretty close too. The seal pups were playing and the penguins were pretty low key. They are this rare species of yellow eyed penguin and this place does a great job of preserving their habitat. The penguins live 18-22 years and they choose a mate/partner at about 2 or 3 then stick with them for life if the first time mating is successful. Nice. It was really fun reminiscing with Sarah and relating our Frisbee team's soap opera drama to her friend and having someone to share Dunedin with.

Other important things I forgot to tell you about- back step a bit to last week

Women's Self Defense Class
A really good class I think. He's great at being very practical about it. If you're being attacked you aren't going to remember some amazing complex moves. He's all about least amount of force, simplest things that will do the most damage. He works on making it more about muscle memory as well so that things can become more of a reflex. I missed it this week b/c I was seeing penguins, but I'll go again next week. I think more than anything its nice to give people confidence that they can do Something in a situation like that.

Improv Class- Accept the Offer!
So this is going really well so far, I do have a bit of reading but its mostly really fun so far. Even the book I read. I always feel so playful and willing to try things after class. I think next week we might do something with contact improv as well. So one of the basic teachings in improv in order to keep things going and help your partner is to say yes to any offer. So your partner says "Oh I see you got a new sweater", you don't say, "no i didn't", or "its pants not a sweater". You say, "yah my grandma gave it to me. I just love all the hand stitched kittens on the front." or whatever. So if some says, "oh John how are you doing since you lost your leg in that horrible snake charming accident?" - you now only have one leg- so go with it, don't avoid it. Another big one, which I may have mentioned before is to play! Its like we once knew how to do this spontaneous stuff, but now we've forgotten, so we have to go back to how we were when we were little. Which is funny because that coincides with lots of things that I am learning in child development about the significance of play and social understanding in people. Oh yah today I also learned that there is research supporting that generally the only child, or then the oldest has the highest IQ and so forth on down, possibly because the later you are in line, the less attention from parents you get. So a lot of a person's intelligence has to do with early learning and stimulation. Plus genetics and whatnot. That is also a cool class, I tend to simultaneously relate to things in there by remembering being a child and thinking ahead to when I will be a parent some day. Everyone should be required to take child development if they are going to be a parent. Hopefully I'll remember it i guess. I do have a book. haha

The PARADISE TRIP!!!!!
So now we come to last weekend. I had an amazing trip with the tramping club. We were about an hour and a half north of Queenstown, if you watch the bachelor evidently they went there. It is a place really called Paradise. We went up Friday night it was about a 6 hour drive with a stop for dinner in there. Then we camped and got up early for our tramp. I went on the "easier" tramp which I think just meant it was shorter. We started at 9:30 and got back at 4:30. We went up the mountain to a pass then up a little higher for a better view, it was like walking up stairs with the occasional climb for several hours. Then we ate lunch up there and headed down which was actually much more mentally challenging as opposed to physically challenging going up. Sometimes you had to turn around and go backwards. Anyway it was great and it was challenging but I did well I think. I am not in awesome shape, but i think there is something to be said for endurance being ingrained in me I think. I don't know if its a mental thing or I know how to breath correctly, but I handled it really well I think. SO yay I am a tramper, and not the kind that's bad! Then we hung out that night and cooked and the next day played at a lake!

THE BEST THING EVER-WE HAVE TO DO THIS!!!!!
So we NEED to do this with ultimate. Take two old crappy sleeping bags and get in them, lay a tarp down. Then WORM WRESTLE without using your hands, it is thoroughly entertaining. IT MUST BE DONE! Refer to pictures... picasa- i will add the seals later. http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martin have a lovely day everyone, i will get back on top of sending things once this work clears up!

old sorry (march 9th) Long Beach and Jandles, Playing and Princess Buttercup

Sorry its been awhile i think. so many things~

Favorite Kiwi phrases and words
~ Keen
Cheers
wee (like little)
Jandles (flip flops)
Tramping (hiking)

Developmental Psych and Improv class
Both going well. Right now we're doing prenatal to early childhood cognitive, neurological and perceptual development. He says its the most boring part, but i think its cool so far so that's a good sign i figure. I feel like everyone should take this class before having children, and i also find myself thinking that i wish i had learned more when I was little. There's a bell curve of when your brain has the most synapses- the things that connect your brain basically, then the connections that aren't used and stimulated go away and you can't get it back. So its much easier to learn say language or an instrument in the gap before you loose connections in your brain. Too late now.
Improv class is awesome. I wasn't sure about the Professor, I thought he was a little weird at first but I quickly discovered how awesome he was. He makes up the class activities as he goes i think,in true improv form. We basically spent the first class getting to know each other and getting used to being spontaneous. We talked about improv as being similar to playing when you are little. Making simple things into something extraordinary. Basically he said we were going to play. I'm totally cool with that. It surprised me at how many students felt awkward and uncomfortable being spontaneous though. It was a little sad. You can play every day even if you grow up.

Making friends with the locals
So I guess I couldn't give you a good Under the Tuscan Sun story, but it seems that I am kind of dating a Kiwi boy now, on the bases of I'm not going to be here all that long so we'll just see what happens. We met at a party kind of randomly about two weeks ago and he and one of his friends made sure me and another girl got home safely. He asked if I'd like to get coffee some time, and I figured why not he's cute and really nice. So we got coffee maybe a week ago and ended up spending the day together going to the museum and the butterfly gardens and the botanical gardens. Then yesterday he and his flat mates, who are really cool, took me to the Peninsula to a cute garlic festival and then to a beach on that side of the bay. It was a bit cold so we all went back to their flat and watched Princess bride, because what else is there to do on a rainy Sunday afternoon? He made me spinach curry for dinner and then to top off the evening we all made chocolate pudding and had a dance party in the kitchen, haha. His flatmates were particularly impressed with my 80s music selection. All in all a good day.
For all parents/concerned family members I know you worry about me with new people being that I am thousands of miles away, but try not to. This is not something so serious. I'm just having fun with new friends. I trust myself, and I'm only here for a little while. I'm not going to run off to New Zealand forever so don't worry. And so that you can feel a bit better about it I will gladly tell you about Andy. Oh yah, his name is Andy.

Random Andy Facts~
Andy is 24, I'd say medium height and build. Blond hair and beautiful blue eyes that seem to be a New Zealand thing. His mom is a teacher and his dad works in wind energy technology. Andy is an x-ray technician/radiologist and is studying nuclear medicine, I can't remember exactly what that entails, I'm pretty sure its not quite as cool as it sounds, but its still impressive. He seems to really like it and tells me about it and jokes about it, honestly I don't always understand the medical jargon but its still cute. He lives with one of his best friends from when he was growing up, Matt, who is a medical student, and another guy, Ian, who is originally Canadian and I think getting his masters in something about submerged volcanic something and then Ian's girlfriend Kitty (maybe a nickname?) she is awesome. She is a Kiwi and lived here all her life but her parents are both originally American, she works in design. And then there is a new flatmate, Ryan who is a second year Kiwi student at the University. They are all really cool and we got along well almost immediately. They decided it would be important to teach me lots of New Zealand slang which was funny, and I was also introduced to the New Zealand specialty, Hokey pokey ice cream. We went to get ice cream and I was like "what's Hokey Pokey"? I immediately heard a simultaneous gasp from Andy, Kitty, Ian and the store clerk. Followed by the store woman asking me "where are you from"?! So I didn't have a choice but to try it and it was good, kind of caramel like. I also found out that the dance exists here as well, you know, put your right hand in, put your right hand out...anyway Back to Andy-
-he loves to cook and seems to be quite good at it
-he can pretty much recite the Princess Bride by heart
-he knows the name of every bone in the human body
-he has a large collection of Flight of the Concords and international movies
-he loves to laugh and be silly- but he also think very practically
I'll keep you updated, but so far we have fun together and it's really nice to have Kiwi friends. Now you can all say awww.

Long Beach= best place ever
On Friday I went to Long Beach with a lot of my American friends. There were about 20 of us at some point. It was pretty awesome. Long Beach is about 25 min away from the city and probably one of the most beautiful beaches I've been to. The drive was beautiful but a little scary on the side of the mountains going the wrong way on the road. It was like Costa Rica but paved.
We camped in a cave and stayed up late listening to music around a campfire. It was nice to look out of the cave opening at the stars. They are so bright out here, you can see more of them away from light pollution. The roar of the ocean a few meters away drown out the crackling of the fire and I fell asleep watching the shadow of the flames dance on the cave ceiling.
I woke up at dawn to see the sun rise with a few of the others. We huddled together quietly to resist the morning chill. The soft glow of the sunrise crept in and the sun rose slowly beyond low clouds. I felt like I was such a part of the rhythm of life. Night Sky, sun rises, sun sets, waves in, waves out, tides in, tides out. Never changing and always changing.
I felt like running or moving or something even though i didn't get much sleep, so I did. But the sand was cold on my feet, and i stopped and stretched and just soaked it all in.
One of my neighbors Chris and I walked down the beach to explore. We decided it must be at least a mile judging by the time it took us to walk up and back. It was so quiet, like we were the only people around for miles. Not many of the others were awake so it was quiet, but it was nice to have a friend to walk with. We each had our own quiet solitude, but with company. Exploring the shore we found all kinds of cool shells and types of seaweed. Sometimes we would meander together or one or both of us would stop to pick something up. It was like we each had someone to share our momentary treasures from the sand with. If I could just get up every morning at dawn and be here, and exercise or walk and then stretch and meditate I know I would be the most peaceful person.
Later we played Frisbee in the waves. It was so much fun. You'd jump to get the disc and the waves would end up coming and knocking you sideways. It was great. We hung out in the sand and stayed until almost 4. I think there is less ozone here so we had to put lots of sunblock on. I did somehow get burnt under my arms. I guess I just didn't think to put sunscreen there. Here are some pictures, but they don't really do it justice. http://picasaweb.google.com/melaniebeth.martin Sorry so long, I hope you all have a lovely week. ~

sorry a little old- goonies never say die and lots of little things

Lots of little things going on
~Sleepy
I've been so sleepy lately. I thought something might be wrong with me, but i think lots of others are feeling similar. Probably a mix between walking so much more than normally, being so tired from meeting people and being exposed to new things, and I think maybe I haven't been getting enough protein and iron in my diet. I certainly haven't been eating poorely, I say this as I finish off an entire jar of Kalamata olives. I just haven't been eating much meat or eggs I guess. I thought of making up for this by getting a meat lover pizza tonight from pizza hut- a heart attack in a box for sure, but hey if I must. The staying up late and partying so much kind of wore me out a little too.
Yesterday I went to the botanical gardens to read, which are amazingly beautiful and about a 5 min walk away. Think Maymont, with mountains surrounding it and more tropical looking plants, young and wild looking. I fell asleep on a bench in the sun for about 2 hours. Then I went to bed at a decent time and still didn't wake up until 11:30. I need to get a sleep schedule going. I think I'll adjust soon.

Railway Trip
This was pretty fun, kind of made me feel like we were going through the great valley from that movie the land before time- you know with little foot and Sarah the triceratops. Anyway it was beautiful and fun. I learned the Polish word for sheep but I have no idea how to spell it for you. We stopped in the middle of nowhere in the mountains and got out and had a BBQ. I wanted to stay there forever, sitting on the hill.
Oh I also learned another Polish word. There were sheep all over so there was some dried sheep poop on the hill that you had to watch out for and I said to watch out for poop. The polish people didn't know what I meant and were like shit? and I said well yes, but poop was the nicer thing to say like if you were talking to children. They thought that was funny because in Polish there is a word Poopa which means butt. But its the nice way to say it to a child, its cute like hiney or something. Coincidence? Who knows?

Market/Yard Sale
The other day I stumbled upon a really cool market by campus where people were selling old/secondhand things. It was pretty awesome. I got a beautiful scarf for 5$ NZ and earrings that originally were from India for 5$ NZ , some books for little to nothing. A wool sweater for 2$NZ an under armor kind of shirt, gloves and sunglasses for 5$NZ and my big splurge was this really cool vintage leather jacket. I'm not much for leather, I didn't even buy leather in Florence really, but this was just too old and cool. Its dark green and just fits me, and has a stamp inside that says genuine hand crafted New Zealand leather. I bought it for 15$ US. I think a good purchase.

A Million Little Pieces
This was one of the books I got at the market. You may have heard of it or read it even maybe. Its pretty good so far, I've just started it. Its about a man's journey through addiction to recovery. Its had some criticism for not being completely accurate, but I don't mind. He's a good writer. I like that he writes how he thinks. Not particularly structured. The character is relateable too. Not that I've ever been an alcoholic and addicted to cocaine, but we've all felt a little lost sometimes. We've all felt scared or uncertain about the future and maybe most of us have also felt at some point that we were broken into a million little pieces. I find that I get a little too into it so I have to be in the right mood to read it. But I like it.

Class Today
Today I had my first class. Religion and Globalization. It seems like it will be cool. I'm not sure its exactly what I wanted it to be, but it still seems like the best choice of class for me at the moment. Its bigger than I'm used to on average. There are about 40 people and we break off every now and then for small group discussions. Also my final exam is 65% of my grade and 1 paper is worth the other 35%. That's a little weird to me. Oh well. So far so good. We just had an overview of the class basically. We began by talking about the story of religions being similar but with different approaches. The image of blind men all asked to touch an elephant then describe what an elephant was. Its the same elephant, but the man who touched the trunk said well an elephant is pointy and sharp, the man who felt the tail said an elephant is like a rope, and so on. Not that this theory or approach is true or not, but either way, even if its the same elephant it matters greatly which part you have hold of. So we will be talking about some of the things that make major religions unique and how they have been affected by change in today's society, namely globalization. Christianity is first. My first lecture is on the phenomenal spread of Pentecostal Christians. sounds interesting. I wonder if he's ever seen Jesus Camp. ~My crazy lots of class day is Thurs. and I don't have class at all on Mon. or Wed which is cool I suppose. I also signed up today for short classes at the recreation center- Women's self defense and Qigong.
Poetry of the Earth
I found some cool poetry books written by New Zealanders. A lot of them focus on the earth in some way which is cool. I've been in a poetry mood lately. I've felt inspired by it. I've been trying to just go with things, doing what I feel and saying why not a lot. I had been getting away from that lately and I want to feel that spontaneity again. It makes me happier and makes me feel more natural and alive.

The Mayor sings opera, eggs and togas, my first couch fire and lessons from Hungary

Wow, its been quite a few days...

Ears of Steel!
so I am alive- I'm going to go all medical and whatnot now, its not that interesting so feel free to skip- I went to the health center and I did have an ear infection but by that time it was clearing up so he just gave me antibiotic drops. He also said that my ear drum had caved in a little, which freaked me out initially, but I was assured that this would go back to normal. He thinks that most of my ear issues came from the plane. Its evidently possible with the pressure of the plane, particularly if you have a cold or other sinus problems, for your ear drum to collapse in slightly and have a hard time returning to normal. I don't remember exactly what he said but something to the effect that once this happens it can mess with your Eustachian tube and your inner ear. Liquid can get trapped and bam you have an ear infection. So until my ear drum is totally right I keep having to periodically do that hold your nose and blow thing..weird. I feel much much better though so that's good.


O-WEEK!!!
For Frisbee players think Dis-o, times 10, for an entire week, and you have O-Week Otago style. There is a lot of craziness going on here with the new first years. Most of us international kids are kind of just sitting back observing the young Kiwis in their new habitat. So to give you some examples, yesterday all of the several thousand first years went marching through town down on the main street as tradition goes.Only it got a bit out of hand and they ended up on the news when onlookers (older students) threw eggs and bottles and grosser things i think from the flats above the stores ambushing the already intoxicated first years who then scattered and everything was crazy, shop windows were broken, big mess. I only just heard about it tonight on the news, but it was a big deal.
Another example, there is a bar that has some crazy all day be drunk fest that hundreds of people go to. I woke up this morning before my alarm because people were cheering outside, they had started drinking at oh 6 o'clock in the morning. All around town, close to campus there are people running around in who knows what, togas, no shoes, some guy just had Saran wrap and flip flops on today. Then tonight some of the people who were drunk all day set a couch on fire in the parking lot of our apartment complex. Which was actually pretty cool to watch. The whole atmosphere is intensely ridiculous and totally irresponsible but I must say I do admire their general stamina and creativity. No one seems to have gotten hurt yet so I mean if they want to get pissed and be crazy the week before school then alright~


Germans and Parisians and Kiwis oh my!
Last night I was feeling much better so I decided to partake in the festivities, minus the togas and eggs. Originally going out with my flatmates and neighbors I met up with a German friend of mine and she introduced me to some of her friends. At some point I ended up walking to another party with my neighbor Alex (the boy who can see directly into my window and me into his when the blinds are pulled back--we decided in such circumstances it would be best to become friends), a Parisian named Nicola, my German friend Charlotte and a really funny Kiwi guy, oh and we met an Italian guy briefly. For awhile at the time it seemed funny for us all to speak five different languages to each other which was pretty fun. Other than my closer Italian friends in Italy, it seems easier here to be friends with Europeans than when I was actually in Europe. Of course its because English is the common joining language this time. All in all it was good fun to hang out with them. I feel like American kids are everywhere so its kind of nice to escape that a little. Its almost boring when I introduce myself as another American, maybe I'll start pretending to be Italian...hmm..
Later I met some really cool Kiwi medical students. I talked to one guy for awhile who works in radiology, whether because of the music or the accent I thought he said he worked at a radio station for half the conversation. He found that funny luckily. I think he reminds me of Zach, a good friend of mine from high school. Its interesting how your brain automatically categorizes new people by characteristics of people you already know. I hung out with the Med students and an American girl who's going to be in my improv class the rest of the evening then they walked me home. Its funny here, I didn't really feel weird about spending time with people I had just met because I constantly have been meeting new people. I guess you just have to be in tune with the inner good people/bad people vibes. Not that there are too bad of people here for the most part.


Don't talk to Strangers
I remember before I left my mom caught herself warning me not to talk to strangers and then realized that seeing as how I know no one here everyone would therefore be strangers and I'd eventually be forced to talk to someone...I am feeling better about meeting people now though. I trust my judgement and that's about the best any of us can do in new situations. So many students are around and everyone for the most part wants to just have fun and go to school and make friends. Its exciting to be reminded all the time that every stranger you meet and talk to could actually become a great friend or influence in your life, or not. You never know is the thing, you have to just go with it. The constant meeting of people reminds me of how interconnected we all are. I like that. It makes me feel important and insignificant at the same time.


Opera Singing Mayor
This morning I went to orientation and we were serenaded by the Mayor who has a great voice it turns out and is an opera singer. He sang us a welcome song and then we got a lot of new student information. Its exciting to get ready to start things, I've felt like I'm in limbo a bit. I also met some more cool people. I really like this girl from Holland and I had lunch with my Polish friends and some Hungarians that we met. It was really interesting to listen to them compare politics. Evidently there is a lot of trouble in Hungary still. They explained it to me pretty simply I think. After WW2, Hungary's territory was sliced up and divided between other nations. However, Hungarians still live in those places, so does Hungary recognize those people who are still loyal to Hungary? And nationalists want it to be put back together again which probably won't happen, and the police in these Hungarian communities outside the border are the only non-Hungarians so there are problems. The Government is very divided and seem to just contradict each other rather than get anything done. Ha-sound familiar? He said that he actually admires the US government for being able to put away differences to at least a much higher degree than in Hungary and work for the interest of the country. It was interesting. I'd like to visit Budapest.

Hungarian Paris Hilton
Then they told me about all kinds of drinks they have and we talked about the US exporting the worst of our culture so often. I told them I felt bad about Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears being what they knew of America. They actually seemed to understand and made me feel better with stories of the outlandish Hungarian and Polish versions of Paris. I wish I could remember the name. It's Hungarian so I could barely pronounce it much less spell it. The girl did impressions of this Hungarian Paris with big lips an boobs, except this woman is a real "whore" they said and went for $2000 a night. The boys said it could be worth it. The Hungarian girl just made faces and proclaimed that she wouldn't touch this woman with a ten foot pole. The guy was like, "well she's very good looking, just kind of whoreish". Generally It was a great conversation. Both Hungarians are super super tall. I'm not sure if that's something common or what? They were very cool though, even if I do have to look up to see them.


Sorry for the length I know you all are busy. I'll try to be briefer next time. Its kind of funny though. I look at these e-mails differently now. When I was in Italy I felt so removed sometimes from the people and places that I knew. Then coming back home I realized how many people had kept up with me, even just skimming a few e-mails now and again. I had no idea some people were even getting my e-mails. But I of course realize now that even in Italy I wasn't there by myself at all. You were right there with me; and now you are with me again and I can't tell you how much that means to me. There's definitely a comfort in knowing that you care. I hope you all have a wonderful day. Wednesday was pretty good, you'll like it. Maybe you'll meet a cool stranger~

Living in the future and hole in the wall

Living in the Future
I think I'm doing a little better about feeling too excited about being here. I am still getting ahead of myself a bit but I'm letting things go a little better too. I feel this great urgency about everything, planning cool trips and signing up for classes and activities and finding something to do and people to meet every evening. Its all because I feel this time limit that I have. I've done this abroad thing before and I know how fast it goes by. Which I mean theoretically we should have urgency in our lives because we all have an unannounced time limit, but there's a balance you know. Don't think you have all the time in the world then never live, but then again don't be so afraid that you'll miss something that you rush because then you will also never live. Not really at least if you're in such a hurry to check things off a list.
I think a problem is that deep down I really am a planner. I like to know what I'm doing roughly and when and how for the most part. Here I have no clue and that is kind of hard for me. So I need to just stop, and let go of some of these expectations that I have. I've only been here a week. Who knows what amazing people I have yet to meet and places I have yet to see. I need to just be me. I need to be open to the flow of things going on and see where it all takes me. Ha-easier said than done I think. I am doing much better though. I have had a little hep from the weather. Its been raining a lot lately which just kind of makes me want to slow down, hang out inside and take a break. Plus I may have an ear infection? I don't know I'm trying to fix that. I went to the pharmacist and they thought it was sinuses, but I feel like I have swimmers ear so finally I got some medicine for that today, we'll see how it goes, if I'm not getting better soon I'll go to the doctor. I have actually also cheated recently with the planing. I've planed a few things which is making me feel better. For example......

Classes and such
Friday we did course approval and I am now signed up for Developmental Psychology, Religions and Globalization (we will study 6 major religions and how each is adjusting and dealing with globalization and changes in the world), and Improvisation in the theater department which should be really fun. While I did want to take something specific to New Zealand while I was here, a lot of things that looked interesting to me either didn't really fit in a good schedule or had lots of prerequisites. So I'm going to double check on an environmental science class, but I don't know. And I'm meeting with the woman I may do psych research with this week so we'll see what happens there. I have also through the recreation center signed up for a pottery class that meets once a week for awhile, and a wine appreciation tour. I'm also thinking of doing a dance class or women's self defense or Gigong- which is kind of like a Chinese health practice or circulating energy in your body, it sounds cool. All of the classes and trips through the school are pretty inexpensive so I feel like I should take advantage of them. I am just trying to make sure I use my money and time wisely. I think having a few things planed and then going from there will make me feel better. I am also considering a cool kayaking trip and once I find some friends who are interested and we have the Internet more regularly, I want to plan a weekend trip to go on a horseback riding trek where we camp and stuff. It would be very awesome, I just need to do some budgeting.

Hole In the Wall
So last night we watched a New Zealand game show where people in these crazy silver suits have to jump through holes in a moving wall. You have to quickly manuver into a position to fit though the hole shape. The wall moves towards them and if they don't go through the hole they get pushed by the wall into a pool. Its kind of amazing. We only get a few channels on our huge tv, mostly American programs. But we will soon get a dvd player for movies.

Spiders
So last night I was the great conquering hero when I captured a big spider that was in Mary's room and put it outside. It was pretty funny. Then I told them that my mascot was a spider and they thought that was horrible, haha. All in all a good adventure. I haven't thought too much about weird New Zealand insects, I'd rather not. Then last night we went out to a bar/dance club which turned out to be really fun. I'm a big dance fan and so are Mary's polish friends and the other people we met so that was cool. It was similar to Italian discotecs but maybe more chill I guess. Most people were my age and no one was particularly sketchy haha. I'll let you know when I do something exciting, right now I'm just still settling in. I hope you all have a nice rest of your weekend. I believe it is almost 9pm there sat. and its almost 3pm sun. for me. Weird...

dobranoc and Kobe Bryant

Port Chalmers
Jenny and I decided to go on a little adventure the other day so we took a bus to Port Chalmers right outside of Dunedin about 15 min. It was a beautiful little drive and the roads reminded me of Costa Rica roads, but these actually existed and were paved. When we got there there wasn't much going on, just a little port town population 3,000ish. Jenny is great to travel with because she is flexible. I really think that is the key travel quality to have. So we checked things out then went on a walk around the cape to the other side along the coast on a little dirt road. We came to a dock with boats dotting the water and it was just so beautiful we decided to take a break. Then we walked more, found a random path up the hill/mountain and went exploring. We eventually meandered back to town for the bus, and we got some hummus (which they apparently really like here because there was about 15 different kinds), bread, and brie and picnicked at the bus stop. Alas, the bus came, we went to get on it, I guess we were slow and it somehow left us! It was weird. Anyway though there was another bus 3 hours later so we just figured things like this are bound to happen and we found a nice park nearby and sat in the grass and just talked. Jenny is reading this book about a crazy prison in La Paz Bolivia where they make cocaine and have basically their own little society going behind the walls. It was really interesting. ( Marching Powder: A true story of friendship, cocaine, and South America's Strangest Jail) It was nice to get to know her more just in general. It was hot one min and chilly the next by the water. I'm learning that weather here can be trickily like that. We ate the entire thing of cheese and got a beer at a local tavern where we were told jokingly not to get too pissed before we got on the bus. Kiwis are funny. It was all in all a good trip. The pictures don't do it justice. Which I've put up on Picasa~

Frogger Crosswalks
I've just been getting myself together more other than that. The cross walks here are the same as in Ireland. They are so funny because I swear they make a noise very similar to the frogger music and that's just ironic. Other than that I haven't noticed much else that's odd. They have switches on all the outlets which is cool. You can just switch the entire power supply of the outlet off when not in use. I think its easier than unplugging things.

Kobe Bryant
So tonight we all went out to this bar/music place where lots of students were. Everyone is getting beers and I'm walking around with a glass of Chardonnay, classy I know. It was a really cool place and later I hung out with my polish roommate Mary and her friends. We went back to her friend's apartment and on our way we stopped by McDonald's for them to get a burger, yes there is a McDonald's right up the road from me. The other American girl and I tried to tell them that McDonald's is actually arguably the worst of America's fast food nation. It was funny. Because most things are funny when its late and you are hanging out with Polish kids in New Zealand. There was a policeman at the McDonald's on account of all the drunk college kids just moving in I guess which was also entertaining. The place was quite busy for it being so late. There were these kiwis there who were obviously some of said drunk college kids and they didn't have shoes on, socks, but not shoes and they were teetering around. One made eye contact with me and said something and I honestly had absolutely no idea what he said. I mean I assume it was English but I really had no idea. He could have been speaking Polish for all I was concerned. So I was like "what?" and he said it again and I still had no idea so I was like "I'm sorry I have no idea what you just said" and he was like "you're American" and I said yes and he said something else and all I got was "do you know Kobe Bryant?", "Uh no sorry, not personally I don't", "well he is my brother!" this guy proclaimed and I was like "well then you obviously know him better than I do if he's your brother". This reply seemed to satisfy him and everyone else couldn't believe I even picked up that much of what he was saying. Oh I can't wait till all the kiwis get here. haha. I love that whole oh you're from some where or other so you must know this person thing. You'd be surprised how many times here I've said I was from Virginia and people are like "oh do you know Tim Smith or someone" and of course I don't that's just silly. Its a big place. A school maybe or even a city. There's a girl here from Kentucky and someone here sincerely asked her if Colonel Sanders was her grandfather. I thought that was great. Oh we have a KFC too, across from McDonals and down the street from the Dominos and Pizza Hut. The bar called the Baaa is right in between.


The person across the window from me moved in too it looks like and I think its a boy. I need to make friends soon so its not awkward that we can see straight into each other's rooms. Maybe we'll make a string and cup telephone. I'll update you. Oh and Mary taught me dobranoc which means goodnight in Polish. Who would of thought I would learn Polish in New Zealand? Life is funny like that.