Raglan... SUCCESS!

Saturday morning started out at maximum stress level.  It started POURING as soon as we walked out the door so we decided to take the bus to the bus station to catch the Raglan bus instead of walking.  After getting all 10 people together, we waited at the bus stop only to find out (a few minutes after the time we expected it to be there had passed) that the bus didn’t actually come to that stop, but came to another one down the street a little bit.  Thankfully, we caught that one and left for the bus station at 9:38.  The bus to Raglan was taking off at 10:00 so I was expecting the worst but hoping for the best.  Our bus made it to the bus station at 10:01 and I don’t think I’ve ever sprinted as fast as I did (while carrying a backpack and a bag).  I ran into about 4 people on the way, screaming sorry, passing all the other people running with me, and waving down the Raglan bus driver.  I was the first out of the group to get on the bus, and the bus driver told us that the other driver had told him to wait... how nice! And then he only charged us half the price!  It turned out to be a good morning!

When we got to Raglan, we checked into our hostel, which had sort of a liberal feel…if that makes sense.  This one was quite different than the one Kelsey and I stayed at in Taupo.  It was very home-y and lenient with a friendly staff and a kitchen for everyone to use!  We took advantage of the free bikes and 4 of us went out exploring on them right away.  The hostel was located in the bay area, so we eventually found the beach via the road (I felt like I was in the Tour de France, or New Zealand, biking down the road with mountains and hills surrounding it), seeing LOTS of sheep on the way.  We watched some windsurfers and kitesurfers, ate lunch on the beach, and then headed back to check out the town area.  That didn’t take long at all though because the town is about 2 blocks by 2 blocks aka not very big at all.  There were some cool stores with LOTS of homemade crafts (my heaven) and fun things like that.  There was a hot tub at the hostel so some people hung out in there, but I figured I could do that at home, so I took off for another bike ride to pass the time before dinner!  It was cool (literally) to ride with the beach on one side and the rolling hills on the other.  It still amazes me how everywhere you look into the distance in this country, there are either rolling hills or mountain ranges in view… SO beautiful.  Everywhere.  Someone a long time ago should have let America know that undeveloped land is prettier than strip malls… too late now.

We found a little bakery where we got dinner and dessert, then headed over to the sports bar to watch a rugby game… the NZ All Blacks vs South Africa.  I have caught on to some of the rules to rugby, but still had a lot of questions and wanted to fully understand.  I don’t understand how people are okay with not knowing the rules to games they are watching.  Thankfully there was a nice dad-aged man who came in to watch the game and was happy to answer ALL my questions!  I am proud to say that I think I understand rugby now!  Thank you kind dad-aged man!

On Sunday, after a night full of someone in the room snoring like crazy (good thing I brought my ipod), sleeping in my new sleeping bag (good thing I had that too… the hostel beds only had a fitted sheet, a blanket, and a comforter. GROSS.) and then the fire dept’s alarm going off so call their volunteers in (this was actually a blessing in disguise because it woke the snorer up), we walked out to the surf beach, starting at the bay area near the hostel.  The beach had very fine, black sand, which I’m sure is SUPER hot in the summer, and it was gorgeous!  Again, surprise surprise, rolling hills leading up to the sand and mountain ranges off in the distance in all directions.  The waves were the biggest I’ve ever seen, which isn’t saying much from a girl who has grown up on South Carolina beaches, but still.  We sat and watched some people surf and then headed back.  AND I got all my surfing questions answered too because there were 2 girls from Hawaii with us! 

Amy, Megan, Me, Kelsey, Maya

Near our hostel, there was a skate park right on the bay and it was super weird to see mostly everyone on razor scooters (not that I go to skate parks often), I just didn’t know those were used there.  Interesting.  Anyway, there was a little takeaway food store thing set up in the middle of a field so we got some “chips”, which came wrapped up in newspaper and were SO GOOD, and then headed back to the hostel to get the kayaks out.  We put the kayaks, which were also FREE(!), into the bay behind the hostel and paddled around for about an hour.  I didn’t want to risk my camera’s life with the water so I don’t have any pictures from this little exploration, but imagine a lake-ish area surrounded by sand filled with clams, mountains in the distance on one side, green rolling hills on the other, little planes flying into a field next to the shore, kids (many without shoes) playing on the playground nearby, and bright blue skies above.  I felt like I was in a movie scene.  Seems to be a common feeling here. 

We got back to the hostel, put everything up, and went to get ice cream.  Did I mention that I got some on Saturday too?  This time, we found this frozen yogurt + 3 fruits concoction deal.  Yes please!  I got froyo with raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries mixed in. Mmm I can still taste it.  Then I proceeded to the bakery, again, to get another “melting moment” to take back.  YUM.

Caught the bus back to Hamilton and got here just in time for dinner.  Raglan… SUCCESS!

YUM.

Again, YUM.

Interesting Observations:

-Only Asians and Americans here wear real Uggs.  Everyone else wears knockoffs, more power to ya!

-“takeaway”=take out

-“biscuit man”=gingerbread man

-Almost hit by car count=9

-The body of an Infiniti G35 is a Nissan Skyline here.

-Tomorrow is AUGUST.

-You can see Raglan from my HPE teacher’s 7^th floor window.

-This house:

-Mail from France arrives to NZ in about 5 days (thanks Eliza!) while mail from the US takes at least 2 weeks.

Raglan

The End of Another Week...

This week has been pretty normal.  Wait, am I already allowed to know what normal feels like?  It’s only been a month! But then again, it’s already been a MONTH.  It definitely doesn’t feel like time is flying yet, and it still feels like it’ll be a lifetime until I ride up that long escalator in Hartsfield-Jackson Airport to see my family, but I know that this will all be over before I know it.  Don’t worry, I’m not just sitting in my room in between meals watching the clock tick (there actually is one girl here who is doing that and I really hope she isn’t following this blog, and honestly sorry I’m not sorry for not feeling bad for her! I don’t think she’s even homesick, it just doesn’t seem like she is wanting to embrace being here. Lame!), I’m definitely trying to soak it all up, visit lots of different cities, make kiwi friends, and take advantage of everything that I can while I’m here!  The homesickness level is pretty low these days, which is definitely something to be thankful for!  Of course I miss home, but I’ve gotten to know people here better and better throughout this first month, which has provided me with options to do more things on the weekends and just hang out in general!  I do little things on the weekdays to make it seem like it’s passing faster than I think it is… like mark days off the calendar, act surprised when I see that the countdown on my computer says 111 days instead of 112, think about how my mom goes back to school next week which also means that people will be going back to Furman soon (weird), think about how it’s almost AUGUST and that a whole month has already passed, count the weekends until mid-semester break (3 more weekends!), convince myself that the date is the day before the actual date and then act surprised again when I check my watch and realize it’s a day after, look forward to calling my grandma every other week, etc… It’s the little things that get me through the weekdays and on to the weekend!

I turned in my first assignment today! In geography we had a long bibliography scavenger hunt type assignment and I finished it this week.  It’s not due until Monday, but I went ahead and got it all squared away.  When you turn assignments in at my Uni, you don’t bring them to class, you go to the department’s office, fill out a cover sheet, and slip it into a slot with the class’ name on it before 4:30 on the due date.  It would definitely make me feel better if I handed it to the professor (in his Elvis shirt), but oh well!

Today was my free day and I cranked out a paper about the current Health & PE curriculum in New Zealand that’s due in about 2 weeks!  Now I definitely feel better about going away this weekend knowing that I got it done and all I have to do is edit it!  Since I’ve gotten pretty heavy into my Health and Exercise Science classes at Furman the past 2 years, I don’t think I’ve written a real paper in at least 3 semesters.  I’ll for sure be making up for those past 3 semesters here with the 7 papers I have in the next few months. 

I am headed to Raglan on a 10am bus tomorrow (Saturday) morning and am looking forward to seeing a new city and the BEACH.  However, I always feel weird going to any beach without all my cousins (yall come join me!).  Hopefully we’ll be kayaking, hiking, and biking!  I can assure you that I will take lots of pictures and have another update soon!

Interesting Observations:

-“American Hot Dogs” were served at lunch on Wednesday.  They were literally hot pink and looked like a long, thin water balloon, ties at the ends and everything, inside a bun.  The few bites I had sure enough tasted like a hot dog inside a balloon.  Maybe I’ll start bringing my camera to meals. 

-They use butter like it’s the 50’s here.  One girl buttered her hot dog (/water balloon) bun! It’s totally normal to have 3 pieces of toast, all loaded with butter.  I’m slowly joining in on the butter craze.  I love butter, but it’s so frowned upon in the US.  Thank goodness for butter-lovin’ kiwis!

-A new mac costs over NZ$1500 here, which translates to about US$1200.  Definitely waiting until I get home to worry about replacing the computer. 

-One girl told me she really liked my wallabees.  Wallabees are like the most boring shoes ever! Thanks though!

-“holiday”=break.  Everyone “goes on holiday” in the winter, including people who have real world jobs.

-They use the word “keen” A LOT aka excited or up for it.  This is probably my favorite new word/phrase.  Examples: “If you’re keen, we can hang out this weekend.” or “Yeh, bro, I’m keen-as!” or “Are you keen to eat spaghetti for breakfast?” (NO.)

-Being the only non-kiwi in a NZ history tutorial (discussion) is REALLY intimidating.

-I got mocked for cutting up all of my food and then eating it.  Is that really that abnormal?  Sometimes I think they think that everything I or another American does is what every single American does.  I’m sure there is a kiwi out there that cuts then eats.

-I found a dairy that serves ice cream(!!!).  One scoop for $1.90 and then there was a kit-kat for sale on the counter that was $3.20… really? How is that logical?!

-The exchange rate for US to NZ dollars changes every single day. 

-There was spaghetti (noodles and everything) on my pizza AGAIN tonight as the sauce.  What is up with the spaghetti fetish this country has?!

Although there haven’t been any obvious struggles (like a broken computer or something crazy like that) this week, it is still comforting to remember that God is guiding this whole experience, through the good, the bad, the people, the classes, the homesickness, and everything in between.  It’s so reassuring to know that out of all of the struggles that I go through, whether in a foreign country or in my backyard, whether small or big, Jesus has already gone through it (times infinity) and is there to provide support, comfort, and strength.  While I wander from Him everyday, He will never turn around and do the same to me, but will always be there for me while also offering grace, not only in the hard times, even though I’m not worthy of it at all.  How awesome is that?! It is so cool to get to have this experience and know that the Lord is teaching me things about His unfailing love and His kingdom even if I’m not yet aware of it all.  Just knowing that not a single detail of any day happens if it is not God’s will is so encouraging!

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace.  In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart! I have overcome the world.”     John 16:33

One month down!

One month ago today I was having my last meal at home with the fam and cousins!

 Four more months to go!

Some views from campus this afternoon

This Sunday, I walked up the road about 3 minutes to Hillcrest Baptist Church.  The greeters at the doorway knew I was new and were very friendly.  One of them showed me to a seat next to a NZ girl who also goes to my school.  A few other people came up to me on the way to my seat and introduced themselves as well.  The NZ girl that I sat near was named Callie.  However, for the past 2 days I thought her name was Kelly because that’s what Callie sounds like with an NZ accent, but I saw her picture on the tutors board near our dorm and the name under it was Kelly… good to know.  It’s so hard to tell what they’re saying sometimes!  Anyway, the service was more of what I am used to back home except that it was almost 2 hours long! They spent a lot of time praying for different people in the church, calmly sang some songs (with a guy playing the keyboard, not a big banging band), had a children’s moment, scripture readings, and a sermon.  There was a wide age range at this church, but I noticed a LOT of older people, probably 70s-ish.  I would definitely go back to this church, but I think I’m going to continue visiting some more and see what else I find! Prayers for the church search would be awesome!

This coming Sunday, however, I will be at the beach! Some American friends and I booked a hostel for Saturday night in Raglan, which is about and hour west of Hamilton.  Fortunately there is a $5 bus that leaves from the center of town, so we’ll catch that Saturday morning.  The hostel we’re staying at offers free kayaks and bikes!  We’ll definitely be trying out those two things and probably doing some beach walking and some hiking.  I’m excited for this little trip and I will be bringing my sleeping bag that I just bought (on SUPER sale like 60% off!) for the 2 week break trip (SO thankful I won’t have to sleep on those hostel sheets), which brings me to my next point…

WE BOOKED THE CAMPERVAN AND PLANE TICKETS FOR MID-SEMESTER BREAK!! On August 20^th, me, Megan, Kelsey, and Nate (all Americans) will be heading up to Auckland to fly down to Christchurch where we will get the campervan and start our 10-day journey around the south island!  We will spend a few days afterwards in Christchurch and fly back to Auckland in one of the first days of September.  We’re not sure what exactly we’ll be doing and seeing yet, but we have a few weeks to get a plan sorted out, or I guess we could just wing it.  That’s a big thing to wing, I’m definitely going to need a plan.  The campervan we’ve reserved looks like this...

It’s so weird to me that when I’m on this 2 week adventure (as if I’m not already on a 5 month adventure!) my friends will be heading back to Furman to START their fall semester.  I will already be half way through mine!

Today was a LONG day of class.  Five hours of straight lectures from 12-5pm today.  I stopped by the “UniMart” (aka a gas station type store on campus) to get a vanilla coke, which is the next best thing to Dr. Pepper that is pretty much impossible to find without Shannon’s help, to help myself get through the day.  It worked.  I made it.  ALSO, I GOT MAIL TODAY!!! Two letters, from my mom and Diane, were in my little slot! The lady at the desk asked if it was my birthday… I guess people don’t get mail for fun here…?  I also used these letters to bribe myself to get through the day.

Interesting Conversations:

-Some kid asked me if I’m ready for a “sunny Christmas”.  No, 1) fat chance I’ll spend Christmas in a foreign country by myself and 2) Christmas and summer will always be opposite.

-Another kid got on a US kick and asked if people really had loud lifted trucks… yes.  If fried chicken was really the staple meal in the south… yes.  If there were really football jocks…yes.  If there was really a prom queen and king… yes.  I guess the movies he’s watched have been accurate.  He then asked me if we really had college football songs/cheers and demanded for me to teach him Furman’s.

Interesting Observations:

-People here think that it snows everywhere in the US.

-Universities here don’t have school sports teams, everyone is pretty much on their own for finding competitive teams.  It makes for not much school spirit.

-NZ people say "eh" a LOT.  "…eh?"="…ya know?" or "…isn’t it?" example: "spaghetti on toast is quite gross, eh bro?"

-I saw a girl put the spaghetti served at breakfast (what?!) in a mug.  I lost sight of her, but sure hope she didn’t drink it.  Spaghetti at breakfast is gross enough, no need to make it worse by drinking it!

-Yesterday at the gym, Miley’s “Party In The USA” was playing, followed by Usher.  Aka their mainstream music here is very American. 

-It’s really common for people to wear simple Keds type sneakers, any color, male and female.

How could you NOT miss that face?!

Drew and Diane: Just put Anna on a plane to NZ, she flies for free!

The BEST Day Yet!

So today was definitely my favorite day in New Zealand so far!  One of the girls, Shannon, that I met at church last Sunday offered to show me around Hamilton.  She picked me up this morning and we headed to town to get some coffee and a “cinnamon twirl” at Starbucks.  We walked around town a little bit and stopped in a few shops then headed out to the lake.  I didn’t even know there was a lake in Hamilton! This lake is about the size of Furman’s and we ended up talking and walking around it.  Our next stop was Hamilton Gardens, which is a free attraction with separate garden sections for different areas of the world (China, New Zealand, Italy, America, Japan, etc).  The American garden was hilarious!  It was set up with beach chairs, a little pool with a mod/abstract sculpture in the middle of it, cacti, and a pop art picture of Marilyn Monroe (the giveaway that the theme was America).  I’m pretty sure that a non-American designed this area.  After the gardens adventure, we went over to her part of town.  After Shannon found out that I had been Dr. Pepper deprived over here in NZ, she was determined for us to find some.  We stopped at a dairy and got some Dr. Peppers (Yes, finally!) and then got some Sub-Way to take up to “the hill”.  She drove to this place in her neighborhood and we walked up to “the hill” and ate our lunch!  We improvised and used one of those foil-y sun keeper outer things that you put in the windshield of the car as a blanket ha!  It was SO beautiful up there; on one side was the view of town with mountains in the background and the other was rolling hills with mountains in the background too.  I am getting SO spoiled with the scenery here!  THEN, Shannon took me to her house!  It was so cool to get to see a NZ neighborhood and house!  I looked through her photo albums of her trip through the south of the US last year when she went on a screening tour with Invisible Children.  It was really cool to get to talk about the US (the south especially) and hear all about her experience and her stories.

A view of the lake

Shannon and I at the gardens!

DR. PEPPER!!!!!!

Shannon's cute house!

It was SO awesome to get to spend time with Shannon today and hopefully there will be more hang out times in the future!  She is one of the sweetest people (even though she demanded to take solo tourist-y pictures of me haha) I’ve met here and was so unselfish to spend her day showing me around and spending time getting to know me.  I am so thankful for new friendships, laughter, and such generous people like Shannon!   It is so overwhelmingly awesome how God has continued to show me that He is indeed watching over me over here and has complete control of who I meet, where I go, what I do, and the little things along the way.  So comforting!

Also... last night, some American girls (from Hawaii!) who go to school in Oregon with my friend Megan invited me to come along with them to a New Zealand vs China national team volleyball game.  We walked about 15 minutes up to the Hamilton Boys’ School and unfortunately watched NZ lose 3 games in a row.  All 3 games were neck in neck all the way until the end.  Even though NZ couldn’t pull it off, it was really neat to watch such intense volleyball.  These guys were SO good.  There weren’t many rallies though because they just pounded it into the ground every time.  They hit it so hard that I feel like it would’ve caused a concussion.  Intense-as bro! 

Interesting Observations:

-Yesterday I had SPAGHETTI on my pizza at lunch instead of pizza sauce.  I guess they either ran out of sauce or had extra spaghetti? Or maybe that’s just how they do it over here?

-My geography professor wears an Elvis shirt to every lecture.

-Kiwis pronounce the T in fillet, aka “fill-it” instead of “fill-A”.

-I think this country has some sort of nation-wide fascination with Michael Jackson.

-Cars making a left turn (aka a right turn in the US) have to give way to the cars making a right turn (aka a left turn in the US).

-The sky here continues to amaze me.  It just seems SO close!

-THIS ADVERTISEMENT: “CHOC-AS” hilarious!

Settling In A Little More

Well, my Wednesday tutorials have yet to kick off, so today was another free day for me!

I have been getting into the routine of a regular NZ “Uni” kid over here with class, assignments, readings, meals, etc…  There’s nothing special to report about my classes yet, except for the fact that they don’t EVER call roll! Not even on the first day!  Rest assured, I still will go to every class.  I hate thinking that I’m missing something that might be important.  I guess that’s the nerd inside me, but I’m totally okay with it.

On Sunday, I visited a church that was recommended to me by one of the Australearn leaders that I met at our orientation.  I visited the website of this church to find out how to get there and I noticed that on the homepage they had a number that you could text for a ride. What an awesome idea!  The not-so-outgoing version of me that I apparently left in the US would probably not have texted the number and just walked about an hour to get there or something stupid like that.  Instead, the more adventurous (yet still introverted) NZ version of me decided to text the number and the next thing I knew, on Sunday morning I was standing outside the University gate waiting for a “silvery blue van”.  Sure enough, the van showed up and took me to the church, all safe and sound.  Everyone there was SUPER nice, welcoming, friendly, etc, but the service was VERY different than what I’m used to.  Long story short, I met some AWESOME people that I will hopefully be hanging out with during my time here, but I think I will continue the church hunting!

ANDDD… Listen to this! I met a girl who did an Invisible Children screening tour around the southeast US.  She named some schools she went to, we played the name game (with very little hope in my mind that she would actually know someone that I knew, I mean I AM a bajillion miles from home…), and she knows one of my friends from high school!  HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?!?!  Proven: the world is small.

The daily routine that I’ve become accustomed to usually ends with a trip to the gym.  Last night’s trip was a little extended due to some pick-up volleyball.  Generally at night there are leagues that use the gym to play basketball, netball (kind of like basketball, but without a backboard on the goal), soccer, and volleyball, but I saw some people who looked like they were just playing around, nothing serious and I thought it looked like fun.  So, I weighed the options… 

1) I go in and ask to play and they say no (that would’ve been really mean and I haven’t met a mean NZ person yet)

2) I go in and ask to play and they say yes

3) I chicken out and end up watching them (probably falling off the treadmill in the process), wishing I had the courage to go ask them if I can play. 

Obviously the more outgoing NZ version of me that I am here chose option #2.  I ended up playing volleyball with them for about an hour.  Such a good decision.  AND THEN I saw one of the guys in the library today and he stopped me and said that I should come every Tuesday at 7:30!  Yes!

The one thing I know that I definitely take for granted in the US is Furman’s dining hall.  The food here isn’t horrible, and it’s sure better (and less expensive) than buying and cooking my own meals, but there aren’t any other options than what they offer at each meal.  Some typical entrees are beef/cheese “pie”, fish, hot dog (aka corndog with sausage instead of a hotdog), steak, quiche, nachos, fries (yes, fries as the main meal), etc.  The sides are always corn, carrots, rice, slaw, and very long, thin, leafy lettuce that looks more like a decoration than a salad.  Thankfully I love the cereal at breakfast and have gotten into a toast phase.  The toaster here is like a ferris wheel!  It always helps to have amusing appliances right?  I have yet to BUY a meal in Hamilton, mainly because I can’t stand spending money when I can have food that’s already been paid for in the dining hall.  Let’s just say I’ll be in heaven when I go back to the DH at Furman :)

Funny Conversion:

NZ boy: “So like what do you do when you go out at home?”

Me: “Like at night or on the weekends?”

NZ boy: “Yeah, do you really go to those frat parties or whatever?”

Me: “Yeah we have frat parties in college…”

NZ boy: “Yeah well we don’t have frat parties, no megas and omegas over here bro.”

Interesting Observations:

-Someone described hockey players as “gummy-as”

-Porridge is NOT the same as oatmeal.  I found that one out the hard way.

-Stores here close around 5pm (expect the supermarkets and wal-mart type stores).

-There are no dollar-menus at fast food restaurants.  You can’t get ANYTHING for a dollar here. 

-My almost hit by a car count now equals 5.

-Their computer paper (8.5 x 11 paper in the US) is about an inch longer.

-There are only 2 rings in the typical binder, not 3.

-NZ people aren’t used to as much sugar as Americans are. 

-There is SO much American music over here!

I know this awesome experience will be over before I can even blink, but sometimes it feels like the days are moving slower than molasses and like it’ll be years before I get home.  I am a big homebody and it’s been somewhat of a struggle being away from my family and everything familiar back home, but thank you for the thoughts, prayers, and the supportive emails!  I really appreciate it!

I lift my eyes up to the hills-- for where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2

Cube Time in Auckland

Yesterday was a night full of volleyball and I loved every second of it! Inter Hall Volley does indeed translate to intramural volleyball, but they only have one day tournaments once each semester.  Bummer! I was put on 2 teams, who fortunately had alternating game schedules, so I ended up playing 6 games straight since one of my teams won the championship! Wooo! It really made me sad that I’m missing intramurals at Furman this fall, but oh well!

Today started off with a 5:56am alarm, but my 6:30am ride was 45 minutes late.  45 minutes! That’s a long time, especially in the morning! I finally opened the door to a car full of 3 other people and said “Hey!”, they said “Sorry we’re so late” and then it was silence from there until we got to Auckland.  I thought the silence was probably because of the early morning, but nope, these cube kids just didn’t really get excited enough to talk about anything.  Oh well, good thing the scenery is spectacular here! 

In my head, I pictured a cube competition in Auckland as me walking into a huge convention center with a stage, projection screens and people everywhere with Rubik’s cubes spinning in a million different directions.  Not exactly.  We arrived at the cubing competition and little did I know, the cube guy that drove (who had a shirt on the said ‘cubesmith’) was the one running the competition.  They set things up in a little lecture room at the University of Auckland and then the 20ish competitors came in… with at least 5 different cubes each.  Things got started and I was amazed.  There were lots of different events including 2x2, 3x3 (a typical cube), 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7 (dang!), 3x3 one handed, and 3x3 blindfolded. 

This is the way it worked: for each event, each person had 5 attempts and their times were averaged.  Each person’s cube was “scrambled” the exact same way (varying each time) and they had 15 seconds to “investigate” and then they had to start solving.  I don’t think I’ve seen (and heard) so many cubes moving at once.  Even when they weren’t actually competing they were mixing and solving over and over and OVER all around the room.  I think the fastest time for 2x2 was around 3 or 4 seconds and 3x3 was around 11 seconds. CRAZY! My camera couldn’t even capture a clear picture of their hands because they were moving so fast!  It was definitely an adventure and I'm glad I got to experience a real Rubik's cube competition, and all in NZ!

A kid from Los Angeles was there!

(Doesn't that remind you of The Pursuit of Happiness?!)

This kid had at least 10 different cubes

This kid won the 2x2 and 3x3.  He's only 14 years old!

Solving a 7x7

Auckland's Skytower 

Interesting Observations:

-it’s not uncommon for a married person to not wear a wedding ring here

-NZ people don’t seem to be as worried with the appearance of their car as American are

-my itunes and I are getting LOTS of bonding (and filtering) time since I don’t have a TV in my room! 

Free-Day!

Friday=Free-day

On Fridays, I don’t have class so I’ve renamed Friday Free-day.  However, yesterday was just the opposite--full of class.  I started Thursday with a tutorial (a time set aside solely for discussion) for my Philosophy of Education class.  I’ve never gotten super excited about class discussions, but I actually did quite a good bit of speaking and the teacher even said that I made some good points.  Yes!  My other two classes were pretty normal, a regular lecture in NZ history and a guest speaker from the UK in Health & PE Curriculum.  I am actually really excited for this HPE class.  Unlike Furman, they have a HPE program here, which most of the people in my class are in.  It is neat to be around people who are passionate about the subject and teaching HPE.  Hopefully this class will serve as reassurance that it’s the area that I want to go into!  My school day ended just in time for dinner and from dinner I went on to an activity class in the “Uni Rec Center” aka the gym, called “Bums Tums and Thighs” and it was strenuous!  The instructor was a lady and was surprisingly not quite as girly as the GUY who led aerobics last week. 

This whole week the people in my dorm have been trying to get another American girl, Megan, and me to go out with them at night.  After putting it off for 3 days, we decided to go and see what it was like last night.  We went to a flat that was PACKED with people and the majority of them went downtown around midnight.  I felt like I was in one of those videos you watch in health class in high school that try to depict college parties.  If you've never seen one, it's probably exactly what you're imagining.  It was ridiculous and I was SO glad to get out of there, shower (after running back to campus in the rain), and go to bed.  Lame? Maybe, but I’m totally okay with it.  I’m glad I went and saw what it was like, but I don’t think I’ll accept any more invitations any time soon. Or ever.

Tonight there is “Inter Hall Volley” which I think/hope translates to Intramural Volleyball.  Anyway, I signed up and am excited to see what it’s all about! I’ll report back with the deets.

Did I mention that I signed up for the “Cubing Club”? Yep, cubing as in Rubik’s Cube.  I got a mass welcome-to-the-club email (probably not that mass of an email, let’s be serious, it’s the Rubik’s cube club), which included information about a cubing competition in Auckland this weekend. Yes please!  The guy said that he was going and had an extra seat in his car if anyone wanted to join.  I replied ASAP and said I would love to go as a spectator! Free trip to Auckland, interaction with more NZ people, and a day full of Rubik’s cubes--Count me in!  Hopefully I’ll come back with some interesting stories and pictures.  I’m off to Auckland at 6:30am tomorrow morning!

More and more faces are starting to get more and more familiar around here and everyone is still so welcoming! For my HPE class, I am in a group with 2 NZ girls who seem really nice so I’m excited to work with them and get to know them better as the semester goes on. 

I am beginning to plan a trip around the south island for my 2 week spring break (2 WEEKS. America, take note of that!), so if you have ever been to NZ and have any ideas for me or better yet, if you know anyone who lives here (anywhere, not just the south island!) and they wouldn’t mind having a guest for a couple nights, let me know! (allison.henley1788@furman.edu)

(See below for explanation of picture)

I love it when something here reminds me of someone or something from home, so a little dedication to Jason and Drew…

While I miss my brothers a LOT, I love how I am constantly reminded of them while I’m not with them:

You know you have older brothers when…

-you don’t think twice when you pass a boy in the co-ed bathroom

-you could care less if a boy sees you in your pajamas

-half of your pajamas are one of their old tshirts

-a fourth of your tshirts are actually theirs (4 out of the 15 that I brought)

-you would give anything for ESPN to be on in the gym instead of some soap opera

-you can totally relate to the New Zealander that knows US geography by the names of the US pro sports teams (correcting them when they’re wrong)

-you sometimes find yourself wishing they were with you in a foreign country to provide protection

-you find that one of the most disheartening things about being away from America during the summer is that you’re missing Braves’ baseball

-you would gladly play intramurals on Friday night

-old school George Strait & Garth songs pop up on your itunes every so often

Interesting observations:

-the girls' Nike shorts trend has yet to hit NZ.  I saw a girl with them on in the gym and then noticed that she was wearing a UNCW shirt. American.

-it is totally normal to not wear shoes here.  Every so often I pass someone and it takes me a second to realize what ‘s wrong with the picture... Lack of shoes.  Maybe I should start carrying my disinfecting spray around with me and spray all the bare feet I see? Or maybe just a throw up bag.

-it’s really important to keep up with pocket change/coins here.  The lowest bill is $5. Those little coins add up!

-I’ve had to get people to spell their names when I meet them because they say them in their accents and since I don’t have their accent, it’s totally different for me to say.  One guy introduced himself as Ricky and since I had NO CLUE that he said Ricky, I asked him to spell it.  He gave me this look like I was really dumb.  It also doesn’t help sometimes that they speak super fast.

-spaghetti is served at breakfast. Sorry, what?! I’ll have my toast without spaghetti on top, thanks.

The view out my window this afternoon:

Not the best day yet...

This one’s kind of long so here’s an outline if you’d like to skip over some things:

1. Classes
2. The Stinker of the Day (maybe week. maybe year.)
3. The Afternoon
4. The Dorm
5. Conversations about America
6. Interesting Observations

Things got off to a pretty good start at the beginning of the week with the first 2 days of class… and then it went down REAL fast from there, but I’ll get to that in a sec.

My schedule for the school year is as follows:

Monday- NZ History 1-2, Philosophy of Education 2-4

Tuesday- Geography 12-2, NZ History 2-3, Health & PE Curriculum & Policy 3-5

Wednesday- Geography Lab 10-12

Thursday- Philosophy of Education tutorial 9-10ish, Health & PE 1-3, NZ History tutorial 3-4 and class 4-5

Friday- NO CLASS!

The First Day of Class :) 

1.             The first few days of class were not too different from Furman.  I guess the only differences were that the roll was not taken in a single class (not even the first day!) and the students call the teachers by their first names (even though most of them have their doctorate). I’m definitely going to have to get used to that.  The one thing I’m not too fired up about is that pretty much all of my classes are in the afternoon.  While it does help with being in touch with people from home since the morning here translates to a reasonable hour in the US, I cannot ignore the fact that I am indeed my father’s child and love getting up early and getting things done in the morning.  I have been getting up to go to breakfast in the dining hall every morning only to receive questioning stares when the people I’m eating with find out that I don’t have class until noon or 1pm.  But hey, a girls gotta have her breakfast and they stop serving it at 9!  I’m definitely going to have to work on my time management in the mornings since my afternoons are full of classrooms.

Another difference from Furman, and US colleges in general, is that there aren’t any tests or quizzes, except for maybe a final exam.  The classes are more writing based and “assessments” are actually essays, so I have about 2 for each class.  I’d MUCH rather spend time working on an essay than studying for a test!

2.             And then the ship sinks… and by ship I mean laptop (keep in mind that my laptop has been through orange juice and water already in it’s life).  I got into my room, pulled it (in its case) out of my backpack and just before it plopped on my desk, it slipped out of my hands and right onto the floor.  Not wanting to even think about what could’ve been messed up, I peeked to see that the idle light was still on. Yes. Then I took it out of the case and opened it. Bam. Broken screen.  I think it took me about 10 mins to get over the shock, and then I started crying. I couldn’t see ¾ of the screen, couldn’t send an emergency email, couldn’t look up places in Hamilton to get it fixed, couldn’t call home because it’s 2am there, AND I’m halfway across the world.  Great.  I ended up using a friend’s (good thing I now have friends!) computer to look up the apple number and eventually got the address of a store in Hamilton that I could get to.  Thankfully I didn’t have class at all today, so I devoted my morning to figuring this mess out.  As I was walking out to begin the trek across town, Lauren, a girl that I had met the night before offered me a ride since she was heading that way to work.  It was SUPER weird to sit in the passenger seat with no steering wheel and pedals in front of me!  I wasn’t sure exactly where the store was, so I told her to just let me out on the street so I wouldn’t make her late.  After walking in the wrong direction for about 3 blocks, I found the store.  The nice guy there told me it would be MUCH cheaper to just buy a monitor, hook it up, and use it as a desktop.  I took his advice, walked about 20 mins (5 of those 20 in the wrong direction again) to another store to get a monitor, cried some more, walked back to the first store (in the rain) to get a cord, got the guy to show me how to hook it up and make it work (glad I did because there were some difficulties), walked to get some apples, walked to the bus stop and realized it was the wrong bus stop, walked to another bus stop that wasn’t the right one either, finally found the right bus stop, and took the bus back to campus.  Phew!  3 hours, a few miles, 3 phone calls to mom and dad, and a pint of tears later, I’m up and working!  I guess I’ll have some laptop shopping to look forward to when I get back home, but until then this should work fine!  Even though it’s SO hard in times like this, Psalm 37 calls us to turn from anger and not fret.  God works out everything according to His plan.  Even though this little (BIG) accident was not at all how I intended things to go, I know that the Lord has a purpose for all things that He makes happen.  I should just be thankful that He gave me 2 legs to take me places, caring and supportive parents, and a brain to figure things out (and tear ducts to get some sympathy from the computer guy).

My New Setup.

(complete with a bowl of snacks including apples and nutella, pictures of Anna, my mom, and the brothers and dad old school, a comic from Mamaw about Grandmas, and some things that I randomly had in my pockets when I arrived)

3.             For the rest of the day I did some work on some assignments in the library and visited the club fair.  I signed up for 3 clubs: the international Christian club (I don’t remember the real name of it), some club that has a girls’ lounge in some building (I figured a lounge of any sort sounded good), and the cubing club (releasing my inner nerd).  Hopefully I’ll learn how to solve a 4x4 and maybe even a 5x5..? Let’s see if I actually go to a meeting first…

4.             My dorm is pretty much all freshmen with a few exceptions (for example, the 26 year old girl who lives next to me..? what?) and they definitely live like freshmen.  This week is “Disorientation” week aka party week aka they go out every night.  There is a rule here that you can’t drink in the halls past 10pm and the RA’s come around at 10:00:00pm and literally kick everyone who is drinking out so they proceed downtown and continue the party.  It’s weird to think that these people are 18 years old and can legally drink.  I’m sure I’ll get talked into going with them at some point; it would definitely be an experience. 

5.             I’ve had some pretty funny conversations about America lately.  When people hear my accent they ask where I’m from and we g through the whole thing… where in America? Georgia.  Where’s that? The Southeast….Have you ever been to the US? And so on from there… But one girl asked me if we really “climb the rope”.  I thought she meant like the professional ladder with careers and stuff, but nope, she mean literally climb the rope in gym class.  I’m not sure what movie she saw that in, but no.  Another girl asked if we really use those red cups at parties. Yes, those are called Solo cups.  So far, I think it’s safe to say not many important things have made their way over to NZ from the US.

6.             Interesting Observations:

-Apparently there was a gap in the trend of going to college about a decade ago in NZ, so people over the age of 25 are automatically admitted into University.  This would definitely explain me being the only student in my Philosophy of Education class under 40 years old.

-NetFlix does not work in NZ.  I’m sure I’ll be spending LOTS of time with Jack Bauer come December.

-“Supper” is served in the dining hall at 9pm, complete with hot choc and “biscuits”

-biscuits=cookies

-She’ll be aright=it’ll be ok!

-good on ya=good for you

-Honda Civics here are actually the body of an Acura TSX

-chuck your hand up=raise your hand

-block=building

-grades=marks

-times I have almost gotten run over by a car=4

-seeing the John Deere Classic on the TV in the gym the other day MADE MY DAY

TAUPO... Success!

On Friday afternoon, my friend Kelsey and I headed off to Lake Taupo, which is about 2.5 hours below Hamilton.  We took the “Naked Bus” and booked a hostel for 2 nights.  The bus was about 5 minutes late to pick us up, which almost gave me a heart attack.  We hopped on and were off! About 3 hours later (with a stop in Rotorua), we checked into our hostel and found our room.  We were in an all girls room for 6 people with one bathroom.  Fortunately, there were only 2 girls already there and no more to come but us.  One was on her way to Auckland and one was just taking a trip around the world, no big deal.  This girl was 19 and had been living life with hostels, buses, and trains since last September.  She was from England and had already been to China, Japan, Malaysia, Australia (for 4 months), and now New Zealand.  Sheesh girl! She is due to go back home this September.  Kelsey and I thought this was awesome, until we added up all the costs in our heads and hostels ALONE would be at least $3,500… not to mention, food, attractions, clothes, plane tickets, bus rides, etc. Dang, get it girl!

Saturday morning, after bundling up in at least 4 layers that we would eventually sweat almost completely through, we took off for a hike up the Waikato River to Huka Falls.  Hiking side by side the river was definitely the best part.  It was so clear and therefore reflected the color of the sky, making it clearish bright blue in most places! Huka falls was a waterfall of rapidly gushing water (obviously, because that’s what all waterfalls are).  It’s times like these when I wish I were a water molecule, because 1) that’s the only thing that can survive something as intense as Huka Falls, 2) I wouldn’t have to worry about drowning, 3) free adventures all day every day, and 4) I would get to meet new molecules literally every second.  The hike was at least 2 hours each way, so it took up most of the day.  When we got back to the lake, we searched for forever trying to find lunch/dinner.  It was about 3 and everyone’s “lunch menu was off”.  We settled for some asian food and topped it off with double scoops of gelato. YUM! 

We came back to our room to discover the best part yet… Humi, a new hostel-mate straight from Japan.  She stopped in Taupo for a half marathon on her way up to a home-stay in Auckland.  I cannot even put into words how hilarious, enthusiastic, and energetic Humi was.  Through her broken English, I understood most of what she said, but I don’t think understood me much (Mom, probably much like a parent-teacher conference for you).  She just nodded and said “Uh huh!!! Yaaaa!!!” to most everything I said.  However, I did wake up around midnight to Humi taking some new running shoes out of their box, breaking down the box, folding the box, crumbling up the paper in the box, and then folding the paper back up to keep it all in her bag.  Hilarious.  Hostels sure are a great way to meet some interesting people with equally interesting stories!

Today we walked about 8 miles roundtrip up to where the bay meets the lake and back. The land surrounding the lake was filled with trees then rolling hills then houses then town then mountains then rolling hills then trees and so on… It was stunning. 

After going through the shops and grabbing a bite to eat, it was back to “Uni” via the Naked Bus, where I sat next to California girl who was finishing up her semester abroad here in NZ!  We chatted it up and I got some good advice from her!  Success for trip #1!

^ On the way to Huka Falls 

^ Lake Taupo

^ In front of the countless rolling hills (and Lake Taupo) 

Tomorrow I’m off to class! Wait… what?!  Yep, class.  I’m sure I’ll have more to post about that…

Interesting Observations:

-a dumpster=a skip

-Not all non-Americans have been to America.

-outlets here have on/off switches.

-parking garages have the number of spots left posted outside on a marquee board.

-college=Uni

-the sky is closer here.

-breakfast=brekkie or breakie

-a decent meal can rarely be found for under $12, most are around $16.

-entrée=appetizer ß that one could explain a lot

More pictures...

^ Huka Falls!

^ eating a "Fluffy", a kids' drink (milk froth, chocolate, and marshmallows) served at cafes. Delish!