The Final Goodbye

12/11/2010

I’m sitting at the LAX airport having just arrived from Auckland. Firstly, LAX is possibly the stupidest airport I have ever encountered. I managed not to get lost this time, but getting around here is really annoying. Sorry, just had to get that out of the way.

Scott and Rosie took me to the airport (along with Ruth and Brittany) and it was one of the hardest goodbyes. Flat 101 is disbanding, I can’t believe it’s already been 4 ½ months. These girls made my semester as awesome as it was. The memories surrounding this flat, the crazy things we’ve done, the conversations we’ve had and the Harry Potter fan-girl squee sessions, the late night word searches/pancakes/doughnuts/movies. I couldn’t imagine having better flat mates.

How do you begin to describe the feelings leaving this country gives me? What words can give sense the gaping hole left? I can’t believe how fast time rushed past, how many friends I’ve made- and now said goodbye too. I know I missed saying goodbye to some of them, and if you’re reading this I am truly sorry, I didn’t mean too.  For someone who never cries, I cried far too often the past week. Why do goodbyes have to hurt so much? Even with the people I know I’ll see again, it still impossibly hard. 

Sitting at the airport with the rest of Arcadia’s Chch students was strangely familiar. In many ways it seems like just yesterday that we all met in LAX to fly to NZ. How crazy that I can look at everyone around me and think of them as a mini-family. We’ve all been through so much together, and yet, at the same time taken such unique journeys. We’re all so different, and will return to totally different situations, yet we’ll always be part of Jane’s Canterbury group- forever immortalized in her orientation horror stories as the group that survived the 7.1 earthquake.

As I sit here waiting for my next flight I can’t help but contemplate how much this trip has changed me. I’ve always been independent, but this journey has made me realize how important loved ones are. It has brought me so much closer to my family and friends. At the same time, it forced me to mature, and become independent in ways that I wasn’t already. Last year at this time I was in the middle of my first semester at college. While I was in the midst of planning this trip, I really didn’t know how much it entitled. It was basically taking a massive leap outside my comfort zone with only the smallest hope that I could tread water on the other side. 

Remember Remember the 5th of November

Well, I might have missed Fourth of July for the second year running. However, I certainly didn't miss firework this year! New Zealand(along with many former British territories) celebrates Guy Fawkes day. While I had heard of Guy Fawkes, and of course the  "Remember remember the 5th of November" rhyme, it never really registered as a day to celebrate.

Unfortunately Friday the 5th dawned cold, wet and miserably raining/downpouring; fireworks were postponed until the next night.
Thankfully, Saturday night was beautiful. Still a touch chilly,  but a clear wonderful night to be outside. The fireworks were shot off of New Brighton Pier. As with any Fourth of July fireworks show, we had to park eons away, and then walk to the beach. I love these walks; you get to feel the energy of the crowd, the excitement buzzing off the younger children, the teenagers who are way-to-cool-to-be-excited-for-these-stuff(but secretly can't wait),  the older couples sharing a secret smile as they slowly walk, hand and hand down the road, the lines at the food vendors, the glittery lights of carnival rides. Mmm, you can almost taste the happiness and  sense of fun in the air.

We wander down the beach until we spotted a group of people from dance, and then it was just a short wait until the fireworks started! The fireworks were shot off of the pier, and at one dramatic point, buoys out in the ocean. The fireworks were brilliant, bursting right over our heads so that it felt like it was literally raining glittery on top of us. But the best part was listening to all of the kids around us squeal and laugh at the particularly big bangs. These were the noises of pure joy, it was the expression of celebration from the hundreds of people on beach, all condensed down to simplicity of a child's laughter.

I couldn't help but get a little nostalgic; My final week here in New Zealand, sitting amongst amazing friends, looking back over how much I've done, how many unforgettable people I have met.  I remember packing/panicking right before I left home way back in June. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I had no idea the scope of what I would learn about myself, about the world, I had no idea how close I could get to people in such a short period of time. I realized I hadn't gotten to see as much as I wanted too, but I also realized that it really doesn't matter that much in the end. I could easily be dashing across the country trying to see places like Milfords Sound before I leave, but I rather spend it with the people who have really made these past four months as amazing as they were.

A October without Halloween is just unacceptable

One of the few faults of New Zealand is that they don't really celebrate Halloween. Fortunately for them, it's my favorite holiday.

Our flat (hence known as Flat 101) started planning a Halloween party back in August, but we were never really sure we could pull it off. As October started to speed by we took the plunge and sent out the invites to "Flat 101's Epic Jack-O-Lantern Carving Party", but were still unsure if we would even have pumpkins to carve. See, the problem is that without Halloween there aren't any real pumpkins(well, pumpkins as Americans know them, giant, orange and perfect for carving!) New Zealand only has little pumpkins that are mostly meat for cooking. Neither of those things make for a good pumpkin to carve so you can see why we were a little concerned. Brittany and I decided that we would need to test out the two different varieties we could find. The results were successful! We spent the next two weeks planning out how to make out party as epic as we possibly could- Brittany took control of decorating the flat,  I handled(what else) but the food and Ruth offered sage advice to all problems and helped with everything.

Two days before we all headed out to find pumpkins, costumes, and get the ingredients for the yummyness I had planned. We cleaned out three grocery stores of suitable pumpkins- earning ourselves some interesting looks and one amusing conversation with a cashier. The cashier was utterly confused as to why we would want a cart full of pumpkins. Well she was confused until she figured out we were American, and then it made perfect sense.

The day before the party I started baking- and didn't stop until the party was about to start. Making for a total of 10 hours spent creating weird/creepy/yummy Halloween goodies. Was it worth it? Well, there wasn't a scrape of any of my creations left so, absolutely!

With multiple projects running at once, everything was definitely a team effort.Especially when it came to the dreaded frosting for the vampire cupcakes. We are extremely limited in our cookware, extremely. So our egg-white frosting needed to be hand beaten to achieve fluffiness- over a hour later, and with consistent trade off between flat mates we still couldn't get it to the right consistency. At this point we gave up and decided our vampire cupcakes would taste just fine  even if the frosting was a little runny. I believe Ruth and Brittany are still nursing sore arms/wrists from beating the cursed icing. 

In the end we ended up with Bone bread sticks, Finger shortbread, sugar cookies, worms and dirt, punch(with eyeballs in it) and an assortment of candy. 

Meanwhile, the decorations went up:

Costumes? Well, what else are three nerdy girls supposed to dress up as except as Hogwarts students!

Three odd Hogwarts students- currently lacking their wands, and  robe. (Photo thanks to Michael Adams)

 And then came time for the party! Some people dressed up, some people didn't, some carved pumpkins and some merely watched the shenanigans and everyone(I hope!) had fun!

Flat 101- bringing the joy, wonder and magic of Halloween to Uni students world wide. 

More pictures can be found Here and Here (or if those  links don't work, my facebook page)

Christchurch Band Together

These posts are a bit late, but finals are really slowing my blog time down :(
 10/23/2010
Today Ruth, Brittany and I went to the benefit concert for the Christchurch earthquake. We were supposed to meet the UCanDance group at 10:30ish. However, we just missed our bus, and had to walk halfway there before catching another. Then, once we reached Hagely Park it was already crazy crowed.  It took us half an hour of wandering up and down the massive field before we finally found the dance group. Somehow, I managed to be already sunburned by this point.

In the beginning there for just a few people.. 

It was such a beautiful day, everyone was our in summery clothing, basking in the sunshine.. Mmm.. Lovely!
Bands were already playing on the stage, and while we could barely see the performers, they were also projected on to two huge screens. Being with the dance group meant we didn't just sit still and 'hang', like so many other people there, we got up and we danced! Clearing away extra blankets to make room for swinging, twirling couples. Unable to sit still, Sara and I broke the ice with the first dance- and earned ourselves a spot on national TV.

When a particularly good band came on stage a group of us would run/skip/dance our way up to the stage area. Not content to just sway with the crowd, we continued our dancing. Forcing the crowd to make room for us as we spun, dipped and laughed our way through the songs.

We completed many MJ's, Salsa, Bachata, and even 1 1/2 roeda circles. But for the grande finale Jesse started a conga line that went all over the field! I'm not sure how long it eventually ended up, but it was massive, crazy and so much fun!

Never before have I experienced such a concert; no shoes, no most pit, just beautiful dancers all having the time of these lives. The UCanDance group is filled of some of the most amazing people I have ever met.

See if you can find the dance group.We're center left, look for my pink shirt. I think we're doing roeda?  

35 bands
10,000 people
very few shoes
lots of sunburn
and one old lady who punched me in the shoulder because she thought I was being too rowdy(during one of the few times I was actually standing still)

Baking: creating friendships worldwide.

In an end of classes-end of term get together my flat decided to do what it does best- or well, maybe what I do best- and bake! We hosted a Death By Cinnamon Roll, and invited just about everyone we know.
The cinnamon rolls: Fantastic
The people: Even better
60 cinnamon rolls: Gone.

The dough might have over flowed the bowl a little bit.. But at least the yeast lived!

Flour Wars are an essential part of baking

The last pan of rolls, and sadly the only proof I have that these little bits of deliciousness actually existed. 6 pans were eaten faster than I could bake them.

The cinnamon roll demolishers in work

Just can't stop shaking!

Today started out just like every other Tuesday; a reluctant walk to statistic class, a mind numbing lecture in a hall full of 400 students.. Then, half way through the class, the building felt like it had been hit by a truck. The lecturer grabbed the podium in front of her, the entire class gasped,  two girls screamed, and I felt like I could see the building shudder in front of my eyes.  A worried glance up proved to be a bad idea, as I mistakenly had sat under one of the hanging lights- which was now swaying back and forth in the most alarming way. 

It left as suddenly as it came. Leaving the hanging projection screens swinging, and everyone's hearts beating a little faster. The lecturer resumed speaking, and we all went back to our slumped note-taking.  

Just another earthquake, just another day in Christchurch. 

Well, at 5.0, centered just 10 km outside of ChCh, and 9 km deep, it was a bit stronger then the little baby ones we've all grown used too. But it didn't slow anything down. A couple classes were evacuated because of falling ceiling tiles, and a friend of mine has more cracks in his wall. But the majority of people went on with what they were doing. Is it a bad thing to be so desensitized to earthquakes? We've only had 2022 quakes since that ill-fated September 4th, when the 7.1 hit. We have definitely slowed down the number of quakes we get a day, but they still happen. A walk down the road, or a ride in to city center shows buildings demolished, with gaping holes, covered in boards, and supports just in case the quakes cause more damage. 

Here's a couple of websites we use to keep track of the beasty quakes. The first one, Geonet, is the main one most people use. They update about 20 minutes after a quake hits. The second one is just for fun, and has pretty colored bubbles.

 http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/recent_quakes.html

http://www.christchurchquakemap.co.nz/

Catching Waves

I have found a new sport to love, and it is called surfing.

Arcadia took us out to Sumner beach (That's the main beach in ChCh) for a afternoon of surfing.
This was supposed to happen last weekend, but due to poor weather it got moved to this weekend.
This is an activity that I've been looking forward to ever since I saw it on Arcadia's calender of events last summer.

Kasey, Katelyn and I left early so that we could enjoy lunch on the beach. However, a chilly wind and a bit of cloud cover kept us from throughly enjoying ourselves. Thankfully, by the time our surf lesson came around the sun was starting to shine through.

Donning wet suits, we went through a crash course in surfing. First a quick discussion on reading the waves, the wind, and what makes ideal surfing conditions. We had decent waves, through with a wind coming on shore, it made them a little rough. Then with a little on shore practice of standing up, we grabbed our boards and waded out.

The water was freezing, I have never been so thankful for a wet suit in my life.  As we waded further and further out, the incoming waves splashed higher and higher on us until we were completely soaked. Phewda, well at least that terrible initial  cold shock is over. Now for some fun!

With my red surfboard bobbing next to me, I struggled, and fought against the waves; searching for the perfect time to leap on to my board and make my first attempt. Waves shoved salt water into my mouth, up my nose, and burned in my eyes. I had to stop getting tossed around and actually try this crazy thing called surfing. So I jumped, slid on to my surfboard stomach first.. and promptly slide off again as the wave I was attempting to catch rolled over me.

I came up gasping, laughing and already addicted to this wild endeavor. Again, and again I tried. Sometimes falling off as soon as I got on, and sometimes standing up as far as my knees before toppling off. Every attempt brought more laughter. At one point I started to try to catch the next wave, I paddled furiously, was completely balanced on my board, felt the dip, and then the speed as the wave caught me, pushed myself up moved my feet in to position...and stood! It was glorious for all of the 5 seconds it lasted!

By this time I was completely gone, I had to keep trying, over and over again. I knew what it felt like, I knew I could do it. Kasey and I stayed out longer than everyone else, practicing, learning, and improving. I stood up on my board a total of three times. It was enough to get me completely addicted to surfing.

A sigh of relief, and a flat filled with the aroma of baking

After a couple weeks of stress, constant typing/reading/calculating/researching/stress baking. I have all assignments done!

Despite a marathon of procrastination baking, I actually finished three days early. Which left me with a massive hole of  "What do I do now?". Which basically equaled more baking. I went through a dozen eggs in 4 days, I feel like that should give some estimation of how much baking I've done lately. Is there a help group of  people addicted to baking? Because I feel like I should be in it.

Just for some visuals.. This is what the desk of a student taking the maximum amount of credits looks like:

Except add a stack of library books. Unfortunately they demanded I take those back :( 

                                           But in the end, it is well worth it.

Two essays, a research paper, a statistics assignment, and a statistic test. Finished, done, never to be worked on again! Oh glorious day!

The Beginning of the End

I hate goodbyes. I know, a lot of people say that they do, and maybe they do and maybe they don't. I however, hate goodbyes. It's not quite as bad when you know you'll see the person again, whether it be days, weeks or months. Those goodbyes are hard, but you know that it's only for a short time. When you know you'll most likely never see someone again, well than I turn into a blubbering fool. 

It starts with that feeling of impending doom. Butterflies in the stomach, a great feeling of sadness- you know, those things that let you know something really bad is about the happen. Memories start to dart in and our of your consciousness. You can't help but smile at some of them. Normally that smile causes the one you're saying goodbye to to hug you.Which is probably the worst thing that could possibly happen.  It is at this point when the realization that you most likely will never see this person again hits. This is where the tears refuse to be held back anymore. 

Today I said my first goodbye to a friend who was heading off to China for an internship. He's a wonderful person, I feel like I was just getting to know him...and now he's somewhere over the Pacific ocean and won't be back until well after I've gone home. I sincerely hope we will meet again one day. 

Tomorrow my Arcadia group is having their farewell dinner(after surfing whoo!). While we will still see each other around campus,and on the plane flight home, this is our last official activity together. I can't believe it, I remember looking at the calender of events when I got here and thinking how far away it was-and now it's here. 

I have 4 1/2 weeks left. That seems like a lot on paper. But the reality is that every time I blink it feels like another week has gone past. The growling-doom feeling is approaching at an alarming rate, and I feel like I'm scrambling to cling to what time I have left here. 

On the happy side: 

4 am chocolate chip pancakes with some of my favorite people in New Zealand!

It was a complete group effort; I made the batter, Brittany cooked them, Ruth washed the dishes and Michael fixed Appendix for hopefully the last time. 

Sorry for the sappy post. I truly am loving every moment I have left- with the exception of all of the assignments due next week. I'm just feeling the tug that says time is running up, and I strongly dislike it!

Squirrels(or the lack there of)

This is just a short post, as all assignments are due next week(and most on the same day) so this is a quick break from writing about New Zealand History(horray for nuclear-free policies!) to share a fun story of the day.

Our new lecturer for my personality class is a lovely lady who, shock, horror, gasp, is actually teaching us about personality! Surprising, yes, but so much more enjoyable! Today, midway through lecture, she started to talk about squirrels. Why squirrels you ask? Well, firstly they don't have them here. And secondly, I guess this lecturer thinks they are beyond cute. She was besides herself with telling us how lucky she was to be able to see some squirrels when she visited Philadelphia. At one point she took a poll to see how many of us had had the "fortune" to see a real life squirrel. I was one of ten students out of 200 to raise my hand. It never occurred to me that something most Americans think of as pests(even if they are cute ones) to be such a rare, almost exotic animal.

My lecturer ended her spiel about squirrels by showing a picture of a red squirrel holding a peanut in it's mouth. She was gushing so much that I didn't have the heart to tell her it was actually a picture of a chipmunk.

P.S.  I am still unsure of what squirrels had to do with personality. But it was a good lecture all the same.

The Adventures of Jelly Doughnuts

I have had a serious doughnut craving for months now. But all I could find were the cake-type ones. While these are delicious in their own right, I really wanted the entirely unhealthy deep fried kind. So what's a girl going to do?

Well get creative and make some of course!

Doughnuts are an impossibly long process. The starter sponge must be made the night before, and you have to let it rise, cool, and rise again during the day. Not to mention everything has to be hand mixed and hand kneaded since we are a bit limited in kitchenware.   It felt ridiculous that I spent hours working with the dough, and then it took 2 minutes to fry the entire batch, and another 10 minutes for my flat mates and I to eat over half of the batch. Was it worth it? Absolutely!

These delicious bits of fried dough were filled with raspberry jam and coated in sugar, and just soo yummy!

Temptation is just too easy to fall to when it comes to these doughnuts

Now for a baking failure.

These certainly look like innocent chocolate cookies, they could fool even the most serious critic.. Well at least until someone bites into them. The story goes like this:

I was extremely bored the other night while Appendix was still sick which meant I couldn't even do homework. So I decide to make cookies. Everything is going great, I pop one tray in to the microwave  and am happily doing a word search with Brittany while snacking on the dough.However, from the very first bite it is obvious something is wrong. Nothing tastes bad, the texture is perfect, but for some reason it is completely and utterly bland. Completely confused, I reread the recipe and realized I forgotten the tiny, minuscule teaspoon of salt.

Surely salt isn't that important, right? Oh how wrong that is. I added salt to the remaining dough, mixed it as carefully as I could. And voila! The dough tasted like normal! Merf, who would have guessed that such a tiny thing played a huge role in the flavor? 

By the way, that batch of poor salt-less cookies never reached it's true potential. Brittany dubbed them "Fairy Cookies" as they look innocent and delicious but are actually quite devious. But they were still enjoyed by all. 

When it rains it pours

Well, maybe the title is a little exaggeration. In fact, looking back over today's story, I find it almost amusing. But it certainly wasn't at the time. 

Today, along with my normal four classes, I also had an psychology exam in the evening. Not a big deal, even though I haven't gotten as much studying in as the overachiever in me would like-curse you Appendix, curse you! But I still felt fairly confident in the material, and wasn't overly worried. 

I got to the lecture hall early, did a final skimming of my notes, and then went to get my student ID out. Unlike St. Kate's where your professor knows everyone by name, and there is no reason to check ID's at exams. UC is very, very adamant about checking ID's, you cannot take the exam without it. So, two minutes before the doors open, I reach down to grab my ID out of my pack...and it's not there. 

Shock slammed into me. This could not be happening. I always carry it in my backpack, but no, suddenly I remembered sticking it in my shorts pocket when I went to get a library book the other day. I leapt up and sprinted out of the building. I had to get across campus, across the busy road, and back to the flats. Its normally a 10-15 minute walk, well, I needed to do it in two. 

Donned in flip flops and skinny jeans, with my backpack banging around on my back, well, let's just say I got some strange looks. The flip flops didn't last long, a quick two second pause and I was running barefoot. Dashing down paths, across parking lots, halfway across the road I realized I had forgotten to look in either direction (thankfully, there weren't any cars), and up the three flights of stairs to my flat. I manged to get a text out to Ruth somewhere along the way, to find my card, so she met me at the door with it. Then it was back to pounding down Ilam road, across the main road(this time I looked both ways), through parking lots, following the paths and back to the building. Red face, wheezing, sweat dripping down my face,  I was 8 minutes late. But I made it back, and they let me in to take my test.

Lesson learned: Always, always, double check that you have your ID before you leave your flat. 

Appendicitis! Aka, finally finding the "down" part of the ups & downs of traveling

The weekend started out great! The stars aligned and I was actually was productive almost all of Saturday. Yup, you read right; productive. I had the majority of my remaining assignments about half way done, and was planning to finish up the more prominent ones on Sunday. Or at least that was the plan.

Sunday dawned beautiful and sunny-Ok, well when I woke up at noon it was that way. I cheerfully powered up my computer, only to discover it was running a little slow. No big deal, I'll just jump in the shower while it starts up. However, when I came back, my computer had decided to give me a lovely white screen. Hmm, this isn't one of it's normal tricks. But I figured there was some kind of glitch. I manage to get it to restart it's self(ever so slowly) and once again I got the white screen. This is starting to look bad, but this computer and I have had lots of fights over the past year and a half. I should be able to figure something out right? Wrong. Everything I tried lead right back to that cursed white screen, or if I wanted to change it up a bit I could start it in safe mode and get a black screen instead.

It was clearly time to start asking for help. My first stop, per every computer problem I have ever had, is my brother Ben. Sadly, fate was against us and neither of us could get through to each other. Ok, well, I'm dating a Computer Engineer student, surely he might know something, or at least be able to find someone who does. I can't even remember exactly what he said might be wrong, but it sent me reeling. It was far worse then I had thought. I wasn't going to be able to fix this my self, or even have someone walk me through it like I normally do when things go wrong.

-Insert the beginning of three days of panicking here.-

I'm not a worrier, I never have been. I don't panic easily, and I generally work through stress well. Maybe it was the fact that all of my final assignments were currently on my computer, maybe it was that I was completely helpless in trying to fix it. I don't know exactly why, but suddenly my weekend went from sunshine and happiness to tears and panic.

-Insert savior number one-
 Ruth stepped up and began saving the day. She put out a cry for help on her facebook status:

Ruth Jeffs is calling all computer people (*cough*NERDS*cough*) - Anna's computer has D.I.E.D.!!!!! Damsel in distress seeks white knight with mad computer skillz.... half-done assignments and such at stake. O.O Anyone in the area???

and suddenly, help started appearing. We soon headed out to meet out help/do research for Ruth's assignment.
Our first stop was the library where her friend, Scott, took a look at it. He said I should try to copy all the data off of it and restart the system- just in much better words, that probably made more sense. Alright, well  now to find someone to help me with that. Then we were off to the Ballroom to find the dance group and more help.

By this time Ruth had found out the appalling truth that my laptop doesn't have a name. In order to assure that my computer wasn't suffering from some sort of identity crisis, it was decided that we would just have to name it. With pretty much no deliberation, Sarah offered up Appendix as a name. It sorta stuck, as my laptop is not really necessary but horrible, horrible things happen when stuff go wrong.

In typical fashion, Appendix attracts all sorts of helpful attention. Soon we are zooming back to the flat, where Jesse played with it a bit and managed to turn the screen yellow. Hmm, ok.Well, that's not quite the color we're looking for, but it's neither black nor white, which is all I could get it to do. Whirlwind Jesse couldn't stay long, so he left me with the -now yellow screened- Appendix still very very sick.

-Insert savior number two-
In the depth of the night(or like 11) Michael knocked on the door, got me the files I needed for the week, and whisked Appendix off to his secret lair to proceed with emergency surgery in attempt to save the poor laptop. With regular status updates on my dear computer over the next few days. I learned the hard drive was quickly approaching death, but Michael had managed to save my data off of it, and with a new hard drive on the way, prognosis is looking excellent.

 By the time Michael picked Appendix up, I was exhausted, giddy, stressed to the max, had cried twice, and probably should have been locked in my room until I was sane again. However, I couldn't believe how many people had  offered, attempted and succeed in helping. These are truly amazing people. And I'm incredibly grateful to everyone for their help and support.

Learning to Lead

Ahh! The end of our first week back. It brings such relief and yet, so much panic! I love being back in school(sorry, sorta, kinda a nerd, I know) I love my classes,  and I love seeing everyone again. But it also brings to sharp reality just how much work we have to do! Why does school have to have those nasty little things like essays, research papers, assignments and exams?? It just takes all of the fun away from things.

Brittany and I had free movie passes to use before September 31 so we treated ourselves out to a movie tonight. The movie was mediocre. However, on the bus ride home I came to the realization that I am quickly coming up on my 3 month anniversary of being in New Zealand, which meant I have just over a month and a half left here.
  1 1/2 months=6 weeks!

Wait, what?!? Hold on, there is no way time has gone that quickly! I swear I just landed in Auckland! I refuse to believe I have that short of time left in paradise!

On a side note. Have I mentioned how much I love my flat mates? Among many of the reasons why, we have spent many a nights practicing our dance moves, or trying to learn how to lead instead of follow-something we all seem to fail at. It just makes me realize how I am so glad I'm a girl, and therefore a follower, and don't have to think about how do do these crazy moves. I just smile and twirl!

I apologize, Blogger is being finicky and is rotating my pictures without permission

I never thought I would dance here. I love going out swing dancing at St. Kate's, but I wasn't able to go enough to become more passionate about it. Now I've done the Modern Jive, Merengue, Salsa, Rueda, and am currently learning the Cha Cha, (all with varied success of course.) I love it, my only concern is being able to continue with all of it when I get back. Might just have to start a Rueda circle.

Back to School

Quake Break is over!
The aftershocks are slowly settling, my bag is no longer full of travel needs, but notebooks, schedules have been revised, and it is time to go back to class.

For those who need to know these things: My exam schedule has been shifted. Some how I now have to take two exams at once, and one exam while I was supposed to be on the plane to Australia. Hmm, somehow I don't think that's going to work out very well. Never fear, I think(hope) I've got things sorted out.

As far as normal course work goes, they have cut a week off of our semester and shortened our study break week. This means our workload has been shortened quite a bit(yay!!) but that also means that what work we do have is worth even more(boo!). Each class has now begun with the same "What to do in the event of an Aftershock" speech, and an over view of what material the prof's cut out- which I have noticed some people use as extra nap time.

If my posts become less consistent, it's because I'm either (a) desperately trying to get work done (b) comatose from work-overload (c) stress-baking in attempt to procrastinate. In the likely event of C(and if you're in NZ) please come over and help your self to any baked goods.

Acrophobics need not apply

Last Saturday Jane took us all to Adrenalin Forest. Adrenalin Forest is a high ropes course about 20 minutes from Christchurch. 


I've done a couple high ropes courses before, and loved it. However, this was much much higher then anything I've ever seen before! Thankfully, we started out quite a bit lower to the ground. There are six different courses, the first two are to basically get you to understand how to do the different obstacles at a much lower height, and then it just keeps building up and getting harder which each level. 


We ended up skipping the first two courses, as they were full of elementary-aged kids who were a bit slow going, and started with the third one instead. It gave us just enough of a taste to get the blood rushing, and our bodies moving. After flying back to the ground on a zip line or two, (and then running around the forest like lost, mad women, trying to find the start of the fourth course), we started our climb back up into the trees to tackle the next challenges. The four course seemed to take us forever. We crossed many 'monkey bridges' of just a single wire for your feet and one above your hands for your head, logs that swung and spun under your feet, loops of rope that twisted, swung and did all but what you wanted them to do, we clung to ropes that swung us across to a giant spider web, and even slid between trees on a snowboard!

After we successfully conquered the fourth course, it was time to take a well deserved muffin/biscuit(cookie!) break and let our arms stop shaking. We decided  to temporally  bypass the fifth course, and tackle the sixth while we still had energy, as the sixth is final, and supposedly hardest one.

Uffda, they weren't lying! Even just from the rope ladder up to the first platform, the sixth course was definitely challenging. So challenging that when Kasey slipped and fell(her harness caught her, no worries!) off of some hanging logs, her body shut down and she blacked out. After she was safely back on the ground, and feeling better, she was deemed camera woman and in charge of pictures. Katelyn and I continued on, climbing wire bridges at impossible inclines until we were almost at the tops of the trees. This is the point where looking down is not a good idea. We crossed more swinging ropes, cross vertical rope nets, climbing, upside down, through hanging barrels, and conquered so many more obstacles, that some how became so much more difficult at 20 meters(or 66 feet) above the ground, strung up on towering, swaying pine trees. We ended with a 20 meters high, 90 meters long flying fox(or zip line) back to the ground. Could one have more fun?!

Exhausted, but now exhilarated by our success, Katelyn and I went back and quickly completed the fifth course, a much less daunting task after finishing the sixth one. We finished by pretty much running through the first course, and attempted to fly through the second course too, but got stuck behind a handful of younger boys. However, we were still the first two done, and two of only a handful of other people who managed to get through all six courses! Yea, we rock. 

More pictures are to come! 

"Impossible is just a big word throw around by small men who find it easier to love in the world they've been given, rather than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact, it's an opinion."

Ways to spend time during earthquake break number 2

There are many different options on what to do with the two extra weeks of break you are given. However, the list is dramatically cut short when you're extremely low on funds and your student loans haven't been reimbursed yet. Never fear! Cheap entertainment is always possible no matter what country you are in!

Here are some of the many options to choose from!

1) Have flour? Sugar? Butter? Start baking! Sure, the microwave might seem like a goofy place to make Banana Bread, but with the magical powers of heating coils in it, anything is possible! Cookies, Banana Bread, Cheesey Garlic Biscuits, more cookies etc etc. 

2) The aftermath of all that baking leads us to our next option: Dish stacking sculptures! Only the most talented can compete in this event, as one wrong move can end in disaster!

My Masterpiece!

3) Of course with all that baking, and therefore eating you have been doing, it's probably a good idea to take up the sport of running. (Warning, this option comes with the considerable risk of death. It is not enjoyable in the slightest, but is necessary for the continuation of option #1)

4) Make bets on how big the last aftershock was. Since we're well over 400 aftershocks by now, some people have gotten quite good at guessing.

3) Figure out how to translate English to English. For example, biscuit here is a cookie. That's easy enough, but what happens when you make Cheesy Garlic Biscuits? How do you describe that to your flat mate?They don't have biscuits like we do, the closest you can get is a scone.

This also works on things like Pudding. Pudding is a cake/sponge/creation thing that is uberly delicious, but NOT pudding that American's know! 

(By the way, apparently banana bread is more American then apple pie. Just thought everyone should know)

4) Realize that the most important discussions on cultural differences always revolved around food. 

5) Go dancing.. and then go dancing again! 

Photo thanks to Michael Adams. 

6) Learn to drive on the wrong side of the road. Warning: Turn signal is where the windshield wipers should be and visa versa. 

7) Go earthquake-crack hunting while enjoying the beautiful spring weather. 

Taken right before the ground I was standing on collapsed...oops

8) Escape to Narnia. Well, attempt to at least, weather conditions are not always favorable.  We did make it out to Castle Hill which isn't the exact location that they shot the battle scene at, but Flock hill isn't too much further. We'll be making a second trip out when it's not so snowy and gross out. 

There you have it; eight ways to spend your break-on a budget!