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.