Hello!
So I'm aware I'm behind and I really wanted to post tonight and catch up. I still need to write about my Maori experience and about Wellington, where I spent my first days ill in bed. Not sure what it was/is, but I feel better now. Also, there is the tale of my flat mates and my flat! Which is quite grand! AND I NEED TO SHARE PICTURES!
Ahhhh! So much to do! And it is not going to happen tonight as I just spent that past hour or so packing a bag for a week around the north island! I will return Saturday and hopefully will be able to catch up on my blog, and finish moving in to my flat as school starts in a week! Oh and I registered for classes!
So yeah, this is a tease of post and hopefully you'll want to hear more when I find the time (and will power) to write more.
Still love it here, even through being a bit sick.
All for now,
johnny
Saturday, February 20
Wednesday, February 17
Blog Entry for First week, part 1
So I’m a bit behind in my blog as I’ve had little access to internet for this first week. Though I think maybe an entry once a week is probably a good rate. This entry will be quite long as a lot has happened this week! I did journal during orientation in my new journal from my godmother, Nancy (thanks!). Are you ready to hear all about my first week? It’s been quite a week!
Feb 7th – In Transit
Today has been truly great. Granted I’m only two hours into my thirteen hour flight.
My day started at 7:30 am Central Time. After breakfast, which consisted of homemade blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup, I finished packing my back pack and my mom, dad, dog, and I set off for the airport. There, I was told that there was no reservation number under my ticket # but a helpful united worker who literally sang as she worked (that song, “I believe in miracles”) managed to print me my boarding pass to San Francisco and Auckland (5 + 13 = 18 hours of flying).
After arriving in San Fran, I met two kids off my flight who were also headed to New Zealand and even Victoria, my new school. More and more college-aged kids started clustering at the gate and sure enough, all were headed to study abroad, though only half to Victoria. And we all got onboard just fine!
Currenlty we are parallel to Hawaii (at least according to my personal tv). So the best part of the trips so far is, of course, AIR NEW ZEALAND! Think I’m in love. Not only do I fit in the chair, but there are 79 movies choices plus games and tv and more! I chose a dinner that consisted of warm pasta with a tomato and beef sauce. It came with a roll, cheese/crackers, and desert: almond cake (which I managed to get two off courtesy of the woman next to me). Complimentary wine was served as well. I had both a white and a red. Not a huge fan of wine, but they weren’t too horrible! Tea was served after dinner, naturally.
During dinner I watched An Education, its up for Best Picture and was excellent! Because of the film and the flight attendants, I am thinking and writing in a British accent. Not really that much of a surprise. Also, they are very polite here. We had to put our chairs all the way up for dinner so that everyone was comfortable!
All in all, I’m starting to fall in love with this country and I’m not even south of the equator.
Tuesday, Feb 9th -- Kai
What a day, what an amazing day! After getting less than two hours of sleep on the flight (I tried mom, really I did!) on the flight, I knew I was in for a rough day. Much to my surprise, this has been one of the best days of my life!
After landing in Auckland around 5:00am, our group met up with the IFSA-Butler people (my program) and some YMCA guys who bussed us to their camp, Shakespear Garden. Not so much of a camp as a house located in the heart of paradise, outside Auckland. We arrived and went over some rules and other stuff. We then were fed Kai! Kai is maori (the language of the Maori, the pacific people who made New Zealand their home) for food? Meal? In any case Kai time is a good time of day and occurred about 5-6 times a day for orientation! All the food was prepared by the Y staff and was homemade and delicious.
After Kai, we trekked around the grounds and found a great lookout point that offered 360 degree views. Of course, to get there we trekked through so much shit, literally, there are sheep everywhere and thus there was a lot of dropping that we tried in vain to avoid stepping on. Regardless it was fun and we rewarded with more Kai on top! We trekked back to the house and we fed more Kai, gosh isn’t this paradise? We eat every 30 to 120 mins! After this meal, which was apparently lunch, we set off the shores of the Pacific and set off for some two-person sea kayaking! I partnered with Nicole, who is headed to study in Christchurch. We made quite the team and were very good at paddling in sink, turning, around, and splashing everyone else! We paddled across a bay to some rocks and landed. There we found some tide pools, one had a star fish. Then we paddled back, into the wind, and into some swells! It was wicked fun, though I was so wet by the end. Nicole and I spotted a beach ball on the shore and we…uh…“liberated” it for the Y. As we headed towards shore I tried to stand up while kayaking and ended up in the water eventually taking Nicole with me. After putting the boats up, we returned to the water to soak up some rays (though the New Zealand sun is very dangerous as there is a bit of a hole in the ozone layer above the country).
We were fed a bit of kai and then headed off the hot spring pools! It was naturally hot spring water funneled into man-made pools. They were quite hot and the place also had slides. Though, these slides would never be allowed to be built now. They were fun, mostly because of how excited I was that I survived. Afterwards we stopped off at a pub and had some Kiwi beer.
Back at the house, we were fed our final Kai, delicious bbq that did include lamb. After dinner, I went on a run and ended it much earlier as without the city lights, when it’s dark, it’s dark! I took a shower and was ready to go to bed, when we all looked up noticed that we could see so many stars. So we decided to watch the sky for a bit. It was incredible and probably the first time I ever saw the Milky Way.
Wed, Feb 10th – An Education
New Zealand days are long!
Today began with kai, though I arose around 6:30 and wandered the ground with camera. After our breakfast, we started our pub-less quiz (as we had no pub). This quiz was designed to get us up to speed on all things Kiwi. The second part of the quiz was a scavenger-esque hunt. My team, team poo shoes, came in third (Kai was served throughout the quiz, don’t worry!)
After kai, we split up for activities. Feeling a bit sleepy, I decided to just go to the beach and read. Then more kai! In the late afternoon we started learning how to play touch rugby, which is loads of fun! Pretty easy to play, once I understood the thousands of rules.
We headed up to the house for, you guessed it, more kai! Then we assembled in the hall to hear about Maori culture from Watera, a maori woman. We are planning to visit a marae tomorrow, which is the traditional meetinghouse of the Maori. We were going to take part in the traditional welcoming ceremony in which we would officially be welcomed into Aotearoa (New Zealand) and become people of the land. To do so, we needed male speakers to introduce themselves in Maori and then speak from the heart a small talk thanking the Maori and Aotearoa. I was selected as the third speaker and spent some of the night writing what I would say and practicing my Maori. I dunno what I’m going to say, but I just want to do a good job. Hopefully I won’t say anything offensive…
Feb 7th – In Transit
Today has been truly great. Granted I’m only two hours into my thirteen hour flight.
My day started at 7:30 am Central Time. After breakfast, which consisted of homemade blueberry pancakes with blueberry syrup, I finished packing my back pack and my mom, dad, dog, and I set off for the airport. There, I was told that there was no reservation number under my ticket # but a helpful united worker who literally sang as she worked (that song, “I believe in miracles”) managed to print me my boarding pass to San Francisco and Auckland (5 + 13 = 18 hours of flying).
After arriving in San Fran, I met two kids off my flight who were also headed to New Zealand and even Victoria, my new school. More and more college-aged kids started clustering at the gate and sure enough, all were headed to study abroad, though only half to Victoria. And we all got onboard just fine!
Currenlty we are parallel to Hawaii (at least according to my personal tv). So the best part of the trips so far is, of course, AIR NEW ZEALAND! Think I’m in love. Not only do I fit in the chair, but there are 79 movies choices plus games and tv and more! I chose a dinner that consisted of warm pasta with a tomato and beef sauce. It came with a roll, cheese/crackers, and desert: almond cake (which I managed to get two off courtesy of the woman next to me). Complimentary wine was served as well. I had both a white and a red. Not a huge fan of wine, but they weren’t too horrible! Tea was served after dinner, naturally.
During dinner I watched An Education, its up for Best Picture and was excellent! Because of the film and the flight attendants, I am thinking and writing in a British accent. Not really that much of a surprise. Also, they are very polite here. We had to put our chairs all the way up for dinner so that everyone was comfortable!
All in all, I’m starting to fall in love with this country and I’m not even south of the equator.
Tuesday, Feb 9th -- Kai
What a day, what an amazing day! After getting less than two hours of sleep on the flight (I tried mom, really I did!) on the flight, I knew I was in for a rough day. Much to my surprise, this has been one of the best days of my life!
After landing in Auckland around 5:00am, our group met up with the IFSA-Butler people (my program) and some YMCA guys who bussed us to their camp, Shakespear Garden. Not so much of a camp as a house located in the heart of paradise, outside Auckland. We arrived and went over some rules and other stuff. We then were fed Kai! Kai is maori (the language of the Maori, the pacific people who made New Zealand their home) for food? Meal? In any case Kai time is a good time of day and occurred about 5-6 times a day for orientation! All the food was prepared by the Y staff and was homemade and delicious.
After Kai, we trekked around the grounds and found a great lookout point that offered 360 degree views. Of course, to get there we trekked through so much shit, literally, there are sheep everywhere and thus there was a lot of dropping that we tried in vain to avoid stepping on. Regardless it was fun and we rewarded with more Kai on top! We trekked back to the house and we fed more Kai, gosh isn’t this paradise? We eat every 30 to 120 mins! After this meal, which was apparently lunch, we set off the shores of the Pacific and set off for some two-person sea kayaking! I partnered with Nicole, who is headed to study in Christchurch. We made quite the team and were very good at paddling in sink, turning, around, and splashing everyone else! We paddled across a bay to some rocks and landed. There we found some tide pools, one had a star fish. Then we paddled back, into the wind, and into some swells! It was wicked fun, though I was so wet by the end. Nicole and I spotted a beach ball on the shore and we…uh…“liberated” it for the Y. As we headed towards shore I tried to stand up while kayaking and ended up in the water eventually taking Nicole with me. After putting the boats up, we returned to the water to soak up some rays (though the New Zealand sun is very dangerous as there is a bit of a hole in the ozone layer above the country).
We were fed a bit of kai and then headed off the hot spring pools! It was naturally hot spring water funneled into man-made pools. They were quite hot and the place also had slides. Though, these slides would never be allowed to be built now. They were fun, mostly because of how excited I was that I survived. Afterwards we stopped off at a pub and had some Kiwi beer.
Back at the house, we were fed our final Kai, delicious bbq that did include lamb. After dinner, I went on a run and ended it much earlier as without the city lights, when it’s dark, it’s dark! I took a shower and was ready to go to bed, when we all looked up noticed that we could see so many stars. So we decided to watch the sky for a bit. It was incredible and probably the first time I ever saw the Milky Way.
Wed, Feb 10th – An Education
New Zealand days are long!
Today began with kai, though I arose around 6:30 and wandered the ground with camera. After our breakfast, we started our pub-less quiz (as we had no pub). This quiz was designed to get us up to speed on all things Kiwi. The second part of the quiz was a scavenger-esque hunt. My team, team poo shoes, came in third (Kai was served throughout the quiz, don’t worry!)
After kai, we split up for activities. Feeling a bit sleepy, I decided to just go to the beach and read. Then more kai! In the late afternoon we started learning how to play touch rugby, which is loads of fun! Pretty easy to play, once I understood the thousands of rules.
We headed up to the house for, you guessed it, more kai! Then we assembled in the hall to hear about Maori culture from Watera, a maori woman. We are planning to visit a marae tomorrow, which is the traditional meetinghouse of the Maori. We were going to take part in the traditional welcoming ceremony in which we would officially be welcomed into Aotearoa (New Zealand) and become people of the land. To do so, we needed male speakers to introduce themselves in Maori and then speak from the heart a small talk thanking the Maori and Aotearoa. I was selected as the third speaker and spent some of the night writing what I would say and practicing my Maori. I dunno what I’m going to say, but I just want to do a good job. Hopefully I won’t say anything offensive…
Sunday, February 7
T-minus 24 hours until my flight
HOLY CRAP!
In 24 hours, I will begin my 24 hours journey to new zealand. 3 airports, 2 planes, and 8,210 miles later will find me in Auckland New Zealand. We arrive Tuesday morning around 6am. No the flight is not that long, I will be crossing the date line.
And guess what?
I'm packed! And have been since 4:30. Not bad at all! Well I mean tomorrow morning I need to put a few things away, but come one, close enough. And I packed everything I could possibly need! Except not at all, so I'm crossing my fingers on this one. But I do have the essentials.
So no Vassar until fall is bizarre. I have missed and will continue to miss all the wonderful people there. Which actually brings me to this blog's purpose.
The Purpose of the blog is to hopefully keep friends/family informed of my activities abroad as well as help me keep a journal of my trip. I will attempt to write in a journal and then type up entries when I have the time. Anyone is more than willing to e-mail me as well. But I'd rather not spend all my time abroad skypeing, e-mailing, and facebooking. Also please comment on these entries! I'd love to hear feedback and would really like to hear how everyone is doing!
As I mentioned this blog is also to help me journal and will contain my thoughts and feelings on all that I experience. I'm attempting to really explore myself this semester and come back with a better picture of myself and my goals for the next couple of years for life. When I think about my future I see so many opportunities. A few of my considerations for the next one-three years post graduation include the Peace Core, AmeriCore, Hollywood, graduate school for psychology, raising sheep in New Zealand (kidding...but that does sound nice), etc. Some very different paths. Some people seem to know what they want to do in life and then they do it! That's great for them, but I'd rather not spend my whole life with one job or career. I think to fully grow, one has to experience a lot of new things! But who knows...perhaps I'll grow out of it.
In preparation for my trip I read the book "The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth." A good friend recommended and it's great. I highly recommend to all who possess and open mind. Regrettably I don't think it will do much good to a closed mind, though does any book or theory? For my trip I posses the book "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose." This was recommended by another friend and may get me thinking! But this trip is not just about lying somewhere thinking, it is about getting out there and being involved in everything! It's about making experiences and then making quiet time to relax and reflect on them. So we'll see where I end up. I am excited! And also now very tired...perhaps those advil PM are kicking in. Which is good, bc I have a very long day ahead of me. The most traveling I've ever done and I couldn't be happier about it.
And finally, good luck to all of you on whatever you may filling your time with!
In 24 hours, I will begin my 24 hours journey to new zealand. 3 airports, 2 planes, and 8,210 miles later will find me in Auckland New Zealand. We arrive Tuesday morning around 6am. No the flight is not that long, I will be crossing the date line.
And guess what?
I'm packed! And have been since 4:30. Not bad at all! Well I mean tomorrow morning I need to put a few things away, but come one, close enough. And I packed everything I could possibly need! Except not at all, so I'm crossing my fingers on this one. But I do have the essentials.
So no Vassar until fall is bizarre. I have missed and will continue to miss all the wonderful people there. Which actually brings me to this blog's purpose.
The Purpose of the blog is to hopefully keep friends/family informed of my activities abroad as well as help me keep a journal of my trip. I will attempt to write in a journal and then type up entries when I have the time. Anyone is more than willing to e-mail me as well. But I'd rather not spend all my time abroad skypeing, e-mailing, and facebooking. Also please comment on these entries! I'd love to hear feedback and would really like to hear how everyone is doing!
As I mentioned this blog is also to help me journal and will contain my thoughts and feelings on all that I experience. I'm attempting to really explore myself this semester and come back with a better picture of myself and my goals for the next couple of years for life. When I think about my future I see so many opportunities. A few of my considerations for the next one-three years post graduation include the Peace Core, AmeriCore, Hollywood, graduate school for psychology, raising sheep in New Zealand (kidding...but that does sound nice), etc. Some very different paths. Some people seem to know what they want to do in life and then they do it! That's great for them, but I'd rather not spend my whole life with one job or career. I think to fully grow, one has to experience a lot of new things! But who knows...perhaps I'll grow out of it.
In preparation for my trip I read the book "The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love, Traditional Values, and Spiritual Growth." A good friend recommended and it's great. I highly recommend to all who possess and open mind. Regrettably I don't think it will do much good to a closed mind, though does any book or theory? For my trip I posses the book "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose." This was recommended by another friend and may get me thinking! But this trip is not just about lying somewhere thinking, it is about getting out there and being involved in everything! It's about making experiences and then making quiet time to relax and reflect on them. So we'll see where I end up. I am excited! And also now very tired...perhaps those advil PM are kicking in. Which is good, bc I have a very long day ahead of me. The most traveling I've ever done and I couldn't be happier about it.
And finally, good luck to all of you on whatever you may filling your time with!
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