Update + Penguin

Hey all! For any of you reading the blog at the moment, you'll notice that I have only uploaded the first 2 days of my trip through Ecuador. Don't worry, more is coming! However, I have some good news that is currently delaying the continuation of this story...

I have a job!

I'll be starting as a laboratory technician in Moorehead City, NC on Tuesday. Until then I am getting paperwork done, packing, and tying up loose ends here at home. I am also organizing my thoughts {and photos) on my trip, as I want my entries to be as informative, immersive and entertaining as they can be! So I promise your patience will be rewarded!

But for now, enjoy this...

"You are feeling very sleeeeepy... oh, and content with the upload frequency of this blooooggg...."

Day 2. Culture shock.

I woke up to activity in the surrounding rooms. I only got a short glance at the house the night before, and chose now to explore it- but I knew there was someone there who I didn´t know. How was I going to meet them with no Spanish skills? I walked out to see a small, dark skinned woman grinning at me. This was Consuelo. ¨Hola,¨ I blurted, desperately trying to remember what little Spanish I had learned. Unfortunately, words like ball, sink, and moon weren´t much good at the present moment. After having a conversation which consisted mostly of Consue talking at me and me repeating ´´I don´t understand,¨ I heard a word I remembered learning- desayuno.

Breakfast.

¨Si! Yo tengo hambre,¨ I said excitedly, happy that at least Rosetta Stone had enough sense to teach their customers important words to keep them from starving. Incredible business model, that is.
After breakfast, and some exploring of the house (which was a very nice, custom built one level home with a central courtyard and covered from head to toe in hardwood floors), Irene´s brother called me over. I had met him before in North Carolina when he had come to visit a few months prior. We had a mission- we were going to pick up Irene, who was working at a summer camp for the next week or so. We hopped in the car.
I was immediately shocked at how different driving in Quito is during the day from how it was driving at the wee hours of the night during a weekday. There were people everywhere, naturally, but even more surprising was the traffic. I was told it was crazy here, but I wasn´t exactly prepared. There didn´t seem to be lanes, as much as spaces for cars to cram into. I saw taxis and busses stopping in the middle of flowing traffic to pick up customers, resulting in a flurry of amazingly rapid curses in a language that was still foreign to me.
But what really shocked me was the multitude of people just… existing on the sides of the road. There were men and women, not to mention children, just sitting at the side of traffic. At every light, something was for sale- oranges, crackers, candy, newspapers... I felt like the local supermarket had a drive through. The most unusual were the street performers, though. The first I saw in Quito was a kid, maybe 7 years old, who jumped in front of our car right after we hit a red light. Wearing an old sweatshirt and a spider-man mask, he started juggling. The weirdest thing about this was that he was actually pretty good at it. He had obviously had time to practice. After his impromptu performance, he ran up to the driver´s side expectantly. Irene´s brother, Gabriel, rolled down the window and handed him a dime. He went on his way.
¨Are those kinds of things common?¨ I asked.
¨Oh yeah, they are everywhere,¨ replied Gabriel.
I couldn´t help but feel bad for those kids- working on the side of the street for a few cents, put there by who knows what circumstance. It was only later that I learned more.
A lot of kids in Ecuador don´t have constant access to education. The system is very different from the states; there is no set age for work, and conditions are often bad for people in impoverished situations. In the weeks to come, I saw kids performing all sorts of tasks for money- from begging, to helping park cars, to watching those cars to keep them protected from ´theives´, though I am not sure what a six year old will do to stop a car from getting jacked. One thing that I noticed and continued to have reinforced in my mind is just how many things kids are doing to make ends meet. Not all of them, however, work to earn money to eat. I quickly learned from talking to some newfound friends that some of the kids go and use the money to buy glue so they can get high. Knowledge of the existence of such a self destructive cycle in children that are too young to even think of girls made me hesitant to give any of them anything- but eventually I did as all the others do, and go with it.
In the time spent in Ecuador, I saw all sorts of street performers. From that first kid to juggle with his spider-man mask, to tightrope walkers, mimes, acrobats, and firebreathers, I saw almost an entire circus on the streets every day. Eventually it became a normal sight, something to blend into the city. I guess people can get used to anything.
Speaking of getting used to things, allow me to shed some light on the city known as Quito, Ecuador. The city itself has many interesting and unique features that make it one of a kind. Quito is the second largest city in the country (behind Guayaquil), and is the highest legal capital in the world. The elevation at the city square is 2800m (almost 9200 feet), almost twice as high as Salt Lake City, Utah. Because the city is nestled inside of the Andes (and surrounded on every side by volcanoes, mind you), it is exceptionally narrow. The city is only 3 miles wide, but almost 25 miles long. This makes traffic a nightmare, especially getting from one side to the other. The city actually sits directly on the equator (perched barely in the northern hemisphere), meaning seasons are virtually nonexistent. Quito is known to be in ´eternal spring´, as the days are hot, with the nights being slightly chilly. Every once in awhile, a nearby eruption disrupts some of the city. The last one was in 2006, which covered the city in ash and shut down the international airport. Actually, Quito is the only capital in the world that is endangered by an active volcano. Certainly makes the whole travel thing seem a little more exciting, to say the least.
While doing some research, I also came across some statistics for employment in the city. The illiteracy rate is about 3%, but the unemployment is 9%. Way more surprising than this is the underemployment rate. Underemployment, as I soon learned, is a situation in which either 1) a skilled person is working as unskilled labor, 2) a person looking for a full time job can only find part time employment, or 3) a person is one of too many employees in a company, and as a result gets paid less than full time, or only has seasonal work. Do you want to know what the underemployment rate of Quito is?
Fourty-three percent.
That means that (including unemployment) more than half of the population does not work full time. The implications of this suddenly allow the multitude of people on the street to make sense.
Anyway, I am getting off topic. When I woke up that morning, I decided to administer a little test. With the city being almost two miles high, and never having been that high before, I decided to test my stamina. I started doing jumping jacks and pushups to see how quickly I would run out of breath. The results were pretty definitive- almost immediately I started to get short of breath, and had to stop. It´s amazing how much you take oxygen for granted when you have it. I am just lucky I didn´t get altitude sickness.

I´m back, baby!

So, I am reinstating this long-dormant blog in order to share recent adventures in my travel! I have been very fortunate in the last year to be able to travel to 3 countries I had not yet been to. As any current readers know, I spent about 6 months in New Zealand, returning the last day of July last year. That counts as number one. My second chance was actually another study abroad, albeit a short one. During spring break of this year, I got to travel to the Island nation of Bermuda, about a thousand kilometres off the coast of North Carolina. The trip was for a Research field course at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, and it was incredible. Granted, each day was spent working from approximately 7am to 10pm, but half of that work was in mangrove ponds, coral reefs, tidal pools and sandy beaches. While that was a very interesting trip, that is a story for another day.
The third country I have been fortunate to visit since July 2009 is Ecuador. I was drawn to it by my wonderful girlfriend Irene, whom I met this past year at University. She was an Ecuadorian exchange student, and we almost immediately hit it off. I decided I would spend the last two weeks of summer visiting here in her home city of Quito- but as my time to leave drew more and more imminent, I changed my flight to stay an extra three weeks. With a total of five weeks in this exotic and exciting country, with almost no knowledge of the Spanish language, I reconnected again with what made me fall so deeply in love with travelling over a year ago. Here is the story of that journey, a little at a time.

Day 1- Touchdown.
As with seemingly every flight to South America, I first had to travel through Miami International airport. For those of you who have never been to Miami, it feels as though you got some sort of special customer ticket rate where they transport South America directly to your airport, to eliminate all of that hassle and worry of actually travelling there. For the first time in my country, I was hearing announcements in Spanish before English. I was hearing people ordering their food in a mix of the languages, resulting in my utter confusion. I had been learning Spanish for approximately 4 weeks, using Rosetta Stone to teach myself, and I highly recommend it- but I was not prepared to actually understand the language. Luckily, I knew I was going to get some practice in the coming weeks.
After ordering some food and wandering to see the sights (such as the smoker´s room, always a favourite attraction of mine), I headed to my gate. I was met with the always enthusiastically received flight delay. As I walked to the from kiosk to ask when our new departure time was, I was met by a short, dark haired woman whom I had never seen before.
¨Nowicki?¨ she said timidly.
¨Uh, yeah,¨ I managed to spurt out, totally bewildered. Who was this woman? Was she someone I had met before? Was she a friend of my family´s who had seen pictures of me? Could she be someone my girlfriend´s family had hired to make sure I did not get lost between the assuredly utterly perilous route between my plane and the check in at Quito? My mind raced.
¨I am Irene´s aunt,¨she explained. ¨She told us that we would be on the same flight.¨ This explains it, I thought. ¨My daughter is over there. Come sit with us, ¨ she continued. Grateful to have some Spanish speakers to aid me in case Ecuadorian customs tackled me for no apparent reason, I happily obliged. As we talked, I began to learn more about Ecuador in general, and Quito specifically. The beauty, the trouble, the new airport (which apparently is a logistical disaster) and everything in between was discussed. As we boarded our flight, I sneakily took the seat of a young gentleman with a large straw hat, and we continued talking. It didn´t take long until the long day began to have it´s effect on me, however, and I soon feel asleep.
A few hours later, I was awoken by the stewardess, who let me know that we were about to land. A few customs forms and some broken Spanish phrases later, I was in a car and heading for my girlfriend´s house, grateful to see her again. Being so late (well after midnight), I immediately got into the house after a short drive on completely abandoned roads, and crashed. I had a big week ahead of me, after all.

No, I haven't died...

Just to let whatever readers are still out there no, this blog hasn't died. The last 6 weeks have seen alot of adjustment on my behalf, and as a result I haven't had alot of time to write. I'll have you know that I AM working on posts from my last month abroad (which was the coolest month) and that after that is done, I will continue to write about my readjustment and life here in America. Just stay tuned and in the next few weeks I'll try to post what I can. Deal?

Australia

I apologize for not having updated in so long, but this is the first time I have had internet in weeks. Enjoy.

On Thursday we finally left student village (myself and friends Maggie and Brice). To say it was a sad farewell is a massive understatement. Everyone that I have met and come to love in the past few months is now split- the IG (International Group, as we became known) was about to fracture. Love was shared, good wishes sent. I shook the hand of every one of my wonderful friends, then embraced them. When I leave NZ for good, I will miss the people I have met way more than any bird, mountain or island. Even though I know I will see many of them once more (especially the Kiwis) I know that we most likely will never be together like this again- my hope is that if someone ties the knot, the IG will reconvene; that would be a day to cherish.
The plane trip to Cairns was two flights- Auckland to Sydney to Cairns. It gave me alot of thinking time, and I realized just how deeply and immediately I missed these people already.
After a long day of flight, we dropped into Cairns. I got in a van to go to the hostel, took the window down, and put my head out the whole way. Where Waikato had frost every morning, Cairns had easy, breezy 70 degree weather. I think I like this country.
After sleeping for about 6 hours, we woke up before dawn to get to our dive shop. We would be taking a liveaboard boat to go dive the Great Barrier reef, every marine biologist’s (and diver’s) dream. The boat held over 30 people, 5 or so crew (including a french chef, ooh la la!). We would be doing 11 dives over 3 days- normally, a day long dive trip consists of 2 dives. Our schedule was literally: Wake up pre dawn (5:45 am), Sunrise Dive, Breakfast, Morning Dive, snack, Noon Dive,Lunch, afternoon/ sunset Dive, Dinner, night Dive, Cake. It was tiring, it was repetitive, it was smelly and wet and crowded, and It. Was. Glorious.

First, let me say something about the great barrier reef. It is the world’s largest contiguous living organsim (i suppose that could be disputed, but it is massive) stretching over more than a thousand miles. Imagine a reef system, like you see in movies. Now imagine that pretty little reef extending in one form or another from Florida to Maine. Yeah, you could say it’s big. The best parts of the reef are actually quite shallow- most divers are certified to dive starting out to 60 feet- the interesting bits of the reef are usually shallower than 40, and once you get within 20 feet of the surface the brilliance is astounding. Every color of the rainbow (and some I didn’t think were even in it) is represented here. Fish that have no business whatsoever being so beautiful are abundant. You can never tell what will be around the next bend, except more reef, more oppourtunity for exploration. What’s next? clownfish? Maybe giant clams? Perhaps you’ll get lucky and see a green turtle as large as you are, or a white tipped reef shark lurking, aware of you ages before you saw it there. The things we saw were unlike many I have ever seen before. The GBR was an absolute dream to dive.

I won’t regale you with all 11 dives, as that would get tedious and repetetive for both of us. I will recap 8 of the dives, and tell of 3 in a bit more detail. In our dives we saw sharks, giant clams of luminescent colors that boggled the mind (and that were big enough for me to fit in if I was so foolish to try), clownfish and anenome fish that stayed close to their havens, fish of every shape, color, size, and mentality, and coral varieties that were astounding. Three dives in particular stand out. In one, we were at a pinnacle known as “The Whale”. We had a pretty standard dive, with swim throughs (underwater rock tunnels that you swim through; at the end, the entire ocean opens up to you- a very cool experience) and wildlife. As we began our safety stop, we turned around to see a shadow moving behind us- a shade, if you will. As we continued to watch, this gliding form came closer- a giant spotted eagle ray. This enourmous creature, about 7 feet wide, glided right past us, sailing effortlessly, almost as if an ethereal projection of this creature was all in my mind. It was the perfect end to a dive. At the second, we dove a reef known as “Gordon’s”. We dropped in the water around 4:30 pm, and descended onto a proverbial aquarium. The bommie, or pinnacle for non-aussies, became a wall that leveled out at about 6 feet deep. We went up there, and saw... another world. Normally red light gets cut out very rapidly in water, but at 6 feet much of it is still there. I never thought I would see neon in nature, but I did. The colors almost hurt. After continuing on this dive, we descended to a maze of bommies, and got lost. The result was awesome, of course- being lost in a wonderful, unfamiliar place, exploring wherever you want, knowing that all you have to do to get your bearings is look at your compass. We got lucky and found a green turtle about half my size chowing down on some algae- like more turtles we later would see on subsequent dives, this one was not afraid at all of us. We could have touched it if we wanted to, and it was unfazed. It was after this that I witnessed one of the coolest things of the trip: an underwater sunset. The idea of the sun slipping behind these under water towers, teeming with life, and watching the evening sun dance in the water before finally dipping over the horizon is something every diver (and I am tempted to say every human being) should experience. The third dive that I found exceptional was my first night dive ever. As the sun set, we began to gear up and get ready to get wet. The lights from the boat attracted a mass of fish, including sea bass, or some fish similiar to it. The chef began to throw our food scraps form dinner overboard, which of course got the fish excited, and soon more had come. After a few minutes, the school scattered. At first I thought it peculiar, but then I saw why- shark.
The shark was probably a reef shark, though I am not sure. It was larger than I was, but not by alot. It began to circle the school, dipping in every few seconds to try and grab one for dinner. What did we do now that there were sharks at our dive site, where it was too dark to see without a flashlight, and where anything could be lurking in the dark?
Well, we jumped in, of course.
Sharks tend not to like divers. They look funny, taste bad, and are loud, big and noisy in the water. Pretty soon what had come for a snack had left, and we continued the dive. It was eerie, to say the least. Imagine those movies in which a heroic space team embarks on an alien world, where shadow abounds. Strange pillars play with the light, and tones of grey and blue mess with your head. Now imagine instead of walking on this terrain, you are slowly gliding over it. This was my experience. I saw one very large fish, which was about 30 feet above my head- as soon as I illuminated it, it sank away. Except for the fact it was a night dive, this dive was nothing special. However, the aspect of darkness gave a whole new dimension to the water that I can safely say I am now addicted to.
Another thing that made this trip very enjoyable was the people that i met and dove with. Out of the 30 or so divers, i would say at least 25 were 30 or under, with the rest being under 40. The crew was similiarly aged. Most of the people were under 25- right in my age group. Though we were similiar in age, in nationality could not have been more varied. The people on the boat were Canadian, American, Australian, English, French, Irish, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Estonian, and Egyptian. We couldn’t ask for a better trip- the people were fantastic, the ocean was literally as clear as glass, the weather was warm and the sky was clear. I actually spent a night out sleeping on the deck of the ship, with not a light in sight except the vast expanse of the outer spiral arm of the milky way above me. It will be something I will never forget.
After our last day of dives, we went back to port, where we were greeted by a small American navy fleet (an aircraft carrier and about 4 or 5 other ships of various sizes and duties). They flooded Carins. I heard American accents as much as Australian. We checked into a backpacker called the northern greenhouse, at the suggestion of some of the people that dove with us. It was a very cool place to stay- it felt sufficiently bohemian and tropical, almost Jamacian, but it was very nice inside. There was a courtyard with a pool, a free barbeque, free breakfast, linens, a full bathroom and half kitchen in each room, and a very cozy feel, all for a good price. I was very pleased.
That night all of the dive group –and I mean all of them, including the tiny french chef of our boat- gathered together for some dinner and drinks at a place called the rattle and hum. Our night of conversing, laughing, eating and drinking quickly became a night of dancing we decided to go to a local venue. It was one of the best clubbing nights I have ever had. The running joke with the IG is that New Zealand has about 11 songs, and within an hour, you have heard them all. Because the Navy was in town, however, the music was fantastic- every song was a hit, a classic, or at least popular enough to dance to and sing along to. The only two songs I could think of that I didn’t hear were thriller and the eye of the tiger. One thing that I have always, always wanted to hear at a club was Bohemian Rhapsody- and boy, did I get my wish. Imagine 200 people all rocking out, singing to each other as they danced like crazy and shredded on air guitar to their heart’s content: they were totally oblivious to each other, with no shame and nothing held back, because, let’s be honest, everyone else was doing it too. All in all, I guess you could say I quite enjoyed Cairns.
The next day we flew to Sydney to spend a few days. Our flight got in at evening, and as soon as we checked into our backpacker we started exploring. Only a few blocks from our hostel, which incidentally was also right in downtown Sydney, we saw a crowd of people on a street, with police everywhere and cameras even more numerous. We decided to take a detour- boy were we suprised. The crowd was there to see none other than Brüno, live and in the flesh (and in a few other things) at a movie premier for his film of the same name. For those of you not familiar, Brüno is a character played by comedian Sasha Baron Conen, who became internationally famout for his film Borat, where he played a backwards Khazakstani reporter in America. Brüno, on the other hand, is a gay Austrain fashion critic, and this character is used much the same way as Borat, to humiliate the people he interviews for the great entertainment of the world. He is pretty famous, you could say.
So imagine my suprise when I saw Brüno come out of an alleyway with a white hourse, while coated in ridiculously shiny roman style armor, complete with equally shiny silver helmet. I’ll give Cohnen something- when he is in character, he really is. Cohnen was Brüno and nothing else. It was a real treat, especially since our chances of seeing it were completely random and astronomically low.
So, what about Sydney, ask you? Well, I consider Sydney to be my 2nd favorite city in the world, second only to St. Petersburg in Russia. What isn’t there to love? It is a city of 4 million, but it feels like a place a tenth of the size. Don’t get me wrong, Sydeny is huge, but it doesn’t feel like it on the street. It is nice and pleasant; people are nice, they don’t push or yell, taxis actually let you cross- try to think of any other city half the size of New York where cars actually stop for pedestrians when they don’t have to? In a word, Sydney is pleasant. The skyline is stunning, all glass and light. It’s skyscrapers flow, almost like waves or sails on the horizon. They most resemble Seattle of all the cities I have been to, but I would say Sydney even tops this. The Opera house and Harbour bridge are spectacular to behold- the opera house is much larger than people have told me, and literlaly took my breath away the first time i saw it. The water reflects the skyline perfectly, and makes for great photography. The alleyways are all well lit, clean, and safe looking. There are a million ways to get anywhere- up those stairs, throgh that alley, across the street, over the bridge, in between those buildings in a small avenue- the possibilities are endless, which gives the city almost a wonderous feel, as if you are doing urban exporation of sorts. This is what we did the first night.
We slept in the second day, and woke up to head down to Hyde park, located right in the middle of the city. This park is something to behold, let me tell you. In addition to the great architecture and wonderful urban aspects of downtown Sydney, it also has frequent and refreshing green spaces. Hyde park is one of these places, with Eucalyptus trees towering 60 feet overhead into a giant arch that shelters a stone path 30 feet wide, right in the middle of Sydney. It was a joy to walk through. Near the park is a cathedral called St. Mary’s, which I can comfortably say is the most beautiful Catholic Cathedral I have seen outside of Europe. As we went in, I sat down to have a quick prayer, and a bell rung. The patrons rose. We again had impecible timing, and stayed for mass. Afterwards we walked to the botanic gardens, and the art museum of New South Wales. The museum was free, and a good use of the afternoon- there were both contemporary and older works, from both Australia and around the world. The mediums were not limited to paint, either. There was video, audio, and interactive art as well. The fact that all of this was free, and that we were allowed to take photos, and that when we left a random person on the street asked us how we liked it, and told us where to find some more sculpture outside, really is a testament to now nice and friendly australians are.
After the museum we walked through the Botanical Gardens, which included multitudes of wild Cockatoos, Ibis (which are like the pidgeons of Sydney) and trees full of sleeping bats, in addition to one of the rarest plants found in the world, a conifer that was thought to be extinct for 150 million years until it was discovered in the Australian Bush. Another testament to Australia- it is a big place, with few people to explore it. We saw the sun set over the harbor bridge from the Opera house, and then and dined on the roof of a local pub overlooking the skyline. Afterwards we walked to Darling Harbour, and wandered back to the hostel for a good sauna and swim. I guess after the dive trip we were used to being wet.
Wednesday we switched hostels to the Wake up! Hostel only a block from the one we were at the past 2 nights (we couldn’t stay because it was booked). It is listed as the best hostel in oceania: let me say right now, nothing could be further from the truth. We checked in and immediately were struck by that fact that the elevator will not function without your card being swiped, which was perfect considering my card simply refused to read. This really helped contribute to the feel of the entire hostel being a mix of wannabe college fraternity house, google staff headquarters and nazi work camp. We went into our room, which was an 8 share dorm room complete with exactly 1 light and 1 outlet. This is for 8 people, mind you. The absolute worst part of the room (and the hostel in particular) are the intercoms. At random intervals throught the day, the intercoms in EVERY ROOM turn on, to accomodate a booming and annoying voice which of course begins with “wake up, wake up, wake up!”, followed by a list of inane, unfunny and infuriatingly annoying comments having actually nothing to do with my life in relation to this place. When I first heard them, I just stared at my companions and waited for the announcements to cease.
“That is going to get annoying.”
“Yup.”
“Really annoying.”
“Yup.”
Needless to say, we didn’t stay in the room for long.
We spent our day much the same as the day before. We walked to a cafe, had lunch, and continued to the Rocks, where the opera house is located. On our way, we went to the obervatory, a green grassy hill looking over sydney harbor, sitting for an hour or so, writing postcards and enjoying the balmy winter weather (which is something I rarely can say I can do). We walked to the Opera house and tried to get tickets for a show, but one was sold out and the other cancelled for lack of ticket sales. We grabbed some snacks (sushi) and walked to the harbor to catch a ferry to Darling Harbor. The ferry, at $5.20 AUD a ticket, is a nice cheap way to see the harbor. It took us about a half hour to get to Darling Harbor, and our first stop was the maritime museum, which was free admission. It had quite a few interesting artifacts in it, including original pieces from some of Captain Cook’s original voyage. Outside the museum were several ships, including a submarine, a warship of the 20th century, and a recreation (full size) of captain cook’s ship the Endeavour. The ship was quite large, and being the age of sail junkie I am, I naturally wanted to check it out, but it had closed only minutes before. The museum itself was only open until 5 pm, so we only spent about 45 minutes in it. Afterwards we walked back to our hostel. A few days later, we were back in Hamilton, ready to depart on our next adventure, which I will write about in the future.

Days 112-118

This week has been one of few distractions or events. Sunday I had a small get together officially for my birthday- it included a meal at the only Mexican restaurant in Hamilton (which was down a dark alley- it looked like every free meal would come with a complimentary mugging). The meal was great- and though it took much longer to make and was more expensive than it would be at home, I didn’t mind. I was surrounded by friends whom I loved and cared about, and likewise cared about me. While I was basking in this social happiness, I closed my eyes, and everything felt fundamentally right. I felt as if everything had aligned, and I was simultaneously reliving my past and embarking on an exciting new adventure. In a word, I could close my eyes and feel like I was home. Home. What a concept. Is it where we live, or where we are happiest? Can home really be constrained to a physical location, or is it something more? Is it a mental state inside ourselves? Is our true home our soul? Is home a house, a family, a familiar scent or breeze of wind, or is home a table halfway around the world, full of friends sharing jokes and letting laughter seep out into the cold night air? I can’t tell you. Perhaps home is something we each need to define for ourselves, but on Sunday, I could tell you exactly what home was for me. I could close those eyes and be home. I could be whenever I wanted, any time I desired- I could be last Christmas, or a hot day in July, or the first day of school. I could be at thanksgiving dinner or mother’s day. Maybe what I shared was just that feeling of intense… correctness, the knowledge that this is one of those fragrant life moments that I can look back on for years to come and never forget. Perhaps that is what links all of those memories I have when I close my eyes. Perhaps that is home.

I’ll get off my philosophical pedestal now.

The few days to follow were filled with little of importance. I have no exams until the 24th, which means studying before the 14th would be useless- I need to keep a constant flow of information going through my head in order to be effective, and I think that 10 days for 2 exams is already more than enough time. The week has been filled with sleep ins, trip planning, and relaxation. One could say I am mentally preparing for my soon to be stressful endeavor.
One thing I did do was visit the Hamilton gardens with a really good friend of mine, Anna. The Hamilton gardens are a collection of gardens in styles from around the world. There is a Japanese garden, an English garden, a Chinese garden, an American garden (which looked like someone vomited new age pop art over a block of downtown inner city Newark that had been abandoned for 40 years), an Italian/Greco garden, and an Indian garden. There were also a few other gardens (including a Maori garden, which was literally a pile of dirt. It made the American garden look like someone committed new age pop art over a block of lush, downtown San Francisco. Anna and I walked around, and I marked each garden on overall coolness, tranquility, beauty, originality, thematic elements, etc. The winner was the Indian garden (which was a large courtyard with 4 quadrants of flowers, with the Greco and Chinese gardens tying for 2nd place (the Chinese garden had an awesome hobbit hole type thing). Anna and I then walked to the river and had a good deep conversation until I could no longer feel my hands. Few things make me as happy at the end of a day than a really deep, meaningful and rewarding conversation with a friend.
I also took an evening and walk around the campus with a friend of mine to do some urban exploration- going to areas you normally wouldn’t think of. We walked up outer staircases on one of the blocks just to see the view- something I normally would not do, but I realized how beautiful the view is at night. Half the campus can be seen just from that one spot. The entire idea is to get a new perspective on things, a new viewpoint. We walked around for a few hours, until early morning, and it was great. This is a friend I normally don’t get much time to talk to, and it sure beat the pants off of sitting down and watching a movie, being antisocial.
The week has also been filled with a game I know I have described before, called ‘Who am I?’. The rules are simple. Each person chooses a famous person, Ex. Albert Einstein. I write his name on a sheet of paper, and give it to the person on my left. They stick the paper to their forehead- now everyone can see who they are except them. You can only ask yes or know questions to figure out who you are, and the questions go to the next person when one of your questions is answered as ‘no’. Example:
Am I am man? Yes.
Am I European born? Yes.
Am I Dead? Yes.
Was I known for music? No.
(goes on to next person). First person to figure out their person wins!

This game is incredibly simple but addictive- it is exceptionally fun and can get very challenging. People get very heated when they can’t think of who they are, and we often find ourselves saying ‘just one more game’. One night we played for 5 hours.

So, as you can see, my life here the past week has been fairly low key. If the weather was better or I was better equipped, I would travel, but circumstances just weren’t great for it. I will be traveling starting the 25th, all the way until the 31st of July, when I fly out.

I can’t help but think that after everything I have been through here, I am going to go home, sit down on my bed, and look at all of this as I would a dream. An entire semester, half a year, around the world, and I have come right back where I began. I already know it will be a powerful and surreal experience- but I also know I’ll come back some day, here to these islands. A seed has been planted- I can’t stay away.

P.S. A small update on swine flu. Level 6 pandemic level has been reached. The Waikato region of NZ has been affected, but minorly. I know that New Hanover county, where UNCW (my home university) is situated, has also had cases. Apparently if the infection makes it’s way into the halls here at Uni of Waikato, the containment procedures are fairly extreme- the uni shuts down, domestic students are sent home, internationals stay and are cooked frozen meals until it blows over. This is not an official statement, but I heard it from a source I consider reliable. I imagine it will only be a matter of time before the university gets hit- whether I am here or not, who knows. Apparently estimates in the newspaper today expect 50% of the nation’s population to get the virus in the next 2 years. It is pretty incredible how quickly information travels and situations can develop. 30,000 cases, 74 countries. That’s pretty impressive.

Days 105-111: Birthday Week

So this past week was my birthday week! It wasn’t wild or crazy, but it was kind of busy. Allow me to elaborate:
The first part of the week was mainly working on assignments- My photography exhibition was on Thursday, so I spent a good deal of time scanning my physical prints in, digitizing them, and perfecting them in photoshop. I then got them printed out (A3 prints, 11 by 16 inches, in high quality full color for 60 cents each? Yes please!) and mounted. Our last class day was spent sipping champagne and listening to classical music, reminiscing about deadlines and stressing out. Liquor ban, eat your heart out. It was one of the best last days of class I have had.
Wednesday was my birthday! It was naturally preceded by Tuesday, which was not my birthday. It was on Tuesday I got my first birthday gift, from my good friend Anna. Anna is an interesting friend of mine- she is an RA, and thus is very responsible. In order to balance out her maturity, she often acts very childish, tapping people on the opposite shoulder to get them to look the wrong way and engaging in fanciful waves from great distances. Naturally, she got me a very childish gift in order to balance out my coming of age. I got a knock on my door right after midnight (my first technical minutes as a 21 year old), and had a gift shoved in my hand. Inside were two things: A set of cling- on pirate stickers (currently sticking to my windows and mirrors in my room) and a small wooden model pirate ship (ages 5+). Naturally, I was ecstatic. I played with the stickers and talked to Anna for hours (a naturally unhealthy habit that keeps me up until sunrise on some mornings) and finally went to sleep.
I woke up on my birthday to more gifts. I won’t go into them all, but they included a lot of chocolate, Guinness (YES), a small yard glass, a box of 30 ice cream cones (from a lactose-intolerant German girl, go figure) and other random bits and pieces, including some very nice cards. My Canadian friend gave me sunshine for the day- the weather could not have been nicer. I spent the day relaxing, staying in a hammock, not doing a whole heck of a lot, and loving it. That night a few friends and I went to an Irish pub we had hit up months before- it has a real pub atmosphere, and we were naturally the only students there. After a few rounds (all the good stuff, Guinness, cider, and Speight’s, a local NZ brand), we went to the bakehouse, a 24-7 bakery, and got some good eats. My birthday was low key and very enjoyable.
Thursday was a surprising day- normally it is my hardest, with class all day. Today, however, it was short with only 1 hour of class. I used this to my advantage to sleep in on my birthday. Oh yeah, it was still my birthday. One of the perk of living halfway around the world is that when you have your birthday, it starts on your time and ends at your home time. So, while I may not have had a massive thrashing party with dancing girls and beer kegs, I did have 40 hours of relaxation and enjoyment. I worked on some assignments, but otherwise didn’t have a terribly eventful day.
Friday likewise was less than… monumental. The three perks of the day were getting an assignment back (A+), hanging out on a stoop, and going to physio. At physiotherapy, to make my appointment time I had to run. Those of you who know me know that I have never been able to run a mile- my foot drops and I fall. I was astonished to not have this impending feeling of doom as I ran, that my foot was about to fall. I eventually did reach physio on time, and instantly told Jill, my physiotherapist. She told me to try and run a mile when I got back, so I did.

For the first time in my life, I ran a mile. The feeling was exhilarating. I decided that instead of doing cross training anymore, I would do running instead. The next day I ran an 8 minute mile (pretty good, considering that my last best time for a mile was in the 10th grade at 13 or 14 minutes). I decided to run 2 in a row, taking exactly 16 minutes. I have no clue where this falls on the fitness scale, but it was exciting. Have I found a passion I have thought so many others crazy for holding? Time will tell, I guess. For now though, the prescription from the physio is to keep it up, and that’s exactly what I intend to do.

My third good thing about the day was me sitting on a stoop with friends for over an hour, just hanging outside for no good reason. I felt like a city kid.

Friday was the engineering boat race- engineering students have been working on boats all semester, and it took place at the pond on campus. Both costumes and large crates of beer were encouraged. What did I do? I dressed up as a pirate. Naturally. I and a friend of mine dressed up, brought large sticks, and had swordfights on the opposite side of the lake in between races. It was totally juvenile and lots of fun.

Saturday included little except a visit to an art gallery showing scale models of Leonardo Da Vinci’s most famous inventions, including flying machines, war machines, and more (not to mention the first bicycle). The genius of the man is astonishing. Later that night me and Bryce went out to do some light graffiti, where one takes a long exposure picture of a subject, and then by manipulating light sources, is able to create an image similar to graffiti without damaging property. We spent most of the night walking around town, but did get a few cool shots near some abandoned buildings and in a graveyard. After a ton of walking we called it a night.