Days 2 and 3: Getting my bearings

Well, technically it is the morning of Day 4 here in NZ, but I will write on the previous two at the moment.
Internet is not free here. In the words of one of the NZ students I met, NZ has the worst and most expensive internet in the world (probably not true, but it sure wasn't free). I had to buy a plan to use internet. The company that provides it is called lightwire, and they charge plans based on the bandwith you use in addition to the time you use it. For example, the plan I got is introductory, and is 1.5 Gigabytes of usage over a 90 day period- after 90 days what I don't use is lost. The cost is $20, and I so far have used about 2% of my allotment just checking email, facebook, etc. This will be good for me- the less internet I use, the more time I will be out actually enjoying myself and my surroundings.

So! My past 2 days: Well, my first day I was the only person in my building except for my chinese comrade- I now rarely see him. We have perhaps 8-10 people in the building now, with at least 2 other americans. One, named katie, is my neighbor. My pod of 6 has 1 more student moved in- his name is Karein, and he is a New Zealand education student.
I toured around, and saw a good deal of the campus. It really is magnificent. There are the most interesting plants everywhere, and massive trees- the largest I know of back home is in a wildlife preserve in Brunswick county, NC, and it is over 1000 years old- these are bigger. Not all, but a few of them. I can't wait to climb them and take a nap in my hammock!

Day 2 we had a bit of an adventure. Myself, Cameron (a New Zealander), Dylan (USA) and Andew (Canada) went downtown to find Dylan a fan (the rooms aren't air conditioned, they just have massive opening windows). We hit 8 electronics stores, all of which were sold out of fans. The 9th store we went to had just closed up shop (it was on Sunday) and we stood outside. Andew turned around and joked "Damn! I bet they had a ton of fans, too!" The manager walks out to his car, and turns around, saying: "Fans? Nah, we sold out weeks ago!"
Dylan: "When will you get more?"
Manager: "Hmmm... hard to say. Sometime in 2010, I imagine!"

Yesterday we set up bank accounts, got our class schedules, and our ID cards. When I went up for my ID card, to get my picture taken, the guy looked at his computer screen strangely. He said I had already had a photo taken. I look at the screen, and there is a girl of about 18 with long brown hair as MY ID picture! Needless to say, we had to retake.

A word on how the New Zealanders do things: They are very laid back. For example, orientation starts tomorrow, and I have no idea where to go or what to do. No one does- not staff, or RAs, or residents. I presume we will find out tonight. People don't go a whole lot out of their way, and if there is a discrepency, they send you to someone else. It is a very different way of doing things than I am used to- and it is pretty beaurocratic. I imagine if I grew up here I'd be the same way, but people really are just pretty laid back.

On a completely unrelated note: quite a few people want to learn to dive here. Needless to say, I am coaxing them as much as possible!

On day 3, after doing all the banking and ID and classes, we had dinner. Mealtimes are an hour long:
Breakfast 8-9am
Lunch 12-1pm
Dinner 5-6pm

Dinner is really early- I still haven't gotten used to it. Partially because of the meal schedule, everyone starts their day earlier- I have been getting up before 7:30 on most days so far, getting up as early as 4:45 on day 2. The drinking rules here are elaborate, and I may talk about them on a later post, because they are interesting.

After dinner on day 2 I taught a whole circle of New Zealanders how to play poker (5 card draw). After they got the hang of it they really liked it- and small time gambling is legal here, so people play for a few bucks just so they care about what is in their hand. Last night I taught a few more how to play 5 card draw, texas hold 'em, 7 card stud, follow the queen, and follow the sticky queen. It is quite fun actually, and from what I have seen I am the most expereienced player by far.

After poker we went out to a bar downtown- we were the only 6 there, as it was 10pm on a monday night. We each had a beer, and returned to campus (which is where I played that second game of poker).

You may have noticed that everything I have talked about is pretty haphazard- that is because the days have been haphazard- it is pretty hard to put it all into order sometimes. Considering almost noone has a cell phone (international students anyhow) the only place we meet is mealtimes, and hang out afterwards. Nothing is going on for most of us, and the majority of students don't move in until tomorrow, so there are only maybe 50 of us at absolute maximum, in a village for 400. Our motto at the moment, when someone doesn't want to do whatever the rest of us are going to do, is "What else ya gonna do?"
I like it.

So, I will post again at the end of the day. hope this hasn't been too long for you.