Mary James (Masha) and Alexandra (Shura) say hi!
These are my two cousins I talked about a few posts ago. I finally got around to getting some pictures of them up, and boy am I glad I did- I had such a great time with them, and hope to visit them again after I return home.
2 days ago, after I posted, the rest of the day was fairly straightforward. It was raining all day on Saturday, and there wasn't much to do. However, the campus gets very very green and beautiful after a rain, and I sat outside. Not a minute after I sit outside, eating dinner, with my feet in the luch green grass, in front of a lake with trees and greenery everywhere, that I hear bagpipes. I quickly looked around, ran back to my room, and got my camera. I ran to the sound, to see a lone bagpiper doing rounds across one of the buildings. My first thought, after seeing the well dressed procession, was funeral. In fact, my Mom's Dad had bagpipes at his funeral. The sound was so eerily beautiful, I recorded it. I may post it on here, if I can find out how. As I was taking pictures of the bagpiper, I was one-upped, and turned to see a man with a massive camera on a tripod (could'nt tell what brand). Following him...
The bride and groom, of course! A wedding! I gave the newlyweds my congrats, and went on my way to finish eating in the wonderful 'scottish' rain.
After dinner we started a game of Risk. It was me, 2 other Americans, a Canadian, and a German. I was winning for a while, but then got screwed over by one of the Americans (Dylan) and the German (Fabian). I am still alive in South America, but am borderd by two superpowers (Fabian and Kristen, the other American who has been friendly to me all game). I am unable to break free, but I am biding my time until one of them is weak- then I will divide and conqur! We played at 6:30 pm, and went on to 11 pm- the game still isn't finished, and no one has even died yet. All in all it is a good game.
So, yesterday might have been the best day yet here. I woke up, and a few of us met to go to mass at a Catholic church called the Cathedral a few minutes away from campus. The mass wasn't great. Several new members who had completed RCIA (Right of Catholic Initiation for Adults, I think the acronym stands for) were elected to become catholic on Easter Vigil mass. The Bishop was there (for the local Diocesan) but as a result of all the official business, the mass was rather dry. In addition to that, there was a Maori woman with two young kids behind us, and one of the kids (about 2 YA) continuously got his pants off and ran up the aisle as the Bishop was speaking, only in a diaper. It was funny, yeah, but I wish the mother had just gone into the crying room, as the kids were quite noisy. They sure were cute, though.
A funny bit: There is a bit of graffiti outside the church on the sidewalk. What does it say?
"Jesus Loves You"
That certainly made me smile.
After this, we were driving back to the Uni when I saw people peddling items on the side of the road- I thought I saw a hookah among the items, and some of the people here have been looking for one, so I got back, alerted the friends, and we went hookah hunting. We found no hookah, but we did get some old piano music books for the 'library' upstairs in the Mezzanine. After this, we went back for lunch, followed by inter-hall sports games. The games included mud sliding, dodgeball, barrel rolling, tug of war, and other wacky games. I took nearly 500 pictures, so some of them better be damn good! Our hall (Student Village) ended up winning the games, much to our delight.
After dinner, we went to the hamilton Gardens and enjoyed an absolutely spectacular show- the Waikato city orchestra performed pieces of opera, sets from West Side Story, Disney hits, finished with... what else, but- The 1812 Overture. These guys certainly know how to do it in style- there were cannons and fireworks to go with the music, and it was astonishing and phenomenal. It was such a wonderful night, the finale was the icing on the cake. there were 11 of us, 5 Americans, 5 Kiwis, and 1 from 'all over the place'. Once it got dark, we were just sitting on the lawn, heads to the sky, watching the stars. The stars here are very bright, and after a while we could see so many. Once enough time went on, we started seeing sattelites, streaking across the sky- I saw at least 8 or 9 over the course of the evening. There was just something about looking at the southern night sky, listening to opera, and watching these man-made objects go 18,000 mph above our heads that just made me supremely happy. I got pictures, and will post them eventually. We got a taxi home, and then me, Estee (NZ), Talana (Maori NZ), and Zia (Italian) all hung out and talked for hours. Talana is teaching me a new Maori word each day. Currently I know Poi (a Maori dance piece, its a ball on a rope), Kai (food) Te Whara (pronounced te fahdah, which means... to go, if I remember right). I also learned orange, but forgot it. The big phrase is Kia Ora, which means, hello, thanks, your welcome, yes, and a ton of other stuff. If you are in doubt, just say Kia Ora, and you will be set. The way it is pronounced, it really is Kiora, as it is said so quickly, but I won't get into the details.
So, today so far, I went to the physiotherapst here (for free, as usual) to work on my back. Today is the first day I could lean to my left without any pain at all- it is working! I am so excited, and my physio person is so nice. Afterwards, I walked back with a mince pie in hand, and came back to blog and do some exercises- I am joining the gym today, so I can stay strong. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to lift weights :(
Until next time, keep reading!
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