The end of the year

hello loyal blog readers! not much to write this month, but thought i'd give you a little update anyway.

hasn't been too much going on in the welly part of the world. LOTS of rain, GALE force winds, and COLD temps. while the thermometer might not read as low as some places i've been in the US it still FEELS freezing! esp when you're required to sit a bird feeder in the woods and see which birds come by to drink.

i'm all done w/my internship @ the sanctuary. unfortunately it never really got better, and while i did learn useful skills for the future, it wasn't really what i was hoping for :-\ it just felt like i was doing busy work most of the time and they didn't really need me there. and since i wasn't getting paid, and it was freezing, and raining, and i had to wake up @ 6:30...i'm allllll done w/that! :-D now i can sleep in until 9am!! hooray!! lol remember the days when i used to sleep in until 12!? where have they gone, oh the day of my youth.

i haven't been sleeping very well...again...so to try to combat that i've been hitting the gym. only twice a week...but on friday's a take an intense yoga class too! don't know if my yoga skills are getting much better, but it's def a good stretch!! now that i'm done w/my sanctuary work i'll hopefully be going more often.

i have gone to some exciting themed parties over the last month. there was a "love boat" party on a little tug boat (which is now a restaurant), it was tons-o-fun...you guys know how i LOVE my 80's music! so i was right @ home...plus i found the PERFECT dress. you HAVE to see the pics to get a feel for it...hot pink and amazing.

my friend christina had a birthday party which was a Renaissance theme...also a lot of fun.

AND the best party of all was a showing of rocky horror picture show at the embassy theater. it was phenomenal!!! :-D a million times more exciting than the one i was @ the university mall! the pics don't do it justice, but trust me, it was amazing.

other than that, i've just been getting my hwk done! i know it sounds lame, go to NZ for grad school and just do hwk!! bleh! lol, but hey, what can i say, i'm a good student ;) so i've turned in all my assignments, and my last class is friday! i've got a week off to study and then a final june 15, and 20 and then I'M DONE! :-O it's a little hard to believe that it's over already!! my mom and taylor will be coming to auckland at the start of july and then once we make it through wellington, i'll be moving out and home by july 24th!! WOAH! so you guys had better make sure that the weather is warm and sunny, cause i miss the summer already!! (i know it's only been 6 months, but it's cold here okay!) then it's home to find a job in annapolis....yikes! see what you guys can do abt the economy too, while you're at it :-P i won't be home for too long before it's off on another adventure (my tix to germany have already been purchased and i'm off to europe sept 24th!), so if you wanna see me, make sure you're around!!! miss you guys! can't wait to come home!! :-D

Oh my...I'm not very good at this am I?

yikes.

i'm sorry guys. when i decided to start this whole blog thing i thought i'd be a lot better at updating regularly. but i guess like most of diary attempts i start strong and then kinda fizzle out :-\ march was a crazy and exciting month, and april hasn't been too bad either, so far.

MARCH!
i started my internship @ karori wildlife sanctuary, and like most jobs the 1st day is AMAZING and you're really excited, the 2nd day is a little overwhelming and the 3rd day is terrible...but then it gets good again after a while :) my 1st day of work i discovered my raincoat was no longer waterproof, and of course it rained all day :-\ luckily it hasn't rained since then (knock on wood), so i should be okay until my mom sends me a new one.

nathan's visit was right around the corner, so i told the sanctuary i'd be gone for a few weeks, and i planed on my guest arriving march 24th. a few days before i got a cryptic email saying he'd be two days early, so i planned on the 22nd. i went to candice's bday party fri night and got a costume for ray's recycled party (go to the thrift store and find something ugly for <$20). sat night i had just finished making my dinner and went downstairs to get ready when there was a knock on the door!!! of course it was nathan :-D he had thought he told me to plan for the 23rd and he was REALLY confused/upset when i wasn't @ the airport to pick him up...oops :( he took a cab to my house and we got him all set up (which didn't take long...since he didn't really have much w/him). because i had already bought a costume for the party i still HAD to go, and of course i took nathan w/me even though he was sans costume :)

on tuesday nathan and i went to my ecology class and i made him participate in our group activity, which he complained abt, but he survived just fine :-P on wednesday i played tour guide and took him to the botanical gardens, the cable car, te papa (nz museum), and for a night tour of the sanctuary. on our night walk we saw 2 tuatara, glowworms, and a kiwi! well, we KINDA saw a kiwi...more like just his butt...maybe.

on friday after class, we headed to the airport to travel on to australia. we had a little bit of a hard time getting checked in because a)we didn't have visas (easily fixed), and b)the oz govt still thought i was in oz...even though my visa expired in jan...guess they didn't really care if i stayed longer! haha, oh well. after flying into brisbane and catching the connecting flight to cairns we checked into our hotel and went to bed! in the morning we realized that nate had booked an ocean view room...which we didn't have, so we moved rooms and had the most AMAZING view! sat we walked all over town and took tons of pics of the beautiful coastline. that night we jumped on a surprise tour, flames of the forest. when we arrived to a mysterious location in the woods, there was beautiful candle light everywhere and we had a wonderful evening of food, drinks and aboriginal stories :) it was a great surprise and a lot of fun. sunday we went snorkeling on the outer reef. and let me tell you, if you like beautiful things...you HAVE to go to the reef. i've been snorkeling a few times before, but NOTHING compared to the beauty of the great barrier reef. it was phenomenal! we even saw a sea turtle!! no pics of him though :( nate's camera ran outta film just before he showed up...oh well. monday we were leaving to go back to wellington, but nate had booked us a trip out of town to see the koala park, butterfly sanctuary, and botanical gardens...unfortunately he thought our flight was leaving @ 12am...but it was actually 12pm, so we didn't get to go :( we walked around town a little more, went for a quick dip in the pool and headed off to the airport (since i didn't get to see any koalas or butterflies i made nate be a substitute for me...take a look @ the pics, he was a good sport :) hehehe). when we got to the cairns airport we learned that because of a qantas baggage strike in brisbane our flight was delayed 3hrs! we were pretty sure we'd miss our connection to wellington, but they assured us they'd take care of everything. sure enough when we finally got to brissie our wellington flight was gone. qantas had rebooked us for the next day, and put us up in a nice hotel in the city, payed for our transportation both ways, and our dinner, and our breakfast! it was like an extra (FREE) vacation day! :-D since our dinner was paid for we ate it up and had a nice time. nate went to explore the city a little after dinner, but i just went to bed.

APRIL

on tuesday, late, we finally arrived back in welli and started planning our trip around the north island.

**side note :) we played a little april fool's joke on everyone :) please...if you have friends who still think we're REALLY engaged, tell them it was just a joke! lol don't want anyone sending me engagement cards! lol. and sorry to everyone who's still mad...but lol it was SO WORTH IT! sorry!!!

we rented a car on wednesday and headed off to tongoriro national park to do the alpine crossing. it was a REALLY tough, REALLY long, hike across volcanoes, and lakes, and sulfur vents...VERY cool. we did get a hard time from the woman working @ our hotel...she made me rent a diff pair of pants from her since i couldn't wear jeans, and she told us that nate's boots were JUST passing (keep in mind he was wearing his ARMY boots...lol). it was a beautiful hike, but you won't catch me doing it again anytime soon...i think i'm still tired!

after we got back from the hike we drove to rotorua and stayed at the prince's gate...VERY fancy ;) rotorua was a lot of fun, and we went to the museums, rose gardens, culture exhibits, and more. some of the highlights were: hell's gate, where we went in the mud baths, and sulfur spas (really fun); we went zorbing (HUGE plastic ball w/a hole in the middle...kinda like a gerbil ball, there's a layer of air so it's bouncy, and they put some warm water in it so you slip around...then they push you down a big hill!), it was SO much fun; and we also went to see a cultural maori show and had a traditional hangi dinner.

after dinner we drove to waitomo. however, by the time we got there it was ~1am and NOTHING was open...meaning we had no where to sleep :( so the car it was! nate had bought a sheep skin which we used for a blanket and we put the back seats down and stuck our legs in the trunk...not the best sleep ever, but at least we could stretch out and w/body heat we didn't freeze! although, it was close...bleh. in waitomo we went blackwater rafting and saw thousands of glowworms and jumped off waterfalls deep in the caves while wearing our booties, wetsuits, and helmets (the water was ~10oC!!), it was FREEZING, but very cool :)

tuesday we were in martinborough, aka one of the north island's wine areas. we drove out to cape palliser to see a colony of male fur seals :) and went wine tasting @ 5 diff vineyards. that night we made our way back to wellington, and it was the end of our nice weather. from the time we'd gotten to cairns until we got back to wellington at the very end of the trip, we had PERFECT BEAUTIFUL weather...and then it was back to rainy cold wellington :-P

on thursday, i took nate the airport so he could head back to iraq :'( of course i got wicked depressed and didn't leave the house for 2 days, but on sat i made myself go out to a small party.

since then, it's been fall break! i went out too lunch w/some friends on easter sunday, and i've started working @ the sanctuary again. i won't start classes again until the 27th, so i'm just kinda hanging out and doing a little school work here and there. since i'm too lazy to go all the way to campus just to go to the gym, i've been doing a little yoga at home in our spare bedroom. other than that, i've just been a bum. hope every one's well @ home and i'm sad that it's getting warm there just as it's getting cold here. it's still in the low 60's and i'm hoping it will stay that way until i leave...even though i doubt it will. miss you guys!!!

ps. don't forget to look @ ALL the pics nate and i took while we were gone!! :-D

Feb's summary

bleh, so i was going to go to a cool class @ the gym this morning (sat morning...), but i'm stupid and forgot the buses are different on the weekends. guess that means i'll have to update my blog for all of you that have nothing better to do than read it. jk ;) you know i love you guys.

so the 2nd week of feb my nz conservation practices class went on our 1st field trip to cape kidnappers and te angiangi marine reserve. this trip was our field work trip and we were all doing research for our group projects. mine was on the birds at the marine reserve (we were supposed to see how the crows were affecting the birds, but we didn't see any crows...so we had to shift our goal a bit). on tuesday and wednesday my 1/2 of the class went to cape kidnappers. it's private land owned by 6 different owners which is set aside for restoration work, and has a HUGE predator proof fence around it, so that rats and cats and mice can't get in. in nz, conservation is more abt killing the harmful introduced things rather than saving the native things. rats, cats, and stoats are the biggest problems here because they eat ground nesting birds and their eggs. since there are no native nz predator mammals, they birds evolved feeling safe on the ground...now the rats take advantage of that :( since my research needed to be done at the reserve, i just helped out the other groups and enjoyed the view. it was REALLY hot, and up quite a steep hill, but the view was great :) on thursday and friday we were at the reserve. my data collection required 2 groups of 2 (one inside the reserve, one outside) picking 2 different sites to do a scan sample (look across the beach and note what kind of birds you see and what they're doing- ex: black billed gull, flying) and one focal sample (pick one bird in the group and watch it for 5 mins and record it's every movement- ex: heron, foraging, walking, standing, foraging, walking, preening...etc.). it drizzled a little on thrusday, but really RAINED on friday, which was the day i was supposed to help another group. since the weather was so bad we didn't get to do any research though :(

the 3rd week in feb i spent doing hwk. we had a popular science article due and i focused most of my time on that. i chose to write my article on the lesser short-tailed bat, one of the two native nz land mammals. if you're interested in reading it let me know, and since it's a pop sci article EVERYONE should be able to understand it...that's the whole idea :) on saturday, after my paper was turned in i went to the cuba st carnival. don't ask me why they do it...they just do. amanda and i watched the parade (my 1st...see videos @ the bottom) and cheered and yelled for christina as she went by w/her capeoria group. after we hung out w/jugnu and friends and had a few drinks. we then went on a bar hopping spree to the bollywood club, and rain. it was a very crazy night full of drunken drama and we didn't get home until 5am :'( sunday morning i woke up, fullying feeling the effects of the late night before, but was supposed to go bird banding at the zoo. not wanting to miss the opportunity for some hands on bird work, kate and i dragged ourselves to the wellington zoo. it was well work it, because we each got to band 3 birds :-D hopefully now that we know the people who run the operation we can help out in the future!

the last week in feb was our field trip to the south island. we took the 3 hr ferry across the cook straight (i slept the whole time because i was still so exhausted from my SUPER late sat night). when we got to picton we rented vans and drove to kikora. we checked into our hostel and enjoyed the hot tub that night :) on tuesday we had a guided walk along the coast line and i'm afraid my words will not do the scene justice, you HAVE to see the pics. i fell in love! it was SOO beautiful. wednesday we were supposed to go whale watching but it was canceled due to rough seas :'( now i fear my chances of seeing a wild sperm whale are slim to none :'( we decided to cut our losses and head to old mcdonalds farm early (that's the hostel we were staying in that night). christina, amanda and i went swimming in able tasman national park and it couldn't have been more memorable. we dug up sand dollars with our toes, i learned the sting ray shuffle, and a wild gannet was fishing right next to us. it was amazing. the next day we took a boat tour around the national park and went on a 3 hr hike. after we went for a quick dip and enjoyed scones and tea at nicky's (my head professor) family home. before getting back on the boat we quickly grabbed a bunch of wild mussels for dinner! of course they were delicious, and i was even more excited because i'd never cooked and eaten anything i'd caught before :) (not that it's hard to catch a mussel...). friday, my birthday ;) we took the ferry back home. amanda had told everyone to dress up so we could celebrate a little on the ferry, and it was a lot of fun to sit around sipping wine in our fancy dresses after a week in the field (bug bites make a GREAT accessory, lol). on the ferry amanda decided to have everyone help out and make me a list of dares i was to complete later that night. i wasn't allowed to see the list until 7:30pm, and there were only 24...but i was quite worried by the evil laughs that could be heard while the list was being formed.

we started the night off at mac's brewery and i also started my list of dares. unfortunately the public broadcast of this story ends here...if you want to hear about all of them, you'll have to ask ;) but don't worry, i didn't get arrested or anything.

this week has been the 1st official week of classes. it's was also free group classes all week at the gym! because it's been since nov that i last went to the gym, i decided it needed to get back into it in full force. i was REALLY good all week and attended ALL the classes i could...except for today :( on monday i went to pilates (my 1st pilates class, and i really liked it...it's WAY harder than i thought), tuesday i went to the x55 class (combo of step and light weights) AND my conservation ecology class (that's not at the gym...but hey, it's what i'm here for), wednesday i took the oxigeno class (combo of pilates, yoga, and ballet...didn't like it so much), thursday i went to power (a SUPER intense weight class...totally kicked my butt and i'm SOOOO sore) and pilates, and on friday i went to my ecological restoration class part 1 and 2 and a seminar on anoles and the pump class (another weights class very similar to pump, but not as intense, but it was still really rough doing those 2 classes back to back :'( my poor muscles!). friday night ashely had told a few of us about a free dinner the ASANZ was doing in the student union. kate, christine and i decided there's nothing wrong w/free food and went! however when we showed up we learned that the ASANZ was the adventist student association of new zealand...NOT what we were expecting. we were polite and ate and chatted with the quite group, but i excused myself after dinner so i didn't have to walk home from the bus in the dark...which didn't even happen :(

for the next few weeks i'll be working on my paper and poster for my bird project, and of course going to class, but i also start my internship on monday! i'll be going to the karori wildlife sanctuary at 8am on monday to help out. i'm not really sure what i'll be doing yet, but i'll let you know :) don't really have any other plans until nathan gets here. he should be coming around the 24th, but it's kinda up to the flights from kuwait as to when he gets here. we've had to cancel our trip to tazmania :( but we will still get to go to the great barrier reef, and hopefully around the north island in nz a bit. hope everyone is well, and thanks for the bday cards :) they're all hanging above my bed. thanks for reading!! :-D

1st week of class

hello all! not much to report on my kiwi end of things, but i thought i'd stop by and give a brief update anyway.

last week was my 1st week of class. the month of feb will contain my entire new zealand conservation practices course (that's the one w/the field trips). monday was the usual "getting to know you" intro lectures, where we talked abt the syllabus, what we'll be graded on (aka our marks ;) that's a little kiwi talk), and our schedule (aka our timetable). in the afternoon we had our powhiri (remember that maori welcome ceremony i did @ parihaka?? same thing) to welcome us to the Vic (nickname for my school, aka uni) marae (marae is to powhiri as chuch is to service. take that GRE'S!) there we learned about the treaty of waitangi, which is very controversial and i suggest you do your own research abt it if you're interested. we had a wonderful lunch prepared by the local iwi (maori for people...btw i'm becoming "very" trilingual, almost got the aussie, and kiwi down, and i'm working on a few maori vocab words. (i use the term 'very' very loosely)).

on tuesday we took the ferry to matiu/somes island in the wellington harbor. it is one of the small nz island where all pests have been removed so that endangered native wildlife can repopulate. it was a beautiful day, and i took a few pics for your enjoyment, i just wish we had more time to look around leisurely. later in the afternoon we had a lecture on the department of conservation's (aka doc, NOT d.o.c) role in policy. i rate it a c- on the interest scale.

wednesday morning we had a lecture given by murray (environmental restoration prof, also really loves ducks!! :-D i'm sure i'll be hanging out w/him a lot) abt our north island field trip (taking place feb 9-13). we'll traveling north to cape kidnappers sanctuary and the te angangi marine reserve to do the research for our group projects (50% of our grade in the class!!!) i give murray's presentation an a, because i def learned a lot of things i never knew. they have a system here in nz, where they will build a fence around a reserve, then work on getting all the non-native pests out of the area and then work on repopulating it w/endangered and threatened species. interesting idea...very expensive...we'll see how it works in the long run.

sidebar.
my group project: status and monitoring of te angngi marine reserve bird populations-
i wont' give you the whole write up, but basically my group of 4 will monitor the birds and get a count of species diversity, behavior, location of birds, interactions, and location/behavior in relation to tides. i'm working w/3 other girls who are very interested in birds, just like me, so it should be good :)

after a long afternoon break, we had a lecture given by cath wallace, from doc, on the legislation which relates to conservation. d on the interesting scale...i almost fell asleep.

we had thursday AND friday off. thursday for no reason, and friday was waitangi day. the 7's are going on now (world rugby tournement) and it's really crazy. everyone who attends dresses in crazy costumes and parades around the streets of wellington. i guess it's the kiwi version of halloween, only there's no candy and it lasts for the whole weekend. since i did not have tix to go to the 7's my mconbio friends and i went to 'one love', a concert held on bob marley's birthday to celebrate unity and peace worldwide. the music wasn't as good as it was @ parihaka, but the weather was much nicer and it was still fun to picnic w/the girls :)

other than that, i've just been doing a little bit of research for a popular science article i have due later in feb (i've decided to write abt short-tailed bats, one of the 2 native mammals of nz), and playing travel agent. since nathan's internet is so spotty, it's up to me to plan out our journeys. so far i've got the whole oz part figured out (5 day tour in taz, and 4 days in cairns to see the GBR). that will leave us 7 days to hang out and see the north island of NZ.

other random news: i stopped reading the 'sex and the city' book, cause it was boring and NOT like the show. i was really hoping for more carrie, miranda, samantha, and charoltte stories...but no such luck. so now i'm reading 'harry potter and the chamber of secrets' because all the other books i wanted to check out were at the central library and i was at my local one :-\

also i feel it is my duty as a conservationist to pass along this information to you, my family. the monterey bay aquarium has put out a 'best fish guide', which lists all best fish choices according to status and fishing methods. there is a guide for reach region of the us and also a sushi guide for you sushi lovers like me. PLEASE download the pdf, print it, and put it in your wallet or hang it on your fridge so you can do your part of eat sustainable and safely caught fish only. i know it's hard, and it might be sad that you can't eat your favs anymore, but do it for the oceans!!!

download them here, or just click on the pdf in the email i've sent.
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/download.aspx

sushi guide
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_SushiGuide.pdf

northeast guide (ME-PA and NJ)
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_NortheastGuide.pdf

southeast guide (MD, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, AL, MS, LA and TX)
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_SoutheastGuide.pdf

central us guide (OH, WV, KY, TN-ID and UT)
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_MidwestGuide.pdf

and for those of you who have moved and never told me...
southwest guide (NM and AZ)
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_SouthwestGuide.pdf

west coast guide (AK-CA)
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_WestCoastGuide.pdf

if you've moved here and haven't told me yet, i'm gonna be REALLY pissed...
hi guide
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_HawaiiGuide.pdf

ENJOY!!! ps. i've added some pics from manly...cause i forgot abt them til now :)

Settling Down

Greetings! so i believe the last time i posted i had JUST moved into my new place and was still sleeping on the floor. well i am proud to announce that last sat, christina and i, rented a cargo van and drove around picking up new furniture for my room. the bed frame i purchased was in lyall bay (near the airport a little southeast of town), and just so everyone knows, it's GORGEOUS out there. then after getting my bed frame, we drove into town and picked up a mattress from the salvation army (it was the very LAST mattress what wasn't sold, and luckily it was a double and only $45!), and a desk and shelves from the warehouse. i spent the afternoon walking around with michael and vineet, so michael could give me a ride home later ;) we went to the te papa museum (free new zealand museum downtown), to see the giant squid exhibit. i was really expecting something super cool, but really it was just a big preserved squid...not that amazing. when i got home i put my bed together, then started assembling my desk. i was actually quite proud of myself. as a daughter i was never really involved in those self assembly projects, and even though it's not very hard to follow the directions, i still did it all by myself :) unfortunately the little set of shelves i put together was not as simple...who knew. i couldn't get anything to align correctly and finally, when my hands were too raw from twisting the screwdriver, i just gave up and hammered them in the rest of the way.

on tuesday we (kate, liz and i) went to customs to try to get the luggage we had shipped over from sydney. nz allows a limited amount of luggage you can bring, which caused us to have to ship it via freight. we arrived at customs, and then were told to go to maf (people who handle biohazards), when we arrived at maf, they didn't know we were coming, and didn't have our paperwork done. then liz and i had to pay $50 to get our hiking boots cleaned (if we had packed them in our accompanied baggage, it would have been free...learned that lesson). we then went back to customs to get everything cleared...however we had to wait until wednesday to actually GO to the freight office to pick up the bags. bleh. anyway, i finally have all my stuff, my room is all furnished and i'm 100% settled :)

earlier last week (sorry for jumping around so much), amanda, christina and i went to a barrack obama party :) we were very excited to celebrate the inauguration, even if it was kiwi style, and check out one of the local music venues, the san fransisco bathhouse. the party was more of an obama party, than it was an inaugration party, and idk abt christina (she's american as well), but i kinda felt outta place. everyone who performed spoke about slavery, and how badly americans had treated blacks in the past, and look at them now, he's runnin the country. idk...it was an interesting experience, but def not was i expected.

on wednesday we had orientation, and i enrolled in my classes. this semester i'll be taking new zealand conservation practices, conservation ecology, and ecological restoration. for 2 weeks in feb we will do our conservation practice course through a 1 week trip to hawkes bay in the north island, and a 1 week trip somewhere in the south island. i hear it's the best part of the semester, and i'm really looking forward to it :)

what else...
i'm still working on getting my visa. i got a local library card (imagine that!). OH!! i finished 'son of a witch' last week (i just got it for xmas) AND i checked out 'the da vinci code' from the library and just finished that YESTERDAY! it's crazy. idk who i am now...but apparently i'm a reading fiend. i'm not on to reading the 'sex and the city' book, which the tv show was based on. it's crazy though...so attention everyone! all those books you told me i should have read years ago, write me a list or send them over, cause books are flying off my shelves!

the weather has been decent, not too hot during the day, and chilly at night. rained a few days ago, and of course the occasional gust of wind. today is the hottest day i've seen in nz, and it's only in the upper 70's. i'm going out tonight w/the girls in my program (i say girls...only because there are no guys!), to celebrate our last night before school starts. AND, i totally didn't even realize that the superbowl was this sunday!! i feel so outta the loop :( not like i enjoy watching football, but it's def something you HAVE to watch at home...i wonder if they'll even show it here? anyway, things here are good, and i've uploaded some more pics (nathan has also opened a picasa account and there is a link to his pics on the right hand side of my pic page). i will be submitting my alpha phi contest photos on feb 2, and i've narrowed it down to 3 finalists. there are some ties, so get in there and vote!! i'll let you know what i find out. :)

1 paparata st

hi again! (look @ me being so good, posting so much these last few days). just a quick post to let every one know i've moved into my new house. it's a bit far from the city, in a suburb called karori (said just the way it looks). it's on the top of a hill and i have a GREAT view out over the hills towards the harbor. there's a late-20's something married gay couple who lives here right now (micheal and vinete). they seem very nice (from the 1 10min convo we had when i came to check out the place), and i'm sure i'll be writing more about them as i get to know them better. i have a medium sized room on the 1st floor right next to the front door, it's unfurnished but has a nice closet for all my clothes :) the lack of a bed was kind of a determent from me immediately snatching up the room, but a few mins after i left they called me up and offered me the place. i had one more house i was going to go to on saturday, but i figured what the heck, why not just go for it! this weekend i purchased a double bed frame on trade me (nz's ebay), for only $51!! :-D i have to go pick it up myself, but i'm planning on renting a truck (or as the kiwi's say 'hire a ute'), so i can get the bed frame and then go by a mattress @ a 2nd hand shop. micheal and vinete are letting me borrow a foam mattress of theirs until i get a proper bed. i had quite the time finding double sheets for me bed...apparently they're a REALLY uncommon size to carry :-\ after buying a double fitted sheet from store A, and a queen flat sheet from store B, store C had a double flat and fitted sheet for only $10 each...waaay less than i paid @ either of the other stores. right now micheal (who's a kiwi) is cooking dinner for vinete (who's indian, just moved to nz 7 years ago), and i...some sort of indian food. it's a good thing i liked the indian food i had for the 1st time last week, or i'd really be in trouble!! when michael leaves to go pick up vinete from work/the gym i'll try to take some pics of the house. i don't wanna walk around doin it now...new roommate and all...don't want him thinking i'm to weird! (okay okay, so he'll prob figure it out later, but i'd like to delay that as much as possible ;)

RE-ENTRY: now, i've also been reminded that i skipped part of my syd-->wellington story and my re-entry into syd(which i must have tried to block out...ugh). after waiting through the customs line, i handed over my passport to the customs agent. after typing a few things there and there, she called someone over for a question. the 'question answer-er' pulled me aside and told me that my visa name and my passport name didn't match perfectly, because my middle name was not on my visa!! i told her i'd had the visa since july and there was no problem w/it then, but she didn't seem to care and kept telling me that the names had to match perfectly. i sat in some random chairs for ~20mins (worrying they wouldn't let me back in the country!), but eventually she came back and said everything was fine...guess they couldn't find my criminal records ;)

SYD-->WLG:after waiting a hour in the check-in line, the attendant told me i needed a return sydney flight to get into nz. apparently they won't let you in the country w/no visa unless you can prove you'll be leaving. so i got outta line and had to BUY a return sydney ticket on the spot :-\ luckily i had just gotten my bond back so i had the cash on me! i then went back to the attendant to weighted my bag (i was REALLY worried my bags were too heavy...i didn't know WHAT i was gonna do). the 1st bag was fine, and then they wanted to weigh my carry on!! WHO WEIGHS A CARRY ON?! well it was only allowed to be 7kg and it was almost 14kg! they said i'd have to check it, and pay $200 or if i had proof of my trip from the us-->syd then they'd wave the fee. well it's not like i walk around carrying old plane tix, so i had to go upstairs and find the united offices to get a print out of some kind. well they were closed...but lucky for me the attendant let me pass w/out the extra fee! :-D

**as soon as i find somewhere w/free internet i'll upload a ton of pics, so be ready! xoxoxo everyone!! happy almost obama day!

summer/winter/summer/wellington part II

alright everyone, as promised i'm finishing my update (instead of looking for housing, so feel special).

right, so after spending my 1st day of 2009 on coogee beach, and getting called out of the water because of a shark (very exciting, no injuries, and they didn't say what kind of shark it was), i set off to do my last bit of sight-seeing. that saturday i went to the royal botanical gardens, sydney opera house, and the australian museum. it was quite the day filled w/tourists, but i really enjoyed myself. i went on the tour of the gardens and practiced using my new camera (which nathan gave me for xmas-panasonic lumix...very nice ;) thanks again dude), and learned this interesting fact: each species of fig has it's own species of wasp, the blind, wingless male sits inside waiting for females to come by and mate with him. the extra pollen that she brings then pollinates the fig. (there was a man in my group who asked if the males have little tvs and kegs of beer inside...too funny). i also went on the tour of the opera house. i really debated spending the money on it, but i think it was quite worth it. they took you around inside and showed you the details of the architecture and you were also able to see 2 of the theaters. all week i had been seeing adds for the 'best nature photography of 2008' which was being displayed at the australian museum. naturally with my enjoyment of photography, and my new camera i was off to see the show. also...waaay worth it. the photographs were amazing, plus i got to hang out w/some cool cuttle fish (pics of which i'm quite proud of, thanks to my cool new camera!). i haven't quite been able to figure out the loading of the pics yet, something to do w/the file type...once i get them all converted i'll upload them. on sunday i finally made it to manly, after fighting the crowds on the ferry and fighting the wind, did i made it to to shelly beach. which is famous for snorkeling, but i didn't have any snorkel equipment so i just enjoyed the sun and continued reading my new book, son of a witch (squeal to wicked, and i'm actually almost done...i really need to slow down so i have time to find a new book to read next...never thought i'd be saying that).

then it was off to wellington!! after a quick flight (well, quick when compared to my us-->aus flights), i was in nz, land of the kiwis. my friend amanda, who is part of my program, offered to let me stay @ her apt until i find housing, and so she picked me up from the airport. after getting in we took a little walk around the wharf downtown and had a few beers @ mac's (they have a 6 beer sampler...very cool). on wednesday, we meet a friend of amanda's, jughnu, at his restaurant, little india. i can now say, that i have eaten indian food...i was always too scared before cause i didn't know what would be spicy. but don't worry, i survived :) jughnu also invited us to join him in his box seats at the nz vs west indies cricket game. so i can also now say that i've been to a cricket game. it was about as exciting as i expected, but i got to play w/my new camera some more :) after the game the 3 of us went to dinner, and then out for drinks. the next mornining amanda went to the airport to pick up christina, also in my program and will be be staying w/amanda until she finds housing. she barely had enough time to unwind before we were off on our road trip north. we were headed to parihaka, the peace festival about 3 hrs north of wellington. we made 2 stops on the way, one to lindale farm were we got ice cream and free honey samples, and two to amanda's mom's, cathy, beach house. at cathy's we had lunch and went ocean kayaking (which i had also never done before). i was really worried about flipping over in the waves, but i made it out w/no more than a few big splashes :) after out small detour we continued to parihaka. at about 9pm we set up our tent, took a small walk around to survey the stage areas and went to bed. there weren't very many highlights of our time there but i'll give you a few: the craaaaaaazy wind, the craaaaaaazy hippies, the 'roots' music, and the beautiful mount taranaki which (on the clear days) was the backdrop for the concert. it was really neat to walk around and see all the different kinds of people and learn about the maori culture (the native nz's). on the 1st offical day of the festival the local maori tribe welcomed us on to their land w/a small ceremony followed by a hongi line (you shake hands and touch noses to the elders). also, one night for dinner we had hangi, which is a traditional style of cooking. they make a fire to heat up many medium size stones and dig a big pit. the put the food in the pit, cover it w/wet clothes or fabric and then cover the whole pit with the stones to heat the food. it wasn't very exciting food, but it was a cool process to watch. they also had wood and stone carvers at the festival, which were really neat to watch. and i've def decided that decorating stones w/carving is a great way to dress up nature :) on sunday, the sun FINALLY came out (which caused me to get sunburned :-\ boo) and everyone's mood significantly brightened...after 3 days of crazy wind and clouds and rain. sunday afternoon we headed back home and stopped at cathy's again for dinner, and so amanda could finish her package (she does new segments at a nz radio station and was reporting about the festival-if you're interested in hearing her report...you might also hear someone you know ;) click the 2nd link below. the 1st link is to a tv report and you can see the hongi line, keep an eye out for me :) i'm a nz celeb already!)

http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/peace-festival-attracts-thousands-2437421
http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/summerreport/20090112

we stayed the night at cathy's on sunday because amanda didn't get finished until late, and then on monday we helped her do some chores, spent a windy hour lying on the beach, and then went out to dinner (for more indian food!) before getting back to wellington. so it was a VERY busy weekend...well thrusday to monday. since i've been back in welli i've been looking for places to live. yesterday we went to the beach for a few hrs and then out for drinks last night. so i'm still not quite settled here in nz, but having a free place to stay while i'm looking is really great, and amanda is making a wonderful wellington ambassador. hope things are well @ home and you're not too cold!!! :-P

summer/winter/summer/wellington

hi.

so i know i've been really bad abt not having updated, and i'm very sorry. :( as most of you found out, via surprise visits by yours truely, i went home for 3 weeks to celebrate xmas in a true american fashion...with lots of cold rain. it was really great to be home and see everyone, and 3 weeks was def not enough time. i did hit the highlights: atown reunions, CNU/richmond trip, clubbing in DC, annapolis xmas tree shopping, movies, new clothes from tysons (thanks to the recession and xmas sales i got jeans for 50% off!!), ice skating in DC, and a road trip to RI. the only thing it was missing was snow but i couldn't have asked for more (except for more time maybe). so SURPRISE! :-D sorry to have fooled you all in to thinking i was staying in sydney, but it was just too great to see everyone's face when they realized that i was home from the other side of the world. a big thank you to everyone who went out last min and got me a xmas present :)

my trip back to sydney was pretty uneventful. the united flights weren't as nice as the qantas ones, so if you're willing to pay a few extra $'s i'd say it's worth the luxuries of qantas. no really good movies worth mentioning, and no interesting people that i talked to. on my way back to sydney i flew through san fransico, and had a 7 HOUR LAYOVER. don't try it. i repeat DO NOT TRY IT. if i hadn't been able to buy an internet pass for the day i think i would have gone crazy...well crazier.

once back in sydney where it was hot and sunny again, it took me about 2-3 days to get back on track and lose the affects of the jetlag. my phone had been canceled, which therefore meant no internet. so what i expected to be a carefree week was started by trying to get that all reconnected. however, to get my internet back up it would have cost me $100, which i did not think worth it considering i was only going to be in sydney for a week. therefore that meant very little communication back to the outside world and many hot, sweaty walks over to campus to send the occasional email.

i had a very excellent new year's eve, which i spent at a friend's house in the famous bondi beach. the celebration started with a bbq @ the beach, then drinks at his house until 11ish when we hoped on the bus to a high point near by to sit and watch the fireworks. we had planned on going to park X, but when we got there they said we weren't allowed to have our drinks so we had to go around the corner and find the 'alcohol park'. and let's just say it was exactly that. i could see the bridge just fine and they had little teaser fireworks 10mins and 5mins before the big show. then the show began, and we looked @ our watches and said 'oh, it's midnight! happy new year!' it was very anti-climactic. no big count down or anything. i never realized how much of the NYE excitement comes from the big '3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!' so really after seeing 5-10 fireworks go off and not being very impressed i hopped over the the toilets while there was no line, got back and started toasting champagne with hayley and the frenchies. i didn't even get a NYE kiss :'( we then went back to damien's house in bondi and waited until 2:30am when we were to go to another house for the NYE after party. by then i was pretty much done w/my celebration and i was really getting tired. after dragging hayley and flo out of the party and taking 2 buses home, i got back to my room with a full sun in the sky. i was really looking fwd to sleeping in in the morning, but my landlady decided that the start of 2009 needed to be with us having a clean house :-\ below are some videos i took of the craziness of the NYE celebrations. they really don't do it much justice, but try to imagine yourself there :) and a happy and healthy 2009 to everyone!


**okay, so the videos seem to be lost somewhere in my computer. they may have not gotten uploaded when my pics did, which if that's the case means they're gone. however i'll keep looking and try to post them later. also, since i spent the last hr looking for them it means i'm REALLY sleepy now. i'll have to finish this update tomorrow. keep an eye out for part II. good night :)