July 2009 Archives

My flatmate turned 21 yesterday. In Canada it’s the 18th that really counts. Here apparently it’s the 21st that is the big one, and I found out there is a specific way of celebrating it “kiwi” style.  Essentially, it involves skolling either a “yardie” of beer (as in about 6 or 7 beers) as fast as possible, or taking 21 shots consecutively. For the record, Jansen (name ever so slightly altered) chose a combo of both shots and beer, but he definitely reached the equivalent of 21 drinks… Additionally, it is tradition for people to give speeches, hopefully about how awesome the birthday boy or girl is, and then everyone enjoys drinks and nibbles (snacks). On this particular occasion, my flatmate also happens to be originally from the Philippines, and accordingly he provided the nibbles and such. I’d have to say that the night was awesome, hands down, and could best be described as loosely organized chaos. (Which is good for a Tuesday). Granted, I am sure, like in Canada, not everyone celebrates in quite the same fashion, but it is an interesting bit of culture to experience, and something you wouldn’t get if you were just here travelling for say, a short holiday….

Lastly, here is a random picture of a yard of ale, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Hello Home and Away friends!

I've been away on various adventures since my last entry, that is why I have been MIA (missing in action) for a while. I shall tell you more stories in the blogs to follow, but for now, I am inviting everyone to attend the Maori Week events at the Uni for the week of 27-30 July.

There shall be public seminars about different Maori haka, and I highly recommend attending it. I attended today's lecture about the ngeri of te Rauparaha, He Oranga Mai. It was amazing!!! The Maori haka is best heard narrated and performed live, so I invite everyone to attend the Maori Week events in campus.

The Ka Mate haka shall be presented tomorrow, 28 July, at AG30 (the building across Block E, at the Science and Engineering blocks), from 12nn-1pm. This should be interesting and at the same time culturally enriching, as the Ka Mate  is also the All Blacks' official haka.

See you there!!!

The last week and a half I have had the pleasure of being reacquainted with two staples of my life here so far in New Zealand; Pancakes, and Law. Semester B began on July 13th, and after a really nice, long break, I started up my studies again and am right back into the swing of things: Law. I am also currently waiting for my semester B student loan to make its way to Hamilton from Canada, and as a result I have been eating a lot of pancakes in an effort to stretch my money as far as possible. I thought that I would be sick of Pancakes by now, but instead I have just become really good at making them. On another note, I discovered that New Zealand has Kraft Dinner!!!! When I first arrived someone told me that there was no such thing here, but I am pleased to report that my findings indicate quite the contrary. For those of you unfamiliar with Mac and Cheese, it is just that; macaroni and powdered cheese sauce. Sounds good doesn’t it? I love it, anyways, and bought some to eat with real Heinz ketchup and Tabasco sauce. It reminded me of being a broke student back home, which I suppose is good…

Hey everyone,

My name is Emma and I am another fellow blogger who is about to head off on my overseas exchange to Maastricht, Holland. Everyone keeps asking me how I chose Holland, am i learning the language?, or do I have family there? The answer to both of those is 'no' and is the most randomest choice I have ever made, but im sticking with it and will definatly be an amazing experience!

Its crazy how quickly this has all come around, I am leaving this sunday and only just feels like yesterday when I got this crazy idea in my head that I should do something like this haha. I dont actually begin uni untill 26th august but am travelling around europe for a few weeeks heading to germany, switzerland, italy, france and belgium, so will nice to head into a bit of warmer weather hopefully.

The hardest part about the whole application process has been getting my residency permit for the netherlands accepted, there are all these requirements that need to be met and is pretty strict. But it finally got approved a couple of weeks ago which was a major relief.

The past month or so has been pretty much a waiting game, working hard trying to save as much money as I can.. Have my last shift tomorow so all the hard work will finally pay off soon! I sort of have mixed feeelings about leaving at this stage, sad to leave all my friends behind and scared/excited about starting a new chapter of my life! Am defintly not looking forward to the 30 hour plane trip by myself haha, although I know as soon as I get there it will all begin to feel exciting and real!!

This week is very busy sorting out everything, moving out of my flat, saying good bye to friends, family dinners, etc...

anyway will keep you posted on how my flight , travels and uni orientation goes!! sounds like O-week over there will be way out of controL! haa

Emma

It was impossible not to notice this deep red, white-spotted mushroom during our walk on the campus, few days back. It was there, just one, but a big one, under the pine trees. We were so fascinated by it that we decided to take a picture (luckily we had our camera with us). Back home, we decided to get some details about the red mushroom, so we checked about it on the internet and found some very interesting facts regarding this Amanita Muscaria (the red mushroom’s binomial name).

Amanita Muscaria is native to conifer woodlands throughout the temperature regions of the Northern Hemisphere. So how did it land in New Zealand? Well, it is said that conveyed with pine seedlings, it has been widely transported into the Southern Hemisphere, including Australia,New Zealand, South Africa and South America.

This red mushroom is considered to be poisonous. However, it is used in some cultures for its hallucinogenic properties. In many places around the world, this mushroom has traditionally been used as an intoxicant. At last, the one nice thing we came across while reading about this mushroom, is that it is often present on Christmas and New Year cards as a symbol of good luck.

A simple walk turned out to be enriching in the end… 

First off, I realize that this entry doesn't necessarily constitute 'real' news, even to the extent of my other blog entries but... I bought a new bike on TradeMe the other day, and I am really excited about it and wanted to share this news!!! I bought the bike on TradeMe, which is for those who don't know, an essential kiwi experience. TradeMe is basically like Ebay, but only for New Zealand. It is used it seems by basically everyone, and sells basically anything you could imagine. It is also trustworthy, reliable, and easy to use. If you come to New Zealand, you will undoubtedly use TradeMe at some point. This is especially true if you are a student with an insatiable appetite for deals, as most every student is (due to the whole we dont ever have money thing)

Additionally, TradeMe provides comedic relief. To prove this point, I would like to direct you to the following link:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Sports/Cycling/Mountain-bikes/Full-suspension/auction-228871655.htm

I realize this may only be funny to me, but the link I originally wanted to share I couldn't find, and it would be an insult to its genius to otherwise describe it, though if you know anything about bikes, this so called Porsche bike will provide a glimmer of amusement at the least....

lastly, here are a couple pictures of my new bike!!!!

Luckily for me I got to see Napier twice. When I got back to Hamilton after our adventure, I was watching Boston Legal on my laptop when it told me that it was running on reserve battery power and I needed to recharge my laptop or else it was going to shut itself off. This is not a problem, I get this message all the time, and when I do, I simply plug my computer into the charger and viola!, it recharges and I continue using it. However on this particular evening I went to plug in my laptop only to realize that I couldn’t find my charger. Anywhere. Believe me I looked. I deliberately delayed calling the hotel in Napier that we had stayed at because I knew if I called there, then I believed my charger to be in Napier, and if my charger was in fact in Napier, it presented me with a slight difficulty as I was not in Napier, nor anywhere near it. However my desire to delay was quickly put to rest when I discovered that I could only call the hotel using the Skype on my laptop, which was trying to run out of battery and die, so I called them, and they confirmed quickly that in fact my charger was with them. In Napier. Where I was not. Clearly the best way to retrieve my charger was to courier it to me at my expense. However, on the advice of a friend, I recklessly decided to drive to Napier the next morning to get it in person.

In my defense, I made the decision late at night, and I am really addicted to Boston Legal, and really wanted to finish watching season two of it. As I have the show on my computer, the charger was necessary, and its retrieval of the utmost importance. I further justified this desire to watch the show by making a poorly constructed argument that it was in fact helping my studies in law, which of course it wasn’t, and isn’t. However people (me) do crazy things when they need to figure out how a season of Boston Legal ends. Anyways, we (I convinced the friend who had made the suggestion to accompany me)  woke up at 4:40 am the next morning and drove all the way to Napier for all of 30 seconds in which I re claimed my charger, and then drove home. It was a beautiful 7 or so hours of non stop driving on a highway that I had seen the day before, just in another direction. I also got a speeding ticket, just to top things off. All of this aside however, we did stop in Rotorua, and spent a few hours mountain biking with my flatmate, so the day wasn’t a complete bust. I am also happy to announce that the rest of season 2 of Boston Legal is glorious and was enjoyed thoroughly.

Last week, for three nights, I stayed in Napier. A Canadian girl I know who is studying in Palmerston North told me the Hawkes Bay region was one of her favorite places in the New Zealand so I was stoked to check it out. We stayed right on the beach, and our hotel was epic, it had its own Jacuzzi tub even. The first night we arrived pretty late, so we didn’t see much, but the weather was supposed to be really sunny, which was good because we planned to do a bunch of tramping (read hiking) in the area. We also wanted to do some mountain biking, there is a mountain bike park in Eksdale, a few km outside Napier and I waned to introduce the German girl I was with to the sport. Unfortunately the next morning we found out that renting bikes to go mountain biking was really expensive, so we rented some cheaper bikes from the Napier Marine land and biked down the beach. Even though along the beach it was really flat, it was still epic to be on a bike period, and the view was really good.
We also checked out the national aquarium and got to see some guy in a scuba suit feeding sharks and sting rays. That was awesome. There were also kiwis, piranhas, crocodiles, sea horses and huge eels. When we returned the bikes at the marine land we got to sneak inside and see some sea lions, seals, and penguins. However the rest of the trip was a bust weather wise. The next day was super rainy and we didn’t end up doing any tramping but I got to see the city, and would still recommend seeing it even with the limited amount I was able to do.

Greetings from myself, Chandan Boodhoo and my wife, Pooja. We are from Mauritius, a tropical island in the Indian Ocean. As a scholar of NZAID (New Zealand Agency for International Development), I am in New Zealand since January this year. On the 2nd of March, I started a Post Graduate Diploma in Education at the University of Waikato. Hopefully, next year I will undertake a Master in Education. During these two years, the papers I have chosen to focus on are Educational Leadership and Curriculum. We will keep you updated with our experiences here.

Catch you later..