Godley Head and other Musings about Aotearoa

This weekend was a little more relaxed in terms travel. So far I’ve been going somewhere every weekend, and sometimes even in between. Saturday was spent as a study day, and on Sunday I went to explore Godley Head park with Heiko and Kristina. It’s just past Taylor’s Mistake, so we got to see that area again as well.

When I was still in Canada looking at coming to Christchurch, everyone said that Christchurch is a city that has the feel of a small town. So far I think that’s proven pretty true. There are about 400,000 people in the city, but everyone is really nice and friendly. As we were walking up the hill for example, a lady pulled over and asked if we were headed to Taylor’s Mistake and if we wanted a ride. “There are easier ways of getting there than what you’re doing.” So she brought us to the beginning of the trail, where she was also headed. And earlier that day, Heiko missed the bus that Kristina and I were on. A man saw him running after the bus and pulled over to ask if he needed a ride to the city centre, since that’s where he was headed anyway.

Things like that would just not happen in Alberta.

The rest of the day was pretty chill. We walked around Godley Head from Taylor’s Mistake to Breeze Bay (for those of you who like maps, http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap/trck24349/Godley%20Head%20Walkway/Canterbury ) and we saw the remnants of one of New Zealand’s coastal defense areas for WWII.

The rest of it was just lots of beautiful scenery.

Sheep!

That’s about it for Godley Head. Once again I’m going to insist on telling you how wonderful it is to live in Christchurch, less than an hour’s bus ride from cool places such as this. 🙂

Now for some tales about New Zealand. So far I’ve been only blogging about my adventures in the bush, but there’s lots to say about living here too. I don’t think I had much culture shock – although I did get a little bit homesick in the beginning. I’m over that now, thanks mainly to the start of school and the making of friends. And the travelling with the friends. Living here is great. The university campus is pretty, although not as big as the UofA. The tallest building on campus is the James Height Library with its eleven floors.

It’s a great view to have while procra—I mean studying.

Palm trees grow here and there, which was weird at first, but I’m starting to get used to it. The first time I went exploring in the Ilam Gardens though, I walked off the path to ogle at this huge palm tree that was growing by the side of the stream. Two kiwis who were sitting down watched me for a minute, before one guy called out, “What are you doing?” I had to explain that palm trees don’t grow where I’m from, so that I was just taking a closer look, and being a bit weird… “Being Canadian,” he said understandingly. (facepalm)

Oh, and the people here are called Kiwis, as you might imagine from me calling them such. The fruit is called kiwifruit, and the bird is called kiwibird, and the people are called kiwis.

The temperature isn’t that cold, once I got over the shock of coming directly from summer. Everyone says that it’s a mild winter and it should be colder than this though.

I did feel an earthquake already – it was maybe the second Saturday after I got here. I was lying in bed and realized that things were shaking. It ended pretty quickly, maybe after 15 seconds, and it was a pretty gentle shaking. I probably would have slept through it, if I’d been asleep when it started. My roommate Kristina also said she felt it, so I know it’s not just my imagination.

Some other things that I’ve learnt so far:

–       Aotearoa is the Maori word for New Zealand. Literally it means “the land of the long white cloud.” It’s being used more and more, even by Pakeha (non-Maori people) instead of “New Zealand.”
–       People here love longboards. Bikes are all over, but so are longboards. I guess when you never have snow, they’re pretty handy for getting you places faster than walking.
–       The standard paper size here is different. It’s about an inch longer from top to bottom, which is really annoying when you brought your own clipboard from Canada so you wouldn’t have to buy one here, and the paper keeps sticking out the bottom and getting crinkled, and it’s annoying… sigh. First world problems.
–       Kiwis like to burn couches.
Apparently, the thing to do at parties is to take your old couch outside and burn it. Apparently, sometimes it escalates into a house burning down. O.o (I did go to a houseparty at one point where there was a half-burned couch. And the next day we walked we saw a house on fire, and it was about in the same area…)
–       Kiwis often go barefoot.
Everywhere. Outside when it’s a nice day, outside when it’s raining… And if you’re a guy, you also often go in your muscle shirt.
–       Kiwis are probably hardier than Canadians when it comes to the cold. Heating is expensive here, as are insulated houses. Most just go without either to save money. Imagine seeing your breath inside your house in winter, and having to wear a tuque and sweater to bed. No thanks. I’ll stick with my nicely heated Canadian buildings, thanks. (Luckily, my room has its own block heater, and good insulation. So I’m fine.)
–       Kiwis really like onesies.
All the cool parties are onesie parties. The coolest student clubs sell them. One of the tramping club hikes that I’m going on is called “Bushball,” where everyone hikes in, changes into their onesie, and gets tipsy off the keg that we will also bring in.

Some kiwi slang:

–       Pakeha
–       sweet as.
“as” is used as an intensifier. For example, we would say “sweet,” and they would say, “sweet as.” (Not “sweet ass,” like I thought I heard the first time.) chilly as, hot as, etc.
–       they also shorten everything. Examples: cuzzies = cousins. Rellies = relatives. Flattie = flatmate. Sunnies = sunglasses. Prezzie = present. Uni = university.
–       cheers (it means thank you, goodbye, you’re welcome, etc.) you can even shorten it to just “chur”
–       dairy = convenience store
–       Jandals = flip flops. (the Australians call them thongs)
–       “Kia ora” means hello in Maori, but it’s used commonly in English as well.
–       knackered = not doing so well (person? tired. thing? broken)
–       togs = bathing suit
–       Tomato sauce = ketchup. (Did I tell you about the pizza? Oh yes I did.)
–       chilly bin = cooler
–       I’m gonna go have me a feed = I’m gonna go eat
–       “How’re you going” is correct, and “how’re you doing” is not. (don’t be surprised when I come back to Canada saying this)
–       Chips = fries
–       Pissed = drunk (not angry)
–       Crunk = crazy drunk (I even saw this on a billboard sign advertisment for a cell phone company… it was something about “crunk texting.”)
–       Yeah-nah = Yeah. No. (as in, “Yeah. No, I agree, I don’t like [X] either.”)
–       Muesli = granola. Although the Europeans also use the word muesli, so technically it’s not really just a kiwi slang.

There’s so much more, but those are the ones that stand out so far.

One last thing I will rant about is this: Canada is a mess when it comes to measurement systems.
I find myself hanging out with a few Americans as well as other nationalities, so we’re constantly trying to convert back and forth between metric and imperial to figure out what is what. Turns out though, that Canadians use almost everything (at least I do), but not everywhere. Like I said, it’s a mess.

For example:
– We use kg and grams to weigh food in the store… but lbs to weigh ourselves. (I haven’t got a clue what I am in kg…)
– We use metres to say how much elevation gain you’ve hiked, or to measure how tall a building is… but we use feet and inches to measure our personal height.
– We use Celsius for temperatures… but every oven that I’ve used is in Farenheight. My Grandma’s house thermostat is only in Farenheight too.
– We use both km and miles to measure distances. (although miles usually only come in for short distances)
– We use acres to measure small land areas, and km² to measure bigger land areas.
– We use ml and litres to measure liquids, but teaspoons and cups to measure out things for recipes. I’ve also had to use ounces, gallons, and pints before.
– … and last of all, we use both the 12 hour clock and the 24 hour clock… if you’re French Canadian of course 😉

Although this mix of stuff may sound pretty normal for any Canadian, it’s actually really weird. Just when you think you’re good in one system, (like metric, because you’re talking in kilometres with the Europeans), someone asks a question like, “how tall are you?” and you realize that you really don’t use the metric system as consistently as you thought you did, because you have no idea how many centimetres tall you are. Or you think that it’s totally normal to know that one litre is made up of 4 cups, and that a cup is 250ml, but then everyone who isn’t American or Canadian blinks at you and asks how much that is when you say “measure one cup.” Or when you’re talking to an American and they start converting feet into metres for you, because they’re so used to having to convert measurements for people, but you reassure them that you know what they’re talking about. Because we use feet too.

The one thing I can say that I consistently do not use is mph. (miles per hour)
Whew. At least there’s one thing.
(Oh, and I guess shoe sizes are always the same in Canada. That’s nice. Here in NZ it seems they usually know US, UK and European sizing)

Sumner and Kaikoura

Sumner

Wednesday after class we decided to take a trip to Sumner. Sumner is the fancier suburb of Christchurch, right along the side of the ocean. A few of us took a bus down, about a 45 minute ride, and got off to walk along the side of the beach.

The trail that followed the coast was closed due to damage from the earthquakes a couple years ago, so we found a different way that involved going uphill. Eventually we came to a bay called “Taylor’s Mistake.” It was a beautiful area, and there were a couple surfers in the water.

I have no idea who Taylor was, or what his mistake was. I looked it up, but it seems nobody else really knows either. Either way, it’s an intriguing name for a beautiful place.

Photo courtesy of Carmen Widera

We wandered around for a few hours, pausing in the park for a beautiful sunset before taking the bus home.

This wonderful photo is courtesy of Andy Blöschl ^.^

Christchurch is a lovely city. Surrounded by mountains and ocean, all of which are just a relatively short bus ride away – there’s quite a bit to explore. I’m really glad I came here.

That night at the tramping club meeting, Andy, Will and I realized that none of us had classes the next day – even though it was Thursday. So we decided to plan a day trip, lest we waste spare time. 😉

Kaikoura

We decided to go to Kaikoura, a coastal town about 2 hours North of Christchurch. It’s known for its wildlife viewing, especially of seals and whales. We left early in the morning on Thursday, biking to the airport where we could pick up our rental car.

Christchurch is a very bike-friendly city – at least, compared to Edmonton – and small enough that you can get almost anywhere important. As a student living on campus, I can rent a bike at any time for free via a company called Nextbike. You just rent it out by phoning them on your cell, and return it within 24 hours, and it’s all free. Honestly, I love the freedom of biking around town, and not having to pay for gas or bus fare. It’s also extremely useful for getting places that are just a little too far to walk, especially, say, when you need to rent a car and the rental company is situated at the airport. It took us about 20 minutes to bike there, which isn’t bad at all.

The first adventure of the day, after our morning exercise, was driving on the left side of the road. There were four of us on the trip – but only two of us with English driver’s licenses. So we took turns: Will drove there, and I drove us back.

It turns out that it’s not too hard to get used to driving on the left side of the road. The main things are getting a sense of the positioning of the car (since you’re judging from a whole new angle), shifting gears with the left hand instead of the right, and accidentally turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal.

After a 2-hour scenic drive through mountains and along the coast, we arrived in Kaikoura. It’s a small but lovely place. The town itself isn’t much, but the mountains tower majestically nearby – high and snow covered – before dropping away suddenly into the sea.

Today wasn’t a huge tramping day. We walked about 12 or 13 km, but it was pretty relaxed. We stopped often and it didn’t feel much like exercise. The trail ran around a small peninsula, so we followed that and got a magnificent view of the ocean all around. Thankfully, the weather was perfect too.

About halfway around we found some seals. Here, the two photographers of the group (sadly I didn’t take my big camera with me, so I don’t count myself as among them… 😦 ) paused to take many photos. (But actually that’s okay. They’re just seals.)

At the end of the day we stopped to sit on a bench and enjoy the view of a beautiful sunset over the mountains.

And it was then, minding our own business, sitting on a bench by the seaside, when a seal decided he wanted to attack us. He was a few metres away, and suddenly went from suntanning to growling and charging at us. I don’t think he was too serious about it, but we all had to get up and run.

Thanks to Andy Blöschl for the well-timed photo

Walking back to our car we enjoyed the last rays of daylight, and met a guy playing a guitar while riding a bike. After it got dark we stopped at the Why Not Café for some hot chocolate. (I mean, why not?)

And then it was time to head home. So I got into the driver’s side, adjusted my mirrors, and we were off.

The best part of the day, for me, happened on the way home. It was maybe 7 or 8 o’clock, and pitch black outside. We waited until we got out of the mountains, past the twisty-turny roads, and then pulled over onto a side road to get out and do some night-sky viewing.

It was the most amazing night sky I have ever seen.

I thought living in Canada (and working in a national park) would give me a pretty good idea of what a dark preserve can offer. The Elk Island night sky is great. Jasper and Banff is even better. Halfway between Kaikoura and Christchurch in New Zealand, however, is amazing.

I’ve seen the Milky Way before, but I’ve never seen so many… layers? I guess? Colours?

I don’t know. I can’t describe it.

All I know is that I love looking at the night sky, and this blew my breath away. It still does, every time I think about it. (Have I mentioned I may have fallen in love with the night sky?)

Thanks to Will and his awesome camera, you can at least get an idea of it.

Photo courtesy of Will Rynearson

Photo courtesy of Will Rynearson

Photo courtesy of Will Rynearson

The Re-Freshers Tramping Trip

Saturday at 8am, about 40 people from the tramping club met up in one of the university car parks for an overnight tramping trip called Re-Freshers. (Freshers because we were mostly noobs, and re-freshers because it’s the second semester. So we don’t get to be complete newbs. (how exactly do I spell that?)) Anyway. We were headed into Arthur’s Pass again, this time to somewhere with less snow and more hot pools.

We were warned the previous Wednesday that this trip would mainly consist of crossing and re-crossing a river until we got there, so most of us packed appropriately. (most of us…) After a two-hour long bus ride through the beautiful misty mountains, we arrived, pulled out our packs, and headed off into the bushes.

The first river crossing wasn’t too bad. I don’t have waterproof shoes, but that really only matters when the water is lower than the top of your boots. As it was, everyone’s feet got soaked, and stayed soaked pretty much the whole weekend.

Next we were crossing an area that looked somewhat like the Dead Marshes. (Alert: LOTR reference. Better get used to it though, ‘cause there will be many of these…)

We were hungry.
(Photo courtesy of Heiko Bohlen)

Maybe half an hour to an hour after that, we entered a sort of rainforest. And all of this not too far from the snowy mountains we had crossed last weekend.

There was a lot of river crossings. At one point the current looked fast enough that I thought it would be better to do a group crossing with someone. Kristina and I went together, and the water came up to our hips. We were halfway through the river when the current got really fast, and the water really high, and my feet got swept from under me. I definitely half-fell in, and because I hadn’t brought a pack liner, some stuff in my bag got wet as well. I was afraid both Kristina and I would topple over completely into the river, because we couldn’t get our footing for a while, but we ended up alright. We probably stepped on each others’ feet at least twice, and then we braced ourselves against some big rocks so we could stand up again – which gave us some very lovely-coloured bruises later on.

Well, that probably sounded more scary than it actually was. Once we got to the other side (I hyperventilated a bit and then) we started laughing. We were the only ones who fell in, sadly. Or I mean gladly, gladly. So it wasn’t that bad.

No one got a photo of it, but lots of people saw it. Here’s a photo of two people crossing at the same spot and not falling in:

Good times.

Here’s another photo of a successful river crossing:

When we finally got to our destination, we were definitely ready for some hot springs. The first order of business was to set up our tents and dig out the hotpools – because nature doesn’t always provide a perfect pool sitting area.

Luckily though, I was with the last group to arrive and I didn’t have to do any of the above. Ha. So the second order of business was to change into our bathing suits and get into the hotpools. Which I did, happily.

The rest of that night was spent sitting in hot pools and sleeping in tents, so there’s not much to say after that. I did see a possum though, which is apparently just as bad as a squirrel when it comes to digging/chewing through backpacks for food. …but he looked pretty chill to me.

There is no possum in this photo. Sorry. I just wanted to show you the tents.

The next day we woke up at 10, put our wet clothes back on, and headed out. (We’d hung our clothes up to dry, but there was too much humidity in the air. If anything, they probably just got wetter.)

Today we had two options: go back the way we came, or take a longer, easier route back to the vans. Most people chose the longer and easier route, but that route consisted of crossing the river many more times than we had the day before. So I took the shorter route.

I, Andy (from Austria), Michael (also from Austria) and Will (USA) decided we could probably make up for lost time by going quickly, since we were some of the last people to leave the campsite. We trekked quickly, and somehow ended up being the first to arrive at the vans. (or close to first)

Photo courtesy of Andreas Blöschl

Photo courtesy of Andrew Thorson

All in all, it was a good trip.

It was a good indication of what to look forward to in future tramps – wet feet and beautiful scenery. Next time I’ll make sure I have a bag liner so I can keep my stuff dry.

Soccer and Clubs Day

This week was a pretty good week.

Wednesday was Clubs Day. Well, more like Clubs lunch because it only lasted for two hours. But there was free food, and so many clubs. I signed up for quite a few, including the sci-fi club, the physics club, the wine club, and one called Cake Wednesdays. This last club exists for the sole purpose of having free cake on Wednesdays. (Did I come to the right university? Yes. Yes I did.) I doubt I’ll get to do much or be super involved with any of them, especially since I’m already part of the Canoe Club and the Tramping Club. But the sign-ups were free for the most part, so why not?

Hopefully I’ll get some wine-tasting and stargazing in, anyway 😉

On Thursday, a few of us decided we wanted to play some soccer. Michael (from Austria) had a ball, so six of us went out to the Ilam fields and set up a small playing area. It’s only been 3 or 4 weeks since I last played soccer… but it’s been too long. >.<

The game was a lot of fun, and the field was so muddy… I don’t know if my bright pink shoes will ever be the same. My brand new pants officially look great with mud splattered all over them. The Austrians and the German decided to go barefoot, while the Welshman and the American and I all decided to keep our shoes on.

In hindsight, it probably would’ve been better if we’d been barefoot.

Ah well. Next time!

The game was short, seeing as it got dark quickly, and Heiko and I had to leave for choir after a half hour anyway. It wasn’t until we got there that we realized just exactly how dirty we were. (I had to excuse myself to wash my hands, cause that was just embarrassing. I looked like a kid who loves to play in the mud.) But it was a good time. Soccer and singing in one day, how much better can it get? (I mean, apart from being in New Zealand and all that.)

Later on, I emailed the RecCentre about forming an intramural’s team for soccer – turns out they still have spots left for this semester. So I started a facebook conversation with a few people who might be interested in playing on Wednesdays, and lo and behold – after a lengthy democratic and indecisive process for choosing the team name – we had a team.

Things are looking good.

Also, I bought a guitar. Hopefully I will be able to sell it again when I leave, but for now I am enjoying the music.

Anyway, I should probably go now because I do have a paper that I need to write. (What with the music and the soccer and the travel and the procrastinating, I don’t know if I’m actually going to pass my classes this semester…)

But I get to play soccer. Huzzah!

😀

Avoca Homestead

Wednesday, I and a few other international students keen on getting out and hiking attended the first Tramping Club (CUTC) meeting of the semester. There we signed up for the club, met a few people, and learned about an upcoming trip on the weekend.

Someone was organizing a trip for the upcoming weekend, a 6 – 10 km hike to the Avoca Homestead in the Southern Alps. The cool thing about NZ is that they have huts set up all over the country in wilderness regions – called homesteads. The CUTC owns and maintains many of them. Often, you won’t even need to bring a tent or bedroll when you go tramping (kiwi word for hiking) because the huts have places to sleep – although it’s a good idea, just in case.

Eleven people signed up (well thirteen, but two ended up dropping out) and I knew 7 of them. Matt, the organizer of the trip, rented a bus for the occasion. Many of us didn’t have sleeping bags or bedrolls, so we had to rent from the club. I was able to borrow one from a girl named Tania.

A two hour car ride out of Christchurch brought us somewhere close to Arthur’s Pass in the Southern Alps. I’m still marveling at how close and convenient everything is in New Zealand… and how you don’t have to worry about getting eating by large animals like bears or cougars. The biggest thing we had to worry about was getting lost, and also maybe avoiding the thorn bushes of doom. (Which probably evolved specifically for fending off sheep… via inch-long thorns)

We trekked in the long way, the scenic way, across the mountains. It was gorgeous. And also, surprisingly, a beautiful day. When we left Christchurch that morning, it was rainy and miserable, so it was nice to find the sun shining in the mountains.

I think if you click on the image you can see a bigger version…

I don’t think it really hit me that I was in the wilderness, not until Carmen exclaimed at one point that it was so crazy how alone we were. I guess in Germany there would always be other people around. Here in NZ though, we were very much alone. Being from Canada I suppose I’m used to that. Even in summer the trails don’t get too busy.

For me, it felt like we were so close to civilization. The fact that we were going to be sleeping in a hut, that we only had to drive two hours to get to the mountains, and that there were no bears or cougars to be wary of, made it all feel like I hadn’t quite left the urban area yet.

 

But the scenery was beautiful, just like Middle Earth. It’s different from the Rocky Mountains in Alberta. In the Alberta the mountains are more… rocky I guess. Nothing grows on the tops of the mountains there except moss, but in Arthur’s Pass we were walking among thorn bushes taller than we were, with grass and snow under our feet. In Canada it’s still not uncommon to see ground squirrels running around among the rocks, doing who-knows-what. In New Zealand there was nothing. Nothing but sheep, of course. (Before the arrival of humans, there were no mammals in New Zealand. So any mammals that are there were at one point brought over as pets or as pests. Or as food.)

We walked from noon until around 5 o’clock, where we came to a river. We had planned to cross it and sleep at the homestead that was just across on the opposite bank. There are two criteria that mark a river as crossable, I learned – one, that the water be below waist level, and/or two, that a human be able to keep pace with a stick floating downstream as they walk along the shore. We couldn’t tell how deep it was, but the stick definitely disappeared faster than we would have liked.

And so we tried the group river-crossing method.

A group of 4 or 5 stands in a line facing the river, and each person links arms with the people next to them, making sure to hold on to the straps of each other’s backpack. I was one of the lucky ones that got to stay on shore while the first group attempted to cross…

They got about halfway through before the current became too strong, and they had to come back. They tried crossing in a different spot as well, but no luck there either. In the end we decided it was safer to just head back to the van tonight, rather than risk an unsafe crossing now and not being able to cross tomorrow morning.

Luckily, there was a short and easy route back – we just had to follow the road for three kilometers or so. At the van we changed our socks & shoes, and exchanged snacks and treats. (Lots of cookies went around… those Austrians really like their sweets.)

Seeing as there were 11 of us and only 10 seats, I claimed my spot on the floor with the backpacks again. It was actually pretty comfy, if not very safe or legal. But Matt didn’t crash the car, so I didn’t mind. In the end we got back to Christchurch around 8 or 9 o’clock.

Having almost a whole day more for my weekend that I had originally planned, I resolved to clean my room, wash my clothes, and finally do some homework on Sunday. Of course, I did none of the above, choosing to surf the web and write this instead.

Cheers.

 

Topo Map:

http://www.topomap.co.nz/NZTopoMap?v=2&ll=-43.163387,171.874489&z=14&pin=1

The Start of Classes

The first week of school was eventful. I joined the Canoe Club just by surfing around online, and they had an event on the first Tuesday called “Eskimo rolling,” which basically means learning how to roll a kayak. It took place in a swimming pool not far from campus. I came out of it with a few bruises (from failing to exit the kayak properly), but also very happy.

On Wednesday the group that went to the Port Hills got together again to have the rest of our meal – on Sunday we had planned to have some Kaiserschmarrn with our pizza, but we were too full. (Kaiserschmarrn is an Austrian desert-like food, made of fluffy pancake and sugar) So we had it Wednesday instead. I’m probably learning just as much about German and Austrian culture as I am about Kiwi culture, just from hanging around with so many Europeans 😉 After that we went to the Tramping Club meeting, where we signed up as members and signed up for a tramp happening that weekend.

Thursday I went to choir! Heiko found a choir called the Erskine Singers that gets together for an hour every week, and it’s free. He asked if anyone else wanted to join him, and I said I’d try it out. So we went, and it wasn’t bad. There were only about 10 people there, two of which are my math teachers… but they’re cool 😉 I also get to sing alto this time, because they have enough tenors. 😀

Afterwards, we went to the Night Market at the uni – a special event that happens during Winterlude (the first week back at school) every year. The Night Market was mostly a bunch of stalls selling food, so I bought some pumpkin soup in a cup and watched the random going-ons, namely people in creepy costumes walking around on stilts, and a donkey named Priscilla being led around through the crowd.

On Friday I went to something called Operation Friendship. It’s organized by a bunch of Christian families who offer their homes to international students about once a month. They cook kiwi meals and organize “family time” (home away from home kinda thing) for a group of students. The point is to provide a sense of family and offer support to international students who might be missing their homes. I thought it sounded kinda cute, it looked like a good chance to meet new people, and also there was free food.

I got to talk with a few locals and learn more about the city, as well as some good places for travelling in New Zealand.

Oh yeah, and I guess I should say something about classes too.

I’m currently only taking two classes. A normal course load is 4 classes here, although you’re allowed to take a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5. Technically, I am taking a workload of 3 classes. They wouldn’t let me stay otherwise. But one of my classes has a heavier workload, so it counts as 2. And so I can take only 2 classes. My first class, the easier one, is called “Land Journey and Ethics.” It’s basically a class where we get to go tramping and get marks for it. We’ll learn a bit about the places we visit (urban and wilderness), we’ll learn how to prepare for overnight journeys and also how to use practical skills out in the bush. No, this has nothing to do with my degree… but it’ll be useful, especially with the amount of tramping I’ll probably be doing while I’m here.

My other class, the one that has the heavy courseload, is a Linguistics class. It’s a directed research paper, where I get to choose a topic and study a certain linguistic feature of New Zealand English. Basically I get to be fascinated by the Kiwi accent, and get marks for it…

Oh AND, I have lectures only on Mondays and Tuesdays. 5 day weekends? Yes, yes. It is so.

The First Week

I arrived in Christchurch on the 28^th of June after a 26-hour flight. The University of Canterbury has a free pickup service for international students, so there was a taxi driver waiting for me when I got to the airport.

My first confusion/culture shock/whatever-you-wanna-call-it moment happened when I went for the passenger door, and realized that there was a steering wheel there. Oops. Right. They drive on the wrong side of the road.

My apartment is quite nice, at least for what I was expecting. I have my own room, fluffy blankets and pillows, and I share a kitchen and living room with four other people. We have no oven, but the microwave can act as one if I absolutely need to use an oven (and I probably won’t).

I’ve met 3 of my flatmates so far. Two of them are identical twins named Pat and Mike. They’re Kiwis from the north island, and I think I can finally tell them apart after all this time. They helped me out quite a bit at first, telling me where to go to buy a cell phone, how to buy a bus pass, etc. My other flatmate arrived a little bit after me, her name is Kristina and she’s from Austria. I have come to learn that Austrians speak German – but Germans are to Austrians as Americans are to Canadians. As are Aussies to Kiwis. Please take note 😉

All my flatmates are, I’m happy to say, perfectly okay with me singing as I do dishes. (and anything else, really)

The international services at the uni (see me using kiwi slang already >.<) organized a few events for the international students right at the start, so that everyone could get together and meet each other. The first such event was a bonfire with free food, music, and poi dancing.

Photo courtesy of Jürgen Brandstetter

Photo courtesy of Sheila Wesa

The second event was called “Maori Experience,” where they cooked a hangi for us. A hangi is (was) the Maori way of cooking. Since they had no ovens, they would dig a hole, heat up a bunch of rocks, and bury the food with the hot rocks underneath. Several hours later the food would be ready and they would dig it back up again. So they did that for us, and we got to experience a Maori-style meal.

Afterwards, the Maori group danced the Haka for us, which was a sight to see.

If you don’t know what the Haka is, just read the first paragraph here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka

It was pretty impressive. I would be scared if I was the opposing group.

Those two events were pretty much how I got to meet people. I’ve noticed that there are a lot of Americans studying abroad here. They are by far the largest group of international students. Some of the other nationalities I’ve met are: French, German, Malaysian, Welsh, Danish, Chinese, and a few countries I can’t remember the names of. I’ve also met a few other Canadians, all from UBC.

The first hiking adventure I got was the last Sunday before school started. A few other international students and I decided to go to the Port Hills to do some tramping (kiwi slang for hiking). Christchurch is generally a very flat city, pretty much like Edmonton. Actually I think Edmonton has more hills than the Canterbury plains do, just because of the river. But, Christchurch is surrounded by mountains. The Port Hills, for example, are just a half-hour busride from the middle of town.

We took the bus towards these hills, our destination being an area called Victoria Park. After a short hike we came to the top of a mountain and we could see all of Christchurch laid out before us, with the Southern Alps to the North and the ocean to the East.

When we were at the absolute top and looked South, we could see Lyttelton Harbour.

Photo courtesy of Will Rynearson

Group photo! From left to right, the people in this photo are Will (USA), Heiko (Germany), moi, Andy (Austria), Gabe (USA), Carmen (Germany), and my flatmate Kristina (Austria).

After tramping the whole day, we decided to do a group dinner. We decided on pizza, since it’s pretty easy. Most of the group also live in the Ilam Apartments, so we had to go to Heiko’s place off campus since he has an oven.

The pizza was delicious, but kinda sweet. We all wondered why, until afterwards when we were cleaning up and we realized that we had put ketchup on our pizza in lieu of tomato sauce…

I mean, we’d all been told that kiwis call ketchup “tomato sauce,” and that it can be confusing, but none of us even thought about it when someone put a can of “tomato sauce” into the cart.

Who puts ketchup in cans anyway?

Well it doesn’t matter, it actually tasted pretty good, and we ate 5 pizzas among 6 people.

Photo courtesy of Carmen Widera

This being my first adventure, and what I came to New Zealand for, I was a super happy camper after that trip.

The Beginning of a Blog

So I’ve officially been living in Christchurch for a month.

…

After I wrote that sentence I had to pause to think about it for a minute. I can’t believe that much time has passed by already. It seems like I just got here yesterday. I’m 1/6 of the way done my study abroad program, and 5 months away from heading home.

But never mind that.

I’ve been meaning to document my journey through Middle Earth – I mean New Zealand – every week or so, but as it turns out it’s really hard to find the time. (and motivation) I’ve recapped the first couple weeks as best I could – it may be a bit long because I’ve been saving it up, sorry about that. And from now on I’ll try to do this more consistently 😉

P.S. Today’s date is actually July 29th. I’m just dating it back so the posts will come in order.