Some adventures of note:
1) Sampled some NZ cuisine including pavlova (type of dessert), meat pies with tomato sauce, L & P (carbonated lemonade type drink), and marmite (spread made from yeast extract and salt)
2) Birthday in New Zealand!! It snowed (just a wee bit) on my way to university. In the evening, I went with some of my flat mates and nearby cohorts to the documentary “Afghan Star” (part of an international film festival) and to a poetry reading at the public library. It was pretty sweet.
3) Spent a day hiking around the Otago Peninsula.
Ditte, Anna, Kyle, Kevin and I rented a car which we used to explore the incredibly beautiful area just outside of Dunedin. We met some seals, sea lions, and most excitingly - yellow eyed penguins!! We waited at a beach until dusk and watched them coming ashore after a day of fishing in the ocean.
They're pretty small in the picture. We had to respect their space or they wouldn't come on land.
Also I drove for the first time on NZ roads! Since you drive on the left, the driver’s seat is on the right side of the car. The most problematic part of that is the controls on the steering wheel are on the opposite sides too – needless to say I kept preparing for rain every time I wanted to signal a turn
4) Found glow worms in a forest. They look a bit like fireflies but don’t blink on and off.
5) I now play the saron in a gamelan ensemble. It is going to take a while to get the hang of it since the notation, scales, and song structure are quite different from anything I’ve played before. One especially neat (and confusing) aspect of this performance type is that it is conducted by the tempo set by the drummer rather than directed by someone whose role is solely to keep the group together. We are going to do a shadow puppet show performance at the public art gallery sometime in September!
6) Wrote my first NZ paper and took my first NZ test (it’s weird not having blue books!)
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