July 4: I don't do long goodbyes.

It’s the homestretch, ladies and gentleman. Tomorrow I’ll be leaving these two islands via jet plane and back in the states, and while there are a few things I’m looking forward to, there’s even more I’ll miss. Going to the beach, for one. Certain people I’m not sure I’ll meet again, some people I know I will. Karolina and Tasha, for instance, the two girls I met at the end of February. We had a mini reunion in Auckland, a few days before Karolina was leaving for Germany. I have spent a total of eight days with Karolina in the time that I’ve known her, and I was near tears the night before she left. Tasha is equal parts mother, sibling and playmate. I do love those girls, and believe I’ll se them again soon.
On my last night, Sarin, my Canadian compadre, took me to the Matariki festival. It’s the Maori new year, and a bunch of dub step bands were playing at Auckland’s town Hall. Dub step is the quintessential Kiwi sound, and it is five times better than reggae and about a million times more interesting than DnB. For the first time, I saw that faces of bands I’ve only heard the names of, and put faces to the songs I’ve heard in other people’s cars. As a thank you gift to Sarin, I gave her a lot of my junk that I felt to guilty to throw away. Also, I gave her a NZ greenstone necklace, which traditionally must be given, not bought for oneself. I think it’s every tourist’s dream, deep down, to be given one before they leave NZ, because it’s basically the best souvenir you can get. Unless, of course, it’s harvested from Britsh Columbia, as Sarin pointed out. Though I didn’t ask where it came from, I told her not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and just to like it. Which she did.
I wish I knew what to say about my experience. I wish I could look at the sum total of what I did in New Zealand, and say that the trip meant this or I learned that. I think everything I hoped would happen happened in the way I least expected. I fell in love, but with a man from California. I loved my classes, but made most of my friends from random run-ins with strangers. I went on amazing road trips, most often in the backseat of a strangers car. I made decisions and mistakes that I never thought I’d make. Writing about it was harder than I thought it would be, because I felt like two people: the girl writing back home and the girl making a new home. So I’m looking forward to talking to all of you one on one and sharing anecdotes and answering questions and explaining certain photographs, for the brief period of time that such things will captivate your interest ☺.
It’s been wonderful, weird, hard, ugly, beautiful, disturbing, unnerving, exhausting, rewarding, unique, exhilarating, and neat. Let’s do it again sometime.
See you soon.
Ems.

May 3: Class takes time, Super-Sister-Vacay, Winter in Aucks.

Ok, it’s been a while. I apologize. I can’t say it won’t happen again, on account there’s not much to write about, except various assignments that need to done, banking issues that need to be sorted, Internet complaints, dorm complaints, and the like. As I’ve said, my day-to-day life is pretty well established, and is pretty much a regular day-to-day life anywhere else, but with bad TV shows and fewer places that accept credit.

When school started in March, my sister asked me if I wanted to move to or live in New Zealand. If I wanted to, I could be very content living in a suburb outside Dunedin or Christchurch, maybe even Wellington, but I don’t think I can stand the rainy winter of Auckland. Temperature wise, it’s not that different from Dallas. But Auckland winters are muggy. Layering is essential, as you’ll find yourself freezing when you walk out the door and sweating bullets by the time you reach your destination. The rain is also enough to drive you nuts. Raincoats and umbrellas work fine, yes, but the wind blows it at an angle, directly into your pants, sousing your whole lower body. It is useless to try and save money on the cheap umbrellas, as the wind will destroy them. Better to invest in something with hydraulics and shock absorbers to buffer you from the wind as well as keep you dry.

In other news, Sarah came down during the mid-semester break I had about two weeks ago. We rented a car and tripped around the South Island’s northern tip, avoiding the rain as much as we could. Despite being significantly colder, it’s still more beautiful. As Sarah matter-of-factly put it, as we drove past more pastoral wonderland and craggy, snowy mountaintops, “Well, I’m stunned.”

Though brief, the trip was considered a rousing success by all involved. There were many stops at beaches and hot springs and hostels with hot tubs, as it was winter and most buildings in New Zealand have poor heating or no heating at all. Once more, I shall sing the praises of the Budget Backpackers and Hostels guidebook, for while we managed to stay at one or two total clunkers, the four or five other hostels we found were top notch. We took long walks through the rainforests and tea tree forests, scooted over the dunes at Farewell Spit, saw some baby seals and dissolved into cooing, giggling girls, hung out at the waterslides of some hot springs, tramped through pastures and down cliff faces, and witnessed many a “changing environ,” as Sarah liked to put it.

What else, what else. I wrote a column for the student magazine. Dan, the editor, sent me a text one day during class, asking why I hadn’t written anything for him.

“Remember the time I quit?” I wrote back.

“Lame. I need something on American politics, and you’re the only American I know.”

“…I’ll see what I can do.”

2,000 words and one side bar later, I had my piece ready and I think it’s due to run on Monday. I’ll save a copy for my peeps when I come back.

It was fun to write, even though it’s got pretty much all the opinions floating around in most op-ed columns I’ve read from US media sources. And I wouldn’t call it reporting, but it was fun to research. (And it made me feel so out of touch! Apparently there's movies coming out that I've never seen previews for, and gas is $4 a gallon. Who knew?)

Yep, life’s pretty good. I’m going to get some sushi and do some more reading. Love you guys.

March 18: Dorm life, people I know, things that I read, classes I take.

Week three of classes has begun, and surprise of surprises, this school is hard. I've scheduled out my reading for my four classes (lit. and the contemporary, politics and the media, Maori politics and public policy, and New Zealand lit.) and I've got anywhere between 150 and 250 pages of reading to do in a day. Luckily, I didn't factor in weekends, so I can spread it out there. Most of my papers--sorry, essays--are due all in the same week (the day Sarah gets into town, actually) so I've had to get started on those pretty quickly. 

This leaves me pretty stressed about writing for the magazine. I tried my hand at one editorial and after realizing it had little to no relevance to a NZ audience, moral dropped and I went back to homework. There are other ideas for books reviews that can be done at my own pace. There's another idea a girl on staff and I came up with, where we assume the voices of other authors critiquing other works, which I'd like to get around to. Just a time thing. I'm considering talking with a girl I know who works for the radio station to see whether or not they have jobs with timetables, as I wouldn't mind coming in to do a shifts' worth of work and learn a few things. 

Since that's all very boring, though, I thought I'd introduce you guys to some of the people that I've been hanging out with, in my dorm and otherwise. Here are some of my favorite people in Auckland:

Theora:

A very cool biology student from Berkley, Theora's a gorgeous pacific islander who I think looks pretty Maori, but I've been reprimanded for this comment so I take it back. The first time I talked to Theora, one of us mentioned how much we miss hip hop, and since then we've updated each other on the various rumors we sometimes hear about where Auckland's elusive hip hop scene resides. She loves American football and used to think she would grow up to be a linebacker for the 49ers. I gave her a football I found at an sports store while looking for an ultimate disc (which I never did). I figured I needed to throw something, and that it was high time I learned how to throw a pigskin. 

Leandre:

Leandre's name is pronounced like the names Leon and Andre fused together. He's from South Africa. I've heard some Kiwi's complain about his thick Afrikaans accent, but I can't hear a thing, and he speaks English pretty well. I like calling him Leon. When I had to ask for a third time what his name was, I decided that if I called him "Leon," that would be close enough to whatever it really was. Leon's an RA for the fifth floor, and is pretty good friends with Kimi, my RA. Leon has a car and likes organizing trips to the beach with me, Theora, Kimi and Spencer. We've gone to Orewa and Piha beach so far. Leon's in his last year at uni and says that's the most times he's ever been to the beach during the semester. Leon helped me steal a sofa from my common room and put it my dorm room.

Corey:

Corey was the first friend I made at the dorms. Born in New Plymouth, NZ and grew up in Michigan, he looks and and acts like a walking, talking slice of all-American apple pie. I haven't seen much of him since he's a pre-med student and I read like a lot, but we've got each other's backs. When a certain young man living in my dorm wouldn't stop making passes at me, Corey twice threatened to beat him up. "Doesn't he know you and your boyfriend are in love? you are in love AND THAT IS SPECIAL!" It's nice when someone

s got your back. 

Bryony:

Bryony is the 8th floor RA and the girl Corey currently has a major crush on. Their torrid love affair is, I believe, the hot rot that's on everybody's minds in the common room. Or maybe by now it's passe. Whatever, she's still an amazingly funny young lady. She is preparing for law school when she graduates from undergrad. She sings like an angel, and is whipsmart. She's lived in India, Indonesia, Khazakstan and London. She taught me how to say the phrase "Y'alright darlin'?" like a randy Pikey. She likes to play Squash. 

Sarin:

Sarin is the only Anthropology student I've ever met who I like. She's from Montreal and graduating this semester, and doesn't yet know whether she'll stay or move back to Canada. She has pink hair and hazel eyes and is very cute. We both want to go see Henry Rollins, but tickets cost $50 bucks. Upon learning this, Sarin sent me a text message that read "I feel like punching him in the face, and yelling 'GENTRIFY THIS!'"Sarin lives in a house with three roommates in Ponsonby. The bedrooms are heeeyuge: 5-meter ceilings, with fireplaces in each. The neighborhood looks like Winetka Hieghts in Dallas, all the houses with scaffolding and dogrun porches. 

Scott:

I don't see much of Scott these days, but he was the young lad I saw Broken Social Scene with. A funny guy with similar enough music tastes, we get along well when we run into each other. 

Anthony:

Anthony moved to Auckland with his family from China four years ago. He is eccentric, excitable, and talks way, way to fast. Despite knowing this, it's hard for him to slow down. He loves the friends that he's made at uni. This is what Anthony wrote on my birthday card: "U know what, I have a dream. I hope I can become a cowboy in Dallas, I hope I can watch basketball. (NBA) in Houston. And driving a viper through Texas to Mexico. And I hope u have a dream. Playing bungy jump in Auckland. Watching glowworms in Waitomos. Of course being crazy. Go to my house to learn some traditional NZ family experience (Hahaha!!!)." And on the reverse side: "Hey Emily, Happy Birthday. A year older. Friends 4ever. Luv u All. Anthony." I don't think I can think highly enough of the guy.

Jordan:

I get J names confused, so i call Jordan "Jason" a lot. He is a nice chap from Seattle living in the dorms and attending Auckland Institute of Technology. He introduced me to one of my favorite Auckland bars, the Shakespeare pub, which I have frequented frequently. 

Trent and Lia:

Trent and Lia work at the Shakespeare, and now have dubbed me a regular. This is a mixed blessing, because now I'm privy to all the seedy little details that go on behind the bar. If you thought dorm gossip was juicy, you've never met a bartender. 

Gabby:

Gabby is a Filipino first year student. I run into her in the kitchen constantly, and that is where our friendship prefers to grow. She has a funny way of pronouncing "chives" (like "cheevs") which I love. Sometimes we let each other borrow our cookery. She is going to podiatry school.

Spencer: 

Spencer is from UT Arlington and lives on the 5th floor with Leon, who, like I said, likes to take us out to the beach. We like to talk about breakfast burritos and guacamole. He likes to teach me how to skateboard, and I like not falling down.

Aaron:

Aaron is a friend of Natasha's, from Hamilton. When I left my shoe's at Tash's place, Aaron picked them up and brought them with him to Auckland and delivered them to me there, which were quite nice of him. Aaron is a photographer, and sometimes he lets me play with his cameras. He had a shoot with Pizza Hut today, and gave me a bunch of cold pizza for which to distribute amongst my dormmates. "Do you know anyone who wants some free pizza?" "Uh, I only know of about 200 underfed undergrads who want some free pizza," I said. 

reeeeeaaading:

Despite the metric ton of reading I have to do, I got to say that I'm enjoying it all, for the most part. It could be my professor talking, but the texts for my NZ lit class seem to be perfect representatives for the era they were written in: FE Manning's "Old New Zealand" is one of the best, most engaging Victorian works I've read; Katherine Mansfield's shorts are some of the most accessible examples of modernism, which is weird when you think of how much clout James Joyce and TS Elliot and Virginia Woolf have been granted. Guess it's that outsider's Islander identity. Lit. and the Contemporary is as much fun. We finished reading "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" and starting "Vince and June," a chick-lit piece that I suppose is serving as a foil for some example set by ELIC. Maori policy and public politics is hard, because race relations is still an uncomfortable topic in NZ. And as bad as we complain about it in the states, it's no where near as awkward as it is in NZ. Politics in the media is difficult to stay awake during, but the tutorial's are pretty good. 

Well. That was fun. Time to stay up a little later and get some work done. 

Lovelovelove,

Ems. 

March 3: First day of class, The Sisters Aberg plan a trip, When’s my birthday?

I guess I haven’t written for a while because I feel like I’ve landed. I feel like I came home. I have a bed, a mini fridge, a bookshelf and the internet; I have a map on the wall outlining my adventure and there’s mad amounts of brochures, tickets and paper that I’ve tacked up to the wall inviting me to various orientations, information that I need to know before class, textbook lists, timetables, bus schedules, concert lists, take-out menus, campus maps. These are the things I would be doing if I were home: buying groceries, working out, meeting friends. I have a normal, every day life, I’ve got some routines, and when you have routines you don’t think about writing them down.

That’s not to say there aren’t a few important things to note that have happened this week. Or last week. Today, for example, was the first day of classes. More importantly, it’s also my birthday, but more on that later.

“Uni”:

Note: a ‘class’ as it’s called in the states, which refers to a whole bunch of people being taught by somebody in a classroom, is not called that in NZed. What we call ‘class’ they call ‘paper,’ so when I refer to how many paper’s I’m taking, I’m not talking about how many assignments I have to write for the next semester. They also don’t use quotation marks properly, opting instead for the up-and-down apostrophe to denote a quote: ‘like this.’

The four papers I’m taking this semester are Media studies, New Zealand literature, Maori politics and public policy, and Politics and the media. Media studies is the only class that won’t go towards the credits I need to earn back home to get the degree, but I figured it might be worth it. What smarts is that I have to take an Academic English proficiency test to take it. Shoot.

I also visited the student magazine office and introduced myself to the editor-in-chief, Dan, the books review editor, Sam, and one of the writers, Natalie. A good group of people. Dan sent me home with a box full of all of last years issues, and some from other years that he quite liked. The articles are fun enough to read, but the best thing about them is surely the cover art. With no set design for the front page layout, they’re free to design it however they want; some issues look like art-house fare, others look like comic book covers, some look like the front of the economist, others look exactly like guide books, others look like girlie mags.

Tripsville:

My sister sarah and I are in the middle of planning her trip over her in April. It turns out that she’ll be able to come visit me then, and I’m looking up trips and planning itineraries for a smaller trip around the south island. We thought she wouldn’t be able to make it, but we worked our schedules out such that she’ll be able to visit. And I can’t wait.

Birfday:

So a New Zealand March 3rd is an American March 2nd, right? So, isn’t my birthday in New Zealand going to be March 4th?

“Who the hell cares,” said Leandre. “We’re taking you out for pizza and beer.”

“Word,” I said.

So a group of about 7 people took me out for some good ol’ good times. We enjoyed ourselves heartily, and then went home at a reasonable hour, it being a Monday night. Thanks to M&D by the way for sending that pink cake recipe. I promise, I’ll let you know as soon as I make it...Heck, as soon as I figure out a way to make it.

I did get a few things for myself: a lambskin rug, which everyone should own, a cute brown dress, and some new kicks. Thanks everybody for the uber thoughtful e-mails and facebook and myspace message. And Matty, thanks again so much for the wonderful present. (This guy! I just love this guy!)

Much love to you guys. And I’ll be better about posting more often. I’ll work it into the routine.

Ems.

Feb 22: Holy cow, can we start school yet?

It feels like much longer than five days since my last post. Not a whole heck of a lot has been going on, besides the sort of stuff that usually happens in the few weeks before school starts. I'm not bored. Much like my south island vacation, there is much to do and much to see, but it is all much less interesting. 

Ah, I shouldn't give it such a hard time. I had some Yum Chow the other day, which is this variation on Dim-Sum, in Chinese restaurants, except for they exclusively serve dumplings. Easily one of the most delicious meals I've had in NZ, and will go back sometime soon. And last night, a friend of mine from the dorm, a first year named Scott and I went to see the Broken Social Scene play at a place called the King's Arm Tavern. It was stuffed to the gills, and practically impossible for us to stand inside. There was a courtyard (with grass and picnic tables and potted plants!) to the side of the bar, and we had drink and danced in that direction. 

After the show, we were invited by our RA's to go clubbing with them, as it was their last night of summer school. But getting in was a pain in the ass, as the lines extended around the block, and apparently in order to go to a club you have to dress up: fancy club dresses for gals, alligator shoes for dudes, etc. So we picked up Scott's girlfriend at the club and walked back to the dorms. 

Yesterday I met a nice girl named Theora, an exchange student from Berkley, California. Today we walked over to the university and went to our exchange student's orientation briefing, and met another girl from Canada (Saren, anthropology student with pink hair) and Emma (I think that's her name...I know she's from England, and I have a tendency to think all English women are named Emma). 

We set up our internet, printing and photocopy accounts today also. The internet account is pretty obnoxious. You must pay for high-speed internet usage; 56k speed is free. I'd be keen to figure out why it's so hard to get fast internet over here. I hear it's just a lack of competitive providers, so the one or two that they do have just slack off. 

The best part about today so was walking past Albert Park and seeing people prepare and set up the Chinese Lantern Festival.  Took a lot of pictures because it's daytime now and I don't know how the nighttime photos will turn out, but head over to the FB page and see 'em. Seriously, they're so pretty, you should really check them out. 

All in all, quite a good day, but I'm ready like rock for school to start.

Lurv, Ems. 

Feb 18: Homesteading, buying things, new neighbors, sore stomachs.

I had arrived at the residence hall the day after it opened up to students moving in for the first semester. I didn’t see anyone in the dorms besides the front desk clerks. I didn’t anticipate meeting too many people, so I spent that first and second day shopping for my new cinderblock pad.

 

New Market to the left of me, K’ Road to the right…:

 

I headed across the street to a smoothie place to see if I could get directions to the closest place that would sell me a surge protector. I would have asked the front desk people, but as English isn’t their first language, it’s a little difficult to understand them. Met a nineteen year old kid who directed me to The Warehouse, New Zealand’s equivalent to Walmart or Target.

 

I don’t really understand why, but it seems most Kiwis I meet are pretty into The Warehouse. Ryan, Tash, and this guy all swore by it, saying you can find anything you want and it’s always super cheap. Which it is. It’s just a pain in the ass to find anything, and like Walmart or Target, most of the items are under stocked or stocked next to items that they shouldn’t be. For example, I wouldn’t think to stock the packaged cookies and candy next to the bleach and laundry soap. I know everything is in it’s own package and has it’s own seal, but it’s just one of those strong consumer preferences.

 

I made three trips there and back, buying a laundry basket, coffee maker, fly swatter, thumbtacks, tape, pencils, pencil holders, etc. passing the Auckland Domain and getting to know the New Market area pretty well in the process. The Auckland Domain is a very big, very green lawn at the back of which sits a big museum. It’s big enough to play three cricket games and a rugby match at once, and there’s an old-fashioned stadium and bleachers set up opposite the Museum as well.

 

New Market is a high-end fashion district, with lots of stores and a mall. The only thing that makes this mall worth mentioning is that on the second floor, in the farthest section, is the grocery store (which is called “Foodtown,” which I find hilarious.) Procured some essential food items, i.e. fruit, sandwich fixin’s and cereal.

 

To the right (east) side of my dorm is the Grafton bridge and then downtown Auckland. The bridge spans over an old, ancient graveyard and then turns into the Karangahape (or K’, as lots of people around here call it) Rd. The University of Auckland campus is about a twenty-minute walk south from here, but it (and the New Market as well) are easily accessible from the Link bus route. 

 

Dormmates and Randoms:

 

“Random,” btdubbs, is Kiwi slang for strangers, i.e. “a random person,” or “random people.” It’s a pretty popular term, and I quite like it, and since my life feels pretty influenced by them, I think that’s how I’ll refer to this expanding group of unrelated people who keep changing my life on an hourly basis.

 

I also met up with a friend of Tash’s, Aaron, a photographer who lives in Auckland. He and his girlfriend Sofia hung out with me after returning my shoes (which I’d left at Tash’s house, and she’d asked him to deliver them to me in Auckland). We got dinner and they took me to a Jazz festival later on in the evening at the other end of Auckland. A whole park and three blocks of restaurants were closed off to traffic as heaps, HEAPS of people milled around listening to various jazz band’s set up around town. It was what I had imagined the Busker’s festival in Christchurch to be like: stalls of musicians, bands, playing blues, bluegrass, swing, reggae, and straight up jazz standards up and down the street. Old people dancing, young high school kids crawling all over the place, street vendors…it was nuts. Literally thousands of people. Dad, you shoulda seen it.

 

Sometime during my third day of dorm living, I shared an elevator with a first-year named Cory, a guy who made it point to say that even though he spoke with an American midwest accent, his parents were both Kiwi’s and he himself was a New Zealand citizen and had multiple family members all over the Auckland area. He’s a nice kid, and invited me and another foreign exchange student (Brahim from France) to his aunt’s house for dinner and a BBQ. He reminds me a lot of Richard, one of my best friends from Dallas. We bought memberships to the gym, which I believe will ultimately prove itself to be a wise investment. But not until after my abdominal muscles heal and cease to feel like Wolverine from the X-Men has gone to town on them with his shiny claws. Oh my God, I will never go that long without exercising ever again. It just hurts too much. 

 

I spent some time figuring out the bus system, which is relatively easy. I had feared the worse after hearing a lot of Kiwis complain about how confusing it is, but it’s really not that bad once you understand several things. Auckland is very small, in terms of it’s size and population (only 1.5 million people, and that’s more than a quarter of all of New Zealand.) Instead of having one public transportation service run by the city, as would be the case in America, there’s several bus companies servicing different areas. These companies all have their own routes. The Link bus, for example, is the bus line which route my dorm is closest to. That’s good for me, because the Link circuit goes to most of the places I want to go; the university, the grocery store, and the shopping district. Most bus stops even have electronic bulletin boards indicating how long it is until the next bu arrives.

 

In Other News:

 

-       Tash invited me back down to Hamilton for the weekend and I may have to take her up on it.

-       Finally heard back from Karolina, who is well and safe and looking for work in Picton.

-       Have talked to Matt several times, who’s been considerate enough to repost all those pictures I posted on Facebook to a more accessible site; will have more on that later.

-       I’m also posting more photos of my dorm and pic’s from the festival on FB. I have a feeling the one or two-sentence anecdotes and descriptions below the pictures are going to be more interesting than today’s blog entry.

 

Goodnight, guys.

Love, Em.

Feb 12: Strangers and swimholes, dinner parties and dancing

"A stranger's just a friend you haven't made yet!":

Smart, slightly paranoid girls like myself tend to hate that phrase. It demands that we ignore a caution so basic we would be idiots not to heed: men are crazy and sometimes they want to kill you for sadistic, possibly sexual reasons.

Despite spending essentially a month with a guy who was once a stranger and going to places for no reason than a friendly stranger suggested we head there, I was not about to let down my guard. As Matt's car drove away, I immediatly sized up the situation: Karolina and I are reasonably fit, and this guy--despite his huge biceps and 6-foot frame--is basically jsut a string bean. We could easily take him down if things got rough or seedy and we needed an out. I had already looked at a list of other backpacker's places in Hamilton, knew where the bus station was, and figured I could make do with just my orange back with my laptop and my purple purse if the chips came down and we had to run for it. Karolina had all of her essentials in her purse, I was pretty sure, so if ever one of us saw the knife or the roofies we'd grab the other by her wrist, snatch the bag with the passport and run like crazy down Queen street towards the train station.

But it turned out none of my brilliant get-away schemes ever came to pass. Andy, an out-of-work lawyer who had taken a year off to travel all over South America and some other parts of the world, turned out to be quite a stable fellow. Not just that, but he and his friend Natasha were simply the best, most friendly hosts and tourguides turned friends we could have asked for.

Andy Let us leave our bags at his house that he was subletting and currently renovating. As he had a few more chorse to finish up, he invited us to check out the park and the lake, which was about an hours walk, and by that time he'd be done with one set of chores and would be ready to drop us and our stuff off at Natasha's (henceforth known as Tash) house.

Karolina and I spent the whole hour talking and making each other laugh and sizing up the situation:

"So do you feel scared?"

"Not anymore, he seems like a nice guy."

"Yeah, I really like that he's a lawyer."

"But he's also unemployed and spent a year traveling."

"Yeah, strange for a lawyer."

"But that kind makes me think he's OK."

"Me too!"

We walked around the lake and then wound up back where we started, and right around then Andy drove by in his car to pick us up and take us over to Tash's.

Unfortunately, she wasn't there, and Andy didn't have a spare key. SO we hung out for about 30 minutes, talking and such, and then he had more errands to do, so we walked off over to the other park and played there for a while.

"I feel really bad about this, shooing you guys off to parks!" he said. "We're going to have a great BBQ later, I promise, you'll love it!"

So we walked back to another park, got some soda, played on some swings, got dizzy on the carousel, talked about boys, talked about Matt, talked abuot the boy she left in Germany, and about an hour and half later we wandered back to Tash's house, wondering if maybe she was home yet.

We walked in front of the open sliding door and I saw a girl sitting in front of a computer and waved. She waved back. Yes! Oh wait! She still didn't know who I was!

"Hey!" I called. "Are you Andy's friend?"

"Oh! Yeah! Are you the little couch surfers from Germany?"

And then things went swimmingly from there. Andy came back and we went to the super market to pick up sausages and a salad for the BBQ, and we went back to Tash's friend's house, where we got a recomendation to head up to Waikato and see some springs.

We hung out and ate for about two hours, talking about the trip, where we were from, where we were headed, Texas, Germany, Hamilton itslef (which all kiwi's seemed to agree was a boring industrial town) and cracking jokes about everything.

We later went back to Tash's and had some more drinks, and more people ame over. Got to meet Tash's boyfriend, Chris, and her roommate, Dippy, and a bunch of other people who floated in and out for the whole evening. A few drinks and conversatios later, it was suggested we walk 15 minutes into town and visit a few dance clubs. Andy told us we didn't have to go, shouldn't feel pressured into going, etc etc. But Karolina and I looked at each other and both agreed we wanted to go, but only if the other person went. And so we did.

You! Me! Dancing!:

We hit up four clubs and stayed at two. Because there's not much natural stuff to do in Hamilton, like surfing or hiking or enjoying the fresh air, the city makes it up to its dwellers by having the most concentrated area of bars of all the New Zeland cities. They all esentially share the same courtyard area. Imagine ten houses sharing the same back yard, and that's kind of what it's like. And nobody's parents are home. It was like crashing a Prom Dance, and we had an awesome time.

The next day, we were supposed to get to Karolina's train at 10:00 and I was going to get to my bus at 10:10. But Karolina's train wasn't in commission, and so she decided to stay an extra day. I was starting to feel protective of Karolina, like and older sister or a cousin, and I wanted to hang out with her until I knew where she was going and how she was going to get there. So we both decided to wait until her train left Hamilton, two days later, untill we left.

The Best Hosts Ever:

So we spent the rest of that day going to Rotorua, where there's an abundance of sulferic springs and boiling mud. The steam's so big and thick and moist it rolls off of the surface of the water like cumulous clouds. The boiling mud pits looked like a caldron of which's brew. And all this we got to see for free, since ndy was a NZ tour guide at one point and knew all the best touristy places to go. We swam for free, saw the pits for free, and later that night, we swam in a second springs for free.

The second one was such an intense experience. We got there late at night, at about 10:00. Pitch black and with nothing but Andy's flashlight on his cell phone to guide us, we parked the car and walked about twenty steps to a big, shallow pond. We could barely see anything, except for the flashlight.

This particular spring was pecial because it was fed by one hot and one cold spring. The result was a lovely cool pool of water with intense and frequent pockets of heat, perfect for chilly summer nights in NZ.

It was amazing. wewere just four shapes in the water, talking, laughing, relaxing, getting sared every now and then from the shadows and the yelling possums. You couldn't see them, but you could hear them advance and shriek.

Later, aroudn 12:30 during the car ride home, Karolina and I sat in the back and the four of us passed around a chocolate bar and listened to music. At one point Karolina turned to me and said "I really love this moment." I felt very much the same.

Maxin' and relaxin':

The next day as designated chill out day: check e-mails, make phone calls, and head out to the Hamilton botanical gardens. Andy worked all day but Tash showed us the seven or eight country-themed gardens: the english garden, the american, the italian, chinese, indian, japanese, etc. So much fun, and so pretty considering it's a free park, open to the public and whatever events they want to throw. Even weddings. Tash's sibligns have all been married in each of the gardens, at no cost. So sarah, maybe we should jsut have the wedding here and fly everyone to NZ? Eh? Eh?

Later at home, Tash made gourmet pizza and Karolina made Polish Cake, which had a number of names: yeast cake, breakfast cake, bread cake...Super yummy meal, and good times were had by all.

The next day we went into Waikato and after about an hour of wandering around in the wrong place and walking for 30 minutes in an abandoned train tunnel, we found the spring's Tash's friends recomonded we visit at the BBQ. To get to it, we had to walk 15 minutes over two rope swing bridges and through a cave of glow worms--which, when yuo see them in a cave, emit little pin pricks of blue light and look like stars. Apparently they're just wormy slugs, but i tried not to think about that.

We landed in front of an amazing sight: two waterfalls, on coming from another cave, and falling into a perfect pond. We jumped off rocks and ate plums and cadbury choclate bars, and it was perfect.

So Long, Hamiltron:

That was yesterday. Today we woke up early to get to Karolina's train and to my bus, and I was almost as sad as when Matt left. We exhanged numbers and information and promised to see each other before Karolina's six months were up and my semester is over.

I made it into Auckland, safe and sound, and got to my dorm room and finally, FINALLY put my bags away and my clothes in a closet and fell into my bed, just soon enough to ignore the ugliness of the room. Cinderblocks, tiny windows, ugly carpet, etc. etc.

Today was a boring mix of nesting and buying things. I'm going to have to purchase an internet plan, look into my phone situation and figure out why I can't set up my voice mailbox, and abunch of other boring stuff.

Hopefully it will all pick up tomorrow. I guess a few down days can't be all that bad.