Awkward Accounts: III

Thought I have been cured of my awkwardness? NEVER!! Here's a few updates. I will say, my awkward accounts have now become run-of-the-mill, or as my best friend Scott and I say "Classic". The whole "adjustment to NZ" awkward period is mostly over, now New Zealand is just trying to adjust to me.

-One afternoon after class, Lara, Melissa, and I decided to revisit K' Road. After an afternoon of putting around, I had to use the facilities, desperately. You may find this gross, but it was the kind of facility-using that you wouldn't want to do in a bathroom that was right next to a kitchen, or in front of a lot of people. I had to poo. And we passed a bunch of places that we collectively decided (because in my desperation I recruited Lara and Melissa to the search) were not prime locations. Finally, we happened upon a large music/ clothing store. Perfect, right? Wrong. I asked around the store and was directed to the "questions and inquiries" desk. "Its right behind the counter, right here" said the cute man working the desk. I had to commit at this point and used the bathroom, single stall unisex, and opened all the windows. There was no febreez or anything, so I knew I had to make it out quick to avoid embarassment. Upon exiting the bathroom, I tripped flat on my face because there had been a step down that in my frenzy I had overlooked. The cute man came over to help me up. I ran away. We left the store.

- One day my teacher said to me "Oh you know- they have noticed you're around, and they've got little crushes on you!"
Assuming she meant the students (as this is to be expected with high school boys who are going through puberty), I replied "Oh, its just the accent. Boys will be boys"
"No, no, not the students. The boys who work the building." Then she went on to tell me how they are all around my age, and after school on Fridays they all drink beer with her (on school property... its a cultural thing?) and they insist that they move beer-days to Thursday so that I will come. Which is nice, but its also awkward when your cooperating teacher is trying to play match maker. With you.

-The horticulture area of school is on the outskirts of the property. Between the hort block and the main offices, there is a whole section of the building that is currently under construction. So, every day at school, I am constantly aware that there are dozens of men up in the scaffolding wondering who I am, as I am young, but not in a uniform so clearly not a student. The other day I was running to the bathroom as usual (because I have to cross the entire school just to pee and the teachers here drink coffee as if its oxygen), and I heard "hello". I stopped and looked around, but no one was there. "Hello, up here!" I looked up and waved to the men in the scaffolding, who were laughing. As I was walking and waving, I tripped over the foot bridge in front of the building and the men. I ran away. They don't say hi to me anymore.

Bay of Islands

At our finest

Two weekends ago was our first scheduled weekend trip through HWS. We left after class on Friday and headed up the the Bay of Islands area and stayed on Te Omaha Marae. After we settled in they quickly brought us to a beach to practice using the Taiaha. A Taiaha is a long wooden stick that is carved in the likeness of a person (kindof) and was used in hand to hand battle.  Our instructor had a real Taiaha which was beautifully carved and adorned with kiwi feathers. We used wooden poles for practice, which still felt pretty lethal. She taught us the different striking points and defenses and calls associated with each movement. We left feeling pretty badass. That night the 20 of us slept together in the whare nui (the big house) on the floor on mattresses. Before going to sleep, we watched the film "Whale Rider". If you have not seen this movie, you absolutely must. With the knowledge we have gathered from our Maori studies class, I felt like I got a lot more from the film then I did when I was younger, but even without the background it is still amazing. Or you can wait for me to get home and I will talk the whole time and tell you everything. Your choice.

In the morning a few of us decided that we should wake up early to watch the sun rise (see it as the first people in the world!). It was breathtaking, and a lot of us quietly contemplated the meaning of life and other typical-college-existentialism. After breakfast, we had a few more activities (including playing Maori instruments, most of which I was horrible at) and then we were whisked away by bus (more car sickness) to our next location.

warriors in training, please note my
expertise and Lara's... outfit.

"what does it all mean??"

first rays of sun on Te Omaha marae

open eyes are for squares

We stayed in a hostel in Paihia and ate dinner over the bay while the sun went down (very romantic, especially with 16 girls and 2 boys). We were told to get a good night's rest for the next day which was the big day of the trip: our dune rider tour. 7:30 Sunday morning we boarded a bus with a lot ofother tourists to travel even farther north. We had a lot of stops along the way, one being the Ancient Kauri Kingdom where they have excavated many buried Kauri trees which were alive 40,000 years ago. The Kauri trees are like the Redwoods of New Zealand, and most of them were chopped down by the settlers to use for ship making. Another classic case of colonial destruction of natural beauty for financial gain. Underneath the forest layer that has the 20,000 year old trees lies another layer with a tree that is 100,000 years old, apparently the oldest wood found in the world. Obviously I had to get a heinous photo with it.



Back in the bus, up to Cape Reinga. Even more carsickness. Cape Reinga is special for all New Zealanders and for the Maori specifically. It is the northern most tip of the country, and from the point you can see the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet, with waves marking the spot a few km of shore (weird!). The Maori believe that when you die, your spirit takes a very specific path going north, until you reach Cape Reinga. This is where the Maori believe your spirit jumps off the land, at a certain tree, and you make your journey back to Hawaiki (the spiritual land/ where the Maori came from). Most of you know how I feel about trees with meaning, so I was all over this like white on rice. Jokes aside, it was a really moving experience that made me quite introverted to the point that I had to take the walk to the top by myself (cheesy but true).

the meeting point

the lighthouse

the jumping off place and the tree

To shake us out of our spiritual state, we followed the visit to the cape with DUNE BOARDING. This is exactly what it sounds like. It took so long to walk up the dune, but it was completely worth it. I think I still have some sand in my ears, though.

After the dunes we drove down 90 mile beach. 90 mile beach is really only 60 miles, interesting fact. Misnomers all around. In contrast to the US, there were no resorts or boardwalks or jetties or anyhting, the beach has been left essentially untouched. It was absolutely gorgeous. During the drive south on the beach, we pulled over to snap some pictures of a herd of wild horses (seriously.).  And no, I did not get close enough to have any allergic reaction.

behind me is 90 mile beach

awesome rock on 90 mile beach

we have other friends. just not many of them.

is this real life? 

"Wiiillldd horrsess.... couldn't drag me aw-wayyy"

We were really exhausted that night and passed out in the hostel around 9:00. On Monday we had our last stop of the trip, a visit to the Treaty of Waitangi grounds. The Treaty of Waitangi was a treaty signed between the crown and the Maori people, guaranteeing land and cultural rights. It is an incredibly controversial document that some kiwis (not just Maori) see as the founding document of the country. The grounds were set up very similar to Mt. Vernon, with a huge lawn, big flagpole, museum, and a preserved colonial house. The only difference of course was a beautiful Marae.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend organized by our school. I cannot wait to see what our next school trip will be like... !

Waitakeres, Karekare, and Piha

View from the look out at the Waitakeres 

Look out view

First stop: Waitakeres!

We've been in NZ a month! Whoa!! I've been loving Auckland, but I had an urge to get somewhere this weekend where I couldn't see the Sky Tower. So I called up my friend from Songa, Steph, who lives in Auckland. She brought Lara and I around the woods of west Auckland to do a little exploring. First of, Steph took us to the Waitakeres (see above). The Waitakeres are a mountain range along the east coast of Auckland. But still, from the look out, you can see the Sky Tower.

A silver fern

Possibly a rahui, which is a Maori
"no trespassing sign"

We had a look around the visitors center at the Waitakeres and then we got back in Steph's 2 door to explore Karekare beach. To get to the actual beach, we had to walk through a river/ dune area for about ten minutes, which was nice because when we finally got to it there were not that many people there. The west coast beaches all have very fine, magnetic black sand. It is very soft to walk on when it is on the ground, but once it is windborn, it cuts your legs like a pricker bush. It was so beautiful, seeing the ocean and the waves and the rocks (and the kiwi surfers were pretty nice to look at, too). It was surreal how different the landscape was in comparison to the ever-rolling hills of suburbs that is "Auckland super city".

Karekare beach

Songa at Karekare

Outcrops at Karekare

So artsy right there, espec. with my hand blocking the "lense"

Waterfall at Karekare

Waterfull at Karekare

View above Piha

After the Karekare waterfall, we climbed back into the car, and Steph braved more winding roads to bring us to Piha beach. We had lunch at a flash cafe (this means cool in NZish). Flash also means expensive, but it was good food for a great view. Piha is a more popular beach, probably because the actual beach is easier to get to. Piha had the same type of large, black rock outcrops in the ocean, but it also had high beach cliffs made up of what looked almost like glacial till ? There were rocks of all shapes and sizes cemented together. I'm going to have to investigate that one...

Lara yelling at the sand...

Deep undercutting on Piha beach

look at those beauties!

AWESOME Sedimentary cliffs

Look at that cementation!

wave-cut cliff at Piha beach

Sands blowing across at Piha

Piha beach

Oh and of course:

gotta have those selfies

Tamaki Drive

Lara found a great deal for bikes near the wharf: 10 bucks and you can rent them for the whole day! So after class on Friday, instead of writing our paper that is due on Tuesday, Lara Kathryn and I decided it was time to play! We even got our professor, Khuram, to join us.

10 dollars, a neon green hemlet, a cute bikeman, and bike adjustments were all it took and we were off! We folowed Tamaki Drive, which follows the coast of the bay at the north end of the city. This is the route we took along the shore.

We stopped at a few beaches on the way, riding our bikes down as far as we could, sometimes making it to the water. There were boardwalks we disturbed, playgrounds we passed, puppies, babies, waves, kite surfers, rugby players (always), old people, young people. There were even some awesome wave-cut rocks that needed to be investigated. Even though we were still in Auckland, it felt like our first time getting out of the city. It was well deserved and much needed.

 "Is this real life?"

Never can have too many selfies

beautiful rocky coast

Rangitoto from a beach we pulled off on

Lara and Kathryn, happy little buggers

AWESOME ROCK that you love as much as I do.
Look at that swirl!

Lara and Kathryn, going to swim to Rangitoto with their helmets on

Smiling, eyes closed, in front of my future conquest

To teach or not to teach...

Alright, enough happy shmappy posts. This blog is getting too damn nice. If you are thinking "wow, Lolo seems to be having a great time! Especially since she moved away from the creepy dog who used to watch her sleep!", you are correct. I am having a great time. But in typical Laura-fashion, I have some serious issues with my teaching placement.

Heres the issue : I don't teach.

Now you may be thinking "Well, then she must have so much free time on her hands! To do cool things!" Well if your idea of 'cool things' is journaling for 6 hours at a time and taking dozens of selfies, looking to entertain/ occupy myself/ pass the time, then DING DING DING WE HAVE A WINNERRR.

The main issue is that I don't know diddly squat about horticulture. Sure, I am learning a lot that I do find interesting, but the students do not find it interesting. At all. They pretty much hate class. And you know who else hates class? My teacher. She wants to quit. Personally, I think she might be trying to get fired (nothing too extreme, just excessive gossiping and the occasional "F*** you!" to students in the class).

Besides the fact that every day is a test of my urban survival skills, the root of the problem (root, get it? its a plant joke.) is that earth science is only taught in universities over here. It is a true shame that the students who will not go on to university, or even if they do will not study earth science, never get a proper course on the formation of their country. The world's leading geologists come from New Zealand!!!(oh, and HWS of course)!! It is such a bummer. I wonder if I had known about the lack of earth science, would I have still chosen to come on this program? I love being in NZ, but the placement is a huge part of the trip for everyone and for me its a huge drag.

Here is what I've been doing to pass the time:

should I be in this situation

should I eat this pen

should I fake happiness  

should I look at my highlights

should I sneeze

should I touch my hair

should I open my eyes ever

should I be a hair model

            

should I treat this book
as a newborn child

Should I grow a mustache

should I start a rap about school

                          

Should I get bangs, I think they should help me find a husband