i found feijoas this morning
at the farmer's market!!

as i walk through campus to get to class,
i giggle to myself every time i pass
the "antarctic research center."

sometimes, penguins hang out at the harbor-front.

哈尔滨/Харбин́ Kharbin
conversation i had with my friend Marina:

me: so where geographically in russia are you from?
her: on the eastern side, near the china border.
me: wait...like near harbin?
her:....YEAH! I can see harbin from my window,
it's 15 minutes away.
-----
nick, james, marina and i walked along
the harbor-front discussing
beijing accents, spanish architecture,
strangely shaped hot-yoga instructors,
american accents as advertisement,
& the joy of being able to finally shower
after 2 weeks of scalding water.
we reached our destination (the supermarket)
and each bought a tub of ice cream.
then we almost tried to imitate james'
kiwi accent but gave up because it's impossible.
ah, friday nights are the best.

"A mind once stretched by a new experience

can never go back to its old dimensions."(me underneath a waterfall in milford sound)

i have been in new zealand for 2 months!
O the places i have seen,
terrains i have walked,
strangers i have befriended,
knowledge i have gained.

my Aims & Ideals of Maori Education professor

printed out the email i sent her & read it to
the class today because she was "so pleased"
with my questions & effort to start the project early.

she kept smiling at me & asked
for my reflection/insight on the photography
research project she did a few years ago on
'visual worlds of maori youth.'
she's a pretty cool lady, i like her.
she has tribal affiliations.

here's the harbor view from campus.how am I supposed to concentrate
on writing an anthro paper when I have mount doom to
climb & the kingdom of tonga to explore?

my flowers 6,704 miles away blossomed!
my sister sent me this picture today:

sn0 flo*wer & the s3cret fan.

today, i was told i had a "cute accent."

it's BOOK MONTH in NEW ZEALAND.

today we had a guest lecturer from pohnpei
come & talk to us about Micronesian literature.she started out with a trivia game about
the Micronesian islands.
i was the only person in the class
(amongst all my Pacific classmates)
who knew that the place with the famous
jellyfish lake is in Palau!

we all come from a different place
(georgia, washington dc/iran, new york, california,
russia, canada, india/auckland, christchurch)
but have crossed paths so that on
this day, we could give birthday cheers
to a kiwi bloke (from hamilton) who hates birthdays.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN!

earlier this week, gavin let me borrow his external
hard drive so i could get heaps of movies from him. :)))))

last night, i had a dream that i was at a lunch party
that overlooked a beach crowded with lions.

i wandered outside to protect a little bunny
from being hunted. when it was safe,
i released it into the wild but it turned into
a pigeon and flew away.

i couldn't decide if it had been a pigeon all along
or if it transformed into one during my efforts to save it.

i've been craving to go to the library for weeks,

but i finally found some time to go today.
i realized all the books i got revolve around consumption.
now i can learn how to raise chickens & be enlightened
about the history, symbolism and health benefits of:
fava beans, eggplants, avocados & brussel sprouts
(some of my favorite foods)in this book with its
"interesting blend of botanical, culinary and folk information."

then i made the best meal i have ever made:
lamb.kale.rice.kumara.

'The feijoa was collected in southern Brazil
by a German explorer Freidrich Sellow in 1815.
It was named after Brazilian botanist, Joam da Silva Feijo.

Feijoas were introduced into New Zealand in the 1920`s.
New Zealand's ideal climate produced large fruit, and few pest enabled feijoa's to be grown organically.
The New Zealand season runs from late March to June.

The fruit has a very distinctive, aromatic flavour with
tropical overtones including pineapple and guava.
(in California, the fruit is known as "pineapple guava")'

i'm writing a paper on the
Indigenization of Christianity in the Pacific,
looking specifically at Fiji and Tonga.

these places used to seem so unfamiliarly foreign.
but now that they come up in conversations/lectures
every single day, they don't feel so far away anymore.
+practically neighbors+

ps: i lost my only stack of post-it notes.
i don't know what to do.
(i make a daily to-do list & have for the past 2 years)
but they cost $11 a pack here..
*sigh, first world problems..*
-____-
maybe i will buy a roll of receipt paper
and write down all my to do lists
until i finish the roll. then i can look back
and read all the things i've done.

sometimes, it'll hit me that i am here.
i also just noticed how symmetrical 'AOTEAROA' is.

kiwis will say "choice!" instead of "cool!"
they also don't refrigerate their eggs.

highlight of my sundays.
i discovered that feijoa IS pineapple guava.
i also realized i had never actually eaten
chard or purple kumara so i got some today.

no one in the building has been able to

take a real shower for a week. the only
water that comes out is..beyond scalding.

so i've been filling pots with water from
the kitchen sink & dumping it onto myself
while standing in the shower.

@__@

out of all holidays, i always have the best easters.
this year, i get to visit tonga!

you have not lived life if you have not
tried hokey pokey ice cream.
~*rich creamy vanilla with honey comb chunks*~
i got it on sale at new world this afternoon.

i spend my rainy days eating avocados and
picking aphids off my plants.

i feel overwhelmed & anxious for some reason.

i hear maori(?) chanting coming from the street.
my shower has done nothing but scald my skin.
i hope seymor is okay. i wish i had a pet here.
like a little fish to keep me company.
i'm expected to memorize a poem titled
"what am i"...in samoan.
(it's pronounced saaa-moa, not suh-moa)

the following shows the linguistic
branching of the word "coconut"

Some Austronesian words for "coconut":
Nyiur (Indonesian)
Nu (Tetun, i.e. East Timor)
Niyog (Filipino, e.g. Tagalog, Pangasinan)
Voanìo (Malagasy/Madagascar)

Some other Pacific words for "coconut":
Ni (Marshalls and Kiribati)
Niyok (Guam)
Noece (Caroline Islands--Belau)

Some Polynesian words for "coconut":
Niu (Fiji)
Niu (Samoa)
Niu (Tonga)

E tipu e rea (we want the best of both worlds)
i am most enjoying my Aims & Ideals of Maori ED class.
our class is tiny & our tutorial is even tinier
because people don't show up for some reason.

everybody in the class comes from such a
different background which makes
discussions super interesting because there
are so many different perspectives to be shared!
i like the professor (joanna).
in fact, i've always adored/respected all my ED profs.

Mālō e lelei
Tonga is composed of 176 islands,
36 of which are inhabited.
The king (George Tupou V) passed away today.
i am going here in 4 weeks.

this inspires me.

WARNING: MAXIMUM WEIGHT=1 PERSON

decided to try and make curry for the first time.
i couldn't find one "good" recipe for it, so i combined
many from online & the box of japanese curry.
it was so good and easy too. i made extra for leftovers
so now i can have a yummy lunch tomorrow!
this curry has:
+lamb
+onions
+carrots
+potatoes
+eggplant

tararua.

the second night of tenting was much
warmer than the first. i snuggled into the
soft grass & passed out. we woke up,
ate breakfast, washed our dishes & filled up our bottles
in the river and were on the move again.

day #2 hike was somewhat brutal.
every muscle in my body ached
and my legs are swollen with bug bites. eek.
but i feel very accomplished & GOOD.
the landscape felt so wild and free.

the land before time
tramping through new zealand.
we hiked up+down mountains, leaped over muddy swamps,
hopped over river rocks, pulled our way up
tree roots growing in steep hills
and climbed on/through/above many boulders.
this landscape has been sculpted into our bodies.

we made it to the totara flats by nightfall.

this is a [female] colossal squid
on exhibit at the te papa. it was accidentally found
by nz fishermen in antarctic waters.
it has the largest eyeball of all creatures on earth.
there is no record that a male colossal
squid has ever been sighted!

i watched a little video that was being displayed
then turned around and saw it.

our first assignment in my Pacific Studies class is to

attend a Pacific cultural event and write a review.
Xoobwen Fwaada, a Melanesian band from New Caledonia
was performing at Te Papa museum today so i decided to go after class. the group is interested in promoting indigenous music and reviving the usage of traditional bamboo instruments.they sang about their origin, meeting new people and dragonflies.
they also all spoke french which had to be translated into english for the audience.

one lady asked "i have never heard of this New Caledonia,
is it near France?"
there was an embarrassed silence in the crowed.
"uhm, not quite, it was a French colony,
about a 2 hour ferry ride from New Zealand"

i just joined the school tramping(hiking/backpacking)club!

we're going to the Totara Flats this weekend
for the 1st trip of the semester!

i am glad i already have all the gear i need
(sleeping bag, backpacking backpack, canteen,
head lamp, rain jacket,etc).
i just wish they had clif bars here in aotearoa.
i'm not too keen on museli..

i found a very cool picture online.

i planned to print it out at the kodak store a block away.
but then decided just to paint it myself @ 11:00pm.

taped to the door is a map of wellington.
i constantly have to un-tape & bring it with me places.
for example, lauren and i walked 8.8 kilometers
to and from a pet store. we both wanted a pet betta fish.

we ventured into greater wellington
and encountered many street names
we couldn't even pronounce.
then we passed katherine mansfield's house.
sadly, we didn't end up getting our finned friends
(but we did see heaps of beautiful tropical guppies)
i was going to name mine Lova,
short for pavlova (nz's national dessert).
but just wait, i will have my lova one day.

from the farmer's market :-)

the sea the sea
i have always wanted to swim to a
little platform/dock in the sea.
today, i did just this! the water was freezing.
i jumped off and swam back to shore.
starfish scampered by my feet.
there were skinny little fish in the waves.

"so, are there sharks here..?"
"nope, the water is much too cold for them."