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.