You know who you are. Y'all did miss out. A few of us had planned to go to Rangitoto Island (a nature preserve off the Auckland harbor) for a day of adventuring and trail running. Like an overexcited third grader, I laid all my clothes out the night before and bolted out of bed the second my alarm went off. Right as I was getting ready to go and placing my PB+J in my running pack (I really am a third grader), I noticed the group had been blitzing out thinking about canceling because it might rain (RAIN RUNNING IS EVEN MORE FUN, ya goofs!). I sent out several frantic blitzes that went unanswered then realized people were most likely not going, and my host mom consoled me a bit, then I decided to go rogue instead. AND ROGUE I WENT! Despite my morning delay, I miraculously made it to the only morning ferry with 5 minutes to spare. I arrived to the island at 11 and spent the afternoon scrambling up and down the volcano and various paths on the island. By the time my afternoon ferry came, I had done about two hours of scampering, ate a PB+J on the edge of a crater, met an American who knew a friend of mine from high school, and explored some lava caves. Not a bad way to spend a day off of classes. I honestly think I may have had a better day alone than I might have with a bigger group. I didn't realize how much I needed a big chunk of alone time (besides just watching tv on my laptop). A day alone, exploring, feeling the overwhelming silence of a nature preserve with no real animals and no human activity was so therapeutic. The only weird moment in my day was when a guided tour rover drove by me on a dirt road I was coming down and a Chinese tourist kept pointing at me and taking photos with his hi-tech camera. I felt like some weird creature that they all felt entitled to photograph. But hey, maybe they just thought I looked awesome in my trail gear. (My neon running pack and assorted water bottles + the hippie headband I bought at the market probably look horrific to non-runners but I felt like a boss regardless.)
I got back to my homestay a little before dinner and promptly showered, put on my comfiest pajamas, and watched tv while eating chocolate. It was definitely my version of Treat Yo Self 2015 - I got to do everything I wanted to and didn't have to worry about anybody else. I'm so grateful and happy that I went. Normally I probably would've just sat around my homestay moping all day and being mad that everyone bailed and it would have been terrible. Instead, I scampered around volcanic rock and mossy forest and decreased the homesickness I'd been feeling tenfold from the first moment my feet began to strike springy, technical trail.
In the words of my girl Jenn Shelton, "That's what I love - just being a barbarian and running through the woods."
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You know what’s a great idea? Chugging a liter of extremely low quality cider by the name of Scrumpy’s after eating weird meat all day! (No, I did not get sick. It actually WAS a great idea.) Despite how my body felt the next morning, I had a wonderful (and somewhat – okay, very -- disgusting) weekend which involved delicious food, a middle school-esque sleepover, and RUGBY! I basically didn’t stop moving from the second class got out Friday at noon. A bunch of us spent that afternoon at St. Heliers, a beach nearby, then quickly shuffled back to our homestays for dinner. That night, I met people for drinks* (*to drink cheap cider in the park like teenagers) then to the movies. After somewhat of a disastrous attempt at all of us trying to go out post-movies then basically no buses running, we ended up at Ling’s house for the night. We watched Key + Peele and Fresh Off the Boat and then all curled up in different corners of the house for a solid 4 hours of sleep – from which I was awoken by both Justin and Singer giving me crazy eyes. Justin and Terence went to the grocery store and brought back stuff for a very unnecessary but still lovely brunch, and then we headed off to the Otara market in South Auckland. At the market, I had to interview people for a linguistics assignment, and part of interviewing people meant buying things from them AKA I ended up with an excuse to buy myself a new headband, a $5 hat, and a disappointing churro. After the market we went to Auckland’s chinese new year, which was basically wandering around in the hot sun eating delicious food. I had what seemed to be the bottom half of an octopus in sweet chilli sauce and some dumplings and a mango smoothie and it was all amazing but I didn’t need to eat any of it. AND THEN from there we had to go straight to a barbeque at our prof’s house! Thus it was pretty much an entire day of walking a few feet, eating, walking some more, eating again, etc. That night, we went from the barbeque to the Chiefs vs. Blues game, where I imbibed a lot of scrumpy’s and had a wondrous time yelling and trying to convince Apoorva that rugby and American football are not actually the same thing. I went there with the intention of rooting for the Blues (home team), but similarly to my American football mentality, I chose my team allegiance based on uniform colors. (Sorry Blues, the Chiefs uniforms were fierce.) It was a grand ole time.
WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS + SUCCESSES:My birthday involved a crazy amount of travel time and a lot of meandering and it was exactly what I didn’t know I wanted. Terence, Apoorva and I made the trek to Wellington for Saturday + Sunday and left Friday night after our Waitangi Day at Bastion Point (which included an awesome powhiri and a lot of food trucks, but I digress). I could go on forever on all the wonderful little bits of my weekend but for the sake of anyone reading, I’m making it a listicle instead. You’re welcome, Mom*. *we all know it’s most likely just you reading this. 1. I SURVIVED TWO 10+ HOUR BUS RIDES! I feel like I deserve a tee shirt with that across the front and a really sweaty-looking me on the back inside a logo. I’m so impressed with me. My usually motion-sick, bus-hating self sucked it up and acted like a reckless youth and did an amount of traveling that would seem absurd if were anywhere but New Zealand. And it was totally worth it. 2. Running Adventures On Saturday morning, Terence and I run-scamper-hiked for two hours up into the mountains surrounding the city and saw some amazing views. Exhibit A: If I were in the states I would’ve been gunning for 21 miles, but since I’m in New Zealand and Terence and I had just stumbled off of an insanely long bus ride, we just ran for fun without tracking miles. Besides, we definitely did at least 21km, so that’s New Zealand-y and festive.
4. ALL OF THE FOOD + the outdoor market ...which included Thai, indian, and Malaysian, as the highlights. We stumbled into an outdoor festival/market the ngiht of my bday where I had some delicious Malaysian shrimp thing and listened to live music and watched a flash mob haka of Ka Mate – it was almost too perfect. 5. The evening I did not expect We somehow ended up in the middle of the crowd of every drunk sevens fan in town for the tournament and finished off our night at a weird outdoor clubbing scene dancing on a raised centerstage. We were the only vaguely sober people there (woo 21! Go hard!) as well as the only people not in racist costumes, but it was a great time. 6. Sunday Brunch (o the homesickness) I know this should be lumped in with delicious food but brunch deserves its own category. We spent Sunday checking out the cable car and wandering around the massive botanical garden. We then ate rhubarb crumble for brunch in the rose garden. It was all very English. I had such a great birthday. Terence, Apoorva and I were basically little children on the loose, running around a strange city and eating our way through it like Pacmen. It was glorious.
Belated post, I know. It's been a busy week. We were gone from Friday-Monday (silly me, thinking I'd have any free time to be alone - quite the opposite), then got slammed with work, then I contracted something that gave me a consistent fever and the ability to hack up things that vaguely resembled melted cacti. It's been fun. So I sort got the alone time I was hoping for (if fever quarantine counts?). BUT the silver lining: what better time to update my blog than while on bedrest?! the weekendOn Friday we drove several hours up to the Bay of Islands (region north of Auckland), climbed a pā with insane views (see left) and spent the evening wandering around the weird little town of Paihia, which is basically just dive bars, fancy bars, and a beach. We spent the night at the world's rowdiest hostel, complete with a shirtless French manager who liked to inform people in the politest of tones that 11pm was "time to fuck off, you fuck off please" from the common area (or as we more cleverly dubbed it, Fuck Off O'Clock). Saturday we went to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, which was basically a propaganda-fest BUT we did see a really cool performance of haka and poi dancing (Ruined by the upsetting realization that these dancers were being payed by the government as the previous troupe, which was Maori-run, had gone out of business. So not so great. But it was still cool to watch!) We went to the town of Russell after, which was awesome. They had a small museum that had a bunch of historical stuff about the region as well as some taxidermied NZ animals (All I wanted was to put a monocle on the little blue penguin they had. It killed me that they missed such a perfect opportunity). They had two sets of shark jaws that I stared at for a while, too. I think I was supposed to be learning about Russell and its history so this blog could be informative but to be honest those jaws were HUGE AND THERE WERE SO MANY TEETH and I couldn't stop thinking about what it would be like to watch them eat something giant. Afterward we had the rest of the day to ourselves so a few of us went on a bushwalk on this awesome trail (through a mini-jungle! And it even had views of the bay! I wanted to scamper there forever) which led us to a secret little beach. The rest of the group found us there eventually and we spent some time crawling around the rocks and swimming there before grabbing some Thai food for dinner (and we're just gonna skip over the part where I got chili powder in not one, but BOTH OF MY EYES and went blind briefly). On the way back to the ferry to Paihia, when I regained sight, we saw a giant stingray in the water! The picture isn't great but it was definitely at least a 3-foot wingspan.
The highlight of the day was going to Cape Reinga, which is where the Tasman Sea meets the Pacific at the very tip of New Zealand. It's the most beautiful place I've ever been. The tides are crashing together in crazy patterns, and it's all green cliffs and golden sand as far as you can see, with the exception of a small white lighthouse at the tip. I couldn't believe how incredible it was. I kept hearing echoes inside of me, soft but clear - I had found the place my soul loved. I spread out on the grass and watched the Pacific swirl around itself and felt so lucky. The day ended with terrible carsickness so no need to describe that. The next day we went to a weird museum about kauri trees and how they used to cover this island and how cool all of the machines were that the British used to destroy them, which made me sad. We also got to see Tane Mahuta, the ancestor tree. It was so massive - I can't even imagine the landscape being covered in them. It's funny how we think of New Zealand as such a natural and wild place, but in reality it's a very cultivated wildness - rolling hills covered in species of plants that aren't native to here, with animals grazing that never existed before the British arrival... all of that was once covered in a dense forest of trees bigger than the California redwoods. It's so hard to picture, but it must have been unreal.
For the True Auckland Running Experience. Easy afternoon trip! Access park via Mt. Eden Rd., then proceed to summit for lovely views of the city. On the descent, take the dirt trail on the right then proceed to eat it face first and subsequently cry in front of a hot Australian and a busload of Chinese tourists. Then, try to hide your shame away from the crowds by sitting on a bench you don’t realize is covered in fire ants, then try to run home bleeding, dusty, and with said fire ants still in your shorts. “Must-See!” - Hot/Concerned Australian “5 out of 5 Vegemites!” - The Sky Tower, if it could speak “Best Place to Spot Dumb Americans in the Wild!” - Chinese Tourists Jokes aside, it was definitely one of my crappier experiences on a run. I wanted to head back to Mt. Eden for a nice jaunt on my own, but clearly I need Terence by my side or else terrible things happen. Maybe he'll dance it out and scare away the fire ants. Or maybe I'll use him as a fire ant shield, or pretend that the person crying all the tourists heard was him all along!
Nonetheless, there's something to be said about the cleansing power of a fire- like searing pain radiating through your lower body as you grimace at strangers. I got some pretty pictures though! So now we all know it happened and it was way cooler than everything I just said and you should be jealous of internet me, because filters and things. I had my first test in Maori 101 this week, and it went surprisingly well! I'm amazed at how much I've learned in such a short time. We started taking our kapa haka class and I realized how much of the songs I understood without the English translations, which was really cool and exciting. For those who don't know what kapa haka is, here's one of the best examples: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g3QbH_i2VU We haven't actually learned any full-blown, intimidating hakas yet, but I'm hoping we will. Right now it's mainly waiata, a love song a more somber one. Still exciting though! Monday morning Terence and I ran to Mt. Eden, which is a great spot to look out on the city. Hopefully I'll get to see the sunrise from there soon! Anyway, after our Maori test we headed down to Devonport to go to a near-empty beach. (My favorite! People are the worst!) The tide was crazy low so you could walk out far enough where the shore was hard to see and still be in knee-deep water. It was awesome (though not prime for swimming). I'm trying to fit in as much time in the water as possible before our linguistics class starts up. While we were there I thought a lot about gratitude. (It's hard not to feel grateful sitting on a quiet beach in January.) There's been so much on my mind grapes this week though. Listening to other people's reactions, reflections, thoughts, and observances is both interesting and difficult. It's hard to shut out the noise when it's necessary - to go to a quiet little place inside yourself and check in. Am I spending my days meaningfully and well? (Right now, as I'm writing, I'm eating caramels from a chocolate shop and listening to 30 Rock episodes in the background. How's that for a meaningful evening?) Honestly, I think I need to make it a point to be alone more often. I like the ease of walking alone and not having to talk but instead just listen to what's going on around me. And *sometimes* that is an old woman on the street coughing very directly into my face. And then it's no longer a peaceful time. But I digress. Regardless, I'm happy to be here. The only things I really miss are Jacko meetings and the trails in Hanover/my house in Massachusetts/my family. I can deal with pretty much anything that comes my way if I have beach access more than once a week. We're heading to the Bay of Islands this weekend for a trip with our professor and it looks like we'll have a decent amount of idle time. There's a beach there where the Tasman meets the Pacific, which I'm really excited to see. I'm hoping I'll get to spend my downtime going for a solo run and finding some ways to disconnect + have a moment to breathe and get acquainted with the space on my own time. Who would've guessed I was such an introvert! Some Maori for your time: Inanahi, e aru ana tēnā ika i ngā kurī! ("Yesterday those fish were chasing the dogs!")
For some reason this is the sentence we've seen the most in our time learning Maori, yet I don't know how to do negations yet. Useful! SENDING LOVE FROM DOWN UNDER (do people call NZ down under? must find out, because I've signed all my emails to friends in Hanover that way) <3333 After class/lunch on Monday I ran to Mission Bay with Terence. It felt like I had an entire salmon in my stomach as I ran, thanks to my delicious but way-too-big lunch of Japanese food / the direct sun + searing heat + having the entire 5 or so miles be on basically one road didn’t make it easy, but it was SO WORTH IT. While everyone back in Hanover froze in -20 degree weather (lol what is snow), I was splashing around in the Pacific while looking at a massive volcanic island (Rangitoto) on the horizon with a clear view of the Auckland Skyline to my left. So surreal. I felt so present, grateful, and loved by the universe every time I submerged and resurfaced. We hung out and read and tanned (okay, burned) until 5:30 and caught the bus back in time for dinner. I even managed to clean my room and do laundry and restore balance to my tiny little space in university hall! All in all it was an extremely successful day. Aaaaand then today (Tuesday), I found the cafe of my dreams AKA everything about it screamed the Lisa Flynn aesthetic (hi Lisa). What a weekend! So jam-packed. Friday after class a bunch of us went to the beach at mission bay, which was unbelievably beautiful and perfect. Just a small public beach but it had a cute little park and an unreal view of Rangitoto (volcanic island nearby) - swimming and tanning and the entire afternoon felt so crazy in relation to Hanover’s recent -20 degree weather. Lucky us! Saturday morning we got up bright and early to catch our bus to Rotorua. The town was quite different than I expected - it’s basically a hub for a bunch of adventure tourism, and there are geothermal hot springs everywhere so the town smells like sulfur a lot of the time. It was really cool. Once we got there we basically jumped right into some crazy tourist activities. Started off the day with zorbing, which is where you get in a giant puffy hamster ball thing with some water in it and hurtle down the side of a massive hill (one that looked almost identical to that old windows desktop background_. One of the weirder things I’ve done in my life, but so fun. You basically get tossed around and scream like a crazy person and then they pour you out of the opening and you run over to the hot tub to stay warm until the next round. Great stuff. After that we went luging, AKA taking a gondola up a mountain then zooming down on windy little paths on these tiny wheeled sleds that you could steer. So fun! Beautiful views from the top of the luge track. Dinner consisted of a LOT of delicious Indian food eaten in the park, then playing around like little kids in said park. (Because what’s the best activity after ingesting lots of curry? SPINNING!) What was great about the end of that afternoon was how uncomplicated it was. Our giant group of 15 or so had fragmented into a bunch of smaller clumps, and we had no solid plan for the evening, nowhere to be. We just played on the slides and swings and rope maze and it felt just as easy as it did as a kid. My only job was not booting up tikka masala and I accomplished that, so... Then, after trying not to cook ourselves in the hostel’s scalding-hot geothermal pool we ended up going out to eat street (this big pedestrian street that’s full of bars and cafes) that felt strangely like my visit to Austin, TX a few weeks ago -- it was outdoor with picnic tables and craft beer and a live band playing twangy americana music. Nice spot to hang out and watch drunk kiwis make fools of themselves in front of the band (Yes, I’m talking to you, blue dress lady). The next morning I reluctantly woke up at 7 to go running in the redwood forest with Elena and Terence, which was in some ways a bit of a failed mission but a totally awesome morning nonetheless... What was supposed to be a shorter run ended up being 10/11ish miles, mostly on roads, and very little time in the redwood forest itself. BUT we did find a really cool trail through this geothermal post-apocolyptic wasteland on the way there. It reeked of sulfur but the ground was bubbling right near the trail and it looked so otherworldly and surreal. We only had about 10-15 min in the actual redwoods since the way there and back took so long, but it was really beautiful and I’ll definitely want to spend more time there when I come back to Rotorua after this program ends. But I was really happy I got a long-ish run in. I hadn’t run for over an hour-ten in quite some time so it was nice to add some more mileage than my legs had been used to for a bit. After our run, we showered and checked out and then had an UNREAL brunch at the Fat Dog café. Singer and I split two dishes between us – an eggs/bacon/toast situation and french toast with fresh fruit, and I also had a flat white.
Rotorua - Jan 10-11Heading down for a weekend of (hopefully) running through the redwoods, checking out Māori art and cultural sites and geothermal hot springs, aaaand maybe even seeing some live kiwi birds (!!!). I want to steal one so badly it hurts my heart/uterus just thinking about it. (Only if it’s cheap to see them though -- I’m gonna be wicked poor very soon.) BAY OF ISLANDS - JAN 24-25Dartmouth-run trip. Not sure what it entails yet but I’m still excited! Our first excursion when we arrived was awesome so I have faith in the Mouthdart people on this. rugby match (chiefs vs. Blues) - Feb 14Plus a BBQ at our prof’s house beforehand! Looking forward to watching some rugby. I miss it a lot, minus the concussion and constant bruises part. Tongariro Northern Circuit - feb 20-23So excited to be doing one of the Great Walks so soon! It’s 43K around some volcanoes and looks really rugged and epic. It’s Mt. Doom, for any LOTR nerds out there. Going with seven other people on the FSP and we’ll camp out along the way. Can’t believe how many cool things I’ll be getting to do! I wish I had more time + money. Being stuck in the city during the week is such torture. All I want is to get away from the massive crowds of people and scamper around in the mountains and swim in the ocean and never go back to Dartmouth. If only I could stay until I was deported. Oh well.
So much to look forward to in the coming weeks! Feeling grateful. I peaced out mentally during my lecture today and ended up going ahead in the book while the class followed along with the prof. I did a bunch of exercises on my own and as a result I’m starting to get my bearings with this language. It’s melodic, undulating, hard to sift apart into units. English is so broken and sharp - beautiful in its own way but it staccatos and hisses in ways Māori does not. The lack of aspiration and few phonemes in Māori make it very easy to lose track of where you are if you don’t pay close attention to the speaker. It’s quite beautiful - and challenging. Also unrelated -- we had faux “meetings” last night organized by the wonderful Clare and it was really great. All the good vibes. My last study program was so socially fragmented and strange, so it was nice to see a bunch of very different people come together and make an effort to be friendly and have a good time together. It gave me extra good vibes to use today when they were needed.
Should probably start my homework now even though all I want to do is lie around and watch old episodes of 30 Rock. We all gotta make sacrifices. |