"It Starts" (a lion king reference just for Moazzum):

This week marked a series of new beginnings. Having settled into my apartment and a general routine, I felt the birth of a new era in my studies and my journey of self discovery abroad. I started my second class on Monday (digital photography), and am looking towards beginning my internship with DiversityWorks (www.diversiyworks.co.nz) in the next few weeks. The presidential inauguration (which came bright and early at 5:30am in Auckland), mirrored my feelings of rejuvenation, as I felt the whole world watching the end of a downhill battle meet the spark of a second chance. Like Obama, I know I may be nervous and stumble through the words at first in my internship and other experiences, but I look forward to seeing the sun rise on each new day, just as it shown into Forde’s bar on Wednesday morning.

G's "Yay Inauguration!" at 5am

Other than the inauguration, this week has been rather uneventful. We all had breakfast at Forde’s bar on Wednesday morning to greet our new president with eggs, bacon, toast, hash browns and OJ. It was a good time. Having class all day, and our first test in my New Zealand studies class has been a bit of a wakeup call from the seemingly endless vacation though. We still manage to fit in an afternoon at the beach every now and then .

I have a paper due Tuesday I’ll probably start working on this afternoon. However, I probably won’t work on it long because I have tickets to see Girl Talk tonight! I’m very excited. It will be a nice birthday gift to myself. I will update my photos in the bday album over the next few days.



Yesterday, my friends and I went to Wiateke island. The island is known for its great wines, beaches, and art work. We saw the art on the gulf sculpture exhibit while we were there and it was AMAZING! You should def check out my pics to see all the different amazing artwork against the ocean and mountain backdrop. (http://picasaweb.google.com/IamRoshon/BDayWeekend?authkey=sYycyP8As6I&feat=directlink) We ate lunch on the island and explored some beaches and rocks on the northern shore. After we got back, my friends took me to dinner and out to a club for my birthday celebration last night, which was really nice and I had a good time. We knew we would all be working on our papers on my actual birthday tomorrow, so we started the celebration early.

I miss everyone back home and I hope you are doing well! Please share you stories too.

North Shores of Paradise and Penguins

FRIDAY:

Whew. So this has been a VERY long week. Last weekend was an extremely liberating and eventful few days. It was our second group trip through GOOT (Get out of town) travel. The night before departure, last Friday, a few of my friends and I discovered a new dance club called GLOBE. It was full of energy and friendly people because it was located right next to a Backpackers hostel. Outside the club, we ran into these two guys as we ate some 50 cent ice cream from McDonalds and we were entertained by their antics and the kept asking us about Opus. One guy sat down next to me and insisted I tell his friend that Opus was a dolphin, and not a whale. We then sadly informed him that we had no idea who the heck Opus was, and he stared disbelieving at us for a moment before sauntering after other late night club goers. It was hilarious. Anyway, the strobe lights and dancing at GLOBE provided a good night of merriment, though we were all exhausted as we trudged down to the bus the next morning. Actually, I sort of half ran because, not surprisingly, I was late. I think I have already successfully gained the routinely late label. It was bound to happen eventually.

Anyway, I was quite thankful for being late this time because it meant I got the last seat the front of the bus next to Kahurangi, one of our professors. Kahu works at the University of Auckland and at the University’s Marae (religious-like meeting and gathering place), Kahu is definitely one of my favorite people I’ve met so far. He is fun loving and just unbelievably kind and warm hearted. He laughs at his own jokes which I enjoy, and I have never seen him when he hasn’t been smiling and upbeat. We spent most of the bus ride talking about music and while he shared his music on the bus speakers, I showed him some of the tunes on my ipod. I showed him how I had Fat Freddy’s Drop and Katchafire on my ipod, two of New Zealand’s best bands, and they gained me major brownie points. Kahu stated he had way more respect for me than before because of my music selection, which I guess was a compliment haha.

After a little ride, Joe, our extremely attractive tour guide, pulled out a list of Maori words that make up the names of places in New Zealand. He explained that you can actually tell a lot about a town you are visiting just by breaking down its name. For example, Rotorua, broken into two words reads Roto, meaning lake, and Rua, meaning two. So, Rotorua is the land of two lakes. Joe then proceeded to give us all the task of giving the person sitting next to us a new Maori name. Kahu already had one: Kahurangi , which means either blue or precious sky. But I decided to give him another name anyway. Thinking of his kind and gentle nature, I decided on Punahau, or Spring Wind. I thought it was pretty appropriate, but Joe started laughing when I told him. Feeling slightly mocked I asked him why it was so funny and that I thought was an appropriate name. Kahu, who had also begun to break out into small bursts of loud giggles, then explained to me that the name was closer to calling him a toilet, because spring was not a season, but in fact spinging water. Whoops. Good thing Kahu already has a good name. Kahu’s name for me was not on our sheet, but he chose one he felt would be appropriate for me giving what I had told him about myself (including the detail that I was from North Carolina). The name he chose for me was was Ngeru Panglo, Panther. (Kahu is a big American football fan) The name translated literally actually means black cat. I liked it a lot. I’m still trying to figure out how to say it correctly though.

Ugh, after that activity though I started to get really carsick, along with half of our bus. The roads were pretty windy, and our very skilled bus driver was able to navigate them with quite a bit of speed. After a few hours of staring straight ahead, I was very pleased to grab a quick stop for lunch in Dargaville at a the Blah, Blah, Blah café (yes, that’s its name, I didn’t just forget). After that we headed to the Waipoua Kauri Forest to see Tane Mahuta- the Biggest Kauri tree in the forest. It was HUGE. We joked that you could have an entire village up there. The grass that grew up in the trees made appear that you could even play soccer across the trunk of the tree, between the branches. It looked like something straight out of the Swiss family Robinson. The pictures I took don’t really do the tree justice, so you will all just have to come see the tree for yourselves.


After that pit stop we all headed to Opononi to go sand boarding. As we entered the small coastal town, Joe began the story fo Opo the friendly dolphin. Cait and I suddenly began laughing hysterically at the first mention of the creature that was in fact a dolphin, and not a whale. The whole bus stared at us in silence as we tried to regain our breath. After excusing our outburst, Joe continued to tell us about Opo. Opo was a dolphin that entered the harbor waters in Opononi and would swim with the locals and children in the water, and he attracted tons of tourist during the summer he arrived, putting sleepy little Opononi temporarily on the map.

Sand boarding was sooo much fun. It was one of the first moments of realization that I actually was in New Zealand. The shock was over and I felt as if I had finally arrived there. The backdrop of mountains of ocean was like an unreal theme park. We all went sliding down the dunes on boogie boards and would shoot out yards into the ocean. Unbelievable.


After a short chat with some local kids (one of them had a Boston basketball jersey on), we all piled back on the bus and headed to Paihia, our final destination of the night. There we all ate some FANTASTIC bbq cooked by the lovely hostel staff. The night was pretty chill, spread across hanging out at the hostel, singing some brief karaoke, and walking down on the beach under the stars. I can’t believe they call this school. It’s basically a 6 month vacation.

SATURDAY:

On Saturday morning, we got up and at ‘em at 8:30am, prepping for a day of tours and free exploration. I was supposed to go horseback riding in the afternoon, but unfortunately the ride was canceled because the guide was in the hospital after a skydiving accident. Though disappointed and worried for the lady, I was pleased to add that incident to my list of arguments for why bungee jumping is way better than skydiving, an ongoing debate between myself and a few of the guys on our trip.
During the morning we rode the Ferry over to Russel, where we went on a tour of the Pompallier House. The house was the site of a printing press and book binding workplace run by missionaries in the 1800s. The books created there were only printed in Maori and were all distributed for free. The mission of the printing was to improve the literacy and availability of Maori literature to the people of Russell and surrounding areas. I had no idea how much work it used to be to make leather and to print and make a book. The leather had to soak for 2 and a half years to tan! And every day it had to be taken out and dried to trick it into soaking up more dye. Crazy! The tour was really entertaining and the lady was very informed about what went on in the town so many years ago.



After the tour, Cait, Eric, Laurie, Long, Jeff, Hector and I all headed back to Paihia to rent some Kayaks. But not after some amazing fish and chips and corn fritters from an AMAZING restaurant in Russell. We paddled the rest of the afternoon, first to an island, and then across to Russell again. We explored the islands, went shell hunting, and sipped wine on the beach. It was such a great balance of activity and relaxation. On the return from Russell we had some kayak wars, imagining we all had war canoes, or wakas, and claimed our own iwi, or tribe. It was like turning back time to childhood games, but with so much more understanding of a history and a people. Then we saw a wild penguin! It was quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. Unfortunately, we did not bring any cameras with us in the kayaks. I would have loved to have gotten a picture of the little guy, and also of Long trying to chase after it and then flipping his kayak. He was bailing water out of it for the whole trip back. Hector was hilarious the whole time too. He got the baby kayak that nearly flipped on all of the big waves and was much harder to paddle. I think he enjoyed his little “Frenzy” though because he wouldn’t trade with anyone. He entertained all of us with his panicked cries and frustrated hilarity. The way back was extremely testing. The wind was not with us, we were all exhausted, and for some reason, the darned shore would not get any closer. We paddled steadily for a solid hour and a half on the way back. I made it through nearly two hundred bottles of beer on the wall as I tried to keep my strokes steady. I think we Kayaked about 5 miles in total.

Saturday night was a pretty big party. We went and ate dinner at an Indian restaurant and the hit a few bars for dancing and then had some quality talks on the beach. With 40 people all together on the trip, there is never a dull moment and endless opportunities to enjoy others’ company.

SUNDAY:

Sunday we were all pretty pooped and sort of snoozed through the educational tours at Waitangi about the Waitangi Treaty and war canoe chants. The place was very pretty, but we were all pretty dead. After a short bus ride we hopped out at Haruru Falls, which were hardly worth the stop. Pretty, sure. Impressive, no. It was just a few feet tall and only a few feet from the highway. But we did get a good roommate picture!


A nap or two later we stopped at Joe's hometown in Kawakawa to see its famous toilets. Our final stop was at Wenderholm Regional Park, a very pretty beach area. Kahu and Joe teached some of us to play touch rugby on the sand it was a lot of fun. I found out I’m pretty good at defense, but not so much at offense. I feel like I understand the rules a lot better now though and should be able to follow the games better on television!

Cows, Beaches, and Dunes...an amazing day

Yesterday was an INCREDIBLE day! It was our first group field trip and we took a bus tour to areas around and in Auckland. First, we went to mission bay, the beach i had walked to before and talked about Rangitoto Island- which we had gone to on friday- so we thought the day may be kinda boring if it was just things we had done.....but then it got soo much better.

We went to Mt. Eden and saw the highest peak in Auckland, which was (not surprisingly) a volcanic crater. And there were cows in the crater, which was really random. Then, we drove around for a while and went to Waitakere Ranges Regional Park, which basically looked like a golfcourse, but had some sweet trails by it and we hiked and saw MASSIVE trees the english settlers used to use for masts.


The best part of the day was when we drove up and saw the massive sand dunes. Pictures can not capture how beautiful the rolling dark sand was against the unbelievably green mountains. And then the sand fell down these steep cliffs into a giant lake and a handful of us stripped down to our suits, ran, and jumped into the lake. It was incredible. Then we all went dune jumping...it was soooo much fun. I was so glad that everyone was having the time of their lives. We have such a great group.





Then, it started pouring and we were all soaked and covered in sand. It was so amazing. In the end, we stopped by Bethel Beach, known for its deadly currents, and then stopped in at a winery to taste the grapes of the land. In the evening, we headed out to hear one of our coordinators, Kenneth, play with his band at an irish pub. A great relaxing end to an exhausting but rewarding day. I predict it was a top 10 trip for sure.















You can see more photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/IamRoshon/January2009?authkey=9QZ8moh4Obw&feat=directlink

A Maori Welcome

Ko Bat Cave toku maunga
Ko Atlantic toku moana
Ko Green toku awa
Ko Honda Accord toku waka
Ko North Carolina toku rohe
Ko Tarheels toku iwi
Ko Class of 2010 toku hapu
Ko UNC-CH toku wahi
Ko Tallulah’s toku marae
Ko Allison Young toku ingoa

My mountain is Bat Cave.
My sea is the Atlantic Ocean.
My River is the Green River.
My canoe is a Honda Accord.
My district is North Carolina.
My tribe is the Tarheels
My clan is the class of 2010.
My place is UNC-CH.
My meeting place is Tallulah’s.
My name is Allison.

Kia Ora! I have been in Auckland for nearly a week now, and have already begun to appreciate all of the history and unique qualities that make up New Zealand. The phrases above are a part of the Maori Mihi, an order of introduction spoken in Maori. I adapted the traditional version to my individual identifiers.

The custom of listing your connection to the land is intended to link the speaker to his/her audience by describing their link to the local iwi, or ethnic tribe. For a people so separate from the rest of the world, the Maori people certainly felt a sense of community within, and a strong tribal pride. It is said that New Zealand was never a nation, but rather a grouping of tribes. But how different is that than a nation of states I wonder. Though the US has always been seen as a united nation, being the only southerner surrounded by 30 odd BU students has made me realize that the US may have as many “tribal” differences as the Maoris of olden times.

We have been learning a lot about New Zealand in the New Zealand History, Culture, and Politics class I started on Monday. Right now we are studying Maori myths and the early history of the island. Maori myths and culture put a great deal of emphasis on the importance of knowing one’s whakapapa (pronounced fakapapa). “Whakapapa " means to place in layers, lay one upon another, and thus the term is used to describe the listing of one’s genealogy. Moari tribes still have competitions to this day that challenge individuals to list their whakapapa. One man listed his whakapapa for two days straight (and yes, the judges made him recite it twice bc they didn’t believe it either). Most whakapapas stretch all the way back to mythical stories and the birth of humans from the Gods.

I start my second class on the 19th, which is Digital Photography, and I will likely have an interview for my internship in the next week or so. In the meantime, I have only had about 2 hours of class a day all week, and thus have had ample time for a bit of exploration.



Upon arriving on Saturday, our group checked into Unilodge, our home for the next six months. The 16 story silo with a single yellow pinstripe wasn’t much to look at, but I felt “let’s head back to the ‘lo “ was a phrase that slid easily off the tongue, and was eager to find out who my roommates would be.

One of the best things about my trip so far has been the great attitude and openness of ALL the students in our program. We have gone on several outings from the pubs, to the dance clubs (which are freakin amazing by the way), the beach, daytrips, shopping, etc etc, and I am always hanging out with different people. Though there are 41 of us, I feel like I already have a sense of everyone, and I am excited to get to know each and every one of them better.

I live with 3 other girls in my apartment- Caitlyn (Cait), Geetali (G, or GT), and Julia (we just call her Julia). Our apartment has three bedrooms, and a common room/kitchen area. It’s a lot like Ram Village for all you UNC people. The black couches look like they might have been picked up out of a scrap pile or out of the foam pit at a gymnastics center. However, they are more comfortable than our bed, which definitely makes them a positive attribute.

Julia , Cait, and I have been on a few jogs and walks around the city and I feel confident that I can get around at least our corner of Auckland now. There are a lot of great parks nearby and we have enjoyed investigating them in the nice summer weather. It has been generally in the mid 70’s, breezy, and sunny here. A few of us walked to the Mission Bay Beach on Tuesday. It was about an hour and a half walk, but the breeze and views along the water were amazing. We also took the bus to another beach yesterday called Takapuna Beach. There, I took a little jog and tried to do a little bouldering on the rocky point. Unfortunately though, it was like climbing on chalk and most of the ledges fell apart beneath my hands and feet, so I settled on observing the cool tidal pools in the lava rocks. I have been fortunate not to get sunburned yet, but many of our program members have come back from the beaches as lobsters. The sun is unforgiving here. “Sunscreen!” is the exclamation most often heard as we run out the door, as someone promptly throws a bottle in their bag. We don’t like melanoma.

But, other than the sun, I don’t think we have many other fatal concerns- no deadly spider or snakes like Australia. Because of the isolation and remoteness of the island, and the way that it formed there actually are no native mammals on the island. But there are a ton of wicked cool birds. Without any predators, birds actually adapted and evolved to take on the role of mammals. They essentially plopped on the ground, decided not to fly, and got HUGE. For example, the Moa was a prehistoric bird got up to 12 ft tall with its neck out stretched and weighed up to 550 ibs. And they were only hunted by yet another bird, the Haast’s Eagle, which were scary. Then there is of course the famous Kiwi, a flightless bird that still wanders across the grounds of NZLD feasting on ground insects (which are also HUGE).




Oh, I did think of another reminder of my mortality. Buses. And crazy kiwi drivers. If you didn’t know, New Zealanders drive on the opposite side of the road, and also have crazy right of way laws. For example, pedestrians DO NOT have right of way. But, like the kiwi bird, I have adapted as well. I’ve developed my own strategy to aid in my survival. Upon approach of the crosswalk I yell out what has become my new motto: “Right, Left!” This usually gets me really strange looks from locals and tourists alike, but I’m okay with that. It takes me back to some quality times at PDS….”yellow pole!” anyone??

Another observational tidbit: there is no more universally cultural experience than a visit to the toilet. In Auckland, you will never find paper towels in your bathrooms. As an environmentally conscious community, they only use air dryers. The bathroom might have a paper towel box mounted on the wall, but don’t be fooled, it’s always empty. Which begs the question why it’s there in the first place…. Oh! My favorite one was the bathroom with the continuously rolling dish-towel-like machine. It was essentially a really long dishtowel that rolled up on either end and you just moved the rolls down to use a fresh area of the towel. I liked that one a lot. Oh and all the doors to buildings are automatic sliding doors, which has nothing to do with anything, but is still really cool. I feel very futuristic when I go to class or go shopping.



Today a big group of us took the Ferry over to Rangitoto Island and went tramping. The island about erupted from the ocean floor only 600 years ago, and the rising of the volcano was certainly witnessed by Maori tribes. Imagine taking a stroll down the beach talking about the weather when “Bam!” a land mass appears right before your eyes! Probably wouldn’t forget that day for a while. We spent a few hours hiking to the summit, took a stroll around the crater of the (dead?) volcano and then explored some lave caves. This was probably one of the coolest things we have done yet.

Learning about the Maori people, their history, and the geology of the land in our class has been key to my appreciation of everything I have seen so far. I like being able to talk about what I’m seeing, and I’ve never felt so close to a history before. Walking on the island that was under water only 600 years ago was quite a trip, and walking through the caves formed by the lava trails was unbelievable!



I can’t wait to visit places like Rotorua and well, basically everything else on the islands. I want to travel a lot during my breaks, and I believe I will have a lot of them. I’m working on planning a week long surf trip for the first week in February down the beaches on west coast of the North Island, also called the “surf highway.” I also want to do some weekend hikes and camping on the north end of the north island. Hopefully I will get to the South island sometime in June to do some snowboarding and see some of the beautiful mountains and lakes down there.

Other than that, most of my week before today was spent running around trying to figure out how to get a phone, wireless, groceries, kitchen stuff, hangers (Auckland was not prepared to handle the wardrobes of 41 Americans FOBC (fresh off the baggage claim). I haven’t taken pictures of our apartment or the city yet, but that is on my list for this weekend. I know I’m going to be taking a lot of pictures tomorrow because we are going on a day long bus tour of Auckland and surrounding areas, so I’ll try to make another entry of pictures on Sunday or Monday.

Check out the pictures I have now at: http://picasaweb.google.com/IamRoshon/January2009?authkey=9QZ8moh4Obw&feat=directlink