The Wonderous, Windy, Whale-watching, and Winery Weekend (Part 1)

Before we get to the good stuff, please indulge me as I go through a few quick business matters.

1) New Blog Design. I like this one better. Seems a lot brighter to me. :)
2) A shout out to my dear, dear friend Amelia. She, too, is studying abroad this semester. She is much braver than I am because she chose to go to a non-English speaking country: Germany! She also has a blog! So if you are at all interested in Germany, studying-abroad, or just want to be thoroughly entertained by a much wittier writer than myself, go check out her blog: Amelia auf Deutsch (but in English)!
3) I have no more business matters. Moving on...

I woke at 5AM on the morning of March 10th, met up with some IFSA people an hour later, and together we made our way down into the heart of a sleepy Wellington. All of this took place so we could board a ferry that would take us IFSA students to the South Island where we would spend the rest of our weekend whale-watching and visiting a winery.

 (Not exactly the cute, little thing that might come to mind when you think of a "ferry.")

 (Boarding.)

 (We aren't the only ones.)

 (Cars on a truck on a boat.) 

 (Once we climbed up to the top of the ship, we were met with a beautiful sunrise.) 

(Well, there goes my "I'm the king of the world" moment!)

(IFSA kids.)

 (Once we made it to the top deck, we were met by a beautiful sunrise.)

 (In fact, New Zealand is one of the first places on Earth to see the sunrise!)

 (I love it when it's hard to tell the difference between the clouds and the mountains. Also, it's pretty easy to see why they call New Zealand Aotearoa: the land of the long white cloud.) 

(A view of Wellington from the ferry.)

 (Remember the wall that my friends were sitting on a few posts back? Well, you can see it and the beach we visited in this picture.)

 (Mount Victoria and the eastern side of the city.)

(The west side of the city and a very, very green hill.)

(At this point, it is probably worth mentioning that the moment we pulled out of our "parking spot" in the harbor, our ferry was hit with the most intense wind Wellington had unleashed yet. This was one of the most beautiful days so far, but if I hadn't had my sunglasses, I'm not sure I could have kept my eyes open to see it! What follows are more pictures of that lovely morning in the bay.) 

(Downtown Wellington.)

 (I loved these trees next to the beach.)

 (The first view of open ocean!) 

Unfortunately, it was just after the last picture was taken that I realized I had forgotten to empty my camera's memory card before our trip. This meant I had no room for new pictures! Fortunately, a few friends were kind enough to share their pictures with me, and also gave me permission to show them here. Thanks, everyone!

Once we made it out into open ocean, we found that the wind was a little unbearable. We headed inside the ship for hot chocolate and cards. However, Paul stayed out a little longer and was rewarded by seeing some dolphins following the ship!

(Check out Paul's blog to read more about the dolphins!) 

 (Our approach to the South Island and the fjords, possibly the most beautiful landscape I've seen so far.)

 (By the way, remember when you were six years old and someone told you to use the blue crayon to color in the water in your coloring book? Then do you remember going to the ocean for the first time and realizing it was actually more like dark grey and in some places brown? Well imagine my excitement when we came along the fjords and found out that there are SOME oceans that are actually blue! Not just any blue, but a blue that doesn't even come in the crayon box (even the 64 piece one)!)

 (SEE WHAT I MEAN?)

 (Still trying to take it all in without being blown off the boat.)

 (By the way, short hair rocks (sorry, Catelyn!))

(After several hours of sailing, we arrived in Picton!)

(Once we arrived, the wind died down significantly and we could shed our windbreakers and enjoy the glorious weather!)

End of Part 1! Part 2 should be up soon!

The Eating Experiements

I've devoted a large portion of my blog to some of my more...let's say "large-scale" adventures I've had so far. But there are some stories that, despite their more mundane nature, are nevertheless worth taking the time to talk about.

For example, eating is extremely unexciting to many of you who learned from the young age of 18 how to feed yourselves when Mommy isn't around. I, too, experienced this as I went off to college. I used my unmatched skills of bargain shopping to select the highest quality macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and meals-in-a-can (ideally spaghetti-ohs and ravioli).

I have found that New Zealand is not quiet as forgiving as the United States in the affordability of these fine food choices.  I spent a little bit of time talking about the shocking prices of food (and everything else) here, but I think it is worth repeating. Food is expensive. Even my favorite instant food is above my budget. But not all is lost.

Every Sunday, the harbor becomes full of people in the same boat as I myself. All of these people are there for one reason: The Vegetable Market.

An entire area equivalent to a city block transforms from an ordinary parking lot to a complete farmer's market, complete with every fruit and vegetable you can think of. All, of course, freshly picked a few days before. Here I have been able to find enough fruits and veggies to last me at least a week (although the carrots and onions I bought almost four weeks ago are still doing well (I think)). Best of all, I can get it all for under $8.

During my first week in Wellington, I was determined to see just how little money I could spend. For that week, I became a full-fledged vegetarian and in so doing, became depressed as I underwent withdrawals from my non-existent meat intake. That's not entirely true, but it's true that I had no energy. As my friend (and actual vegetarian), Kat, pointed out, I did not know the secret methods in which vegetarians get sufficient amounts of protein.

I've finally learned how to spend money wisely and still get enough meat, eggs, and cheese into my diet. In fact, I've learned a lot more than that. I've learned how to make stir fry, how to cook steak, chicken, and sausages on a stove top, how not to burn bacon, how to use an oven based on Celsius, how to use real garlic (in almost everything I make), how to steam broccoli without plastic wrap, and how to make two liters of milk last a week.

 (Veggie Stir fry: tomatoes, green beans, peppers, carrots, onion, herbs, then soy sauce with rice. Whenever I have steak I toss that in, too.)

 (Super salad: lettuce, cilantro, strawberries, pecans, pistachios, dried cranberries, carrots, balsamic dressing.)   

 (Chicken Alfredo and Garlic Bread: Chicken, Alfredo sauce from a can, spaghetti, buttered toast with cooked bits of garlic.)

(Regular Spaghetti: Cooked sassuage mixed with can-o-pasta sauce, spaghetti, and garlic bread again.)

My current projects are broccoli-cheese rice, mashed potatoes with bacon and cheese, variations to my original stir-fry, the good ol' peanut butter and banana sandwich, scrambled eggs and sausages (or bacon) for breakfast (cereal is too expensive and it takes up all your milk) and tacos. The tacos were my favorite dish so far thus the lack of pictures (I was too hungry to take a picture, but I'll have other chances to do so, I'm sure). I have also paired chicken and sausage with a couple instant pasta recipes that come out of a pouch. 

Today's menu: Open-faced tomato, bacon, and cheese sandwiches (thinking of you, Mom!).

Photo Dump 2

The first set of these pictures are from another outing to the harbor. This time we walked all the way to the tiny beach, which was on the opposite side of the harbor that I talked about in the last post. The second half of the pictures are of Kelburn campus, where most of my classes are. Enjoy!

 (My friends Paul, Catelyn, and Kathryn on the wall just above the beach.)

 (The ferry that goes back and forth between Wellington and the South Island.)

(Me enjoying the waves.)

 

(This is the main hill of Kelburn campus. Interestingly enough, if you walk it correctly, you can be start off on the second floor of one building, walk to the third floor of the one next door, then walk across bridge and be on the forth floor of another. That's one nice thing about having your campus on a hill, I guess.) 

 (Our campus marae, next door a building that looks like it's made out of lace.)

 

 (My favorite building: The School of Music. I think it's styled after traditional Japanese architecture.)

 (The courtyard.)

 (The wrap-around porches.)

 (A friendly butterfly that greeted me on my way into the building.)

 (Here are two really cool trees located near campus.)

 (Anybody know what kind of tree this might be?) 

 (The only perfectly flat part of campus. Reminds me of home.)

 (A little path from the field which leads to an area only a block away from my house.)

 (It also leads to the best graffiti I've seen so far.)

(Unfortunately, the day after I took these pictures, the entire wall had been painted over and new graffiti decorated it. Too bad because I think the old graffiti was better.) 

 (All hills lead...up to my house, apparently. Nice hairpin turn, don't you think?)

(A palm tree next to a neighbor's house.)

 (Wellington at dusk.)

(I guess this place is beginning to feel a little like home.)