With about only four weeks of school left life is getting pretty crazy with reading, research, papers, finals, and classes. I have three papers and a final to do, so that is pretty light compared to a lot of other students, so I am thankful for that. Right now I am in the reading, research, and class phase, hopefully writing soon!

There have been some pretty crazy things happening on campus. I think some of you know that elections were held this past weekend, and just like elections in the states they are just as crazy here. The Prime Minister of New Zealand did come to the University of Canterbury [where] she was suppose to give a 30 minute speech, but it ended up only being about 3. Let’s just say she probably didn’t have the welcoming she thought she was going to get. It was interesting to watch both sides of the supporters.

All weekend we heard it was going to snow, but no one really thought it would because it is spring now and the weather had been so nice. This winter officially has been the warmest winter on history so no one was really worried about it. Well, at 7:30 a.m. on Monday morning I was woken by the hall residents yelling and laughing, “It’s snowing!” Someone called each room to report the weather personally. It was so funny, for a group of people that go skiing, snowboarding, etc they seriously acted like they had never seen snow before. In all fairness I guess I should say that Christchurch never gets snow and if they do it doesn’t accumulate.

So, there is about 1 to 2 cm [not even an inch] of snow on the ground by the time I get to breakfast at 8.
I come back check my e-mail and my first two classes are cancelled. Sweet! Then I went to lunch to get ready for my last class and there is a sign that said university cancelled. What? There is less than 3 cm [not much more than an inch] of snow on the ground and university is cancelled, alright. There were two main reasons in which why the school closed. One, on the schools website it said "due to snow being on the branches of the tress, we are concerned that a tree might fall on one of the students or teachers and their safety is our top priority." Seriously, that is what it said. Second, the bus transportation system was going to stop running buses at noon and this is the way everyone gets around so the workers at university had to go home, because the buses weren’t going to run for the rest of the day. So basically everyone just went home for the day.

It is one of the craziest things I have ever seen. It would be snowing, then the sun would be shinning, then out of nowhere it would start hailing, then rain, then snow, then sun, but mostly hailing and the sun shining happened most of the day. It was an odd combination I must admit. By dinner time almost all the snow was gone and there was more grass showing than snow. A guy on my floor wanted to go out and play in the snow and I said, “It is all gone, there is none left.” He ran to the window and said, “No there is heaps left.” I just laughed, there was barely any left. It is all gone and school is back in session.

Past Two Weekends

I went to Russell and Ivy’s for a game night with another Operation Friendship group. Everyone brought a dish and we ate and played games. There were about 10 students and 15 people from area churches. It was really fun and there was some really good food there. I had a nice talk with Ivy about school and what my plans were when I graduated. We talked and afterwards she gave me the book The Purpose Driven Life. She laughed and said, “Here you go love, I think you might need this.” It is funny because I still am not used to people calling me "love" and I so need to read this book. (Russell James and his wife Ivy have played a huge role in me integrating into New Zealand culture. It was with them that I had by first hot homemade meal and they taught me this crazy card game called Pit. They have helped me find a church, host family, check up on me when I have been sick, and have been there for me if I have ever needed anything.)

Saturday I went to Eleanor’s (the woman I went to Dunedin with) farm/holiday house. There were about 15 students and 20 hosts there. (My host family is a different Eleanor and her husband Owen Ragg.) We had a picnic for lunch and then a BBQ. We walked around the farm and looked at sheep they have about 250,000 (that is the correct number!). There were a lot and it is lambing season so there is more than that at the moment.

This past Saturday we had a hall run with the other dorms on campus. The course was less than 2 miles so it wasn’t that bad of a run. A lot of people walk around here barefoot which is fine, but to the race I wasn’t so sure about. I mean we ran on wet grass, gravel, wood, and pavement, I just think that would hurt. There were a descent amount of guys running this way, ouch!

Ed (friend from Kenya) and I went to the botanical gardens which was so beautiful because everything is in bloom. My favorite place is the daffodil garden. It is this huge garden where all you can see are daffodils. We then had a BBQ that night at the hall. Then a couple of us went to the rugby game. That game still amazes me - I don’t get how those guys can walk after playing a game. We stopped by a Denny’s on the way back; it is the only restaurant open 24 hours.

Sunday I went to church with Eleanor and Owen and went back to there place for lunch. One of their daughters came by and we headed up to Kaiake Forest, they own some land share up there so we went for a hike. The hike took a little longer than expected because we kind of got lost, but it was good fun!

Other than that, that is about all that is going on at the moment!

Fun Facts:

As all of you know from my pictures I have been wearing my Millikin hoodies a lot. If I had a penny for every time someone asks me, “What is a Millikin?” I would be able to fly all of you to New Zealand!

It rains at least 200 of the 365 days

Breakie = breakfast
Bloke = a guy
tyres = tires
hottie = hot water bottle

"Land of the long white cloud" -country motto

"The Garden City" -Nickname for Christchurch

Another difficult thing for me to get used to is the sitting in the dinner hall. There are 12 tables and each seat 20 people. The first time this happened to me I felt so uncomfortable and was like what are you doing. So, you walk in get your food and sit down and you can be the only one in the hall and another person will come in and sit right next to you or across from you and not say a word. This might not be weird to any of you, but it is to me. I mean, I would sit maybe a couple of seats down at the same table, but right next to the person, no. It is a little awkward. I just remember thinking there are 239 other seats and you have to sit right next to me? It is just different.

I tried a homemade Kenyan meal. I must say it wasn’t that bad, better than the asparagus I had (yea, for real see I am trying different foods).

If you ask where the bathroom is they will lead you to the bathroom sink and shower. The toilet is in a different room than the shower and sink.

They don’t know what the electric slide is or how to do it.

If you ask person if they have been to the U.S. they will say no, but they have been to Hawaii.

The restaurant KFC here means Kiwi for Chicken.

They call college/university = uni

"How be doin you"  is a common phrase.

I also learned how to play hand ball tonight, it was interesting, but fun!

Thanks, again for you thoughts, prayers, cards and packages they all mean so much to me. Please keep me in your prayers as I start to wrap up school and hand in my assignments.  I hope all of you have a great day!

Much Love,

Beth

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Center for International Education