One weekend my housemate Maria took me and Rachel home with her. It was so lovely! She lives about four hours away from campus on the coast in the Bay of Plenty. We drove there on Friday night, and didn't get to see much that night, other than a shamefully trashy TV show. We met Maria's mother Liz and brother Paul.
Their house is gorgeous. They live right on the coast and have big windows facing towards the ocean. They can see an active volcano, White Island, from their dining room table. It's a kiwifruit farm, so there's lots of space. That morning we drove East along the coast to their other house, which was right on the water. We had lunch and spent a little time at the beach. It's legal here to tie animals up by the side of the road, and we made friends with a horse in exactly that situation. If that was done in the US, people would freak out. Road safety, animal cruelty and trespassing would all be raised as issues. This horse was just hanging out, munching grass.
We drove back to the house and Liz cooked a roast for dinner. It was only my second time having lamb and it was so delicious. Not something I can afford to eat often, but still wonderful. I also got to meet Maria's wonderful Dutch grandma. She was a character! That night was the final of the SuperRugby cup, and the Waikato Chiefs were favored to win for the second year in a row. After dinner we all gathered around to watch the game. Up until the very end, it was looking bleak, but the Chiefs pulled through in the end, making for an exciting night!
We left the next day, but not before getting to meet Cruzer, Maria's beloved horse. Getting to spend time in a home with a family felt so good. Maria and her family were wonderful hosts, and I'm so glad they invited me. It was a beautiful place with kind people and good love. Thank you guys!
The next weekend was a rainy, worky one. I had a field trip for my freshwater ecology class, where we stood in the rain all day and occasionally took samples from lakes. I rowed a boat across a geothermal lake with a pH of 2, but that was the highlight of the day.
this is not fog
Classes here in New Zealand are very different from home. They're much much smaller, and it's likely you'll have more that one lecturer for the year. Working with a professor in the field is an experience that I wouldn't have at home. At UCSD, professors are borderline celebrities, depending on the class. Because of this, I felt weird joking with a professor while hopping fences in mud boots.
one of the lakes we sampled
taking water clarity measurements
bug hunting
