Off I Go!

Tomorrow I head out on my adventure to the south island. We will be driving for about 10 hours (gahhhhhh) and then hopping on a three hour ferry ride... but it will all be worth it because then I get to go and explore the beautiful and glorious south island. We were told that it is going to be QUITE cold down there, so I got an authentic new zealand wool sweater that is what my professors call a genuine 'kiwi' thing. It is ridiculous and heavy and horrible clashing colors, but everyone is jealous of it... haha, and that is why I absolutely love this place.

This week was inspiring for me. The topic was sustainability at home, and our instructor Bruce, who is getting his PhD in environmental education so we focused on that a lot. We took a beautiful thirty minute hike up in the local park that is a five minute drive away, and we talked about what sustainability meant to us and how it affected our lives... all of this was while we sat in the sun on a grassy hill overlooking the ocean and green pastures. I still can't get over how amazing it is to learn in an environment like this. I don't know what I will do when I'm stuck in a classroom again. We shall see how I deal with it. It was a good week because it made me realize that I really want to focus on the social issues that are tied with the environment rather than the science aspect. I suppose that isn't an important thing to mention, but it is awesome when my future plans are further cemented in my wee little brain.

We got to visit the marae this week which was an amazingly spiritual experience. The local marae is a 2 minute walk down the road, so we all got dressed up (and seeing these boys dressed up is a funny and beautiful thing because we are all usually disgusting and beyond underdressed) and went for the afternoon. There are tons of traditions that are followed when you visit the marae, and two of our leaders, Jono and Rhia are fluent in Maori and basically belong to the local marae, so we took time to practice how we entered and what we were supposed to do when we got in there. Before you enter the gate you are supposed to pause and think about those that matter and those who have died. Rhia said, 'think about home', and I instantly began getting teary eyed. I think it was then that I realized what I was doing and where I was and how lucky I was to be forming this family and this amazing bond with the country and with the people in it. And I started missing home. I don't really know what it was, but I think being in a special place like that just brings up all sorts of emotions. At least for me. Anyways, we sang songs and listened to them give a speech in maori and got to see their ancestoral home, which was a pretty cool experience. They fed us food (I eat SOOO much food here it is insane, I will come home a fatty... I just made peanut butter cookies with my friend andrew for my friend colby who is jewish and just got done fasting, and I think I ate about half the dough plus 3 cookies... just an example of how much I eat here ALL THE TIME) and we got to just hang out. It was pretty awesome.

wow I talked about nothing important for a long time. I just wrote a paper so perhaps I am in rambling mode. WHO knows.

I am going to post more pictures cause I have some time.

I will write when I get back from the south island!!