Two add'l hours of sunshine + five degrees warmer = NZed is about to get awesomer

Some evidence of the storm the size of AUSTRALIA
Te Mata Peak, took me fifteen min to get to the top
Just enjoying some Te Mata cheese mid-work day
Taking a break from interviews for some cheese and wine

I tried really hard but couldn't finish all the cheese, probably

another reason why this is not really an alone activity. I spent

three hours here (Te Mata Cheese factory) reading for my research

eating cheese and nursing this glass of wine
Full moon little stroll in Napier on the Spring Equinox
Beaches of the East Cape, first place to see the sunrise

in the world
Finally made it to the East Cape, which I definitely

want to go back to, especially this place which has my name written

all over it - Champers Hotel

WOW - the World of WearableArts show,

and boy was it wow, sorry this picture is so bad. Its basically a fashion, art, music, cirque

du soleil show wrapped into one extravanganza. The finale of

fashion week here in NZed. No pics allowed inside so you'll

have to use your imagination.

After experiencing the wow of WOW,

forcing Alice to have a tourist moment with me.

So I should start off by saying that my harassment and impersonation skills really did me well in the last week. I spent the last week traveling around the North Island interviewing Maori representatives of business/trusts/incorporations on their business strategy in the context of climate change. Here's a few themes of what characterized the week:

-Before I even left Wellington, all over the news they were reporting a storm the SIZE OF AUSTRALIA, that was headed for NZed and was going to brutalize the country. Only NZed would characterize a storm that was really nasty and menacing in relation to Australia. What it meant was huge winds and rain for most of the country - so basically the rest of NZed got to experience what it's like to live in Wellington. And like the South Island needed more problems, they got pummeled with huge snow and winds which took down the rubgy stadium in Invercargill.

-So huge snow, super! An opportunity to ski one last time before spring really takes hold, or so I thought, so I packed my snow gear with my interview gear and figured given how business time works in NZed that I could fit in some skiing among interviews. Well I can't say I wasn't warned about this, but apparently when it snows really hard here, instead of clearing way for skiiers, they actually just shut down the mountain. And no, not for a day, but for the last ten days. But didn't you just get 15 inches of fresh powder? Oh yes, but we have to avalanche bomb, and apparently that takes over a week. So I carried my ski gear around for a week, no use. I'm still crossing my fingers that they will finally be open next week and that there will actually be snow left. Otherwise, snow jacket bought on TradeMe = $70, used once, not ideal.

-I hadn't traveled alone since Stephanie's visit :(, and I happened to go to a lot of the same places we visited, and let me tell you it's not nearly as fun to go places alone for "work" than it is for tourism - I know, groundbreaking stuff here. But I was also reconfronted with the traveling alone scenario. For some reason, traveling alone makes other people REAL uncomfortable. I would like to offer a few bits of advice here on this blog (more to come, it's gonna get real preachy so stay tuned) - when you see someone traveling alone, know that they are okay. They are not a leper or a prostitute, nor do they require your company. They are probably just fine sitting there internally chuckling about their future blog post, and no it's not weird that they're studying and highlighting in a bar/restaurant. And note, staring doesn't make them feel more comfortable, so cutting that out would be great.

-While traveling for my interviews, aka integral to my research that I came all the way from the US to do, I received an email from the Fulbright office here about our final presentations (I'm in denial and really CAN NOT believe that its only two months away). Said email stated, "For your presentations please focus on your life experiences here, we've already heard a lot about your projects, so no need to go into those". WHAT???? Now I should say that before coming here people used to say to me, "Isn't the Fulbright just like an extended vacation for smart people?" And I would scoff and say, "No, its serious, you have to produce a very reputable, peer-reviewed documentation of your research". Well fine, its an extended vacation apparently (depending what you make of it;). And more alarming/devastating to me in this email is that I lost the final person/group that I thought cared about my research/had to listen to the details of it, now who will I talk to about it?? Oh, Allison you're going to get an earful....But on that note, I better get busy living if they want to hear about the rest we've been up to, at least if all else fails I have a lot of pictures of me posing like statues to fill my final presentation with.

-In my continuing effort to bring you more Kiwiisms, I met a nice Irish bloke at one of the backpackers I was staying at who lives in Gisborne and we got to cackle together about Kiwisms, and share our Irish and American perspectives on them. For instance, why are maths and laws (the study of, meaning I have a degree in laws) plural and sport is singular. Do Kiwis have more math and law than we do? Cause I know we have more sports, so our s to their singular does make sense I suppose....My Irish friend enlightened me as well on how Ireland follows Americanisms more than Britishisms because of you know that wee bit of history between them. Have I also mentioned how much I love listening to Irish people talk?

-In a random fact that I keep forgetting to mention on this blog, there's a news program here called Capital Insights, makes me smile everytime I hear it and compare what they share/comment on and what I do

-And this week marked daylight savings. So while I had to watch you all gallivant around in your sundresses and talk about swimming and bbqs for the last four months, its finally our time in the sun. And I plan to do my best to make you real jealous as it starts to get warm here.

-And in breaking news this week - the actors in the Hobbit are protesting the labor contract for the film. Imagine hundreds of tiny actors huddled together in labor talks at a news conference here in Wellington. Peter Jackson is pissed, since now the production company is threatening to move the filming to Eastern Europe. Umm, I'm pretty sure they don't have hobbits in Eastern Europe, they're only here in Middle Earth - non-negotiable

-

Honing my Harassment and Impersonation Skills

Bake sale day 2, some Fulbright alum enjoying apple pie.

Yes, I made us wear red, white, and blue and our little flag pins.

Stripes - optional, but encouraged.
Baking away, brownies from scratch are actually really easy
Bake sale, day 1, before the action started

You can't tell, but my jacket is striped.

Well I really could have used a few of you around this week as I took on a few tasks that you all excel in and I was definitely challenged by. But I'll start at the beginning -

So you know how I mentioned a while ago that I'm not good at baking? Why on earth in my brilliant idea of putting a fundraiser together for Christchurch did I think a bake sale was a good plan? And since it was American themed baked goods, we obviously had to make pies so over 3 days I made 8 pie crusts - including 5 apple pies, and 3 kentucky derby pies, and four batches of brownies from scratch. Next time someone please remind me that we should just organize a happy hour. In the end all the sugar I ingested and the five burns on my hands, were all worth it - we raised $1200, yeah, at a bake sale! The Fulbright asked for a quote of what motivated us to want to do this - umm, are you joking? An excuse to wear stripes AND red, white, and blue, two days in a row? Fulbright, don't you even know me?

I mentioned last week that the time had come to start thinking about applying for jobs. I didn't realize that in applying, the Wellington one would want me to start right away. My friend Bob once warned me about becoming a consultant - that it's actually a lot of work. And let me tell you after "working" for the first time in 7 months for 1.5 days this week - I experienced stress for the first time in New Zealand and realized just how comfy I've gotten not working. And although I wake up at 7am 90% of my time here, and often am doing research/reading till 7pm at night, it's totally different when you don't actually answer to anyone but yourself. On the phone with my brother the other day he said, "So what are you doing in New Zealand again, are you there for DreamJobs.com or something?" While I first felt like fuming about how my family apparently has no idea what I'm doing over here, I then realized - well, I guess that's pretty spot on. So after all that complaining I've done about being poor, I really really want to thank the Fulbright for forcing me to not work for 7 months, and now I will spend the next 3 figuring out how to draw this deal out a bit longer and live a bit more of dreamjobs.com (whatever that is).

Additionally the work that I was doing for this "internship" is economics and finance consulting related. As part of the internship, I had two interviews - one with the Welly office and one with the DC office. I naively thought (I mean I live in la la land so I'm a bit out of practice) that we were just going to chat and it would be great. Instead, it was basically 2 separate 1.5 hour quizzes of my knowledge of economics and finance. Let's just say that basic is being generous. Why do I always feel like an impostor no matter what I'm working on?

In addition to raising money for Christchurch, wearing stripes, and interning, I also needed to finally strong arm people into meeting with me so I could finally conduct my actual fieldwork research. I've spent six months being patient and building relationships and learning, and I now don't have any time left for people to be convinced of the value of my research and I can't learn any more Maori language or share breath with more folks before I need to finally collect some data. So this week I resorted to just full on harassment and casting my net real wide in terms of who could hook me up with whom. One response I got - "You know Elizabeth that this type of research is really only conducted by large research teams with substantial budgets, so I really think you should adjust your scope". Again, no time for readjustment, hopefully dreamjobs.com will pay for it

In gardening news this week, I have a totally new appreciation for teachers. At the end of every gardening session, I'm like, "Wait was that really only an hour?". Then I usually go home and have to stare at a wall for an hour before I can do anything again. I can not imagine having 20 kids for a full day, so hats off to you teachers. I also try and plan something new and exciting each week, and each week it generally turns to chaos with whatever I carefully planned, being very quickly adapted to lots of screaming and chasing and lots of grabbing. This past week, I brilliantly came up with planting cress (it's a British thing, eggs and cress on toast) in egg shells and the kids could design faces on the shells so that the cress is like hair. Well apparently that's one thing they didn't get from the British and have no idea what cress is. But they are also adorable, this week in addition to being exhausted, they also really turned around my whole day - so maybe that's why you do this teachers?

I also discovered a few new points of evidence of the confusion that is Kiwi culture - they measure weight in kgs here, but baby's weight is in pounds. When asked why? "Because baby weight is more often noted in pounds". What?? They also make a big deal out of 21st birthdays here, but the drinking age is 18 and there's no actual milestone at 21. When asked why? "Well isn't that how you do it in America?" Umm yes, but with some logic behind it. "Well it's probably just because of the U.S." So do you have a big Sweet 16? "No, why would we do that?" I give up

So in the end, I did some event planning (Eroc when are you visiting again?), some finance/econ consulting (Bob, when is our tutorial?), and some hard core harassing (Steez, why'd you go home?), and learning to teach while gardening, both things I know nothing about (Eve, Mom - could use some tips). So the lesson again is I miss you all, and I continue to be shocked by how I spend my days here

Its Business Time

I knew with being gone for two weeks that I would need to seriously throw myself back into things, not only because of time slipping away (I've now been here 7 months! just FYI, apparently time goes by faster in the future); but also because after the visit I knew I'd be a bit homesick. Some may argue its never actually business time in New Zealand, and an element of that is true....

When I tell people here about my research, they either laugh or grimace. When I tell people I'm here on a Fulbright fellowship, they look incredulous. I decided maybe a new pair of glasses would help make myself more business believable and get people to take me and my research a bit more serious. And lets be honest, academia is not an easy fit for me. I don't have the ego or the patience for it, and it generally feels a bit indulgent. The more convincing my disguise, the better. I also have the bad habit of sleeping in my glasses, so my previous pair basically has chips missing out of them, is bent in odd angles, has too weak of a prescription, and generally make me look mentally challenged.

So armed with my new specs, I was prepared to tackle a range of meetings I had set up prior to Stephanie coming, not only regarding my research, but alas also regarding JOBS. Yes, crazy that the time has come so soon. I've gotten REAL used to not working. And although I'm here Fulbrighting around, New Zealand tends to make you want to throw it all in and start a winery or a B and B, or just become a fisherman. But I did apply for two jobs post Fulbright, one here in Wellington and one in Rome. I guess this is the part where I should tell you that I've also decided to stay a bit longer in NZed. The Fulbright gives us up to 5 years to use our return ticket, tempting, but don't worry I'm just staying till February (so far).

Its officially spring!!!! I almost forgot what its like for it not to be dark when I wake up and have my towels dry again (well almost).

In honor of spring cleaning, I decided to head to the dentist and discovered some things are universal across cultures. Why is it that the minute the dentist has filled your mouth with suctioning tubes, and squirty water, and has an electric brush and a pick stuck in your gums that they decide to "have a conversation". I think they secretly derive private joy out of knowing that they can say whatever they want because although it may seem like a "conversation" you actually can't say anything back. Case in point, "Oh you're from the U.S. originally? What part? I love Florida. Isn't it gorgeous there? Don't you just love the people in West Palm Beach?" And the whole time, I have to make odd grunting noises like I am participating in this "conversation". And by the time all the apparatuses are out of your mouth, its gone on so long that you can't then go back and correct/disagree with everything, so you're just left seething with the fact that this guy thinks you're from Florida. Like going to the dentist isn't bad enough already. Plus side - no cavities for me
Its also business time for running. Here are my new jet propulsion kicks imported from Zappos. I'm finally ready for serious yogging. In breaking this new pair in I got stuck in a hailstorm in 50mph winds on the South Coast - so maybe spring has a bit more sprunging to do

After pictures were posted of Stephanie's recent visit, most of the comments that I have received have been regarding my hair. Yes I'm 29 and have finally started drying my hair on a daily basis. Now I can't quite realize why it took me this long, maybe it was the last vestiges of my hippie days, or a silent rebellion against my Mom chasing me with a comb, or just laziness....They say the Fulbright will change your life, I didn't realize this is what they meant.
In NZed, business time always includes time for fun. The average work week here is 35 hours and mandatory 4 weeks vacation per year. So there's naturally time for taking advantage of the start of scallop season. I've always really liked scallops, but diving for them (not me this time, but a friend - I know surprise I'm making some), plucking them out of the ocean and right into my mouth, then cooking them in butter and garlic ON A BOAT, indescribably awesome. Also sporting swangees (this flannel shirt, another NZed term that can't quite be explained) and seeing about four rainbows, just your average business day

On a sad note, Christchurch has been struck by a major earthquake and has had over 300 afterschocks, some of 5.0 and 6.0 in magnitude since then. I'm sure you all already know this considering that you had emailed me about it before I even knew that it had hit Christchurch and not here. It had woken me up in the middle of the night but I thought it was just a small one. Amazing that no one died, and that through all the damage and loss of jobs and homes, that Kiwis have really maintained their sense of humor. A website for a C Church restaurant, advertises "al fresco" seating where their building used to be. In the spirit of the people of C Church, we'll be hosting a fundraiser next week by baking American treats to sell to hungry Uni kids. Hoping to raise some cash for those in need by sharing some of America's finest desserts of rice krispie treats, brownies, and apple pie. In the meantime, please do keep the people and historic places of Christchurch (flower clock!) in your thoughts as they try to clean up and rebuild