30 days of YOU paying ME left

Me as an All Black for Halloween
Tattoos
Yes, this was a late night photo shoot that

I had with myself. And by late night I mean

midnight
Springtime
Still time for firsts - CRAYFISH (I know what

you're thinking, I will explain below)
Another first, WHITEBAIT, those are tiny

fish, not worms. And they are delicious, and pricey

I'm now within 30 days of the end of my Fulbright time, and although I've known this time was coming and tried to prepare for it, I've been having a lot of Jesse Spano moments lately. Not tied to an oil drum Jesse Spano, but Hot Sunday Jesse Spano. Because no matter what - THERE'S NEVER ENOUGH TIME. I should probably also mention that I've sort of done this to myself a la Jesse. Instead of deciding to coast along for my last month here, I myself did choose to start an internship, travel to one of the remotest parts of NZed to interview some more peeps, and have three visitors arriving shortly - oh then I also decided I should apply for another fellowship due Dec 1st, including coming up with some new ingenious idea for studying for a year. Sometimes I feel like I run around trying to do so much, and then I just end up sucking at everything, just like Jesse when she let Kelly and Lisa down and failed her test. Saved By the Bell had so many life lessons. Instead of learning this lesson at 3:30 in the afternoon in front of the tube in 1994 drinking Quick chocolate milk, I'm playing it out in real life in NZed. Saved by the Bell, you're even true internationally. Don't worry I'm not taking speed or wearing denim shirts, I did learn those lessons through the show.

So the sad day is fast approaching where you cut me off from the sweet sweet deal of the last nine months. And how will I spend the last thirty days of your money? Mostly with a certain other Beall, but before we get there here's a recap of what I've been up to this week, other than stressing out....

Even though I've now been here a little over 9 months, I still have not done everything (hence my stressing) and there's still a lot of opportunity for firsts. Ever since I've arrived I've heard about the 'crayfish' that are so delish. I should clarify that 'crayfish' are not what we call crayfish, they are more like lobster, and no I (nor any Kiwis I've asked) can quite explain to you how they are different from a lobster. And like everything here, although they are plentiful just off the coast, they are super expensive. At the supermarket, one crayfish would probably be $50, so Alice and Aaron recommended I wait for someone to dive for one for me. Aaron's brother finally came through when he strolled in the house this weekend with a nice big crayfish. It was delicious and no I still can't tell you what the difference is with lobster, except maybe that the claws are a bit furry and thornier? Tastes the same though, although I may need to try a few more just to be sure :)

I also hadn't tried whitebait yet, and it's whitebait season. Again, (is this a broken record) whitebait, although they're just swimming by in the river here, they've gotten really expensive because everybody loves them and they're only available at certain times of the year. The advice I received on how to get my hands on some was to find someone with one of the permits to fish them out of the river - NO TIME FOR THAT. I was in the supermarket on the weekend and saw a big sign for whitebait and decided while you're still paying me I should splurge - a tiny deli tupperware (the smallest one, 150 grams) cost me $20. Alice whipped them into a little whitebait fritter appetizer to go with our crayfish pie, and they were awesome. The one weird thing is you can see the eyes in the tiny fish, a bit disconcerting as you chomp down

A lot of you asked me if NZed celebrates Halloween, and in true NZed fashion, the answer is that they do, but just the parts they want to celebrate. For instance, getting dressed up and going to a party-yes, trick or treating for candy-not so much. I feel like this has got to be a huge let down for the kids, I mean you only get candy at 1 in 10 houses? Anyway, I'm not a kid, so no problem for me. Some of the other Fulbrighters decided to have a party and I decided what other opportunity am I going to have to dress up as something Kiwiesque for Halloween. I toyed around with the idea of Sir Edmond Hilary, then decided I would probably just look like a cross dresser, like the year I tried to dress up as a DC tourist, and ended up just looking like a 12 year old boy. Anyway, I decided to be an All Black, also because I figured my costume expenditure would double as a souvenir (you see that strategery coming through?, I'm finally learning something).

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day, which I'm guessing is news to most of you. I had never heard of it, but had heard it was coming up, so I decided to do a bit of research (since you know, that's what I do these days). Basically, it's a British holiday where they light fireworks and burn things in effigy, in commemoration of Mr. Falke, who tried to blow up Parliament because he was mad that England had become Anglican and renounced the Catholic church. And of course NZed celebrates because well, no one could give me an answer on this, but because they used to be British? (this argument doesn't fly with me, but anyway). What I'm not clear on is whether they're celebrating this day because he failed? So why are they blowing things up? One of the Kiwi Fulbrighters who's over in a America was shocked that we had never heard of Guy Falkes Day. Umm, blowing things up in the name of religion and burning things in effigy wouldn't really go down well in America in terms of a celebration, probably why we left that one over in England. Side note, no one I've asked actually knows why they celebrate, they just like having fireworks and burning things in effigy as a yearly tradition. Apparently the term 'guy' also comes from this dude, just a little extra trivia for you.

In my research news, I found out about a big Maori conference up in Bay of Islands where a lot of the people I have interviewed and people I want to interview will be. On the agenda - climate change and agribusiness. Oh and the Prime Minister is speaking at it. The bad news is I found out about this conference on Tuesday and it is on Friday (tomorrow). I called and tried to see if there was anyway I could get a ticket, and after telling me no, the guy asked me where I was from and I said San Diego (before you get mad, listen to why, more strategery). And he said, "Oh my cousin lives in San Diego, I've been meaning to get over there". And I said, "Who's your cousin?" And he said, "well I know its a big city". And I said, "Arama? Him, "How'd you know?" See, I've learned that not only is everyone related in NZ, but chances are if you know an NZeder in the US, I could find someone pretty quickly that knows them. And then you add in the Maori factor, I'm pretty sure there aren't many Maori dudes in San Diego. In the last month, three people (Maori) have told me they know someone in San Diego, and then they're always floored when I know the same guy. And Arama, is frankly the reason I'm here and why a lot of the people I've met have probably been nice to me (so thank you). Unfortunately this story does not end with my new friend doing me a favor. However, he did tell me if I could find a way to get into (meaning pay for) the conference, he'd have a cold beer waiting for me. Well ol Cuzzy better pay up, cause I'm on my way tomorrow

And in 100 days of Beall, NZed addition:

-Small world: since everybody is everybody's Cuz, it means somebody will always know your name, and its real easy to network

-The accent: I know I've talked more about Irish accents on this blog, but the Kiwi one I reckon is one of the best. Especially on the radio or TV where I feel like it's especially pronounced (not sure why this is, unless they're playing it up cause they've figured it out)

-The views: They're everywhere. I would venture to guess that at least 60% of homes in Wellington have some sort of view of the harbor/ocean, which is ridiculous when you think about it. And then the rest of the NZed, put your camera away cause you can't capture it, its just ridiculous

-How every city/town is the World Headquarters of something. I love how Kiwis embrace the randomness and then just go big with it, like being the Kumara Capital of the World (have you heard of kumara?, its like a sweet potato)

Okay that's a tally of 5 so far, I'm going to need to do better than that....BUT THERE's NEVER ENOUGH TIME

Oh the voices in my head

(Says, New Zealand IS Middle Earth) And don't you forget it.

A little Labor Day fireworks, view from

my deck. Thank you Wellington

So while you all are rallying to restore

sanity over there, we're rallying to restore

hobbits here in NZed. I can't make this stuff

up. It even made it onto Best Week Ever,

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2010-10-25/the-10-nerdiest-signs-at-the-new-zealand-hobbit-rally/ Headline of local newspaper "Thousands gather

over NZ's Hobbit Crisis". Yes, its a crisis

And this little sign went even one step further

you know so the elves wouldn't feel left out

after all this hobbit attention.

WARNING - Before you proceed, I've had very little human interaction this week, so this post could get weird.

Tonight is the last night of my ten days without my flatmates. I've spent this week+ mainly focusing on my research, trying out a lot of new recipes, and watching a few movies - I know boring, but it's been good and actually gone by really fast, as my life seems to do these days. Below is a recounting of the voices in my head and the few human interactions that I've have had:

-I was worried I was going to have no photos to share with you since I've literally been holed up with my research this week and I was doubtful that you'd want to see a photo of my transcribing and wanting to stick a pen in my eye. I've finally finished transcribing six 1.5 hour long interviews, which took me approximately 4-6 hours each - totally painful. On Saturday I was so fed up with it that I contemplated sending them to a transcription service in China for 5 cents an hour, and just as I was about to speed dial China, I remembered that my interviews are in Maori and English and I doubt there's many people outside NZed and even fewer in China who can/will transcribe Maori. When I checked how much it would cost in NZ - $45 an hour. So I finally finished (those six, I still have more interviews and thus transcribing to do). As terrible as transcribing is, when I read some of the quotes that make me laugh out loud, it was worth it. I've included a few here to share with you because I've decided as my Fulbright winds down that I owe it to all of you to tell you more about my research (hold that yawn), okay actually I just want to tell someone about it, and figure you're a captive audience -

-“I think for many of our people in X town, that they would pay more attention to a Martian landing in the middle of town [than climate change]. Climate change is abstract and well out of their head space. You talk to them about climate change and the emissions trading scheme, and NZUs, and they’ll say, “What’s that got to do with the environment?”

-“You’ve got people that want to say NZ is a leader overseas, and honestly we overrate ourselves. People don’t give a s@#$. So instead of getting caught up in that we need to figure this stuff out on the ground. It’s critical to our economy”

-“I was saying to the Prime Minister the other week, “You know mate, this country is bugger without the Maoris.” And an interesting proposition because most New Zealanders wouldn’t see it that way. But mate, look at your OECD ranking dropping, and look at your debt ratio in this country, and who are the ones doing anything about it. Whether you like it or not, Maori have a significant advantage. And I’m not going to waste time trying to get all these guys in the rest of NZ society on board, we don’t need them, we’re just going to get on with it at the enterprise level, cause our view is quite different than the mainstream of NZ”

In one of my few forays outside of the house or my office, I stopped by the corner store (Four Square), and the owner, Neil Patel, asked me what I was doing in NZ. I informed him I was studying, he asked if I work also, and I said, no I can't. And he said, how bout for free, can you do an internship? Umm....before I knew it he had scribbled down his information and was offering me a "learning opportunity" in management at Four Square. Dreams do come true

So this past weekend was also a long weekend in celebration of Labor Day. Now considering I don't really have a 9-5 job, it's nothing to get too riled up over. When I told my Mom this, she said, how nice. No Mom, I meant my working doesn't stop on the weekends, cultural exchange is a seven day a week job. And to reward myself for all my laboring of transcribing, I decided to check out what was going on in Wellington for Labor Day and low and behold, an Italian Film Festival in Wellington this week. So I decided to scurry to wrap up my research stuff so I could catch one of the shows that night, but before I logged off, I caught sight of another notice - A Rally to Restore the Filming of the Hobbit in NZed. I decided I had to go just for the sole purpose of the photo opportunity of thousands of hobbit lovers in one place. And it did not disappoint, see above

-You've heard me rant before about how expensive things are here and how little money I make and I'm sure you're all sick of that sob story. So I've tried to learn and think strategically about my meal planning, but after 9 months here, I apparently still haven't caught on. Recently, I suggested to Alice and Aaron that we should have lamb kebabs with some mint yogurt sauce (part of one of my goals to dedicate myself to eating more lamb while I'm here), and some hummus, thinking lamb - yep know they have a lot of those here, yogurt - check, tons of dairy. To which I got - "Hmm that will be really expensive". Oh right, NZed sells everything at export prices. I've also previously had to learn that limes cost up to $44 dollars a kilo, and yet lemons grow abundantly. This week, thought I'd pick up some snow peas for a recipe, I mean thinking in my mind - snow peas are pretty standard. But just in case, I went to the highest end grocery store here. When I asked if the sales guy could direct me to them, he said, "They're not here yet". Me - "Oh, when will you be getting some in?", thinking oh maybe Tuesday. He said,"Should be December". I swallowed my shock by remembering my Americanness as I got frustrated by the lack of snow peas in a whole country. We're so used to having whatever we want whenever we want, seasons? Who cares about seasons? One of the Kiwi Fulbrighters who recently arrived in the US posted on her wall "Free internet at Starbucks!!! Wow!" and another day, "Pizza, and crab cakes, and shwarma available all night, everywhere". I restrained the urge to write - Welcome to America

In general life news-

-I've lived in a wedding era for the last 5 years, as I'm sure many of you (you know the sea of readers out there) can also relate to. It's now beginning (and rapidly so) to shift to a baby era. Five friends/family have had babies this year, and three friends have called in the last month to tell me they're pregnant. These calls fill me with excitement and joy for my friends, and a bit of sadness that I don't live closer to share in this latest adventure. Then followed by a "What am I doing with my life? Am I totally selfish in my around the world galivanting?" While all my friends (ok not all, some want to shred their fallopian tubes with a lawn mower) are settling down and bringing new life into the world, I'm soon running off to Italy where I will instead have an immaculate conception of a giant food baby.

Then I usually think about how pregnant people can't eat prosciutto or ride roller coasters.

-There have been a few things that have needed to shift since I'm not coming home now. One is what to do about my American cell phone, it was one thing to suspend it for a year...so I decided to give Verizon a little call to see what my options were. Not only did Verizon go through the various options with me, but interjected it with, "But you have to think about what's right for your expenses and what makes sense for you". Then the grand finale, "We just want what's best for you". Aww, Verizon, I didn't realize you offered counseling services too!! I might call once a week now. However I think what's best for me is to let this number/contract go, even though I've had the same number since I turned 16 :( RIP 585

In care package news this week, my first job out of college sent me a book. I'm not sure how they found me all the way in New Zealand, but they even included a card. So no pressure friends and family, but just saying....

In the news -

Dan Carter, the generally agreed hottest All Black proposed to his long time, women's hockey player girlfriend. Yeah, women's hockey player, you heard that right. Only in NZed

And, I realized today that I have exactly (well I haven't quite booked my plane ticket, but just about exactly) 100 days left in NZed! Remember why this blog was started in the first place? I've decided to try again and from here on out hopefully tell you 100 things I love about NZ. And this time hopefully I'll be more successful since I do have so much thinking time -

So #1 (in no particular order of importance) - The Fact that Restoring the Filming of the Hobbit is the Biggest Problem (at least newswise, and you know other than that whole racism thing) that NZ has right now. And honestly, problems are few in NZ because life is simpler, people are happier, and the scenery gives everyone a bit more perspective on what really matters and to always keep a sense of humour. So with that, let the 100 days of Beall begin anew

Happening Right Now (Well in the future, right now)

No, that's not New Zealand, but another

capital city....

A little care package of excellence

a la Bob. Made a pizza tonight just so I

could dip it in blue cheese and franks.

Thanks Bob! And the artichokes - from Wegmans!

Q: Wegmans, do you miss me as much as I miss you?
The Wellington Fulbright girls uniting

together to take down Wellington's Mountains to Sea.

In true Wellington fashion it was pouring with gale

force winds, but in good news, we outran the oarks

Out for a little Sunday jog, taking in a

view of the South Island from the South

Coast of Wellington

Mt Taranaki, on the way to visit with

Taranaki iwi incorporations
Apparently life is sort of stacked against those

that want to go it alone. You might not be able to read

but this sign says, "Do not proceed alone". This might

be the sign that appears when you come out of the womb

as well. To which I said, I'll take that into consideration

and marched on
A little Taranaki tramping. And while I didn't get to wear

this ski jacket to actually go skiing again, it

came in handy for the cold temp of mountain

tramping
On Mt Taranaki, hiking up

to the ski field, which of course, was not open

Nary a day has gone by since I've been in New Zealand that I haven't thought - "Wait, is this really happening? Do I really live in New Zealand?" And so on from there, I could elaborate on all the ridiculous things that make me feel this way, but I'll spare you (for now).

So while I was rolling along in blissful surreal life in NZed, I received a knock on my door (in the way of an email) from Italy. Me: Oh hey Italy how are you, I've missed you, thanks for checking in. Italy: Would you mind moving to Rome for a job?, Me: Ummm.....

So when Italy calls and asks you to move there, in my humble opinion you don't say no. So I said yes. I'm moving to Rome in February. And while I've oversimplified the decision here, I did think long and hard about it while trying to see through the prosciutto induced stupor that had come over me just thinking about moving there. And while I miss you all enormously, I love cured meats more. Plain and simple. I also figured when else in my life am I going to be this unattached (I hope) where it's so easy to move to another country. I have no kids, no boyfriend, no job to quit, nothing tying me down - just a suitcase (ok four) and my dreams to pack up. It's been even more surreal since deciding....But now that I have - and one of the other reasons I accepted is because I want to be able to focus on being here rather than applying for jobs, so on the being here front, please don't talk to me about Italy, I'm in New Zealand and Italy's time will come shortly, but lets put it on a shelf out of my reach (with heaps of prosciutto) for a few more months....Although I did have a little mini celebration for myself tonight by making a pizza - dough and sauce from scratch included, and watching When in Rome. Too bad none of the movie is actually in Rome - like I will be :)

So life in New Zealand.....

I've been traveling off and on over the last month to finally conduct interviews with Maori for my research, and while it may sound hoki, as challenging as it's been, I really feel privileged after each conversation. There's also just no way I could script this stuff. For instance, one of the parts of Maori culture that I love is that you don't start talking bizness until you've established where you're from, like mountain, river, ancestors, the whole bit - it's called whakapapa (fakapapa).

The Mountain to Sea Relay, (photo above) was something I thought was a brilliant idea a few months ago and convinced the other Fulbrighters to do it with me. It's probably unbelievable for you to imagine, but I actually am the most, or maybe second most athletic of the four of us. So needless to say we did not come in first. But the run was on trails through the hills/parks of Wellington and although the weather was ridiculous, it was really fun to see parts of the city that we hadn't seen before/didn't know were there. Also something about running through the woods immediately makes me feel like I'm 7 and in a hide and seek/tag game, or maybe as most things do here, filming a scene in LOTR.

In New Zealand news this week:

-The Commonwealth Games - have you heard of them? Didn't think so. Well, they're basically like the British colonization Olympics, except that the U.S. doesn't participate because of that whole Revolution thing or maybe we just think we're too cool for it. It has been in Dehli this year for the last two weeks, and let me tell you NZeders have been in their heydey. If it hasn't been clear on this blog, NZed has a bit of a complex with Australia. The Gold Medal for Netball (see previous post re Bob's visit) came down to AUS vs NZed, and resulted in a tie that went into overtime, then extra overtime. My flatmate, Aaron said, "Well Elizabeth you can basically bet the house that the Ozzies will win because NZed can't hang when it comes to the big pressure against Australia". But in the end, after a lot of screaming at the television, the Kiwis (the Silver Ferns to be exact) pulled it out and won gold. Big time

-Racism - have you heard of it? Well I didn't realize in coming to NZed that I was not only taking on the politics of climate change, but also a whole lot of racism. It continues to astound me. This week the host of TV1 morning show stepped down after making a comment to the Prime Minister on air about one of his Minister's looking like a "real NZeder", cause the dude is Fijian Indian, born in NZed as if that matters. The dude in his apology/resignation then proceeded to call himself a gypo, (never heard this term before, but I guess its used in England to describe Eastern Europeans?) There's also been a show on TV here, airing over the last few weeks called "Are you My Tribe?", which is basically a white Kiwi going around to different iwi, making pretty offensive/ignorant comments, and then exploring the specifics of that Maori tribe. In the end it is a feel good show, because you see that he does learn a bit and he actually says, "I'm jealous that I can't be Maori". Can't we all just get a long?

And in case I needed more alone time, Alice and Aaron are off in Tasmania this week for a family wedding, so I have the house to myself for ten days. This will be the longest that I've ever stayed on my own (other than in a hotel for work). When my sister and I left for college, I remember coming home and discovering some weird habits that my Mom had developed - like eating Fruit Loops for dinner, after she never let us even eat junk food. I now finally understand this, cause when you're by yourself, there's no one to say - Hmm, that's strange, and no one to keep you in check - you can do whatever you like. I'm looking forward to a week doing whatever I like - first night alone last night and made a bacon pizza.