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