The Beginning of the End

Final Presentations and Thanksgiving dinner

at the U.S. Ambassador's
The honeymooners in Wellington, from my deck!!!
The honeymoon suite
So I stupidly bought a car so that I could sleep in the back of it

and yet I never had. Decided it was a good idea to check that off

the list the night before running a 30k. Another brilliant idea by me

Now having done it, I never feel the need to do it again

Part of the reason I signed up for the 30k

was the amazing course/lands that it went over
Including through the largest Gannet colony

IN THE WORLD (use your NZed voice)

Don't I look so happy to be scaling a huge

mountain in the midst of a 30k? Not sure

which kilometer this is at, but its got to be early

One of the many river crossings, my jet propulsion shoes

have now also become river fording shoes

That's right, 30k done and done

Took myself to the beach after to try

and mend/rest my seriously aching body

It's true, my Fulbright time has ended. I am now officially a Fulbright alumnus. I knew this when at the end of the Fulbright Director's speech at our final presentations she asked us to remember to give generously and often....to Fulbright. Can you believe it has been 10 months?? I'm going to just put it out there that it's a fact that time moves faster in the future. My Final Presentation went well and as expected they cared more about our life experience. I made a little video to push mine over the edge and yes I did manage to fit in all of the pictures of me posing like statues/monuments/animals. I'm not sure Fulbright was impressed, they may actually just think I'm demented. However, another girl's whole presentation was of pictures of sheep - no joke. Fulbright was angry that she was "reinforcing stereotypes".

So I can never be a Fulbrighter again unless I become a Senior Scholar (which frankly for this sweet deal, I might just do), but the only that's really different is 1) the sweet sweet deal of you paying for me to live here has sadly ended, 2)I'm now allowed to work (max 20 hours a week), 3) I can get arrested and make US slurs without getting sent home (not that I would!). I still have the Masters to complete and working isn't going to make that any easier or make my overall tasks any lighter.

So since the Fulbright has ended, what am I doing to fill my days you may ask?? Here's a brief synopsis and no promises that any post from here on our will have any coherence or themes, you're lucky I'm keeping up this effort in cultural exchange now that I'm officially off the US representative hook -

-Hanging with friends from back home - My friends Patty and Mike came through Wellington on their honeymoon and honored me by including me in one night of their adventure. I'm getting spoiled with visitors now. Thanks for visiting Patty and Mike!

-Earning my own living again: since you've cut me off I've had to go back to providing for myself. I'm working at a consulting firm here in Wellington (also with an office in DC) on economics and finance consulting. Now you may wonder what qualifies me to do this....not much. Right now I am working on a project in the telecommunications sector in Kiribati. Let me just state again how awesome it was when you were paying me to live here

-Completing the pre-job requirements for working at the UN. Considering that this UN job basically fell into my lap, I was feeling like the whole process was pretty easy. With my offer letter, came a link to a test that I needed to pass in order to begin working for them. The test was basically 2 hours of questions and scenarios about a) how to spot and avoid land mines; b) how to safely disarm a carjacker; c) how to treat a victim of gunfire, and d) how to calm down a mob. I'm sure that all of this knowledge will come in handy while sitting at a desk in Rome. In even more exciting UN preparation, I've had to undergo a series of medical tests in order to receive medical clearance. Among the many items on this form, one category just says, "Genitals" with a box next to it. I'm not sure if this means they just want to ascertain that I do in fact have genitals, or that they are in working order, or what. But just an FYI, you need genitals to work for the UN. I also had to balance on one leg with my eyes closed, get a chest xray, take a color blind test, get my blood tested for every known disease/ailment to man - the nurse started tapping my arm cause the blood stopped flowing, that's how much they took.

-This past week I had to apply for an Australian tourist Visa, a New Zealand work visa and tax ID number, and an Italian diplomatic work visa. My passport is so confused, and I only have three pages left!

-Writing a Masters Thesis in double time. While I don't have to submit my Thesis until July, I need to finish all of the elements with humans (aka, Maori who will not be accessible in Rome) by February and there's a little issue of Jesus's birth getting in my way with people's availability.

-Speaking of Jesus, the fact that it's bright till 9pm and hot everyday is really not convincing me that it is Christmas. Which is fine by me. When Xmas carols play here I can't take them seriously because they just seem out of place. Also Kiwis have rewritten all classic Xmas children's stories to take place in summer. I was reading one in the line at the post office the other day about Rudolf and the barbie, and Santa in jandals (flip-flops).

-Running a 30k. I had been wanting to run a half marathon before I left New Zealand, but had basically put it to the side since I have been a bit busy the last months or so. I found out about this 30k the week before, and decided - well go big or go home, right? And since we know I'm not coming home, I figured going big was the only option. And yes, I managed to somehow survive and it was awesome. The run was in the Hawkes Bay across private lands including a beach run, huge hills, and a river to cross (water at about chest level in parts). The first 20k I was feeling pretty awesome and then at about 24k I made an agreement with my body to just drag me over the finish line in whatever way necessary. The two days following I was basically moving like a 90 year old, not only because I didn't train, but also because for some reason I packed a 10 course meal in my backpack. I'm not sure if I thought I was running for four days or what my thought process was (as usual). The course did require that you carry your own water (of which I ran out) so I did need to have the backpack, but I didn't need to carry two sandwhiches, four granola bars, two oranges, two bananas, and a rain jacket (just in case!). This extra weight really took a toll on my lower back and I ended up eating none of it on the actual run. Next time - those gummy energy things for my pocket

-Preparing for the arrival of another Beall (well not really, she's an imposter, but we'll let her slide with the name since she's been sneaking by with it for 30 years), my dear sweet Mother. On LK's big adventure down under she has requested - kayaking, canoeing, boogie boarding, bike riding, hiking, doing a pub crawl in Sydney. When I was telling a friend about her visit, he said "What is your Mom a seventeen year old boy? She sounds awesome. Let me know when's she's coming to Baltimore so we can hang out". And yes, LK Beall is awesome. In addition to our activities planned, I'm most looking forward to the hilarious questions that she is going to ask me; having a visitor who is totally content to just hang close to Wellington (you know other than her demand to see another country while she's in the region); and how much she is also going to laugh at my jokes, probably even more than my sister. I'm also really looking forward to her giving me some reflexology after that 30k. Can't wait to see you Mom!

-I'm writing this post from Sydney where I'm awaiting LK's arrival. I arrived this morning and realized I was acting/feeling suspicious, critical of the Aussies - testament to how much the Kiwis have influenced me. I've also mostly stayed in my hotel since I need to grind out some work, but when I did venture out I just kept feeling like Sydney is so huge and overwhelming (Sydney has more people than the whole country of NZ) - oh NZed, how am I ever going to live in the real big world again.

I was warned by past Fulbrighters that just when you start to finally feel settled in, your Fulbright is over, and very sadly that is the case. When my sister was visiting I was having trouble distinguishing between what's American and what's Kiwi and where I know things from....

And in 100 days of Beall, NZed addition -

-Flat whites: I resisted purchasing coffee out for a long time since my budget is so meager, and I'm not sure when it happened either with Stephanie or Allison's visit or a combo thereof, but I'm addicted. Whatever makes a flat white special (that it's wetter is the reason given), it is definitely special, way more so than the long black

-Water jugs: Why we boil water on the stove in the US, I can not imagine when there is an invention like the water jug. Boiling water in an electric jug takes about 1/10th the time it takes on the stove and then the water's boiling when you add it to the pot. You'd think with our love of convenience that we would get behind the water jug so I'm not sure what is keeping this item from storming American markets. I seriously considered buying one for every member of my family for Xmas, except that I knew they'd be confused

-Plunger coffee: You noticing a trend here? NZed does not do percolated coffee, so every coffee you drink is plunger style or from a real espresso machine. The plunger goes along with the water jug idea, but again so much simpler and so much tastier than gross percolated coffee

-Work/life balance: In case you hadn't noticed, I've been on holiday quite a bit this year, and yes my case is unique. But even those Kiwis that work full time have a much healthier work schedule, meaning they start at 9 and leave at 5 and there are mandatory 4 weeks holiday for every person, every year - that's the base. And New Zealand seems to be progressing along just fine. I would also reckon that if Americans had a bit more vacation time, maybe they'd venture out a bit more and maybe learn a few things to bring back home (ahem, Fulbright's mission)

-Safety: New Zealand is arguably the safest country in the world. From the fact that there are no natural predators (that's right, no poisonous spiders, no poisonous snakes, no natural mammals (other than a bat)) and the fact that people are really trustworthy. To give you a sense of this, the police don't even carry guns. And if you need more evidence, I lost my wallet twice, and it was returned to me fully intact by random people both times.

-Bus system (caveat: only in Wellington): Now I've always liked taking the bus so maybe I'm a bit biased, but Wellington's bus service is always on time and you can check the status online. It's also cheap (for NZed) and it goes everywhere, even all the suburbs. And my favorite part is when people get off the bus they say, "Thanks Driver" like they've been in a personal limo

-Immigration: In thinking of switching my Visa to a work visa, I was really dreading the whole process. All it took was one form, an offer letter from a company, and a small fee. I got to Immigration at 8:55 when they opened at 9am and I was second in line, my whole Visa process took 15min, where I walked out of immigration with the new visa securely in my passport. I'm sorry that I can not return this favor to NZeders coming to the U.S. But if you're keen to move somewhere international - New Zealand makes it real easy. Also you need a Visa to just visit Australia, NZed requires no tourist visa. Score 1 million for NZ against Aus