One Month! - A week of firsts and Swedes

My new car!
A view from Victoria's campus, its all about the views in Wellington.
My favorite shop in Wellington that I walk by on my

way to my office. Yes, these signs are all for one shop - cufflinks,

a barber, cigar bar, dry cleaner, and tailor, all in one - the gentleman's destination shop! I fantasize about what the women's destination shop would be....a pedicure, champagne, subs...

First day of school, ready to pretend I'm 21 again.

As you know, because of course you read last week's blog post, this was my first week of school, in which I also experienced a bunch of other firsts:

-First going to a movie alone - I mostly went cause I ate too much at dinner and decided I should walk it off, and then I got there and the movie was in SWEDISH. I definitely would not have gone had I known this, even though I love my Swedish heritage, I don't speak it. Also the subtitles were in white writing which made it so I couldn't read them most of the time. Oddly, I felt like Swedish was a lot like Spanish, this may have been a stretch. Thank god I already read the book (yeah the book is better than the movie as that goes). Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, in case you're wondering

-Bought my first car by myself (thanks Mom and Dad for all the previous mobiles) - and at that I bought it via text, hilarious. Its a 1996 Mitsubishi RVR (they don't sell them in America). In my car search, I had a lot of advice. From the Americans, well mostly Brad, told me not to worry as much about getting everything checked out because "kiwis are trustworthy". From the kiwis, it was all about buying a (tidy) small car or a station wagon (hugely popular here). And while I tried as I might, I just couldn't buy a station wagon, so I really owned my Americanness and bought an SUV, or more like a quasi SUV. It has a van door, but only one row of seats and its four wheel drive. And as my friend Stephanie said, "Now that looks like an "I live in New Zealand car"". It is automatic which bummed me out, but I think I will appreciate it on the hilly roads of Wellington. I mean driving on the other side is enough to think about. What ultimately sold me - a 3 year old girl of the family invited me to her room to see her toys = trustworthy.

-First cricket game watched - with the helpful commentary of my roommate Aaron. I'm sure my questions must have been annoying him. Now many people equate cricket to baseball to explain it to Americans, but its like who would watch a 5 day game of baseball? Aaron equated it to golf for me, where you go for maybe only one day, or a few beers, and then keep an eye on the final tally. Super helpful. Well the other night was an abbreviated version (just 3 hours) and it came down to the final bowl, where a guy they nicknamed "The Virus" made it to beat undefeated Australia! While I won't say I'm hooked, it was exciting for those last ten minutes...

-First day of school in over ten years - I forgot what a bureaucracy universities are, but its even worse when you don't really know the system. I think I waited in about twelve lines, and had people tell me different things every time and act like I was the one confused. Finally got my ID today, student discounts here I come! Also, my first week of class I had Research Methods (mandatory for masters apparently) where we learned about the Dewey Decimal System and researching on the IN-TER-NET. Hoping this course expands quickly. Alternatively, Maori 101, was outdoors with free lunch and a quiz about culture, including who won the most medals at the Olympics. In my group (only American) I said the U.S., since I didn't see much of the Olympics, and of then of course looked like the typical American thinking we're the best, when Canada really did it. Au Canada...

Kiwi life this week -

-New Zealand has an even shorter history than the U.S. (only about 170 years, 1840 Treaty of Waitangi) so its nice being somewhere where America isn't the newest kid on the block. Craziness is NZ doesn't have a Constitution, only 1 of 3 countries in the world that doesn't. This also plays out in the tensions between Maori and Pakeha (and my research)

-People don't say bless you - random, but I don't get it. I've said it a few times when people have sneezed and no one says anything. Then I decided to wait for Kiwis to say something and nothing. Now I'm happy to learn something else to say (Salut, Tshui (sp), etc) but nothing?

-Went to see Cirkus Cirkor put on by the NZ Arts Festival, which is a big deal here in Wellington. Now as it happened, this is a Swedish production, big week for the Swedes. Tickets are expensive, so I bought the cheapest (with another Fulbrighter) which they warned would have views obscured in the Wellington Opera House, but was great. I guess if you have a kid that says they want to be in the circus you should feel better that this is where they could end up...super impressive and entertaining, would be proud to say my kid was in it

-The use of the English language - They say "Good on you" instead of "Good for you", and everything is something AS, but you're left to imagine as what. For example, "That car is cheap as" or "That would be sweet as". They say "drink driving", and call courses "papers" but also papers papers, and they call fries "chips" but also chips chips. They also call soccer, soccer, not football like their English buddies. Enjoying all the differences....

Friends - some of you have been concerned about my apparent lack of friends, (what gave it away, all my photos of just me, or my Beall jokes?), well I want to reassure you:

-I'm really enjoying the alone time. As many of you know, I love making big list of things to do, and then accomplish about ten percent of them, well now I'm looking at more like 75% production rate, which fits well with all I've lined up to do. A lesson I've learned from my dear friend and college roommate, Rebecca, is I need to put myself out there a bit more for new friends. I may have been becoming a bit insular. But as my wise friend Meredith said, if I had less alone time I wouldn't be able to come up with all my witty banter on my blog, so again trade-offs

-Alice and Aaron, my wonderful roommates. We make dinner together (alternating nights) and they love shows like Project Runway, Americas Next Top Model, the Good Wife, etc., even Aaron, although he may not like me blasting this to my huge readership (all 3 of you). My roommate Alice stayed home from work the other day cause she was sick, well while sick she made bagels and chocolate cake, from scratch! Who does that? And they've also lived in the U.S. so we have fun discussing gun laws, prostitution (legal here), gay rights (civil union legal here), and you know your general dinner discussion. I had to make sure they were okay with me having mace with me this week...

-Making friends - Although I'm doing just fine, I would like to make some friends over the age of 25 other than my roommates. My good friend, and co-woman of international residence in a country where they speak English but aren't American, Laura Jack, suggested stalking people on Facebook who may live in Wellington who went to my University. Well I really appreciated her creativity, although it carries a certain creep quotient. Note to self, maybe don't follow this advice at 4am when you can't sleep, which adds to the creep factor. So far, I've emailed one girl, and tonight I got a response! Thank you LJ and all your wisdom

-Progress - In my class today, we had to form groups, and I got a UK guy, a Brazilian guy (yey Latins!), and a kiwi girl who used to work on a yacht for five years (my future career move), so making progress....

You may have noticed a bunch of mentions of certain people, thats to show you I HAVE FRIENDS, you just don't live here, so come visit!

Next week, more on making friends, being a student, and I was hoping to travel this week but I don't have the car in my possession yet, so hopefully next week will go somewhere....

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