When it rains, it pours, and then it doesn't

Loving my coat that I bought just in time! While I sometimes feel like

the murderer from "I Know what you did last Summer",

when I walk down the street, I'm so happy to be wrapped

up in this coat. What you can't see

is that its knee length.

I have an extra large melon (lets just say its my brain,

when actually its probably just my huge teeth)

I was warned against the umbrella in Wellington, which I

hate anyway(umbrellas), but here the wind is too strong anyway.

So a hood is necessary for the rain, but my huge head makes

finding one that will stay on difficult. Well this coat, has a huge hood, that zips up to

stay on in wind. Love it!

Planting trees at my professor's farm in the

pelting rain, loving my boots (thank you Ulix!) and coat, and my

classmate. He decided to study Enviro management

after losing his wife to cancer and then battling

cancer himself. He's also super sarcastic and hilarious

When I mentioned my lack of hugging in week 1, he now

makes sure everytime we see each other to give me a hug

coming and going. He also called me out on this photo

and said I just wanted a picture of me "pretending" to do

actual work. He's great and has taught me a lot about

perspective. In the small world of NZ, he also happens to live

next to my roommates good friends, which we discovered totally

randomly....

Posing for my Fulbright newsletter picture. After this photo I was invited to

dinner at the marae for mutton bird (titi)....

I know what a boring blog about weather...if it makes you more interested, I'll try to also make it a bit of a metaphor...

Of course everyone talks about how terrible the weather is in Wellington and given the beautiful fall and wearing flip flops till two weeks ago, I really thought there may be a bit of exaggeration involved. Well Winter is officially here. Since last Wednesday its rained most days with blustering winds and temps around 9 degrees (you do the conversion, I only work on Celsius now). Last Friday after a full on day of rain and wind, my cheery roommates informed me that this is how its going to be until November. What? You mean the rest of my time in New Zealand is going to be filled with rain, wind and cold? That sucks. Well, the next day it was gorgeous and sunny and about 16....and the thing is, although I'm not a huge fan of rain and cold, its really not that bad, mostly because of my awesome coat (See above) and that thankfully my house actually has heat unlike most houses in Wellington.

In addition to the rain and cold of the last week, I have also experienced my first sickness in NZ. I've tried to fight it with the Emergen C that Aaron and Alice wisely imported back from the U.S. on their trip; and with running, but it got me. But not in a full on I have the flu way, its only a sore throat runny nose, congestion. Nothing Vicks can't handle with a little Mucinex added in, sort of cold. So the moral is, U.S. drugs make everything easier to deal with (J.k Mom)...and my import business that I've been crafting is solid gold

Continuing on this cheery note, when I arrived back from traveling the South Island, my car wouldn't start (I only left my car sitting for a week, and no doors/lights open/on). Sparing you the gory details, the basic synopsis is two car jumps to the tune of $120, and one new battery ($140), which all resulted in actually needing a new alternator ($650). Not awesome and for a second I thought, Why do I own a car again? and almost put it up on TradeMe. But then I realized this is what owning a car is all about, pouring money down the drain for the privilege to not walk everywhere. Since I haven't owned a car in 4 years, and I loved every moment of it, I'm not used to these expenses or hassles. But I realized this is just what you have to deal with if you want to drive down 90 Mile Beach instead of walk (which would take forever! even in kilometeres) and if you want to be able to sing out loud on journeys instead of hum and wiggle on the sidewalk. You picking up the metaphor yet???

As I've said, I can't believe I've almost been here for four months. Just to remind me of how quickly time is flying, I have to give a mid-term presentation to the Fulbright board on June 22nd about the status of my research. I had a minor freak out and was feeling like I haven't accomplished enough or have anything to present - and then I realized, hello, I can speak in Maori (okay maybe just colors, family and location), and I understand the Treaty of Waitangi (more than most Pakeha in NZ), and I've had more noho Marae than many Maori, so although I may not have the answer to solving GHG emissions from agriculture yet, I can do the hongi without giggling anymore - now about putting that in a presentation.... But even better - this week I found out that they'll let me go for the Masters! The one thing is I'm not supposed to tell anyone because they don't want people to think they can skip ahead or that I'm getting extra privileges. So all you blog readers out there (what are there two of you now?) - don't go gossiping to all your NZ Vic Uni friends.

Pashing - I know you all want to know what the story is with boys here...First, I should say that there may be a bit of a war breaking out. No, not in Afghanistan, but between equally scary entities - my Mom and Alice's Mom. The one rule my Mom gave me in coming to NZ was "No dating". I think she's ultimately worried about having grandbabies a world away, apparently dating=grandbabies, watch out girls. Well, the one thing on Alice's Mom's mind - Finding Elizabeth a boyfriend/partner. She loves matchmaking. She's had five kids and they're all in relationships, so I'm naturally her next target. Sorry Mom, but I think Alice's Mom may be able to beat you in a wrestling match (see further on). To answer your questions though - no there are no boy prospects, unless you include the gardner that Alice's Mom thought I should keep my eye on. BTW, pashing is one of my favorite Kiwi words and means "making out". I like to think its derived from "passionate kissing". Well there's been none of that...you're welcome Mom.

Yogging - so being sick has kept me from running a bit. The only thing that's gotten a work out this week is my credit card. And the half marathon is only a month away. I got Alice's Mom to do the half marathon with me. Boy was that a mistake. As I said, she's in her fifties and has had five kids, and she's totally showing me up. She's running at least 11k a day, EVERY DAY! When I saw her a week ago I mentioned that I might drop down to the 10k, and she said "Bull@#$%". My Mom's favorite saying is "The bottom line is...", well Alice's Mom's favorite saying is "That's just ridiculous". You know what is ridiculous - that she is going to smoke me on this run, by miles/kilometers! I guess I did convince her to do this run, so I do need to get it together....

Being old - I've mentioned age before, and how I mostly meet/interact with people way younger than me here. Well in case I somehow forgot, and for all you out there, in case you ever forget - talk to your parents. When talking to my Dad this week he said, "So are you feeling weird about being, what is it 28, 29, and STILL in school? Well if you feel weird you can always talk to Jimmy (my brother who is 19) about Uni". Parents always keep things in perspective....yes I'm old, and yes I'm glad I'm getting this Masters out of the way now, and yes, I'm friends with people my brother's age. However, I don't think my 19 year old brother would agree that we have a lot in common in terms of study...he's way cooler than me