Walking in a Postcard

My flights were uneventful (a good thing for flights to be.) The two highlights were my layover in SanFran where my friend, Chris, took me on a tours of both the airport parking garage, & Chinatown, & the descent into Queenstown. Not only was my 30+ hour journey finally done but I've never seem such a gorgeous setting for an airport. It was breathtaking.

The town's not too bad either:

I couldn't check in until 2 pm... which meant I had 5 hours to kill with my bag, in the cold, exhausted. So I did the logical thing. I went to the dock, changed, and then took a two hour hiking trail.

It was a bit difficult, but well worth it. It was like walking in a postcard:

Exhausted, I finally got to check in, climb into my bunk and fall asleep.. Or so I thought. As I lay down dogs started barking outside. I open the shades and on the dock was a enclosed area with some bails of hay piled up. Dogs were being led up the bails of hay and barking, on occasion if the dog didn't bark the owner would bark instead. The weirdest part of this was that there were about 300 people who roared with applause and laughter anytime a dog barked. Only later did I find out that this was part of the Queenstown winter festival (a big deal here) and was the last event in a sheepdog competition.

After unsuccessfully trying to sleep, I finally got up & went to the gallery in town. I had a lovely chat with the owner & after returning to my room had an equally lovely chat with my roommates. They invited me along to dinner and I hung out with 3 of them (a Brazilian, & an Irish couple) and 2 other guys (another Brazilian & a German) for much longer than I thought I would be able to. It was a blast. 

The next day, unable to fall asleep after waking up very early I got breakfast, and took my book out on the same trail I hiked yesterday. As I came back into town again I heard a loud announcer (who sounds exactly like the manager in "Flight of the Concords") and cheering. I went back to the arena and watched dodgeball for about 40 minutes. A highlight was when the police team sort of took over officiating of their own game "look the law is enforcing it." Having watched more dodgeball games than a majority of people, (woo HAVOC!) I was able to explain it to the confused people next to me. However, while answering a question a dodgeball flew out of the arena and hit my squarely in the face. After a few minutes of heckling by the announcers I felt both my face and my pride might be better inside. Luckily my room looks right over it. The final is going on as we speak between the "Flaming Kiwis" (who are all only wearing matching neon colored sweat bands, boxers, mustaches, bow ties and suspenders) and the "Fixers" (who are all wearing matching pink body suits.) To give you an idea there are less than half the people yesterday for the dogs. After all this excitement I might need a nap!

Leo

Leo Ready for the Journey

"Is it time to panic yet?"

June 24th 9:30 am

About to board our flight a toddler calmly turned to his mother and asked, "Is it time to panic yet?" I couldn't have asked it better myself. Luckily, I think the answer is not quite yet. My excitement is nicely balancing out my anxiety. Plus, I was in the minority at my 8:30 am breakfast for not having a drink which made me realize I was doing better than some. I'm on my way to Queenstown, New Zealand, the first of my many stops. I wish I could say I was going because there's some sort of amazing policy going on there, but in reality the flight there was quite a bit cheaper and I've always wanted to go. I'll be there a bit over a week before heading over to Australia. I'll hopefully be mostly over my jetlag when I meet my two host parents & my two host dogs. I'm looking forward to jumping in once there.

I've never written a blog (though I went through countless journals with only one entry.) The advantage of starting now is that my life is probably more exciting than it ever has been, the disadvantage is that I'm still quite new to this. I fear my writing has aways been much more "pleasant to grade" than "pleasant to read." So please forgive me if I switch formats/give too much bland detail/ ect. I can only promise that this blog should be acceptable by storybook standards-- there will be pretty pictures and a loveable sidekick. Though my fellowship does require that I travel alone, Leonardo, a small stuffed lion will also be making the journey. Since life at home doesn't stop while I'm away (who knew, right?) I'm going to be missing the birth of my nephew in October. Though I highly doubt he'll notice, just as I doubt my parents will notice my absence once he arrives, I wanted to do something special. Leo (well technically his identical, very clean replica) will be the baby's birth gift from me. Once I come back he'll have an accompanying storybook of his adventures that my nephew might like once he's older. Or hey, maybe he'll at least like the pretty pictures.