All By Myself, I'm Fine to Be All By Myself

While traveling solo there are a few things that are great doing alone: walking around a city, hiking, writing a blog, taking photos ect. While I've done all of those, one thing I imagined would be awkward was to go to a bar, dance club, ect. While I've still not done either I've now come very close without intending to, by going to an art show. I can now say it was perfectly fine.

Image by: Madelaine Papp Source:http://project-loop.blogspot.com.au

I ventured out to go to RAW Artists, an art show featuring 40 artists of all types, without my camera due to the rain. The venue, the Melbourne Pavilion, was beautiful and massive. It glittered with about 15 chandeliers and 5 disco ball as well as thumped with djs on the 2 stages. Above me were 30 or more models are being decked out in rooms that could be seen from the floor. People poured in. It was if they were in a fashion show themselves. Most looked as if they were going to "the event" wearing heels and cocktail dresses. The rest were a mix of artsy people making sure we knew they were artsy. There were also a few men who clearly had no idea where their girlfriends were taking them (and figuratively had yet to figure that out) thrown in for good measure.

Image by: Madelaine Papp Source:http://project-loop.blogspot.com.au

Wearing about half the clothes I brought all at once with lipstick and my hair piled on my head made me fit in with the artsy crowd as long as I kept a look of mild annoyance and boredom on my face. Before I left, Patrice had told me about the hats she wore to weddings in the 80s. I'm thinking now if I had borrowed a hat it would have completed my outfit.

On my way I took a wrong turn and ended up in a pedestrian tunnel unsure of where to turn. I saw an elderly woman so asked her. She turned to me and said, "oh you'll be lucky if you make it" in a rather forboding tone before reaching up to reveal a bluetooth device. She had no clue where I was heading, but I preferred that response. Luckily man pushing a stroller knew exactly where I was going. (Look at me following safety 101-- only talking to strangers I could easily outrun.)

Image by: Madelaine Papp Source:http://project-loop.blogspot.com.au

Despite the mc making everyone uncomfortable by being so awful once the acts started things looked up. There were numerous musical, performance and dance acts (most burlesque) in a mishmashed show. My favorite was the juggler who wowed everyone with her fancy footwork. The four hour show ended with fashion show:

Image by: Madelaine Papp Source:http://project-loop.blogspot.com.au

After, I managed to catch a tram, & chatted with a chef who had helped me with public transport. My accent proves to be a blessing and a curse as I have so many people help me (blessing) but then normally inform me that they feel compelled to help out the ignorant American (curse.) The most amazing part of our conversation was that I found out since she moved away from her home to receive her training, the government was subsidizing her rent by half! While living with parents well into your twenties seems to be very much the standard here (I'll be completely honest and admit it's weird to me) I was fascinated by how the policy would reflect that. Isn't policy cool?

On my train I chatted with an illustrator and we watched as a group of people next to me got arrested (clearly the excitement of the police officer's night.)

It certainly was an interesting night.

(Also, I'd like to just apologize if there are/have been many spelling mistakes. My app doesn't spellcheck for me, and as a true child of the modern era, that hurts.)

Scripture & Sculpture

One of my first nights in Melbourne I was taken to church by my host family. Upon entering I had the feeling I was going to a NFL game (or to be completely honest a marching band competition.) Phil had (I now realize jokingly) told me it was a little church. The church they attend have 4000 attend each sunday. Yes, a four with three zeros. As the service started an army of teenage girls decended the stage while electric guitars whaled and all the lights flashed. I felt more like I was at a rock concert. The entire time I was simply downright impressed. The girls' interpretive dance was pretty good, the band was great. The mass of christian youth (haha get it?) in the world's tamest mosh pit at the foot of the stage were the perfect audience. They knew every song, stormed down enthusiasticly and then retreated quietly, they even managed to clap and sway perfectly in sync. I have also never had so many people try to convert me so polietly. Clearly "converting them through kindness" is working for them as 7 people were baptized that service alone. Even though I am Christian I'm more used to a stained glass and organ type theme.

Source: http://www.crossway.org.au

The two most impressive things to me were the videography and the lengths they went to get snow. Every song had the performers projected on the screens making it seem like they were producing music videos. Despite being the most calm person there the entire service I lost it when the youth group showed a (beautiful of course) video of them bringing in a semi of snow to go sledding. I don't know what they would think of hamilton weather, but then again I do-- cold. Very very cold. I'm a regular polar bear here.

Source: http://www.crossway.org.au

Both Steph's and my host parent's bible study groups met at the house this week as well. Though I stayed downstairs for both, Phil and Patrice's was certainly the rowdier of the two as they are perfecting a puppet show with their chruppets (Christian muppets.)

A few days later I ventured into the city for the first time. I transformed into a four year old as soon as I saw Melbourne through the window. It's quite a picturest city with little pathways, big pathways and lots of art.

These were my two favorite works I saw on the street:

The first is a series of massive sculptures with moveable parts. Fittingly it symbolizes the different stages of immigration to australia.

The other, "Winter Solstice" is a lovely hanging installation. The use of light was so tastefully executed.

I had gone into the city to attend a young teen's program: NGV Culture Camp: NAIDOC Week. This week is a school holiday for children in Victoria so I’m without access to schools. However, the National Gallery of Victoria is presenting a week dedicated to Australian Indigenous Art (how perfect!) NAIDOC Week is unfortunately open to children under 17 (though I thought about just not wearing makeup I figured it would be embarrassing if I was asked for an ID.) I decided to go anyway (with makeup on) and see what I could find out and who I could talk to. I got a few ideas and am learning more and more indigenous culture. Afterwards I was going to go to the art museum and the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Austalia which is the "world’s first gallery dedicated exclusively to Australian Art" but I got distracted.

Leaving those two for another day I happily got lost in the city. I listened to quite a number of performers on the street with the highlight being these guys:

http://youtu.be/VTxy76fVZi0

Trying to find my way home I inadvertently got lost in one heck of a mall-- with only Asian food in the food court and these two shops:

Rather unexpected.

Hope all of you are doing well!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red, White, & Blue All Over (For Better Or Worse)

License plates in Melbourne read "The Place to Be." Rather conveniently it is, in fact, where I am. After spending my first night in Jail back in Christchurch the woman at the desk asked me what I was doing that day. I told her I was going to explore the city and then go to the airport. She asked if I wanted to book a shuttle. When I found out it would cost me $25 I decided to just walk. Her response: "Well, that’s ambitious."

The center of the city was clearly only reminiscent of its former glory. In many places there were equal numbers of empty lots and buildings. But, many of these lots had been decorated such as this one:

I set off from the city center cutting right through the botanical gardens. There I saw a game that I had never seen played before, Netball, and it was surely being played in force:

Even though I was walking around the second largest city in New Zealand it felt rather small… that was until I started to walk to the airport. By the time I reached the airport it was five hours after I had left my hostel. I felt so accomplished (and ambitious) once I managed to walk through those doors.

My flight was made considerably better after finding out that I had the entire row left to myself. I spread out, and started reading while the man behind me slept soundly and the woman in front of me probably took close to a hundred selfies of herself pretending she was sleeping (this took her a majority of the trip.) Once I arrived in Melbourne I had the quickest exit through customs I’ve ever had. I went up to a machine slipped my passport inside, got a ticket, put that in the machine, got my picture taken and then was on my way. I met up with my host parents who were nice enough to pick me up from the airport. Phil, Patrice, her daughter, Steph, and their two greyhounds Will and Holly (more pictures to come!) live in Vermont on the eastern side of Melbourne. They are an incredibly warm and inviting family that make me feel as if I’m a long lost child. The most notable thing to happen that night was certainly being called "a happy little vegemite" for the first time.

On Sunday we spent a majority of the day having a chat, getting to know each other and going grocery shopping. I’m happy to report that milk and fruit prices are both MUCH more reasonable than their Kiwi counterparts. However, things such as nail polish are about triple the price.

I never realize how American I feel until I leave the country (no duh.) It’s completely understandable that people will have expectations of me based on my nationality. (I sure have expectations of them!) However, I’ve recently felt the need to at least try and correct some stereotypes for better (I don’t own a gun & hopefully I’m not as ignorant, or stupid as expected) and for worse (I’m not close to any celebrities.) For instance, I was asked by a girl my age (in a serious tone) if all Americans thought they rode kangaroos to school. Laughing, I told them that we’re not all quite that stupid. Some perceptions are sure to be reinforced for the better (my tendency to work hard) or for worse (that I have a hard time biting my tongue and not voicing my opinion… oops.)

So far I’m doing well on the homesickness front. This is probably in part because I’m still very much in the "honeymoon stage" of the journey. However, I think the bigger reason is that I’ve now confronted a majority of my fears about this trip (ie getting lost, being alone, talking to a ton of strangers) and so far so good! That does not mean, however, that I do not miss all of you & hope to hear from you (thanks studio-mates!) so please do leave a comment (thanks mom & dad!)

 

Pad Thai, George, Destiny & Cocaine

The people I'm meeting, Kiwi & otherwise are really making my trip. However just because of the way we all meet each other the interactions can widely vary. My roommates in Queenstown soon felt like friends... But meeting doesn't always go so smoothly. For instance, I was woken up by two girls in my room at 6 am having this moment of blossoming friendship:

"Good morning."

"Yes, morning."

"I forgot to tell you-- I love Pad Thai. I eat it every week."

"I don't."

"Oh, okay."

 

Luckily so far my luck with striking up conversation was going a bit better than that. I talked to two of my roommates for hours-- one from London and one from China (who loves pad Thai apparently.) They're both policy students so we had plenty about which to talk even after swapping details about who we were, what we were doing, and our favorite foods. I told them all about the stars but unfortunately, the stars didn't make an appearance the second night due to the clouds. Thankful I had seen them the night before I curled up by the fire after having spent the entire day hiking.

The girl from London was on my bus the next day-- but we didn't speak much as I think our bus driver might not have taken a single breathe in four hours. At times it was great-- we heard the entire story of James Mackenzie (why a Gaelic speaking thief is honored so highly I don't know) all about the sheep and various tidbits. However, we also heard some long drawn out stories. I could be quizzed on George's life and feel confident I'd do pretty well.

After getting to Christchurch I started my hour long journey to my hostel. Christchurch is still very much recovering... in parts it looks as if the earthquake happened in the last week. The hostel where I am staying is really interesting. It's a renovated jailhouse built in 1874. All the rooms are still in their olden state which was great until after I went to sleep and kept hearing the old metal doors slamming shut. Once there I went to make dinner & I sat by myself with a book (book #7 which is "Vanity Fair" as it was long and free.) I was joined by 8 students soon after. I found out they were from Melboure so felt sure I could keep this conversation going. I've really been meshing with the people I meet here. However, that was just not the case last night.

I got from them that coffee and Greek food are both good there-- and nothing much else. I hadn't seen the movie Philadelphia and didn't understand the cream cheese joke until too late. So, after finishing up I wandered into the front room where the activities were being held. There was American themed trivia at the hostel in honor of the Fourth of July. First of all I was widely impressed by the knowledge displayed by the non-Americans-- they knew things like the year coca-cola was invented. Things that would have taken me significantly longer to come up with were on the tip of their tongues. My team dominated on the first few rounds but I faltered on questions such as Jay Z's real name. My team ended up first with another team in second. We had a sudden death round with obscure state capitals and celebrities' real names. Miley Cyrus was my downfall and therefore we didn't win the beer (not that good of an incentive for me.) I laughed it off, but my German and Italian teammates were none too pleased. They sulked off within seconds and all gave me looks of disgust. Honestly, I'm rather glad I didn't know that... I think I would have had to go the mirror to give myself my own look of disgust if I had. For the record, it's Destiny Hope Cyrus-- we'll see how long it's takes me to forget that.

And so my bad luck with conversation continued. Back in my room the conversation turned to how expensive things like medicine and soda were in New Zealand. I seized the opportunity to talk about my milk and my $70 turkey (the fact that I've mentioned both here already is a bit sad and is certainly correlated to my conversation problems.) I ran with it for a while until one mentioned it had cost him $300. It occurred to me the other 7 people in my room (including my Germans, an Italian, and a few people from Melbourne) were discussing the price of cocaine. From then on out I was unable to contribute... But once again that's certainly for the best.

 

Mattie Tries to Be Outdoorsy

Up and out early, I left Queenstown for Lake Tekapo-- a tiny town of 300 people. The four hour journey was a bit out of my way, but Tekapo is in the Dark Sky Reserve, one of the darkest skies in the world. I just hoped the weather would cooperate! There was snowfall in the area, and temperatures to match-- it's been in the twenties. Seems I didn't get enough of it at Hamilton-- Brr!

I quickly saw that even if the weather didn't hold up, it would still be worth it. The colors here are incredible. It's as if my surroundings were painted. The water is a brilliant shape of turquoise. This is because of a mineral found in the crushed rock that hangs In the water. I've never seen water this color, it's as if someone dumped massive amounts if food dye in the lake. At my hostel in Dunedin the man behind the counter told me about the little church you see in the picture, The Church of the Good Sheoard. As you can see it's tiny, but for some reason it's quite the tourist attraction. Beside it is a statue of a collie dog in honor of all the dogs who made living there possible.

I spent the rest of the day taking a hike. It was mostly successful-- until it started snowing. I quickly went back after that!

Back at the hostel, the receptionist was beyond thrilled when she saw my name. Tekapo is in "Mackenzie Country" and thus everything seems to belong to me-- Mackenzie's cafe, Mackenzie's street, Mackenzie Tavern ect. It has been pretty exciting. It's named after James Mackenzie a convicted sheep rustler.

As you can see the weather wasn't cooperating. Clouds were rolling on in, and despite my demands they weren't budging. After dinner I decided it was time to see the sky--I was worried it wouldn't cooperate.

Headlight on I headed out into the dark with my special "stars playlist." The sky was completely cloudy except for a small patch. Even in that small part there were more stars than I've ever seen. I went to a zip line type swing for fun beside the water. I had found it that afternoon, and had multiple people videotape me doing it (which was a bit weird.) Having done it a few times with my headlight on, and feeling overly confident I decided I wanted to see if my camera could pick up any of the stars in a movie. I shot off into the dark, holding my camera in one hand and on for dear life with the other. It didn't work. But, I now have a 15 second video of complete black where you hear the zip line, then a thud and then laughing. I couldn't see where the zipline ended and the force of it swing me forward connecting my jaw with my fist. I have a small faint bruise and a bit of a sore jaw after technically punching myself in the face.

Within an hour the sky began to clear-- two hours later I was standing under a clear night sky. I could see the entire Milky Way it lookd as if the sky had folded itself inside out revealing more stars with a deep purple backdrop. I tried to take a picture-- and accidentally (and quite unflatteringly) caught myself looking just a bit enthusiastic. The picture doesn't nearly do it justice, there were so many more stars than my camera could capture.

Needless to say-- it was worth it. I can't wait for tonight.

 

Dunedin -> Queenstown -> Tekapo

Since I'm actually on this trip for a reason, I thought it might be time I started to do just that. I spent Monday walking around the various art galleries that seem to be everywhere in central Dunedin. One of the most striking things for me was the amount of sculpture on display. I'm more used to paintings dominating, but I found an incredibly amount of installation art. After a nice chat with a woman in the local community gallery I now have even more people to email.

My plan on Tuesday was to go to one of the many museums, but as soon as I went outside I couldn't bear to be indoors. It was just so beautiful. Instead I went back to the botanical gardens. I was soon recruited to help with a school scavenger hunt-- I was asked by almost every group if I had seen yellow flags. Eventually I just sat on a bench and pointed the same flag out to every group. NZ has managed to successfully make their little children cuter not only with their little accents but with their blazers and kilts. I decided to splurge for a "flat white coffee" while writing emails. I'll admit-- I felt pretty spiffy sitting in a garden in New Zealand, sipping coffee while typing. I'm not caught up enough on the barista lingo to know how it differs from a latte-- but it was delicious.

The rest of the day was spent on the bus. It was beautiful, of course, but uneventful. I spent the night in Queenstown and went out to dinner with one of my roommates from Korea. She's finishing her last year of getting her elementary teaching degree. I asked her if she was going to become a teacher and she replied, "Maybe." I asked her why and she replied, "It's hard, we (Koreans) need to change but I'm not sure we'll be able to change... There aren't arts as you would have them. I've been teaching in Auckland. In Auckland it's really nice, kindergarten is nice. It's not nice in Korea." Hearing her talk that way about arguably the best school system in the world made for quite an intersting conversation despite our language barrier.

I was early to bed, and was out early in the morning. Too early for one bus driver-- who described my half hour of extra time as "just disgusting." But I most certainly preferred to be me than be the couple who tried to sprint after the bus.

Oh, and as per my last post. Here are two views of the campus-- I took one picture and then just turned around to take the other:

Also, I found a small frozen turkey in the supermarket for $70. I couldn't figure out where to put that in my post, but I couldn't quite believe it.

 

Kiwi Milk & Kiwi People

When I was looking at places to study abroad Dunedin was in my top five. When talking to my mother about this she was worried if I studied here I'd never want to leave. Now that I'm here, I see her point. That was, however, until I saw the price of milk. I wish I was kidding. I saw milk for almost $9 for 2 liters at a convenient store- I was actually going to take a picture but was loudly informed that I couldn't. I understand, I wouldn't want people to have proof of my outrageous prices either. (I should note that I have found milk for cheaper, but it's still wildly expensive.)

Despite their milk prices (I do realize I'm way too riled up about that) New Zealand has once again made me fall in love with it because of their people (who I've been told are much more water/juice drinkers who are also annoyed at the insane price of milk.)

On my walk the first day I came across a number of lovely churches. Sunday I decided to go to the one, The First Church of Otago, for a service. I figured I could just pop in and no one would notice. Within about two minutes of sitting down an older gentleman, Jeff, came and sat down in front of me. He told me he wanted to meet me before we got to meet each other during the service and I had a lovely little chat with him. He made sure I was well informed during the service about who everyone was and other little tidbits. The minister also noticed me and first thing asked me where I was from in front of the congregation. He even gave me a gift of a postcard (so much for sneaking in.) I soon realized how I had stood out, as I was by far the youngest person there who was not of Pacific decent. The congregation had a large number of Cook Island members. During the interactive portion of the service we were given cards and asked to form "families" of Cook Islanders, Samoans and Kiwis. (I was a Cook Island father.)

After the service I was personally invited to the tea/coffee get together and must have had 10-12 people come up to talk to me. Some just said hello, others gave me useful information (where free wifi was/ contact information for an interview), and one (Jeff) invited me to a concert that afternoon. I was about to go when the associate minister, Ann, came over to talk to me. She offered to drive me to the gardens where I was heading, and then instead invited me to lunch with her family. I happily accepted. They were funnily enough headed to an American themed restaurant, Filidelfios. I had a great time with her 17 year old daughter who soon after meeting me was quickly to point out american idiosyncraties such as our school year calendar, our use of farinheight, and our pledge of allegence. However, our contributions of pizza topping combinations seem to be good in her book, as she is an avid lover of Hawaiian pizza. At lunch I was told about another pizza topping combination that was supposing amazing: pineapple, ham, & canned spaghetti. (I'll take her word on it.) Ann's husband, Ian, a full time photographer (and part time surgeon) gave me his address for his photos. I've checked some of them out and they're really quite lovely. Since I've given him the address of my blog, I hope photography skills aren't judged too harshly!

I had such a wonderful time with them, they truly are a lovely family who welcomed me so whole heartedly. After lunch, we briefly walked through the botanical gardens and then they drove me to the Town Hall for the concert. I arrived exactly on time, and walked in to hear them sing the national anthem. (This was my second time doing so as I got a lovely redention in the car in case I was too late and missed it.) Both renditions included the lyrics sung in English and then in Māori.

The concert was wonderful. It would have been worth it only to see the look on Jeff's face when we saw me there and gave me a smile and a nod. He's part of The Royal Dunedin Male Choir, who not only sounds wonderful but are one of the most adorable choirs I've ever seen. (Jeff is in the back row, the one looking at the camera.)

They sang songs a few at a time with young musicians as "guest artists" doing interludes. I'd never heard a few of the songs, but heard new favorites such as "Portait of my Love." The gentleman introducing the songs was also wonderful. Right before his number they lost track of the 12 year old pianist who was performing. This was briefly explained and the presenter quickly filled the time telling a story with a singing component. Later, the chorus tittered and whooped when the young guest soprano gave the stage manager a kiss on the cheek about which he commented, "there are now going to be 65 applications for stage manager. Now speaking of beautiful young ladies our next piece is about exactly that."

I was truly shocked when I looked at my watch and saw it was a nearly 3 hour concert. As soon as it finished Jeff motioned to me to wait five minutes because they were going to take a picture. We talked until they shut the concert hall down about all sorts of things: the concert, his late wife, his childhood polio, and his travels. But first he made sure I had a place to stay, and that it was close enough for me to walk home.

Seriously, the people might make the milk prices worth it.

Mattie