New Zealand -- The Loud American(s) in the Land of the Long White Cloud.

hello from the future!

i am finally, finally checking in after over a week of meaning to and several attempts at posting. there is just so much to say and the longer i delayed it the more i had to say! strange no? i've been keeping a word document of all the things i should have said and posted but internet comes at such strange and brief intervals, and just keeping up with emails and the like seem to dominate my online time. but now i have one hour, one glorious hour guaranteed by the purchase of a chocolate thimble ($2NZD) at Esquire's, a place i'm finding myself spending more and more time at to internet-ize. the library is free but the internet is sporadic and you have to be oppressively quiet. speaking of quiet. one of the items we were warned about on our many hours of New Zealand education on buses hither and thither throughout this fantastic landscape was to be aware of our reputation for being 'loud Americans'. this is something i notice about americans of all ages, particularly those not from the WASP-y new england breed. once you escape the direct descendants of the Puritans and those of other faiths with socially conservative practices all hell breaks loose. i have a strange relationship with 'loudness'. my whole life i feel like has been lead in denial of the fact that i am 'loud'. yet i am very sensitive to situations that demand quiet tones without provocation, and find it painful when others cannot sense it. i am finding this more and more while i am here that we americans are just LOUD. i found myself shrinking into a wall when at this same cafe a few days ago with 3 friends and almost not speaking in order to minimize noise pollution. even on a bus on the way home from takapuna with 2 other friends there was almost literally nobody talking on the bus except us, and it was like every word echoed from the back of the bus and back around. i'm picking up the subtle social differences here. for instance right now, i feel a bit awkward about having my headphones in my computer. no one else in the cafe does, even the people who are by themselves. and walking around the city, having my headphones makes me feel strange and very obviously a foreigner. its just not done, and whenever i do see it, it seems very much the product of imported students or picking up on american tendencies, something i am noticing is something that separates auckland from the rest of new zealand. i've talked with many kiwis about this separation between auckland and the rest of the country. something of note that i must laud the city for first of all is its absolutely staggering diversity. for a city of only 1.4 million peeps, i walk down the street and continually hear the same range of accents and languages that i encounter in manhattan, with an interesting inversion due to where in the world we are. rather than the high number of people from african and latino backgrounds in new york, this city is predominantly the site of emmigration from asia, the pacific islands, polynesia, etc., but so many still come from all over the world, to live and to work or just sightseeing. something else that is remarkable about this city (and the country) is the presence and (slowly) growing power and representation of the indigenous people, the Maori. so many towns remain in the original tongue of the people, in the public library all signs are in both languages, as are most signs at my school. my school also offers incredible programs in both Maori and Pacific Studies, and now Maori is taught to all school children across the country. if students choose, they can hand in the coursework in Maori. i think its great but it must be a rum deal for the teacher who doesn't know the language! they have to outsource the grading i believe. i have been warring myself over whether or not i have the cojones to take Kapa Haka, which is an introductory, performance-based class on Maori song and dance. I've seen it performed about four times at this point and it is completely awesome, particularly what the men get to do! its so vibrant and violent. New Zealand's beloved national rugby team the All Blacks perform the haka before their matches to terrify the other teams. rumor has it that they may play an exhibition game in auckland before we leave and i have my heart set on finding tickets! to appease our All Black fever me and a handful of my Arcadia buddies are going to see the Auckland Blues (city pro team) this coming Saturday for just $15NZD! BBQ included! Can't beat it. And tomorrow a bunch of friends and I are taking a rental car down to Waitomo to go caving. I am bouncing off the walls thinking about this trip. Its a 2.5 hour drive south and we have a five hour date with the cave. In those 5 hours we are going to abseil down 300 ft to the cave floor, then 'blackwater raft' (sinister connotations!) through the underground river in pitch dark lit up by glow worms, zipline in the dark, rock climb up waterfalls and jump into huge pools and scramble over the cave floor to finally make it out! all accompanied by professionals of course. it is supposed to be one of the most wild and incredible things you can do in NZ, and that says something! i have no class on monday so i have plenty of time to recuperate and get my academic groove on for tuesday. wednesday i am going sailing on one of the America's Cup Yachts with two of my friends, and then the Auckland Blues game this weekend! Yipee!! So what have I been up to recently? I will post a couple of pics now and hopefully do a picture post soon! Suffice it to say i am seeing some jaw-dropping, breathtaking, not to be believed beautiful landscapes, skyscapes, oceanscapes, moonscapes ;). So much more to see. I love it here.

here's to sunshine,

mx