Campus Activities

Yet even more to catch you up on, I'll have to add photo's later: First week of school here is AWESOME the school throws parties every night, sometimes in the day too. There was a hypnotist yesterday, Toga party last night- way cool, Numerous Free concerts- big bands here too, a Gumboot party, comedy night, etc. and there is free food on the ct. for lunch, provided by the bank for the entire week. 

This is Amhir from Pakistan. After inviting him to the toga party, I later found out that he thought toga was food. Boy was he surprised when I told him take off his shirt and handed him a sheet to wear. He kept asking me, "people do this?" It was a bit of a walk to the party and I think Ahmir thought I playing a joke on him, he let out a Big Sigh of relief when he saw other people wearing sheets and tree leaves too.

Today was club day- and I joined way too many clubs: Surfing- every weekend I'm free, Alpine Club- climbing and outdoor adventures, Release- a reputable traveling photography club, and my Favorite- The Fire Club.

  

The fire club practices the art of poi-  based on the Maori tradition of fire dancing. Actually I picked it up quite quickly. I also aspire to ride the unicycle and enhance my juggling skills. I guess if our careers fail after college we could always start a circus or be street performers.

How in the Hell are you suppose to study in a place this Awesome! All things considered it's actually fairly easy- Classes are just as great! We go on field trips and class only takes up about 12 hours a week. Quite a bit of homework, but I couldn't ask for better classes.

Tonight I joined about 20 friends in a potluck dinner which took place in a place like the true Garden of Eden. It actually reminded me of Alice and wonderland at the Tea Party. It was so surreal, roses all over, bushed in walls, and it was hidden from the rest of the world. It was such a hit we will likely be doing this every week.

Someone pinch me, I think I'm Dead!

Atop the Mountain High: Day 4, final and last day of the North Island Hippie Tour

This is a picture of a topographic map showing Mt. Ruapehu aka Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings. Cut off at the top is yet another volcano, Mt. Ngauruhoe. The two lakes you see are the Upper and Lower Tama Lakes which is where we hiked our way to heaven. It was about a 16 km hike which is close to 10 miles and was calculated to take around 8 hours to accomplish. The dotted yellow line to the left is the trail we took. Absolutely worth it!!

   

The waterfall below is viewed from a bridge which crosses above. Crazy Max seemed convinced that he could jump and not get hurt. He felt it in his gut that he wouldn't hit any rocks. Well guess what, he didn't die. As soon as I headed up the trail, Max jumps off the rail and plunges into the water below, only to find himself climbing his way back up to finish the hike.  

 

This gorgeous alpine hike tangled us through river bottoms, up and through canyons, over several wooden bridges, and led us by a spectacular waterfall where you could view the entire valley which lay between the two famous volcanos.

        

The lakes were beautiful-      breath taking.

What more can I say, my photos are only a porthole, the lakes, volcanos, and alpine have a spirit and they speak for themselves.

The two guys closest are from Israel, they have taken a year off to travel before beginning a new career, and have already visited 5 countries in 4 months. I've met some incredible people in New Zealand. Many foreigners and Kiwi with different stories and so very much to tell.

On the rim between the Tama lakes I was on top of the world, a place where your soul finds heaven. Somewhere so phenomenal it cannot be described with words but rather demands your essence where your soul becomes free of your body. As the wind battled my legs atop this mountain high, I held a wide grin upon my face as I shouted out Queen's "We are the Champions" as I sang proudly and wildly to my audience all around, the souls of the mountains, lakes, and skies all around. My spirit has never been more free. This moment atop my mountain high will live within me beyond the day I die.

Just another day in Paradise: Day 3 of the North Island Hippie Tour

The Whole Group (except me behind the camera). We are standing either above or between the Pillars of Hercules in the Kaimanawa Mountains. We came across this place in search of our next good camping place, which turned to be a great place "back in the bush" where we managed a nice fire and were bombarded by the possums. 

This is crazy man Max- at one point during our trip, Max pulled out this full sized chicken (less the feathers and head) and starts eating it raw. This man is insane! Well the next day we went on a big hike, he brought the chicken with him, and once again began eating the thing. He offered to the group, to my surprise they all wanted a piece. I'm thinking NO NO Salmonella! As I stared at the wiggly slimy chicken- Kiwi Mike explained to me it was cooked, better yet smoked. The Joke's on me! It actually was cooked; and it was good. Though from this day forward I will still have that mental image of him diving into this raw chicken and thinking to myself, "Could he be a Cannibal?" 
  
Can't go camping without a bit of fun. It's also a better view from up-top.


Near the Pillars of Hercules we found an abandon dam where some people decided to wash up. It was Freezing! Look at there faces! Now that's dedication to sanitation, well actually they just wanted to have some good old fashion Fun. I didn't get in on this one if you couldn't tell.
 

Day 1 and 2 of the North Island Hippie Tour

So I decided that I need to get a better look at the North Island of New Zealand before school started, and just happened to run into 12 other people who had the same idea. Well more like we all hooked up on a whim and hopped into a van not knowing each other. Well it may relieve you to know (it did me) that we did bring 1 Kiwi guy with us. By the way a Kiwi is a local, we called him Kiwi Mike (the guy with the dreads in the sun glasses). We took off Thursday and drove until we found a nice little beach just North of New Plymouth where we whipped out our togs and jandals (swimsuits and sandals) and took a dip in the Tasman Sea.

This is a really rough Idea of what we did. I wasn't driving as I have not gotten ahold of the whole lefty road and wheel thing yet, and the driver didn't really know where we were going because we didn't have a plan.

(Left: Kiwi Mike, Julie,Cassandra,Nick,Marika,Mike, Eve)Our camping style was what you might call "modest" as we all brought the bare essentials. However we were lucky enough to have two camping stoves and thus warm dinners! The first night we were desperate for a place to stay so we talked to a lifeguard training center and stayed in their backyard.

This is our first recreational breakfast- I have to say we did alright for ourselves in the food department.

Our only "shower"

I saw my first possum that night, thought it was a cat. They are a lot like raccoons as they dig through garbage and will try to get their sneaky paws into anything. And I should add a couple nights later they surrounded Cassey and I when we were trying to get into the trailer which was full of food. OO OOO and later that next morning Amanda woke up to her finger being sucked on by what we think was a hedge hog.

After a long day driving we found a great spot to jump in the lake. Though we had cool weather the water was just the perfect temperature- just after Kiwi Mike steered us to a natural hot springs where skinny dipping wasn't an issue.

Mailing Address

For those of you who were asking for my mailing address:

A. Capri Gillam

Atawhai Village

2 Keiller Place Room 5

Palmerston North 5301

New Zealand

Sheep Country

As much as Montana is refered to as "Cowboy Country" and as much as we like to joke about Wyoming and Sheep- New Zealand is loud and proud about their Sheep and Dairy Industry. And so our first field trip was to see such a thing. Imagine... going to another country and the first thing they want to show you is Cows and Sheep...

Well I have to admit the whole thing was Quite entertaining! We watched as the sheep dogs would tactfully round up the sheep listening to the whistles of the herder. These dogs will stop chasing on a dime, chase left- right, jump over obstacles all at the cue of the herder! Later we had a go at wrangling and sheering a sheep.

Afterwards we watched as the cows loaded themselves onto a carousel that spun while they were being milked. It beats the old way of doing things. Actually about 5% of the world's milk production comes from here in Kiwi country.

This was one of the events at orientation- team building olympics basically. This here is a caterpillar line where the person in front and back can see while everyone else is blind. The goal is to lead the team through obstacles as quickly as possible before the other teams.

* The guy leading is Max- he and about 10 other people, myself included, are going to take a four day trip around the North Island before classes start- Granola style! We are renting a 12 passenger van and going to lead off to our hearts content. More on that later...

These are some of the many great people I've met, In front is Rheyda (pronounced Rita) from the Philippines , Behind her is Katie from Germany, and in the back is Ryan from Canada.

Kia Ora

The Walk to campus is absolutely Beautiful! It's a hop skip and a quick stroll away... I'll take you on a tour:

      

  

Here in Palmerston North the flowers grow wildly and the trees are humming tunes as the cicadas have come out. The greenery is so lush it hides the city within it's forrest and shoes are optional.

I love that after showering you don't get goosebumps from the cold air outside and that your skin glows with delight from the warm moisture in the air.

I've decided to decorate my room with twisted diamond wood along with the treasures and from the sea. The forest floor has a beautiful variety of tree and shrub litter that makes gorgeous potpourri.

 

Strange differences

• I was asked the question if it was weird to see the water in a toilet go the other way, well the water is much less in the toilet and it just kinda sucks right up, However there are two buttons to flush with, ere are two buttons to flush with one for #1 and two (both buttons) for #2.
  
• There are two sink fossits one spout is hot and one is cold- they don't mix like back home. Also there is only one sink bay in the kitchen instead of two, apparently you don't rinse your dishes after washing them...?
• Toggles- swim suit
• Kia ora: Thank you, good luck, good health (common phrase)
• Tea: dinner
• Kai: food

An Introduction to New Zealand- The first 24 hours.

I Freakin' Love New Zealand. The people are incredible! When I arrived at my new flat, I met two of my new flatmates- we definitely clicked- and I had not been in the house for more than 10 minutes before I we were dragged out to meet Kristin's posse where we sang karaoke, played Cranium, and brought out the bubbles and play dough. I can't forget the musical instruments- there was one of everything and no one who could actually play. Apparently, "everyone who comes into this house has to play the drums, it's like an initiation." I met over 20 people last night! Not bad for only having been in Palmerston for about two hours. Well, actually I owe the honors to Kristin, she made the whole gig quite an introduction for Julie and I (Julie is another flatmate- there's 4 other than myself and I've only met 2 of them.

The airplane ride was Interesting. 

to make a long story short- when we landed the 747 in NZ, we lost all power. Apparently something came unplugged when we landed.... It all worked out. I guess it was a lucky day. Another story to further the short story... The earlier flight to LA from UT was much worse though, I have to say I thought I was going to die. At the airport there was an announcement that the plane was being checked for mechanical problems and that it may be a few minutes before boarding. Well once we all got arranged in our squishy seats, the pilot announced that the plane was too heavy. So... They threw off a stewardess along with her luggage. Apparently she didn't weigh enough though, so then they started throwing off our baggage. "The good news folks is that we got all of you on this flight, however if you cannot find your luggage please make a claim and we will be shipping it to you," said the captain. At that point I was certain my luggage got tossed aside as it was some of the heaviest. The plane engines started to warm up... but the left engine wasn't firing right. After de-icing the plane 2x, they had both engines running more smoothly, for now. Finally in the air about 2 and a half hours late, we hit awful weather. The turbulence was so bad that we actually had to re-route the plane to fly over the Pacific Ocean around a thunderstorm and back to LA. Then the left engine began it's noises again... When the pilot gets on the intercom with a under tone of panic, "stewardess immediately stop serving beverages and take a seat", you get a little concerned. It wasn't the only time he made such an announcement. All I can say is Thank God we landed safely in LA. *this story is based on real facts and a genuine experience. No animals were harmed in the making. Luggage was later found where it was suppose to be.

I hope i find you all well. I certainly don't feel as if I am on the other side of the globe as much as perhaps in another state in the USA. Perhaps that is because I haven't been to see the Ocean yet. Well I'm certainly keeping things interesting; I had my foot sculpted with playdough into a "piece of art"? and this new friend of mine ate it off of my foot. ...  ...   I'll just add a photo later, it was interesting.

I look forward to hearing from you all, I'll have to take some photos of this beautiful place and put them up. Catch you all later!

New Zealand Arrival

Hello Everyone!!! As you have probably guessed I am now in NEW ZEALAND!! I don't have much time to blog, but I should say I seem to be waisting no time getting to know the people here! It is absolutely increadible here! I'll catch you guys up later, but for a little forsight- I had my foot decorated with playdough last night as we played games and watched movies. I'm already having a blast! I miss you guys, wish you were here!

Capri