- read lots of books.
- relearn the bach cello suites and pick up some fiddle tunes.
- learn how to walk in high heels. it's time.
- get back in shape and hike lots o' stuff.
- relearn spanish.
- take the GREs.
- go fishing in northern maine.
- wear my hair down more.
and i really, REALLY want to learn how to weld. and build furniture. and play steel pan again. and buy a freshwater kayak and paddle up king's creek a lot. and figure out my LIFE!! okokokok maybe i'll just work on that first list.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Wildfoods Festival
So, this past weekend, Helen, Katy and I took a bus up to Hokitika (on the northwest coast) for the Wildfoods Festival. I saw the poster for this infamous event about a month ago and have been determined to go. So, after an 8 hour busride there, we set up our tent in a High School football field and began the grueling food-fest that is wildfoods festival. We were expecting a pretty wholesome affair, but quickly realized this festival was way more bangor state fair than commonground... drunk people dressed up in the wildest get ups and eating crazy crazy food. absolute madness. i have never seen that many drunk people in one contained area EVER. i think something like 13,000 people attended the event from all over new zealand, and let me tell you, drunkeness does not discriminate-- everyone from 16 year olds to 80 year olds, men, women, grandmothers, grandkids, all completely blasted. it was a riot.
but onto the good part: the food. The grand total for saturday was (I wrote it down as I went along):
~ whitebait sandwich- tiny NZ fishies cooked whole in an egg patty on white bread. bland.
~ mussel and wild pork kebab - by far the most delicious thing ever, basically wild pork is just like thick cut bacon. and NZ mussels are the best.
~ kahlua fudge
~ sheep's milk ice cream - super super creamy
~ sheep cheese
~ whole honey comb - waxy.
~ lamb tail - one of the worst decisions of my life. awful-- grisly, gooey, bony, sticky, everything you don't want your meat to be. they cook it whole, fur and all, on the bbq and then strip off the outside burned layer of hair and skin. ick.
~ crocodile - kinda like tough chicken
~ kangaroo - kinda like bad steak, with a weird aftertaste
~ elderflower champagne
~ berry cider
~ grasshopper on a cracker - crunchy, didn't taste like much... thank god for satay sauce.
~ worm sushi - the worms were cleverly disguised among onions and rice, so not bad.
~ a whole worm in redbull - definitely felt that one slide down the throat.
~ bunny meat ball
~ venison and wild mushroom sausage
~ RIBS - nothing exciting, just freakin delicious.
~ rose hip wine - super sweet
~ punga - this is some sort of new zealand plant, looks like the inside of a cactus or something, white and crunchy, but leaks this thick, snotty sap stuff. by far the worst thing i ate, texture wise, gave the lambtail a run for its money.
~ grub - actually quite tasty, like a little chicken fry.
~ snail
~ meaty vegan gonads - not entirely sure what these were, but they were certainly inappropriately shaped.
~ homemade kahlua "kowlua"
~ homemade moonshine - shot directly into your mouth from some sort of squirt gun. interesting. this came around the point where we realized we were the only sober people within a 15km radius, and decided to do something about it.
pretty ridiculous, katy and i are on a cleanse this week... veggies and whole grains and lots of water. i think my body still doesn't totally understand what happened this past weekend.
anyways, here are some pics!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022801&l=d5228&id=14600837
cheers!
alli
but onto the good part: the food. The grand total for saturday was (I wrote it down as I went along):
~ whitebait sandwich- tiny NZ fishies cooked whole in an egg patty on white bread. bland.
~ mussel and wild pork kebab - by far the most delicious thing ever, basically wild pork is just like thick cut bacon. and NZ mussels are the best.
~ kahlua fudge
~ sheep's milk ice cream - super super creamy
~ sheep cheese
~ whole honey comb - waxy.
~ lamb tail - one of the worst decisions of my life. awful-- grisly, gooey, bony, sticky, everything you don't want your meat to be. they cook it whole, fur and all, on the bbq and then strip off the outside burned layer of hair and skin. ick.
~ crocodile - kinda like tough chicken
~ kangaroo - kinda like bad steak, with a weird aftertaste
~ elderflower champagne
~ berry cider
~ grasshopper on a cracker - crunchy, didn't taste like much... thank god for satay sauce.
~ worm sushi - the worms were cleverly disguised among onions and rice, so not bad.
~ a whole worm in redbull - definitely felt that one slide down the throat.
~ bunny meat ball
~ venison and wild mushroom sausage
~ RIBS - nothing exciting, just freakin delicious.
~ rose hip wine - super sweet
~ punga - this is some sort of new zealand plant, looks like the inside of a cactus or something, white and crunchy, but leaks this thick, snotty sap stuff. by far the worst thing i ate, texture wise, gave the lambtail a run for its money.
~ grub - actually quite tasty, like a little chicken fry.
~ snail
~ meaty vegan gonads - not entirely sure what these were, but they were certainly inappropriately shaped.
~ homemade kahlua "kowlua"
~ homemade moonshine - shot directly into your mouth from some sort of squirt gun. interesting. this came around the point where we realized we were the only sober people within a 15km radius, and decided to do something about it.
pretty ridiculous, katy and i are on a cleanse this week... veggies and whole grains and lots of water. i think my body still doesn't totally understand what happened this past weekend.
anyways, here are some pics!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022801&l=d5228&id=14600837
cheers!
alli
Friday, February 29, 2008
last day of bumbling
so tomorrow is it.
my last day of bumbles.
no longer will i have to wrestle with vaccuum cleaners (ours is broken so you have to carry it in your arms like a baby) and duvet covers, clean toilets, change bins, mop floors, wipe down surfaces, etc etc etc etc good GOD i am so glad to be going!!!
strange thing about work is that there are daily trends. people living in a common space, even when they are not in the same room, tend to do the same exact things on the same exact days. its like they're communicating on some molecular level. for instance: one random wednesday morning it seemed like everyone and their mother bought a thirty rack of beer, drank it, and then left the bottles strewn throughout the room. another day, everyone seemed to be reading newspapers. another day it was brochures, everywhere. yesterday it was banana peels-- i found a banana peel in almost every bathroom trash bin. oh and hair, i swear yesteday some really hairy person just travelled from shower to shower depositing wisps of long black hair. it was a like a scene out of the grudge. and that stuff is NOT easy to get out of a shower with a sponge. and then today, it was duvet covers. usually we change them every couple of days (i know, sick, so be sure to use that top sheet when sleeping in a hostel!!), so people usually leave them on the bed. but today literally everyone took their duvet covers off and brought them down to the laundry. thus we were stuck doing laundry until 1:30... bah. it is such a strange little world, the hostel life. hmmm.
today i went to the saturday craft market and bought some gifties for the momster. and a necklace for myself made out of new zealand coins. thats about it for the day... started up a new book-- the curious incident of the dog in the night time, i think that's what its called anyhow... it's pretty good so far. just finished my sister's keeper, which was absolutely rockin. really amazing contemplation of issues such as medical ethics, the self, genetic testing/ selection, neo-eugenics, choice/ consent, minors and the law, etc. reminded me so much of the class i took with rebecca herzig: blood, genes and american culture. highly recommend both the book and the class, btw.
signing off!
xoxo
alli
my last day of bumbles.
no longer will i have to wrestle with vaccuum cleaners (ours is broken so you have to carry it in your arms like a baby) and duvet covers, clean toilets, change bins, mop floors, wipe down surfaces, etc etc etc etc good GOD i am so glad to be going!!!
strange thing about work is that there are daily trends. people living in a common space, even when they are not in the same room, tend to do the same exact things on the same exact days. its like they're communicating on some molecular level. for instance: one random wednesday morning it seemed like everyone and their mother bought a thirty rack of beer, drank it, and then left the bottles strewn throughout the room. another day, everyone seemed to be reading newspapers. another day it was brochures, everywhere. yesterday it was banana peels-- i found a banana peel in almost every bathroom trash bin. oh and hair, i swear yesteday some really hairy person just travelled from shower to shower depositing wisps of long black hair. it was a like a scene out of the grudge. and that stuff is NOT easy to get out of a shower with a sponge. and then today, it was duvet covers. usually we change them every couple of days (i know, sick, so be sure to use that top sheet when sleeping in a hostel!!), so people usually leave them on the bed. but today literally everyone took their duvet covers off and brought them down to the laundry. thus we were stuck doing laundry until 1:30... bah. it is such a strange little world, the hostel life. hmmm.
today i went to the saturday craft market and bought some gifties for the momster. and a necklace for myself made out of new zealand coins. thats about it for the day... started up a new book-- the curious incident of the dog in the night time, i think that's what its called anyhow... it's pretty good so far. just finished my sister's keeper, which was absolutely rockin. really amazing contemplation of issues such as medical ethics, the self, genetic testing/ selection, neo-eugenics, choice/ consent, minors and the law, etc. reminded me so much of the class i took with rebecca herzig: blood, genes and american culture. highly recommend both the book and the class, btw.
signing off!
xoxo
alli
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
fotos
some pics of my recent adventures:
The Queenstown Life:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022445&l=af2b3&id=14600837
Ben Lomond:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022448&l=e7b4a&id=14600837
Fiordland:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022449&l=09578&id=14600837
Fiordland 2:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022451&l=bd5d6&id=14600837
The Queenstown Life:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022445&l=af2b3&id=14600837
Ben Lomond:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022448&l=e7b4a&id=14600837
Fiordland:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022449&l=09578&id=14600837
Fiordland 2:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2022451&l=bd5d6&id=14600837
updating is for ambitious folk
hey everyone!!
sorry i've been so ridiculously lazy recently about updating-- i've been based in queenstown for about a month now, so i haven't had too much stuff to write about... although i must say that i have been having a wonderful time being a young silly irresponsible traveller in the mecca of innocent debauchery and broo-ha-haing that is qtown. working at bumbles has been all right, although once rodrigo left it became a bit of a drag, and there was some absolutely catty behaviour going on between some of the female employees. so that's been obnoxious, which has led me to set march 6th (next thursday) as my official leaving date. from there i'll hop on over to the wild foods festival in hokitika for a few days before figuring out what to do before march 21st, the fateful day that i leave this gorgeous country and head back to san francisco. so. i repeat:
MARCH 21st I AM COMING HOME!!!!
so be ready. i'll be in san francisco for a bit before hopefully flying to new york city for a visit, then possible the boston- portland- bar harbor route. i will keep everyone posted, but i can't wait wait wait to see all your shining faces.
anyways, back to queenstown. highlights have included many a day spent lounging on the lakefront beach reading, swimming, sunning, throwing pebbles at beer bottles (a sort of qtown bowling if you will), and chatting with the lovely helen. one of my favorite days here was waitangi day (the holiday that remembers the signing of the treaty between the maori and the settlers)-- i spent the morning cleaning before i got slammed with a massive migraine, which lasted a few hours and threatened to make my day crap... but i got over it and headed down to the gardens for a reggae festival of sorts. hundreds of people were spread out on blankets, dancing, chilling in the gardens, listening to reggae blast from large speakers. it was lovely. after that we headed to the beach to drink a few beers, swim (not in the order, no worries mom), and of course throw pebbles at the empties. then we went and ate some take out curry (really cheap from the local mall) on the fluffiest grass every created before a big night out on the town that ended when the bakery opened... queenstown is one heck of a party town, and for someone who has never pulled an all nighter or even stayed out past 3 am... it's been an eye opener. and yes, i have finally put in a solid night out until 6 am, which will shock my college friends for sure but hopefully give my that shred of street cred that being a nerdy nerdface in college totally destroyed.
another highlight was riversurfing, which i did two weeks ago. my great friend from home, richie, decided to come visit new zealand for a couple weeks, and we opened our grand adventure with a trip to the river for some Serious Fun River Surfing (yup thats the name of the company, definitly recommend them over their rivals, maddog, although i felt tempted to go with them just out of support of sarah maddog madeira...). it was AWESOME. we suited up in full body wetsuits, helmets, and lifejackets and splashed our way down rapids on boogie boards. it was so so much fun, even though every time a wave hit my face i couldn't open my eyes without a contact nearly falling out. so basically i got tooled on, hard, through every rapid. at one point we jettied out to the side and jumped back in the water backwards so we could surf backwards on one of the waves. despite my renowned lack of athletic ability, i was actually the only one of the whole group to catch the wave, and i had a pretty good surf for about a minute or so, before getting absolutely tumbled by the waves.
rich's visit has contributed to some of the greatest points of my new zealand trip. we hung out in queenstown for a few days so i could finish up work, but then we headed down to fiordland, to a town called te anau which is basically the gateway to all outdoor activities on the fiordland national park. we had planned on going on a two day kayaking tour in doubtful sound, but hadn't realized how busy it was-- we didn't book in advance, and basically were squeezed in a one day tour at the last possible second. it was tense for a bit there, with us thinking that we had completely blown our trip by not planning ahead. but luckily enough, our lack of planning lead us to look at other options, one of which was hiking part of the kepler track. we were able to book a night at the luxmore hut, the first hut on the kepler track, so that we could hike up there and back on the weekend. so it worked out absolutely beautifully. the kayak trip was stunning-- so open and peaceful. exactly what i needed to counteract the month of busybusybusy queenstown. it lasted about 6 hours, with a lunch break in the middle, during which we got shredded by sand flies and congradulated ourselves on not doing the two day tour, during which we would have been eaten alive.
the hike up to luxmore ended up being the most amazing bit of the trip. the first day was straight up the side of a mountain, around 16 kilometers all together. my shoes were awful, and by the second hour the balls of my feet were so so sore. richie actually kicked my butt up the mountain, which was impressive for someone who has recently quick a pack-a-day habit. he was a fantastic hiking buddy, always super excited and keeping a steady pace. we reached the hut, up on open grasses looking out over the lake te anau, at around 2pm and napped before cooking up some food and checking out the nearby luxmore caves. we slept in a 60 person bunk room and woke up early for some breakfast before trying to summit luxmore mt... i say "try" because we got within 10 minutes of the summit, turned a corner, and nearly got blown off the mountain. the winds were absolutely out of control, and without a pack on, i didn't stand a chance. so unfortunately we had to turn back. the hike down went quickly, but by the end my feet and knee (i pulled a muscle the day before) were in so much pain that we decided to stop at the control gates (the official beginning of the kepler track) and hitch hike back to te anau rather than walk the extra hour. we were picked up by a nice kiwi couple that were in town from invercargill to watch their son in a yacht race. they dropped us off right at the yha, which was super nice of them.
the night we hopped a bus back to queenstown, and that's where i remain. richie took off this morning, after playing nurse for about 3 days due to my ridiculous blisters and leg cramps. i feel like a total wimp, i took a complete beating... but rich was awesome at keeping my spirits up and keeping my heels taped. so mucho mucho kudos to him.
well i'm running out of time on the computer, super sorry that this is so rushed! it's hard to hop right back in it...
i will keep everyone posted in the next few weeks of my whereabouts, and will see so many of you soon.
love love love
alli
sorry i've been so ridiculously lazy recently about updating-- i've been based in queenstown for about a month now, so i haven't had too much stuff to write about... although i must say that i have been having a wonderful time being a young silly irresponsible traveller in the mecca of innocent debauchery and broo-ha-haing that is qtown. working at bumbles has been all right, although once rodrigo left it became a bit of a drag, and there was some absolutely catty behaviour going on between some of the female employees. so that's been obnoxious, which has led me to set march 6th (next thursday) as my official leaving date. from there i'll hop on over to the wild foods festival in hokitika for a few days before figuring out what to do before march 21st, the fateful day that i leave this gorgeous country and head back to san francisco. so. i repeat:
MARCH 21st I AM COMING HOME!!!!
so be ready. i'll be in san francisco for a bit before hopefully flying to new york city for a visit, then possible the boston- portland- bar harbor route. i will keep everyone posted, but i can't wait wait wait to see all your shining faces.
anyways, back to queenstown. highlights have included many a day spent lounging on the lakefront beach reading, swimming, sunning, throwing pebbles at beer bottles (a sort of qtown bowling if you will), and chatting with the lovely helen. one of my favorite days here was waitangi day (the holiday that remembers the signing of the treaty between the maori and the settlers)-- i spent the morning cleaning before i got slammed with a massive migraine, which lasted a few hours and threatened to make my day crap... but i got over it and headed down to the gardens for a reggae festival of sorts. hundreds of people were spread out on blankets, dancing, chilling in the gardens, listening to reggae blast from large speakers. it was lovely. after that we headed to the beach to drink a few beers, swim (not in the order, no worries mom), and of course throw pebbles at the empties. then we went and ate some take out curry (really cheap from the local mall) on the fluffiest grass every created before a big night out on the town that ended when the bakery opened... queenstown is one heck of a party town, and for someone who has never pulled an all nighter or even stayed out past 3 am... it's been an eye opener. and yes, i have finally put in a solid night out until 6 am, which will shock my college friends for sure but hopefully give my that shred of street cred that being a nerdy nerdface in college totally destroyed.
another highlight was riversurfing, which i did two weeks ago. my great friend from home, richie, decided to come visit new zealand for a couple weeks, and we opened our grand adventure with a trip to the river for some Serious Fun River Surfing (yup thats the name of the company, definitly recommend them over their rivals, maddog, although i felt tempted to go with them just out of support of sarah maddog madeira...). it was AWESOME. we suited up in full body wetsuits, helmets, and lifejackets and splashed our way down rapids on boogie boards. it was so so much fun, even though every time a wave hit my face i couldn't open my eyes without a contact nearly falling out. so basically i got tooled on, hard, through every rapid. at one point we jettied out to the side and jumped back in the water backwards so we could surf backwards on one of the waves. despite my renowned lack of athletic ability, i was actually the only one of the whole group to catch the wave, and i had a pretty good surf for about a minute or so, before getting absolutely tumbled by the waves.
rich's visit has contributed to some of the greatest points of my new zealand trip. we hung out in queenstown for a few days so i could finish up work, but then we headed down to fiordland, to a town called te anau which is basically the gateway to all outdoor activities on the fiordland national park. we had planned on going on a two day kayaking tour in doubtful sound, but hadn't realized how busy it was-- we didn't book in advance, and basically were squeezed in a one day tour at the last possible second. it was tense for a bit there, with us thinking that we had completely blown our trip by not planning ahead. but luckily enough, our lack of planning lead us to look at other options, one of which was hiking part of the kepler track. we were able to book a night at the luxmore hut, the first hut on the kepler track, so that we could hike up there and back on the weekend. so it worked out absolutely beautifully. the kayak trip was stunning-- so open and peaceful. exactly what i needed to counteract the month of busybusybusy queenstown. it lasted about 6 hours, with a lunch break in the middle, during which we got shredded by sand flies and congradulated ourselves on not doing the two day tour, during which we would have been eaten alive.
the hike up to luxmore ended up being the most amazing bit of the trip. the first day was straight up the side of a mountain, around 16 kilometers all together. my shoes were awful, and by the second hour the balls of my feet were so so sore. richie actually kicked my butt up the mountain, which was impressive for someone who has recently quick a pack-a-day habit. he was a fantastic hiking buddy, always super excited and keeping a steady pace. we reached the hut, up on open grasses looking out over the lake te anau, at around 2pm and napped before cooking up some food and checking out the nearby luxmore caves. we slept in a 60 person bunk room and woke up early for some breakfast before trying to summit luxmore mt... i say "try" because we got within 10 minutes of the summit, turned a corner, and nearly got blown off the mountain. the winds were absolutely out of control, and without a pack on, i didn't stand a chance. so unfortunately we had to turn back. the hike down went quickly, but by the end my feet and knee (i pulled a muscle the day before) were in so much pain that we decided to stop at the control gates (the official beginning of the kepler track) and hitch hike back to te anau rather than walk the extra hour. we were picked up by a nice kiwi couple that were in town from invercargill to watch their son in a yacht race. they dropped us off right at the yha, which was super nice of them.
the night we hopped a bus back to queenstown, and that's where i remain. richie took off this morning, after playing nurse for about 3 days due to my ridiculous blisters and leg cramps. i feel like a total wimp, i took a complete beating... but rich was awesome at keeping my spirits up and keeping my heels taped. so mucho mucho kudos to him.
well i'm running out of time on the computer, super sorry that this is so rushed! it's hard to hop right back in it...
i will keep everyone posted in the next few weeks of my whereabouts, and will see so many of you soon.
love love love
alli
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
changing
so it's official. i'm addicted/ in love with joanna newsom. at first i literally wanted to throw something at her, i thought her voice was so obnoxious... but once you get past it, her music is life-changing. i'm in love.
here is a snippet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYl0uLrXP7U&feature=related
yup, she sings and plays the harp at once, and writes all her own stuff. swooooonnnn!
cheers
a
ps- i will update on my queenstown life sometime soon, when i am less lazy...
here is a snippet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYl0uLrXP7U&feature=related
yup, she sings and plays the harp at once, and writes all her own stuff. swooooonnnn!
cheers
a
ps- i will update on my queenstown life sometime soon, when i am less lazy...
Friday, February 1, 2008
my life in a nutshell.
yesterday i made it through the first selection round for the fulbright.
today i cleaned someone else's vomit out of a hostel sink.
humbling.
today i cleaned someone else's vomit out of a hostel sink.
humbling.
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