fulbright update

so, this past october i applied for a fulbright grant to study incanismo and tourism in Cuzco, Peru for the 2008-2009 academic year.

and i've made it through the first selection round!! i recieved word this morning through email. so i am super super super excited, although now it means that i have to wait until late june until i recieve final word from the Peruvian selection committee.

here is a snippet from my proposal for those interested:

"My proposed area of study is the twentieth century Peruvian cultural movement termed Incanismo by Peruvian anthropologist Jorge Flores Ochoa. Incanismo can be described as the widespread fascination and identification with Incan culture that has pervaded modern Peruvian nationalist discourse in the past century. It is a highly influential ideology that has become tremendously lucrative as a component of Peruvian national and international tourism. My research goals are to 1) better understand the history and development of Incanismo as a cultural movement that has defined the re-invention of Peruvian national cultural history in the twentieth century, 2) examine the problems and contradictions that arise within this movement, particularly in Cuzco, 3) determine if and how Incanismo is being, or could be, translated into activism and advocacy for Cuzco’s indigenous."

so its not a definite yet, by any means, but i am one step closer, and that makes me so so so so happy. Basically, I've been recommended for the grant by the national screening committee of the Institute of Inernational Education (IIE), and they will forward my application to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State (and yes I copied and pasted that from my email...), and the supervising agency abroad. so yeah, it'll be a long time before i hear back for sure. so keep your fingers crossed for about 4 more months.

yay yay yay yay.
yay.

cheers!
alli

flight of the conchords

just on the off chance that you haven't heard of them... they are from NZ... and they are amazing.

Hiphopopotamus vs rhymenoceros:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbbxA8a_M_s

Business Time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU

Beautiful Girl:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmDTSQtK20c

annnd the pics...

East Coast South Island:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021627&l=2e9da&id=14600837

Abel Tasman Coastal Track:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021630&l=6f9f1&id=14600837

Baz Vegas: (a lil bit inappropriate...mind you)
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021631&l=8eaf5&id=14600837

West Coast South Island:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021764&l=52d1d&id=14600837

Milford Sound: (only about 1/2 the photos i took)
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021768&l=29033&id=14600837

Queenstown, Milford Sound, and Now

ok ok ok so i've finally caught up with myself.

i am in queenstown.

joel and i arrived on january 22nd, stayed one night at base backpackers because everywhere else was booked, but hightailed it to a different hostel on the second day, a lil place up on the hill called deco backpackers. its pretty nice and has a sweet kitchen, so no complaints there.

our second day in town was spent getting groceries and walking allllll over town to check out hostels for me. basically i was looking for a place where i could work (clean in the mornings) for accomodation, so i could base myself here for a little while and get a restaurant job (ugh, but necessary) at night to make a little money back. basically i've just gotten tired of traveling constantly and bouncing from hostel to hostel. i could wwoof (get farm work), but i figured with joel taking off after all my stray friends have left, it would be a bit rough to go stick myself on a farm in the middle of nowhere. instead i want to work in a town for a month or two just to get a little normality back in my life before taking off and doing something else. so i'm glad to be here and settle for a little while before the travel bug bites again.

anyways, we check out a ton of places on that second day, the majority of which were a) not hiring or b) manky as all hell. so no luck that day, although wandering around trying to find the hostels proved a great way of checking the city out from all levels and heights. it is really a beautiful town, a lot like bar harbor in some ways, but a bit bigger and more bustling. it will do for a couple months, for sure. anyways, that day i also met up with helen, an awesome british chick i travelled with earlier, who is working at southern laughter and winnie's, an upbeat pizza joint and bar that is also possibly hiring some waitstaff...

anyways, the most exciting bit was our trip to milford sound. absolutely breathtaking. we hopped on a bus at 8 in the morning and drove from queenstown to te anau, and then on to milford. the drive was gorgeous, past the lakes and the remarkable mt range (thats the actual name, btw). its interesting to see the landscape change as you drive along. queenstown area is quite dry, and it just gets greener and greener as you drive south. its mostly rolling farmland inbetween queenstown and te anau, very reminiscent of some parts of ireland. after te anau, it becomes a bit more forested, especially with trees such as the manuka, which is a new zealand tree that is pollinated by moths and from which you get a honey with healing properties.

outside te anau, we stopped at a birdlife park and saw a multitude of endemic and endangered new zealand birds. the first we saw was the takahe, a beautiful flightless bird with saphire blue plumage and a red beak. since they are quite shy, we only saw its head and neck poking out from the bushes. we also saw the kea, which is by far my favorite bird (good god i just reminded myself of the liger comment from napoleon dynamite). keas are super super intelligent and cheeky as hell. they are big, green, alpine parrots that will tear anything to shreds if you get it near them. not out of spite so much as curiousity. they are such characters. we saw some later at milford and they were fascinated by the red stripes on joel's shoes. also at the park were other births such as the kaka and kereru, a ginormous pigeon, and the tui, which has incredible vocalizations and also lend their name to tui beer. mmmmm.

Driving into the sounds was spectacular, sheer rock faces on either side, glaciers, and lush valleys. once we arrived we hopped on a 60 person boat with about 20 other people and went out into the sound. it was just stunning, i can't even begin to describe it. so incredibly massive, the boats just look like little birds in the water. we saw a beautiful hanging valley, went right up to two seal colonies, and stuck the nose of the boat under a waterfall, which was just an amazing experience. joel and i went out front for it and stood beneath the spraying mist of water and just beamed. there was even a rainbow alongside the boat, as if it couldn't get any better. we were out on the boat for about 2 and a half hours, drinking tea and eating soup, and just taking it all in. so so greatful to have perfect weather too, since milford recieved 8 meters of rainfall per year. we were definitly lucky, and we were greatful for every second of it.

joel's last day in town, we went down to the beach and read and checked out the saturday market, which has loads of crafts and jewelry. we went out for indian food at the same place i celebrated new years, and then grabbed a bottle of wine and hung out in the park. then we went back to the hostel and watched old school. it was a chill day, and a great way to say goodbye to a dear, dear friend.

this morning he took off at 7:30 for his adventures in thailand, cambodia, malaysia, viet nam, and china. overall, it was a great visit. in the first few days we were absolutely driving eachother nuts, and mostly we got along like wet cats. but old wet cats that really love each other. ha. but really we have so much respect for one another and have really developed a strong friendship, and i am so greatful for that.

so after he left, i had my first day of work at bumbles backpackers, a sweet little hostel on beach street a few blocks from town. it is a super chill place that overlooks the water, and i am definitly happy with it. i'm cleaning for about 3 hours, 6 days a week, in return for a bed in a 4 person room, use of the facilities, free laundry, and loads of free food that people leave behind. sounds gross, i know, but really people leave some gems behind. today i was cleaning the bathrooms, which sucked, but i definitly like the people i work with and i think this will be a good set up. so hopefully in the next few days i will secure a restaurant job, and then i will officially transition into the role of a queenstown semi-resident. woohoo!!

oh here's the website for the hostel i work at:
http://www.bumblesbackpackers.co.nz/

so i'm feeling pretty good, and settling down will mean more interesting blog entries, i think, since i hate doing the whole "and then we did this, and on the 24ths we did this" and i know it makes boring reads. so. i promise to be a bit more lively and read better than a logbook.

cheers and love to you all, hope everyone is well!!

alli

Transvestite Sherpas and Possum Pies

On friday, January 18th, we got on a bus with driver Jugs and drove to Barrytown. barrytown is this tiny blip of a town on the west coast of the south island. basically, it shouldn't even be called a town. i don't think it even qualifies by maine standards as a township... it consists of about 4 houses and a hostel/bar. this hostel/bar is called all nations hotel, and it is legend in the stray bus book. basically it all started because driving from abel tasman to franz josef would just be too long for drivers to do (although i did do that route a few days before christmas with ali barbar, emma, janelle, silvia, helen, jessica, and denise). so they needed a place to stop off. and barrytown it is.

the deal with barrytown is that you can get super cheap drinks all night long... but only if you dress up in crazy outfits. so there were about 14 of us that were game for the night (pretty lame numbers really, but we turned it out anyhow), and there were abour 3 boxes of wild articles of clothing and accessories underneath the pool table. so we all got dressed up in our wild regalia and kicked off a steady night of drinking and dancing. the thing that sucked, however, was that the bar music ran on a jukebox system, so you had to pay for music all night long. bummer. but anyways it was all good times, and though it wasn't the wildest night i've had in nz, it was a load of laughs. i was particularly impressed with joel, who was really reluctant to get dressed up in the beginning ("no. i am NOT wearing a skirt.") but eventually let me talk him into an amazing sherpa-transvestite get-up, bright green satin skirt included.

the other great thing about that night was meeting a really cool british couple, clare and chris, who are super super sweet and a lot of fun. we ended up seeing quite a bit of them, and they really made the night at barrytown worth it.

so after the madness ended around 2 in the morning (super super super early by nz standards) joel and i retreated to our tent, which was set up on the fluffiest, most amazing lawn ever. i slept SO well. the sand flies were nuts in the morning, as they always were, but that just comes with the territory.

the next day were drove to barrytown, which was a surprisingly long drive. we stopped in hokitika, a coastal town that i definitly want to revisit in march when they host the wild foods festival, a rad little party that involves loads of weird food cooked up (sea creatures of all kinds, wild pig, hare testicles, chicken legs, fungi of various varieties, etc). they are also known for their jade stone factory. jade (or greenstone as it is called here) necklaces are a very new zealand thing. they come in all gorgeous shades of green and carved with maori designs resembling fish hooks, spirals, figure eights, figurines, and stone tools. they are absolutely stunning. i haven't committed to getting one yet, since they are super expensive, but do have a little green jade necklace (no carving, just a chunk of polished jade).

we also stopped by a glacial river-- the rivers in this part of the country are amaaaaazing. they are chock-full of minerals and therefore appear opaque and an eery icy blue-green-gray color. we stuck our feet in and the water was icy cold, but surprisingly not as cold as some high mountain streams i've jumped in up in new hampshire. but still pretty brisk. joel was the only one out of the whole bus (40 or so people) to jump in, which was quite a spectacle. so well done, mountain boy.

our next stop was an amazing museum called the bushman's museum, which is out in the middle of who-knows-where. its run by this crusty old hunter man who has the driest and sharpest sense of humor. entry is 4 bucks, which is totally worth it just for the movie you watch in the first 20 minutes. its a movie about the deer farming industry in nz and how it all began. basically, the settlers brought over deer and let them run wild in nz. in the mid 20th century, venison became quite popular and they needed a way of gathering deer meet. so at first, guys would take helicopters out and shoot deer, string them up beneath the heli, and fly home. then somebody decided to start up deer farms, so these guys decided (here is the best part) that a good way of capturing live deer would be to fly the helicopter low enough over the animal so that a man could jump out of the heli and tackle the deer. so hilarious. the footage they have is just ridiculous, these dudes are really going for it. so they would do this, attach the live deer to the bottom of the heli and take them for a wild ride back to the farm. eventually they stopped tackling deer and invented a net gun, which proved less dangerous. but holy shit, only new zealanders would come up with tackling deer from helicopters.
also at the bushman's museum are a few possums, a live wild pig, some stuffed deer and things like that, and various practical jokes strung throughout the museum (such as pull this door and a possum skin will fly at your head, or press this button and look in the window and a water gun will squirt you in the eye, aka the "weta experience"). at the end of it, joel and i shared a possum pie, which was gamey and reminded me so much of guinea pig (which i ate in ecuador, before anyone goes and calls the pet police).

that night we stayed at chateau franz, a gloriously named but rather mundane hostel. but they did have free soup with sweet potato in it, which was delicious. and a giant tv, where i watched lord of the rings and that thing you do. on the 20th (sunday) joel did a 1/2 day glacier hike, and the weather was absolutely gorgeous. i can't wait to see his pics. when i did it on christmas eve, it was 8 hours of tramping in complete sheets of rain. as the kiwis would say, the weather was custard. so i was wicked jealous that joel got the good weather. oh well, atleast hiking in pouring rain on a glacier makes me more bad-ass, right? right?

On the 21st we drove to makarora, a place much like barrytown minus the drinking. joel and i decided to bunk up in a double room and ended up getting one with 5 beds in it, one double and four singles. it was freakin sweet and i got the best sleep of the trip while a rainstorm roared outside. the next morning we took off for queenstown, stopping briefly in wanaka to check out the place. we also stopped at kawarua bridge, the birthplace of bungy, and watched two of our bus mates jump off in the pouring rain.

and of course, the first thing we did in queenstown was get fergburgers. mmmmmmmmm. AND joel agreed that they are the best burgers on the face of the planet.

cheers!!
alli

Nelson and Abel Tasman

On January 15th we spent the greater part of the day in Nelson, a coastal town on the top of the south island. its a really funky, artsy place with a ton of neat shops, glass-blowing workshops, bead shops, pottery boutiques, art galleries and stuff like that. trafalgar street is the main sort of street and is really nice to walk along. joel and i walked around for a while before stopping in a department store to pick up some sunhats. so far joel had just been wearing his white baseball cap that has been through all sort of hell, including getting ripped apart by his dog cyrus. so it wasn't really functioning for much at that point. we had a little moment of silence and joel hummed a little taps as he dropped his old hat into the waste bin. i do have to say it was a little sad seeing that hat go, its been his main accessory for about 4 years. but it was definitly for the best.

we caught the stray bus with our new driver, scoobs, at about 3 and drove on to marahau, a tiny little town (well not really a town so much as a few hostels and a camping sight) right at the head of abel tasman national park. we stayed at old mcdonalds farm (yeah. seriously.) for the next two night, where we got to stay in our tent for 10 bucks a night each. it was pretty sweet, and we woke up in the mornings surrounded by llamas on one side, cows on the other, and a peacock roaming around at our front door. mostly that place is crap though, and you definitly have to be well accostumed to cockroaches before staying there. but anyhow, we had fun the first night since a crazy british lady was celebrating her birthday and was pretty adamant about us drinking champagne and eating cake with them.

On january 16th, we did a full day sail on a catamaran through abel tasman. it was absolutely stunning. i did the half-day sail the last time i was there, and enjoyed that, but this one was even better since we got to see a lot of the coastline while laying out on the mesh trampoline. since i slept poorly the night before (it gets surprisingly cold at night in abel tasman, shocking considering how hot it is in the daytime) i must have slept a few hours on the boat. we went out from kaiteriteri beach and saw split apple rock before stopping at anchorage beach for lunch and a swim before heading on to barks bay and out to some of the islands. it was really lovely, and reminded me of being in the carribean, since it has that same sort of tropical island appearance in that part of NZ.

the next day we did a huge, amazing hike on the abel tasman coastal track. we hopped on a wilson's taxi in the morning, which is essentially a flat bed attached to the back of a tractor. in abel tasman the boats are brought out to see on the back of farm tractors, and this taxi was no different, forging through a meter of water to drop us off right on the boat. we took the speed boat out to Onetahuti (also known as tonga) and got dropped off on a beach with amazing caves. after exploring that for a little bit we hiked about 2 hours to Barks Bay, a beach along the track that is surprisingly crowded. we stayed there for a while, before realizing we had to book it to get to the pickup beach in time for our 5 pm pick up. after swimming a bit and drying off, we put our hiking clothes back on and hauled but over to torrent bay village, stopping briefly to take in the views and also stick our heads in the half-way pool. the views from the path are spectacular-- even just the forest views are beautiful, but at points you can see over cliffs to the water below, which is so clear that at one point we saw giant stingrays milling about. it was absolutely the most perfect hike. torrent bay at the end is the most bizarre little place, since bits of it were sold as private property before the park was established, people are still about to live there during times of the year, and it has an almost isleford like feel to it. but its in the middle of the park. so strange.

ok i gotta run and do some grocery shopping. more updates to come-- barrytown, franz josef, makarora... ahhh a lot of work ahead of me.

cheers!
alli

THE update.

ok i've been putting this off for a while now... i have about 15 days of travel missing from this blog, and its about time i catch up, since the next few weeks (or months??) i won't be moving around too much.

so.

as usual, i'm just gonna start from the beginning, probably break the blog entries up by location or something so that its not all one big paragraph, and then get around to writing about what is actually happening in my life right now. so i left off in christchurch on the 11th.

On Jan 12, joel and i grabbed the transcenic train from christchurch up to blenheim to stay with rob and frances at glenmara for a few days. the train ride was lovely, so comfortable and with great views of the east coast, particularly around the kaikoura region (definitly want to get back there for dolphin swimming before i go!) the train ride lasted about 5 hours, during which joel and i slept, ate, and walked around to the outside cabin to get fresh air. we arrived in blenheim around 1pm and were immediately greeted by francis! it was great to see her again, she really is such a sweet person. we hopped in her truck and headed on back to the farm. as soon as we got there mandy (the giant great dane) came to greet us and was way less shy than when i first met her. we went in and had lunch with barbara and rob before heading down to the beach for a swim. joel went in, but i stayed and looked for rocks. i think that's why my bag has gotten so freakin heavy, i must have 10 pounds of rocks in there... i am still partially a nerdy geologist at heart.

after the swim we went back to the farm and helped with securing loose vines in the vineyard before settling in to one of frances' famous dinners of salads and corned beef. afterwards we stayed up for a long time chatting (joel got along particularly well with them, given his knowledge of american politics and general high shmoozing capabilities). after we went back to the room, joel and i went through all the pros and cons of hitch hiking versus the stray bus. we had basically decided to hitchhike and camp (rob and frances had picked up a cheap tent for us) but upon calling stray we realized that we couldn't cancel his ticket without a big fee. so the decision was made for us, which was fine with me but got a little bit of grumbling out of joel...

the next morning we woke up and did some work in the vineyard (mostly putting in drippers in the irrigation system and doing some weeding). after tea we went out on an amazing wine tasting with frances. the first place we stopped was a beautiful beam-and-post (i don't know if thats the right term, but anyways) winery for Nautilis and Twin Islands wine. how is works in NZ is that the winery is located right on the vineyard, and the tasting is absolutely free and involves up to 8 different types of wine. in the marlborough region of NZ, the wines produced are primarily sauvignon blanc, some reisling, pinot gris, and a little bit of chardonnay. pinot noir is also starting to pick up speed as well. At Nautilis and Twin Islands we tried three different types of sav blanc, one pinot gris, three different chardonnays and two pinot noirs. the first we tried as a sparkling sauvignon blanc, which was really nice.

the next place we went was called Spy Valley and was by far the coolest winery i have ever seen. its located in a valley where they literally have spy operations set up-- these two perfect white spheres in the middle of a valley, the most bizarrely beautiful spy base i have ever seen. anyways, the winery gets quite a bit of fame out of this location, and put just about every spy reference they possibly can in their marketing. the labels are really neat looking, with morse code and pixilated images, all that weird sort of new-agey robotron spy superhero stuff. and the wine is amazing. we tried sav blanc as well as a gewurtztraminer (which was totally weird and tasted to me like juice gone off), two chardonnays (joel likes the oaked and i can't stand it), a merlot/malbec, pinot noir, and a really interesting desert wine called a noble chardonnay. basically this wine is made by letting the chardonnay grapes catch a fungus, which reduces them to basically sugar. the noble chardonnay thus comes out as a syrupy sweet wine with a very high alcohol content. its delicious, but i couldn't help thinking of fungus this whole time.

after the wine tastings, we picked up about 2 kgs of apricots and peaches at a local pick-your-own farm and headed home to a dinner of sausage and beans. afterwards, we stayed up chatting til very late, given that we had to catch the stray bus the next morning.

about midmorning we drove into picton to catch the bus at the ferry terminal. we said bye to frances and barbara, who gave us apricots for out trip and gave me a christmas ornament made of flax (i told her that i was collecting christmas ornaments from all over the world, so she made me one with a traditional maori design).

We hopped on the bus, which was driven by Baggins, one of my drivers from before who is hilarious and awesome and invites new people up one by one to have a chat with him, just a little get to know you session. super sweet. we stopped off in nelson for the night and stayed at a nice little hostel called "accents on the park". we were able to set up our tent in the back for about 15 bucks a night each with the use of their facilities. camping here definitly saves a ton of money- you just have to ring around to the hostels and see if they offer tent spots.

ok, well i think this is a long enough entry, so i'm gonna move on to a fresh page...

in need of advice...

ok, i swear i will update tomorrow on the past two weeks of my life.

in the meantime, i need some advice on a few issues.

first of all:
stinky chacos. my chacos smell. i love them, and i refuse to wear anything else. but seriously, anyone who's had a good pair of chacos for a decent amount of time knows that they can get mighty lethal. so please, does anyone have experience in this matter? i've tried peppermint doctor bronners. no luck.

secondly:
anybody have some good cheap soup recipes? i have a thing for soup recently, but have no idea what to put in it. i reckon that i should start with some onions and potatoes and go from there. help?

christchurch

hey all!

so, i've now been in christchurch for a total of 5 days, and i am more than ready to get packing...

christchurch is a lovely city, but definitely feels more england than new zealand. so, to its credit it has a nice layout with many historical buildings, a beautiful central plaza (cathedral square) with lots of little fun things to do, and gorgeous botanical gardens. but it certainly is lacking that energy and spark that makes places like queenstown little treasures.

i rode in on the bus on january 6th and settled down into a place called city oasis, which is a few blocks up from the square on peterborough street. its your typical bbh affair, with free soup (mmmmm) and all that jazz. the first couple nights i stayed in a dorm with a hilarious english couple that bickered like old maids. that night i went out and met up with robert (irish poker player) for drinks, and it was so so good to see him again. he is possibly one of the most unexpectedly funny people i've ever met. he's actually headed off to rio de janeiro by now, and i get a chuckle just out of picturing him (with his "bleached" hair that unfortately turned canary yellow) walking around some south american city.

the next day i went out on my own and checked out the city for a bit. the square is really nice, and on certain days is bustling with outside stands all set up selling jewelery, clothing, hats, candied nuts, kebabs, baked potatoes, chinese food, sausage, coffee etc... its a nice place to just sit and watch people go by. also, a canadian dude sometimes does some sort of magic act (i don't have the patience to watch him get all the way through one trick, but i imagine he must being doing something neat) which draws a lot of people. i also had the pleasure of seeing the world famous christchurch wizard, an old man dressed in a wizards hat and cloak who perches himself on top of a ladder and gives rambling argumentative speeches to an often large and amused crowd. pretty amazing. apparently he is semi-retired, so i'm glad i caught him. he was talking about god being a woman, and something about educating the masses. i dont know. the square also featured a little contraption that allows children to bounce on trampolines while attached to bungy cords.

the next day was january 8th, my birthday!!! i woke up early and took a walk into the botanical gardens. this area is really the gem of christchurch. it is absolutely huge and gorgeous. i could have spent my entire time in chch in the gardens and i wouldn't have been bored. it was a nice, peaceful way to spend the first half of my birthday. at about noon, i hopped on the bus out to the airport to pick up joel. for anyone who isn't entirely in the know... joel is my ex-boyfriend who is coming to visit for a few weeks to travel around the south island. we have still managed to be really close friends, so him coming on my birthday was really great. i picked him up around 2 and we headed back to the hostel to chill. apparently his flight was awful... he ate something wrong and it was still hurting his stomach quite a bit. and anyone who knows joel knows that he absolutely loves to eat, and can pack away more food than anyone else i have ever known. so having stomach problems is pretty much a death sentence for him. but he was sweet enough to accompany me on my birthday dinner out at mum's, a korean-japanese restaurant in the square, and slurped on some chicken soup while i gorged myself on beef and noodles. mmmmm. he also dropped off my christmas presents from home, which included two books (the thirteenth tale, and the omnivores dilemma) and a shirt that fits me like a sausage casing... isn't it great what a diet of bread and pasta can do to you? ohhhhboy. i was super psyched to get some new books though.

so since then joel and i have been enjoying the city (going to the botanical gardens as often as possible, and going to the museums for me and the historical sights for joel) and planning our trip around the south island. tomorrow we are catching a train up to picton to stay with rob and frances at glenmara for a couple days. then we grab a stray bus to abel tasman and stay there for a while. so in other words, i will be offline for a week or so. oh, and my camera thingy isn't working on these computers, so i'll be a little late in posting pics from chch.

anyways, i'm gonna try and log off before i spend another dollar.

much love to you all, and thanks so much for the birthday wishes!!!

cheers,
alli

pics pics pics

pics from queenstown!!!

Qtown 1:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020923&l=336d1&id=14600837

Qtown 2:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020924&l=35773&id=14600837

New Year:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020925&l=42455&id=14600837

NEVIS!!:
http://bates.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021012&l=f2372&id=14600837

Bookworm

I've been reading a lot, a new experience for me after 18 years of school school school. Here's the list so far...

Prodigal Summer - Barbara Kingsolver
LOVED it. a bit unexpected coming from her, and of course nothing she does from now on can come even close to her masterpiece Poisonwood Bible. But lovely none-the-less, a lot of musings on "the wild" and love, etc...

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCall
A mystery novel that takes place in Botswana. really lively and a fun quick read.

No Touch Monkey - Ayun Halliday
An absolutely awesome, hysterical book. I haven't had a book make me laugh out-loud in a long long time. It's all about this young woman's travels and the crazy situations she gets into.

Hotel Babylon - Imogen Edwards-Jones and Anonymous
Nutty book about a day in a luxury hotel in London. All true stories, apparently, which is terrifying. Pretty funny, but definitly lacking in any sort of plot, more of a "and you won't believe what happened next..." sort of book.

The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd
Gorgeous book, really really warm. I read it in about 3 days, its super addictive.

Towelhead - Alicia Eran
As the title suggests, completely shocking. What's even more shocking is the description on the front which describes it as "coyly sexy." by far the least accurate description ever. it is a completely disturbing book. I was glad when it ended...

So. Now i'm bookless, but after reading the last two in one week, i feel like my head needs a break. but if anyone has any suggestions, i'm always up for good books.

cheers!

Queenstown update...

where to begin, where to begin! i've been in christchurch for about a day and a half, but i'm already missing the glorious funtimes that is queenstown.

So.

I arrived in Qtown on the 27th of december, a thursday, so naturally first stop after signing up for the bungy was altitude, the bar at base backpackers. base is a chain of backpacker hostels throughout new zealand, and they tend to be very large, rowdy, and lots of fun for about 3 days before you start to absolutely hate the place. i was there for 7 nights, so as you can imagine, it got old after a certain point. but i can't complain sharing a room with silvia and emma, and all the silly fun that came with that.

but anyways, at altitude on thursday nights they do this thing called the horizontal bungy, which involves strapping yourself into a harness attached to a bungy cord, running from one end of the bar to the other, drinking a shot while the bungy cord snaps you back, and then doing it one more time, but this time substituting a pint of beer for the shot. it's a bit of a challenge. but emma, my trusty swedish companion for the majority of my south island adventures, ended up winning!! by winning i mean completing the two runs in the shortest amount of time possible without spilling the beer or falling and breaking your arm (which has happened...). she actually ended up winning a free nevis bungy, which we had booked earlier, so she got a refund and spent it on a 5 hour photography safari thingy which she seemed to enjoy.

Also on the first day in queenstown, we were introduced to fergburger, the greatest place of all time, ever. its a small burger shop across from the hostel which sells burgers with names such as "cock-a-doodle-oink," "bun laden," and my favorite "southern swine." its brilliant. the burgers are absolutely giant and so so so tasty. i ate a total of 2 and a half, and each time i thought i was going to die. but i didn't, and i'm still drooling over the very thought of them. Also across from the hostel was a gelato shop that had different flavors every day, so naturally we had to do a sampling as often as we could.

other than fergburger and gelato, my diet consisted largely of chicken flavored noodles. a boy in our room, frank, was sick and gave us all a bad cold by the end of our stay. i powered through mine the best i could, but there were many afternoons spent sleeping or reading in bed, which was a huge bummer.

on saturday december 29th, silvia, frank, emma and i went up the gondola to get a view of the entire city, and it was absolutely gorgeous. of course, given that this is a country of adrenalin junkies, and qtown is the capital of that sort of thing, at the top of the gondola they have a luge course. for 40 bucks you get a trip up and down the gondola and six luge rides. you strap on a helmet, climb into this thing that looks like a cross between a skateboard and a bumper car, and zip down two windy race tracks. it is super super super fun, and you can't beat the scenery.

on sunday, we relaxed a bit and did some shopping for new years outfits, etc. that night we went over to a hostel called "southern laughter" to watch a movie with helen (england), denise, and jessica (both sweden). being the mature adult folk that we are we watched spongebob squarepants the movie. and it was brilliant.

but during that visit, i absolutely fell in love with southern laughter. its a small, sort of hippie-bungalow looking hostel, with farside cartoons up all over the walls and humorous quotes painted on the yellow exterior. each dorm room for eight has a kitchen, bathroom, and small living space with a tv. outside, there are hammocks in the front yard and chairswings outside each room. upstairs there is an open balcony next to a pool room, and two large lounges with tvs. and the best bit is, free soup every night at 6pm! i've vowed never again to stay in a hostel that doesn't offer free soup. soooo amazing. oh and a free spa pool. helen is working there for the next three months and i couldnt be more jealous.

Monday was new years eve. we booked a table for ten at an indian restaurant called bombay palace, and absolutely gorged ourselves on amazing curries. at the table were:
camillia and patricia (canada)
denise, jessica, and emma (sweden)
silvia (germany)
frank, helen and her two friends i don't remember... (england)
and me.

then we all went back to our dorm room and drank some ginger wine, champagne, and rum and cokes (i know, we really know how to choose them) before heading out to revolver, a bar across the street. after that we went down to the water and watched an amazing live band with about 200 other people. it was a funk bank composed of a lead singer/ guitarist, stand-up base, sax, trumpet, keyboard, and drums. they were super and played such timeless hits as psychokiller and the theme from ghostbusters. at the end of the countdown a string a fireworks went off, and literally every other person wipped out their camera or phone so we were just a sea of digital devices... but anyways, nothing makes me happier than a fireworks display... i don't know what it is, i think its from watching them every year in bar harbor on the 4th of july, surrounded by people at pier. it just makes me feel so connected to everyone else, its just such a communal affair, all gathering around to celebrate and watch these silly things explode in the sky. then the band played that new years song... uh... auld long something? my parents will die reading this but i have no idea what the name is. somebody leave a comment or something, help me out here. anyways, they played that before launching into another string of bootyshakers, and we all just had a blast dancing around in the grass. it was awesome, probably the best new years ever.

after that we went out to our favorite little place called worldbar, where they serve drinks in teapots. however, emma wasn't feeling so hot from the indian food, and i felt so completely fulfilled by the band/fireworks that we decided to head home. i was in bed by 1:30 in the morning reading, and therefore started my new years feeling refreshed and happy. it was perfect.

the next day, the first day of 2008, was relaxed. i finished my book (the secret life of bees) and went on a walk around the lake track. then i met up with denise and jessica for some gelato, and had a dinner of chicken noodles before going to bed early. not the most exciting of days, but gave me a chance to think deeply about this coming year and what i want for myself. but i'll put all that in a separate post...

january 2nd was the big day in Queenstown- we did the NEVIS!!!!!!!
this is the 134 meter, 8.5 second freefall bungy that i was talking about earlier. we went out about noon and hopped in a van that brought us out to a canyon in the middle of nowhere, over which a metal station was suspended by cables. you take a little cablecar out to the room and wait wait wait as each person jumps off, one by one.

the whole time i was out there i was just excited to do it, i wasn't nervous in the slightest. when they called me up and strapped me in, all i could do was smile smile smile smile because i was so freakin excited. the only point that i got nervous was when they walk you out to the platform you have to jump off of, and i realized oh god i'm really about to do this. its all so quick though, because they bring you out and are like "ok, 1 2 3 go!" i tried to take it as slowly as possible, since that anxiety right before you jump is what makes it so spectacular. but when he called out three, i jumped straight out with my arms spread (i had spent all morning worrying about my swan dive technique...). It is the most amazing feeling, there is nothing like it. i had no sense that there was anything attached to me at all, i just felt that i was falling completely on my own. on both sides are 90 degree rock faces, and below is just a shallow stream in a rockbed. its a very strange view, because everything just looks so calm its completely surreal. falling down, you can't hear anything apart from your own screaming. so so so much fun. after a long long long fall (picture screaming for about 4 seconds, then realizing you're still falling... and falling...) you feel a bit of a pull as you slow down and the bungy smoothly stops your fall before bouncing you back up and letting you fall again. at that point i started to get a little nervous, thinking ok how long do i have to bounce around here for? but after the second bounce you reach up and undo a strap tied around your ankles, which releases you into a seating position, from which you can relax and take in the surroundings as they slowly pull you back up to the station. it was absolutely lovely. i really must say it is not as intense or death-defying as it sounds, it truly is so relaxing. one of the calmest things i've ever experienced. i think it is something that everybody should do at one point in their life. i'm excited to do another one sometime... although probably a shorter one with a water touch or something.

i was supposed to take off on the third of january, but i absolutely could not let queenstown go, and i heard that christchurch was boring as hell. so i signed up for two more days in qtown and switched over to southern laughter. everyone took off that day except helen and i, which was sad, but emma should be arriving in christchurch in a few days. anyways, i had a nice last few days in queenstown, where i read another book while spending the majority of my time on the beach with helen. when i was supposed to leave on the 5th, i decided to stay yet another night at southern laughter, and we went out to the movies.

on sunday, the 6th of january, i finally tore myself away and hopped on a stray bus with about 8 other people. naturally it was a quiet ride, except that two of the passengers were kids, a 5 year old and a 7 year old, who were totally hyper and kept grabbing the microphone to sing the english national anthem... it was pretty cute though. i also sat near a dutch woman, and must say that dutch women have been perhaps the most frightening aspect of my trip. all i can say is that i would never ever want to be trapped on a deserted island with one of them. yipes.

alright, that about summarizes qtown... a gorgeous place to be, and i can't wait to get back there again. so far, christchurch is living up to its expectations as the most boring place on earth. but i did get some laundry done... oh the excitement. i'm staying at a place called city oasis, which is slightly outside town and, of course, offers free soup at 6.

cheers!
a

slacking...

hi all

i promise a real update soon... once i get to christchurch tomorrow i will summarize all the awesomeness that has been my time in queenstown.

for now, just a quick little snippet.

i ran into a friend today who was on the Kiwi Experience bus (our rival bus company... "us" meaning Stray, of course... basically kiwi is known as the younger, collegy, crowded, drunken f*** bus) to Milford Sound... and the thing BLEW UP!

not even kidding. the engine caught on fire. luckily everyone got off before the thing was reduced to a steaming, charred pile of metal. my friend lost his backpack with some clothes and things in it, but some other people lost wallets, passports, money, iPods, etc.

its been a rough year for Kiwi... a couple months ago, one of their buses went over a cliff. no one died, but a few broken bones here and there.

So. this is not meant to scare my poor mom or anything like that... but to further support the commonly held opinion that Kiwi Experience sucks. Sure, you'll get drunk and hook up with tons of chicks, but you will also lose your passport in a fiery inferno.

cheers, and more meaningful updates to come,

Alli