Aro Fair

(Beat boxer, the guy and the right's Dad in Taj Mahal, electronica anyone?)

(early morning set up of stall)

(postcards, children loved them, especially the shells)

Yesterday, from the hours of 8:30am- 4:00pm, my skin was cooking in the Southerly Sun, legs barley supporting body, smiling, trying to encourage potential customers to buy my much loved and home made postcards. With that said, DO PEOPLE SEND MAIL ANYMORE? At the opening of the Aro Valley fair a woman rushed to my stall and bought my most interesting (5) pieces, she had a good eye. In a flash she was gone, and not until 5 hours later did another person buy a card. The person who bought my card is more friend than customer so “it” doesn’t count. About 5 different friends, as well as heaps of other grad students visited which made the day better/shorter. Number 5 is very effective number.

The Aro Fair took place a few blocks down from my house. Julia baked sweet muffins and helped brew a curry. I shared a stall with a fair coordinator, who sold aprons next to the postcards for a preschool. Other fair highlights included some free styling from transplanted Americans, as well as plastic inflatable crap from china. Sun burnt gangs of children ruled the Aro Fair, pillaging their parent’s pocket books. Every so often I overheard a sundelirous adult ask, WHERE IS THE REST OF THE $20 NOTE I GAVE YOU! The sun was glorious, but it made us all a bit unreasonable. Why adults give children cash will forever remain, a mystery (coins, anyone?). I diligently avoided eye contact with Peter, the man who only speaks in alliterations who roamed the fair grounds, in all his glory.

Today in church there was no mention of palms or Jesus riding in like a King. Rather our pastor discussed UNICEF’s four pillars of education, and how Christian faith might fit into that. It was actually a great idea being that the congregation is literally from around the world. The walls of our church are lined with flags- very fitting for a geographer. I do miss tradition…what formal education has to do with Palm Sunday will also, forever remain a mystery.

This beautiful Sunday afternoon was spent with Mother, Huriana, and daughter Sarah. We walked around discussing past relationships, family, and life as we know it. It was nice to walk beside another, but also to walk in their shoes. I am moved by her willingness to accept truth. Some days it is hard to believe that things can get better, but they can, and they do. All be it in the most unexpected and necessary ways.

Rainbows and Muffins

(my own baking)

“If we want better health, the answer might be not only to look to ourselves, but to the society in which we live out our lives” (165, Marmot).

Book: The Status Syndrome- Michael Marmot (buy it, loan it, read it).

Today a fellow office mate read an article aloud about a woman in America who attempting to be the world’s fattest birth mother. Not only is her weight gain intentional, it’s record breaking. “Someone has to intervene!” My kiwi friend shook her head in utter disbelief that a nation of so many morals would let a woman eat her way into the Guinness Book of World Records and probably a coma. Just another crazy American, taking, “land of the free” (although we incarcerate more than any other nation) too far. Extreme personalities and ideas seem to do well in The States. Are we too forgiving or do we not have any common ground with one another to even care? We are on odd bag.

Forgot to note: this past Sunday was no different from the rest. Oddness abound. The pastor of ELUM is a cheesy son of a gun, so I took it as pure cheese that our sermon was…sent to us, especially for us, from another place… Yes, from New Jerusalem aka, New Jersey. I was stunned, New Jersey??! A well-spoken African American engineer turned pastor gave a 40 minute prerecorded sermon about how God wants us to use technology so we can be more efficient, allowing us to spend more time with family and God. Have you ever heard of anything so strange? Texting, especially for God, is like asking me why dinosaurs existed- I can’t comprehend either realities purpose. This New Jersey pastor even added in clap time, what an American.

Church is a form of social capital. We go every Sunday to consume and exchange experiences, with God and with others. There is nothing wrong with this, quite the opposite. People who belong to a church or social group consistently score higher on SWB (subjective well-being) surveys. It’s fascinating what social interactions, trusting relationships and spirituality does for us health wise. Just the other day I read a winning study done on the common cold. A sample volunteered to have the cold virus shot up their nose, and consequently be quarantined for 6 days in a hotel. The participants were monitored (all infected of course) and noted whom they contacted (by phone) throughout the week. Those who contacted more friends and family members were less sick than those who contacted fewer friends and family members.

Cheers!

Moths

Poor little buggers will never get in. They’ve hit their glass ceiling.

Something magnetic about the way these delicate insects follow the light. It’s mesmerizing to watch, especially on the eve of a very uneventful Monday. Lovely, lovely big window.

Funny to be able to observe them so up front, feels like spying. Julia's house is in the bush, and not the other way round. It is man who is the stranger here.

Every Spider Has A Story

(Susan)

(mate shopping)

This is the lesbian widow spider, Susan. Right now she's looking for a mate, but there's not too many spiders around, let alone lesbian spiders. Susan’s partner, Patty, passed away a month ago and I watched Susan carry Patty’s body to their nest. It was morbidly romantic. One couldn’t help but feel like they were watching something sacred. But when nature calls…

Like clockwork after 11:00ish Susan comes out to eat whatever didn’t make it’s way back outside. Gross. Susan eats food off the bathroom floor. Patty’s body is available for viewing near Susan’s nest in the far left hand corner of the b-room. Double gross, but I’d never say that to Susan’s “face,” as that she rules the bathroom.

Another sighting worth noting is that of Jemaine and Brett of Flight of the Conchords. They were eating some breakfast at the café a block down from my house (where we get our coffee). Late for a cricket game I rushed past Brett and had to do a double take. How exciting! Seen em’ all now (wow, this country is SMALL)! Jemaine has a little baby; pretty sure they were both with their wives. Word has it that they did an impromptu show at the video shop a few houses down the day after they won a Grammy. This must be their stomping grounds. Honestly, New Zealand would be a great place to live if you were famous because kiwi’s pride themselves in not making a big fuss- over anything, especially not another kiwi (notice kiwi will never be capitalized which is completely intentional).

The better part of Saturday was spent watching New Zealand beat Australia at cricket. The game went from 2:00pm-9:30pm. Cricket keeps kids off the street. One cannot get high/shoot up/drink and play an eight-hour game; it’s just not possible. Besides, it’s a gentleman’s sport. A fellow graduate student/office mate invited me along and explained the game to a cricket idiot. Fun kiwi cultural experience.

Today I went swimming in Wellington at Island Bay, where on clear day the South Island can be seen. Being the end of summer the water was ABSOLUTLY FREEZING. Thought I’d be tough enough from California, but it was brutal and I wouldn’t call what I did swimming- just jumping off a jetty with local kids (as always) and booking it back to the shore. Had to do it though, autumn will be here in the next couple weeks.

“Blanket Man” was in full force downtown today, lying just about naked in the warm Welly sun. Google “Blanket Man, Wellington.”

Bone, Stone, Shell Movement

Here is some new work. Picked up the shells from beaches in Wellington & Northland. Cut the flax from a neighbors house. Hope you enjoy, the flax does look lovely green but over time it will fade and stiffen. These are postcards to be sold as a wrapped pack, the shells weight them down so they don't blow away in the Wellington wind. To write is a gift, so make a gift out of writing. Deep or ineffective jumble?

To be sold on Aro Street over the weekend- beer fund.

Anne-Marie

Tutorials

(I am not sure as to why this sign is funny, it just is)

(gift of postcards given to Morgan & partner, Adam)

(new work, 4 plait & 3 plait flax ties, Fiji WC patterns)

Word: Snibbley- annoying- (desk partner made up this word)

Book: Gross Domestic Happiness and Development

I am paid to tutor Geography 112, the study of South East Asia, 2 times a week (as well as prep time and what not). Today for 15 minutes I chatted it up with a 24 “snibbley little first years” (felt like something out of Harry Potter to write that). We were then rudely interrupted by impending doom (a fire alarm) for most of class. When everything cleared half of the first years resumed to a very unproductive 20 minutes of question asking. Lame.

Last Sunday was yet again, odder than average. During Saturday’s weaving class (which was a semi-disappointment being taught by a Dutch man, instead of a person of Maori decent) I met Huriana, a 20-year-old mother of an 18-month-old. We laughed the entire time at our collective failed attempts to weave. Huriana was the Dutch man’s granddaughter. Somehow the fact that we both went to church became known, and on Sunday I met up with her and Sarah, her daughter to go to yet another Pentecostal church. Pentecostal in New Zealand is really Pentecostal-light. Nobody’s getting slain in the spirit. The most Holy action you get around here (observationally marked) is arm raising/waving, and the occasional “Yes Lord” and “MMMMMmmmmm (whilst slow clapping/eyes closed).” Anything beyond that is raising attention to yourself, and loud behavior is not popular in New Zealand. Going with the flow of mainstream culture heaps of Christians live with their partner. It’s the laid back Kiwi way.

After church Huriana and I wheeled Sarah around a crowded festival in Newtown (artsy-fartsy district = heaps of white people dreads). She introduced me to a handful of family members. Coming from a land of many cousins myself it was nice to meet them, some without shoes- which just an extension of island culture in NZ. It’s very common to see (mostly males of all ethnicities) walking around without shoes. No big deal. Unhygienic? Huriana and I talked of gangs, happiness, God and life. It was great- instafriend through weaving at the Newtown community center.

Went out and had a few drinks with new friends this weekend, very nice. Some friends and I got down at a place named Boogie Wonderland, what a name.

Got another tutorial tomorrow, hopefully I won’t be so clueless and befuddled as to how these tutorials are run (now that I know their function = haggle first years to study). So much to learn everyday, it’s draining but heaven

The Fringe

(play viewed inside this bus)

Last night I went to see a show in the back of a bus. There were 13 of us in a sweaty little room for 40 minutes watching an odd trio work out something that resembled a play. There was a suicide, manatee, “hip-hop” children’s song, and buckets of sweat. Julia took her daughter Echo, (Marigold lives too far away), Echo’s partner (by the way partner means boyfriend or girlfriend in NZ), and I out for a real “Fringe” treat. The Fringe festival is where Bret and Jemaine got their wings. It’s a very raw, thespian heavy festival that proves why Wellington is one of the world’s best kept secrets.

In case you couldn’t tell, I am slightly in love with Wellington. I adore the energy this city emits 1000’s of miles away from mainland. Life here is never boring, driving around tonight after the show Julia and I viewed a random play unfolding in a park. It kind of hurts to say, but Wellington is much more fashionable than Santa Barbara, and the coffee is the best I have EVER had- we get it from a roaster several doors down. Further, the NZ wine selection is brilliant (and cheap), the arts scene in very much alive, ice cream is “tip top,” diversity abound, and heaps of good looking people call this city home. So book your ticket, soon. Why soon? Because they are going to be expensive next year due to the Rugby World Cup rolling through NZ in 500 or so days.

Tid bits of randomness:

· Elephants are the only animal that can’t jump- fact from my Tampon box

· Dilmah Ceylon tea- drink it 3 times a day

· Trade Aid- NZ based fair trade organization, over 75 partners in 30 countries- bought a great basket from Trade Aid, a very organized organization

· Something smells rancid in the garden- Julia thinks it’s a dead hedgehog

Spiders

(Creatures with skeletons on the outside of their body are bound to be creepy)

A quick word on spiders: they are gnarly and they are everywhere. Opened my computer up and this guy popped out. Good morning! As I was pouring my muesli a cockroach was crawling around my bowl. Yum. On more adventurous trips to bath room I have a. watched a palm sized spider eat another dead palm sized spider, b. watched a spider eat a bee- that’s how badass they are, they eat bees, in bathrooms.

Bees are nice- they work all day to produce sweet honey for crumpets.

Spiders just sit there, waiting around all day to capture poor, lost, hard working bees. The spider wraps up it’s poisoned prey like a burrito and feasts on flesh rather than flowers.

Bees wander through the garden searching for bright objects to cuddle/ rub their legs all over.

If spiders ever wander they are on a mission to kill.

Being near the "bush" (in Wellington?) is character building.

Students Everywhere!

(gross attempt at being deep, kiwi art gone sour)

(picture of a picture of a Maori woman with moko)

(statue of man diving into Wellington harbor)

Hopping from event to event these days. Heaps of students everywhere! Uni was a ghost town last week; the students really pump strange fashion (short dresses with high tops?) and life into Victoria. I am attempting to talk to every librarian at Victoria- librarians will forever hold a special place in my heart. The geography department has it’s own library, a private meeting is in the works tomorrow with our geography librarian, Rohini. So fun!!!

There are only 5 geography graduate students, a PhD candidate, a “diploma” student, and 3 MA students. We are a small and non-united group, being that we all have different schedules. Oh well, my office is EXTREMLY social, people seem to pop in quite often for hot gossip. The office will be much like a revolving door for the next 6 months, with some half way done and others just starting.

Students cried to God, overwhelmed with bibliographies. God then intervened and gave them EndNote. Pretty sure that’s in the Bible somewhere. As an organization enthusiast EndNote is the last word on organization. You plug in all your references manually, or automatically through select academic journals. Once your references are logged into your EndNote library you can “cite while you write” with whatever formatting necessary. God does exist.

The Journal of Happiness has been of immense interest over the past couple days. Oh of course the Dutch started it/house all the information in the world on happiness. Journal titles being read at the moment range from, Mixed blessings of material progress to Quality of life of HIV- infected people across different stages of infection.

At the moment I am very concerned about the future of young people, so somehow that's going into my thesis. Unemployment contributes greatly to suicide rates. There are so many talented, educated young adults that are forced to take “run of the mill” jobs- jobs that will not pay off their massive loans. Kiwi’s suffer from this predicament as well. New Zealand, after Finland, has the highest rate of death by suicide ages 15-24. Why is that? Long small countries near poles are not so keen for young adults. Geography is just a place to start looking.