Closing Remarks.

I’m glad I never lived next to the water
So I could never get used to the beach,
And I’m glad I never grew up on a mountain
To figure out how high the world could reach.

“Indiana” by Jon McLaughlin

I am no longer in New Zealand, but not quite yet to Indiana. Right now I am sitting in the Starbucks of the Phoenix airport, waiting for my flight to Indy (sounds pretty American, right?). Leaving New Zealand was about 100x harder than I ever expected. Yes, I was sad to know there would be no more NZ adventures and NZ road trips and the innumerable other things I love about the country… but the hardest part was leaving the people I had those adventures with. The weekends and the breaks were filled with seeing the rest of NZ, but really the majority of my time here was during the week: going to classes with, hanging out at Ilam with, going into Christchurch with… these friends. Its been observed that we’re a pretty close-knit bunch. This is not the end of our friendship, by any means. But this chapter of our lives is closing- a chapter we all shared together. And since our locations span from Boston to Vancouver… it’s not exactly known when we’ll all be together again. So yeah- it was hard. There were tears. My flatmate Saad kindly drove me and my numerous pieces of heavy luggage to the airport and I kept choking up in the car on the way over, poor guy. So for now- I will hold onto the memories and be thankful that God put these people in my lifffffeeeee!

My layover in Phoenix went by super quick because I uploaded some of my last New Zealand pics on F-book (oh how I love free wireless). So I am now finishing this post on the plane…

My last two weeks in New Zealand are a bit of a blur. The first week of finals (after getting back from our South Island Road Trip) I didn’t have any finals! But a lot of my friends did. So I studied ahead the whole week, right? Haha nooot exactly. A lot of congregating. Pizza at Yellow Cross on Monday. We went ice skating at a rink in Chch! We ended up having the whole rink to ourselves which meant an ice skating game of TAG. and a game of how-far-can-you-slide-on-the-ice-after-skating-really-fast. Instead of sliding, I participated as a judge, which saved me a lot of bruises and soreness haha.

That week I watched a lot of World Cup games with Damon too! The South African time difference was not working in our favour, but that did not deter us. The games were either at 11:30p, 2a, or 6:30a. It was so fun rooting on the All Whites. We went to the “New Common Room,” which is just a general gathering area for everyone in Ilam with a huge projector screen  to watch from the couches. NZ is not known for its futbol. They were ranked 78th in the world when they surprisingly qualified for the World Cup and hadn’t been there for the past 28 years. They definitely carried underdog status. Although they did not advance past the group round, I thought they did awesome! They tied every game, even with the 5th ranked Italians. I actually ended up watching more of the NZ games than the U.S. games. and I think I now know more Kiwi players’ names. Ryan Nelsen is their captain and is amazing. You can’t get much past him. Winston Reid gained instant fame by scoring their first goal (in the 93rd minute of the game!) and thereby tying the game and scoring NZ’s first point earned in the World Cup. There was one guy with curly, balding hair that we called Bozo. I guess I don’t actually know his name, but I definitely always commented about how he needed a haircut. Then, there’s the other curly haired guy we called cute-hair boy (not Damon’s choice of words haha). Killen. Smeltz. poor Rory Fallon. Anyway, similar to the U.S. situation, I think this World Cup did a lot to help the sport of soccer in their country. After they tied with Italy, I saw a Tui billboard from the bus commenting on this… Tui is a type of beer known for it’s advertisements that are made up of a sarcastic comment ending with “Yeah Right.” This particular ad  stated: 78th in the world. Yeah Right. I liked it . Liz saw one after the first draw with Slovenia stating: Australasia 1, Slovakia 1. Yeah Right. … commenting on Australia’s view of their part in the “victory” as stated in an Australian newspaper. But yeah, it was also cool watching the World Cup there because Ilam has such a diverse population that there’s a good chance whatever team you’re watching, there’s a lot of people from that country watching it too!

That weekend on Saturday the 19th we piled into a rental van and made our way down to Dunedin for the All Blacks game. I didn’t know it then, but it would be my last driving view of the green hills and snowy mountains. Sigh. We stopped at Moeraki Boulders again, since most of the people in the van hadn’t been there. I was glad to get to see them again though, because I think they are so interesting lol.

Dunedin was a busy place. We stopped for dinner at Velvet Burger, which to some people rivals Fergburger. It was very good- but Fergburger remains burger champion in my mind. You know it’s funny- I ended up having a lot of fabulous pizza and amazing hamburgers in NZ.We also did a pseudo-celebration of Jon and Stephen’s birthday. But it wasn’t actually their birthday. They do share the same birthday on July 31st. In the beginning of their time here, they decided it wasn’t fair that we got to celebrate everyone else’s birthday here but theirs. So they changed their birthday to June 19th. They even changed it on Facebook. At first, they had me fooled. “I coulda sworn your birthday was in July…” But I figured out their scheme. Or maybe Emily told me. lol.

The ALL BLACKS game was great. The stadium was packed as I thought. It was actually Carisbrook Stadium’s last game since they are building a new one! I thought that was fitting, since it was also nearing the end of our trip. Moreso than actually watching the rugby part of the game, I was most looking forward to seeing the All blacks perform the HAKA! The haka is usually explained as a Maori war dance that was performed to prepare for battle. As I learned in my Maori Society class, there are many different types of hakas and the haka the All Blacks perform is the type that pertains to war. So, basically, haka is more of an umbrella term rather than specifically a war dance. The haka that is usually performed is called “Ka Mate” which means “Tis Death.” There’s a long story from Maori oral tradition that you can look up to explain that one haha. They also had a haka written specifically for them recently called “Kapa O Panga,” which is what they performed that night. I love watching the haka… I can just feel the energy. and plus I love warriors. haha.

I took a video of the haka with my camera, but this is a much better view…

All of Dunedin’s accommodation was booked. Considering this and the fact that we would save money by only renting the van for a day, we drove home that night. Damon drove us late into the night. The rest of the boys were being shenanigous in the back. Shenanigous= performing shenanigans?

The next day marked my first last. It was our last Sunday going to Campus Church. Although as Damon pointed out, we had already had some lasts, like our last day of classes. But since we were going into our last week, it really felt like a LAST last. Then Monday  was our last night going out for pizza at Yellow Cross. Ever since they started doing 1/2 price pizza night on Mondays, we had been going every week! They have really unique combinations that are delicious. My favorite I think ended up being the Canadian- it had an apricot sauce with chicken, cream cheese, feta, and pine nuts. I love the setting there too- kind’ve rustic looking with a fireplace!

Last week we also randomly went swimming! I think it actually came about because Damon asked if anyone would want to go play pool at like a pool hall, and someone said “Pool?! Let’s go swimming!” So we found an indoor pool in Chch at this recreation center called Jellie Park not very far from Uni. It had a spa, sauna, and steamroom too. It was fun. Thennnn I had to get down to business and spent all Wednesday studying for my finals on Thursday and Friday. My Thursday final was easy-peesie. But Friday not so much. 3-hour essay finals are intense. and finals are s-e-r-i-o-us business at Canterbury. Probably because they’re worth at least 50% of your grade… for some of my friends, even %60. They’re administered not by the teachers but by the office of the Registry.. which means a group of older people staring over your shoulder the whole time (well not mine, but that was another story I heard). Not that finals aren’t serious at Purdue, it’s just done a bit more stricter in NZ. There was a huge sign before you go in your assigned exam room saying “$120 fine if your cell phone emits any noise whatsoever.” I was so relieved to be done once my Friday morning final was over. Then the last couple days were quality time with friends and last-minute packing.

Most people left on Sunday and a few stragglers on Monday. Saturday just happened to be Emily’s birthday! Although I felt bad for her because it really wasn’t the best day to have a birthday. The weather was awful- cold and rainy. Everyone was sad about leaving. and she got sick! probably from me is the worst part. But we had a fun time going out to eat for Thai at the Red Elephant again and then LASER TAG! Laser tag was such a blast (haha no pun intended). I was horrible at it. I was “killed” so many times. anddd I ended up with negative points. But I still loved it! Many times I would accidentally run into a group of reds (the other team’s color) and run away screaming my head off haha.  And end up shot. lol. The rest of the night basically all of Ilam got together in flat 107 and then our group ended up huddling in Jon’s room spending every last minute together making for a very late night. So late… that I didn’t really see the point in going to bed before the 6am US soccer game! I kept nodding off during the game though and realized… I had a lot of packing to do. and laundry. So I left at half time to start that monstrous task. and basically kept going at it until I had to leave around 1:30p. As I mentioned before, it was really hard to say goodbye. It was too quick. Too suddenly-I’m-gone.

Well, I finally made it home from the airport. This post has transitioned from airport to airplane to home in Indiana!

It is definitely weird being home. But comforting at the same time. I spent the night in LA waiting for my flight the next day and my friend Trenton came up from San Diego to visit me. I think this helped me ease back in to America. When we went out to eat, I was pretty disappointed at the fact I was going to have to tip the waitress (they don’t tip in NZ…). and I kept thinking he was driving on the wrong side of the road. I need to change back my mind set from “Keep Left” from NZ to “Keep Right”! Even in the airport, I almost ran into a lady coming out of the bathroom because I was walking on the wrong side of the hallway lol. It’s funny though, people talk about how New Zealand smells so wonderful. So clean. So pure. (which I agree with…) but when I got off the plane in Indianapolis, I immediately noticed the smell. And it was wonderful!!! It smelled like summer. Like a cool Indiana summer’s night. I can’t wait for some sunshine tomorrow… this has made coming home a lot easier. And of course, seeing my family was wonderful as well

Whew… I am going to catch up on the rest of my posts this week…

Now to adjust for a 20 hour time difference…

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~ by Juli on June 29, 2010.