On November 4th, I got a Maori-style Ta moko. It is the greatest experience I’ve had, in New Zealand or elsewhere. I’m not sure how to talk about this. I’m not sure if I can separate the experience from the well of emotion I feel about this, so I think I may just not try. I apologize if this gets a little too real. It’s no secret that I came to New Zealand to research my final project on Ta moko.  It is also no secret that I love tattoos. [...]

Yesterday, I did the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It was life-changing in a way I thought not possible. I am not a fit man. I am technically obese (I’ll spare you my rant on that system). I also do not handle heights well. I’m not petrified by them, but I certainly do not seek them out. So the idea of an 20-kilometer alpine mountain crossing was not the most attractive idea I have ever heard. I am so glad that I did it. I’m having trouble articulating this experience in the usual way, which [...]

Two weekends ago now, a group of friends and I stayed and surfed in Raglan. The experience was the type of surreal that I am quickly running out of creative ways to describe. I came to New Zealand with three things in mind that I needed to do before leaving. The first, my real reason for being here at all is to conduct research. The nature of that research has mutated over time, but I have certainly done quite a bit of that. The second was to get a ta moko. I’ve [...]

I had an enlightening experience yesterday, which coincided with my first experience with falafel. I suspect they were unrelated, but no one will ever know. I love walking. I do it a lot. It started with my wonderful dog Maddie. When we got her, I was still in the midst of borderline exercise bulimia, and I walked her twice a day, for at least half an hour each time. Often on weekends I would spend literally the entire morning walking. I got used to it, and I’ve been walking ever [...]

Last Friday me and a group of my peers performed a Samoan sasa led by a renown Samoan dance instructor. I’m taking a class on Pacific art. Every week, more or less, we cover a different art form: weaving, bark cloth, carving, tattoo, etc. Last week was dance. We had our lecture in the campus fale, because presumably there was going to be some sort of demonstration. The first hour plodded along, with our guest lecturer talking about the importance of preserving traditional dances and whatnot. Then as the second hour [...]

I spent a large portion of my spring break hunting down the best of Auckland city’s street art. Spring break here in New Zealand began on the third of September. By that time, most of my classmates and peers had made plans to travel, many of the them to the South Island, some to Australia, and others to pacific sites like Fiji. At this time, I had just received my financial aid package, so I had not had money with which to plan a vacation, and I was not in [...]

With most of my compatriots off gallivanting for spring break and me stuck here in Auckland, I was looking for things to do. A friend of mine Ida, the Norwegian girl whom I met on the tramp to Piha, suggested going to the Auckland Museum as it’s free for residents of Auckland. So we went together one afternoon last week. We met around two o’clock in the afternoon, knowing that the museum closes at five, and figuring three hours would be plenty of time to explore. I think poor Ida [...]

I have been wanting to go to Piha since I decided to come to New Zealand. I’m told it is one of the most beautiful and most popular surfing beaches around. It did not disappoint. One of the things on my must-do list while I am here in New Zealand is learning to surf. I got it in my head that Piha would be the place to do that, so when I heard the tramping club would be going on a day trip there, I was pretty excited. Certainly I [...]

On August 15th, 2011 in Auckland New Zealand a strange and wonderful thing happened. It snowed. I am told it doesn’t snow it Auckland. It is simply unheard of. According to a China Daily article, the last time it snowed in the city center was in 1930s. The last time it snowed here, Hitler had yet to invade Poland. To say that people were excited would come nowhere near capturing the feeling in the air. The snow began as cold rain, which transitioned to sleet, hail and eventually actual honest-to-God [...]

The day immediately following my day of adventure was designated for caving (that is, exploring caves, not acquiescing) in Waitomo. As previously discussed, by the time I did the day of adventure I was quite thoroughly fed up with not having clean clothes, sleeping in a cold cabin (we couldn’t get the heat to work, and it was the middle of winter) and being constantly wet. So when I was informed that we were going to be spending hours that day squeezing through tiny holes up to our eyeballs in [...]

I checked out books from the library for the first time today. I’m largely caught up on my homework, and in addition to looking for something to fill my time I was looking to start my research in earnest. I explained my project to my Anthro tutor (which is what they call TAs) who is also an American, and the rest of my Anthro tutorial this morning. I get more and more excited every time I mention it, and since it is the reason I spent all this money to [...]

This is part of the historical post series. The day of adventure was Friday the 8th of July. It’s been a while, so excuse me if I gloss over a few details (not that you’ll know, since you weren’t there). First, you should know that going in to this day I was fully expecting not to enjoy myself. This was somewhere around day four or five of living on two days worth of clothing, and I was getting quite sick of it. Not only that, but I was getting a [...]

Yesterday was the first day of classes, and as much as my compatriots will probably bemoan this event, I welcomed it with open arms. As I’ve already said my primary motivation for visiting New Zealand is academic, so I was not exactly excited about classes, but I was relieved. At least this will give me some sense of normalcy, and give me something to keep me busy. I only had one class today, and thankfully all of the readings are online for the first 8 weeks, because I still don’t [...]

I walked again today, mostly just for something to do. I knew from the outset that it would be a shorter walk than yesterday as I am still sore and I finished my 42-hour audiobook last night. Today I actually walked east, or at least that was my intention. Looking at the map of my route what I actually did was make a 3/4 circle and double back, going south then east then north again. I initially tried going straight east, but was met by incredibly boring if not impassable highway. Today’s [...]

The morning sun was beautiful today, and there was nothing on the schedule that needed attending, so I decided today would be the day where I choose a compass point and walk until my feet ached. It is inconsequential that the compass point I thought I had chosen was, in fact, the opposite of the direction I actually walked. I walked west (what I thought was east, my mental map of Auckland was upside-down) listening to my book the whole way and had quite the marvelous day. When I look [...]