Catching up

I will be more brief with these until I catch up. To continue...

Jan 6
In the morning a few of us went to check out the Victoria Park Market, which looked like a pretty neat flea market when we passed on the bus, but turned out to be underwhelming when we got there. The first stall I looked at had some interesting jewelry, but I was reluctant to buy things so early in the trip. I did find this gem, though.

a serious warning, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

We then walked down to the waterfront area to catch a free ride on the S.S. Puke (with a name like that, how could I resist?) at the the Maritime Museum, but it was unfortunately not steaming that day. Instead we walked down Quay (say: key) Street, which wasn't very pretty with its red gates, parking lots, and cargo lifts. We stopped at Foodtown for water and shampoo; we found that things are expensive here, in general.

Back at the hotel, we met up with more people from the trip and headed for some outdoorsy adventures. First was Albert Park, a pretty little place just up the street with some really awesome trees.

Safari Mel, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

Then we made the long trek to Auckland Domain, a Central Park of sorts, with a musuem, gardens, and trails. Had lunch at the Museum cafe then sat outside for a jazz concert. I guess it was alright... I was quite tired and kept forgetting I was listening to music. After a few hours of sitting around, Melody and I got antsy and went to Parnell, a swank shopping district. We got turned around a couple times trying to get out of the Domain and by the time we got to our destination, it was past 4 on a Sunday and everything was closed for the day. We caught the bright green, energy efficient Link Bus back to the hotel.

DSCF3548, originally uploaded by ponyshow.

In Parnell, a couple stopped us and asked where we were from. The man said he could tell we were American by Mel's baseball cap. They moved from the States a few years ago with their four kids and found living in NZ harder than they expected. I suspect they liked the country on a vacation and just took the plunge. Interesting.

I wrote a few days ago that it's very strange to be here and know that I'm not leaving for a month. I was not ready at all to start classes but thought they would be pretty relaxed. I looked at my one syllabus and counted only 15 days of class listed. I was nervous about my Independent Study, though, as I didn't have a author picked yet for my 15 page paper. I've since had a few classes, which are okay but don't feel like they have enough depth. And I picked an author and started reading for independent study, which is going to be difficult, but pleasantly. I hope.

So much for writing less. I've caught up on what I wrote in my notebook so the rest will have to be from memory. I think I will do Flickr photo posts after this. To be continued.