Car! Coche! !سيارة Auto! Carro! автомобиль!

My flat mates and I are trying to find a good car. The one that we were going to buy epically failed the pre-purchase inspection we (thankfully) scheduled. Ergo the search continues. Please pray for us, we need one before the end of this week. Thanks :)

Sorry

It has been a whole week since I've last updated! I didn't even realize. Apologies. But since I last updated I have:

1. Taught the flat mates Salsa (a bit of bachata) and gone out dancing 2 nights in a row
2. Made another phenomenal batch of Oatmeal Chocolate Delights (aka Cookies) with Kelsey
3. Finished the first 2 seasons of True Blood
4. Test driven 2 cars and figured out how to drive on the left side of the road. No crashes thankfully haha
5. Caught up on most all of my readings for my classes because tutorials (or class discussion sessions) have begun. Thankfully they are in place of a class, for my courses at least, and not a separate period.
6. Mastered the art of cooking a lamb dish that I made up on the fly. Complete with yummy butter, olive oil, red wine, and some other stuff. I'll cook it for you if you want, but I am not buying lamb meat in the states haha
7. Started writing post cards!!! Expect yours in the mail soon :)
8. Began my boxing and jujitsu classes this week. I am really nice and sore, I love it. In boxing, I am a bit ahead of the group (not to be arrogant, it's just frustrating and I am nervous that I could injure myself because of someone's mistake during mitt work). The jujitsu instructor is a female!! I am so happy. And the class is comprehensive, not all ground grappling, as I'm sure most of the boys enrolled expected it would be. Overall, I'm just really happy to be back in fighting, and learning something new. Such a good release.
9. I finally got out of the college town! Arely's family friends from Auckland (They met at her family's church in Austin) were down in Dunedin to meet with the pastors of the college group on campus here and they wanted to take a trip to the peninsula that Dunedin is so famous for. They asked Arely and I if we wanted to come with, and it was the best decision of our lives! haha All of the really nice landscape photographs that I have on my facebook are from our hour and a half trip to the peninsula and back to campus. Really a beautiful day, and so nice of them! They were a wonderful couple.
10. Sleeping!! I sleep on average about 7 hours or more here. I think its because of the cold. But it's great.

I think that's about it. The full update. I am currently sitting in the kitchen, freezing, listening to country music, drinking tea and I have a tutorial tomorrow morning that I need to prep for now. If any of you are planning on sending a care package at any time during my trip, please send me no salt added, roasted Almond Butter!!! and 85% chocolate bars, or anything from Trader Joe's really. I miss that store so much! haha. Love you guys! Skype me soon if you haven't already :)

P.S. Tanya and Maya I'm glad we had our skype session this week, it was good seeing y'all. I haven't laughed that hard for that long in a while :P You mujeres are cray cray! Maya I'm glad you figured stuff out too. Praying for you both as you enter this exciting time of life!! :) Keep me updated

Theism. Atheism.

My philosophy of religion course is very interesting. However this morning, sitting in class, I realized that I am not a fan of the philosophy aspect of religion. It is wholly and 100% necessary to have this field of study (and for apologetics I presume), and it is a very interesting course, but I just don't see the appeal in sitting and reasoning out religious ideas. If I had the brilliant mind of my younger brother Gabriel, maybe philosophy would be more interesting. Or maybe I'm just not used to thinking of things in the particular way that philosophers do. I guess it just dawned on me in class that, while all these people are asking for proof in order to move from the default (which in the philosophy of religion would be agnosticism) to either positive atheism or theism and where the burden of proof falls; all I need to do is look as a gorgeous sky, or see children learning/ playing, or study a flower to know that God is real. It is the beauty and complexities in the world that make me realize nothing is an accident,and there is no way that a creator could not exist. (Sorry for the double negative) People tend to focus on personal experiences in and our of the church, or the evil that humans exact on one another, or the fact that the bible and the theory of evolution do not support one another as their reasons for not believing in God. But that, to me, seems very selfish and tunnel-visioned, and just as irrational as the fundamentalist theists whom these people hate so much. And then how can you describe all of the beauty in this world?? And the intricacies of organisms? And concepts like love and charity? I think I will stick to the textual analysis of religion, and work very hard in this class to try and think like a philosopher. But I don't know if I could ever think God to death, I much prefer to experience Him.

Photo Credit: Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek©

Illumination Partay!

OK soooooo

I figured I would explain the illumination party. I have it on the vlog, but I can barely hear myself on that one soo I prrovide descrription here, ok? ok! wooooo!

Illumination party= (wait for it! DRUMROLL!) A MASSIVE HIGHLIGHTER PARTY! hahahaha

You wear all white and they have the blacklight and lasers on, and there was 'dancing' (which here is really more uncontrolled convulsing to what the people think is the beat), and jumping up and down because its all "drum & bass" and other genres of electronic music that I cannot distinguish from one another. Then at midnight they gave us all highlighter paint and started shooting paint into the crowd and there was insanity for a good 30-40 minutes. Annnnnd then you get tired and bored of the same beat, and your paint starts to dry, and the romance is gone. haha. So Some friends and I headed to Velvet Burger(!!) and had a late dinner, and then came back to the flat in an attempt to get off all the paint in one shower session. It took me about 15 minutes for my hair alone. Note the word attempt, because we are still finding paint on our elbows or shoulders or the back of our calves etc.

But I'm sure you can understand, because we were COVERED.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Sooo YEAH! haha More pictures are up and/or will be going up on facebook soon.

My makeup was phenomenal?! (sorry to brag) First time using blues and greens together, so I was nervous. But I like it! And it held pretty well through and after the party! Go me! :P

It is freezing this morning! We got pretty spoiled with good weather in the low 50s this past week, and I woke up this morning and our flat-o-meter, which gives us the temperature both in and outside of the flat, read 2 (outside temp.) and 7 (inside). This translates to 35 and 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometimes I wish we used our heat pump... But we all need to save money, so sweats and hot water bottles is the way to do it.

I think I'm gonna crawl into bed with my hot water bottles Cito and Blue, watch a Francis Chan sermon, do some reading for class, And then get ready for the day. Its too cold in the kitchen.

♥

I love it

The Jam

Halocha

I'm sick :( So I am currently laying in bed typing haha. And I'm still a tad chilly. But I bought the zinc, Vit C and echinacea equivalent of an alka seltzer and have been downing tea. So hopefully that helps. I was going to vlog today but I'll spare you all the horror of my sick face right now. I'll probably update you after I go out dancing again tomorrow and have at least some eyeliner on and my eyelashes curled hahaha.

OK! moving on. Classes are going well. The professor I had the first day is much more passionate about South India so that class on Tuesday was really interesting, and then today he quickly went over confucianism and the west. Its not really a religion and Confucius didn't start the tradition, I didn't know that. And the Buddhist thought class I have on Tues and Wed. is being TAed and taken by buddhist monks and the professor and TA are both Buddhists with doctoral degrees in the subject. Its a really good experience, very different perspective. Its at 14.00 though which I always get drowsy during, no matter how interesting the subject matter it. But I am working hard to stay awake haha. I have my Philosophy of Religion course tomorrow morning, I am excited! I feel like such a nerd. But I've never studied Asian religious traditions in depth, so this is all very cool. For once I don't know much about the material being taught in my religion courses. w00t! haha.

FLORECITA AND REINA! It was so good skyping with you this morning (well afternoon for you! :P), you made my week. Love you mujeres. Keep up the good work on your new grownup lives :) And rep the divas to the fullest.

Kiki! I am so happy you like your internship/ job with the kiddies. Please keep me updated with funy stories and whatnot. And on your life in general :). I hope your mom got in ok the other night, too.

KeOndra! hehe. I miss you mujer! I hope your job is not too insane and that you are doing well over thurr. When do you get back to LA? Holla at a playa

Tiff and Z! Can we skype soon? puhlease?! I miss you chicas. I'm 19 hours ahead of PST.

Familia Pontón. Love and miss you. Hopefully we can skype again soon

Boys, you probably don't read this but Hi!! haha. Hope you are all enjoying the rest of your summer and/or doing well at work.

If I missed you in the 'shoutouts', I'm sorry.

Alright people well I slept a full 15 hours because I was that sick so this is actually being posted a day late haha. I'm feeling better just sore, but that's probably due to dehydration. Much love

Sup?

Mi Gente!

So today was my first day of class. And I must say that I’m actually pretty happy about it. My professor is a bit insecure, but most white male Asian-religion professors are. Or at least the ones that I know or have met come off that way, always slightly apologetic. But he seems very smart and the class should be interesting according to the syllabus. Not nearly as much reading as USC, which is nice because I think there is a conspiracy to drive people out of humanities studies with the amount of reading we do. Or are assigned to do, rather. The professor is not too sore on the eyes either, which is good because apparently he is my professor for all 3 of my religious studies papers.

They don’t really takes notes in class here so I probably look like a crazy woman typing away throughout the class, in which there are less than 10 students, buuuuuut I could care less. I need A’s! hahaha

I also went in to talk to someone about getting connected to the greater New Zealand salsa scene, and all I can say is that I am so insanely excited!! :D I will be meeting with the teacher of the Dunedin salsa scene in the next few weeks and might even be able to go up to Christchurch to teach a bit of styling or shines. I am nervous about that because I will seriously have to prepare. I have never taught anything without the amazing Tanya “Reina” Fragnito, so this will be an interesting experience. Apparently there is a major showcase or competition the first week of October too, so depending on how soon I get to Christchurch and connected to that scene… I might be able to make something happen. This is all actually very surreal and I wish my divas were here to conquer the island with me, but I will make y’all proud, I promise. J

Other than that… there really isn’t much to report on yet. I finally finished reading fight club!!! YAY! Hahaha. It is probably one of the easiest reads because you are sucked right in and dragged through it very very quickly. I love his writing style too, and the book makes you think a lot about your personal paradigm. So now I am working on finishing Dead Aid and then moving on to Atlas Shrugged (and class readings of course). And then I am bookless! Tear. Open for suggestions that are not the usual books that I read about Africa, finance and development in the third world, and other books about human rights and oppression. I love those books (which is why I read them, and buy them all the time) but I need to read more classic fiction. I also am thinking about taking boxing and jujitsu courses while here, but if I end up teaching salsa I might not have time for the classes. But I hope I do!! I miss fighting and training.

O and besides reading some interesting observations that I have made recently are:

1. Fashion – its very indie punk here, which I love, but I don’t get how they do it here in the cold. It’s not hard to be fashionable in terms of dressing, but more so in terms of coping with the weather haha. Some of their clothing options are just plain… eccentric. Also clothing in general is pretty expensive. Think Urban Outfitters pricing for the equivalent of Forever21 stuff. So I am doing my best to not shop! I am guilty of buying a cute pair of punky boots for $20. But that’s a good price anywhere, and converted that’s about US$15. Go me!

2. Religion – people seem to be very apathetic or atheistic when it comes to religion here. It could just be that I haven’t had enough interaction with a large number of Kiwis yet, but that’s the vibe I am getting so far. There are a ton of churches around the campus and most are pretty empty. Maybe they are just so chill and laid back, and I don’t grasp the island culture, or maybe its just Dunedin. It isn’t bad and doesn’t bother me, just different.

3. Music – Maori people are the NZ equivalent of blacks and Latinos in the US. And the Chris Brown/ Bruno Mars of NZ is a beautiful Maori man named J. Williams. I have a crush. (KeAndra and Kiki google him and lemme know what you think hahahaha) Thankfully he is all over the music video TV stations. But all (or large large majority) ‘hip hop,’ R&B, and rap artists are Maori. Interesting.

Alright, that’s much more than I planned on writing. Sorry kids. Love you all! I’m planning a lot of out of town activities with my flatmates and will do my best to keep you updated on my adventures. Vlogging might be easier as the semester gets into full swing and I don’t have time to sit down in the nice warm library and write out everything. Stay awesome. Y

p.s. the entire time I was typing this, an American girl and Kiwi boy have been flirting next to me, but their conversation has included vampires, a phobia of zombies, her rules about hugging people, and now death. Needless to say, I am very weirded out.

5 Small Things I Love About NZ

1. Rugby pride.
2. The greenery - it is GORGEOUS! here, God is the most amazing artist
3. The advertising! - because I'm a marketing nerd. I find it hilarious.
4. Bar/club scene - everyone is there to have a great time and... its free!! :)
5. Short shorts - the majority of grown males wear short shorts. Its like their level of manliness is determined by the shortness of their shorts. thankfully they all have insanely toned thighs and calves.

♥

Stream of Consciousness during long travels

Most of this is very random.... but enjoy. Sorry for the length

I am on the plane (obviously while writing, not posting this) and I am slightly claustrophobic because, due to my temporary hunger-induced insanity, I did not ask the lady at the check in counter for an aisle seat for the 12+ hour flight to Auckland from Los Angeles. I am sitting next to a window with a kid who thinks that just because the middle seat isn’t occupied, he can put his feet there. This wouldn’t be so bad if the overweight people in front of me had their seats at even the slightest upright position, but I guess reclined is in style these days. Can’t people mind some personal space? Just a little? No? ok….

SO ANYWAYS! I would just like to say hi from over the Pacific! I am so blessed to have such amazing and caring friends, thank you all so much for taking the time and making the effort to say goodbye, it really really means a lot to me. Seriously. All love. FLORECITA! Thanks a ton for making me look like an insane person on the plane. I was both cracking up and bawling my eyes out while I read your amazing and heartfelt letter, which was really more like a mini novel hahahaha. ALSO I loved the part about my girls 'the few, the proud,' haha that was very cute. I love you! (p.s. major kudos on the creative use of writing direction and marker colors, I loved it) To all my divas, I will miss you but best believe I will represent and conquer the NZ salsa/ bachata scene, and life in general. My Latina mujeres, I can’t believe we are all traveling at the same time! Look at us conquering the world… shoooooot hahaha. Stay safe and keep in touch! To all of the guys, if any of you read this, which is doubtful haha, thank you all so much for making time to meet up with me or hang out before I left. You’ll be missed. To all of mi famiglia and mentors, thank you for all of your well wishing and support J. And everyone, if you don’t have skype, GET IT! puh-lease! Pa’ que we can communicate mas better. :P

Ew the kid just used my pillow as the barrier between the seat and his feet…. FLIGHT ATTENDANT! Hahahaha. P.s. the flight attendants on Air New Zealand are phenomenal. If you ever get the chance, fly Air NZ, seriously. Just don’t get the window seat. Unless you are into self imposed mild claustrophobia. He is also currently watching Full Metal Jacket, which I love but its creepy to stare at other peoples screens, especially after you have given them the ever infamous and rare Venezuelan look of death for invading your space with their feet (KeAndra he has socks on, so don’t have a complete heart attack hahaha)

Sooo I’m not done, keep reading! As much as the seating situation is bugging me I have to say that I am so happy to just be on a plane. I hate the actual flying but I love being in airports and new places and meeting new people, even though I’m shy (at first… obviously), hearing different languages and accents and seeing cute little kids wreak havoc all around the terminals. (Who needs TV when there are random crazy kids running around?) Traveling makes me happy, whether it’s in and around LA or the world.

Errrrrrm, what else to say? Not much really. I am currently attempting to finish Dead Aid, which is an excellent argument packed into a tiny book, but international economics mixed with sleep deprivation and low lighting isn’t really making that happen. How am I ever going to get through grad school? Please start praying for me now. Thanks. I also hope to finally finish Fight Club (the book, Tanya you should try and read it sometime!) because I keep starting, and stopping, then re-reading the whole book again because I never reach the ending. I want to read a classic or two though while I’m away. I figured Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged would be a good start right? Much more of a modern classic, but I didn’t have anything else purchased before I left and I couldn’t find fountainhead. I may need to make a library run when I get in. Leave suggestions in the comments por fa’ J.

O Also! A camera was not picked up by any of my family members before we left the house haha, SHOCKER! So I have to go buy one. If you have any suggestions for that too, please comment. OK, I am falling asleep on y’all, sorry. Hahahahahahaha. Love, ciao ciao

So I am about half way through Fight Club and I started on the plane, ¾ of the way through Dead Aid, and dreading this next flight. I ended up getting out of the corner seat because I was going to go insane, so I ended up with an aisle and tried to take a few laps around the plane.

I am running on green tea and a bit of airline food (which was also amazing, just fly Air NZ people!) with the help of a little chocolate. Auckland isn’t that cold, but everyone looks bundled up for the flight to queenstown. My phone works here! Which, is shocking, hawnestlee. I just want to be at the flat already but I really love traveling sola and am enjoying my mini sociological study of Kiwis. The accent is very cool, I’ll have it down by the time I get back. I was going to make a mini vlog for yall when I got to this airport but there is no internet access soooo I’ll wait.

My computer is about to die so I’ll update in a bit.

During the bus ride I almost finished Fight Club, and dozed in and out of consciousness while we drove through the very cold and very gorgeous route from Queenstown to Dunedin. I met another international student from England. He had just gotten back from snowboarding around South Island and ended up helping me with my bags because they were huge and I knew where we had to go to pick up our keys. Then I got to my flat. Made the vlog. And finally met my flat-mates who are super sweet! So far we've had a great time, went grocery shopping, and gotten our agendas together for this next week. Our Kiwi host is great. She shows us the ropes but is no where near as hands on or strict as an RA. We all love dark chocolate so that is a good thing. And I am trying to figure out what to eat at the moment, I just ate kumara (or a red yam) with some butter, but I think I need protein. Also the sleep deprivation is kicking in but I'm not tired :( and orientation is at 9am. I'ma need a nap tomorrow. haha.

No cute Maori (pronounced like 'moldy' but with an 'r' instead of an 'l") men for you yet ladies. Don't worry, once I get the camera I will be doing some serious recon for you mk? And then you can just make your decision and I'll bring him back for you haha.