Te Puni Choir and New Zealand Sign Language

Sunday, August 7

            Tonight was the first practice for the Te Puni choir. It wasn’t very organised, but we went through some scales and sang a song for warm-up. Most of the ‘practice’ was devoted to brainstorming ideas for the songs we are going to perform. We need two songs, one modern and one traditional. It will be interesting to see what songs we finally decide to perform, but I think it will also be fun.

Monday, August 8

            Today was a pretty normal day, but I really enjoyed my linguistics lecture. Our lecturer was a Deaf man, and he signed to an interpreter (who happened to be his wife) who spoke into a microphone so we could hear her. I tried to see if there were any similarities between New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) and American Sign Language (ASL) since I was in the ASL club at Bates last year. However, the two signed languages are completely different. NZSL is based on British Sign Language while ASL is based on French Sign Language. We learned a few words, and I discovered that the sign for ‘paper’ in ASL is the same as the sign for ‘happy’ in NZSL. It was still a very interesting experience, and it made me excited for ASL club when I go back to Bates.

Tuesday, August 9 – Saturday, August 13

            The rest of the week has not been too exciting. I had a linguistics assignment due Friday, so I worked on that. I chose to write about the apostrophe in English. I had to explain when the rules of using it were concrete and describe situations where the rules are more ambiguous. It was an interesting exercise. This coming week, I have a ‘take home test’ due in New Zealand literature. It is really an essay that is a close analysis of a poem we’ve learned about in lecture, so I’m not quite sure why it’s called a ‘test.’ I also have an essay due in children’s literature the day after the two-week holiday. I am hoping to get both essays done this week because Bev and I are going to be traveling around New Zealand during holiday, and I won’t have much time to work.

            Unfortunately, I did not do anything super-fun this weekend that I could take pictures of or write about, but that will definitely change once holiday starts. I am excited to see Bev and to travel all around both the north and south islands.

Time Passes Quickly

Sunday, July 31

            This morning, I started reading “The Complete Stalky and Co” for children’s literature. While it is mildly interesting, it does not hold my attention like “Alice” and “Little Women” did.

            Around 1 p.m., a girl I met in linguistics class and I got together for lunch. We met on Cuba Street and then walked to Wellington Trawling Sea Market. I ordered fish and chips, and it was delicious. After, we went to the Sunday market, where local produce is sold, and to the Warehouse looking for some notebooks.

Sea Market on Cuba

Sunday Market

            At St. John’s, we watched “Prince of Egypt,” and that was really fun. It’s been such a long time since I’ve seen that movie, and the music is so good.

Monday, August 1

            Last Wednesday, a young couple from the Christian Club invited me to dinner. Another Uni student and a girl who lived in NZ last year were invited too. It was really nice to have a home-cooked meal and to socialize with them. The couple lives in the apartment right behind the Christian Club house, so it was very convenient for me.

Tuesday, August 2

            So earlier I mentioned that I’d signed up to take tango classes on Fridays. They’ve been pretty fun, but I am definitely one of the worst dancers there, partly because it is a beginning tango class and not a beginning dance class. But that’s beside the point. Anyway, Rayce and I decided that our dancing skills needed some extra practice, so we met this afternoon. The dance room where the class takes place was being used, but we were able to use a small yoga room in the rec centre. We actually did improve, and there is even a chance we were on beat with the music at the end.

Thursday, August 4

            Tonight I went with Rayce and a couple of friends from his group to St. John’s to listen to a lecture named “Darwin and Religion: Rumours of Warfare.” It was given by an American visiting on a Fulbright Scholarship. The flyer describing the talk made it sound like it was going to be a great presentation, discussing whether Christianity and evolution/science are destined to be eternally conflicted. However, that is not what the actual talk was about. In fact, I can’t exactly tell you what the talk was about. All I remember is that it consisted of lots of name-dropping and almost no mention of Darwin or religion. In fact, in all of the quotes the presenter read, I don’t think one of them came from Darwin. It was a bit of a disappointment, but it was still nice to get out of the hostel for a bit.

Friday, August 5

            Today I started “Five Children and It” for child lit, and I really enjoy it. It’s a very easy read, but the stories are funny. I can’t believe I’ve almost read half of the books for child lit already. Some have been better than others, but I am glad that I’ve read all of them. Even if I don’t particularly enjoy a book, I definitely have a greater appreciation for it once I learn some background information about the author and the time period it was written in.

            Tango class went well today. We learned a dance move that looks pretty cool, and better yet, Rayce and I can actually perform it decently. There is still lots of room for improvement, but I think we are getting better.

Saturday, August 6

            This morning, I played tennis with Cheng and one of his friends. We were the only ones at the courts, and it was really fun. It wasn’t too windy either, which I had been worried about.

            In the afternoon, I worked on my linguistics assignment. I am talking about the apostrophe and when the rules for using it are straightforward and when they are more ambiguous. Since holiday is coming up in two weeks, my workload is going to increase slightly. I have my linguistics assignment due this week, a NZ lit essay due the day before holiday, and a child lit essay due the day after holiday. Since Bev and I are planning on traveling around NZ during holiday, I am hoping to get both essays done before then.

I can’t believe I’ve been in New Zealand for a month already. It doesn’t seem possible that I start my fifth week of papers on Monday. Fortunately, everything has been going really well so far, and I still love being in Wellington.