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.
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| Sea Market on Cuba |
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| 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.
