Pavlova Paradise and Chinese Lantern Festival

I've been having several spurts of entrepreneurial activity and thinking and trying to pass it along to others whom it might help, and it really is infectious. I don't think the students who hole up in their rooms or in the library and don't interact much with anyone else quite understand that they are missing out on all kinds of valuable learning experiences. To me, going to university is about so much more than studying and writing papers and passing tests: it is one of the only times you will be in an environment packed with learning opportunities (visiting professors and businesspeople, like-minded and un-like-minded peers) where you have the time and energy to do deep thinking and wrestle out ideas with others, to have people disagree with you and force you to defend yourself or change to adapt to new information. Plodding along is certainly one way of going to college, but such a poor experience and value for your money compared to really taking advantage of so many resources in one place.

On that note, several of us attended a public lecture by Austin Mitchell, who is famous for writing The Half Gallon Quarter Acre Pavlova Paradise in 1972, which is a satirical look at New Zealand culture, and then a sequel called Pavlova Paradise Revisited in 2002. It was so heartening to see the lecture theater packed out. I arrived late because of getting off work late and had to sit in the sound booth room at the back crushed with a bunch of other latecomers. Mitchell is British but spent some time in New Zealand as a lecturer in history and sociology. He had a great character and captivated the audience. After discussing some of the disturbing trends since the 1980s deregulation and privatization, he ended by saying that New Zealand should use its small size to its advantage, not to be anti-intellectual but to push for using things like television and documentaries to educate its populace and make positive change. He inspired me to want to read his books, and it was heartening to hear that New Zealand used to be better even if it has declined since the mid 20th century. He challenged academics to get out in the public eye and not just write articles that few will read, which is something I have been thinking a lot about, especially with Digital Humanities' call for open access rather than pay-walled content available only to the privileged. Afterward, there was a hang-out where they gave everyone free pavlova (like an airier angel food cake) and we continued the intellectual discussion with our friends. To me, that evening was the stuff universities should be made of and encouraging. 

At the university's clubs day, I met several American students here on exchange, and it was fun talking about U.S. politics (more commiserating) and explaining some things about New Zealand. I like the immediate sense of camaraderie I can establish with most other American students here. You already have something in common and can launch into almost any topic without hesitation. It makes me feel old hat since I've been here for over a year. I also met a Canadian recently and we got along immediately.

We gave up on trying to mow the lawn ourselves and paid a lawn-mowing guy who left his business card in our mailbox to decimate it and trim around all of the overgrown edges. One of the best uses of $30 I've spent. It was done so fast and saved us a bunch of time and back-breaking work. I can't believe how much time, energy, and money people who have lawns spend to maintain them. When the water supply goes, I hope lawns will too. Xeriscaping is easier for everyone!



The Chinese Lantern Festival in Hagley Park turned out to be way more popular than the organizers anticipated. It was the most crowded event we've been to here, and a later newspaper article said it had 30,000-50,000 people (anticipated 20,000) over the two nights it ran. We met up with our Chinese friends and I suggested some business ideas they might want to look into beyond fighting for the few spots in academia, which excited them. It was hard to see the stage from the way back where we were, but we could hear the drums and the famous Chinese rock band, and then there were fireworks at the end. The lanterns in and around the trees were cool, too.

 

 

 

Roadtrip: Dunedin

Our week-long trip had enough stuff and photos to spread it out over a couple posts, so this one will be about our first stop, Dunedin.

Dunedin is the second-largest city on the South Island of New Zealand. It is supposed to be about 4.5 hours driving distance south of Christchurch. But...it was raining most of the way so I drove more slowly. I was very glad we got new tires put on before we left. We made it into the city too late to be able to do any of the things only open until 5 (because we got a late start out of Christchurch, having to drive our cat to the cattery on the other side of town), so we headed out to our Airbnb place to stay. It was our first Airbnb experience and it was a lovely home with a big, upgraded bathroom and kitchen. Our hosts were very friendly and their 9-month-old dog was nice, too.

Our host suggested going out to one of the beaches on the peninsula to see some sea lions. We saw two animals, either sea lions or fur seals. We also saw a bird with a long beak poking holes in the sand to find food for its two chicks. It started crying at us when we got too close. Afterward, we drove out to the end of the peninsula which is an albatross and penguin breeding colony. You have to fork over a lot for the tours, so we hung out with the large population of seagulls nearby instead. On our way back to the car, far away from the hoards of gulls we had just been around, one decided to target D and pooped on his head! I tried cleaning it off with a napkin, but it didn't help much and was so gross! After cleaning that up at home, we stayed up late chatting with our hosts about the city, our life so far in NZ, their kids who all live abroad, and eventually NZ and US politics. It seems to be a lot safer to do that here than in the US which is kinda nice.

not the guilty one :)

The next day, since the weather was still bad, we skipped the Larnach Castle and instead went on a Cadbury Factory tour. It was a 75-minute tour through the actual factory and we all had to wear hair nets and take out everything from our pockets and take off jewelry. I couldn't help but inwardly shake my head at the wall display as our energetic host explained the ingredients that make up their milk, dark, and white chocolate. I wish those were everything that was used! It was missing all of the additives and preservatives actually listed on the candy bars. Example: Sugar, Full Cream Milk, Glucose Syrup, Vegetable Fat, Butter, Cocoa Mass, Milk Solids, Cocoa Butter, Food Acid (331), Emulsifiers (Soya Lecithin, 471), Humectant (422), Salt, Flavours. May contain traces of Nuts. Ultimately, the New Zealand brand, Whittaker's, makes much better-tasting chocolate than Cadbury. It doesn't cut corners.

After an obligatory photo stop at the Dunedin Railway Station, the most photographed building in the country, we visited the Toitū Otago Settlers Museum which was a good, big museum (and free). I can't imagine trying to survive here after coming off a long boat journey. What a risk! We had a little time leftover before 5 to do some of the Otago Museum (also free) which is located next to Otago University, the oldest university in NZ. I enjoyed the section on the birth of modern conveniences -- they really are so relatively new in the history of the world.

leopard seal (the bad guy in Penguins of Madagascar)

Otago University's pretty architecture

Next we drove to the steepest public street in the world, Baldwin Street. Several other groups of people were also there, and some even climbed it! A couple enterprising homeowners had little shops run out of their houses on one side of the street with t-shirts and refreshments. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, I guess. We learned during the Cadbury tour that every year, 75,000 Jaffa balls (orange and chocolate balls) are released at the top of the street and the first 5 to make it to the bottom are winners. Charities get the proceeds from selling raffle tickets for the numbered balls. It sounded like a great fundraising idea.

The following day the weather cleared up so we got the nice harbor view from our place that I was hoping for. We took the high road on the peninsula with great views of the water. Then we were back on a two-lane highway to our next destination: Queenstown!

Great Meeting

I had a great first meeting with my supervisor today. We talked about my proposed project as well as a bunch of other things like life in Christchurch, differences between the British and New Zealand ways of doing things, weather, and some of the political goings-on in the department and university. It turns out it was fortunate that I met with the head of the school yesterday because he's the one who has the final say for funding decisions and other things that one might want to get through red tape. Also, my supervisor is already keeping me in mind for a class he's putting together on science and technology next year, and if I'm lucky, I'll get to guest lecture on my subject area which is going to be part of the reading list. Splendid news.

I also met another professor who came into the office holding a steaming mug with a cat on it, and I immediately asked him if he liked cats and it opened up a fun little conversation about my bringing my cat here and dog/cat people. Overall, I am impressed with the faculty I've met in my department and am going to work to build a good network for now and future needs. It's how the world works, so might as well get with the program.

The cul-de-sac in the neighborhood we're staying in has a brick-paved center where cars can park. It does make sense not to waste that area, doesn't it?

I discovered that there was "hokey pokey" ice cream in the freezer. Apparently it's a uniquely New Zealand flavor consisting of little toffee bits mixed in. I enjoyed the sugary goodness.