~Chur Chur to our Netball win!~
Today’s day started off perfectly with a nice run around the massive hills of Dunedin, The route we went on was probably one of the hardest runs I have ever done, but Im alive. Running in other countries is absolutely amazing because of all the things you learn and see. On the route back to University of Otago, we passed by what I believe to be the party houses. The houses around here have a specific look and are so cute! I learned from Adam that the University has been trying to work on the aesthetics of the campus by purchasing these houses around the campus, fixing them up, and then converting them into offices. This then pushes back and away the student party houses. As you can see, you can tell which ones were the party houses because there were actual signs of the house names like Hoe-tel, Fridge, and etc. Its so interesting cause as many of you UMD students may know, there is a similar system with our houses on campus *wink wink*. Other than that, the designs of the nice non-party houses is literally my dream first home.
After the run, we had the pleasure of having our guest speaker of the day, Dr. Mark Falcous. A unique way he began he lecture was the exercise of what we believe are characteristic of Kiwi people. Listed characteristics included laid back, generally fit lifestyle, welcoming, and “punching above our weight”. What does “punching above our weight” mean for Kiwis? Ir refers to how small the country may be, but how fully functioning and strong nation they are. The characteristics were very similar to what his past students said about Kiwis as well. When performing this exercise it occurred to me that being in New Zealand, I would say that Americans are diverse, fat, lazy and the younger generations are generally entitled. It really depends on the area of the country too. However, its interesting how generally there are Americans who acknowledge this, but continue to practice such bad habits, other than being diverse of course. A case study that Mark Falcous brought up today was the 2010 Football Frenzy (Soccer). Soccer is a very popular sport when looking across the globe, however, it is seen as a sport for “poofs”, or girly in New Zealand. Lately there was this idea that the popular Kiwi sport, Rugby was becoming very browned, containing more Maoris than Whites. It was believed that Whites then fled to the Soccer sport. The team was even named the All Whites. Now people, including the media, are trying to make Soccer a national sport. In one article that Falcous showed us, there was an emphasis on the inclusion of four Maori players and called for the performance of the haka just like the All Blacks. As you can see, the nation continues to face racial issues around the country, despite it being considered a nation of “racial harmony”.
Working out twice in the same day? Haven’t done that in a while. Our class went netballing, where the competition was fierce. The idea of netballing didnt sound too fun at first, and Ive never seen or played before so this was definitely a different experience. I freakin loved it! It was basically basketball without dribbling or moving with the ball. Our team won of course, but how can you not when you got the duo Mel and Jack. It must run in the fam.
Oh yea and we went on a brewery tour this evening of the popular Speight’s brewery. Not a huge fan of beer. So when sampling, of course I went with the Cider, even though there was 0.6% more ABV than their highest of beer. Oh well.
Cheers!
<3 Mel