Walking Among Mere Mortals

My bike broke.

After four months of riding my bike up and down the steep hills of Auckland, my spray-painted, left-wing minded bicycle broke. It wasn't anything that a quick welding job can't fix, but right now it's completely unrideable.

In a total twist of irony, it broke just a few days before I was planning on selling back to the shop where I purchased it. I was a little nervous because I had no idea how the bike shop owner would react. I was attempting to sell him a totally useless bike that wasn't in terrific shape to begin with. Fortunately the owner was fair and decided to buy it back at the amount we had agreed upon when I first bought it.

The premature departure of my main mode of transportation has left me a little uncomfortable though. I've been riding a bicycle everywhere for a couple of years now, so you can imagine that I'm a little rusty on this whole walking thing. I feel a little like an alien walking places where I have never walked before. I have a totally new perspective on what parts of the city look like now that they aren't whizzing by me.

I also discovered that my bike gave me a bit of a superiority complex. I feel so inferior now, walking with people instead of blazing by them on my brilliantly efficient mode of transportation. When I see bicyclists on the road I now feel inferior and I consider ways to let them know that I ride too, my bike's just in the shop. 

I never really noticed how poorly I tied my shoes before either. Some days, I have to stop walking, bend down and retie my show. That never happens with a bike. 

The only upside to my lack of a bike is that I get to wear hats again. Now that I don't constantly have a helmet on my head, I can wear my waxed cap for rain, my baseball cap for sun and my knit beanie for cold. I just wish I had a hat that let people know I'm usually on a bike and I'm ashamed to be walking.

Final Exams

Initially, I didn't think that final exams at the University of Auckland would be worthy of an entire blog entry. Little did I know, New Zealand takes exams seriously, very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that there is an entire department at the university dedicated to exams: The Office of Examinations.

During one informal review session with the TA of one of my classes, a student asked, "why are all of the proctors so old?" Being accustomed to having the professor who taught the course present at the final exam, I was a little surprised to hear that proctors were used. I assumed that the comment about the age was based on some general observation that the proctors were all adults instead of the younger PhD, MD and MBA candidates that we are used to seeing around campus.

When it came time for my first exam, I laughed out loud when two women who appeared to be in their 70's ushered us into the exam room. Later on I learned that aged proctors is not a generalization at all. During the exam period at universities all over New Zealand, the average age of people on campus probably increases by at least twenty years. Dozens, maybe hundreds of septuagenarians hurry around the campus with boxes of exams and pitchers of water.

Upon arriving at the exam room, I was informed that I had committed one of the worst exam sins possible. Thou Shalt Bring Thy Student ID. I hadn't known about this little rule and was surprised to learn that my driver's license was insufficient proof of identity. I was old-manhandled out of line and told that I would be able to take the exam but I would be escorted to the Office of Examinations for Identity Verification after the exam. The nice woman at the Office of Examinations acknowledged my foreign ignorance but proceeded to ask me four or five specific questions about my life and academic career in order to confirm that I was, in fact, me.

Other interesting final exam rules:
-No cell phones or ipods are allowed in the exam room.
-If you do bring in a phone and it makes a noise during the exam, you automatically fail the exam.
-Exam room assignments are not posted until the morning of the exam.
-Professors must submit final exams to the Office of Examinations more than a month prior to the actual exam.
-During the exam, proctors will not respond to students unless they use one of three hand signals: "T" sign for toilet, drinking motion for water, nose-tap for tissue.

The Collapse of Western Society Starts in New Zealand

I've been doing a lot of reading about the peak oil/ global warming/ food shortage/ recession crises lately. So much so that I am considering a career in sustainable development. It seems like our society is going to have to start to change in a big way in order for our population to survive. There must be some demand for people that will go to businesses and help them figure out how to produce and distribute goods and services in a more sustainable and responsible way. I might want to be one of those people.

The actual trigger for my recent career consideration wasn't some article I read or some film I watched. It was an empty peanut butter shelf in a grocery store down the road from my flat. I have noticed that the folks at this (and other) grocery stores haven't been restocking peanut butter. Every week, there are fewer and fewer varieties left to choose from (a tragedy, I know) and now there are only a few small jars left. New Zealand is running out of peanut butter.

A few aisles down, there is a sign in the rice section indicating that particular varieties of rice on the shelf will not be sold anymore. They've run out.

Something is seriously wrong when a modern, post-industrial country like New Zealand runs out of "basic" goods. Fortunately I am getting the hell out of this peanut-butterless wasteland in a couple of weeks so I won't have to know what it is like to live without peanut butter. This little legume scare has made me realize that the US and the rest of the world can't be too far behind. I'm not saying that I plan to dedicate the rest of my life to ensuring every citizen has equal access to a plentiful supply of peanut and rice products. I just think it might be helpful for people my age to start thinking about careers that serve the good of the community or society rather than the good of the industry or the individual.

Northland Lighthouses

While walking along the coast last week, I occasionally got the feeling that I was actually walking along the coast of some little town in Maine. 

I think it was the lighthouses that threw me off. I've only ever seen Maine lighthouses before I came to New Zealand. I guess all lighthouses probably look similar. The original lighthouses in New Zealand seemed pretty standard with your white base, glass cage and domed roof. 

Unfortunately, in New Zealand, most of the original lighthouses have been replaced with new squatty looking, fiberglass "lightstumps" as I like to call them. They are ten feet tall and have a little electronic light that is controlled by some computer in Wellington (which is a long ways away). You could easily climb on top of a "lightstump" but they are so dull and disappointing that it doesn't even seem worth it to climb up the thing. 

This photo show a young lightstump sitting next to a full-grown lighthouse. Interesting fact: it takes over 50 years for a lighthouse to become fully mature.

My last night in Northland I stayed at a hut that was converted from an old lightkeeper's house. It took about six hours of hiking to get to this hut, but it was worth it. The views were pretty amazing the hike itself gave me some much needed exercise. The hut:

Northland

I just got back from a week of hiking and camping in the Northland region of New Zealand. The views along the northernmost part of the country were pretty amazing. Miles and miles of isolated and empty beaches. It's winter here, so not many people are out hiking which leaves campsites, huts and trails almost empty. 

Not surprisingly, I saw a lot of beaches while walking along the coast. I also saw a lot of sunsets over the ocean and a lot of lighthouses. All typical coastal scenery, but it was still very impressive. 

The route started off with a bunch of sand dunes. I don't know a lot about dune environments, but there was a lot of sand piled up in big hills and a lot of wind blowing the sand around. I assume those two factors are important in sustaining a dune. 

The weather was nice for most of the trip, but there were a lot of cloudy times. I guess the Northland region of New Zealand sees weather unlike the rest of the country. It was unusually warm and dry which is probably why they call Northland the "Winterless North." 

While walking over some rocks this bright blue thing caught my eye. It was a beached Portuguese Man o' War. This thing is actually a venomous colony of distinct organism that combine to form a floating jellyfish-like animal. It moves around by filling up the air sac segment with carbon dioxide and then uses that as a sail. How cool is that?

There were a lot of lighthouses (lightheese?) but I will write about them later. 

One night I was sort of forced to camp on someone's lawn. It's a long story, but here is a picture of her grandson. He was your standard cute toddler with curly hair, overalls and red cheeks. 

There were some red toilet brush flowers outside of the hut that I stayed in on the last night. 

You can see all of the photos that I took in Northland here: 

http://picasaweb.google.com/TrevorCBraun/Northland

It's Different Here: Part 9

At restaurants, appetizers are called "entrees" and entrees are called "mains." There are also "starters" but I don't know what those are. 

Dessert is still dessert. 

It's Different Here: Part 8

Most homes have ceramic tiles instead of shingles on the roof. I have no idea why. 

It's Different Here: Part 7

Prescription bottles are different. First of all, they are really small compared to most US prescription bottles. Second, prescription bottles here generally don't have a child safety cap. The cap just unscrews. This was a little unsettling for me, so when I went to the pharmacy to have my prescription refilled, I asked for a child safety cap. It turns out you have to pay extra for those bottles!

Normally I would have been bothered by this, but it turns out that prescription medications are subsidized by the government so I only had to pay $2 for the pills in the first place. 

Together, the tiny size and child un-safe cap make the whole bottle look like a toy prescription bottle. Something that might come along with a pharmacist doll. 

It's Different Here: Part 6

Cheerios are expensive. I know food prices are going up everywhere, but for some reason, Cheerios seem to be the most expensive cereal around. $8 USD for a normal sized box. 

On the other hand, honey and jam is surprisingly inexpensive. And I don't know how this factors in, but Skittles are a lot cheaper than M&M's. 

Up North

For the next 6 days I will be traveling around the northernmost tip of New Zealand. Apparently there is a hiking trail that extends around the northern coast. I will also be heading out to Cape Brett, a little peninsula that sticks out of the northeast coast. At the end of Cape Brett there is a lighthouse with a lightkeeper's cabin nearby. The Department of Conservation has converted this cabin into a hut where hikers can spend the night.

At first it seemed like a really cool idea to stay in a lightkeeper's house, but now that I think of it, I'm not so sure. Given all that I know about movies, TV and Stephen King novels, there are bound to be grisly stories of death and murder attached to this lighthouse. 

While I'm gone, I have another series of: It's Different Here posts. 

I'll be back in a week... hopefully.

ANZAC Day

ANZAC Day happened last month, but I forgot to write about it so I'm writing about it now.

ANZAC Day is equivalent to the US Memorial Day. For the week leading up to the holiday, businesses sell paper poppies that are to be worn on ANZAC Day and then placed on some sort of monument or statue in remembrance of New Zealand and Australian soldiers who fought in WWI.

On the morning of ANZAC Day, pre-dawn ceremonies are held at major cities and towns across New Zealand and Australia. The ceremony at the Auckland War Memorial Museum started around 6:30. It was kind of erie walking with hundreds of people up to this museum in the pitch black.

The ceremony itself was pretty short and focused. It seemed like it was an event that had been practiced dozens of times, but there was still meaning in every speech and exercise. The timing of the event made the biggest impression on me. Standing in the dark with thousands of people may be erie, but standing with such a large group in total darkness and silence for two minutes is completely sobering.

Personally, I much prefer the ANZAC Day ceremonies to Memorial Day ceremonies. Sometimes, memorial day speeches and ceremonies can get bogged down in making sure the attendees remember how much our soldiers gave to ensure peace and freedom. We are asked to remember the sacrifices that were made. ANZAC Day focuses more on the soldiers, not the sacrifices. People don't walk away feeling guilty or ashamed. I think a big reason the speeches are so short is because everyone has already made the gesture of waking up at 5:30. The thousands of adults, kids, college students, teenagers, grandparents that show up wouldn't wake themselves up that early if ANZAC Day didn't mean anything to them.

Mt. Wellington - It's Not Where You Think it is

I took a trip over to Mount Wellington last weekend. Despite its name, Mount Wellington is actually in Auckland (though technically it is in the town of Mount Wellington). Mount Wellington is one of the dozens of volcanoes in the Auckland volcano field. It's one of the bigger ones, so I decided it would be worth checking out.

The most interesting part of Mount Wellington is the playing field that has been carved into the side of it. All volcanoes in New Zealand are considered spiritual places to the Māori people. In fact, all land in New Zealand technically belongs to the Māori people, but over the years, they have been kind enough to sell or donate land back to the government. Volcanoes are different though. Volcanoes are very special and important natural features for the Māori culture. And what did the government do to this very spiritual and important place? They carved out a soccer field and put in a parking lot and a road going up to it. 

The second most interesting part of Mount Wellington is the scoria deposits. The entire cone is actually made out of scoria (that's why it is classified as a scoria cone volcano) and the government and industries have been mining this scoria for decades. On the side of one of the craters, there is an exposed section where scoria rocks just sort of ooze out. They ooze in a non-fluid, rocky way.