Thursday I had my dance assessment, which I think went fine. I was not stressed out about it at all. The frustrating part was the [drummer] accompanist - I really feel like I could keep a beat better than he can most of the time. Then again, I know what good accompanists are like. I miss John Mayer! I came home from class, took a nap (I was so tired), and then had kapa haka! It was really exciting, we learned our first dances! It's really interesting because the dances are really focused on wrist movements, and there are certain things you're not supposed to do, like show your armpits or have your hands cross your face. I think learning the movements made it easier to remember the words, but that is probably just the dancer in me. (All the words are in Maori by the way, which means I have no idea what I'm saying.) And then we learned poi! I don't really want to go into detail about what it is, but it's all about the wrist movement and it's pretty fun. Also powerful! Mine is foam wrapped in plastic but my flatmate was playing around with it later that night and broke a glass when he accidentally smacked it. Whoops. Only like the fifth glass we've broken since we got here.. but look up poi on youtube, it's really cool, and harder than it looks. And I'm just doing the basics.
Dance class on Friday was finally more modern-y than it's been. We did lots of back movement exercises; I was in heaven. Anyway. I don't really remember what I did that afternoon, but at night people came over and we played Apples to Apples! They don't have Apples to Apples in New Zealand (my IES friend got it in the mail from her dad) so it was rather humorous trying to explain Apples to Apples and realizing how many American references there are in the game that not everyone knows. We hung out for a long time though - I ended up falling asleep on the couch while everyone was watching bad late-night infomercials. My flat really should get those ab-chair workout things. If I had a dime for every time I've seen at least part of that infomercial.. I'd probably be able to buy it by now. So many times.
Saturday, yesterday, I tried to be productive. I tried really, really hard. I got a couple readings done and decided on my classes for next semester at Gustavus (Women in the US; Sex, Power & Politics; World Religions; Intercultural Issues; Modern; Pilates; and I'm applying to choreograph for the fall Dance Gallery, which is apparently taken for credit; and Melissa wants me to TA for her next semester which isn't for credit but I do get paid). My flatmate invited me to go to a toga party at his sister's flat but I declined; I already had plans to go town a few hours later. I was so happy when I remembered that Daylights Savings ended when I got back from town though. Meant I got an extra hour of sleep last night!
Today Adi and I went to the French farmer's market in Parnell. I got bananas, brussel sprouts, three peppers, 100g of fancy olives (I spent so long debating that I decided that it was worth it. I love olives THAT much. and it wasn't terribly expensive anyway), and feijoas all for like $15? I haven't tried feijoas yet but I'm excited to, and I felt like a very saavy shopper.
AND THEN I booked my flight to the South Island! I'm flying into Dunedin on April 17th, we get in at 2pm. It's not the most ideal (and it was more expensive than I'd hoped) but at least it's booked and now we can start looking into other things, like renting cars and what to do and whatnot. It was crunch time so we just booked the flight and we still get to spend about ten days in the South Island, so I can't complain.
This upcoming week is actually going to be academically stressful. Tuesday I have a test in Italian, which I'm kind of nervous for since it's on the readings, and there will apparently be excerpts from the stories we've read and we have to identify which stories they're from. Wednesday I have a 30% of my grade test in sociology. I don't think it's going to be too challenging, but seeing as I have no background knowledge about the sociology of New Zealand besides what I've learned so far in class, it's more stressful than it otherwise would be. I also need to write my Italian essay before break, and hopefully hand it in before I leave so I can be totally done with it and not think about it once break starts. My goal was to write it this weekend, but so far I only have the Word document open with my name and class number in the upper right corner. Not productive. And then SATURDAY I leave for Rarotonga! I need to go buy some reef shoes so I can go swimming (apparently there are lots of shells and coral and whatnot, some of which are poisonous, so I do not want to be stepping on those while swimming), sunscreen, bugspray, sunglasses, and possibly a skirt. But I am so, so pumped. I just need to make it through the week first, and try to be super productive.
And in other news, I am gaining mass amounts of leg muscle from hiking everywhere. I also wake up in the middle of the night with calf cramps, even though I stretch them every time I think about it, which are extremely painful. I also stretch my legs and point my toes when I'm waking up in the morning (definitely had no idea I did that before) which makes my calves cramp up. :( I may have had dancer legs, but now I am definitely gaining new, different kinds of muscles. Not sure how I feel about it. It would be nice to walk on flat ground to get to class every now and then..
on my way home from Kapa Haka, not the best picture but still pretty sunset :)
awkward angle of the Auckland Museum (less than 5 minutes from my flat)
No comments:
Post a Comment