Back to Work

Hello all, sorry that my posts have become less frequent lately. Usually I wait for something super exciting to happen, but now that school has started, this may be happening less often...but you never know!

So, first of week school taken care of and out of the way! As I briefly described last time, I'm currently enrolled in four classes:
RELI 106: Prayer, Meditation, Trance and Ecstasy
MAOR 122: Te Puwhenuatanga o te Moana-nur-a-Kiwa/The Peopling of Polynesia
SPOL 314: Sociology of Health & Illness
MUSC 151: Maori Music in Aotearoa NZ

It is definitely a little strange to be taking four classes, as I have mentioned in the past. The first week I definitely had a lot of free time, although it will get busier as the trimester goes continues. Let's take a look briefly at each one and my first thoughts and impressions:

RELI 106
It's a big lecture class, and I know at least five to ten people in the class from Australearn...lots of Americans everywhere! The class only meets once a week for an hour and fifty minutes, which is also a little strange, but is apparently not all that uncommon. We will also be divided into several tutorial groups--I can't remember if I've previously talked about tutorials, but they are similar to discussion sections, except mandatory. From what I can tell, they will cover the same material as a typical discussion: going over questions from the lecture, looking more in depth at the readings, and preparing for tests or papers. A big difference: the "tutors," as they are called, are very different than your typical TA. They are mostly professionals who have completed a Masters. Although not all of them have been properly introduced, one said that she works as a consultant three days a week and then tutors two days. When talking to my international buddy, Sarah (a big source of "aha" moments), she said that they actually pay them. Crazy! At home, TA's work for "free," but with discounts to their tuition rates (from what I understand). But obviously Victoria must be paying decent money if professionals are willing to come in and take these tutoring positions. Interesting! Anyways, the class in general seems straightforward, although it should be informative. I've never had the chance to take a class solely looking at religion, although it has been incorporated into many classes. I get to write a research paper on the end explaining something as a "religion," and using what I have learned in class to back it up. The professor described it as "the fun option instead of a test." Time shall tell.

MAOR 122
Another lecture class, although smaller. The room reminds me of the lecture halls in the PUP building, for those of you who are familiar. It's kind of a round shape with risers, and chairs all facing towards the centered lecture thingy (the proper name is escaping me...) It also seems pretty straightforward, but informative. It's really cool to take a class like this, because it is definitely something that I wouldn't get a chance to take at UMBC. And it's history, so it's not hard...memorize, memorize, memorize. Interesting at times, boring at times. You all know what I mean. Also a tutorial for this as well, but tutorials have yet to start, so I will have to fill you all in on them later. Taking so many first year "papers," as classes are called, means I'm stuck with a lot of mandatory tutorials about how to cite properly, how to reference correctly, how to write a paper, etc. Oh boy. It takes me back to....the beginning of time?? How long has this been drilled into us? At least I could possibly help anyone nearby who is struggling...or do something incorrectly and get knocked down off my high horse. Both are possibilities.

SPOL 314
My only major-related class! So far, I am pretty pumped for this one. I enjoy the topic of health, and I'm very excited to see it from the New Zealand side. And I've already covered a lot of the material, so it will be re-learning and seeing a different spin on things. We were looking at graphs comparing different countries and health inequalities, and I found myself constantly looking for the U.S. It was missing in a lot of them...although it did turn up in health spending (who would have guessed??). It's very unusual for the focus to be on a country that I know little about, as well as little about their healthcare system. Another thing that struck me in this class was the amount that the professor spoke out about his personal political views. He referenced John Key, the prime minister (not sticking with any small, little-known policy here!), and totally called out his domestic policies. Apparently, Key is against helping those who are poor because he believes that they all made bad lifestyle decisions to end up that way. WOW!!!!! I need to read more on this, but that blows me away! Especially with Obama in office at home right now, I am used to a totally different attitude. Plus, now I feel like I need to go slap John Key across the face and knock some sense into him. My goodness! Anyways, I also noticed that my professor talks really softly. I'm starting to notice that everywhere...sometimes I have a hard time hearing those in service positions when they're ringing me up and such. I've also noticed that at church, everyone kind of mumbles responses. Or is it just that Americans are that loud?? It's possible. This is the first time that I've really felt...loud. Usually people are asking me to speak up, not the other way around. Perhaps my ears will adjust.

MUSC 151

This class...is interesting. I have a tendency to pass judgment on classes that I feel are poorly organized before I even walk into the classroom. This is one such case. Therefore, I'm not sure if my initial feelings about it are due to my annoyed- ness due to the lack of teacher, Blackboard, building, or e-mail contact before the start of class, or if I actually don't enjoy the class. I'm going to hold off on going into detail until I think about it some more and decide my course of action from here, so bear with me!

Other new things for this week...the weather. After two absolutely perfect weeks of weather, the wind and rain hit together this week for the first time. I was soaked on Wednesday, despite the fact that I fortuitously brought my raincoat to school. It was rough. The night before, the winds (and the earthquake!) hit big time. My room is all windows, as I have described. I can FEEL the wind on my body through the windows when lying in bed. I also more closely observed my outside surroundings, and have found that at the corner of my room where my head is at night, there is a tree right next to the windows. That knocks into them repeatedly when windy. Also, on either side of the slim tree trunk, are power lines. Lovely. Whoever came up with the idea of above-ground power lines in "Windy Welly," I hope you have a good reason. We have yet to have problems, but it's worrisome to have them so close. So, I think I may have slept an hour or two that night...so little that I began to have delusions about people breaking into the house. Don't ask, I'm not really sure where it all came from in my head. But it was pretty real for me, so that didn't really help with the whole "sleeping" bit. I did sleep like a log the following night, though! Bonus!

The rain again got the best of me last night, when Laura, Nicole and I had planned to spend the night in the city. Our first night out, woohoo! And my first night even being able to go out, due to the under 21 restrictions back at home. But alas...rain struck. And it would not have been fun to walk all the way downtown in the cold, the dark, and the rain. For some reason, I am wildly interested in seeing a bar called Alice, which is "Alice in Wonderland" themed. Not that I've ever been a huge fan of the books or movies, but it just seemed cool. Plus, they serve drinks in teapots. How much classier can it get?! So we'll see if we ever make it down there.

Another first of the week: never in my life have I been more astonished about toilet paper. That's right, toilet paper. I am fascinated, confused, and slightly disgusted, all at once. Intrigued yet? Read on:
I bought an 18 pack of toilet paper on this past Tuesday, as in six days ago. I first noticed something was up on Thursday, but didn't bother to investigate. On Friday, I counted: there were ten rolls left. What?!?! Eight rolls, seven if you don't count the one by the toilet, gone in less than four days?? I let it slide...Saturday comes around. There are eight left. WHAT IS GOING ON?? Now I'm concerned. Early this afternoon, around 12:00, I counted six remaining. Hold on, I'll be right back...

TWO!!!!! THERE ARE TWO LEFT! Is there some kind of conspiracy going on?? Are people stealing toilet paper and selling it on eBay?! After mentioning my concerns with Alex a few days ago, he recommended a "square count" each time the bathroom was vacated in order to determine the average "square usage per person." And then issue warnings. I laughed at the time, but geez....

Anyways, so that's this past week in a nutshell. Class, earthquakes, wind and power lines...and toilet paper. Whoever knew someone would say the words "toilet paper" so many times in such a short amount of time. Exciting upcoming events (so stay tuned!) include this week of classes and the beginning of tutorials, the decision about what to do about MUSC 151, and next weekend's trip to complete the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. So so excited. It's ranked as one of the top ten best one-day hikes in the world. I might die a little bit, but I will have amazing pictures and an amazing time. Later this week I'll be off to Kathmandu to invest in some Under Armor-like apparel to keep me warm and some waterproof pants. Bet you all can't wait to hear about that. Oh, and perhaps the toilet paper saga will continue...you never know. So you'd better check back! Until then, kia ora!

NZ Week 4 Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=623959&id=597595706&l=a1be45a18a