Sunday, December 13, 2009

In New Zealand again

Hey All,

So, I had planned on video blogging (vlogging) again from New Zealand, but it's proving to be more difficult (both expensive and technically challenging) than I had planned since I don't have my own computer. Hence, I will have to settle for typed words.

My flight over was pretty good, though long. I ended up next to a very chatty Iranian woman who is a Ph.D. student at Stanford in chemical engineering. It was both good and bad in that, when I was awake I had someone to talk to, but anytime I was awake, someone was talking to me. I did get about 6 hours of sleep on the plane, 2 decent meals, and got a bit of work done on my last paper for the semester. All in all, time well spent.

Since getting to New Zealand, life has been full of many logistical challenges, and involved a bit of hurry up and wait, but it's all good. Johanna and I successfully met up, procured a car, procured kayaks, built a roof rack, did some kayaking, met some people, and went our own ways. She is currently spending a week in the back country near Arthur's Pass, and I am chilling on a farm with a new friend of mine, doing a bit of kayaking, and having a pretty darn good time. I have to switch out boats on Wednesday night in Christchurch, so I'm sticking to the local area for now and doing a bit of kayak surfing in the ocean. I did run part of the Hurunui River earlier this week, and I'm going to run the main portion of it on Christmas Day with some people from the club. Saturday I plan on heading up to Murchison to meet Johanna and do some kayaking there. This is about as far as current plans go.

I know I said I would try to update pretty frequently, but what with camping out of the car most of the time and spending heaps of time in the back country, I'm not sure how much that will actually happen. I'll do my best, though.

I hope everyone is having a good winter and enjoying the holiday season.

Merry Christmas!

Alex

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Back in the USA

Ok, so I'm back. I've been back for about 2 weeks, actually. Working. A lot. I had a fantastic time in New Zealand. Really, truly, and absolutely amazing experience. Honestly, Life changing. But now I'm back. And I'm busy. And it's probably apparent from the length of these sentences that I'm tired. In fact, I should probably be sleeping right now instead of doing this, but I felt it necessary to at least begin writing an ending to my first New Zealand adventure.

So, to begin with, I haven't blogged since 2 weeks before I left New Zealand, and now I've been back in the United States for 2 weeks, which means (for those who may be having difficulty with the simple math) that it's been 4 weeks since I've written. An entire month. I feel kind of guilty.

Since my last blog, there were several significant events (not including coming home) that are worth mentioning here. First, kayaking. I finally managed to get hold of the people I referenced in one of my first blogs, the people I was hoping to have a social life through, and we went kayaking Saturday/Sunday. It was sweet. We did the Aniwhenua section of the Rangitaiki (?) River, and it was mean as. The people I met up with were all real cool. Two of them were very experienced kayakers, the other two not so much. The river was beautiful and fun, even for the experienced ones. The river runs through a deep gorge, a canyon really, with vertical walls rising straight out of the water in many places. The area is lush and green. The river is deep, with plenty of opportunities to eddy out, to play around, and to just enjoy the company of good people and good water. We drove down Saturday afternoon, camped Saturday night, kayaked Sunday morning/afternoon, drove back Sunday evening, and got back Sunday night. It was a cramped car (5 people in a Subaru with heaps of gear and 5 kayaks on top), but a good car. We had a misadventure (driving half an hour up an old logging road looking for a river access that wasn't there, all the while bottoming out the car on a regular basis and having to retie the boats several times due to roof-rack slippage) and a good time.

Following the awesome kayaking trip, I went to school for a week. It posed many challenges, as it does, but I survived. ... I should correct myself. I didn't really go to school for a week. I went to school for 3 days, then Thursday and Friday were teacher only days I decided to skip. I opted instead to fly to Wellington on Wednesday night after my calculus study group, where I stayed for 2 nights with Katherine, the sister of Fran, a teacher at the school in Auckland. I toured Wellington a bit, with particular interest in the parliament building, and then began a long hitch-hike up to Thames, in the Coromandel Peninsula, about an 8 hour drive away.

The hitch-hike itself was interesting, 3 rides in particular. I got one long ride, about 2 hours or so, from a young couple in a van. There were 2 seats in the front of the van, which they occupied, and no seats in the back, which I occupied with 3 dogs. But it was alright. The couple was cool and really nice, and they went out of their way to drop me off in a good location for catching my next ride, a girl my age on her way from work. She had an interesting life story. She grew up on a farm with 4 sisters, made a few mistakes, and dropped out of school when she was 15. She spent a few years figuring things out, and is now doing quite well in a small product marketing firm. She is in a program to finish up her schooling so she can become a manager in this firm, and seems to be in good standing with the owner, who actually invited her to leave the job she had and join the firm. This girl drove me for at least 3 hours, maybe longer, and we had some interesting conversations about religion, ethics, decisions, life, experiences, and all sorts of good stuff. Really a nice ride. My last ride of particular note became interesting when it happened twice. This guy picked me up and drove me for about half an hour, then dropped me off in a town where our directions diverged. He came back through town about an hour later, however, and I was still there. He happened to be heading my direction now, after having gone home to change out of his work clothes and borrow his wife's car. He was on his way to visit some people from his church, and his first stop was a pick-up, one of his fellow church members who was going out with him that night. Well, the guy we were picking up was just in the process of cooking his dinner, and offered us some, so there was a bit of a feed. Then I ended up walking out with a Book of Mormon. It wasn't aggressive or intrusive, and I didn't want to be rude, so I took it. I didn't really want to carry it, but I did anyway, and I still have it. I think it is important to educate yourself about other people's beliefs, so I will hopefully find the time to read it eventually, just out of curiosity.

I ended up in Thames about 6:00 PM. It took me 12 hours to get there, and I was supposed to meet some friends from Auckland about 6:30. Unfortunately for me, they ended up a bit late. No worries, however. I wandered around Thames, had a bit of food, and was in a restaurant enjoying the company of a nice retired couple when my friends finally showed up around 9:30. I hopped in the (very full) car and we headed up the road toward the Pinnacles, a small 'mountain' we were planning on hiking up the next day. We set up camp late that night and stared early in the morning. We made it to the top of the Pinnacles around 12:00 or 12:30 and had a good time enjoying the close-up of the inside of a cloud. Supposedly the view is breathtaking on a clear day, and judging just by the quality of the view from below the cloud layer, I believe the rumors to be true. We hiked down and headed back to Auckland on Sunday night.

I went to school Monday, and stopped by briefly on Tuesday morning, but spent most of Tuesday getting ready to leave New Zealand. It was sad to go, and my calculus boys seemed a bit torn, but coming back was a necessity, like it or no. I had an awesome trip, and am absolutely glad I went.

E noho rā Aotearoa - (Goodbye New Zealand)

Thursday, July 30, 2009

New Zealand: update 6 - Less than 2 weeks remain

The SI Chronicles - Earthquake!

Don't be too alarmed, but there was a magnitude 7.8 earthquake on the south island while I was there. I didn't have the misfortune (?) of feeling it, because it took place in Fjordland and I was in Christchurch, but I did have the pleasure of making up many amazing stories about being in a huge earthquake as soon as I got back to Auckland, because everybody asked if I had been there. The earthquake was followed for several days by large aftershocks, some upward of 6.0 - more earthquakes in themselves rather than aftershocks, but I won't be picky. The funny thing about this huge earthquake in Fjordland, though, is that there were no major damages, and no injuries. I say this is funny because i think only in New Zealand could a 7.8 earthquake cause no major damage and harm no people. It is often assumed that New Zealand is a tiny country, and in many ways it is, but really, it's about the size of Colorado, so it isn't that small. When you consider that there are only about 4 million people in the whole place, it starts to get a lot bigger. There are miles and miles of land here broken only by fences, flocks of sheep, and the occasional farming road. Even better, there are more miles broken only by breathtaking mountains standing guard over a natural beauty consciously preserved by the people of this 'small' island country. So it isn't remarkable that there was a 7.8 earthquake in New Zealand (it's on the ring of fire, for goodness sake) that failed to cause any major damage or serious harm. What is remarkable is that anybody outside this "tiny" island country ever heard about it.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

The SI Chronicles - Presidential Motorway

As I was heading to Christchurch from Invercargill in a truck with a guy called Zippy, I went over a stretch of highway called "The Presidential Motorway." It goes from the town of Clinton to the town of Gore.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

The SI Chronicles - A truckdrivers motto

I read this on the back of a truck at one point. It was a bit ironic, because this was at the top of the truck, and at the bottom it said, "Professional staff, quality service." It said:

The point of life is not to lay down quietly into your grave at the end, it's to slide in sideways screaming "holy Sh**, what a ride!"

Yeah, I thought that was funny.

The SI Chronicles - Photos are up

I took about 350 pictures in 2 weeks. I'd have taken more, but the camera batteries died every so often, and power sources were not frequently a major deciding factor in my accomodation choices. But regardless, I've posted a bunch of the better pics on Picasa. Check 'em out:


South Island Uploads

New Zealand: update 5 - The SI (South Island) Chronicles

Hey Everyone,

It's been an adventurous 2 weeks for me since I last made contact with this community, and I hope everyone reading this has been getting out and enjoying a bit of life as well. You may have noticed the title of this post: The SI Chronicles. I spent the last 2 weeks wandering the south island of new zealand searching for lost hobbits and old wizards, as well the occasional lift here or there. I can't even dream of telling all the many stories I lived in one simple blog update, so in addition and as part of the "New Zealand update" scheme, there will now be the SI Chronicles, in which I may occasionally relate a story from my journeys. For now, I will simply provide a brief overview of the route of my journeying and my methods of travel.

I flew into Christchurch on the evening of Saturday, the 4th of July (Yay for American Independence!) and stayed there that night as well as Sunday night. I spent Sunday roaming the city, though there is honestly not much city to roam. I also tried to do a bit of planning for the rest of my journey, though not to much avail. I did discover a website I somehow had missed in all my previous internet wandering: doc.org.nz. This website has heaps of information on the natural features of New Zealand, including backcountry tramping. It also includes the locations of the Department of Conservation (DOC) offices around NZ, one of which is in Christchurch.
Monday morning I dropped into the doc office to get some advice. I was interested in doing some backcountry tramping, and had brought all my gear: 2 sleeping bags, sleeping mat, tent, stove, pots, food, layers of clothing, gloves, beanie, SPoT, and all of whatever else, so all I needed now was a destination. My internet research Sunday had been helpful, and talking to doc Monday was exactly what I needed to get started. I was headed for the St. James Track in Lewis Pass.
I took a bus to Belfast, a suburb on the edge of Christchurch, stuck my thumb out, and got a ride to Hamner springs, about 100km short of Lewis Pass. From Hamner Springs I got a ride with a nice Indian family just "out for a long drive" from Christchurch (long indeed, it's about 3 hours at least, and they were headed to Reefton, another hour again) up to the top of Lewis Pass, where the Saint James Track starts. I picked up my bag and headed out into the woods. The track itself is about 4 days of walking, and comes back to the same road it leaves from, but about 20km lower down. I spent 3 nights camping and walking in the backcountry, enjoying some beautiful scenery and great, though cold, weather.
Back on the road 4 days later, I hitched over to Reefton and spent the night there. The next morning I started moving south from Reefton, getting a ride to Greymouth and then (after a 2 hour wait, the longest of my trip) got a ride with some Israeli tourists all the way to Fox Glacier. I spent a night in Fox Glacier, did a bit of sightseeing there (although I missed Lake Matheson, which I regret) and got a ride out to Haast the next morning from Tara, a local taking some time off work to tend to her 3 week old daughter. Tara wasn't originally planning on going to Haast, but when we got to where she was actually headed, she seemed to think my company warranted another 45 minutes down the road. Tara dropped me off in Haast, where the same Israelis picked me up again! They got me through to Wanaka that day, and I was trying to continue on from Wanaka to Queenstown that day, but got stuck in Luggett, a tiny town (one bar, no post office kind of place) about 20 minutes past Wanaka. Small town hospitality proved forgiving for me that night, as a half hour in the pub ended up furnishing me with a spare bed in a locals home for the evening.
Next morning, I got a ride from a police officer back to Wanaka so I could head to Queenstown the other way. It turns out that the map is deceiving and makes the route nobody ever takes appear to be the major route. Locals all go over the Crown Ranges, which is a beautiful group of mountains north of Queenstown. Anyway, the cop took me to Wanaka, and about 5 minutes with my thumb out there got me halfway to Queenstown. Another 10 minutes on the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere and I had a lift through to the city, where I ended up spending very little time. Queenstown is a lot like Whitefish in that it is a nice town in a beautiful location, but is also overflowing with rich tourists on ski vacations. It's also a lot like Whitefish in that it is a very difficult place to get a ride. I went to the edge of town, to a place where every person driving past was certainly going to same direction I was, since there was only one direction to go. For an hour and a half steady traffic went by, but no rides. Finally I got a ride from a young semi-local couple hung over from the night before. They were pretty good company in spite of their hang-overs, and took me quite a way, to a small intersection where the small country road I needed branched off from the main highway. I walked about 6km down that small road before getting another ride, but it was alright. The countryside was good company, if a bit stinky from all the cows. I eventually got a ride from an old farmer who said to me, "don't mind the smell, I've just been killing sheep all day. help yourself to a beer if you'd like." He took me through to Mossburn, and I walked out of Mossburn toward Te Anau enjoying a gorgeous sunset.
I found a good place to camp on the side of the road headed toward Te Anau, but since I still had about 45 minutes of daylight left, I thought I'd give hitching a shot just in case I might get a ride to Te Anau that night. Fortune smiled, and about 60km later I was setting up camp in Te Anau and contemplating the morning.
Next day I hitched up to Milford Sound and back with a Taiwanese family, then headed out of town with a farmer who took me almost all the way to Invercargill. When I asked if he happened to know any good place to set up my tent, he took me to his brother-in-law's place, and his brother-in-law, Peter, put me up for the night. After about an hour of listening to all sorts of farm-talk (shearing, butchering, grazing, beef, studs, and whatnot) Peter even fed me dinner. Next morning his friend Dan gave me a ride into Invercargill on his way to work, and from Invercargill I got a ride down to Bluff, on the very southern tip of the island, with another Peter.
Bluff was a cool little town, and I dawdled there much longer than I had originally planned. It was no real matter, though, because the Peter who gave me a ride to Bluff had also invited me to his place for dinner and to sleep, which was great. His family and his home were awesome, and I really enjoyed the time I spent there. (Hey Pete, if you're reading this, thanks again!) We ate the blue cod he caught that day fishing (blue cod is the primo fish on the south island, and is very good), sat around looking at photos I had taken and at some of their photos, and in the morning I went down to Northern Southland trucking, through which I got a ride all the way to Christchurch in one day. The first leg, to Dunedin, was with Graham aka Zippy, and the second leg was with, you didn't guess it, another Pete.
I camped outside the city that night, then hitched north the next morning to Kaikoura, a neat little town situated on a beautiful section of coast, with another guy named Graham. I hung out in Kaikoura most of the afternoon, then was heading south to the countryside to camp (there were some good sites along the highway on the way in) when dark crept in. I kept on heading out into a drizzly night when a kind woman named Janet pulled over and offered me a ride to wherever I was going. After talking for a few minutes, she offered me a spot at her place and mentioned that her husband might be able to give me a ride back to Christchurch the next day, because he is a truck driver. (thanks again Janet!) Well, after a comfortable night in their home, I awed at a beautiful sunrise and put my thumb out to head back to Christchurch. Janet's husband was heading out around noon, but sometime about 10 am a trucker named Thomas pulled over and took me all the way into Christchurch. I spent the day in Christchurch (went and rode the Gondola, which was kind of cool, as well as went and saw the new Harry Potter film) then spent the night in the Christchurch airport to catch my flight at 6:45 the next morning. And now, here I am back in Auckland.

So, that's the short of my trip. I will continue to post bits and pieces of it as time goes on under the heading "The SI Chronicles." Thanks for checking in, and if you happen to be one of the wonderful people who is willing to pull over on the side of the road to pick up a hitch-hiker, I especially thank you for your generosity. I had a wonderful trip around the south island admiring both the natural beauty of New Zealand as well as the kindness I met with so frequently from it's many inhabitants.

Until next time.

~Alex

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

New Zealand: update 3



I must make 2 corrections to this video post. 1: There is no second post. I just never got around to recording the second section, so this is all there is. 2: Able Tasman is not in the southwest corner of the south island, it is in the very north. The park I was thinking of is Fjordlands nat'l park, which I do hope to make it to.

Friday, June 26, 2009

"Living in South Auckland" - An Essay by Mr. Auimatagi (Year 8, De La Salle College)

Living in South Auckland can be called home. But our home can be called a ghetto. It's New Zealand's side of the GHETTO! This side is the south side.

Living in South Auckland is quite easy. ONLY if you know what to do. We have the so called good guys that save the day, and then comes in the bad guys when they wander around and attack innocent people in supermarkets, stores, and homes. But we cannot forget the UGLY GUYS these kind of people probably can do do worse by means that they are known for their mistakes or attacks, or what they have done.

We have gangs that can do much more worse than the ugly guys, that's why South Auckland has a bad reputation for their behaviour on the streets of our community, even public places like the liquor store, down at Otara or Otahuhu where they got robbed in the middle of the night. So South Auckland is famous only for things that can harm the children of our own generation.

And here we are left with the good people in our suburbs and homes, they are trying to clean up the mistakes that we have made wrong about. They are trying also to set a good example of children trying to do the same, like not to steal, join in gangs and kill other people not doing drugs and a whole lot more.

You and me can also make a difference. We can make some changes in our !!LIFE!!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

New Photos Up

Pictures are from the year 11 retreat and my camping trip this weekend. Enjoy!

New Zealand 2

Sunday, June 21, 2009

NZ update 3

Hey Everyone,

I'm posting this blog in text format for a friend who is suffering from slow internet syndrome, a disease I have been all too familiar with the last few summers at Mountain Sky (though it was a disease I gladly contracted).

It was a pretty eventful week, so I feel like it warrants an update a mere week after the last. But first, happy shortest day of the year! Ok, so it might be the longest day for the vast majority of readers (perhaps all?), but nonetheless, I consider it a personal holiday ;- ). The winter weather here in Auckland is mild. Night temperatures are usually somewhere in the freezing range, and if the sun is out, daytime temps are generally around the low- to mid- 50s. The mornings tend to be the only unpleasantly cold time of day, and only because the transition from a warm bed into a cold, dark morning is always a bit of a shocker.

Since it has been an eventful week, I will now commence to tell you about it, starting with Tuesday and Wednesday. Unfortunately, Tuesday and Wednesday were not the happiest of days for me. They began optimistically; I went with the year 11 class on their retreat. The retreat is supposed to be what retreats generally are, a brief time away from the usual environment to come together as a class, focus on faith, on brotherhood, and for these boys, who only have 2 years left before they leave school, to think about their personal values and where they are heading in the future. Unfortunately, I do not believe a single one of these boys came away having consciously reflected on any of these issues. These boys have somehow, over the course of their schooling, managed to leave behind all semblance of concern for school. They do not respect the institution, the staff, or the concept. To them, school is simply what they do every day, it has no bearing on their 'real' lives. Consequently, the retreats (half the class Tuesday, half the class Wednesday) were more like preparation for being a monkey trainer than like being a leader on a retreat. I was a mere cat-herder at best. Trying to get these boys to focus, to be respectful, or anything of the sort, often seems like a mere waste of time. Andrew Malele, the campus minister who was in charge of the retreats, is an old boy of the school, but even he can't seem to center these boys long enough to ask them to critically think about anything. I know in all schools there are significant numbers of kids with similar focus / behaviour issues, but it feels like De La Salle has an abnormally high concentration. Some blame the socioeconomic situation of most of the attendees (DLS is the poorest high school in New Zealand) but I think it’s more than that. It feels more like it comes from the culture. Somehow, these kids see it as alright to be failures. Many of them cannot pass the unit standard tests (the lowest level of qualification) for their grade level, and the vast majority could not earn an "Excellent" on the NCEA test (the most rigorous test) for their grade level. One of the worst things about the retreat situation for me is that I work with about 50 of the year eleven boys over the course of the week in their maths classes, and I now find that I have trouble taking them seriously. It is a sickness of the mind I will have to overcome, because I know I will not be successful at all with them if I cannot look at them as at least capable, even though they are unwilling. The challenge is to engage them in the work, somehow...

But moving to more pleasant things.

Wednesday evening brought a great change from my disgruntled and discouraged attitude of the afternoon. I offered the calculus class the opportunity to have evening study sessions for review of the material from the beginning of the year (derivatives, complex numbers, all that good stuff) because the vast majority of them did not pass their internal exams last week. Out of 18 students, 12 chose to show up at school at 6 PM on a Wednesday, and when 7 PM rolled around, they asked to stay another half hour. These students demonstrate to me the payoff of teaching. They are actually interested in learning, in doing well, and some of them may even go to University, which is a rare accomplishment for boys from this neighborhood. They felt like they gained from the study session, and I don't mind working with them at all, so we are going to make it a regular, twice-a-week occurrence. Every Monday and Wednesday at 6 PM, this group of young men is going to meet me for Calculus, and I can honestly say I am excited about it. Even in writing about it, the thought has lifted me up substantially from the disappointment I was remembering in the previous paragraph.

Thursday was uneventful, but Friday proved to be another good day, and finished out my week quite nicely. Viliami, the teacher I am working with most, had to miss third and fourth period, so I taught his classes. Legally, I can't have a class all to myself because there are required qualifications for substitutes, so there was another 'teacher' in the room. Regardless, I gave the lecture, went over the example problems, and assigned the homework for an algebra class and the calculus class. It was pretty exciting, and went quite well. In fifth period, to top up the academic day, Viliami and I team-taught his year 9 pre-algebra class, which was just fun. They are an energetic group, a little hard to keep on track, but once you have them, they do pretty good work and can actually get excited about maths, though I'm sure they don't realize it.

Finally, the weekend. I was blessed this weekend in that Viliami, after 5th period, invited me over to meet his family and have afternoon tea, an invitation I excitedly accepted. 20 minutes later, I hopped into his car with my backpack full of camping gear (which he was definitely not expecting). He lives in Hillsborough, which is about a 45 minute drive from the school. Another half hour or 45 minutes past his house is the entrance to Waitakere Regional Park, where there is over 280 km of walking track. I joined Viliami's family for tea (he lives with three daughters, his wife, and one son: a LOT of girls!), then, instead of having him drive me back to DLS, asked if he would give me a ride in the direction of the park. He took me all the way to the entrance, and I walked from there. It was a good weekend of random exploring (I had no map) and beautiful weather. There was no rain, so I stayed dry, and by Saturday afternoon, I had made it all the way to the far side of the park, to Anawhata Beach, a beautiful little cove at the bottom of some impressive foothills (small mountains?). The beach was gorgeous, with a great surf to break the silence, and the sun warming my face. I spent Friday and Saturday nights sleeping in the bush, which is surprisingly difficult here because the bush is so incredibly thick, and caught rides back to Mangere today. Overall, I probably walked about 30 miles, and it was a very good weekend. The last thing I have to do is prepare my lesson for the calculus class for tomorrow (I think Viliami might just have me teach it for the rest of the term, which would be cool) and get some sleep.

I hope you all have enjoyed this written post, and please check back for more in the future.

One last thing: Don't forget that today is Father's Day! Call your dad and tell him nice things, he will surely appreciate it.

~Alex

PS. I’ll put up pictures from my weekend in the next couple days, so keep an eye out.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

New Zealand Photos

Click on the slideshow to view photos from New Zealand in a new window. Enjoy ;- )