I've been in Dunedin over three weeks now, which means I've had four Saturdays--and spent every Saturday morning at the farmer's market. It's one of those traditions that makes me feel at home. The same booths are there every week, and I'll make a few circuits and pick up the goods: I always buy tomatoes from the same stand, a big bag of what they call to-mah-toes in multiple colors and sizes, and swiss chard from a middle-aged woman and her two children. There's a crepe stand where I snag a breakfast to eat while browsing, and a vegetarian cafe out of a trailer where they make the best vegeburgers (as they call them here) I've ever had, with beets, hummus, salad dressing, and too much lettuce. Mmm-mmm. And I'm learning how to buy food here, when I need to carry my food home--it's a little different from grocery shopping in Errol, where I needed to buy enough provisions for a two-week haul. I always bring my back-pack or Trader Joe's grocery bag (which tags me as an American, though probably only to other Americans, since they don't have Trader Joe's here), and don't buy more than I can carry.  
But lectures commence on Monday (can I say finally?), so soon Saturday morning grocery shopping won't be the only pattern in my life. 

It's O-Week (Orientation Week) here at Otago, which means the campus (and city) is alive with students catching up with old friends or trying to make new ones (I guess I fall into the latter category). Today it stopped raining for the first time in days, and there are tents set up on lawns all around campus from different shops and organizations--not to mention a Speight's wagon with beer on tap. It's a completely different environment from anything I've experienced at Wheaton, and it's fun to be part of it, or at least interesting. Who knew orientation activities could involve anything other than sessions on how to use campus internet? 

Today I sort of inadvertently went birding. I mean, I like birds and all--but I don't usually trip out the door with plans to go birding. Sometimes these things happen. 

So I go to the Botanic Gardens to walk around quite a bit (and cut through them on my way to the grocery store), and this morning I got to see two birds I'd earmarked in the little bird book I picked up at the Department of Conservation offices: the kereru or New Zealand pigeon (above), and the eastern rosella (below). In the North American section, no less! I was so excited I stubbed my toe on the sign for honeysuckle. 

I'm not really sure what a photo essay is; I think this might be one.

So you don't think New Zealand too idyllic.

So I'm in New Zealand. So I'm here. I keep forgetting and remembering that simple fact.
Last night I had a dream where I was home, and I was bemoaning the fact that I hadn't learned anything while I was here. But then I looked at the date and said "Kari, why did you expect to learn anything? It's February 29th. Classes didn't even start yet." (Nevermind that February 29th isn't happening this year.) 
What I'm trying to see is: I'm really here because I want to learn something, something for whatever reason I thought I couldn't learn at Wheaton. Every time I meet another international ("You're an international?" the New Zealand--Kiwi--students ask me, and that still surprises me. I'm an international?), I ask them why they're here, why they chose New Zealand. Their answers always surprise me: New Zealand is so pretty, so much to do outside, on and on. I've even hear the Lord of the Rings movies mentioned. I try not to judge too harshly (sometimes it's hard). 
I'm not much better, of course. Why'd I chose New Zealand? Because they speak English; because they're concerned about the environment. But a year ago I would've mixed up New Zealand and Papua New Guinea on the map. 
Now that I'm here I want to say: I chose New Zealand because I have a clothesline in my backyard, because you can pluck clams from the coastal muck and take them home without limit, because I think this place and its people have something to teach me. And I want to add, sincerely: I hope I don't take without giving back, I hope I can find a use for what I learn here in my life. 
Of course, the beach is nice (don't make fun, but I'm taking surfing lessons through the uni rec center next weekend...because why not?). 

Things to know about living in New Zealand (what the guidebooks don't tell you, or at least I didn't read):

-They drive on the left side of the road. This is not actually easy to get used to, and does have an impact on your life as a pedestrian.

-Dual-flush toilets: are great. If both buttons are the same size, the black one is usually a half-flush.

-They're on the metric system. Among other things, this means your oven is in Celsius and you will buy produce by the kilogram.

-They don't have pennies. If you pay two dollars (using coins--everything below a fiver is a coin) for something that costs, say, a dollar eight-four, you will get twenty cents change.

-Crosswalks make a ping sound when you can walk. It sounds like a spaceship from a video game is shooting at you.
-I'm still not sure how this works, but they spin a lot of things with possum fur. Like merino-possum blankets. Merino-possum fabric is marketed as Lothlorien, as in Lord of the Rings.

-Black beans are hard to find. Look in the international section of the grocery. The person you ask for help may not know what they are. When you find them, they may be labeled "black turtle beans" and I'm still not 100% positive those are the same thing.

-Also hard to find: bikes with rigid forks. For some reason, New Zealanders (kiwis) are enamored with shocks.

-I go to the university tour buses visit! I go to a university they advertise on TV! (I always said I'd never go to a school they advertised on television. Turns out it's a trickier promise to keep than you would expect.)
-"Sweet as" is a legitimate expression. And yes, one 's' on the second word is the correct spelling.

-Chicken flavored potato chips. I don't know.

-Each individual outlet has a toggle switch, on/off. This is a great idea, and only a problem the first time you use an outlet and don't understand why it won't work.

-They don't have snakes.

I'm writing this from the computer lab at St. Margaret's College, one of the first-year dorms at the University of Otago. I just moved into the little three-bedroom flat (though it's not in an apartment building, so I would really call it more of a bungalow) where I'll be living for the next five months or so. And yes, I'm in New Zealand, Maori name Aotearoa.

The campus here is--well, there are a lot of words I could use. Imposing. It's definitely a university as opposed to a college--I didn't realize there was a visible difference until I got here, but there is. It's sprawling, and the architecture is a mix of imposing old buildings made of limestone and basalt rock and modern concoctions of glass. I would post pictures, but I haven't taken any: in the meantime you could google the University of Otago clocktower or library to see what I mean.

As for the city of Dunedin: it's a college town more than a big city. Its airport is small, nestled in the agricultural hills around the city. It has a beer factory (Speight's, "Pride of the South") and a chocolate factory (Cadbury, as in eggs). It is by the ocean and the mountains. Its town center is a roundabout shaped like an octogon with a statue of Robert Burns in the middle. The weather is wonderful. What else can I say? I think I'm going to go move into my new home (home?).

So that's me. Happy Waitangi Day!

I'm here!