In support of her election campaign, New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark came to Dunedin to speak at Otago University. She spoke about her party's election promises, such as debt free student loans and maintaining the strong growth that NZ has exhibited over the past few years under the guidance of her government. She is quite a good public speaker and had good support from the predominantly pro-Labour student crowd.
After completing the two tests I had that week, Stuart and I decided to indulge a little by having a nice homecooked meal. So, here it is: Pan-fried flounder (fresh from the fishery), roast potatoes and heaps of veggies. It all sat very nicely in my stomach after a week of less than spectacular nutrition.
Following dinner, Stuart, Ryan and I visited Tull yet again for another helping of desserts. This is a rather poor picture of my dessert which was a very light, fruity mango slice. It is sort of a mango/soy tofu sort of pie thing (I ordered this because they ran out of the chocolate cheesecake I wanted) that was very subtle but very tasty. You absolutely cannot go wrong here. Every dessert choice will offer you, at the very least, sweetness satisfaction.
Nothing too interesting went on during this past week. The highlights were finally going to Moana Pools (very highly chlorinated, but definitely good to be back in the water nonetheless) and countless hours of Election polls/speculation on the nightly news. Things really didn't happen till the weekend finally came...
Saturday was Election Day. For me, that meant my first time ever voting in a proper Election booth (I've previously only voted absentee). Unfortunately, I didn't bring my actual digital camera so there was no way for me to discreetly take photos (the camera phone makes a loud, obnoxious shutter sound) in the polling booth so no ballot photos or photos of me in the booth.
After casting my vote, my cousin Nat came to my flat to enjoy a lovely BBQ (despite the rain that came at the very end).
Here's the spread: Roast potatoes, London Pride sausages (the best) and grilled onions. You can also see Stuart's steak and Ryan's Veggie patties in the picture. Not shown are the Tim-tams (chocolate covered biscuits) that we had for dessert. Oddly enough, not the most fancy of meals but it was the most full I've felt in a really long time.
And, here we all are getting ready to dig into the food in front of us: Nat, me, Sarah, Ryan & Stuart. Good company, good food, good times. We even went out to the park to toss around the football that Stuart bought. Aren't we American!!!
After a leisurely afternoon, Stuart and I donned our dress shirts, slacks and ties before heading on over to Cat's flat for an Election party. From 7 pm onwards, we snacked and watched live Election results on TV. It was cool to see people dressed up nicer than usual and also very exciting to see the votes pull in. The process is quite different from the US elections that I'm used to following but quite simple to understand. We even made a run to the supermarket to pick up ice cream and more snacks. This little excursion included a 5 minute debate in the chocolate aisle as we tried to choose which chocolates to bring back. Turkish delight was the first variety picked but there was substantial discussion regarding whether roasted almonds or caramel whip should be selected as chocolate flavour #2. After a best of 3 rock-paper-scissors competition, the roasted almonds won out. It was reasoned that the "savoury" almonds would complement the "sweet" turkish delight (despite the overlooked fact that it was all chocolate and, therefore, all sweet). Anyhow, I digress. It was cool to see the Moat Streeters (and company) again since the last time I had seen them all was for Mesopotamia and they are always such great fun. Thanks for having me! By the way, at the end of the night, Labour held a slim 1.1% lead over National. Although they lost 1 Parliament seat, Labour still has a seat more than National and, with that advantage, have an opportunity, through deal-making and coalition forming, to lead the next government and give Helen Clark an unprecedented 3rd term as PM.
It hasn't been too crazy here the past couple of weeks but we're gearing up for a trip, hopefully, in the near future. Our sights are set on Stewart Island (little island just south of the South island). That would be a great trip I think. But, we first have to make it through some demanding academic assignments and some odd Spring weather. This morning, the mountains around Dunedin were covered with snow and it's been hailing all day so far. So much for it getting warmer. Alrighty, until next time, take care everyone!
Here's some quick pics I snapped with the trusty cameraphone today on my run. I tried to get as close to the snow as possible but I gave up after a couple of hail showers and gale force wind gusts convinced me that if I would've continued, I not only would've gotten some cool pics but probably pneumonia. I tried my best and was probably 1/2 the way to the snow but let's not jeopardize my health for some snow pics...well, there's always tomorrow. Enjoy...
(L): The streets are spotted white this afternoon on the way towards Mt. Cargill. (R): Upon closer inspection, those white spots are not vanilla dippin' dots or styrofoam balls...it's hail!!!
(L): There was a lot more snow up on Mt. Cargill this morning but this is where I was heading on my run. (R): Across the way (to the left of the previous pic), there was snow as well. I saw some up on Signal Hill (to the right of the previous pic) this morning but there wasn't any there this afternoon. I guess the sun peaked out long enough to melt all that.
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3 comments:
wow i havent been here in a while. the pictures are great, your so ambitious for posting them all. ive been busy, senior year is a beeeeeeotch. what i really want is some of those potatoes right now. ok ttyl!
Adrian! I've been so bad at keeping up with this blog stuff. But here I am again, checking in. : ) Your pictures are gorgeous! I hope school is treating you well!
Hugs!
-Claudia
school is SO important. you college kids forget that us high school kids have to get INTO college!
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