My family loves me!!! Many thanks to my Uncle, Aunty & Grandparents for cooking up this care package and sending it down to me. I was in desperate need of some munchies... Clockwise: Garlic Peas, Arare/Rice crackers (no Tomoe...but just as good), Char Siu Bao/Manapua (ooooh yeah), a big tub of Cookie Time Chocolate/Apricot Cookies and other various assorted goodies. Thanks to my wonderful family, I'm the happiest student in Dunedin town!
I wake up on Saturday and Stuart tells me that George Street (the main road that I live on) is closed for some sort of event. He saw bagpipes and we speculated about what it could be for. As I walked down George St, I swear I heard the beat of a very familiar sounding drum...
Taiko drums that is! Little did we know, there was a parade put on by lots of people commemorating the relationship between Dunedin and Otaru. Otaru is a little town in Japan and the two cities have established a "sister city" relationship. Dunedin built a playground for kids in Otaru and the Mayor of Dunedin went over there to open it back in August. Apparently, we get a parade...
Not to say that this parade sucked or that it wasn't worth a playground! This was a darn cool parade. Look! Kimonos!!!
And more people dancing!!! This is the highest concentration of Asian people I've seen since leaving Hawaii! Amazing!
And even more people dancing (courtesy of the NZ Japan Society of Auckland)!!!
Even boy racers could participate in the parade! They had a line of Japanese import cars that not only included this spectacular Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V, but also the first ever Mazda car imported into NZ from Japan (tiny little thing...Stuart reckoned he could fit it on the back of his pickup with room to spare). They also had a Mazda 6 which was as sweet as it always is.
And just off the parade route, next to the Museum, I met my buddy the Moa! You can think of the moa sort of as giant (up to 12 feet tall) kiwi birds. They were definitely really cool birds...till the Maori ate most of them and the European settlers destroyed much of their natural habitat (or some combination of the two).
Later that Saturday, we went to the Otago v. Taranaki game. Oddly enough, the bus on the way to Carisbrook was full of 'Naki supporters. It felt a bit awkward, though we played the confused foreigner card to perfection. At half time, this Polynesian dance group, Kia Orana (or something of the like) performed. They also performed at the International Student Welcome function at the beginning of the year! Seems like they're almost local celebrities!
Now here's an actual picture of the game. Otago in blue (go team!) and 'Naki in bumble bee...er...black & yellow. Final result was a win for the home team! Woo Hoo! Not quite as magnificent a game as the last game we saw here (AB's v. Boks back during break - damn was that a good game), but an exciting 2nd half and Carl Hoeft's last game for Otago (former AB).
I'd say a nice, enjoyable, relaxing weekend. Hopefully, it's the last quiet one for a little bit. We're hoping to hit up Mount Cook (highest mountain in NZ...also, the mountain Sir Edmund Hillary practiced on before being the first man to climb Everest) this weekend. Pics to come whenever we get back from that. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures. Until next time, take care!!!
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1 comment:
two more weeks? im really jealous. first quarter doesnt even end in two weeks!
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