A few random NZ facts for you:
SPRINKLES are called "Hundreds and Thousands".
"Jandals" is another word for flip-flops.
You can go around a round-about 9 3/4 times before it is illegal. Do people really keep track?
Alrighty then, I have been blessed with a lot to write about, so I guess I will start with my wonderful (and compulsory) geology field trip I took today! Remember that ridiculous windy road that christened our first driving experience back in July? You know, the two lane (barely) road that ran along the curves of the mountains and had a measely barrier of rickety stakes separating us from an abyss of endless tree tops? Hmmm I will never forget. Well I'm trying to recreate the terror I felt earlier today when we had to traverse that road again...except in a ginormous coach bus! I'm thinking to myself, "How is this a good idea? How are we NOT going to die?" We made it fine, but riddle me this: How does a coach bus make this drive faster than the Silver Bullet I? Answer: Ruthless Kiwi drivers.
So we finally made it to our geological site and tramp out to our first massive outcrop to observe (LEGIT tramping). I knew this day was going to be interesting when we were told we had to put the material in our mouth to correctly tell if it was siltstone or mudstone. I'm sorry....what? The individual grain sizes could not be seen by the naked eye, so if you feel grit between your teeth (lovely, right?), it is siltstone. If it is more slimy, it is mudstone. Immediately I am thinking, "Okay, so I have a 50/50 chance of getting this right. I'm going to go with my naked eye observation and take my chances instead of contracting Ebola. Thanks so much though!"
Shortly after, I realize, I'm out here at 8:45 am on a Saturday morning, it's raining, I'm cold, and I'm busy taking strike and dip measurements and compass traversing. Question: I love this SO much, is it too late to switch my major? Well, we finally finish tramping this section of geologically wonderful outcrops and making notes to complete a mapping project on later at about 4:25pm. We had a 2 hour drive ahead of us, and my friends and I were hoping to make it back to see the beginning of the rugby game. On a positive not, I'd like to inform everyone that there are still some blue skies left in the world that match the super blue skies on little children's coloring pictures. It just made me smile.
Oh yes, and we had 2nd row seats to the All Blacks vs. Australia (MAJOR RIVALRY) game tonight! We were all painted up, and quickly made our way down to Westpac Stadium for the home game. The game had two 40-minute halves, and a 10 minute halftime. It was quite short (and comfortable sitting down) since Emma and I are used to 100+ degree weather and standing up for a 4 hour football game. We made sure to get our "football fix" in, and enjoyed leading each other in Aggie yells as we cheered for the All Blacks. The whole experience was just priceless. My favorite part of the game was the "haka" at the beginning. The two teams meet on the middle of the field and the All Blacks do the "haka" for the opposing team. The "haka" is an intimidating Maori chant with movements, but is really, really neat to watch. Oh, by the way, the Maori are the indigeneous people here in NZ. They play a HUGE role in the culture here - more than I have ever seen a minority people group play a part in. I video-taped it, so taht is coming soon! Anyways, I now am educated in the rugby rules and whatnot, and thoroughly enjoyed the game! Oh, and the best part...we won 33-6.
Gig 'em All Blacks and you field geologists out there!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment