knackered.

9 am i woke up to a megaphone outside my window "get out of bed you sleeping daisies the time has come for the amazing race!" i stumble out with yesterday's mascara smeared down my face and barefoot, completely bewildered and surround by kids on decorated bikes, mopeds, xxrazrscooterzxx, segways etc... anyway, i signed up for what turned out to be like a 6 hour marathon around the entire city of ChCh. one of the tasks was to run around the city counting the number of blue neon "massage" signs which only pointed to an empty flight of stairs. these apparently, are not massage parlors..though the ring leaders were wildly cryptic about what they might actually be. details to follow, and there are 16 for anyone who's interested (lookin good, hoss; i picked up some pointers for our audition, we'll talk.). soon after, had to track down a domino's and a group of four of us had to eat two large pizzas and then run two miles through the botanical gardens and ford a river to play a life size game of chess. apparently the entire country competes in this today, in all the major cities...in wellington you're given a wad of cash to buy a rental car and tour the coast. these kiwis are out of their damn minds. classes start on monday, dont' seem to be a priority around these parts. everyone is laughably laid back, even the police were making date rape jokes at our orientation and passing around his baton and drug kit. always a hit. been called a yank by hordes of locals nightly, and asked questions like "oh, youre an american. do you drink mountain dew and eat corn in daytona at the nascar races?" i am boring the pants off. out like trout.

sweet as.

look right, then left

found out today leonard cohen is as big here as 9 am canned bourbon and coke...which says a lot. we've got 3 out of 6 flatmates settled in, all US native. the two guys are a couple of fratdawgz and insist on referring to our place (#20 Ilam Village) as "the big 2-0", and have spent the last 4 nights around the kitchen table taking shots of jager to Credence crooning in the background. Sam, another girl, is truly a kindred spirit i believe. Hails from San Francisco, and goes to school in Boseman, MO...two spots i've long coveted from hear-say. christchurch is absolutely gorgeous. the campus and immediate town remind me a lot of any coast town, tropical vegetation, big ol fruity trees. the city itself is a dream; cleaner then any i've seen back home i haven't even been able to spot a cigarette butt. today went to an art museum comprised completely of local art this month, as well as the botanical gardens. the gardens i couldn't believe and plan on spending many sunny hours wandering about acres upon acres of towering eucalyptys trees and rose gardens. oh yes. still, i'm already getting itchy feet thinking about the mountains, gandalf, mountains just out of my reach here. My "international" living situation is overwhelmingly saturated with terrified/super perky Americans, all with this sort of blank, stretched smiles and bewildered deer in the headlights look about them (myself included.) as far as i can tell from my bedroom window,i'm in some retro funky setup on the east coast of florida. hobbits and kiwibirds alike are elusive as hell, but mark my words i will find the tykes by summer's end. (ha! summer!) i can tell i'm rambling shamelessly on this thing, apologies for all 2 of you who have gotten this far (hey mom, doin bood, beth...) i'm gonna sign off for now, the kiwis upstairs just came by to invite us all for a "jug of piss and a kebab at the bah"... an invitation i'd be a fool to refuse. and pictures up soon i swear it ma.

kia ora!

baker's cousin

a snake went into a bar and ordered a drink, but the bartender refused to serve him. when the snake demanded an explanation, the bartender replied, "sorry snake, but you just can't hold your liquor."