Happy Fat Tuesday!

It's Fat Tuesday here in New Zealand so right now I'm listening to some New Orleans music from back home and my hosts made pancakes for dessert. The way they prepare the pancakes is with sugar and lemon. The pancakes are thin so you sprinkle some sugar on top and then some lemon juice and roll it up. Tastey rendition to my usual slapjack! We always manage to make dinner last at least an hour and a half long, which helps me not feel like such a slow eater compared to back home. Everyone is so relaxed and has no worries. It even began sprinkling but that didn't seem to bother John and Jill at all; they just lauged it off.

I had to be up this morning at 7am in order to catch the 8am bus downtown for day 2 of orientation. We were welcomed once again with a Maori tradition getting called in by two women singing back and forth to each other from across the lawn. It began raining a little, but I was safe under a tent. An old Maori man spoke to us...however, it was all in Maori so I had no idea what he was saying the whole time; it was still pretty cool. Soon after was a tour of the university by our UniGuides who are students who are familiar with the campus in our given subject. My UniGuide told me that for my Marine Science class I will be taking a field trip to Goat Island and do some scuba diving!! I am very excited for this class! There is also a University Laboratory in Leigh; the shore off which Goat Island is located.

No orientation for international students tomorrow so Lisa and I will probably invite Ashley for a walk down to a beach -- about 5 or 6K. From there we can also rent bikes and such. Here is a picture taken from my driveway down Salisbury in Birkdale, a sort of suburb of Auckland.

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