Hi Folks!
I could talk about how time flies when you aren't paying attention, or how much less inspiration I have to write when I have no big news. The truth is, I have no excuse for not posting since the earthquake. So much has happened in the weeks since, although somehow none of it seemed all that important at the time. Suddenly, almost six weeks later, I am essentially halfway done with my semester here. What a scary thought.
I could tell you about the heart-wrenching move from Christchurch to Auckland: the frantic scene at the airport check-in counter ten minutes before boarding (the employees of Air New Zealand are saints), the new apartments where nothing quite works properly and the stove consistently sets off the fire alarm, the flatmate who holds shouted phone conversations at 1am every night, the twenty minute bus ride from our North Shore dwelling to the campus at the heart of the Auckland CBD, the difficulties readjusting lives after being so suddenly transplanted. I could describe feeling like a refugee when, despite the declarations of sympathy and promises of help for earthquake survivors, no one actually knew who we were or what to do in order to help - the delays and miscommunications in helping register for classes, the sense of being lost (within the city, among the crowd) as well as displaced, the lack of any orientation in a new, much larger city. All of the little things added up to desolate feelings which gradually numbed as life went on, but although they dominated my life for a while they don't make for such a great story on their own.
Amidst the process of settling, navigating a new campus, city, living space and schedule, and figuring out how I fit into this new place, real life continued at a relentless pace. And now here I am, heading off tomorrow for mid-semester break adventures. I'll be in Rarotonga for a week-long IES field trip, after which I've got another week of rambling the spectacular South Island with Jill and Joe from my program. This is my last contact with the internet world for the next few weeks, and with any luck I'll come back with plenty of stories to tell you!
One last note: I lost my camera just before arriving in Christchurch. Accidentally left it on a bus. It has finally been returned to me through the kindness of strangers, the incompetency of InterCity Coach Lines and the miracle-working of Eunice McKessar (IES Christchurch coordinator), but sadly I have no pictures at all of my time in Christchurch, nor of my first month in Auckland. Eunice has posted her photos from orientation here so that you won't completely miss out. It is difficult to believe that not only did I not get to take photos of our city-orientation scavenger hunt, thanks to the earthquake I will now never get to record the scenes I had filed away in my memory for future visitation. Most of these scenes are now home to the ghosts and wreckage that only time and hard work can heal. But in the meantime, I hope you enjoy Eunice's pictures!
That's all for now!
