missing halloween-related festivities but had a great weekend anyways.  went to my first 'hen's party' in wellington.  wellington reminded me a lot of iowa city and every bar that we went to was full of people dancing and good music (ESPECIALLY the 80's one).  also experienced my first live male stripper.  he was dressed as a fireman.  they are much better looking in the movies but the whole idea is still pretty uncomfortable.  it was fun though.
school tomorrow- i am beginning to do more teaching this week and am a little nervous but not too bad because all the kids are so well-behaved.  also everyone is allowed to go barefoot whenever they want so most of the students never wear shoes- new zealand really is perfect for me!  we went downtown for kabab's today and both colin and i didn't wear any shoes... nobody cares!  growing up in iowa city i remember people yelling at me out of their cars to put shoes on or that i would cut my feet because i would always go barefoot... not here.  feels good.
i finished reading the reluctant fundamentalist today (recommended by tracey).  i've also read see ya simon, the boy in the striped pajamas, and the hobbit (which they are currently filming a little to the north of us!!!!!!).  would recommend all but see ya simon which i found a little trite.  maybe i just have a different sense of humor than the author does though.  also it's a young adult book (as is the boy in the striped pajamas).  ok this is disjointed and short but i'm going to read and do lesson planning stuff! i will try to write more often even if it is brief.

just wanted to do a quick post of some updates:
-new zealand won the rugby world cup, we watched the game with several of tracey and colin's friends and got fish and chips (i got a corn dog which is just a 'battered hotdog' here.  they even battered and fried the stick it was on.  it reminded me of that simpsons episode where they deep fry the entire plate and the guy breaks off a piece of the fried wine bottle and eats it.  ANYWAYS...).
-we went swimming in hot pools by the sea a couple of days ago which was great... especially considering the chilly/rainy weather the water felt so good.
-i had to go to the doctor today because of a near asthma attack on a walk this morning.  as i mentioned in a previous post i have had awful allergies since i got here and it's been building up in my lungs so each day i have had a harder time breathing.  i am not going to go into great detail but i felt like i was going to faint and was really afraid there was something horribly wrong with me because of how light-headed i felt.  tracey and colin were so kind, they heard how much i was wheezing and struggling to breath (i was near tears because of frustration and fear) and they insisted on taking turns carrying me to the car so i wouldn't pass out.  the doctor gave me some pills and an inhaler which already have helped immensely.  so hopefully that's the end of my breathing problems...  apparently a lot of people have allergy problems in this area, especially at this time of year.  Tracey said her grandpa had to move to Australia because of how bad his allergies would get (he had the same symptoms as me with the wheezing chest problems).  so that's my update.  i want to go outside now because it's beautiful today

morel season again!

there are morels here and nobody knows what they are or that they are good to eat!!  driving in the car today i saw some growing out of the mulch on the side of the road.  we stopped and sure enough, they were morels.  a bit too old to eat but definitely morels.  colin says tons of them grow in his mom's orchard and he used to hit them with hockey sticks when he was little because there were so many (much like our apple baseball i guess).  they are going to take me mushroom hunting there very soon!

It's 9 am here in Hastings.  I just finished my breakfast of tea and fruit (an apple and an orange from Tracey's mom's) and am listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!  I've been doing all of my usual internet things (reddit, democracynow, daily show, NPR, etc.) to feel more at home because even though it's beautiful here and Tracey and Colin are fantastic hosts I am still a little homesick.  Also I am unfortunately allergic to their dog plus there's a ton of pollen in the air from all the Spring flowers so I've been very allergic and wheezy since I got here.  My lung capacity is really low so I easily get out of breath even though I've been taking plenty of allergy medicine/other anti-histamine type things.  I think I will probably adjust over time and it's not like allergies will keep me from being able to teach, I just want to be able to jog or exercise without feeling like I'm having an asthma attack after half a block.  If anyone has any recommendation for medicine or things I could do to reduce allergies please let me know... I already have eye drops (I have to use them several times a day because my eyes get really red, something that very rarely happens at home) and the two medicines I mentioned earlier but if anyone has anything that's worked for them it'd be great to not be sneezing, sniffling, wheezing, etc. constantly.  Okay sorry so much of the post has been complaining about allergies but it kind of sucks.
Despite less than perfect health I've seen a lot of really cool things in the past few days.  Yesterday Tracey and Colin took me to the bay and we walked along and caught little crabs and star fish.  We also went to a black pebble beach and walked around Napier.  I brought home some sand dollars and rocks to paint which is something Tracey does pretty often (she's very arty).  Tracey and I also played Wii games yesterday including ones where we rowed against each other and had to knock each other off of things with bats!  We went to Colin's grandma's house yesterday which was very nice.  She has huge, beautifully kept gardens and a pool table and on top of this looks like the queen of England.  She (like all New Zealanders I've met so far) was curious and friendly and anxious to have us back.  Also she was wearing an awesome purplish iridescent shirt and I wish I owned it.  Oh yeah also the older lady next door to Tracey and Colin is named Dot.  She drives a little sky blue car with the license plate DOTZZ and EVERYTHING in her house  matches.  It's all pink and flowers and lace and plates with flower on them and she's great.
Today I'm going to try to do some Wii Yoga or some sort of fitness thing after I finish this and then Colin is going to take Tracey and I to the school to pick up some things.  I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like there, school starts next Tuesday because it's holidays here before Term 4.  Tracey says Term 4 is the most fun because it's the last and the shortest and we get to do swimming and other fun things that don't happen the rest of the year.  I'm a little nervous about working with 6 year-olds again just because I know how much harder it is for me to get their attention compared to older students... but I'm sure necessity will help me pick up quickly on things that work so that by the time I'm head teaching it won't be a disaster.
I guess on that note I'll finish this since I want to go see what it's like outside.  It looks very sunny and breezy.

it's the end of my second day in new zealand!  yesterday was pretty much just travelling so I am not going to cover it... I didn't get to hastings until 8 pm even though i arrived in NZ at 7 in the morning.  today i got up at elevenish and tracey (my host sister) showed me around the yard and neighborhood.  they have a lemon tree so i cut up some lemon and we put it in our tea.  there are tons of ripe oranges and lemons everywhere so i've been eating fruit all day (lots of fruit is ripening now all over the north island and it's very cheap).  tracey's mom lives nearby so we went over there and I got to meet her mom and little sister Jody who is 6 and will be in the class I am student teaching in next week.
then we all went hiking and to a honey factory place.  tasting all the different honeys gave me a taste for it so i've been eating spoonfuls of honey all day plus honey with bread and butter (i just finished a piece before writing this).  i tried to get a phone card but the one i got wasn't compatible with my phone so i have to figure that out... right now i'm content to just have internet and will be trying to videochat over facebook tomorrow.  tracey and colin have darts, ping pong, and foosball and they love playing cards so we played some games after dinner.
okay well that's enough for now.  i am still pretty jet-lagged today so i'm going to go to bed soon.  it's something like 4 in the morning in iowa city but only 8:30 pm here... i will finish reading the hobbit and watch the daily show then bed.  yes.  also old crow is $45 here.  seriously.  it's insane.  old crow!??

testing

Sitting in the CR airport waiting to board the plane to Chicago.  Then LA.  Then Auckland.  Despite the huge trip looming ahead of me I am comforted in knowing that I have season three of Arrested Development (thanks Matt Henry) on my computer.

I will try to update this blog fairly often so that friends/family can know how/what I'm doing.  Will write again soon!