Earthquake day.....

Ok, living in MN, ND and MT I've experienced my fair share of 'snow days' (every child's dream when school is cancelled and you can frolic in the vast piles of snow) and Tim mentioned that living in CA sometimes they would have 'fog days'. But never in our lives have we experienced what is going to happen tomorrow. We have received official word from the University that, Monday July 22, the school in it's entirety will be closed to all staff and students. Tim was the first to pick up the email and he came running into the bathroom where I was washing my hands, pointed his finger at me and said, "You're working from home tomorrow!!". I first thought was, "No I'm not". Still not comprehending I shuffled over to the computer and read the news for myself. I still can't believe it. The best part was not too long after that Tim received an email from his head of school (department head) reiterating that campus would be closed tomorrow and demanding that everyone must stay at home!! So there you have it: 'earthquake day'. I always say "things are different in NZ". Indeed they are.

Rumbles....

Over the last few days we've had several earthquakes, DOZENS, in the Wellington region and throughout NZ. Tonight we went out to get a Starbucks and then headed over to the grocery store to get a few perishable groceries for the week. On our way home, all of a sudden, we felt and saw everything start to move and shake. People didn't panic but rather moved out to the middle of the street until the the rumbling stopped. We stood still and waited for the quake to pass but it kept on for some time. I have to say that all the small earthquakes we've felt so far were very small compared to this one. It measured a 6.5 and was centered 16 km below the surface. I've realized the importance of knowing both the Richter value as well as it's depth because depending on the combination you can have a catastrophe like the Christchurch quakes, an tiny rumble or anything in between.

A funny aside: as we're walking from the grocery store after the big shake we overheard a group of backpackers talking, saying "Get me out of here!" as they went passed. A little ways down the road we overheard another group of people discussing how they were going to meet back up at the airport. Now granted these folks were probably not leaving just because of the earthquake but considering the timing of events it was laughable to overhear. :)

Feeling silly for not having shored up our emergencies stores of food and water at home we decided to stop at The Warehouse (it's kind of like Target) to get some water and candles just in case. This is what we found - items all over the floor in almost every aisle! I've never seen anything like it.

Sadly, this is the least of it. As the reports come pouring in we've read that the entire fire service has been deployed and are assessing the damage to prioritize what to focus on first. Buildings downtown have been damaged, windows broken, water pipes leaking or burst.

Thankfully, when we arrived home there was no damage to our building and all the windows are still intact. I had wondered if we would find dishes out of the cupboards and smashed on the floor but luckily there was NO evidence that there had been a good shake.

You can see the beginning of our emergency supplies below. We are planning to round out the survival kit and get more water (below is half the recommended store for two people) to make sure that we are ready in case something worse happens. In addition, we are putting together the things we would need if we had to leave our apartment for good. We knew that this was a risk when we moved here so it's no surprise. With that said we're hoping we've seen the worst of it.

Lucky last.....

Today we took our final archery lesson (you can see me with all my gear before heading out to the line). After five classes, a ridiculous number of weather delays, sore muscles, scraped fingers and a thousand arrows we have graduated from the beginner's course. :) Today's lesson was to shoot 15 rounds of six arrows with the goal of breaking 600 points. While the class was unable to shoot all 15 rounds due to time running out both Tim and I were on track to beat 600 points. What can I say, we're a little proud and very glad we decided to try something completely different. With that said we're planning to join the club and that way we can use their equipment and the range whenever it is open on the weekends. Here's to honing those Katniss skills. :)

Lux Winter Light Festival.......

Taking in the Lux Winter Light Festival gave us the opportunity to see the light exhibits and sculptures while trying our hand at some more low light photography. We bundled up and headed to waterfront but were first intercepted and equipped with maps and glowing bracelets by those organizing the event (you can see the chain of glowing bracelets I had hanging on my jacket zipper). The installations were amazing and have inspired us to start planning projects to make our own lighting elements. :) Particularly the groups of illuminated orbs that look like trees.

Winter kite flying....

It goes without saying that Wellington is the perfect place if you want to fly a kite. Continuously. Windy. Admittedly, it's taken us a year and a half to acquire one and wouldn't you know then we had a week with no wind (unheard of in Welly) followed by a storm that damaged and flooded many areas in and around the metro area. So you can imagine our delight when we were finally able to take the little kite out for her maiden voyage. Timmy was tickled pink and all smiles as he ran around with the rainbow striped gem in tow.

Need we say more?.....

Change of plans....

A few weeks ago I ran into an experiment-stopping complication and won't be running experiments until after we get back from Europe (late September). I had expected to be running that experiment in endless fashion, seven days a week until we departed in August. Since then I've made arrangements so everything will be ready to start up again when we return but stopping abruptly has left me with a strange feeling. Since I can't collect data right now I've been writing my dissertation general introduction and so far the work is slow but I feel positive about what I'm putting on paper. We'll see what my advisor thinks when he reads it. My goal is to have a full introduction and methods draft to him before we leave for Europe. So I've been writing and consequently reading to make sure that I've included all the appropriate information in each section. I've also been working on my volunteer hours - as scholarship holders Tim and I are both required to volunteer 150 hours each year. During the first year I did the usual and took on tutoring and marking (grading) to cover most of my hours. By the end I vowed to never do that again. While I love teaching the labs here are absolutely uninspired and painful to teach. I can only imagine how the students feel. In addition the marking is probably the worst. Grading hundreds of papers consisting of the worst grammatical errors you can imagine is enough to put anyone over the edge. Tutoring is so miserable, in my opinion, that even if I were getting paid it wouldn't be worth it. With that said since I have to volunteer the time I REFUSE to tutor. Period. That has forced me to look elsewhere for volunteer opportunities. Thankfully, during this second year I became Vice President of the Postgraduate's Student Association and that has given almost have a year's worth of hours and my second year only started in May. During my time thus far with PGSA I've had the opportunity to meet and work with students from different levels, campuses and walks of life. I've also had the chance to work on specific issues that directly affect postgrads. This already has been an infinitely more meaningful (and more enjoyable) way to fulfill my volunteer requirements and so I feel very fortunate to have found this niche on campus.

One issue that I'm particularly interested in relates to international students and the policy governing their student visas. From the beginning, when Tim and I were admitted to VUW we were given an 'offer of place' and a scholarship to cover three years of study (this is the standard timeframe for PhD in NZ). This is all good in principal if a PhD student simple had to submit his/her thesis and then depart from the country as his/her visa would be expiring. The problem is that when students submit their theses for review (at the 3 year mark) they still have to wait for the thesis to be examined and then participate in an oral defense (this process usually takes 3-6 months). Since the student visa was originally issued for three years it expires before the student can finish up and defend. With the current framework students need to apply for a visa extension so they can remain in NZ to defend their theses. This is problematic because after students submit their theses they no longer have their 'student' status (are no longer enrolled) and this further complicates the process as they are applying for a visa extension (because, according to Immigration NZ policy, anyone applying for a student visa must be a student). Since students lose their status upon thesis submission these applications for visa extensions are only considered on a case by case basis by Immigration NZ. Ludicrous. Currently, there are 400+ international PhD students at VUW so this affects a significant number of students. With that said I'm working with several groups to gather information and discuss with Immigration NZ as well as the powers that be at VUW how we can address this issue. I suffer no delusions that I will solve this problem but I do think it is an issue worth pursuing and am excited to be involved in the process. And all the time I spend in meetings, reading policy or drafting documents I can use as volunteered time. For the win!!!

This has been a bizarre post but all that to say that even though I've been spending time looking into visa policy instead of collecting data it has still been worthwhile. It just hasn't been what I would've expected as a part of my time as a PhD student. :) Here's to learning continuously!