Sad but True...

Last night I decided to do something that I've been meaning to do for years: attend a yoga class. Tim and I recently joined a gym a few blocks from our flat in an effort to stay healthy. This particular gym, Exodus, offers the standard cardio machines and weights but we were really intrigued by the classes that they offer. As a formerly 'more flexible' person I figure yoga might help me regain elasticity. I arrived at the "Mind and Body Studio" wondering if I were making a big mistake. Having never done it before I had no idea what to expect. Shortly after I situated myself on a mat we began. Immediately, it became apparent that yoga is not for slouches. With abs, legs and arms aquiver I attempted to contort my body to approximate the movements that the instructor was demonstrating (effortlessly, of course). You should know that she wasn't breaking a sweat but I was. Me plus the group of beginners toward the back of the studio. While attempting to will myself to make it through I could hear the other newbies whimper/giggle, saying things like "this is not what I expected", "yoga is supposed to be easy". I couldn't help but laugh. Soon the class was coming to a close and I was sure of two things in life. One, I was proud to have survived the class. Two, I knew that I was going to be sore in the morning. I hate it when I'm right about things like this. The next day I woke up to the kind of sore muscles I've only ever experienced after an intense weight workout. Apparently, I don't use my back muscles for anything because they are, by far, the sorest of my muscle groups. Accordingly, my delusion that 'yoga is easy' was thoroughly smashed and I'm enjoying the new perspective. Can't wait till next week!!

Laundry.....

It's almost a daily occurence in our household. When your washer and dryer are the same machine it makes it tricky to wash and dry several loads quickly. Before moving here I used to let it pile up and then spend a single day doing laundry. Ah, the decadence. Now I, lovingly, place about a third of what you might fit into any US washing machine and add a teaspoon of detergent. Yes, just a teaspoon and no I don't how that converts to metric. Still working on those sneaky conversions. They're everywhere here. :) After the washer has washed and the dryer kicks in the drying racks make an entrance in to the living room where they stand stoically, patiently waiting for the clothes, or towels or sheets to finish drying. Don't get me wrong - the dryer works. It just that it can't do any worthwhile drying when it's full. There isn't enough room in the drum for the air to circulate around the clothes. So it's necessary to remove some of the laundry, hang it up and let the remainder toss and turn in the dryer. I cannot describe how grateful I am that we have in-home laundry. With that said, I've given up on the delusion that I will ever be done with laundry. Nowadays, if I'm home for a couple hours at a time I check what needs to be washed - there's always something in there - and start a new load on it's journey to cleanliness.

Colour....

Yesterday, while at school, I was feeling restless and hungry so I walked down to Wishbone (cafe on campus) to grab a snack. I was staring at the offerings in the chiller when a random guy asked me if his accent sounded 'Kiwi' (he was not a Kiwi). I wasn't sure what to say and then he asked me if I was from the US. I nodded and, half in jest, I said, "I know, you can tell by my boring accent". He looked at me and said, "No, it's because of the way you dress". I rolled my eyes because I hadn't put any thought into my attire that day. When you have to work in the lab you don't dress up for work. :) So I was wearing my Roots sweatshirt (grey), jeans and Pumas (purple). It turns out he wasn't making a comment about the casualness of my outfit but rather that it had colour. Colour. Here in Wellington many people wear head to toe black. Everyday. Before moving here I thought I wore a lot of black. Not anymore. Now I'm a veritable assault on the visual senses. I love wearing jewel tones but they look neon compared to the sedate look of so much black with the occasional pseudoneutral if people are feeling crazy. Initially, I was ready to conform and commit to a life of neutrals but I've moved past such nonsense. Don't get me wrong, I like neutrals. But in my mind their purpose is to set off the colours that you wear. Oh my. I'm spelling colour like a Kiwi. :)

The Thorn Birds.....

That wonderous day when I found out that I had funding for my PhD I went to the bookstore downtown to buy a treat. :) I spent an hour walking around, reading dust jackets, perusing the shelves for the perfect, leisurely read. About the give up and walk home I spotted The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough on the Top 100 list. Considering I had had no luck so far I figured, "Why not?", and picked it up. With no synopsis on the back cover I perched on a low shelf and started to read. Immediately, I knew this was the one. I took it home and have been thoroughly enjoying the epic tale of the Cleary family for the past couple months. For those of you who know my books habits this probably seems like it's taken me eons to finish this book. You're right but to be fair it's 700+ pages and, in my true reading fashion, I have been reading multiple books at the same time. I've been lovingly working through the pile of lit I received for my birthday. :)

So The Thorn Birds - check it out if you're looking for a readable classic. Enjoy and let me know what you think. :)

When it rains...

Rain is quite common here in Wellington and although it's a nuisance I'm delighted that we don't have to walk to and from school in snow and ice. The only problem with it being increasingly rainy, as we enter into our winter season, is that when the transit of Venus comes around, you can't see it. The transit, where Venus travels across the sun, happened a couple days ago and what do you know? It just happened to coincide with the rainiest, cloudiest, grayest day we've experienced since moving here. :) This wouldn't be such a big deal except for the fact that the next transit won't happen until 2117. Yeah, I don't think I'll make it that long. Admittedly, a bit depressed about the weather Tim and I went to a talk about the transit given here on campus by William Tobin. He is an astrophysicist and led us through the interesting history of how humans have photographed the sky over the years. After the talk we were able to see the transit via real time imagery provided by a lab in Hawaii. Nice and sunny there. :)

3 'trys' = ?

This past weekend we went out to try a new pub and watch the Hurricanes play the Rebels. Within the first twenty minutes our guys quickly scored several 'trys' and, at that point in the game, Savea had scored two of his own. I wondered out loud, "Do you think there's such a thing in rugby for three 'trys' like we have a 'hat trick' in hockey?". Tim and I were discussing the possibilities when Savea scored his third try of the game!! We cheered and then did a double take of sorts because we heard one of the announcers call his three 'trys' a 'hat trick'. Who knew that rugby would borrow a term from hockey?? We just had to laugh. :)

Wicked Welly Weekend.....

Another week gone. Again I was suprised that I had arrived at Friday in what seemed like no time at all. Throughout the day I found that I was smiling to myself because I knew that this weekend was going to be awesome!

Friday evening we set off, with great anticipation, to see a performance by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra!! We were able to get good seats at a 2-for-1 price and couldn't wait to attend this event.

In a word: amazing. Opening with one of my favorites, Mozart's Symphony No. 38 in D major, we were showered with delicate, seamless notes, rich in acoustic flavor from a small group of musicians (about half of the entire orchestra). I've listened to Symphony No. 38 so many times over the years since I was a young musician but to hear it played by this group was nothing short of breathtaking. I don't think I've ever heard anything so beautiful in my entire life. It took me back to the years that I played the flute in elementary/middle/high school. And I was reminded of the most terrifying moment of my life thus far. As a freshmen in high school I was chosen to play a solo for an upcoming concert. I was terrified. No, petrified. My hands shaking even as I thought about going to class and having to play it for all my peers to hear. I even tried to get out of playing it, pleading with my teacher to assign it to someone else. In the end he never did. So there I was, the night of the concert, completely beside myself with fear. I remember walking out onto the stage with the rest of my peers, the glare of the spotlights in my eyes. We sat down and my mind went blank. The moment I had dreaded for months had arrived. We were about to start the song that contained my solo. No, we weren't about to begin it - I was. Only me. This wasn't the type of solo where the soloist is supported by a few others playing softly. No. This was me. All by myself. Just one little flute, played by someone who, at any moment, was about to die of fear. I remember that just before I began to play it was like my hearing had cut out. Think tunnel vision but for your ears. I heard nothing. I felt nothing. All I saw was the conductor's hands go up and it was time. Those hands came down and I began to play. Later my mom told me that those notes were solid and clear. Thankfully, they betrayed none of my fear and anxiety about this solo. So somehow I was able to coordinate the movements necessary to play the notes on the page. The funny part about this is that in all the nerve-wracking things I've had to do since then nothing has filled me with fear like that little solo. Not even my master's thesis defense. :)

The second movement was Alpine Symphony by Strauss. Compared to the delicate nature of the Mozart we heard earlier this piece took you through sections where you were on the edge of your seat almost straining to hear the notes that were played piano soft. Other sections assaulted you with intense sequences that seemed to crash over you like giant waves. And so it went vacillating between 'barely there' and cacophony; a crazy, interesting mixture all in a single movement.

After the symphony we strolled home, picked up indian takeout on the way and settled in to watch the Hurricanes on TV. With much excitement throughout the game we cheered on our guys and they came away with the win!! :)

Saturday morning while we were out and about attempting to run errands, on a whim, we stopped in at one the bowling alleys. We figured we would see if there was a lane available and there was!! So we donned our bowling shoes having to figure out our European shoe size (I'm a US 9, that is roughly a European 39) and found our lane. Numero six.

Our lane was right next to two lanes of guys in the midst of a stag (bachelor) party which made for some unexpected comedy. I was up to bowl first and right away I noticed that something was different but I couldn't figure out what it was exactly. After bowling a few frames I realized what was happening. Instead of a traditional pin-setter you might encounter in the US, the pins here in NZ (or at least at this bowling alley) are on strings. So when you bowl the machine just pulls the pins up by the strings and sets them down again, reset. Talk about strange. The best part was watching Timmy bowl because he's strong and can throw the ball quite fast. I thought he might break something (for the record when we participated in a bowling league in Bozeman he broke his bowling ball into two pieces). On multiple occasions he threw the ball so hard that the strings got tangled up and we had to have one of the employees untangled them so we could continue with our game. :) He also managed to ricochet pins into the strings of other pins which tricked the machine into giving him extra pins (points). An interesting experience....I'm sure we'll go again. This is also where I came across the square toilet that I put up in the last post.

That night we set off for the TSB Bank Arena to see our favorite rollerderby team, Smash Malice, take on Brutal Pageant! This time we had a better idea of the rules and the game was much easier to follow. Below you can see our girls coming on to the track for warm ups. And as Whip It's captain Maggie Mayhem says, 'Safety is sexy". The next photo shows the referees checking the players' equipment to make sure everyone is ready to play.

After the formalities the game was underway and we found that it was sufficiently challenging to take pictures of the players while they were moving. Below is one where you can see the two teams on the track just before a 'bout' begins.

In the end Smash Malice was victorious!!! The final score was outrageous: Smash Malice 204, Brutal Pageant 89. That means that Smash Malice is going to the final match next month!! And we will be there to cheer them on (hopefully to victory!). :) Who knew that we would find roller derby when we moved to NZ? Welly is full of fun surprises. :)

So symphony, rugby, bowling and roller derby.....such a fun way to spend a weekend with my best bud, Timmy! :)