West Coast Trip!

We returned a couple of days ago from our ten day trip to the West Coast of the South Island. I guess the best way to describe it would be rugged and beautiful. Only 40,000 people live on the West Coast, which is a very small population for that large of a land area. Our class that we were taking was called forest ecology, so most days we spent some time learning inside and then went out into different forest ecosystems to study them. The first 5 days we stayed at a lodge in a little town called Makarora. Myself and the other three male students had a nice little tee pee as our room. After Makarora, we drove farther West all the way to the coast of the Tasman sea and stayed at a Maori Marai (meeting house). It was built in 2005 and it was a beautiful place to stay. We took some adventurous trips into the thickest bush that I have ever been in, which was a lot of fun. Some of the forests we were in were 6,000 years old, and there was so much growing that it was almost impossible to walk through. On Sunday myself and four others went on a glacier walk at Fox Glacier. It was an awesome experience! We strapped spikes to the bottom of our boots so that we could walk without falling, and our guide used a pick axe to carve steps for us in the ice. The glacier is one of only three like it in the world, where a glacier exists so close to the sea in a temperate environment. One of the other three is the Franz Josef glacier right down the road (which we also saw), and the other one is in Argentina.

The semester is quickly coming to a close, so this will probably be my last post on my blog. Thanks for reading about my semester, and I can't wait to talk to you about it when I get back!

Spring Break! Tramping in Abel Tasman National Park

We have just returned from our spring break trip, and it was an incredible experience! A group of eight of us went tramping in the beautiful Abel Tasman national park on the northern coast of the South Island. (The park is named after the Dutch explorer who was the first European to discover New Zealand). We rented two cars and drove about 5 hours to the city of Nelson, which is near Abel Tasman. We stayed in a hostel in the city on Saturday and Sunday. Easter Sunday morning we went to a beautiful Anglican cathedral in Nelson. The service was very different, but i loved it! It seemed to me to be a perfect mix of Catholicism and the Protestant church services that I am accustomed to. On Monday morning we took a shuttle to Abel Tasman and began our hiking trip. We hiked 4-5 hours each day, which seemed like a lot more because we were carrying our packs. When we would got to camp we would set up our tents and cook some dinner. I slept in Department of Conservation huts two of the four nights, which was a welcome break from trying to sleep on the ground. We had great weather! It only rained one night, and it was sunny everyday. The track we hiked followed the coast the entire 30 mile distance, and we saw amazing views all day everyday. We weren't able to shower for 5 days, but it was fun to rough it like that for awhile. When we finally finished the hike on Friday afternoon, our feet aching from carrying the extra weight all week, we rode a bus back to Nelson. We stayed in a really nice hostel Friday and Saturday night called Paradiso. It had a hot tub, outdoor pool (although it was too cold to swim), sauna, pool table, and volleyball court. Unfortunately our experience was tainted from the get-go. Someone broke into our (the guys') room and the girls' room through an open window within the first few hours of being there. Caleb had his camera, ipod, and knife stolen. Colette had her entire wallet stolen, and Katie's credit card was stolen. Although that was a bad experience, our trip as a whole was an awesome time of enjoying God's beautiful creation.

Christchurch Homestay Week

This past week was our opportunity to live with a kiwi family in Christchurch. I stayed with another student from CCSP named Caleb at the home of an older couple. Their names were Joan and Allan and they had lived in New Zealand their entire lives. They have three daughters, 2 of whom are married and are living in California. Caleb and I had an awesome time with Joan and Allan! They cooked us delicious meals and more desserts than we knew what to do with. They also took us shopping and showed us around the city.

On Saturday night Joan and Allan's daughter, Catherine, took Caleb and I to a party at a really cool location. One of her friends had built a gigantic "man cave" that had an entire wall made of plywood painted white and a projector screen shining on it. The back of the cave had stadium seating with theater-style seats. We got to watch an intense game of rugby, but the best part was that when we finished our beer we could throw it as hard as we wanted at the screen and it would shatter!

Caleb and I went windsurfing on Sunday, which was a ton of fun! We got a lesson and 2 hours of windsurfing for a great price! We used wide, beginner boards so that it was easier for us to stay up. We were pretty good by the end of our session!

We are leaving on our spring break trip tomorrow morning already! We will be doing some hiking in a beautiful national park on the north coast of the south island, it should be a blast!

Samoa recap and God & Nature week 1

I have been back from Samoa for about a week now, and looking back it was an incredible adventure. We spent the first couple of days in the capital city of Apia, which is on the island of Upolo. Western Samoa is made of two islands: Upolo and Savaii. After a couple of days in Apia we took a ferry to the other island, Savaii. We stayed in a place called Safua hotel, and it was a very cool cultural experience. We had a culture day towards the end of our stay which was a great time. The Samoans showed us how they prepare food and do other cool things like climb coconut trees and make mats. Our fale, which is basically a hut type structure, that we stayed in had gigantic tarantulas, cockroaches, and venomous centipedes. We got mosquito nets after the first night, but we didn't sleep much the first night. Each night as we ate our dinner a band of Samoan guys about my age played Samoan music for us. I took some video of it on my camera so I can show people when I get home. Most days at Safua we went on tours around Savaii led by an Australian man named Warren who lives at the hotel. We saw a lot of beautiful sights, such as blowholes, sea arches, and a waterfall of paradise.

After about 8 days at Safua hotel, we spent four days in a place called Faga village. It was basically a total immersion in Samoan culture. My father's name was Fa'amamafa and my mother's name was Saloulele. They had a daughter a year older than me named Pila and a nine year old daughter named Nora. They treated me with amazing hospitality. I was able to go to the plantation with Fa'amamafa and harvest some Taro (a starchy root that is a staple of the Samoan diet). The last night in Faga village our group participated in a Fia Fia (Samoan for "happy"), which is a celebrative festival of dancing. It was basically a dance competition between our group and their village. I and three other students, along with Fa'amamafa, sang a Samoan song for everyone that he taught us.

The last week of our stay in Samoa was back on the island Upolo for Marine Ecology class. We stayed at Taufua Beach Fales resort and restaurant. It was a much more Westernized setting than the previous two weeks had been. There were approximately 30 other guests staying there besides our group and most of them were from Europe. Our accommodations were amazing! We stayed in very simple fales on the beach, probably about 100 feet from the shoreline. We rolled out of bed in the morning and could go snorkeling or go to class in our swimsuits. The snorkeling was amazing! I saw hundreds of different species of fish, coral, and invertebrates. The water was crystal clear and around 82 degrees F. everyday. Our last day at Taufua we were swimming in the ocean and the most beautiful rainbow anyone had ever seen appeared in the sky. It stretched from the horizon above the water one side to the treeline on the other side. It was almost a complete half circle, and it was so brightly defined that on the base of one side the color pattern actually started to repeat itself!

This past week of God and Nature class was an awesome class! We had a great professor from Hope college come and teach us about our calling as Christians to care for the earth and all of creation. We did a lot of in depth biblical study that changed a lot of people's views, but it was awesome to learn so much. I plan on behaving a little differently when I return home because of the class.

Preparing for Samoa

We are leaving for Samoa tomorrow already! We will be gone for three weeks, which is quite overwhelming considering I have hardly even been in New Zealand that long yet. I am still really enjoying my time over here, and time is really starting to fly! We just finished our second week of class. It was called sustainable development, and our professor was an awesome guy who grew up, and continues to live, in New Zealand. The class was very intense but awesome. He is an unbelievably passionate follower of Christ, and his life story is simply amazing. He will be coming back to taech us for another week in late March and I am looking very foward to that. We are truly blessed that he takes two weeks out of his busy schedule to teach us. He is very in demand around here because of the passion that he brings when he speaks.
I will not have any access to computers in Samoa, but I will be sure to update the blog when I return.

Student Trip and Classes Begin

This past weekend I and the other 15 students went on student trips. We were dropped off in Christchurch on Friday morning and were told to meet back at a church in Christchurch on Sunday night, what we did for the weekend was up to us. I and ten other students spent the day and night exploring Christchurch. We had a nice dinner, went to an authentic Irish pub, and stayed in a hostel in the city. On Saturday morning we rented a van and a car and drove two hours North to a town called Kaikoura. I drove the van, which was quite an experience. In New Zealand cars drive on the left side of the road and the right side of the car is the driver's side. It took a little getting used to but it felt somewhat natural by the end. In Kaikoura we walked out on the rocks during low tide and got very close to some seals. They were napping on the rocks, trying to soak up some sun. At night I slept in another hostel in the city. On Sunday morning we stopped at a beautiful winery on they way back to Christchurch. It had a beautful view of the mountains and the ocean. Sunday night we went to an inner city church that was very different from what I am used to. A group opened by break dancing, and then we sang in a rock concert-like atmosphere. Tony Campolo was the speaker, which was incredible.

This morning we began our first class, called Stream Ecology. It is pretty intense but also interesting.

Week 1

I have been here for nearly a week now and I am having a wonderful time! So far we have been involved in orientation, and class doesn't start until Monday. We have been keeping very busy doing various fun activities and trips. On Thursday we went on a hike and learned from some park rangers about the history of New Zealand and about the particular area surrounding our campus.

On Friday we took a trip to Castle Hill, the location where the final battle scene in the Chronicles of Narnia was filmed. We had a great time doing some bouldering and taking in the beautiful scenery. Then in the afternoon we went to a place called Cave Stream, where we walked through a river going through a cave under a Mountain. We used headlamps and the walk took about 45 minutes. The water in the stream was snowmelt from the mountains, so it was very clear and very cold. On Saturday we spent the day in Christchurch, the 2nd biggest town in New Zealand. It is about 40 minutes from our campus. We spent about 5 hours doing an Amazing Race photo hunt, during which we walked all over the city and got our bearings. Yesterday (Monday) we made a huge feast in the traditional Maori way. The Maori are the indigenous peoples of NZ who were here before the Bristish came. The cooking method is called a Hangi. We dug a huge hole in the ground, filled it with wood, put large rocks on top, and let the wood burn and the rocks fall into the hole. When the rocks were red hot, we put tons of food in baskets and cloths in the hole and covered it with sheets and then dirt and a tarp. After three hours of cooking in the ground, we 'exhumed' the food and had a feast. Today we went to a town called Akaroa right on the water and watched the Waitangi Day celebration. It is best comparable to New Zealand's version of the 4th of July, although this is not a perfect comparison. We watched some of the festivities and then laid out on the beach all afternoon and had dinner overlooking the bay.