Random

Gosh I almost don't want to post because I'm lagging sooo far behind.
Let's start simple
First off, an orange kumara (a New Zealand potato that is sweet) is a sweet potato.
Duly noted.
Next, I totally forgot to mention that I can identify plants now! I'm working in a lab with Pieter Pelser studying Senecios. The first one I named was a Senecio quadridentatus. The next one was a bissectus and then there were some other ones that I forget at the moment. He says we may go out into the field soon. Exciting!
Uni is crushing my soul at the moment. All because of one silly 4.5 thousand word essay. I'm writing it on the Convention on Biodiversity and its successful or unsuccessful presence in New Zealand. Totally up my alley, but I'm just not feeling it, too tired.
Anyway, enough of that. Let's see. In the time's that's past I fully dressed my first duck. It had been recently hit by a car which had just nicked it on the nose. I plucked the feathers, then boiled the skin and removed all the down, gutted it, and stuck it in the oven. I made a nice orange sauce to go on top, swiss chard patties, mashed potatoes, and salad.
That weekend I went on a field trip, got to hold a 3,000 year old moa bone.
That week my friend Petra made a plaster cast of my face. More recently she did part of my back, part of my face, and my left arm. Interesting experience.
I went to Kaikoura! It's the town by the sea, known for Seafest, which I went to. It's mainly a festival where Kiwis can get drunk, which they always do, but if you ignore that part, they make all these weird things with seafood, like mussel pies and crayfish pies and scallops on a stick, and have cooking demos. It was a good sunshiny day. They also dressed up in their best sea creature/related stuff outfits. Honestly, Kiwis take any opportunity to put on costumes, I love that! And I got to see seals sleeping about a foot away from me! That was probably the best part. We slept in a massive tent (three separated rooms that you could stand up in) on Ross's lawn. On Sunday morning, Ross's dad John, let me borrow one of their bikes (his wife Heather's). He had participated in the Coast to Coast, a race from one coast of the south island to the other (previously called "just a run" by Volker, a german Kiwi) three years ago having done the kayaking and biking portion and earned third place for his team! Craziness... so as you can imagine, that bike was sweet! I topped out at 42km/hr, probably going an average of 29. Mount Fyffe was looming on my horizon the entire time but I didn't quite make it there. Next time.
Hmm I also went to a salsa club and I finished a pair of baby booties that I'm sending to Tara. I'm starting on socks now. God I hate socks...