Well, it has been an interesting couple of days. I’ll start with the good stuff.
I stayed up late on Saturday watching Lord of the Rings, and marvelling at how beautiful New Zealand is. I think the others could have done with less of the “And that’s Wellington’s Quarry!” but they were nice about the whole thing, and the movie is great.

On Sunday I went to Church, which is a little different from Church in New Zealand. I’ve never seen a crucifix and a large icon of Mary and Jesus in an Anglican church before. Doesn’t that defeat the purpose? Good sermon though, and the people there seemed pleased to see a young person show up so early (8am).

I also did my sweet soccer skills again, but I was much less like Renaldo this week. Possibly the fact I was running off no sleep was a factor, and possibly it was just reality asserting itself. We shall have to see, as the first game is quite soon.

On Monday evening I had a pillow-fight, which I lost. I also did heaps of homework, which made me feel good. I have discovered that to get any work done I need to be at the library, because otherwise I am distracted by my friends.

On Tuesday however, I did an Army Swim Test. I tell a lie (sorry – I’m writing this early in the morning and my brain is a bit scattered), on Tuesday firstly I did a job interview for a one-off EAP fair job, worth about $40 for the day. I was thinking about what to do with the unexpected money (buy new jandels, because mine have holes in them, or use it to top up my meal points plan?) but now I know exactly what it is I’m doing with it. The army swim test was great, and I crushed – but my DPM’s (army camo) got very wet (obviously), my plastic bag had a hole in it, and the upshot was leaked water all through my backpack. It destroyed nothing except my cellphone, and that is destroyed completely. So the money I will be earning will be going towards that.

The Army swim test was fun though – a 30m DPM swim (easy as pie), a 15 rifle swim (in New Zealand to pass one has to keep the rifle out of the water, and so I did, but apparently this isn’t true in the states and everyone was surprised by my sweet skills/amused at my ignorance.) A entry into the water whilst taking off gear, and an entry into the water whilst blindfolded. Then we made improvised floatation devices. The best line? “Take off your pants! I’ve always wanted to give that order.” (We filled the legs with air and floated on them.) A close second has to be “This is the way I always wanted to die. Floating on my pants.”

So that's life. Classes and stuff. I wonder if I really need to replace that cellphone - the whole thing is really expensive.

Anyway, cheers

Margie

written by  Crosswood on September 19, 2007 from Berkeley, United States
from the travel blog: New Zealand Student, American University.
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It seems screwy to me tat te NZ army ave more ardcore training metods tan te USA, but i suppose tey ave more people, wic makes traing tem all least cost effective and less necessary. Presumably tey also ave better weapons, also decreasing te need.

I miss my letter between g and j on my keyboard.

written by  Rebecca Harris on September 20, 2007

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