I'm orientated (that's how they say it here)

It's Tuesday afternoon, and I'm back in an internet cafe - I'm still waiting on internet in my flat. I thought I'd get it when I enrol (tomorrow) but it turns out that we have to wait a day after we enrol and then load money on our Canterbury cards (student ID card). So I'm doing my best to keep in touch, and I'll post pictures when I have a good connection in my room.

Last night, the RA's in Ilam Village, where I live, hosted an event called "Speed Meeting." I hesitated about going, but then decided to - and most of the village went, too. We sat at tables and talked to someone for three minutes. Then an RA would hit this loud instrument (I forget what it's called) and half the people would rotate. After an hour and a half they thankfully ended the excercise, even though we were just halfway through. I met lots of people - but I don't remember many of them. It was like sorority rush - only worse! Most of the students are from the states, and there are a significant amount of Germans and Malaysians.

This link has pictures of Ilam Village:
http://www.canterburyuv.co.nz/canterburyuv/sites/ilam/site/html/the_pics.htm

I'm getting used to riding the bus - and being clueless about riding the bus. I realized that I'm going to make tons of mistakes over the next four months, so I'm not going to worry about how many I make or how often I make them. The bus drivers tend to be friendly, and they're not in a hurry like in the States, so it's not a huge deal to mess up getting on. The grocery store still confuses me, and their use here of kilojoules instead of calories requires constant math. Some of the items are similar to those in the US, but they have a lot of different products here. Today I bought some kind of green speckly fruit that is some combination of an apple and a pear. I think it's called a "Noshi." Of course, the kiwifruits here are very cheap! I can't find baby carrots, and the celery is huge! Right now, I'm carrying almost a two-foot stalk of celery around town. I'm sure I don't stand out as a newcomer. ;)

Yesterday and today I ventured to the City Centre to check out the Cathedral and the Botanical Gardens. Today, the Cathedral was putting on a pancake race for Shrove Tuesday. Different Christian groups around the city ran relays while flipping pancakes in a skillet. The winning group won a skillet! I'll post some pictures of this fun event soon.

I also discovered lots of used book stores - which happen to be some of my favorite places to go. Unfortunately, everything I buy here has to fly back, so I'm a bit limited. But I might go explore them sometime. There's one called "Pre-Loved Books," which just might be my favourite name for a bookstore EVER.

I think that's it for now. I'm going to head back to my room and brave the flatmates. And figure out my class schedule. It's tough because the classes don't meet at set times - they just meet whenever the lecturers feel like it, or so it seems. Lots of the classes I want to take overlap, so this should be a challenge.