Hello! Well my Fall break has ended and we're back in the thick of classes and assignments. My classes are still going quite well, though we've just started the abnormal psychology topic and I'm in danger of becoming something of a hypochondriac as regards schizophrenia and the like. Anyway, I went on another beautiful hike last week. This one went through basically the entire length of Belmont Regional Park, which you can reach by train from central Wellington in about 20 minutes. It was a long hike, lasting about 7 hours, but it was well worth it. It wasn't so much that there was any one especially nice sight (although there were some noteworthy ones) as that vast majority of the walk was over open rolling hills so that I could see all around me all the time. There was just this wonderful feeling of freedom and openness. Oh, I saw my first New Zealand sheep, in such abundance as to make up for the previous dearth thereof, (I also had to walk among them, which was considerably less pleasant) as well as a whole lot of abandoned World War II ammunition bunkers. Pictures are below. By the way, if you want to see the full-sized pictures, just click on them on the blog webpage.
In other news, Anzac day was yesterday, April 25th. Anzac stands for The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and the day is now basically their Memorial Day. It commemorates the disastrous landing at Gallipoli (in Turkey) during World War I. Australian and New Zealand soldiers were landed on the wrong beach and found themselves facing not a gentle slope but serious cliffs. British commanders basically told them to hang in there. The casualties were horrific on both sides. Approximately 1 in 4 of the New Zealanders serving there were killed and many more were wounded. Although absolute numbers of New Zealanders involved in World War 1 were of course small, as a percentage of their population the numbers who served, were killed, or were wounded, are very high. Anyway, Anzac Day is quite important. There were dawn services all over the country. There was some disruption this year by anti-war protesters with very poor taste, in my opinion. There was even a New Zealand flag burned (which is a crime here) near one of the services. Anti-war sentiments do run high around here, but it seems very disrespectful to express them so.
Kiwi observation of the week: This can best be illustrated by an anecdote, though it is far from being an isolated incident or observation. Background: my friend Jess' father is a psychologist in Auckland -many hours drive from here or a 1 hour plane ride if that helps. Anyway, Jess made some comment about our new psych professor. I asked how she knew this and she said: "Oh I asked my dad." I, assuming her father and our professor must have worked together or been at university together or something, asked how they knew each other. The response? "He's a psychologist," said in the most matter-of-fact tone as if that should make their connection obvious and in fact she wasn't even sure why I was asking.
Moral of the story: It's a very small country.
In other news, Anzac day was yesterday, April 25th. Anzac stands for The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and the day is now basically their Memorial Day. It commemorates the disastrous landing at Gallipoli (in Turkey) during World War I. Australian and New Zealand soldiers were landed on the wrong beach and found themselves facing not a gentle slope but serious cliffs. British commanders basically told them to hang in there. The casualties were horrific on both sides. Approximately 1 in 4 of the New Zealanders serving there were killed and many more were wounded. Although absolute numbers of New Zealanders involved in World War 1 were of course small, as a percentage of their population the numbers who served, were killed, or were wounded, are very high. Anyway, Anzac Day is quite important. There were dawn services all over the country. There was some disruption this year by anti-war protesters with very poor taste, in my opinion. There was even a New Zealand flag burned (which is a crime here) near one of the services. Anti-war sentiments do run high around here, but it seems very disrespectful to express them so.
Kiwi observation of the week: This can best be illustrated by an anecdote, though it is far from being an isolated incident or observation. Background: my friend Jess' father is a psychologist in Auckland -many hours drive from here or a 1 hour plane ride if that helps. Anyway, Jess made some comment about our new psych professor. I asked how she knew this and she said: "Oh I asked my dad." I, assuming her father and our professor must have worked together or been at university together or something, asked how they knew each other. The response? "He's a psychologist," said in the most matter-of-fact tone as if that should make their connection obvious and in fact she wasn't even sure why I was asking.
Moral of the story: It's a very small country.
