a few days later...

hey everybody,
sorry it's been so long since my last post.

well. on thursday evening, i met my 3rd roommate, theresa, and went with sine to show her part of the town and get groceries. cool roommate. we now only have 1 more person left to arrive (should be here today)

friday: i walked through a small downpour to help theresa get registered and met some other australearn program kids through theresa. the ones we hung out with were really cool and somewhere in the day we started planning a trip to thailand for spring....er fall break (with some pacific islands like vanatua as our backups). wow. also tried to go to queenstown that night with them but the buses were already gone and the rental cars were all out so we had to put it off.

a little spontaneous, much fun. for the past couple of days i have been showing them a bit of town and just hanging out. yesterday we went to the beach and it was very nice, cold blue water and a nice breeze. the beach isn't too crowded either so that is good. i did, however, forget that the ozone layer is pretty thin down here and so the backs of my arms look like a coca-cola label -- oops.

i also got an application to work at a dairy (it's like a convenience store with ice cream instead of gasoline..kind of). i think i'll turn it in soon. i don't know that they want someone who wants to work 5-10 hours a week though (and that mainly to hang out with locals and talk to customers). should be an interesting conversation anyways

today i tried to go to Church but walked into a very contemporary youth service, which is not exactly my thing, and my roommate wanted to leave (i was a bit uncomfortable myself just because i'm so used to a church with very old congregants..is that a word? i think so). so, i might try to go to a catholic service this evening.

i'm also excited about a game of ultimate frisbee that is going down at 2:30 this afternoon. i was planning on hiking with theresa, felicia, and scott (the people i'm also potentially planning thailand with) but i think we might need to move it back.....ultimate....yeah

i took some more pictures of the botanical gardens last night (we had a picnic) and i'll post those soon. the rose garden here is very diverse and in full bloom. the whole garden is filled with an interesting mix of fragrances that all manage to blend well.

i'm getting excited for class...i really want to start (and i'm pretty sure i'll be dropping down to 4 classes). a lot of people here are able to maintain full enrollment with only 3 (crazy huh?) i can't and don't want to, that's just too few.

ah well, i'll let you know how the dairy job turns out

-keaton