I have now returned to Boston and have been home for about two weeks. Leaving NZ was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. I have never before felt so attached to a place. So with sadness, I embarked on my journey home that lasted for more than 30 hours. Right before the plane was to descend into Boston, the pilot came on the loudspeaker to announce that the radios had gone down at Logan and we wouldn't be able to land for at least an hour. So we landed at JFK and sat on the runway waiting. By the time I arrived in Boston, my plane was four hours late. I got home to find that there had been a surprise party waiting for me. Only, everyone had already left. There was a lovely note from everyone however.
During my last few weeks in NZ, I tried to spend as much time with my friends as possible before I would leave some of them for quite awhile. We had a few more epic donut nights. I will certainly miss donut mondays quite a bit, so hopefully Peter and Ingrid will carry on the tradition. Jessi and I hosted an 80's-themed graduation/going away party. We decided to have it despite a party ban in Ilam during exams. So unfortunately we were shut down before too long. But we had an awesome show of costumes, including Pac-Man, some rocking prom dresses, and spandex. I also said my goodbyes to Castle Hill on my last weekend before I left. Castle Hill trips were such an important part of my time in NZ, I will really really miss them.
And now I am back in Boston, biding my time (and trying to make some money) before my next adventure. Hopefully I will be back in NZ soon.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Getting Silly in N-Zed
A few weeks or so ago, as I realized that my time in NZ was fast approaching its end, I decided that I needed to amp up my adventure-taking and just general fun times.
One night, my friends Ingrid and Jessi decided to host a "WTF" party. The idea was to dress up in a costume that would make people say "WTF?" So I hopped inside my crashpad and waddled over to the flat where I thought the party was. I walked into a room of 20 or so people, none of them dressed up. But they seemed to know of the theme because many of them said "WTF?"
I finally tracked Ingrid and Jessi down. Their costumes were pretty hilarious. Ingrid was in a blue and white ski suit and Jessi was wearing a leotard with silver sparkly spandex tights. So I swapped my crashpad for a teal leotard and black spandex. We all donned pink bandanas cut from a big piece of fabric.
We decided to take our "WTF" party to the campus bar. It was a Thursday night, so the place was pretty packed. We spent the next few hours dancing through the crowds trying to rile people up and getting plenty of wierd looks in the process. Jessi and I pretended we were aerobic instructors and got people to do jazzercise with us.
We had one of the best nights we've had in NZ. We realized that it's way more fun going out wearing costumes when no one else is. We decided that every Thursday would be "WTF" night, and pretty much every week since then, we've dressed up crazy and rocked the campus bar.
Classes finished last week. I wanted to make the last day of class especially good as it was my last day of college classes. So a couple of friends and I decided to do the Rocksoc quiz night. Rocksoc is Canterbury's geology club and it makes me envious that Northeastern doesn't have a more fun geology club. But I am indeed happy that I could experience a bit of Rocksoc.
The costume theme for the night was rockstar. Most of my team didn't really plan ahead, so we ended up with some ridiculous costumes. Peter wore a one-piece black suit thing and my friend Lucy wore a black-and-white striped bathing suit with gold sparkly pants on her arms worn like a jacket. Jessi thought it'd be funny if we called ourselves "Team America" because half our team was Kiwi, and well America is just cool. So we played the role of obnoxious Americans pretty well that night. Whenever it was silent, Jessi, Lucy, and I would yell "America, F Yea!!" Needless to say some people told us to shut up, but I think we made some friends as well.
Team America ended up tearing up the quiz, especially the music round, because one of our team members knew single every answer. Somehow though we didn't win any of the cool prizes that mostly consisted of beer and wine. But we weren't too phased, as once the quiz ended, someone put on Bohemian Rhapsody and We Are The Champions and everyone started rocking out, professors and all. I don't think I've ever had that much fun with my professors, and it kind of made me sad that I can't stay at Canterbury longer. But alas, at least I was able to experience the greatness of Rocksoc for one evening. (My real regret is missing the 3-legged pub crawl they hosted earlier in the semester...)
And because I know I left you all in suspense about my dumpster bacon goodness, one night last week, we had a very ceremonial cooking of our prized bacon. I may have never before eaten such tasty, tasty bacon!
One night, my friends Ingrid and Jessi decided to host a "WTF" party. The idea was to dress up in a costume that would make people say "WTF?" So I hopped inside my crashpad and waddled over to the flat where I thought the party was. I walked into a room of 20 or so people, none of them dressed up. But they seemed to know of the theme because many of them said "WTF?"
I finally tracked Ingrid and Jessi down. Their costumes were pretty hilarious. Ingrid was in a blue and white ski suit and Jessi was wearing a leotard with silver sparkly spandex tights. So I swapped my crashpad for a teal leotard and black spandex. We all donned pink bandanas cut from a big piece of fabric.
We decided to take our "WTF" party to the campus bar. It was a Thursday night, so the place was pretty packed. We spent the next few hours dancing through the crowds trying to rile people up and getting plenty of wierd looks in the process. Jessi and I pretended we were aerobic instructors and got people to do jazzercise with us.
We had one of the best nights we've had in NZ. We realized that it's way more fun going out wearing costumes when no one else is. We decided that every Thursday would be "WTF" night, and pretty much every week since then, we've dressed up crazy and rocked the campus bar.
Classes finished last week. I wanted to make the last day of class especially good as it was my last day of college classes. So a couple of friends and I decided to do the Rocksoc quiz night. Rocksoc is Canterbury's geology club and it makes me envious that Northeastern doesn't have a more fun geology club. But I am indeed happy that I could experience a bit of Rocksoc.
The costume theme for the night was rockstar. Most of my team didn't really plan ahead, so we ended up with some ridiculous costumes. Peter wore a one-piece black suit thing and my friend Lucy wore a black-and-white striped bathing suit with gold sparkly pants on her arms worn like a jacket. Jessi thought it'd be funny if we called ourselves "Team America" because half our team was Kiwi, and well America is just cool. So we played the role of obnoxious Americans pretty well that night. Whenever it was silent, Jessi, Lucy, and I would yell "America, F Yea!!" Needless to say some people told us to shut up, but I think we made some friends as well.
Team America ended up tearing up the quiz, especially the music round, because one of our team members knew single every answer. Somehow though we didn't win any of the cool prizes that mostly consisted of beer and wine. But we weren't too phased, as once the quiz ended, someone put on Bohemian Rhapsody and We Are The Champions and everyone started rocking out, professors and all. I don't think I've ever had that much fun with my professors, and it kind of made me sad that I can't stay at Canterbury longer. But alas, at least I was able to experience the greatness of Rocksoc for one evening. (My real regret is missing the 3-legged pub crawl they hosted earlier in the semester...)
And because I know I left you all in suspense about my dumpster bacon goodness, one night last week, we had a very ceremonial cooking of our prized bacon. I may have never before eaten such tasty, tasty bacon!
Friday, May 29, 2009
The Dumpster, My Friend
I must say, I have heaps to report!
I am now within a week of completing my final classes of college. The feeling is quite surreal and a bit sad. I am trying to savor these last moments more than I did at the end of high school when I ran out of that place without looking back. Realistically, I don't think this is the last time I will step into a classroom as a student. But since I don't see grad school or anything of the like on the horizon right now, it may be awhile.
For the most part, the endless days of warm, sunny weather that graced my first few months here have given way to balmy, rainy days. I've had to embrace climbing in the gym quite a bit, as the weather hasn't been conducive to climbing outside. Though unlike winter in New England, there are still often days when I can walk around in my sandals and a t-shirt. And I savor these days.
And on a positive note, the colder weather has made for prime dumpster-diving conditions. There's nothing like a power-free refrigerator to keep all your garbage (and potential treasures) cold! I've been frequenting the dumpsters of nearby grocery stores on a pretty regular basis and usually am able to find some nice produce, bread, and assorted goodies.
One night this past week, my friend Jessi and I hit the dumpster jackpot. We had a few items in mind that we would have loved to find: a hat and some bread. We were happily surprised with much more than that. We managed not only to find a new hat for Jessi, but a box of assorted chocolates, a bag full of unused journals, christmas decorations, a 10 kg bag of rice, a sac of goon, yogurt, milk, sausages, pasta, tons of brownies and caramel slices, produce galore, roses, tea, meat pies, and possibly best of all bacon!
And you may ask, "But Kate, aren't you vegetarian??" Ah yes, this is normally the case. However, how could I leave perfectly good meat to go to waste?!? My vegan friend Ingrid and I had been joking about "dumpster bacon" the past few weeks and how we didn't think we'd ever find any. Needless to say, Ingrid couldn't believe when I told her that dumpster bacon does indeed exist!
And to come...the night we eat the bacon...
I am now within a week of completing my final classes of college. The feeling is quite surreal and a bit sad. I am trying to savor these last moments more than I did at the end of high school when I ran out of that place without looking back. Realistically, I don't think this is the last time I will step into a classroom as a student. But since I don't see grad school or anything of the like on the horizon right now, it may be awhile.
For the most part, the endless days of warm, sunny weather that graced my first few months here have given way to balmy, rainy days. I've had to embrace climbing in the gym quite a bit, as the weather hasn't been conducive to climbing outside. Though unlike winter in New England, there are still often days when I can walk around in my sandals and a t-shirt. And I savor these days.
And on a positive note, the colder weather has made for prime dumpster-diving conditions. There's nothing like a power-free refrigerator to keep all your garbage (and potential treasures) cold! I've been frequenting the dumpsters of nearby grocery stores on a pretty regular basis and usually am able to find some nice produce, bread, and assorted goodies.
One night this past week, my friend Jessi and I hit the dumpster jackpot. We had a few items in mind that we would have loved to find: a hat and some bread. We were happily surprised with much more than that. We managed not only to find a new hat for Jessi, but a box of assorted chocolates, a bag full of unused journals, christmas decorations, a 10 kg bag of rice, a sac of goon, yogurt, milk, sausages, pasta, tons of brownies and caramel slices, produce galore, roses, tea, meat pies, and possibly best of all bacon!
And you may ask, "But Kate, aren't you vegetarian??" Ah yes, this is normally the case. However, how could I leave perfectly good meat to go to waste?!? My vegan friend Ingrid and I had been joking about "dumpster bacon" the past few weeks and how we didn't think we'd ever find any. Needless to say, Ingrid couldn't believe when I told her that dumpster bacon does indeed exist!
And to come...the night we eat the bacon...
Friday, May 8, 2009
And the adventure continues...
So to pick up where I left off...
The morning after I returned from Hulk Hogan, I headed up to Paynes Ford in the Golden Bay, which is at the northern tip of the South Island. After 6 or so adrenalized hours in Pete's Hyundai Pony (we weren't sure if it would make it), we pulled into Hangdog, the climbers' camp, right next to the crag.
Hangdog is a pretty sweet place. It's a lot like Miguel's, minus the pizza. Lots of people go to Paynes and end up living at Hangdog for some length of time. Also unlike Miguel's, there's a cool town, Takaka, right up the road (not that Slade, KY isn't sweet...). They have a bunch of old bikes at Hangdog that you can borrow and ride into town. Hangdog is also in walking distance to all the climbing. So if you have a car, you could conceivably park it and not move it until you leave the Golden Bay.
Paynes Ford is amazing as well. It has a few hundred sport routes. The rock is limestone like Castle Hill, but it is quite different. There are actually holds at Paynes, rather than just featureless bulges. There are a lot of slopey ledges and crimps at Paynes and the rock can be hard to read, so that took a bit of time to get used to.
I spent most of the week there working on my fear of falling. Somehow, I had managed to become more scared of falling on lead since the last time I had been sport climbing outside, which had been several months before, except for the cave. So I did a lot of freezing up as soon as I would start to go beyond my last clip, usually locking off on some absurdly small hold, just standing there not moving. And when I finally starting letting myself take falls, I would let out these blood-curdling screams. By the end of the week, many people knew that it was me climbing around the corner.
A lot of the climbs are pretty run-out and the first bolts are often very high. I decided to work on my falling fear on one of the most run-out climbs at Paynes, Dave's Arete. The route is a super cool 24 (~5.11d) that works along an arete with good holds and really fun moves. The climb is probably, oh I don't know, 30 meters long with only 4 bolts. It's a long climb and it gets really pumpy in the end, probably because you're so afraid of falling. So pretty much everyone takes massive whippers off this route. And if you manage to make it to the top on your first go, you probably take the victory fall anyway. So needless to say, I took a couple of rather big falls off Dave's Arete. But admittedly, they were some of the most fun falls I've ever taken!
It took several days to get the hang of climbing at Paynes, so I wish I could have stayed longer. Two days before I left I started working on this really fun 27 called Creative Confusion. I kept getting stuck on this one move and I know I could have done the route if I had just a bit more time to work on it. So who knows, maybe I will make it back there before I leave NZ.
So sadly we left Paynes about a week later on a day with beautiful weather and drove back to Christchurch.
And with that, I will end there for now.
The morning after I returned from Hulk Hogan, I headed up to Paynes Ford in the Golden Bay, which is at the northern tip of the South Island. After 6 or so adrenalized hours in Pete's Hyundai Pony (we weren't sure if it would make it), we pulled into Hangdog, the climbers' camp, right next to the crag.
Hangdog is a pretty sweet place. It's a lot like Miguel's, minus the pizza. Lots of people go to Paynes and end up living at Hangdog for some length of time. Also unlike Miguel's, there's a cool town, Takaka, right up the road (not that Slade, KY isn't sweet...). They have a bunch of old bikes at Hangdog that you can borrow and ride into town. Hangdog is also in walking distance to all the climbing. So if you have a car, you could conceivably park it and not move it until you leave the Golden Bay.
Paynes Ford is amazing as well. It has a few hundred sport routes. The rock is limestone like Castle Hill, but it is quite different. There are actually holds at Paynes, rather than just featureless bulges. There are a lot of slopey ledges and crimps at Paynes and the rock can be hard to read, so that took a bit of time to get used to.
I spent most of the week there working on my fear of falling. Somehow, I had managed to become more scared of falling on lead since the last time I had been sport climbing outside, which had been several months before, except for the cave. So I did a lot of freezing up as soon as I would start to go beyond my last clip, usually locking off on some absurdly small hold, just standing there not moving. And when I finally starting letting myself take falls, I would let out these blood-curdling screams. By the end of the week, many people knew that it was me climbing around the corner.
A lot of the climbs are pretty run-out and the first bolts are often very high. I decided to work on my falling fear on one of the most run-out climbs at Paynes, Dave's Arete. The route is a super cool 24 (~5.11d) that works along an arete with good holds and really fun moves. The climb is probably, oh I don't know, 30 meters long with only 4 bolts. It's a long climb and it gets really pumpy in the end, probably because you're so afraid of falling. So pretty much everyone takes massive whippers off this route. And if you manage to make it to the top on your first go, you probably take the victory fall anyway. So needless to say, I took a couple of rather big falls off Dave's Arete. But admittedly, they were some of the most fun falls I've ever taken!
It took several days to get the hang of climbing at Paynes, so I wish I could have stayed longer. Two days before I left I started working on this really fun 27 called Creative Confusion. I kept getting stuck on this one move and I know I could have done the route if I had just a bit more time to work on it. So who knows, maybe I will make it back there before I leave NZ.
So sadly we left Paynes about a week later on a day with beautiful weather and drove back to Christchurch.
And with that, I will end there for now.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
And to continue where I left off...
About a week ago, I returned from a 3-week break from classes. I found it pretty insane that I only had classes for 5 weeks before having a pretty long vacation in the middle of the semester. Despite the fact that someone told me this was a "study break," I did what any sensible person would and went climbing!
The first weekend of break I went to this sweet bouldering spot a few hours south of Christchurch called Hulk Hogan. (Pretty cool name, I know.) Up until this point, I had only bouldered at Castle Hill while in NZ, so I was pretty psyched to climb at a new place. Before we got to Hulk, we stopped at a place called Elephant Rocks, which is like a mini Castle Hill. We all ran around for a few hours and did a ton of problems. A notable one was called something like Donald Duck. It involved mantleing a rock that is shaped like a beak.
After that we headed on over to Hulk Hogan. The whole crag is just one long overhung limestone wall. The climbing there is a lot more dynamic and powerful which was a really nice change from Castle Hill. My favorite problem there is definitely The Matrix, an 8 meter or so long V6 traverse. It's super fun with tons of heel hooks but is pretty beta-intensive, with a crux at the beginning and the end. When I went to Hulk for the second time a few weeks later, my friends and I worked The Matrix for several hours. After all our work, none of us were able to send one of the pumpiest boulder problems ever by the end of the day, but we certainly made progress.
I will continue the rest of my break adventures soon!
About a week ago, I returned from a 3-week break from classes. I found it pretty insane that I only had classes for 5 weeks before having a pretty long vacation in the middle of the semester. Despite the fact that someone told me this was a "study break," I did what any sensible person would and went climbing!
The first weekend of break I went to this sweet bouldering spot a few hours south of Christchurch called Hulk Hogan. (Pretty cool name, I know.) Up until this point, I had only bouldered at Castle Hill while in NZ, so I was pretty psyched to climb at a new place. Before we got to Hulk, we stopped at a place called Elephant Rocks, which is like a mini Castle Hill. We all ran around for a few hours and did a ton of problems. A notable one was called something like Donald Duck. It involved mantleing a rock that is shaped like a beak.
After that we headed on over to Hulk Hogan. The whole crag is just one long overhung limestone wall. The climbing there is a lot more dynamic and powerful which was a really nice change from Castle Hill. My favorite problem there is definitely The Matrix, an 8 meter or so long V6 traverse. It's super fun with tons of heel hooks but is pretty beta-intensive, with a crux at the beginning and the end. When I went to Hulk for the second time a few weeks later, my friends and I worked The Matrix for several hours. After all our work, none of us were able to send one of the pumpiest boulder problems ever by the end of the day, but we certainly made progress.
I will continue the rest of my break adventures soon!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Progress!
Wow, so I've been seriously slacking with the blog posts. Sorry about that for all who have been checking for updates. But now I have lots to tell about! And I just posted a bunch of new photos to my Picasa page, so you can check that out as well.
Where to begin...this may come in a few installments.
I suppose I could pick up where I left off. So I've talked a bit about my frustration over not having completed many climbs. Finally a few weeks ago my perseverance began to pay off. At Castle Hill, I sent one of my projects, Element, after what felt like hours of trying. And the next weekend, I sent another project, Dominatrix, and made really good progress on a problem called Tricky, which I will hopefully get next week. I think what has mostly gotten in my way of finishing climbs has been my lack of commitment to particular moves that I don't think I can do. I've been working really hard at getting over this and I think it's finally beginning to get better. Here's a photo of me on Element.
A few weeks ago, I went to Castle Hill for the weekend with about 50 people from the UC Climbing Club. Every year they run a big trip there and stay at a nearby research station that the university owns. So for 2 days we ran around on Castle and Flock Hills. On Saturday night we got to the Cass station and ate delicious curry and bread pudding. That night we did a bit of table traversing and played in the squeeze box.
Paddy traversing the table.
Jan was convinced to get stuck in the squeeze box again so I decided to squeeze in there with him.
And though some may be surprised to hear this, I have been doing a few things other than climbing! I've been going to pretty much all of my classes, though admittedly not doing much work for them. For most classes here, there is just a test or two and an assignment over the course of the semester. I'm probably going to regret not doing work when it comes time for finals, but it's really hard to focus when graduation is so close.
There is a community garden at school that I've worked at a bit. They grow some cool things there that I haven't seen in a garden before, like quinoa and quince. For the most part, only plants with a practical purpose are planted, as opposed to ones that are just planted to look nice. No synthetic chemicals are used on any of the plants. They also try to use as many re-used and recycled materials as they can to build beds and for things around the garden. And after a couple hours of work, you can bring home a bunch of fruits and veggies and sometimes even jam!
I think that will be all for this installment. More soon...
Where to begin...this may come in a few installments.
I suppose I could pick up where I left off. So I've talked a bit about my frustration over not having completed many climbs. Finally a few weeks ago my perseverance began to pay off. At Castle Hill, I sent one of my projects, Element, after what felt like hours of trying. And the next weekend, I sent another project, Dominatrix, and made really good progress on a problem called Tricky, which I will hopefully get next week. I think what has mostly gotten in my way of finishing climbs has been my lack of commitment to particular moves that I don't think I can do. I've been working really hard at getting over this and I think it's finally beginning to get better. Here's a photo of me on Element.
A few weeks ago, I went to Castle Hill for the weekend with about 50 people from the UC Climbing Club. Every year they run a big trip there and stay at a nearby research station that the university owns. So for 2 days we ran around on Castle and Flock Hills. On Saturday night we got to the Cass station and ate delicious curry and bread pudding. That night we did a bit of table traversing and played in the squeeze box.
Paddy traversing the table.
Jan was convinced to get stuck in the squeeze box again so I decided to squeeze in there with him.
And though some may be surprised to hear this, I have been doing a few things other than climbing! I've been going to pretty much all of my classes, though admittedly not doing much work for them. For most classes here, there is just a test or two and an assignment over the course of the semester. I'm probably going to regret not doing work when it comes time for finals, but it's really hard to focus when graduation is so close.
There is a community garden at school that I've worked at a bit. They grow some cool things there that I haven't seen in a garden before, like quinoa and quince. For the most part, only plants with a practical purpose are planted, as opposed to ones that are just planted to look nice. No synthetic chemicals are used on any of the plants. They also try to use as many re-used and recycled materials as they can to build beds and for things around the garden. And after a couple hours of work, you can bring home a bunch of fruits and veggies and sometimes even jam!
I think that will be all for this installment. More soon...
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
The Learning Curve
I suppose it's time for another post. And as a warning to any of my loyal readers, this may well turn into a climbing blog by default, as pretty much all I've been doing is climbing. Which is great, I'm certainly not complaining.
So on that note, I've spent the last few weekends at Castle Hill and if weather cooperates, I'll be there this weekend as well.
Before I came here, I knew climbing at Castle Hill would not be easy for me. Though after a month and a half of climbing there, I'm starting to get a bit frustrated at my lack of progress. A good portion of the problems are mantles or at least end with one. I'm not very good at mantles, so I've been diligently practicing. There are two problems that I keep going back to that I'd love to finish: The Unrepeatable and Big Bubba The Buddha. I don't feel like I'm very close on Unrepeatable yet, but I know I can do Big Bubba. There are a couple of easier V4 mantles that continue to shut me down as well. So hopefully this weekend the wind will be behind my back and I'll be able to tick some projects off my list.
And in more positive news, I made some noteworthy progress at the Cave yesterday. My project of the moment is a route called Gorilla Grips. I got most of the way up it, which I thought was pretty good considering it's a 27. The individual moves are not so hard, it's just quite pumpy. So I think if I warm up as best I can (which is difficult at the Cave), I'll have a good shot at sending it. We'll see next week.
I think that's it for now. If I'm feeling inspired tomorrow, maybe I'll write a post about something other than climbing!
Hope all is well at home.
So on that note, I've spent the last few weekends at Castle Hill and if weather cooperates, I'll be there this weekend as well.
Before I came here, I knew climbing at Castle Hill would not be easy for me. Though after a month and a half of climbing there, I'm starting to get a bit frustrated at my lack of progress. A good portion of the problems are mantles or at least end with one. I'm not very good at mantles, so I've been diligently practicing. There are two problems that I keep going back to that I'd love to finish: The Unrepeatable and Big Bubba The Buddha. I don't feel like I'm very close on Unrepeatable yet, but I know I can do Big Bubba. There are a couple of easier V4 mantles that continue to shut me down as well. So hopefully this weekend the wind will be behind my back and I'll be able to tick some projects off my list.
And in more positive news, I made some noteworthy progress at the Cave yesterday. My project of the moment is a route called Gorilla Grips. I got most of the way up it, which I thought was pretty good considering it's a 27. The individual moves are not so hard, it's just quite pumpy. So I think if I warm up as best I can (which is difficult at the Cave), I'll have a good shot at sending it. We'll see next week.
I think that's it for now. If I'm feeling inspired tomorrow, maybe I'll write a post about something other than climbing!
Hope all is well at home.
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