Yellow Blue Bus

Здравствует!

I’m sorry it has taken so long to write to you and at the same time I’m not. It’s been quite the experience so far and I’ve enjoyed being immersed in it all.

My flights from Canada went off without a hitch. Nearly all my flights were early to arrive and on time to leave. I managed to get a decentish sleep throughout and thus arrived at the Sochi airport tired but not exhausted. My plane landed at 4:30am and I was quickly informed that the buses were not running this early in the morning and in fact one of my bus routes did not yet exist. Not a problem. I’m a well-rested, travel savvy, slightly Russian speaking Canadian. I can do this. And do it, I did. It took me 8 hours to get from the airport to my beautiful new home but I made it intact. I was assisted by some really great Russians along the way who went above and beyond to ensure that I was safe and arrived at my destination.

So now I am here. I’m all settled into my abode with 3 other lovely girls. I believe we have the most multinational room in the accommodation complex. One of my roommates is Canadian (from Toronto naturally), one is Australian (I try not to be disappointed she isn’t a Kiwi – just kidding dear I love you), and the other is French (finally a true Frenchie). We are getting along famously.

We haven’t been working much yet (I’ll explain that in a second) so we’ve had plenty of time to gallivant around Sochi and area. We discovered and mastered the bus, train, cable car, and walking routes. We can now get around Sochi, Adler, Olympic Park, Rosa Khutor and Vesoloe without any issue. Yesterday we discovered the largest dolphinarium in Eastern Europe and watched a pretty impressive dolphin show. We also found a small amusement park nestled into the hillside and I got to hold an adorable monkey clothed in the tiniest Adidas gear I’ve ever seen. Describing our walk-abouts is tiresome and would be full of a ton of you-had-to-be-there moments so I’ll spare you all of that. But I guess, for those of you that were there with me, I would just like to say “Yellow Blue Bus”.

Speaking of speaking Russian – I’m definitely improving. I have been told that my Russian sounds quite good and that I am a quick learner. I’m pretty stoked. I was actually able to speak enough Russian to purchase a Russian phone and SIM card without a translator. Our volunteer village (aka accommodation complex) houses mostly Russians and a few international volunteers that all work in the mountain area in some capacity. The Russian volunteers have been hand-picked because of their English skills and personalities. Each day I make new Russian friends and each day they try to teach me a few more words.

The best way I’ve found to make new Russian friends is to pull out a deck of cards. Cards truly are the international symbol for “I want to meet new people and have fun”. This trip I tried something different too. I brought Dutch Blitz. The first night here I taught the other international volunteers to play. They loved it. The next night I accosted a Russian boy and his friend and in my ever impressive Russian (haha) I asked them to play. They hesitantly agreed. It was a hoot trying to use my Russian to explain the game. I surprised myself with how much I was actually able to communicate with my extremely limited vocabulary. Needless to say, they loved the game too. I mean who in their right mind doesn’t like Dutch Blitz. The next night I taught a few more Russians. Now word has spread throughout the village and I have people asking to play every evening. New volunteers are arriving every day as well and they are often drawn to the commotion in the corner and are soon slapping cards on the table, yelling in frustration or triumph, and generally having a good time. The only bad this is that I only have one deck. I really need to figure out how to get a couple more over here ASAP.

My roommate has just reminded me that we have been here for just over a week now. Time has really flown by. For the most part we have been adventuring but I’ve also had a couple volunteer shifts. I am working in the mountain area in the athlete’s village. Right now we are still preparing for the arrival of the athletes so there isn’t a huge amount to do. Once everyone arrives things will get crazy! I can’t wait to greet athletes from around the world and to create an incredibly positive, fun atmosphere where personal bests, friendships, and the joy of the Olympics can be shared.

This truly is a life changing period of time for so many people. I am thrilled to be a part of it.

I’m so thrilled that while I love updating you all back home, I also just want to be out and about. So with that in mind I’m going to forego the prose and hit you with a list of other things I’d like you to know but am simply not committed to expounding fully.

1.       

      There are the cutest, kindest, most adorable stray dogs everywhere. We have about 10 living on/around our complex. You can’t go more than a block without running into a new pack of strays.

2.      We live on the 5^th floor so I do about 15 sets of 5 stairs per day. We also do a ton of walking. I suspect between 10-25km per day.

3.      Russian food is very similar to Canadian food just cooked with few spices. I enjoy it. Also Russian have this super tasty ice cream bar that tastes like cream cheese and yogurt and is coated in chocolate. They are 3 bite sized and cost about 30 cents. I’m going to miss them.

4.      Our uniforms are sweet.

5.      About 50% of the Russians I meet say I look Russian, the other 50% say I don’t look remotely Russian.

6.      I will definitely come back to this country.

7.      The weather in Vesoloe where I live ranges between 5-15 degrees. On the mountain it has been ranging between -10 and 10 degrees.

8.      I was given a beautiful deck of cards with the 55 best views of Saint Petersburg by a Russian volunteer. She’s basically my favourite person. I forgot a regular set of cards at home. Now I have a much cooler deck to take with me on the rest of my travels.

9.      I can’t wait to watch Canada play Finland but have discovered that I forgot to bring any Canadian gear… L I’m going to try to mooch some off other Canadian volunteers.

10.  I love all of you guys. I want to send specific love to my family. I love you Mommy dearest. Faja, you’re pretty cool too. Berly Face, Tiger Lily, Kimbly, love love love. Stevo. You’re killin’ it in Brazil. Rock on.

I suppose that’s good for now. I haven’t got my pictures sorted out yet. I’ll try to post those in the next week or so… Don’t rush me… Haha.

From Russia with Love,

Julia

A Trip of Olympic Proportions

Welcome everyone to another round of "Julia's Most Epic Travel Blogging".

This trip promises to be eventful. I'm hitting up the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the Turkish baths in Istanbul, the birth place of the Olympics in Greece, the everything in Italy, the friends and family in Germany, and the photographic genius of that dude in the Netherlands.

Like last time, the blogs will be sporadic and jumbled. It's how I roll so get ready to tumble haphazardly with me through this great adventure.

And so it begins... again...

At One Point I Thought Of A Witty Title

Hey Team We Like To Read About Stuff You Do,

How's it going!? I'm going well as always. Just trundling along, doing my Julia-thing. It's good times.

The last two days I trundled in Abel Tasman National Park. To be more precise I kayaked for a day, camped and walked all the way back (it took a day). I was supposed to be picked up at 8:50am on Thursday morning, and like a good lil' Canadian and an even better Koop I was late. But it was ok, cause they were even later picking me up. I actually had to get reception to call so I didn't get left behind.

I guess I should premise this whole thing with saying that I booked my kayaking/camping/walking trip about 7pm the night before I left. I was a bit (ok a lot) nervous about camping and walking 8 hours back completely alone. Because it's the off season, there is basically no one in the park and I was going pretty far into the park. So there, I was the night before comforting myself with the knowledge that at least I couldn't get eaten by a bear. In my books, that's totally a drawing card.

Anyway. I slept well, was up on time, and ready almost on time. I was finally picked up by a very brisk and stern looking dude and driven 5 minutes down the road to the kayak place. I met up with my guide and kayak group. I was very pleased to discover that there was one other girl that was going to do the full kayak and camp at the same spot as me! Huzzah! I now had a camping/walking buddy. I would not be getting eaten by a bear, and even better I would get to share that experience with someone. Additionally, I would not have to walk 8 hours alone on the second day.

In no time at all we were on the water and kayaking our super happy selves out to Bark Bay. The weather was incredible. Probably about 22 degrees with full on sun! Glorious. Our first half of the day was relatively uneventful. A lot of paddling, sun, water, islands, poor steering (totally me, yup, that was all woman driving), beaches and cute seals. I think we saw roughly 25 seals. Mostly adult females, but there were a couple babies. They were extremely cute. Looking at them and not cooing with delight was an extreme sport. After, we stopped for lunch at Watering Cove. It is named for a rock formation that looks like a kiwi drinking from the ocean. I took a picture. I'm just that good. Lunch was yummy and then I, Samantha, and our guide Colm were off and kayaking again. We made extremely good time so we hit up one more island before calling it a day. I'm so glad we did. We went about 3/4 of the way around a small island that this crazy dude kept blowing up for fun, when we finally saw what we were looking for. A couple baby seals just chilling on a rock. They posed and then dived into the water while I yelled "Stay still! Don't leave that rock! I want a picture!". They paid me no heed, but one of the little guys chased down our boat and spent the next 15 minutes froliking next to our boat, under our boat, and even against our boat. Absolutely incredible and without a doubt the highlight of my entire trip. Unfortunately, a large shark came by during the 15th minute and ate the cute, little, happy, baby seal right in front of us.

KIDDING! We left, I have no idea if a shark came and ate it. I suspect not.

We landed at Bark Bay around 4:30pm, picked up our gear that our water taxi had dropped off for us, and prepared to make camp. I was so glad that I had another cluesless girl with me. We had a lot of fun trying to figure out how to get our tent up and secure. It really wasn't hard, but it did take a bit of brainpower and a lot of giggles. We got a fire going, met a German dude, and were settled in the the pitch black by 6pm. In total, there are about 25 camp sites at Bark Bay and there were only the three of us staying there. It was awesome. Again, I was extremely thankful that I wasn't alone. The moon was full, the stars were bright, and I was quite enjoying myself. We hit the sack about 9pm and got up about 7:30. It was a cold night,  and for some reason my arms were freezing, but I managed to get a half decent nights sleep and had enough energy for the morning. When we had finally packed our gear and put most of it out for the water taxi to pick up the sun was just coming above the trees and we could tell it was going to be another absolutely gorgeous day.

It was. We walked for about 8 hours to get back to Marahau were I am currently chilling and typing to you. The walk was mostly inland, with a couple breaks to the beaches. The views were stunning and the company was good. The German dude walked with us most of the way and we all talked about everything under the sun. Tourists, countries, religion, supersticious, body types, stereotypes. You name it. We talked about it. By the time we got back, my brain was sore from thinking, my legs were sore from walking, my feet were sore from being flat footed, my shoulders were sore from my pack, and I was feeling great.

Now I'm sitting in the hostel typing to you folk back home. I'll eventually get up and cook something. Then I'll continue to look for jobs in a couple places I want to stop at in the next couple of days. Then I'll go to bed, and get up early for a day of sailing in Abel Tasman. This are bright in this here Julia Land. The next couple of days should be quite fun. I look forward to it all.

I'm no longer going to Europe for those of you who know I was thinking about it. I'm still waiting for Air Pacific to do something about my return flight. (My emails are getting a bit terse). I'm missing Wellington. And I'm starting to think about life when I return to Canada. Good gracious what should I do team? No more Master's and Ph.D. I need a new direction. All suggestions are welcome.

Love and sea breezes,
Julia

Sometimes I cross an ocean in my spare time

They say a rolling stone gathers no moss. I disagree. I sat around in Wellington for 2 and a half months and I didn't gather any moss. So either that saying is wrong, or I'm not a stone. It's a no brainer.

This here blog is going to be a retrospective of my time in Wellington. "But Julia," you might be thinking, "aren't all blogs a retrospective of the event that are recorded in them?". To you, I say, "Touche. Now stop thinking so critically and enjoy my retrospective."

The last week I spent in Wellington was one of the best. I gave my notice to my boss 2 weeks in advance like a good little girl, and then quit early cause I just needed to be done. My bad. Matt was ever so understanding, and on the off chance that he reads my blog I would like to formally and for all the world to see say "Thank you for the super uber awesome time. You were a great boss, I learned a lot, and we even had some fun along the way." I also played a ton of volleyball in my last Wellingtonian days. I play about 10 games in 3 nights and played one last tourny too. Like always, I didn't play super awesome but I had a ton of fun. I will miss you volleyball peeps. Larry, treasure your socks and bring Sparta to Wellington. Hannah, you are the crowd favourite no matter what Larry says. Also, don't listen to Earl when he's... well... you know... lol. Gus, take care of your shoulder and hand and Hannah for me. She's your new Bestest Best Friend Forever (BBFF) now that I'm gone. Earl, thanks for letting me into your club and for taking such good care of me even though I'm Canadian and my serves weren't the greatest for the longest time. Yes, yes, I know, I'm "oot" of Wellington now. Haha. Karol, dude! since when do you sing like a angel? and since always you have mad volleyball skills. Dan, ya... you know. You're short, I'm tall. You're weak, I'm strong. I won't go on. Mark, we got along even though you are American. Who knew that was possible? Allan, you are one sweet as dude. Thank you for bestowing upon me the title of "only Canadian I like", haha. Marceu, you were never around but you're still cool in my books cause we lived near each other, and your laugh/giggle makes me smile. Rupert, you're my shnookums. Nuff said. Josh, we should have hung out more. Thanks for driving me around and chatting with me. Oh, and singing karaoke like a champ. Right, this is getting long. I really should be at the Oscars listening to the "get off the stage" music and not sitting in a hostel in Nelson listening to City & Colour.

Hmmmmmm, in the last week ish of Wellington I also went to dinner way too many times. (I loved each one of them.) I went to a couple movies that were pretty sweet. Played cards and ate junk food. Walked all over the place. Saw the rest of Te Papa. Threw out a ton of clothes. Bought some new clothes. Sent some presents home. Didn't blog. Took some pictures. Hung out and talked. Learned things about myself. Planned to plan for the south island. Didn't plan for the south island. And left.

Wellington, and people in Wellington. We had a great run. I love you all. I will come back.

South island stuff now. Well I'm in Nelson and I have to say "anticlimactic". It's pretty here, and my hostel is ridiculously sweet. I have, get this people, I have free breakfast, free dinner, hot tub (aka spa pool), swimming pool, sauna, beach volleyball court, and a 3 person dorm for the grand total of $24 a night. Chi-ching. Julia wins. Well Julia partially wins, cause I haven't really found anything sweet to do outside of the hostel. I wandered to the grocery store yesterday and today I wandered to the "center" of New Zealand. It's not the center at all people. It's the center of the logistical center of New Zealand. Logistical? Hmmmm, might not be the right word. It's the center of the Nelson survey region. The Nelson survey region is for some reason considered the central survey region of New Zealand (the plaque didn't make it too clear). Oh ya, and the survey regions have been replaced with GPS technology so they aren't even used anymore. Haha. So it's actually the center of a now trivial and outdated fake center of New Zealand. I still took pictures. I'm a good tourist.

I'm off to Abel Tasman tomorrow. I'm going to try and get on a 3 day kayaking tour of the national park. Unfortunately, they only rent out 2 person kayaks so I've got to find randoms to join me... Wish me the bestest. I'll still likely spend a couple days in Abel Tasman. There is a three (ish) day walk that you can do. I might do that as a last resort.

Okey dokey smokies (yummy, I could go for a real Canadian cheese smokie right now, and a sour cream glazed donut...). I'm out to plan some of my life. Be happy! Be fun! And get things done!

Sending you the grooviest of vibes,

Julia

SNEAK ATTACK!

Oh my lovely followers, tis good to see you all again.

It's Saturday morning, I slept in til 10:45, there is gorgeous sun, and I can't wear shorts because my legs are so incredibly bruised that people will think I'm being beaten if they see them.

Is your curiousity peeked? It should be. Commence story here.

It was the weekend of Easter. A time when people everywhere celebrate that Jesus died and rose again to save us from our sins and to bridge the gap between Earth and Heaven. It's an awesome weekend for taking time off from your busy life and really thinking about how blessed you are and what you are doing with the blessings you have been given. And that's exactly what I did.
I went with my friend Gus and his mates (now my mates) to River Valley Lodge near Tiahape. It was about a 6 hour drive from Wellington, mostly because we stopped every ten seconds to get more food, to stretch our legs, and goodness knows what else. It was a pretty sweet ride but I was really happy to have a couple hour break in the trip when we stopped to visit the boys at Rathmoy Fish and Pheasant Lodge near Hunterville. I worked for the Rathmoy guys around Christmas time and had been itching to visit there again. We took a tour around, chatted with Mark, Muz, and Pete, generally took a breather and then were on our way again. The group was so striken by the lodge that we are all considering renting it out some time in July for a weekend of hunting, fishing, sports, and relaxation. I really hope it works out. Back on the road, we rocked out to Muse, Coldplay, ACDC, and much much more. Twas the sing along of a life time and no one knew the words. Well maybe Kevin... but certainly not me.
Right, arrived at the lodge and grabbed a room with Gus, Kevin, Rob, Lucy, and Lisa. Gus is from volleyball and the others are all his friends. Pretty random group, Lucy is the only Kiwi. The rest of us are Brazilian (Gus), British (Rob and Lisa), Scottish (Kevin) and Canadian (I wonder who!). Bunking with those guys for three nights and four days was epic in all proportions except maybe the sleep department. We didn't get much sleep. Anyway, settled in at the lodge and hung out for the evening. The first morning I did Yoga for the first time in my life. It was incredible. I discovered that I am far more flexible than I thought, and that yoga really does provide you a great time to think about how blessed you are. Here's an overview of what I thought about. 1. Family (love you guys!) 2. Friends (love you just a little less haha) 3. God and my faith (What more do I really need to say) 4. Canada (it's a great country) 5. My body (I'm young and healthy, what more could I want) 6. Volleyball (it's a freaking awesome sport) 7. The gym (it keeps me healthy, and hopefully keeps me young) 8. Food (it's delicious) 9. Delta Bessborough (I love it and it loved me back by giving me the money for this trip). And there won't be a 10 here, just to keep you on your toes.
After yoga, I strolled the river valley (fake jogged haha) and had a mini workout session in the room with Gus and Lucy (possibly the reason why our room stunk to high heaven for the rest of the weekend. Though that could also be due to the fact that everyone left their wet clothes on the floor all weekend too.... meh). Then it was beach volleyball on more of a gravel court than a beach court. Still awesome though. And then who really cares! It was a great day.
Next day was yoga, fun, hanging out, more fun and then hot tubbing for 2.5 hours, waiting for our turn in the sauna for 2.5 hours and then the sauna for 3 hours. Can you say "Relaxed!"? At that point I sure couldn't. I was so chilled out I would only have been able to muster a "reeeeeeelaaaaaaaxeeed...". The ridiculously cold shower after the sauna did put a little more oomph in my step but it was just enough to get me to bed and then I was done. haha.
Cool, third day more yoga, more chilling, more fun and then the night of epic bruising! Dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnn. So at said lodge there is a massive solid wood table who's width is about my armspan and depth is probably about an outspread palm. This table screams to drunks and sobers alike "I bet you cannot start on top of me, crawl underneath, cross over to the other side, and then get back on top of me without touching the floor!". The table screamed so loudly, in fact, that we could ignore it no longer and the fun began. I'll put a couple pics on Facebook so you can appreciate the magnitude of this task. Needless to say, I attempted to master the table game. Impressively, I got the furthest of all the girls, and even held my own against the gentlemen. While I didn't take away bragging rights from that night, I did take away 4 massive bruises. I have two large kiwi sized purple bruises on my right arm. One fist sized purple purple bruise on my left inner thigh. And one long outstretched palm sized purple and green bruise on my inner right thigh. They hurt, they are beautiful, and they are my trophies of the moment. Kevin actually completed the table -- he was the only one to do so -- and Gus and Rob and I just took away bruises.
Next morning, yoga, and leaving the lodge.

So ya. That was my Easter weekend boys and girls.

Now I'm back on the house. We have the floors down and sanded now. We have removed the back 2 walls and floor and put them back in and down. The bathroom is complete so I now have a shower in the house! Matt's bedroom is finished. The kitchen has been fully relocated and still exsists of only a sink and microwave and toaster. We got a bbq and have stashed that in the back. Steak, sausages and pancakes are our three dishes of choice to cook on the bbq. It's nice to not be buying precooked stuff anymore. My room is still a distaster. We replaced the back part of the roof that was leaking so now the house is nearly water tight. I was throwing chunks of corrogated iron from the roof around when one caught my jeans and ripped a 5 cm right triangle out of my knee area. Thankfully it only slightly punctured my knee. If it had been any closer to my body, I likely would be missing a large section of knee tissue and good stuff. Very thankful that didn't happen.

Still playing volley twice a week. I have two official teams and one non official team. I'm playing fairly well and having a lot of fun. Hannah and I try to get as many games a week as possible. On Sunday this can mean playing from 12:30 til 7:30 straight. There is nothing better my friends. The volley guys are still super good to me. I've made a lot of friends through that club and am going to miss them all super duper much when I leave. I've got a tourny with those guys on May 7th in Wanganui, which I'm looking for to. It's just a one day thing, but it will still be sweet.

Hannah and I have also joined the gym that's at the end of my street. It's the university gym for Massey university and its pretty awesome. Not nearly as cool as the PAC, but I'm loving going there. We got a free trial week and then a one month membership for... drum roll please... $10. Ya that's right. Elliot, the trainer at the gym, wasn't supposed to be giving out that promotion anymore, but he did it just for us. Thanks dude!

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. I've been chillin with friends. I've been truckin on the house. I've been sight seeing a little bit. I've been trying not to hurt myself. And I've been have oodles of fun.

I think that about sums me up for now. I'll try to keep thinking of stories to post for you super cool kids back home.

Oh. Right. For some of you this will be news, but for others it will just be an update. Remember my mix up on the way from L.A. to Fiji? Having to by a return ticket... yes... jogging your memories?... hope so. Anyway. I'm thinking about going to Europe in August ish to travel with Steven and Kim and as such need to get rid of my return ticket that I'm not supposed to have. I'm pushing for Air Pacific (the guys that messed stuff up) to compensate me for the non refundable return ticket that I now don't need. I emailed them on April 15th to issue my complaint and yesterday April 29th I finally heard back from them. Well they sent me an email saying that they "acknowledge me email received on April 15th" and would be getting back to me once they had processed my request. So ya, not too sure what's happening there. But! If I do get some compensation, I'll be in Europe around August and probably home by Semptember. If I don't get compensation, I'll be in NZ til the cows come home, or the sheep come home I guess, or until whenever I feel like it.

Cool.

That's everything.

Love and miss you all.
Julia

Insert witty title here

I have been reminded (yet again) that I'm a terrible blogger. Sorry teamo supreme. I'm here now. And I'm about to bust out a blog.
And a 1 and a 2 and a 1 2 3 4!
So I've been chilling in Wellington for a while now. I was in the hostel for a while and then I moved into the house I'm currently renovating. It's not much of a house though. Haha. Until yesterday the floor was about 1/3 gone, about 50% of the walls are still half gone (aka only the weatherboards remain), there is basically no drywall anywhere, the kitchen is completely missing, the bathroom is mostly gone, there is no living room. It's a supremely gutted house. And it loves me. Why? you ask. Because I have spent roughly two weeks tearing out the ugly ugly ugly cupboards, walls, and floors. Because I have spent roughly a week crawling around underneath the house jacking it up to level (it has come up about a 1 and a half in some places), removing old rotten piles, cutting new ones and cementing them in. The whole house has undergone a massive transformation in these two weeks and I can tell it's loving it. I'm loving it too by the way. My legs are the bruisiest they have ever been and everyone at volleyball thinks that my boss is beating me. Bahahahaha. Abuse is not funny. But bruises sure are.
I've gotten really involved in the volleyball team here in Wellington and am actually going to play a tournament with them this weekend. I'm ridiculously superly awesomely pumped for it. Its' about a 3 hour road trip and a two day tournament. Apparently we are staying in a hostel called "The Haunted House". I'm so frightened that I've prematurely wet my pants two times already... EEKS!
Right.
Last weekend I went to Kiwi Pro Wrestling. Now my friends, I love trashy things. It's one of the reasons that I went to Kiwi Pro Wrestling on Friday the 11th of March. And KPW almost lived up to my trashiest dreams. We arrived, paid our $10 to get in and received a child's ticket cause they had run out of adult ones. Upon inspection, we noticed that the ticket was dated Friday May 9th. Which means that not only was I given a child's ticket, I was given a child's ticket from 2 years ago. Trash! Horray! The crowd there was classy trash which was a bit disappointing and about half the wrestlers were premo trash so that was sweet. A couple were really cute. And yes all you ladies out there, I did wait in line for the autographs of the 3 hottest  wrestlers there. I was purple from embarrassment. It was epic.
The following day last weekend (aka Saturday) I went to my first rugby game with some people from volleyball. It was fun. They had these really yummy mini donuts. And the game was good. And the crowd I was sitting with was crazy. I quite enjoyed myself.
I also shot a 22. At a tree. And totally got closer to the target than Matt (my boss who was teaching me to shoot). I'm quite proud of myself. The first time I ever held/fired a gun.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Been on some scenic walks. Went fishing! I caught a 5 foot long eel. It was huge. Like ridiculously big.
Skyping with the parents.
Love you all.
I'll talk about the rest later.
Julia

Monet, Picasso, Koop

I have seen my first Monet.
I have seen my first Picasso.
I have made yet another Koop.

The last few days have been filled with art, walking, volleyball, and painting/drawing. Two days ago (ish...?) I went to Te Papa for the 3rd time and saw its European Masters exhibit. They had 70 different works by quite a few famous artists. I was most excited to see Picasso, Monet, Renior, Cezanne, and van Gogh. It was really impressive getting to see in person art works that you have studied in school by artists whose names are known world wide and across time. I won't bore you will all the details of my emotional ups and downs, my whirlwind of thoughts, or my stunningly profound realizations (they weren't stunning or profound... le sigh). I'll just give you a list of my most favouritest peices and let you google them and have your own ups and down, thoughts, and realizations. So! In no particular order...

A Painter at Work on a House Wall -- Adolphe Monticelli
La Liseuse (Girl Reading) -- Peirre Auguste Renior
*Houses on the Bank of the River Zaan -- Claude Monet
*Le Verger (The Orchard) -- Claude Francois Daubigny
Walchensee Im Winter -- Lovis Corinth
Portrait of Roman Woman on a Roof Top in Rome -- Max Klinger
View of Ulten valley -- Louis Eysen
*The Avenue in the Park of Saint-cloud -- Henri Rousseau
Last -- Max Sievogt
*Pieta -- Franz von Stuck
*The Jealous Lioness -- Paul Meyerheim
In the Bar -- Edvard Munch
*Portrait of Fernande Olivier -- Pablo Picasso
The Synagogue in Frankfurt am Main -- Max Beckmann
*Self Portrait (1905) -- Max Beckmann
Water Tower in Hermsdorf -- Max Beckmann

Max Beckmann had his own little section which is why he appears a couple times. Hope you had a good time googling. If you didn't both to google, your loss. Haha.

After revelling in the European Masters I wandered around and enjoyed the harbour. It's one of my favourite places in Wellington. Always super windy, and always bustling. There was an art installment along one walkway with 5 or 6 interactive or performance peices on display. That was pretty cool. There was a local market set up one day, the circus was in that area as well. It's got a lot going on.

Hmmmm. I've also been to a play since arriving here. I went to see A Winter's Tale in the Botanical Gardens. It was put on by the university drama department. My my they have some talented little ones running around this university. The cast was about 15 people, and the stage was a tiny little amplitheatre. There was a two person "band" as well that did some sound effect type stuff and general pre/mid/post show entertainment. The show itself was great. The actors playing Leontes, Polixenes, Perdita, Hermione, Florizel and Autolycus were all fantastic. I was very much sucked into their performances. Mind you, I'm generally just a sucker for Shakespeare... It rained a little during the performance, but it was more of a mist than a rain and I didn't even really get damp. I also didn't get mugged on the walk home at 10:30 at night through the dark and deserted Botanical Gardens. I was pretty stoked about that. I didn't expect to get mugged as Wellington is a superbly safe city, but you know, just thought I'd throw that out there to make everyone nervous. Bahahahahaha. Mom, you might not want to read that part to Grandma and Grandpa. Oh! That reminds me. Everyone. My Grandma and Grandpa Augustine have just celebrated their 60 wedding anniversary. I give them props. You should too.

Right. I went to church and volleyball yesterday. Both activities that I haven't done in too long. They were both pretty sweet. Church left me feeling happy and volleyball left me feeling sore. Both feelings that I am very ok with. The volleyball club has graciously allowed me to play with them for free and there is even talk of me participating in a couple tournaments around New Zealand if I stick around in Wellington long enough. I'd say the church was letting me attend for free and was planning on taking me around New Zealand but that's only half true. Their going to take me around but they are charging an arm and a leg for a Sunday service. Just Kidding! Hahaha. I'm hilarious... ... ...

I also bought some art supplies in the last couple days. I've now got a sketch book, an eraser, a sharpener, a pencil, 12 watercolour pencils, and a paintbrush. It's been a long time since I did any art (besides the painting I made in Urenui) and I'm definitely rusty. But it's been really fun to try to get back into it, and I'm planning on keeping the train rolling. Ps. Watercolour pencils are super cool. And old ladies who wander in rose gardens are full of praise for less than talented artists.

Signing off.
Julia