How time flies

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Oh my sainted mother. How time flies. I am soooo sorry that I have not been keeping up with what's been going on. Wow. I can hardly believe I've been here for about a month. Okay some goal topics to talk about- classes, rugby, my great NZ road trip, the band.

Classes- Okay so this is how classes work here. Back at PC one class is usually 3 hours (it meets for bout 3 hours each week). here hours are calculated as points. Points are made up of how many hours the class meets overall plus how many hours of work one should put into the class. That number is usually in the hundreds so they divide by 10 to get 18 pts per class. okay. that doesn't sound very sane how I just explained it. Take 2: Example- my Theatre 152 class meets for 65 hours. then there is 50 hours of work for one lunch time theatre production, plus 45 hours working on 4 assignments and 20 hours of studying, research and revision for a grand total of 180 hours. and the class counts as a 18 pt class. Okay, now that I've gotten you completely confused would you like to know what classes I'm taking? IFSA-Butler says that 18pts NZ = 5 hours US. Technically they don't want students taking more than 3 classes (known as papers here). But I couldn't be in NZ and not take some of the stellar classes they have! So I'm taking 4 papers. Theatre 221-Truth and Representaion in the Theatre, Theatre 152- Technical Theatre, Maori 102-Maori Society and Maori 108- Maori Performing arts. I really wanted to take the Pacific Island Dance class but Otago only offers it during the summer so I went for the next best. The 2 theatre classes are counting towards my major back home which is stellar. 221 is looking at bout a different play each week and the genre it was written in and the history behind it. So far we've read Medea, Waiting for Godot, The Three Sisters and A Streetcar Named Desire. Now of course when we got to Streetcar I got excited. We started talking bout New Orleans and Vivian Leigh in Gone With the Wind. The teacher asked if anyone had seen GWtW and I started babbling like a fool telling what it's about and how it takes place in Atlanta as my Southern accent slowly starts creeping out and I realized the other students were starting to stare. I loved hearing kiwis attempt a Southern accent when we read it out loud.

Theatre 152 is all about technical side of theatre. One of the really cool things I like at Otago is they don't have one major production each semester but one every week. It's called Lunch Time Theatre. It uses many of the theatre classes. Students in the directing class have to direct one show, many of the plays have been written by the playwriting class. As a 152 student I have to participate in one of three technical roles. we had the choice between stage management, lighting op, or sound op. I really really wanted Stage Management but I have a feeling many ppl in my class are actors just trying to get this required class out of the way so all the sm slots were filled so I signed up for lights. I've delt a little bit with lights back at PC. Usually someone else (aka the teacher or another student) designs the lights and it would be my job to rig them and set the cues. But I decided to be a little ballsy and design the lights myself. Wow. Did it help my understanding of lights. So I knew the basic makeup and workings of lights but this really got my hands dirty. I learned more about setting up and what did what. I remember the day after we rigged all the lights up sitting in class thinking "Those are the best rigged lights I have ever seen". Silly right? I was also really happy cause I was afraid the director (Tessa) was going to hate them. But she loved them. So we have our show this Thursday and Friday. The Easter holiday has slightly thrown us off. And Tuesday is a national holiday in NZ so we have that day off as well. Our show was written by a student writer. It contemplates the actions of NZ and her relations with England. Took me a couple readings to get my head round it. It's filled with NZ references. But the cast and crew have answered all of my questions and I'm excited bout it. We're also the first of the 152 groups to go. Just get it out of the way.

Maori 102 is my largest class. It was made for international students. and when I say International, I mean American. It covers a lot of Maori culture and traditions over a short amount of time. Just fyi, the Maori ppl are one of the native ppl to NZ. I love the culture. I'll tell you, if I wasn't Scottish, I wish I was Maori or Greek. They are very family oriented and it really is a beautiful culture. I wish I had more to tell about it. But I would have to dig out my notes from class and I'm not really looking to do that.

Maori 108 is my favorite class. Period the end. I wasn't planning on taking this class. But another Butler student said he wanted to take the Pacific Dance Class and I thought that was a great idea. But it's only offered in the summer so I went to find the nearest topic. It's divided into a lecture and a practicum. The lecture talks bout the different types of performing arts. Waiata (song), Haka (dance) and at the end the boys are going to learn a haka (think showing off what you've got before an enemy. if you're curious to see one, go to youtube and search haka. The All Blacks (NZ rugby team) does the haka before every game) and the girls learn poi (think tenor drumming crossed with cotton balls. it's a fuzzy ball on the end of a foot long string and you flourish with it) I love this class. We first learned a really really sad song but we're now in the middle of a happy flirty song. Except the new song has movements and it's a slight challenge to sing in a new language and move. We have a concert at the end of the semester where we perform all the songs we learn.

Okay. the next 3 topics all sort of tie in together. So I play in a bagpipe band back home (whoo hoo tenors!) and in theory there are more bagpipe bands in NZ then in Scotland (hey that's just what I've heard) So I was partly determined to find a band. I found some bands and e-mail addresses and sent a e-mail saying- "hi. I'm an international student looking for a band or just to hang out and learn" Most responded "sorry our season is almost over better luck next time" Except for one. I was soooo happy when I got the e-mail "Hey. we have practice tonight. want to come?" It was bout week 2, i was going through bagpipe withdrawel. Plus there's a band that practices with in ear shot of my flat so I could hear them but couldn't find them so it was driving me mad! anyway the one who replied back was Adam, Drum Sergent for The City of Dunedin Pipes and Drums. And get this, (this floored me when I heard this) He's 19. He's 2 months younger than me and DS of a Grade 2 band! When I first met him I thought he was pretty young for being a DS but I would have at least put him in his 20s. And he's been DS since he was 16. I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world. So I went to that rehearsal. The tenors were so nice. They are really top notch. They had only started flourishing for about a year and they were fantastick. There was only bout 2 moves I knew that they didn't (they are now my bargining chips). The main difference I've found in their music and the music back home is they are pretty sincipated(sp?) with the snares. and there is always someone flourishing. lots of stalls, lots of stalls.

Well so the CoDPB plays at the home rugby games. The University does not have a rugby team like colleges back home have football teams. NZ is divided into sections and each section has a team (plus a couple from Austraila and Fuji I think) that make up the Super 14. Dunedin is the home of the Otago Highlanders. Well they needed 4 tenors for the first rugby game. They only had 3. Of course I volunteered! I loved these guys. They're a grade 2 band, I'm going to learn as much as I can from them. I missed being in a band so bad. I was pumped to do something in a band. And so I did. It was mostly for show. Lasted 3 minutes. was nervous the entire time. But I was so happy to be around pipes again and be in a kilt. Plus I got a free ticket into the game. I made friends with some guys in the drum corps once I couldn't find my flatmates. We hung out and they explained the game to me. The Highlanders are really bad. they had some good plays and were winning until the last 10 minutes or so.

Which leads me to the next topic- The Great New Zealand Road Trip. So as explained to me by the other bands. The competition season was pretty much over b/c nationals were in a 2 weeks. One of the guys in the drum corps (Brad) told me how Nationals were in Auckland (they switch btwn the North and South island) and that the band was flying up soon. But he was getting a car and driving down (he's originally from the North Island) He offered (plus me buying some petrol or something) a ride back down to Dunedin. So I did. I found a cheap (well, sort of cheap) ticket to Auckland and got to hang out with the band at the NZ National Pipe Band Championships. Wow. It was a mazing. There is a competition here that I don't think exists back home. It's called Street March. Basically a course is set and the band has to play a march set while marching. there's a left turn, right turn and so forth. Judging (if I remember correctly) is based on 3 things. Music, Deportment and Marching. you get a certain number of points in each catagory but the winner is the one with the most. Then there was the actual competition. MSR and Medley. Since Dunedin is Grade 2 they learned 2 MSRs and picked one on the field. They won both MSR, Medley and Drum corps. So when they go to the Worlds in August they will be announced as the NZ Grade 2 National Champions. Pardon me but I just think that's one of the coolest things in the ever. A couple things bout the games. They are very very punctual. There were digital clocks set outside of each circle. To be late or go over became a major penalty (hint hint EUSPBA. Might want to get some of these clocks) and then (I find this silly) so I'm looking out at the grounds. there are only 3 circles, 4 shops, 3 clan tents and then this large white tent. So I'm thinking- "that large white tent has to be the dancing" b/c the dancers always have the largest tent back home. Wrong. It was the beer tent. That was Saturday. Brad drove me around Auckland at night. It was beautiful. We drove round so much I could figure out where we were. (I know. Impossible you say. Nay say I) We almost got locked into the parking deck. but made it to his house in Hamilton and got a good nights sleep. Sunday we drove from Hamilton to Palmerston North. Hung round there for lunch and caught up with a friend of his. And made it to Wellington by night fall. Wellington on a Sunday night was a little scary. We went out for a walk bout 9/10 o'clock. No one was out. I was ready for the zombies to come out ready to eat us. It was quiet too. Then we realized the time. Monday morning we caught the first ferry from the north island to the south. I hate ferries. Brad mocked me slightly saying it was not as choppy as it could have been. I didn't say anything in fear of opening my mouth. that's all i'm going to say. Ate lunch in Picton and made our way down the east coast. Saw seals, vineyards and stars. Before we hit Dunedin I asked if we could pull over (it was bout 9 at night) I had never seen so many stars in my life. We were 1/2 hour outside the city in the middle of nowhere. I could see the southern cross like nowhere else and the milky way was beautiful. Made it back to Dunedin by 10 I think. I saw from Auckland to Dunedin in under 24 hours. It was amazing. I'm going to try to figure out how to post pictures soon.

Well. that's been bout it. classes take up most of my time. Especially since this is tech week for my play. I'm sure I'll give an update as soon as it's over. Miss you all at home. here's my mailing address just in case anyone feels like writing (hint hint)
Alison Recknagel
26/8 Willowbank
Dunedin North
Dunedin, New Zealand
9001

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