The Weekend: Part II

Another day, another post. I had such a hard time with this one because I could not choose which pictures to post. I have so many amazing ones, and the slow internet connection means I can't post a lot of them. Besides, it makes the post really really long. I literally made a list of the ones I wanted to post and then had to pare it down from there. I avoided all my artsy floral shots, but be sure that I took them!

Last night I ended up hanging out with my flatmate, V, and her friends for awhile. They are pretty cool and fun to hang out with. We were just playing cards in the apartment while David (other flatmate) and a friend watched The Green Mile. They are going to a concert in a week or two (I can't remember) and I am going to go with them now. I am happy that I am hanging around them more because it has been so odd for me to simply coexist in the flat. I am accustomed to living with really good friends!

I left when they did to go into town. I met up with some new friends at the Base Bar again, once more celebrating the same birthday. I had a lot of fun dancing there. It was Dan's birthday on Saturday and then Ryan's once it turned midnight, so there was a lot of celebration. We all eventually left to go to other places. We were at Jet for awhile, which is (from what I gather) a fairly trendy club. The guys knew the bouncers, so we got to skip the line, which was lovely. Prince William was there when he was in NZ, and I heard that the captain of the All Blacks (NZ's amazing rugby team) was there last night, although I did not see him myself. Once again, I ended with some nice hot chocolate, then collapsed into bed to get up 5 hours later for church.

I have been going to Central Baptist Church for the past two weeks, and I think I am going to continue to go there. I went initially because 1) I didn't like the Methodist church very much and 2) Amy sings there, so I wanted to visit her. Church in NZ is very relaxed; you can wear whatever you want, including jeans. No one gets dressed up like at home, and I really like that. I never really understood why you had to be dressed up for church every week. It doesn't make sense to me. You can be just as respectful in jeans and a sweater as in a black suit. Anyways, tangent. The cool thing about Central is that there is a team of ministers (Rodney, Jennie, and Alan, I think) who trade off speaking each week. Also, after the sermon, the congrgation is invited to pass the microphone around to make comments or add their own thoughts. It is a lot more like a forum than the traditional churches back home. I like it a lot better because you feel more a part of the service, and I find that I can concentrate on the service a lot easier. It is longer than the services at home, but overall it feels shorter because it is more enjoyable and I don't keep falling asleep, even though I only had 5 hours of sleep the night before. Today's sermon was interesting because it was very politically charged; the entire topic was Faith In Politics. There is an election coming up in NZ, and people are getting a lot more into it than in previous year, from what I gather.

After church Amy and I walked down Willis St to Lambton Quey and the Arcade to get her Honey Lemon Ginger drink (something we have been doing every Sunday) and kind of wandered for awhile. I found some cute shops I am going to check out on Monday or Tuesday when they are open.

Anyways, picture time. These are all from Friday when I went to the Botanical Gardens, etc.

This is my flatmate, V (Veronica, but everyone calls her V), and I at the top of the cable car line. In the background you can see the mountains on the other side of the harbor and how pretty it is when the clouds are resting along the edge.

The botanical gardens have different themes for different sections. This part really looked like a desert. I have some other pictures that if I didn't know I had taken them in NZ I would think they had been taken in a desert. All of the flora in the Botanical Gardens is native to NZ.

I love this picture so much. It is absolutely gorgeous full size on my computer screen. NZ is the furthest place south that palm trees grow, by the way.

This is the telescope at the Carter Observatory that I looked at the sun through. It moves throughout the day to continually point at the sun, and the roof opening spins around, also. There is a long history to this particular telescope, but I don't really remember it. I didn't pay that much attention to it. After I looked through it, I continued on to learn about the constellations in the southern sky, many of which we can never see in the northern hemisphere.

Now, I have been meaning to comment on this for some time now, and I finally got a picture of it. Central heating and air conditioning is somewhat rare in NZ, so doors and windows are left open all the time. Consequently, birds are always indoors! I have been walking down hallways at university and had birds practically fly in my face. It took some getting used to. This particular picture was taken at the cafe at the Botanical Gardens by the Rose Garden.

This is a part of the Rose Garden. The fountain is in the center, and there are beds symmetrically surrounding it in a large circle. Each bed has a different variety of rose. I can't wait to go back in the summer when it is all blooming.

You can sort of see the beach in this picture. I wasn't even that Wellington had a beach, but there we go. I also love how vibrant the colors are in this picture. Really, the weather the past couple of days has been AMAZING. Clear skies, everything. Man, it is good right now.

And finally, one last picture of me. This is me on the cable car on the way down. V isn't with me right now because she had had to leave to go to class.

I hope everyone is still doing well wherever in the world you are, and don't forget to either comment or email me! I love it!