Busy Day = Long Post

OK guys. I haven't really thought all this through, but I have a feeling this will be a long post. I have a lot of things to mention. I feel kind of bad because I have a feeling I won't have a lot to talk about for awhile, so I thought about breaking this up into different posts, but then I realized that if I didn't do it today, I would forget, so here it is. (That was a long sentence.) I am warning you: long post!

My day began with POLS 244, the best class ever. Today we had Lockwood Smith in to speak. He represents National, and he is the foreign affairs spokesperson. There has been a lot in the papers about him recently because of his interactions with the US. You can check out one of the first articles at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/print.cfm?objectid=10338891. Mr Smith has since claimed he said some of the things; search for newer articles. The basic situation is as such: 18 months ago he and Dr Brash, the National leader, met with a group of American senators (including Saxby Chambliss from GA) to speak about a potential free trade agreement, how the nuclear ban affects that, and how the relationship between New Zealand and the US can be repaired. (A bit of background: NZ is a nuclear free state, including nuclear propulsion on submarines, and this was the beginning of the deterioration of the NZ/US relationship. The US has respected the policy, diplomats have made statements saying they are not looking to change it, and the outgoing US ambassador said the time was right to work on fixing the relationship.) Anyways, notes were taken at the meeting, and it was said that Mr Smith said he would be in favor of getting rid of the nuclear ban and that he would be willing to approach a US think-tank to figure out how to change NZ opinion. Phil Goff, a Labour leader, is using this bit as an election ploy to show National in a poor regard. I could go on about this forever, but it is a big issue here in NZ. Being nuclear-free is a large part of NZ's identity, and no party will look to change something that is that entrenched in public policy. It would be political suicide, and everyone knows it.

Back to my point: Mr Smith spoke to my class today. He was a lot more broad than the previous speakers have been. He spoke more generally about how international relations and foreign policy is going to be the most important thing in the future. He said that the best way to improve relations is through the reductions of trade barriers. When countries are trading with each other, they are more willing to work with one another on other issues. He thinks that NZ needs to take a more active role in the Asia-Pacific region, to have that be the main focus. He thinks that Kiwis should be helping to develop the trading capabilities of the Pacific Islands instead of just giving them monetary aid. He said that it was important to repair the relationship with the US, and he suggested that it should be done in baby steps. Simple things, such as being polite and showing respect, go a long way in politics. He mentioned how Helen Clark, the current PM of the Labour government, made statements to the effect of America would not have gone to war in Iraq had Gore won in 2000. When I first her statement on this, I was a little offended. Not in a big way, but there was definately that moment of offense. Mr Smith made the point that little jabs such as that, unbeknownst to Kiwis, were important to Americans and were a major part of the deterioration of the relationship (and I think I proved his point when I told Michelle that yes, I was a bit offended). In case you couldn't tell from the pragmatic trade-based approach to foreign policy, National is "conservative" and would be likened to Republicans back home.

So, that was that class. It was my only class today. POLS 248 and GEOL 113 were cancelled because the unions were striking again today. I wanted to take pictures of the professors carrying big yellow signs up and down Kelburn Parade and through the library, but I didn't get the chance. It was still a productive day, though.

I met Mike at 12 in the Student Union building. Mike is an American who is in my geology class. He is also in my lab; that's how we met. Anyways, we decided to work on our project together. We have a list of 10 sites around Wellington where we have to go and check out specific rocks, determine their composition, talk about grain sizes and texture, etc. Really, we look funny standing on the sidewalk with our loupes and our faces two inches from a granite wall. Here is the list of where we have to go:
1. Statues in the park at the crn of Bowen St & The Terrace
2. Starbuck's Coffee, 180 Lambton Quey
3. Bus stop on Kelburn Parade
4. Fireplace at the Loaded Hog Pub
5. Hopes Bros. Bar (formally Fat Ladies Arms for those of you who have been here)
6. East entrance of Hunter bldg at VicUni
7. Old Public Trust Bldg, crn Stout St & Lambton Quey
8. Ministry of Economic Development Bldg
9. Beehive (main Parliament bldg)
10. 124 The Terrace (an office bldg)
We made it to all of the places today. We started up on campus, worked our way down Lambton Quey, then Loaded Hog on the waterfront, and ended at Hopes Bros. Really, it was funny to think about us chilling around with loupes while business people were walking by. We were sitting in the front of the MED building examining the floor, and this young guy (maybe 26 or so) walks up to us and is like, "Geol 113, right?" We also got locals coming up to us with things like, "You university students know this is a wall, right?" Of course, any time we made it to a place of business, we had to stop and help the economy. We got lattes in Starbuck's to warm up our fingers (the wind picked up between 12 and 2 when we got to Starbuck's). When we had to examine the fireplace at the Loaded Hog, we definately stayed there for about 40 minutes to an hour. A beer, a glass of wine, and some good conversation later, we actually picked up our loupes and pens and examined the sandstone. We left considerably warmer than when we arrived; the fireplace was hot! It was the earliest I have ever been hanging out in a pub. This report isn't actually due until after the break, but I want to get it done before Fiji. We have to type it up, and we had to take pictures (using a $1 coin as a scale) to include in the report. The person who turns in the "best" report wins a prize. Guess what the prize is? Either a 6-pack or a bottle of wine. Try getting that past the Board of Education at home.

OK, so that take us up to dinner today. I was starving by the time I came home, so I ate so much at dinner. It is Thursday, which means I went to Primal at 7:30. We split into groups to discuss misconceptions about Christians and Christianity, but that is not where this paragraph is going. After a while, BJ passed the microphone around so that someone in each group could briefly sum up what they had all discussed. One girl said that they had talked about politics and it's role with religion and George Bush. This of course piqued my interests, so I caught up with one of the girls while we were getting hot chocolate afterwards. I talked to her for awhile (mainly about traveling around NZ), and she referred me to someone in the group who was more vocal about the topic and would be better to talk to. Turns out it is Abi, my partner in 248. I talked to her and her friend for awhile. She is conservative (it seems to me - she hasn't actually said that) so we talked a lot about how the media is very liberal and does a poor job portraying complete truths about everything. My big point whenever I get into a discussion about the media is yes, it sensationalizes everything, yes, it doesn't report everything, but the media is a business and still has to make money. They have to pick stores and run with topics that will sell more papers than yesterday. Happy things don't sell well. Anyways, 15 minutes later, Abi refers me to the left-wing person who started the conversation. It was based on the image that since Bush is right-wing, and Bush is a Christian, all American Christians are right-wing. (I forget how to spell the girl name, it was odd, so I am going to refer to her as B, which is what he name starts with.) B and I talked for a long time about different points of view, international relations, my views as a center conservative, etc. I brought up things she might not have heard about, such as the worries about the new Supreme Court justice and what is happening in certain kinds of leglislation. She grew up in a left-wing family and goes to a left-wing school, so with left-wing media, she doesn't hear conservative positions very often. She is still in secondary school (her last year), and we ended up tangenting into the opportunities in tertiary education for international studies and how you can concentrate an international degree in a specific area of the world.

One thing I have noticed since I got here is how comfortable I am talking about politics. I really like it a lot. I am starting to refer to some things as my soap boxes since I can keep going and going and going. It is really interesting to hear the different ways things are viewed from a small state like New Zealand. I really like explaining my points of view and how I arrived at my beliefs. I like how at the end of conversations, I get the comments to the effect of, Oh, it is nice to talk to an American, Oh, it is nice to hear a conservative point of view, Oh, it is nice to hear something outside of the media that makes sense. I like it when I talk to people in bars and get the whole "Maybe all Americans aren't bad" thing. This is a good year for me to be exploring this kind of idea and learning this kind of thing about myself.

OK, I think that is about it. I warned you at the beginning that this was going to be a long post. It took me awhile to type it all up. I hope you read all of it! :)