Apparently people don't actually celebrate Thanksgiving in New Zealand. Everyone follows American politics, kids wear NBA jerseys, radio stations play American bands, people watch American television, and Subway and McDonald's dominate downtown, but I guess the Americanization of New Zealand and the world stops short at imposing holidays. It's crazy Kiwis wouldn't adopt one of the best days in the American tradition.
So even though I won't be feasting on turkey this Thanksgiving, it still feels good to think about all those families sitting down to dinner in a few hours back in the US. Turkey is actually hard to come by here, so maybe I'll make myself a ham or chicken sandwich for dinner. I already had a good lunch, albeit non-turkey, at a Taiwanese restaurant near the campus. This was my first time eating in one of the many Asian establishments in town, which appear to offer the cheapest and tastiest grub. The meal was highlighed by my first ever glass of bubble tea, a chocolately cold drink with chewy balls in the bottom (made from tapioca, according to wikipedia) you suck up through a thick straw.
Our summer group is all in Dunedin now with the arrival of Jenny from Sydney on Monday. We are featured in an article in the Otago newspaper.
This week I've spent very long hours in lab as I purify the bacterial Hsp70 DnaK using three chromatography columns. I'm still learning the methods but am hoping to have some input on an independent project soon. Yesterday Sigurd showed me the X-ray crystallography machine, which I will probably not be using but was pretty cool to see. Today we also had our first lab meeting, and it seems like the lab I'm in is run very well and is quite organized, with weekly duties assigned to each member. There are also lab social events, beginning with dinner tomorrow night.
As promised, below are pictures from Dunedin and the hike up Mt. Cargill. I imagine some kid in Indonesia is enjoying my bicycle right now.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
A dark day
Today my bike was stolen. Welcome to New Zealand.
I rode about 7 km outside of town to a trail going up Mt. Cargill, the highest mountain in the vicinity of Dunedin. The hike was awesome and I have pictures, which I'll have to share once I stop fuming. When I arrived at the trailhead I found two options for locking my bike: either chain it to the playground or chain it to a tree. Since there were some kids playing, I didn't want to interfere with them so I chained it to a tree in a somewhat inconspicuous location. I felt safe doing this because
A) I chained my bike to trees all the time in the States and never had any problem.
B) Everyone around looked like outdoors types who would respect what I was doing.
C) Who carries a saw with them for a hike or mountain bike ride?
I did the hike, which took about 2 hrs, and upon returning found the tree sawed off and my bike no where to be seen. Feeling pretty nauseated, I inspected the parking lot, but there were no clues to be had. I stumbled back to town, found the police station, and reported the crime. It turned out there was a wait to report because a man I had seen on the hiking trail had had his car broken into. So we were victims of a professional criminal.
I can't help but feel the irony of this situation in regards to our time in Africa. In a place where people had told us we would be mugged, shot, and looted, we never had any problems. And within my first week in NZ, my bike is gone.
I had the bike for about 6 years. It was worth a fair amount, but it meant a lot more than that to me. In a strange land, my red Trek was my sole prized possession. I worked hard to keep it clean and in good repair. I suppose I'll buy a new one soon, once I scrounge up some cash and have had a bit of mourning.
I rode about 7 km outside of town to a trail going up Mt. Cargill, the highest mountain in the vicinity of Dunedin. The hike was awesome and I have pictures, which I'll have to share once I stop fuming. When I arrived at the trailhead I found two options for locking my bike: either chain it to the playground or chain it to a tree. Since there were some kids playing, I didn't want to interfere with them so I chained it to a tree in a somewhat inconspicuous location. I felt safe doing this because
A) I chained my bike to trees all the time in the States and never had any problem.
B) Everyone around looked like outdoors types who would respect what I was doing.
C) Who carries a saw with them for a hike or mountain bike ride?
I did the hike, which took about 2 hrs, and upon returning found the tree sawed off and my bike no where to be seen. Feeling pretty nauseated, I inspected the parking lot, but there were no clues to be had. I stumbled back to town, found the police station, and reported the crime. It turned out there was a wait to report because a man I had seen on the hiking trail had had his car broken into. So we were victims of a professional criminal.
I can't help but feel the irony of this situation in regards to our time in Africa. In a place where people had told us we would be mugged, shot, and looted, we never had any problems. And within my first week in NZ, my bike is gone.
I had the bike for about 6 years. It was worth a fair amount, but it meant a lot more than that to me. In a strange land, my red Trek was my sole prized possession. I worked hard to keep it clean and in good repair. I suppose I'll buy a new one soon, once I scrounge up some cash and have had a bit of mourning.
Friday, November 21, 2008
A week of firsts
Last night was the first night out in Dunedin. Kate from Australia and Jessica from Dunedin joined us, bringing the ranks of summer students to 7. We got things started with burgers and beer at a pub in the Octagon in the center of town. Speights is the local brew and quite excellent in my opinion. After dinner we took a "look-see" and discovered that this university town is decidely non-university during the summer. The bars were full of middle-aged folks sipping wine and listening to what appeared to be some form of jazz. I like jazz, but my mission for the night was to get the group dancing. Soon enough we found a 70s disco club, with clintele median age of 52, and I ran in, followed somewhat reluctantly by the rest. I did my best to make Matt Simonson proud, and after a couple drinks everyone was out on the dance floor. Mission accomplished. We next headed to a karaoke bar, where I learned that Paradise City by Guns and Roses is not a good karaoke song, and finally back to our living quarters for duty free gin and tonics.
I went for my first bike ride yesterday as well. I heard there was a flat valley south of Dunedin with little traffic and long straight roads that were ideal for cycling, so I headed in that direction. I set out from the lab in the late afternoon and immediately found myself on one of the intimidating 20% grade hills surrounding Dunedin and fighting heavy traffic. After 15 km or so of hills and attempting to follow a bike route that directed me onto highway exit ramps in the wrong direction, I coasted over a ridge and down into the cycling promised land. The valley was still very windy, but there was hardly any traffic and the riding was quite enjoyable. I observed a couple of farmers chasing down a runaway cow on the road, giant ostriches, deer-like animals, and of course sheep. So there seems to be good riding around, but you have to work to get to it. This afternoon I'm hoping to try out the peninsula, which stretches on the opposite side of the bay and is where Sigurd lives.
In other outdoor adventures, I discoverd Baldwin Street, which claims to be the world's steepest street. Apparently there is a "gut-buster" race up in February and they roll candies down it in July. There is at least one gift shop where you can get t-shirts and certificates acknowledging your ascent. I started up at the same time as a boy on stilts. Maybe the longer stride gives an advantage? I doubt it. I didn't see him at the top.
This morning I arrived late to the weekly Farmers Market by the train station. I bought some fresh bread, which I have not tried yet, and a Moroccan pastry (so-so), and walked past dozens of stalls selling honey, venison, tea, salad greens, cheese, and eggs. They say you have to get there early before they run out of a lot of things.
Besides Sigurd, there are two other students spending a significant amount of time in the lab right now. One is a student from Germany named Maria. The other is a masters student named Richard from Tonga, an island kingdom northeast of New Zealand with a total population of 110,000. Richard looks like he could wrestle a bull yet he claims to only enjoy watching rugby from the sidelines. Things in lab went so smoothly it was scary for the first week. I produced ultra-competent cells and transformed them with 4 different plasmids, with all the controls working. And I set up a DEAE anion exchange column and connected it up correctly, I think, to a rather complicated pump apparatus.
I'm slowly succumbing to the Kiwi lifestyle but attempting to pick and choose among the cultural items I adopt. I can enjoy drinking 4 cups of tea a day, but whatever I do I will not start saying cheers, mate, and bloke. I'm an American, darn it.
I went for my first bike ride yesterday as well. I heard there was a flat valley south of Dunedin with little traffic and long straight roads that were ideal for cycling, so I headed in that direction. I set out from the lab in the late afternoon and immediately found myself on one of the intimidating 20% grade hills surrounding Dunedin and fighting heavy traffic. After 15 km or so of hills and attempting to follow a bike route that directed me onto highway exit ramps in the wrong direction, I coasted over a ridge and down into the cycling promised land. The valley was still very windy, but there was hardly any traffic and the riding was quite enjoyable. I observed a couple of farmers chasing down a runaway cow on the road, giant ostriches, deer-like animals, and of course sheep. So there seems to be good riding around, but you have to work to get to it. This afternoon I'm hoping to try out the peninsula, which stretches on the opposite side of the bay and is where Sigurd lives.
In other outdoor adventures, I discoverd Baldwin Street, which claims to be the world's steepest street. Apparently there is a "gut-buster" race up in February and they roll candies down it in July. There is at least one gift shop where you can get t-shirts and certificates acknowledging your ascent. I started up at the same time as a boy on stilts. Maybe the longer stride gives an advantage? I doubt it. I didn't see him at the top.
This morning I arrived late to the weekly Farmers Market by the train station. I bought some fresh bread, which I have not tried yet, and a Moroccan pastry (so-so), and walked past dozens of stalls selling honey, venison, tea, salad greens, cheese, and eggs. They say you have to get there early before they run out of a lot of things.
Besides Sigurd, there are two other students spending a significant amount of time in the lab right now. One is a student from Germany named Maria. The other is a masters student named Richard from Tonga, an island kingdom northeast of New Zealand with a total population of 110,000. Richard looks like he could wrestle a bull yet he claims to only enjoy watching rugby from the sidelines. Things in lab went so smoothly it was scary for the first week. I produced ultra-competent cells and transformed them with 4 different plasmids, with all the controls working. And I set up a DEAE anion exchange column and connected it up correctly, I think, to a rather complicated pump apparatus.
I'm slowly succumbing to the Kiwi lifestyle but attempting to pick and choose among the cultural items I adopt. I can enjoy drinking 4 cups of tea a day, but whatever I do I will not start saying cheers, mate, and bloke. I'm an American, darn it.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Rogo want bike
I'm getting cranky because my bike has yet to arrive. I've called Air New Zealand half a dozen times the last couple days but cannot get a hold of a real person. I have two missed calls from them tonight however, so that might be promising.
Sunday was a decent orientation day. I met 4 other students living with me in Carrington--Josh, Lori, Nicole, and Emily, all from Australia except the latter. We toured the town, walked through a mall that was dominated by Kmart, drooled at the Cadbury's factory and promised ourselves to take the tour at some point, and played frisbee golf in the bushes in front of an old rail station. In the morning I spent about two hours in the grocery store making sure I was familiar with that, and then in the afternoon we went back there, so no I'm a NZ shopping expert. A few terms are different (capsicum=bell pepper, manchester=linens), but they have all the same stuff. In the evening we had a "birthday party" and played pin the tail on the donkey.
This morning was rainy and chilly. A microbiology post-doc came to pick us up and take us to the labs. I met up with Sigurd, and we spent a while going over safety and I attempted but failed to get my ID card, but should be able to get it tomorrow. I ran to the bank to set up an account, got a mediocre lunch at a campus restaurant, and headed back to the lab where we talked about the plan for the next couple weeks. I got a tour of the lab and then started making some plates and streaking out bacteria. It felt suprisingly good to be back in the lab, even if I wasn't doing anything too exciting. Before I knew it, it was 7 o'clock and I had pulled a 10 hr day.
This evening I decided to walk over to the Dunedin Botanical Garden, which most closely resembles the Arb in Ann Arbor except a lot more flowers. I walked up one of the hills behind the gardens and got a fabulous view. I could see the ocean and the peninsula and finally figured out where the heck I am. At the top of the hill I also met my first NZ sheep.
It's funny, but part of me expected New Zealand to lie somewhere on a continuum between the U.S. and Tanzania/Malawi in terms of culture, economy, and such. From what I've experienced so far, I'd say that New Zealand is basically the same as the U.S. There's McDonald's, Subway, Dominoes, Pizza Hut. Cars everywhere, big middle class homes with manicured yards and gardens. I was sort of hoping to be "roughing it" in the lab, pipetting by mouth and streaking bacteria with my pinky, that sort of thing. But except for an autoclave from medieval times, all the lab equipment is modern and familiar. Everyone speaks English, and I haven't been too impressed with the NZ accent. And everyone looks like me! I yearn for the mama kubwas (big ladies) serving up hot rice and beans and chappati, the dala dala vans with people hanging out the door, people walking in disgusting muddy roads with spotless clothing, the hip hop blasting from the hair salon, the squat toilets, the 10 cent doughnuts, and even the kids screaming as we rode past. I miss being the white man superstar. I miss being Jesus's sidekick. The only similarity I can think of between Tanzania/Malawi and NZ as opposed to the US is that they drive on the left.
I've already seen a tiny piece of the landscape NZ has to offer, and there's obviously a lot more to see, but in terms of cultural enlightenment I don't think this experience will live up to what I was hoping for.
Sunday was a decent orientation day. I met 4 other students living with me in Carrington--Josh, Lori, Nicole, and Emily, all from Australia except the latter. We toured the town, walked through a mall that was dominated by Kmart, drooled at the Cadbury's factory and promised ourselves to take the tour at some point, and played frisbee golf in the bushes in front of an old rail station. In the morning I spent about two hours in the grocery store making sure I was familiar with that, and then in the afternoon we went back there, so no I'm a NZ shopping expert. A few terms are different (capsicum=bell pepper, manchester=linens), but they have all the same stuff. In the evening we had a "birthday party" and played pin the tail on the donkey.
This morning was rainy and chilly. A microbiology post-doc came to pick us up and take us to the labs. I met up with Sigurd, and we spent a while going over safety and I attempted but failed to get my ID card, but should be able to get it tomorrow. I ran to the bank to set up an account, got a mediocre lunch at a campus restaurant, and headed back to the lab where we talked about the plan for the next couple weeks. I got a tour of the lab and then started making some plates and streaking out bacteria. It felt suprisingly good to be back in the lab, even if I wasn't doing anything too exciting. Before I knew it, it was 7 o'clock and I had pulled a 10 hr day.
This evening I decided to walk over to the Dunedin Botanical Garden, which most closely resembles the Arb in Ann Arbor except a lot more flowers. I walked up one of the hills behind the gardens and got a fabulous view. I could see the ocean and the peninsula and finally figured out where the heck I am. At the top of the hill I also met my first NZ sheep.
It's funny, but part of me expected New Zealand to lie somewhere on a continuum between the U.S. and Tanzania/Malawi in terms of culture, economy, and such. From what I've experienced so far, I'd say that New Zealand is basically the same as the U.S. There's McDonald's, Subway, Dominoes, Pizza Hut. Cars everywhere, big middle class homes with manicured yards and gardens. I was sort of hoping to be "roughing it" in the lab, pipetting by mouth and streaking bacteria with my pinky, that sort of thing. But except for an autoclave from medieval times, all the lab equipment is modern and familiar. Everyone speaks English, and I haven't been too impressed with the NZ accent. And everyone looks like me! I yearn for the mama kubwas (big ladies) serving up hot rice and beans and chappati, the dala dala vans with people hanging out the door, people walking in disgusting muddy roads with spotless clothing, the hip hop blasting from the hair salon, the squat toilets, the 10 cent doughnuts, and even the kids screaming as we rode past. I miss being the white man superstar. I miss being Jesus's sidekick. The only similarity I can think of between Tanzania/Malawi and NZ as opposed to the US is that they drive on the left.
I've already seen a tiny piece of the landscape NZ has to offer, and there's obviously a lot more to see, but in terms of cultural enlightenment I don't think this experience will live up to what I was hoping for.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
I don't smoke
I'm writing from an Internet cafe in Dunedin, as web access in my room won't be available until Tuesday.
Except maybe for the wine, which flows quite freely, Air New Zealand has nothing on Emirates. Okay, let's see if I can stay awake to finish this post.
All in all, not too much disaster in terms of baggage. My bike in its cardboard box did not make the trans-Pacific flight, but I'm expecting that to be delivered to my dorm tomorrow, which will end up being more convenient than if I had to wedge it into the back of Sigurd's car. I lost a bottle of Citrus DeGreaser, which I found in Auckland had exploded all over my backpack due to the pressure difference. I removed the plastic bag carrying my bike tools to carry-on with me on the two NZ domestic flights, but then had the DeGreaser and a pedal wrench taken from me at Security. Incredibly, Sigurd brought a pedal wrench with him to the airport and has lent it to me to use when the bike arrives.
I got my first two comments on the Banta Lab t-shirt, which I sported throughout the travel marathon. The first was by a US TSA inspector, who saw the front and asked if I knew of any helpful bacteria she could put in her garden. I said I didn't know of any, that the bacteria we worked on were harmful to plants. Thirty seconds later I was kicking myself, remembering that any bacteria in the rhizobia family form symbiotic relationships with plants that are beneficial for both species. A couple flights later a woman saw my shirt and said it was "hilarious." I asked if she worked in microbiology and she said she worked in forensics, with DNA. Close enough. It felt pretty good to have the shirt noticed anyway.
The plane landed in Dunedin and when it got to the end of the runway, it promptly turned 180 degrees and taxied back to the terminal, which had two gates and one other plane. I used to think Albany was a small airport. Sigurd, my advisor, was waiting and we got my two bags and walked to the car. It was 30 Celsius outside, and I was told it would probably be the warmest day I would ever see here. My first impression of NZ from the car ride to the town--lots and lots of farmland. After a 30 minute drive, in which we discussed cycling, hiking, and NZ culture, we arrived at Carrington College, my dorm. This place shamed Williams dorms. Giant common room with fully stocked kitchen, massive flat screen TV, pool table. My room is relatively large and the bed has linens (!). Showers and toilets are sparkling.
The biochemistry building and lab is a 5 minute walk downhill from the dorm. Sigurd showed me the lab, which didn't look too intimidating, and we had a sandwich at a museum shop. Campus was beautiful, with spring in full bloom.
Sigurd dropped me back at the dorm and I took a much-needed nap, which only made me feel more out of it. This evening I walked around the town, only things open were restaurants, a fair number of them Asian. Tomorrow calls for more exploring and buying supplies.
Walking down the street two teenage girls approached me.
Girl 1: Hey I know you.
Girl 2: Yeah you smoke don't you?
Me: Half shake head, half ignore.
Girl 1: No no he doesn't smoke. He's clean.
Glad I already have a good reputation in town.
Now I'm headed back to the dorm, where hopefully I can meet the other dozen students in the summer program. And maybe wash my WOOLF jacket, which was splattered with seagull droppings right before I walked into this cafe. Life on an island I guess.
Long post for nothing really exciting.
Except maybe for the wine, which flows quite freely, Air New Zealand has nothing on Emirates. Okay, let's see if I can stay awake to finish this post.
All in all, not too much disaster in terms of baggage. My bike in its cardboard box did not make the trans-Pacific flight, but I'm expecting that to be delivered to my dorm tomorrow, which will end up being more convenient than if I had to wedge it into the back of Sigurd's car. I lost a bottle of Citrus DeGreaser, which I found in Auckland had exploded all over my backpack due to the pressure difference. I removed the plastic bag carrying my bike tools to carry-on with me on the two NZ domestic flights, but then had the DeGreaser and a pedal wrench taken from me at Security. Incredibly, Sigurd brought a pedal wrench with him to the airport and has lent it to me to use when the bike arrives.
I got my first two comments on the Banta Lab t-shirt, which I sported throughout the travel marathon. The first was by a US TSA inspector, who saw the front and asked if I knew of any helpful bacteria she could put in her garden. I said I didn't know of any, that the bacteria we worked on were harmful to plants. Thirty seconds later I was kicking myself, remembering that any bacteria in the rhizobia family form symbiotic relationships with plants that are beneficial for both species. A couple flights later a woman saw my shirt and said it was "hilarious." I asked if she worked in microbiology and she said she worked in forensics, with DNA. Close enough. It felt pretty good to have the shirt noticed anyway.
The plane landed in Dunedin and when it got to the end of the runway, it promptly turned 180 degrees and taxied back to the terminal, which had two gates and one other plane. I used to think Albany was a small airport. Sigurd, my advisor, was waiting and we got my two bags and walked to the car. It was 30 Celsius outside, and I was told it would probably be the warmest day I would ever see here. My first impression of NZ from the car ride to the town--lots and lots of farmland. After a 30 minute drive, in which we discussed cycling, hiking, and NZ culture, we arrived at Carrington College, my dorm. This place shamed Williams dorms. Giant common room with fully stocked kitchen, massive flat screen TV, pool table. My room is relatively large and the bed has linens (!). Showers and toilets are sparkling.
The biochemistry building and lab is a 5 minute walk downhill from the dorm. Sigurd showed me the lab, which didn't look too intimidating, and we had a sandwich at a museum shop. Campus was beautiful, with spring in full bloom.
Sigurd dropped me back at the dorm and I took a much-needed nap, which only made me feel more out of it. This evening I walked around the town, only things open were restaurants, a fair number of them Asian. Tomorrow calls for more exploring and buying supplies.
Walking down the street two teenage girls approached me.
Girl 1: Hey I know you.
Girl 2: Yeah you smoke don't you?
Me: Half shake head, half ignore.
Girl 1: No no he doesn't smoke. He's clean.
Glad I already have a good reputation in town.
Now I'm headed back to the dorm, where hopefully I can meet the other dozen students in the summer program. And maybe wash my WOOLF jacket, which was splattered with seagull droppings right before I walked into this cafe. Life on an island I guess.
Long post for nothing really exciting.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Night before departure
As I scramble to pack my bike in its cardboard box and stuff t-shirts into my backpack, I find that I'm mostly occupied with the flight details and not thinking too much about what work and life in NZ will actually be like. I'll be on 5 flights--Baltimore to Charlotte, NC to Los Angeles to Auckland to Christchurch to Dunedin. If the in-flight service and baggage handlers are at all similar to those offered by Emirates Airlines, I will be very happy indeed. Next post from halfway around the globe.
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