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.