Friday March 17th/Saturday March 18th
This will be short, because I can't remember what else we did that weekend.
Anjali and I had a 'girls weekend', with a few exceptions. St. Patricks Day caught us in a bar, where we downed an entire -glass- of Guinneas each. We both decided that it was definitely a girlie beer, or, as Sean put it, 'a beer milkshake'. The rest of the evening was spent discussing the prison camps in North Korea.
On Saturday, we went to the Otago Museum, where we learned that Dunedin is a thriving metropolis. For anyone who has actually been to a thriving metropolis by US standards, this would make you giggle. The museum was otherwise -quite- delicious for any museumphile. Like myself. I particularly enjoyed the photographic exhibit on New Zealand flora and fauna, and the small expo on Chinese photographs. The exhibit on Scarfies, the term used to describe Uni students, left much to be desired.
One interesting point is that, apparently, one of the major things that students here are protesting is the price of education. There is apparently great concern over the financial burden of student loans, with the ideaology being that it is within the interest of the country to encourage as many of its younger generation to attain a higher education. It makes sense. But coming from the perspective of someone who is paying nearly $40,000 US per year for her college education..well, I have to confess that my first reaction, based on this worldview, was that the Kiwis were complaining over nothing. I take it for granted that in order to get a top-notch education, I'll have to pay for it, particularly since I'm from a demographic that has been -told- that we can pay for it.
I wonder what would happen in the US if college students protested more about the price of their higher education what the reaction would be.
Right, so speaking of protests... there was a minor protest that we saw the tail end of, which occured in the Octagon. I think there were about 25 people protesting the war in Iraq and, most specifically, President Bush. He is not much loved down here. Anjali and I were on our way to a movie, so I didn't get too many pictures. The above picture was taken when we were walking back and playing with the debris that was left behind.
The movie we saw was "No. 2", which is specifically about generational conflicts amongst Pacific Islanders who's families immigrated to New Zealand. It's a story that we're quite familiar with in the States, but I've never seen something from a Pacific Islander point of view. It's quite a good movie, and I highly recommend it.
posted by Hoot @ 3:39 PM
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