A "Bro"mantic Evening

A few weeks ago I was introduced to Thai food. This pleasant food surprise recently inspired a nice dinner and a night out at Darling Harbour. Now Darling Harbour is known for its romantic atmosphere, but this night at Darling Harbour wasn't just any date, it had a slight twist --the night ended up being a 3-man bromance!

For anyone who was not lucky enough to stumble upon Brody Jenner and MTV's recent reality show "Bromance", here is Urban Dictionary's definition of a bromance: a close friendship between 2 males to such a point where they start to seem like a couple.

Despite Darling Harbour's romantic reputation, my 2 buddies and I decided that our Thai food craving and each of our high level of comfort with our sexualities were enough to overcome the romantic deterrent. The 3 of us enjoyed a nice dinner at Stir Crazy. The restaurant had a lively atmosphere and meals at a low-budget price. My fried rice with chicken meal was amazing. (And it was even better because it was free --I was dared to eat a plate of hot chilis for a free meal, courtesy of my friends. Although I have suffered through similar hot/spicy food situations in the past, this time turned out to be a success for me!)

Following dinner, the 3 of us walked down to the Harbour to snap a few pictures. This is when the bromantic irony really took place. As we snapped our first picture, a loud bang sounded from across the harbour. My friend Phelps looked to sky and shouted, "Fireworks!" The colors in the sky were pleasing to our eyes, however, the impressive light show seemed to attract an abundance of couples all around us. Although the 3 of us had thought we could avoid the romance of Darling Harbour, there we stood....at the harbour for the next 20 minutes taking in the firework show and enjoying our arguably, inevitable bromantic date. Below are a couple pictures from the evening. I title them "Sydney at Night."

Harbour Bridge

The light show.....uuuuuw....awwwww

All in all, a hilarious night that led me to this contemplation....close, male friendships may be undervalued in today's society. Women have always been the ones known to have close relationships with their friends, but men seem to be expected to keep distant, often superficial, "manly" friendships. These "manly" friendships lack real growth because they tend not to venture beyond topics of sports, cars, jokes, work, boobs, etc. This may be due to ingrained perceptions of gender roles in society? Or maybe it's a common straight man fear to never be perceived as gay? I don't know. I think traditional male friendships are good, but I also think it is worthwhile to have a little balance between "manly" friendships and "bromance" friendships. The balance encourages growth by challenging views. And although both Brody Jenner's show and the term "bromance" are goofy, I think they are also small steps toward socially accepting quality male friendships....Maybe our Darling Harbour experience will inspire in a few more bromances in our world.

What is up with your hair?!?!

It is often fun to laugh at oneself. With that said, you may have noticed that my hair style has changed a few times in the past month. Some bad, some worse. But I've always thought of college as a good time to have ugly hair --you only have to live with it and go to class! In other words, I have had a lot of fun with each look, but I also acknowledge that my homemade haircuts are better described as "Hair-don'ts" than hair-dos. Here's a summary of the styles....

1) Style 1 was the trailblazer, leaving a path for the next 2 styles to follow. This trailblazer was a mohawk. The cut was sparked by a desire to create team comradery before both Conception Day and our New Zealand adventure. On the eve of Conception Day, 6 mohawks in total were cut in my bedroom. All 6 mohawks traveled to New Zealand, 4 of us in the same spaceship rental vehicle. The picture below shows me doing a Tim Tam Slam....with a mohawk.


2) Style 2 emerged halfway through the NZ roadtrip. I began to notice that strangers spoke to me more frequently when I wore a beanie and my mohawk was hidden. Plus, I figured a week of comradery was plenty! I then cut my hair in to arguably the only possible uglier look than a mohawk --a rat-tail.However, rat-tails are popular in NZ. I felt it was appropriate for week 2 of the trip. However, looking at it now.....it was pretty filthy!


3) Style 3 was my final attempt to look like a doofus. The rat-tail was shaven off, but my resemblance to Curious George then became more apparent (see picture below). My hair has now grown back slightly and it is a little more useful --it keeps my head warmer when it is windy. A mullet is now the only hair-style that looms in my curiosity...

3 Reasons I Loved New Zealand

2 weeks in some countries is more than enough. 2 weeks in other countries gives just a sweet enough taste that you can not wait to visit again. New Zealand was the latter for me. Here are my top 3 reasons why I loved New Zealand....

NUMBER 3....Kiwis are incredibly friendly! Our first cab driver warned us that Kiwis are very fond of backpackers....and he was correct. Anywhere we went, someone would spark up a conversation with us (sometimes because 4 of us had mohawks) and ask us what we were doing in NZ. Once we mentioned roadtrip, Kiwis would stop working (one Kiwi for 20+ minutes) and take time to offer us travel tips and places to see. Each seemed to be more helpful and more friendly.

Nuuumber 2.....New Zealand is absolutely beautiful! The South Island's mountains are more massive than anything I have seen before. I was shocked how many different areas of nature there were in one relatively small country. I saw Narnia's beaches, King Kong's jungle-forests, The Lord of the Ring's mountain tops, and Arctic glaciers! So many views left me staring with my mouth open, yet everything still felt so peaceful. That is an amazing combo!


and Nuuuuuumero Uno...Kiwis seem to have their own formula for getting the most out of life. They have a slower pace of life relative to the U.S. and Sydney. Nothing in New Zealand appear to be overly career-focused or rushed. Maybe it is an Island country theme, but the Kiwi people have a great appreciation for leisure time. They get their work done, but at the end of the day they seem to desire something more than achievement -they hold relationships and the time spent with others in the highest regards. I definitely think this is related to their friendliness and willingness to pause their work to help someone else. I found the Kiwi way of life very appealing. Achievements, awards, career success, money....those things are all great, but towards the end of life most of these things seem to be often forgotten. It is the relationships and valuable time spent with others that stand out in memories....this is its own life success.

Global Education

As I've mentioned before, my favorite aspect about my university is the large international student body. I have hung out with students from all around the world, but overall, I have found the Asian cultures to be the most difficult to interact with. The language barrier is one obstacle, but that obstacle exists with several other cultures as well. I've noticed that many Asians (definitely not all!) seem to be cliquey with each other and often look down/away when eye contact is made. However, tonight I had a breakthrough conversation in class that allowed me to see the situation through different eyes....

My new friend, Lithang, explained to me a cultural difference using a normal pub scene. He said, "In most cultures it is normal for someone to meet a stranger in a pub, strike up a conversation, and begin a friendship." However, Lithang explained that this is not normal in most Asian cultures. He said that people in Asian cultures tend to develop friends differently. Many Asians make friends through the circles/groups they are a part of -school, clubs, teams, etc. These friends are who they hang out with and from whom they build more friendships from. Additionally, Lithang said that many Asians find it crazy when a random stranger tries to say "Hi" to them.

Interesting....

New Zealand- the South Island

Week 2 of our New Zealand adventure continued in the South Island. This Island is filled with natural beauty!

Throughout the 6 hour drive down the west coast, I could not stop staring out of the spaceship windows. If I looked to my right I saw a sunny, gorgeous beach and the Tasman Sea. And when I looked to my left, there was massive mountains covered in rain forest trees with dark clouds in the sky above. The contrast was amazing! We continuously stopped for awesome views and beach areas along the drive.

The next few days were excursion filled again. One morning we hiked Fox Glacier. I was shocked to see a glacier in the middle of green mountains. There were snow-less mountains all around…and then there was a huge glacier in the middle! This is one of only two areas in the world like this! (The other is in South America....Argentina??) The picture below shows my buddy Ben and me during the trek. Next, we spent a few hours at Puzzle World in Wanaka. Here we got lost in the Great Maze (below). Some found their way out quickly and others of us were trapped for much longer than we wished…we could not find our way out!

Around the middle of the week we arrived in Queenstown! Queenstown is the adventure capital of New Zealand. It is a tourist must-visit. The town sits next to a huge lake and is surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains. We had several fun nights here, found another great hike/trek, slept right next to the lake, and bungy jumped! The jump was 134 meters with an 8 second free fall. It is located high above a HUGE canyon and you jump from a hanging cable car. Quite the adrenaline rush!

Next we visited Milford Sound. Some people have argued that this natural phenomenon should be the 8^th Wonder of the World. Milford Sound has HUGE mountains that emerge directly out of the sea! The place is gorgeous. There really is no way to verbally describe it, but these pictures give a decent impression. Also, check out the video where our boat captain drives the ship under a waterfall!

As our adventure did have to come to a close at some point, we headed to our final destination –Christchurch. Here we arrived late at night. Unable to find anywhere to camp in the dark, we put Plan B put into place....set up the tent on a grass patch in the middle of the “somewhat shady” part of Christchurch’s downtown area. We were awaken by someone yelling outside, "Who told you that you could pitch a tent here?! You have to leave!" She may have been the only unfriendly person we met in New Zealand…and she wasn’t even that bad. She let us take our time packing up! I would call Plan B a success!

Overall, I loved New Zealand and the trip was all I could want! My favorite findings to come soon...

New Zealand - the North Island

For 2 weeks I traveled the country of New Zealand with 7 classmates. We lived out of out 2 spaceship rental vehicles. We slept in random spots all around the country -sometimes at popular campsites, other times at secluded campsites, some nights just on the side of the highway. And we did so many different activities/excursions. It was a trip to remember and one I look forward to trying to top in the coming years.

We spent the first 6 days in the North Island. The North Island is filled with extinct volcanoes, rolling green hills, and some rainforest-ish regions. We spent a day/night in Auckland and then headed to the Coromandel Peninsula to experience the Hot Water Beach. Here we rented a "spade" to dig a hole in the sand. The hole filled up with natural hot water that we could lay in like a spa. (crazy!!) In some areas the water was lava-boiling HOT and gave me a controversial 2nd degree burn.


The following two days were excursion filled. First we went Black Water Rafting in the Waitomo Caves. We abseiled down about 150 ft into cave and then spent the next 4 hrs in the cave. In the cave we swam for awhile when our feet could not touch the ground, cruised on inner tubes as we enjoyed the Glowworm "Light Show" at the top of the cave, jumped off a cliff, and climbed 2 waterfalls. I was even lucky enough to be so close to an eel that I could touch it. It was arguable my favorite activity on the trip. Afterwards, we packed up the spaceship and headed to Rotorua where we camped out on the side of the highway....no joke! In Rotorua we visited Thermal Wonderland, and we were fortunate enough to watch a geyser erupt and walk through the eerie boiling pools park. At times I felt like I was on the moon. In the afternoon we ZORBED! Zorbing is essentially rolling down a grass hill in a hamster ball. Check it all out below!

Pre-Black Water Rafting

In the cave

Thermal Wonderland

Or the moon??

Geyser!


Zorbing!

On our 5th day in the North Island, the group split up. Four decided to fish and bungy jump and the other four of us went on a rainy hike in the Tongariro National Park. We had hoped to do the 9-hour Tongariro Crossing trek through Mt. Doom (Lord of the Rings), but weather conditions were not permitting...Fortunately, we found an awesome alternative trek in the rain. This hike included 5 waterfalls in increasing size and finished with the one to the right. We were all drenched by the end!

Our final day in the North Island was in its capitol city Wellington. The city is located on the harbour and had an enjoyable downtown area. In the afternoon, we loaded our spaceships onto the Inter-Islander Ferry and headed to the South Island. This ferry ride was one of my favorite moments during the trip. The North Island was gorgeous and impressive....but then we crossed to the South! I felt like I entered a completely new world -a world where King Kong would exist! The weather was again cloudy and rainy, but this only added to the ferry ride. The clouds hung low enough to cover some of the massive mountains that emerged from the sea, but the tops of the mountains remained visible. The ferry ride had a dark, yet impressive feel to it. Half of me felt like I was on a luxurious ship ride like the Titanic, and the other half of me felt as if our end was near in the coming moments like Titanic! I stood alone on the bow in rain and just took everything in. I was mesmerized by the feeling. Luckily, the ferry was not exactly like the Titanic and we ended up making it to the South Island alive.

Wellington

The Ferry ride

From the beginning of the Road Trip

In New Zealand you drive on the left side of the road. Approximately 90% of the country's inhabitants do not have car insurance. As you may be able to guess...our NZ adventure started real quick! Here is a summary of the first minute of our roadtrip. Being the alpha male I am (no laughing!), I volunteered to be our first driver in one of New Zealand's most populated cities -- Auckland. J.R. is our navigator and sits in the passenger seat. We slowly roll out of the Spaceship rentals driveway and we are on our way on the left side of the road. Suddenly our GPS malfunctions and we immediately miss our first turn. As input is simultaneously given by all passengers in the spaceship, I manage to find a lot/driveway to turn around in. This is when instinct took over...I turned around but I found myself on the wrong side of the driveway (easy to make a right turn, but not on the left side!). Foot on the break, we pause so a large truck can go around us and enter the driveway....but he doesn't go around us enough! The truck's narrow turn caught the side of the spaceship. J.R. yells, "We just got hit by a truck....in our first minute!" Sam sits in the back saying driving was a stupid idea! Ben signals to our other spaceship that we have been struck. Next, the truck driver pulls ahead a bit to get out of the way. He looks back at us and then just drives off!!! Here is a picture of the spaceship's battle wound:


Although a rocky first minute to the trip, everything was easy after this. The majority of the country is two-lane highways and city driving quickly was no big deal anyways. Driving on the left side is not overly difficult and it is actually pretty fun. Still, we will always remember when we were hit by a truck in the first 60 seconds of our road trip (even if it was only a 5 mph scratch!).


Also, here's an inside look at the Spaceship...seating for 4 in the front half, bed in back! (king of reminds me of a mullet....business in the front, par-tay in the back!)


The rest of the trip to come later today...

Today's Contemplation

Why can't a man attend a Pilates class without being called gay or a pervert??