from ballet to surfing

So after a very tough week of work for uni, I had a odd, but awesome mix of activities for a weekend.

     Thursdsay night myself and Dani (girl from Indiana) went to see the Royal New Zealand Ballet put on a performance of "From Here to There". It was made up of three separate shows with intermissions in between. The first performance was very traditional, with no very exciting costumes or sets. The dancing was beautiful, but not terribly exciting from an audience perspective. The second show was my favorite by far. The dancing was a bit more contemporary with a lot of cool lifts and more upbeat music. The set-up was really cool as well. A whole side of the stage was taken up by a huge white wall, and the only lights on stage were from the opposite side near the ground, so the big dancing shadows were projected on the white wall. It was a very simple way to make a really stunning performance. The third show was pretty cool as well. The dancing and music wasn't the most interesting, but the stage and costumes were done up quite elaborately with different colored moving walls and flowing drapey costumes. overall it was definitely worth it for a $25 student ticket.

     Saturday a bunch of girls and myeslf decided to try out some surfing! I found an add for surf coaching in a booklet somewhere, and set up a 2-hour lesson. We had to take a short bus ride to the beach it was at, but it was definitely worth it. Our coach provided us with beginning surf boards and wet suits, gave us some preliminary instructions, and took us out into the water. I definitely have a better appreciation for surfing after that..it's hard work! You have to wait for the wave, paddle like mad, and then try to stand up and find some balance while a wave is carrying you...definitely not easy, and then there's the inevitable falling off the board. I hit my chin pretty hard on one fall, and swallowed far too much sea water, but it was alright in the end. I  actually stood up on the board twice (not too shabby for the first time!). I really want to go back on my own and practice sometime. There are a few places you can rent wetsuits and boards for decent prices.

     Another awesome thing the international people at Massey set up for us was a workshop with people from Weta, the costume and effects people who worked on The Lord of the Rings. They brought in props and costumes for us to play with, and told us tons of stories of the making of the movies. There was so much work that went into those movies, I can't even imagine. They were talking for a bit about 'hair punching'. When making any kind of model that's supposed to have lifelike fur, they have to insert every hair separately, to make sure they all flow in the right directions. One lady said it would take 4 women 8 hours to collectively do a 5 inch square section. That does-not sound fun.

I really just wanted to get those things down now, because now we're on our Easter break, and I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a week in the South Island! We're going to be camping and staying in hostels throughout the whole island, so I will have a ton of stories when I get back.

I hope everyone's Easters went well though, and I'll write again after my trip!