Sunday, December 11, 2011

And thats it!

SoPac:


Well friends, here's to three and a half months together. 


Treasure your memories, stick to your convictions, live well.


All the best,

Caleb, Court, Jess, Emma, Sam, John, Allie, Lisa




Sunday, December 4, 2011

Trash Fashion

Sopac:
Well, we're rounding out the semester here in Kaikoura. We've just finished integration week, a week intended to help pull together everything we've experienced and learned, inside and outside of the classroom these past months.

Among the most practical ways to recycle, we've found, is to make clothes out of junk. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure.  So here are some pictures from our trash fashion show.  Presenting... Derelicte. 

Randi (Biola) in her favorite newspaper dress. 

Kristen (Wheaton) and Gabe (Messiah), better known as the "Breakfast Crew"


Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Terrestrial Ecosystems

SoPac:

We're back! After ten days on the South Island's west coast, we have learned much, seen much, and have much to tell. Joe Sheldon (Eastern, Messiah) has been our fearless leader as we studied the various ecosystems on the west coast. Here's a glimpse...

Walking to the foot of the Franz Josef glacier.

Joe Sheldon talking about the glacial landscape.

Emma (kitchen manager and botanist extraordinaire) imparting knowledge regarding New Zealand forests plants.

Darin (Messiah) soaking it all in.

Allie (Program Administrator) and Emma.

Now students are working away compiling their ecosystems research projects, using the data gathered on the last two days of our trip. Our semester is quickly coming to a close, as only two weeks remain.

Happy Thanksgiving!


Friday, November 11, 2011

Marine Ecology

SoPac:

This week was spent exploring the remarkable diversity of marine life here in Kaikoura with Professor Beth Horvath (Westmont). Limpets, algae, chitin, starfish, paua, sperm whales, fur seals, to name a few. What an incredible opportunity to be able to actually get out into the tidepools and study them firsthand instead of just talking about them in the classroom.

Jonny (Eastern), Kathleen (Messiah) and Laura (Waynesburg) seeing what they can see.

Oh yea, and did I mention we got to swim with Dusky Dolphins, widely considered the most acrobatic dolphin in the world? Because we did.





It's been a while..

SoPac:

And we're back! To all our faithful followers, apologies for the brief blog hiatus. Much has happened since we last connected, namely, Environmental Lit II with Susan Felch (Calvin) God and Nature II with Rolf Bouma (UMich) Spring (Fall) Break. So there is much to tell, but we'll just share some pictures from Spring/Fall Break.

After some weeks in the Convent together, everyone was given a week-long break to scatter about the country and go off on their own adventures. Some went to Queenstown, some went to the sandy beaches of Abel Tasman, some went to All Blacks crazed Auckland, some road tripped the South Island, and some hike the Heaphy Track. Here are some photos to give you a small taste.

The beautiful South Island

An unbelievable sunset on the West Coast at the end of the Heaphy Track.

A familiar sight in Kiwi-country

Crossing a swing bridge on the Heaphy Track.


Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Literature, Lawn Games, and Laughs

SoPac:

Happy Birthday to John (Property Manager) and Kaitlyn (Wheaton)! If you follow this blog, I realize that it may seem that all we do here at CCSP is have costumed birthday parties, go to class, and sit on the beach.  While somewhat accurate, know that much more goes on around here, we just chose to report these particular events. 

With that said, John is a fan of lawn games and Kaitlyn loves dressing up. Kaitlyn also enjoys improv. So we smashed them all together for a fantastic party.  We created and played some lawn games, then sat down for a dinner theater of raucous improv games. Oh, and everyone had to dress as their favorite literary character. See for yourself...



Kristen (Wheaton) dressed as, well, I think you can figure this one out.  Bingo. Voldemort. 

The honored guests: John (Captain Ahab from Moby Dick) and Kaitlyn (Rosie Cotton from the Shire). Aragorn, Huck Finn, and Legolas look on as Kaitlyn takes her horseshoes throw. 


Other notable characters included Penelope from the Odyssey, the Cheshire Cat, Frankenstein, and, my personal favorite, Fantastic Mr. Fox. 

Monday, October 17, 2011

God and Nature 1

SoPac: 

This past week Eric Steinkamp from Northwest University came and taught God and Nature 1 in which we explored the biblical vision for man and the earth.  Topics ranged from the hope of heaven to the pleasures of eating as we attempted to understand what it means to be human here on God's good earth.

Wednesday afternoon was spent helping out Mark at Stony Creek Fruits and Veggies, a small farm where we get most of our fruits and veggies.  The goal of the field trip was to get outside, have fun, and participate in some way in the food production process. We were able to plant beans, weed flower gardens, cook potatoes in a fire, and plant lettuce in a greenhouse.  



Planting lettuce in a hydroponic greenhouse.


Enjoying the sunshine at Stony Creek Farm. 

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Sustainable Community Development (Part II)

SoPac:




Mick Duncan leading a classroom discussion

We've just finished our second week with Professor Mick Duncan.  It was great having Mick back with all of his passion and wisdom.  Throughout the week, Mick shared more of his Manila story, teaching from his experience living in the slums of the Philippines.  His stories were striking and sure to be remembered for some time to come. 

May we, as Mick says, have the courage to stand besides those who stand alone. 


Monday, October 3, 2011

Happy Birthday to me (Lindsay/Birdie)

SoPac:
This post was written by Lindsay, Calvin '11

When people ask me what is my favorite day/holiday of the year, I honestly tell them my birthday. Why? Because I do enjoy being the center of attention, and lucky for me CCSP celebrates birthdays in style. Caleb and Jess are amazing party planners and used my favorite decade (the Roaring 20's) as inspiration for my 22th birthday party and added a murder mystery twist. The dynamic duo sent party invites a few days prior to the celebration and assigned everyone a character to be at the party. My character was Birdie Fitzgerald, a successful flapper who does the best Charleston in Chi-town and is adored by all men (no joke, that is what my invite said). To make things better, Jess happened to find a blue and purple (my favorite color!) flapper dress at the local thrift store in Kaikoura!

Come the evening of the party, what used to be the dining room in the Old Convent was now a speakeasy run by Tom Gatsby (Caleb) and Debbie Buchanan (Jess) who were throwing a dinner party for me. Everyone awaited outside the doors, all in character and dressed to impress. We had a diverse group of people, from feminists to fashion designers to writers to gang members. Little did we know what the night had in store for us. After knocking on the door twice and reciting the secret password to the bouncer I entered the speakeasy, unprepared for the change in scenery. I was greeted by Caleb and Jess, errr I mean Tom and Debbie, with hugs and kisses and New Jersey/Long Island/Italian accents. I was so caught off guard I could not help but laugh! The rest of the guests funneled into the speakeasy and we conversed over drinks (non-alcoholic of course) with jazz music playing in the background. Then it was time to sit down for tea (aka dinner for you American folks back home) where the main entree was my favorite type of food: Indian. Shortly after, Debbie informed us our dear friend/foe Agatha the nun was found dead outside the speakeasy! We learned more about one another's character over tea and reported our findings to the whole group. After tea, my flapper gals and I put on a little dance show, which was unfortunately cut short due to one of the flappers being narcoleptic. Then my birthday cake arrived, a delicious fruit cake served with chocolate mousse and a pineapple truffle (my favorite desserts!) and over dessert we discussed who we thought murdered Agatha. Accusations were made, secret love affairs were revealed, and one guest was even shot, until we finally discovered the identity of the murderer.  He/she/it was promptly kicked out of the speakeasy and soon after the speakeasy was turned back in to the dining room we know and love oh-so-well at the Old Convent.

All in all, it was an amazing party and I hope all you readers in the states are jealous that you could not attend. I can not get over how great everyone looked and was impressed by how well people played their characters at the party! I was woefully unprepared for everyone I had gotten to know the previous six weeks to take on a new personality. My personal favorite was our dear Kiwi cook Emma, who played a hypochondriac flapper from Alabama. And Caleb and Jess's accents cracked me up. I could not stop laughing the entire night. This was sadly my last birthday party in college and I must say this was the best birthday party I have ever had. Thanks to all the CCSP staff and students for making it such a memorable night! Enjoy the photos below!


SLCs Caleb and Jess with the most stunning flapper (Birdie aka me) in town.

My flapper gal pals and I doing the Charleston (or what I thought was the Charleston, haha)

A toast to the birthday girl!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Environmental Lit 1


students on a creative writing assignment

SoPac: this entry is written by Jess (Student Life Coordinator)

In a place like Kaikoura, it is difficult not to be inspired. This week,
in Environmental Literature, Professor Ed Higgins (George Fox) led the
student body on a journey in creative writing which culminated in a night
of slamming our poetry and short-stories together. Along with laughs and
snaps, we were all encouraged and sometimes speechless with the amount of
creativity and talent that the whanau demonstrated... even (and sometimes
especially) those of us who are science majors. Here is a sampling—



The Dance (Kristen, Wheaton 2012)

I sat on the misplaced log
uprooted, bleached and weathered.

Where had it come from?

The ocean must have thought the trunk was a delectable piece of Turkish Delight
then spit it out in deceived disgust.

The ocean’s unwanted candy became my gnarled throne—
I watched from my sturdy seat as nature performed before me.

The domineering waves shoved the black stones about—
a thunderous rumble rising from the rocky combat.

Waves I have seen before—their blue is nothing new.
But when this emerald Ocean asks the diamond-studded Mountain to dance,
their partnership transcends all that I knew of the elements while apart,
sending sparks into my spectating eyes.

A man wearing a black fitted suit rides the ocean’s swirling flirtations
as if trying to cut in on the dance.

Sometimes the waves give in,
granting the love-struck man the exhilaration he seeks.

But the Mountain’s beauty can easily reclaim the Ocean’s eyes,

letting the suitor fall.

I watch the three from my Turkish trunk,
never wanting the dance to end.




Sunday, September 25, 2011

A Week in Lower Hutt


SoPac: 

Well, we're back from a week-long field trip to Wellington and Lower Hutt.  We spent the week in the city region as part of Sustainable Community Development in an attempt to apply the theoretical to the practical and see how community development plays out in a New Zealand context.  

The week was spent hearing various speakers and visiting sites relating to community development in the Wellington region.  


A mural of famous All-Blacks Piri Weepu and Tana Umaga who came out of Wainuiomata, a small town in the city limits of Lower Hutt


We were able to meet with the council community development team, various employees from Housing New Zealand, and even motivational speaker Billy Graham of the Nae Nae Boxing Club.  We were even invited, to our surprise, to the Hutt City Community Awards Banquet where we were inspired by stories of different outstanding citizens in the community.

The group with Hutt City mayor Ray Wallace. Ray's in red.

The whirlwind week concluded with the USA vs. Australia World Cup Rugby game.  Unfortunately, our boys in blue did not come out on top but lucky for us, America is a resilient nation.  Boys, as Aaliyah so wisely advises "if at first you don't succeed, you dust yourself off and try again."  Also, see Chumbawamba's "I Get Knocked Down"




Don't worry folks, Amy knows

Just a bunch of Yankees.  Kudos to Darin, the bald eagle in the back right


And that was the week.  It was no doubt a learning experience as this was our first trip to the Wellington region, but we got to meet some cool people, hear some good stories, and see a little bit more of the world.  

A special thanks to our brothers and sisters at Te Kakano o te Aroha Marae for hosting us, sharing with us, and preparing a hangi for us!  We thank God for you and hope to see you soon. 

Friday, September 16, 2011

Reading Week

So Pac: 

This past week was reading week, a week devoted to reading in preparation for the coming courses. Some of our readings included The River Why, Holy the Firm, and Sand County Almanac.

The week was, therefore, pretty laid back and wide open. One of the neat opportunities we had was to help with Trees For Travelers, an organization that sells and plants native trees to tourists in an attempt to offset the carbon footprint of their travels to Kaikoura.


Laura (Waynesburg) clears some weeds. 


Paige (Westmont) doing her part. 


Friday was Courtnay's big birthday bash.  Courtnay is our beloved program director, so we thought we'd go all out to give her a great party.  The party was a St. John's themed one, as Court is a volunteer for the Kaikoura St. John's Ambulance Core.  It was originally planned for Thursday night, but Court was ironically, and fittingly, called out just before the party and it had to be postponed to Friday after the All-Blacks game.

The party was a production, to say the least.  Half of the students were actors, either diagnosed patients or doctors with the cure, and half of the students were St. John's trainees.  Our patients were cured of such maladies as lovesickness, tone-deafness, technology-deprivation, and the black plague. 



Chimene the Director (Messiah) cures Halle (Messiah) of her technology-deprivation.




Paige (Westmont) as Lady Gaga in her compost-skirt shows Court the cure for tone deafness. 


til next time...

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Of Wasps and Waterfalls

SoPac: This entry is written by Jennie (Trinity Christian College)

It is the tradition of CCSP to orient their students for a little over a week and then set them loose in the country. Everyone made it back alive despite having been here less than two weeks, and New Zealand itself seems relatively unscathed, so I'm marking it up as a success. Many adventures were had over student trip weekend, but this is the story of mine.

I went to Nelson Lakes National Park with a few friends (Amy, Darin, Jonny, and Kaitlyn H.) We considered cities and towns and coasts and hostels, but eventually realized that we wanted to see mountains. We originally wanted to hike up into the mountains, but found out a few days before our trip that unless we had ice hiking equipment and quite a bit of experience, it was seriously inadvisable for this time of year. So instead, we made a meandering loop of Lake Rotoiti, which is fantastically hemmed in on all sides by snow capped peaks.

Some highlights:

Just as we started walking from the carpark (note the correct kiwi term!) to the trailhead, it started to flurry! It was hardly anything, and obviously nothing stuck, and it lasted about three minutes and then the sun came out, but it still counts! It snowed while we were tramping in NZ! Then we came to this dock from which we had an amazing view of the mountains all around Lake Rotoiti, and Darin realized that he had seen it before in one of those default wallpapers that computers come with. We didn't really believe him, but he took a picture and we put them side by side when we got back, and sure enough - it was exactly the same. There was more snow in ours, but it was taken from that very dock. Cool.

Anyway, once we actually started tramping (hiking to those not fluent in kiwi) we stopped almost immediately to taste all of the trees along the trail. Yes, you read correctly. Here in this wonderful country, there are these crazy wasps that live just under the bark of certain trees (where we were tramping, beech trees) and they suck out the juicy, sugary phloem. Then, the digested sugary stuff has to go somewhere, so they essentially squirt it out the other end and it collects in these tiny droplets on the ends of little strings on the bark. Isn't nature fun? Anyway, then, a bee or bird or uninhibited college student comes along and collects the little droplets to snack on! It is so sweet and syrupy and you only get a tiny amount at a time, so it sort of reminded me of honeysuckle. Also, if bees are the ones to collect it, they can make honey out of it, and it turns into a thick dark kind of honey that's lovely on english muffins. For the record.

Moving on, we got about halfway around the lake that day and stayed in our very first (hopefully of many) NZ huts, Lakehead Hut. It was quite cozy with a wood stove and four other people to talk to while we made dinner and ate it by candlelight. Never in my whole life have I seen as many stars as were shining that night. It was absolutely freezing outside, and it made the air so clear. I'm trying to learn some southern hemisphere constellations, but until such time as we know the real ones, Jonny and I made some up. So now there is a mythical tortoise that rides the milky way.
The next morning everything was covered in a sparkly layer of frost, and we cut across about eight small rivers (one deep enough for us to shed our shoes and roll up our pants to cross) to take a "shortcut" to the next hut: the aptly named Coldwater Hut. Then we dumped all but our lunch and cameras and headed off to the swing bridge. Ok, I admit it, I had my New Zealand forest guide with me as well. Don't make fun. It's really cool. And so was the swing bridge! We played on it for a long time, and then found the tree roots that the hobbits hid under when they were trying to escape the black riders. That's another thing that is so fun about tramping in this place. We know that nothing was filmed in this particular spot, but that doesn't stop anyone from pointing out probable locations every two minutes. So fun.
That night we were all tucked away in our sleeping bags by about 6:30 when the sun went down, but we stayed up talking for a long time after that. We talked about first memories, important and shaping events in our lives, and the best superpowers. So all the important stuff. The next morning we got up in time to be off by the time it started getting light. We made it to Whiskey Falls a little before 7:30 and climbed up all of the freezing and slippery rocks toward the top. Kaitlyn and I climbed the whole way up to stand next to the pool of water at its base and got completely drenched from the spray. The wind that a 40m waterfall generates is also incredible. We had to be careful that our feet were firmly on those hazardous stones so we weren't knocked backward. When we climbed back down, we hung out for a while to take pictures and dry out a little, and just at that moment the sun's first light crept over the tops of the eastern mountains and *poof* turned us all to stone! (Guess that movie.) Ok, not really, but it did light up the entire crown of the forest, and the top of the falls itself with this incredible golden light. What a way to spend a Sunday morning. So we sang some songs and continued on our way.

We stopped to eat small mountains of fish and chips and ice cream on the way home, and stopped again to chase some waves and watch a baby sea lion do the same, but other than that, the way back was fairly uneventful. It was a completely smashing trip. Except for one thing.

Low Lights:

Sand flies. If you do not know what a sand fly is, consider yourself lucky. Very lucky. Mosquitoes don't really bother me, and even if I do get bites, they aren't that bad. Sand flies are different. They have a special taste for ankles. My ankles. I had 24 sand fly bites on my ankles. And they itch about a thousand times more than your average mosquito bite. Ick. But they are completely better now, and were seriously the only downside to a really amazing weekend. I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Sustainable Community Development (Part I)

SoPac:

We just finished our first week of class, Sustainable Community Development with Mick Duncan. Mick is a wonderful Kiwi professor with memorable stories and valuable insight.  The week was spent covering introductions to the economic, political and social factors behind effective community development.  

We look forward to the upcoming Wellington-area trip which is the field study for the course, and the second week of SCD with Mick in the classroom. 

May we, as Mick always says, learn to be about people, places, and the planet.

Monday, August 29, 2011

Orientation Week

SoPac:

The students have arrived to beautiful Kaikoura! The Old Convent is now home to twenty new, excited students and we have been busy the past week getting to know each other, getting to know the place, and enjoying ourselves.  Some of the recent highlights have been:

1. A visit to Kevin and Sandy Topp's farm--a stunning three thousand acre property where sheep and cattle graze as far as the eye can see. 
2. A hangi (traditional Maori earth oven) at the Convent where 80+ friends from the community came and shared in a delicious meal.
3. A Kaikoura photo scavenger hunt!

Here are some shots from the scavenger hunt:



Kaitlyn (Wheaton College), Sophie (Westmont), and Monique (Point Loma) look into another way to see the Kaikoura landscape.  



Tamara (Westmont) and Shanae (Westmont) barely escape the jaws of the whale.



The view from town.  Does it get much better than this? 



All our love to our friends and family back home!  We think this is going to be a pretty great semester.