Day 222 - Back from China! - On Challenge and Clubbing

Wednesday the 20^th of February 2013-02-20

I’m back in New Zealand! Have spent the past two months teaching and travelling around China. To be honest, as of today the I Am Challenge has never been so difficult.

Right now, I’m decrying the fact that I have to wear the t-shirts for another 5 whole months. Holy moly it’s such a long time. I come back feeling so different, wanting to change, wanting to express myself differently and wearing these bright shirts that glare nothing but my name is feeling incredibly….well, challenging.

Wearing the shirts around China was an Experience. Sure, there were the hard moments when it was too hot or too cold for them to be comfortable when hiking, or travelling around places such as Harbin and Dali (these shirts are definitely not catered for sportswear), but apart from that, it was a pleasant way to introduce myself to people while hostelling, and it created a great tale to join the multitudes.Washing them at hostels was a comfort. It was great knowing that no one would mistaken my washing, given that it's got my name on it!

However, I would say that throughout the trip, there were definitely times where wearing the T-shirt was hard going. Especially during some moments ‘a la Shanghai’ where I was trying to present myself out to be more ‘fashionable’ than I generally look in a T-shirt. One of the most difficult times would’ve been when I went clubbing.

 Shanghainese clubs are flash.

Walk in and glance at the beautifully ornamented counter. A waiter stands there stoically - hair flicked back with white cotton gloves. As we approach the entrance, we are gifted with a free ‘Dickies’ bag, and are banded with a bright yellow tag that will guarantee us unlimited drinks for the night. As we’re lead through the black curtains, past the grand piano to the cloak room, the lights dim, and a loud bass begins to boom.

Flashes. Darkness, and overwhelming music. Turn the corner to the dance floor, and between the rattles of dice and smoke, I'm suddenly engulfed with shifting bodies and piping songs on flat screen.

I pace along the wooden floor, and weave my way between judiciously placed bar tables. Each one has a delicately arranged fruit carving – watermelon, to be exact: crimson and juicy they’re sliced into tiny pieces, each pierced with a toothpick to be delicately eaten, one by one…

Deep leather couches sit on the embankment. Raised one step above the dance floor, they encircle the room. Shadowed by small leather lamps, the seats turn to reveal suave Asian men lounging deep within its folds. Many are smoking, and although you can’t see the curls of cigarette smoke, wafts of tobacco and nicotine permeate throughout the cavernous room.

As of yet, I’ve omitted the main characteristic of a club. Perhaps you’re wondered? The ‘mei nu’.

Oh! The ‘pretty lasses’. Yes. This was China, so it meant seeing delicate little pretties tottering around on high heels.

O.K. I mock. Friends - I do apologise. Despite being the ‘Kiwi girl/Hua ren (foreign born Asian)’, I couldn’t help but feel very out of place. I’ll admit it: At that point, I was a tad envious. I hadn’t brought to China any ‘fancy’ clothing. I’d rocked on in, in traveller’s mode with jeans, trainers and a fading I Am Challenge T-shirt. Garbed elegantly in high heels, those girls looked very….feminine.

Beautifully applied make-up, with gargantuan eyes (the height of Asian fashion). Hair dyed and styled in various shades of amber, with the occasional curl.  They glanced surreptitiously at guys attempting a mix of ‘delicate female’, or ‘girl with the mysterious charm’. Standing alluringly  in pixie like dresses at high bar tables, they picked at the watermelon with polka dot painted fingernails and batted their fake eyelashes….

Apologies. I kid again. They looked damn hot. 

An interesting thing about Chinese fashion is that girls exude an almost ornamental beauty.  I find it strange as I can never imagine myself to wear somethings that many girls wore that night - the fake eyelashes, the large contact lenses and nail polish. I had a resolution to try nail polish at one point in Shanghai (story for another time), but otherwise it all seemed so strange.

Perhaps what they say about you ‘getting stronger’ from things that don’t ‘kill you’ has an element of truth within it. That night, I remember sitting at the bar, feeling a tad awkward and chatting to a drunk Korean dude who’d just broken up with his girlfriend. 

It was a quarter of an hour into the evening when I’d suddenly clicked, and suddently began to see the whole hilarity in the entire situation: I didn't look like the other girls, I didn't act like the other girls... and I didn't actually want to be like them. I was in Shanghai, on an internship, out to explore the city, travel and have fun. I wasn’t intending to spend the evening going out with anybody, there was no way in the world that I’d ever dress like the Chinese girls, even if I had a choice. 

Chedder-like enough, something the challenge has stuck. There have been so many times in Auckland where I've struggled with having to go out wearing another 'I Am Carmen' shirt that it's almost become a source of pride for me. I don't see why China should be any different, and the fact that 'I Am Carmen' is what I’m going to show the world.'

Spent the rest of the night dancing on one of the bar tables. At some point, I also jammed with the DJ and flashed the Chinese girls incredibly bright grins. I feel incredibly lucky to have grown up in New Zealand, to have so much choice, and the freedoms that others may not have. I didn't realise it, but I'm finding that the challenge has been giving me something that I've grown from. Seems like clubbing and the Challenge have provided an interesting learning curve. 

So, that’s enough for me now.

It's Day 222 of the I Am Challenge.

Carmen and Kirk 

(Fellow EPs on Red Wings Internship)

Carmen, over and out.

"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something" 

Henry David Thoreau

Day 139: Kokako monitoring in the Hunuas!

The Kokako

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dkako

Had the most amazing trip with Tony and Issy! Headed off to the Hunua’s and found ourselves some Kokako!

Drove up to the Hunua’s on Thursday afternoon (Issy being the amazing driver J), through Clevedon and up Moumoukai Hill. Met a fantastic ranger – Dave, and hiked to the hut in the management zone on the edge of Hunua.

There’s something special about going to the bush. As a ‘city girl’, I’m so used to seeing roads, cars, etc. and heading to the bush is almost like a catharsis from civilisation. In there, there is nought but birdsound and a this all encompassing tranquility. The floor is littered with plant matter at varying stages of decomposition, and there is a gentle, almost ‘untouched’ sense to the place. It's a far cry from what I generally experience as the 'norm'. 

We spent the evening cooking up a gourmet dinner, then played cards, and had a long yarn. It’s amazing to see how many places people have been to – all over the North Island, Sumatra, Tanzania, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India… if there’s one thing that I want to do more of, it’s travel!

Dave is incredibly knowledgeable about the bush and nature. I’d say that learning about biology, ecology – anything, is best done when you’re ‘in the zone’.

Here’s a sample of what I picked up:

-     -   There are 247 different types of sparrow in America. (2 types in NZ)

-     -   Trap numbers are used to measure track distances – e.g. 19 traps set along the trail to the hut.

-     -   There are around 2000 Kokakos in New Zealand, and around 22 nests in the management area.

-  

-   -     Rats are quite shy. Un-poisoned bait (peanut butter) is laid out to acclimatise the rats to the traps, and are only baited during the nesting season.

-     -   Rats can travel up to 700m a night!

-      -  The ‘walking dead’ are rats that have been poisoned, but continue to wreak havoc in the hours before their death.

-     -   Cyanide is the best poison – and apparently, you can even eat the animal afterwards if you were so inclined. (well, logically, it only knocks out cytochrome c3 in the mitochondria..)

-       - A ‘ring of steel’ is normally laid around kokako nesting sites to reduce the risk of predators reaching the nesting site. (Ring of steel = traps)

-      -  Lebanese Halva (dessert) is primarily made out of grounded sesame seeds.

On Birds: (n.b. It’s incredibly to describe bird calls by writing…)

- Grey Warbler – extremely noisy – goes like this: La la la l aaaa-la-la –la – kind of didactic, but melodic at the same time. I’ve never seen them in Auckland before – but I hear them all the time! They were by far the noisiest birds in the bush (and city!)

- Kingfisher: Go – kree—kree—kree

- Magpie (yes – there are magpies!)… are surprisingly melodic – are highly musical, acting almost as if they sing duet.

- Tomtits – small things. Have an interesting name. 

- Bellbirds - give a bell-like peal (I initially mistook them for the kokako)

- Tui – (very common in Hunua) - make very large ‘whooshing’ sounds [incredibly noisy fliers] and sing their songs with variation – from harsh ‘crh crh crh’ to ‘do-do-dooo-do-do-do-do’

- Wood pigeon - huge, clumsy fliers - sound like the rock pigeon, but heavier. 

- Kokako (Pronounced as ‘kor-ka-ko’) makes a longer call - almost bell like. It’s sounds somewhat mournful in a beautiful way.  Flaps sporadically.

Other animals present were:  Morepork (heard at night), sparrows (two types in New Zealand, the common house sparrow, and those with a red head), goats, wild pigs (saw the holes that they dug), flies (yep), pheasants, rabbits.

There was also a lot of interesting plant life around. For example, the kawakawa can be picked, dried and used as pepper for tea, or seasoning. It’s used by the Maori as a traditional painkiller. There was also one type of fern that can be used like chick peas and added  to bread, and some other plant that is halfway between morphine and cannabis. On the hike outwards, Dave also showed us the native ‘green hooded orchid’.

Dave points out the Green Hooded Orchid

This morning, the group got up at 5:30am (It’s amazing how sunrise and bird sound at the top of a mountain can wake you up J) trekked out to the track, and listened for kokako.

As I said, there is a sense of stillness, a quiet tranquillity that lies within the bush. When one sits and simply listens, it’s almost as if whole new world suddenly opens up. The search itself felt almost like a martial art – eyes peering into the bush, ears perked up for the slightest wing flap – a flutter in the trees there, a crack of a branch…The silence was palpable – I could even hear a leaf fall from 10 metres away.

I wouldn’t have expected it, but there are in fact so many birds present in the bush that we never see. There’s also something so beautiful about the way that Dave listens for birds. He spends up to weeks at a time in the bush – twelve weeks or more, with occasional returns to the house. He’s been around for three years. It’s amazing to think that his days largely constitute of ranging in the bush, setting traps, searching for kokako nests, monitoring the activity of the kokako… He has so much patience - so much dedication. A life of nature, the bush, birds, rescue and animals…music, cooking and nature…I learnt so much about connecting with the bush just by being with him. I felt so deer-like– poised and turning my head at every sound. Dave is amazing – he can tell the direction that the noise is coming from, and how far it is.

During the next three hours,  we banded out along the ridge, moved around various locations in accordance with the kokako calls and wing flaps. We eventually found the birds around 9:30am. It happened while Dave and Tony were still walking to the next location. I had suddenly seen movement  and then - a bird flap –oh! Was it a tui? Oh my! A grey bird! Hold on - is it dark enough to be a tui? Yes! It’s definitely grey! I fumbled for the button on my radio and called the group ‘I think that I see a kokako! It’s at the tree to the right of the one that we were watching! I’m pretty sure it’s it –oh! I see two of them! They’re right in front of me!

Dave (cool and calm): ‘We’re heading on over’.

After settling around the new tree, we monitored for another twenty minutes, and saw the birds come and go. It was my first time seeing one of these birds live – they’re a tad bigger than a tui, but smaller than a wood pigeon. They look beautiful – a dusky grey/blue colour, and despite their erratic flight patterns, they look beautiful.

The Nest.

Some facts that I picked up from Dave about the kokako:

-      - Kokako are territorial, and they need  a large area to nest build. They’re not very good fliers, and the sound of their glide is more sporadic than a tuis (more powerful, and ‘motored’), and lighter than a wood pigeon (heavy and clunky, sounds clumsy).

-      -  The birds are blue/grey with bright blue wattles. In the past, there used to be a different species of kokako in the South Island with orange wattles – however, they’re now extinct. The North Island now has only a few orange wattled Kokako.

-      -  Kokako generally have only one mate (although they can ‘switch’ in the event of a death of a mate, causing a domino-like effect).

-       They have different calls, depending on the region so a translocated kokako (e.g. from Malborough) may not readily mate with a Hunua kokako, although the F1 (filial 1) generation will.

-       - Kokako nests range from 30 – 40 cm in diameter, and are generally situated 8 – 20 metres above the ground.

-       - The birds are poor fliers and will generally hop from tree to tree – or climb up to a ridge to glide down. Poor flight also means that they often enter or exit a nest from the same direction.

-       - The mating season of the Kokako is from August to October – this is generally when they sing to each other the most.  ‘tuk tuk’ noises are used for general conversation (similar to a chicken’s ‘bwk bwk’), while the ‘meow/bell/organ like’ peal is generally used as a territorial call.

-      -  The females normally nest from November onwards.

-       - During the nesting time, the females leave the nest only once every 1.5 hours.

-       - The male returns to the female every 3 -4 times that she leaves the nest. Similarly, the greater the number of chicks (1-3), or the older the chicks, the more frequently the female and male return to/leave the nest.

-       - The best time to band the chicks is when they’re 0 -  2 weeks old (or 10 days?).

-       - Approaching the chicks at an older age can result in them enacting kamikaze like dive bomb from the tree (not good.)

 Success! 

It was a fantastic experience. The bush is a beautiful place and one worth visiting and connecting with. I definitely recommend that you peps visit it sometime! Bird monitoring is something that's certainly worth trying :)

Day 137

Off to Hunua to help with kokako nest finding!

Thank you Savita, Neesh, and Helen for your donations!

Day 121!

Am feeling an amazing sense of freedom! Today was the final exam of the year for Biomed and looking back, it has been one incredible, fantastic, and completely mindblowing year (no pun intended). I have had the opportunity to meet so many fantastic people, learn from the most amazing of lecturers, tutors and friends, learn to much about the subjects I love and learn so much more as a person.

When I first started uni, I felt as if it were like a race - a running oval with a track and lines that one had to  follow and continuously 'keep up' with. Now I've come to realise that it's not like that. University creates the environment for us to grow. It's an open plain - a broad expanse dotted with mountains. It's the savannah. Open for us to run, jump, climb and leap as far as we want to, as hard as we would like. It's a catalyst for growth, and it's one of the most epic experiences of my life.

However, with the love of uni in mind, I am still however feelingso excited for the upcoming break - for the opportunity to take a slower run at the events up ahead, to get back into playing badminton, aikido, to go for those long runs without having to worry about the time, to draw, paint, take photos, write, read, play on the piano, the guitar, learn a new language, meet up with friends... all the things which I've have to put aside for so, so long throughout these past two semesters. I'm bubbling with excitement just thinking about this :)

Will post more soon!

Arohanui tout le monde :)

Joy Walpole! Thank you for your incredible donation!! It's completely brightened up this study period :)

Day 102:

The Life of a Student: 


The works of Milton on her bedside table.
          A copy of Ancient Rome on the bathroom sill.
In her room - a piano, anchored solidly next to the bed.

Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata (First Movement).

Form of music? Pop-Opera - Il Divo to be exact.

A desk larger than the dinner table
littered with Spectroscopy notes, and biological musings.
Textbooks lay strewn
at the foot of the bed.

On the whiteboard - Vergil
...macte nova virtute... sic itur ad astra...




Study break update...reminiscing over Semester 1...













Edit:
Woooooow.... I've gone past DAY 100 without realising it! Talk about tempus fugit! Went to the  fantastic Bigger and Better Event run by I Am Challenge this afternoon! Keen to see what teams ended up getting for one dollar? Check out: www.facebook.com/iambiggerandbetter - they've gotten bikes, fishing rods, an incredibly unique photo frame and even a Louis Vitton handbag...