Magical Places

Last weekend, I went to Narnia. While generations have been told Narnia’s entrance is through a certain wardrobe, it is in fact a 1 hour 45 minute drive outside of Christchurch at a place called Flock Hill. Yes, folk, you have been LIED to. Just in case you don’t have time (for some unthinkable reason) to get to New Zealand, I’ll show you what it looks like.

We had to stop at the world famous Sheffield Pie Shop to have enough strength should we happen upon the White Witch. I got a Moroccan lamb pie, which was good, but didn’t quite live up to the Te Anau pies.

I went to Flock Hill with Dan, Lauren, and Dan’s sister’s friend Kristen and her boyfriend, Tom, who are travelling around the world for two months.

There were some funky shaped rocks on Flock Hill. They looked more like plants growing out of the ground.

I found my throne. Now I can join the Pevensies in their rule of Narnia.

Ok so actually I lied. This isn’t really Narnia, but it IS where they filmed the final battle scene in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe movie.

It was fascinating to walk among these gigantic, oddly shaped boulders with a couple geologists (Lauren and Dan) because they could us the story of the rocks. This crazy texture was created by small streams of water.

Lauren captured this awesome picture of Dan and me. I still can’t believe I’m in a real place sometimes.

I also have had some lovely Skype dinners.

First, with Grandma and Pops (May 14).

Then again (May 17).

Then with the whole family and lots of wonderful friends (May 20).

So as you can see, I pretend like I’m abroad, but I’m not actually. The only difference is I’m not technically sitting at the SAME table. But I am sitting at A table, and that’s just such a small detail it doesn’t even count.

We also took our flat holiday card this week. We decided it should be a happy fourth of July card because why not celebrate America in NZ? But there are seven people in that picture, you might be thinking, and Kiri said she’s only living with two people. Whaaa? Well, I have adopted myself over to another flat because I really enjoy the people who live there. They are lively and very funny, and agree with me when I say HEY LET’S HAVE A FLAT HOLIDAY CARD. They accepted me with open arms (probably because I bring them food and paper towels), and I have dinner there 95% of the time, I work there, I’m there a lot more often than I’m in my own flat. Earlier in the semester the original five flat members decided to make me official flat 99 member #6, so we say that’s were I live, and the other flat I have just holds my bed and my clothes.

Mayhem in Flat 99. Dan is official flat 99 member #7.

Happy 4^th of July! ‘Merica.

In other news, I got a small tattoo on my wrist the past Friday. It is a reminder to keep pushing myself to do things I want to do even if it scares the shiznit out of me. My favorite part of the tattoo, though, is the lettering. I asked seven people who are very, very important to me to write “be brave” in lowercase letters on a piece paper, take a picture of it and email it to me. I then chose my favorite letter each person wrote and put it together.

The original letters. In order of whom they belong to: Mom, Dan, Jen, Dad, Robin, Char, and Ollie. Dan is representing for other Middlebury friends Anna, Tess, and Fiona, and Robin and Char are representing for their families.

I printed out the compilation and brought it to Zealand Tattoo where an artist shrank down the size to fit on my wrist, then made a stencil for the other tattoo artist to follow. I had them redo the stencil three times on my wrist because first it wasn’t straight, then it wasn’t centered. Finally, it looked right and Zang, the owner of Zealand Tattoo, sat down and got to work. It took about 10 minutes and then I was done.

The final product. It looks puffy because it’s irritated. After a week or so it should be looking more normal.

I love how it turned out and what it represents. Now I have my buddies with me always, feeding me encouragement and strength. I wish this phrase had more than seven letters because there are many people who have supported me so much throughout my life. Just because “be brave” is short, I want them to know they are not forgotten.

On Saturday, I went to my happy place, the farmers market, with Dan, Sarina, and Lauren. We got some gooooood eats.

Lauren has a delicious Coloumbian empanada, Dan has a pain au chocolat, Sarina has a chili mousse (it had excellent texture), and I have a BLAT (BLT with avocado). For dessert that night, I also got a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting, and an INCREDIBLE brownie, salted peanut butter cream, ganache extravaganza. It was an excellent way to end our meal of fresh pasta from the farmers market and simple tomato sauce with chorizo I cooked up from Splendid Table. Good stuff. And to top off the fabulousness of the day, I had the best Oh Hell game of my life. Thanks to all the noobies for playing with me and letting me crack 200 points.

I hear the family is convening in Maine this weekend and I’m sad to miss out on the first “summer” weekend of the year. Really wish I could be there for tea (ahem, Char) and family dinner. BUT, I will be home in less than a month, so look out USA! Have a great Memorial Day weekend!