THE INTERNAL - NEWSLETTER 1/05

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2005

Hello guys!!! How are you?

I hope you enjoyed your Christmas holidays and Santa Claus gave you lots of presents! I also would like to wish everyone all the best for this year, luck, health, money, love and – of course – heaps of fun for your time in New Zealand!!! Keep your lives busy and take things easy as it is the little things that make our world special, so remember to always appreciate them. I think we should be very fortunate to being able to experience that much!!!

WELCOME MONIKA  -  GOOD BYE NINA

We are very happy to welcome a new intern in Auckland that arrived the first week of January.She will work for Aeroqual Limited. Her phone number is 021 2075990, her email is monika.kube@iket.fzk.de. She still stays at Rocklands. Those of you who come to Great Barrier Island this weekend will get to know her for sure if you haven’t met her yet.

On the other hand we are very sorry to having to say good bye. Nina returned to Germany in the end of December last year. Hope you had a great time in New Zealand and a safe trip back home!

NEW YEAR’S EVE IN NELSON

Some of us celebrated the turn of the year on the South Island, e.g. Diana and Bastian had a great time in Queenstown. Robert, Wulf, Christoph and I were in Nelson, which is also a good place to party. As you can see on the pictures we were pretty drunk… J

Wulf couldn’t remember that he texted some friends that night, Christoph acted like a little kid and ran away into pubs all the time and Robert didn’t even know that he was drunk as a lord … no further details need to be said J!

The next day was thus not really funny for them, especially Christoph had his problems in the car when we were driving up the twisting road…  

Anyway, I had tons of fun and a great time together with you guys!!!

KANGOROO – CHRISTMAS

Hey guys!

I decided to spend my Christmas holidays in Australia and made a
trip from Sydney down to Melbourne. It was a really great journey, I had a lot of fun there and met nice people from all over the world. The weather was very hot sometimes, especially in Sydney. Unfortunately on the days I wanted to stay at a place with a large beach, it was raining and even hailing, so that
I couldn't go swimming and surfing. But Christmas and New Years Eve were really good. On Christmas I stayed at a farm together with 8 other people. We had a nice dinner and went on a tour to see some kangaroos and wombats. That was a great evening, because I never had seen kangaroos before in natural wildlife.

(from Jan)

NEW ZEALAND CORNER 

“God Defend Our Free Land…” Do you know where these words come from??? It is a line of the NZ National Anthem. If you are interested in how it sounds like just click at

http://www.chemistry.co.nz/new_zealand_national_anthem.htm.

I just give you some further information on that topic.

Quite seldom, New Zealand is one of the countries that has two national anthems of equal standing. In the beginning the English anthem ‘God Save The Queen’ was used in place of an official anthem from 1840 onwards. Then ‘God Defend New Zealand’ was made the NZ national hymn and joint the status of an anthem in 1977. Both can be performed at the same function although it is usual to only feature one anthem.

Furthermore, the reference to the “Pacific’s triple star” in the first verse refers to New Zealand’s three main islands, North, South and Steward Island.

OPEN AIR CINEMA AUCKLAND – TIMETABLE

There is an open air cinema at the Viaduct Harbour Jan 13 until Feb 27. Tickets (student discount $2 if you buy them at the door) are $12 for flat seats and $16 for grandstand. You can make bookings in the internet but not via telephone. If your internet is working (we have some virus problemsJ) you can check www.openair.co.nz

That’s the program:

 (The program for the final week will be announced in February)

Please let me if you’re interested in any of the movies and we can sort out things to go there together since it is usually more fun as a group?!

EVENTS IN AND AROUND AUCKLAND

Those of you interested in literature and art have to visit ‘Shakespeare in the Park’, which is an open air performance at the amphitheatre stage of the Pumphouse Outdoor Theatre. They present 2 very famous Shakespeare plays: the comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and the history play “King John”. Tickets are $18 for students, there is a special prize of $31 if you want to see both plays. The plays are staged Jan 15 till Feb 12, usually at 8.00 pm. To check the program visit www.pumphouse.co.nz

Since I study English literature I will definitely go there… so whoever wants to join me please let me know!!! As you can see on the little map the theatre is situated in Killarney Park, North Shore City, which means that we might have to rent a car…?!

Until March there are free concerts in different parks in Auckland City every weekend in the afternoon. On Sundays you can always enjoy Jazz music at Auckland Domain, next weekend on Saturday there is also music in Albert Park and on Sunday in Jellicoe Park. You can check the program at www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/whatson/events/mips/programme.asp

Next Friday Jan 21 the Auckland Zoo presents a concert featuring Dave Dobbyn and other special guests. He is a famous kiwi and an important figure for NZ music for the last 3 decades. It starts at about 6.00 pm, tickets are $15 for students.

If you prefer some sport events there is the State Championship Cricket Competition taking place next week. State Auckland Aces are playing Wellington Firebirds at Eden Park 22 – 25 Jan.   

A SHORT INTRODUCTION TO CRICKET

The Basics about Cricket sound pretty simple, but still I find it pretty confusing. I read some extracts about the game and still failed to understand and to put it into own words!!! Just to give you a brief overview read the following:

It is a team sport for two teams of eleven players each. A formal game of cricket can last anything from an afternoon to several days.

Although the game play and rules are very different, the basic concept of cricket is similar to that of baseball. Teams bat in successive innings and attempt to score runs, while the opposing team fields and attempts to bring an end to the batting team's innings. After each team has batted an equal number of innings (either one or two, depending on conditions chosen before the game), the team with the most runs wins.

For more information go to:

www.cs.purdue.edu/homes/hosking/cricket/explanation.htm

THIS WEEKEND: GREAT BARRIER ISLAND

I just want to put together some information for you to remember…

Steffi, Diana, Bastian and Georg have to be at the Ferry Building at 5:45 pm and check in with Fullers. The boat leaves at 6:30 pm and takes about 2h. Diana will call after lunch to confirm that the ferry is running so you don’t have to do it all separately. When you are at the wharf just give them the booking number which is 36468 and you should get your tickets!

Robert, Jan, Ulrike and Monika have to be at the Viaduct Harbour, 45 Jellicoe Street, at 4:00 pm and check in with Subritzky. The boat leaves at 4:30 pm and takes about 4h30min.

All of you who please bring in the money for me on Friday.

When we arrive at the wharf in Tryphena (different to what the timetable says the ferries will arrive only about 15min apart) lets all wait for each other. There will be a white minibus at the wharf somewhere that we have to pick up.

We stay at Stray Possum Lodge which is not very far from Tryphena. The weather forecast says that it should be really nice, so hopefully we can spend some time at the beach. There is also the option of going kayaking, hiking, mountain biking or tuns of other stuff. I would suggest to decide on the spot what we are going to do – also depending on the weather.

Regarding food it might be best to buy groceries for everyone so that we don’t have to go all on our own. There is a supermarket on the island but I am sure that it will be much more expensive. So I guess it is better to get the stuff here. It would be good if anyone of you could help me carry the stuff. Send me an email or call me if you have time!!!

If there are any further questions or suggestions please let me know …

WEEKEND SUGGESTION FOR 28 - 31 JAN

Since Monday 31 Jan is a holiday (Auckland Anniversary) we have a long weekend that we could use to plan a longer trip. Some of us would like to go to the East Cape via Tauranga and Bay of Plenty. I would like to go to some Maori places as well as visit the volcano White Island. Maybe we can also give Rotorua a thought… In general if you are interested tell me what you would like to see and do so that I can plan the trip and book the hostels!!!

That’s it for today!