Hey CCSP Fall 2009,
Allie here, just wanted to write down a few things you should know.
This place is pretty quiet. Please know that you are missed.
Much love,
CCSP SoPac Staff
As integration week turned into debrief week students made preparations to return home to North America. Some were ready to go home, others weren’t so keen to leave life at the OC.A few of the highlights of the week included;
· Christmas celebration service at New Life Church followed by a potluck at which eel, freshly caught by CCSP students, was served.
· Hiking up Sawcut Gorge and swimming as we went.
· A White Possum gift exchange. Some of the gifts were truly terrific. A number of hand-made bags were exchanged, as well as treasured earrings, books, and an empty twice-imported hot sauce bottle.
· Watching a Zen garden materialize in our back yard thanks to Kelley, Mike, Tyler and Curtis and possibly others.
The entire program took to the high seas on Wednesday afternoon to go Whale watching with our very own Lisa Bond at the helm. We saw three sperm whales, dusky dolphins and various seals and albatross. It was an incredibly meaningful trip. Lisa has been an invaluable member of our community here in Kaikoura and someone none of us are likely to forget any time soon. As the whales flipped their tails and headed for the depths some of us were close to tears (to be fair this could also be attributed to sea sickness or getting locked in the bathroom, nonetheless, it was unforgettable).
Which brings us to our final celebration night. I won’t attempt to describe it here. If you have attended CCSP then you know, if you haven’t, well perhaps you should come and find out. Suffice it to say that at one point our neighbor looked out his window and saw 24 people watching the New Zealand sunset for the last time, he said it was one of the more moving things he’s seen.
Integration week was a combination of student presentations, work projects and tree planting. After being asked by Tyler at least once every day for most of the semester to go plant trees with him and Kevin from “Tree for Travelers” we finally gave in and went along in the form of an organized CCSP activity. Kevin tells us that we planted close to 400 trees, and we were all reminded of the necessity of good work.
On Thursday night everyone had the opportunity to participate in a “Trash Fashion Show.” Contestants created outfits and accessories out of various recycled items. Robyn Haarsma (Trinity Western ’11) won the contest with a lovely garbage bag dress crafted by Rachel Stutzman (Messiah ’11).
December 1st was a day of mixed emotions. Sara Barrett, our wonderful Program Administrator finished her two-and-a-half years with CCSP and returned to the States (Stewart the lamb-turned-sheep misses her terribly, as do the rest of us), however it was also the birthday of not one but TWO loved members of our community.
Jess St. John (Staff) turned 24
And Curtis Davenport (Westmont, Dec ’09) turned 22.
Without these two friends of ours the convent would not have had nearly as much music this semester, and our community would have been sadly lacking without their laid back, free spirited presences. So to celebrate them both we decided to throw the best coffee house possible.
We decorated the dinning room, moved in the couches, set up some appropriate mood lighting, filled vases with flowers from the garden, and made coffee.
It’s hard to describe the incredible wonderfulness of that night. At one point several people were concerned that their hearts might actually burst with happiness (seriously, this sentiment was verbally expressed by more than one person).
Following some stellar musical acts and a magic show like none we had ever seen, the whole group took a break to eat ice cream, cookie bars and a guitar-shaped chocolate cake made by Mike Whitner (Messiah ’12) and Kellsie Ebbeling (Messiah ’12) while admiring artwork by Julia Johnson (Westmont ’11) and Allie (SLC). The evening continued with more music, violin solos and guitar performances by both the birthday boy and girl.
Curtis sang “O My Sweet Carolina” with Kayti Christianson (Westmont ’11) to the joy of everyone who really likes that song. And Jess sang an absolutely beautiful song, which several members of the audience decided on the spot they would purchase off itunes. However, when asked whom the song was by at the end of her performance, Jess answered “By me,” and we were all blown away.
The evening ended with an impromptu carol sing and some of us half expected to see snow falling outside the windows.
Lizzy King (Westmont ‘10) turned 22 on the 26th. She loves music, The Lord of the Rings, and swing dancing so the evening included a game of Four on the Couch, complete with a Lord of the Rings name for each individual. The girl’s team won each round, although the staff/guy’s team put up a good fight. Following the game everyone took part in a newly invented game called Swing Dancing Musical Chairs. Everyone found a dance partner and danced their heart’s out until the music stopped, upon which every pair would rush to a pair of seats. The finer points of dance were lost on some, somehow Tim Molloy (Westmont, ’11) managed to actually tear a huge hole in his shirt while playing this game.
Stacie Westervelt, (Dordt ’11) turned 20 on the 28th. She is from Canada and apparently as a child always wanted to play hockey. Unfortunately this dream was never realized, until the night at the Marae when we played spoon hockey in the Wharekai. Just to give you some idea of what this group is like, they promptly divided up into two teams, Team USA, and Team Canada. The penalty box was always full, and when the game ended with Team USA winning 2-0 both teams good-naturedly high-fived each other in the middle of the rink.
The Monday after our Thanksgiving dinner everyone packed their bags and themselves into CCSP’s three white vans and headed off for a week of “Terrestrial Ecology” on the West Coast of the South Island.On our way to our first night’s lodging we stopped by Castle Hill, famous to most of the world as a location in the first Narnia movie. Although talking animals failed to appear we did spend an hour wandering around the beautiful and somewhat surreal landscape.
Our first two nights were spent at a field station run by the University of Canterbury in a little town called Cass. Cass has a population of 1 (one), train tracks, a half constructed mini-golf course, and some spectacular views. The next two days we went on field trips and attending class. Eric Lindquist, an ecology professor from Messiah College traveled all the way from Bolivia to spend a few weeks here with us. He has a wealth of information on everything from weather patterns, and kiwi birds to dolphins.
Although the Cass field station was great, eventually we moved on to Arthur’s Pass. Students spent a lovely afternoon identifying plants, hiking, visiting waterfalls, and studying in coffee shops before returning to our cozy accommodation for an evening quiz, games of euchre and a good night’s sleep.
On our way to Bruce Bay Marae where we would spend the last few days of our trip we stopped at Franz Josef Glacier. Many of us had never seen a glacier in real life before. Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers on New Zealand’s West Coast are two of the few glaciers in the world that are actually growing due to global warming. All of the water that is being evaporated from drought stricken Australia is coming across the ocean and falling in New Zealand’s Southern Alps.
A Marae is a traditional Maroi meeting house and includes a “Wharenui,” pronounced “far-a-new-ie,” which is used for meetings and sleeping in, and a “Wharekai,” pronounced “Far-aye-ka-i,” which functions as a dining hall. Upon arriving students and staff were welcomed onto the Marae by a Powhiri ceremony.
After the welcoming ceremony we quickly unloaded our bags and headed off to scout out the Copland track for the following day’s research projects. The track wound it’s way through the New Zealand rain forest and it was impossible to turn around without seeing treeferns, orchids, Rimu and Miro trees and more epiphytes than you can possibly imagine (unless you happened to have done a research project that involved counting them).
The next few days were full of research, birthday parties, and presentations, and for a few of us, an evening Kiwi bird hunt.
If you have never gone looking for Kiwi birds I imagine that you must be missing out just a little. Nine of us drove up to Okarito to search for the elusive Okarito Brown Kiwi, a sub-species of which only about 120 remain. As evening fell and the sun went down behind rain clouds we crouched on the path, waiting for a sound from the surrounding bush. Our ears pricked up at anything that sounded like an ascending whistle or tapping footsteps. Instead all that we heard was the rain, a chorus of noisy frogs, and Morepork owls calling out in the dusk. Eventually we drove to a nearby beach where we searched the undergrowth for any signs of the birds. We found footprints, but still heard only frogs. As we prepared to leave a few of us wandered dejectedly along the road, still shining our red lights into roadside bushes. And then, through the wet night air we heard it, two shrill ascending whistles coming from the field on our right. And that was all. We heard nothing else and eventually returned to the Marae and fell asleep thinking of small brown whistling birds. Maybe next time we’ll have more luck.
