Auckland plans and Janet Jackson's boob.

July 22

Today was a rather slow day on campus. The weather turned back to crap (and seems like it will remain crap for at least the next week), so after my one morning class, I holed up in the library to read, upload new pictures, and write out some postcards. Having accomplished all of that, I booked rooms for Andrea, Jamie and I at a backpacker’s hostel in Auckland. All of our plans are officially made now, so that’s exciting.

The weekend is set to play out as such: Leave Wellington at 8 a.m. Friday, August 1. Arrive in Auckland around 9, when Una, Melinda and myself will meet up with Vic James of Red Carpet Tours and head down to Matamata (Hobbiton!) while Jamie and Andrea explore Auckland. I’m meeting the girls for dinner later at the Sky Tower. Saturday morning, weather permitting, we’re going horseback riding on the beach. That evening, it’s off to see the New Zealand All Blacks take on Australia in what should be an exciting match of rugby. We have Sunday to do whatever we can think up in the city, and we fly back to Wellington that night. Fingers crossed for good weather and lots of fun!

After sorting all of that out, I made my way back to my flat for some soup and chips (actual potato chips, not fries). Then I sat down to watch some TV with Tina, Dani and Ash (Tina’s friend who technically lives next door, but who really basically lives in our flat, which is fine because she’s cool).

It’s Maori language week here in New Zealand, so all of the news casts were peppered with Maori “words of the day” and such, and one segment was totally in Maori with subtitles. It was interesting, because you don’t really see anything like that in Ohio. Then again, I suppose if Ohio were a bilingual state, it wouldn’t be so uncommon. Regardless, though, it was kind of neat to see and hear.

The other interesting thing was that, on NZ’s version of Nightline, they were running a story having to do with Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” at the Superbowl a few years back. They kept playing the clip, except that here they don’t censor it. Since I didn’t actually see it happen on TV, and because I’m not really the type to go and seek that sort of thing out on the Internet, that was the first time I’d actually seen it. But there it was, Janet’s boob just flopping out in the open on public television. It was strange, but I guess that’s just one of the wonders of primetime TV in New Zealand.

After that, we watched a quiz show called “The Rich List,” followed by “Outrageous Fortune,” an apparently wildly popular New Zealand sitcom/drama about a dysfunctional family. It was quite good. Ash was saying they’re supposed to be coming out with an American version, and I really hope they don’t. We Americans really have a knack for ruining good television.