South Pacific Journal- Spring 2009

Stream Ecology

2009-03-30T14:50:00.000-07:00

We had a splash with Dan Ippolito as our stream ecology professor a couple weeks ago. Hailing from the far away Indiana, Dan did a great job helping us explore our own turf with field trips to the Blue Duck Stream, the Puhi Puhi River, and Luke Creek. Our eyes were opened to a new world of macroinvertebrates, inside deposition, and tests to determine pH, water hardness, and dissolved oxygen content. We had a great week getting our gum boots wet and our hands dirty as we got to experience in the field, what we were learning in the classroom.

Some More Samoa Pics...

2009-03-30T13:41:00.000-07:00

Samoan Psalms

2009-03-30T13:07:00.000-07:00

While in Samoa, our small groups sat down and wrote our own psalms, re-invented songs, and poems to describe the beauty (and humor) we saw in the places and people around us. Here they are!

By Marcel, Rebecca, Lizzy, Nate

Blessed are all who fear Lea tua,
Who walk leisurely in his ways.

You will eat the palosami of your labour;
High yields of taro will be yours

Your wife will be like a fruitful
Coconut tree within your fale

Your sons will grow like Mile-a-minute
Vines around your fala.

Thus is the man blessed who fears
The Lord.

May the Lord bless all from America
To Samoa all the days of your life.

May you see the prosperity of Sava’ii
And may you live to see your children’s children, your sister’s children, your brother’s children, and your 2nd cousin’s children.

Alofa be upon Faga.

Samoan Spectrum
By Sara, Jess, Caleb, Stephanie E.

Early morning is orange and pink
The blazing eye of the sun opens over the horizon and pierces the clouds
while its watery twin sinks into the mirror of the sea
At midmorning I break my fast and the yolk of my egg is the sun of my plate
The sky is as light blue and fresh as a newborn’s eyes
A chaos of color plays in midday dancing along with the childrens’ games
Schools of fish play tag among the coral and school children with their uniforms like colorful scales
Chase each other down the street
Then I am surrounded by the everlasting green of the afternoon
The niu proudly wave their fronds reaching for the inviting water
Samoans skillfully weave their fronds pulling and braiding their strands which will hold the popo
Shadows drip from the trees and pool out across the sand
In the growing cool, dogs awaken, stretch and begin to investigate their territory
As the night descends warm breezes carry warm harmonies into the open windows of a well lit fale
And through the hall and out the door the night of Samoa itself opens up revealing its secret stash of stars
As each light goes out the deep blue begins to cradle me and gently rock me to sleep.

Sleeping Along (to the tune of “Swinging Along”)
By Leslie, Jonathan, Kat

Sleeping along the ocean shore
Falling asleep under a roof that’s thatched

Tagging along on Warren’s tours
Under the tropical sun
Weaving baskets, cracking coconuts, eating pork-slaw, taro and rice
Can’t get enough of Samoa!

The Proverbs 31 Samoan Woman
By Audra, Hayley, Gretchen

A Samoan wife who can find?
She is far more precious than many fine mats
The heart of her husband trusts in her
And he will have no lack of children
She seeks tapa and lava lava
And works with strong hands
She is like the outrigger canoe
She gathers the food around her
She rises before the rooster crows
And provides food for her matai
She puts her hand to the weaving
And her hands hold the tuaniu
She opens her fale to the palagi
And gives to the neighbor with a failed taro crop
She is not afraid of rain for her fale-hold
For all her fale-hold are protected with palm leaves
Her husband is known in the meeting fale
When he sits among the chiefs of the land
Her children rise up and call her blessed
Her husband also and he praises her

By Courtnay, Kate, Stephanie K., Kaitlyn
To the tune of Kokomo:

Safua and Faga, oh I wanna wear a
lava lava and t-shirt always covered in dirt
The ocean is salty and the beach is lovely

Ooooo I wanna take you down to Savaii
We'll get there slow and then we'll take it even slower
That's where we wanna be
Up in Savaii
Clouds and sand the coral cut my hand

Roaches on my face
Roosters crow but it isn't dawn
We'll be falling asleep to the screaming of the fighting pigs
Up in Savaii

Kids are everywhere
They touch your stuff and they pull your hair
Yell pelagi and stare,
But they're so cute we don't give a care
Up in Savaii
Moon and stars I want some chocolate bars

Nobody knows
of a village called Faga
Now if you wanna go
To get away from it all
Come to Savaii

Times to Remember

2009-03-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Birthday's are special occasions here at CCSP. A time to celebrate the uniqueness of each individual, in fun and often crazy ways! Our first birthday of the semester was Jessica's, where everyone took a trip to Wendell Berry's farm! Not too difficult seeing that he lives on the other side of the world. After one airplane flight and three trips around our circular driveway we found ourselves arriving at the home of Wendell Berry, which mysteriously looked similar to the Old Convent, only with a few changes. Everyone lined up at the entrance to his home in their "Wendell Berry Farm" attire, anxiously anticipating the tour, only to find that some sketchy things had been going down on the farm. Wendell Berry's prize heirloom tomatoes had been murdered! Smashed against the barn wall, it was a ghastly site! Thus ensued the hunt, in the form of the game of Clue, to find the culprit of this heinous crime. Everyone divided into teams and set out to find clues around the farm that would lead them to discover the truth of the culprit, weapon and place of the crime. In the end the crime was solved and there was peace again on Wendell's Farm. We all continued the celebration of Jessica's Birthday with peach shortcake; the peaches being fresh from our own tree!

There is a new development around the convent in the form of an elaborate composting system, planned and implemented Nate. It took several days for Nate and many others to clear a space, dig a large pit, and finish all the details that would become our new composting system. The end result being a large pit about 12 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep, with three dividing segments for the various stages of the compost. We have been using the new composting system for only a couple of weeks, but according to Nate, it will only be a couple more weeks before the compost is ready for the garden!

The second week of class was Marine Ecology, taught by returning professors Chris and Sharon. This was a week of getting into the field and studying plants and animals in the intertidal zones of the ocean. There was even a day when everyone donned wet suits and went diving for Paua! (The Maori word for Abolone). In the middle of the week there was a guest lecturer who came to speak on the larger marine life found in Kaikoura's waters; whales and dolphins.

Sustainable Community Development

2009-02-19T00:53:00.000-08:00

Mick Duncan joined us for a week of Sustainable Community Development, the very first class of this spring 2009 semester. Kicking the CCSP semester off with a bang, Mick gave these students lots to think about, and much to look forward to this semester. An ideal precursor to our Samoa trip, the class got them thinking about development and issues of global poverty, and they'll be able to observe firsthand the development issues that Samoa has faced through the years.

2009-02-09T11:34:00.000-08:00

After the first week and a half of orientation students are immersed in Kiwiana, Maori, Kaikoura, and CCSP culture and are ready to take on the semester full of new experiences and new knowledge. "Kiwiana" culture (or New Zealand culture) was introduced with a dinner of fish and chips on the beach, a New Zealand iconic foods night and Kiwi word game, a "barby" (barbecue) attended by heaps of new friends, and a visit to the farm of Kevin and Sandy Topp who graciously showed us around their beautiful place and demonstrated sheep shearing for us.

Many were exposed to Maori culture for the first time with a talk from Brett and Darran who taught us about their culture and even taught us a haka dance. The next day we visited the Takahanga Marae which is the local meeting place for Maori people. We participated in the hongi (the traditional nose-to-nose greeting) and also got to see the intricate designs in the carvings which adorn their main meeting room.

Students got to know Kaikoura and some of its people through a photo scavenger hunt, the previously mentioned "barby", church, a trip to the recycling center, a forest walk with Barry, a walk around the peninsula, and a climb up Kaikoura's signature peak, Mt Fyffe. This was much easier said than done but after a few hours of continuous uphill hiking everyone reached the goal of getting to the hut near the summit.

CCSP culture is a thing of its own with "Big Red Chair"- the 5 minute hot seat where everyone gets to ask random questions of everyone else; group bike trips, a birthday party for our friend Lisa, a learning how to can nectarines from our own tree workshop, a lot of practice doing laundry by hand, and our first community night where we showed pictures and told stories about our friends and families back home.

As if that weren't enough students got another dose of New Zealand in smaller groups for their weekend away. Some went South to experience the big city of Christchurch where they explored the various museums and botanical gardens. Others biked North back to the Topp's farm for an "epic" weekend of hiking mountains and eating leftover pad thai, old canned peaches, and a little bit of gravel...

And that was just the first week and a half.

You're Invited...

2009-02-01T13:48:00.000-08:00

...to The Semester of a Lifetime!

The Place:
The Old Convent
278 Mt Fyffe Rd
Kaikoura 7300
New Zealand
(The most beautiful place in the world)

The People:
Lizzy
Leslie
Caleb
Jonathan
Nate
Katherine
Kaitlyn
Rebecca
Kathryn
Stephanie E.
Audra
Stephanie K.
Jessica
Hayley
Marcel
Sara
Jess
Courtnay
Gretchen

The Time:
January 28th- May 15th, 2009

The Why:
To keep you updated on a one-of-a-kind journey full of fun, learning, excitement, challenges, and new experiences! Check in to see pictures and read blurbs about what we're doing and seeing. It's gonna be a great ride- hang on tight!