I have a confession to make...Until today, I had only truly been to the beach twice during my entire stay in California. And one of those two times was at night.And I'm living in freakin' San Diego!Why is it always the way?  How is it that you can live so close yet go so rarely?So, having finally finished finals [wow, look at that alliteration!] this morning, my lovely flatmate Joy and I decided to celebrate by taking a trip to the beach. And this re...

Grunion RunningHere's a quiz for all you non-Californians:The term "grunion run" refers to:a.) when your granny's nose doesn't stop runningb.) running through town in underwear you should have thrown out long agoc.) scouting the beach for weird fishy things that have come ashore to lay their eggsd.) a type of disease which sets in after studying for finals too much  Think you know the answer? Well, if you picked b.)... What we...

Vibrant Harmonies*Wanted to update about something I felt was an awesome representation of life in International House, the place I live: a surprise farewell party for a Chinese student who's leaving at the end of the quarter.The turnout was huge, and he almost cried (that's cool with us!) when people gave speeches - in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Farsi and Thai, and translated into English afterwards. How international is that!Then, just to balance out th...

A Different Side of America Yesterday was the forth anniversary of the war in Iraq. And one of my flatmates - a passionate pacifist and very politically minded - invited the rest of us to go to a demonstration downtown. Another of my flatties, like over 70% of Americans, is also opposed to the war, so she decided to go. And me, well, I have to confess I don't really feel like I know enough about the whole situation to feel as strongly as they do or make a fu...

No, this wasn't our dinner today [see pic on blog page]; no greasy fries, chicken wings or hamburgers for us tonight...Why? Cos it was global marketplace, Oceania style! That's right, representing our side of the world ["our" being me and all you fellow Kiwis reading this that is]!Anyone who knows me well, knows how absolutely stoked I would have been to see New Zealand lamb feature on the menu for the night.But, I'm sorry to say, I was surp...