In the morning, I headed for the library to finally get all my internet stuff set up and check my mail and read some American news web pages so I kind of have a little bit of an idea of what is going on, maybe (they’re not very good at giving back story so when you have no idea what’s been going on it can be pretty confusing). I also tried to use the wireless service they have in the library so that I can connect to the internet via my laptop but no such luck. I ran out of time really. I had to be back at the Student Village or “No lunch for you!” (I’m mimicking the Soup Nazi for all you non-Seinfeld watchers). I will try again tomorrow.
At lunch I sat with Ben and Gigus and their friend with the car, Bruce. If you’re starting to wonder why all the Chinese students have names like “Julia” or “Bruce,” it’s because they are encouraged to take English names to better integrate into New Zealand life. Honestly, I don’t think Cho Lin (Julia’s real name) is that hard to remember and it’s defiantly easier than Agnieszka. As someone who’s had her share of “name issues,” I don’t know if I agree with the theory behind adapting an English name. Wouldn’t that make you less likely to integrate? Because you would stick to the people who could actually pronounce your real name and everyone who only knows your English name is kept at a distance? Anyway, maybe I’ve been thinking about this too much. It just makes me a little uneasy, but I digress.
So after lunch, we went to go see downtown Hamilton. It’s a really nice place. Not too big, but not too small (just right). There are no really tall buildings, it all had the feel of a less funky, but busier, Thayer Street. We kept running into groups of Chinese students from the same University that the three of them attended. Then, as I was walking down the street I spotted a bronze statue of a man that was very strange looking, but vaguely familiar. As I came closer, I realized that it was Riff Raff, the creepy butler/alien guy from The Rocky Horror Picture Show! He was in the alien costume he wears at the end of the movie so that’s why I didn’t recognize him right away.
Riff Raff Statue
Anyway, I yelled out because I love the movie and the Chinese guys, well they had no idea about it, but then I had to stop and think, why in god’s name would there be a statue of Riff Raff in downtown Hamilton? The plaque explained it all. Richard O’Brien, the creator, director (mastermind, really) behind Rocky Horror (who also cast himself as Riff Raff) moved to Hamilton in 1957 and worked in a barbershop in the now demolished Embassy Theatre which stood on that very site until 1994. According to the plaque “he credits the many B-grade, late night double feature movies he watched here as much of the inspiration for Rocky Horror.”
How awesome! They should really put that in the student guides for the University of Waikato “come study in the very town that inspired The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” That would convince me.
After all that excitement in Hamilton, we went to the Hamilton Gardens. I thought it would just be a park and it would be nice to walk and that would be the end of it but it was so cool. Yes, gardens = cool. They have theme gardens.
The Indian Garden
We spent a good deal of time wandering around just this one section. It represented the major gardening traditions of the world. So they had an English flower garden, an American West Coast Modernist garden, a Chinese Scholar’s garden, a Japanese Zen garden, an Indian Temple garden and an Italian Renaissance garden.
Chinese Scholar’s Garden:
English Fower Garden 
The American Modernist Garden, it kind of looked like someone trendy person’s backyard
The Japanese Zen Garden and the Italian Renaissance Garden
It was great. By the time we had finished with that it was about 3:30 PM and Bruce had an appointment for 4:00 PM so we headed back. But I’m really planning on returning and checking out the rest because it was so cool. On another note, I totally forgot my camera but I have all these great pictures because Ben took some for me, even when I didn’t know it!
After dinner, there was a meeting for all international students in Student Village where they went over the rules and stuff like that. That’s where I found out that Hamilton had the number one highest rate of Chlamydia infection in New Zealand, which happens to have the highest rates Chlamydia infection in the world. Now, Hamilton has lost the title and is just number two in New Zealand. I bet I know why they don’t put that in the student guide “come study at the University of Waikato and…get Chlamydia.”
Later that night, Ben came to my room and transferred the pictures from his laptop to mine and then he showed me some pictures of his from his home and his university back in China. We also listened to some Chinese 80’s music. Totally cool. It’s funny, so far I’ve gotten more Chinese culture here than the Maori culture I came to study.
Also, I picked up the student publication and it said that Bomfunk MCs are going to perform on campus! I was so excited. For those of you who didn’t spend the summer of 2000 anywhere near Europe, this is a Finnish rap/hip hop/dance/electronic group. They’re awesome, ok. Don’t make that face, just download “Freestyler,” you’ll love it, I swear. And no one wants to hear your juvenile comments about what “Bomfunk” sounds like. Anyway, I am so there. I only wish Peter could be here for this. There is some great summer-camp-in-Poland nostalgia attached to this band for us.
My name incorrectly in English and correctly in Chinese on my door.