Week 2!

Hello all!It's been another very busy week here in New Zealand. Friday, I took a rest day and didn't do anything but lay around and recover from my cold. It was a bit of a boring day, but it definitely helped in me getting better. That night we had our first of two late night fire drills. I was NOT happy about that...it brought me back to the days of living in Bowie Hall. The first one was at 12:30 a.m. while the second was at 3 a.m. Saturday, I walked around town again. Visited the Canterbury Museum to learn a little about the history of the area. Saturday night I went to a "fancy dress" (or costume) party at Nicole's flat. I had a great time watching everyone in their costumes! I didn't dress up because I hadn't had time to look for a costume being sick an all. Sunday, I rode the famous Christchurch tram and went to a small aquarium. Got to see a kiwi bird...so cute! I also got to watch them feed the fish in the big tank, including a very large stingray. The man was feeding the stingray hand to mouth! It was really neat! Sunday night, I went and had coffee with Laura and some other people from CPIT. That was a lot of fun.Monday, it was back to work here at Plains. Hamish had been sick as well, so I got to help out a little more around the station. I was assigned to cover his interview on Tuesday for a show called Focus on Community. In other words, I made up the questions, the layout for the 25 minute show, and did the interviews! Hamish edited all the pieces together and it aired today (Thursday 6/14) at 11:30 am. I've officially made my major radio debut. Haha. On Tuesday, I not only did the interview, but I also went with the Mornings guy, Nic, to help him record a piece for his mornings show. We had to go to a horse ranch just outside of Christchurch and record him learning how to ride a horse. It was an interesting recording session, lasting almost an hour and a half! The lady running the horse ranch, Kate, was very kind and knew what she was talking about. Kate's methods almost involve a little bit of horse whispering so that was interesting to watch her work with the horses. I had to carry the controls for the recording in a special bag around my shoulders. I've attached a picture. I look horrible because it was so cold! But the surrounding scenery was beautiful! I didn't get to ride, but maybe later on I will. Wednesday wasn't very eventful. I caught up on some interviews for the website. I also learned how to load programs into the radio scheduling program, Linker. I'm responsible for loading Democracy Now Monday through Friday. I was also assigned to help compile, Between the Ears, a weekly e-mail detailing the topics for this weeks shows. Tonight, I've been invited to ANOTHER "fancy dress" party, this time with the broadcasting students, and I MUST have a costume. So once I get off work, I'm going to go look at some. I've also been given tickets to The 39 Steps, a play opening on Saturday. Ruth gave me the tickets, and they're for opening night so apparently I get to enjoy complementary champagne and such! I'm probably going to be asked by Ruth to do a small review on the play, so that'll be another appearance on radio. Hope this summary was sufficient enough to keep all on the list up to date. Please feel free to send me some e-mails...mainly because I like getting e-mail! Hope you all are enjoying the WARM weather while I freeze my behind off here in NZ!