Getting more sorted out… and sheep herding

So not only do I have friends now, I seem to have an entire new friend circle. We are going to hang out and watch a movie tonight. If I have learned anything so far on this trip it has been from my experience of needing to be secure and carry on even when I am somewhere foreign and don’t know anyone. It is good to be past that phase however.

I got a new phone yesterday. It was the cheapest one I could buy, but that’s fine. It is also a lot cheaper for me to text than to call someone, and so I will probably end up texting more often than I usually do. One girl was saying found some cheap plan with unlimited texting and no minutes, and I must be getting old because now I am marveling at how times have changed.

I have also been able to get a more food for the past couple days. They sell frozen meat pies at the grocery store for pretty cheap, and I think that will become a staple of my diet here.

Near the end of the international student orientation a couple days ago they let us get out and go do something interesting, they took us to a sheep farm. Sheep farms are very prevalent in New Zealand, and Massey University owns something like 15,000 sheep. So they took us out to one of their farms, and we got to watch the sheep dogs herd the sheep around the paddock and the field. It was actually pretty cool. Here are some pictures:

This is the guy who was showing us the farm. I guess this is how you hold sheep when you shear them.

You can see one of the dogs in the background. It was a special New Zealand breed that barks really loudly. I have a video on the camera of the dog jumping onto the sheep and running over the top of them barking at them.

And finally here is another dog in the field. This dog is known for giving sheep an evil stare.