The world from here

Alright...it's been a while I guess. So here I go...

The last post was probably from this same computer in this same internet cafe. But don't let that fool you. I haven't been sitting here, doing nuthin, running up a huge tab. Oh no. [Some kid just ran by with a bag of NOS. That is huge here. Everyone doing their whippets with their NOS.] Anyway, this week I went North. I got up to Picton on Tuesday. It was raining and blowing. But it was a cute little town, not just a dirty port city like I had thought. Then from there I went to Nelson for a couple of days. Nelson was great. I would love to do a practicum there. It is the geographical centre of New Zealand (obviously) and therefore there is all sorts of stuff to do. I did some hiking and some exploring and hope to make it back because Nelson is a good jumping off spot for the Able Tasman National Park. In Nelson I met a fellow Canuck that has worked on Baffin Island for the last 10 years AND he was a mediation instructor (i think you would have to be to be there for that long.) Needless to say he was pretty interesting. I also met a girl from Newfoundland and we are going to do the Milford Track together I think. Today I cam back to CHCH beacuse I finally get to move in tomorrow. I also found out from a friend at my hostel that there is a party tomorrow night. Can it get any better?

Lastnight a bunch of people from the hostel I was in went out to hear some live music in Nelson. I got in with shorts and jandels so it was already a win situation. What I noticed about the live music was that is was all North American hits. The usual you know...the Stones, Coldplay, Cat Stevens, etc. (Now I know someone is going to call me on this and say "Um...the Stones and Coldplay are both from the UK dumbass" but I still think that if it wasn't for American record companies they wouldn't have 'caught on.' Anyway, what I found interesting was the the Danish guy, the Norwegian girls, and the German girl that I went with knew all the words. So I asked the musicians and the other kids how is it that all these North American hits are so popular everywhere in the world and that I don't know one Danish, German or Norwegian song word-for word. Why is it that it is so hard to be a local (to your country) and get airplay. We decided that the answer was that the music industry is dominated by the 'big' record companies Sony, Emi, Universal, etc. And it is these companies that dictate what gets played over the entire world. I feel bad for local (here meaning anywhere from out of North America) musicians who can't get air time because some dick at Sony or whatever thinks that the new Nickelback song should be heard by everyone and his dog instead of some great New Zealand or German band.

So I'm thinking harder and harder about getting a car. A few people I talked to had nothing but good things to say. You can get a good one for as cheap as 1000$ and they have to be safe or you can't sell them. And you don't need insurance. If you don't have insurance and you get in an accident, the other insurance company pays. Weird eh? Anyway, I think it would be really helpful to see all the sites I am missing on a bus.

Yeah...so I think that is about it for now. Goodbye cruel world.