Our Saturday morning began with some loud chanting from the street – freshman initiation again. Even though we are not on Castle Street our flat is close enough that we could clearly hear the shouts and chants and singing of the freshman dorm. Initiation is a long-practiced tradition at Otago and has not ceased to amaze me during my time here so far. Not too long after the freshmen passed we headed out to the farmers’ market. Right before we left the flat Alex ran over to meet up with a new girl in town – Nancy. Nancy is an international student (from Geneva College no less!) and is a transfer from Canterbury in Christchurch. Fortunately she was not physically affected by the earthquake (as in, wasn’t in a collapsed building) but she is now relocated and having to start all over with her study abroad experience. I know it’s been a stressful time for her and the other 15 students from her program who were transferred to Otago but how fortunate that they are all ok and that they can skip over the interruption in the semester by coming down here (classes at Canterbury are cancelled for the time being). I am really looking forward to getting to know Nancy as well – she is really so sweet and was a huge encouragement to me in just the few hours that we spent together.
So anyways, on the way to the farmers’ market we walked through campus and what do we hear but the chanting of the initiation group. About this time we came upon large masses of upperclassmen lined along the sides of the leith and piled on the bridge. We decided to pause in our trek to the market to see what was going on, and boy was it worth it. The freshmen continued to make their way down the stream and as they approached the bridge I realized two things: 1) the hilarity of this task of walking down the creek, and 2) the purpose of the presence of the upperclassmen. This situation was really really funny because each of the poor freshman students was covered head to toe in mud AND they had to carry a cast iron bathtub the entire length of the leith through Uni campus, not allowed to set it down at any point. And the goal of the upperclassmen was to act as onlookers and…throw various food items down from the sides: flour, eggs, zucchini, you name it. I am thoroughly disappointed that i didn't have my point and shoot camera to take a video of this shenanigans. I can confidently say that this was one of the strangest things that I’ve ever seen.
So...after our bizarre encounter with Scarfie (a term to describe Otago students) hazing we continued onto the market. At the market I tried my first Bacon Buttie – a very popular sandwich among Dunedin residents. This delicacy includes ham, bacon, mustard, ketchup, relish, and onion, held together on either side by two pieces of bread. Sounds a bit strange? You bet, but it was one of the best things I’ve eaten so far and I will gladly pay again for this treat. After the market we walked to a place called ReStore, which is one of the bigger secondhand stores in Dunedin. The thing that sets this store apart from the rest is that you can get a $2.00 bin, which means that you can fill the bin with whatever you want and get it all for just $2.00. I got some useful items for camping. We then proceeded to make our way up to George St. and walk back to our flats, but not before we stopped at Rob Roy’s – the popular convenience store with super cheap hand-dipped ice cream. A single cone (but really 2 large scoops) is only $2.40, which is unheard of here. I think I have been there at least 5 times already.
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