Monday, November 14, 2011

Remember Remember the 5th of November, the Gun Powder Treason and Plot

So Flight of the Conchords isn't considered near as funny down here as it is up in Canada. Brian warned us about the boys' sense of humour here. He told us it was different than what we're used to. I think part of it is that the boys living here are from small farming communities, so when I make generalizations, I'm not speaking for the city kids- I'm only speaking for the Kiwi kids who live in the sticks. 



There was a light dusting of snow on the ground that morning. It felt about right for November 5th.

Last night we were hanging out in the office with a few of the boys and they were trying to get us to youtube some of the comedians they thought were hilarious. The first guy just dropped the f-bomb a lot and wasn't all that funny. I understand that comedians tend to grow on you, but I didn't find him all that clever or ironic. The next guy they showed us was Murray from Flight of the Conchords. They thought he was hilarious because he did a t-rex impersonation. I liked that they found something so innocent funny. I think these boys have managed to hold onto their childhood much longer than the kids at home. We asked the boys if they liked Flight of the Conchords and they said it was okay but "it's very dry." 

Maya in her muscle-bodied spiderman costume just kills me. The Canadian's dressed up. Some of the Kiwi's were very confused.


We've watched some of the Conchords episodes since coming over here, and I have to admit- it's not near as funny when you're surrounded by the Kiwi accent (although calling it "your-eyen" instead of "urine" is still very funny). So much of the humour is in the accent.


One of the vice principles from Otago Boy's Highschool is British. He lives in a house on the school grounds (the "rectory") with a few of the international students, so he eats dinner at the hostel and stays to help the senior boys with their math (he hates it when I call it "math" everyone here calls it "maths"). Perhaps it's just the gathering of the expatriates, or it is because the British are notoriously "dry" in their sense of humour. I like to think we've won him over through our common love of sarcasm.

Many of the boys here don't do sarcasm, so I've cut way back. It's no fun having to explain that you're "just joking" after giving someone a hard time.




I cannot tell you how nice it is to not have to say "I'm just kidding" after you make a blatantly sarcastic remark. I have been caught in a few awkward moments when my sarcasm is met with a blank stare from one of the other housemasters or boys, and then I am stuck mumbling and nervously trying to explain that I'm not actually mad.



Guy Fawkes came and went and I managed to keep both my arms and all ten of my fingers and toes, but that's probably because I didn't light any fireworks.

Brian bought 2 giant tupperwares full of fireworks (which are insanely cheap here) for the hostel. Because Guy Fawkes fell on a Saturday (some of the boys go home for the weekends), we blew off half the fireworks on Thursday night and the other half on Saturday night. On Thursday night, Scotty and Brian used plastic plant stands (which had a slot in the top) to set the fireworks off. The first time a lit firework fell over, it shot across the field, straight at Scotty. The boys all had a good laugh watching Scotty fly across the feild, leaping to avoid the balls of fire shooting at him (only one actually hit his arm). The second time, a giant fireball flew right at a group of boys and narrowly missed them, but boys being boys- they all thought it was awesome. The boys who weren't standing there immediately ran over in hopes that it would happen again and that they would be in on the action.

On Saturday, Brian and Scotty used buckets of sand to anchor them, and all of the fireworks successfully shot straight into the sky.
                                                                                                                                                                                           

Brian brought these back from Canada for us. It was like Christmas morning. PS- Scotty punched me in the mouth in all his photoshoot excitement.

After the hostel fireworks show, we hopped in Brian's van and drove around the city looking for Guy Fawkes madness.
Spider-bum
                                   

We found a burning garbage can down in the student housing part of the city, and we stayed to watch the firemen unload the giant fire hose to put out such a small fire. Apparently the students just love setting stuff on fire in the middle of the street. There's almost always a couch burning somewhere.



We drove up to a park that looks over the entire city. Heaps of firework shrapnel littered the ground. Brian and Scotty found some unused fireworks in a tupperware and set them off ("we might as well, because we are here").


Aaaaand then, surprise surprise, we went to Mc D's. A group of well-dressed and very drunk adults liked Scotty's "jam jam's" so much that they gave him a bunch of balloons.




Being that it was 1'o clock in the morning, we were surrounded by a bunch of drunk kids. Scotty's costume was pretty popular (mine was covered by a jacket, so I pulled the hood out the back in jealousy of all the attention he was getting). A crowd of kids nearest to us struck up a conversation and then were tickled by our "hilarious" canadian accents. One of the boys kept saying "I love Americans. They're so funny"- even though we had told him we were from Canada. They kept getting us to say words and then would laugh as our accent. One of the favourites was "desk"

"Aw you guys have to hear how Americans say the work desk, it's hilarious" (said to fellow kiwi's).








When we returned to the hostel, it was V of Vendetta and wine. Man I love my onesie.

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