Gifts from home! Time to bring the heat Down Under

About a month and a half ago, I expressed to my parents that I was seriously missing green chilis from home (the chili pickings here are rather slim) and entreated them to send me some. I was also concerned that I would run out of my beloved Sriracha sauce, one thing that I brought with me just to have something from home to help me settle in. Well, they promised to send me a care package and just look at all the loot! The biggest and most wonderful surprise of all was the new Nalgene bottle I got. If you didn't know, a few weeks after I arrived, my beloved purple Nalgene bottle cracked majorly after I dropped it (for about the millionth time) and since then I've used another one that's perfectly functional but [semi embarrassingly] decorated with an "I <3 Dolphins" sticker across it. I tell you, I had the biggest smile on my face when I saw the new Nalgene. Not bad for a belated Easter basket if I do say so myself :). 

I'm excited to make my flatmates some real New Mexico-style green chili stew now. Thing is, it took me two months to go through one bottle of Sriracha... Now I've got two! I will definitely be sharing the Sriracha love down here. Thank you, Mom and Dad! =)

And yes, that is a TY Beanie Baby duckling. Blast from the past, eh?

New Zealand post coming soon! Also, I met some actual forestry students yesterday. It's wonderful to finally connect with some like-minded individuals, in terms of academic passion/interest. More on that later...