My first class at Vic was Maori 101. It was somewhat overwhelming… I haven’t had to learn a new language in a long time… especially from scratch. The last time I did that must have been fourth grade! So it was hard to get into that mindset, but my lecturer is a hilarious young woman. That was my only class on Monday so it was an easy start. Tuesday I had my bio class, which at the moment is in the Marine Biology department so it’s easy for me at the moment and I’ve learned some of this before. Wednesday I had biology, Maori and my religion class. Both my Biology and religion classes are taught by Americans, which is silly, but I think I will really enjoy all of my classes! Thursday was Molly’s birthday so we went out to dinner with Philip and had some great Asian/Thai food and then hung out at her flat for a while.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Road trip to the 'Tron!
We had a University orientation that was pretty short and not that helpful, but fun nonetheless. There are around 200 or so international students at Vic. Probably three fourths of them are American but there are also many from Asia, Germany, a few from France and some other places. Turns out one of my flat mates goes to CU boulder! His name is Ryan, then Gerard is from Ohio and goes to Wooster and Jessica is from Alabama and goes to Alabama State. They’re all really nice and we’ve been living together well so far! After the university orientation we had four days before school started so Dani, Tess, Molly and I decided to take a road trip!
We rented a car and I drove (!) and we drove North to the city of Hamilton. Hamilton is kind of a city that is the butt of a lot of jokes here. Dani’s kiwi mate Fin referred to it as Hamiltron and when Dani asked him why he said they call it Hamiltron, City of the Future. It’s kind of like the armpit of New Zealand. It’s not really that bad even, but of most of the places I’ve been in NZ so far, it wasn’t as beautiful or as great. Anyway, it’s about 6 hours from Wellington. So we drove up to Hamilton and checked into our hostel. The next day we drove to the Wiatomo caves and did a cave tour and got to see thousands of glowworms, which was really cool. After we did the glowworm tour (which we were unfortunately not allowed to take pictures of) we headed down the road to a HUGE and beautiful waterfall and then to a natural bridge. They were both amazing and looked like they were from a movie. It was crazy. Anytime we got in the car there was an amazing show of beauty outside. Nothing is ugly. Nothing is the same. And it’s all mind blowing. We spent the entire trip being amazed by the views.
We came out of the cave walking on our hands!
Waterfall
The walk to the natural bridge!
Kind of reminds me of mist and all of those other games
The bridge
From under the bridge
Dani and me
The next day we drove for about 2 hours even further north to visit Cathedral Cove, which is a beach featured in the second Narnia movie. It was beyond amazing. The water is the most beautiful color of turquoise blue and its just phenomenal. It honestly felt like we were in Narnia because as we were driving to the cove it was POURING rain and the moment we parked the car the storm rolled out over the sea and it was beautiful and sunny! We spent a few hours on the beach and in the water before heading back to the car for some food and then the drive home.
Dani’s smile chasing the storm away!
Excited Tess!
Last semester my friend Marge brought a little gnome with her, which she takes on almost all of her trips. His name is Sir Gnome Chompsky and at the end of our trip in the Caribbean, Marge accidentally left him. I found him and told her I’d send it to her, but when it got closer to my NZ trip I thought, maybe he should come with me! So he did! And he’s loving it too!! Strangely enough, I pulled out Chompsky and Molly said she had a friend who used to have a gnome too and she was pretty sure his name was chompsky as well… we didn’t really think much of it but when I put up pictures of the gnome of facebook, I tagged the picture with Marge’s name and turns out, the gnome and friend Molly was talking about was MARGE! We knew the same person and Molly had gone on a trip with this very gnome before! What a small world.
Sir Gnome Chompsky
That night we got some dinner and then relaxed in our hostel for the night watching some quality television (Sarcasm implied). The television her is a very strange mixture of some NZ shows and really awful or really old American shows. If it’s a current show, like glee, they are almost an entire season behind. Its very interesting to see what shows they get. Tess, Molly and Dani and I have been getting into a show called Shortland Street, which is the equivalent of a daytime soap in the states, but its at 7pm every week night and it’s NZ longest running show other than the news!
We drove home on Sunday and used the rental car to go grocery shopping and to run some errands. When we finally turned in the rental car and made it back to our houses I was exhausted and not ready for class to start the next day… but alas I had to deal with it!
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Zealandia and New Friends!
Over the next few days Molly, Tess, Dani and I explored the city and went out to eat a few times, got some staples for our houses like towels, shampoo, etc. One day as we were touring the city we came across a restaurant that looked good so we decided to save it for dinner. When we went back for dinner, we sat and our waiter came over and took our orders. He was very friendly and admittedly quite cute. He was one of the first kiwi interactions we really had so we were all enamored with his accent of course, and after we finished eating we kept talking with him and discovered he also was a Vic student (though at a different campus) and he asked for our number so he could show us around the city. Molly gave him her number and we left excited we had made out first kiwi friend! The next day he, Philip by the way, asked if we wanted a tour of the city so we met him downtown and he showed us around for about 2 and a half hours and told us cool places to go for coffee, a beer and just other fun places to hang out. He took us down to the water front, it was a great tour, much better than the 30 minute one IFSA had given us. Later that night we saw him when we were out and hung out with him them as well. He’s a great guy, very funny and fun to be around and he’s like our personal Kiwi encyclopedia… although he often has no idea what we’re even talking about when we ask him questions, which is always amusing. We’ve all decided our goal is to make as many kiwi friends as possible, so meeting Philip has been really helpful in that goal, and a great start!
One day Molly and Tess and I went to a place called Zealandia. It’s a sanctuary/zoo for native NZ species and it was a really amazing place! It was like walking into Jurassic park. There was a huge gate and lush vegetation. We got to see lots of native bird species as well as a few weta bugs (EW.) though not as big as they can get, they were still HUGE. We didn’t see any kiwis (the bird) because they’re nocturnal, but you can take night tours of Zealandia and see the kiwi birds as well as some glowworms. We did get to see some lizards that are technically dinosaurs and can live for an extremely long time. It was really fun! My Favorite bird we saw was the Takahē. These birds were my favorite because they reminded me of short and fat versions of Kevin the bird from the movie Up. (Although, funnily enough, that bird is loosely based off of the Moa which is an extinct bird of NZ that could get up to 8 or 9 feet tall I think. Don’t quote me on that…)
Little boat house thing at Zealandia
Jurassic park?!
Takahe!
suspension bridge!
Molly and Me J
Ive had a great time just exploring the city and going out and walking around with no real destination in mind. The waterfront is really beautiful and fun to hang out at… One strange thing about the city is that most things close by 5 or 530pm, other than restaurants and bars of course, but its kind of frustrating if you forget something and its after 5 so you can’t get it. The hill that Vic is on is ABSURD. I’m going to be in such great shape after this semester simply from walking back from town. Every time I walk up the hill, regardless of my amount of clothing or the temperature, I am sweating. Its ridiculous. And hilarious… but I will be super fit!
Wellington!
Molly and Tess and Wellington
wall art. Meow
Dani, Tess and Molly
Floating fern orb
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Aotearoa; The land of the long white cloud
I started this obscenely long day of travel with my dad, leaving Denver around 230pm on Feb 17. We flew in the very back of the plane with barely enough room to put our legs. When we got to LA we met up with Alex and had a nice dinner near LAX. Then a little after 7pm they dropped me off at the airport. It took me forever to get through the line at the Air New Zealand counter to get my seat assignment, and just about that long again to get through security. I then found my gate and sat in a quiet corner to call my mom. As we talked I noticed a group of nervous looking college kids making awkward small talk and looking around a lot. I figured they were some of the kids on my program. After hanging up with my mom I went over to introduce myself.
There were 8 or 9 there and we discovered we weren’t all sitting together on the plane which was disappointing. All of us were pretty delirious from traveling. Some girls from the east coast had their first flights of the day at 7:45am. None of us were really making sense and I only vaguely remember a few people’s names. Anyway, then we boarded and it all felt a little more real. The security video they showed us was HILARIOUS and stared Richard Simmons. It turned out my three seats only had one other occupant. We were seated in a “SKY COUCH” area, which is essentially a set of three seats that can fold up into a couch of sorts. People purchase these so they can sleep on the plane. After about three stewardesses awkwardly asked us if we were traveling together and more awkwardly implied that I was “with” this much older man with grey hair and, I do admit, a pretty rockin handlebar moustache, they finally left us alone. I sat on the aisle and he was on the window seat and we shared the middle seat. It was great for me and made sleeping much easier, as I could lift the bottom of my seat up and curl up into a little ball and sleep, which was wonderful. I watched almost an entire season of “How I Met Your Mother”, had a strange block of chicken chunks and variety pasta in “cheese” sauce (quite likely CheeZ). But I also got a little thing of Hagen daz ice cream. After a glass of wine, some spotty sleep and watching more TV I had breakfast and lounged in my couch!
I actually slept through a lot of the flight and it was pretty pleasant, I thought it was going to be much worse. When we got off the plane at 8am on Feb 19th, all the American students kind of banded together and made our way through preliminary custom. Got our bags and then went through more customs. When we finally emerged from it all, the IFSA Butler staff was there to greet us. I tried to call my mom but she didn’t pick up the phone! Silly. After everyone was all collected together, we were herded to a bus, got some snacks and then started the 90 min drive to Shakespear Regional Park. When we got there, we pulled up to the YMCA Lodge, got more food, moved into our rooms and got a little info session about what we would be doing in the next four days. After that we had lunch and then we got to go kayaking! We kayaked around the bays near the park and jumped off rocks into the water all over, it was so much fun and I barely noticed how tired I was while we were doing it.
Sheepy Hills!
When we got back from kayaking, we had more food, known as Kai in Maori, and then drove to the Waiwera Hot Spring park nearby. Waiwera is Maori for hot water. After lounging in some hot pools we went across the street to our first pub experience, then drove back to the lodge and had more Kai. After dinner a bunch of us hiked up a huge hill across from the lodge and watched the sun set and waited for the stars to come out while listening to the ocean. It really made me miss SEA Semester but at the same time this new experience was already so much fun, and I’d only been in the country for about 12 hours.
Some of the hikers, struggling to take a decent picture.
The bay we were in, across the bay is Auckland.
After hiking home in the dark we all took well deserved showers and had some ‘MOE’, or sleep.
The next morning we got up somewhat early, had some kai and headed into the meeting house. We played a publess quiz (pub quiz, minus the pub!) in teams of five where we racked up points and learned NZ trivia at the same time. After that we had a bit of tea and kai and then headed out on a ROGAINE or a Rugged Outdoor Group Activity Involving Navigation and Endurance. Our teams had to go out into the park and find as many of the labeled markers on our list as possible. They were worth different points and some were harder to find or get to than the others. My team didn’t win but it was still lots of fun! After some more Kai… it really is true that they eat like hobbits here… we separated into groups for archery, rock climbing and mountain biking. I went mountain biking and we took a cruise of the entire park, which was really amazingly beautiful. Then we ate some more after the bike ride, learned how to play touch rugby which was lots of fun… better than American Football. After rugby we went swimming in the ocean and then had dinner. After dinner three Maori people came to give us a briefing on the Marae visit we were going to take part in. Matua (elder) Tom, Lee and Mata told us what we would be doing at the Marae, the sequence of events. They taught us waiata (Songs) and we had to elect two chiefs to introduce us to the tribe. After choosing Kyle and John, the two newly appointed chiefs had to go off with Matua Tom to learn what they were going to say. After a while, the Maori people left and we went to bed.
Mountain Biking Crew
The next day we got up early again and had some info sessions about academics and campus life at Vic. There was lots of kai interspersed in there and then we headed out on the bus towards the Marae. We stopped at a mall near Auckland and most people bought their new mobile phones. I luckily got one from my friend from Colorado, Fergus, because he studied in NZ last semester. So I just waited around while everyone bought and then proceeded to play with their phones. After that we headed to the Marae. When we arrived we put all our stuff down and stood at the entry to the no man’s land in front of the Marae. We were welcomed in by a woman singing a traditional waiata, and we processed, women first into the Wharenui (pronounced FAIRY-NEWIE), or meeting house. When in the house, the chief of the tribe of Te Hana Te Ao Marama said a prayer and welcomed our chiefs to speak. Kyle said his speech in Maori and then we supported him with a song. Next john said his speech and we supported HIM with a song too. Next the final formal portion of our visit started. We all preformed the hongi with each member of the tribe. After the hongi we had a light snack which they reffered to as supper… but reminded us that dinner would be later. (THEY REALLY EAT LIKE HOBBITS!) After eating we regrouped in the Wharenui and started going through our mihi’s or introductions. Within this introduction you say where you are from my designating your mountain, your river, your harbour or lake, and your name. This was basically the simplist form of a mihi we could possibly do, but everything was said in Maori and it was really interesting to start learning the language a bit already because I’m slated to take Introduction to Maori (The language) at Vic. My mihi went something like this:
Tihei Mauri ora
Tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa
Ko Rockies te maunga
Ko Colorado te awa
Ko Kristen ahau
No reira, tena koutou tena koutou tena koutou katoa.
Which translates roughly to
The breath of life
Hello to you, hello to you, hello to you all
The Rockies are my mountain
The Colorado is my River
Kristen is my name
Therefore, hello to you, hello to you, hello to you all.
The two waiatas we learned were called Te Aroha (with love) and Maku Ra Pea (It is I). Those were beautiful and perhaps if I remember them I’ll record them and put them up here!
Learning and participating in the traditions of the culture/religion was really amazing to me. I had an amazing time and really enjoyed myself. Later in the night we got to experience what it was like in a Maori village in the 17th century! At Te Hana they have a really amazing recreation of a Maori village and they “perform” in it, acting out what would have happened if our “tribe” approached their village and how they would have dealt with new comers. It’s a very intimidating experience and of course a natural reaction is to laugh at the yelling and aggressive actions, but we tried to keep it serious. After touring the village the Maori preformed some songs and the traditional haka which was used when going into battle… as well as before any All Blacks game. It was a really fun night and I got chosen to learn a little poi dance on the stage with a few other IFSA students. Then we all got in out little makeshift beds in the Wharenui and fell asleep.
Village Recreation
All the IFSA kids with the Maori preformers
The next morning we cleaned up and had breakfast and then sat in the Wharenui again to say goodbye and thank you. During the thanks and goodbye time, Mata one of the Maori who had come to brief us stood and spoke about how great it is to get to know a new group of people by hearing their mihi’s and having them participate in the Maori tradition. She pointed to me and said that I reminded her/looked very similar to a friend she had in high school and that when she first saw me she almost came over and said “Why are you saying hi?!” but she realized I wasn’t her friend. So the whole way home from the YMCA lodge we were staying at she told Matua Tom and Lee just how much I looked like her friend. And by hearing my mihi, she learned where I was really from, and who I am, and she thought that was amazing and a great experience. After saying thanks and goodbyes we did the hongi again with the tribe and when I got to Mata she gave me one of the woven roses that decorated much of the Marae. I was so flattered and honestly the only way I can really describe the feeling is heartwarmed. It was a great welcoming to the country. As we were all grabbing our bags and putting on our shoes I went over to Mata and said thank you again for the rose and she told me that not only do I look like her friend from high school but that I also look like Khloe Kardashian. Once we were on the bus, Mata ran over again and told me not to be surprised if the Wellingtonians called me Khloe. Overall it was a really great experience and I had a wonderful time!
After finally, and a bit regretfully leaving the Marae, we headed to Auckland to board our flight to Wellington. There was a bit of luggage drama at the airport because your bag can’t be over 23 kg (50 pounds). No matter what. You can’t even pay them off. And your carryon can’t be more than 7 kg (15lbs). So a lot of people had to repack, and repack and repack and use other peoples bags and the lot, but it all worked out eventually. We took a short flight to Wellington and then were quickly hearded into groups based on where we lived and then shoved into vans. It was all very hectic and it was pouring rain (a very characteristic welcome to Wet and Windy Wellington). When I showed up at my flat my kiwimate, Tianna, let me into my house but none of my housemates were there yet. And she informed me they weren’t coming for a few days… so I had an entire house to myself! It was nice but also kind of sad, because I didn’t want to be lonely! IT turned out to be fine because I almost immediately went on a grocery hunt with a bunch of IFSA kids and some kiwimates. Kiwimates are just New Zealand students who choose to live in the international housing and help out when people have questions or need help with anything. It’s really nice and Tianna lives next door to me so she’s readily available to help!