The International Noho Marae

This weekend was the AUT International Noho Marae. It was an event for the international students, where we got to spend the weekend living in a Maori Marae (meeting place). We learned a ton of interesting Maori stories, songs and traditions. I learned a lot, met a lot of people, ate a lot of food, and had a lot of fun. It was an amazing weekend.

At the Marae

The event began on Friday in the evenning with an international pot luck dinner on the Marae. I worked with my Italian friend, Marko, my German friend Clemins and my Scottish friend Karen to make an international lasagna to bring as a dish. It turned out very good, and was quite a hit among everyone at the dinner. There was a ton of delicious dishes from all over the world, and I was able to find a lot of stuff that was milk free to eat. That night after dinner we got welcomed into the Marae, and got to participate in the Hongi -- which is the Maori tradition where you touch noses as a greeting.

That night I slept in the Maori, but it was quite difficult (and kind of funny) because so many people were snoring extremely loudly. In the morning we woke up and had breakfast, and prepared for a long day of learning different Maori songs and dances. My professor from Te Ara Pou was actually the guy who taught us many of the Maori songs. The Maori language is pretty tough, because some words that you would expect to make one particular sound actually sound different. The best example is words with the letters WH -- which is actually pronounced as an F sound.

After learning a few songs, we got a chance to learn the Maori stick game. The stick game was used to by Maori warriors to train their hand eye coordination so they could be better in battle. It was actually a very fun game, and pretty easy to learn.

We had a light lunch (they told us it was light, because they had planned a HUGE fest for dinner...) and then we got a chance to learn about Maori Flax (it's plant that you can weave stuff out of), and we got to make our own Maori flowers out of Flax. It's kind of like Origami. Mine turned out pretty good I thought. As a side note Flax smells the same as the husk of Corn.

After learning about Flax, the girls and guys separated and I got into what I thought was the highlight of the weekend, which was learning the Haka. The girls went off and learned a different dance called the Poi.

The Haka was so much fun to learn. The hardest part for me was not to laugh or smile while I was doing it. Part of the point of the Haka was to scare enemy tribes, and so when they did it they tried to look real tough and really freaky when they did it. I had to get real pumped up in order to do it. It was so much fun to learn.

The words to the Haka -

Ka Mate, Ka Mate Ka Ora, Ka Ora Ka Mate, Ka Mate Ka Ora, Ka Ora Tenei te tangata Puhuruhuru Nana i tiki mai Whakawhiti te ra Ara Hupane Ara Kupane Ara Hupane, Kupane Whiti te ra

We spent the rest of the day practicing the songs and the Haka. At night we all participated in a "concert" where we presented all the songs, dances and games we learned to the people who taught us. The finale of the concert was the Haka, which turned out really funny, because nearly all the guys messed it up real bad, but we did it with such intensity that no one really noticed.

We ended the night with a huge fest prepared in the Maori style, where the dig a hole in the ground and cook the food underground. It was extremely delicious. I ate so much food. It was kind of like thanksgiving. My favorite food was the Kumara, which is the New Zealand sweet potato.

At the Marae

The Stick Game

Learning one of the Maori songs

Flax

Me and my Flax Flower

Group shot

Me and my friend Barb from Germany

Learning the Haka

The Concert

Another photo from the Concert

The Stick Game


The Poi dance

The Haka! (it's more scary with our shirts off)

Doing the Haka!

I learned so much about the Maori people. Their culture is very interesting. They love to sing and dance, and are all very cheerful. The Marae is actually located in the middle of town(about 5 minutes away from AUT), and they said we could stop by anytime we want. So I might stop over there again sometime.
More updates to come!
-Shawn

One Tree Hill

On Sunday my friends and I checked out a place called One Tree Hill. A long time ago it was a Mauri settlement, and there used to be just one giant tree at the top. I was informed that a couple years ago, a Mauri activist went to the tree, and chopped it down. He did this because it was a Europeon tree, and when the Europeans came to New Zealand they brought a lot of disease and other bad things with them. The guy did not feel it was right that the tree was European. At any rate, instead of a tree, a giant statue now stands at the top of the hill.

At the top of One Tree Hill

What I thought was kind of funny about One Tree Hill was that there was a ton of sheep just roaming around. There was Sheep poo all over so you had to watch where you stepped. It was kind of like Mount Eden, the view from the top was great. It's kind of interesting because Mount Eden isn't very far away from One Tree Hill.

One Tree Hill

A few of the Sheep

More Sheep
My roommate Micha

There I am at the Top

Hanging out on a tree

Kind of a funny photo

Statue at the top

View from the Top

View from a distance

I had my first New Zealand Politics class the other day. It was very interesting. Their government seems quite similar to the United States government. It's funny because when the professor was going over stuff in class, he kept making comparisons to the way the United States does things. I am very interested in learning more about how the New Zealand Constitution and the US Constitution compare.

It's bedtime for my now,

good night,
Shawn

Rugby

The Rugby game was great. The All Black's beat the Wallabies with a final score of 26 to 12. My seats were in the Terrace section of Eden Park. They reminded me a bit of the bleachers section at Yankee Stadium. There was even a sort of "bleacher creature" kind of attitude with the fans sitting in the section. When we first got there it rained quite a bit, but after the first 10 or 15 minutes it stopped. The haka was awesome to see live. The stadium seated about 40 thousand people, and it was quite hectic, and a bit confusing to find our seats. Although I thought the game was great to watch live, I think you'd be better off just watching it on TV, because it's so much cheaper. At least now I can say I saw the All Blacks beat Australia.

Getting ready for the game

My bus trip in the morning was not as fun as I had hoped it would be, but it wasn't all bad. The weather was pretty crappy, and they did not really explain about the history or relevance of the stops it made. They just dropped us off, and said we could check out the spots and get some pictures. At least it was for free though, and it wasn't all bad, because I got a few good photos.

There I am at the Pluto Concert

The master of the pool table!

Some shells at Mission Bay

A place we stopped on the bus trip.

Another shot of Bastian Point from the bus tour

Close up shot

Me and my friends before the All Blacks game

At the stadium

The game begins!

Close up shot

Some (shaky) video footage from the game

I took a trip to One Tree Hill today, but I'll post about that tomorrow.

I've been meaning to call home, however it's very difficult due to the time difference. I think it might work out so I can call on Tuesday though.

Cheers,
Shawn

Pluto & More Classes

My classes all seem pretty good so far. In particular I enjoy "Te Ara Pou" which is a class that teaches about Mauri leaders. Te Ara Pou stands for The Path of the Pole. The pole is referring to the central beam in a house that holds it up, so it's like the path to centering one's self. My New Media Journalism class was also very interesting. We are going to be creating websites, and publishing news stories on them.

I've already noticed a few differences in the way in which college is done here vs. how it is in the United States. First off each class has two components -- a lecture and a tutorial. In the US each class is both a lecture and a tutorial. So in the lecture, the lecturer (...is what they call the Professors here) will just give you a ton of notes about the subjects of the class. In the tutorial, it's more of a group thing, where the students interact with the lecturer as well as with each other. It seems to be a bit more group oriented. It seems like we get less assignments in classes here in New Zealand, but each one is worth a lot more points.

Since I've been busy with class, I have not had a ton of time to do too much of anything. I've been playing a lot of pool (and I'm getting a bit better) and meeting quite a few people. The pool tables here are a bit different than those in the United States. The balls are smaller, and the pockets have rounded edges, as opposed to straight ones. This makes the game of pool quite a lot harder, but still very fun.

They had a free concert for AUT students at Vesbar (the student bar on campus), so I checked that out. It featured a local band from Auckland named The Midnight Youth. They were pretty good. The next band was the band Pluto, who are a famous band from New Zealand. I actually preferred the music of the Midnight Youth. The best part was that it was free though.

The trip has been very good so far. I've found it easy to met many many people, and adjusting to living in an apartment has been quite easy too. I've got to know my roommates a bit better, and they all are very nice. It's an interesting mix of people -- a girl from Germany, a girl from South Korea, a girl from New Zealand and another American guy from Maine.

City life is a bit different than I am used to, however I am glad I am having the opportunity to see what it is like. Also, it's a bit different using the metric system, as well as Celsius.

The people of New Zealand for the most part, seem a lot more friendly than people in the United States. So I think this has made it a lot easier to begin to feel comfortable living in another Country.

Later tonight we are having a birthday party for my friend Kersten who is from Germany. It should be a very fun time.

Tomorrow is sure to be a great a day, because I'll be going on a bus-tour of Auckland, followed by the All Blacks rugby game in the evening. It will be very exciting.

First Day of Classes & A Trip to the Museum

My first day of classes was yesterday. I only had one class, and it was in the morning, so I had the rest of the day off. The class seemed pretty interesting. It is "Introduction to New Zealand Literature". The first section we are doing is about New Zealand short stories. I actually just finished the assigned reading which is due for class tomorrow. The stories were pretty interesting. This class should give me some insight into New Zealand culture. I have three classes tomorrow, so I hope those ones are interesting as well.

My friends and I

My friends and I had a chance to check out the Auckland War Museum the other day instead of going to Davenport. It was a rainy day, so we figured we'd be better off indoors. The museum is very close. It is located in the Auckland Domain Park, which is about a 10 minute walk from the WSA building. It is quite large, and I imagine you could spend a couple days checking it out. For me the most interesting part was that they had a live Mauri presentation, where they showed us different Mauri traditions, dances and games. The Haka was very cool to see performed live. The other parts were quite interesting too. They had this section about the flightless birds of New Zealand. They had bones from one species called the Moa which is now extinct because it was so easy to hunt. It was about 12 feet tall, and was formerly the biggest bird on Earth. They had this other section I did not get to check out which had stuff from Egypt. I am definitely going to go back and check it out. They also had this one section where they had these giant spiders that I guess live in some New Zealand caves and stuff... so I might not be going in any caves here any time soon.

My shadow is the third one from the left.

One of the pieces at the Museum



Buddhist Statue

A traditional Mauri meeting place

Performing different Mauri traditions

Close up of one of the Mauri dances

My roommate Micha trying out one of the Mauri dances

Me with one of the Mauri people

The Haka

Short video clip of the Haka

Another video clip from the presentation

I already have quite a few plans for the weekend. Friday I plan to go to Davenport (if the weather is good), and then on Saturday I will be on a free bus tour which will take us to historical and notable places in Auckland, and following that is the All Blacks vs. Australia Rugby Game. Finally on Sunday I plan on check out a volcanic island place(the one mentioned in the post below)

So be expecting more posts and more pictures.

cheers,
Shawn

Domain Park, Mission Bay, Mt. Eden & a lot of pictures

The last two days have been very awesome. I checked out both the Auckland Domain Park and Mission Bay as well as Mt. Eden.


Auckland Domain Park is about a 10 minute walk from where I live. It's the largest park I have seen in the city so far. It's got some real nice paths you can walk. Through parts of it I almost felt like I was in some kind of jungle. After a ways walk through the jungle-like areas you come to a clearing where they have a big museum. I didn't actually check that out yet, but I figured I would check it out on a rainy day. It kind of looks like one of those things you could spend a whole day checking out.

Maytea, Fabien and myself hanging out in a tree.

Fountain near the museum at Domain Park

Maytea and the birds

Palm trees by the museum

After heading back from the park, I got together with a few more of my friends, and we got on a bus and headed to Mission Bay, which I had heard was one of the nicer beaches in the area. It was about a 10 minute bus ride. I was surprised to see so many people hanging out at the beach during winter. No one was swimming, but I did touch the water and it didn't seem too cold. My batteries ran out in my camera before we got there, but I did manage to find a place that sold some, and so I got some good pictures. We walked back to campus, and got an amazing view of the city skyline.

View from Mission Bay. That island is actually a non-active volcano.

There I am by the ocean

The shore


The Sun was setting

A boat

All of us on the walk back

Auckland city skyline

When I got back from Mission Bay I headed out to an Irish Pub named Father Ted's (named after the Irish comedy show) with a few Kiwi Friends who play Rugby. It was a very nice place, and they had good live music.


On the following morning I got together with a group of my international friends and we took a bus ride (again no more than 10 minutes) to Mt. Eden. Mt. Eden is supposedly the highest point in all of Auckland, and from it you can see the whole city, as well as both harbors and both oceans. It's quite an amazing view up there. Mt. Eden used to be a volcano years and years ago, and so there is a HUGE crater at the top. My buddy Clemins and I actually hiked on down to the bottom of it. I could actually see Eden Park from the top of Mt. Eden. Eden Park is where the All Blacks play rugby. By American standards it looked quite small, but I am quite excited because I did manage to get tickets to the All Blacks vs. Australia game, so I will be checking that out next Saturday at Eden Park.

The crater

Those dots you see at the bottom are my and friend Clemins at the bottom

There is a zoomed in shot of us at the bottom

Climbing out of the crater

The view from the top

There I am at the top

A very good view

The harbor and ocean

When we finally returned from Mount Eden, I got some stuff together and headed out to met my friend Leah, who attended Oswego 3 years ago as an exchange student. It was great to see her again. She introduced me to many of her Kiwi friends. They taught me quite a few things about New Zealand. Leah promised that whenever she is headed anywhere to do anything in all of New Zealand she would let me know, and that I was always invited.

So it's been a very good last few days. Later today I am checking out a place called Davenport, so expect more pictures!