Well, I’ve been here three whole months plus a day! (I intended to write yesterday but got distracted by tea with a German.) Although I’ve been on this strange island a while now, I still haven’t adjusted to certain aspects of Kiwi life. I sometimes forget that I’m not supposed to look people in the eye, much less smile, when I pass them; when I forget, I often get a confused scowl in return. And dreadlocks, well, I still don’t understand the attraction. They are quite the ‘do here, at least on the Canterbury campus.
At the same time, there are some daily activities that remind me just how long I’ve been away. For instance, I’ve memorized the PIN for my phone card without even trying. I actually see people I recognize around campus. I’ve found shortcuts to class and figured out the maze that is the library. My selection of clothes has grown boring, and my hair is reaching unmanageable lengths.
My lectures are starting to get a bit dull, and the excitement of studying with Kiwis has worn off a bit. I’m tired of Latin pronouns, 18th Century novels—with the exception of Jane Austen’s, of course—and the confusions of religion in New Zealand. I actually have to do a bit of work these days (surprise, surprise!), but I’m focusing my essays on things of interest to me, such as Sense and Sensibility and modernist Christianity.
In two weeks, I’m headed up to the North Island for a plane-road-ferry-road trip with some friends. We’re going to fly up to visit Moana’s parents in Tauranga, a town in the Bay of Plenty (top of the North Island) and explore the surrounding area. We’ll hire a car to Wellington, take the ferry across Cook Strait, and hire a car back to Christchurch. And, I’m going to drive! I’m not too worried because I’ve been riding my bike so much around the city that I don’t even think about staying on the left side of the road. We’re leaving on a Wednesday, so I’m working hard to get the rest of my essays written before I leave. When we come back, there will be only four days of school left!
This past Saturday, I left with the other Butler folks early Saturday morning for Hamner Springs, a typical tiny New Zealand town with the added attraction of hot sulfur pools. First, though, we biked in the mountains around the area for a couple hours. For the first hour or so, the ride was exhilarating. Then, I got tired and the trails got narrow. Really narrow. I managed to make it back to town, and then we all headed to the hot pools to relax for a bit. It was a classic tourist trap, but fun nonetheless.
Then, we boarded the bus again for Kaikoura, our destination. We pulled into the marae late in the afternoon, and the Maori people there greeted us with a short version of their welcoming songs and chants. We participated in a hongi (yes, the nose-touching ritual), and then it was time for afternoon tea with them. After that, the chairman of the tribe described the history of the artwork inside the marae and gave us his opinions on the current state of Maori affairs in New Zealand. He knows his whakapapa (genealogy, pronounced “faa-ka-pa-pa”) back for many generations. The Maoris really emphasize the importance of remembering their ancestors, and they identify themselves by their families, as well as by the mountains and rivers that mark their places of birth. (Pictures aren’t allowed inside the marae because the ancestors inscribed in it are sacred.) Janyne, our Butler student liaison and a Maori, told us that to be welcomed into this tribe she’d just have to tell them her whakapapa back to her grandmother because her grandmother is so well known. According to custom, when one Maori comes to the marae of another tribe, he or she will recite their whakapapa backwards in history until they find common ancestry.
The next day, we rose early to eat breakfast on the marae and to get ready for whale watching. We headed down into town to Whale Watch Kaikoura, the boat company owned entirely by Maoris because of a settlement with the government ten or so years ago. We set out on the boat with a bunch of other tourists and headed out to the deep part of the Pacific Ocean to watch for sperm whales. We’d approach the whales slowly while they were breathing, watch them—though they looked more like floating logs than whales—and then snap as many pictures as possible as they flipped their tails up and dove back under the water. Finally, after two hours and three whale sightings, it was time to go back to shore. Then, we drove to the lookout at the end of the Peninsula and headed back to our fake homes in Christchurch.
In Flat 42 news, the male randoms inhabiting the common room just departed today. German Maria was brave enough to ask them to clean up their mess, and they actually removed most of their rubbish from the past five days. So we’re back to the usual five flatmates instead of eight!
Kiwi Vocabulary Word:
Hoover – verb, meaning “to vacuum” or “to sweep up.”
Example : A certain flamate ought to hoover the mess his friends made.
*Time flies. (My apologies for the Latin, but I feel the need to get some use out of it!)
1 comment:
Thanks for the update. After that trip to the north end of the North Island, you certainly will have seen the country from one end to the other.
And as a family history buff, it's really interesting that you met a guy who knows his faa-ka-pa-pa. If I met him, I doubt if either of us could go back far enough to reach a common ancestor. Cool idea though.
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