We've been doing lots of fun things lately--weekend before last, we finally met a couple of real Kiwis (the bird kind). We went to the Otorhanga Kiwi House, a kind of bird santuary/aviary. They have an indoor Kiwi environment where they mix up the poor birds so that they think it's night in the daytime and you can spy on them when they're active. They are shy and reclusive by nature, and very hard to see in the wild. Unfortunately, there was taxidermy present (a couple of stuffed Kiwi and some possums, which are a problem because they eat the eggs), but thanks to a very kind staff person, Emily and mom got to go in by a special back entrance and see the Kiwis, then sneak out to the rest of the birds.
The Kiwi was surprisingly large and almost mammalian-looking--it is a flightless bird, about the size of a large rabbit, with feathers that look almost like fur, and its walk is very unbirdlike; it gives the impression of strength, and apparently they can defend themselves with their claws. They have very long beaks, to extract worms and grubs from the dirt.
And we saw a variety of other native birds, including Emily's favorite, Pukekos, which are not actually endangered at all, and roam around local farms and make pests of themselves, but we enjoy them. They are a nice rich blue color, and I see them sometimes on the way to work in the morning. There were also more conventional duck with ducklings (it's SPRING!) and New Zealand pigeons, which are huge, and some very colorful parrots, and pretty little birds like finches. It was about forty-five minutes south of here, a very pretty drive through rolling farmlands. We'll take you if you come...
And then last weekend, Emily was invited to a birthday party at Candyland, an amusing local attraction that we had visited on our Christmas trip last year, but we didn't get the full tour. We got to see the chocolate-melting vats, and the enrobing machine, and then watch them handling the melted sugar stuff, mixing and folding and kneading and pulling it to make lollipops, and then we each got to make our own lollipop, being handed a worm of hot candy and told we had 30 seconds to shape it into a lolly. Then the party children retired to a party room, ate more candy and cake, and ran around screaming and shooting balloons at each other. Really quite an ideal party plan...as long as it's not at our house.
This week is Halloween, and it is a very minor holiday here, but apparently on the increase. There is some paraphinalia at the local Target-like store (the Warehouse, which Manford now refers to as the Whorehouse), and there is a "Spook at the Zoo" event on Wednesday evening, with apple bobbing and lolly scrambles (I hate to think what that is) so that's where we're taking Emily. They don't do anything at school, but apparently some kids trick-or-treat, so we've constructed a ghost out of old curtains to welcome them to our house, and signal the presence of candy.
And starting next week, Emily starts cricket lessons. Stay tuned...
Monday, October 29, 2007
My cultural education continues--
I just got back from a morning at the Marae Graduation Ceremony. This is one option for graduates of any program at U of Waikato, though the largest group was from the School of Maori and Pacific Studies. Tomorrow is the regular Pakeha (NZ European) ceremony at a downtown theater--I will go to that, too; I hear it also does incorporate some Maori customs, but not to the extent of the Marae ceremony.
A Marae is a Maori meeting house/cultural center; there is one on campus, though I'd never been to it before, as it is tucked away in another side of campus, behind the school of education. So this morning I donned my academic regalia (hired by the university...I didn't really have the proper robes and hoods and whatever for Vanderbilt. They just told me to choose whatever colors (ok, colours) I wanted, and I ended up with a quite Swarthmorean combination of black robe and maroon hood. Maybe tomorrow I'll get someone to take my picture) and followed my compatriot from psychology over there. It was a beautiful morning, sunny but still cool enough to sit in a black robe in the sun for three hours. We snuck into the back row of the area for faculty (as a woman, I would not be allowed to sit in the front row, even if I wanted to. I learned that the wrong way at a Maori welcome ceremony at a clincal agency we visited...).
The ceremony started with a Powhiri, which is a Maori welcome ceremony--first a haka (challenge) by a whole group of people, kind of a relatively tame version of what was to come, but a ceremonial assertion of sovereignty, in a way, in a grimacing and grunting and dancing sort of way. Then a woman sings a welcoming call, as the visitors (we, as faculty, were in the host box...) walk slowly down toward the Marae. There follow a series of prayers and speeches of greeting, all in Maori, first by the hosts, then by the guests. This went on for about 30 minutes, while people wandered around in the background and children played on the railings. Then a group of women began singing (my colleague claims that in spite of being excluded from some aspects of this ritual, the women actually have considerable power, as they begin singing whenever they get tired of the speechifying). Then all the front-row types on both sides greeted each other with Hongi (touching foreheads).
Then things were rearranged and we were on to what initially seemed to be a more familiar graduation process. The recently-appointed chancellor spoke (he is apparently a former prime minister), and the vice chancellor (who is the one who actually runs the university) and the student speaker (who was quite good, and from the psychology department--rah--getting her Ph.D.) and an honorary degree to a Maori woman weaver.
Then they started awarding degrees. They started with the more mundane schools, like Computing and Arts and Social Sciences (that's us) and Sciences, which each only had a few students. Most of the graduates had some family members who came part or all of the way up to the podium with them--from elderly folk to children--and a few had groups of people who sang or chanted things, sometimes in English, but often in something else (mostly Maori, I think, but other Pacific Island, and one that Neville thought was Celtic). They weren't all Maori, at least not obviously so. Anyone can choose to have their graduation in this ceremony, which is more informal and includes family. But many were Maori, and many wore, on top of their robes, woven cloaks of flax and feathers, and some (I think Pacific Islanders) got bedecked with spectacular garlands of flowers and ribbons and other sparkly things (I got a look at one later, and it has candy, and money, and god knows what else)as the left the stage. About ten or twelve of them had full-blown Hakas performed for them, by between one and twenty people--almost all men, though there was one group of women, and one mixed group. These Hakas can get pretty scary, if you have to face one down. If I was the enemy, I'd have second thoughts about challenging these guys...It's where they shout and slap themselves and stick out their tongues and grimmace and chant, apparently various stories of battles and such...one group looked like maybe the kids of the graduate, four pre-teen boys. Sometimes the graduate joined in, and haka'd back, facing them...somewhere before or after these expressions of support, the graduate got their cap and degree conferred. And finally we all got to go to lunch, 3 hours down the road...
and I guess I'd better get to work, but I'm glad I went--
More soon. I have a list of topics waiting for words.
Carrie
A Marae is a Maori meeting house/cultural center; there is one on campus, though I'd never been to it before, as it is tucked away in another side of campus, behind the school of education. So this morning I donned my academic regalia (hired by the university...I didn't really have the proper robes and hoods and whatever for Vanderbilt. They just told me to choose whatever colors (ok, colours) I wanted, and I ended up with a quite Swarthmorean combination of black robe and maroon hood. Maybe tomorrow I'll get someone to take my picture) and followed my compatriot from psychology over there. It was a beautiful morning, sunny but still cool enough to sit in a black robe in the sun for three hours. We snuck into the back row of the area for faculty (as a woman, I would not be allowed to sit in the front row, even if I wanted to. I learned that the wrong way at a Maori welcome ceremony at a clincal agency we visited...).
The ceremony started with a Powhiri, which is a Maori welcome ceremony--first a haka (challenge) by a whole group of people, kind of a relatively tame version of what was to come, but a ceremonial assertion of sovereignty, in a way, in a grimacing and grunting and dancing sort of way. Then a woman sings a welcoming call, as the visitors (we, as faculty, were in the host box...) walk slowly down toward the Marae. There follow a series of prayers and speeches of greeting, all in Maori, first by the hosts, then by the guests. This went on for about 30 minutes, while people wandered around in the background and children played on the railings. Then a group of women began singing (my colleague claims that in spite of being excluded from some aspects of this ritual, the women actually have considerable power, as they begin singing whenever they get tired of the speechifying). Then all the front-row types on both sides greeted each other with Hongi (touching foreheads).
Then things were rearranged and we were on to what initially seemed to be a more familiar graduation process. The recently-appointed chancellor spoke (he is apparently a former prime minister), and the vice chancellor (who is the one who actually runs the university) and the student speaker (who was quite good, and from the psychology department--rah--getting her Ph.D.) and an honorary degree to a Maori woman weaver.
Then they started awarding degrees. They started with the more mundane schools, like Computing and Arts and Social Sciences (that's us) and Sciences, which each only had a few students. Most of the graduates had some family members who came part or all of the way up to the podium with them--from elderly folk to children--and a few had groups of people who sang or chanted things, sometimes in English, but often in something else (mostly Maori, I think, but other Pacific Island, and one that Neville thought was Celtic). They weren't all Maori, at least not obviously so. Anyone can choose to have their graduation in this ceremony, which is more informal and includes family. But many were Maori, and many wore, on top of their robes, woven cloaks of flax and feathers, and some (I think Pacific Islanders) got bedecked with spectacular garlands of flowers and ribbons and other sparkly things (I got a look at one later, and it has candy, and money, and god knows what else)as the left the stage. About ten or twelve of them had full-blown Hakas performed for them, by between one and twenty people--almost all men, though there was one group of women, and one mixed group. These Hakas can get pretty scary, if you have to face one down. If I was the enemy, I'd have second thoughts about challenging these guys...It's where they shout and slap themselves and stick out their tongues and grimmace and chant, apparently various stories of battles and such...one group looked like maybe the kids of the graduate, four pre-teen boys. Sometimes the graduate joined in, and haka'd back, facing them...somewhere before or after these expressions of support, the graduate got their cap and degree conferred. And finally we all got to go to lunch, 3 hours down the road...
and I guess I'd better get to work, but I'm glad I went--
More soon. I have a list of topics waiting for words.
Carrie
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
"You can go back now, daddy" and about the cheese shop
I walk Emily to(ward) school in the am for sure - if rainy in the pm pick her up in the car. Depending on when we finish our conversation on a topic or topics of her choosing she says to me at some point before we get to the school "You can go back now, daddy." This gives me time to catch the bus that stops two minutes from our house and goes downtown. I feel a little "greener" riding the bus vs. driving, and they run every 30 minutes with a 2 hour time to catch another should I wish to transfer, and run on time. Today I went to the chiropractor, scoped out some of the exhibits at the local museum (including a big Maori canoe - a dugout) and had a lovely savingon blanc and kumara (local sweet potatoes) and salmon patties with a delicious sauce. Next noon meal downtown probably Indian vegeterian. Lots of interesting little shops to peek in the window and sometimes go inside. Books are expensive here - $39.00 for a paperback street food one, for example. My lunch was $15.00 including tax and tip so not too bad. Re the big bad CHEESE STORE I have so far only ordered some bread but Carrie is right I will have to restrain myself for there are many lovely, yummy looking cheeses on the shelves. Wish me luck on that. We are looking into getting Skype for cheap phone calls so don't be surprised if some day you get a call from New Zealand! A grey day- I miss the big Kansas blue sky and miss hearing friend's voices. I have had one art lesson and drew an almost recognizable picture of a cow skull. Art class makes you look. And look. And look. Ta ta for now, and we wish happiness and health to all who read our blog. Manford
First Flight
Well, MY first flight, as Joseph has made the even bigger flight to the South Island, but refuses to comment on it, or much of anything else...
I (Carrie) flew to Wellington yesterday, for a meeting with all the other clinical psychology programmes in the country (there are five others. Like my Commonwealth spelling?). Wellington is the capital, at the south end of the North Island; it is supposed to be a very nice city, built into the hills and harbours, but renowned for its bad weather. When we arrived (a little after 8 in the morning, a 65-minute flight from Hamilton), it was beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn't have a window seat and didn't get much of a view of the city on the way in--the side of the plane I was on and could see looked out over a range of small but pointy hills, very green. I saw a few houses built into the hills, and around the airport there were some, but we never really got to see the city, as we went straight to the meeting at a small psychology clinic somewhere (I have no idea where) toward the city, and met, and then the storm came in, and the rain started going sideways, and we went straight back to the airport and were happy to get an early plane out, just a little bumpy going up, then over the clouds the whole way, and home by 5...I had heard that landing in Wellington can be "thrilling," and was unsure whether I really wanted to experience that. It is often very windy, and weather reports did forecase "gale force" winds yesterday...
Back in Hamilton, we have living room furniture, and it all fits and is very cozy. I will try to take more pictures tonight. Manford has discovered it is an easy walk to the cheese shop up the road from our house, and they have bread delivered on Fridays--we may have to watch his cheese habit...Emily is enjoying her drama lessons, at a church just up the street. She is going to be a pirate named Nancy, I think...I am charged with finding a pirate scarf. Joseph went for his first overnight at a friend's house, also walking distance away--it sure is nice to live near the kids' schools. And we discovered that they have "spook at the zoo" for Halloween, with bobbing for apples and "lollie scrambles" and whatever--so we do not have to figure out which of the neighbors is keen on trick-or-treaters; we can just go to the zoo. Halloween is not big here. It exists, but not the American way. We'll see...I am wearing my Halloween socks at least once a week in October, just to express my cultural heritage.
"Lollie," by the way, is a general term for candy, just as "pudding" is a general term for dessert. So if you come to our house for pudding, you might just get cake. Or we might even "shout" you for pudding at the local bakery...that means we pay...more reasons to come visit...
Carrie
I (Carrie) flew to Wellington yesterday, for a meeting with all the other clinical psychology programmes in the country (there are five others. Like my Commonwealth spelling?). Wellington is the capital, at the south end of the North Island; it is supposed to be a very nice city, built into the hills and harbours, but renowned for its bad weather. When we arrived (a little after 8 in the morning, a 65-minute flight from Hamilton), it was beautiful. Unfortunately, I didn't have a window seat and didn't get much of a view of the city on the way in--the side of the plane I was on and could see looked out over a range of small but pointy hills, very green. I saw a few houses built into the hills, and around the airport there were some, but we never really got to see the city, as we went straight to the meeting at a small psychology clinic somewhere (I have no idea where) toward the city, and met, and then the storm came in, and the rain started going sideways, and we went straight back to the airport and were happy to get an early plane out, just a little bumpy going up, then over the clouds the whole way, and home by 5...I had heard that landing in Wellington can be "thrilling," and was unsure whether I really wanted to experience that. It is often very windy, and weather reports did forecase "gale force" winds yesterday...
Back in Hamilton, we have living room furniture, and it all fits and is very cozy. I will try to take more pictures tonight. Manford has discovered it is an easy walk to the cheese shop up the road from our house, and they have bread delivered on Fridays--we may have to watch his cheese habit...Emily is enjoying her drama lessons, at a church just up the street. She is going to be a pirate named Nancy, I think...I am charged with finding a pirate scarf. Joseph went for his first overnight at a friend's house, also walking distance away--it sure is nice to live near the kids' schools. And we discovered that they have "spook at the zoo" for Halloween, with bobbing for apples and "lollie scrambles" and whatever--so we do not have to figure out which of the neighbors is keen on trick-or-treaters; we can just go to the zoo. Halloween is not big here. It exists, but not the American way. We'll see...I am wearing my Halloween socks at least once a week in October, just to express my cultural heritage.
"Lollie," by the way, is a general term for candy, just as "pudding" is a general term for dessert. So if you come to our house for pudding, you might just get cake. Or we might even "shout" you for pudding at the local bakery...that means we pay...more reasons to come visit...
Carrie
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
The last box, the front-loader song and more
This am I went through the last box and what to my wondering eyes should appear but more clothes, a keyboard, an umbrella and a wooden box, but no reindeer. We haven't emptied all the boxes but they have all been looked into and/or had their contents removed and there are fewer of them than there were last week. The front loader song: We got a front loader washing machine, a front loader dryer on top of the washer, a front loader washer, a front loader one-and-a-half wall oven, a front loader microwave, a front loader fridge, but the hob sits on top and is I guess a top loader (make up your own tune for this one, featuring at least your favorite instrument) (Guess you can tell by now Manford is writing this stuff) Joseph got a haircut and so did I this past Sunday: Barber "Do you want your hair short like mine?" Joseph "I don't care" and sure nuf that happened - he looks great and it is different to see his neck. Went to a good concert with the keyboard player using an instrument that is a copy of the kind Mozart and Bethoven and others of that time wrote for - fewer octaves than subsequent grands and a delightful evenings entertainment at the concert venue at Carrie's university. Am walking Emily toward her school - she decides where we part company before we get there - but pick her up around 3 for the entire walk back. She started a once a week drama class that will put on a play in 9 more weeks. Joseph remains somewhat brief when discussing his school experience. Well, thanks for reading this and our best to everyone.
Monday, October 8, 2007
FINALLY
We are in! and ALMOST all the furniture is in the room where it will ultimately reside (if we get the coffee table into the living room tonight, that will be as much as can be done at this point). Everything we can find in mover's boxes is unwrapped and put away in the nice new cupboards and drawers, and the boxes of miscellany that we moved from the rental house are shoved in various corners. I am still working on clothes. I thought we got rid of a lot of clothes, but then I keep finding things tucked in various drawers and boxes...our closets here are much smaller, but that is probably good, in the long run. After all, people here seem to wear the same clothes over and over again quite happily, and that suits me fine. The washer and dryer and working (at the same time, yet, after some intervention from the electrician), and Emily is delighted with having a bathtub again. We put up the net canopy Grandma gave her, over her bed, and she feels like a princess and goes to sleep like an angel. Or something.
You may not be aware of the great national tragedy that occurred over the weekend; there is a chance this is not big news your little corner of the world, but here, the front page of the newspaper is all black, because the All Blacks (the national rugby team) lost their game against FRANCE of all countries, in the Rugby world cup. Apparently this has happened before. It is the object of much lamentation. There was the little matter of a volcano that erupted a couple of weeks ago, causing evacuations of many spring break skiers, and the rescue of one fellow trapped by a boulder that came through the roof of his cabin--but that was small news, compared with the defeat of the All Blacks.
We found the camera, and have taken pictures, and we have the computer set up, but that pesky cable may take a few more days to unearth...but we will have pictures, soon...
I had some other New Zealand oddisms, but I can't remember them now. More to come...
Carrie
You may not be aware of the great national tragedy that occurred over the weekend; there is a chance this is not big news your little corner of the world, but here, the front page of the newspaper is all black, because the All Blacks (the national rugby team) lost their game against FRANCE of all countries, in the Rugby world cup. Apparently this has happened before. It is the object of much lamentation. There was the little matter of a volcano that erupted a couple of weeks ago, causing evacuations of many spring break skiers, and the rescue of one fellow trapped by a boulder that came through the roof of his cabin--but that was small news, compared with the defeat of the All Blacks.
We found the camera, and have taken pictures, and we have the computer set up, but that pesky cable may take a few more days to unearth...but we will have pictures, soon...
I had some other New Zealand oddisms, but I can't remember them now. More to come...
Carrie
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