September 2010 Archives

 While Hamilton may not be the most happening place in all of NZ, the best advantage to studying here is the close access to so many unique Kiwi destinations. For many Internationals in Hamilton, weekend trips are exciting adventures awaiting them at the end of each week. Beyond weekend excursions, the two week teaching recess provided a great chance to see even more nearby landscapes and soak in more Kiwi culture. Delightfully, I spent the last part of the teaching recess with three Germans in the scenic Coromandel.  

I've just recently attended my first Waikato rugby game!  I was pretty excited considering how popular rugby is.  We sat in the students' section along with about 50 other proud fans decked out in red, yellow, and black shaking their cowbells.  As spirited as they were, the "ultimate fan" was parked across the other side of the field in his own cherry picker yelling and screaming AND even reving a chainsaw every once in a while.  Talk about dedicated!  The game was really exciting and although I had no idea what was going on, it helped to get a play-by-play commentary of the game by my friends.  The definite highlight of the game, for me atleast, was the halftime show put on by the Mooloo Kids!  Little kids dancing in cow masks to a cheery song ... how could you not love it??

In preparing to come to New Zealand, I indulged myself in endless amounts of NZ travel books and tourist websites.  By doing this, I expected to learn everything I needed to know about the places I wanted to travel to and what I wanted to do there.  However, since I've been here, I've barely even touched the one travel book that I brought and have only browsed the web a few times.  Once I got over my shyness and the sense that I was a complete alien in this new place, I've found that asking the locals is the easiest and best way to find out the scoops on places and activities.  After all, it makes perfect sense ... asking the people who've spent their entire lives living amongst these places.  Who would know any better than them?

After spending three and a half months here in New Zealand, I've gotten to travel quite a bit.  The South Island's contrast of miles of open farmland and rather busy city life was a unique experience that I'm not so used to seeing.  I got to visit some of the other unis while I was in Te Wai Pounamu and surprisingly, they were all based in large, busy cities.  There were people and cars everywhere!  On the North Island, I haven't explored too many places, but I plan to make up for it at the end of the semester.  However, out of all the places I've been to so far, I'm happy to have spent most of my time here in Hamilton.

When I came here to New Zealand, I had the hopes of learning about the Maori culture and how it fits into the multicultural society of New Zealand.  The little knowledge that I had made me want to learn so much more! As part of my high school English curriculum in Hawaii, we read a few books written by Maori and New Zealand authors.  Among those books were Potiki by Patricia Grace and Whalerider by Witi Ihimaera.  Both were such interesting and inspiring books and the movie based on Whalerider became a big hit and we even had a school field trip to the movie theatre just to watch it!  

(Te Kohinga Mārama is my marae.)

One of the papers I'm taking is MAOR100, Te Reo Māori me Ona Tikanga and as part of the class, we got to partake in a pōwhiri (welcoming ceremony) at the marae here on campus, Te Kohinga Mārama.  It was such a great experience and really made me feel welcomed not only to the marae or to the class, but to Aotearoa in general.  Te Kohinga Mārama is special in the fact that it's purpose is to teach people about the aspects and protocols of the marae and people from all over the world are welcomed here.  

Even though I've spent about two months here in New Zealand, I feel as though it'd still be helpful to share how "culture shock" has affected and is still affecting me.  In Psychology, we learn that there are four general phases of culture shock: the honeymoon stage, the disenchantment phase, the beginning resolution phase, and the effective functioning phase.  These phases start when you're first introduced into a new culture and continue until you've fully acclimated yourself.  I've also been told that culture shock may even extend to your return back home; it's known as reverse culture shock. 

It's obvious that we are the leading cause for our world's depleting natural resources, yet life seems to be carrying on as usual ... but not in New Zealand.  Apart from the friendly kiwis, the one thing that caught my attention when I first arrived here was the "green" lifestyle.  Upon first arriving on campus, I was greeted with a large bin with compartments for all types and colors of recyclable materials, brown glass, clear glass, green glass, plastic ... you name it, there was a place for it.  Surprisingly, it wasn't the only one of it's kind; I've come across nearly more recycling bins than I have trash cans. You'd think that without the presence of trash cans every 100 m, littering would be a big issue, but it doesn't seem to be the case.  No trash cans and there's still no littering?  Coming from America, I'm amazed!

Well, another Semester has almost come and gone…. When I was younger my parents used to talk about how time seems to just keep passing faster and faster the older you get. I thought it was a load… but I am re-thinking that these days, I think there is some truth to it. We are already into the home stretch of this semester. Another year almost done. Another round of exams, another spring, summer job search, flat search, etc etc.

This time last year feels like a lifetime ago, and yet all the same stresses seem to come up in the exact same order, about the same things…. Of course there are many things that set this year apart from last year, and a few special ones in particular that make this year probably my favorite on record. It’s been a good year.

On another note, Hannah if you read this, your wedding was awesome! DJ had such and epic suit, and who plays Jammin’ as they walk off?!?! You do, that’s who! And it was sick….

Talk soon ;)

Canada

Now I just gotta start writing these blogs semi-regularly ;)

When most Americans think of New Zealand culture, a few buzzwords come to mind, but few are privileged enough to truly taste the unique flavor of kiwi-land. To really appreciate a foreigner's culture, it helps to share in one another's daily lives. While there is ample space for internationals in the halls, I'm thrilled to be flatting with NZ natives. Especially since my flatmates share many of the same interests in music and recreational activities. While it's certainly possible to learn the Kiwi ways from first years in the halls, I'm personally very happy to be living with my fantastic flatmates. 

I'm happy to report that my teaching recess was a success!  Logan (my boyfriend) and I managed to travel to nearly every city in the South Island over eleven days.  We rented a campervan and used large city maps to navigate our way around; that was an adventure in itself!  We flew into the Christchurch airport to pick up our campervan, but didn't stay in the city long.  We planned on venturing around Christchurch at the end of our roadtrip.  Our first stop was Hanmer Springs, an hour and a half drive North.  It was a beautiful drive; we had the road to ourselves, and the amazing sites along the way made the drive seem so much quicker.  (People from Hawaii aren't used to long drives.  Anything longer than half an hour is "long.")  From then on, we drove, drove, and drove.  We managed to drive over 2,800 kilometers in eleven days!