Kia Ora

Day 1 New Zealand. We got up for breakfast at 8:30 at the Aukland YHA and left by 9:30 for the Aukland Museum. We stayed at the museum—mostly to see the Maori exhibit—for an hour and then hit the road for Whakatane. It was a 4 hour drive and tired as I was, the scenery was incredible and I watched out the window most of the way. Well, that and I really can’t sleep in a bus or any public, moving place. We saw great rolling green hills and plains and even a volcano. We drove past a bay for a stretch and saw these great green islands rising out of the water. It sprinkled on and off and we saw several rainbows when the sun was struggling to shine through the fluffy white clouds.

Now we are at the marae in Whakatane—a Maori meeting place for extended family groups that they use for reunions, weddings, funerals, housing overnight guests etc. Our tour guide for this whole trip is Lyndsay, an Anglo-Saxon Kiwi who is best friends with Matt, the leader of this marae. He is our connection to come here. A special “induction” is required when visiting a Maori marae. When we arrived we were welcomed onto the marae by the local whano, or Maori family. We stood at the gate as a woman sang (a woman is always required to do the opening song) to welcome our group. Then we advanced to the middle of the courtyard to pay our respects, then we all sat down diagonal to the locals with the courtyard between us. A man stood and gave a welcome speech, half in English and half in Maori, and the locals sang in appreciation of him. Then, Lyndsay, David (one of us ASCers) and Matt spoke and we sang for each of them. Every speech in Maori culture is followed by a song as a sign of respect or affirmation of the speaker.

When this whole welcoming ceremony was over, we brought our gear in and set up our beds in the wharenui, the big one-room meeting house. We weren’t allowed to bring any food in, wear our shoes inside, take pictures inside or sit on our pillows as all are customs. It is the mens' job in Maori culture to make the bed, so our guys pulled out a heap of mattresses and set them out. We absolutely fill the place wall to wall and miraculously they had sleeping bags, pillows and sheets for all 40 some of us, plus a family of their relatives who were also visiting.

After we were all situated it was time for dinner. I am so full right now I can’t believe it. We all transferred over to the wharekai, the eating house, where the whano cooked a big dinner of soup with a fried bread roll for the entrée, then spaghetti bolonaisse. There was also a Maori dish—potatoes with watercress and pork ribs. I wasn’t a huge fan of that dish. Dessert was apple pie type stuff with custard and cream. That was delicious. I’m going to gain at least five pounds on this trip. The Maori people are not so thin themselves.

Tonight the locals are going to talk to us about Maori culture here in the wharenui. Most of us are in our pajamas already and we just finished cleaning up from dinner. They cook, we clean is the arrangement. Matt is quite industrious and bossy, as Lyndsay described him. He has us move from place to place like cattle and has an answer for everything. But he’s a nice guy and has been very welcoming, if a little brusque, as are the other locals for the most part. Apparently when the ASC first

started coming they weren’t very comfortable because white people didn’t associate with them much. But this is the fourth semester we’ve come back and they have grown to appreciate us coming here I guess. Tomorrow we’re leaving at 10 am after another big breakfast. Right now we’re just chilling, Greg is playing the guitar and we’re going to get started with the evening activities soon.