Sharks and Politicians

Two posts in one day? Unheard of!

I now have three weeks left here. I have mixed feelings about leaving. On the one hand, it'll be weird to say goodbye to so many friends, many of which I probably won't ever see again. I will also miss the scenery, the fresh air, the accent, and the general friendliness of the people here. On the other hand, I am very excited to go home. I've been feeling more and more of a draw to return home during the last week or so, and I think this feeling will increase as my days here decrease. I remember a scene in "Jaws" when Quint recalls the disaster of the U.S.S. Indianapolis. He said that the worst part of his five days stranded in shark-infested waters was the last few minutes that he spent waiting for helicopter to pick him up. I would hardly equate my beneficial time here to a horrible experience like Quint's, but I think I can relate to becoming more and more anxious for something to happen the closer it approaches. I'm looking forward to how different things will look to me after being here for 4.5 months. I already look at many situations differently in my head. This is certainly proof that I've grown as a person, although I'm not yet sure in what respects. I suppose I'll find out soon enough.

Two days ago I joined a friend of mine who was walking down to Parliament. He's a political science major and was going to watch a session. Watching the collection of New Zealand's representatives, I drew many comparisons between the U.S. House of Representatives and New Zealand's Parliament. It's certainly very similar in structure. There's a speaker who delegates the proceedings, and the individual "MPs" (Members of Parliament) do not speak directly to each other while questioning. The one major different that I noticed was the level of noise allowed in the chamber. Every time an MP got up to speak, they were heckled and degraded on all sides. I soon realized that this extreme opposition was mainly due to the high number of different parties represented in the room. Where the U.S. has two major parties, the New Zealand Parliament has seven parties present in the proceedings. I began to find it comical how immature and rude the MPs were to one another. I couldn't believe these were the leaders of a country. I know Congress can get a bit loud sometimes, but it was nothing like this. They literally screamed and heckled every single speaker, leading to a pointless escalation in volume until the Speaker finally stood up and called for order. There's no gavel, by the way. He just stands up. Sort of cool. After the call for order, the heckling started up again. John Key (The Prime Minster of New Zealand) was there as well, so I got to see him speak finally. It was a great experience, and it made me want to re-visit Congress again when I get back. 

One positive thing that I've noted about New Zealand is their treatment of their native population. The Maori are treated with immense respect here, and I don't think they realize how good they have it in relation to Native Americans or the Aboriginals of Australia. Maori language is an official language of New Zealand. Most signs have Maori and English translations on them. The heritage and culture of Maori life is ingrained into the culture here...every kiwi I know is privvy to a large number of Maori terms and words, along with traditional songs and tales. They teach them to children in grade school. The Maori also have their own TV station in their native language, and have several seats in Parliament, along with their own political party. Can you imagine so much opportunity and respect given to the Native Americans? We basically gave them some reservations and told them to talk amongst themselves. I didn't see the Maori MPs speak at all during my visit to Parliament session, but seeing their party represented in the government made me realize just how different the kiwis are to Americans in their treatment of their native population.

Last night I laid down some tunes with some friends of mine. We had access to an electric guitar/amp, a piano, a drum set, and an acoustic guitar. I mainly stuck to playing rhythm acoustic (my soloing skills aren't too fantastic), but I experimented a bit on the drum set after a while. I admit I wasn't exactly show-stopping material, but I feel like I'd get better with practice. My problem is the bass drum...the coordination sort of mirrors tapping your head and rubbing your stomach, especially when you're trying to play the pedal on an off beat. Anyone who's spent time around me knows that I'm a fan of tapping a beat on a table or my legs, so it was really cool to be able to finally channel my rhythms through a drum set. Yet another thing to check off the list of things I've learned here in New Zealand.

I'm now hoping to check out the south island for a week or so after exams. It'll leave me a few days to get my thing together before I leave. It'll probably end up being a bit rushed at the end, but it'll be worth it if I'm able to see the other half of the country; The only part of the south island I've seen is its snow-capped tips off in the distance viewed from Wellington. 

That's about all that's new for now. See you in three weeks.