"That painting really tied the room together, did it not?"

I'm going to interrupt the narrative flow yet again to chronicle some more recent happenings. My flatmates and I have been living in our flat for about three weeks now, and we've certainly grown into it a bit. First impressions of the recently vacated flat were fairly positive, but there was always a certain lack of SOMETHING in the space that made the inhabitant very aware of a gaping void. We had done our best with what we had available to us: cleaning and arranging all of the furniture and placing our "stuff" in various nooks and crannies to make it feel more like a worthy replica of "home". As of last night, the void remained. Though it was a well-maintained and properly heated flat, it still didn't have a "homely" feel to it and felt a bit cold and empty. I had a moment of clarity when I realized that what was most essential in bringing the homeliness back into our flat was to fill the gapingly white, empty walls that bordered it. Here's a few pictures I snapped "pre-wall renaissance." I suppose this counts as my first world premiere of a mini-tour of my flat as well. I'll film a video tour at some point in the near future. Please note that the single piece of wall decoration that we were afforded was a lone trumpet player silhouetted in the spotlight.

"Dining Room", Television, and some of the Kitchen. Whoever sits on the left of the table always bangs their head on the T.V. as they're getting up. It's getting better.

This is the hallway out of the communal room down to the bathroom on the left and a grand view of the city through the door that leads out to the porch.

Yes...the kitchen, I suppose.

Again, note the trumpeter. It's important for later in the story.

It was during the very night that you see pictured that I declared a personal and (and proposed communal) objective to decorate our walls with the most colorful objects possible. The motion passed unanimously. On July 24th, 2009, a fellowship departed from 3A Landcross Street heading south towards the Salvation Army. Our mission was to find the chepest, most colorful and interesting wall art possible. After careful selection and consideration of several exotic paintings and murals, we succeeded. Here's a taste of the S.A. experience:

After much debate, it was decided that it was against the interests of the group to purchase this strange plant painting, as it curiously mirrored what many of us considered to be one of our worst, most disturbing nightmares.

It should also be taken as no surprise that we did not purchase this other fine piece of "pseudo-nightmare" artwork. It was legitimately a whiteboard that had never been wiped off and ended up permanently staying that way. Apparently, someone was about to do something BIG. As you can see, severe lack of thrills about this one.

It was here, among the scattered artwork, that Aron made the greatest find since Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark. It was ten dollars but completely worth it. Stand by for fulfillment of the cliffhanger. After purchasing about ten pieces of art (it ended up costing us about 8.50 piece) and lugging them all the way up the hill into the suburbs and into our flat, we carried out what I consider to be the greatest reunion of all time. Check it out:

We found the guitarist to match the trumpeter from the same collection. What are the odds? So we basically framed the two performers around the hallway door that leads to the porch/bathroom. Epic.

I think this is an attempt to mimic the performers in the photos.
I think they just look ridiculous. But I didn't tell them that.

We also found a poster promoting stamps for The Two Towers. It's great because it features key Lord of the Rings promo artwork AND only cost a dollar, and it's also hilarious because it's an advertisement for stamps. So this was placed front and center on the doorway from the entryway hall into the common room:

Key.

Here's a sampler of some more brilliant paintings that really, really tie the room together:

This is our kitchen artwork. Nothing more needs to be said for this one. My personal favorite.

The choice Kitchen painting depicts some sort of odd measuring cup/ninja star combination, as the handles look pointy and lethal. Somehow, though, it still gives off that "homey" look.

This one is in the bathroom hallway that you saw further up in the post. We think it was done by an eighth grader for her art class, but it was three dollars and depicts a beach, so no harm done.

Lauren, our resident art/design major, assures us that none of our chosen paintings contain any artistic merit whatsoever. We're all fine with that (including her, really), though, because at the end of the day we have a couple of beaches and some happy images on our walls, and that'll make all the difference. We're that much closer to breaking the flat in and finally making it feel like a "home away from home." I considered the quest a great success and just wanted to report it all to you fine people in America.


Cheers,

Bill

The Bus Goes South

Morning, everyone. Moving right along here...

Saturday, July 4th.

5:50 p.m. Pick up from Kiwipaka for an evening show at "Tamaki Village" for a "living Maori experience" including traditional "hangi" dinner.

So after we all physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually recovered from the Haka incident, we were yet again shuttled onto a bus and brought to another semi-informative, VERY touristy attraction. Everyone was getting a bit tired of the summer camp structure of the orientation at this point, and I for one was just waiting to get my own bed and quiet space so I could finally take a deep breath and let my mind catch up with itself. However, for now it was all about movement and meeting the deadlines. The bus ride to the dinner was uneventful until Crutchie annouced that the bus had to choose a representative that would meet with the "Maori warriors" of the village first in order to gain permission for all of us to enter their land. It was a bit tacky but I couldn't help feeling a bit of excitement about the pretend authenticity of the whole thing. So Andy from the great town of Boston, Massachussetts volunteered and we soon pulled up to the village. It was a dark, windy and fairly cold night. Our group walked through a large, intimidating archway and stopped inside a large arena with no roof. The moon was bright and the sky was clear, but the wind was powerful. The middle was full of sand and there was space around the area for everyone to stand and watch.


The Maori, as it seems, had somewhat of a "taste of the theatrical" as their introduction and entry into the arena was accompanied with a lot of ominous singing and noises, appearing from all sorts of crevaces and doorways up high and down low along the entryway. The silent night and powerful wind ripping the trees every which way only aided the effect. Soon three "warriors" entered the sand arena as the three representatives waited near the entryway. The goal here to get across a somewhat educational experience and show how Maori used to greet and allow guests into their homes. Basically they performed a lot of ritualistic routines and then offered each representative a branch that was meant as a sort of peace offering. Having already experienced the Haka, I was not surprised by the aggressive and intense nature of the preceedings that followed.





After watching this show and then allowed "permission" to enter the village, we were allowed to walk around an open wooded area. The woods had a lot of stations where Maori descendents acted as their ancestors would have and demonstrated different aspects of their way of life, i.e. fishing, making clothing, cooking, fire-making, etc. It was sort of an interactive, live museum in the outdoors. This was quite interesting but only lasted about ten minutes, at which time there was a herald announcing that dinner was ready.

The way in which the Maori prepared and heated their food was very interesting and unique from anything I'd ever heard before. They would start a large fire, make the ground hot enough, and then dig out the entire fire and bury the food inside of the hot earth. The hot rocks and coals would retain enough of the heat to fully cook the food. It had started raining by the time we were able to check out a demonstration, but the fire was very strong and healthy and was able to withstand any amount of rain.

My camera was having a bit of trouble focusing that night. Apologies.

The food was incredible and they served the most delicious fresh water out of these classy looking wine bottles. My most exciting revelation/discovery for the night was a New Zealand dessert dish called pavlova. To the Naked Eye, it looks like a tasteless white fluffy mass, and I was not immediately intrigued. However, I was provoked. In keeping with my newfound "carpe diem" attitude of trying new things, I valiantly braved the new dessert dish. People clapped and wept with gratitude for my bravery. First impressions of Pavolva: "This is the most delicious thing that anyone has ever tasted, ever." When you bite into Pavlova, it's like you're biting into somebody's dream. The texture is not unlike that of a cloud, and the taste is light and sugary. Myself and everyone around me consumed multiple servings. Some cool Maori guys played some acoustic guitar for us before we exited and loaded back onto the bus at about 9:15.

It was cold, windy and raining. We Americans had been in a new country now for about 36 hours and away from home for about two days. For me and for what seemed like many others, the adrenaline and excitement of being in a new place was starting to temporarily wear off. Weariness and a quiet reverie for home and familiarity had begun to sink in, and the bus was quiet. A few quiet conversations, but the mood was generally that of fatigue and general disorientation from the long journey. About a half hour into the bus trip, Crutchie tried to liven the crowd by requesting if we knew any songs. There was, for a few seconds, silence. And then one of us quietly exclaimed: "It's the fourth of July." It began quietly, as the first person started the first line: "Oh, say, can you see..." Several others joined in. The Star Spangled Banner slowly grew, and it's power and emotion increased with each passing word. We sung it with passion, in a way that most of us had probably never sang it before. When you're forced to sing this song every day of your elementary, middle and high school life, you become oversaturated by it and it usually fails to carry any meaning or significance for you. However, in the same way that the American flag struck me as I exited the airport, our national anthem became for all of us a living force, a calling card and a loud exclaimation of pride and fondness for my home country. By the time the crescendo came, several kids were standing up and most of us were yelling as loud as we could. We were tired and we were nervous, foreigners in a strange new land, but we were American, and we loved our home. We sang as one, powerful voice. It was visceral and communal.The Star Spangled Banner became a living entity that contained and communicated everything that we loved about America, and singing it was like wrapping a warm blanket around yourself in the cold. I'll never hear that song the same way again. After we finished there was cheering, and then contented silence, as the bus rolled on.

The Haka, Redwood Trees, and Epic Trailer Music

Good news. I've found my "itinerary" that I was issued over orientation. This will make it a lot easier for me to remember everything I did and in what order; I was a bit worried about remembering it all accurately because the three days sort of mesh together in my head already. Fun Fact: I found it in the side pocket of a pair of pants that just came out of the dryer, and was still able to unfold it and read it. And people say I'm unlucky.

I'm going to quote from the itinerary and then explicate the headlines.

Saturday, July 4th:

Everyone wakes up to their cell phone alarms going off. Nobody wants to get up and everyone feels awkward because if you get up and turn the lights on you'll make everyone else miserable. This would not be desirable, as you have just met these people and don't want to annoy them. So, cue about five minutes of silence after the alarm followed by someone going "So, are we gonna get up or what?" and another going "might as well". A mass exodus departs the motel room for the showers.

8:00 a.m.: Hot Breakfast

Much like the previous night's dinner, the breakfast was questionable. It was quiche but of a very odd and mysterious variety and I ended up gaining most of my sustinence from cold cereal. Nothing wrong with that. They were serving New Zealand-produced fruit juice of unique fruit combinations and we soon learned to stock up on these in pants pockets, etc to fuel us for the remainder of the day. Not the most exciting portion of my tale, I must admit.

8:45 a.m.: Transfer to Rotorua Boys High for 2nd Program Introduction Session

These Program Intro sessions were basically the serious, note-taking parts of the orientation where they informed us of ways to adapt/live in New Zealand, differences in the academic system, how to operate in cases of emergencies, etc. Not much to report on here, most of it was things that I'd already known. There were about four of these sessions over the weekend.

11:00 a.m.: Bus departs for a morning of adventure. You can try zorbing or luging or go on a hike around the Blue Lake.

As I was trying not to be the easily exploited tourist, I (along with many others) opted out of the 45 dollar one-time zorbing run and decided to take a hike in the Redwood Forests. This place was a huge nature reserve that New Zealand had planted about 150 years ago by importing redwood trees from California in order to preserve and maintain its forest life. It had a diverse and interesting gift shop which included a 3-d scaled map of the entire forest. I was blown away by how big it was in relation to the now relatively small trail I was about to walk.


A bit of an odd aside, but something happened in the gift shop that only I would freak out about. The background music speakers started playing the epic trailer music that they used in the trailer for "The Matrix" in 1999. It was extremely out of place and utterly ridiculous, yet somehow extremely epic. I had to get videographic evidence.




The forest itself was unlike anything I'd ever seen. Being on the other side of the world affords me opportunities to see plants and wildlife that I had only seen in books or films before now. Certain parts of the walk had a tropical feel that made me think of a prehistoric, dinosaur-ruled age. You could smell the rich life in the air and my ears were filled with the sounds of unfamiliar bird calls. The redwood trees were intimidating, large, and powerful.




It was during this walk that I first fully realized the joviality and outgoing nature of New Zealanders. I was walking at a fairly swift pace, but some people were running through the woods. Every time someone passed by me from behind, I was greeted with some variation of "cheers, bro". I was again initially struck by the odd nature of this outgoingness, but I then again reexamined my own social norms and wondered which out of the two cultures had the stranger way of communicating. In any case, these people made my day with their cheerful way of greeting complete strangers; I've been trying to adapt this mode of interpersonal communication myself. I thought for a while about taking a longer path, but I was uncertain about when the bus was departing and didn't want to risk it.

This was outside the forest restrooms and struck me as funny/odd.
I think it just went way over my head intellectually.

1:00 p.m.: Lunch at Kiwipaka

Nothing much to report here. I don't even remember what I ate. Moving on.

2:00 p.m.: Blue Group to assemble in Kiwipake meeting room to learn the "Haka"

Ah, we come now to the most ridiculous and certainly most memorable event of orientation. Remember the video I taped of the rugby team performing the Haka? This battle chant is huge in New Zealand culture, and us, being the hardcore New Zealanders that we now were, obviously had to learn it for ourselves. We spent about 25 minutes learning the actual words. There was a large blackboard in front of us to help us remember. After all, it was in a foreign language. The man teaching us was of obvious Maori descent and took great pride and respect for the Haka and its origins. Here are the lyrics in Maori: I don't recall the exact translation, but it stems from ancient Maori folklore regarding their eldest ancestor in a near-death experience and his rising from the depths to new life. Epic.

Ka Mate! Ka Mate!
Ka Ora! Ka Ora!
Tenei te ta ngata puhuru huru
Nana nei i tiki mai

Whakawhiti te ra
A upane ka upane!
A upane kaupane whiti te ra!
Hi!!

In Maori, the phonetic sound "wh" is pronounced "f". So after (more or less) getting this down, we had to stand up and memorize the aggressive postures associated with each aspect of the poem. It was really interesting; each movement directly corralated with what he was saying. After about a half hour of learning, I personally felt that we had all gone above and behind what the average tourist could do. Nay, sir. For now, of course, comes the real part of the lesson. We had to perform the Haka in traditional Maori garb. Outside. Guess what the Maori wore? Loincloths.

So, in what proved to be a "through the hellfire" bonding experience, all the males stripped down to their boxers and threw on a loincloth. Also, we had to pull out boxers up out of sight. This is a very FUN thing to do, especially among almost complete strangers. It was at this point that the males had to accompany the females (who, by the way, got to dress in regal black dresses) outside in their bare feet to perform the Haka for a camera. God, I felt like a tourist. Speaking of tourist, remember how I said that New Zealand really has the tourist exploitation thing down? Yeah, they didn't allow any cameras or video recording and sold their copies for 20 dollars each. Because of this, I unfortunately have no photographic evidence that this ever happened. However, my friend Will binged and bought the DVD, so I may be able to copy it in the near future. It was dramatically colder than it was when we first came to Rotorua, and most of the males had to kneel down in front of the standing women. Due to the precarious postures that we found outselves in coupled with our rather limited garb, various vocal concerns were raised (mostly by the men) concerning the vulnerability of certain elements of the male anatomy at that time. These comments, if they were heard at all, were disregarded or ignored. Needless to say, all of the Australearn men all felt a bit closer to each other after this experience, and more than a few boundaries were certainly broken.

Hopefully keeping you all well informed,

Bill

The Journey, Part 4

Upon arriving at Rotorua after 30 hours of straight travel, we were told that we had twenty minutes to unpack our things before our first group meeting in the dining hall. We all dragged ourselves into a large meeting room where we were randomly assigned rooms with three other people. At this point, anything resembling a bed sounded great, no matter how many people shared a room with me. The weather hadn't taken any dramatic change from home for a land mass south of the equator; it was about 60, sunny and windless. I got by wearing shorts. I sacrificed last place in line to get food so that I could take a blessed 10 minute hot shower, barely having time to unpack my essential toiletries. The difference in my mindset before and after the shower was like night and day. I was still fatigued, but the feeling of cleanliness gave me an equally sharp and prepared state of mind. We were given a quick program introduction, rundown of the itinerary for the next three days, and then let loose to walk the town and/or buy anything essential.

Rotorua is a big "tourist town" due to its geothermal vents and its growing market for tourist capitalization. Geothermal vents sound fun and exciting, and they certainly all of these things. One thing that the brochure will not tell you, however, is that due to the high level of sulfur excreted by these vents, the entire city smells like bad hard boiled eggs. All the time. The smell never escapes you and it never lessens in certain areas. In fact, it can only get worse, as I myself upon a few occasions stepped into a concentrated air bubble containing 10x the normal egg smell. Take an egg, boil it, take the shell off, and let the egg sit there for a couple weeks. When you've done this, inhale. You've just taken a whiff of Rotorua. Keep this smell in the back of your mind while reading the rest of my account concerning the next three days.

This being said, I have to say that Rotorua was a very beautiful place. Kiwipaka was placed behind a large rugby field, and we cut through the field to find our way to the main part of town. Alongside the field was a beautiful pond and vent structure that was maintained and dedicated to two tragic lovers of ancient native folklore. I do not remember their names, but Crutchie gave us the rundown on the bus. It was a very sad story. Here's the place:

P.S. They filmed some Rivendell scenes here. Not to name drop.

Here's some pictures I snapped while walking through town.

Given the already "peculiar" and abnormal scent, the town also had a strange vibe about it that I still can't explain. I was still feeling a bit of the "twilight zone" thing; these feelings may have just been due to my extremely disoriented state of mind at the time. Few of the buildings were very tall at all and they were oddly dispersed. The sky had a strange tinge and there were beautiful mountains everywhere on the horizon. I found a very peculiar and fascinating display of nature as the sun began to set. Hundreds of birds were flocking to and perching on two particular trees. No other trees were paid any mind, but these birds galavanted around these two trees as if they were in some sort of magnificent choreographed dance. I caught this video right at dusk and they acted as if they were being paid to be photographed. It was perfect.

There were a couple really cool and unique finds while walking through town. Among these was the single coolest establishment ever invented. This place was a combination of the two greatest achievements/inventions of the human race, and the first official indication of just how cool New Zealanders are. I know I shouldn't even have to expand upon this because you've already guessed it, but I'll reveal it to you nonetheless: That's right, it's a rock climbing gym/movie theater. AND it was a Cafe/Bar As if my mind hadn't been blown enough.

To your extreme right, you're seeing movie posters. And forward is a rock climbing wall. Best thing ever.

I had to go to a local electronics store because I was informed AFTER i'd gotten to the country that New Zealand literally uses a different electric outlet for its appliances. I had thought it was just a case of different voltage. I was lucky and found a reasonably priced converter. For curiosity's sake, here's the shape of the New Zealand (and I think Australian) wall outlet:

It's like the American outlet but very, very sad.

Getting back to kiwipaka yielded some undesirable results as the rugby field had become wet and muddy, and my shoes aren't perfectly insulted. After changing my socks (Wow, I'm going into fantastic detail in this blog, aren't I?), I made it to dinner, which consisted of some questionable chicken and fairly decent vegetables. Having not gone to bed for literally about 34 hours, I finished my dinner, said goodnight, and immediately lost consciousness upon hitting my retrospectively very uncomfortable mattress. The real fun was to come in the following days. In the back of my throat, almost as an aftertaste, in the darkness, I tasted hard boiled eggs.  

Stick around.

The All Blacks vs. Australia

I'm going to start integrating recent happenings with my archival accounts so as not to lose track of things. A note on New Zealand sports: There is no football, there is no baseball, there is no basketball. This is true at least in the general interest of the public. The only sport worth playing, talking about or arguing over is rugby. Having never been exposed to rugby or its rules in America, I was shocked and impressed when I first watched a weekend high school Rugby game next door to one of my orientation sessions at Rotorua. Rugby takes American football and multiplies the testosterone and general masculinity by ten. I swear to god these 14 year old kids all had more facial hair than I do. So, Rugby. Teams in New Zealand salute/challenge each other by performing the Haka, the war chant of the native Maori species. Here's a minute or so of the high school team performing the Haka. You can't see them very well, but the chant itself involves aggressive and masculine hand and torso movement involving the slapping of the knees and waving of hands in the air. I swear to god these kids are 14 years old. I almost crapped my pants.




New Zealand rugby is ten times more hardcore than American football for the following four reasons:

1) They do not wear armour of any kind, aside from the occasional soft helmet.
2) Aside from halftime, the clock never stops. When a player goes down, the game is still played; there is an entire aspect of the game devoted to getting the ball to another teammate after you've fallen or forcing the ball from the fallen players hands. This involves ridiculous pigpiles and bloody noses.
3) These guys hit each other in ways that would surely be considered uncool to an American football ref. I'm going to reiterate again that this is full contact American football on steroids and with absolutely no body armour.
4) They wear nothing but black.

The ball cannot be thrown forward, only lateralled to another teammate who then runs forward with the ball. It can, however, be kicked forwards, but the rugby ball does not sail as far as the football. Seeing an almost-football game played with mostly lateral passes is thrilling and makes for very interesting and complex gameplay.

As I was saying, rugby is THE sport here, and New Zealand has one professional team that competes on a worldwide level: The All Blacks. There is a loyalty and passion for the All Blacks that no regional American football team could garner. The reason for this is simple: The All Blacks represent the entire country of New Zealand. Where our country is divided by countless sports teams divided by the individual state, the All Blacks inspire a sense of unity and pride that could only be felt from an entire nation of people. New Zealand is a small country and it's people often think of their country as the isolated, lone ranger or the underdog. They are proud and quick to the defense of their country, but there is no denying their relatively tiny influence in an international scale. The Lord of the Rings was and is such a huge phenominon here because it gave the people something huge to be proud of; it was worldwide proof of what they believed in all along. This country is thirsty for pride and recognition. The All Blacks are always a chance for New Zealand to shine amongst its international peers, and the people here use their team as a conduit to channel their pride and support of their country. When the Blacks play, the only thing you're going to find on any television across Wellington in any pub or restraunt is the rugby game, and it's all anyone is going to be doing. Using sheer will-power, women have been known to force themselves out of labor for these games.

On Saturday, the night of the 18th, The All Blacks played Australia in Auckland. This was allegedly the biggest sports event of the year, as Australia is New Zealand's bitter rival in more than a few ways. It's relatively close proximity, dwarf-like land mass, and close similarities (especially in their accent) have made Australia the Empire to New Zealand's Rebel Alliance. The people here know they are inferior to Australia in more than a few ways, but they support their home nonetheless. I joined some kiwis, americans and international students to watch the game and play some pool at a local pub. If you're at all interested in knowing, I lost my first game by scratching the 8-ball. I tell it like it is.





The cheering and genuine enthusiasm of the kiwis was enthrilling. I could feel their pride for their country, and they showed it for their rugby team. It's really great to see an entire country unite behind something like this. The game is divided into two fourty minute halves, and it's over in about ninety minutes. It's odd watching an entire fourty minutes of a sport with absolutely no commercial interruptions; I had to applaud them for it. The game got a bit tense during the closing minutes, but the blacks managed to secure a victory over their Australian rivals. The cheering clapping was very powerful and sent chills through me. Overall, the pub had a really great vibe and it was an awesome experience.

I just need to throw this last picture in here because it cracked me up. After the game and a few more games of pool, we stopped at a McDonalds to get some food. There, outside of the male toilets in all its glory, was a framed poster of The Return of the King. I wasn't kidding when I said they're proud of their Oscars.



Until next time,

Bill