Thursday, October 7, 2010

Cool Me Down

I keep starting posts
and then they get accidentally deleted..!

First, I want to dedicate this post to Manawatahi.
Much of what has been going on in my life lately has been a direct result of Manawatahi, and I could not be more happy about that.
The Māori student association at Massey has literally made my experience here in New Zealand a thousand times better than it could have been otherwise.
I've really been able to be immersed in Māori culture, I've made the most amazing friends (and boyfriend) that are practically family now, and I've been allowed to partake in things that I could only dream of being involved with.
I owe so much to Manawatahi!

I learned a whole kapahaka bracket (Māori song & dance.. and haka) and not only performed it, but performed it at a competition.. and we got 2nd place! I had to learn the poi for it, and I pushed myself to know it well enough to perform, and that was in a matter of 2-ish months. The poi is deceivingly hard.
I also went to an event called Te Huinga Tauira (basically a Māori student get together) where 7 or so universities attended. It was a wonderful experience where I got to stay on a marae, practice my Māori language, and meet more awesome Māoris.

I also visited a place called Castle point, and stayed at a beach house just south of it which was pure new zealand. It was at the bottom of some big hills, right on the beach full of big rocks to climb and wild waves. Basically just a street of about 10 houses lined this beach, and that's how I've found many beach areas around Aotearoa exist. Which is, in my opinion, the perfect type of place to be.

Also witnessed my first legal lesbian wedding, which was also in a marae. That was fun. I love that New Zealand has legal homosexual weddings. It's interesting though that it was only in 1993 that a Human Rights Act was passed that made discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation illegal. From there NZ has come quite a way in a matter of years.

Not sure what else to mention... but at least here's an update.

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