Day 55: Pre-Wellington

Wednesday, 25/8/10

Today started off nice and sunny and then it started to rain towards the afternoon. Had Chinese lunch with Aunty Kim. ʻOno nō!!! Thanks Aunty Kim! Wanted to buy another memory stick, because my 2GB can only hold about 300 pictures and so I'll be gone for 4days so I was thinking about bringing my laptop, but that's too much. So, I asked Aunty if there was a place where I could buy a memory stick. No, Best Buys or Home Depot, but they get Dick Smith. It is something similar. So I bought a 4GB which holds about 600 pics. Awesome, it was about $50NZD plus 1 year warranty for an extra $15NZD. Thanks again Aunty Kim!

Got back to my room and so I finally got the email with information and what we needed to pack. Didn't wanna bring my huge suitcase for 4 days, so I wanted to take my small suitcase and duffle bag. It was about almost 4pm and the stores in town closes at 5:30pm. So I headed towards the bus stop and was thinking about texting Aunty. Nah she was busy. Well, as I came closer to the bus stop, saw Aunty Kim haha. She went to have her afternoon tea lol. So I told her that I needed a duffle bag and that I was headed towards town. Aunty recommended the Warehouse. So I went, found an ok duffle bag for about $35NZD and an All Blacks beach towel. Although I have to go back, because there when I come back because they charged me $25NZD, when the tag price says $20. So anyway, that's my day today and so I probably won't have internet access for the next 4 days that I am in Wellington. But, I am bringing paper and pen to write and my camera to take choke pictures. We are leaving at 5am, that's in about 6 hours. Gotta wake up about 4amish to meet at 430ish for karakia (prayer). Aloha, see you guys soon!!!

Day 54: Te Mana Ākonga

Tuesday, 24/8/10

Didn't do much. Today was the first day back to school at UH. Haha! Hoped everyone's semester started off good. But by the looks of it on their Facebooks, it didn't look good. Skyped with my Māori teacher for about 15 minutes. I am continuing my Māori 201 at Mānoa online for the remaining time I am here at Waikato. It is going to be a little challenging for me. But if in doubt, I currently live among Māori, so it should be all good. My 2 friends (Chai & Nick) are still continuing our Māori. There are about 15 students enrolled in Māori 101, so I hope it would be good for them and they continue, so that the Māori program can expand. Had our final kapa haka practice for couple hours.

I just wanted to share more about Te Mana Akonga. Information taken from www.students.org.nz <=Click for see information.

Te Mana Ākonga is the National Māori Tertiary Student Body. Arising out of the Māori protest movements of the 1970s and emerging from the national Māori student collective Ngā Toki o Aotearoa, they became an Incorporated Society in 1995 and took the name Te Mana Ākonga. For the next 9 years, Te Mana Ākonga represented the interests of Māori Student Roopū (group, association) at Universities. In 2004, the korowai of Te Mana Ākonga also came to embrace Māori students studying at Polytechnics and Colleges of Education and their interests.

Purpose

The purpose of national representation is to bring these collective interests to the table in a wide range of settings with the objective of:

making tertiary education more accessible and affordable to Māori;

improving its quality and accountability to Māori students;

changing and transforming institutional environments so that our participation can be successful;

promoting the use and education of te reo and tikanga Māori;

working with our own people, community groups and government to achieve the above goals.

Te Mana Ākonga is grounded by and asserts mana Māori motuhake and tino rangatiratanga, as reaffirmed in both the 1835 Declaration of Independence and in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. As a voice for tauira Māori that is independent of both the institutions in which we study and of government, we are able to advocate strongly for Māori and student issues and exert pressure to make real the guarantees made by the Crown to hapū in these nation-to-nation documents.

Te Mana Ākonga is the parallel body to the New Zealand University Students' Association (NZUSA). We have a Te Tiriti o Waitangi-based Memorandum of Understanding whereby each organisation recognises the autonomy of the other and strives to reflect the economic and political equity envisaged in Te Tiriti o Waitangi. While the respective memberships have many similar concerns such as rising fees and levels of student debt, being organised as two autonomous organisations allows the distinctive focuses and issues of each to be addressed.

Day 53: Te Huinga Tauira 2010 Schedule

Monday, 23/8/10

Today was a free day. It rained off and on. So I decided to catch the bus to Westfield Shopping Center. Bought some stuff, came back to town, around around to find this 24/7 eating place that my friends would always come after hitting up the bars/clubs. Ate chicken and rice, the seasoning was pretty good! Pretty good lunch!

Here is the program for the 4 day conference:

Thursday 26th

3pm Pōwhiri, Welcome to Tapu Te Ranga Marae

3:45pm Afternoon tea

4pm Registrations, housekeeping, settling into accommodation

5pm Hui Kaiarahi

6pm Dinner

8pm Social event - Maori-oke

12am Last van back to Marae

Friday 27th

7:30am Breakfast

9am Rōpū run workshops

12pm Lunch

1pm Political Debate

3pm Afternoon tea, wā whakatā

6pm Dinner

7pm Manu kōrero, kapa haka, social event

Saturday 28th

7:30am Breakfast

9am AGM, wā whakatā

10:30am Morning tea

11am Leave Marae for Porirua

12pm Lunch, sports (waka ama, volleyball, netball, basketball)

6:30pm Leave Porirua for Marae

7:00pm Prizegiving, hākari

9pm Social event

Sunday 29th

8am Breakfast

10am Poroporoaki, clean, leave

Day 52: Tapu Te Ranga Marae

Sunday, 22/8/10

Today was another long day of practicing for our kapa haka competition. "COMPETITION!", shoots I hope I can pull it off! We will be staying at Tapu Te Ranga Marae, so I just wanted to share information about this marae.

Tapu Te Ranga Marae

The History of Tapu Te Ranga Marae is about the passion of many good people since 1974. The Tupuna Whare Pare Hinetai No Waitaha was built by young unemployed maori - some of them homeless. They needed to have a place to make a stand. It has been said she is the largest and highest wooden house built of recycled materials on wooden piles anywhere on earth.

It was designed by Bruce Stewart - all in his head because he can’t draw. Without formal training, he is a product of the kiwi 'do-it yourself' stuff. He had been influenced by architecture without architects - peasants building from local materials or what ever they could lay their hands on...combined with the principal of the theory of alchemy (making something from nothing) It grew like Topsy.

Bruce could see the local material was from the demolition of much of Wellington. He together with the young people grabbed the bits, pulled out the nails and straightened them to use again. Doors, windows and timber, much of it heart native were being pulverized and thrown into the tip. Car cases from Todd Motors were also used once and taken to the tip. They were from trees of the tropical rain forest - hardwoods. Bruce got permission to use them. He believes building, using recycled material is spiritually in tune and uplifting.

The late Stan Hyde, demolition contractor, donated considerable fittings to The Marae as did many of the people of Wellington.

The 'non-traditionalness' of design of Tapu Te Ranga has often been mentioned. Bruce found there were many Whare of non-

traditional design, some of them being Rua Kenana’s Beehive in The Urawera and Potatau Te Whero Whero’s whare at Te Awamutu.

The design shape is that of a cluster of whare grouped together representing The Mother and her children. Because it was built of recycled materials it was slow going - it has taken thirty two years. Pare Hinetai No Waitaha is 26.5 meters high...she is on ten levels...she is 27,000 square feet.

Tapu Te Ranga Marae is the full 24 hectares. Two thirds is reforestation in native plants, the remaining third is set aside for passive recreation - walks, playing, outdoor activites and gardens. We also have Noho Kainga - flats and houses for our whanau.

Pare Hinetai No Waitaha is our Tupuna Whare she has many Whare in her nine levels...these include: Tane Whaiora, Kirihika, Pare no Waitaha, Hinetai no Kuranui, U Kai Po, Aniwaniwa and Daphene There are also the special gardens Wahi Whenua and Wahi Pungarehu.

The Whare rambles up the hill on many levels - it is a strong social, environmental and artistic statement.They who build The Whare are built by the Whare' is the whakatauki (proverb).

She has been built on multi levels from recycled materials and sleeps up to 300 people. She has several kitchens, a dinning-room and ablutions. There is free parking for up to 150 cars and space for buses. There are spaces for a marquee, tents, house buses and caravans.

There are areas for passive recreation including a circular historic walk of one and a half hours up to the Pouwhenua (sculpture) on top of Maunga Kawakawa.

The Marae is ten minutes from Wellington city and only ten minutes from the International Airport. The drive from airport to The Marae is along the famous wild south coast.

Click=>Tapu Te Ranga Marae

Day 51:Preparing for Te Huinga Tauira 2010

Saturday, 21/8/10

Wow, it's been 50 now 51 days since I've been enjoying my time here in Aotearoa!!! That's a pretty long time and were half way through the semester now. We are now one our 2 week teaching recess or Spring break! Way too early to have that here since it's cold! So today we had our kapa haka practice for Te Huinga Tauira. We are really crunching for time in learning these, cuz we leave on Thursday. Practice started from 10 and ended about 8:30ish. Had to get food, so I walked down to the Wharehouse area, where get other food places and went go buy fried chicken. 10 pieces for $29....how's that? What a workout and memorization time. Still got lots to work on and memorize, words and actions! Kinda confusing a little bit, I am the only Hawaiian in the group. Everyone is stoked that I am coming. I looking forward to this conference, cuz these are Māori students around Aotearoa that are actively engaged in there communities and the university. And it's a cheap way for me to travel.

Here is information:

Te Huinga Tauira 2010

The history of Huinga Tauira dates back to the 1800’s when the formidable Māori graduates Apirana Ngata, Te Rangihiroa [Peter Buck], Maui Pomare and others, whose mentor was James Carroll, formed the Te Aute College Māori Students’ Association [the young Māori party]. A primary function of that organisation was to inform Māori about national issues affecting Māori. Through the years the name has changed and presently operates as “Te Mana Akonga”. Ngā Toki, the predecessor of Te Mana Akonga existed within the [then named] New Zealand University Students’ Associations [NZUSA]. At the time Māori student viewpoints were being represented by the Tumuaki Māori, a position within the Executive of NZUSA. In 1983, internal issues were to see a breakdown between NZUSA and Ngā Toki, therefore it was voiced that Māori students attain an autonomous body, the separation of Ngā Toki from NZUSA. This was also highlighted by the desire of NZUSA to disestablish the Tumuaki Māori position from the Executive. Nga Toki was then formed as an autonomous organisation under the umbrella of, and funded, by NZUSA to: Deal with issues relevant to Māori students within universities and Encourage more Māori to attend universities.

Funding was to be 12% of funding in 1987, declining to 9% in 1988 and 5% in 1989. This funding was granted with the understanding that Ngā Toki would obtain alternative and additional funding. Ngā Toki was unable to obtain alternative funding so the contract was re-negotiated for a further two years with a set amount of $35,000. In 1993, Ngā Toki changed their name to Te Mana Akonga. Although TMA were supposedly autonomous, they were still under the umbrella of NZUSA. In 2001, the constitution was changed to allow the inclusion of ITPs [Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics] and Colleges of Education into the organisation. Te Mana Akonga, being the national body for Māori Students, constitutionally requires an Annual General Hui. Within this Hui, the primary function is still the communication of issues affecting Māori students locally and nationally. The hui is held every year at a different institution, the format generally remaining the same but the kaupapa belongs to the hosting rōpū. Huinga Tauira is the foundation that evaluates, initiates and formulates objectives and policies of the previous years and the years that lie ahead. Huinga Tauira has institutionalized the introduction of Māori development from the youth of today to the navigators of tomorrow. Huinga Tauira is an icon of national communication for Māori students. Workshops, working parties, sports, lectures, guest speakers, kapa haka, korero, whanaungatanga and so on, all are aspects of the four day event. Huinga Tauira has, in the past and will continue to in the future, develop the strengths of individuals and collectives for the benefit of all involved.

Day 50: Tangihanga 2

Friday, 20/8/10

Since I have no classes on Fridays, I wanted to attend the tangihanga again. Didn't have a ride, so it was pretty much up in the air. But Aunty Sandy told me that Aunty Thea was heading there, and so I went with them. Haha back to Huntly to Ohaki marae. This time, there were choke people there! They had a program set and it was the day for the burial. The wharenui was already filled and so everyone else were standing outside. It was another colder day with rain. Stood outside by the wharekai for about 3+ hours. The program finished and then as they were about to bring them out, sorry I forgot to mention there were 2 people. Everyone lined outside in 2 lines on each side to watch as they would carry them out into the funeral car. As they were walking towards the car, a guy with his taiaha (spear) did a haka, part of their protocol. Followed by those carrying them in the caskets are the whanau. Was planning to head to the burial sight, but was tired, cold and raining. Enjoyed some awesome kai with Aunty Thea and her son. They live not to far from Uni in a nice and pretty quiet place. Māori people has retained many of their cultural protocols, especially because of their marae. Many ask me of our cultural protocols, such as something like the tangihanga.

I haven't the slightest idea. My response to them, we as Hawaiians have lost many of our cultural protocols. Many of our kupuna choose not to pass them on. We have our funerals in churches or mortuaries. Had many discussions with Aunty Thea regarding many Hawaiian things such as ʻaumakua, Kamehameha Schools, QLCC and etc.

Day 49: Tangihanga

Thursday, 19/8/10

I kēia la wau i hele ʻole ai i ka papa ma muli o ka hele ʻana i ʻelua mau hoʻolewa Māori. ʻO kēia pule ka hoʻolauleʻa o Ka Mōʻī Māori. He hoʻolauleʻa nui no ka poʻe e kakoʻo aku i Ka Mōʻī Māori. No laila, ʻAkahi no wau a hele i kekahi hoʻolewa Māori. Na ʻAnakē Sandy i lawe ʻia mai iaʻu i nā hoʻolewa Māori. ʻO ia koʻu kumu e aʻo aku ana iā mākou e pili ana i ka palapala ʻae o Waitangi. Aia ka hoʻolewa mua ma ka marae o Tūrangawaewae ma Ngāruwāhia. Nui ka poʻe i hele mai ai i aneʻi no ko lākou mau ʻohana i hala ai. Lawe ʻia kekahi kiʻi a ke ʻohana i hala ai. Ke ukali mākou ma waho o ka marae a hiki i ke kāhea ʻana. Ua komo mākou a noho. Hoʻomaka ʻia nā haʻiōlelo e nā ʻelemakule. Ma hope o kekahi ʻelemakule e ʻōlelo, ua hīmeni lākou. Hiki i nā haʻiōlelo ke ʻōlelo ʻia a hiki i ka ʻelemakule hope loa e ʻōlelo ai. I ka hola ʻumikūmālua pea mākou i haʻalele ai i Huntly i ka hoʻolewa ʻē aʻe. Aia ua wahi ma luna o Ngāruwāhia. No kēia hoʻolewa, kamaʻāina wau i kēia ʻohana. Na lākou i mālama a hānai iaʻu. Ua hala kekahi ʻohana a uwē wau i koʻu hoʻolohe ʻana i ia mea. ʻO mākou ka poʻe hoʻokipa, ukali mākou i ke kāhea ʻana a komo mākou i ka hale nui. Ua uwē nō wau i ka ʻike maka o ke kino o ia ʻohana. Ua noho mākou. I ka moʻomeheu o ka poʻe Māori, noho nā kāne i mua a noho nā wāhine i hope o nā kāne. Hoʻomaka ʻia nā haʻiʻōlelo, ma ke ʻano he hoʻolewa mua a mākou i hele ai. Na ʻAnakala i hoʻomaka i nā haʻiʻōlelo, i kona ʻōlelo ʻana, nāna i hoʻomaopopo iaʻu mai Hawaiʻi mai. Maopopo iki i kāna ʻōlelo ʻana. Ma hope o nā haʻiʻōlelo mākou i honi aku i ka poʻe. I ka hale ʻai mākou i ʻai ai ka ʻaina ʻauinalā. Hō ka ʻono nō ka meaʻai!!! Ma hope, piha ka ʻōpū!

Today, I skipped class to attend several tangihanga (funeral). It is the Māori way of when a family member passes away. Also, this week is called Koroneihana (Coronation). The biggest gathering of followers of the Kīngitanga movement. It is celebration of the anniversary of the anointing of the King or Queen. And so, I had a first hand experience attending 2 tangihanga. The first tangihanga was part of the Koroneihana. Whaea Sandy, who also teaches my Treaty class, was very nice to pick me up, meet her whanau and attend the tangi. We left to Ngāruawāhia, an hour drive heading towards Auckland. The tangi was at Tūrangawaewae marae. It was my first time going to a marae and it's pretty big! We arrived here about 9am. People were all in black and lining up, waiting for the karanga (calling). From what I was told, people bring a picture of their family member that passed away. There is a whole bunch of people and then we started heading into the marae. You have the tangata whenua, the people belonging to the marae and the manuhiri, the visitors. Everybody comes in and sits down. Then, there's the kōrero (speeches). You have the kaumatua (elderly men) speaking whaikōrero (formal speech) for how ever long it takes until the last kaumatua speaks. It can take as long as half the day, which it practically did. So one kaumatua would speak from the tangata whenua side and then a waiata or some kind of singing follows. Then a kaumatua on the manuhiri side would speak on behalf of the whanau, present a koha (offering) to the tangata whenua, followed by a waiata or something, which the whanau of the deceased person would go up to sing. Also got to meet Whaea Sandy's whanau. It rained off and on, the sun would sometimes come out, but it was still cold most of the time. We stayed here a little after 12.

We then headed to Hunty, which was further up. On our way there, we passed Taupiri. A mountain were many Māori are buried along where the Māori Kings and Queen are buried. We headed to Ohaki marae. The tangi we were heading to, I really wanted to attend this tangi as I knew this whanau (family), this is my whanau here in Aotearoa. So I really wanted to come to show my respect to this whanau, who has taken care of me and the other Hawaiians here, while we are away from home. So as the manuhiri to this marae as well, we had to wait until the kuia (elderly woman) karanga (call) to us. She would karanga and then Whaea Sandy karanga and it went back and forth until we reached the steps of the wharenui (meeting house). We came in and uwē for couple minutes and then sat down. In Māori protocol, the men sit in the front and the women sit behind. So Whaea Sandy's sons sat in the front row, then myself along with her mokopuna (grandsons) and then her, her daughter and other moko. Then the whaikōrero began again and the koha was given. Just like the first one, although it was shorter, because there weren't too much people. After that then there was kai (food)! This was about 2ish in the afternoon. ʻOno food! In the wharekai (food house), is where you eat your food and the pretty much had tables set and plates already made, so that when people would visit for the tangi or something, kai was provided. Steak with onions, sausage, potato salad and coleslaw. Had to plates! Arrived back at my room about 3pm, had my history class at 4pm and didn't wanna go, I had already missed my kapa haka class and I was so full! I actually ended up going! Went it didn't pay attention.

Day 48: Whakamātautau Nui 1

Wednesday, 18/8/10

Today was my day! Big, first test for my Māori language class! I am glad it is over! Did somewhat well on the whakarongo (listening) part. The rest of it was pretty aurite. Left some blank because I didn't understand those words. Gotta work on my vocabulary! Finished my test at 11:30ish and there was no tutorial. YES! Ate lunch, had no clue what it was, ate a little of it and had my peanut butter sandwich and hot chocolate! HMMMMM!!!

Then at 1:00pm off to kapa haka practice with Te Waiora o Waikato, University of Waikato's Māori Student Association for the Te Huinga Tauira. So, one of the members who is organizing this and is I guess in charge, created a song just for our group of Waikato. So pretty short, and I just gotta remember the words. Then for our haka, He Oranga Mai, we (the guys) started to learn the haka for this. I hope I am in the back of the line in doing this. Got some of it down, but its going to take choke and and choke practice in pretty much less then a week. Next week we start our break for 2 weeks. Tomorrow I'll share the information behind Te Huinga Tauira.

So I thought, I was going to be late for my Treaty tutorial. NOPE! Made it in time. Discussed about the principles of the Treaty: Partnership, Protection and Participation. Then, the other members in our group decided that the Te Reo Claim is to hard and thinks it would be better to do another one. I was really interested in doing Te Reo Claim. Haha I just finished reading the entire report of the Te Reo Claim by the Waitangi Tribunal, 77 pages! Nuts ah?! It was really interesting, mentioned twice of Hawaiians, as there were 2 Hawaiians that were partially observers in this process. If you wanna read it click here => Te Reo Claim.

Day 47

Tuesday, 17/8/10

In Treaty class, we talked more about the different claims brought to the Waitangi Tribunal. Our next assignment is to select a claim and analyze it in regards to: background of the claim, which article was breached (how and why?), Māori position, Crown poistion and the status of the claim. This should be an interesting assignment. We chose the Te Reo Claim. In History class, learned about industrial fairs. How museums were created and how Māori possesions, which they call artifacts become part of exhibits now. Cultural colonization is pretty interesting concept. It is also how they try to indigenize museums. Later on it was tutorial, same ol, jus went over readings. Too long the readings and I didn't know even want to read the other article, as it was just not to reasonable for my reading. Yea I don't know what that means!

Day 46

Monday, 16/8/10

In Māori class, it was a big review for our first big test, whakamātautau nui 1! So in our review and practice, there were 3 parts that were part of the test. The first is whakarongo (listening), panui (read) and tuhi (write). Got a little big confused in the listening part, because I didn't know the vocabulary. In History, for some reason, I am loosing interest in this class. The lecture was about landscapes of settlement in 3 different periods: Wide view, Pre-European and Post-Colonization. Looking at the phrase "Pre-European", I have mixed thoughts in using this, because, in a way, it seems that everything after European is considered more important then before. We definitely know that "Pre-European" refers to time before Europeans arrived, which means during the time period of Māori. I guess it is the same as saying Pre-Contact Hawaiʻi, Pre-Civilization? As in many texts, we have been referred to as being uncivilized. In Treaty class, we learned about the Waitangi Tribunal. A organization form through, I guess, Parliament to inquiry about claims from Māori in the Crown's breaching of the Treaty. Depending on the Waitangi Tribunal, it then creates a report, recommending to the Crown if the Crown has breached the Treaty and the appropriate actions to resolve this breach. Very interesting, more information, click => Waitangi Tribunal.

Day 45

Sunday, 15/8/10

What did I do again? Slept half the day and did some homework of course!

Day 44

Saturday, 14/8/10

What did I do? I slept pretty much all day!

Day 43: Finally the weekend!

Friday, 13/8/10

Yes! Slept in till about lunch time. Went to kapa haka practice. So we are learning a haka called He Oranga Mai. Right now were just learning the words and later, someone will be teaching us the motions. Also the others are Waikato te awa, E ko te tui and E noho Tuheitia. Really good, cuz these are the songs and dance that I am learning in kapa haka class. So it should be easy, just hope that the motions are the same. There is about 20 of us from Waikato attending this conference. So 20-22 August, were suppose to stay at a marae. Not sure where yet. And then 26-29 is the Te Huinga Tauira conference. I'll put up more information regarding the conference. After practice, went to WSU (Waikato Students' Union) to pay for the rest of the conference fee. Thought I had to pay $100NZD, but only $60 which came up to $110 for everything!

So since it is Friday 13th, here in Aotearoa. Someone on my floor came up with the idea to head to this place called Spookers?! Haha, it's basically a hunted house place. But there is also a hunted forrest. So it's outside of Auckland. Left here a little past 7pm and arrived at Spookers about 9pm. Paid $20 for the Hunted Forrest, there was choke people there! So it's not really hunted but, people dressed up to scare you. I am not sure why I said yes, but just wanted to hangout with the people on my floor. There was about 10 of us of our floor that went. It was raining and of course the ground wet and the grass all muddy. We just had to go to the forrest cuz it was the scariest! So we went! In groups of 5! Pitch black, raining and getting my shoes all muddy. Great! It was funny at the beginning because there was like a small tunnel everyone goes through. So, of course I am at the back and like no one really wants to go first and see we were stalling. Eventually we passed that and stayed close to each other like opihi! Haha, 5 of us, 1 flashlight, choke people bout to jump out and scare you! It was somewat scary, only because the girls kept screaming! If you are really scared, you can just tell them to stop....basically stop to everyone! HAHA...I didn't say much, kept my head down and did not look up at those people! Never look back! That's what I kept telling one of the girls cuz she kept looking back and there was someone following us. Through the forrest, you kinda of could tell or get the feeling that someone is bound to jump out and make big noises! In the end, it was really funny how we all reacted! Left there a little after 10pm and grabbed a late dinner/snack at McDonalds. Got back at the dorms at about 12am. Of course this was a once in a life time event! WATA night! Heres the website: http://www.spookers.co.nz/

Day 42

Thursday, 12/8/10

Another fun day at kapa haka class. We finally got to meet our other teach, who recently was in Hawaiʻi. Pretty much just worked on the arrangement of our dances and songs. Towards the end of class, the fire alarm went off and we had to exit the building. Finished class early! YEA!!! Also, we've been asked to teach a Hawaiian song.

It's Thursday afternoon and I still have this history class at 4pm! It's my weekend already. Why do people wanna teach this so late?! This lecture was about how British got the land. Two main points, The New Zealand Settlement Act 1863 and the Native Land Court 1865. Pretty much this class and Treaty are kind of on the same timeline of lectures.

Day 41

Wednesday, 11/8/10

In Māori class, we learn a whole bunch of new kupu hou (new words). Also learned about "haere", its a modifier that gradually shows change. It follows after the stative or verb.

Example:

Kei te momona haere tērā negru. The cat is getting fat.

Then we learned about comparing 2 things. "He...ake...i"

Example:

He nui ake tōku whare i tō whare. My house is bigger then your house.

In tutorial, we did more exercises on these two structures.

In Treaty tutorial, we spent time at looking at Legislative Violations of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Heres the website: twm.co.nz/Tr_violn.html Basically, it shows how Māori lands were unrightfully taken through many acts and laws from the government and parliament. Pretty much a land grab for the Crown and settlers. It is very similar to Hawaiʻi.

Oh yea forgot. I went to my first kapa haka practice. So, I am getting ready to head down to Te Whanganui-ā-Tara (Wellington) for the Annual Māori Student Conference, Te Huinga Tauira 2010. So we are learning a haka and a bunch of other waiata and etc., because everyone performs. I am looking forward to this conference and meet many other Māori students that are engaged and determined to serve their people in higher education. Anyways, as it gets closer, I'll put up more information.

Day 40

Tuesday, 10/8/10

In Te Tiriti/Treaty class, we learned about the financial burdens on Māori and the spiritual and social costs it was taking on them. In order for them to claim their land and have it noted down on paper, they had to go through a long process and pay various fees for it. Then we kinda fast forwarded in time to talk about Bastion Point, where a hapū(sub-tribe) I think occupied the land they lost and how military forces were called to arrest them for trespassing on "land belonging to the Crown". Also a brief history of Kingitanga, the 5 different Kings and 1 Queen.

Pretty much in History, we watched a video regarding the invasion of Waikato. The different wars between the hapū and the settlers. Then in tutorial, we had to write an essay answering "In 1840, Governor Hobson declared of New Zealand, ʻwe are now one people', with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. In what ways and to what extent was Hobson's declaration true of the situation in the 1840s?"

Day 39

Monday, 9/8/10

Learned lots of new kupu hou (new words) in Māori class. Also, learned "kia...ai..". It means so that, in order that. It is also conditional, this thing needs to happen first, then this will happen.

Example:

Me haere au ki āku akoranga kia mōhio ai ngā mahi.

I should go to class so that I know the work.

Then in History class, learned about the Te Kīngitanga Movement. In 1858, the first Māori King was elected. His name was Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, a highly respected rangatira (chief) and his whakapapa (genealogy) was very high and connected many of the regions of the North Island. Therefore, he accepted to become the King. In Te Tiriti/Treaty class, we learned about the Waitangi Tribunal, Native Land Court/Native Land Act and the Principles of the Treaty, meaning not so much focused on the words exactly, but the spirit of it.

Day 38: Walk of my Life

Sunday, 8/08/10

What a nice, sunny, beautiful day!!! Mahalo Ke Akua! What a day! It was the most I ever walked this weekend/this day. We headed off to Waiotapu first, but we quickly had to go to a place known as the Lady Knox Geyser. A place that was discovered by prison workers. When they washed their clothes in the hot spring, the soap reacted with the water and water erupted, sending their clothes up in the sky. This place erupts daily by a similar chemical like a soap to make it erupt. It erupts daily reaching up to 20 metres. Then we arrived at Waiotapu, thermal wonderland. Three different walks and we did all 3, supposedly it takes 75mins, we did it in an hour! Took lots of great pictures of the landscape and natural environment. Really cool! And at the end there was this huge lime green pool called the Devil’s Bath. It looked pretty nuts! The last place was Waimangu, volcanic valley. This walk was longer then Waiotapu! It took us about 3 hours. Also part of the walk was either the trail or the hike. Yea we did the hike! The sign at the start of the hike said that unfit people shouldn’t do this hike...referring to me! But somehow I managed! In the middle of our hike it started to rain! Saw nice views from the top. So it rained for half the time we was there. It was a long journey! I’ll just say take a look at the pictures! The most I ever walked/hiked!

Rotorua Pictures 1

Rotorua Pictures 2

Day 37: Rotorua

Saturday, 7/08/10

Woke up early and its raining! Ate breakfast, they always have complimentary breakfast. They used to have bread, but people used to eat half the loaf, so they just have cereal. My cocoa rice krispies was kinda hard. I don’t know why?! Got a complimentary shuttle to Hell’s Gate, Waiora Spa, our first activity of the day. Bought the Hell’s Gate Combo Package for $85NZD (Geothermal Reserve Walk, Mud Bath & Sulphur Spa). We began with the walk. A self guided walk through the geothermal area, lots of hot mud baths and sulphur. Really nice and cool scenary. Took pictures, so you guys can see! After that, we too a MUD BATH!!! Haha it was kinda weird and fun! Their mud was a different color, only could stay in there for 20mins. Rinsed off and headed to the sulphur spa, stayed there for about half and hour and just talked story with the Māori guys who were working. The land that Hell’s Gate is on, belongs to an iwi (tribe). Didn’t wanna stay in too long, plus it was getting crowded with the other people so we decided to shower and leave. Since, the shuttle didn’t leave till 12:30pm, we decided to go to the carving place and do a small carving activity. I choose a carving that represents strength. Left Hell’s Gate and headed back to Crash Palace.

Then we wanted to go Zorbing. It’s still been raining. So we asked for directions on how to get to this place. I’m pretty sure your wandering what it is? Is a big ball covering a smaller ball and you get to get inside and go down a hill. Yea, thats what I did! Caught the bus and it was pouring when we got there! Choke people there, watching and people coming down the hill. I paid $44NZD for this, I wanted to the water one where they put warm water inside and of course you have to wear something you don’t mind getting wet. Freezing cold in my surf shorts waiting for our transportation to come down. They came, went up and was anxious to go! When it was my turn, the guy already had everything set, just added the warm water and I dove in. He zippered the entrance/exit and prepared to push me down. So I am in there laying down. He pushes me and I am going down the zig zag path! HAHA having so much fun!!! Being pushed around inside with the water, it felt like a washing machine! It was sooo awesome! They should have something like this back at the Waterpark. Arrived at the bottom and the guy unzipped the ball and I jump out. It’s freezing cold!!! Pretty much get soaked in the ball. So I standing outside with the other people where we can watch them come down. I wait and watch as Kailee and and Logan come down. Freezing cold and it was pretty fun watching them roll down. Logan and Kailee paid to go on the jetboat, so we had to quickly dryup and change. Me, I neva thought to bring the towel that I stay using at the hostel. No worries, this Hawaiian is akamai. I used my undershirt to dry myself and just wear my jacket. Hahaha! Still pouring rain, so had to walk to the place where the jetboat is. Pretty far walk!

Finally arrived to the place and there is a whole bunch of other activities to do there as well. Logan and Kailee changes and preps for the jetboat. So they had to put on a jacket, helmet and glasses. The guy took them out and they were going on the water pathway for at least 5mins. Took some awesome professional pictures with their $600USD something camera. After that it was back to walking in the way, back to the Zorb place to catch the bus back. As soon as we arrived at the Zorb place, the bus came. Returned to Crash Palace and I headed to my room to drop my stuff off and take a nice warm shower again. Then get a text from Logan saying lots go to the jacuzzi. What?! I just took a shower again. So went for like 10mins and we was out. Took my 3rd shower of the day. Went to a bar to watch the All Blacks play against Australia. All Blacks 20-10!!! Since it’s been raining and if the weather doesn’t clear up, we were planning to move or cancel our walk tomorrow.

Day 36: Rushing to Rotorua

Friday, 6/08/10

So I didn’t really finish my paper last night. So I woke up around 9:00am to finish it. I needed to turn it in by 4:00pm, but my bus departs at 2:55pm. So worked on it and finished it in 3 hours. I hope I did it good and it was aurite. Printed it out, dropped it office at the office, went to the bookstore to buy my study guide and booked back to my room, it was 1pm. Came to my room and started to just grab and pack, didn’t wanna take to much cuz I knew I was going to come back with more stuff. Haha, thats why I try to pack light! That’s part of being a “backpacker”. Anyways, thought I might be late or what not, headed down to the pick up around 2:30ish pm. Didn’t eat breakfast or lunch, thought I go eat some sushi, but got one bento. ʻOno nō!!! Met up with Logan and Kailee at the bustop to wait for the Nakedbus. My fare was $13NZD for one way. Pretty good. Waiting and waiting, the bus didn’t come till almost 3:30pm. So late!!! Anyways, boarded and off to Rotorua!!!

Arrived in Rotorua around 4:45pm. It’s been raining for the past couple days. Got instructions to our hostel, Crash Palace. Rated pretty good. So I got my own room, paid $40NZD per night. Pretty cool place, the people there were cool. Checked it and told dinner is at 6:30pm. YUM!!! So we got quickly settled in and was out the door. We went to the Polynesian Spa! Haha, was pretty cool. Paid $40NZD something for a private spa for 30mins. So we had our own spa and a nice view of the area. Took some pictures. Then we was out, walk around the spa and there were CHOKE Japanese! HAHA lol. Headed back to the hostel and cuz I only brought shoes, I walk um barefeet. CHEE!!! Small lounge area with a pool table, a bunch of chairs and couches with a tv, a small dinning area and a small room with couple computers to go on the internet. A bunch of people around, cuz they traveling as well. Dinner was servered!!! Awesome, eat spagetthi!!! Was soo good, wished I ate more! Oh yea there is also 2 kitchens as well with cooking stuff and plates, stove, refrigerator and a hot jacuzzi. After that, went out to the town area to walk around. Been raining off and on lately. Came back to Crash Palace and played some Wi sports with Logan.

Day 35

Thursday, 5/08/10

Almost the weekend! Thursdays are my Fridays! Off to Kapa Haka class to practice more of our singing and dancing. Still haven’t got the words and moves down yet. Will do soon. Also remembered to bring my camera so I could record and practice. Left class 15 mins early so I could go eat lunch back at the cafeteria. After that, slept for a little bit and went to History class. Same story every Thursday. Haha.

Day 34

Wednesday, 4/08/10

Learned some new sentence structures in Māori class. Nōnawhea/Inawhea meaning when in the past, when someting happened in the past. Example, my birthday:

Nō te kotahi mano iwa rau tekau mā waru au i whānau mai ai.

I was born in 1989.

Somewhat close with Hawaiian:

I ka makahiki ʻumikūmāiwa kanakawalukūmāiwa au i hānau mai ai.

Then we also learned Ki taku mohio...offering opinons. Later, in tutorial, had to do my kōrero-ā-waha tuatahi, my first speech about our favorite food. So I talked about poi. Could really eat some right now with poke!!! So, I was nervous because I am going to talk Māori to everyone and pretty much they all Māori! So did my short introduction of my speech, then a little bit of genealogy, difference between the ones we all commonly eat and the ones straight from the loʻi and then about the loʻi at UHM. Ka pai!

Te Tiriti/Treaty tutorial at 2pm. Just going over the first assignment as well as just asking questions regarding the lectures and about Te Tiriti/Treaty. I really like this class. I like the discussions, because it makes me critically think about what Māori were trying to achieve as well as where Hawaiʻi was during those times.

Day 33

Tuesday, 3/08/10

Went a little more in depth of Te Tiriti and The Treaty along with the Declaration of Indepedance. How words were used and the meanings that it implied on both Māori and Pākehā society. In History, just went over the British worldview. In History tutorial, just went over the readings.

Day 32

Monday, 2/08/10

Went over the difference between “i te” meaning continous action and “i” meaning action completed or in the past). Also “i te” being an action and “kei te” being a location. We also learned to say who has something (Kei a wai) or who had something (I a wai). In History class, there was a guest speaker, Pania. A lecturer from the School of Māori and Pacific Development. She lectured about the Māori worldview and the differences between Te Tiriti and The Treaty. There is lots of information to keep in mind.

In Te Tiriti/ Treaty class, we went over the difference uses of terminology both the English translation of the Māori version, Te Tiriti and the English version of The Treaty. Majority of the signatures were on Te Tiriti. Also, the concept and useage of the words are totally different between Māori and Pākehā.

Day 31

Sunday, 1/08/10

Was so tired and exhausted from the Taupo trip. Started to get sick a little, sinus and everything. Pretty much just rested.