Maori Welcoming

So, I have been busy over the last 24 hours or so.

Yesterday I went through a Maori powhiri, or welcoming ceremony. I have no idea how to spell anything in Maori, so I will continue in English. We (a group of about 50 international students or so) were officially welcomed into the Maori culture. You have to be presented to the meeting house and Maori who are already a part of that particular place, prove that you are friendly and not bringing harm, and then you (as well as the spirits of those whom you have left behind) are welcomed into the place. Go on and google it to learn more because that is perhaps one of the worst descriptions ever written. It was really very special, and it is a scared ceremony. I can now go there any time, within reason.

I also went on a pub crawl last night. We were with a fairly large group of mainly international students, and our student guides took us to some of the more popular pubs. Meredith (the other Rotary scholar), Claudia (a German law student), and I got seperated from the rest of the group at the second pub, so we made our own route. For those of you who have been here, we did go dancing at Shooters. We were seperated because we wanted our pictures taken with some Lions supporters dressed as the "Barmy Army," and then we stayed and talked with them so long that we missed the time to meet up with the rest of the group.

Today my host family took me on a drive of the New Zealand countryside. We drove up the west coast (so northwest out of Wellington) and stopped for lunch in a little rest area called Lindale. It is a little touristy, but very quaint. I had a delicious beef curry. We continued to drive up to their farm somewhere in the next province. They have about 12 acres, and they farm cattle. They used to have about 40 sheep or so, so they are real Kiwis. They want to build a big house up there sometime soon, but there are all kinds of issues with the building permits and such.

I had a good conversation with Anna about the NZ economy and how it has changed over the past 30 years or so. It's going to be interesting to study this kind of thing in school once that all starts. Very different from how our (America's) economy developed.

The weather is a little cooler today than it has been. It is downright chilly at night. Not so good for going out, but tonight is the big rugby match against the Lions. I will be watching it either in a pub or down on the screen in Courtney Place. I am interested to see how to city empties out when all of the Lions supporters are gone. I have not yet gotten to see how crowded it is on a normal basis.