Traveling Home: Day Three

5/14/2014

The day began for me at 5:00 a.m. when I woke up feeling like my bladder was going to escape. At the exact same time my sister got up with the same problem. When I went to the bathroom down the hall I discovered a problem. It was in use. A few minutes later, out comes my dad. He had the same problem Morgan and I had. I guess our bladders were all on the same time.

Afterwards I went back to bed because I was still a little bit tired. But it was so difficult because back home it was 1:00 p.m.

I finally gave up on trying to sleep some more around 7:00 a.m. and decided to get up and see what everyone was doing. Jack and Caitlin were getting ready for school, and Jane and Andrew were getting ready for work. Their dog Buzz was running around like crazy, the usual for him.

Then, after everyone was ready, we made our way to our first adventure in New Zealand...

The Auckland War Memorial Museum.
When we arrived it was raining a little bit, and there was an abundance of rainbows everywhere.

This was actually a double rainbow, as you can see. All the rainbows began to remind me of the video on Facebook of the guy who freaked out over a double rainbow. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

This was a car parked next to us in the parking lot. I found it very interesting how small it was. But this was not unusual in New Zealand. Even their vans, or people movers, are smaller than our vans. 

The Amazing view from the front of the Museum.

Seagulls that were walking along the top of the fountain in front of the museum.

When I first saw the bird on the left I was wondering why he was only standing on one leg, but when I got closer I realized the bird only had one foot. 

Today we got to look into the history of New Zealand through the eyes of those who created the Auckland War Memorial Museum. It became a war memorial after WWI when New Zealand fought on the side of Britain, and suffered the most casualties per capita in comparison to every other country who fought in the world. As a result it was decided that there needed to be a place to honor all who were lost. On the top floor of the building there was a room lined with marble with names of the fallen etched into the walls. The tour guide told us that New Zealand decided to depart from their ties with Britain after WWII since they realized they could fend for themselves, and no longer believed Britain had their best interest in mind. 

We walked into the museum, bought our tickets, and then moved to the left to wait for our tour guide. With us was a Canadian couple and an Australian couple. the canadian women was middle age with dyed red hair that was almost magenta. Her husband was a tall lanky man, like her. He had long gray hair that covered his ears and touched the back of his neck. He walked around with his left arm crossed over his abdomen and tuckered under his right arm. His right hand was over his mouth like he was always deep in thought or looking very closely at something. Which he was. He knew a lot about the history, and asked our tour guide many questions about what we were learning. The Australian woman had short, straight, black hair. At first she did not talk much. But towards the end she warmed up to us, and began to share with us how much she was enjoying the tour. Her husband was average height, a little round bellied, gray haired, and his face looked like the face of a "stereotypical" british man. I'm really sorry, but I am not sure how else to describe him. Our tour guide was amazing. She was very passionate about trying to teach us the most she knew about the history of New Zealand. She also shared with us the heart kiwis have for remembering their fallen soldiers. I could see this as I looked at the walls around us. She told us about how here is where they remember their fallen soldiers on ANZAC day. ANZAC stood for Australian New Zealand Army Corps, and it was the troop that served together in WWI and WWII. ANZAC day is when they remember all soldiers who have fallen. 

This was the first thing our tour guide showed us. It is a visual of the Maori's belief on creation. Honestly, I found it to be really confusing and do not remember much. It kind of sounded like Greek Mythology.  There was a mother and father god. But the child of the two did not like the two being together. So the child split them, and put the father in the sky and the mother on the land, while the child remained in the space between. The evolution of man, plants, and animals came from a succession of gods and demi-gods. There was a Tane who created the first woman. Many deities were responsible for keeping things in order. Which I later learned this concept can still be observed in their culture today.

            The Maori are believed to be a Polynesian tribe. They were known for being great at sailing and navigating the seas. Before the Europeans arrived there were many Maori tribes sprawled out amongst the North and South Island. The Maori felt a connection with the land since it was what they lived off of.

These are some Maori creations made from Flax.

            When the Europeans arrived to New Zealand they brought weapons with them. One Maori chief saw this as an opportunity, and became friends with the Europeans. He was invited to visit the king, and did so. The king gave him many gifts. The chief sold the gifts and bought muskets. The Maori believed in violence to settle arguments. They also believed in eye for an eye, or revenge, but they were only fighting with wooden and stone weapons. The chief who had obtained the muskets wanted to get revenge on another tribe, and he did so using the muskets. But he got on a little bit of a power high and went on killing others as a result of seeing the damage the muskets brought. This made Maori tribes everywhere re-evaluate the motive of solving arguments since it caused so much damage now that the muskets have been introduced.

Another thing the Europeans introduced to the Maori was Christianity. The Maori were very spiritual beings so they took to Christianity very easily and quickly adopted it. So it probably is not so strange that there was a Maori outside of the mall area singing a Christian song that I knew. 

            At the Museum there was a figure of a woman named Kava from a Polynesian tribe of one of the islands. She became the matriarch of the island, instead of having a chief. When the settlers came they buried her because she was a symbol of power amongst women in a now patriarchal society. However, she was later found. The guide also made it a point to inform us that her husband was represented by a small volcanic rock structure. In a society where the norm was to have a male chief Kava emerged as a female leader. You can imagine how inspirational this was. The power of women became very interesting to me this year when I became a part of staff in Residential life. My supervisor was very adamant on women's equality, as well as equality for all. Her passion was very contagious, and I could not help but become persuaded to really engage in the topic. Thus this figure was very intriguing and inspiring because it represented a woman who achieved what many believe is not unachievable, but many obstacles must be conquered before being able to achieve such a task. It gives hope to know that even in the far past a woman was seen as equal to a man, and fit for leadership, even in the highest form. 

            There also was a Maori food storage house there. The door was really small so only children could fit in. This is because it is believed that children are the only ones pure enough to enter, and it also made it hard for attacking tribes to quickly steal food. 

In addition, to the food storage house there was a meetinghouse in which we could enter, but we had to first remove our shoes. 

This was so we could not bring anything into the sacred place. The meetinghouse was beautiful. There were carvings everywhere. 

The carvings had what looked like the head of men on top of them. Our guide told us the entire house was made to look like their god. There was a head on top that represented the head. The beams across the top going out to each side were the arms and fingers. The posts from the roof to the ground on the right and left side were the legs. The beam from the middle of the roof to the ground was the backbone. The woodcarvings spaced out from each other on the underside of the roof were the ribs. Finally, the door was the mouth, and the window was the eye. In addition, on the main figure atop the house if the man had one tongue sticking out it meant do not enter, but if he had two tongues going out to the sides of his head it meant anyone could enter.

The walls of the meetinghouse were woven patterns like this, as well as many other variations.

There was a woman there from a Maori tribe. She said Maori was her first language. She told us about how she loved her culture, and being able to come to the museum to teach others about it. She was dressed in traditional Maori wardrobe, and sang in Maori. I did not think that there were people still in this country who’s first language was Maori. I am very pleased to have been proven wrong. 

            There was a house at the Muesuem in which you could experience what it would be like to be in an earthquake and volcanic eruption. The islands of New Zealand were formed on fault lines, and contain many volcanoes. To live here means living with the idea that there could be a volcanic eruption or earthquake any day. This terrified me. A few years ago there was an earthquake in Christchurch that caused a lot of damage, and the fear caused form it is still very prominent today. You entered the house and sat down to watch a video. The video was a fake compilation of a new cast reporting on a volcano emerging in Mission Bay, the bay in Auckland. Then outside the fake window you see a volcano emerge and erupt. You could feel the floor below shake and the furniture move. It was terrifying. I could not imagine living here, and knowing this could happen at any time. Thankfully, it has not happened for a long time.

 A kiwi bird in the Museum. 

A few more kiwis. 

This is a Moa. It was believed to have inhabited New Zealand before the presence of humans. It is also believed that the Moa is an ancestor of the kiwi.

A cross in the section on European introduction to the country. 

The ceiling in the war memorial part of the museum.

This was at the center of the stain glass window on the ceiling. The propellers were to represent the air force. The rope ring to represent the navy. Finally, the machine guns were to represent the army.

Fire alarm at the Museum. Most of the fire alarms in the area were designed like this. It was so much much tempting than the lever-pulling mechanisms we have at home. I mean, come on, there is a finger pointing right to the button.

An old war plane.

A model of an old Maori boat. 

Maori carvings. 

Front of a waka. (a Maori war boat)

The back. The piece on the back had an umbilical cord that connected to the gods in the sky, which gave them protection in war.

This is a wardrobe in the museum that reminded me a lot of "Mocking Jay".

This was the bird that the Maori had. They released the bird when they thought they were close to land. If the bird came back they knew there was no land near by, but if it did not they knew they were close. 

I found this very humorous. Childhood playtime coming to life. The floor leading to the room about earthquakes and volcanoes on the islands was lava. Not literally thought, it was just a painting. If you couldn't tell. 

On one of the walls in the memorial hall in the museum was the name of a Dodd, J.L. Dodd. On another wall for those who died in another war that I could not hear the name of, there was a H.G. Dodd. It was breathtaking to see their names up there. I wondered if we were related, and what happened to them. It made me feel more connected to this land, and the meaning behind the building.

A map reoriented to put the U.S. on the right and New Zealand towards the center. 

A Bible from one of the soldiers.

    The New Testament

Our first encounters with the wetas.

The Gecko and the fly.

Cockroaches. 

            After the museum we went down to Mission Bay and had lunch. We went to a Dalmatian restaurant. I ordered a chicken caesar salad. It was delicious. When it came out it had a dollop of fluffy white stuff on it. I thought that it was some sort of dressing at first, then I thought that it was possibly sour cream or cream cheese, but then when I bit into it I realized it was a delicious poached egg. That was one of my first experiences of trying something that I was not sure if the outcome would be great, but I decided to do it anyway and the result was fantastic.

            Another thing I noticed about the salad was its incredible price. It was a lot more expensive than I am used to. When we went to leave we just got up and left. We did not throw anything away or tip. I felt incredibly rude. My sister and I piped up and asked my Dad and Uncle why we didn't tip. Then I learned that it was not rude at all here. In fact, the servers will not accept tips, but instead they will run after you to return your money if you leave it. The tip is actually included into the price, as well as the tax. So the full price of the salad was not just for the food, but also the tax and tip. This made me feel a little more at ease and a little less rude.

            Then we headed back to Aunt Ann’s house. My sister and I walked to a near by gas station to get some of the new candy we had discovered. 

On the way to the gas station we saw another double rainbow.

And this one landed on a house near Aunt Ann's house. 

While at the gas station I had to use the bathroom. The gas station bathroom was amazing. It was sparkling white and incredibly clean. One of the great things about this country is they have public bathrooms everywhere, and you can almost guarantee that the bathroom will be really clean. For someone with a stomach disorder this was very comforting. When I got out of the bathroom I discovered that my family had met us at the gas station, and were there to pick us up to head to Andrew and Jane’s for dinner. It was about 7:00 p.m.

            We got there and there were a lot of people there. Andrew, Jane, and their kids Jack and Caitlin, Sarah and her daughter Isobel, my dad’s cousin Barbara and her husband Alan, aunt Joan, aunt Ann, my dad, my grandmother, my uncle, my sister, and me. While waiting for dinner my Aunt Ann came over, and began to ask me about my faith. She asked me how I got into the church even though no one else in my family attends church. She asked me about my plans for youth ministry, and what Lee was like. She was very fascinated, and it appeared that she might have been holding back tears at one moment. I could tell the topic was very touching for her. It made me really happy to know that there was someone in my family who shared the same faith I have. It is a shame that she lives on the other side of the world, but I am blessed to have gotten to talk with her now. 

Before dinner Morgan and I joined a discussion with Andrew and Jane’s son Jack. Sarah and Barbara were also in on the conversation. Jack was upset about his education. He is fifteen and currently attending college (college is what they call their equivalent to our high school). He said that he does not feel he is learning everything he can where he is. He complained that he is being held back because he cannot pass the tests that are given to him. Sarah said that it makes sense; if you do not pass the test you do not know the information. But Jack rebutted saying that he knew the information, the test just did not ask it, instead the test focused more on his ability to fill in some blanks and not on what the actual answer was. He said the test tried too hard to confuse him. It was made more about reading than about the actual answer. For example, one question’s answer was based on a small sentence on the top of the page that he never read because he did not think it was relevant. It was obvious that he knew what he was talking about because he was able to explain everything he learned about the subject on a level that I could not even understand. He wanted an environment where he could learn more about what he was interested in. Barbara told Jack that college was not about learning something in particular, but more about learning how to learn. But that did not seem to calm Jack down that much. 

Then Jack moved on to his frustrations with University and his confusion as to what he should do. Barbara said that his generation had it hard because they have so much opportunity, and so many choices to choose from, and that is what makes it very confusing. However, she added that if you change your mind it is okay, and you just move to the next adventure. It made sense that this was her philosophy. Barabara and her sister Deborah have changed their careers many times, and never regretted their decision. But Barabara said when she first started out in the work force things were not so free, and the choices were slim. 

 Jack moved on to talking with Sarah about her work in Africa. Sarah discussed how there was a plant that was introduced to the part of Africa she was working in, and it was taking over. Her job, with other biologists, was to find a natural enemy for the plant and introduce it hoping it would stop the plant's take over. Jack asked if this was dangerous, and I shared the same concern, but Sarah insured that they had to jump through many hoops that would keep them from just introducing anything they wanted. Jack joked that you could never do something like that in New Zealand because, “America says ‘absolutely no terrorists’, but New Zealand says ‘absolutely no plants’”. I found his comment to be very amusing and humorous. But that is just who Jack is. Very intelligent, passionate, concerned, loving, caring, and humorous. I really wish I had gotten to know Jack more. 

The more I interacted with my family the more I realized that family is really valued in this country. People kept saying over and over again how great it was to see each other, even those who saw each other almost every day. There was a familial love that was present that I had never experienced before. It was similar to our sense of family in America, but stronger. Not only did they recognize far removed cousins as family, but also they invited them over for dinner often and knew all about their lives. At one point I was talking with Aunt Ann again. She turned to me smiling from ear to ear, and then told me about how happy she was to see all of the family together.

There were snacks out to hold us over until dinner, and many drinks to choose from. We did not actually eat dinner until around 9:00p.m. By that time my sister and I were exhausted, and scared we would fall asleep during dinner. But we made it through.

            Once again I was amazed by dinner. We ate a sweet potato called kumara that was delicious. It was one of the main vegetables the Maori lived off of for a while, and then introduced to the Europeans. It really displayed how both the Maori and the Kiwis really came together as one culture.

 At dinner we got on another discussion about American politics. They asked us about Obamacare, what it is, and its progressions. I felt like it was less of us informing them, and more of them informing us. At one point Jane related the situation back to Hilary Clinton. She stated that back when Clinton was president Hilary was working towards affordable healthcare but had to stand down because people started mocking her and calling her “lady president”. This was something that I did not know about.

Reflections:

            

It was inspirational to hear how adaptable the Maori were. When they saw something needed fixing they did not stick to tradition, but rather move to a new wind whilst still staying true to who they are. It especially amazed me when I learned about how they saw that their current way of settling things was too brutal so they changed it. I wish that the world would see things that way. That we could all look at how much blood is being spilt over our arguments, and try to come up with a new solution.

However, I am still curious to see how Christianity was morphed into the lives of the Maori. Especially since they had previously believed in many gods and guardians, much like the ancient Greeks did. In fact their story of creation sounded very similar to a few I had read about in Western Culture.

            The figure of Kava was really great. Recently I have had a passion for equality because with my experience in Residential Life and Housing at Lee I have come into contact with many who share the same passion. In addition, I have seen first hand the harm that inequality has done. To hear of a society in the past where a woman was seen as the leader was inspiring. However, I later discovered that Maori tribes since then have switched to only males being chiefs because they saw the women as too precious to sacrifice if there was ever a threat on the grounds they were living on. In fact, the houses had escape tunnels for the women and children to run through if the tribe was ever under attack. But it was still inspirational to know that a woman once served as leader, even while her husband was still alive. They knew this because he was depicted with her, sculpted out of a small volcanic rock.

            I know the egg of the salad probably seemed like nothing, but for me it was a monumental moment that showed me this trip was going to be a growing experience. I am not one to go outside my comfort zone very easily. Sure, I will go places I have never been before, but I will immediately start looking for things that are familiar, and never completely submerge myself into something knew. My instincts told me to toss away the white fluffy thing, and never look back. But I knew that would not be completely experiencing the culture. Instead, I took a bite out of it, and was pleasantly surprised. It was my first step towards growing comfortable in a place where I was definitely not comfortable, at least not in the sense that I had always known.

            The non-tipping scenario was hard for me. I did not understand why we would leave our mess behind and not tip. I thought that we were being the “typical rude American”. But instead, we were doing what the culture asked of us. At first I did not understand the concept, and frankly I did not think that it was smart. But looking back I realized I actually like it. This way when I look at the price I know exactly what I am paying, and no matter what happens the server gets paid what they deserve instead of having customers rip them off. It makes me wish we had this kind of system in America, or “the states” as Kiwis call it.

            After Mission Bay we went back to my Aunt Ann’s so we could see her daughter, Sarah and Sarah’s daughter, Isobel.  When I was young Sarah moved to the states for a few years. She lived with my family for a little while, and then found her own place. I loved having her over, and she was a lot of fun. She was the one person I knew the most in New Zealand. But now she’s living in Africa because that is the next place her job, a biologist, has taken her. She now has a husband, son, and daughter. Her son, Cameron could not come because he had come last time they visited, and taken too much time off of school. I was very happy to see the two of them. This was my first time seeing Isobel.

            Since Sarah was there, and it had been 24 years since my dad was here last, everyone began to talk about all of the Dodd cousins. They started talking about my dad’s cousin Phillip, Mervyn and Ann’s oldest son, and his son Simon. Simon now lives in Christ Church, and is studying theatre. He hopes to one day move to New York and act there. While on the subject of Simon they discussed how they would never want to live in Christ Church since the earthquake. This was kind of shocking to me. You could hear the fear in their voices even though it had been so long. But that’s the thing about tragedies they are never forgotten.

             The conversation with Jack about school was very interesting. His frustrations sounded very familiar. It sounded a lot like my experience with high school; only he was studying subjects far more advanced than I was at his age. The conversation made me realize that even though he lived in a culture different from mine, we could both still relate to each other.

            Jack’s comment on New Zealand’s strict policy against introducing foreign species to their country was very intriguing. It made me wonder what our country would be like if we were that strict. It also made me wonder what terrorism is like in New Zealand. Do they fear it? I learned that just as New Zealand is very strict against plants, they are also strict against weapons. Thankfully, they have not had many dealings with terrorism. I guess that is an added benefit to being a small country spread across two islands on the bottom half of the world.

Some diapers, or nappies, from the gas station we went to.

Morgan decided to braid my hair. They laughed because they did not need a hair tie to keep the braid together.

Our meal at Andrew and Jane's.

Pavlova for dessert. It was not my favorite. It had a sugary crust that tasted like the outer edge of a crystalized easter egg I had when I was younger.

Today was a great start. 

Andrew and Jane's house that we stayed in.