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I had an amazing weekend. I can't even begin to describe it.

The Marae was breathtaking ... and ancient. The land around it was fairly untouched. By that, I mean the hills and forests were still hills and forests and not homes and shops. If it had been in the States, it would be full of tourists and vacation homes.

I think I should start from the beginning.

The night before, the group of us went out for a bit. It had been a rough week with the essays and we all needed a break and fun. Funnily enough, we didn't stay out too long because we were tired. Heh. There were about ten or fifteen of us, and we ended up splitting because some of us didn't bring our IDs with us and we didn't want to have to embarrass ourselves by being turned away from a crowded club. My group [which had two that were IDless ... including myself, heh] ended up just walking around the city some. We found the London Bar with live music and the claim of 100 beers... but when we went in, the bar tender just kept pointing to Steinlager... so maybe they have 100 bottles of one beer? Who knows.

We finally ended up walking through the drive-thru of a McDonald's and going home. Because we are *that* cool.

The next morning, we had to be downstairs and ready by 9. I don't think we left until about 9:30. Not much happened on the bus. We all slept some more.

There were some people from AUT and the Tourism and Hospitality Office there with us.

Owen was the leader and became a father figure for us all. He knew the history of everything that we passed.

Maki works with Owen at AUT and was our female guide. Anytime you want to enter a Marae, you need a woman with you for traditional reasons. She knew everything that Owen didn't.

Angela and Tarren work in the office with Maki and Owen, and are students.

Brenda and Willy are students in the Tourism and Hospitality school.


We stopped for lunch in Matamata, also known as Hobbiton [Lord of the Rings]. I didn't get any pictures of the sign, but I'll try to steal some from someone else's photoalbum [which will be done as soon as I can figure out how to get around my slow connection; I might have to go to the library and email the pictures to myself]. There was also a statue of Gollom/Smeagul. It was very ... interesting.

After lunch, we got back on the bus and made it to Rotorua, where we promptly went Zorbing. The pictures are up! It was so much fun. I think we all just laughed the whole way down. We tried standing up, but it didn't work. We were basically glued to the bottom of the thing. Also, we weren't allowed to do the zig-zag course; Rob figures it's because we would have gone over the edges with the combined weight. Either way, it was still a lot of fun going down the straight hill. The water was warm and the inside was steaming by the time we got to the bottom. I think we're going to do it again when it warms up.

After everyone had finished their runs, we had some time to spare, so we went across the street and did the gondala/luge up/down the hill. Well, some of us did. Others went and got more food. I went on the gondala/luge and it was so much fun! We had five rides down on the luge, but we only ended up using four due to time restraints. There were different tracks down the hill: scenic, intermediate, and advanced. I almost crashed on the scenic route, and almost tipped over a few times on the advanced track... but I also caught air on it. It was intense! On the advanced track, the first curve you go through gives you this breathtaking view of Lake Rotorua and Mokioia, the island in the middle of it.

Once we finished there, we finally get to the Marae. There was a funeral just finishing up, so we had to wait a bit to make sure it would still be okay for us to stay there. All the girls had to put on skirts to initally enter the Marae, so we did this during the delay. We got the okay and we follow Maki through the entrance; she and an elder woman from the Marae sang the traditional songs back and forth as we came in. Once we were all in the Marae, the women sat on one side and the men on the other. We were seated and then we went through the powhiri [poh-fear-ee {wh = f in Maori}] which is the welcoming ceremony. It was done in all Maori. We had learned a song on the bus and sang it at the end of the ceremony in thanks and as an applause of our speaker, Owen.

During the powhiri, though, this little girl [no older than two] kept running in and out; her father was a part of the group that was welcoming us. She was so cute and made it hard not to laugh during the ceremony.

Once that finished, we brought in mattress and pillows into the Marae and set up camp. Then we had dinner! We've gotten really good at assembly lines now. We'd start in the kitchen and pass plates out to the tables. The dinner was reallllly good. When we finished, we all helped do the dishes and clean up. Then, we went back to the hall and set up for bed. I'll have to find someone else's pictures of the hall when it was full of beds. A group of us played cards and then tried going to sleep, but we all kept laughing. Knowing it wasn't going to die down soon, I went outside for a walk and ended up laying down in the grass and star gazing [surprise, surprise].

This was the first time since I've been here that it's been a really clear night and that I've been out of the city enough to see something besides the brighter ones. I have never seen such blackness and so many stars in my life! You can see the Milky Way and two galaxies out here. I just sat and thought and absorbed the ancientness of it all. I tried to imagine what it would have been like two hundred years ago, before European contact. It was really a stilling experience. The lake is maybe fifty feet away [maybe more, I've never been good at estimating] and you can hear the waves crashing on the shore. When I got too cold, I went back inside and fell asleep.

That night, I had a dream. I know, it sounds corny. But I did. And it was really vivd. I had come back home to the States and Mom and Jimmy and some others had picked me up from the airport. I was really sad to be home; well, sad and happy. Happy to see everyone, but sad to be home. On the drive home, Mom was asking me about my stay and came upon my internship. I haven't started it yet, and so I didn't have an answer in my dream, so I knew the program wasn't over yet. I kept saying that I needed to come back, had to go back to finish the program and it was a happy, yet frantic, moment. I felt joy at the prospect of having another chance to come back. Finally, after I basically said I was going back regardless of anything, everyone consented and I woke up as I was just getting back to New Zealand because they decided to wake us up at that moment.

Later that day, during our tramp [hike] through the bush, I told this to Angela, and she told me it was a calling and that it was especially so since I had the dream at the Marae. She asked if I had any ancestors from New Zealand. I told her I didn't think I did, but anything is possible.

As a side note, ancestry is very important to the Maori. Among other things, it is how they settle land disputes; whoever can recite their geneaology back to the rightful landowner or first ancestor to occupy the land, gets the access to the land. Being able to recite one's geneaology back to a waka - or canoe [short story: the Maori believe they arrived here in a sort of mini-mass migration with seven major canoes leading the way; the tribes are based on which waka your family came in on; obviously, there are more than seven tribes, but most have their beginnings in them; other believe they were always here.] - is very highly regarded.

Anyway, back to the second day.

We had breakfast and helped clean up the kitchen again. After the dinner the first night, we are all considered a part of that whanau [faw-no] or family, and as such, we're all expected to help out. With twenty plus people, it goes by in about fifteen minutes. Anyway, so after breakfast we ride to the other side of the lake and hop in a boat and go to the hot pools. If any of you have ever been to a natural hot spring, then you'll know how gross they smell because of the sulfur... for those of you who haven't been ... think of many dozens of rotting eggs. It smelled horrendous... but it was cold and the water was hot, so most of us got in anyway. After a while, you kind of get used to the smell. Sort of.

We all ended up jumping in the freezing lake, too. Well. It wasn't freezing ... there was no ice on it ... but it was definitely a lot colder than the hot pools. I jumped in once and then went down, or rather, was pushed down a slide at the end of the dock. After that, I stayed in the warmwarmlovely water that smelled. The water was cold enough to take your breath away once you were in it.

After that, we went to town and wandered for a while. We were going to go to a Polynesian festival, but it was just an auditorium of people and not tents and crafts like we thought. Instead, we went to the Gypsy’s and Traveller’s show, which did have crafts. We all bought a little something here and there.

After that, we went through this park that had mud pits and was a “thermal area.” I asked if anyone else was as concerned as I was that what we were marvelling was due to the volcanic activity below our feet and they all just kind of looked at me and didn’t say anything, as if by saying it out loud, I was calling upon the Volcano Gods to open the very earth we were standing on and to start spewing lava. I didn’t bring it up again. I got a few pictures of that, and a movie or two. Those are posted on the website by now. Well, maybe not the videos. Those will take a bit longer to get up, so I’ll do them later.

By that time, we needed to get back to the bus, so we head back to the Marae and have a snack. After that, we went for our tramp through the bush. Maki gave those who wanted to listen a lesson of the land and plants and what you can use medicinally and what you cannot eat and that sort of thing. Unfortunately, while I would have enjoyed that, I was walking with Angela, examining the spirituality of the land.

By the time everyone got back from the tramp, dinner was ready and then we had some reflection time with the whole group. We went around the circle and talked about how this trip had been different than what we thought or what it meant to us. It got emotional and at the end we kind of had a talent show. Kali sang a song she’s writing… and then I showcased some group members’ talents of animal noises with a very strange rendition of Old McDonald. This farmer had sheep, turkeys, howler monkeys, ducks, and elephants. It was a good laugh to break the emotional build up from the group’s talk.

After that, Tanya, Rob, Thea, and I went for a walk down the beach and just had some quiet time to ourselves. I saw no less than five shooting stars! I tried to wish for something on each one, but it got to the point where I had to close my eyes until I thought of something, lest I see yet another one before I’d made this wish.

The only thing was that the moon wasn’t out – and I kept thinking about how, even if I did see the moon, it wouldn’t necessarily be the same moon you all are looking at. There’s a different sky down here… and although we don’t see a different side of the moon [I don’t think…], it’s lit up differently. When it waxes and wanes, it comes from the bottom, and not the sides.

At any rate, I would have stayed on the beach if they hadn’t dragged me back to the Marae.

I didn’t have a dream that night, but Tanya did. Matthew has had this idea to open a kebab store here [I can’t tell you the name because it’s secret and it makes the whole thing perfect], and she dreamed he started it and that some of us were working there with him.

After breakfast and clean up, we left. It was kind of sad. We had a leaving ceremony and we all took some last pictures of everything. On the way home, we stopped at a jewellery store that was pretty inexpensive, so we all got souvenirs.

Finally, we get home. I think some people went out.

I rented a movie from the front desk and fell asleep for twelve hours.

Yesterday, I just studied for the exam I had today. Today, I went to class and had my exam. It went well. I blanked on a few phrases during the exam, but other than that, it wasn’t too bad.

Now, I’ve just been editing pictures and updating the blog. :D Have to keep all you at home happy and not worried that I’ve fallen off the face of the earth.

One day, I will be back. I don’t know when or in what capacity or for how long. It is certain that I am coming home to graduate. Beyond that, the world is my oyster.

It’s kind of funny, because a lot of towns in New Zealand like to make things out of sheet metal… one of these things that I saw was an oyster with the world in its mouth instead of a pearl.

And a giraffe. I saw a sheet metal giraffe… and an old school car cut in half being used for plants. They have strange things here.

Anyway! I need to get to bed; I have class in the morning!