St. Martin's at Christchurch

ESOL teacher, Cate van Leuven, in her classroom

What I’ve noticed about Christchurch is the presence of different Asian cultures within the city. There are parts of the town where signs are in both Korean and English, for example. This is different than the other larger cities we visited. In a suburb of Christchurch, we had the chance to visit St. Martin’s primary school. I had been in contact with the principal, Rob Callaghan, before I left so I was most interested in visiting this school. This is the only school where there is an actual ESOL teacher on staff. I was very, very fortunate in my school visits because I was able to observe a bilingual/immersion Maori program, a school with 60% majority Pacific Island immigrants, and a smaller ESOL program for mostly Asian immigrants/visiting students.

St. Martin’s is a decile 9 school, from a higher socio-economic level than the schools I visited previously. The student population is approximately 540 and the principal is new on staff (11 weeks in!). He is very enthusiastic and really has a vision for the school.

I don’t remember if I mentioned previously how schools are organized in New Zealand. There are no districts, no counties. There is the Ministry of Education and then the schools. Schools are evaluated every 3 years by the Ministry and are independently run. The Board of Trustees that runs the primary school is comprised of the principal, 5-7 parents, and a staff member (also a student if at the secondary level). They make all hiring/firing decisions, decide on spending (the budget is handed down from the Ministry), and design curriculum. There are no national standards or standardized tests in New Zealand. There are very general curriculum guidelines that focus on skills rather than content knowledge and principals/teachers like it that way. They say they can focus on student-directed learning and inquiry education. There is a push to have standards that can be demonstrated through formative assessment, however.

My day at St. Martin’s began with a powhiri (traditional Maori welcome). It was the first the school had done for visitors. There is only a small percentage of Maori at this school (1-2%) and yet it was evident the ceremony was important to them. I got teary-eyed thinking it was my last time to be at a powhiri. We then had a tour of classrooms with the principal who cited all of the physical changes to the school that are planned. It reminded me of Bel Air a few years back. One thing not changing is the size of the staff room. Take a look at it Mr. Mitchell!

After the tour we had morning tea with the staff and then I had the chance to meet with Cate, ESOL. She had a tiny little square office where she pulled students out individually to work with her at her desk. She also used a room above the library to work with all the students as a group. She has between 15-20 ESOL students and meets with the lower ones for 30 minutes individually daily, and with the entire group for 30 minutes daily. The Ministry is just starting to produce materials and is providing additional funds. She mainly uses grammar books and works through the Reading Recovery series. Her students are from Japan, Korea, Europe and Latvia and some are only living in New Zealand temporarily for work. She also mentioned a trend of mothers coming from Korea for short periods of time with their children to learn English and then return home. It reminded me of parachute children on the west coast of the US in years past.

It was interesting to see universal challenges facing ESOL – space,, materials, transient student body – and to discuss different strategies. I hope to continue to build the relationship with Cate after my return to the US.

Today is the last day in New Zealand and aside from the ending seminar we will visit the Antarctic Center and an arts center before boarding the plane in the evening for China. I’ll write when I can!

Kaikoura - Whale Watching

Sunrise in Kaikoura

Breakfast on the beach. How often do you have the chance to do that? The beach in Kaikoura is nothing but rock, but that does not take away one bit from its beauty. Kaikoura is one of the few places in the world where the mountains begin right at the ocean. We’re talking mountains here with snow, not just high cliffs. The beauty is stunning, especially when you add an incredible sunrise. It kind of makes you want to get up in the morning! And yet, I was all alone on this incredible shoreline. Not one person passed me as I munched on my cheese scone – breathing it all in. Just me and the seagulls. :+)

Today was our whale watching excursion in Kaikoura. Mostly there are Giant Sperm whales, but there are also Orcas and Blue whales. We were warned to take the motion sickness medicine. Now, I’ve been whale watching many times in California – so I almost didn’t take anything. Glad I did! The waters are much, much rougher off the coast of New Zealand than California – and the tour company uses these speed boats which literally flew off the water from time to time. Needless to say,, we all were required to be in our seats indoors. When the crew did spot a whale, they would stop the boat and let us get up from our seats. I’m sure you can imagine – a boatload of people pushing and shoving to the three exits so they could secure a good viewing spot. Aside from that aspect of it, I had great time. We saw four whales (2 at one time once!) And each time we were able to see the tail of the whale as it dove down in the ocean. That part is always amazing to see.

We’re on our way now to Christchurch to have dinner with the principals of our last school visits. I’ve made contact with an ESOL teacher at St. Martin’s and I’m looking forward to the visit. I’ll write one more time from New Zealand and then hopefully you will hear from me in Mongolia!

Aquaculture

Nick King shows us mussel larvae.

What is a hatchery exactly? This morning at a convenience store I chatted with the cashier about our program for the day. When I got to the part about the hatchery, he asked, “Is that like in chickens?” Made me feel better that I hadn’t heard of the term either.

What I anticipated to be a long, dry hour discussing shellfish turned out to be really interesting. Just like in teaching – when the scientist is excited about his job, it becomes contagious. After an introduction to the fishing industry of New Zealand on an incredibly picturesque beach, we ventured into the lab areas. In the first, we saw how special algae are cultivated to feed the shellfish in the delicate larvae stages. The room looked like something out of Jurassic Park with floor to ceiling bags filled with algae fluid. We then were shown mussels in the larvae stage under a microscope. They were 1-2 weeks old and just starting to swim. Then, the mussels are put into these giant, pointed plastic test tube-looking things until they become spats. A spat is a shellfish that loses its swimming organ. Once this happens, they’re not so delicate and can eat algae that are grown in large outdoor pools. The water with the algae is pumped in and the water with the shellfish waste is pumped back out to grow the algae. There are hoses and tubes running all along the ceilings.

I hope most of you read this through to the end. Just my fascination with animal science coming out! The rest of the day was a long drive to Kaikoura where we saw a seal colony on the way. Tomorrow is a whale watching trip and a long drive to Christchurch – our final stop on the New Zealand adventure.

Cannon's Creek School Visit

Students deliver free fruit to classrooms

Five days left in NZ… Hard to believe! Today we visited a school just outside of Wellington. Cannon’s Creek Primary School is categorized as decile 1, meaning the students are from the lowest economic sector. There are 180 students and 9 teachers. One of the teachers who is also the assistant principal, Hazel Havill, hosted us in the absence of the principal.

Because we are further south and the temperature is colder, all of the students were in their shoes. There was also a hint of security at the school in that we had to sign in at the front office. There was a dental clinic and a nurse is on campus twice a week. The school was very colorful! There were murals on the exterior walls and the interior walls of the front office were plastered in photos of the children. The population of this school is very different than Selwyn Primary School in Rotorua. Nearly all of the students are Pasifika, meaning they emigrated from a Pacific Island nation and do not speak English as a first language. There are no ESOL teachers, however, the classroom teachers have received training, and the teaching assistants speak some of the languages as well to help with new-comers. Unlike Selwyn where the heritage language is used in instruction, the Pasifika languages are mainly utilized in the dances and songs that are taught. They had a part-time reading recovery teacher, but she only really works with 1st grade students. There is no money to fund a position to assist with struggling readers at other levels.

The students were very excited to have visitors and they asked many questions. They were surprised to hear that students get lunch at school and they wanted to know if I’ve met President Obama. At the end of our visit, the children performed dances and songs from the Pacific Islands in an assembly. While the performers were on the stage, the other students in the audience joined in with singing and dancing. The students turned out to be more famous than we realized! As we were leaving we were given a cd containing many songs sung by the students they had put together in very professional packaging. In addition, they handed us a children’s book written about their community that mentions their school. A very nice surprise.

The rest of the day was spent with government officials. We toured Parliament, which is called the beehive because of the shape of the building, and met with various officials from the Ministry of Education. Another very full day. Tomorrow we are off to the South Island! Three hours on a ferry crossing the Cook Strait – wish me luck!

North to South

Tory Channel

Hello from the South Island!

You may remember that the North Island is known as “the fish” because of its shape. The South Island is known as “the canoe” also because of its shape. The South Island is additionally referred to as “the land of the green stone waters”. Green stone (jade) jewelry is very popular in NZ and holds special meaning in Maori culture. Many amulets are carved for necklaces and each is worn for a special significance. It is said you never buy one for yourself – you must be given the one you wear. For more information on the meanings of the symbols, look at this site: http://boneart.co.nz/meanings.htm After spending three hours on the ferry crossing the Cook Strait, I can definitely understand the origin of this name for the South Island. I have never seen water such a deep green color.

The crossing wasn’t as rough or as cold as I expected it. Due to uncertainty about seasickness, I stayed on the top deck for the entire trip. The worst part was when we were in the clearing of the strait. While in the protection of the harbor or the channel the wind calmed down to make it bearable. In my opinion, the trip from the North Island to the South Island has the most beautiful scenery in the country. I couldn’t stop taking photos.

Our destination was Nelson where we will study the aquaculture (fisheries/hatcheries) tomorrow. Today however, we went to WOW – the World of Wearable Art museum. Now, you may be thinking wearable art means jewelry or a hairclip…maybe a hat. The pieces are head to toe ensembles that go well beyond a costume. The art often is not even made out of clothing materials and usually has symbolic meaning. For example, there was one piece that was made out of hanging dishes and was titled “China Doll”. There is truly no way to describe it – you need to see it for yourself. Go to http://www.wowcars.co.nz/ to see what it’s all about.

According to our tour guide George, many cities in New Zealand come up with something to set their city apart from others to attract tourism. We passed through a corrugated aluminum building town, one that is known for murals…Nelson is probably the most original of any!

Tongariro to Wellington

On the streets of Wellington!

Hello everyone!

Just a quick posting this morning from Wellington… Life is wonderful! We’re actually in the same hotel for 3 whole nights (longest stay so far!), it’s a beautiful hotel, and It’s my first free morning in 2 weeks! I’m pretty happy!

Yesterday we visited Tongariro National Park. This is one of the places where there are active volcanoes in NZ. This is a World Heritage Site for both physical wonder and cultural significance. The volcanoes are held as sacred by the Maori and there is a bit of conflict over the ski industry that operates there. The Maori view the mountain as a spiritual base for their connection with the land. We did go up to the ski area to be in the snow, but I wasn’t that comfortable with that. It was nice to be able to walk around on the volcano however. It has some recent eruption history and it’s activity is monitored quite closely today. I’m posting a slide show of some of the views. As I’m sure you’ve come to expect about New Zealand – they’re impressive.

My exploration of Wellington has been limited to last night and this morning, but it has quite the night life. As we were walking around at 6:30am, there were still bars open, taxis lined up, and people more than a little tipsy walking around. Today I plan to explore the city a little, do some shopping, and then we will visit the famous Te Papa museum. It has a wonderful collection of Maori articles and New Zealand information. Looking forward to it! Enjoy your Sunday – I know I will!

Waimangu Volcanic Valley

Fulbright group in Waimangu Volcanic Valley

How hot was the ground that you walked on today? Just below the surface, the ground in parts of Waimangu Volcanic Valley registered above 200˚F. Good thing my shoes have thick soles! :+)

The land around Rotorua is known for its geothermal activity. In fact, New Zealand has the world’s newest geothermal area thanks to the eruption of Tarawera volcano in 1886. Traditionally, the Maori have used this resource for cooking and heating, and today the geysers and steaming pools also attract tourists and provide electricity in homes. Around Rotorua there are Polynesian baths using the thermal pools, but I avoided them – the sulfur smell was a bit too much for me! We were able to see a pretty powerful geyser – Pohutu geyser – which made me think of the Yellowstone landmarks I’ve heard so much about.

At Waimangu, we hiked and took a boat ride to see the bubbling lakes, steaming rocks and fountain-like miniature craters flowing. At times I felt like I was in a theme park – it was unreal to see the water bubbling up in random places. Other times it was unnerving – seeing the steam pour out of mountain cliffs made you feel an eruption was imminent. Mind you, I don’t scare easily, seeing that I’m from the land of earthquakes in California. The color of the water in some of the lakes was a brilliant turquoise, but it was tough to see through the heavy puffs of steam rolling in slow motion along the surface. It was the one time I wished it wasn’t winter. (Most of the time we are glad because every place we travel isn’t crowded and that emptiness adds to the beauty.) We were able to see complete reflections of land and sky on some of the cooler lakes however, and that really takes your breath away. Even more amazing is the fact that some of the rock on these formations is 18,000 years old.

Tomorrow we will visit one of the active volcanoes in New Zealand – should be a blast (sorry, couldn’t resist!).

Selwyn Primary School

Principal Tony Pope gives us a tour

Life isn’t all fun and games. We are here for professional purposes after all! We had our first school visit today. Last night, we had dinner with our school principals and I had a wonderful conversation about methods used to close the Maori achievement gap in schools.

A few notes on schools in New Zealand. Schools go from years 0-13, zero being kindergarten and 13 being a transition year and first year of a bachelor’s program. Primary is usually 0-6, intermediate 7-8 and secondary 9 -13. Schools are assigned a decile according to economic levels 1-10, 10 being the highest. I visited Selwyn Primary School, which has a decile level of 2 with 512 students. The school has a majority of Maori students with a much smaller number of pākēha (white) and Pasifika students.

When we arrived, we were greeted with a performance from the children. The boys even did a haka for us, which is a traditional Maori show of strength. All children - Maori and pākēha - really seemed to enjoy this. After a tour of the school, we attended a staff tea break which lasts for about 30 minutes. During this daily time, all staff, aside from the 4 on duty watching the children in the play areas, have tea and a brief 10 minute meeting. We were then free to observe any classes we wanted. I observed a bilingual Maori/English class.

There were a couple striking differences between New Zealand schools and Bel Air. Every school in New Zealand has a dental clinic. The children’s teeth are checked yearly and fillings/extractions are done right at school. Many children don’t come to school with shoes on. The principal said it is not an economic factor. We saw many on our visit with no shoes on – even running in PE. Don’t forget, it’s winter here. There is no school lunch program, but there is a national initiative to provide students with free fruit to eat. When I asked one child, “What do you like best about your school?”, he responded that he liked getting fruit every day. There are no school buses. Students either walk to school, or are dropped off by car. Many students give up their lunch time to work on special projects such as gardening or woodshop.

The children all wanted to know about Michael Jackson’s funeral and said they were most looking forward to field day where they could play sports all day. Reminders to us that there are still those similarities.

SHEEP WORLD

SHEEP WORLD! Actually, it’s called the Agrodome and it started after the World’s Fair in Japan. The New Zealand venue was so popular at the World’s Fair that they made it into a permanent fixture in Japan and opened a second location in Rotorura. Apparently, visiting with sheep and other barnyard animals holds worldwide appeal. It’s not just me. :+)

To be honest, I was a little sad. The different kinds of sheep were all tethered on the sides of the stage when we got there. I guess I kind of expected the show sheep to be brought in from a barn or field or something. They should be frolicking in the sun with the rest of their mates (I’m picking up NZ lingo :+) !). We had a chance to get up close and personal with the sheep and lambs. The lambs were in a pen in the barn. They were adorable, but they tried to eat my scarf and jacket! In the show, we were introduced to the different types of sheep and watched two sheepdog demonstrations. Another sad part was watching the sheep get sheared. I’m sure he wasn’t hurt, but I didn’t like seeing the little guy tossed around. : ( I did get to be one of the volunteers who went on stage to bottle feed the lambs though. Even though the lambs stumbled around on unsure feet and gave shaky little bleats, they sure could grab onto the bottle for a drink!

On the farm tour, we got to pick kiwi fruit and taste kiwi fruit juice and kiwi fruit wine. (By the way, you always call it kiwi fruit – otherwise you are basically saying you are eating an endangered bird!) At certain points, we were able to get off the tractor and feed the sheep, alpaca, deer, and llamas. The llamas were a little zealous however, but it was all very fun… Until we got off the tractor and had to wash off our shoes from all the muck. Am I any closer to being a farm girl? Not yet, but I’ll always have Sheep World!

Waipoua Rainforest

Meeting a kiwi on the streets of Auckland

Kia ora!

The national symbol of New Zealand is the silver fern and you will soon understand why. Today I had the chance to go to a sub-tropical rainforest, which has been a dream of mine. In New Zealand, there are temperate and sub-tropical rainforests. The kiwi lives in a sub-tropical rainforest. It is difficult to see the kiwi for a few reasons. One, it is endangered; two, it is very shy; and three, it is a nocturnal bird. Sad to say, the only kiwi I saw today was a giant one on the streets of Auckland!

The rainforest was amazing. The tallest trees in Waipoua rainforest are the kauri trees which are related to the redwoods in the US. At one time, kauri trees covered 80% of North Island in NZ. Now kauri trees are only found on 5% of the land. We went to see the tallest kauri tree in New Zealand called Tane-mahuta. It is estimated to be 2,000 years old. Lower in the forest you can find tree ferns and silver ferns that give New Zealand its national symbol. Even though it had not rained prior to or during our visit, there was water dripping down from all of the branches. We could hear birds call, but had trouble locating them with all the growth. Our Maori bus driver, George, sang a love song in Maori at the base of Tane-mahuta so we could hear the echo of the forest and be reminded of the significance of the land for Maori people.

We also went to the Kauri museum where we learned all about kauri gum. The gum of the tree has had many uses: varnish, sealer, dental work, and cooking fuel - to name a few. The most-well known use is to turn it into a type of stone that is reminiscent of amber, but much lighter.
Tomorrow we head south – into the cold – but I don’t mind! Watch out Sheepworld, here I come! :+)

Russell and Maori language school

View of Bay of Islands from Russell

Today we were at the “tail of the fish” as they say in Maori culture. If you look at the north island of New Zealand it looks like an upside-down fish (or stingray) with the tail on the top, fins on the sides, and nose on the bottom.

In the morning, we took a ferry over to Russell which was the first capital of New Zealand – back when it was a main port for whalers. It used to be kind of like a wild western town, but now it is a resort area. Some of us hiked up this steep hill to get a look at all the islands in the Bay of Islands. I’m sorry to say I slowed my friends down a bit and almost gave up, but in the end I made it to the top with their encouragement. The view was spectacular.

Later in the day, we visited a Maori language immersion school, which is apparently not a usual occurrence. The school is called “Te Kura Kaupapa Maori” in Kaikohe and teaches around 150 children at both primary and secondary levels. We participated in the formal welcome ceremony (powhiri) which I explained earlier. Just as we were about to begin the ceremony, a parent and student arrived to enroll in school. They joined us in the ceremony since they had never been on school grounds before. Since they were also considered strangers to those at the school, they too need to be officially welcomed.

If you remember, part of the ceremony involves a speech where commonalities are found between visitor and host. I think this is the only powhiri in recent history that involved the mentioning of President Barack Obama and Michael Jackson. I’m not sure what the similarity was for Michael Jackson, but the speaker stated we were representatives of President Obama and they found hope in his presidency. This powhiri was different because of the presence of the upper grade children. As I sat studying the faces of the students I found myself smiling – they acted no differently than US students. Each time the students stood to sing after a speech, a group of boys were horsing around in the back, some girls in the front were whispering, and teachers were moving in among the lines separating students and pulling them to the side. Just like home.

We then took turns asking questions of each other – the Maori students and staff, and ourselves. We found out that the favorite subject to study was PE and that the students felt the best thing about their school was the individual help they got from the teachers. Some students wanted to be a rugby player, flight attendant, architect, chef, or basketball player, while others were uncertain about their futures. When it came to asking questions, the students were quite shy and not a single one would volunteer. We have 3 more school visits and it will be interesting to see the similarities/differences.

Don’t forget to ask questions and check previous blog entries! Write to you tomorrow from the forest!

Waitangi

Maori carving at Waitangi

I found myself being thankful that it is winter as I stood on a completely empty Ruakaka Beach earlier today. Even though the wind was blowing hard and we were in scarves and jackets, the view was amazing and the sun was shining. I think you’ll agree when you see the photos.

Today we went to Waitangi, which is the place where the treaty between England and the Maori was signed in 1840. It is basically the birth site of New Zealand. The treaty itself however is still being contested by some Maori tribes since there are two versions of the treaty and not all tribes signed the documents. These tribes are asking that land be returned to them.

We had a wonderful Maori guide who really took the time to explain the symbolism of the meeting house. The front of the meeting house has a “head” at the top which is usually the god of the house. The sides of the roof are the arms and the ends of the eaves are the fingers. The two pillars on the sides are the “legs” of the house. Inside, the main beam making up the roof line is the “spine” and all of the pillars making up the walls are the “ribs”. The window is the “eye” and the two main beams inside the house are the “heart”. In this particular house, each of the 28 Maori tribes carved their own pillar to represent their ancestor. In many of the carvings a tongue is sticking out – this is to represent their oral traditions. Also nearly all carvings exhibit silver eyes – this is to signify the owl and knowledge. In between the carvings are wall mats. Again, each of the Maori tribes designed their own mat to explain the environment in their tribal lands. For example, triangles could be used to identify mountains as a part of their landscape.

Tomorrow we will visit a Maori language immersion school. It is their first day back after winter break, so hopefully it won’t be too crazy for them. After that, we will meet with the tribal elders of Ngapuhi – the largest Maori tribe in Aotearoa – to discuss issues facing their people. We’ve been told this is a great honor and is not usually done.

If you haven’t checked the site in a while, be sure to click on the previous postings link since only the two most recent postings are displayed on the main page. Send warm thoughts my way!

Pacific Arts Center

Mama Teuke teaches me to weave

Kia Ora!

I’m writing this to you from the bus on the way to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, just north of Auckland. I just saw my first sheep! :+) It’s nice to be out of the city. Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand with 1.3 million people. We’ll be back there after this two day excursion.

Yesterday we had the chance to visit a suburb south of Auckland where we went to a market and visited the Pacific Arts Center. One thing that I don’t think some people realize is that New Zealand is actually part of Polynesia. It is one of the corners that form the Polynesian triangle (Easter Island, Hawaii, and New Zealand). Because of this, there is a strong presence of Polynesian culture in certain areas of New Zealand. In addition to Maori culture, there are a number of people from Samoa and other Pacific Island cultures. Approximately 25% of the population identifies itself as Maori or of Pacific Island heritage.

The best part about the center is that it was not a typical place for tourists. The center exists to educate the school children and community members of the area through hands-on activities. First, we learned about the hula and then had the chance to do the hula – you will see no photos of that! :+) We then learned about the traditional drums called pate and had a chance to play them. The drums are carved out of tree trunks of different sizes to create the different sounds. Each drum has a high sound “te” and a low sound “ta”. It was pretty fun – even though I messed up the rhythm a bit! We were served food from the Cook Islands such as rice with coconut and plantains, but the best part was the weaving lessons given by the “mamas”. The “mamas” are the elders of the community who pass down the culture to the next generation. First, we all made a rose by folding flax leaves (harakeke). Then, Mama Teuke sat by my side and worked me through the different weaving skills needed for making headbands and necklaces. She had her eye on every one of us to be sure we each had at least one completed product to take home. If she noticed one of us lacking, she would lift up a tangle of materials and swiftly transform it into a woven memory. She refused to take a break to eat despite the many calls of “Mama eat!” from the younger women. She always found one more amongst us in need of her talents. We truly did not want to leave when the time came. Mama Teuke placed her own shell necklace around my neck when I left and I promised to send her a copy of the photo we took together after I got home. I plan to send her something to thank her for her kindness, but this is one of those times you can never really show enough gratitude… Until next time!

Arrival in Auckland

Learning how to work a Maori drill

Have you ever had a day where you wished you could just skip over it? Let me tell you, it‘s really strange when you really do miss a whole day. We left Hawaii at 11:15pm Wednesday for our 9 hour flight to New Zealand. We arrived around 6 in the morning Friday. I guess that means Thursday, July 16th lasted about 2 hours. What did you do with your Thursday? I hope you made up for mine! :+)

First, I thought you should know the Maori (pronounced mawree) name for New Zealand is Aotearoa (pronounced ow- tay-ora) which means land of the long white cloud. We had the chance to participate in two ceremonies surrounding the traditional Maori meeting house. The meeting house is sacred (tapu) and there is a formal ceremony that occurs before entering. The ceremony is done so that the intentions of the visitor can be revealed and a connection can be made between the visitors and those in the meeting house. Making connections through ancestry is extremely important in Maori culture. All things animate or inanimate have a spirit that can be traced back through the generations to a god. Knowing where you come from is important to knowing who you are.

At the beginning, one of our coordinators, Mele, and a woman from the house exchanged a series of welcome calls. A male from the house gave a speech about their ancestors and the spirit of the house. The man and woman both sang a song (waiata) and then our bus driver, George, gave a speech about the connections we have to the Maori group, as well as stated our peaceful intentions. We then had to sing as a group – in Maori (Yes, Maori. Luckily we could look at our papers!). Finally we were welcomed in the house and had to do a formal greeting, the sharing of breath. The people in the house lined up in a receiving line and we had to shake hands and touch noses while giving the formal greeting “Tēna koe” to each person. You can then take off your shoes and enter.

Now, all of this is considered sacred, so I don’t have photos or a video to show you. The hone is particularly interesting…and challenging when you are like me. Fortunately, aside from a slight forehead smack with a Maori elder, I don’t have any embarrassing tales to tell – for now.

I’m posting a couple of photos of the meeting house and hands on activities we were also able to do at the museum! Until the next adventure!

Pre-Departure Orientation

Mayor of Honolulu

I know some of you cannot imagine a group of people wanting to spend an entire day indoors listening to presentations while in Hawaii – in the summer - but… let’s just say they exist. Tuesday was all about Mongolia. We were starved for information since Mongolia isn’t exactly in the news so often. Most of what I learned I’ll mention later – in the context of an experience - but I do want to share a few surprises about the language. The director of the American Center for Mongolian Studies in Mongolia, Charles Krusekopf explained that Mongolian has many influences from Turkish, Russian, and Chinese. For example, the language is written in Cyrillic when in print, and also has a script form which is reminiscent of Asian languages. Many Mongolian words are derived from Turkish, but the language itself is in the same family as – you ready? – Hungarian. I actually might be able to understand some words! I haven’t discovered any in the few I’ve encountered so far, but I will certainly be listening for them. Who knew – I should have brushed up on the Hungarian…

We were also informed of correct pronunciation of some common words. For example, ger is “gair” - Genghis Khan is “Chinggis Khan” and Ulaanbaatar is “oo-lawn-baw-ter” (think of daughter with a “b”).

Well, today is all about New Zealand and we will meet the mayor of Honolulu! Then, we’re off to New Zealand tonight. Expect the next posting over the weekend. Oh, good news about Sheep World by the way. We also get to have the Working Farm Tour which has hands-on experience with “animals of all descriptions”. Can’t wait! :+)

Arrival in Hawaii

On Waikiki Beach

Even though the point of the blog is to involve you in the cultures of New Zealand and Mongolia, I thought I would make a few postings about the pre-departure orientation in Hawaii. Of the original 16 teachers selected for this program, there are now only 14. A quick-packing alternate with 2 week's notice brings our number up to 15. We are from all over the country (although Minnesota seems to have the monopoly!) with a range of teaching experience. The teachers all instruct at the elementary level and include classroom teachers and librarians, as well as music, art, gifted, and SPED specialists. We discovered that many of us have spent tiem in other countries (Japan especially), but no one has visited Mongolia and only one has been to New Zealand. Oh, and I'm sure not to starve - there are 4 vegetarians in the group! :+)

After leaving the house at 3:30am and "enjoying" two 6 hour flights, many of us could only think of one thing - the beach! We were not disappointed by Waikiki Beach, as you can see from the slide show. Our hosts are very kind and treated us to an 8 dish Chinese dinner where we met Dean Schultz of the School of Pacific and Asian Studies (Univ. of Hawaii). The next two days involve lectures on the history, culture, and language of both Mongolia and New Zealand. Aloha for now!