I’m already in my 3rd week of classes here! I’m really enjoying everything so far – I feel very happy and fulfilled here.
The first week after I returned from tramping was orientation week. On Monday, there was an orientation for international students in the morning, which was mostly information I already knew. In the afternoon we had an amazing race around campus, in which our team had to go from one building on campus to another, and at each station a clue for where the next building was would be given to our team. We lost phenomenally.
On Tuesday, I had an appointment to register for my classes in person. I’m not quite sure why they wanted everyone to show up in person – I had already indicated what classes I wanted to take online. Maybe they just wanted to make sure every international student at least was actually present. I am taking four classes: Introductory Te Reo Māori, Kapa Haka Performance, Māori and Indigenous Development, and Carbon and Environmental Change.
The rest of the week was pretty much free, so I took a couple trips with people – we went to an indoor market and a couple hikes that were very pretty. It’s been pretty easy to make friends here – the housing complex I’m in is mostly international students, so everyone is kind of in the same boat and wants to meet new people and explore the same areas.
We went to the Riverside Market for lunch because it was raining a lot that day!
We hiked the Harry Ell Walkway – it was pretty windy but the views were incredible. These are the port hills – the hills that surround the plains Christchurch is located on. It took us about an hour with the bus to get there.
A day later, we hiked the Bridle Path and went to Lyttelton, which is a little harbor town.
I have my own room, and there are 5 people total in my apartment. We share a kitchen and dining room space, as well as a room with a shower and a separate one with a toilet. All of my housemates are very nice, and two of them, Kate (from Minnesota) and Fiona (from Denmark), I’m good friends with. On Valentine’s Day, Kate and I teamed up and made ~170 gyoza (dumplings) while watching Heartstopper. It took us around 6 hours, and we put the dumplings in the freezer so we would have easy lunches.
On February 20th I started classes, which I’ve really enjoyed so far!
The Te Reo class is a language class, where I am learning the basics of the Māori language. I am taking this class because I want the challenge of learning a new language in a classroom setting, which I’ve never done. As I am getting more involved with Indigenous issues, I am realizing how important the languages are to the cultures. Language repression is a major tool of colonization, and colonizers have forbidden and thereby endangered countless Indigenous languages. In 1867, it was mandated in New Zealand that English be used in schools in New Zealand, and Māori children where often physically punished for speaking their language. Only in 1987 was Te Reo made an official language in New Zealand, and there has been a lot of effort put into language revitalization over the past few decades. Te Reo is now everywhere in New Zealand, and many people (even non-Māoris) learn at least the basics in school. In the United States, many Indigenous languages are still in the critical stages of regrowth, and any resources towards language learners should go towards people of that tribe – if I were to be a part of a class, I would be taking away resources from someone else who should be learning that language. Here, that is not a problem, as there are many resources freely available, and it is not uncommon for Pākehā (white people of European descent) to learn Te Reo.
During the first class, we went around and introduced ourselves and said why we were taking this class. Around two thirds of the class are Māori and are taking the class to learn their language or begin the process of reconnecting with their culture. The other third is people who are majoring in linguistics, or want to work in social services and think it’s important to know Te Reo so they can better serve the Māori population. I think there is one other person who is studying abroad and taking the class.
I learn languages relatively quickly, I think, and within the first week, I have started recognizing words in other contexts and have started to piece together the grammar of sentences. During our third class, we learned to hongi – this is the Māori greeting where you press your forehead and nose to the other person’s. When the professor said we would be introducing ourselves and doing that, I was a little nervous – I don’t usually put my face that close to stranger’s faces. However, it turned out to be a lot less awkward and uncomfortable than I was expecting!
The Kapa Haka class is a class in which the class will be learning a haka set and performing it. Here (link) is a video of the group that won the Te Matatini, the bi-annual nation-wide haka competition, in 2019, so you can get an idea of what it looks like. The first week, we didn’t have class because our professor was performing in this year’s competition. During our first class the second week, we got straight into learning a song we would be performing and started learning poi choreography to go along with it.
My Carbon and Environmental Change class is your typical environmental science class, with an urban focus. We started learning about urban soils right away, and I was generally familiar with the pollutants we were talking about – lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, mercury, arsenic… Of course, I am in New Zealand, so we talk about these pollutants the way they occur in New Zealand. For example, when I think of mercury, I usually think about high concentrations of mercury being a result of mining activities. In this class, however, I learned that in New Zealand, crematoriums are the main source of mercury pollution. Mercury used in an amalgam with gold in dental fillings, and when the dead are burned, the mercury is released into the air and then gets into the soil that way. In the second week, we also started talking about waste management, and took a trip to the local recycling center to learn a bit about how recycling works here and what things can be recycled and what cannot. The job of the woman who gave the presentation was to go look at recycling bins in neighborhoods and to educate the people if they had put things in there that aren’t recyclable. She said she’s seen everything from dirty diapers and rotting meat to used condoms and human ashes in the recycling bins. In other words, if you don’t already sort your trash properly (or rubbish, as they call it here), please do so!!
My last class, Māori and Indigenous Development, is also incredibly interesting. So far I have learned that 17.4% of New Zealand is Māori, and Māori are therefore a strong part of the economy. We’ve learned a little about the history of colonization and the sneaky ways in which the English claimed power in New Zealand. For example, the Māori signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, but they signed the poorly translated version, which allows the Crown rights to govern, whereas the English version states that the Māori relinquish all sovereignty to the crown.
I have also started going to capoeira classes here! The group is the same style as I was doing in Flagstaff as well as in Brazil, which I love – it’s a lot slower and less aggressive than the style I was doing in Santa Barbara. The very first class I went to, it was just me and the instructor, because everyone else was still getting back from their summer holidays. Another way of putting it: I met a random middle aged man by myself at a community center, and we happen to know all the same movements and songs. In the following weeks more people have joined – its always been a small class with a variety of levels, but I’ve enjoyed it every time.
I’ll end this post here; if I try to include everything I’ll never finish this post, but expect more in the near future!