New Zealand shocks the world!

How about our boys humbling Italy Sunday at the World Cup in South Africa? They're calling it the biggest shock so far at the 2010 World Cup (and it's definitely NZ's best soccer result ever). Ranked 78th in the world, the New Zealand All Whites managed to hold Italy, the defending world champs! And we're happy to take the draw (1-1) in spite of the bad ref call that allowed Italy's penalty kick goal (whereas our goal was perfect). 

This is only NZ's second World Cup ever for soccer (we're a rugby nation) and there's only 25 professional players in the whole country. (Some of our boys are bankers by day, not making the $100,000 per week soccer salary the Italians manage, for example.) Well, the All Whites sure stole the headlines from the All Blacks today! The match was actually at 2-4am NZ time, so I set the alarm just in case we had an historic moment -- and we did! (nevermind I about knocked myself out in the dark, bashing my head on a wall corner on my way to the living room -- I bounced away and did another header on the opposite wall -- that knocked me flat!) Definitely hard to get back to sleep after that match . . . and the revelling continued all morning -- on the news, at work, on the streets. Fun day to be in New Zealand!

Sorry if you're not a soccer fan, but this is big! I suppose I should report other news, like it was over 60 today, on WINTER solstice (perhaps warmer than Homer's summer solstice, we'll see when they hit June 21st -- our day is almost over). I was outside on my lunch break, making a Father's Day call to my grandpa, sitting in the sun, gazing out at the harbor, jacket-less -- that's a new one for winter solstice.

Fantastic tapa cloth exhibit opened at Te Papa this week: PaperSkin. I participated in the blessing (staff only, before public opening of all exhibits) and went in for a curator talk on Samoan siapo -- interesting since we always had them hanging in our home growing up from my dad's peace corps days in Samoa. One fijian piece is almost 23 meters long and it's the first time it has been displayed since it's creation. The musical soundscape developed for the exhibit is pretty cool too. Other than that, I went planting native cabbage trees with a conservation group last weekend -- got to do some wetland planting too. I don't know how those little guys don't just float away . . .

Well, that's about it for the last couple weeks other than the highs and lows of being away from home . . . enjoyed a great skype chat with my Homer marimba band, Tamba Hadzi, after their performance at the Kenai River Festival. I'll spare them by not posting the snapshot I took! Here's a better one from last year's Seward Music Fest:

 

Miss you girls!

Matariki - Happy New Year!

 

The Māori new year began this morning with my 4am alarm to get me to the 5am train for the 5:45 beginning of festivities at Te Papa. A Matariki ceremony, staff breakfast and performances were all part of the 3-hour PARTY. I feel pretty honored to have been part of this this staff-only event . . . and what a brilliant morning it was!
  
Matariki is the name for the Pleiades star cluster (aka Seven Sisters), that signifies the Māori New Year, June 10 (and other seasonal celebrations worldwide). Coincidentally, the name is Subaru in Japanese and it's part of the constellation Taurus, so I'm clearly connected by my only two owned vehicles in life. Now you see why we started at 6am -- gotta see the stars for this one! 

The ceremony began with taonga pūoro (traditional instruments) and a procession around the Marae to bless the seven taonga (treasures) on display from collections. We then processed outside to the Pūwhara deck area where again pūoro (music: instruments & voice) introduced the karanga (call) and karakia (prayers). It was sure windy, but no rain and plenty of stars peeking through the clouds. Hearing the chants welcoming Matariki from the roof of Te Papa with a huge group of staff in the dark was pretty awesome. 

I work with Tracy (#2), Kylie (#4) and Jade (#5 from the left)

Kylie is my supervisor and Tracy is the boss - clearly here!

Sufficiently frozen (well, not the Alaskan) and wind-blown (Alaskan included), we processed back inside and were served an excellent breakfast. The acting CEO/Kaihautū (Māori leader) served us personally as part of the wait staff. A curator spoke about the seven taonga and then a wild party of staff performances (mostly karaoke) was kicked off and didn't end until 9am. From the new moon, to full sunshine illuminating a singer just as he broke into his grand finale of My Way, to a misty rain moving on to a glorious day, it was a New Year celebration full of signs and Haumanu (revival). Wish you could've been there!

 

Our staff waiata (singing group) closed the ceremony with Te Hokinga Mai, a popular song written to welcome the taonga home in 1986 after the Te Māori exhibition at the Met. Then, it was performed by the Pakipaki elementary school children (video below) -- we did much of the same choreography this morning. Matariki festivities continue until June 27 and we'll sing tomorrow at the powhiri (welcome) ceremony for the Kaumātua Kapa Haka (elders' performance).

Enjoy and Happy New Year!

Te Hokinga Mai - by Te Taite Cooper and Father Mariu

busking bagpipers and other distractions

I love this place. Though I frequently see a piper busking at the outdoor markets, yesterday one greeted the 5pm rush front & center at the entrance to Wellington station. Since I had a little extra time I got out the ghillies and did a highland gigue (okay, in my head), but it does put a nice cap on your day to be serenaded past Platform 9 3/4 and even find a seat on the Paraparaumu express. So yes, I did work on Memorial Day, but we get Queen's Birthday off next Monday, so there. Between pipers, platform 9 3/4 and royal holidays, it's no secret New Zealand's under the Crown. Oh, you can add castles to that list...

Castle Point day-trip wraps up today's blog (scroll down)

Things are going swimmingly in the new home. Fun first week of PT temp work at the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (I coordinate the South Island program for 1st-year resident doctors). Super nice staff and it brings home the bacon while I have fun at Te Papa the rest of the time. Here's me and my new Te Papa staff badge!

Yes, I'm still on my Te Papa dream boat. After a bit of time on the job, I'm realizing that in fact I really like being a volunteer. It takes the pressure off when I want to attend meetings and activities that are not closely related to my project, but quite valuable to me personally and my New Zealand experience. Here's a smattering of my distractions at my personal "school of Te Papa":

• staff Waiata every Thursday afternoon on the Marae (meeting place) where a new Maori song and dance is taught every week
• Maori language classes -- one hour/week "term" class or just hour shots of a topic: pronunciation, using Te Reo in business correspondence, and others . . .
• public events like the upcoming Matariki festival (Maori new year) -- including staff only breakfast and performances at 6am on the 10th!
• back-of-house tours, library access (and of course, my own swipe key + badge)
• but most of all, getting to work with the National Services Te Paerangi staff -- they do an amazing amount for the museum community of NZ and iwi. Not only do they have forward-looking programmes like an alternative to accreditation and models for a bicultural workplace, but just a really collegial atmosphere where I feel accepted and valued for my contribution (iwi taonga database project, if you missed that post)

Getting to know the whole institution is very valuable to me, especially working with a big multicultural staff. I'm taking notes for the potential Peace Corps Country Director position (next January) when I would manage a staff of country nationals as well as a few Americans. Te Papa does a lot right. And if the next thing is back in Alaska museums, I've got a ton of ideas to share! 

So, besides distractions at work, I have been out playing lately too. Liew, my Malaysian friend you'll remember from South Island journeys, stopped by last week to say goodbye before heading home (she travelled NZ for 3 months). We took a day trip out to Castle Point in the Waiararapa. Zigzagged across the Rimutaka Range on Route 2 northeast of Wellington and drove through the Wairarapa -- sheep and wine country. 

look closely (click) -- it's all sheep!

On our way out we sampled and drooled over Schoc Chocolate's spicey wonders (I came home with a bar of lime-chili chocolate) and on the way back, made a stop at the Martinborough wine centre, home of New Zealand's finest pinot noirs (got the necessary bottle to go with the chocolate). 

Castlepoint is a long fossil-encrusted limestone reef with 162m high castle rock at one end and a lighthouse at the other. Liew and I braved the cliffs and were almost punished on our alternate route back with a push off the edge from the gusts. 

Having survived the day, we celebrated our existence and had a farewell dinner at a funky lounge in Carterton on the way home and Liew took off the next day. She's been a fun travel bud and I love it that I've carried a few friends with me to different places (Liew, Alex, Cat, Leeann). Speaking of those harbour-dwellers, Cat picked us up for a jaunt to the market saturday + a new one with heaps of samples! She brought a british lady who'd washed up in Mana Harbour, sailing around the world for eight years (including 3 stops in Sitka). She was just waiting for a good northerly to take her to Hawaii. Good company on a Saturday morning! Well, we've come full british circle now, so I'll quit.