Maori? I think so.

Our first full day in Auckland was met with rain, fog, and wind. Not much of a way to start off our time in a new country, especially New Zealand. There was a slight misunderstanding (and a mean a debacle) with what time the group was supposed to meet this morning. A good bit of us thought we were to meet around 7:30 however this wasn’t even close. Our plans for today had us hiking up Mt. Eden which is a volcano not far from here, however, with inclement was postponed or another day. Since we hadn’t set up our New Zealand phones there was no way really for anyone to get the word out about the change of plans. After wandering the halls for a few hours making sure we hadn’t been left we hear that we didn’t need to meet until 10! A few more hours of sleep would have been nice. We all headed over to the Maori War Museum and this time we were allowed in. I thought it was going to be another building to walk around looking at old cracked pieces of pottery, ships, and weapons. However, we were greeted by some native Maori people dressed in their traditional clothing and were led into a room. We were told that they would be performing some of their native chants and songs and teach us a little bit about their culture. It turned out to be an awesome experience and after hearing and watching the guys scream and beat their chests I wanted to run out of the room and punch someone. But I refrained. It was really interesting to learn some of the ways of the Maori people and the different weapons and chants that their warriors used. One of the most famous chant, the “Haka”, that might still be recognizable is done by the New Zealand All Blacks, rugby team made up of Maori men. They chant, scream, and make these ridiculous faces at the opposing team in order to intimidate them. After watch the performance of just 4 averaged sized men I can see how 13 of the most ginormous men yelling and beating themselves might have that affect on people. After watching the performance and learning a bit about the Maori culture, we headed out to find food. Hungry, yet again. Seeing that we have only been in town not even a day of course we knew our way around the city and how to get back to our apartments. About an hour later we decided that it was best to catch a cab even though we weren’t too far off! The rest of the day today is devoted to a nap and some reading of a casual book, nothing too exciting. As the Maori people would say,  “E haere ra”, or goodbye!

Maori War Museum

Maori natives