P.S. On getting here...

Air New Zealand is known for their wonderful in flight safety videos and this year was no exception, Air New Zealand Safety Defenders, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji65WI5QLZI

For those of you who do not know, the All Blacks are the beloved NZ Rugby Team and hence the nice connection with the Men in Black ; )

Kia Ora! They're Here! Beautiful day out!

We are so excited to have our students here with us. Just one flight at the end missed because of not enough time to clear customs, but all arrived together safely on the next flight out just an hour later.

Making our way up to look out over Christchurch and the Pacific Ocean that our students just flew over over night.

First JC Penney Pose

View out over Lyttelton Harbor (Pacific Ocean is waaay out in the distance beyond the hills)

Love that the weather reports include number of layers recommended

 AND, the weather gods put on a show of beautiful sunny weather.

Happy Birthday Emma!  Sorry that the Date Line skipped over your day in flight.

Ice cream!

Yep, there are indeed 14 million sheep and only one million people on the South Island

The Annex where our students will stay on campus

 
Perfect for our first outing - a short walk in the Port Hills followed by some yummy ice cream and getting settled into the dorms for a good night's sleep.  Hope it was a good belated Birthday Emma! m&m : )

Kia Ora! They're Here! Beautiful day out!

We are so excited to have our students here with us. Just one flight at the end missed because of not enough time to clear customs, but all arrived together safely on the next flight out just an hour later.

Making our way up to look out over Christchurch and the Pacific Ocean that our students just flew over over night.

First JC Penney Pose

View out over Lyttelton Harbor (Pacific Ocean is waaay out in the distance beyond the hills)

Love that the weather reports include number of layers recommended

 AND, the weather gods put on a show of beautiful sunny weather.

Happy Birthday Emma!  Sorry that the Date Line skipped over your day in flight.

Ice cream!

Yep, there are indeed 14 million sheep and only one million people on the South Island

The Annex where our students will stay on campus

 
Perfect for our first outing - a short walk in the Port Hills followed by some yummy ice cream and getting settled into the dorms for a good night's sleep.  Hope it was a good belated Birthday Emma! Sweet dreams of fluffy sheep everyone, m&m : )

Happy 10th Birthday LET!

Lincoln Envirotown Trust is 10 years old!  A great big Happy Birthday shout out to Sue Jarvis and all the folks at LET for great work!  We were excited to be in Lincoln, NZ for this special milestone as we had been actively involved with this group when we lived here in 2007/2008 and have continued to be a part of their activities each year when we visit.  Never underestimate what the power of a few dedicated and like-minded folks can indeed do!  It has been fun to both be a part of and watch this environmental group grow over the years, and we are excited that our students will get to be a part of a planting at the Mahoe with them this coming Sunday. - Meryl : )

UF Students World Famous in Lincoln (Mahoe Reserve Planting this Sunday)

Each year our UF students help with a planting day at the Mahoe Reserve in Lincoln.  The newspaper already has a picture of a previous class inviting folks to come out and meet this year's class!  Weather calls for an exceptionally pretty day and should be good fun getting to know one another and our native plants.  - m : )

Translate This! We are getting excited to see you soon...

View over the Canterbury Plains from plane as we approach Christchurch Airport

Kia Ora, You might consider us like oldies, but we are going to kick off our jandals, throw on our jumpers, grab our not-so-much-anymore anklebiters, and show you a really great time (as we would our cuz)  through the wop-wops of Aotearoa.  We’ll even let you use our loo and serve you up some pav and a cuppa when you arrive.  Sweet As!  Study up on a wee bit of Kiwi slang, safe travels, and see ya soon mates! – m&m&j&t : )

Anklebiter - toddler, small child


Aotearoa - Maori name for New Zealand meaning land of the long white cloud


Chips - deep fried slices of potato but much thicker than a French fry


Cuppa - cup of tea, as in cuppa tea
(Tea Time!  Wa-hoo!)

Cuz - cousin, family


G'day - universal kiwi greeting, also spelled gidday


Good on ya, mate! - congratulations, well done, proud of someone


Good as gold - feeling good, not a problem, yes
 


Jandal - thongs, sandals,flip-flops

Jumper - sweater, jersey


Kia Ora – Maori general informal greeting of hello

L&P - Fizzy soda water


Lift - elevator


Lolly - candy


Loo - bathroom, toilet


Mate - friend

Oldies - parents


Pav - pavlova, dessert usually topped with kiwifruit and cream


Rattle your dags - hurry up, get moving

Ring - to telephone somebody, as in "I'll give you a ring"


Rubbish - garbage, trash


Serviette - paper napkin


Sweet As – what you are saying is good by me


Ta - thanks


Take-aways - food to be taken away and eaten, fast food outlet
 

Togs - swimsuit, bathing costume 


Wop-wops – situated off the beaten track, out of the way location

Poi-E, A Kiwi Classic

 In New Zealand, the Maori culture is deeply integrated within the Kiwi culture.  Throughout New Zealand, you will find both English and Maori signs, and even the government run television here has a dedicated station just for Maori programming.  While there have been struggles between the Pakeha (non-Maori) and Maori (just as in the United States between whites and other ethnic groups such as Native Americans, and African Americans), and the Maori struggle to help their youth retain their culture, the Kiwis seem to have done a decent job of trying to be inclusive and promote the Maori culture throughout the country.  Poi-E is a classic Kiwi song that became a hit in the early 1980s. What is significant about this song, is that it is viewed as part of what helped kick start renewed interest for the Maori youth in their roots. There is a new movie out about it as well.  Poi balls were originally used by men and women alike to strengthen wrist muscles for battle.  Today they are used by girls and women in traditional Maori performance dances.  I can show you how to make some if you like.

-Meryl

Just a followup Fun With Flags...

The referendum yielded a "stick with the old" flag majority vote.

Almost time... : )

Just a before picture from in Florida this Spring.  Getting excited that our adventures together this summer/winter are about to begin!  Happy Packing! - Meryl : )

Kiwi Trivia #1

Which is the official New Zealand Flag:

 

The flag referendum is Prime Minister John Key’s pet project and is to be decided by postal vote referendum by the end of this month (voting started March 2^nd and goes through the 24^th)!  The decision is between B and D above.

The flags above are

A.  A stylized All Blacks/NZ flag

B. The proposed new flag for NZ up for vote this month

C. The official Māori flag, Tino Rangatiratanganational

D.  The current official New Zealand flag

E.  A flag designed and proposed for New Zealand by artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser in 1983

As a fun side note, Sheldon Cooper did a shout out to New Zealand about their flag referendum in his “Sheldon Cooper’s Fun with Flags” show on the TV show The Big BangTheory on February 2016,