Maori Week Continued: Fish and Fishing

In a previous blog entry, I told the Maori story of New Zealand and how the north and south islands were named. Here is an abridged version of the story, along with a word lesson, prepared by Te Tumu - School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies for Maori Language Week 2009 at the University of Otago:

ika = (noun) meaning fish
Pronunciation: i = as in "see"; ka = as in "cut"

hi = (verb) meaning to fish
Pronunciation: i = as in "heed"

Combined, hi ika means "to fish for fish".

Maori Language Week (July 27-31)

To all of our non-Kiwi readers: Did you know that New Zealand has 3 official languages? Besides English and Sign language, Maori is the third official language of New Zealand.

This week is Maori Language Week in New Zealand. The country takes one week out of the year to reflect upon the importance of the Maori language and reminds those living here to become familiar with Te Reo Maori, if we don't already speak it. This week, I will post some Maori words and phrases for you to learn along with us.

-o-

To be honest with you, I was completely unaware of the Maori - the native people of New Zealand and the language - when we first moved here. And I consider myself a knowledgeable person. But I never learned about New Zealand in school, except for where it is located. So since moving to New Zealand, I have been curious and amazed by the Maori language and the fact that it permeates quite a bit of every day life here in New Zealand.

If you take the time to look at a map of New Zealand, you'll notice that a few of the cities throughout the country are in Maori: Whangarei, Kaitaia, Taranaki, Moeraki, just to name a few. But most cities have both an English name and a Maori name. For example, we live in Dunedin (Maori name = Otepoti). Other examples: Wellington (the capital city) = Te Whanganui a Tara; Auckland = Tamaki Makaurau; Christchurch = Otautahi.

This week on Sunrise (our favorite television morning news program), the weatherman Josh gives us the weather on a map with the Maori city placenames. On Monday, I missed the weather in Dunedin because I forgot that its Maori name is Otepoti. I wonder if this happened to a lot of other people in Dunedin, including the locals? (ETK)

New Sunday Routine

Everyone who has had a baby or has a baby knows that routines are important.

Over the past month of so, we have developed a new Sunday morning routine. Before Max, the weekends used to be filled with lazy mornings reading in bed, drinking coffee and then heading off to the Farmer's market or the beach. And while we still drink coffee and go to the market, only now it's with Max. So, as a new family we've developed a brand new morning routine on Sundays: Yum Cha.

Yum Cha ("drinking tea") is the Cantonese ritual referring to the actual event of gathering with family and friends for dim sum. Dim sum ("a bit of heart") is the name of the cuisine served at Yum Cha consisting of a wide range of small dishes (steamed pork buns, sweet and sour wontons, Chinese sausage with rice, Egg Tarts, Chinese pork triangles) served with Chinese tea.

Sunday mornings, rain or shine, we all gather into the car and drive into town anticipating the delicious dim sum at Golden Harvest Chinese restaurant. It's sort of hidden, Golden Harvest, tucked into an almost secret walkway amongst all of the clothing and tat shops on George Street. We happened upon it one day while going for a walk with Max in the pram.

Most mornings we're the first people to arrive. As the morning progresses, the restaurant fills mostly with Asian families and students. The waitresses know that we're regulars. One even mentioned to Chris, "You must really like Yum Cha. You're here every week."

No kidding.

It's part of our routine. (ETK)

Selves-portrait: Me and Max at Golden Harvest

Max and Chris eating dim sum. Notice all of the toys to keep Max occupied.

Spicy Szechuan Soup - And they're not kidding ... check out all the dried red chilies!

Spicy!

Enjoying our Sunday.

Funny Faces

Just the other day, Max started making funny faces. To be more accurate, Max started making new funny faces. He's always made funny faces, but these are particularly enjoyable. We're not sure if he's exploring his mouth, playing with his lips, trying to soothe sore gums, or just goofing around.

Ferberization

What a busy month. You'll have noticed the absence of regular posts. Most of you will have stopped even checking the blog. Yeah, well. We're back. We took a break -- or at least, I took a break -- mostly because of the gathering exhaustion that looking after a small baby seems to generate.

Max never slept. Friends sent us the cute obligatory photos of their babies, sleeping in the bath, or in a pile of fresh laundry, or in a high chair in the middle of eating. It never happened with Max. Never. Never happened. He was like a ninja: always alert, always ready to pounce. And we indulged him. At night we rocked him to sleep and held him in our arms. If he woke up, we would run to calm him. He ruled the house, like a tiny bad-tempered emperor who should not be disobeyed. His rule was bloody, that's for sure.

Finally, and fortunately, things devolved enough that we were sleeping two hours a night. Max was sick and couldn't breathe well and he'd wake up if we even stopped rocking him for a moment. Something had to be done. So last week we sleep-trained him. We used the Ferber technique, which is well-described all over the place but email me if you want information. For a first-time parent, it's a huge deal: the guilt, the crying, the urge to pick him up, the hope that it works. A misinformed friend told me it was torture. We did it anyway. Within three nights Max was sleeping for hours at a time in his own cot. On the fourth night he slept for eleven hours without making any noise. We have a new baby.

Thank you, Dr Ferber. If I could, I think I would kiss you.

A Poetic Weekend

A weekly visit to the sea
Hunting for treasure on the seashore.

It's cold and I see my breath.
The sea air is invigorating.

Sparing a few seconds to pose for a photo or two.

The Story of New Zealand

One of the latest news stories in New Zealand is the debate to officially name the North and South islands of New Zealand. Apparently, these names aren't geographically official, so it's been suggested that the islands be named with their Maori names -

North Island : Te Ika-a-Maui (meaning the fish of Maui)
South Island: Te Wai Pounamu (meaning the canoe of Maui)

Here is the beautiful traditional Maori story of how New Zealand was created and the origin of these names:

Once upon a time there was a Maori god named Maui who was the youngest of 5 children in his family. Maui's 4 older brothers didn't like him very much and often left him out when they played. Maui, however, was very creative and imaginative on his own doing things like taming the sun and capturing fire. One day the 4 older brothers decided to go fishing, of course without Maui. But Maui was clever and snuck onto the canoe, Te Wai Pounamu (the canoe of Maui - the South Island), and hid there. To show his brothers that he indeed was able to fish well, Maui attempted to catch a fish and ended up catching the biggest one of all, Te Ika-a-Maui, the fish of Maui (the North Island).