Cultural Day

Spent a good part of the day at the Auckland Museum. Saw our first Maori cultural show of dancing, haka, and weapon demonstrations. I am really interested in learning how New Zealand has brought Maori culture into the forefront and how successful they have been with education of both the Maori and Caucasian cultures. In the museum, the displays are described first in the Maori language, then in English. I know that the Maori culture has a prominent place in the school system, and curricula. It is obvious that every effort is made to be inclusive and respectful of the Maori people. Need to learn about graduation and employment rates to measure success.

In the evening, we were immersed in another cultural experience, attending the Lantern Festival on Saturday night. Every Asian culture was represented, not just Chinese. Fun to try the different foods before wandering among the lanterns. Last year, over 250,000 people attended over 3 days. Judging by the crowd last night, the numbers will be similar this year.

We bought a new camera before we left Arizona and now I am struggling to learn how to use it. Took lots of pics at night to try to get that figured out--you can have a look at attached photos and follow the link to our flickr account to see more. We haven't culled them yet so you will see redundancies. Notice the pics of trees, too (in the Auckland Albert Park set). I was enthralled by these incredible specimens in the park a stone's throw from our hotel. Tonight, we'll be watching the fireworks from our balcony and let others fight the crowds.

On the camera note, we met our first truly unfriendly, arrogant ass yesterday in a camera store where we had stopped to ask a question. He was so condescending it was unreal: "I'm not calling you stupid. What I'm saying is that when you choose that setting, you are telling the camera that you're too stupid to use all the functions, so it shuts them down." And so on. Everyone else seems to be massively friendly and helpful.