One more country, and then I'm all caught up on the blog and current with countries. Coincidentally, I still will be for the next week and a half at the very least. Until Calib gets back, we're not doing anything new. (We have, however, been going through our flags to keep them fresh for Peyton and Hayden after not doing them while we were on vacation.
Anyway, on to New Zealand, or as the original inhabitants call it, Aotearoa.
I didn't realize that New Zealand was represented at the Polynesian Cultural Center until we actually got there. I didn't really do my research of 'Aotearoa' ahead of time, so I didn't really know this one was coming. But, I had other plans for it anyway. It was still nice to get a little extra bonus for our country project.
The Polynesian Cultural Center's Description of the village for New Zealand:
"Come listen to Maori natives explain the symbolic significance of their intricately carved meeting house and their unusual facial tattoos. You’ll discover the ancient origins and meaning of protruding their tongues, and you’ll see tattooed warriors do so while performing their stirring war dance – the haka.
Test your dexterity (or lack thereof) by twirling poi balls and playing tititorea, a Maori stick game designed to develop hand-eye coordination. Kids up to the age of 75 will also enjoy the ta moko area where each can get a Maori tattoo – temporary, of course."
First up, we played a game where everyone held these sticks. The guy then called out 'left' 'right' 'turn', and you had to do all that and catch the stick next to you, or your own stick. If it fell you were out. We started with all six of us playing.
It came down to mom and Peyton. I feel like mom won, though I don't really remember. There was some sort of scandal about it though- like someone really threw their stick.
After that their was a musical number to take part in. Peyton wanted to sit this one out, but Calib and Hayden had a good time with their sticks. They would pound them on the ground, and knock them against each other in a cadence of sorts. The guy to the left of Hayden was teaching them a series, but it didn't go all that well (my kids are not as coordinated as they maybe could be).
But it sure was fun to watch! At one point they were supposed to throw their sticks to each other, it went about as well as you would imagine.
We also got to play with the poi balls.
They were actually really light, and didn't hurt if you swung them and accidentally hit yourself.
We played with them for a bit...
...and then they taught us how to do various swinging motions. Some were much easier than others.
Back home, we sort of zoomed through New Zealand because I was really busy that day, and I felt like they already had a good New Zealand lesson at the Polynesian Cultural Center.
We talked animals, our landmark was even the Otorohanga Kiwi house. It is the first place in the world where the general public could view a kiwi, a national icon of New Zealand, in captivity. The kiwi are unique birds. They cannot fly, have loose-hair-like feathers, strong legs, and no tail. In relationship to their body size, they lay the largest eggs of any bird in the world.
We also talked Blob Fish. These guys live in the seas off of New Zealand. They're pretty much the world's ugliest animals. It's sort of like the texture of a jellyfish, as they are almost the same density as water.
Then there's the bright blue glow worms that live in the Waitomo Caves. This species of worm in unique to New Zealand. They live in the darkness of caves, and glow the places up in a luminescent light.
We also talked about some cool landmarks, like the Devil's Bath (a sulphuric crater lake that glows green!) and the Moeraki Boulders that are sprinkled along the Koekohe Beach. They look like sea marbles emerging from the sand.
Then we talked extreme sports, because New Zealand sure has a lot of them. Queenstown is known as the adrenaline and adventure capital of the world. You can ski, snowboard, skydive, bungee jump, jet boat, white water raft, and zipline. (I did read to be warned if you are in early riser in Queenstown. It's such a party town, it can be very noisy with people in the streets until 5 AM.
Other quick notes about New Zealand:
The ,Maori people traditionally greet people by putting their nose and forehead to the other persons.
The rugby team does a traditional Maori dance to celebrate something good happening in the game.
While 49% of the country is Christian, 42% of the citizens have no religion. It makes it one of the most secular countries in the world.
And then there's Hobbits. Hobbits live in New Zealand, or at least, that's where the Lord of the Rings was filmed. Which brings us to Hobbit Day, our invention to avoid celebrating the traditional fathers day.
This year hobbit day, or father's day was the day after our anniversary. So, that didn't work (and spoiler alert, it won't work next year either, as it will fall ON our anniversary). So, we said we'd just get to it when we got back.
So what exactly do we do for 'Hobbit Day?' well, Asa and the boys watch some Lord of the Rings movie (or two), while I cook like a Hobbit. Hobbits eat 7 meals a day, and with all of our trouble time adjusting and being sick, I thought it would be perfect. It's just lots of small servings, so people could come and go and take part in whichever 'meals' they wanted to. (My only stipulation was they had to at least try 'Lunch' which was our actual New Zealand recipes).
It's worth noting that 'Elevensies' should actually come after Second Breakfast at 11 AM, but as previously discussed, we're getting up around then these days- and so we moved Elevensies to a snack at 11 PM.
Also, Hobbits need a little Hobbit Hole to live in, so we had that covered.
Hobbits like to play video games and cards in their Hobbit Holes.
So, on to our meals. First Breakfast was grilled pound cake with strawberries and lemon creme, served with coffee of course.
Second breakfast is an assortment of meats, and toad in the hole.
Lunch was our 'New Zealand' food. We made crab open grilled sandwiches, mushroom fry-up, and blueberries. This one was a hit with me and Asa (total spoons up), but the kids were not fans. It's worth noting, Calib had just gotten his braces adjusted the day before, and was not in the mood to eat anything. Hayden was pretty sick this day, and Peyton... well, he was just being picky.
Of course, with lunch you have to have afters. We just picked up some mini turnovers from Publix for that.
Up next was afternoon tea, which was served with cherry cobbler.
We did manage to get everyone to come to the table for afternoon tea, which is when the boys presented their post cards for New Zealand.
Calib's included the blob fish, and the traditional Moari greeting.
Peyton put a Hobbit Hole in his.
And Hayden added Gandalf.
For dinner we had hobbit salad (basically greens, mushrooms and carrots) with poppyseed dressing, along with bangers and mash.
And we used the same turnovers from lunch for our afters.
Supper was mushrooms soup, berries, and bread complete with 'product of New Zealand' pear 'fruit paste' which they sell at Publix.
And since it was Asa's day, for the first time, he colored in a country.
So that's it, 110 countries- and we've been stuck at it for a couple weeks. I'm just thinking we won't finish this up by the time 2017 comes to a close. But you know, worst case scenario we go an extra month, and if we take it until February 9th, we can end it with some big Winter Olympics bash. That wouldn't be so bad.
I'm not sure what's up next, as I haven't done the calendar for August, but we'll get to the remaining 83 when we can.
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