Polyfest - Auckland

My first Friday in Thames was Junior (Year 9 and 10) Work Day and Senior (Year 11, 12, 13) Direction Day. The Juniors could either pay $40 and not come to school that day, work that day (which is what they are supposed to do) and earn $40 that way, or they can come to school (and when they do they basically just chill at school for the day because they don't have actual classes since most students are gone). The Seniors then come in to the school to talk with teachers about the path they want to take in their future, so then they make sure that they are taking the right courses and everything in school to help them out. Since neither of these things really involved me, I was able to take a bus with some of the high school students and go to the ASB Polyfest in Auckland!

This is a four-day event in which all the Polynesian groups or cultures around Auckland get to have their high school students preform on various stages. The event is held in a huge area outside with at least 6 stages set up where various high schools perform. It is amazing watching these students perform because they did such a good job that I wouldn't have even known they were in high school! It was also really interesting because the performances for each culture were so different from one another. I really like the Cook Islander's performance.

The main culture that is here where I am living in Thames is the Maori people. I haven't learned that much about their culture yet, but I plan to do some research! There is also a classroom where students can learn about the Maori people. I plan on going there at least once so that I can understand a little more about some of the students I have in my classes!

I can't take credit for these photos because I wasn't in a good position to take any, but this was one of the Maori presentations!

These schools around Auckland compete on these stages for prizes, and they perform many times throughout the four days. It must definitely take a lot of dedication!

Not only did they have these performances, but they also had a TON of food. It was kind of like a Lakefront Days (for those of you from PL) only much bigger. There was just tent after tent after tent with a bunch of various foods and little shops with jewelry and such. Many of the tents contained the same food items, so it wasn't hard to find what you wanted.

Of course I wanted to try some of the foods that I normally don't get at home. The first thing I got was pineapple ice cream! It could be found about every 50 feet in one of the stands. What they did was just got a pineapple in half and dig out the bottom. Then they got up the inside of the pineapple into little chunks, filled the pineapple up with these chunks again, and added ice cream to the top. It was DELICIOUS! Ice cream is one of my favorite things to eat, so I may be a little biased. Although Gary did say that New Zealand is known for having good ice cream, and he has yet to be proved wrong! I also tried something called a gravy pork bun, which was a soft bun (go figure) completely baked around some pork with some onions and gravy...also absolutely amazing (and relatively cheap, too for an even like this). Another thing they were advertising a lot were their kebabs, so I just got a really small $1 one to try it. The spices and flavoring of it was pretty good as well. The final thing I got, which I was told was also amazing by the woman I was walking around with, was a donut. The donuts they had were pretty dense, unlike the donuts I'm used to eating. They didn't have any sugar or anything on it, but it was still an enjoyable snack! One thing I thought was entertaining was that they sold "American hotdogs", but I didn't bother with those obviously.

This fest is open to the public, so there are a lot of people there, and many schools take their students there. Because many schools in NZ require uniforms, I got to see the variety of uniforms that students have to wear. Although most are pretty similar to each other, there were some pretty neat ones out there. It was also interesting because I saw some of the men wearing some basketball jerseys from the States. I mostly saw Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers (which they were selling in some of the stands), but I did see one person wearing a Timberwolves jersey! (Garnett of course, I doubt they pay attention to the Wolves enough now to have a Love or Rubio jersey).

We were able to roam around for a few hours, and then we got to take our bus back home (which was a stick shift might I add!). It was a very peaceful hour and a half ride back since most students (including myself) slept on the bus! Quite an eventful and enjoyable day to experience a little bit of NZ culture. I'm really lucky I was able to be here for something like that since it's a pretty big deal here, and I can't wait to keep learning more about this country!