The wintry blast of June

It is just nine days until the shortest day of the year and the view out of the window is decidedly grey. After an apparently unseasonably warm May, the big chill has set in. Unfortunately, I was at a noho marae just outside Levin when it hit and somewhat under-prepared. It is Tuesday today and I am gradually thawing out. So what has happened in the heady days since my last post? Well. There was the much-needed three day weekend of Queen's Birthday (June 2-4). Yes, to all the Northern Hemisphere folk out there, you read that right. The weirdly monarchical state of Aotearoa celebrates an official public holiday in commemoration of the Queen's Birthday, while in Blighty it is the usual day of drudgery. However, I badly needed the three days off so, in this instance, I am putting my republican views to one side. Over Queen's Birthday, we had a visit from the lovely Maria Paljk, late of this Parish and now living in Napier (that's her looking peaceful with Dan in the photo). It was great to catch up and enjoy various Wellington things: brunch at Olive, lots of ice-cream at Kaffee Eis, films, shopping, homemade borscht (see photo) the Lawrence Aberhart exhibition at the Civic Gallery.




The exhibition, by a major NZ photographer, contains loads of pictures which are mostly in a modernist vein of moody black and white shots of landscapes etc. Powerful stuff but, have to say, did seem a little cliched at times. Though, as it was a retrospective, I guess he may have been responsible for establishing some of the cliches. Among my favourites was a time delayed shot of Mt Taranaki that made it look very other-worldly (see image). Another point: why do galleries only do reproductions of the least interesting pictures in an exhibition? I guess it must be so that they can persuade interested punters to splash out on the coffee-table book...




This last weekend, as I mentioned briefly at the start of the post, I was in Levin staying on a marae as part of the course I am doing in te reo. The powhiri was at 1pm last Friday, just as the coldest wind of the year so far was growing in intensity. Most of Friday afternoon and Saturday was spent in te reo classes and it was interesting to experience the styles of different teachers. Things that were in short supply, however: vegetarian food, sleep and warmth. I guess I will be a little bit better prepared next time. Overall, it was good intensive language experience, and seems to illustrate that even if your language skills are not that strong you can still communicate in an immersion environment. Things that I did as soon as we hit Wellington again: had a very long hot shower, went to Ernesto for coffee and spaghetti, went shopping for thermal clothing! The remainder of the afternoon was spent watching the dramatic end of season four of the 'West Wing'. Thanks to Susy for lending the first four seasons to us - luckily Laura and Burt have hooked us up with the remaining three! ; )