Fulbright orientation

First off, I'd like to explain a little bit more about why I am in New Zealand and how I got here. In June 2009, I decided I wanted to go to graduate school in "glaciology" (the study of glaciers) and started looking at different graduate programs. One of the professors in our department at Dartmouth had done a master's degree in New Zealand funded through the Fulbright program, and I thought that might be fun. So I put together an application to Fulbright and here I am in New Zealand.

At the beginning of our research grant, Fulbright NZ puts together an orientation program for us and that is where I have been for the last four days. The program started by introducing us to a bit of Maori culture, tradition, and language. We spent our first night at a marae - a traditional Maori meeting house -- and went through the welcoming ceremony to enter the marae. The "ceremony" starts when a Maori women calls the guests through the gates and across the courtyard to the house. You then engage in handshakes and hongi ("rubbing of the noses"). Hongi has a similar significance to a handshake. At first I was afraid that I would head butt when I went in for the nose rubbing, but it was much easier than expected. After the hongi, the guests and hosts sit on separate sides of the marae and engage in speech making. In between speeches waiata (songs) are sung. It was a very unique and surreal experience, and the food was delicious.

Marae

Fence at Marae

The following day we left the marae and headed to the Te Papa, which is NZ's national museum based in Wellington. We saw the replica of the Treaty of Waitangi, which is disturbingly ripped to shreds and covered in water stains. The Treaty of Waitangi was a treaty between the Maori and British Crown written in 1840. It gave the Crown the right to be in New Zealand but preserved the freedom and identity of the Maori people. New Zealand was still supposed to be Maori land, and the British were there just as guests. The British clearly broke the treaty, and the ragged nature of the document reflects that.

The next day was focused on biota and geology. As a result of New Zealand's separation from the rest of the world and it's unique geologic history, the country has no endemic mammals. This has allowed (and caused) several flightless birds, including the Kiwi bird, to evolve, as there are no mammalians predators on the ground and the main predators are other birds. In any other land, the Kiwi would not exist -- it is flightless and freezes when it thinks it is under attack. This is a great survival mechanism if your main predators are birds, but if they are mammals, the mammal will just run up and eat you when you freeze. Consequently, the introduction of mammals into the NZ ecosystem has been quite catastrophic in regions. The possum, in particular, has destroyed many of the trees and the country now has a policy of trying to eradicate them. 

The thorny tree on the left (that looks a bit like a sad Christmas tree) grows up to
be the tree on the right. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the tree..

Beautiful forest

Today was our last day of orientation. We visited Parliament and learned about the history of New Zealand. Afterwards, I felt a bit like an ignorant, insolar American, as I had never heard of many of the historical events in NZ mentioned in our history lesson. I am excited to get the opportunity to learn more over the next ten months.

I am sure I will touch further on Fulbright orientation and what I learned in future posts, but I just wanted to give a basic overview. So that's it for now!  Good night from New Zealand!