Playing the stick game at Noho MaraeThe International Student weekend at the Noho Marae was an amazing experience! Through out the weekend I learned a lot about Maori customs and traditions and enjoyed singing, dancing, and playing traditional games. But beyond the pohwhiri and teachings, I felt a warm reception and feeling of acceptance into the Maori whanau (family). And all of my fellow international students were incredible! I have never seen a livelier bunch of energetic, passionate, and generally friendly individuals. I admire each and every one of them. The last night of drinking, singing, and merriness was a night I will never forget. And the guys' performance of the Haka, a traditional maori performance initially intended for intimidation, was AWESOME.
Noho Marae Haka from Allison Young on Vimeo.
Last Thursday G, Cait, Andrew, and I had drinks with Philip and his friends. It was great to get to know my co-workers out of the office and to introduce my friends to Philip. I enjoyed a good conversation with Nicola about her sign language class and a guy she was doing her class presentation on. It was fascinating. And did you know sign language is different in every country? I mean, it makes perfect sense, but I have never really thought about it. For example, interpreters are needed for international conferences if the presenter is signing in New Zealand signing vs American signing. Interesting.
I finally went to my first climbing session this semester at the university climbing wall with G. It was her first time, but she did really well! I am excited about climbing in the next few weeks! Other than that, my work out schedule has been a bit of a bust haha. Oh and by the way, for those of you who may not have heard, I will be doing an Outward Bound Course this summer for 28 days in the NC Mountains! I'm pretty excited about it.
Okay, so here is this week in review at my internship:
Meetings Attended: promotional planning for philip's comedy show, mentoring session for fellow comedian, ADL (Auckland Disability Law), Diversityworks Trust project meeting, TBI website meeting, meeting with disability council rep
Projects worked on: reading and research on creative thinking, research for web content, some website building/designing, brainstorming for promotional teasers for Philip's show, reading project proposals and communications between Philip and key relations
Tangible learning experiences: experience with planning a comedy show, exposure to project proposals which include project objectives, structure and timelines, need analysis, benefits/risk/and impact, and financial models
Intangible lessons learned: understanding the intricacy of population politics and programs, greater coalition thinking- wider than just population specific thinking (bonding groups together through common experience rather than focusing on unique experience), philosophical thinking on creativity, for example thinking about how there are two worlds: one that exists with or with out you, and the world that exists in your interpretation, or thinking about the relationship between individual creativity and the environment which generates it, which speaks to the importance of maintaining a teaching environment which allows for and generates creativity not only in schools, but in working with different populations
Cool Quotes on creativity from Ken Robinson's book Out of our Minds:
"Thinking and feeling are not simply about seeing the world as it is, but of having ideas about it, of interpreting experience to give it meaning"...essentially, we create the worlds we live in
"Creative insights often occur by making connections between ideas or experiences that were previously unconnected" ...could be a way of looking about how the disabled sector can work together with Maori and other populations to achieve common goals...coalition thinking!
More of Ken Robinson's thoughts on creativity and schools: click here
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