Stan Walker singing in te reo (language) Māori...

 

Stan Walker has to be one of my all-time favourite male singer/song writers and especially with his latest release that has climbed up the charts here in Tamaki Makaurau (Māori name for Auckland). I never get tired of hearing his songs which are so very inspiring

 Today I heard this particular song or waita (Māori word for song) playing three times on our local Māori FM radio station and it's got quite the interest as the lyrics are in te reo Māori (language). It's a song that talks about how proud he is to be Māori.

This is really encouraging to see the next generation of Māori sharing their songs and identity in their Māori language with beautiful lyrics and tunes to share to a wide audience. So whether one is a fluent Māori speaker, or not, it is an encouraging way to share his culture to the world...

ANZAC worthy causes...

 

This ANZAC Day (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) commemoration day, I wanted to support a worthy cause.

Last night, after taking my family out to an evening dinner at a local Vietnamese Restaurant, we went out for a drive to our local beachfront and got caught in so much traffic trying to go to various places.

It was a timely reminder to remember all of the fallen soldiers and their families who sacrificed their lives in want of a better future and a better world. It's so sad to reflect that there are still wars continuing in different parts of the world still today.

As in deference to this, many shops have chosen to open at 1pm today, in respect and also with Poppy's being sold to commemorate this time. For me, I wanted to consider donating to something that doesn't commemorate war although I have supported in years past.

Lest we forget, but also that there is so much for us to learn about not repeating mistakes such as this from the past...

Walking around the mountain...

Today I went for a walk around our local mountain with my three young-uns. It was a beautiful day that was cool enough to take a walk.

The neat thing was that there had been an upgrade on the tracks around the mountain and I hadn't been up there since the COVID-19 Pandemic.

It was great that I could take them all out for some lunch of sushi and donuts (as a dessert treat) during the second week of the school holidays. It was great to spend time together.

It was also neat to have guard rails installed in precarious parts with stairs to carefully guide people down the steeper slopes. This has been a neat addition to the upgrades as it feels a lot more safe for those taking the walk. I'd definitely encourage walkers to take the time to visit their local mountains with family...

Celebrating new journeys ahead...

It has been a very busy couple of weeks as I started a new job as a lecturer/tutor (same indigenous Māori tertiary organization) in now teaching a Post Graduate Diploma in "Kaitiakitanga" Bicultural Professional Supervision.

I also attended a book launch of a Pasifika poetry anthology as a contributor with one of my poems chosen to be in the collection. It was such an honour but also interesting as a self-published author, to be included.

As a celebration after the book launch, I went with my family and friends to a family restaurant just in the Auckland CBD and just across the road from the Sky Tower.

This is a pic of the Sky Tower after we had had our celebratory meal together in sharing jokes and laughter about our time together at the book launch.

It was the first time of many in an "urban" Pasifika "arty" scene. As our groups had mostly come dressed in Pasifika bright colours and most of the crowd didn't. It was fun too as my two older children did the whole hair and makeup on me and it was a neat treat! 

So we were dressed to the 9s but the small central exhibition space wasn't able to hold all of the visitors to the book launch so we spilled outside onto the pavement with many standing outside and couldn't hear the poetry readings.

As for me, I didn't have the privilege of reading at the book launch but was able to read my poem to my new class (two combined classes) and then later, they were able to write poems in group as lead by another lecturer and then read them to the class - absolutely brilliant!

I'm now traversing a new journey with my new students and it's a God-send! I feel that this topic is just what I needed in almost finishing my doctoral studies and moving into a space where I can assist others in Post Graduate studies. Thank you God!...

My Creative Type - The Dreamer...

 

Part of my Ph.D is using my creativity as an expression through my academic thesis.

As I thought that my creativity passed down through my great grandmother, Eleni, to my grandfather who was a creative jeweller (of sorts), to my mum, myself and now children would be quite an interesting perspective to write from.

What was interesting for me was in my endeavours to search for ideas, I came across this "My Creative Type" survey which asks some creative questions and ends with a profile from the way that the questions are answered.

My resulting profile was "The Dreamer" with a lot of information that spoke of my creativity through the keen eye of a "magical realist" which is very true for me. I'd highly recommend this survey or test for any wanting to know more about their creative personality traits.

Here's the link: https://mycreativetype.com/ and don't forget to share with others who might be interested to make considered decisions on how to hone in or reign out their creativity. Some of the questions were quite interesting but very important for creatives to not only discover but move on...

Whittaker's 70% Cocoa Samoa...

For all you discerning "Dark" chocolate lovers out there. You have to try out NZ's own Whittaker's Cocoa Lovers 70% Cocoa Samoa smooth dark chocolate currently out in stores now.

I'd definitely recommend it, if you're pregnant and needing some extra energy, as I went through dark chocolate cravings with all my children, through pregnancy, as well as special packets of Afghan biscuits that I don't see being sold in stores anymore.

They're supposed to be rich in a whole lot of minerals with benefits to your health i.e. check out the health benefits too on google. 

In Samoa, the cacao bean was introduced as it isn't native but grows well in the tropical climate in Samoa but we definitely enjoy drinking it unadulterated after roasting the beans and pounding the beans out then diluting with hot water with added milk and sugar to taste.

I'd also recently heard that there's going to be an increase in the cost of chocolates and chocolate based products with global warming ruining many crops on the continent of Africa so other sources are being sort such as Samoa for cacao beans whence chocolate is made.

Whittaker chocolates are sort out when going overseas too as when we were in Australia in Melbourne, last year, we were told that they were well rated by Australians more than the Cadbury chocolates brand that left NZ for Australian production (I think it's cheaper to produce there).

So if you're game, give it a go, you'll certainly enjoy it...

"The Convert" movie...

 

I hope you had a Happy Easter with your family. In the holy week that started with Palm Sunday then continued with Good Friday, resting on the Sabbath then Easter Sunday, I found it to be a good place of reflection and meditation too.

Then on Easter Monday, I was able to take my youngest to watch "The Convert" which is a very interesting movie set in Aotearoa, New Zealand in the 1830s.

It tells the story of a new minister leaving England to come to NZ to convert "the natives" to Christianity. During this time there were land wars, often called the musket wars or Maori land wars which were later called the NZ land wars.

Sadly enough, it was the new settlers especially businessmen who saw and opportunity and were bringing weapons from England to sell to Māori rivaling leaders and many Māori were killed during those pressing times.

I would highly recommend this movie to those interested in learning more about NZ's history and especially in wanting to see how Māori lived at that time in fortified pā or villages. 

It does have a RP13 censorship due to the battle scenes and killings that were reenacted but I don't suppose that one can tell the story without showing these scenes in which many were killed during battle but especially Māori who originally had the highest population and are now at around 10% of the population...