Day 2 June 9th 2011

Prompt: What we experienced and learned about the Maori culture throughout the day

In the morning we visited a native Maori village which was very cool and gave us a great, thorough representation of their culture. We got to see exactly where the Maori people live and how they still represent their culture today. This village is exactly how they lived ages ago for the most part so it was cool to see. We received a very informative hands on tour and got to know more about the village from a man who lived there. Our tour guide was the coolest guy ever and we eventually got a picture with him doing the battle face. It was very nice meeting the tour guide because i felt as if i connected more with the culture and understood it better. Everything that the Maori did was so much different than us and it was so cool. Some examples were how they used the hot springs for so many things such as cooking most of their food and also bathing. The Maori are very resourceful with everything nature has to offer and we learned that during our tour. In the evening we visited the Agrodome and went Ogoing but that was not very cultural. Later in the evening we experienced a native Maori performance and got a full representation of their culture through song dance, and food. While eating the food we were allowed to get involved in the dance which was much more personal because we were learning a part of their culture. Today was a very culture filled day and we learned so much about the MAori tribe and received a better understanding of their culture.

Hot springs that our tour guide showed us

The face the Maori make while doing the Haka