Maori Values and other thoughts

My wonderful wife Elena and Felix (10) just came back from a trip with his class, and Elena was very impressed by what she saw.

Felix is in a bicultural Maori – White (Pakeha) class, an interesting project which even came to the atttention of NZ Premier Minister John Key who recently came to Thames to honour and get more informed about this. It is about passing Maori core values and central points on to a racially mixed class. It is the same project where Luis participated. They also learn some basics of Maori language and their songs, dances and rites.

Family and team spirit and solidarity is probably what stands in the foreground, together with loyalty and discipline, values that are beginning to get a certain odour in our individualised (and at the same time globalised) world. Gender roles are traditional and emphasised.

Almost ironically, under the protective shield of multiculturalism and pluralism, these old-fashioned values here come to a new stand.

The classes of different age groups within primary school are led by two Maori women who do this job with the utmost passion, and they are very respected by their pupils.

On the trip they all slept side by side on a Marae (holy assembly area of a Maori tribe) and for three days they visited museums, a waka (Maori canoe) competition and the „Polyfest“, the biggest Maori festival in the world.

Other than that we are now noticing that our, Elena's and mine, contacts to Kiwi people are getting relaxter and easier. Yesterday we were invited to a birthday party and we stayed longer as we had planned to, chatting and laughing. For our kids in the meanwhile integration is no issue any more at all. They have good friends among all ethnic groups: Pakeha and Maori Kiwis, Asians, and European International Students.

Our guest student Teresa from Madrid, a cousin to our kids, is enriching our family life and helping where she can – we wouldn't mind if she stayed much longer than the planned six months....

Focussing on the social topic I have added a few pictures with people.

Weatherwise autumn is approaching: March is still warm at daytime but a bit cooler in the evenings, and it is dryer and more stable. 

Ah, and we are still waiting for our Residency Visa. I've got an extended employment contract now until end of 2013. This is when Lucas will have finished school. We might return to Good Old Germany then, at least for a while... Clara will finish school at the end of this year, and she still has to decide what she will do thereafter... Will she stay here? Elsewhere in New Zealand? Will she go to Europe? Which professional career will she opt for? Well, there's still a bit of time left for decision-making...