This is the official blog of my Study Abroad Trip to Australia and New Zealand. I'll be leaving December 26th and returning home February 2nd.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Day 26: The Haka

Hello readers! Today was a good day! This morning we walked back to the War Memorial Museum and watched the Maori Cultural Experience. This performance consisted of three Maori men called warriors and three Maori women called maidens who showed us traditional songs, dances, and weapons demonstrations of their culture. It looked a little funny but I gained some insight into the Maori culture.







After we went to a New Zealand All Blacks Rugby Team exhibit which was awesome. They were the 2011 World Cup champions and probably some of the toughest guys I have ever seen. Their pre-game game routine is one of the coolest things ever. It gets me so pumped up. It's called the Haka. It's a traditional war dance that was used to intimidate and scare their foes away. It consists of shouting chants, slapping their body to show that they couldn't feel pain, and sticking their tongue out and bulging their eyes in defiance to the opponents. The legend has it that several times the Maori's foes would run away in fear just because of the Haka.



We took a few pictures with the warriors and explored the museum and headed off to one of the major streets in Auckland, Queen Street. We picked out a new cell phone plan, which was not as convenient as Australia's plan, it costs us about 89 cents a minute to call home. After we got our SIM cards we hopped a cab and went to a little side street restaurant/pub and I had a delicious creole chicken pie, cheddar mash, a salad and a pint of an IPA called Epic Armageddon. We explored Queen Street and enjoyed the sites before we grabbed some food and had a fun evening back at the apartment. We're headed to Auckland University tomorrow! War Eagle!

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