i got my anthro paper back today!

it was about the indigenization of
christianity in fiji and tonga.

"linda, this is a brilliant, original essay- a real pleasure to read. the explanation for pentecostal attractiveness as ritual is convincing and the notion of belonging to a global imagined community beyond tonga or fiji is a powerful idea. so much packed into a short essay- and beautifully crafted too. thanks"

jeff, our professor,

is world-famous for his remarks about

about humans breast-feeding animals.

you can read about it here.

tongan pigs and fishermen at the nuku'alofa lagoon. 

these photos were snapped out of a moving car.

 the kingdom of tonga is

colorful, friendly and extremely proud.

it isn't as commercialized as i had

predicted and very rural with only a few paved streets.

the islanders are so so so warm and welcoming.

the main island (tongatapu) is tropical, humid and lush

with coconut, banana, breadfruit and noni trees

growing on the side of the road.

plastic flowers & beer bottles decorate

burial grounds and the entire country is

draped in purple & black cloth

 in mourning for the late king, george tupou v.

flying foxes leap from tree to tree.

pigs roam the beaches, streets and yards

scavenging for garbage. children in school uniforms

scream "HI!"at you, wave & eagerly wait

for their picture to be taken. 

churches stand just about every 50 feet

and by the end of our stay,

we learned to identity the different

sects based on distinctive architectural traits.

 rotorua: a land of thermal wonderlands,

fish n chips, and sulphur swamps.

 woke up at 4:30am, took a 2 hour bus ride to

tongariro & climbed up and down volcanoes for 8 hours.

this is the red crater volcano.

 

the emerald sulphur lakes were such
a stark contrast to the gray volcanic terrain.

 

the rest of the hike was downhill

and full of breath taking views, such as this:

 

the entire day seemed surreal and

almost too beautiful to be real.

because we didn't end up climbing mount doom

(mt. ngauruhoe), we had enough time to

take many snack breaks, appreciate the views,

and photograph everything to our heart's content.

those who did climb mount doom said

they basically ran through

the entire crossing and realized they

didn't really get to "see" any of it

because they were too worried about time

and making the last bus back to taupo.

twas a satisfying day.

recap of the last 3 weeks:
i finished my education assignment at 3 am

then met up with morgan at 10 am

to begin our 2 week easter break adventure.

we boarded the "naked bus" and enjoyed

a very scenic 7 hour bus ride up the

north island and got off at lake taupo.

 we were tired but went on a walk

to the lake. i took some pictures

with my new camera!

i decided to make myself an extravagant dinner

after spending the afternoon studying.

lamb with garlic, olive oil, onions,

eggplant, chard, tomatoes,

quinoa and purple kumara.

a giant in heels, chip dip, hypnotist stories,
and a cheeky monkey who hides during pictures.
"nick & linda's party" was a success.
*~i feel better~*

 i've been craving *real* food for 2 weeks. during my travels in the north island & tonga, i mostly ate bananas, peanut butter, crackers, bread, and sometimes pasta with tomato sauce (ketchup) since there was no pasta sauce in tonga. i can't wait for the

farmer's market in 3 days.

lunchtime in nuku'alofa.

diy rice bubble cake!

the maori were banned from speaking
their own language during assimilation
policies in the 19th-20th century.

this picture of the first kohanga reo
(maori language nursery) was shown to us
during a lecture on peace education.

the girl sitting behind me started

crying because she realized the girl

with the hair ribbons is her in 1982.
this is the first time she's ever known
about the existence of this photo.
!!!

how i dry my clothes:

morgan came over tonight & we planned out our
trip, booked hostels, shuttles, volcano crossings
& looked into tongan blow holes, swimming in cave pools,
traditional feasts, tropical beaches,
archeological sites & neighboring little islands.

i showed her my new camera and she whimpered
and asked "c-can can i hold her?"
then she squealed, cradled it like a baby
and took some pictures of me.

before she left, i gave her an avocado & a feijoa.

i made a yummy dinner.

my mom also stuffed my favorite jumper
into the box with the camera.
i really wanted it for tonga :-)

it is so nice to finally not have to wake up

to an alarm in the morning. today will be
a nice relaxing day.

i'll work on my education portfolio project, cook food,
and pack for my 2 weeks of traveling visiting
various national parks on the north island
and nuku'alofa, tonga :D

a platter of my favorite edible things:

milkshakes at a communist themed cafe:
>>THICK CHOCOLATE<<

a little fidel castro lives inside this lamp w/ his puppy.

*finished my library assignment

*learned about peace education & environmental racism

*gave my seminar presentation on the two
contradicting histories of hawai'i
& ended with a quote by g. orwell
(“who controls the past, controls the future...
who controls the present, controls the past”)

*got asked by a tongan-maori-irish classmate
if i was a "half-blood"

*frantically finishing my anthro paper due in 2 hours!!

*planning with my potential house-mates
to live in cute little house off campus next year!

meet lova, my new camera
(named after new zealand's
national dessert: pavlova)

lova went on a nice journey
starting from california,
took a rest in honolulu,
experienced some custom delays in auckland
then finally arrived a day late in welly.

my pumpkin plant 6,706 miles away
blossomed a flower!

fijians have a saying: "yaloqu"
(pronounced: ya-long-gu")

it is the idea that, in order for a child to learn,
his or her spirit has to be brought into the classroom.
learning requires not just the physical body
but one's whole being must be present as well.

teachers will often ask struggling students
to go outside into nature,
and call for their spirit to:
"lesu mai" (return to me).

got a pretty exciting email this morning
from uc santa cruz :-)

"I am writing on behalf of my colleagues in the Department of Anthropology to invite you to be a Writing Tutor for academic year 2012-13. The department, in collaboration with Learning Support Services (LSS), has undertaken the training of a select group of undergraduates to work as writing tutors in our courses. This will be a paid position (through LSS) and a really interesting opportunity to work closely with faculty members and peers to cultivate writing excellence among our students.

Your name has been submitted by one of our faculty members because of your outstanding achievement in writing in an anthropology course and I urge you to consider participating in our Writing Improvement Initiative.

Again, we have been impressed by your work thus far and feel you would make a great asset to our program."

i was sitting on the floor of the library typing
up my paper when a samoan girl walked by
with her traditional samoan malu(female) tattoo.
she also wore a flower in her hair which was
done up in a unique bun (quite a popular hair style
amongst Pasifika girls, i've noticed).

we've been discussing oceanic tattooing in
art history so my jaw dropped when i
glanced over + saw these on her legs.
sadly, i didn't have my camera
so i've resorted to using a picture from
our professor's slide list.

"man's patterns of thought are much influenced

by custom and habit and cultural heritage.
we may think we think on the basis of some
idea of logic, but the truth may be that
we are caused to think in certain ways by
influences of which we are not conscious."
-(quoted from a reading on Samoan education)

today is one of those wonderful days where
everything in the world makes sense
and all the dots can be connected in a
satisfying inspiring way that makes me
feel so excited for not just the future, but for now!

most of this happy energy is coming from just
being in class, talking and connecting with
my professors today and the sunshine
that has finally arrived in wellington.

my PASI prof beamed when i was the only
person in class who knew what tabula rasa was
and explained it to everyone.
(this week's theme in pacific studies is: education!)

my ANTH professor was ecstatic when he
found out i was going to tonga in a few days.
he asked me to take pictures of EVERYTHING & show him,
not just look for "tradition" but to attend
a pentecostal service because these what are construct
the modern tongan identity today.

then he was even more ecstatic when he found out
i was born in utah and knew something about
tongan diasporas in relation to mormonism.

finally, he was beyond ecstatic when he
was discussing his admiration for his
friend/fellow colleague's work on
'multiple modern identities' and i said
"he's my art history professor!"
(because he is).

then as we were walking out, i asked him
about the relationship between
papua new guinea and indonesia;
one's muslim and the other increasingly christian.
how does that...play out especially amongst
other political/border tensions?
but he said they "actually get along quite well."
o__O?

"procrastination can be the most productive thing you do."
-a. matthews (previous anth professor)

sometimes, when i procrastinate, i'll
design elementary classroom activities.
it would be fun to be a teacher at some kind of
experimental constructivist alternative school
but the activities i came up with
might not be part of an "acceptable" curriculum
anymore under the current school system's direction
geared towards social mobility+vocational education.

i'll post the W-I-P list sometime in the future.
they are compiled from bits of the
most memorable/meaningful things i've learned in k-12,
my ANTH + ED courses/experiences in santa cruz,
being a kindergarten intern in sc +
a summer-school english teacher in china,
and ideas very recently discussed in my
Aims & Ideals of Maori ED class in new zealand.

mops is cray cray for milkb0nez.