Ko te reo te taikura o te whakaao marama - The language is the key to understanding

[rumpelsnorcack]

I went to the first lesson of my Maori course last night and it was really good.  Well, we didn't learn anything I didn't already know but the lecturer seems very cool and the course looks very interesting.  One of the things we will be doing at some point is to go and do a noho marae where we stay two nights on a local marae to learn tikanga (literally, 'the right way' or I guess it means the customs).  I've been on marae stays before but it's been ages since I went so it'll be really interesting.  The one we are going to is at Akaroa which is a lovely place so we feel very lucky.  

I've been looking through the coursebook for the first module and it's really interesting.  We also get a CD and DVD (they cater for all learning styles with audio, visual and kinesthetic tasks for each section) and I've gone through both of those as well.  There is a really interesting documentary thing on the DVD about cultural respect in this country, or rather about the lack of it.  It's sad that this was made pretty recently (I'm thinking 2009 like the coursebook) and yet the people they interviewed had some pretty divisive stories they had experienced.  The title of this post seems to be at the centre of what they are trying to do - that if more people speak and understand the language that is the key to understanding and respecting the culture.  I do like that it all seems to go hand in hand and I think the noho marae will be particularly interesting.  Sadly we don't do that til March next year.  Still, it's something to look forward to :)


I also went to a very interesting earthquake lecture tonight on liquefaction.  I first have to say that all these scientists must think all their birthdays have come at once.  This guy was appointed to the university a few years back and is an international expert on liquefaction.  He gets here and a few years later he gets a perfect example of liquefaction on his back door.  There was another one who arrived in the city for his sabbatical last year mere weeks before the September quake struck and who has obviously been enjoying seeing a quake up close and personal so to speak.  

Anyway, this guy explained pretty clearly what happened and why.  He kept using the term 'unprecedented' to describe what happened here and you start to get this sense that the answer to last weeks 'is this normal?' question is in actual fact 'well, not really.'  It's not normal to get 5 reasonably major events in one place within one year (though last week's lecture showed that it has sort of happened elsewhere before).  He didn't say what the other two of the 5 were, but I assume they were the Boxing Day one and the other one on June 13th.  The most interesting thing was probably that there are all sorts of different soils under the city and sometimes they are different even under the same building and so a lot of the instability of our CBD buildings is because they subsided differently at different parts of their foundations.  The burning question as to why the strip of land I live on has been fine was also answered - it's because our sand is dune sand and not alluvial sand.  That means it was denser and so reacted differently.  In fact his answer to most questions was pretty much always, 'the soil there is x, y or z so that means that it did x, y or z in reaction to the shaking.'  It was all very interesting and the one thing he stressed over and over again was that you can't isolate buildings or houses or whatever and treat them as individual items, you need to treat the whole city as a system and look at what will work for that system as a whole in order to make it all work best in another such event.  Next two weeks are on the performance of different types of buildings so that should also be interesting.

Also in the news this week is a design for a cardboard cathedral created by Shigeru Ban (and done for free as a gift to the city) and it looks like it could be bloody amazing.  Of course people are up in arms and think it's a dreadful idea but in my opinion it's a good thing.  People want roads and houses and shops rebuilt but it's not like that's not happening.  It is.  There are more road works going on than I can shake a stick at and insurance is dealing with most of the shops and housing issues so I don't see what the issue is.  It's a temporary structure that will be a place to go not just for religious purposes, could attract people to see it because you know ... cardboard and buildings don't generally go together, and it won't cost that much to make.  It's also something being actually constructed in a place that has seen a lot of destruction over the last year.  He also wants to use local products and people and wants a stained glass window designed and made locally to go in it.  How is building something unique, and employing local talent to do it, a bad thing? *grumps* I don't get people.  I mean, yes obviously I know there are people in some very bad situations but not building this building isn't actually going to change that.  Anyway, I think it's interesting.  I hope the feasibility study gives it the go ahead and I hope it happens.  They plan on having it done by Feb 22nd next year and that would be awesome :)

Also, I finally managed to get some photos into this entry.

Comments

[mollywheezy.livejournal.com]

Your language class sounds fun! I love that they are teaching for all learning styles and including cultural things. I'm such a languages nerd . . . ;)

The cardboard cathedral sounds awesome! I think that's a brilliant idea. I hope they go ahead with it . . .

I'm with you on thinking those lectures sound interesting, too. But of course, I'm the one interrupting doctors' rounds to ask questions. ;)

Glad to hear you have some positive things happening! :)

[rumpelsnorcack.livejournal.com]

Your language class sounds fun! I love that they are teaching for all learning styles and including cultural things. I'm such a languages nerd . . . ;)

I love the catering for all types thing as well. We had to do a VAK test as part of the induction process and, as expected, I came out pretty string aural (though I do tend to learn better when there is visual to go with the aural stuff). One thing I have always loved about Maori is the way that tikanga (culture) is so integral a part of te reo (the language). Even when I was a kid and there was a token effort to get some Maori into schools the culture was always taught side by side with the language.

Cardboard cathedral must happen! It's the single most interesting idea anyone has had so far about the city's progress going forward (or at least the most interesting feasible idea). I suspect that so long as the feasibility study says it's doable it will happen despite the negativity from the populace.

I love that you interrupt doctors' rounds to ask questions. I really like to know what's going on and what everything means so I tend to interrogate people too, or if people aren't available I interrogate google :D

Yes! Yay for positivity! Positivity makes all things better.

[katdakiwi.livejournal.com]

Yay for the course, it sounds awesome.

As for the cathedral, I was reading that article and it said he would work for free but that it would cost $4 million in materials. I agree its definitely a unique and interesting idea. Someone at work was talking about this idea of free space art - using some of the vacant spaces to be living art pieces to inspire and brighten up the place while the rebuild is going on, but I can't remember what it was called or any kind of link to it.

[rumpelsnorcack.livejournal.com]

As for the cathedral, I was reading that article and it said he would work for free but that it would cost $4 million in materials.
Yeah it is going to cost around $4 million, but that money will be raised deliberately for this project, from what I can gather, and so it won't be taken from any currently existing fund. And in the greater scheme of things $4 million for a building that will be in use several years at least isn't that bad a deal.

Someone at work was talking about this idea of free space art - using some of the vacant spaces to be living art pieces to inspire and brighten up the place while the rebuild is going on, but I can't remember what it was called or any kind of link to it.
I wonder if what they are talking about is either Gap Filler or Greening the Rubble both of which are taking empty spaces and breathing temporary life into them. Gap Filler has been given funding by the Council to continue since they have done some really cool, really engaging stuff. The current one (I think it's still current) is a book exchange fridge on one of the sites. I'd be really interested to know if it was something else though - the more we bring life to the blank spaces the better we'll be.

[sea_thoughts]

I think a cardboard cathedral is a great idea!

Congratulations on learning your new language. :)

[rumpelsnorcack.livejournal.com]

I think a cardboard cathedral is a great idea!
Isn't it cool? We need new, interesting and innovative ideas otherwise we'll end up with a bunch of boring buildings that all look the same.

Congratulations on learning your new language.
Thanks. I'm really excited about learning it (well, more of it because you can't live here and not know any words and phrases).