Intro: My Time in New Zealand

                                                                              –Auckland Then 3 Hours to Rotorua

 

I have wanted to visit New Zealand from the time I first laid eyes on that magnificent landscape in the film The Lord of The Rings. That was a bit more than 20 years ago! I had the opportunity to go in July with The Young People’s Chorus of NYC to be a part of the team preparing the young singers for The World Choir Games.

According to Google, The World Choir Games is the largest global choral festival and competition. The motto is “singing together brings nations together.” And bring nations together it does!

I couldn’t wait. Though I have been YPC’s choreographer for 18 years, this was the very first time I was able to go on tour with them as their budget allowed for it. There were close to 100 young people ages 12-19 with a few alumni in the mix, along with numerous staff. So I was verrrry Happy and Grateful to be included!

 

Keep The Dreams Alive

 

No matter your age, always dream. ALWAYS. It was quite some time before I got to go to New Zealand, but in reality, what does that really matter? I got to go and Experience, those memories are encoded within My Being. THAT is the payoff.

ALLOW for The Receivership of Jewels in Your Life. That is the only way they can be placed at your feet.

We get caught up in THE HOW???? That’s not our job. Our job is to Set Our Intention and Become in Alignment with The FREQUENCY of the things we want, with The ESSENCE of those things. In addition, do what needs to be done in order to Co-Create the Manifestation.

And when you DO receive the bounty, GIVE THANKS DEEPLY.

 

 

A Long Journey

 

I was in the group that had to change flights in L.A. Basically, it was approximately 18 hours flying with a 2 hour layover. But that layover was extended another 3 hours due to a sick passenger having to be removed and then we still couldn’t take off because their luggage had to be located and removed according to international law.

That took about another hour. We were on a gi-normous AirBus so that was a lottttt of luggage to go through!

Once we took off, it was a pretty smooth flight and I got some good sleep but it was pretty cold on that plane, BRRRR, c’mon Delta damn! Other than freezing the entire flight, the Fly-Hugz pillow I bought is all that they say it is! My neck was fine when we landed and believe it or not, I had no jet lag (I also have a sleeping strategy that helps to mitigate it that I’ve used successfully for years).

If you want to know my strategy, hit me up in the comments on Instagram under the post about this blog post!

 

Auckland Finally and Then Rotorua

 

The other group on the direct flight landed in Auckland at 4 AM and the poor things had to amuse themselves until we arrived at 8AM. What was too funny was that as each person from my group got through Customs and emerged through the doors, the kids cheered and screamed LOUDLY.

When I came through, ohmygosh, they did what they do for the curtain call at the end of our annual galas–they chanted my name to thunderous applause–it was so sweet and HILL-AH-REE-OUS at the same time!

I don’t know how long, but after the money exchanges and grabbing some food, we were off to the buses for a 3 hour ride south to Rotorua, a Māori town on the North Island.

Among the other cool activities the Time Unlimited Tours planned for us, we were to witness and take part in a ceremony as we were heading to a Marae, which are sacred meeting grounds, and a focal point of Māori communities throughout Aotearoa, New Zealand. 

You’ll be hearing more about the wonderful guides that are Time Unlimited Tours as this series on New Zealand progresses, they were amazing!

 

What An Honor

 

You have to be invited to enter a Marae, a fenced-in complex of carved buildings that represent the Ancestors belonging to a particular tribe (iwi), hapū (sub-tribe) or whänau (family). The Marae we were invited to belonged to the Te Arawa tribe and the Marae is the Te Papaioru.

What an honor it was to take part of the ceremony! The meeting houses are intricately carved structures steeped with reverence of the ancestors.

To enter, there is a person (female) who represents you and it is the custom for all the females in the visiting group to stand behind the representative and approach the wharenui (the carved meeting house) in front of the males the visiting group.

Opposite us at the foot of the path in front of the wharenui were two female elders who took turns singing and gesturing, with our representative singing the response. We slowly made our way up the path behind her as the two elders moved back slowly.

Once we reached the opening of the wharenui (meeting house), we were to remove our shoes, leave our belongings outside and enter. We were instructed on where to sit, and the males were escorted to sit in front of us. Awaiting were the elders representing the community.

 

The Formal Welcoming Ceremony (põwhiri)

 

Once seated, a male elder addressed the male speaking on our behalf in Māori.

(Side bar: there are 3 official languages spoken in New Zealand–English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language. These languages are taught in schools. I think that is mega fantastic and inclusive).

The male elder spoke and then they all sang. Followed by words of other male elders followed by song. That’s the basic format, someone speaks, they all sing. Then it was time for the male representing us to speak, followed by a song we all sang–This Little Light of Mine. To see the smiles on the faces on some of the elders was just priceless! They had never heard anything like it!

This call and response could’ve gone on forever, we ended up having a few people speaking for us and yup you guessed it, singing followed. 

 

 

 

The Buffet Lunch

 

Eventually there were closing remarks from the elders and an invite to the dining room where we were to feast on a buffet lunch. There were even offerings to those of us who need to avoid gluten and dairy. Quite tasty indeed.

After a beautiful prayer, there were more remarks and more singing. Oh and I must mention that the grounds are bordered by the incredible Lake Rotorua which is the 2nd largest lake in New Zealand. It was just breathtaking.

At the end, the elders graced us with a beautiful prayer before departing to our hotel rooms for the first time at about 8PM New Zealand time. It was a lonnnnnng couple days–from meeting at home base to head to the airport in NYC at noon on July 5th, changing planes in L.A. to take off 3 hours late at about 1:30AM PST, arriving in Auckland on July 7th about 8AM, then 3 hours to Rotorua–phew lawd, needless to say, we were some tired peeps!

 

 

 

 

Hello, Welcome, and welcome I certainly felt

 

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