Ten Days In

So that meeting we were supposed to have today, the one where our sponsors were going to tell us what they actually expected so that we could, you know, actually start on our project? Yeah, didn't happen. Kate was out sick, and Lucy just barely got back from holiday and hasn't been able to read our proposal yet. So we’re still stuck at square one.

Okay, that’s not entirely true. We did still meet with Lucy, and she was able to give us a little more insight. She promised to read the proposal as soon as possible, after which we could discuss it with her, and in the meantime she gave us a list of people we might want to interview, including the employees responsible for updating the museum’s Facebook, Twitter, website, and blog. So we were able to spend the rest of the day coming up with questions to ask those people, and setting up times to meet with them. 

Oh yeah, and there was the fire alarm. Apparently someone drove a car that was too tall into the carpark and hit a sprinkler, setting off the alarm. So we got to evacuate the building and hang out outside while a good three or four fire trucks came to turn it off. I got to learn where the stairs were. I also got to hold a baby, when a woman asked me to so that she could calm down her toddler, who was freaked out by the alarm. He was a cute baby. Very, very calm. Didn't seem bothered in the least by the loud noises and flashing lights, or the strange woman holding him. Being asked "Ma'am, can you hold my baby so I can calm down my child?" was not something I would have expected. It is something I will remember. Odd how sometimes it's the littlest things that stick in your memory.

It felt good to actually be doing work. It also felt good to get out on time, and to see clear skies when I did, both of which meant I was able to be online for a bit. Is it bad that, unless I’m thoroughly occupied in a pre-determined activity, I feel I can’t go a day without checking my email and catching up with people on AIM and Skype? Books and embroidery are enough to keep me occupied, but I get restless if I go too long without being online. Then again, it isn’t really the internet itself that I miss—it’s all the people I stay connected to with it. So maybe that restlessness can really be called homesickness, though a mild form of it. Or maybe I’m just justifying?

Anyway. With my internet/communication addiction sated, I went home and cooked dinner (toasted tuna and cheese, a childhood favourite, though the tuna here is different…) and spent the rest of the night doing cross-stitch. I think there was a time wrinkle, because next thing I knew it was almost midnight, and it did not feel like I was stitching for four hours.

Exhibit time! In addition to the modern Marae, Te Papa also houses a traditional one. It was a long building, maybe ten feet tall at the peak of the roof. Apparently, most traditional Marae are built to honor and signify one person. Each part of the building represents a different part of the person: The vertical posts represent the legs, the slanted roof represents the arms, the peak of the roof represents the body. At one end there are two carved faces located at the roof’s peak. One represents the head of the person. The other is the watchman, the guardian of the Marae. The roof is made of flax, and the walls of the wood of a sacred tree which faces endangerment due to over-harvesting.

Again, I really can’t do it justice with words. I’ll get pictures as soon as I can and edit with them.