Polyfest

For school on Thursday I was able to go with my class, and all the other "senior classes" (year 5/6), to Polyfest. This is another type of festival like Pasifika, that I went to last weekend, only the dances are put on by high school kids. It is sort of like a competition between the different schools. My teacher asked Brooke, Brittany, and Margo if they wanted to come along too (since their classes weren't old enough to be going), so they got to come along as well.

It ended up being a REALLY hot day and we had a lot of fun. There were different villages to go to again, like Maori, Tonga, Samoa...ect. And at each place there was food, shops to buy cultural items, and stages for the different cultural dances. Because we were with the ambassador students we stayed in one village most of the day while the students did different activities and stations. But then at the end of the day, we got to go out to the other villages and see some of the high school students perform their cultural dances. I love all the different cultures I am learning about here in NZ!

It was really neat to go with the students from my school because for most of them, this was the first big outing that they had actually been able to do in their life. Each child had to pay $10 to come on the field trip, which was A LOT of money for them to collect from their parents. But after weeks of slowly bringing in the money, and Mrs. Tararo getting after them on getting their money turned in, each student had enough to go! It is crazy to me how many festivals and events take place so close to these kids homes, and yet a lot of the kids are never able to attend them. I'm glad they had this opportunity to go to Polyfest with the school!

Ridding the bus with my students. 

Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. I love these boys from my class. I don't
know what it is about little Polynesian kids, but they melt my heart!

I can never get them to pose for a picture with OUT the peace signs. 

Maori Powhiri to start the festival.

It was cool to see it done after we had just been in a Powhiri
ourselves (when being welcomed into the NZ schools). 

Police tent station. It is crazy to me that NZ cops/police do not EVER
have guns on them. No one in NZ has guns, NOT EVEN COPS. Crazy!!!

Coconut mommas station. This was cute for the kids to learn a story about
coconuts and how they came to be.

Fresh coconut. She is cutting up the insides of a coconut right there. It
was cool to see.

I got to eat real, freshly shredded, coconut! It didn't really taste like much
but was very soft.

They were working on making these leaf flower creations.
I loved watching their fingers work as they took the
leafs, cut them up into thin pieces, braided them, twisted
them and created. . .

. . .beautiful designs like this!

Learning about, and playing with, bamboo drums.

Finally getting to to out to the other villages and see the high school
students perform their dances!

High school students performing the haka!

I think it is cool how the girls paint their faces just below the mouth. You
can't really see it too well in this picture, but for performances like this
the girls have these intricate designs drawn on their lips and chin. 

A lot of the guys get their faces designed as well for performances.

Some of the kids from my class. You can see Mrs. Tararo sticking her head
out there in the back (with the hat and glasses on). . .oh and Margo is
in there too!

I love the boys in my class! aghhhh how am I going to leave my kids
next week?