February 13, 2007
iDentity
I'm back to work. It is very very very busy. The semester has almost started and there are plenty of new things and initiatives to worry about. But we had another pleasant 3 day work week last week and we went surfing to Raglan. The pictures are of Bridal Veil Falls not far from Raglan and this waterfall just appears out of nowhere in the forest and falls 55m!!! This was our 4th visit to Raglan and its as good as the first time!
6th of February is Waitangi day in NZ. It is kind of NZ national day, but full of controversy: who is to celebrate, why to celebrate, what flag to fly, etc. Given all the major activities happening in other countries on their national day, Waitangi day is very very very low key. For example, Singapore rehearses for about a month before the national day, there are fighter planes in the sky, a huge military parade, major singing and dancing, waving flags, etc. Finland, on the other hand, has a huge reception where the president shakes hands with all the guests for some 6 hrs and that is screened on ALL TV channels real time!!! Different TV channels have a different scope of comments. The national TV channel focuses on the guests' achievements, while commercial channels talk about fashion, who appears with whom, who steps on who's dress... well, you can imagine... Major fun and lots of stories for the gossip magazines for months after!!! I have to confess that I haven't seen the latest Lithuanian Independence day celebrations (LT independence day is 16th Feb!!! it is this week!). There must be some tradition by now?!?! I'm sure there's some singing and dancing?!?!?! And in NZ? Nothing! Maori TV broadcasts the festive speeches, but the day makes very little impact on ordinary citizens. Everybody just heads out to the beach. A good day for surfing, as any!
On the other hand, the difference may be that it is a National Day (whatever that means). Not the Independence day. NZ is not independent yet, you see. It is not a republic. It does not have a constitution. There's no president. We're still under Crown you see... Gaining independence from the Queen may anyway not be a cause for grand celebration. It would be more like "Oh, ok, so we're on our own then. Big deal." And there would be people who would immediately start pushing for a new federation. The new USA. USA 2. United States of Australia!