News + Recap

3-7

Well, let’s get the news out of the way first, shall we? This morning I had my meeting with Kerri, the woman who owns the dairy farm with her husband Hennie, and we got to talk a bit about the job. Here’s the gist:

They need someone for a couple of weeks to do fill-in milking, but mostly they need someone to take care of the calves, as the cows start calving on the 10^th of this month. My job will be to fill in at morning milking whenever it’s needed, and then to spend the rest of the day out with a four-wheeler and a cart taking care of the calves, making sure they’re feeding, chucking them into the right pastures and buildings, checking on the heifers about to calve, and possibly giving Hennie a hand with the actual calving itself it the heifers need it. I’m all for this, as working with baby animals is the best part of the whole farming gig, in my book!

For this work I’ll be paid hourly (we’re going to figure out a good salary in the first two days when they see how much I know, but the base rate is 12.25NZD per hour) and I’ll be living with Hennie and Kerri in their farmhouse about 10km outside of Dannevirke. It sounds like I’ll also have access to a “ute,” which is short for “utility vehicle,” and is what they call a pickup truck, so that’ll be my ride into town when I want it as I found out that my Minnesota driver’s license is good in New Zealand for 12 months. Now I just have to learn to drive on the other side of the road, and on the other side of the car!

All around, I think this job will work out nicely for two weeks or so to make some more money before I hope to head on down to the South Island. I’ll be starting with them on the 9th.

AND, my birthday’s a month from today, and I’m a bit excited about that, even though I’ll be far from home, and 23 isn’t an especially exciting number.

I feel like writing a bit about my insight into the world of shearing and Maori life (not that they’re the same, it’s just that the people I’ve been working with happen to be both) now that I’m done working with PMS, but I’m not sure quite what to say. I guess I’ll just say that people are people all over the world, and that you can’t make generalizations about anything. Having said that, though, here are some bullet points:

- All the people I met and worked with, all of whom are Maori except for two Pakeha guys who sheared occasionally, were heavy drinkers. The lightest was Tina, who would only really indulge about twice a week, and the heaviest of which was Lewis, who was drunk almost every night and had to be taken to hospital the night before I left. It makes me wonder, from an anthropological viewpoint, if this drinking is at all related to their genetic aptitude for addiction like that of many Native peoples all over the world, or if it has more to do with the hard life they live which pushes them toward anything that can make them forget.

- Everyone at PMS seemed pretty disposed toward using violence to settle arguments. Abby, who I mentioned before as being pretty rough and tough to begin with, had a fight with old Uncle Ben the second night I was there, which began over nothing, escalated into name calling, and ended with punches being thrown. The idea seems to be that you have to be able to put up your fists and protect yourself at the slightest provocation or insult, and I wonder again if this has to do with the old Maori challenge customs, or is something just inherent in blue color lifestyle here in NZ.

- It seems that, in the rural areas, whether Maori or Pakeha, there’s a taught deference to the males. Women will argue with their husbands or brothers, but when it comes down to brass tacks the women just have to shut up and take whatever ruling is given. I may be exaggerating a bit here, but that’s honestly what it seems like to me. Even Ann scolded her daughter Emma when she told Scott, her husband, to do something instead of doing it herself, and Emma rolled her eyes a bit. That makes me think that the younger generation may be changing this a bit. Either way, it bothers me to no end, even though I’m in a situation where I haven’t got any guy to have to answer to anyway. Just a burr under my saddle when it comes to this issue, I guess.

- There seems to be a fairly large divide between social mores in rural areas and urban areas. The people who I met in Auckland and even Rotorua had different ideas about life and food and how to do things than the people out in Taupo and down here in Dannevirke. I know this is true to an extent in the US as well, so possibly my being in a new country and seeing with new eyes, as it were, is making these things jump out at me.

- I love the way people talk in New Zealand! First of all, most questions are phrased like a statement, with the inflection coming down at the end, but then you add “eh?” at the end to signal that it IS, in fact, a question. For instance, instead of saying “would you like to go to town with me?” they say “how would you like to go into town with me, eh?” Also, verbs are turned into phrases in an interesting way, so instead of saying “I’m chatting” you say “I’m having a chat.” The same is said for “having a feed,” “having a sleep,” “having a listen,” etc. I dig it.

That’s enough for anthropological talk, I think! I’m having dinner with the pastor and his wife tonight, and it makes me feel like Anne of Green Gables having dinner at the Manse.

And now, two pictures! One of the gang, and one of the shearing sheds.

From left to right above: Tina, Abby, Uncle Ben, Lewis, and one of Abby's brothers who I don't remember, and his son down at the table.