THE INTERNAL - NEWSLETTER 42/04

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

How are you? Did you have a good week? This will be the last Newsletter for this year since I won’t be here next week. Therefore I wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I am looking forward to seeing you again in 2005! Enjoy your holidays and take care!

See you again in January!

Love, Serina

CHRISTMAS IN NEW ZEALAND (by Bill Egan, Christmas Historian)

The New Zealand Christmas tree is called Pohutokawa and its flowers are a brilliant scarlet throughout the Christmas season. Since Christmas occurs in summer, New Zealanders do not have a tradition of snow and ice. That, however, doesn't stop Santa who still visits the cities and towns while dressed in his red and white outfit.

Small towns and suburban areas have Santa parades where community groups proudly display brightly decorated floats. It is not always hot enough in the early summer to have Christmas dinner on the beach (February is usually the hottest month). Many people in New Zealand follow the old English traditions and have turkey and plum pudding, but these are often served with cold salads. Sometimes the traditional dinner is cooked on the barbecue outside and may include a whole variety of typical Kiwi treats, such as lamb chops, along with the usual Christmas fare.

No one would think Christmas complete without a fluffy Pavlova -- an airy meringue confection made of whipped egg whites and sugar, cooked in a slow, low-heated oven and then decorated with fruit, such as kiwifruit and strawberries, and then piled high with whipped cream. Although Australia claims Pavlova for its own, it was created by a "Kiwi" who worked as a chef in Australia. Therefore, this fabulous creation is also claimed by New Zealand.

Because so many people from the Northern hemisphere now live in New Zealand, it has become the tradition to have two Christmases, one on the 25th of December and the other in July, which is mid-winter. Many hotels, restaurants and homes put on the full Christmas celebration, complete with tree, gifts and of course all the foods which were just too heavy to serve in the heat of summer. In many small towns and villages, Santa visits all the children on Christmas morning riding on a fire engine. They hear him coming because the siren warns them to come out of their homes and stand by the road so he can toss candy to them.

Many people in New Zealand will create a traditional Maori hangi. This is essentially a big hole in the ground that is heated with hot rocks placed in it. It's filled up with baskets of food, covered and then allowed to cook underground. By the time the food comes out, everyone is anxiously waiting for the tender pork, chicken, kumara, pumpkin, potatoes and stuffing. It's been said that there is nothing to compare with the total bliss of the taste of food from a hangi, delicately smoked and melt-in-the-mouth soft. Usually the hangi is served in the late afternoon or early evening. After the meal, folks often sit around singing carols as it gets dark.

According to Graham Keech of New Zealand, “all the traditions are well in place; decorations in houses, shops, and streets. They are all snow themed and winter orientated, which makes for strange sights. The sun pours through the wide-open windows, often filtered through “spray can snow.”

“It is a little different, but still the best time of year for families and friends to get together. We sit outside in deckchairs on Christmas day waiting for the family to arrive, swapping gifts and then move indoors for a traditional Christmas meal.

“Our typical menu would have the following: turkey/chicken, a roast of pork, a leg of cold ham, a roast of NZ lamb, roast potato, kumera (sweet potato), peas, green beans, roast pumpkin, carrots ,gravy, and pork crackling (to be argued over as to who had the most). This would be followed by dessert of Pavlova, cream, ice cream, strawberries and not forgetting the plum duff.”

A CHRISTMAS POEM: SANTA’S GONE P.C.

'Twas the night before Christmas and Santa's out of jail.
He promised to capitulate and now he's out on bail.
The vertically challenged little ones that Santa calls his elves,
Were the sneaky little scamps who filed the charge themselves.

They said it didn't matter just how much that Santa pays,
He should never be allowed to make them work on holidays.
His trouble started early, when P.E.T.A. made it clear,
That they were going to liberate all of Santa's deer.

The E.E.O. complained that only deer were hired
So Santa had to choose, which three you think he fired?
Not Dancer, not Donder, not Comet, not Cupid,
They're too old to fire and Santa isn't stupid.

And Blitzen was - well, you know what I mean,
The gay liberation would make such a scene.
So he dumped the best qualified, for that is the rule,
And replaced them at last with two cows and a mule.

The government carried poor Rudolph away.
He never again would guide Santa's sleigh.
A radioactive nose was his deadly flaw,
They buried him deep in the state of Utah.

And Elizabeth his wife, how low could she stoop?
The night before Christmas, joined a feminist group.
The helpers were told they must now call her Liz
And in all correspondence, her title is Ms.

A committee was chosen to pick all the gifts,
With so many involved, there were quite a few tiffs.
No leather, no fur, not one single gun,
Just toys without gender and toys without fun.

And Santa no longer can be merry and gay,
For we have to be careful with that word today.
'Twas the night before Christmas, and in each edition,
The papers proclaimed the end of tradition.

His lawyers could get no last minute stay,
For OSHA of course had condemned Santa's sleigh.
But the worst we now know, what sealed Santa's fate,
Was mentioning the birth we all celebrate.

WHAT ABOUT OUR X-MAS PARTY?

Did you guys think about the idea of having some fruit cake and Gluehwein together? Some of you suggested to get together on Friday after work… I think it would be a nice idea, although I will not be able to join since I won’t be in Auckland anymore! So have fun and enjoy the cakes…

DID YOU KNOW…

                        … that Christoph is not the only Austrian in our group??? I just                    found out that Georg has actually Austrian citizenship and only                    a permit to stay in Germany! So now (that Christoph is gone) we                found someone else that we can pick on… J

SPEAKER’S CORNER

There was much laughter on the weekend due to Robert’s ability to say everything ambiguously. Here are some examples: (and I don’t know why, but they were usually in a conversation with me J)

- Willst du meine Gurke haben…? (gemeint war die Gurke auf seinem Burger             bei McDonald)

- Ich zeig dir nachher mal meinen Hahn!!! (hierbei ging es eigentlich um den             Weckton am Handy)

- … mit oder ohne Tuete ...? (das Sandwich)

Well, hope you guys don’t interpret to much into it! It was just really funny and the running gag of the whole weekend.

TRIP TO COROMANDEL

In general we had a nice weekend, especially those who were not affected by car problems or any other unpredictable trouble. Too bad, the weather was not really summer-like, but still nice (at least Bastian got sunburned again … I don’t know why) The highlight definitely was the night we spent outside on Chum’s Beach!!! We found a very cosy spot a little further down, set everything up and made a great campfire! It was not cold at all, maybe just a little bit too smoky (that all our staff smells really good now!). The sky was full of stars – absolutely fantastic – and it was incredible to listen to the sound of the ocean with a little breeze around … We all enjoyed the time in pure nature very much!!! So if you have never slept on a beach before get out and do it!!!      

ABOUT CAR RENTALS

Last weekend we definitely didn’t have nice experiences with our rented cars!! Do not go to A&B anymore since their service as well as the cars are very awful. We got a car that was already pretty old, and as a matter of fact should not be used anymore… It broke on Sunday in the morning and caused lots of trouble the whole day through – thus we could drop the day completely!!! What happened is the following: in the middle of nowhere the car heated up very badly, so we had to stop and get water… but how??? Luckily Maoris are very friendly people and helped us out! But it only got us further for about 10 minutes and then we had the same problem over and over again… well, we made friends with several rivers, gas stations and a couple of natives who let us into their house to use their tab water! When we were back again in civilized Coromandel Town we found a garage and got the car fixed. Actually when we called our rental place they wanted to charge $85 to tell us the name of the garage and then added that they close in about an hour… but then, about 5 o’clock they called back and finally picked us up at 8 o’clock! Wulf wants to try to get the money back, we will see if it works…

So far, we’ve had good experiences with Apex Car Rental. Thus I will try to manage something like a frequent discount agreement between WoX and them. As soon as I found out I will let you know.

WHAT’S ON IN AUCKLAND THIS WEEK

MESSAGE FROM JONATHON

Hey guys! Hope everything is going well. We’ve had some good feedback from some of the companies at which you are working, so that is always good.  If the company is happy with you, then they will most likely take another intern in the future.  So your good performance helps us in the long term!

Last week I asked a trivia question - What is the famous geographic landmark from ANOTHER COUNTRY that is actually represented on the NZ five dollar banknote?  The answer: Mt Everest!  The reason for this is that the first person to climb the highest mountain in the world was a New Zealander named Edmund Hillary. His achievement was pretty spectacular for its time.  And so it is commemorated on the Five Dollar Banknote in NZ.

Just to finish a bit more on what I mentioned last week – NZ history is very short and so some of the details from recent history tend to get a fair bit of analysis.

In NZ’s 20th century growth and development, one wartime battle in particular has been a paradigm for NZ (and Australia too!)  In the First World War, a British Military commander (someone you may have heard of for other reasons – he later became Prime Minister – Winston Churchill) sent the New Zealand and Australian troops on a somewhat suicidal mission to take and hold a piece of land in Turkey. It was a disaster, military speaking, as the ANZAC’s were mowed down.  Since that time, it has become a battle that has come to represent NZ’s contribution to her allies in the two World Wars.

Another aspect of NZ history that Kiwi’s like to celebrate involves both politics and rugby – two things that aren’t normally associated with each other.  In the early 1980s, the rugby team from Apartheid South Africa was invited to come and tour NZ to play a series of matches. This caused great controversy, as many countries of the world had imposed sanctions against sporting activities with the country. The matches resulted in protests and riots, with many people landing themselves with criminal convictions because of their involvement. It polarized public opinion at the time. 

In later years, some people overstated the event somewhat. Much as many Americans later said they protested against Vietnam (when they probably didn’t), some Kiwis have come to think that their protests at the rugby games brought down the Apartheid regime. 

Oh dear. But still, it goes to show how important rugby is to national identity in NZ.

Jonathon

That’s it for today!