So, this morning I cabbed it out to the local race track to see a guy about a horse. Well, mostly we just talked about horses and the racing industry in general. And about five minutes in, I literally lost all the prepared discussion topics in my head, because he made this drawn-out analogy about how comparing the body structure of a thoroughbred to a standard horse is like comparing the physical differences of white people to "Negroes."

"We're just formed differently."

??!

I generally stay as far away from all discussions of race as possible. It's a topic I just don't feel comfortable talking about. Maybe avoiding the subject doesn't make sense, but a part of me thinks that if we just didn't bring up the alleged differences between people, they might not even be an issue.

Ethnicity, maybe, is a slightly different beast? You can't really avoid the subject. Maybe I'm digging my argument a hole here... I don't know.

From the things I read on NZ prior to coming here, I was all prepared to see street brawls between Maori and Pakeha (whiteys), West Side Story-style. It's the same tale here as in most of the world - Europeans came in, claimed the land as their own ("But, do you have a flag?"), then later decided they ought to recognize the native people. Same old, same old.

So they made this treaty, the Treaty of Waitangi, in 1840, which was supposed to solve all the conflict. But in reality it's probably made more because, as with any treaty, interpretation is subjective. Anywho, long story short(er), they've still got issues. Take, for example, one recent letter to the NZ Herald, which ripped on the editors for using Maori words colloquially in an article. Hey - I have less idea than anyone here what the words "hui" or "tangata whenua" mean in a story, but jesus christ, google it and learn something. It wouldn't kill you.

My point: I personally haven't seen much drama between Maori and others. There have been several stories re: the make-up of the govt. (In a pseudo-affirmative action decision, they have an allotted number of seats in Parliament - people have all sort of opinions on that), but that's about it.

I did notice in the first week that the more menial city jobs seem to be mostly held by Maori, but I'd think that's more of a class issue. I haven't been out to the mostly Maori suburbs, which people say are home to the very poor.

I've heard many more discriminatory comments in regards to Asian people. Which seems crazy to me, because where I live and work (in the city center), it feels like the population makeup is at least 50% Asian, maybe 25% Maori, 25% Pakeha. I could be wrong on that. But maybe it's one of those examples of the majority becoming a minority, and therefore becoming more vocal because their status is in jeopardy.

On a lighter note, they're running this TV show here, "The Unauthorized History of New Zealand," which is a compilation of old - and apparently real - footage of events like Jimi Hendrix's visit to the country (and his opinions on Kiwis who "smoke the herb"), and people's reaction to prohibition, and all sorts of crazy stuff. It's one of those things, you don't know if they're being funny or are giving a real social commentary or what. It's pretty hilarious.

Thanks for the affirmations that I'm not a total pussy. To help my case, here's what I did last weekend:

That would be me headed 30m down into a limestone cave, where we then tubed down an underground river's rapids under the pulsating light of glowworm larvae, were sent down a rip line, and squeezed through passages claustrophobes have nightmares about. I've got the rope burn and war wounds to prove it. It was like something at Disney, only all-natural. Pretty amazing.

P.S. Fellow Global folks - My Methods mole says they've already begun exploiting our lovely faces and gung-ho attitudes to make money off of the next generation. Apparently they used our pics in their presentation to the new students. For total objectivity, maybe they ought to wait for the "after" shot. And did I sign a waiver that my face could be used in their advertising...?