Judy's Favourite Music: For those of you who have never seen or heard Flight of the Conchords, they bill themselves as “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk parody comedy duo,” and they are currently filming and performing their HBO TV series which takes place in New York City. The show can be seen on HBO in the States, and on commercial television here in NZ (but we don’t know what station as we don’t have a television). We were introduced to the show by friends who had taped it for us, and have since fallen in love (especially Sandy and Judy) and have been checking Youtube for new skits regularly ever since. It really helps to know both cultures, but you can still get plenty of enjoyment if you are only familiar with one of the two cultures they poke fun at. My “favourite music” The Humans are Dead can be seen/heard on Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64 (doncha just love the binary solo?) and our other favourites are Business Time which you can watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU&feature=related and Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenocerous which you can watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BnRwkbiw6Y&feature=related
Sita’s Favourite Music: The Tui is a bird, endemic to New Zealand that is plentiful on both the South and the North Islands, and can sometimes even be heard here in the Auckland suburbs. It has two sets of distinct vocal chords so that it can sing in harmony with itself, and its song is both weird and beautifully haunting – so you see that Sita has good taste. Even more beautifully haunting is the New Zealand Bellbird (also endemic here) – but alas, that is only found in the South Island and so Sita has never heard it. The Tui is also called the Parson Bird, as it is black except for these strange white throat bulbs that make it look like it’s wearing a white priest’s collar around its neck Here is a picture of the bird and link to the sound of the Tui song: http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/articles/topic65.php . For comparison, here is the Bellbird song: http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/articles/topic51.php
Judy's Passion: Since arriving in New Zealand it has become clear that I had taken for granted the copious opportunities for professional education available in the States, and in the Bay Area in particular. Luckily I have been a perennial student for the past 24 years and have taken every continuing education option that has come my way, many from their original sources, and so that means I have had a great deal to offer professionals here that are so cut off from the cutting edge of psychotherapy theory and practice. Since coming to my particular version of eclectic practice (which I call PSI – for Psycho-Somatic Integration), based on the recent discoveries and understandings of the brain that have been made possible by all the new brain imaging technologies, I have been teaching “PSI” as fast as I can develop it, and people here are truly hungry for knowledge. It has given me great joy to be able to offer skills and training to therapists in so many of the effective approaches to treatment that have not yet made it to this corner of the globe.
Joel’s Passion:. Living in cohousing means that we are each on a cook team, and take turns cooking dinners for the rest of the community so that we each only have to cook one large meal per month and then we get to sit back and enjoy the others’ cooking for the remaining two days per week of the month that we eat together. For the Christmas party this year, it was suggested that each cook team come up with some form of entertainment for the rest of the community. Most cook teams created silly skits of some sort or another, but Joel was taken on a wave of inspiration to create a Newsletter parodying life here at Earthsong. It was a great hit, and Joel got many accolades (so did I, as I helped a bit with the writing and finding of photos). It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately most of the humour would be lost on people who haven’t had to endure the many frustrations of living in a community governed by consensus. For that, laughter truly is the best medicine. If I can figure out a way to upload it onto the blog, I will do that so you can take a peek. Maybe more of it will be comprehensible that I think?!
Sita’s Accomplishment, Low and High Points: In order to import our dear kitty to New Zealand, we were required by NZ law to first “pre-quarantine” her, which took six months of vet bills and a very big favour from Sandy’s friend Steve, who was willing to babysit Sita for the last two months of pre-quarantine while we were busy living here with no furniture. Then, after all that, she had to go into quarantine once she arrived, which means that after a terrifying 12 hour flight in the cargo hold, she was essentially in solitary confinement in a cage for a month while the Kiwi bureaucrats got their I’s dotted and T’s crossed. Needless to say, I agonized guiltily throughout the entire procedure. Sita has since been re-learning the joys and anguishes of freedom, as she very slowly learns to expand her world beyond the confines of a cage.
Overheard at Earthsong: Lippy to Full Group Meeting: “Has anyone got a rubber?”
The very first full group meeting we attended, while we were still green yanks, one of the members shouted out this request to the entire room. My jaw dropped open and I said sheepishly “what did she just say?” to which I was greeted with a round of good-hearted laughter. A “rubber” is Kiwi for eraser, but being familiar with American television and movies, they also knew what it sounded like to me. One friend recently mentioned her shock when she first visited the states. She said “it was so weird – like walking around inside a sit-com – I mean they all talked like they do on T.V.!” Interesting perspective.
Overheard at Earthsong: Christof: “I can’t help because I didn’t not get your email.” This was in response to Joel’s plaint over email that a lot of people in the Earthsong e-list weren’t getting his emails. Christof, who is a member of the IT task group, and a person with a very odd sense of humour, answered the email accordingly.
Overheard at Earthsong: David: “Check the newsletter to see if they’re coming back.”
This was shortly after we had read our Earthsong Newsletter parody out loud at the party. In one of the articles, we had teased Christof for writing down the date of the minutes of a recent meeting as December 2008. In the article, we claimed that Christof could divine the future and write the minutes of meetings that hadn’t occurred yet. So when one of the cook teams disappeared to prepare for their skit and we got tired of waiting for them to appear, David made this remark.
Overheard at Earthsong: Mio to ducks (in English) “You can’t come inside.” Mio was three and a half years old when we first arrived at Earthsong, was very shy, and wouldn’t talk to us but would only speak Japanese to her family members. So, imagine our surprise when we finally heard her speaking English…to the ducks! (BTW - There’s a picture of me playing guitar to Mio and of her hopping like a bunny in our first blog entry in March).
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