Out early this morning to join the children at Te Puna as they go out for a day on the mountain - 'Maunga'! There are quite a few of these in Auckland and NZ as they are all created from many, many dormant volcanos - this one was a 'pa' or village/town for a Maori community hundreds of years ago - so its a special place.
We spent a great time with the children - from 2years old, all with their waterproof dungarees on and shletering under the huge trees in the rain. The 2 year olds keep up with the older children and tramp their way in wellies through the long grass - resilience is strong and they keep up. Everyone knows to keep in sight of the adults (those who don't only get told once and they are taken back to Te Puna!) and the children make their own decsions about what to do in the spaces - it involves a lot of rolling down hills and then discovering that you can slide down them really well in the nylon wet weather gear.
I watched Te Awhiorangi at 2 years old looking very serious as he kept up with the older children - he watched them rolling down the hill and joined in. As he pulled his way back up he lost his grip and went rolling down again laughing and smiling - his serious face lit up and he got up and climbed the hill again! We stopped for 'morning tea' and he ploughed his way through crisps and a jelly chew and then followed the others as they ran and jumped on Hugh who was one of the teachers. He was annoyed when he had to stop for a nappy change but let Lovely his teacher do that and put a friendly arm around her neck afterwards - she said that he needed to be patient with her as she changed his nappy - which I thought was a great perspective to share with him - we usually say that the children have to be patient!
The teachers and parents are all speaking to the children in Maori, they sing their greetings, songs (one of the children showed me how to do the movements) and thank-yous for food together and then sing me the Maori anthem!
Needless to say that the two little ones in the car with Lovely and I fell asleep on the way back!
Will put some pictures of the Maunga on the Blog in a bit - my battery is running low so have to plug in!!
