From Tia Woods Letter 5 - Teatuarui woods 2007. 2 Newzealand
  ±Û¾´ÀÌ : ±è»ó¼ö     ³¯Â¥ : 07-03-26 07:41     Á¶È¸ : 21248    

fom-TIA WOODS

My mum having a Pacific Island decent made it hard for her to cope without close family and friends in Hamilton. Some of her relatives lived in Auckland and her dad and stepmother lived in the south island. Mum had an accent and people could barely understand her at times, but she was always smiling and laughing which drew a lot of peoples attention. Mum was very close to Naria, that was her favorite. Before mum meet dad she told me that life in Rarotonga was tough. She continuously reminded us kids that we have nothing to complain about. Mum and her family worked hard in Raro, growing up without a mother in her life. She spent most of her life living with her grandmother in Mauke another island belonging to the many islands of the Cook islands. While mum was young she worked at the hotels and resorts in Raro. She enjoyed working, and that뭩 exactly where she gets her hard working ethic from. Mum was often hard on us kids, she too like dad was someone who taught us children to accept what we had and to be thankful for having a roof over our heads. Mum was a really good mother, never left us kids on our own, and was always concerned about us. She missed Raro a lot, so when we got the chance dad took a few months off to fly our family to live in Raro for a few months. I was about seven when we lived in Raro. Me my sister and brother attended Avarua School in Raro. I hated it. The kids were evil and cheeky, they couldn뭪 understand my accent and I tried to make friends with kids that were English speaking. Education wasn뭪 that great in Raro, partly because they did not have all the resources we did in New Zealand. I was above the reading age there so I just fooled around every day. Teachers weren뭪 that nice unless they met your parents. I had a pregnant teacher, Mrs Hostling, she was so evil, im sure she hated me parlty because I enjoyed pushing her buttins, I thought I was a lot smarter than her, but I was seven and just found it difficult to adjust. It was legal for teachers to smack children, I don뭪 think island kids really took notice, as a punishment some kids got hit with a ruler but somehow managed to keep smiling. I was freaking out each day, I refused to go to school and faked sick so I could hang out with my dad and go to the beach. I missed New Zealand, I missed the farm, I missed my grandpa and when my dad went back to take care of the farm in New Zealand I missed him the most. Avarua School was next to the Rarotongan airport, one day I was so angry I wanted to fly back home to New Zealand. It never happened. Rangi was enjoying school and so was naria, I guess I couldn뭪 adjust to the island life. Living in Raro gave me some good views on life, I learnt that family is a big thing to value in the islands, working hard and living on a budget is how life is like there. I complained far too often and sometimes I wasn뭪 greatfull, I just wanted to go home. That was it. Me and naria celebrated our birthdays on the same day because our birthdays were so close together. I was turning eight and seven. Half the neighbourhood came, it was scary. My dad bought me and naria a Malibu Barbie each from New Zealand. I went away for less than a second to return to a headless Barbie doll, at that point I really was pissed off. I wanted to run away for certain. I got as far as the taro patch, turned back and headed for aunties house to glue the blonde head back on the headless doll. My mum and dad were enjoying life in Raro, it was dads favorite place and he found the time to relax after the hard days of being back working on the farm in New Zealand. There were a lot of drunken relatives in raro every weekend, the smell of cava, wine and beer lingered everywhere. Everyone was so laid back, had no worries, too much happiness, laughter and smiles, I just couldn뭪 understand why I was so eager to go home? Now I look back and I miss the island dancing, island drumming and music, fresh tropical paradise, the lagoon, the people, the food and most of all the relaxed life. When we returned to New Zealand, I was happy, but still had to adjust to the cold weather and fast mode. Mum and dad were gutted about the return, for them it meant back to work, back to reality.(5) end.