'The World English Dictionary'.

I failed to think about the fact I was going to be living as the 'foreigner' for six months before I left for New Zealand. It's not that I look out of place, or act out of place, or have different cultural/religious views but the main thing that has shocked me is the different language we speak. 

Obviously the British and New Zealanders main language is English but I was not aware that alot of the time it feels like we are speaking different languages (not even because of the bad English on my part!). This is furthered by the fact that I am around many Americans and other Europeans alot of the time, and for example if I am in a conversation with someone from Chicago and someone from Auckland, we could literally all by talking about something completely different. An example of this was just today we were trying to pin our hair up with 'kirby grips' (in my terms), but 'bobby pins' to the American and 'hair clips' to the Kiwi. Long story short but this resulted in two of us buying the same hair pins to come home to two of us already owning them! We can literally barely go a sentence without someone having to question at least once what another is talking about!

Despite the fact this becomes a tad annoying (especially when in New Zealand they use the American way of spelling and believe it is true English) it proves the question why do we have these differences and why are we so reluctant to change our ways? Yes, it is to do with tradition, the age of countries, the power the country has, the people in charge of that, not forgetting us accepting this is how things are even if change is beneficial.

 Yes, it would be an immense amount of effort to change the way people live you could call it, to change all highways so everyone drives on the same side of the road, to completely start again with currency so every country is 'equal', not to mention the arguments that would occur going through each dictionary and choosing each word that is going to be exhibited in 'The World Dictionary'!

I don't know what difference this would make to the world or the people, if it would benefit or simply confuse every one of us. It is like changing the way we live to benefit people for generations to come. When this is said it is impossible not to think about the environment and how we are trying to 'save our planet'! Our little changes of recycling, using less packaging etc is hopefully going to save our world one day, but really what we need is a complete redesign, similar to creating one dictionary for each language, and a redesign of our brains. If this 'World English Dictionary' for example sounds out of this world, how does the thought of taking cars away from every country for everyone... surely that would help global warming a tad..

Just an idea.

What makes a new home to you?

What makes a home?

Kelsey (Colorado, US) - 'Now that I can go for a run outside on my own, Wellington is my home.'

Kimberly (Scotland) - 'I've got a nice blanket on my bed and scrubbed out the fridge. Sorted.'

People watching

People watching - something most of us find ourselves doing, sometimes subconsciously and sometimes embarrassingly. People are intriguing. Human behaviour and reaction is a natural part of us and each individual is unique in such ways.

 

Now that I have a chance to people watch for a valid reason, unlike usually sitting on the pavement glaring at peoples’ ripped Converse and wondering how these women are coping in the 6inch heels they’re sporting, which is my usual position. Ok, so I am intrigued how people move, why they move and how they use the space they are in. This is important as it creates an atmosphere, whether good or bad, it creates mood which affects the people in this space, ultimately reflecting on the people and their lives.

 

My new home. It is a kind of space I have never experienced before. A building of 9 floors, full of young design students adjusting to new life away from their home comforts. Everyday I am hit by the same situation when I enter the building – to wait for the lift or use the stairs? How long will it take? 90% of the time my impatience takes over and I walk, but no-one else ever seems to. Why would people rather wait three times the amount of time to stand with a stranger and induce an awkward silence in the lift on the way up the two flights of stairs?

 

I may have looked like a creep but I took this opportunity to get my camera out and investigate. I have created myself a new project to look at human behaviour and how individuals feel and react in situations of forced intimacy, concentrating on stairwells mainly, but also elevators. I sat at the bottom of the lift in the entrance hall and did a site analysis, filming moments of quietness and students waiting in anticipation, calculating how long it took their patience to run out before they decided to take the stairs. Let’s just say I am extremely inpatient!

The conclusions that I came to were as follows:

1.     1. These young people seem to be (on the whole) comfortable in their own skin. By this I mean that they are willing to stand in silence with a stranger for a longish period of time, in a confined space, without appearing nervous or uncomfortable.

2.    2.  People are lazy.

3.     3. They are not too bothered about the health benefits walking can have.

4.     4. But, more importantly, elevators force people to interact. It encourages people to make eye contact, talk to one an other, and if the conversation is ‘successful’  it has to be concluded, which usually in our culture is done with arrangement of a date or meeting. Therefore this leads on to contacts being made and networks being built.

5.     5. This also suggests that when people are determined (that is to take the lift and not walk in this case), and they are in a situation with a stranger of sorts, we can form relationships with people we would not usually do. Of course this is generalisation but on the whole it did result in chatting.

I am still investigating this with different variables, including senses, in a different building, in a different country (if someone wants to try it in Dundee feel free!), and on the stairwell (which so far has had similar results), so more thoughts to come..

This is some of my research so far:

Eco-Innovations

photographs of 'A Sweet Sharing Project'

I was lucky enough to be invited to watch and experience a competition called Eco-Innovations that encourages young designers to collaborate from their different fields to think up new ways in which we, as young designers, can help to influence people into becoming sustainable or even just becoming aware of the affect we are having on the environment which therefore may encourge us to change.

The project is in association with 60 Earth Hour. This video captivates what they d0;
http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=4svgywG4fdg

Massey University 4th years worked together from different design fields including Spatial Design, Graphics, Advertising and Textiles to create design ideas which have amazing potential to dramatically improve the world.

Projects included t-shirts that you could have your say printed on the front and the label would be visible on the back where yuo choose how you want your t-shirt printed and made, eg, which fabric, where it is made etc, therefore showing everyone else how much you care about how your product is made and ultimately if it is sustainable.

Another was a product that mimics the milking of a cow. It would be set up in the supermarket and look like a drinking tap (with udder 'teets') where you take your glass milk bottle and refill it when you need milk. The idea behind this is to cut out the middle man and make us think of how things can be done easily, and not forgetting enjoyably!

This example is 'A sweet sharing Project' - is an idea that is taken back to communities and when we used to share things with our neighbours, such as a bag of sugar. Instead of consuming more and more we do not need, this project would aim to encourage people not only to share, but to spend time and make friends with the people around you.

Others from this project;

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47804540@N03/4383786802/in/photostream/

To see others from this competition

http://www.spatialdesign.ac.nz

thanks to; team double you's flikr. All of the entrants mentioned in this blog.

: )

now I know this is my new home.

Mouri Welcoming

The Maori Culture has a stigma attached to it. It is wrong. In the Western World many of us believe the Maori people prance around doing the Hakka in next to nothing clothes whilst munching on a human limb. Ok, so thats an overeggerating but you get the gist.

The 'new' New Zealanders aka the people that aren't Maori, are respectful of the Maori cultures so therefore if you stay in New Zealand you are asked to go to a Maori Powhiri where you are invited into their worship building and you are greeted whilst listening to a Maori women sing the welcoming song.

The process is as follows:

1. You congregate outside the worship room

2. Everyone takes off their shoes

3. The men enter first (traditionally this was the check the space for any dangers before the women entered)

4. As you enter you are greeted by the Maori one at a time by pressing noses together twice and staring with complete concentration. Following this is a firm hand shake when you say Kia Ora (thanking for them having you)

5. You are now welcomed into the Marae where the ceremony takes place.

A Maori Meeting

The Powhiri is a short but memorable experience that is greatly appreciated by the original New Zealand culture. The fact that they still have this so strong in this country is admiring and completely contradicts the conception they are all cannibals (although the leader did joke of this at first and told stories of when they did feed so many people with their leaders dead body at their funeral!)

New people and new 'home'

I have just touched down in Wellington, New Zealand, after travelling halfway around the world, not forgetting 5 amazing days in LA with my in law Mexican-Californian family.

Apart from the complete flip on the world map I still feel suprisingly at home and like I'm pretty much still in Scotland (maybe this is due to the greyness all around, sky and buildings). The only difference seems to be the warmth. Even the New Zealanders all seem to have Scottish relatives closeby and the accent is a sort of mixture of English, American and Australian. It's not broad at all, unlike mine which seems to be causing an excitement to all the new students even if they do think it is Irish..

Isn't it strange how you can travel around the whole world but it's still the same? This goes back to an older post I wrote about home and where the heart is - What makes home? It makes me wonder what it means to me. Previously I thought home was where I have bonds with people and possesions, relationships that cannot be replaced etc. And yes, to a certain extent this is true but I have found a new home now and I admit I could talk only a sentence about each person around me.

So what does home mean to me now? Where I feel safe. Where I feel appriciated. Where I can walk around in my 10 year old pyjamas and feel at ease.

Another thing which I can't help thinking about is why I feel so at home with these new people. It is as if faces and personalities seem to mirror another person on the other side of the world. I'm starting to think maybe there is another 'you' in each continent or country, just in another body. In fact maybe just one other you, mirroring exactly what you do.

However I have not found me in New Zealand yet..

Wellington from Mt Victoria