Task 6: Kicking women in the groin?

There is something disheartening about ‘kicking’ small-framed women in the crotch area. Yes they may have a pad to protect themselves, and in the cases without a pad your foot is stopping just before you kick their torso. But if you’ve come to a self defence to protect yourself against burly, violent, machoistic men, being confronted with a 1.56m woman ain’t the best substitute.

All the women there were from the university I go to, and most of them were muslim for some reason. There was a nervous giggle when our instructor (a Taekwondo blackbelt) explained the situation of defending oneself when lying on the ground about to be approached for rape. The subject wasn’t an easy one for anyone. But apparently you should stay on the ground to face the attacker and use methods to bring him down from there.

Our defence partners changed every few techniques. Generally mine were very good, but they had the same problem as me they didn’t want to punch a girl. After some reassurance that I actually want to get hurt, they started digging in. Of course I did have a punching pad – but the impact of some of the women’s punches were pretty brutal.

My reason for wanting to get hurt was that if I couldn’t take the impact of a few hits of some women in broad daylight, how would I react in a situation with a male at night? Also, if these women couldn’t hit me with strength now, how would they know the true power of their punch?

Me and my partner talked about the effectiveness of some of the techniques. In all situations, a technique is best carried out quickly. Leaving something too long could give the attacker time to tighten their grip. These responses needed to become a sudden reflex.

I could tell that all the women there were generally wanting to kick ass, there were even fighting screams when it came to charge at an attacker. However, we were only told how to defend against one attacker. I guess with two the best thing is to avoid at all costs.

This two hour class was only $5 because it was part of the university, but I would recommend going to one to get some of the techniques which don’t need strength (just agility). I think the most beneficial though are classes called Protect Self Defence. They’re held in Auckland and travel around the country. They concentrate on the pyschological aspects of defending yourself as well, and have men who play the ‘attackers’.

All in all, however you do it – keep safe!

New job, new studies, next to none new tasks

It’s not everyday you get to speak to New Zealand’s/the Pacific’s most respected authors. I’ve been busying myself administering a new competition for Maori writers for Huia Publishers, we asked some well known authors to be judges and mentors including Patricia Grace and Albert Wendt.

I’m currently on a contract with the company. However I’m doing this while studying Pacific Studies at Victoria University, which has been a bit of a juggle. This has meant I haven’t been able to do any new tasks this year. But I have done self-defense and booked tickets to Fiji. Both to be talked about later.

Started my first day of uni on Monday, okay it’s a post-grad degree so it’s technically a task I’ve done before. But then being a post-grad is new isn’t it? I guess it won’t count as a task unless it’s accomplished!

New task: nude photo?

What I may have been participating in today. Photo from Dublin, Ireland © Spencer Tunick

Well, this was going to be my next task:

‘Wellingtonians are invited to take part in a mass nude photo session at Breaker Bay tomorrow.

Palmerston North photographer Binh Trinh says he already has up to 100 people happy to be snapped in the buff against the rugged rocky cliffs near the harbour entrance, but more bodies are welcome.’ – stuff.co.nz 

But it got cancelled:

‘Only in New Zealand, a mass nude photo shoot planned for Wellington’s Breaker Bay beach today has been cancelled by a tsunami warning.

Wellington City Council emergency management have contacted the organiser of the event and they’ve agreed to postpone the event expected to involve more than 100 people.’ – bigpondnews

Of course, I could be lying and never have planned to do this…but now we’ll never know.

Task 5: Going to a live football match

Far from trying to sound cynical, going to sports games always make me feel disappointed about humanity. 

We had awesome seats right above the den!

 

The sports field is a passion-fuelled place. So it is no wonder that everyone is treated as a prisoner when entering the grounds. Bags are searched, drink is to be tipped out and you can fill this up when you enter the stadium again. 

My first taste of a footy match was by no means near the level of mob anger at my first cricket game, where fruit was being thrown on the field missing us by a few inches, but it certainly illustrated the level of passion people invest into a sports game. 

“Get to the other corner!” Yells Mr Fat Man from the row in front of us. “Don’t be fucken stupid!” 

A few girls laugh at him from the other side of the bench. Whether the man is trying to be funny is unknown. But he does continue to say “I’m getting angry!” 

Only now getting angry? Jesus, I wouldn’t want to see him angry.The game was awesome, don’t get me wrong. It ended up with 30 minutes extra time and a penalty shoot-out. 

But I just couldn’t help looking at these men shouting obscenities and thanking my lucky stars they weren’t in my life. At all. 

I guess people need to take their emotion somewhere, some people cry at work and others yell at footy games. Both can be uncomfortable to the people around them, but at least those that yell can help it. 

The beers were a fair price at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington, but of course you are limited by how much you can buy. 

In the end Wellington Phoenix won the penalty shoot-out against Perth Glory leaving the score at 2-1.

Just went to my first live football/soccer game! Have played in the past at college, but never had the money to go to a game. Will post about this tomorrow!

First Fijian test

Perhaps I should get back to this language thing and tackle it hard and fast. I’ve let my mind drift over the past few days because of other commitments, but I need to get back into it.
At present I’m trying to ‘hack’ the language to understand it fully. But I think it’s time to sit down and do some heavy memorising like I’m at medical school.
Here are the phrases I’m going to test myself by the end of this month:
Hello (to one, two, and more people)
Where are you going? (This is the standard greeting when you encounter someone walking somewhere)
To the motel
To the store
Nowhere just killing time
Where have you been?
This food is delicious.
What time is it?
What is your name?
My name is?
Are you married? (this is a common question if you are around my age)
Do you have a boyfriend?
How old are you?
I am 25 years old
Where are you in the family? (this is how people know your status in the family)
I am the youngest.
Can I help you please?
Where is the toilet?

Have you got goals that you want to yell out to the world? Go to http://www.43things.com/ and post all the things you want to do with your life. It’s awesome!

Task 3: Firing a pistol for the first time

When you aim a handheld gun, don’t pull the trigger. Squeeze it, softly.

Don’t use two hands, use one with your other hand on your hip.

Don’t aim for the target, aim slightly below it.

And lastly, don’t think about the fact that your holding a weapon that can easily kill or seriously hurt someone.

If you do, you will shake with illness.

That was what I learned when holding a Ruger for the first time on the weekend.

I aim a Ruger at the local pistol club

I didn’t know quite what to expect. I thought I would be nervous, as is my reactionto anything I try first. But it wasn’t the small, Ruger that scared me, it was the heavy revolver with the huge recoil someone was using before I took my turn to fire.

Me and my partner went to the pistol club in Wellington, it was his birthday and somehow I had stumbled across this place on the internet.

After arranging to give it a go we went down and were shown the ropes by Gabor, a club member for about 3 years.

Gabor looks like the type of person who could be a monk. He was tall, skinny, shaven head and kind face.

“I wasn’t interested in war or guns when I first started,” he told me in a gentle voice. But he now finds it almost blissful, like meditation.

His passion for shooting is evident in the knowledge he has about weapons.

“Not a lot of people know that the person who designed the Ruger was actually completely blind,” he says before our lesson on shooting begins.

It’s not easy to hold up a gun, even though a Ruger is one of the lightest guns. I’ve fired a rifle, but those have more stability with the long butt which you can wedge into your shoulder.

You might think that firing with two hands is best, but as Gabor points out, it can be more accurate to just use one – as this can be aligned better with your eye and give you a longer range.

Pulling the trigger is another no-no, as the quick movement of your finger can actually move the gun out of range of the target. A slow squeeze is best.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t avoid thinking about the fact I had a loaded weapon in my hand and was shaking profusely. Even loading in the bullets was hard.

However, I managed to get one on target….yes one. But I’m always terrible at things when I first start. Jitters I guess.

Things to Get Used to While Learning Fijian

Here are some genitives that you may never have come across before and may trip you up.

Containers vs contents

 Na bilo ni yaqona means the kava-bowl.

I came to think of that sentence as, “the bowl of kava” but it is not. The phrase: na bilo yaqona means the bowl of kava. It is good not to think of the word “ni” as meaning anything, but representing a dash.

Changing an adjective if the subject is pluralised

If you have a plural base and are describing that base as big (levu), short (lekaleka), or small (lailai) you have use the special forms of these: lelevu, leleka, lalai