Ok then, I promised you that I'll tell you where I come from....I am from.......TAHITI! I don't expect you guys to know about my country, but manybe you've heard about it...it is known as a "paradise" for tourists because of our 'warm welcome' and stuff haha
In all, the weather around there is pretty hot, it's rare that you can get a temperature less than 25 degres celcius, so yeah that's why I'm better in hotter seasons too haha..but because you get to sweat a lot, it's really cool to go and head for the beach ^_^
So now, where is this 'Tahiti' exactly?
On the map above you can see us compared to the rest of the world...Whoa, we are so big haha lol ^_^
Then, here you can see a closer look with the distances between the other main countries...we are the center of the world haha ^_^
A closer look of the Polynesian Triangle(that's how the whole group of archipelagos is called because the extreme islands kinda form a triangle)
In the big red circle, you can see us...Tahiti, you can say that it is considered as the 'capital' of all the other islands around, the other islands that were put in bold are other important island famous in tourism...If you're searching for clear blue ocean with white sand and beautiful nature, go there....and don't expect to see any of these in Tahiti lol...well if you search well enough, you can find your happiness...But I recommand you to go to the other islands...^_^
Ok here's a better close up of Tahiti and her 'Sister island' Moorea...Ummm Tahiti's circumference is about 120-130km(without the small peninsula, cause as you can see, there is no road that goes all the way to the back of the island), so yeah, it's a pretty short trip that you can do in just one day and enjoy the views of the island...Like I said, we are so big lol ^_^
Ummm...the underlined town is the capital of Tahiti and where our high school is... and the one circled is where I live...it's 13km to go there with only one road to used...so I tell you that it's early hell to go to school cause there are lots of people who go there for work....So yeah, we had to get up at 4.30 to avoid traffic, eat breakfast at my mum's work(a kindergarten) and head to school for 7.30...I so not miss that way of life lol ^_^'
In the town called Punaauia on the west of Papeete, there is the only University of the whole Polynesia...and I heard that it sucks...that's why we went to New Zealand to continue our studies...That's where my mum's side of family lives too...I love to go there and have fun with my cousins...My dad's side is where we live...in Mahina...we live up in the mountains, so our parents can't worry about us hanging out late at night, cause there's absolutely nothing but our family there lol ^_^
That boat is called the Moorea Ferry..one of the many boat companies that you can use to head for Moorea...The ferry is ideal if you have a car with you, but it's really slow, so if you get seasick, don't use it...There is another faster one called the Aremiti, this one's much faster, you can get there for less than an hour and it's really well furnished, TV with air conditionner or you can go outside on the top of the boat to enjoy the view and fresh air...
If I'm not mistaken, it's Tahiti that you see behind cause Moorea doesn't have that much houses....In front of the ferry are some canoe that we call 'vaa', I'll talk about it later on...
This is Mount Orohena...the highest peak of the whole Polynesian Triangle with 2241m height...whoa now that's really high haha...Umm what can I say about this one....I think there are people who go climb it sometimes...I don't know, I never tried it myself....just enjoy the view ^_^
POLYNESIAN ACTIVITIES
Ok now, here a some activities still practised from our people, mostly during the Heiva (in July) where there are lots of contests:
Our traditionnal dance...called the Tamure...I think that's what made us famous among tourists, exotic girls and guys rolling their butts and signing and stuff haha...There are different types of dances, the hula is a slow one while the otea is much more faster....I used to practise that and I tell you it's really tiresome and you sure sweat a lot under some really powerfull sun...a good way to lose weight I tell you lol ^_^
The pic is quite an old one, they use that type of dress only during important festivities, or you can only use a pareo, a piece of cloth that you tie on your hips...and nothing but your undies underneath it or you won't be able to move quite well...The top varies just as much...sometimes you can use coconut shells too haha ^_^'
Just for info: the girls roll their butts while the guys open and close their legs while moving around...pretty fun to do too ^_^
This is the vaa...mostly for men because it requires a very strong upper body, but there are more and more women doing it as well...You can see some contest almost all the time during the year within different categories, depending how many people there are on your canoe: 1, 3, 6, 12...The biggest event holding the vaa as the main event is called 'Hawaiki Nui', where the teams go to the island Raiatea and race on different courses around the islands....This used to be the main transport in acient times while travelling between islands...
Once again I used to practised this sport too, but I just don't have the time for it anymore....If you don't want to have broad shoulders, you should avoid it at all cost, but it's still fun to do it....I'll tell you a secret, I started to practise this sport so that I won't have to do the housework at home because I'd be gone for the whole morning with my dad, bro and cousins on Sundays(the day for the housework) haha...I'm lazy I know....I can quite tell that I'm pretty good too ^_^
This one I don't remember how it is called, but the goal is to hit with your javeling the small coconut that hangs alone on a stick high above the ground...This sport requires lots of precision and it's mostly practised by older men...I never tried it before, well I won't do any good if I tried it anyway lol ^_^
POLYNESIAN FOOD
If some of you are curious about what we eat, beside eastern food that is...I mean our local food:
Ok, here you can see some fruits that are really good (from left to right): Taro (really yummy when boiled and add lots of salt on it *drools*), coconut (the water in it is really great, especially when you're really thirsty...and the white stuff on the edges is just delicious, especially on green cocounuts *drools*),pineapple (I so prefer eating these kind of fruits back home, there taste so much better ^_^), bananas (monkey's food haha, but when yellow it tastes really great ^_^), some kindo of orange (I'm not really into oranges, but you know it well ^_^) and vanilla (it's not to eat but the perfume it makes is just really great to perfume your cakes, desserts and even coffee)
Some more fruits for you to enjoy...this is the result when they are cut and ready to eat. You can see bananas, pineapple, watermelon, papaya and so on (the green coconut: that's this one that you get a good drink and food from...the brown one is mostly used to extract milk from it)
POLYNESIAN FLOWERS
Ok, here are some flowers that you can see there:
The tahitian symbol..the Tiare Tahiti, used to make necklaces for welcomes or farewells, its sweet perfume can be used to make soaps, beauty stuff or 'monoi' used to protect yourself from the sun when you sunbath....
The tipanie....it got a really gentle smell but beware when you break it, at white liquid comes out of it and it sticks...I even got allergies out of that stuff.....oh well...
Now this is a unique flower that you can only find at Raiatea, it's called the Tiare Apetahi...as you can see its shape is really unique...
There is a legend on it...I don't know all of it but I now the basic: It's a princess who fell from a cliff for I don't remember why and when she died her hand transformed into a flower...It is said it looks like a hand because it got petals only on one side....My mother told me that they bloom only early in the morning, so if you want to see it, you have to go all the way up on the mountain and wait for it to bloom...I heard that it makes a 'plop' noise when it does....Sounds great to see ^_^
LOCAL STUFF
Ok now here's some crafts that are made around here:
Ok I admit that I don't really know what that is used for, but it looks like some kind of handbag...haha...well it's for tourists, and tourists like that kind of stuff....Just check out the drawings on it...real precision...each archipelagos have their own design, and if I'm not mistaken, I think this one's from the Marquises...but I'm not really sure...
This used to be a sacred place on ancient times....this one's called the Marae, where the sacrifices to the gods were made...Now it's really a cool place to visit...I heard somewhere that you shouldn't move around any rocks or you'll be cursed! Creepy ...^_^
I think this one's pretty famous...Tahitian black pearl, really good stuff that you can find on jewelries around the world...it's amazing how a small marble like thing can cost so much lol ^_^
TAHITIAN MUSIC
Ok here's a really cool and romantic song sung in tahitian, by one of our 'famous' artists ^_^:
Umm...that's really embarrassing to say but I don't really understand our local language...Speaking of language, our main one is french, so yeah, it's really different from our local one....
Umm the language is spoken pretty much like japanese...I mean the e and u is the same and you just speak like it's written ^_^
Anyway, the title is "Mihi au ia 'oe",and here're the lyrics that I tried to write just by listening to the song...so I don't know if it's right:
E ita e moe ia 'u to farereiraa
ua fa mai te here rotopu ia taua
toro mai ia to rima te ta'u i here
tiare 'oe no to 'u mafatu
Mihiau ia 'oe
mau taime ato'a
tapa'o no to 'u here here ia 'oe
tauahi mai ia 'u
e ta'u vahine
apiti to taua here
roto i teie nei au
Ua hiti te mahana e nia ia taua
teatea te reva aratai to 'e'a
einaha i teie nei ua tae te mana'o
no 'oe to'u hoa a muri no atu
Mihiau ia 'oe
mau taime ato'a
tapa'o no to 'u here here ia 'oe
tauahi mai ia 'u
e ta'u vahine
apiti to taua tino
roto i teie nei ao
Some words I can tell you
Here: love
Rima: hand
Tiare:flower
Vahiner:woman
Mahana:day
Teatea: white
Mafatu:heart
Hoa:friend
Tino:body
By knowing these little words, you can guess what the song's talking about ...
Here's a sentence I really understand:
"Tau vahine" means "My woman"
"Here ia 'oe" means "I love you"
"tiare oe no to u mafatu" that means "You are the flower of my heart" ....how cute ^_^
Well that's about all the basic stuff that I can say about us...I don't really know all the stuff but that's about it
If you're ever interested in knowing more, go
there
Whatta dog
haha when I saw that pic I just couldn't stop from laughing ^_^
Guy pic
Haine from Dogs...I think you remember him...from the artist Miwa Shirou...Enjoy ^_^
Quizz of the day
Your Love Quote
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True love stories never have endings.
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Well that's all for today...my last post before God knows when....That's quite a lot, I didn't expect that I'd blab that much about my homecountry, but here you are...hope you'll get visiting us sometimes, you'll make our country richer by even a little bit lol ^_^
I don't have anything else to say, I did nothing of my day except downloading some more AMVs before heading back home....that's it...
Well then, I think that's about time to say Adios, Goodbye, Au revoir, Sayonara....I'll miss you all guys...Have a great Christmas holiday, have fun, stay young and be healthy for the coming year ^_^
See ya around ^_^
Time to go...