Words by Grace Muldrock
To my whanaunga from different maunga,
Do you remember how stupidly young we were, chasing the sun, always wanting to be outside at night, and now we can barely muster enough energy to make it to town - let alone get our plans out of the group chat? Oh, how old we’ve gotten (we’re 19).
Do you remember the different spots we’d run off to in our explosive hometown, how tired we’d be in your parents' cars after kapa haka and how loud we’d laugh in class, except now we’re trying not to giggle in the back of our reo lectures? Time has gone by too fast.
Time has gone by far too fast. We’re making friends together, we still share the same $20 we’ve had since forever, and instead of wagging class, we’re simply driving past uni to talk madness at Oriental (we go to class though, pono!).
There’s a lot to appreciate in Te Ao Marama, A LOT, and it can range from finding that matching sock to seeing the sun shine brightly or skipping your lecture to having a mandatory tea sesh at Oriental.
I appreciate a lot in Te Ao, and whilst there isn’t any competition or anything I appreciate more or less than, I can fearlessly say I’m forever in my friend's debt. For the laughs, for the unconscious wisdom, and for always letting me raid their cupboards.
Best friend soulmates exist, and I know because they just won’t leave me alone.
Sure, they can be so annoying, and we can bicker back and forth about what we think people from our old schools are doing now, but knowing that we mutually have each other to rely on is so comforting. I will, without a doubt, always and always appreciate them for giving me that space, a space to be filterless and a tad bit delulu.
If you have friends as I have, you truly do stop and stare, admiring how lucky you’ve gotten - sometimes I stop and stare at them and think, ‘This MF is one of the smartest, dumbest people I know,’ but you get the point. It’s all love until they make your vape blink.
And if you don’t have friends like I have, I cannot emphasise how much I am manifesting this space for you.
A final note to my whanaunga from a different maunga, send me $20, please and i appreciate you, ao noa po noa <3
Ki aku whanaunga nō maunga kē,
Hoki mahara ki tā tātou rangatahitanga heahea, whaiwhai ana i te rā, hia noho ki waho i te pō, mānohi anō i āianei, tē whai pūngao ki te haere ki te taone - waihoki, e pōraruraru ana te whakaputa māhere i ngā huinga pātuhi. Aue, tā tātou koroheke hoki (19 ā tātou pakeke).
Whai whakaaro ki ngā wāhi rerekē i oma atu tātou i tā tātou taone kūrakuraku, ki tā tātou noho ngēngē i rō i ngā waka a ō mātua whai muri i te kapa haka, ā, ki ngā wā pukukata ai tātou i te karaihe, hāunga e whakapaukaha ana tātou kia kaua e whakakakī ki muri i ā tātou akomanga reo? Kua tere te wā.
Kua tere rawa te hipanga te wā. E whakawhitiwhiti ana tātou i ngā hoa, e toha tonu ana i te $20 ōrite nō ngā wā o mua, ā, i āianei kāre i te whakarerea i ngā karaihe, e hipa ana i te wharewānanga mā runga waka, pahupahu ai ki Oriental (e haere tonu ana ki ngā karaihe, pono!).
Tini ngā whakamiha ki Te Ao Mārama, TINI MANO, e whakamiha ai i te kitenga o taua tōkena taurite, i te whitinga mai o Tamanui-te-rā, i te karo karaihe kia kōhipi tahi ki Oriental hoki.
Tokomaha aku whakamaiohatanga ki Te Ao Mārama, ehara i te mea e whakamaioha ake ana au i tētahi mea i tētahi atu mea, kā re i te whakataetae, ēngari e tū māia ana au i taku whakapuaki i aku mihi maioha ki aku hoa, mei kore ake i a koutou. Tēnā koutou i ngā wā katakata, i te toha mātauranga, me te whakaae mai i taku urunga ki ō koutou whare, tāhae kai ai nō ō koutou kāpata.
Kei te whiwhi iwi tātou, ā, ka mōhio ahau i tēnei nā te mea kāore rātou e whakamahue i a au.
Tika tonu, he hōhā rātou i ētahi wā, ā, kua roa mātou e tarahae ana i ā mātou whakaaro mō ngā mahi o ā mātou hoa-karaihe ō-mua i āianei, ēngari e tau ana te ngākau i te mōhio he taituarā tautoko mātou i ngā wā uaua. Kāore e kore, tē mimiti aku mihi maioha ki a rātou mō tā rātou manaaki mai, aroha mai, kia whai wāhi kōrero tūpato kore au, paku pōrangi hoki.
Inā he hoa āu, rite tonu ki āku, me tū marika koe kia whai whakaaro ki tō waimaria hoki - e pēra ana au i ētahi wā, whakaaro ai “Tēna hua! Tōna koi, tōna rorirori hoki”, hei aha, e mārama ana koutou. Te mutunga mai o te aroha tae noa ki te kimokimo mai o tō wairehu i tā rātou kaha momi.
Inā kārekau ō hoa ōrite ki āku, e inoi ana au ka whiwhi whakaruruhau koe pēnei ki tōku.
Hei whakakapi, ki aku whanaunga nō maunga kē, tuku mai te $20 koa, e whakamiha ana au ki a koutou, ao noa pō noa <3
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