All in a day (by Mindy)

We had the most interesting day today. We started out at the Tititrangi Art Festival. It had several pieces that we loved, but we are holding out for those five dollar Auction bargains. On a side note, we found one this week, along with fake tulips that light up! Anyway, after the art festival we went into New Lynn to catch the train downtown for a movie. At one of the stops there were three hoodlums waiting...for a train, I suppose. One of them was on the ground with blood covering his hand and face. As people got off he yelled things out at them and then attempted to get up but he was so drunk or high (or both) he stumbled about and nearly fell onto the tracks but one of his mates grabbed him and pushed him towards a bench. They thought it was hilarious. Everyone else looked appalled and a little scared. After reaching our stop we walked about a block and noticed a protest, so we went to check it out. There was a man standing on an awning of the US Consulate shouting things and working the crowd. The police were turning up about the time we did and asked them to move to the side of the building because the throng of people were gathering in the street and blocking traffic. We followed the group around to the alley (at this point we were still unclear of what they were protesting) and noticed lots of anti-American statements written on the sidewalk and figured out that they were chanting "Free Palestine". About the time we made it around the corner the police had arrested someone and the crowd was going crazy, chanting "let her go" and when the police would try to push them away or say anything they would change and start chanting "shame, shame, shame". A few policeman started showing up in riot gear. We worked our way into the crowd to get a better look and got close enough that we were nearly hit with a shoe the person getting arrested flung off trying to get away! At this point the police hooked arms and started pushing us all back so they could haul off the person getting arrested. It was very exciting! We decided they were protesting the US involvement in backing Israel's attack on Palestine. After our protest we continued on our way to the movie. We were a bit early so we decided to go find some coffee. We passed a church were a Japanese wedding was about to take place so we stopped to enjoy all of the festivities. There was an older woman dressed in a beautiful kimono. I can't imagine how long it took her to get everything tied and folded so perfectly (and Brandon thinks I take too long getting ready!). Then the bride got out of the car and had the most beautiful silver shoes and a smart enough photographer to take a picture of them up close! Her dress was a traditional wedding-type dress, and was also very gorgeous. We supposed the family had money since the wedding was taking place at a beautiful church in downtown Auckland. Just as we were about to continue on our way some of the grooms family appeared. I am going to guess that they are English because of they way they were dressed--it reminded me of the mom on "Bridget Jones' Diary". The lady looked to be in her 60's and had her hair curled under in thick pieces with these crazy feathers stuck in on one side that fanned out and flopped a bit as she walked. It was all very entertaining. We finally made it to the movie, which was the "Sasquatch Dumpling Gang". It is written and directed by the same guy that did "Napoleon Dynamite". It was very funny. For all of you Napoleon lovers out there you will enjoy this one, too, so keep an eye out for it. We made it home without any further excitement, but I think that was enough for one day, anyway.