The other night my friend and I were looking at a map of the world and were somewhat confused as to how large New Zealand looks in comparison to other countries of the world; we thought there must have been some error in scale, but it turns out that it really is that size. To give an example, New Zealand has a total area of 268,021 km squared, while Italy has 301,338 km squared. But while they have a population of over 60 million, we have yet to reach 4.5 million.
I think perhaps because we are so isolated, our population is so small, and the rest of the world barely knows anything about our existence, we have this mentality that we are tiny and maybe even insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But this is what I like best about it here. This fun video was circulating between my friends who had been on exchange here from Europe; it probably doesn't make much sense if you haven't been here before, but it is New Zealand through and through. Oh bless.
A parody of Young, Wild, and Free by Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa feat. Bruno Mars, this version was created by Graeme Knowles, Alex Newbury, Brandon Woollett, Vincenzo Ritossa, and Waylon Edwards.
Here are the lyrics:
So what we chill out,
So what we love sheep,
We're just having fun,
And drink at 18.
So what there's no jobs,
You can all go to Aussie,
But we'll always be Kiwi.
So what I keep a stuffed kiwi on top of my drawer,
I chuck my jandals on fresh off the floor,
Head outside to play some cricket with the bros,
Chur bro,
Have a drink out the hose,
'Cos the water's fresh everywhere,
With four million tall,
We don't need to share,
Yea we are small,
If you look at a map you won't find us at all,
Not part of Aussie,
I've about had enough!
This is Aotearoa,
From Kaitaia to the Bluff.
You know what it feels like,
We won the cup again,
a big smile on my face,
looking for the case,
trying to find that bitter taste.
Got ID, the cops aren't on my case,
but Veezy, you're looking quite uneasy,
Irrelevant
Kicking back, fishing away,
mowing lawns for the rest of the day,
Beer is the pay,
the Kiwi way.
Planking like your life's just a game,
silver fern, black shirt, Mr Waylon sing that chorus again.
So what we chill out,
So what we love sheep,
We're just having fun,
And drink at 18.
So what there's no jobs,
You can all go to Aussie,
But we'll always be Kiwi.
And we don't even care, when we hear you Frenchies cheer,
it don't matter, the World Cup is over here!
Farming everywhere we're going, got the cash flowing,
Sheep, cows, trees and kiwis, we got 'em growing!
Whakarongo mai, Maui fished this land,
looking for kai, he pulled the sun from the sky,
what a choice guy!
I come from the land of the long white cloud,
the Aussies took the pavlova but the lumps are ours!
Now I'm grilling, tuataras be chilling,
I got my barbeque, my saussies are sizzling,
Got my bike, no job, eight children,
Shop at Warehouse, got myself a bargain.
L&P, Bumblebee, TV3, Touch Rugby,
Watch with me, this is us, true kiwi,
and we'll forever be, one big family.
So what we chill out,
So what we love sheep,
We're just having fun,
And drink at 18.
So what there's no jobs,
You can all go to Aussie,
But we'll always be Kiwi.
Haka, haka, slap your legs and we know how to party,
Haka, haka, smack your chest and we're having fun,
so we just, haka, haka, stamp your feet and then pull your war face,
Haka, haka, and jump really high.
So what we chill out,
So what we love sheep,
We're just having fun,
And drink at 18.
So what there's no jobs,
You can all go to Aussie,
But we'll always be Kiwi.
