Goodbye to Europe

by David Tong

Well, that was THIMUN. We collected the delegates from their host families at the Central Station on Saturday morning, and took them to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam we ate lunch at a pub near our hotel then tried to visit Anne Frank’s House, but only a few brave souls were willing to queue up outside in the cold. We gave the others a little free time to shop in an Amsterdam flea market.

Café Van Puffelen served us a great three-course dinner. Over which we slowly came to realize that this is Goodbye for the 2011 Delegation.   The Delegates enjoyed either steak or fish, followed by a selection of cakes.

On Sunday morning, some of us said goodbye, as the others left for Schipol airport.  I and a few of the delegates are remaining in Europe for a time.   We who are staying on made it back to Anne Frank’s House, and beat the queue.  It was an extremely moving museum, showing the human side of the Holocaust, even moreso than Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp.

The Delegates have already planned a reunion, we three are confidant that they will have formed strong and long-lasting friendships and will return to New Zealand having learned much. We are especially happy to have taken at least one Delegate on his first trip outside of New Zealand.

Those who are returning to New Zealand have now left Narita Airport in Tokyo, where they had a six hour stopover.  They are now bound for Auckland, New Zealand – home!

Tomorrow, the delegation will be spread all across New Zealand, and the Delegates will be reunited with their families.

We will be sad to say goodbye, and have been lucky to have such a great group. We will all have fond and funny memories of the past three weeks. We will miss our Delegates, our Australian friends, Eliza, Jackie and Jules and their Delegates, and we will miss working closely with each other. We are sure our Delegates will miss each other and their host families.

Whenever we get on a bus back home we expect to look over our shoulders and try to count to 16. See you in New Zealand!

Katrina, Helen and David.

Resolution Passed: 63-62.

To give you all an idea of how debate works at THIMUN, I’m giving you an example from my experience this week.

On the first day, around 200 of us turned up for my committee and they split us into subgroups to debate the issues that our States are most passionate about. Being Switzerland, and having written a draft resolution on the subject, I chose to discuss fiscal fraud.

About 40 of us lobbied one another for about hour, before splitting into even smaller groups to write or combine resolutions with other countries with similar views. I ended up in a group of about ten, thrashing out a resolution that – thanks to my training and strategic advice on how to win Model UNs and influence people (and a bit of luck) – ended up looking very similar to my draft, including all of my operative clauses in some form.

So, the hard part was done. The only thing left to do was get the thing passed.

First, we had to get it through the approval panel. We had typed it on the delegate for the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s (UNECA) laptop, and he very kindly stood in line for two hours, then went through it line by line with a teacher from another delegation, checking spelling and grammar.

Of course, this meant that UNECA (at Model UNs, everyone calls themselves by their country) claimed property over the resolution. But he sent a note to the Chair asking if I could speak on it in his place. The Chair agreed.

As we had numerous resolutions to discuss, the Chair allocated only two hours to debate each resolution. Therefore, delegates do not get many chances to speak. This was, therefore, my first real speech of the conference, even though it was the fourth resolution. You can view some of the speech here (courtesy of Eliza, the Director of the Australian Delegation).

Debate continued for the full two hours, and the vote came out as sixty-three to sixty-two in favour of the resolution – making it the first resolution our committee passed. Passing a resolution is a key objective of the Conference, and those of us who had put the effort into creating, debating, and passing it had a nice celebration.

Today, Switzerland has continued on a good streak. Working two more clauses into a resolution we supported, which was also passed. Feeling far less pressure after yesterday’s success has helped to improve my confidence and the quality of my debate, allowing me to be more aggressively passionate.

Having a great time in GA2, this is Jonty Blundell representing Switzerland.

Von Wafflestein! (Greetings from Den Haag)

by Mathew Rex

First: I like Dutch Waffles.  A lot.

Second: THIMUN is here. For many of us, the last level, the final boss.

We arrived into Amsterdam on Sunday, from Basel, with much of the day remaining. This would be the day we would finally split as a group, into our pairs, with whom we would spend the week in The Hague.

Our host families were more than happy to see us, and we were welcomed with open arms into nice homes. I guess with all the travelling we’ve been doing, it’s easy to lose the feel of a real home, but our families have reminded us of that.

Monday bought an entire day of lobbying, and for most, trying to meet new people. And by new people, I mean people who had social skills greater than the walls. It was good though, talking to people from all over the world, and finding out what the “I” in “THIMUN” stands for (“International”.  Really international – people from everywhere!).

Just a general life tip though: Don’t ever listen to strange Dutch boys who tell you to follow them. Even if they are in your delegation. Four lost delegates can support that notion. Nothing too serious though, and nothing that our directors (thanks Kat, Helen, and David!) couldn’t fix by calling us a cab.

Tuesday was a bit more intense, though only slightly. Many of us delivered our opening speeches, which on the whole were pretty good. More lobbying followed, and many of us made friends with the German delegation representing New Zealand. They were actually pretty relaxed, which was cool.  We joked that they were authentically Kiwi – all relaxed and ready for a trip to the beach. Germans are all good.

Wednesday brought the real heavy stuff though: debate started. A general feeling of relief came over most of us come lunchtime though, with feelings of both exhaustion and accomplishment, as our first two resolutions were debated, and for some of us, passed.

It was Wednesday afternoon that we were waiting for though, with the trip to both the NZ embassy and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The reception at the NZ embassy for The Netherlands was good.  We were able to have a very relaxed, open, and informal discussion with the First Secretary, Bronwyn Shanks, about the nature of the relationship between NZ and The Netherlands.   We learned much, such as the importance of Te Reo Maori in international political affairs.

The ICJ was something else entirely. We had the honour of being greeted by New Zealand’s first (and only) judge in the ICJ, Sir Kenneth Keith.   Sir Ken himself is a grandmaster of law, and a former Judge of the New Zealand Court of Appeal, amongst other tribunals – including in my homeland, Niue.  His knowledge of international law was something that really struck us, as did his wisdom. His experience and intellectual sharpness was something that was not lost, after all the years in his profession. Anecdotes of influential cases, mixed with stories of interesting people kept us very entertained, and wide awake.

On a personal note, Sir Kenneth recognised my name, Rex, and was able to talk to me about my family history.  That was something that I took great pride in. Turns out the world’s not so big after all.

Dinner with the delegation at a Thai restaurant was great, and a toast shared between some of the boys topped off an awesome night.

With more to come from The Hague, it’s hard to tell how the week will end, but if it’s anything like the week so far, then it will be awesome. That’s enough from me though, and from The Netherlands, I say tot ziens (Laters, in Dutch).

Blogging in Berlin!

Ten days and four countries later the NZ THIMUN delegation arrived in Berlin on the evening of the 20th. Potential disaster with a delayed Easyjet flight was averted by the comfortable lounges and cheap internet that kept all the delegates social networking right up until we boarded the plane. When we arrived in Berlin we had a brief S-Bahn ride to our hostel – Singer 109. The bitter cold and marginal difficulty in wheeling our luggage over cobbled, rustic streets was replaced by what every person agrees is BY FAR OUR BEST ACCOMODATION. Internet is free, computers are provided and our rooms are enormous – 4 people in a 6-person room! This excitement meant sleep did not come easily to us as we relaxed in each other’s rooms and socialized.

A typical German breakfast welcomed our bleary eyes (at least one room of boys slept in!) before our fantastic tour guide Chris (AKA Christian Longgermanicname Longgermanicname) and his warm bus picked us up at 9am. Our destination of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp was approximately an hour north of Berlin and enroute Chris’s insightful anecdotes kept us all entertained. I don’t think anyone will be able to look at a major German attraction again without thinking of all the nicknames Chris gave us! The weather was overcast, grey and -1 degrees. It was the perfect setting for our tour of one of the most brutal concentration camps and heinous crimes ever perpetrated by the Nazi regime.

We had the opportunity to see this for ourselves, both on the bus ride and in a chilling (both figuratively and literally) two hour tour of the camp. Drab accommodation conditions blended holistically with traditional monuments that will never let the world forget the atrocities committed here. I think it’s fair to say that we were all tearful when we abided by the traditional Jewish custom of placing stones on a gravestone to remember the fallen.

After two hours in sub zero conditions the warmth of the bus was gratefully embraced by all. A trip to the Olympiastadion, the site of Jesse Owen’s conquest of Hitler (and not forgetting the Zidane headbutt!) was followed by the customary German meal of Currywurst with chips.

One of the most appealing aspects of Berlin city is its compact nature; the Brandenburg Gate, National Art Academy, Reichstag, Hitler’s bunker and the boulevard with the Victory Column. It took the group about 30 minutes to do this on foot, along the way taking the opportunity to get our passport stamped with relics of the Berlin Wall and a group photo.

Unfortunately our time in Berlin was limited to one day, so the delegation made the most of the night walking around Alexanderplatz before a quiet dinner in our hostel. Socialising in people’s rooms combined with packing took up the evening. Everyone was mindful of our early flight to Basel, and it was with a mood of anticipation, knowing that our conference is drawing inexorably closer, that our time in Berlin drew to a close.

Paris Take Two

by Kohe and Courtney

After a buffet breakfast of croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes and coffee, we headed off to the Louvre for the ultimate art experience. We started off at Napoleon’s apartments, which were meticulous in their detail. The room was adorned with gold figurines, amazing paintings on every roof (which were works of art themselves) and antique furniture. The whole picture came together amazingly and was a well put together restoration of the apartments of such a historical figure. After our trip through the lifestyle of Napoleon we moved onto the classical Greek and Egyptian statues, which were perfect examples of the artists’ caputring moments in time. The work and effort put into these works of art was evident and they were all as beautiful as the next. There was so much to look at and each piece intrigued all of us equally. One stand out point was walking through the galaries towards the Mona Lisa. Although Da Vinci’s masterpiece was the ultimate destination, all the artwork and paintings set out along the way were almost as effective and imprinting as the age old masterpiece itself. Once we finally arrived at the Mona Lisa (where we all proceeded to take photos) we wandered through the rest of the Louvre until it was time to go to the Notre Dame. Due to our short time frame avaliable to see all the sights of Paris we were rushed around the Louvre and it was blatantly obvious that one could spend two days there and still not appreciate all of the art.

The Notre Dame certainly lived up our expectations. The structure itself was amazing and a lot of us found it hard to comprehend how structures like these were built such a long time ago without the access to technology that we have today. The artwork, statues and general atmosphere of the Notre Dame were on one hand overwhelming and on the other absolutely amazing. To think about how much time and effort that was put into the construction and what the history of the structure was is absolutely mind blowing.

However much to the group’s dismay it was time to move onto the next phase of our Parisian day: shopping at Galleries Lafayette, tres chic. After a successful shopping session from the delegation, we congregated at the hotel and set off to meet the Australian delegates for dinner at a restaurant called Hippopotamus. The food here was delightful as was the company. All the Australian delegates were friendly and I am sure that many friendships were made and  will be kept. After dinner it was back to Pigale, where half the delegation continued to socialise with half the Australian delegation, while the remaining half returned to the hotel to pack bags to prepare for our flight to Berlin the next day.

Finally, yesterday morning, before departing for Berlin, we visited Sacre Couer and Montmarte, exploring the hillside suburb’s twisting cobbled streets.

Paris was a truly  amazing city which all of our delegation thoroughly enjoyed. Although we were all ultimate tourists, with cameras constantly attached to our hands, we seemed to fit right in with the Parisian culture and even managed to conquer the twists and turns of the Metro. We are both sure that the THIMUN 2011 delegation will remember our experiences in Paris which were a lot of fun and extremely informative. The city itself was tres belle, the architecture was incroyable and the atmosphere à ne pas oublier!

Leaving die SCHWEIZ for FRANKREICH

by Katrina

The final day in Geneva started off with a grand tour of the United Nations Buildings – Palais des Nations. This was an awe inspiring tour that really showed the delegates what they, as individuals belonging to a united front, have the potential to achieve in the future. The buildings themselves are enriched with history, with some parts dating back to the League of Nations. The Directors were extremely proud of our delegates this year, who were constantly able to provide answers to questions posed by our guide and to further pose their own interesting questions!

The Easyjet flight to Paris went well, with all bags and delegates arriving safely. Kat, Helen and David had organised shuttles from Paris Orly which took us directly to our Hotel – a quaint little Parisian place in Pigalle. The district certainly has a lot of character (being located near to Moulin Rouge!) but is obviously one of the “it” places to stay, given the number of other school groups and older groups also staying at the Hotel.

A buffet breakfast started us all in good stead, before we caught the Metro into the centre of Paris. We were able to walk around a bit, before catching our hop on and hop off bus outside the Louvre. This was a great experience as it really gave us a feel of where everything in Paris was in relation to other things. We were able to see and hear commentary about the Eiffel Tower, Champ de Mars, the Louvre, Notre Dame, Musee d’Orsay, the Opera, Champs Elysees, the Grand Palace and Trocadero – without getting wet in the rain!

The Delegation jumped off the bus near the Eiffel Tower and, once there, climbed several stairs to reach the top in order to witness the breathtaking views of Paris. One of the highlights of the day proved to be the ice skating that took place near the top of the Tower. To the Directors’ relief, there were no ice skating casualties or falls off the side! This activity was followed by a Parisienne lunch near to the Tower, where all of the delegates enjoyed a long, lazy, French-style meal.

The afternoon was taken up by a visit to the New Zealand Embassy and a chance to meet the Ambassador. This was particularly beneficial this year, as she had previously been located at the United Nations in New york for four years (having only been posted to Paris in September). We were all lucky to hear some of her insights into daily UN life, as well as to receive her input on life as a foreign diplomat and a representative of New Zealand. Both the Ambassador, Rosemary, and Victoria (a previous Model UN Delegate and great enthusiast of THIMUN) provided the delegates with an amazing amount of information to aid them on their Committee positions at THIMUN. We were very lucky to be privy to the kind of frank information that they passed on to the delegates, and the amount of information and view points that they were willing to share.

Kat, David and Helen then lead the group to the Arc d’ Triomphe – which is absolutely breathtaking at night. We managed to get several very good photos of the boys and girls in the group, before heading back towards Pigalle.

Once back in Pigalle, Kat and Helen took the delegates out for a French meal at the Chat Noir (or “Black Cat”). Here the delegates had some time after dinner to explore a little and wander past the lights of Moulin Rouge.

Photos for the day (and more on Paris) to follow shortly!

Geneva!

The delegation huddles in a small space at the Red Cross Museum, identical to where up to 17 people would be imprisoned for 90 days.

by Brendan

The NZ Delegation heads to Europe!

After a very enjoyable three days in Tokyo, the delegation was excited to head to Switzerland and to begin our experience of the wonders of Europe.

The Delegation was fortunate to have a day off from “study tour visits and trips” on our first day in Geneva, and were able to explore the city at our own pace. What we discovered was amazing: a city of ‘old world charm’, a mix of picturesque classical architecture and modern chic.

The first morning began with a walk along the iconic waterfront of Lake Geneva by most of the delegates, who are now close enough to want to spend time together even on days off! Virtually none of the delegates or staff had been to Geneva previously, which only enhanced the experience. Kiwis going where we had never gone before – another benefit of the THIMUN tour.

It was a very pleasant morning as a group of us sat basking in the sun by the Geneva fountain. Courtney did her best to dry off her leather boots having slipped into the Lake, while Jonty managed to interact with the locals.

Central Geneva has an extraordinary number of watch shops, banks and chocolate shops… they are everywhere! Famous brands such as Rolex, Tissot, Wenger, Victoriox, Toblerone and Credit Suisse were right in front of our eyes, and the more ambitious members of the delegation were constantly checking these iconic Swiss labels out. A special mention must be made to the poor driver of the Lamborghini who caught us taking photos of his black, totally amazing car.

After a day of exploring Katrina took us to an English pub near to the hostel. It had great food, friendly staff and a nice atmosphere. But, to be honest, the band was either horrible or took the longest time ever to tune up. The phrase ‘Do you remember the 21st night of September?’ will live long in the memory (for the wrong reasons) in the memories of every single delegate of the 2011 Group!

The Directors followed up dinner with some snacks and drinks at our hostel, and also took us out that night dancing to experience some of the local Swiss nightlife. It was a nice way to relax and have some innocent fun – Kat and Helen were extremely amazed at how well behaved the delegates were and at the fact that they didn’t need to tell anybody off while we were out and about.

The second day was the beginning of a more formal itinerary. We took a cool tram to the International Museum of the Red Cross to understand its origins and motives. Outside the entrance were various statues of bound and faceless figures that the Red Cross tries to support – the people forgotten and without a voice. It was sobering, especially when we saw the phrase in the lobby stating, ‘everyone has responsibility for everyone in everything.’ Amongst the tragic exhibitions of wars, famine and general human misery that the Red Cross has been involved in, a message began to emerge. It was one of recognizing the humanitarian mission of the Red Cross, and the conscious choice that they have taken to assist their fellow humans in need regardless of prejudices.

We had Thai for lunch which supplemented the morning well, given that we were all hungry after an emotional morning. After lunch we went to St. Peter’s Cathedral, a Protestant-Calvinist church in the Old Town. Its architecture dated back to the thirteenth century and there was general amazement at it all. For two Francs we climbed the tour and got to benefit from the panorama views of Geneva from essentially the highest building in the Old Town. 

Tomorrow the delegation heads to Paris. We are excited to see more of Europe – for some of us it is an opportunity to get a taste of Europe for the first time, while for others the tour is a chance to rediscover past loves. I think it can be safely said that we have fallen in love with Geneva, and we will all be back for a bit more time here in the future.

From chopsticks to cheese

by Katrina

Day Two in Tokyo began with another early start, eating bagels and delicious Japanese bakery goods in a gorgeous Japanese garden near our hotel. We then boarded the JR Rail line to Tokyo Station, near the Imperial Palace, where we undertook an hour long tour of the grounds and learned a lot about the history and culture of the Japanese Royalty.  Notably, the Imperial Palace was extensively rebuilt after it was destroyed by ‘fire’ during World War Two.  We also got to spend some time exploring in the Imperial Palace East Gardens, which are open to the public.

Next we jumped on the Metro to Ginza, where we saw another iconic Japanese intersection with crossings that were metres wide and long. This area was a great place for some shopping (and window shopping!) and also for some people watching. Kat, David and Helen found a traditional Japanese style donburi restaurant for lunch, where we all enjoyed delicious meals served with rice, miso soup, salads, pickles, and delicious miso chicken, pork or fried oysters. This was another great meal experience that was once again different from the previous day, as it involved us taking our shoes off and sitting in a room with low tables and shadowed shutters on the doors. Everyone was happy to be provided with “all you can drink” tea, coffee and some kind of sweet milky Japanese drink!

We caught the Metro to the Yasukuni Shrine. This shrine was very different to the one that we had visited the previous day, and commemorates Japan’s war dead. It is a very controversial shrine, as it is believed that all negative or evil acts committed are absolved when enshrinement occurs and some people find this belief difficult to reconcile with atrocities that happened in World War II. Visits to the shrine by cabinet members and Prime Ministers in particular have been a cause of protest in Japan and abroad, particularly between Korea and Japan in 2006. China, Korea and Taiwan have all protested against various visits since 1985. This was a great place for THIMUN Delegates to see and become aware of, as it really illustrates how fraught international relations can become, and the differences that occur between the belief’s of nations.

After visiting the shrine we all caught the Metro to Shinjuku. Shinjuku is the world’s busiest subway station, and two million people pass through it each day. The THIMUN “numbering off” system definitely came in handy as we all tried to keep each other in sight in rush hour! We travelled up to the viewing gallery atop the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building for breathataking views of Tokyo, before heading back towards our hotel for a night of kimono parties and packing (with strict curfews enforced by the Directors given our early start the next morning!)

The Airport Limousine dropped us back at Narita Airport before 8am, and we had an incredibly smooth check in process through Lufthansa – taking less than 15 minutes to get the whole group checked in! We then had a quick breakfast of fruit, more bagels and cookies before heading to customs. Kat, David and Helen showed their great parenting skills by providing “treats” for the plane as well as breakfast!

Once through customs the delegation had a little time to look round the duty free shops, and then boarded the plane. Everyone was very relieved to have some down time – and were all thrilled to experience one of the new Lufthansa double-storey planes, which meant we had our own individual TVs to watch movies on again. This trip was certainly a lot quieter than the one going into Narita from Auckland! There was, however, a little excitement over Jonty’s choice of attire for the plane (based on a bet from other delegates) – his style of dress (literally!) did raise a few eyebrows!

The flights through to Frankfurt and from Frankfurt to Geneva passed without a hitch, and we were soon at our hostel in Geneva. Kat and Jonty did a trip to the supermarket while half of us waited for the second flight to arrive from Frankfurt, and we had a light meal of delicious Swiss bread, salads, ravioli and Swiss chocolate before bed. Everyone fell asleep as soon as they hit their beds – travelling is hard work!

The weather today is beautiful – not a cloud in the sky and it is like a balmy spring day! More stories and updates to follow, but for now we are off to enjoy the land of chocolate and cheese!

Konichiwa from Tokyo

by Jonty Blundell

After an early morning wakeup in our Grand Prince New Takanawa Hotel, Tokyo, we were bemused to find out that the power in the rooms does not work unless a main switch is turned on  – this took a lot of figuring out from our incredibly intelligent delegates! This was followed by a further dampening of our spirits as at 7:30am the phone rang, which I (Jonty) immediately answered with a very happy “MOSHI MOSHI!” – only to find that the wake up call in Tokyo is done by automated elevator music that manages to incorporate the words “It’s time to get up” into a flashy classical musical performance. There are obviuosly no early morning, awkward attempted Japanese phone calls for the THIMUN delegation!

Jason in Harajuku

The day though immediately picked up as we jumped on the busy JR to Shibuya, where there is a very iconic intersection with big flashy lights and people everywhere. We saw some of the iconic Tokyo highrise, flashy screened buildings and roped some locals into some happy photos with the delegation as a whole.

We then continued on down to the New Zealand embassy where we had an amazing reception with some interesting speeches from the deputy ambassador to Japan (Mark Pearson), first secretaries Rebecca Adams and Stefan Corbett of MFAT, and NZTE Trade Commissioner Ben Wilson.. They gave us interesting insight into the politics of Japanese culture and getting things done in Tokyo by relationship building and being politically savvy while also including some interesting discussion of career paths. The Tokyo Embassy is an interesting one to have visited as it is located in a compound and is very different from any other NZ Embassy in the world. We were given a great welcome and made to feel very at home in a foreign country.

We then went on the first shopping expedition of the trip to Harajuku where we saw some crazily and interestingly dressed Japanese people and plenty of interesting Japanese-type funky shops. We also all bought surgical masks like those that must be worn by approximately 1 in 7 people on the street. Then to lunch! With a very appreciative waiter, we ordered ample food for all and just generally feasted on some local food. From there we wandered on over to the Meiji shrine where we saw some amazing historical buildings and got a sense of Japanese cultural heritage. At this point Zoe and I invented some rather real sounding myths which we told everyone about convincingly enough to have them all believing (until they read this I suppose) that evil spirits leave your body when walking through shrine arches and other nonsense and had everyone a hundred percent convinced of a Japanese cultural quirk that we invented on the spot just to prove that we could.

We then went to do more walking and more shopping, in Omotesando, and despite the footpath tiles being uneven enough to trip me up a grand total of 9 times, we had a great time undertaking some Japanese retail action (while Sylvie searched for, and found, her lost wallet). This was followed by a trip back to our Hotel and then a very very chaotic attempt at dinner.

Upon arriving at the restaurant and discovering (not for the first time so far!!!) that no one on the premises had any English. It was an interesting experience, as we all had to order our meals from a machine – much like pressing a button and receiving a parking ticket. We therefore valiantly all started trying to order meals, and as each one was selected Kat would insert our money and a small ticket would pop up – with no English written on it so we weren’t entirely sure how we would even know when we would hear our orders being called! After making all our orders by pointing at relevant pictures our food came out (sometimes what we had ordered, and sometimes not what we ordered)! I appointed myself as the designated translator with my NCEA level 1 Japanese qualifications and proceeded to attempt to negotiate with the cooks using charades and my limited language attempts. I successfully managed to return, exchange,and redistribute meals until everyone was happy and eating contentedly. Having had an opportunity to finally test out my (apparently not so existent) Japanese skills I was rather content and it was certainly a new experience to have ordered our meals from a parking machine – very Japanese it appears, as there are vending machines selling anything and everything you could want everywhere! When we did return to the Hotel there was a hesitant rush to the exam results web page and a bit of a Kimono party.

Special shout out today goes to Jenny, Izzy, Kohe, Bethany, Jason, and Zoe all of whom were guilty of having eyes bigger than their stomachs at dinner much to the benefit of my own

This is Jonty in Japan signing out THIMUN 2011 day one!

Not Long Now!

Bright and early tomorrow morning, the delegates will be converging on Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland airports.  Bags are packed, plans are made, and Tokyo beckons.  At 0830 on Tuesday 11 January 2011, we will fly out on Air New Zealand Flight 99, bound for Narita.

In Tokyo, we will be visiting the New Zealand Embassy, the Meiji Shrine and Yasukuni Shrine, and exploring some of Tokyo’s central districts (Shibuya, Omotesando, Harajuku, and Shinjuku in particular).  We will also be touring the Imperial Palace gardens and grounds.

The next time we update this blog, we’ll be in a different timezone – and half way around the world.

Can’t wait.