New Zealand

Andrew Schenck was well known in this area during the 1970s. He was the young associate conductor of the Baltimore Symphony with the flying blond hair who conducted many pops, children's and run-out concerts. Then he moved away, as assistant and associate conductors are wont to do.Mr. Schenck moved back a few years ago and lived quietly, barely visible in Baltimore's musical life, but flying out to conduct in such places as New Zealand and Slovenia. Suddenly, after recordings made with London and New Zealand orchestras, Mr. Schenck was leading a worldwide revival of the American composer Samuel Barber.

The schedule for the opening day of the Cadillac Columbus Cup regatta called for 12 races yesterday. By the end of the day four races had been sailed, and the rest of the schedule had been abandoned.The first flight of races was started on schedule on the Chesapeake Bay off the mouth of the Patapsco River in what New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts called great sailing conditions," with New Zealand matched against Team Baltimore.But before New Zealand and Team Baltimore could finish their match, the wind went flat, and the race committee abandoned the race.

Dr. John Butler MacGibbon, an internal medicine specialist who treated port of Baltimore mariners, died Dec. 24 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson of complications of a stroke and a fall. He was 90 and lived in Original Northwood. Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, he was the oldest of four siblings. His late brother, Tony, was a well-known New Zealand cricketer, and his late sister, Jean, was a New Zealand tennis champion. He attended Christ's College in Christchurch, New Zealand, and then graduated from the University of Otago Medical School in Dunedin, New Zealand, in 1948.

I am a Spanish teacher interested in studying in Spain with my 9-year-old son. Do you know of programs that can accommodate both parent and child?Spanish-language programs for travelers are easy to find in most of Spain's large cities; finding classes for both adults and young children, however, is a difficult proposition. (The tourist office on Madrid's Plaza Mayor could not readily name one such school in Madrid, which, with its high prices and traffic jams, you might want to avoid anyway)

Millions of people around the world long for greater self-determination, and the United States spends billions of dollars, albeit too often in questionable ways, to promote that. But in the South Pacific this week, independence took it on the chin. You've likely never heard of the locale in question: Tokelau. It's composed of three coral atolls just south of the equator halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand - with a total area of less than 5 square miles, no roads, no airport, no harbor, few resources other than fish and only about 1,500 residents.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- In a town of 1.2 million, where one in 11 residents is said to own some sort of sailing vessel, the start of the America's Cup yacht racing trials here tomorrow is more than just a darn good excuse for a party.The Cup, sailing's most prestigious trophy, was held by the New York Yacht Club for 132 years, until Australia won it in 1983. The United States won back the Cup and kept it for two defenses, until New Zealand's Sir Peter Blake skippered Black Magic to a 5-0 victory over Dennis Conner in 1995 off Point Loma, near San Diego.

ANNAPOLIS -- Thanks to superior conditioning as much as anything, the United States has a shot at its first water polo world championship in 87 years.That is because the women's junior (20 and under) national team surged away from rapidly tiring New Zealand and won, 7-3, as the Women's Junior World Water Polo Invitational continued yesterday at the Naval Academy.The victory, achieved with a stifling defense, a patient offense and four goals by Severn School graduate Vicki Gorman, sets up today's 3 p.m. title game rematch with Quebec at MacDonough Hall.

New York. -- "Once Were Warriors,'' a film from New Zealand that opened last week in just two small theaters, is a startling and profoundly depressing statement on the human condition everywhere -- a movie about hell in a small place that should be paradise. It makes the most recent serious American movies on race and rage -- ''Boyz 'N the Hood'' being the best of them -- seem like Disney.And you should read the book! As rough as it is, the film about the life of Maoris today -- descendants of the Polynesian warriors who got to New Zealand hundreds of years before the white man came with his Bible, and guns and rum -- is significantly toned down from the relentless 1990 novel of the same name by Alan Duff.

SAN DIEGO -- Everyone deserves his 15 minutes of fame, right?And 15 minutes was just about the length of time in Race 4 of the America's Cup finals yesterday that the impossible scenario seemed possible.Young America, sailed by the U.S. crew from Stars & Stripes, won the start by seven seconds, took what it thought was the favored right side of the course and sailed out to its first lead in a race since the beginning of hostilities last Saturday.From this point (went the impossible possibility)

Art and wildlife are the two distinct approaches of tours to the South Pacific in August and October.The Australian Art Expedition, focusing on aboriginal works, will include four visits to ancient rock-art sites: Ayers Rock, in Uluru National Park; the remote safari camp of Mount Borradaile, near sites spanning 50,000 years; the Chamberlain Gorge, containing the mystical paintings of Wandjina, an aboriginal spirit, and the vast Quinkan Reserves of Aboriginal...