Cornelia Cook
From Secondheaven
Contents |
Basic Information
Full Name: Cornelia Ngaire Cook
Player: Anastasia
Date of Birth: February 5, 1975
Age: 32
Journal: tenakoutou
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 140 lbs
Appearance
Cornelia has long, unruly strawberry-blonde hair that's turning gray at the roots - and always has. She usually keeps the half-curly mess pulled back from her face with a clip, but sometimes wears it down. Her pale green eyes are inquisitive, and quite indicative of her European heritage. She has deathly pale skin, and burns easily. She already has a few wrinkles, around her mouth and eyes as she likes to smile - Cornelia isn't one for makeup other than chap stick, so they go untreated.
She dresses well, somewhat conservatively, and favors pants with nice blouses, and some sort of shawl or scarf thrown over the whole thing. Overall, she always appears as though she's in motion - dangly earrings, neclaces. She wears glasses, and yes, they're on a beaded strap that hangs around her neck, and yes, it looks pretty tacky.
Cornelia's PB is Miranda Otto
Personality
Cornelia is raw, intense, deep and engaging; energetic and emotional. She's passionate about what she does, and throws herself fully into what she does - and expects the same out of the people around her. She's opinionated and not afraid to speak her mind, and if she's crossed too many times she is known to mouth off a bit - though she reels herself back in with relative quickness.
As a teacher she is lively and her classes are likely to be interesting. Even if history isn't your favorite thing to learn, she'll at least make an attempt to keep from giving monotone lectures. In return, she expects respect and that you'll do as she says in class - do your homework, study for tests. She's unforgiving on late assignments, and if you forget to do it, don't even bother turning it in late. If you don't study and do poorly, you will get no mercy! No cell phones in class better be seen or heard, and write neatly - if she can't read what you wrote it will be wrong!
As a woman, she's somewhat similar. If she is talking to you, you best pay attention. She tends to dispense advice as it comes to her, and if you sit and talk to her for an extended period of time, you'll probably get a load of her historical conspiracy theories - which may or may not sound like a load of bull.
History
Cornelia's father Richard was a Presbyterian missionary, who traveled to New Zealand from Ireland in 1956 along with a number of other young people to try and convert a number of the Māori people to their religion. While he was certainly a believer in God, his move wasn't as benign as it seemed; it was mostly in part to avoid the relegious clash that was tearing apart his homeland (and had been since 1916).
By the following year, most of his missionary comrades had left for greener pastures (or at least Auckland) and he was left alone with only a few other people from their small church. Undetered, they continued to live with the Māori well enough, and eventually the culture intrigued Richard enough to collect a notebook of the village's poetry. This eventually turned him from the path of disallioned missionary to wannabe!anthropologist. Abdacating his role in the village mission, he went to a local school to get his degree, and despite his age he met and fell in love with a younger classmate, a local woman named Penelope who was also studying to become an anthropologist.
They returned to the village together, and lived happily, compiling information that would actually lend a hand in the Kōhanga Reo movement (a Māori-language recovery program). After a number of years of living in sin, they were married in a traditional Māori wedding (with some Christian overtones to make it legit to their parents), and not long after Cornelia was born. She was raised in the village, going to school and playing with the (mostly Māori) children there. Six years after came another sister - then another. Directly after the birth of her youngest sister (when Cornelia was 13), time came for her parents to present their findings to the New Zealand government and to publish their books and all that other business. For the first time in her life, Cornelia was brought to the big city - Wellington, to be exact. And while they went back to the country during the summer holidays, they never did remain there permanently again.
In the capitol, Cornelia went to a school with children... like her. She was a wallflower for her first few years due to the stark difference in the way things worked. However, she did well, and her thirst for knowledge grew (an unmistakable trait that she inherited from her parents). It was supported and cultivated, and by the time the girl was about to head off to university, her path was obvious - she was going to be a historian.
The time came for her to leave New Zealand - she was going to travel the world. She got a tattoo of a Māori idol on her ankle - one that the tribe would've carved onto a canoe to keep it safe while they traveled. A fitting farewell to the country she'd been in her whole life, Cornelia spent the next several years wandering from the UK, to America, to Africa, to Asia. She wrote books to support herself (getting a publisher had been easy thanks to her parents), but realized that she wanted more. Returning home, she confronted her parents with her dilemma. After some talking, it was suggested that Cornelia try teaching.
It. Was. Perfect. Her passion, her electric personality, her tenacity lent itself well to the profession. She returned to school to get certified, and spent some time in Auckland teaching history. Eventually, her father got a call from one of his old missionary friends (they kept in touch) about an opening at the fancy-pants school in the town he lived in for a history professor. Deciding that she wouldn't mind returning to Europe (she did have a book on the Early Middle Ages to finish...), Cornelia accepted the job.
Other Information
Birth Location: (around) Invercargill, New Zealand
Why Second Heaven?: It was suggested to her, and she decided to give it a whirl. It worked out!
Favourite color/food/activity/subject: Green, fish, reading, history!?
Least favourite color/food/activity/subject: Red, fried chicken, driving, none
Likes: Kate Bush and other oldies-but-goodies, karaoke, rain, hiking, writing (historical fiction, non-fiction), poetry, antiques (especially watches) and football
Dislikes: hot climates, ignorance/ethnocentrism, unlearned people, messy handwriting, doctors and nontraditional medicines and cell phones - computers!!
Family: Richard Cook (father, 70), Penelope Cook (58), Cyprien Cook (26), Contessa Cook (19)
Languages: English, some Māori (partially lost over the years), bits and pieces of most of the romance languages
School Information
Subject Taught: History
Years at Establishment: Five
Relationships
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