Rubber Chickens and Homemade Pizza

Today was a GREAT day in the classroom! I decided it would be best to move from the 7 year old class to the 10/11 year old class to get experience with the upper level since I have not had that at all yet. I am now witht he incredible Team Leader, Katie Clay. She is in Amy's team so we get to work together now too! Her students are so welcoming and so sweet, so different than the 5th graders I am used to.

It was a ad moment leaving my little year threes though, even after just a day and a half, we were fairly attached to each other. There is this one little girl in the class who insisted on giving me a gift on my departure haha she said in her confident voice "Mrs. Sheffield! Mrs. Sheffield! I think we need to give Mrs. Croft a gift!" (in her adorable NZ accent) and she proceeded to pull out this rubber chicken from nowhere and present it to me! Mrs. Sheffield obviously did not feel this was necesary, and I politely told her that although it was sweet, I did not need a gift, (especially a rubber chicken) but thank you anyways. I almost lost it in front of the entire class. Oh I will never forget this sweet little girl :)

After school Amy had a netball game with the Waka warriors! Its a women's rec league she is part of with a couple of other teachers. It is a very interesting game, fast paced but almost gentle in the fact that you cant block and get in each other's faces like you can in American basketball. I loved watching though, and who knows, maybe they can show me ropes and I can play a bit!

For dinner we made homemade pizza! I searched to grocery for canned mushrooms, but only found some in a wierd butter sauce, not so good. Had a good time, a little wine and some laughs over youtube videos afterwards. Too bad Old Greg is not as funny to them becaue the British accent isnt so different from theirs, which is half the fun for me.

Thats all for now! Will post most more pics from the beach and whatnot later!

A Hotdog's a Hotdog's a Hotdog

So much to catch up on! So right after I updated last, on Saturday morning, I made the nice 30 minute hike (I say hike and not stroll because while it was an incredibly beautiful walk through Howick neighborhoods, there was a hill a half mile long and practically vertical in steepness I had to conquer along the way) anyways, the hike to where Amy was taking her sailing test! As soon as I got to the beach, she was sprinting towards me on the beach shouting that there were killer whales out in the water! She was SO excited because she had never seen them before! They were flipping up their tails and you could see the water spray up from their pray holes! SO freaking awesome! Then she was back in the water for the next 3 hours to complete her test while I was happy as a little clam on the beach snapping photo after photo. Families and people with their dogs came and went, strolling along the beach, visiting with each other; it was so casual and peaceful. The weather went from sunny and beautiful to rolling gray clouds, a lot of wind, a few sprinkles and back to sunny and warm over the course of the 3 hours. I think because the island is so small and the wind is so constant, that the weather is just always changing, especially over that beach. Then Amy came running back up the beach in the same fashion as before yelling something about a hair appointment in “TWO MINUTES!!” haha so we ran to the car where she hopped in the car in her “togs” (aka bathing suit) and drove off barefoot to her hair appt! (She did later put on pants and her UGG boots haha)

The HUGE hill I "got" to walk up

She had a hair appt, I chilled and wandered for a bit to find us lunch. Then we went back to the house to shower and head to her Mom and step dad’s house to get ready for her and Brett’s engagement party with her sisters! Her mom’s house is beautiful and her sisters were so much fun! We were all packed in the upstairs bathroom having Champaign and doing each other’s hair and makeup. Her sister’ names are Laura and Sarah and she has a step sister named Maddy who is 17. After we were all beautified we headed to the bar where they had their party! They had this room rented out and it was all decorated! They had music (mostly from America haha) going and food being served all night, so many people came! I must admit I was a bit nervous going into the night because I had been in NZ for only 2 ½ days and knew very few people, but everyone was so warm and welcoming. Of course they wanted to talk to the random American and find out what I was doing there! It’s crazy how Kiwi’s know a lot about America and most of them have been there but very few Americans have actually been to NZ. I am sure this is because America is so huge and if we vacation we can just head to somewhere else in the same country, but New Zealanders are pretty well traveled, it’s awesome. Anyhow, I ended up hanging out mostly with Amy’s younger sister Laura who is 21 and Jodi, one of Amy’s friends who is also my age! We had such a good time!

  

Next morning we were off to Brett’s parents’ house for breakfast and to open gifts! Brett’s family is nothing short of welcoming, and amusing! They remind me a lot of Michael’s family J Brett has an older brother Allen who is great as well. We had fried ham, fried eggs, corn fritters, and toast and of course tea J Hot tea is such a big deal over here. Guess the British’s influence must have really rubbed off. I suppose we still would be huge tea drinkers if it weren’t for their crazy taxes and the Boston Tea party that ruined all the fun for us Americans. (jk, kind of) After breakfast and opening all the presents, the 4 “kids” headed off to the movies. No worries the tickets are a mere $17 NZD, their concessions are just as expensive, and they don’t have slurpies. I will say the theater was really nice. We saw Hangover II, which is course, is hilarious. Funny though, they don’t have much of a film industry, so all the movies showing are American. They even had a preview for a movie “coming soon” that I just saw in theaters in the states! I must admit, I felt pretty special. Back to the house for a spa and movie night, so relaxing before my first day in the classroom.

So today was the big day- my first day in the classroom. I have to say anything after having Mrs. Maxwell would be a bit of a letdown, and I’ll leave it at that. Overall, the day was fantastic though. I love the little Kiwi kids! Their accents are adorable. They do a WHOLE LOT different over here. First of all their scool day starts at almost 8am, SO refreshing! I did “road patrol” with my mentor teacher, but all we had to do was basically watch the kids do it! I quickly found the students do a whole lot more for themselves/on their own than American students. Also, the kids either walk to school or get dropped off by their parents, there is no bus system provided by the school or district. We started off the day with attendance and morning meeting of sorts, normal enough, but then we headed outside for physical fitness time! They do not have specials like we do (music, art, PE etc) they get that periodically, but most of it is up to the individual teacher! So out we went to run around on the blacktop and play some games for about 15 minutes! The way the classrooms buildings are all set up they are like all little cottage clusters so each room has tons of windows and a door outside, everything is very open, it’s nice.

Back inside for poetry and then at 10:40-11 morning tea! All the teachers get together for tea and snacks while the children play outside! This is by far the BEST idea I have ever heard of and strongly believe the US should adopt this act. It’s the perfect opportunity to detox and relax before continuing on with the day. What a lovely surprise. Then was spelling rotations and a couple other things before lunch. And oh yeah, lunch hour is literally an hour. As in 60 minutes. And 60 minutes Kiwi time is the same as 60 full American minutes. No tricks. No conversion fees. Straight up ONE HOUR for lunch. The kids go outside to eat what they brought from home and then get to run around and play. Teachers rotate outside duty and the rest of the time is theirs. WOW.

The rest of the day flew by after that and I left the school day at 2:30 with more energy than I ever left an American classroom! Haha, I’m sure every day will not pass with as much ease, but let me tell you what, tea time and an hour for lunch makes the world go round a bit smoother.

So after a wonderful day in the classroom Amy and I were off to spend some of the “Vouchers” (aka gift cards) her and Brett received from their party. Then we happened to end up in a mall and did a little Kiwi shopping. The “incredible deals” and “cheap prices” are the equivalent to our normal prices unfortunately. Good news- they have Starbucks. Sad news- they wouldn’t accept my American Starbucks gift card. L

Home to make “American Hotdogs” haha they are all the same, but for some reason, if u ask for a “hotdog” over here, you will get a corndog. So what we think of as hotdogs are called “American Hotdogs” here. I was incredibly sad to find that they do not have ANY, I repeat, NO form of ANY kind of pre-made macaroni and cheese packages. No Velveeta shells, no Easy Mac, nothing. Amy promised we would make homemade macaroni instead. So we got home and were making the Hotdogs and I asked when we were making the macaroni n cheese and Amy said “Tomorrow”. And I said “but we are having the hotdogs tonight?” And Amy did not understand why I would have BOTH hotdogs AND macaroni together, that was way too much! And I told her if my family was eating hotdogs we would also have macaroni and baked beans and maybe tater tots and pickles or something haha. No wonder America is so fat. So we just had Hotdogs, and I had some BBQ chips I bought for my lunches… of course Amy thought that was bizarre too. I love combining cultures! We just laugh at each other constantly- “wait… you do WHAT?!?” and “Why would you do THAT?!?” haha it’s entertaining.

Trying out their new fondu set!

Wierd New Zealand Hotdogs with cheese on top?

Alrighty, I believe that’s all for now. I don’t think anyone signed up to read a novel, so Mom, this is all for you because I am sure you are the only one who reads it start to finish. They won’t all be this long, I just got carried away. LOVE YOU!

Homemade Cupcakes and Little Lambs

The adventures continue! Yesterday, Amy and I had such a fun girls day. She took off work because she had an appt for her hand and so when she got back we began to make cupcakes- from scratch! They don’t have very many of the Betty Crocker or Duncan Hinz mixes where you add eggs and oil haha you do everything from scratch, even the icing! J so we baked out cupcakes, vanilla and chocolate. Then we were off to the grocery store! They actually have a lot of American Items, just slightly different. Like the Rice Krispies are called Rice Bubbles! HAH and the Special K with Berries had strawberries AND blackberries! SOO good! (For those of you who know me well, I was SUPER excited to find this!) We stopped at the sushi counter on our way out and Amy made me try some! I normally don’t like sushi, but I am kind of in the mindset of trying anything at the moment and so I went for it! She got some with chicken in it instead of fish and it was actually really good! Michael would be so proud J

Then we were off to Farmosa, where Brett and Amy will be getting married! She had a meeting with her wedding corrdinator and I helped her pick out her colors! They will be a charcoal gray and a kind of vibrant green. Its going to be incredible! Really funny- they will start their ceremony around 3:30, have a TWO HOUR block for pictures (sounds like my kind of wedding!) while the guests are at cocktail hour, and then the reception is from 6-midnight! They know how to party.

After Farmosa, we visited one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen (keep in mind this is literally 20 minutes from their house!) We were at Maraetai Beach. The roads leading up to it were so green and lush with rolling hills and little sheep everywhere, then the beach was in a nice cove, so cozy and calm. I was in photo heaven, snapping away. We snacked on M&M’s the whole time (yep! They do have those too!)

Then back to the house to finish decorating our cupcakes and then to watch Burlesque. Come to find out NZ doesn’t have much of their own Movie industry, they pretty much watch American films, which I thought was interesting. We enjoyed the girl time until Brett got home from work. Then we were out to the “spa” aka the hottub for more girl’s time and some wine. (Poor Brett!) First of all the stars are AMAZING out here! Amy and Brett were pointing out all these interesting constellations we can’t see from North America! Amy and I had a blast talking about all of our different travels (hers much more in quantity and level of exoticism than mine haha) and singing out favorite Disney tunes! Who would have thought little Kiwi’s were growing up watching the same Disney classics we were in the states!

After the spa, in for a quick tortellini dinner and showers to go out for “going away drinks” for one of Brett’s friends who is moving away. We went to a bar called Cock and Bull haha and had a few beers. Unfortunately they do not have ANY of the same beers as the states except for like Budweiser and Corona, neither of which I am crazy for. I had a hard time finding an amber beer I like, but the search is nowhere near over! I might stick to wine, Amy’s favorite, and it seems the favorite of many around here is Sev or (Sava un Blanc or something like that?) and it is fruity and delicious. The drinking age is 18 over here I might add, like everywhere else in the world other than America.

Amy wasn’t feeling to well so we called it a night pretty early. All was well with me because at 9pm it was a mere 5am my time, needless to say after 2 days I am not completely adjusted and I was pretty ready for bed myself.

Michael called at 3am today from Spain! From what I can tell on the world clock on my new Go-phone is that it is about 12 hours behind, which makes the time change conversion pretty simple. It was mid afternoon for him but I was happy to answer all the same. The conversation lasted about 2 minutes because it’s so dang expensive, but it was so worth just hearing his voice and knowing he is in Spain safe and sound. I know he will have a blast in Spain. Can’t wait to share stories of our adventures!

Well, Brett is at work (he works for a company called “Wettie” I think, a wetsuit company) and Amy is down at the nearby beach taking her sailing test. These people are awesome. Amy takes her students out in sailboats, how incredible is that?!

Well, I’m off to change and go to the beach to meet her! That’s all for now!

As a side note, I think I am going to start a running list of all the words that are different between their language and ours, it is a lot more than you would think!

View From My Window

Just some pictures that have started off my adventure:

My New Room!

Flying Over California/Nevada

The HUGE NZA Plane!

My First Meal Here!

The View Off Their Deck This Morning :)

Tried Marmite on toast this morning, not my favorite to say the least haha but hey! I tried it! Might be heading into Auckland with Alix, Carolyn and Lauren this weekend, we will see! Can't wait for the adventures to come!

IM HEREEE!!!

Whew! After a 5 hours flight to San Francisco, having to go BACK thru security, (where I totally forgot about my half full water bottle, had to go back out, empty it and go back thru security again), waiting in cali for about an hour, then loading up for a 12 hours flight in NEW ZEALAND! I chose my seat by 2 empty seats in the hopes of stretching out, but unfortunatly 2 large individuals decided to forgoe their assigned seats to sit next to me? haha I can't complain though, I still got here! 2 meals, 8 hours of sleep, some turbulance and a nose bleed later I was walking off the double decker plane into the New Zealand Airport for customs and finally.... to meet my host parents!!! Amy and Brett were waiting for me and got me off to the car in no time!

Amy and I were all chatter the entire way in :) She couldn't wait to show me their adorable house with a kickin' view both out the front and back! You can see ocean from the front! So cool! I got my own room which I am already settled into! (oh! the mail man just drove by in his scooter and dropped off the mail! haha so cool!)

Its pouring rain and super windy, but I can't wait to go out and explore. First things first though, I made some toast, and now Im off to shower. Then probably a nap so I can try to get on their schedule. :)

Will upload pics later, thats all for now!

Ring Dance 2011

So I know this blog is for New Zealand, but I guess it is also just about my life at this point in time, in which case I think it is appropriate to blog about the incredible time I had this past weekend at the Air Force Academy Ring Dance 2011. It is a dinner and ball they hold for the Juniors every year in which they recieve their class rings. It was a weekend full of baseball, old friends and new friends I feel like I have known forever (Taylor!), eating, dancing and tradition.

Michael and I on the Tarrazzo in front of the famous chapel



Michael's Ring in my Glass of Champagne!



Favorite part of the whole weekend: at the dinner, the AOC's of each squadron hands out the class rings to the Academy member's date. They then plop the ring into their glass of champaign, drink to the bottom and let the ring fall into their mouth, then kiss their date and transfer the ring! They then take it out of their mouth and put it on! Such a cool tradition, and so much fun!







Even though the baseball team lost their weekend series against BYU, Michael closed out the last game and got to throw the last pitch of the season! I thought that was pretty neat :)

Got home last night after a delayed flight that got me in at 1am, had a great nights rest, and now off to pack to leave for New Zealand TOMORROW!!! It all seems so sureal. I have waited for New Zealand for so long now, and Ring Dance for even longer. One down, one to go. Then when I return wedding planning! What an exciting year in my life, can't wait to soak it all up :)

HOME!

Moved home today for... well for 2 weeks until I leave for NZ for 3 months and then move back home for about a year until I get married and move to wherever the military sends us! haha Life is going to be a little crazy, and a little perfect for the next year :)

and GREAT news...

MY VISA CAME IN! I am officially approved to travel New Zealand and teach at Wakaaranga School until August 26th :)

Also- my Kindle came in! It is one of the coolest things ever, I feel like I'm in 9th grade all over again discovering the ipod for the first time, only now with books! I already downloaded a TON of free books, so I am stocked up and ready to go for that 24 full hours of travel!

Synthesis Project

Our final assignment in our writing course (for which I created this blog) was to create a synthesis piece summarizing our experiences/thoughts/feelings about writing and how I have progressed through the semester. I opted to put together a little video :)
enjoy!

Waiting...

Sent off my visa application yesterday... hopefully they have everything they need now, all I can do is wait...