The Adventure of a Lifetime

What a week! I cant believe Michael has already come and gone, but we had the time of our lives. He arrvied at 5:30am Tuesday morning. Amy and I went to the airport to pick him up and were SO excited to finally have him here! I think Amy was just as excited as me because I had talked about him non-stop haha. His timing was definitly a blessing in disguise because it was just what Amy needed to give her a little joy during such a horrible week at school. We ended up taking Tuesday off school because Amy just needed it, and we wanted to keep her company and just have a good day after Monday. We went into Auckland and walked around, went to the Merritime museum, ate lunch at the Waterfront Cafe and went out on a sailboat for an hour along the harbor. We were so lucky with the weather, it was beautiful out! That evening we went home to make pizzas and have a spa. Brett came home and Jodi and Amy's dad came over, it was such a lively, yet relaxing evening at the house.

Wednesday it was back to school, luckily we had a field trip to the Science Road Show and Michael was able to come as a chaperone! It was such a cool field trip with all of these science experiements and a little show. After school Michael and I went out to dinner with Alix and Lauren (the other 2 Americans lol) to this place called Basalt in Howick! One, you should have seen Michael and I navigating Howick at night, on our own. Second, Alix and I got the cabobs on a basalt brick cooker thing and it literally had 6 bites of meat and like 10 french fries. awesome. That gave us a good laugh though. It was nice for them to finally meet Michael! We had such a good time!


Thursday Michael and I were off to Waiheke Island for a wine tour! We rode the ferry into Auckland, then took the ferry to the Island, but they couldnt find my reservation so I had to buy the tickets all over again after all this trouble, then got a call while I was on the ferry appologizing for losing my reservation, that they DID in fact find it and would refund me the ferry tickets- whew! the wine tour was incredible though, we had pretty good weather and saw some amazing views, tried some delicious wines and met some cool people. Back home that night we got stuff to cook dinner. Amy actually flew down the Keremoanas funeral so she wasnt home till late and Brett was out so it was just Michael and me. It was a relaxing night at home before our journey through NZ the next few days!

Friday we woke up bright and early, packed up, and headed out to Rotorua! We got there and were blown away by the smell of sulfur (rotten eggs) that comes off the lake! haha on our way in though we stopped at this Agroadventures place and did the swoop/swing thing! It pulls you 30 meters into the air in these cacoon/harness things and then dropps you 10 meters, then it catches and swings you back and forth a couple more times! It was SOOO scary but SO much fun! Michael and I have never done anything like that before, so it was quite the experience. It took a lot of convincing on Michael's end (to convince me) but it was so worth it! That night we checked out the Polynesian Spas, which were so cool! They are these pools filled with natural hot spring water right on the edge of Lake Rotorua. After a couple hours there we were off to dinner at the Pig and Whistle. A police station turned restraunt famous for their huge plate stacked high with BBQ pork ribs. And wow- were they amazing!

Saturday we were off to Taupo! We were able to land a hotel right on the water and the views were out of this world. The lake it so big there are waves and little beaches! The town is so cool and the weather was deffinitly on our side. We spent most of the day hiking around Huka Falls, these incredible rapids of turquoise water leading to these powerful falls and then a serene river. We hiked for a good 3 hours before calling it a day. We were just amazed at the inredible views. We brought cheese, crackers and fruit for lunch and it was the perfect snack along our hike :) That night we went to this Irish Pub for dinner and met quite a few characters.

Sunday we took a little day trip to Waitomo to go Black Water Rafting which ended up being one of the most incredible experiences of our lives. Our guides, Terry and Monkey took our group of Michael and Me, a German girl named Helina, and a group of 10 Aussie teenage athletes and their 2 leaders to these caves. The guides had a great time making fun of Michael and me for forgetting our towels and having so much trouble with our wetsuits (well, I had trouble anyway) but they were great. We entered through this small hole and sat inside to allow our eyes to adjust and relax in the small cave. Over the next hour we went on the trek of a lifetime through these small tunnels, rapid moving water, deep rivers and tall caverns. We saw tons of blue glowworms along the way which were amazing on their own. We were decked out in wetsuits but our hands were still in the freezing water getting colder by the second. The cold water was so worth the overall adventure though, and we had a blast! To say the hot shower afterwards was incredible would be an understatement. It was cold it was so hot at first on my feet and hands, but it was so worth it! Then up to the café for soup and a bagel J

The drive back into Taupo was just as beautiful as the way in, even if we got a little lost haha. That night we went to this pizza place on the other side of the lake called The Bay. Hands down one of the best dinners ever. It was this old home turned restaurant and the owner was there checking on everyone. There was a teenage guy playing electric guitar which was the perfect touch.  We both ordered pizzas right out of the stone, wood-fire oven and when it came to dessert the owner was telling me about his dessert pizza that has won global pizza competitions. I asked what was on it and he took me back in the kitchen to see it being made! So cool! Of course we ordered it- there are not words to explain how delicious it was. I regret not going back the next day to order one before we headed out. For those of you who know me well- put it this way: it beats the Chili’s chocolate molten cake. Yep- that good.

Monday, after our incredible breakfast at the hotel looking out onto the beautiful lake, we headed back to Howick. It was a long drive, about 4 hours, but we got home in time to clean our Hailey (amy’s car) and take her to the car wash. She looked mint! Amy was so excited J That night Amy, Brett, Michael and I all went out to dinner at a really cool place in Howick. It was a bittersweet night with it being Michael’s last in NZ L The 4 of us got on so well, it was sad to think that we may not all 4 be together ever again… I just try to believe Michael and I will be back one day. After dinner we were off to 1,2,3 Karaoke this Japanese restraint and Karaoke bar to meet Jodi for some tunes! Haha we had the place to ourselves and actually got Michael to sing Sweet Caroline with me! It was such a funny moment in our week together, and I was so proud of him! J

We woke up at 4am Tuesday morning to get Michael to the airport. It was a very bittersweet goodbye. We had the best time over the last week exploring around NZ, but the week flew by and now it will be another 2 months until we see each other again :/  After I dropped him off I was on my way home only to get lost 3 times before getting there and Michael was on his way to Fiji for a layover, then to La for another layover, then to Denver for a couple hours before he finally caught his flight to Atlanta. Poor guy, I can’t imagine the jet lag he experienced haha.

Back to school Tuesday after I got home from the airport, whew it was a long day! I am teaching a lesson each day alongside our reading of Frindle and I think the kids are really enjoying it. Tuesday afternoon we had a staff meeting and then had a meeting with all the year 6 teachers about how to regulate our grading of the students’ writing tests. Man, writing is sure hard to grade. Jodi is back at Waka completing her student teaching as well and she is working in year 6 too, so it’s a really fun group we have right now. Katie ha been out the last few days because she has completely lost her voice and is a little under the weather, so I have been really busy teaching a lot of the day and coming up with lessons on the fly. It is definitely bringing up my confidence level in the classroom. It is crazy to believe that I could potentially have my very own classroom within the year. I actually had a moment today, though, where I really felt like a teacher in front of my own class. It was a really neat feeling and gave me a lot of confidence in my abilities. I have taken so many classes and have spent time in so many other teacher’s classrooms, I am ready to have my own class and continue to learn in that way.

This weekend will be a nice girls weekend in Howick, Lauren, Alix and Carolyn are coming to stay at Amy’s Friday night, then we are hiking Ringitoto mtn Saturday, and Sat night Lauren’s fam wants to throw us a little 4^th of July party! I will be teaching a lesson on the 4^th this Monday! I never get to teach about America’s independence on the actual day, it will be cool. Just think of me when all of you are out on the Lake, shooting off fireworks and eating Kraft macaroni and cheese and bakes beans, I will be missing the states on this one fun day!

As a side note- last Thursday the 23^rd was exactly one year until Michael and my wedding! We got to celebrate “a-year-to” together and it was such a special day! We can’t believe we are actually under a year mark! So exciting! J

To Celebrating Life

Today was a very sad day at school. One of Amy’s students (Amy is my host “mom”) passed away over the weekend. Her name was Keremoana and she was only 10 years old. She had bleeding in the brain, woke up in pain Saturday morning, was flight lifted to the hospital and went into surgery but it was too late. She was a beautiful, Maori girl who really did her best in school. We found out today and I was asked to take over Amy’s class for a bit before they found out, to give Amy a second. We then had a year 6 meeting in the Hall where the assistant principal, Margaret told the students what had happened. Of course this news was not taken lightly, and Amy’s class was heavily impacted. The teachers were hit pretty hard as well. One of the year 6 teacher’s husbands is in the hospital, another just lost a close family member and Katie and I had Kere in our Math class. When things like this happen there is little that can be said, everyone just has to grieve in their own way. Many of the guys just needed to distract themselves with books and games which was fine, most of the girls sat and cried and hugged each other. Throughout the day the students in all classes wrote lovely cards to the family to be taken over today. Other sought out counseling. Amy’s class made a beautiful wall and table display to remember her by. Keremoana will truly be missed here at Wakaaranga. It was a tough day to say the least, but the healing process will soon start and we can rejoice in her dancing in heaven with Jesus with beautiful angel wings. As I sit in my classroom typing this it is pouring down rain, appropriate for a day like this. However, the sun is also peeking through the clouds revealing a huge and vibrant rainbow overhead, god’s promise that there is a reason behind everything and with every disaster, there is good to come. Couldn’t be any more symbolic of this day.

It is very difficult to transition from that to my adventurous weekend, but if death doesn’t teach us anything it should show us how special life is and remind us that we need to cherish it. This blog is to celebrate my time here in New Zealand and my adventures with some amazing people so I will continue, everyone just say a special prayer for Keremoana’s family and the teachers and students here at Waka.

Cheers to celebrating life!

Friday I met Lauren and Alix at the Ferry terminal at 3:45 only to realize I left my phone in Amy’s car. Alix and Lauren were not there yet so I had nothing to call with and knew if I waited for them to get there I would not give Amy enough time to return with my phone before the ferry left at 4:15, so long story short I ran to the yhatt club house thing and asked a woman at a closed desk if I could use her desk phone, which she was not happy about. When Amy wasn’t answering my phone (I didn’t have hers) I had to look her up on the computer (which the lady was ever MORE unhappy about) and I FINALLY got in touch with Amy, asked her to turn around STAT and waited…waited…waited. At 4:14 she sped up to the curb, practically threw my phone at me and I ran down the dock and hopped on the ferry as it was pulling out! Whew! Haha Lauren and Alix were there waiting and we laughed over the fact that last time it was Alix’s wallet, then my phone, next it would be Lauren’s passport or something vital. The ride to Auckland was nice as usual and once in Auckland we took a taxi to Carolyn’s house! That night we went to the Blue’s Rugby Game! We had another frustrating situation when we tried to buy a beer with dinner (just one little beer) and they refused to serve us because we didn’t have our PASSPORTS! We all had our American driver’s license AND I had a copy of my passport, but no sir they would not budge unless we had our passports. Seriously? Who travels with their passport in their back pocket?! If you lose that you can’t get home! It was my visa in it too! Anyway, after that frustrating situation we ate our corn dogs (aka battered dogs) and “chicken and chips” aka chicken strips and fries and really enjoyed the game! It was raining pretty good but we forgo’ed our uncovered seats for 4 much drier seats up under cover, and must have looked like we owned the place because the seats all around us filled up and nobody came for our seats! The people in front of us had a good laugh at all of our “wait, what’s going on?” “Why did they do that?!” “Whoa look at them!” “Huh? I’m confused” etc etc. The game is much different than soccer and football and there were many things that were lost on us. The Blues did win though! So we were excited about that! That night we all stayed with Carolyn’s host family, which was very generous of them!

The next morning up bright and early to catch the ferry to Waiheke Island for our wine tour! We went to 3 different vineyards and one olive-oil producer place. We lucked out with incredible weather and got to taste quite a few really amazing wines. I learned so much about the different flavors, mixed wines, the smell to wine etc. Did you know why there are commonly rose bushes at the end of each line of vines? Because the bugs that will eat up the vines will first attack the rose bushes which both distracts the bugs and gives the ground keepers a warning to cover the vines. Pretty cool! The olive place was awesome! They showed us how they made the olive oil and we got to taste quite a few! We ate lunch at one of the vineyards, and it was quite tasty!

Funny side note- at the last vineyard which happened to be the swankiest and nicest we were up on this beautiful hill with incredible views and our tour guide was in the middle of this spiel about something when of course we went to take a picture and Alix had her wine glass in her hand behind everyone with my arm sitting under it (if you can picture this, good luck) I went to pick up my hand to take off my sunglasses and managed to

The bus dropped us off in town and we went down this winding path to a beach! Half way down we decided we were going to stash our suitcases in this little cove of tree and bush, a very good plan that ended up working out- we were free to explore the beach and all our bags were there when we got back! :D The beach was so nice, the island does have a warmer climate than the mainland for some reason and it was so lovely. We threw off our shoes and got the New Zealand sand and saltwater between our toes!

Next was the bus to the hostel. The ride wasn’t too bad, but what the website failed to warn us was that a. it was the last bus stop and b. you had to hike up literally 184 steps to the hostel. Not okay. Haha Carolyn and I had a pretty easy time given our backpacks we carried. Lauren and Alix however were lugging around rolling suitcases and man o man was that a funny sight seeing those two lugging those overhead up al those steps, in the middle of the woods I might add. I am pretty sure we got double the work out due to our laughing the whole way up. Once at the top we finally found our hostel, Kina. Its safe to say we stuck out like sore thumbs. Everyone there was pretty hippie, having been on the island for a couple months working on vineyards etc. just blowing through. Here come the 4 blue-eyes American’s in our matching boots and rolling suitcases, we were sure to blend right in. The first person we met was the owner, who lives wih his family next door, he was great. The second person we met was Guy, a white gentleman with dreds down to his butt. Guy and the owner were brewing their own beer, so we sat and waited, still panting from all the steps, until they were done and could check us in. We got our 2 rooms, both with a set of bunk-beds and a little shelf thing.

We chilled for a bit and then got recommendations for dinner at a winery just down the road. We really didn’t care where we ate- only requirement: no more steps. The winery ended up being a great option, warm and cozy, a little vintage, a little hippie, but delicious. We were told to get the honey-glazed cooked olives, which were incredible. It was a tapas place so we ordered a few things to share. The first was a lamb and couscous which was so delicious. Then we got what we thought was potatoes slices and sausage with tomato sauce on it. After hours of wondering where the sausage was, we realized when we asked her about the dish she had simply said “tomato sauce” and not “tomato and sausage” haha THEN we got what we thought was a duck and egg quesadilla, which we spent the rest of the night trying to figure out where in the heck the duck or the tortilla were, only to realize it was duck-egg, as in the egg in the dish was from a duck, and it was more of a breakfast keesh. Haha we enjoyed the food but between the fancy wording on the menu and their accents explaining it we were SO confused! It made for a good laugh later though!

Staying at the backpackers wasn’t too bad besides the mats for mattresses and the blaring music until about 1am. Guy invited us to a party, but we were already so exhausted, we watched Cars in the lounge and headed to bed early. The next morning we were heading out to catch a ferry and Guy offered us a ride into town! We were going to get dropped off for breakfast, but he offered to take us to this funky breakfast place, with an amazing view of the ocean, like almost everywhere on that island so we ate with Guy with the dreads! I got bagels and locks! SO amazing! (Michael would be so proud!) Then we were off to catch the ferry back to Auckland and kill time there until our ferry left for half moon bay.

Last night Amy and Brett had a BBQ at their house with Brett’s parents and brother and a good friend of Brett’s and his wife and baby girl J They made steak, sausages, potato salad, pumpkin something or other and it of course, was amazing! We get it tonight for leftovers J YUM! It was so nice having everyone at the house just hanging out, everyone is so welcoming and open to having me there, it is such a comforting feeling.

Well, that about sums up my weekend, like always pictures to come soon because I am updating at school. Michael gets in tomorrow morning at 5:30am! I am beyond excited for him to come here and see my new little world for a week! I have so many amazing things planned for us, I can’t wait! J

*I apologize for any typos or miss-spellings; I don’t have time to proofread right now, so just roll with it! haha

REAL Ketchup

Once again, this will probably be a long one!

i'm honestly trying to remember last Thursday and nothing is sticking out to me? Anyhow, Friday Jodi and Megean from school came over for a couple drinks to just chill and socialize. We just hung out and watched a movie, very relaxing J Then Saturday was such a fun day! I finally met up with Alix, Lauren and Carolyn (“the other Americans”) and had an awesome wknd!

I met Alix and Lauren at the Half Moon Ferry where we were to catch the 9:45 ferry into Auckland. Unfortunately Alix forgot her wallet at home so as soon as she got there and realized her host dad whipped the card around and was off to go get it! Haha we sweetly convinced the captain of the ferry to hold the boat just a couple of minutes so he could get back with her wallet. Just as they were telling us they had to go and couldn’t wait any longer, he arrived!! We then ran onto the ferry and were pulling out 2 seconds later. The ride was beautiful, but cold. We arrived at a beautiful harbor in Auckland city and were off to check into our hotel we booked for that night. We only booked for 2 ppl to cut the price and had to be a little sketchy with going in separately and asking for a cot when it was just the 2 of us? We then realized about 20 minutes later that a “cot” to them is a baby bed haha. What we think of as a “cot” they would call a “pull away bed”. So after we had to convince them multiple times we in fact did not have any babies on board and would only be needing a second bed, we were happy to see our room actually came with 2 small beds- problem solved.

Once Carolyn met us at the hotel, we were ready to explore. We tried to go to this Mexican place for lunch but it only serves dinner, so we were off to find something else. We stumbled upon this amazing burger place where we all got burgers roughly the side of our faces. After we were stuffed to the gills we decided with the wet and cold weather we would go see a movie. They all wanted to see Hangover II, and since it was so good the first time, I agreed. After we bought our tickets (For the AMAZING student price of $14.50 I might add :/ ) we headed off for some ice cream before our movie started. It was some sort of fat free ice cream (the froyo craze hasn’t hit here yet) but it was incredible. Then off to the movies, which was incredible even the second time around.

After that we wandered around a bit and then back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the night! We met Jodi and Amy at the Mexican place and were ready for a night out! The “Mexican” was alright, but lets put it this way- their “queso dip” was melted cheddar cheese with sour cream in it haha. We had a good time though, then were off to the casino in the famous Sky Tower where I won $7 on a $2 slot machine! Haha we didn’t stay there long, just wanted to see it. Then off to the Viaduct area where we hit up a couple bars, and met up with Amy’s friends Ashley and Julie! They are always a lot of fun. We spent the remainder of the night in this bar with a revolving bookcase which leads to a private party room, and I was dared to go around 3 times, which I did, and then got told “it was not a merry-go-round and I needed to stop” haha it was pretty funny.

Sunday we woke up, go Duncan Donuts for breakfast (good, but more funnel-cake-tasting than donut). And then packed up slowly, wandered around the city a little more for lunch. We ended up eating at this awesome restaurant right on the water where this insanely loud canon decided to blast off right underneath us at noon. Luckily our waiter warned us and we were able to cover our ears. The food was incredible! And the best part- we had REAL Heinz Tomato Ketchup. It was unreal. I had forgotten how much I missed it on my fries! I got a BLT (same in any country I suppose) with Avocado on the side to add to it. WOW. Best meal I have had here! We took the ferry back home that afternoon and I spent the rest of the day being lazy and watching movies.

Monday was a great day at school! We had our year 6 assembly where 8 girls in my class put on this play about a field trip they went on last term. It was really cute J Im still helping other classes with their dances and having a blast doing it! Yesterday I finished Leslie’s class’s dance and they are SO good at it! They were so impressive, I would show them what to do once and they would nail it. And this is a coed group of about 27 nine and ten year olds. I had SO much fun working with them!

I am slowly picking up more and more teaching. I taught a math lesson last week and I think it went pretty well! Yesterday I did a little brain teaser exercise with them, which they LOVED and I started reading Frindle to them this week. So far so good, I think they are really enjoying the book. Today I am taking on a few reading groups and a math lesson on 3D shapes, and tomorrow I am teaching most of the day! Katie has been so great with letting me take on more and more and plan my own things.

This week is book week and we each have our own Rugby World Cup team- we are South Africa! Today we have a bunch of games we will be playing all afternoon. The kids got to bring “mufti” which is what they call every-day clothes (they wear uniforms) to change into for the games to represent their countries. Its to funny to see them in every day clothes as opposed to their school uniforms.

Well, lunch hour is almost over so Ill stop here for today. Michael comes to NZ in 6 days! I can’t wait to have him here and show him around!

Pictures!

Woke up to this one morning :)

At the Moari

Can you spot my shoes?

Amy's Dad's Car Shop in Auckland!

LEARNING TO DRIVE! Watch Out NZ!

Out with Amy's friends Ash and Julie!

Home Sweet Home!

At the beach just down from their house!

View From Jodi's Batch

Our AMAZING Fish and Chips Dinner

On the Ride to Jodi's Batch... Most Incredible Views

The lovely lady who carved my pot I bought!

More Incredible Views

So Many Sheep!

The view out the window in my classroom :)

MY CLASS!! Working on pointellism artwork

Cheryll does amazing work

Thats all for today! Hope you enjoy! :)

Dancing to South Africa

Yesterday was such a great day at school! The year1-5 students are putting together dances for a "Move and Groove" performance! Year 6 does not take part because we are putting together our own special production. Anyhow, one of the teachers has broken her foot and obviously has a hard time teaching her class a dance, so I offered up my help. It was probably one of the best 30 minutes of my day so far! haha They were year 5 so thats 9 and 10 year old, and they were SO good! They could count music and excecute the moves. What they already knew they knew really well and they picked up quickly on what I taught them. It is all pretty simple, but so much fun to just jump in and teach some dance! Wow how I have missed that!


I also started working on a powerpoint presentation about South Africa because next week is Book Week- aka the book fair comes. Each class is assigned a team in the Rugby World Cup and we will represent that country all week during Book Week festivities. The first step is to learn about our country and create a class logo. So, we start with a brief powerepoint I will be presenting today and the student will each design a logo/emblem to be entered into a class-wide and then a grade-wide competition!


After school Jodi came over and her, Amy and I watched Romeo and Juliet with Leo Decaprio :) There were so many movie I had not seen we ran to the DVD store on Tuesday night and got 5 different movie (5 ofr $5 yahoo!) that I havent seen yet. We watched Love Actually on Tuesday night (which I realized that I HAD actually seen, but only once) and then watched R&J last night. We had a little break so I could skype with Michael and we made Tacos! They call ground beef "Mince" haha.


Anyhow, I uploaded the 300 pictures from this weekend onto my computer, and will go through them today and put up a few on here and facebook. Finally!


Tomorrow is Friday! Can't wait to see what this weekend cooks up! :)

Quite the Girls Weekend!

Well time for a crash update again! Haha- I was going to update yesterday but I was on the computer skyping my mom and Emily for over an hour so I was just really ready to get off the computer :) It was SO nice talking to them though! I didn't realize I was a bit homesick until I talked to them, but I felt so content afterwards, just hearing from my family.


Anyhow, Saturday night was a blast! Amy and I met her friends Julie and Ash at their house in Auckland City and had some snacks and wine and then went out for a night on the town! We went to a Japanese restaurant and then to a bar for some drinks. It was so nice to see Auckland and just have a fun girls night out! (Brett- Amy's fiance is down at Fox glacier on a hunting trip and wont be back until at least Saturday). We spent the night there and drove back home Saturday morning! We were so energized we decided to go for a run and shower, then Jodi came over and we were off to her batch (aka- summer home). The drive has been by far one of my favorite parts of the trip so far! OMG the scenery was absolutely INCREDIBLE. Huge rolling hills covered in lush vibrant green grass, old fences criss-crossing the land, tons of beautiful white sheep, a few trees here and there, a blue blue sky with white clouds framing the hills. It was breathtaking. Then just when I thought it couldn't get any better we started driving through these mountains and valleys, looking straight down into the bush. Then all of a sudden we were right along the coast, in one cove after the other, with beautiful views of more of New Zealand just across the water. It was about an hour drive and I snapped TONS of pictures! (promise more pics coming soon!)

Once settled in, we were off to this Fish and Chips dive just down the road. We got fish and chips and a burger covered in slaw and pineapple fritters! It was all AMAZING. Funny side note- any place like this in the States would have tarter sauce and ketchup in huge containers on every table, here though, you had to BUY a little CAN of "tomato sauce" haha and it is just not the same. Anyhow, it was an awesome dinner, we were finally having some good weather so it was decently warm and we ate outside under a bazillion stars :) We went back to the batch- which by the way was up on a hill with an amazing view of the ocean. We watched Casino Royal on tv, played this 80's game called "headbands" and made fondue, oh and painted our nails! It was the ultimate girls night! haha Then after attack of the bugs, (Jodi sprayed them but then they all fell dead on top of us- gross!) we were finally asleep for a good 10 hours. Woke up, had some cereal and were off for a walk around this little forest park. It was beautiful there too, of course. On our way out we stopped at this place called the Dragon's Attic (I think?) and there is this couple that sculpts all these amazing little figurines, pots, trinkets etc. of mostly dragons, but some other animals including frogs out of clay! I got the most amazing little dish for ,my earrings, with little frogs along the rim. Then off for another beautifully scenic drive home :)

Once home, Amy and I went grocery shopping for healthy food for the week. We were so proud of ourselves! Then we both worked out and showered and then cooked dinner and watched dance scene. This was all on Monday as we had it off school thanks to the Queen of England having a birthday :) haha gotta love that!

Yesterday was back to school, I am having a blast in the classroom! The older age is definitely intimidating to me, but it's such great experience. Katie is so great as well, she is giving me tons of stuff to read to become familiar with their curriculum and standards etc. They have this cool thing called "Jump Jam" they do Tues, Wed and Thurs morning where they have this DVD with all these songs and dances they all learned, and then the Year 6 classes get together and do a couple in the morning to start the day! They are to songs like "Car Wash" and "Kung Fu Fighter" haha it was so cool! Katie and I decided yesterday that I would teach the first 2 weeks of term 3 (In August), which will be the beginning of the topic- Energy. I am so excited! Today I will be teaching a lesson on Inference with a small reading group. (I'm at school now, I normally skype Michael during this time before school, but he was off playing volleyball somewhere in Spain and couldn't make it to the computer haha he is just having the time of his life! Can't wait for him to be in NZ in just 2 short weeks!

School will start soon so I'm off! Will update pics ASAP! Promise! haha

Fluffy and Warm no Longer

Whew lots to catch up on! So last I wrote was Tuesday, so Wednesday I went to the Marae where the Maori people (the indigenous people of New Zealand) have meetings, parties, funerals etc. The Maori culture is a really big deal here and students learn their language and customs all throughout primary and secondary school. Their school levels go primary (elementary), secondary (kind of middle school), and then college is our high school, then University is the same as our college/university. So, I went with Jen’s class (the younger ones) to this community, learning Marae where they host classes and other groups of people to teach them about the culture. It was a really neat experience. They have these special dances and performances, an entire language, these awesome carvings called tiki’s that are very intricately done.

After the Marae I went back into Katie’s class with her adorable 10 and 11 year olds. They are so sweet I just can’t get over it! At this point I am still just observing and trying to get acquainted to so many different things, not only a different teacher and different school with different procedures, it’s a completely different age group with a completely different curriculum and oh yeah, a completely different country. Haha, I’m not worried because I know I will figure it all out soon enough, but it will just take a bit longer.

Right after school Amy and I drove into Auckland! She had told me she needed to go into “town” to complete her sailboat test (oral and written- she already passed the practical the other day at the beach) but little did I know that she mean AUCKLAND! I was so excited! We parked at the car mechanic shop her dad owns and walked to this fancy office building where she was meeting the guy! Between the car shop and the meeting we stopped for two HUGE and AMAZING cookies at this little cookie shop with a line of people out front (Can’t remember its name though!) and went to her bank to reset her EFTPOS (ATM) card because she accidently put hers in the postbox with some mail and had to get issued a new one haha, then we topped at Vodafone so I could “top up” or put money on my phone and then we were off to the meeting! She passed of course! And then back home.

That night Amy and I made one of my favorite American meals- BBQ chicken baked in the oven with rice and veggies. Amy had never had BBQ chicken like that, nor had she ever put butter in her rice! Needless to say her and Brett LOVED that tiny detail. Then they left for a little time alone down at the beach because Brett was leaving Thursday for a 10 day hunting trip down at Fox glacier! (Brett and Dad would LOVE to do something like this! You get helicoptered in and spend 10 days sleeping in tents and hunting for some wild mammal- there is no registration or limit on how many you can kill because NZ had no mammals on it originally until explorers brought them over for food. So because they are not indigenous the wildlife protective agency could care less! Haha very interesting…) Anyhow, so while they were gone I decided to make my classic Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies! (Amy had never heard of Nestle Tollhouse!) So first things first I googled the recipe, which quickly proved a challenge because for one it was not in metric units and for two Amy doesn’t have measuring spoons, only cups. SO I was off to pretty much guess on a lot of the measurements haha, then couldn’t find any brown sugar (I later found out that it was in some random tin container that I would have never thought to look in haha) so I googled how to make your own brown sugar! There was no definite answer, but many concoctions involved maple syrup and honey mixed with white sugar, so that’s just what I did! Haha then I of course did not have any Nestle chocolate chips, but dark chocolate baking bits, but you know what? The end result was AWESOME! We will just ignore the fact that the first batch was burnt to a crisp because it took me a couple tries to figure out the temperature and timing differences. I ended up cooking them for about 6 minutes on 180 degrees Celsius haha. So baking simple chocolate chip cookies ended up being quite an adventure in itself! Amy and Brett were excited to come home to some cookies, but unfortunately I had not actually started the baking process because I could NOT figure out how to get the oven on! Little did I know there was a switch on the wall for that too! Who would have thought? The cookies were a success though, and we are still working out way through them!

On to Thursday, the kiddos had Bible first thing in the morning! All the year sixes go together to the meeting hall and have what can only equate to an vacation bible school/FCA meeting/youth group/Sunday school meeting. It was SO great. This lady is teaching them about the life of Jesus and all of the amazing things he did- the story of Zachius, feeding the thousands with bread and fish, healing the boy by the touch of a coat etc. and the students and discovering on their own whether or not they believe in everything. I like that they frame it that way, that these are what the Bible tells us, and it is up to them to decide if they believe in it. Everyone is in there together- it blew my mind because this would NEVER happen in an American school, a fact that absolutely breaks my heart. But it was so amazing to see happen here. The rest of the day was fantastic, I am really getting the hang of things. Katie told me after Math that she really liked some of the things I was saying to help the students and that she loves having another set of hands in the room. It was so great hearing this, knowing I was doing SOMETHING right! J

After school on Thursday Amy and I met two of her friends, Ash and Julie at this Vietnamese restaurant. But guess who drove us there? I DID! Haha I decided it would be a good idea to at least learn how to drive so that if I needed to for any reason I would be capable. So many things are different but I caught on SO much faster than I thought I would and had so much fun! Amy was so impressed, she thought she would be a nervous wreck but was actually very relaxed while I was driving! (Thanks Mom and Dad!) The main differenced obviously are the other side of the road thing, the driver’s seat is on the other side and they have round-a-bouts everywhere instead of 4-way stops or traffic lights. They also have the STUPID rule that if you are turning left (keep in mind your on the left side of the rode) and someone coming the opposite direction is turning right onto the same street, THEY have the right of way! It so confusing! I finally got the hang of all the round-a-bouts though, which was good haha. So dinner was awesome! It was BYOB so we brought a nice bottle of Sev, the kiwi favorite and now MY favorite white wine! Apparently its really expensive in the states though so I’m now going to be all spoiled and get back and want this wine that’s going to be $60 a bottle L But I’m enjoying it while I’m here! Michael was so proud to hear I went to a Vietnamese restaurant because I never branch out like that haha but it was actually really good! Then home to be in bed by no joke, 9:00 haha. Amy and I like our sleep J

Friday was another great day at school! I have started a list of tons of words that are different over here and will post that soon. Katie and I had lunch patrol and road patrol which meant we had to watch the kids the 2^nd half of lunch (it’s also their recess time bc its an hour long so they have certain teachers rotate thru patrol so the other teachers can relax and socialize or get stuff done, it’s a pretty awesome system) but it was freezing and windy so they kids were just going nuts! Then road patrol is where the students actually work the stop signs at the cross walk, but they are set up differently (ill have to get a picture, too difficult to explain) but there is an adult to supervise of course. I got to wear an awesome neon orange rain coat haha. At the end of the day though I got to go do the coolest thing ever. They have this new Robotics program they are bringing into the school where students get this kit and are told to build a robot and program it to complete a certain task. The robots are made by Lego and are INCREDIBLE! Right now there are 4 groups of 3 students each (year 6) that get to come work on these robots every Friday afternoon for the entire term. Katie (and now me!) get to go observe and learn because she will eventually take over the program after the instructor/expert leaves. The coolest part is there is no right or wrong way, it’s all trial and error. Right now their task is to build a robot that can drive up to an empty coke can, pick it up, and dispense it into a receptacle. They use this computer  program to upload programs onto the bot to tell it what to do! I of course didn’t have my camera this week, but will be bringing it all next week and will DEFF take pics of this! It was so incredible watching what these students come up with! I wanted to play with them so bad!

After school a bunch of the teachers went over to Stacy’s (a Waka teacher) house for drinks! We all just brought over some wine and snacks- Amy made this Kiwi dip which was essentially French onion dip! There were at least 6 or 7 teachers there including myself, the assistant principal and the PRINCIPAL came over! Haha I was like “This would NEVER happen in the States!” haha it was SO much fun! We have also had 2 Aussies visiting the school all week to observe and see what we do that they don’t and vice versa, and they came as well! It was really interesting getting to talk to them about schools in Australia versus schools in America compared to what we had both observed at Waka. We pretty much came to the conclusion that Australia is kind of in the middle of us and NZ in terms of red tape, teacher morale, student behavior, structure etc. Anyhow, we had a blast eating and hanging out. They ordered pizza, some of the best pizza I have ever had, and it was Hawaiian!

Then Amy and I were off to the house to meet Jodi for some more wine and a spa night! Then we watched Devine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood J Such a cute movie. We slept in today and just layed around the house a bit haha. Amy is out working out, then when she comes back we will go for a run and get ready for the day! Later we are going into Auckland for a girls night out!

Side note (Mom you would appreciate this)- I did laundry this week for the first time I have been here. The washer works about the same but funny- they don’t have a dryer. Almost nobody here has a dryer or central heating, possibly why they have kept their country so beautiful! Haha But I had to hang up ALL of my clothes to dry and they are all stiff and wrinkly haha . It was so funny when I first realized they didn’t have a dryer, I was like, ooo yay! :/ Haha but it’s not so bad, you just have to wait much longer for clean clothes and they aren’t all fluffy and warm when you go to fold them. It’s interesting how un-environmentally-minded people in the US are. I must say though, I don’t think I will change my ways, I like dry and fluffy too much :/

Well this has been a long one and Amy will be back soon, will update pictures very soon!