School Holiday

Hello!

Sorry for my lack of blog posts, I have been on school holiday and doing lots of traveling! School holiday is when the students (and teachers) get a two-week break from school before the next school term starts.  Mckenna, another student teacher from the US, and I decided to take advantage of this and spent the whole time traveling!  Mckenna has cousins in Sydney, Australia who were gracious enough to let us stay with them for the first week of the holiday.  Our first day there, her cousins, Kathy and Vic, took us to Hunter Valley Area, which has 200+ wine vineyards.

Mckenna and I at a vineyard

Cathy, Mckenna, and I

On our second day, we went to The Reptile Park, which was similar to a zoo.  When you walk into the park, you are greeted by kangaroos that are running around freely. It was intimidating to go up to them at first, but they like having people pet them.  We did end up seeing a kangaroo try to box a little girl, which was extremely scary!  While at the park, I also got to pet a dingo puppy and get my photo taken with a baby Koala!



On our third day, we took a train into the city and finally got to see the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge! They were so amazing to see in person and they were HUGE. We ended up wandering the city and seeing everything Sydney has to offer.  We got lunch at the Queen Victoria Building and walked around the shops inside.  After that, we went to Darling Harbour, rode a Ferris wheel, and went into a lighthouse. We ended up taking a ferry back, at sunset, and we went under the Harbour Bridge and passed the Opera House.




On the fourth day, we went back to the city and stayed the night at a hostel.  We explored china town and a cool mall that is filled with souvenirs and other things to buy.
                                        *Sorry I have no pictures for this :(

The second half of my holiday was spent in Queenstown, New Zealand.  Queenstown is a small town on the south island, which is completely surrounded by mountains.  This town was absolutely gorgeous! On our first day there, Mckenna and I took a gondola ride to the top of a hill, which had a building with a bar/restaurant, bungee jumping,  a luge, and stores.  While we were up there, Mckenna and I talked ourselves into Bungee Jumping because it was created in Queenstown, so how could we not?  It was completely terrifying, but amazing at the same time.  I would definitely recommend doing it if you ever have the chance.





The next day we took a road trip to Oamaru, which is known for PENGUINS.  I finally got to see penguins in the wild and it was amazing. We waited at this one beach hoping to see Yellow-Eyed penguins, but we, unfortunately, didn't find any.  The next beach we went to had a colony of Little Blue penguins and we saw about 50! They were so adorable.  As we were preparing to leave the penguins, we saw a shooting star! It was huge and it was my first one I have ever seen!



The rest of our time in Queenstown consisted of exploring the area with some people we met during our trip.  We walked around the city center and even went into the botanical gardens! Through these trips, I have been able to meet so many different people that are traveling the world and it really inspires me to see more of the world.  I couldn't be here and doing these things if it wasn't for all of you supporting me and helping me get here.  I can't thank you enough and I will be back in the states in 22 days!

Kiwi, Kiwi, or Kiwi?

Kia Ora!
I know you may seem confused about the title, but that will be explained later. Throughout my stay here, it's been crazy how many differences there are between the United States and New Zealand. Some of these differences are obvious, while others are not. So, I thought I would create a list and share some of these with you.

In New Zealand:

• They drive on the left side of the road
• The drivers seat is on the right side
• Instead of intersections, they have roundabouts
• Mcdonald's is extremely popular and very fancy 
• Hot Chocolate is a breakfast necessity
• A typical breakfast is a piece of toast with spaghetti on top
• Doughnuts are dessert and not breakfast
• There's a 20-minute break from work every morning for Morning Tea so that you can get a snack, coffee, or tea
• Wh is pronounced as "f." (in Maori words)
• Z is called Zed 
• School goes all year round and is broken up into four terms. After each term, they have a two-week break and their summer is one month from January to February 
• They don't have school buses; they shut down half of the city buses every morning and afternoon and those are their school buses.

And finally to explain the title:

• When you say 'Kiwi' you need to specify whether you mean the people (New Zealanders call themselves Kiwis), the kiwi bird (national bird), or the kiwi fruit.

Kiwi

Kiwi

Kiwi

Cultural Mufti Day

Kia Ora!

Last Thursday, 16 June, we had a cultural mufti day.  This means that students could pay $2 to dress up as whatever culture they would like, instead of wearing their uniform.

I chose to borrow an All Blacks Jersey from my host family's son and wore it for mufti day.  My coworkers told me I was an honorary Kiwi for the day! Most of my class chose to dress up and it was very interesting to see their culture.

At the end of the day, the whole school got together and did a cultural parade.  The classes took turns parading around the blacktop and showing off their outfits to the rest of the school.  Once the parade was done, the principal called up the students by the culture they were dressed up as.

Whole School Parade

                                                                       

Room 13 in the parade

My student (on the left) dressed up for Chile with her cousins

The "American" Group

The Kiwi Group 

Room 13

The Students of room 13 dressed up

The Penguin and the Igloo

Hello!

At Howick Primary, they spend a lot of time decorating the school to fit whatever theme they are learning about. As I mentioned before, it's currently New Zealand's winter, so the theme right now is winter and learning about the community.  To make the library fit the theme, our librarian, Susie, has created an igloo in the middle of the library for kids to read in.  This igloo was made out of 600+ milk cartons and their lids.

So, of course, I freaked out over all of the penguins that decorate the igloo. I, jokingly, told Susie that I was going to steal all of the penguins. Well at school today, Susie walked into my classroom and surprised me with this! It's supposed to be a Blue Fairy Penguin, which is only native to New Zealand.

I'm not quite sure how I'm going to get it home, but I'm going to figure out a way! I'm so lucky to have coworkers who are kind enough to make things like this for me!

Queens Birthday Weekend - Bay of Islands

Kia Ora!

It is currently New Zealand's Winter, so it has been around 50 and 60 degrees (12-18 degrees Celcius).  Which has made this amazing weather to travel in! This past weekend, my school had monday off because it was the Queen's Birthday.  (For those of you that don't know, New Zealand is a still governed by Queen Elizabeth of England).  My friend from Ohio Univeristy, who is also placed here, took advantage of this three day weekend and traveled to the Bay of Islands.   The Bay of Islands is a group of 144 islands that are about 3 1/2 hours North of where I live. The ride up there took us on many windy back roads, but they offered some amazing views.

Mckenna and I stayed in a hostel in a small town called Paihia (pie-he-uh).  Everything in the town was within a short 5-minute walk, so it was very easy to get around.  In this town, there is also a wharf where you can purchase a ticket and go to another town called Russell.  While there, I learned the Russell was the first Capital of New Zealand when this country was just beginning.  After exploring Russell, we went to two other towns called Kerikeri and Waitangi (why-tang-e). Kerikeri is known for their chocolates, so, of course, we had to stop and try some.  We went to Makana Chocolate Boutique, where we sampled chocolates and their homemade gelato.  In Waitangi, we went to the Treaty grounds where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.  This Treaty was between the British Crown and the Maori chiefs of the North Island. 

View from the Warf

The Carved Meeting House.  It was created by the Maori to show the partnership between the Maori and the British Crown.

What is carved into the walls. 

Inside of the Carved Meeting House

Maori War Canoes

All that is left of the Treaty of Waitangi.

Overall, this weekend was a lot of fun and it makes me more excited to spend my time traveling around New Zealand!

Home and School

Kia Ora!

I have started this blog so I can keep you up to date on what I'm doing in New Zealand.  I am currently living in Whitford, New Zealand (approximately 20 mins. East of Auckland). I thankfully am getting along very well with my host family! My host family is Claire and Alistair Simpson, and their kids, Sean and Charlotte. I also have my own room and bathroom down in their basement, so I have my own space as well.

The view from my room

Claire teaches at my placement school, so I get to ride in with her every day to school.  I am placed at Howick Primary School, where I teach in a Year 2 (1st Grade) classroom.  My cooperating teacher and students are absolutely amazing.  My teacher has helped me a lot with planning and has made me feel comfortable with taking over parts of the classroom.  The students are so smart and their curriculum is more advanced than what we have in the states. I am going to gradually start taking over the classroom over the next couple of weeks.

My Classroom 

The Junior Playground