I reckon...another weekend in paradise.

One of Theo's favorite sayings is "I reckon....." He so reminds me of a little Southern boy, but strangely always speaks with a Kiwi accent. Another good Kiwi phrase- "Good-on-ya" spoken as one word. I have a feeling other cultures use this one too, but it basically means "good work."

A much welcomed weekend after a busy week. Friday night we headed to Point Chev beach for some relaxation time complete with books, a chip picnic, lemon and barely, and the classic NZ sunset. We watched the movie "Boy," a sort of sad, funny, real snapshot of rural Maori living. Plenty of Michael Jackson references included. Score.

Slept in until 9:30 on Saturday, such a change from 6:30 AM. Read HP7 all morning, laying on chairs outside with Levi, petting Oscar as he hid under my beach chair from the hot sun. Off to another beach, with a pit stop at the park to harass the little children (well, that's what the boys did) and eat some hot chips (aka fries) in the grass. Vince asked me what my reflection on Kiwis was after 2 weeks....I answered: pretty much how I loved how active they are as well as their stereotypically accurate laid-back demeanor. Just watch the Flight of the Concords and you'll be seriously transported here-creepily right-on. Some of the kids took a quick dip in the steaming bay and I got some strange sun-burn lines in about 10 minutes. We came home, I made some Amercian style pancakes (which were apparently "too thick for the Kiwis") and opted to stay home and rent a movie with the boys instead of head to a 50 year old's birthday party. I like meeting people, but since I would be 20 years younger than any of the guest, the boys easily talked me out of going. We watched "Sionnes Wedding," a quirky Polynesian style flick.

AND THEN came Sunday. Vince woke me up at 6:10-"You still coming this morning"..."Uh huh"...."Okay well be ready in 10 minutes." We headed to the "Weet-Bix Try-athalon" that morning. I was in grunt mode almost all morning...until I had my coffee. Weet Bix are the Wheaties of New Zealand and they held a massive kids triathalon event at St Helier's bay. Theo signed up with 2 other boys from Hebron to compete as a team. Being the brave soul I am, I decided to go along with Vince even though the rest of the family stayed home and went to church. The triathalon was PACKED with fit parents, antsy kids, and school groups that managed to pack huge picnic tables and mass amounts of food under a quality looking tent just for a 5 hour event. I drank coffee and read HP7 while the boys signed up and enjoyed the undeniably harmonious atmosphere of the whole morning. Who needs sleep on a beautiful sunny morning when you can live in such a community? Sounds cheesy, but watching the kids hug their parents when they finished just almost made me tear up.

To top the day off, we ventured over to Murawai beach to Sarah's family farm. It seriously looks like the shire-British countryside feel with bits of tropical trees-cows and sheep included. Through a few gates and down some grassy hills, we drove to a quaint little lake and spent the late afternoon cooling off in the water, eating fresh apricots and peaches, and drinking down some orange juice. Sarah gave me a tour and picked some of the water lilies her grandfather planted in the pond so many years ago. It was a classic summer day. Its funny that even though I'm in a foreign country, Sarah's family tales about her grandfather's childhood remind me so much of my second-hand memories of my Papaw in his cotton-pickin days. But before I get all sappy...here are some photos. Hopefully you'll see another post this week. Until then, love you all.

Gettin ready...

Sarah let me borrow her floppy hat, Toby wanted to go for some stereotypical Asian poses

The family farm

It so reminded me of Blenheim in England

So LOTR, right?

What a week!!

Sorry it's been a week since I posted last, but first week teaching is such chaos. I taught about 8 lessons this past week, all with a fair amount of success. I'm loving the amount of material and the vast amount of age groups I get to see and meet on a daily basis. I've taught year 9, 12, and 13 last week and I taught year 10 Social Studies today. I even taught Geography last week, plus I get to teach library classes twice a week from now on-Hooray! I love books.

Anyway, due to the loads of paperwork and my last few full-on MVNU lesson plans, there isn't much weektime adventure to speak of. Lane and I decided to move our date day to Wednesday, only to find out that he had an hour long meeting after school that quickly turned into an hour and a half meeting. So we didn't leave until 5:30. We made it into town, did some window shopping on Queen Street, wandered around and even found a sweet as park called Mt. Albert Park. We made some pretty hilarious videos treking up the city's hills, so I'll have to get Lane to post them. We found this hobit-sized tropical tree forest and found Emily Street ( a shout out to all my favorite Emily's out there). We had dinner at mission bay-Seafood to be exact. Followed my gelato which was served to us by a very friendly Middle-Eastern man. We'll definitely go back. The bay at night was simply stunning and Lane of course opted out of dipping his feet into the water because of his new white shoes-What a girl. Good thing he spilled gelato on them 10 minutes later. I had to laugh.

MMM muscles!

We had our usual Staff Meeting on Thursday and I taught for the first time with my CT on Friday. Nerve racking, but I made it all the way through a lesson on "A Man for all Seasons." Then she told me the exciting news that I could teach the rest of the book unit! I have a feeling I'm a bit of a nerdy teacher, but aren't we supposed to be? I'm getting to know the staff more and more each day and learning students' names slowly but surely. They have all been so welcoming. I'm loving being at school everyday, especially in paradise.

Weekend, At last!

This weekend’s highlights:

-I taught my first lesson on Friday and gave the students some chocolate buckeyes that I brought with me.

-Sleeping in until 9 am on Saturday (Can you believe that Vince actually called me an “early riser” the other day? There’s a first for everything.)

-Getting a driving tour of west Auckland and even being treated to an Oreo ice cream drumstick

-A family/friends cookout, and I even made my first Pavlova-The Kiwi’s favorite dessert. (pictured below)

-Sunday at the beach! We visited Sarah’s parents’ home in Red Beach-a thirty minute drive north, across the Harbor bridge. Her dad, Nigel (from the homeland of England), gave me the house tour and in perfect, grandfather fashion, pulled out the world Atlas and chatted with me about WWII airplanes. Such a sweet man! He also insisted on getting a picture of me with Sarah in her convertible. Oh, the paparazzi. I got my first taste of New Zealand coastal water and got a beautiful tour down the beach. And even got the beginnings of a tan! We ate dinner with Sarah’s sister’s family and I got to ride home in the convertible with the top down. The boys rode in the back and we listened to some sweet mellow sounds of a Caribbean-style local band. I couldn’t help but thinking about how lucky I was to be there, top down, wind in my hair, with the lights of Auckland brightening the late evening sky. What a day. I’m getting better at walking into a room of complete strangers, but the Heeringa’s extended family really make it easy! 

The Rahiri house. My classroom is on the 2nd floor, on the right (bay window).

Pavlova!

Theo and his best friend ever!

Red Beach

Driving home. Levi (left) and Toby (right). It was more fun than they make it look.

An expedition to the bay

2/10/2011

Excerpt from my journal

Today’s weather is a bit cooler, so on with the jumper (aka sweater). Willa forgot my lunch today, but God provided, and suddenly there was a lovely spread in the teacher’s lounge from a meeting the night before. One lesson planning session and a 45 minute staff meeting later, Lane and I were making our way to the train station right next to the Heeringa’s house. Completely clueless about whether we needed a pass or where we should pay, we found the right train, paid the fee to a super forgiving train attendant, and were on our way to the Brittomart station in central Auckland city. Lane doesn’t quite know the difference between NZ coins yet…Anyways, he was assertive and it was grand. That was the first time we really had a chance to reflect, vent, laugh, remember, and be in the comforting presence of a friend who knows you well. Being surrounded by people you have just met can be mentally/emotionally exhausting at times. We walked past the ferry building and out onto a pier to sit and look out the city of sails. Luckily, we caught our bus at 6:05 pm to St. Hellier’s bay where we ate a lovely dinner. And caught our first glimpse of Rangitoto-A massive island/dormant volcanoe. After dinner, we walked the path to Mission bay and saw the sun go down over the city. Such a beautiful sight. We stopped and looked at New Zealand Starbucks mugs, of course, and waited for the Sellar’s (Lane’s host parents) to come pick us up. They gave us a driving tour of the city and were kind enough to drop me off at my front door. What great people, these kiwis!

Finally!!

Such a cool city

Facing his opponent, Rangitoto, where he will complete a half marathon in about a month.

Rangitoto

Learning to like Watermelon OR My legs= fresh meet for mosquitoes

3 days of school down, 32 to go! Hebron is an adorable, California campus style school with THE MOST respectful students perhaps on the face of the planet. I first met my staff when walking into our Monday morning staff devotions approximately 5 minutes late. You see, when there are 4 kids scrambling to get ready, 2 parents packing lunches, combing hair, watching faces, and feeding animals…..not much seems to get done on time. Willa and I bolted out of the house at 8:05, scurried along the 10ish minute walk and then couldn’t even find where all the teachers were. So, what a wonderful first impression. Soon I learned that everyone here is so laid back and forgiving. These first 2 days meant learning the ropes, feeling awkward wondering if I could use one of the school’s mugs during tea time, getting lost in the corridors, feeling like maybe they do speak a different language,  feeling like the students were staring, and hoping I could remember students’ names. But through it all, they expressed they felt I was learning quickly. Today was a breakthrough. I got to help monitor and do group work with students learning figurative language and close reading(my favorite topic!) and even used my smoldering teacher look to persuade a Year 12 class clown to shush. Sweet as.

So far I’ve picked strawberries, eaten 3 slices of Watermelon (formally one of my least favorite fruits….okay I still don’t LOVE it), taken a tour of Sarah’s garden, discussed politics/music/sports with Vince, had a fake fight with my 16 year old brother (Levi), done the dishes 4 times, gone with Willa (7 yrs old) and Theo(10 yrs old) to buy “lollies” aka gummy candy, climbed Mt Albert (1 of 9 dormant volcanoes in Auckland), learned loads of new phrases, watched a diarrheic puppy poop on a rug, and learned how to play countless games on the trampoline.

Tomorrow, Lane and I have a staff meeting and then we’re catching the bus into town. So wish us luck!

                                                                     Here are some snaps.

                                 Lane and I about to leave Columbus....awful photo, but I thought I'd include it.

The sunrise as we were about to land in Sydney.

My BEAUTIFUL bedroom, the window stays open always :)

Our first "Lolly" trip together

Willa and the puppy...We're best friends already

Kitchen...Their house is lovely

What happened to Feb. 4th? OR Happy Waitangi day!

Hello, or Kia Ora, from the lovely land of Aotearora.  And today's biggest surprise is...I have pretty much NO jet lag. Quite unusual. Anyways, I arrive in Auckland yesterday to a HUGE customs line and security that last about 1.5 hours. Waiting for us on the other side was Mr Matthews, our new supervisor and principal of Hebron. He was kind enough to escort us to out host homes. I arrived at the Heeringa residence and found the most beautiful old home, one of the oldest in Auckland, which was built in the 1870s. It was so nice to be welcomed into a home filled with music and to  see all the doors and windows open, letting the temperate NZ breeze blow inside. Since the Heeringa's work in the magazine biz and own a home/lifestyles magazine, they of course have the most awesome rustic decor I have ever seen. And just like all good Kiwis, a very green, eco-friendly home. Willa jumped right into serving me a delicious "chocolate" mud cake at her sand filled "cafe" in the back yard. They showed me around- the back yard (fully equipped with a new puppy-Oscar), their awesome garden, bee hive, chicken coup, and to my lovely white room which I'm already growing to love. I managed to stay up til 11 pm, getting to know the kids and eating my first ever orange chocolate chip ice cream. Today, we went to church for a very appropriate service based around Waitangi day- Google it. We also sang the NZ national anthem in English and Maori...I hummed along. The rest of the day was spent reading, playing in the backyard, meeting their friends and neighbors, and eating some lovely Couscous and cheese toasties. Tomorrow is my first day of teaching-exciting and very nerve racking. Keep me (and the kids) in your prayers. So far, I'm just thoroughly grateful to be staying with such a friendly and loving family. My host dad even made me a "Lyndsey's Big Adventure" sheet today, filled with the places they will take me before I leave. There is so much more I could say, but I'll save it for another post. Pictures of my house will come later this week :)