The time seems to be flying by here and we’re looking for any possible reason to stay. If nothing else I’m sure we could stay here as the Manaia School’s entertainment. Between our funny sounding accents and apparent lack of knowledge using simple technology we’ve been giving everyone from students to teachers a good laugh.
Our week started off with getting our assignment from “Charlie” (complete with “Good Morning, Angels) which was mainly staying with the years 9-13 English and Science classes. Me helping out in a high school science class would normally be strictly for entertainment value but apparently they’re serious...
There were two main highlights from the week, the years 12-13 field trip to New Chums Beach, Ferry Landing and other interesting landmarks and meeting Schnitzel. Oh Schnitz, he’s choice. I’m sure you’re all highly interested in the Schnitz but you’ll just have to wait.
The English field trip was one of the most fun experiences of our lives. These kids have such a carefree and fun attitude you couldn’t help but catch it. We were jumping over/running away from waves, quoting movies and singing ridiculous songs right along with them.
We started off going to New Chums Beach. You can only drive so far when you come to a beach, but apparently this is not the right beach. To get to New Chums Beach we had to walk through water on the first beach, scale rocks to find a path, walk through what can only be described as a jungle going up a mountain and then finally back down to what looks like paradise. I’m not sure how we made the journey to the beach in one piece, the rocks are much more slippery then they are on PEI and neither of us expected a jungle. At one point they even had a rope tied up to help you scale the steep hill but we made it through unscathed and only one incident where I thought there was a bug in my hair and made people stop to check and make sure it wasn’t anything gross. Turns out it was only a leaf, now we know why they stayed on Gilligan’s Island. The students obviously got to the beach much quicker then we did and were probably grateful they didn’t get stuck helping us along. After Waka Ama I’m sure they will never volunteer to help again. The students immediately went swimming but not before being told to at least try to make mental notes about the things around them. They made many notes about how high the waves were and what happens when someone face-plants into the sand (just so you know, they get a big gash in their head) They did eventually get back together on land to discuss some of the things around them but they were having so much fun that Sue (their teacher) let them go back and play around in the sand and water a bit more before we had to move on. This would be when one of the students thought it would be funny to get buried in the sand, and the other boys thought it would be funny to make a penis out of him. Eventually he was turned into a mermaid and tormented before he managed to get free. The walk back through the jungle wasn’t as bad at the walk there, but the rocks still gave some trouble. I imagine myself slipping on them one of these days and it’s not going to be pretty.
After New Chums beach, we headed out to Ferry Landing to get some lunch and take the passenger ferry across the water to hike another mountain. No wonder everyone is so fit here. Holly and I venture out ourselves for lunch and got directions to the park we had to meet everyone at in 20 minutes. Surprisingly we made it to the park very easily. We were sitting there, I had my ipod out and we were dancing along to the music entertaining those watching on their boats when Holly checks her watch. It’s past the time we were supposed to meet them. We weren’t overly worried because New Zealand is a very laid back kind of place where time doesn’t really seem to mean a whole lot so we thought maybe they were late. We did find it odd that everyone was late though but we continued to enjoy the day and rock out to the music. Thankfully Holly was paying attention because as we’re in the middle of our dancing, she notices people on the other side of the water area that look like the people we are supposed to be with. Turns out we were in the wrong park, we should have known it was too easy to find the place, good thing we were early...
We get to the ferry and it’s just this little boat which takes us from one side of the water to the other. The mountain was just on the other side. We had to be careful though because some of the path can be very steep and people have nearly fallen off. Great, that means I’m falling off a mountain today. Not sure how but no one fell off any mountains although when we got to the top a few of them wanted to jump off the rock into the water below. Once Holly got to the top however, she decided she wasn’t moving. There was no way anyone was going to convince her to make her way down the steep rock to see the view. No one except for 4 boys who are much bigger then her and promised to catch her if she were to fall. I still don’t know how they persuaded her because she was not budging. We get some good shots of the scenery, saw a shadow of a sting ray, and had some good laughs and then made our way back down the mountain to go to another beach. This next beach wasn’t quite so nice, or as the boys said, “Whaea, this beach sucks!” that is, until they found the dead possum. They then proceeded to pose the possum for the next people who were lucky enough to visit.
We left the possum and made our way to our last destination for the day, another beach. A person could really get used to New Zealand English classes. This beach was much nicer then the dead possum beach. Everyone was starting to get a little tired so some of the students just relaxed while others took advantage of the water yet again. It was here that I noticed just how burnt I was, not pretty but not nearly as bad as originally thought, it only hurt for a day or two after. We made our way back across the ferry to the van after the last beach for our ride back to the other side of the mountain. Everyone was getting tired but not tired enough for ice cream. The boys convinced Sue to stop off at this place that makes the biggest ice cream you have ever seen. 1 scoop is more like 2-3 scoops. One of the boys got what’s called a “killer” ice cream which had 5-7 scoops of ice cream on it. It was something to see, he ate most of it but didn’t manage to finish.
By the time we made it back in town Holly and I could barely keep our eyes open and it was only about 6pm. Needless to say, we had a great sleep that night, burn and all. This field trip is just one more reason to lose our passports at some point so that we never have to leave.
Now for the Schnitz. Schnitzel is obviously not his real name but we’ll just keep it this way to protect the guilty, plus that’s just how we’ve always referred to him. He’s our substitute bus driver and we were lucky enough to meet him as he was learning the bus route. We swear this guy has no memory and less of an attention span. When he drives the bus we hang on for dear life as we’re sure we’re going over the mountain on the way to or from school one of these days.
We show up at our bus stop early the first day Schnitz is driving the bus on his own, good thing we did because he was also early. This wouldn’t be so bad except he starts driving and none of the kids are out at their stops yet because he’s a good 5-10 minutes early with his route. We get to the first stop and he just keeps going, all Holly and I hear him say is “Oh, no kids” in his thick German accent. Holly and I kept trying to tell him that it was because he was really early but he didn’t seem to understand. We get to the end of the route, with only Holly and I on the bus when he finally turns around to ask if maybe there is a reason there are no kids on the bus that day. We finally convince him to turn around and go back to get some of the kids he left behind. By the time the kids get on the bus, they start ragging on him, “You missed this kid or that kid or STOP!” “Have you ever had a license before?” “Do you want me to drive?” Holly and I were doing all we could not to completely lose it. The next day he was a little later coming to get us so he didn’t miss nearly as many kids but they were still relentless, especially when he would stop at stops that didn’t exist or drive too slow or fast or anything really. When the main bus driver finally came back, he told the kids they gave poor Schnitz a mental breakdown. We just hoped it wasn’t that back because we were hoping to see Schnitz again before we leave.
We’ll end it here as this post is ridiculously long and I’m sure most people never make it to the end of these but for those who do, we hope you enjoy. There are still lots to come.
To Be Continued...
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