So we’re on our way to Scary-Bug Land but first we need to make it through check in... With our bags. Thankfully they have a weight checker before you go up to the check in counter and it was a good thing we used it. Fortunately nothing was crazy overweight and if our luck holds out that they don’t check the weight of our carry ons, we’re good to go. But this wouldn’t be a story if that happened. We get into the security area and there are people there checking the weight of everyone’s carry on bags... Seriously?!? I don’t know how, but we both pass and before they check the scale and find out it’s completely wrong, Holly and I quickly head to the next area.
We made it to our terminal and just relaxed for about the 5 minutes we had left in New Zealand and then boarded the plane. I checked my seat, no poisonous bugs waiting to jump out at me, I’m taking that as a good sign, and then we take off back in time to the two hours earlier Australia brings. Get off the plane and no bugs yet. Yes, I’m paranoid. If you had seen the bugs we had seen being in New Zealand and then heard all the stories about how much worse they are in Australia, you’d be paranoid too. Anyway, we go through customs/security and I don’t know how terrorist do it because I’m nervous getting through these things and we don’t have anything to hide! Turns out one of my bags (in my luggage, not my actual luggage bag) had bugs in it. Of course it had to be mine, it only seems appropriate. So sadly it got left behind. We make it through and then realize we’re not sure how we’re getting to the hotel. There isn’t anyone at any information desks so we had no one to ask. We then see a sign for the subway, find a map and decide to give it a try. Two transfers later and weirdly no trouble at all, we find ourselves coming up from the subway only to look to our right and see our hotel. That was easy, and I didn’t even see any bugs.
We seem to have a knack for finding places within the red light district and this place was no different. Like usual, we were completely overdressed for a Saturday night on the town and even more so in the red light district. So we find an internet area to send some messages to home and decide to call it a night. We had another roommate for the evening and she was already asleep so we didn’t want to bother her anymore then we already had plus we had to be downstairs for 7am. Apparently even vacations have an early start.
We get through the night, no bugs and a pretty sound sleep and we’re all up nice and early. We’re getting ready when all of a sudden an alarm starts going off. We all look at each other and wonder what’s going on. We then go about our business until the alarm in our room starts going off. Is that a fire alarm? Yeah, I think that’s a fire alarm. I smell smoke. Seriously?!?! Is this really the way we’re going to start Australia? The guy gets on over a loud speaker and announces they’re looking into the alarm meanwhile we hear the fire engines pulling up outside the building. We take that as a sign to hurry up. We’re still smelling smoke when there is a knock on our door. We’re asked by a fireman if there’s a fire in our room, we say no but we can smell it and he moves on. We get ourselves together and leave our hotel room only to find out the fire was in the room next to us. Apparently they found it in time as it never moved to our room, the smoke just smelled bad.
We check in with Contiki, our tour group, and find out we’re taking a 7ish hour drive to our destination at a surf camp. Yay, we just didn’t spend enough time on a plane, now we’re taking a minimum 7 hour bus ride. We get on the bus though and can’t believe how flash it is. Turns out it’s brand new and we’re the first tour to ever ride on it. Which means our bus driver is going to be a crazy person hounding us to keep it clean, it is his home after all. Really, turns out it actually is his home, he doesn’t have a permanent address. We get some pictures in Sydney to prove we were there and head out for our open road ride. Open road turns out to be traffic jam as there is an accident on the highway. It wasn’t so bad, we all got to know each other hanging out on the side of the road. Once we start going again we hit torrential rain. Holly and I are beginning to think we take the rain with us where ever we go. We get to the surf camp super late, in the dark and in the rain. We had an idea of the accommodation we were getting ourselves into but nothing prepared us for the cargo bins we were sleeping in or the puddles we had to carry our suitcases through. We hung out for a bit getting to know each other a little more but Holly, our roommate and I decided to get to bed earlyish in order to be prepared for our surfing lesson at 7am. That and we couldn’t wait to wake up and leave the cargo bins.
We’re all settled in and completely freaked out when Holly finds a remote for an air conditioner and asks if the air conditioner really exists. I’m on the top of our bunk beds and point it out to her only to nearly fall out of the bed in fright. Hello giant gross disgusting possibly deadly red spider. Guess who’s not sleeping tonight? All of us stand on the opposite side of the cargo bin and wonder what to do. We can’t kill it. We don’t know how quick this thing is and what if it jumps? What if it bites? Oh geez. Holly goes to get Sam, one of the workers at the camp in hopes that he can help us. It takes him a bit but he eventually catches the lightening speed spider and throws him outside. Apparently it’s not dangerous but we still have our doubts. We think he might have just been telling us that to make us feel better. It didn’t work, the only consolation was that it wasn’t a white bum... It’s going to be a long night.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Week 6 - Denial (Warning: This Post May/Definitely Will Get Sappy)
The week started off with everyone returning from their coaching clinic fully refreshed and armed with stories. The first thing they say to us though is, so this is your last week, are you sad? I tell them no, denial is a wonderful friend to me these days. We cannot believe we only have four days left with everyone and the minute we start thinking about it we realize how little time that really is. Six weeks seemed to have flown by as if it were one so we feel as though four days will go within the blink of an eye.
We spend the week getting our students to finish up their projects for us and getting as many pictures as we can as well as spending every minute soaking up all this amazing little community has to offer. Wednesday afternoon we were lucky enough to go fishing with the years 7-8 class. We didn’t catch anything but we had a lot of fun getting to know these students a little better considering they were the only class we hadn’t been able to spend a day with.
We felt as though we needed to do something for the students on the last day. They have done so much for us that we really wanted to repay them with something fun. We had been trying to figure out what to do for a while and it finally came to us at the beginning of the week. Any time not spent with the students this week was now dedicated to our surprise. We talked it over with Sue and she said we could have the general period for the years 11-13’s. However it wasn’t all of them so we put the offer out to the other teachers saying that if they would like a period off, we would gladly entertain their class. In the end, we had the whole senior school (years 9-13) for fourth period. As you have probably read throughout the last 8 weeks, Holly and I have been posting travel tips of things we’ve encountered along our way. We decided to cut those down and gear just under 50 of them to ones that related to New Zealand and specifically those the wonderful students at Manaia School had taught us and present our adventures in Kiwi Land complete with pictures and all the embarrassing stories. They laughed and seemed to have a good time so we hoped they enjoyed it. We followed our presentation up with a little Canadian trivia complete with music trivia by Canadian artists. We didn’t put in any Celine Dion, we thought it would be too easy, but we couldn’t resist ending it with a little Beiber. We handed out lots of lollies, which I’m sure made the rest of the teachers really happy with us because the students were bouncing off the walls when we finished. We took that as a sign of a successful presentation.
In the afternoon we had a big feast to celebrate the end of term. We’re going to miss sitting out and playing games with the students at lunch. I’m sure I can also speak for Holly when I say this school and community has stolen a piece of my heart. After lunch the school surprised us with a presentation for us. They gave us their school sweaters, a bone carving necklace and an amazing book. Then they sang. It took everything I had not to break down into tears, Holly didn’t make it. It was amazing to hear and yet so sad to know that would be last time we would hear them. Listening to the school sing has been one of the greatest joys we have had the pleasure of experiencing since being here. Monday afternoon Kapa Haka practice was always something we looked forward to, even if they didn’t. After the presentation, the rest of the afternoon was dedicated to music and each year got to play at least one song they had been working on this term. These students are so amazingly talented it’s not fit. There is nothing they can’t do and do well. It was a sad goodbye at the end of the day. I think we hugged just about every student in the school. It was a rough time, I would have gladly stayed forever if it was possible, I have never hated the saying all good things must come to an end as much as I did that day.
The last day was a teacher only day where we got to participate in a choice workshop about language and literacy for students learning another language. It was really beneficial because it gave us a first hand account at what it’s like to learn a new language. Although we both have experience learning and teaching alternate languages, sometimes you forget what it’s like to be lost in it.
Sadly we didn’t lose our passports and therefore had to leave the country to head to Scary-Bug Land AKA Australia. Everyone here had me believing I was going to be seeing all these scary poisonous bugs, plants, spiders, etc the minute I stepped on the plane and if not then, the minute I stepped off it. I have a feeling I will be spending the next week completely paranoid and constantly checkin my ceiling for white-bummed spiders...
We spend the week getting our students to finish up their projects for us and getting as many pictures as we can as well as spending every minute soaking up all this amazing little community has to offer. Wednesday afternoon we were lucky enough to go fishing with the years 7-8 class. We didn’t catch anything but we had a lot of fun getting to know these students a little better considering they were the only class we hadn’t been able to spend a day with.
We felt as though we needed to do something for the students on the last day. They have done so much for us that we really wanted to repay them with something fun. We had been trying to figure out what to do for a while and it finally came to us at the beginning of the week. Any time not spent with the students this week was now dedicated to our surprise. We talked it over with Sue and she said we could have the general period for the years 11-13’s. However it wasn’t all of them so we put the offer out to the other teachers saying that if they would like a period off, we would gladly entertain their class. In the end, we had the whole senior school (years 9-13) for fourth period. As you have probably read throughout the last 8 weeks, Holly and I have been posting travel tips of things we’ve encountered along our way. We decided to cut those down and gear just under 50 of them to ones that related to New Zealand and specifically those the wonderful students at Manaia School had taught us and present our adventures in Kiwi Land complete with pictures and all the embarrassing stories. They laughed and seemed to have a good time so we hoped they enjoyed it. We followed our presentation up with a little Canadian trivia complete with music trivia by Canadian artists. We didn’t put in any Celine Dion, we thought it would be too easy, but we couldn’t resist ending it with a little Beiber. We handed out lots of lollies, which I’m sure made the rest of the teachers really happy with us because the students were bouncing off the walls when we finished. We took that as a sign of a successful presentation.
In the afternoon we had a big feast to celebrate the end of term. We’re going to miss sitting out and playing games with the students at lunch. I’m sure I can also speak for Holly when I say this school and community has stolen a piece of my heart. After lunch the school surprised us with a presentation for us. They gave us their school sweaters, a bone carving necklace and an amazing book. Then they sang. It took everything I had not to break down into tears, Holly didn’t make it. It was amazing to hear and yet so sad to know that would be last time we would hear them. Listening to the school sing has been one of the greatest joys we have had the pleasure of experiencing since being here. Monday afternoon Kapa Haka practice was always something we looked forward to, even if they didn’t. After the presentation, the rest of the afternoon was dedicated to music and each year got to play at least one song they had been working on this term. These students are so amazingly talented it’s not fit. There is nothing they can’t do and do well. It was a sad goodbye at the end of the day. I think we hugged just about every student in the school. It was a rough time, I would have gladly stayed forever if it was possible, I have never hated the saying all good things must come to an end as much as I did that day.
The last day was a teacher only day where we got to participate in a choice workshop about language and literacy for students learning another language. It was really beneficial because it gave us a first hand account at what it’s like to learn a new language. Although we both have experience learning and teaching alternate languages, sometimes you forget what it’s like to be lost in it.
Sadly we didn’t lose our passports and therefore had to leave the country to head to Scary-Bug Land AKA Australia. Everyone here had me believing I was going to be seeing all these scary poisonous bugs, plants, spiders, etc the minute I stepped on the plane and if not then, the minute I stepped off it. I have a feeling I will be spending the next week completely paranoid and constantly checkin my ceiling for white-bummed spiders...
Week 5, Part 2 - Games, Trains and Automobiles
*Don't worry our story isn't over, we just have not had internet in a while so expect an influx of posts for the next bit.
Our students had a great laugh about our white bummed spider story. We even had one of the students bring over a spider to have lunch with us. I obviously ended up on the other side of the playground. The spiders here must be on steroids, there is no way that is natural.
Wednesday we knew that the science and math teacher wouldn’t be here but she had said there would be someone to take over. Apparently Holly and I had done such a great job with English that we found out Wednesday morning that the people taking over would be us. Oh geez, first of all, do they not remember English? And second of all, this is science and math... Remember the joking about me helping out, I was not actually joking. Regardless we were now science and math teachers for the day. I think I asked more questions then they did but at least we made it through and the science lab is still in tact. I’m going to take this as a win and never attempt that again...
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday most of the years 11, 12 and 13 left for a coaching clinic in Hamilton so it was pretty quiet at the school for the rest of the week. We were curious to see what gym class would be like now that they weren’t doing Waka Ama and there was only about 15 people in all of years 9-13 left at the school. It was decided that they would do zumba. One of the students asked if Holly and I would be joining them and we told them there would be no way we would miss that. I had never tried zumba before and I must say it was awesome! If nothing else I got a workout just from laughing. After zumba it was decided that we would play a popular traditional Maori game. It involves people throwing the ball at a pole guarded by the opposing team while also trying to touch poles on the outside of circles while the other teams chases you and tries to tag you to get the ball away. So, basically a couple people guarding the pole will get beaten with a ball while the others will get knocked down being tagged, all this in a playground freshly rained on. Needless to say, we were covered in mud by the time we were done but we had a blast doing it. We also seemed to have entertained the years 4-6 class as they were all telling us that were watching us play from their class. We’re now officially distracting classes we don’t even teach.
Thursday evening we went for dinner at the principals house. I seemed to have gained a bug radar since arriving in New Zealand and no sooner have we sat down in the living room to relax then I spotted a praying mantis on the wall. Ah hell. I’m pretty sure we did not take our eyes of him the entire time we were sitting there. He can live as long as he stays on his side of the room. We tried to be on our best behavior but Martin and family have a similar sense of humor as us and that ended up taking over and before we know it we’re telling them all of the stories of our time here. It’s a good thing we’re already here and they have gotten to know us because anyone just meeting us would think we have a few screws loose. We just hope this doesn’t affect our evaluation. They laughed so we’re taking that as a good sign (regardless fingers crossed would be greatly appreciated). The dinner was lovely and it was great getting to know more of Martin’s family. The people here are so welcoming and hospitable that it blows our minds sometimes. Martin’s son was also nice enough to explain a bit of cricket to us. You would think I was obsessed with the sport considering the amount of people I have asked about it. It’s just so bizarre as it does not seem to have a point to it. Turns out the quick games are on average 5 hours long. Really?! Who would willingly play a sport that takes forever to play and only random people understand it? I believe they also had no idea about the sport when they started to play and by the third hour there was no turning back.
No sooner had the week started when it ended. Time goes crazy fast here and we can hardly believe we’re already in our last weekend in New Zealand. So of course I had to wake up with a cold and a voice that’s fading fast. This is what I get for talking too much the last 5 weeks. Sue (the English teacher) was kind enough to take us out for the day around the coastal areas. Good thing Holly was there because all you need to put me to sleep is a car ride so add in being sick and I was the most useless passenger of life. Holly briefed me of the scenery after we got back because I slept through most of it. The areas Sue took us to were absolutely beautiful. We made it all the way up to Port Jackson and back.
The next day Holly and I hiked it up to Driving Creek Railway because we had been constantly told it was something to see. We thought we had an idea where it was but as it turns out it was much farther then we thought it was. We luckily made it just in time but because of practically running and my lovely cold, I was a sight to see by the time we got there. Of course we end up sharing a coach with a couple other Canadians. I think we attract each other. If there is another Canadian anywhere in the vicinity, we will find each other. The views at the top were spectacular. We attempted to find Manaia but having no idea where we actually were, it didn’t work out so well.
As if taking us out all day Saturday and dealing with my cold wasn’t enough, Sue had us over for dinner Sunday night. We had lamb. I even tried it. Seriously. And it was good. Honestly. The whole dinner was fantastic and we felt overly spoiled to have two home cooked meals in one week. Another teacher from the school was also there and it was great to get the chance to chat outside the school setting. We learned about lots of interesting things including all the wonderful poisonous plants, insects, spiders, etc that Australia has to offer. I’m pretty sure Sue’s husband was personally trying to freak me out. At this point I’m not sure I’m getting on the airplane. We now only have one week to lose the passports...
Our students had a great laugh about our white bummed spider story. We even had one of the students bring over a spider to have lunch with us. I obviously ended up on the other side of the playground. The spiders here must be on steroids, there is no way that is natural.
Wednesday we knew that the science and math teacher wouldn’t be here but she had said there would be someone to take over. Apparently Holly and I had done such a great job with English that we found out Wednesday morning that the people taking over would be us. Oh geez, first of all, do they not remember English? And second of all, this is science and math... Remember the joking about me helping out, I was not actually joking. Regardless we were now science and math teachers for the day. I think I asked more questions then they did but at least we made it through and the science lab is still in tact. I’m going to take this as a win and never attempt that again...
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday most of the years 11, 12 and 13 left for a coaching clinic in Hamilton so it was pretty quiet at the school for the rest of the week. We were curious to see what gym class would be like now that they weren’t doing Waka Ama and there was only about 15 people in all of years 9-13 left at the school. It was decided that they would do zumba. One of the students asked if Holly and I would be joining them and we told them there would be no way we would miss that. I had never tried zumba before and I must say it was awesome! If nothing else I got a workout just from laughing. After zumba it was decided that we would play a popular traditional Maori game. It involves people throwing the ball at a pole guarded by the opposing team while also trying to touch poles on the outside of circles while the other teams chases you and tries to tag you to get the ball away. So, basically a couple people guarding the pole will get beaten with a ball while the others will get knocked down being tagged, all this in a playground freshly rained on. Needless to say, we were covered in mud by the time we were done but we had a blast doing it. We also seemed to have entertained the years 4-6 class as they were all telling us that were watching us play from their class. We’re now officially distracting classes we don’t even teach.
Thursday evening we went for dinner at the principals house. I seemed to have gained a bug radar since arriving in New Zealand and no sooner have we sat down in the living room to relax then I spotted a praying mantis on the wall. Ah hell. I’m pretty sure we did not take our eyes of him the entire time we were sitting there. He can live as long as he stays on his side of the room. We tried to be on our best behavior but Martin and family have a similar sense of humor as us and that ended up taking over and before we know it we’re telling them all of the stories of our time here. It’s a good thing we’re already here and they have gotten to know us because anyone just meeting us would think we have a few screws loose. We just hope this doesn’t affect our evaluation. They laughed so we’re taking that as a good sign (regardless fingers crossed would be greatly appreciated). The dinner was lovely and it was great getting to know more of Martin’s family. The people here are so welcoming and hospitable that it blows our minds sometimes. Martin’s son was also nice enough to explain a bit of cricket to us. You would think I was obsessed with the sport considering the amount of people I have asked about it. It’s just so bizarre as it does not seem to have a point to it. Turns out the quick games are on average 5 hours long. Really?! Who would willingly play a sport that takes forever to play and only random people understand it? I believe they also had no idea about the sport when they started to play and by the third hour there was no turning back.
No sooner had the week started when it ended. Time goes crazy fast here and we can hardly believe we’re already in our last weekend in New Zealand. So of course I had to wake up with a cold and a voice that’s fading fast. This is what I get for talking too much the last 5 weeks. Sue (the English teacher) was kind enough to take us out for the day around the coastal areas. Good thing Holly was there because all you need to put me to sleep is a car ride so add in being sick and I was the most useless passenger of life. Holly briefed me of the scenery after we got back because I slept through most of it. The areas Sue took us to were absolutely beautiful. We made it all the way up to Port Jackson and back.
The next day Holly and I hiked it up to Driving Creek Railway because we had been constantly told it was something to see. We thought we had an idea where it was but as it turns out it was much farther then we thought it was. We luckily made it just in time but because of practically running and my lovely cold, I was a sight to see by the time we got there. Of course we end up sharing a coach with a couple other Canadians. I think we attract each other. If there is another Canadian anywhere in the vicinity, we will find each other. The views at the top were spectacular. We attempted to find Manaia but having no idea where we actually were, it didn’t work out so well.
As if taking us out all day Saturday and dealing with my cold wasn’t enough, Sue had us over for dinner Sunday night. We had lamb. I even tried it. Seriously. And it was good. Honestly. The whole dinner was fantastic and we felt overly spoiled to have two home cooked meals in one week. Another teacher from the school was also there and it was great to get the chance to chat outside the school setting. We learned about lots of interesting things including all the wonderful poisonous plants, insects, spiders, etc that Australia has to offer. I’m pretty sure Sue’s husband was personally trying to freak me out. At this point I’m not sure I’m getting on the airplane. We now only have one week to lose the passports...
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Copenhagen
Soooo Copenhagen was awesome... we took the train there and back last weekend and it was gorgeous! Probably more than 15 degrees both days. We saw the Little Mermaid, the palaces and took a canal tour, it was excellent :) We did not want to leave on Sunday!
We have two teaching days left and then we are done, getting sad to leave the kids but looking forward to coming home.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Week 5, Part 1 - Everyone Needs A Trash Man
We started off the weekend with some rugby, I still have no idea what’s going on but we know some of the players so we just cheer for them and pretend we know what’s happening. After the game we head over to our trusty chai tea and fresh juice cafe. We’ve seem to have gotten to know the people working there enough for them to tell us about a BBQ on the beach that evening. The girl gives us basic directions and we thought it might be something fun to check out on a Saturday evening. In true Holly and Janna fashion, we get lost along the way and get home just as it’s getting dark. We have learned not to leave our cottage after dark as we don’t want another possum incident to happen. We have enough people in town who still remember the first one. We went back to the beach the next day curious to see if we could find the place in better light and as it turns out we had to go through the woods to get to the beach we were looking for. We should have known after the English trip.
Monday is the big Coromandel Clean Up which all the schools in the area participate in and ours was no exception. We all put on our hi-vis vests, our Michael Jackson glove and picked up a garbage bag and headed out onto the highway. Some of them are really into it, especially since there was a treasure hunt involved and whomever finds a certain bottle wins a prize. Our group seems to find theirs quite quickly but thankfully that doesn’t dull their clean up passion. There was a giant spider on a piece of garbage early on in the day so I’m mainly carrying the garbage bag while Holly fights off the giant bugs for garbage. You’d think that carrying the garbage bag may result in something a little less messy then picking up the garbage but that didn’t seem to work out so well. One of the students missed the bag and the garbage ended up all over my arm, it left sort of a pinkish tinge so at least it was pretty. Two of the students find this place on the side of the road that seemed to collect garbage so they’re pulling it out while Holly holds the bag and I take pictures. Apparently that’s not safe either because one of the students (incidentally the same one who turned my arm pink) was flinging sludge off a bottle before putting it in the bag only to be flinging it on me. So the other side of me was now a bluish grey. At least I was colorful.
We end off the day with a BBQ on the beach with the surrounding schools who also participated in the clean up. It was a fun afternoon, some of the students went swimming, others had a guitar, and I even learned how to throw a rugby ball. Still don’t know how the game works but I can now throw and catch it. The afternoon ended up with some singing by the students from our school. They were amazing as always. They have so much heart and passion when they sing you can’t help but be amazed by what they do.
We make it home, exhausted and covered in dirt and ready to jump into the shower. Holly had set up a skype date with Devin so I thought I would take advantage of the free shower and that was all good until I get out and notice something on the floor. My first thought is that it is my hair clip that must fallen on the floor. Oh how I wish it was my hair clip but of course this is Holly and Janna’s adventures where we both despise spiders and bugs of any kind and yet they all seem to find us. I think they can smell the fear. So instead the “hair clip” turns out to be a white bummed spider. I am already terrified of these things just from hearing stories about how they can be so poisonous that they can put you into a coma. One of the students had told us a story about waking up to two of them on his ceiling when he was in Australia (among being told about the many poisonous bugs, spiders, snakes, grass, etc that Australia brings) and I make sure to check my room every night before I go to sleep just because of that story. We just happened to be talking about that (or rather the student and Holly laughing at me because of my paranoia) on Friday again, I believe that is what brought the spider to our cottage.
Anyway I obviously freaked out but it’s pouring rain at this point so instead of running outside in my towel I just head to the side of the living room as far away from the bathroom and spider as I could get. Holly is done talking to Devin and sees the look of panic and the fact that I’m still in a towel and asks what happened. I can’t even speak because this is seriously the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life and I just point. Finally I manage to get out the words white bum without freaking out and all Holly can say is, “No, it can’t be” and I tell her that it has to be. She sees it and also proceeds to freak out. Meanwhile this white bum is just hanging out (not literally because they don’t make webs, they’re predators as the students so kindly point out) in the bathroom, not moving. They’re supposedly quick buggers so this makes Holly believe that it could already be dead. We’re not taking any chances though and Holly starts spraying household cleaner on it to see if it will move. About half a bottle later we believe that if it wasn’t dead before it has to be now. She gets out my trusty bug killing sneaker and squishes the already dead spider like no spider has ever been squished before. After transferring the unrecognizable spider onto a broom pan she flings his dead carcass where the beetle was just in case any other bugs decide to challenge Holly. We think that if teaching doesn’t work out, Holly can always be an exterminator. Let’s hope for my shoe’s sake that teaching works out.
To Be Continued...
Monday is the big Coromandel Clean Up which all the schools in the area participate in and ours was no exception. We all put on our hi-vis vests, our Michael Jackson glove and picked up a garbage bag and headed out onto the highway. Some of them are really into it, especially since there was a treasure hunt involved and whomever finds a certain bottle wins a prize. Our group seems to find theirs quite quickly but thankfully that doesn’t dull their clean up passion. There was a giant spider on a piece of garbage early on in the day so I’m mainly carrying the garbage bag while Holly fights off the giant bugs for garbage. You’d think that carrying the garbage bag may result in something a little less messy then picking up the garbage but that didn’t seem to work out so well. One of the students missed the bag and the garbage ended up all over my arm, it left sort of a pinkish tinge so at least it was pretty. Two of the students find this place on the side of the road that seemed to collect garbage so they’re pulling it out while Holly holds the bag and I take pictures. Apparently that’s not safe either because one of the students (incidentally the same one who turned my arm pink) was flinging sludge off a bottle before putting it in the bag only to be flinging it on me. So the other side of me was now a bluish grey. At least I was colorful.
We end off the day with a BBQ on the beach with the surrounding schools who also participated in the clean up. It was a fun afternoon, some of the students went swimming, others had a guitar, and I even learned how to throw a rugby ball. Still don’t know how the game works but I can now throw and catch it. The afternoon ended up with some singing by the students from our school. They were amazing as always. They have so much heart and passion when they sing you can’t help but be amazed by what they do.
We make it home, exhausted and covered in dirt and ready to jump into the shower. Holly had set up a skype date with Devin so I thought I would take advantage of the free shower and that was all good until I get out and notice something on the floor. My first thought is that it is my hair clip that must fallen on the floor. Oh how I wish it was my hair clip but of course this is Holly and Janna’s adventures where we both despise spiders and bugs of any kind and yet they all seem to find us. I think they can smell the fear. So instead the “hair clip” turns out to be a white bummed spider. I am already terrified of these things just from hearing stories about how they can be so poisonous that they can put you into a coma. One of the students had told us a story about waking up to two of them on his ceiling when he was in Australia (among being told about the many poisonous bugs, spiders, snakes, grass, etc that Australia brings) and I make sure to check my room every night before I go to sleep just because of that story. We just happened to be talking about that (or rather the student and Holly laughing at me because of my paranoia) on Friday again, I believe that is what brought the spider to our cottage.
Anyway I obviously freaked out but it’s pouring rain at this point so instead of running outside in my towel I just head to the side of the living room as far away from the bathroom and spider as I could get. Holly is done talking to Devin and sees the look of panic and the fact that I’m still in a towel and asks what happened. I can’t even speak because this is seriously the biggest spider I have ever seen in my life and I just point. Finally I manage to get out the words white bum without freaking out and all Holly can say is, “No, it can’t be” and I tell her that it has to be. She sees it and also proceeds to freak out. Meanwhile this white bum is just hanging out (not literally because they don’t make webs, they’re predators as the students so kindly point out) in the bathroom, not moving. They’re supposedly quick buggers so this makes Holly believe that it could already be dead. We’re not taking any chances though and Holly starts spraying household cleaner on it to see if it will move. About half a bottle later we believe that if it wasn’t dead before it has to be now. She gets out my trusty bug killing sneaker and squishes the already dead spider like no spider has ever been squished before. After transferring the unrecognizable spider onto a broom pan she flings his dead carcass where the beetle was just in case any other bugs decide to challenge Holly. We think that if teaching doesn’t work out, Holly can always be an exterminator. Let’s hope for my shoe’s sake that teaching works out.
To Be Continued...
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Our 2 week break.....
is almost over. We go back to teaching this Monday. So here is what we did while on break. The first few days we spent at Young Island and Villa Beach, two of our favorite spots. On Friday, we met Eleni's mom and aunt at the airport. They came to visit for 10 days and we had the opportunity to show them the beauty of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Our first adventure began with a ferry ride to Bequia Island. Though the island is only 9 miles from St. Vincent, the ferry ride was close to an hour and boy was it rough!!! We almost lost our cookies a few times. The upside of the nauseating ride was seeing flying fish soar across the waves in the ocean which was very cool.
We were picked up at the Port Elizabeth in Bequia by our kind host, Otmar Schaedle who owns and operates the Old Fort Estates, the only fully restored historic plantation house in St. Vincent and The Grenadines and dates back to when the first French settlers came to the Caribbean in the 18th century.
check out the view!
The Old Fort Estate
The morning of my birthday, we took a boat tour of the Tobago Cays. The name of the schooner was the Friendship Rose. We spent 3 hours traveling down through the Grenadine Island finally arriving in Tobago Cays around noon.
The Friendship Rose
Sailing
The crew hoisting the sails
Tobago Cays
Tobago Cays
After arriving in Tobago Cays, the crew took us snorkling in one of the coral reefs. The colors of the fish were amazing. We saw some "Dory" fish from the movie "Finding Nemo". There must have been 20-30 of them and they were quite large. I was also lucky enough to see a hawksbill turtle which totally made my day. The picture below is one I took at the Old Hegg Turtle sanctuary in Bequia, but it is the same species I saw swimming in the ocean. NOTE: If you ever go snorkling in the Caribbean, be sure to purchase an underwater camera! I didn't have one : (
Hawksbill Turtle - on the endangered species list
After the 3 hr trek back to Bequia, we went out for supper to celebrate. What an amazing experience and one we will never forget.
Enjoying a bite to eat after a day of sailing
Our first adventure began with a ferry ride to Bequia Island. Though the island is only 9 miles from St. Vincent, the ferry ride was close to an hour and boy was it rough!!! We almost lost our cookies a few times. The upside of the nauseating ride was seeing flying fish soar across the waves in the ocean which was very cool.
We were picked up at the Port Elizabeth in Bequia by our kind host, Otmar Schaedle who owns and operates the Old Fort Estates, the only fully restored historic plantation house in St. Vincent and The Grenadines and dates back to when the first French settlers came to the Caribbean in the 18th century.
check out the view!
The Old Fort Estate
The morning of my birthday, we took a boat tour of the Tobago Cays. The name of the schooner was the Friendship Rose. We spent 3 hours traveling down through the Grenadine Island finally arriving in Tobago Cays around noon.
The Friendship Rose
Sailing
The crew hoisting the sails
Tobago Cays
Tobago Cays
After arriving in Tobago Cays, the crew took us snorkling in one of the coral reefs. The colors of the fish were amazing. We saw some "Dory" fish from the movie "Finding Nemo". There must have been 20-30 of them and they were quite large. I was also lucky enough to see a hawksbill turtle which totally made my day. The picture below is one I took at the Old Hegg Turtle sanctuary in Bequia, but it is the same species I saw swimming in the ocean. NOTE: If you ever go snorkling in the Caribbean, be sure to purchase an underwater camera! I didn't have one : (
Hawksbill Turtle - on the endangered species list
After the 3 hr trek back to Bequia, we went out for supper to celebrate. What an amazing experience and one we will never forget.
Enjoying a bite to eat after a day of sailing
Holly and Janna’s Travel Tips Continued... When in doubt, get consent
131. I was told crackers are good.
132. Possums are not to be confused with cats.
133. No matter where you are or what situation you are in, everyone knows someone from Canada.
134. Stinky dogs are allowed to be stolen. “Yes, you can have him, he stinks” - Mrs. Connor’s Mom.
135. Trash men are not to be confused with the garbage man. They don’t like the sausage either.
136. April fools has a whole new meaning... Making a fool out of yourself.
137. Holly is the exception, not the rule, and not to be trusted. Ben Affleck says so.
138. “After 20, they’re fair game.” - Ben Affleck
139. There doesn’t seem to be any hobbits but we know for a fact that New Zealand has Sasquatches.
140. In PEI, everyone knows everyone. In Manaia, everyone’s related to everyone.
141. No matter how entertaining we may be, we’ll never be as popular as the Colonel.
142. Sometimes it’s better to be known as an American as “friendly” Canadians have a tendency of landing themselves in awkward situations.
143. When hand drums aren’t available, salad containers and a wooden spoon will do.
144. In New Zealand you will develop alter egos. Be prepared to meet Gemma and Olly.
145. When invited to a BBQ on the beach, make sure you’re at the right beach.
146. Being a day ahead in time makes you a better predictor of the future.
147. On clean up day if you get on the bus not wearing mufti, prepare to be heckled.
148. To kill an already dead white bummed spider, send Holly in to spray household cleaner on it.
149. Don’t piss off the garbage man or you may require Schnitz’s advice.
150. When playing traditional Maori games, make sure to get consent.
132. Possums are not to be confused with cats.
133. No matter where you are or what situation you are in, everyone knows someone from Canada.
134. Stinky dogs are allowed to be stolen. “Yes, you can have him, he stinks” - Mrs. Connor’s Mom.
135. Trash men are not to be confused with the garbage man. They don’t like the sausage either.
136. April fools has a whole new meaning... Making a fool out of yourself.
137. Holly is the exception, not the rule, and not to be trusted. Ben Affleck says so.
138. “After 20, they’re fair game.” - Ben Affleck
139. There doesn’t seem to be any hobbits but we know for a fact that New Zealand has Sasquatches.
140. In PEI, everyone knows everyone. In Manaia, everyone’s related to everyone.
141. No matter how entertaining we may be, we’ll never be as popular as the Colonel.
142. Sometimes it’s better to be known as an American as “friendly” Canadians have a tendency of landing themselves in awkward situations.
143. When hand drums aren’t available, salad containers and a wooden spoon will do.
144. In New Zealand you will develop alter egos. Be prepared to meet Gemma and Olly.
145. When invited to a BBQ on the beach, make sure you’re at the right beach.
146. Being a day ahead in time makes you a better predictor of the future.
147. On clean up day if you get on the bus not wearing mufti, prepare to be heckled.
148. To kill an already dead white bummed spider, send Holly in to spray household cleaner on it.
149. Don’t piss off the garbage man or you may require Schnitz’s advice.
150. When playing traditional Maori games, make sure to get consent.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Week 4 - Who’s idea was it to let us out of our cage?
We sit in our cottage most evenings, glad people can’t see us, and wonder who’s idea it was to let us out of our cages let alone out of the country and into children’s lives. Monday afternoon we’re in the staff room when one of the teachers in the school starts talking to us about the marijuana industry in British Columbia. We thought the topic was a little random but went with it anyway. We had a great chat about how some doctors here indorse it and whether or not marijuana use should be legalized. It wasn’t until a couple days later when Holly and I were discussing the conversation at our cottage that we wondered if maybe she thought we were on drugs and that’s why she brought it up. We’re not, we swear, this is normal.
Tuesday started off like any normal day until the principal calls us over. He looks so grim that we got worried that something serious has happened. Turns out the English teacher, whose year 9 and 10 classes we’ve taken over, is out sick today. He was all worried for us and wondering if we wanted someone else with us when we’re teaching or what he should do. We tell him we’re fine and if he feels like he should have someone check on us they can but otherwise don’t worry. We’ve fully taken on the laid back Kiwi attitude. So we’re supposed to teach the classes we normally do and the other teachers would cover her other classes. That is until first period when the English class ends up with no teacher. I’m in science but it’s Holly’s prep period so she jumps in to save the day by telling them stories of the Pauly D lookalike we saw in Auckland and about how different some of the words are between Kiwi’s and Canadians. After the period is over, we ask the secretary if they would like us to take over all of Sue’s classes today. Well, that seemed to be the best thing they’ve heard, we were officially heroes. So now you have Holly and I teaching classes where we know absolutely nothing about what’s happening in any of them. We should have apologized for ruining them in advance.
We get into the year 12-13 English class and they get a bit of work done but not nearly the amount that we should have gotten them to do. Instead I finally learned some of the rules of cricket, although they didn’t understand it completely instead either. At this point I’m not sure if the cricket players even know what’s going on. We move on to the years 11-12-13 general period. They get a bit more work done but then get into talks about the different kinds of bowling and going to visit the zoo and although it may seem as though they are telling you that you can do both things together, they really mean you can do them one after the other. There is no bowling at the zoo, we made sure to clarify that. From there it turns into a bit of a dance party. We didn’t mind so much as they did get some work done and there was only 5 minutes left of class. We got to see some robot, puzzling and a bit of popping. I made them promise to teach me some of that later and sure enough at the end of the day, I learned me some puzzling. It took him showing me about 15 times in order to get one simple box but I can totally get back to the bridge now. As I was told, I’m the next generation of puzzlers, bam bam bam badda boom.
This was the last week for Waka Ama so we decided we had to go and get some pictures and whatnot, plus it’s crazy fun and we wanted to do it again. The students had my camera for most of the day and Waka Ama was no different, they take some pretty good pictures. They even managed to get me tripping in the mud and Holly’s muscles as she helped push out the canoe. As the students said, it was great water for stingrays. This is their way of saying how nice the water is and succeeding at making Holly paranoid as she was helping push out the canoe at this point. I was in the other canoe and every time I was standing in the water they would cry black shadow. I finally told them they needed to stop making jokes about the stingrays or else they would be carrying me back to shore. That is when they showed me the water spider and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Good to see we can get through to them. Apparently my reaction was sufficient to what they were looking for and now I fully expect for Holly and I to have to watch our back for bugs and spiders brought to us by the students for the rest of our time here.
We met up with some teachers Friday evening to check out the scene in the hopping town of Coromandel. They had a DJ at one of the pubs, it was a big night. We met a lot of former students, relatives of the teachers and Holly’s dream came true when we met, Mrs. Connor’s Mom. Sure enough, the first thing Holly says to her is, “I’m going to steal your dog.” My first thought is, great, now she’ll also think we’re nuts but she surprised me by replying, “You can have him. He stinks!” So now that we’ve worked that out, we’re going to go pick up the dog just before we leave. Or maybe we’ll just keep him here until we come back...
To Be Continued...
Tuesday started off like any normal day until the principal calls us over. He looks so grim that we got worried that something serious has happened. Turns out the English teacher, whose year 9 and 10 classes we’ve taken over, is out sick today. He was all worried for us and wondering if we wanted someone else with us when we’re teaching or what he should do. We tell him we’re fine and if he feels like he should have someone check on us they can but otherwise don’t worry. We’ve fully taken on the laid back Kiwi attitude. So we’re supposed to teach the classes we normally do and the other teachers would cover her other classes. That is until first period when the English class ends up with no teacher. I’m in science but it’s Holly’s prep period so she jumps in to save the day by telling them stories of the Pauly D lookalike we saw in Auckland and about how different some of the words are between Kiwi’s and Canadians. After the period is over, we ask the secretary if they would like us to take over all of Sue’s classes today. Well, that seemed to be the best thing they’ve heard, we were officially heroes. So now you have Holly and I teaching classes where we know absolutely nothing about what’s happening in any of them. We should have apologized for ruining them in advance.
We get into the year 12-13 English class and they get a bit of work done but not nearly the amount that we should have gotten them to do. Instead I finally learned some of the rules of cricket, although they didn’t understand it completely instead either. At this point I’m not sure if the cricket players even know what’s going on. We move on to the years 11-12-13 general period. They get a bit more work done but then get into talks about the different kinds of bowling and going to visit the zoo and although it may seem as though they are telling you that you can do both things together, they really mean you can do them one after the other. There is no bowling at the zoo, we made sure to clarify that. From there it turns into a bit of a dance party. We didn’t mind so much as they did get some work done and there was only 5 minutes left of class. We got to see some robot, puzzling and a bit of popping. I made them promise to teach me some of that later and sure enough at the end of the day, I learned me some puzzling. It took him showing me about 15 times in order to get one simple box but I can totally get back to the bridge now. As I was told, I’m the next generation of puzzlers, bam bam bam badda boom.
This was the last week for Waka Ama so we decided we had to go and get some pictures and whatnot, plus it’s crazy fun and we wanted to do it again. The students had my camera for most of the day and Waka Ama was no different, they take some pretty good pictures. They even managed to get me tripping in the mud and Holly’s muscles as she helped push out the canoe. As the students said, it was great water for stingrays. This is their way of saying how nice the water is and succeeding at making Holly paranoid as she was helping push out the canoe at this point. I was in the other canoe and every time I was standing in the water they would cry black shadow. I finally told them they needed to stop making jokes about the stingrays or else they would be carrying me back to shore. That is when they showed me the water spider and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Good to see we can get through to them. Apparently my reaction was sufficient to what they were looking for and now I fully expect for Holly and I to have to watch our back for bugs and spiders brought to us by the students for the rest of our time here.
We met up with some teachers Friday evening to check out the scene in the hopping town of Coromandel. They had a DJ at one of the pubs, it was a big night. We met a lot of former students, relatives of the teachers and Holly’s dream came true when we met, Mrs. Connor’s Mom. Sure enough, the first thing Holly says to her is, “I’m going to steal your dog.” My first thought is, great, now she’ll also think we’re nuts but she surprised me by replying, “You can have him. He stinks!” So now that we’ve worked that out, we’re going to go pick up the dog just before we leave. Or maybe we’ll just keep him here until we come back...
To Be Continued...
Sunday, April 3, 2011
The sun is shining!
Once again, thanks for the wonderful pictures and stories! The sun is shining, the wind has stopped howling - and no more snow! John
Weekend adventures
Hey all,
Yesterday Lauren and I walked around Varberg for a while in the fog. It's gradually getting warmer here which is nice, and there are tiny green spots appearing in the grass. It looks like we'll miss the full blooming of spring, but maybe we'll catch a tiny bit before we leave. We explored an open air market in the square downtown and walked down to the fortress at the waterfront. It was foggy and windy and smelled like seaweed - ahhhh just like home :)
We went out to a couple restaurants last night for supper, one for an appetizer and the other for our main course. We had an interesting conversation with an older man at the first restaurant.... he was drinking vodka and asked if he could sit in our gigantic booth with us for a few minutes. We got a bit of his life story before finishing our drinks and getting our bill, one of the things he mentioned was "I have a son your age" which was enough to get us moving to our next stop! I guess no one can resist 2 pretty Canadian girls.
Next weekend we are taking the train to Copenhagen for a couple nights. It's supposed to be nice out so hopefully we get in lots of sightseeing and probably more shopping :)
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!
Friday, April 1, 2011
Week 3... Return of the Schnitz
I guess it would be time to start teaching seeing as we’ve been here for two weeks and while we’ve seen and done many things, we’re starting to feel as though we’re slacking off in the teaching department. We can’t be entertainers forever, we’ll just have to put that into the classes now.
Holly has taken over the year 10 English class and helps a few of them in their science class and I teach the year 9 English class and help them in their science class. Right now I’m just trying to stay one step ahead of the science and it’s difficult. My class has a whole 4 students in it and as the other teachers say, they’re “choice.” This means they’re awesome or great. When they talk about the year 10’s however, they more just give a pained look on their face. They’re a bigger class with a few trouble makers but overall they’re still good kids. They’re all highly interested in Canada and will randomly ask questions like “Do you have lolly’s (candy) in Canada?” or “Do you own snowmobiles?” Considering we didn’t start teaching until Thursday, it made for a pretty short starting week, especially for Holly who’s class was taken over on Friday and replaced with a Powhiri for the South Thames school who came to visit. It was really neat to be on the other side of it this time. It was a rainy day so it all happened inside a classroom which got a little cramped but that goes to show you how small the two schools are if we can fit everyone including teachers into one classroom. The Haka was especially loud in the classroom but still as choice as ever.
Friday was a fantastic day, the whole afternoon was dedicated to music and entertaining. The older boys played the instruments and the rest of the people sang. They started getting some of the teachers up to sing and Holly started having a panic attack that we would be next. I was worried about the fact that it was in Maori and we wouldn’t know the words but Holly was just freaked out by the singing in general. Thankfully we were in the back and weren’t really seen therefore we were spared in singing otherwise we’d have to put in a little of Lester the Lobster. The years 12-13 still talk about our lovely rendition we did for them one day and are quite intrigued that we have a song about a potato, we’re saving that for the right moment. What are they seriously going to do when we leave? We’re thinking of them when we say we want to stay...
After the warm up fun singing, they went into Kapa Haka practice as a whole school. This is something to see, these kids are so incredibly talented we can’t help but get giddy every time we see it, which we make sure is every time they do it. Holly has decided to put her singing/dancing phobia away to have the students teach us at least one of their songs. I took no less then 30 videos that day alone so if anyone wants to see what all this is about, I’ve got lots.
After this wonderful day, we got on the school bus with the kids for our ride back into town and to pack for Auckland. To our delight, it was Schnitz driving the bus. Apparently the mental breakdown wasn’t as bad as originally thought. While waiting for the other students to get on the bus, he gives us fantastic advice about life and love. Seriously, who needs Dr. Phil when Schnitz is around? Between his random comments while driving “Oh, no Michael on the bus today, we keep going,” getting off the bus “Oh, have a smart day,” commentary about what is going on around us “Oh, apple coming (as an apple falls out the door of the bus)” and the advice he is always passing out “Oh, every second is a moment lived,” we have enough memories to keep us happy for a lifetime. He’s as quote worthy as Vladimir, that guy was awesome. The ferry was canceled because of the wind and rain but they replaced it with a bus for us. We get back, pack and leave for the walk back in town, obviously forgetting important things but there was nothing we could do about it then. We get to the bus stop in the rain. We’re early and there is no shelter. Holly has an umbrella and when it wasn’t getting caught in my hair or threatening to poke my eye out, it was being turned inside out from the wind. Holly decides to keep it closed and just sets it around her head instead... Whatever works. So being early, cold and bored we do what we normally do, impromptu dance party. Now we can say we also danced in the rain, just not in Africa. A few of our students live around that area and we’re sure they were probably watching but at this point if it’s not normal for them to see us busting a move randomly for no reason then they really haven’t been paying attention.
The bus arrives and gladly scramble on to regain some kind of warmth. He was a cool driver who took us up the mountain to wait for the other bus who would take us right into Auckland. We spent most of our wait time laughing at the videos I had taken of the afternoon. The bus was really late making its way to Auckland and we were scared that we might be locked out of our hostel. We had sent a message earlier in the afternoon to tell them we would be late but never heard anything from them and they lock their doors and people go off duty at 11pm. We finally get into Auckland about 11:30ish pm. Then we had to find the place. We knew we were at the top of Queen St. and we were looking to get to the middle of it so we figured we could just walk. One person had warned us about the hills in Auckland but we didn’t think much of it. This place is mainly hills anyway. Turns out our hostel was at the top of the steepest hill ever. We were also clearly way underdressed, or overdressed depending on how you look at it. Thankfully someone had gotten the message that we would be late and people were at our hostel waiting for us to arrive. It was a pretty neat place, very well located if you wanted to see all that Auckland at night has to offer, some of which is people flashing others and dressing in chicken suits. To see this all we had to do was look outside our window.
We were up early the next day and decided to dedicate the morning to shopping. We don’t really get to shop where we’re staying, it’s mainly a beach type of tourist town that is fantastic in every way except shopping. We check out Dress Smart an outlet mall just outside of the city center of Auckland. This meant we would have to get a bus there, which also meant needing to find the bus place. Everything seemed easy enough and as it turns out there was a bus heading there in 10 minutes. We were given directions to the bus stop and made our way there. We thought we were doing good until we realized we were on the wrong side of the street. Then the bus we are looking for pulls up. We’re taking an attack on the opposite side of the street, practically willing the walk sign to show up when it finally does and we hop on the bus just as it’s about to pull away. Holly had some luck getting the stuff she wanted and then we figured we should head back in town as we were meeting up with a couple of former Islanders and graduates of the BEd program at UPEI. We get to our bus stop thinking we were cutting it close but should be able to get there in time. We wait for the bus, and we wait, and wait, and wait some more. Buses would drive by and all we do was say, “Oh, no bus” in our makeshift German accents and then crack up while the other people waiting for the bus just looked at us funny. The bus ends up being ridiculously late and we end up being almost half an hour late meeting these people at Starbucks. Thankfully they were still there and we were both wearing our UPEI jackets so they were able to recognize us. We apologized profusely and we ended up spending most of the afternoon talking about the program, teaching in New Zealand and best of all, how to get a job here. Maybe we don’t have to “lose” our passports after all...
Living in New Zealand turns you into an old person, we’re in bed everyday sometime between 10-11pm and sometimes even earlier. Our weekend out in Auckland was no different. We get up early the next day and make our way to Kelly Tarltons. This was recommended by our students, even the older ones so we had to check it out. Kelly Tarltons is an aquarium like place that you can see penguins, sharks, stingrays and other kinds of fish. Holly and I had a lot of fun in the activity center dressing up like penguins and pretending to be eaten by sharks. We went on the penguin ride and got to see some of them up close and watched people feed the stingrays. Turns out they’re not really all that mean, you just don’t want to scare one into thinking you’re attacking them because that’s when they’ll come at you. This is why we had sent the student ahead of us during Waka Ama, if anyone was going to find a stingray, we’d prefer it not to be one of us.
After Kelly Tarltons we make our way back up the hill for what feels like the thousandth time but thankfully the last to collect our stuff, head to Starbucks one last time and make our way to the bus station to go back to Coromandel. In classic Holly/Janna fashion we find the bus station but of course we’re on the wrong side of the street. It was another scramble to get to the other side only to find out we couldn’t take our Starbucks on the bus. I give myself brain freeze trying to finish my berry frappuccino and Holly burns herself with her chai tea and we hop on the bus only to find out it was packed and the air conditioner was broken. Yay. We make it to Thames, get off the bus finally breath again and unstick our clothes from our bodies. We decide to search for McDonalds since we don’t actually have one where we live and everyone talking about it on the blog made us thought we’d get some. We only have half an hour before our next bus leaves so we race down the street because Holly thinks she knows where it is. We don’t find McDonalds but we do find Subway which is probably the healthier choice anyway. We don’t have time to eat it then so we save it for later and run back so we don’t miss our bus. Once we get on the bus and it travels down the road we find out we were actually one block over from McDonalds, oh well, guess it wasn’t meant to be.
We get back to Coromandel, make the long trek back to the cottage and practically crash the second we get in the door. We can’t believe we only have an evening before we’re back to class. Oh well, at least we love going to school even if we only have 3 weeks left. I guess that means we have to find a job soon...
To Be Continued...
Holly has taken over the year 10 English class and helps a few of them in their science class and I teach the year 9 English class and help them in their science class. Right now I’m just trying to stay one step ahead of the science and it’s difficult. My class has a whole 4 students in it and as the other teachers say, they’re “choice.” This means they’re awesome or great. When they talk about the year 10’s however, they more just give a pained look on their face. They’re a bigger class with a few trouble makers but overall they’re still good kids. They’re all highly interested in Canada and will randomly ask questions like “Do you have lolly’s (candy) in Canada?” or “Do you own snowmobiles?” Considering we didn’t start teaching until Thursday, it made for a pretty short starting week, especially for Holly who’s class was taken over on Friday and replaced with a Powhiri for the South Thames school who came to visit. It was really neat to be on the other side of it this time. It was a rainy day so it all happened inside a classroom which got a little cramped but that goes to show you how small the two schools are if we can fit everyone including teachers into one classroom. The Haka was especially loud in the classroom but still as choice as ever.
Friday was a fantastic day, the whole afternoon was dedicated to music and entertaining. The older boys played the instruments and the rest of the people sang. They started getting some of the teachers up to sing and Holly started having a panic attack that we would be next. I was worried about the fact that it was in Maori and we wouldn’t know the words but Holly was just freaked out by the singing in general. Thankfully we were in the back and weren’t really seen therefore we were spared in singing otherwise we’d have to put in a little of Lester the Lobster. The years 12-13 still talk about our lovely rendition we did for them one day and are quite intrigued that we have a song about a potato, we’re saving that for the right moment. What are they seriously going to do when we leave? We’re thinking of them when we say we want to stay...
After the warm up fun singing, they went into Kapa Haka practice as a whole school. This is something to see, these kids are so incredibly talented we can’t help but get giddy every time we see it, which we make sure is every time they do it. Holly has decided to put her singing/dancing phobia away to have the students teach us at least one of their songs. I took no less then 30 videos that day alone so if anyone wants to see what all this is about, I’ve got lots.
After this wonderful day, we got on the school bus with the kids for our ride back into town and to pack for Auckland. To our delight, it was Schnitz driving the bus. Apparently the mental breakdown wasn’t as bad as originally thought. While waiting for the other students to get on the bus, he gives us fantastic advice about life and love. Seriously, who needs Dr. Phil when Schnitz is around? Between his random comments while driving “Oh, no Michael on the bus today, we keep going,” getting off the bus “Oh, have a smart day,” commentary about what is going on around us “Oh, apple coming (as an apple falls out the door of the bus)” and the advice he is always passing out “Oh, every second is a moment lived,” we have enough memories to keep us happy for a lifetime. He’s as quote worthy as Vladimir, that guy was awesome. The ferry was canceled because of the wind and rain but they replaced it with a bus for us. We get back, pack and leave for the walk back in town, obviously forgetting important things but there was nothing we could do about it then. We get to the bus stop in the rain. We’re early and there is no shelter. Holly has an umbrella and when it wasn’t getting caught in my hair or threatening to poke my eye out, it was being turned inside out from the wind. Holly decides to keep it closed and just sets it around her head instead... Whatever works. So being early, cold and bored we do what we normally do, impromptu dance party. Now we can say we also danced in the rain, just not in Africa. A few of our students live around that area and we’re sure they were probably watching but at this point if it’s not normal for them to see us busting a move randomly for no reason then they really haven’t been paying attention.
The bus arrives and gladly scramble on to regain some kind of warmth. He was a cool driver who took us up the mountain to wait for the other bus who would take us right into Auckland. We spent most of our wait time laughing at the videos I had taken of the afternoon. The bus was really late making its way to Auckland and we were scared that we might be locked out of our hostel. We had sent a message earlier in the afternoon to tell them we would be late but never heard anything from them and they lock their doors and people go off duty at 11pm. We finally get into Auckland about 11:30ish pm. Then we had to find the place. We knew we were at the top of Queen St. and we were looking to get to the middle of it so we figured we could just walk. One person had warned us about the hills in Auckland but we didn’t think much of it. This place is mainly hills anyway. Turns out our hostel was at the top of the steepest hill ever. We were also clearly way underdressed, or overdressed depending on how you look at it. Thankfully someone had gotten the message that we would be late and people were at our hostel waiting for us to arrive. It was a pretty neat place, very well located if you wanted to see all that Auckland at night has to offer, some of which is people flashing others and dressing in chicken suits. To see this all we had to do was look outside our window.
We were up early the next day and decided to dedicate the morning to shopping. We don’t really get to shop where we’re staying, it’s mainly a beach type of tourist town that is fantastic in every way except shopping. We check out Dress Smart an outlet mall just outside of the city center of Auckland. This meant we would have to get a bus there, which also meant needing to find the bus place. Everything seemed easy enough and as it turns out there was a bus heading there in 10 minutes. We were given directions to the bus stop and made our way there. We thought we were doing good until we realized we were on the wrong side of the street. Then the bus we are looking for pulls up. We’re taking an attack on the opposite side of the street, practically willing the walk sign to show up when it finally does and we hop on the bus just as it’s about to pull away. Holly had some luck getting the stuff she wanted and then we figured we should head back in town as we were meeting up with a couple of former Islanders and graduates of the BEd program at UPEI. We get to our bus stop thinking we were cutting it close but should be able to get there in time. We wait for the bus, and we wait, and wait, and wait some more. Buses would drive by and all we do was say, “Oh, no bus” in our makeshift German accents and then crack up while the other people waiting for the bus just looked at us funny. The bus ends up being ridiculously late and we end up being almost half an hour late meeting these people at Starbucks. Thankfully they were still there and we were both wearing our UPEI jackets so they were able to recognize us. We apologized profusely and we ended up spending most of the afternoon talking about the program, teaching in New Zealand and best of all, how to get a job here. Maybe we don’t have to “lose” our passports after all...
Living in New Zealand turns you into an old person, we’re in bed everyday sometime between 10-11pm and sometimes even earlier. Our weekend out in Auckland was no different. We get up early the next day and make our way to Kelly Tarltons. This was recommended by our students, even the older ones so we had to check it out. Kelly Tarltons is an aquarium like place that you can see penguins, sharks, stingrays and other kinds of fish. Holly and I had a lot of fun in the activity center dressing up like penguins and pretending to be eaten by sharks. We went on the penguin ride and got to see some of them up close and watched people feed the stingrays. Turns out they’re not really all that mean, you just don’t want to scare one into thinking you’re attacking them because that’s when they’ll come at you. This is why we had sent the student ahead of us during Waka Ama, if anyone was going to find a stingray, we’d prefer it not to be one of us.
After Kelly Tarltons we make our way back up the hill for what feels like the thousandth time but thankfully the last to collect our stuff, head to Starbucks one last time and make our way to the bus station to go back to Coromandel. In classic Holly/Janna fashion we find the bus station but of course we’re on the wrong side of the street. It was another scramble to get to the other side only to find out we couldn’t take our Starbucks on the bus. I give myself brain freeze trying to finish my berry frappuccino and Holly burns herself with her chai tea and we hop on the bus only to find out it was packed and the air conditioner was broken. Yay. We make it to Thames, get off the bus finally breath again and unstick our clothes from our bodies. We decide to search for McDonalds since we don’t actually have one where we live and everyone talking about it on the blog made us thought we’d get some. We only have half an hour before our next bus leaves so we race down the street because Holly thinks she knows where it is. We don’t find McDonalds but we do find Subway which is probably the healthier choice anyway. We don’t have time to eat it then so we save it for later and run back so we don’t miss our bus. Once we get on the bus and it travels down the road we find out we were actually one block over from McDonalds, oh well, guess it wasn’t meant to be.
We get back to Coromandel, make the long trek back to the cottage and practically crash the second we get in the door. We can’t believe we only have an evening before we’re back to class. Oh well, at least we love going to school even if we only have 3 weeks left. I guess that means we have to find a job soon...
To Be Continued...
Oh no!
Oops!
Sorry for how the text/pictures turned out below...everything looked fine before it posted!
My bad...
Sorry for how the text/pictures turned out below...everything looked fine before it posted!
My bad...
Penti
Penti - sneeze
Linyuan came to visit this week and it was certainly nice seeing her! Yesterday we all went to visit an island where thousands of horses were raised years and years ago. There were beautiful sculptures and many photo ops but sadly no 'real' horses.
We then we went to an old military training camp. It is now used as a Kung Fu training camp, as well as a summer camp for children! We had a scrumptious lunch there and we ate bugs! Linyuan showed us how it's done.
We then spent the afternoon climbing up various mountains. It was a great time with beautiful scenic views along the way. We were definitely glad to be back on the ground by the end of it, but had a trusty guide who we called the 'Mountain Man' who led us and supplied us with delicious apples.
We had a great time with Linyuan and were sad to see her go! We wish her all the best during her travels to see her family and then back to PEI!
Keep enjoying yourselves and spread Canadian love all around the world.
Snow Storm and High Winds
Just about to call it day but want to thank everyone for the recent posts! The wind is howling outside and a combination of snow and ice pellets and rain make for an interesting day on the Island. What a joy to read the posts and see the pictures! John
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