Endings

How can it be week 7 already?  With only one more day left in Room 7 I am really feeling bittersweet.  The students have finally realized that I am leaving and have become extra "hugy" these past few days.  Yesterday, my students (well their parents) brought food in for a potluck lunch today and one of my student prayed for me in assembly on Monday as a beginning of my farewell week.  I have been so blessed to be a part of Room 7.  Mrs. Sellar has been an absolutely wonderful mentor teacher!  She has given me full reign in the classroom and her constant humor and encouragement have been so appreciated.  It still hasn't fully sunk in that I am leaving early Saturday morning.  I started packing tonight and am still in denial that I leave so soon...also in denial that I have fit everything back in my suitcases (I will be enlisting the help of my host siblings to help zip everything).

I already said goodbyes to Sarah and Vincent (host Mum and Dad) because they are currently on a business trip in the south island.  They gave me an awesome Kiwi Ukulele book so the pressure is on to improve my ukulele skills.  So for the rest of my time here it is just me and the "kids".  Our huge Friday night plans include takeaways, packing, and a movie...can't get much better than that.

Prayers are appreciated as I say my goodbyes to everyone at school tomorrow, it is truly going to be an emotionally rough day.  Everyone here has accepted and loved me right from day one, walking away is going to be hard...but I will just have to come back to see everyone and finish the last few things on my Top 10 list. God is good.

Bach

I don't mean bach as in Johann Sebastian Bach, I mean bach (pronounced batch, originally a shortened form of Bachelor Pad) as in family holiday home.  This past weekend I was lucky enough to go with my host family to their bach up North around the Doubtless Bay area.  Even though we have now entered the season of fall and tree leaves are changing their colors, we were blessed with absolutely beautiful weather during our time in Northland.  I was pleasantly surprised by just how deserted the beaches were up North.  The picture on the right is taken at the beach visible from my host family's bach.  Willa seized the opportunity to get in some practice time on the surf board while I practiced my shark look out skills.  I am proud to say that we were both rather successful in our duties.  It was wonderful to leave the city and just relax for a while.  I had wonderful intentions to complete loads of grading and planning for the week, but instead I took time to relax (which is something that I really haven't done much of these past seven weeks).  I finished the book Tuesdays with Morrie and highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't already read it, very inspirational.



There isn't much to say about the trip, other than the scenery and beaches were absolutely breathtaking and the company was a pleasure.  I also introduced Willa and Theo to Apples to Apples (I brought the game along with me) and enjoyed a few games on Saturday night.  A stop to rinse all of of the salt water in Coca-Cola lake (pictured below) on the way home is a tradition.  I read that peat and tannins have darkened the color of the water so even though it looks orange, red, and deep purple it is actually quite clear and clean.  I was mesmerized by the intensity of the colors.  The 4 1/2 hour drive back home allowed for some decent napping and a chance to regret teaching the Cow Game to Willa (for those of you that know how to play there were no visible cemeteries from the road so the game became rather pointless). Fresh Margherita pizza and Aloe were the reward for making it through the weekend.

A highlight of last school week was when Christinia and Svenja (Student Teachers from Germany) took control of the class for a period.  They taught Room 7 their colors in German and had everyone color these wonderful "color by german word" masks.  It was such a clever idea and the students loved it so much that I think I might have to do something similar with them this week to help them learn the Maori words for their colors.  Tomorrow morning I am leading the high school student devotions and I am really excited to share how God has worked through the passions and desires of my heart to bring me to where I am today.   I had my fair share of apprehension and fear before leaving, but I was constantly reminded of this new favorite Bible verse.  "For God did not give us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and of a self-discipline." - 2 Timothy 1:7  God has been so faithful to me during my time here in New Zealand.

I can hardly believe that this is my last week in Room 7!  Saying goodbye is always bittersweet.  I feel like this quote really sums it up, I am not sure who said it but I love it none the less.  "You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place.  Like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and place because you'll never be this way ever again."  Prayers would be appreciated for all of the goodbyes that I will be saying these next few days.

P.S. Liz Lovejoy and Rebecca Kammer (Friends from Mount Vernon Nazarene Univeristy) just left to do their student teaching in China!  Follow their adventures at http://chasingchopsticks.blogspot.co.nz/ and http://chinain8.blogspot.co.nz/

Rotorua

This week I was blessed by having Mrs. Hart (Home Ec Teacher) take me down to Rotorua to see the sights and smell the sulphur.  I am continually blessed by the staff at Hebron Christian College.  Mrs. Hart said that she had people take her on an amazing trip when she was in America and would love to repay the favor.  I am so incredibly grateful to be able to go on this trip.  Rotorua is a fascinating place and I am so pleased that I was able to experience it before I head home.  I look forward to paying it forward someday and taking someone else on a wonderful adventure.  Our travel plans were rather last minute (made on the bus ride home from camp), but everything went smoothly from gorgeous weather when rain had been forecasted to little traffic on the roads to delay our journey.  The trip could not have been any better.

For most of you that don't really know what Rotorua is, let me quickly explain.  The city of Rotorua is widely known for its geothermal activity (mainly geysers and hot mud pools).  Fault lines under New Zealand are the cause of this intense geothermal activity.  At some points in the city molten lava is just a mere four kilometers under the surface.  Rotorua has also been nicknamed the Sulphur City, because of a rotten egg smell, caused by the hydrogen sulphide emissions.  It definitely isn't the best smelling city, but it sure has some beautiful works of nature.  While in Rotorua I saw some real life Kiwis (the bird not the fruit), ate a hangi (Maori style of cooking food in the ground), relaxed in a mineral pool, and belted out the Halleljuah Chorus in the car with Mrs. Hart.  

Another week of full control in Room 7 has nearly come to a close.  I didn't realize how much I missed being in Room 7 (I had the week off for camp) until I stepped off the bus at school returning from camp and found both legs being immediately embraced by the little people of Room 7.  It is hard to accept that next week will be my last week here.  I have grown so attached to everyone at school and at home.  Mrs. Sellar has been a wonderful cooperating teacher to work with, she has fully trusted me and given me complete control of the classroom.  She also never fails to encourage me and fill me with praise.  Encouragement from such a master teacher as her is not received lightly. :)  The picture on the right is of a recent science experiment that took place in Room 7.  Our focus in science has been on metals and we recently discovered that metals are good conductors of heat.  The experiment had us placing objects, with a little slab of butter on the outside end, into a bowl of super hot water.  If the butter melted we then knew that the object that the butter was on was a good conductor of heat.  Never before have I seen children more eager to stare at butter melting.

My latest great accomplishment is baking this delicious pavlova!  The pavlova is a pretty iconic pudding (dessert) here in New Zealand and cooking a pavlova was an object written on my Top 10 list by my host Mum.  A pavlova is similar to a giant meringue, just a little softer on the inside.  This one is topped with homemade whipped cream, a lemon sauce, and fresh passion fruit.  It would not have been a successful baking experience if it wasn't for my host Mum, she really guided me through the recipe and clued me in on all of her tips.  The real tests comes when I return home and attempt to make a pavlova all by myself.  When I think about returning home I struck with just how bittersweet my thoughts are.  I eagerly anticipate seeing my family and friends again (I do miss you), but I am also realizing just how hard it is going to be to leave everyone here.  It fascinates me how quickly we can make connections with each other and become so attached.  The only thing that I can do is make the best of my remaining time here and begin planning my return trip (this time dragging along some friends so that they can experience it along with me).  

Camp

Archery practice

Well, I survived camp with the high school students!  I am extremely grateful to be able to get to know the high schoolers a little better and had a blast at camp.  This outdoor education camp had a nice mixture of outdoor activities and devotions led by an amazing missionary couple.  I noticed a few more cultural differences while on camp mainly related to safety.  During camp I went ziplining across a lake with nothing but my upper body strength to keep me from crash landing on the ground or plummeting into the water without a life jacket.  There were no detailed emergency medical forms, no harnesses, just a towel to wipe the sunscreen off my hands and 9 high school students cheering me on.  It was exhilarating and terrifying, I think I did more stepping out of my comfort zone at camp then my students did.  There is so much to write about and I am too exhausted to decompress it all now so I will stick to a lists (my type A personality is sneaking out a little bit) of pros and cons of being a teacher on camp.

Supervising sand volleyball, teaching is a hard life

Pro:

-First in line to eat

-Allowed otherwise forbidden phones/iPods 

-Morning and Afternoon tea

-You get to make up the rules/decide what is and isn't ok

-Ability to force students to climb a three meter wall while you just cheer them on and take pictures

-Students who come up to you and ask you to pray for them (so humbling) 

-A private loo and shower with no queue 

-Senior boys who take your dirty dishes away without your asking 

-Forcing students to clean toilets and take out rubbish while you supervise because they woke you up at 3:45 in the morning with their loud talking

-Students asking you to join them in the talent quest/play a game of pool/never ending friends to play with 

Con:

-Sleeping in a cabin with 40+ teenage girls

Tramping up the mountains...with cows

-Toilet cleaning duty

-Losing your voice 

-Having to wake up before the students do...and then waking them up 

-If I have to hear one more story about your boyfriend or the boy you have a crush on I might start to cry

-Being responsible for the massive number of students that happen to be injured under your supervision 

-Giving the modesty talk to a roomful of teenage girls 

-Students in your group that tell you if you die while zip lining across a lake they will just leave your body in the water

-Students think you know everything (and come to you at night with a wet mattress expecting you to magically make it dry)

-Being woken up at 3:45 by girls talking on the other side of the cabin

All in all, the positives outweigh the negatives. :)  

Hobbiton

Thursday was another full on day of teaching and it went pretty well (said Margaret Sellar who sneakily observed me teaching a lesson when I wasn't suspecting it).  My students are so eager to learn and are really wonderful children!  Having a class size of only fifteen has been wonderful  Classroom management isn't really an issue at all (granted that is a combination of both my strict/high expectations and small class sizes).

On Friday I had the opportunity to time and participate in Swim Sports for students Year 4-13.  I was assigned to the Blue House (which was obviously the best house to belong to aka Gryffindor).  Just as I  began to fill with pride for the Blue House and started to think of some great chants I was whisked away to time individual lanes.  I haven't been to many swim meets (so I have a lack of background knowledge to compare to), but these kids were great swimmers!  I heard a statistic that there are approximately 70 drowning deaths a year down here that could be prevented if the person had known how to swim.  It only makes since that because of Auckland's easy access to water students should receive swim lessons in school.  The kids were all completely comfortable in the water.  I don't think that I represented team USA and Michael Phelps too well when I swam as part of the teacher relay for the final event of Teachers vs. Parents vs. High School students vs. Middle School students...but I am from Ohio...we aren't too well known for our swimming abilities.  During my afternoon tea break on Friday (the perks of being a teacher = students bringing you tea and hot crossed buns while you are working) I spent a nice amount of time talking to Paul Norell who just started teaching at Hebron Christian College on Monday.  If you don't know the name Paul Norell you might know the name of one of the characters he portrayed...the King of the Dead from the Lord of the Rings.  Yes, the King of the Dead is a teacher at my school...pretty intimidating stuff, maybe I should have him run my detention.  While Paul and I were chatting he asked me if I was interested in visiting Hobbiton.  Uhhhhh...YES!  As it turns out he was leading a group of people from a cruise on a tour down to Hobbiton Saturday morning and there was extra space if I wanted to join, free of charge.  The plans were made to meet at down at Princes Wharf at the cruise ship in the morning and the deal was sealed.

This brings us to Saturday, the day I visited The Shire.  My host Dad dropped me off down at the wharf early Saturday morning and I met up with Paul and everyone from the cruise ship where we hopped on a charter bus and enjoyed the two hour drive down to Matamata.  I learned a few new things about Auckland from our bus driver along the way, like the fact that Auckland is only 1km wide at it's skinniest and 11km wide at it's thickest point.  The best part about traveling with an established tour was the fact that we didn't have to wait around to buy tickets or for the next bus into Hobbiton we simply drove in past the line of waiting people.  The walking tour through Hobbiton lasted around 1 1/2 hours and was absolutely breathtaking.  It is truly like walking into another world.  I was awestruck by the attention to detail that was put into everything from thousands of fake leaves hand painted for the fake tree behind Bilbo Baggin's hole (pictured to the left) or the fake moss applied to the fences to make them appear more aged than they truly are and the hobbit sized clothes hanging on lines.  Our tour ended at the Green Dragon Pub where we were served a delicious lunch.  I had a very enjoyable time talking to everyone from the cruise (I must have lowered the average age by a few decades) who came from various sides of the world including England, Canada, Australia, and even one American as well.  In the end, I was thoroughly impressed with my trip to Hobbiton.


Today (Sunday) I was able to join Vic, (one of the teachers at Hebron who is actually originally from California) Christina, and Svenya (two students teachers from Germany also at Hebron) to the church that Vic attends regularly.  I continue to feel so blessed with the community at Hebron, so many of the teachers have reached out to me and eager to introduce me to new people and places.  After a wonderful church service followed by a heavy lunch at Vic's house I returned home for Theo's 12th birthday party.  Nothing like sitting in the backyard eating fresh fruit and meringues in the sun to make a Sunday truly relaxing.

This week is bringing a new adventure that will separate me from technology for a few days.  Tuesday through Friday I will be accompanying the Senior High students as they go all go to camp!  Being placed in the primary department I have little interaction with the high schoolers so I am both excited and intimidated to spend this week with them.  I am only comforted in know that the teacher cabin that I will be staying in consists of some pretty awesome staff!  I will also be privileged with leading a group of students through all of the activities during the duration of the week, this will give me many great opportunities to build relationships with the scary students who seem to be twice my size.  Prayers are appreciated as I am sure that I will be exhausted by the end of camp!

Soloing

Friday night was an extremely quite one in the house.  Levi, Theo, and Willa all went to spend the night with respective friends and Toby was working until midnight…so it was just me and the host parents.  After school I went for my daily run, but it turned into a walk after I got a pretty terrible case of shin splints…I think it means I should just be swimming in the pool more often.  :)  My host family has an Irish man currently working on building a little retaining wall behind the pool for a raised garden bed and we all ended up in the kitchen Friday night eating carrots (my host Mum recently bought a 40 lb bag of carrots because they were on sale for $8 so we are now required to eat a carrot with every meal).  It was a gold mine of wonderful accents in the kitchen Friday night that we talked until 9 at night munching on carrots until our stomaches urged us to eat a proper meal.  Dad, you would have loved dinner!!  We order multiple different curries from a nearby Thai takeaway and watched British talk shows in the Black Room while trying to cool our burning mouths (that Thai food was hottt).  

Saturday was a whole not of nothing.  I sat around and relaxed the whole day with the host family while writing lesson plans.  It is sometimes hard to remember that I am here for student teaching so my real focus has to be my classroom.  I watched another classic New Zealand movie, Boy.  It is a wonderful combination of humor and grief, I would highly recommend it!  

Sunday started by sleeping through my alarm and being awoken by my host Mum yelling my name and asking if I was ready to go on the weekly walk up Mt. Albert with the dog, Oscar, and some of her friends.  I scrambled to get dressed and joined them for a cup of coffee before the walk.  I then joined one of my host Mum's colleagues (who is my age) and her flat mate on a quick trip to a nearby beach.  It was wonderful to just relax on the beach and read a  book.  It has been a really beautiful day, gorgeous sun and a cooling breeze.  

Monday was my first day of solo teaching and I let myself get frustrated over little things and didn't focus on the positives which made it a rather rough day.  I spent a good bit of my Monday evening reflecting on what I could change to make Tuesday better and it really ended up in my attitude.  Teaching is exhausting and I must accept the fact that I must rely on God's strength not my own.  All day Tuesday I focused on the positives and prayed for a lot of patience and had an absolutely amazing day in the classroom!  Wednesday was exactly the same.  I had the fun experience of teaching Art for the first time (with my focus on special education I haven't had an opportunity to teach any specials).  I also had the opportunity today to talk with two other international student teachers who are at Hebron Christian College from Germany.  We are working on organizing a trip down to Hobbiton together sometime very soon!! God is so faithful and I am being reminded of his faithfulness daily.  

Valentine

Teaching is exhausted.  It is Friday night and I have been forcing my eye lids open, just to realize that it is only 11:30pm.  I am not really a night owl by any means, but this is too early to feel this exhausted.  This week, as a teacher, has been very rewarding for me.  God has given me a true passion and gift in teaching and I have received some very uplifting observation assessments from my cooperating teacher and my supervisor!  This news has really encouraged me and even if I am completely drained by Friday night, I know that I am doing something right throughout the rest of the week.  Room 7 is the best class is the whole school and I don't think that anybody could convince me otherwise.  On Thursday, I lead the class in a song during our devotions time.  I should point out that while I am rather confident in my singing, I have little confidence in my ukulele skills (I started playing a little over a week ago).  My kids were so forgiving of my strumming mistakes and awkward pauses throughout the song and they just gleefully sang out the lyrics.  I really enjoyed our time in song and hope to continue to incorporate more and more music throughout the day.  I can hardly believe that I start my solo teaching/full control this coming week!  I really look forward to learning right alongside my students.  

Wednesday after school there was a staff meeting all about Autism and Aspergers.  Being a double major in early childhood and special education I was quite excited to learn more about their views on the autism spectrum and learn more about how they treat disabilities in the schools.  I can't really say that I learned any new information during the presentation (which is probably a shout out to MVNU's wonderful Intervention Specialist program), but I did love the analogies and simulations that were used to present the material in slightly different ways than what I was used to.  The school that I teach at does have IEPs, but they write them for both students with disabilities and gifted students.  The IEPs don't look anything like our twenty page forms, but I really like how they write out individual plans for gifted students.  I myself am guilty on putting a majority of my attention in the classroom on the students who are struggling because that is my passion, but this experience has been a nice reminder that I have to push my students who are advanced with the same urgency.  

Another highlight of my week was Valentine's Day.  Vincent had an awards ceremony that he had to attend for work Thursday night so Sarah decided to take all of us kids to the beach.  Levi drove us over to Muriwai on the west coast (the west coast has beautiful black sand beaches, I have never  seen anything like it before).  We bought some fish and chips when we arrived at the beach and had a lovely dinner by the ocean.  I tried also tried Kiwi food that I didn't like for the first time...muscle fitters.  The texture was just a little too much for me.  As the sun was setting we took the quick five minute hike up the coast for an amazing view of the gannet colony.  Gannets are seabirds and at this colony there are approximately 1,200 pairs of gannets that nest here on two islands from August to March.  The smell wasn't too enjoyable, but the view of the Tasman Sea was wonderful.  We finished our hike right as the sun slipped under the horizon and then decided to we should probably head home, it was a school night and none of us had done any work yet.  

Gannet Colony in the background

I really look forward to starting my full control on Monday, prayers are appreciated, I know it will be more tasking than I realize.  Must go write lesson plans and submit job applications.  Be prepared for ridiculous stories about students in upcoming posts.

Typical

Almost a whole week has past since my last post, and I can't believe how quickly the time has flown by.  I remember thinking how long seven weeks was going to be before I left and now that I am here I am already wishing that I could stay longer.  Seven weeks doesn't possibly seem like a long enough time to do everything that I want to do.  I am so thankful that I have this amazing opportunity to student teach in New Zealand and I really want to be present and humble in every moment.  With that little rant out of the way lets recap what has happened this past week.

Thursday and Friday seemed to fly by.  I finally have a lot of the school routines down and after I spoke in assembly on Tuesday introducing myself almost all of the kids in the school know my name and say hello to me as I pass by.  The community at Hebron Christian College is truly spectacular.  Friday night my host family introduced me to some classic New Zealand movies.  For once, I had a strong enough background knowledge to be able to watch the movie without everything being explained to me so I was rather excited.  I also climbed Mt. Albert for the second time and this time remembered to bring my camera!  These are two of my favorite pictures of Auckland city complete with volcanoes in the distance.  Fun fact: The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the Southern Hemisphere.  

  

Saturday Levi and his band, Five Mile Town, were playing an outdoor concert at Matua Vineyard in Kumeu.  I was able to go over with Sarah and Vincent to be able to listen to his band live for the first time, he has played rough edits of their album that is still in production.  Five Mile Town has a fresh Indie/Folk/Rock sound.  Go look them up on YouTube!  After the concert I returned home and prepared dinner for Toby, Theo, and Willa (Sarah and Vincent had dinner plans with friends).  Dinner turned into watching another classic New Zealand movie while munching on sausage and veggie wraps.  Being an introvert, relaxing weekends like these have been exactly what I needed!  

Auckland city (and crater) from Mt. Eden

Sunday was full of church and adventure.  I went to church in the morning at City Side Baptist Church  with Sarah, Vincent, Theo, and Willa.  The church members were primarily young kids and their parents, nobody my age.  I found the service to be extremely relaxed and the conversation about God in nature to be very thought provoking.  After church Levi took me for a drive in his Mum's convertible around Auckland.  We went first to the top of Mt. Eden (picture on the left).  Mt. Eden is a huge tourist attraction and it was packed with a plethora of people on this beautiful Sunday afternoon.  The view of the city is breathtaking, I never realized just how surrounded by water we are in Auckland until I stood on the top of Mt. Eden. The immense crater on the top of Mt. Eden is also quite the sight, too bad it wasn't a crater that led to flowing lava.  :)  After Mt. Eden we drove down along Mission Bay and stopped for a quick stroll down the beach.  I had my first New Zealand ice block (tasted like lemon ice, but more like a popsicle on a stick).  We stopped on the beach to eat our ice blocks and take in the sight of Rangitoto Island.  Rangitoto Island is the largest and most recent of the approximately fifty volcanoes in Auckland.  While driving around Mission Bay Levi pointed out bunkers that were built into the sides of the earth all around the shore.  During World War II the Kiwis were worried of a possibly Japanese invasion (especially in Auckland) so bunkers were built along the coast to provide defense.  Luckily, the invasion never happened and the bunkers were never used, but they are still visible today as a reminder of the past. After our excursion Levi and I headed to church where we met up with Toby.  The older boys attend services at night at one of two local churches where the focus is teens and young adults.  It has been wonderful to worship with people my age and begin to make friends with others at church.  God is faithful and has provided me with exactly what I needed when I needed it.

Rangitoto Island

Today one of my student's parents said to me, "Places are really the people."  I have found this statement to be very true.  New Zealand is a magnificently beautiful country, but my experience would not be the same without the people.  The people that I have met while here have truly made this experience rewarding.  My students continue to show my kindness and compassion that I feel undeserving of.  Which brings me to one of the things that I hope to work on this Lenten season.  I want to see Christ in my students, especially those students who challenge me daily.  Each of my students have a unique gift and are blessed with some positive trait from God, I just have to open my own eyes to recognize it.  These last few weeks I pray for patience and compassion while working with my students to that I may begin to see them as God sees them.  

If you aren't my friend on Facebook then you haven't seen a lot of the pictures of my classroom.  Below is a link to an album that includes a summary of a typical school day in my classroom.  Check it out! A Typical Day

Waitangi

Happy Waitangi Day!!  Celebrating the treaty between the early European settlers and Maori chiefs gets me a day off of school today.  Before you get too jealous, just think of all of the snow delays and days off that I won't be receiving.  Started my morning off with a lovely extra hour of sleep.  I had beautiful intentions of being proactive with writing lesson plans and journal entries after breakfast, but I somehow ended up receiving ukulele lessons from Willa.  I might have already purchased a ukulele (Mrs. Sellar was buying a set in bulk for the whole class to be able to use, so it was considerably cheaper for me to buy one with her) so now I have some needed determination to learn how to play it.

I realized that I haven't talked a lot about my school/class so I am taking my morning tea time now to do so.  Something that has shocked me during my time here is how diverse the students and teacher are.  Just looking at the nationalities in my classroom you will find European, Korean, Chinese, Samoan, Tongan, and Indian.  I have not once noticed students treating each other differently because of skin color, cultural/ethnic background, or nationality.  When you look at the teachers and staff employed by the school you will notice the same thing, great diversity in nationalities and cultural backgrounds.  It has been absolutely beautiful working in an environment where so many cultures are held and respected.

Theo (host brother) recently got a wakeboard for his 12th birthday so it was decided that today would be a wonderful day to go out on the ocean and break it in.  Sarah's (host mum) parents own a home just north of Auckland that is right on the coast so Tobi, Theo, and I headed over to Pop and Gram's after morning tea.  After making a trip out to the farm to meet the last few aunts and uncles and some more cousins we packed up our gear and headed out to put the boat in the Hauraki gulf.  The wakeboard worked extremely well, I enjoyed watching Tobi and Theo master the rocky ocean.  Because it was so windy I decided it wouldn't be the best time to have a beginners lesson in wakeboarding, that will be saved for the lake on the family farm.  I have been failing at remembering to bring my camera with me, so I sadly have no pictures of our outing.  My best effort will be placed in taking many more pictures of my adventures, starting now!

In the meantime an earthquake has struck the Solomon Islands and prompted a tsunami alert for New Zealand and the rest of the South Pacific.  The tsunami alert for New Zealand was very preemptive, but it is best to be prepared especially after seeing the damage that can be done by tsunamis.  I am very grateful that the alert has since been lifted, but my heart aches for all those that were affected by the disaster.

Weekend

The more time I spend with people, naturally, the more open we become with each other.  I have had some insightful conversations about politics with many members of my host family this weekend.  I quite enjoying hearing outsiders perspectives on American politics and culture.  Let's face it, Americans can be pretty ignorant (video evidence here).  The more that I have traveled internationally the more I have been able to see just how self-absorbed and conceited our country can be at times.  We aren't the number one country in the world, we definitely might have been in the 50's, but times have changed.  I don't want to sound anti-american because that is not the truth at all, I have a lot of respect for the values that our country was built upon.  I also acknowledge that there are some positives to being so confident. We are a country that is willing to go out and try the seemingly impossible because we sometimes have the philosophy that if anybody is going to do something it will have to be us.  Ironically, traveling can be a great way to learn more about your own passport country.

I crossed another item off my Top 10 list by trying L&P!  L&P is a classic New Zealand beverage, the closest thing that I could relate it to in the States is lemonade.  However, describing it as lemonade just doesn't do it justice.  It is super sweet, with just a hint of a lemon flavor...perfect for the hot summer day.

I spent Saturday morning at Willa's softball game (she is a mean 1st base player) followed by a quick drive into the heart of the city.  I have had a lovely view of the city during my after school runs, but have never actually made it into the city.  Vincent (my host Dad) drove me around the highlights and then we parked by the wharf.  There is currently a lot of revitalization of the inner city waterfront occurring and it really looks amazing.  We spent some time looking at the oversized yachts and sailboats in the harbour and took in some pacific island music and dancing from a free show on the street.   They even play movies every Friday night down on the wharf by projecting them onto storage silos, hoping that I can head down next week to catch a movie!  Once we returned home I baked a Lohnes family recipe (applesauce cake) for my host family.  Even after cooking with the metric system, substituting multiple ingredients, making homemade applesauce for the first time, and failing at operating the oven the cake turned out absolutely delightful!  We ate it at morning, afternoon, and evening tea for the next few days and I will be sharing the recipe with Sarah (my host Mum) in return for her chutney recipes.  The rest of my Saturday was extremely relaxing, it even included a quick trip to Red Beach with Levi (oldest host brother). We didn't swim in the Hauraki Gulf on this occasion, but another trip out is in the making.

I went to church Sunday night with Levi to a service that was a little more youth focused so that meant Sunday morning could be a time for resting, devotions, and a little extra bit of sleep.  I did take away some time from sleeping in to walk up Mt. Albert (the volcano that the surburb I live in and my school is located in is named after/located on).  The venture to the top wasn't nearly as exerting as I had first assumed, but the view from the top is even better than I could have imagined.  I forgot my camera back in my room, but that just gives me another reason to climb to the top again.  This weekend of relaxation and reflection was exactly what my introverted personality needed!  Sunday was filled with lesson plans, house cleaning, and meeting some of my host family's extended family.  It is amazing how much humor I don't understand because I lack cultural/political background knowledge.  There have been numerous times that a joke was told and everyone else in the room laughed, while I sat silently with a stumped look on my face.  Luckily, Levi and Toby have always come to my rescue and quickly explained the necessary background knowledge that I was missing.  I have never really realized just how cultural humor was until now, a great learning experience this adventure has been.

Beginnings

Today was the first day of school with the students and it could not have gone any better!!  I walked to school with my host brother Theo (who is in Year 8 and turns 12 in two short hours!!) and arrived just in time for staff devotions.  Hebron Christian College is just a short half-mile walk away from my host home and the sidewalks are usually littered with students walking to school or adults running to catch the bus to work.  After staff devotions I headed down to my classroom to find it already buzzing with my students and their families.  There is no school busing for students and most of my students are dropped of by/walk to school with one of their parents.  The parents were all about the classroom helping their child unpack school supplies and introducing themselves to me.  I have had parents of students that aren't even in my class come up to me, introduce themselves, and welcome me to the school (apparently the article in the school letter about my arrival was actually ready by parents).  It seems that I get not even two words out of my mouth before I am interrupted with "Oh, you must be from America!"  Is my accent really that thick?  My host brothers say that my accent is fine and that they actually enjoy it.  Anyway...I am getting off topic.  The first day with the students was wonderful, they are all so compassionate.  We spent the day teaching procedures and orientating them with the school as well as focusing on the Waitangi Treaty.  If you don't live in New Zealand and therefore don't know about the Waitangi Treaty check it out here.  You can almost kind of relate it to our Declaration of Independence.  I spent some time teaching random bits all throughout the day and have plenty of lessons to plan for tomorrow.  By the time the parents had returned to pick up their children I was absolutely exhausted.  Having the parents in the school twice a day is ideal for building a relationship and learning more about the students' home life.

The community at Hebron Christian College is astonishing.  I feel so welcomed and completely accepted by all of the other teachers at the school.  I have even had some history teachers approach me and ask me to speak in their class when they start to look at American History and civil rights.  I am intimidated with the content that they have asked me to speak on and wondering if my own knowledge is competent, but that isn't anything that Google can't help refresh my memory.

I have found my host family to be a wonderful way to learn more about the culture, they are so willing to answer all of my eclectic and off-the-wall questions.  We spend a decent amount of time each night asking questions back and forth about our own individual cultures.  My host brother Levi had some friends (all University aged) over the other night and I had loads of fun talking with them about things only college kids could enjoy...like fast food, terrible tv programs, slang, and sports.  I feel as if I could keep writing for hours, but I MUST get to writing lesson plans for tomorrow.

Introducing: Room 7.  The best class in the whole school. "We want people in America to know that we are funny!"

Settled

While my stomach has changed to the new time zone my sleep schedule is still a little behind. For that reason I lay awake in bed and reflect on how wonderfully blest I have been the past few days. Tuesday and Wednesday have been professional development teacher-only days (Monday was a holiday for Auckland Anniversary). The past two days have been a wonderful opportunity to get to know my fellow teachers as well as my way around the school. I have felt so welcome and included by every one of the teachers! After spending the majority of the past two days in faculty meetings I am eager to meet the children tomorrow and begin with a lesson on Waitangi Day!

Another great blessing these past two days has been moving in with my host family. I finally feel settled and have begun to establish a routine. My host Mum and Dad have graciously welcomed me to be part of their family and I quite enjoy time spent with my three new brothers and new sister. A new pool has been recently installed right outside my bedroom window and quite a lot of time after school is spent in the pool by almost everyone.  The first night with my host family they created a list of the top ten things that I needed to do while in New Zealand.  I am quite excited to begin checking adventures off this list of tasks that will make me a true Kiwi.  I have also greatly enjoyed exploring my new neighborhood during a run every day after school.  My goal is to take a new route every day to see all that Mt. Albert (suburb name) contains.  The name of the suburb is Mt. Albert because the suburb is located on a volcano named Mt. Albert, this makes the running quite hilly.  But knowing that I can simply jump in the pool when I return home makes the run worth all the effort.  I have been so blessed by being placed with this family, I truly enjoy all of my time spent with them!

Folk

I spent Saturday and Sunday with the Sellar family (Margaret Sellar will be my cooperating teacher) camping at the Auckland Folk Festival.  Imagine tunes similar to The Civil Wars and Mumford and Sons and that is what I got to listen to live for two days, rather pleasant music!  I am glad that I had the opportunity to get to know Margaret and her family before I work with her in the classroom.  The Sellar family welcomed me in and quickly brought me up to speed with necessary knowledge of cultural differences so that people wouldn't stare at me.  There is a reason that the bathroom is called the lou so therefore, it is quite weird for me to use the term bathroom instead...noted.  Also, instructions on how to properly operate the toilet are greatly appreciated.  Jet lag has surprisingly been manageable, I turn in rather early but not too bad for a 17 hour time difference.  Something that I have been rather excited about is the abundance of fresh fruit (Thank you Jesus for summer in the southern hemisphere!) all around me.  The Sellar family has already nicknamed me Cherry, it might have something to do with that fact that my fingers are presently stained purple from all of the cherries that I have eaten.  :)

This morning (Monday) we packed up our campsite and headed back into town.  I returned to the Matthew's house and helped with final preparations for one of their granddaughter's 3rd birthday party. The party was held at a park surrounded by pasture full of sheep (New Zealand has a quota of 9 sheep for every 1 person) and full of sunshine.  A lot of stretching has been required from my introverted personality these past few days, but I enjoyed talking to families at the party.

All in all, I am still rather emotionally exhausted (the jet lag probably doesn't help).  I greatly miss all of you back home, but am enjoying my current adventures.  I really look forward to school starting tomorrow as well as moving in with my host family.  This type A personality is in need of some structure and routine again.  I am certain that unpacking and getting settled in my new home will provide a greater sense of comfort and peace.  I suppose I should get ready for bed now, tomorrow is a big day.  As always, prayers are appreciated!  Love and miss you all.

Arrival

So much has happened in the past few days that I don't even know where to start!  I was anxious about flying all by myself.  I have flown internationally before, but always with a group of people and someone else was always in charge of telling me what to do and where to go.  Thankfully, the whole process was quite easy.  Saying goodbye to everyone, however, was much harder.  I am still a little emotionally exhausted and crave to have some sort of routine back in my life.  On my flight from Columbus to Dallas/Fort Worth I sat next to a man heading to Texas to do business, we shared a few quick words and then he returned to his iPad and I listened to music while trying to keep my mind off how slow I felt that time was moving.  I was quite nervous about missing my connecting flight to Brisbane and after our takeoff was delayed because our plane needed deiced I was very weary about whether or not I would make it in time.  To top it off my boarding pass didn't have a gate listed for my next flight, but I was told that that information would be provided to me when I arrived at the airport (so much for my type A personality trying to plan and control everything).  God is so good and we actually arrived at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport earlier than originally expected.  I even had time to sit down for a few minutes and shoot off a few texts to friends and family before I boarded the plane.  Now was the part that I was dreading, the 16 1/2 hour flight from Texas to Australia.  I forced myself to stay awake for the dinner that they served on the plane (granted by this point in time it was already 1am in Ohio and I wasn't the least bit hungry).  The Qantas airlines treated my very nicely and after a delicious vegan meal of fried vegetables, rice, and salad everyone had tea/coffee.  Complimentary toothbrushes and toothpaste, eye masks, water bottles, and snacks were distributed to help make it through the night. By this point in time the drowsy Dramamine did it's job and I feel fast asleep.  I was very blessed to have an aisle seat with an empty seat to my right so making myself comfortable was a little easier than expected.  The only other person seated in my row was a kind Australian man.  I can't say that we talked much because of the massive amounts of sleeping that we both did, but I did share a Snickers bar with him to work to complete the scavenger hunt that my Dad created for me!

The last 2-3 hours of the flight seemed to drag on forever, but I really can't complain...I could be on a boat for 49 days instead!  I arrived at the Brisbane International Airport promptly at 6:15am and had an 11 hour layover looming over my jet legged body.  I spent my eleven hours walking around the airport and stretching my sore legs, hunting down an electrical airport (you would think they would be everywhere, but apparently not in this airport), eating delicious and overpriced airport food, and making the most out of my 1 hour free wifi with quick texts home.  I also had my first flying fatality, I somehow left my glasses on the plane or lost them in the airport.  After spending a good amount of time retracing my steps in the airport and talking with airline representatives I declared them officially lost, I feel rather defeated.  I had no idea how incredibly boring traveling alone was going to be, especially for this layover.  In true introvert fashion, I would hesitate reaching out to fellow travelers, but I had quite an adventure all on my own.  Soon enough I found myself boarding another plan to Auckland, New Zealand!  This three hour flight flew by (no pun intended).  I was again served dinner and tea/coffee and accidentally fell asleep for the remainder of my flight.

Upon arriving in Auckland airport I became anxious about going through Customs (which I had completely forgotten about up until this point).  Looking back I am not quite sure what I got so worked up about, Customs was a breeze.  Except for me having to ask to have things repeated so I can understand thick accents I flawlessly made it through the airport only to find Geoff and Sue Matthews eagerly waiting for me.  Geoff is the principal of Hebron Christian College and I will be spending some time with him and his wife this weekend because my host family is on holiday in the northern part of the island.  35 hours after I departed I had finally reached my destination, stayed up a while to chat with the Matthews and then collapsed in bed.  Unfortunately, jet lag had me wide awake at 8am.

Apprehension

Secretly, one of my biggest worries about my trip was that my Grandpa would pass away while I was on the other side of the world and that I wouldn't be able to be with my family. On Friday, that fear was relieved when my Grandpa (who has suffered long and hard with dementia) passed away in his sleep. It was bittersweet. I am so glad that he is no longer suffering in his failing body and I am confident that he is rejoicing in Heaven this very moment. However, it has made it difficult for me to leave. I am thankful that I was able to travel to Illinois and be with my family. Unfortunately that time spent with family was time taken away from saying goodbyes to friends who are like family. I truly am excited for my new adventure, but I will be leaving with a heavy heart and I would greatly appreciate your prayers for me.

Preparations

I leave tomorrow for Auckland, New Zealand to complete my Early Childhood student teaching.  One of my placement options for student teaching through Mount Vernon Nazarene University was to travel and teach internationally.  I have such a passion for travel and diversity that I knew instantly that I wanted to student teach internationally.  The placement process with CCTECC lead me to Hebron Christian College in Auckland, New Zealand where I will be teaching Year 2 with Mrs. Margaret Sellar.  Throughout my seven weeks I will have the opportunity to leave with a kiwi family and teach at a private Christian school while experiencing the true life of a kiwi.  I am so thankful for the opportunities that I will have and blessed with such great support from my family and friends.

The closer that I come to my new adventure the more I realize how much this trip will change me.  With pure trust in God I am setting forward tomorrow on my own to change my world and the word's of those around me.  I look forward to being a stranger in a new city and discovering who I am in New Zealand.

I hope to post updates here of my adventures at least twice a week.  This will be my first trip traveling alone, but also hold in your hearts the five other student teachers traveling abroad this semester.  Sarah Andrews will be traveling to the Dominican Republic check her blog out here.

Hebron Christian College
New Zealand Facts