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.