Census Day!

Tuesday. I think my battery is dying on my alarm clock because the alarm didn’t go off this morning even though it was set. We both woke up at 7:40 and hopped straight out of bed. It was a bit of a hectic morning but at least we only live five minutes from school and we don’t have to be at the school until 8:30.

Besides waking up late today was great! I got to do the role- we are working on looking people in the eye when you greet them (in most of the island cultures it is respectful to look down to show respect) and we are still working on the students Spanish skills by having them greet me with a buenos dias Miss Hyde as I call each of their names. Afterwards we had sport where they got together as a house and ran a few laps in the field. Afterwards I spent the next half hour guiding the class through a maths standardized test. I was able to grade them and then put the students into maths groups based on their score. It was very interesting to see the spread of the scores across the class. It surprised me that most of the students were at the lower end of the spectrum. Granted it is the beginning of the year but they are year 6 students.

I was also able to work with my new reading group. I opted to take the middle ability (not advanced and not low but the one just on track) group who will be performing a reader’s theater tomorrow for the class. Today was also world literacy day and NZ census day. The census usually takes place here every 5 years. However, the last census occurred back in 2006. In 2011 the census was scheduled but due to the earthquakes in Christchurch the census was postponed. So today was a pretty big deal and our teacher did a whole lesson on what is a census and why it is important. The students had 4 questions they had to research to discover what the census was all about. I even got to play a part in the census because I am here on a visa besides a visiting visa so I got to fill out a sheet too! Pretty cool eh? It’s officially gone down in the history books that I lived in NZ even if it was just for a few short months :). What an exciting day!

Census:  http://www.stats.govt.nz/Census.aspx
Pomaria: http://www.pomaria.school.nz/Site/Home.ashx

Monday Madness

Today was crazy. There was a lot to do but also not a lot. I spent the whole day in a planning meeting for the next term with my teacher. It was super interesting because their planning and standards are different. In the states you have the curriculum standards per grade level but here it is just a level. So the year that you are in school and the level that you are don't match. So the teachers of a certain planning group get together and plan the levels instead of plan as a grade (if that makes sense). I couldn't contribute much to the meetings but I gave as much as I could. It was a little intimidating because the principal and assistant principal sat in on most of the meeting and I wanted to give a good impression. With my limited experience I didn't have too much to offer but I offered a few good insights every once in a while which was good.

The meeting ended at 3 which was just enough time to stop by the bathroom before the next meeting that included the entire staff. This meeting was about a new math testing program that luckily I already knew because we had some training on it during our maths class. Right after that meeting it was off to Pack and Save to pick up treats for our FHE (family home evening) with Erika and the girls. Sara and I also taught the lesson about focusing on the good things to come (see the mormon message). We had some educational discussion about problem and project based learning before heading home. We had dinner with Julie and Beau. Beau wanted to have FHE with us but we asked if we could have it tomorrow since Sara and I were exhausted from the day and Sara hasn't been feeling well since yesterday. So we're calling it an early night.

I did forget to write about the headboy/girl assembly that happened on Friday. It is one of the biggest assemblies of the year. One difference from American assemblies is that they must walk into the gym in straight lines and in complete silence. We sang the NZ national anthem and then the ceremony began. The four heads of houses first announced the house captains and deputy captains before the headboy and girl were announced. Each student was given a special pin and hat to wear as part of their school uniform. There were quite a few parents there to support their children, which was cool to see. Yes there are house points awarded to the different houses based on good behavior and at the end of the year there is another special ceremony awarding the house cup- yes not only is NZ Middle Earth but it also feels like I walked straight into one of the Harry Potter books.

Another cool thing about my teacher is that on Fridays she does a cooking segment with the students. Her classroom is in the staff room which includes a mini kitchen. It is so awesome to have a kitchen and to watch her use it in the classroom! She has the students make a notebook called their "Master Chefs" book. In that book they keep a record of each recipe they make every Friday with ingredients, directions and a picture that they draw themselves. They also write about the experience of making the specific item and what they would do differently next time. Last Friday we made smoothies. She divides up the students into groups of three and two groups of three are in the kitchen at a time while the other students are doing various tasks around the classroom. I am getting so many great ideas from her. It's getting me really excited to have my own class this fall.

A Few Random Photos

Here are some more photos from our South Island trip I thought you might enjoy. 

Shotover Jet :)

More shotover jet!

Starting our day backpacking through Abel Tasman. 

Continuing our backpack adventure. 

At the temple cool reflection.

At Muriwai beach watching the sunset (a month before the shark attack happened here). 

The group right before the shotover jet in Queenstown. 

Weird lighting... this looks like an old photo but it's right before we left for our backpacking adventure through Abel Tasman. 

Another RM

Today was awesome. Rewind about a year and 6 months. I'm a missionary serving in the St. George visitors' center. The newest batch of missionaries has just arrived to our mission- a stunning two missionaries! One an elder and the other a 6ft tall, Samoan Kiwi sister straight from New Zealand. I couldn't believe my luck since NZ was always somewhere I wanted to visit and I was looking into the el ed NZ study abroad program for when I got back from my mission. Although we were never companions, Sister Tapusoa and I became pretty good friends. She was a hard working missionary willing to give her all to serve the Lord. I told her about my plan to come to NZ and she said that they have a lot of BYU girls that come and stay in her stake in Auckland. I said wouldn't it be cool if I got to meet your family and welcome you off the airplane from your mission. She said yeah it would. Then we both laughed knowing that it probably wouldn't happen.

Fast forward 18 months and where am I currently staying? In Sister Tapusoa's home ward boundaries. Although I didn't welcome her off the plane, I got to hug-tackle her at church today. It was SO awesome to see her again! They asked her to bear her testimony to the ward and then later this evening there was a fireside put on by the ward on her behalf. They had a brief slide show with some of her mission pictures and a few young men preparing on missions were asked to speak. Then her mum spoke and finally we got to hear from her. It was so amazing to be at her homecoming. It was a moment for me to relive the mission and remember that awesome missionary spirit. We had the best time catching up and sharing news about missionaries, areas, the visitors' center, etc.

We both just sat back and realized how much our missions helped to change us for the better. I know that people get tired of listening to RMs talk about their missions and yes I agree that missions must be shared in moderation. But honestly, I loved and still love my mission. At this point in my life I call it my greatest accomplishment. I love talking about it because I love the person that it has helped me to become. I know that I am a better person today because of the opportunity I had to serve the Lord for those 18 months. It astounds me at how many blessings I receive on a daily basis because of that service. While talking to Sister Tapusoa (Shayna) I realized how blessed I am to have her as a friend and that we were able to share in some of the same experiences together. It was a much needed reminder to me that although my mission is over I can still change lives and make a difference by continuing to live a gospel centered life.

Rangitoto

Saturday! We only have a limited number of them left so we are trying to make the most of our time here. One thing I've been wanting to do for sometime is to hike Rangitoto- a volcano island. It's only a 25 minute ferry ride from Auckland. So we made plans and left for the adventure.

Our first step- to get on the bus taking us into the city. Sounds easy right? Well, the bus system in Auckland isn't exactly reliable meaning that they are usually not running on time. We planned to be at the bus station by 8:10 to get on the 8:15 bus but the bus came early and we missed it... meaning we had to wait an hour for the next bus. Oh well. We got on the 9:15 bus and headed off to the city. I think I mentioned this before but there is a day pass you can purchase called a discovery day pass that covers the buses, ferries, and trains for 24 hours and it's only $16. This is so nice because otherwise it would be really expensive to do anything or to go anywhere.

Anyway, so we got off at the ferry building in downtown Auckland, just in time for the ferry that left at 10:30. We showed the man our passes and he let us get on. The ferry was different from the other one we had taken before but they let us on so we sat up front outside. The water was pretty choppy, which made for a fun ferry ride :). We got to the island and started the hour long hike. The trail wasn't too hard. It pretty much led up through some small lava fields up to the top of the cone.

Rangitoto (rang-e-toh-toh) is a volcano that popped up out of the ocean about 600 years ago. A local Maori tribe saw the explosion and named it Rangitoto meaning "blood sky." Now the island is covered with bush, trees, and lots of birds. It's only 260 meters above sea level so the trail wasn't too steep until about the last 10 minutes where it was pretty steep until the top. There was an observation deck where we could see a 360 degree view of the surrounding harbor. The cone itself is covered in trees so you can only see the indent from the explosion but not the rock. It was a very humid day in fact the most humid I have felt since coming here. That made the hike pretty sticky and the view was a bit hazy but it was still a cool. After looking around for a bit we headed back to the shade and ate our lunch.

There were also a few lava tunnels that we were able to explore. That black, sharp, hard volcanic rock isn't exactly the best type of rock for exploring a dark cave with only one torch (flashlight) but it was fun! The caves weren't very deep and I'll admit they were a bit creepy with moss and spider webs hanging from the rocks but it was all part of the adventure! We hiked back down to the ferry dock and made it down just in time to pick up the ferry (it only comes a few specific times during the day). We went to get on our ferry- the same ferry that we rode to get over to the island and the man taking tickets looked at our passes and was like you can't use those passes to get on this boat... we told him that we had used them to get on to come to the island. In the end he let us on.

We got off at Davenport to show Elise (she came with us) the military tunnels that we explored last time we were there. It was super fun! Then we found a nice beach and relaxed for a bit. After the shark attack everyone has been really leery of the beach so there weren't many swimmers. The tide was also way out which made for a fun walk along the shore. I found a star fish and some broken sand dollars which was pretty cool. Around 6 we packed up and headed back to the ferry dock. We ended up missing the 6:15 ferry so we caught the 6:45 one. It was about a 15 minute ride over and the bus picking us up to take us back home only comes on the hour... so we knew it would be a stretch but we hoped we could make it back just in time to catch the bus. As soon as the ferry landed we began speed walking to the bus stop, which was only one block over. We crossed the street and noticed a bus during down the road- it was our bus. We raced after the bus. Thankfully there was a group of about 6 people who stopped the bus to get on and they too enough time for us to catch up and make it onto the bus. I was very grateful because we still had about an hour bus ride home and by this point it was after 7 and I was starving!!!

We got home around 8pm and Julie had saved us two heaping platefuls of a steaming dinner. It was delicious! After cleaning the dishes and a nice hot shower we went over to Elise and Brittany's house and started watching Harry Potter #2. Oh! Side note- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is called Philosophers stone in the movies just as in the books and any time they use the word sorcerer in the US version they have it replaced with philosopher in the NZ version. Pretty cool huh? We only watched half of the second one before heading home but it was a lot of fun. It was another great day!

View from the ferry.

Lots of cool sailboats drifting by. 

Lava fields! 

Lava cave!

Outside the lava cave!

Me again! 

View from the top! Auckland is in the background but it's pretty hard to see from the haze. 

Lava fields behind us. 

In prison at the military base tunnels in Davenport. 

Caves connecting to tunnels. 

Just having fun :)

Engagement photo op :) haha

Sara: The portal is opening up! What should we do! Me: Enjoy the ride at least we have a machine gun on our side. 

Rangitoto from the beach. 

A photo of Auckland at night. That big bright thing is the moon by the sky tower. It was amazing! (this picture was actually taken a few days before though but it just made sense to post it here). 

School Awesomeness!!

I know that this has been a few days in coming but things have been so very busy this week! So I'll do my best to catch up on everything. So Tuesday after the powhiri we were dropped off at our school- Pomaria! It's super nice because it's only a short walk from our house instead of Ranui, which would have been much much longer. The headmaster/principle met up with us and spent the next hour going over school logistics. He runs quite a tight ship at this school but I am so excited to be a part of it! The school is amazing!

So some info about the school: it is based on four corner stones- Turangawaewae (two-rang-a-wi-wi) meaning standing place (where you are from), Matauranga (ma-ta-ow-rang-a) meaning knowledge, Manaakitanga (man-a-key-tang-a) meaning community, and Whanaungatanga (fa-now-ga-tang-a) meaning family. These also represent the four houses (yes just like in Harry Potter) that the classes can be a part of (each class is assigned a house verses each student). There are roughly about 400 students in the school ranging from year 1 (kindergarten) to year 6 (5th grade). Although the principal is strict there are some pretty awesome advantages to being a student at his school. For instance he lets the students climb the trees and shoes are optional in the classroom (even the teachers can teach barefoot during the day- this comes from the islander custom of removing shoes before entering a building). The students wear uniforms (or unis) from primary on through college (or high school) except for the occasional school that you hear about that allows students to dress in whatever they want. The school also has its own garden, radio station that covers a 7 kilometer radius (about 14 miles) where the students can broadcast their work via radio waves, and an impressive emphasis on technology. The principal does not believe in smartboards but instead the school has their own set of ipads, ipods, and laptops. It is incredible to see how many education apps and programs there are. The teachers use them every day and before school starts the students have free access to these learning tools to play educational games.

The bell rings for school to start at 8:55am and class goes until 10:30 when there is a 20 minute morning tea break. All of the students receive a piece of fruit from the school and they can eat any of their food from their lunch box. Then they have playtime (recess) until the bell rings at 10:50. The teachers all congregate to the staff room for their morning tea/coffee/milo break. This is a cultural experience that I have no trouble adjusting too. All of the teachers think that we Americans are crazy to keep working through the morning with maybe a short recess break for the students. Haha anyway, after morning tea it's back to learning until 12:30. Lunch follows from 12:30 until 1:15. The students eat in the classroom for 10 minutes and then go out to play for the rest of the time. The teachers again head back to the staff room until the bell rings. The final bell rings at 2:45 and the students are dismissed. The staff is required  to stay until 4.

The schools throughout NZ are rated on a decimal system according to the socioeconomic status of the community in which the school resides with 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. My school is a level 3 on this scale. Most of the students are islanders with a few pakeha (white) children scattered in there. Many students come from English as a second language background with many different island dialects being spoken in the home. The biggest struggle is that some of the students come to school without breakfast or lunch. A local church offers breakfast to the students a few times a week free of charge and a student can pick up a free sandwich from the office if they don't have their lunch. But these funds come from the school so they have to be very careful how they manage the food and the students. It makes our program of breakfast/free and reduced lunches in the states seem very effective since that funding does come from the government. They are working to have the food problem solved but it's a tricky one. We've been told not to share our lunch or give money to anyone because they kids will start swarming us and never leave us alone if we do. I just have to block the hunger factor from my mind and remind myself that they will be taken care of, not that I've seen many cases but it is still hard.

So the principal assigned me to be in a year 6 (5th grade) class. My teacher has been at the school for 7 years. She is incredible! Her management combined with her ability to work with the students, to ask thought provoking questions, and to encourage her students to become life long learners is amazing. I feel really blessed to be in her class. On Tuesday she was in a meeting for the whole day because she is one of the mentor teachers- meaning that she is in charge of assisting other teachers in her house and supporting them with their classes (kind of the like the head professor for one of the school houses). So I tagged along with Sara for a bit in her year 6 class and then I observed a year 1 class just to see what it is like.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I spent in my real classroom. I have 23 students with 6 ELL (English Language Learners- one of them being a young black boy from Uganda/the Congo who arrived last year as a refugee with no English background) and 1 cute white girl. On Wednesday I got to start out the day by introducing myself. The students had a million questions from what do they eat in America to do you know (insert whatever famous basketball player or wrestler you know) or who is your favorite rugby team- to which I responded I have never seen a game of rugby- they couldn't believe it! The rest of the day the students (or as the principal likes to call them "learners") kept coming up to me saying "Miss Hyde! Miss Hyde!" and ask another question. My biggest struggle of day 1 was figuring out their names. Some of them are names I am familiar with like Marie, Isabella, Mark, Luke, but others like Ananiyah or Wirameu or Sateki are harder to pronounce let alone remember! Plus they all have exactly the same uniform on, with darker skin, brown eyes, and brown hair. Haha... it's an adventure but I'm loving it!

These past few days have mostly been observation. The routines and procedures are similar but different enough that I'm just trying to understand the flow of the class. We were warned before coming that the management that we see in the classrooms would be different from what we were used to. My teacher isn't that much different but some of the other girls have told me about their teachers yelling at the students in ways that we Americans wouldn't approve of. They say things that we deem harsh and extreme but that is what they do. A lot is expected of the students. There are no hall passes or permission slips. If the teacher asks the students to deliver something they are expected to do so quickly, quietly, and then come straight back. It's an interesting combination of structure and non-structure.

It's going to be an awesome experience these next few weeks. I've had brief opportunities to teach mini lessons, take roll, line the kids up, play sport with them (PE), and work one on one with some of the students. It's the best feeling when you feel at home in the classroom. I already love the kids SO much! I'm just excited to see how this experience will help me become the teacher that I want to become.

Powhiri Welcome into the Schools

Today was one of the most incredible experiences since coming to New Zealand (and that's saying something!). At 8:45 Erika was at our house picking us up and she drove us with 2 other girls to Ranui school (Ra-new-e). Originally I was assigned to this school but once Erika arrived in country she realized that it would make a lot more sense to have us go to Polmaria which is only a 5ish minute walk from our house. Anyway, we arrived at Ranui with our whole group for a traditional Maori custom called a Powhiri (po-fi-ri). There are many parts to this traditional greeting which makes it a bit complicated so I'll break it down as simple as possible so it's easy to understand.

In traditional Maori culture if another tribe approached the village there would be a formal exchange so that the intentions of the visiting tribe would be made clear. This exchange/greeting is called a powhiri. In olden times it would begin with three strong warriors greeting the visitors with a dance called the wero. Basically the warriors approach the guests with weapons while gesturing and yelling out war cries. This is to convey to the visitors what will happen if they are here to make war with the tribe. If the visitors come in peace then they will lay down a peace offering called a rautapu that is usually a leaf or a carving. If they mean war then they do not lay down anything. But we'll focus on the peace one :). After this step comes the powhiri. Just a note- we didn't perform this part of the ceremony we just skipped straight to the karanga or call.

The powhiri begins with the village (or the important people of the village) being gathered in a sacred place called a marae (ma-ri). The visiting tribe stays outside the marae/marae square until welcomed in. The welcoming begins with an adult female who has born children offering a call to the visitors. It is hauntingly beautiful when you hear it done properly. This is called a karanga. She calls and the visiting tribe answers with a call from a woman who has also born children. This call begins the welcome. When the second woman answers then the first responds back and the visitors begin crossing the courtyard of the marae and once they reach the doorway they must remove their shoes before they can enter (showing respect for the holy place). Now Ranui school is a Maori integration school so this powhiri was mostly conducted by the children (they even did the call with an adult woman standing next to them). We also didn't have to take off our shoes. They had a formal marae doorway for us to walk through into their assembly hall.

As we walked up the steps we could hear the children loudly chanting/performing the haka. Remember that the haka was meant to show the tribe's strength and also meant to intimidate other tribes. Powhiris can vary, meaning they don't always perform the haka but they did for us and it was incredible. Once we walked into the assembly hall they directed us to our seats at the front of the audience. We sat on the left side and our welcomers (some of the school faculty, headmistress, etc) sat on the right side. As is traditional the men sat in the front row and the women sit in the second row behind them.

Next the welcoming group has one representative that stands up and speaks for the group. Before this happened and before we took our seats the school stood and sang the national anthem in both Maori and English- God Defend New Zealand. I knew parts of it and it gave me chills listening to the kids sing in Maori. Anyway, after that then the speaker from our welcomers stood. He was a teacher and spoke on behalf of the group. He gave what is called a mihimihi (ma-he-ma-he) which is an introduction that tells the visitors about you and your tribe. You say where your mountain is (your land), what is your river (your water source), and who your ancestors are. Ancestry is very important in their culture (the facial tattoos are made to display ancestry lines through symbols). Traditionally this is said in Maori so that is what they did for us (meaning we didn't really know what they were saying... but it was cool!). After the speech than came the song or waiata. All of the children stood up and sang us a song in Maori that again sounded so beautiful.

Next came our turn. One of the members in Erika's ward had graciously volunteered to speak on our behalf (it had to be a man and he should have Maori heritage). He also spoke in Maori also giving a mihimihi on behalf of our group. Then we also stood and sang a waiata. We sang a beautiful song called te aroha about peace, love, and unity. Next another man named Phil (he is a CES coordinator here and has worked with many of the BYU groups in the past) stood and officially introduced us in English to the school. Then we stood again and sang all three versus of I Am a Child of God. I have to admit that our harmony was pretty awesome :) even if I do say so myself.

After the speeches and waiatas then came the hongi. A hongi is a traditional greeting where you touch foreheads and breath in. This is meant to represent breathing in each others spirit which symbolizes becoming family. So our line formally went over to greet our welcomers and we were able to experience a real hongi. I know it sounds weird but it is actually a very neat experience. Afterwards we gave their school a gift or a koha to show our appreciation for their hospitality. Then the assembly was over and the children sang another Maori song to us on the way out. Usually at this point their is a hakari or a feast in honor of the visitors but because of time and budget restraints we just enjoyed morning tea with the staff (of course we had milo instead of tea).

It is hard to explain the feelings that I experienced while participating in this incredible cultural experience. It hit me as we were sitting at the front of the assembly hall being honored by these students in the traditional Maori way that this really is a once in a lifetime experience. I would not have traded that experience for anything.

Afterwards we went to our assigned schools and began our first day. I promise to write more on that tomorrow. It's just getting late and I have school tomorrow :).