Hitting the road

Erika rented a van and started picking us up for our last trip exploring NZ around 9:30. In NZ they have a five day weekend over Easter- Friday through Tuesday. Because of that long holiday people leave to go visit family etc so the roads were absolutely horrible. We were in stand still traffic for over an hour just trying to get through a tunnel... because of the delay we had to rearrange our plans for the day. So we ended up just driving up to the Bay of Islands- Paihia to be exact and spending the night in our hostel. We mostly just walked around the cute little tourist town and did a little shopping and walking along the beach.  It was a bit stormy looking but the weather held out for us to enjoy the town and surrounding area for the evening. 

To be completely honest, the start off today was hard. Some of the girls didn't get internships and some did, making it a very awkward car topic. Plus everyone was still really tired from teaching. Then add the frustration of traffic and well, it was a bit of a mess... I was just glad to get out of the van and walk around the town. Tomorrow we'll be back on track with plans so hopefully it will be better. 

Last day of praticum :(

What a day! It's so hard to believe that five weeks are over. Today was the last day. The normally five minute walk to the school took an unusually long time today because of the many platters of food (one tray of veggies, three pumpkin pies, a cake, and some cookies) that we had to bring for our shared lunches and morning tea. As soon as I walked into the class I was mobbed by my kids. They gave me chocolate bunnies and eggs and regular chocolate, flax flowers that they helped to make, flowers for my hair, and lots of little cards that they made just for me. All of this before the bell even rang.

Then it was time for roll and my last time of saying good morning to the students. Here it is tradition to call roll by saying good morning to each student and they say good morning back. Since I've been taking over the roll I've been using Spanish phrases that mean good morning. They all sat up so straight this morning and really worked to impress me with their accents.

The rest of the day was a blur. We had sport and then since it is good Friday tomorrow and there's no school we baked today. We made something I'll probably never make again just because it was way too sweet. It's called coconut ice and it's made with powdered sugar, coconut, jello, and sweetened condensed milk. As Mrs. Rihari was deciding the groups she originally put me with a group of girls but then a few of the boys acted pretty disappointed so she put them with me instead. While baking the boys tried to ask me every question they could possibly think of about America. :)

After cooking was morning tea. And since it was our last day we decided to "put on" morning tea meaning we brought some things for the whole staff as a thank you from us. Most of the staff had never tried pumpkin pie before and by the end of morning tea I had to start and email list so I could send out the recipe. Mr. Coromanski came and in front of the staff he personally congratulated us and thanked us for our positive contribution to the school. Then each of our teachers individually stood up and in front of everyone talked about how great we were and that they wished us all the best as we continued on to become teachers of our own classrooms.

The best part of the day happened during our "shared lunch" as they call it here. The coconut ice had to sit in the fridge for a little while to harden so before lunch we pulled it out to sample our handy work and it was one crazy sugar rush. I also cut the pies I made for class and gave each student an opportunity to taste pumpkin pie.  Some loved it and a few didn't but it was a cool experience to introduce them to something so commonplace for me.

At lunch I just had to check my email because today was also internship announcements. It was the whole should I check it or should I leave it until later but I had to know so I checked my email. There it was sitting in my inbox- the email letting me know that I got an internship!!! Seriously the best feeling in the world. All of that hard work and planning paid off. I don't know the grade level yet but I'm just excited by the fact that I'm really going to be a teacher starting in August!

The last part of the day ended with me announcing to my NZ class that I will be a real teacher starting in August. They were all super excited and we have already made a skype date so that my two classes can meet each other. It was then that the class also presented me with a few gifts- a Pomaria hat, letters from each student, and a green stone necklace that each of them touched. It was SO cool and special!

The end of the day was the hardest. Mrs. Rihari left a few minutes early to go help with road patrol so I got to end the day with my class. We played one last Spanish game and then the bell rang. I told them how much I loved them and will miss them and yes I started getting teary eyed... one of the boys asked me if I was crying and I of course I denied it. :) They gave me so many hugs as they headed out of the door. Ug... they were such a great class!! Why does NZ have to be SO far away from the states?!

The rest of the day was pretty chill. I said bye to Mr. Rihari- of course we're going to keep in contact and bye to a few other people before heading home. When I got home I opened up the letters from my class and to my surprise they were mostly in Spanish! My students had looked up a bunch of Spanish words and wrote me letters! It was SO cool :).

Our spread for morning tea

American Pumpkin Pie! Made from scratch :) 

My fabulous mentor and myself :)

A year ago today/Skype and global learning :)

A year ago today March 27th I got to see my family for the first time in 18 months. I still remember how anxious I was as I watched that clock in the mission home wall slowly draggin its hands, showing every passing second. I had no idea that life after the mission would be so difficult or challenging. Ask anyone and they would probably tell you that I adjusted well and I believe that I did- at least on the outside. But I really struggled with finding meaning in the mundane tasks of "normal" life. Nothing could replace that feeling of sheer joy that came by giving up everything so that someone else could find peace and happiness too. School was just something to keep me busy, something I could put all of my effort into and feel like I was accomplishing something. I didn't realize how hard of a time I was still having until I came to New Zealand. No matter how cliche this sounds, I feel as though I've rediscovered myself again while living here.

New Zealand reawakened my love for the outdoors as well as my passion for teaching. True, I don't feel like I ever really lost my desire of becoming a teacher but I guess I forgot how much I really enjoyed it until I had a classroom full of eager students ready and waiting for me to guide them. I realized how much I love planning for what they need and then making it happen. No matter how crazy the day or how rambunctious the kids I still look forward to coming back again and again and again. There is no other feeling in the world (besides an investigator saying yes to baptism and then carrying through with it) that compares to a child looking at you with comprehension shinning through in their grin.

Today was one of those incredible teaching days. I had the experience of bringing some of my culture and background alive for my students through skype. My 13 year old brother graciously accepted the invitation to skype my year 6 class and to be interviewed by them so that they could compare schools/learning environments in the States to Pomaria Primary School. Yesterday we spent a reasonable chunk of time coming up with interview questions that could help us (my class) gain a better understanding at what schools in America are like.

Funny enough it is spring break at home right now so the family is actually off on holiday to Florida visiting my grandparents. There have been a series of pretty powerful thunderstorms that have caused power outages over the space of a few days. So they ended up skyping from McDonalds. We started off the experience by showing the students where we were on google maps and where my brother was skyping from. Their eyes got so big just thinking of how far away Florida really is. Afterwards I rang and we started our skyping session. Because of construction around the school we ended up taking the class to the conference room so that it would be a quieter environment.

It was so awesome! I introduced my brother to the class and they all got to wave hello. Then two class members acted as spokes people to ask him the questions from the class. It was an awesome exchange of knowledge, culture, and experiences. Although he is a few years older than my students they are preparing to move up to intermediate school next year. We skyped for 25 minutes! The class had a chance to meet my mom, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, aunt, and cousin. They also had the opportunity to introduce themselves and say hi. After I said goodbye we grabbed the ipads and used google earth to see exactly where my brother's school is, where my house is, where my university is, etc. Mrs. Rihari wrote down everything that my brother said in response to the questions and tomorrow we will make a list of comparisons. Such a great experience!

Waterfalls and Pumpkin Pie

Since our plans changed for the weekend I decided to make my own plans. Erika and I went hiking this morning around 7:30am. I invited some of the other girls to come but they all said it was too early. It was the most perfect morning for a hike! It was a chilly morning with the sun breaking through fog covering some of the hills. It reminded me of home :). We took a trail called the Goldie Bush walk that led to a waterfall named Mokoroa Falls. The hike was perfect- ups and downs, some stairs, and a cool cable bridge. The falls itself was beautiful but running low on water. It was just nice to be outside and enjoying the beautiful sunrise. We hiked through the bush pretty much the whole time and surprisingly it was pretty humid- probably because it rained last night. The hike back was a little more intensive because there were quite a few stairs to climb. I can't wait to get back home and start a solid exercise routine again.

After the hike we stopped by Muriwai beach. Erika's nephew sent her Flat Stanley and asked her to take pictures with him in different place around NZ. So we took him with us and got some pictures with a few surfers and with the black sand as well as the waterfall. We also stopped by to see the Gannet colony (a type of noisy, smelly bird that nests right next to the cliff edge) which was cool. There was also a surfing competition going on that we got to watch for a bit- interesting because it was this beach where the shark attack happened that killed that man. There was also a really cool sea cave that we got to explore. The surf would come up through the cave making the cave seem a little erie. It was such a great start to the day!

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Julie, Beau, Jean, and Jayceen. Julie drove us to a few different beaches outside of Auckland and we had a mini picnic while enjoying the beautiful weather. It was such a great day! Jean even made some cake pops for the occasion. While chatting I got the idea to try making some pumpkin pie (I promised my class that I would bring them some next week). The idea of pumpkin pie is super weird to the Kiwis. It's almost as if someone suggested that we make a squash pie and serve it for dessert. But I did a trial run and even though it didn't turn out exactly like our American version and I had to first cut up and boil a real pumpkin (they don't have canned pumpkin here) before making the actual pie (their pumpkins are white and green here and super small but they are orange on the inside). It was turned out really yum! Oh and I made it in a square pan... even though it's usually round. This was just a test run anyway. I'm super sleepy from such a busy but awesome day... night :).

Some of the trees we were hiking through with the morning sunlight streaming through. 

The original NZ silver fern. So named because the underside is a silvery white color. This is their national symbol. 

A cool tree with multicolored bark. 

Morokoa Falls. It's still pretty even though the water flow wasn't that great. 

 A classic NZ look- lots of rolling hills, livestock, and blue sky

Muriwai beach 

Gannet colony (the white specks to the left, center, and right). Also a view of where the shark attack happened. Find the black rock jutting out underneath where all of the Gannets are to the right. That is where the fishermen were standing when they heard the cries for help and saw the attack happen. From that point go straight out about 20 meters or so and that's about where he was attacked and killed. 

The white ones are the parents and the grey ones are the babies. 

Despite being only a hundred meters or so from where the shark attack happened there was still a surf competition. All of those black dots are surfers. 

A better view of the black rock. You can even see fishermen on the rocks. 

Coastline and beach :)

View from the beach. 

Sea cave! 

Sometimes the water would rush in really fast and sometimes it would be completely empty. There were carvings of people's names all over the walls of the cave. 

Pumpkin pie- square form :) 

Beach Day!

So good news bad news... Bad news the van company we had booked our van with doubled booked the van so last minute Erika had to call every car rental place in Auckland but none of them had any 10 passenger vans available. So we had to cancel our Coromandel trip... in a way it was nice because it made for a nice relaxing Friday. It was a bit up in the air as to how we should spend our free Friday. Sara, Elise, and Brittany opted for Indian food and then the mall (Sara loves playing DDR and they have a place to play it at the mall). Erika said that anyone who wanted to could come with her to the beach so I took her up on that offer.

It ended up being just Erika and I but who doesn't love hanging with their program director- especially when she is as awesome as Erika. :) She picked me up around 1 and we drove out to Takapuna beach. It was a pretty windy and cloudy day but the beach was beautiful. I admit I didn't wear sunscreen... not the best idea in the NZ sun (I usually don't burn very easily but the sun is a lot stronger here). I didn't get burned per say... :). It was SO nice to be at the beach again- I haven't really been since we got back from the South Island. It may sound weird spending the whole day just me and my professor but it was awesome! We have a lot of common interests and she's doing a lot of research in bilingual education which is something I am very interested in. I've never really worked closely along side a professor before but it really nice to have her insight and experience- especially when it comes to succeeding in education.

We also stopped by another beach that's more of a secret beach just a few miles down. It was really beautiful and quiet. The ocean is such a great place to contemplate life :) After dinner I went over to Elise and Brittany's house (Sara was there too) and we watched Harry Potter 5. It's funny how much you forget happens when you haven't seen the movie in a while. All in all it was a great day even though our plans were changed last minute.

Radio and Observations

Wednesday was observation day. That is probably the hardest part of our job- looking like we know what we are doing :). The good thing was we had a talk right after roll of respect and showing visitors how we behave in our classroom. I told my kids that my professor was coming in to watch me today and that she wasn't only watching me but that she was watching my students and seeing how well they represent room 8 learning. The observation went really well. Of course there are things that I could have done better but over all I achieved the lesson objective while managing and guiding the learners. I only had my maths group so it wasn't the whole class which was really nice as well. Honestly I was nervous but as soon as Erika showed up all of those feelings disappeared and I just focused on the kids.

Afterwards we had a mini debrief where we talked about the lesson. This was kind of a big deal only because my internship recommendation rides on this one observation. I scored very well and Erika said that she's confident that I will do very well at the internship. I will find out next week if I have been picked for an internship or not. Yes I'm nervous about getting one but I also know that I've given it my best shot and whatever is meant to work out will happen.

Thursday was also an awesome day because I got to be on the radio! Here at Pomaria school the kids operate a daily radio program during their lunch period. It's the kids job to write the scripts and organize the radio show each day. They also act as DJ meaning they pick out the songs the radio will play. There is a teacher in charge of the radio but she is only there as a resource because the radio is completely student run. There are usually two students directing the show each day and two more acting as techies if something goes wrong or needs to be tweaked. The students take turns running the radio program.

Some of the girls in my class are DJs on the radio and asked if they could interview me as part of their radio show. The program is only broadcast out for a few kilometers but it's still an awesome opportunity for the kids to make connections and contribute to the community. My interview lasted a whole five minutes and they just asked me what kinds of pets I have at home, what I have enjoyed about New Zealand, etc. I even got to pick the next song that they played (Just the way you are by Bruno Mars). All in all it was a great ending to the week since we have tomorrow off!

Parents Night!

Wednesday night was my first official meet the parents night. The school recently got a new garden area (garden for display not growing food) and they wanted to combine a blessing ceremony on the garden and a parents night. The staff sat in front, organized by house. It was a little surreal to be sitting with the staff. It was just one of those moments where I couldn't believe I was grown up enough to be a teacher but then at the same time it feels like I my life is moving in exactly the right direction. Each of the staff members (including myself) had the opportunity to stand up and introduce themsevles. The principal spoke as well as his two assistants. Some of the boys in a club called the Kapahaka (a club for students to learn how to perform Maori dances like the haka) stood up and performed a haka. They were adorable because they are still super small but they gave their all to impress the audience. They wore the traditional skirt called a pupu during the performance, which just added to the performance. 

After the introductions and welcome we followed the Maori leader and the boys out to the garden area.  The Maori leader then dedicated the garden and said a special prayer (all in Maori) while sprinkling holy water using a small gathering of leaves on each of the four big stones and the main tree in the garden. At the end of the prayer the boys who performed the haka sang a song in Maori to the tune of How Great Thou Art. It was hauntingly beautiful. Then we were invited to come up and touch each of the rocks and the tree. In Maori culture they believe that as our spirits connect with nature we can leave a piece of ourselves to keep nature alive. By touching the rocks and the trees after the ceremony it was symbolic of each of us giving support and life to the garden that it would be a fruitful, peaceful, and prosperous place for future generations. All of this took place right as the sun was setting, which filled the sky with so many magnificent colors! A rainbow also shone through after the ceremony. It was such an incredible experience to be a part of!

Afterwards the parents and teachers mingled together. It was the learners (students) responsibility to introduce their parents to their teachers. Such an important skill for the students to develop. Sadly I only had the chance to meet two or three of my students parents but it was still a neat opportunity.

Green- Whanaungatanga  Orange- Matauranga  Red- Manaakitanga  Yello- Turangawaewae

Beautiful rainbow :)

Behind us is the garden that was blessed. 

These boys practice every day at lunch to make sure they get the performance down correctly.