Mt. Zion

Yesterday after school Sara and I walked to the mall. Not that far of a walk- only about half hour or so. Julie had told us about a movie called Mt. Zion (nothing to do with the church) about some Kiwi boys  from back in the 70s who hear about a competition to be the band who opens for Bob Marley (side note: Bob Marley is VERY popular over here. They had a festival going on while we were in Rotarua in his honor to keep his music alive. A bunch of bands play his type of genre). Since it's a Kiwi produced movie, not available in the states Sara and I decided to pay the 13.50 (yes movies are really expensive here) and go see it. Click here to see the trailer: Mt. Zion Trailer

Their movie theaters are just like ours except that you buy your ticket for the movie at the concessions counter... kind of weird. We spent about five minutes wandering around until we finally asked someone and got it sorted out. Haha oh well. Sara saw DDR over in the arcade games and since we had a few minutes to kill before the movie we played a few rounds. She is hard core and goes straight to the difficult level and as for me well lets just say that I'm on the "I haven't played this in years" level but it was still fun.

Although the movie was a bit different than I expected I loved it! It was so cool to see all of the Kiwi customs and traditions actually on the big screen. They had boil-up (something that we ate with Julie), we heard their national anthem on an electric guitar, and the film had a lot of the characters speaking in Maori (there were subtitles for us pakeha- white folk). The message (at least what I got out of it) was that we should be careful who (or what) we decide to make our role model/idol because sacrificing all to that person (or thing) will not necessarily give you anything in return.

Here's just another interesting part of being in another country: their rating system (the movie was only PG):

RATING	DESCRIPTION
G	Suitable for General Audience.
PG	All ages admitted, Parental Guidance recommended. Possible descriptors: Violence; Coarse language; Sexual references; Offensive behaviour; Cruelty; Crime; Horror.
M	Suitable for Mature Audiences 16 and over (but still unrestricted). Possible descriptors: Anti-social behaviour; Horror scenes; Scenes of cruelty; Offensive language; Violence; Sex scenes; Violence and offensive language; Violence, offensive language and sex scenes.
R??	The OFLC can apply any age rating they deem suitable to their Restricted rating. For example, an R13 would be restricted to persons aged 13 and over. More examples...
R16	Restricted to 16 years of age and over. Possible descriptors: Offensive language; Violence; Sex scenes; Violence, offensive language and sex scenes.
R18	Restricted to 18 years of age and over. Possible descriptors: Graphic violence; Explicit sex scenes; Violence and sex scenes; Violence, offensive language and sex scenes.

Our part of town

Their movie theaters looks just like ours! (if you can tell) 

My Class!!!

In case you can't find me look for the more American looking one in the front middle. 

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).