Here’s a recap:
After dinner last Tuesday, Jules took us for a cruise to Point Chev – a beach/park area. We walked along the beach for a ways while Beau attempted to go in the water – it was pretty cold and windy – and then walked over to a playground area where I played on the swings with Beau. Jules can’t believe I’ve only been to the beach a select few times throughout my life, so our goal is to take advantage of the beach as much as possible while I’m here! We also got to drive through downtown Auckland for the first time – it pretty much looked like any other big city, but the fact that it is Auckland, NZ made it exciting and novel. We drove right past the Sky Tower – the tallest building in NZ– and then drove up to Mt. Eden (one of the many inactive volcanoes around the Auckland area). It was a gorgeous view of the city, as well as other volcanoes, and the water (because Auckland is on an isthmus). It was incredibly windy but fun to get out and see something new.
Here's a picture of a few of us in the group at Orewa Beach, where we went for a YSA activity last weekend:
On Wednesday we had umu for dinner – a Maori meal consisting of kumara, pumpkin, potatoes, cabbage, and lamb/chicken, etc. that is cooked in the ground. Jules’ sister brought it over to us.
Thursday was just a typical school day – we talked about Writing in my Literacy class and learned about a NZ method called Cameo writing. It is taking a small piece of text and making it really strong. We talked about how you have to give students boundaries in order to force them to be creative, and got to do some of our own Cameo writing – I love it and think it can be beneficial in multiple ways. I spent most of the night studying for an Assessment final (ironic, I know) that we had to take Friday afternoon. LeVier, Beau’s dad, brought us over some fish & chips, which we couldn’t say no to, so we had a nice study break while we ate and chatted with him. He’s from Tonga. He's so nice - I'm a fan.
Friday was our last day for two of the classes (Literacy and Assessment), so we had a final for Assessment which I felt went pretty well. It was really easy compared to what it would have been if I were on BYU campus in April because of our limited resources. We got done early, which was nice – but then Mekelle and I did homework for the rest of the night. We had a huge project due Monday and literally spent 7 hours that night. But we got it done so then we didn’t have to worry about it the rest of the weekend.
We also did laundry for the 1st time since we’ve been there – I’ve been holding out as long as possible. We get to hang-dry everything, so it is a bit different than the convenience and comfort of a dryer….. There are 2 huge lines outside our back patio door just for the two of us and we filled them up pretty quick despite how many clothes we had to leave home.
This is the chapel we have class in. It's about a 10-minute walk from our place.
Saturday we finally got to go into Auckland City with Breanna and Ashley. We took a bus downtown and got dropped off by the harbor. We strolled for a bit and just explored in the shops around the main streets. I found an adapter so I could at least use my laptop (I’ve just been using Mekelle’s), so that was successful. We took a 12-minute ferry ride over to Devonport and found a cute café for dinner and roamed around for a bit. We got to see a MASSIVE Princess Diamond Cruise ship take off. I’ve also developed an interest in sailboats – I just love them! The plan was to get some gelato before we left, but all of the shops closed at 6 – everything closes early here! We took the ferry back to Auckland and right when we got off we found a gelato shop that was still open – and they had the NZ hokey pokey flavor we have grown to love and crave. So, we were all pretty happy about that. It took a while to catch another bus back near our homes, but eventually made it back – tired but satisfied with the days’ events. The bus routes/systems are not very clear so it took a lot of teamwork and asking to figure out where we were supposed to go. But….you gotta learn somehow! We stayed at the other girls’ house for a while and observed NZ’s versions of Disney channel shows……which are not very good in case you wanted to know.
The other girls were taking pictures like crazy all day and I was so sad that I still couldn’t find my camera charger – so Breanna had an extra camera that she let me use (because she has a really nice professional one, plus a normal digital one) so I could at least snap a few photos and not feel left out! Haha we all thought that was pretty funny.
Sunday morning was relaxing and mostly quiet – until I screamed in excitement at the fact that I FOUND my camera charger! It was in the darkest corner under my bed – it must have somehow rolled under there. I had already looked there, but I guess not thoroughly enough. I was so ecstatic and went to charge my camera battery immediately (because I finally had an adapter). But – of course, the adapter doesn’t work. It was cheap….. I just really have no luck when it comes to electrical things here. So that took the excitement out of it somewhat. Mekelle gave a talk in church, and one of the counselors in the bishopric came up and asked which of us were speaking that day, and then turned to me and said, “You’re next week?” I totally thought he was joking….but then he tracked me down afterwards and just smiled and handed me a slip of paper – with the assignment to give a talk next week! Haha. My topic is “we’re not alone.”
I’m trying to get to know the Young Women – they are lacking a 2nd counselor right now, so they might have me just take that position for the time being. They’re fun and it brings back a lot of memories. I think we have a mutual activity with the young men on Thursday night, so I will probably go with them. The other counselor is my age – and her name is Shayna. She came up to me after class and asked if I wanted to go to the CES fireside broadcast with her. I was so excited and appreciative – I had heard nothing about it and hadn’t met any other YSA in our ward. She came and picked us up a couple hours later and we had a lot of fun meeting some people our age, plus the broadcast was great (Elder Anderson spoke). Shayna was even going to let me drive home….but I told her I needed a little bit more time to get used to the backwardness of it all.
On Monday we started a new class – Teaching Mathematics to children. I admit, I have been dreading this class more than anything. But, my teacher is awesome! She’s not a member like our other teacher was, but she’s so much fun. Her name is Helen - she’s fashionable, loud, blunt, but pretty easy going – and so knowledgeable! We played so many games and did mathematical activities I forgot I was even doing math. That’s exactly how I want it to be with my future students. Math = fun.
In the past few years NZ has developed and introduced a mathematical program into their schools called “Numeracy Project.” It’s amazing! Helen has been teaching us all about it and how it works. It’s basically more of an individual-focused program but still implements whole-class instruction. This way, kids don’t get bored if they already know the content, and those that still need some help filling in basic knowledge gaps do not get so frustrated. It just makes sense to me and is a more efficient way for teachers to really see what level the student is on and then teach them from that point.
Jules organized a little Family Home Evening last night. Kamaea (my host sis) just got back from EFY on Saturday, so she did a little lesson for us. I was in charge of the game – so I taught everyone how to play the water game (where you choose a category and walk around with a spray bottle as the others try to guess what specific thing you are thinking of). We had a lot of fun with that – especially with the spray bottle…..
This is our house:
Kamaea’s friend, Courtney, was staying over so Mekelle and I talked to them for a while. They were asking all kinds of questions about America and college life. Courtney said she is afraid to go to America because she thinks that people just go around shooting other people (like in the movies). We laughed, and tried to explain things. They were so curious about what everyone wears and the kinds of people in the States. It was interesting to see what this younger generation really believes…mostly because of the internet, Hollywood news, and movies.
Today was another great day at school – I really do love this teacher. It’s people like her that have influenced me for the better and inspired me to go into an educational profession. Jules bought us some drawers so we might put those together tonight. We’ve just been living out of our suit cases for the past 2 weeks….it will be nice to officially “move in.” Also – I was so upset that my recently-purchased adapter isn’t working, so I was going to just ask Jules to give me a ride to the store. She asked me what it looks like and I explained, and then she said she might have one because she’s collected a few things like that over the years. And…..she came back 15 minutes later with the right piece! My luck is finally turning around…..
I went for a walk after dinner tonight to drop some stuff off at the letterbox and all of the neighborhood kids were out riding bikes and playing in the street. They all came up to me at once and couldn't believe I was from America. They were soooo stinkin' cute! They all know my name now and were asking all kinds of questions about America and what it's like there. They said they are going to make us a bracelet...haha so funny! I loved it. They saw me taking some pictures and asked if they could be in a picture too - so here are my new neighborhood friends! They said they see us walking home from school everyday (because its their summer break) and so they're going to watch for us from now on.
That’s the update for now. Life is great, the days are getting hotter, we’re half way through with our classes, and I now have camera and laptop access. :)
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