The last 2 days at Swanson School have been very interesting. On Wednesday morning, the staff started to play a game called "Murder". Each staff member had to pick a card out of a deck and the card told them if they were a victim or the murderer. There is only one murderer in the entire game. The point is to try and figure out who the murderer is before they come and "kill you". However, there are some stipulations with the "killings". The murderer, who is not me, can only kill when they are alone in a room with one of the victims. If students are around, you can't be killed. But there is one more little twist. Once a victim dies, he/she can help the murderer and trap you in a room. You can be killed around someone who has already died. The murderer can also kill out of school hours and can come to your house if he/she decides that they want to. So basically, you need kids around you at all times.
Yesterday when the game started, I was careful to have students around me but I wasn't really that scared. I had not heard of many teachers being "killed" and thought that I would be pretty safe. This morning, however, things started to change. I was somewhat hiding in my room, alone, and then Miranda came into my room too. We had the lights off and I was somewhat hidden behind the desk. All the sudden the murderer, Bex, was in our room. We think that she didn't realize we were together. She told us that she was ready to hunt American meat (scary, I know) and that we needed to watch our backs. That is when the game really began.
All day today I have had students surrounding me. I have personal body guards and Miranda and I made sure that we were always together. The kids were very content on making sure that we were safe and not alone. We even had kids who were willing to walk us home after school.
The scary part starts now. Miranda and I are currently together but concerned about what could happen when we part from each other at home. Hopefully there isn't a visitor to my house tonight. I am doing whatever it takes to stay alive. Our goal is to stay alive through tomorrow (which is our Friday) and then we should be safe over the weekend because we will be in Rotorua. But we will see what happens. Wish me luck!
May the odds ever be in your favor.
-Elizabeth
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
The Middle of Middle Earth
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| Gollum at the airport! |
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| They even turned the baggage claim into Hobbiton! |
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| The first thing you see upon arrival. |
Friday morning we woke up and decided that it was time to explore the city on our own. The very first place that we stopped was Starbucks (of course!) and it had even been decorated in celebration of the Hobbit. The Starbucks also had special drinks named after characters in The Hobbit in celebration of the premier.
After Starbucks. we started wandering down the street and happened to find Cuba Quarter, which is the shopping district. I was basically in heaven. We spent most of our day in Cuba Quarter, wandering up and down the down streets and in and out of shops. Of course I did find myself using a little retail therapy to make up for our far from 4 star backpackers accommodation. I mean, you can't really blame me when I can buy clothes that no one else in the states will have.
We both decided that it was time to eat and found a cute little cafe that was right by our accommodations. Upon walking in, we realized that the place that we walked into was New Orleans themed. Now you might not think that is very cool but Miranda and I both went to New Orleans in January of 2012 as part of a class. It was really fun to "go back to our roots" and find something that reminded us of home and an experience that we had shared in the past. At the cafe, I had some delicious Mac and Cheese (Not Kraft but still quite yummy) and a New Zealand beer, which was so tasty. All in all, it was an absolutely perfect afternoon and the sun was shining throughout our entire adventure.
After some shopping, I was exhausted and so was Miranda so we decided that we would take a nap before going out for the evening. After we woke up, we decided that we would do a little bit more shopping before deciding that we would go to the movies before hitting the town for the night. Miranda and I went to see Twilight, which was surprisingly pretty good. When the movie was over, we walked up and down the streets and found a bar called The Grand to have a drink. It was gorgeous on the outside and was huge. There were 3 floors! We walked around a little more and then called it a night.
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| This is the Embassy Theater, where the premier took place. It was right across the street from where we were staying |
Saturday was our big sight seeing day! We ended up going on a tour and hit all of the top spots for tourists to see. Our trip started off by going to Mount Victoria. Mount Victoria has some of the most spectacular views of the city and allowed us to see everything. It was gorgeous!
The craziest part about Mount Victoria was seeing where our plane had landed. Before going to Wellington, I had been told some horror stories about planes not being able to land because of the wind and of planes coming in sideways when they land. My plane, however, landed perfectly so I didn't really think twice about where we landed. But then I saw the small strip of land that our plane landed on and realized why they often bring new pilots to try and land in Wellington. It did not look easy at all!
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| You can see the small strip of land on the right hand side where we landed. It is in a valley between 2 mountains! |
After Weta Cave, we got back on the bus and drove around the city. We saw Parliament (and the only thing I could think of was European Vacation "Kids, there's Big Ben and Parliament!") and the Bee Hive, which is the office buildings that are connected to Parliament. The next place that Miranda and I got off the bus was the cable car and the botanical garden. The cable car had some really beautiful views and it was fun to be able to ride up and down the mountain. Then, we went through the botanical gardens and into the rose garden. It had 106 beds of roses and every single bed was absolutely gorgeous!
Our last stop for the day was the Wellington Museum. It was all about the history of Wellington and how it came to be. It was a cool place but I think it would have been more interesting if I would have known a little bit of history going into the museum instead of going in blind. However, it was really pretty and I did learn a lot about Wellington.
After the big day, it was nap time again before heading out to super at a little cafe. We spent some more time wandering around the city before heading to bed one more night in the interesting backpackers accommodation.
Sunday morning came and it was time to go to the last museum in the city, Te Papa. It is an incredible place with 6 floors of exhibits that are all interactive. The first floor was my favorite. It was an underwater theme and had some really cool skeletons of whales and dolphins. There was an area in the museum that was dedicated to the Maori culture and I learned a ton about the history of New Zealand as a whole. It was cool to learn how the United States tied into the history of New Zealand (I had no idea about any of it!) and see the differences between the development of New Zealand and of the states.
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| Yet another dedication to The Hobbit in the lobby of Te Papa. |
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| This is the skeleton of a whale. It was huge! |
It was a very full weekend with lots to do and see! I could very much see myself living in a city like Wellington at some point in the future but I do understand why many people opt to not live there; the weather is very unpredictable and it can get extremely windy!
This week in school, we have kind of a funny week. Today, my syndicate had their end of the year trip so we went to the zoo in Auckland and went to an indoor aquatic center that is called West Wave. It was really fun but an exhausting day. Tomorrow we are taking some of the students in the school to compete in an athletics competition with other schools who are in the area, so I have another busy day ahead of myself.
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| Spending some time at the zoo. |
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| The tigers were out this time and they were stunning! |
Have a great week everyone and I will see you all before you know it!
Keep calm and eat a kiwi (the fruit! not the person or the animal)
-Elizabeth
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The End of the Year is in the Air
Week 6 at Swanson School is in the books, which means there are only 2 more weeks left of me being in New Zealand and of school at Swanson. Needless to say, the kids know that the end is near and they have started to get the summer break blues.
One special thing about this week was the staff Christmas breakfast that happened on Tuesday morning. We had to get to school early so that we could have breakfast as one happy team. After the breakfast, we had a contest with decorating the staff room! Each teacher is in one of the four school houses and the staff houses were in competition with one another to create the best Christmas display in the staff room. However, we only had one bag of old Christmas decorations to use. It was hilarious and something that I never imagined would have happened in a staff room!
This week, students are working on wrapping up the big inquiry project that they are doing, where they are inventing things that would revolutionize the world. Some of the students' inventions include a flying bed, a time machine, rocket shoes, and a cruise ship that would go in space. The kids have been working on their inquiry projects for the past 2 weeks. They had to first research an inventor and learn about the invention that was created. Then they were able to create their own invention that would change the world. Next week students will be presenting and I will make sure to take lots of pictures of what they create to show you!
We also studied more about America this week. The class told me that they were interested in some of the cities in the states so we took a closer look at Washington, D.C. and New York City. Students were very interested in what happened with the Twin Towers and why America was so changed because of it. I was surprised by how much students knew about the topic, considering a lot of them weren't even born when September 11th happened (which made me feel really old!) I enjoyed being able to have the serious sort of conversations with students that were necessary and hear their feedback on the subject.
Lastly, this week we started a new unit on frogs! We are studying all different types of frogs and taking a closer look at the frogs that are in New Zealand. As a final wrap up to the unit next week, we are going to make origami frogs and have contests to see who can make their frog jump the highest and the furthest. It should be an exciting time in Room 13!
Next week is my last week on full control and it is really a short week. On Monday, we have our end of the year trip and we are going to the Auckland Zoo (YES!!) and to a pool called West Wave. It is going to be an exciting but very busy day. Then on Tuesday, we are going to the Henderson Cluster Athletics competition to help out Miranda's co-op and cheer on Swanson School! This leaves me with only 3 more days as being the teacher, which is crazy! The last week of school at Swanson is filled with wrap up and cleaning out the rooms for next year. It is different from the states in the fact that students help to move furniture around and they help the teacher's clear out the rooms for the new school year.
This weekend Miranda and I are in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It is a really exciting time down there because the world premier of The Hobbit occurred on Wednesday (your Tuesday) and when we go down, there should still be some of the things set up. (In honor of the premier, I gave all of my students Hobbit names, using the Hobbit name generator On Wednesday, I would only respond to Peony Foxburr of Loamsdown and all of the students were called by their hobbit names!) I am super excited to be there for that plus, we are going to Hobbiton next weekend!!
As I am sitting here writing this, I am coming to the strange realization that I am going to be leaving this incredible country in a short 2 weeks. My time here has flown by and I still don't really believe that I am here. The experiences that I have had are irreplaceable and I am going to cherish them forever. I love that I have been able to share parts of my journey with all of you!
Keep calm and eat a kiwi
-Elizabeth
One special thing about this week was the staff Christmas breakfast that happened on Tuesday morning. We had to get to school early so that we could have breakfast as one happy team. After the breakfast, we had a contest with decorating the staff room! Each teacher is in one of the four school houses and the staff houses were in competition with one another to create the best Christmas display in the staff room. However, we only had one bag of old Christmas decorations to use. It was hilarious and something that I never imagined would have happened in a staff room!
This week, students are working on wrapping up the big inquiry project that they are doing, where they are inventing things that would revolutionize the world. Some of the students' inventions include a flying bed, a time machine, rocket shoes, and a cruise ship that would go in space. The kids have been working on their inquiry projects for the past 2 weeks. They had to first research an inventor and learn about the invention that was created. Then they were able to create their own invention that would change the world. Next week students will be presenting and I will make sure to take lots of pictures of what they create to show you!
We also studied more about America this week. The class told me that they were interested in some of the cities in the states so we took a closer look at Washington, D.C. and New York City. Students were very interested in what happened with the Twin Towers and why America was so changed because of it. I was surprised by how much students knew about the topic, considering a lot of them weren't even born when September 11th happened (which made me feel really old!) I enjoyed being able to have the serious sort of conversations with students that were necessary and hear their feedback on the subject.
Lastly, this week we started a new unit on frogs! We are studying all different types of frogs and taking a closer look at the frogs that are in New Zealand. As a final wrap up to the unit next week, we are going to make origami frogs and have contests to see who can make their frog jump the highest and the furthest. It should be an exciting time in Room 13!
Next week is my last week on full control and it is really a short week. On Monday, we have our end of the year trip and we are going to the Auckland Zoo (YES!!) and to a pool called West Wave. It is going to be an exciting but very busy day. Then on Tuesday, we are going to the Henderson Cluster Athletics competition to help out Miranda's co-op and cheer on Swanson School! This leaves me with only 3 more days as being the teacher, which is crazy! The last week of school at Swanson is filled with wrap up and cleaning out the rooms for next year. It is different from the states in the fact that students help to move furniture around and they help the teacher's clear out the rooms for the new school year.
This weekend Miranda and I are in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand. It is a really exciting time down there because the world premier of The Hobbit occurred on Wednesday (your Tuesday) and when we go down, there should still be some of the things set up. (In honor of the premier, I gave all of my students Hobbit names, using the Hobbit name generator On Wednesday, I would only respond to Peony Foxburr of Loamsdown and all of the students were called by their hobbit names!) I am super excited to be there for that plus, we are going to Hobbiton next weekend!!
As I am sitting here writing this, I am coming to the strange realization that I am going to be leaving this incredible country in a short 2 weeks. My time here has flown by and I still don't really believe that I am here. The experiences that I have had are irreplaceable and I am going to cherish them forever. I love that I have been able to share parts of my journey with all of you!
Keep calm and eat a kiwi
-Elizabeth
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Surfer Girl!
I forgot to add the picture of our finished turkey in my last post, so here he is!
I have learned that no matter how tired you are, you have no choice but to take full advantage of the "2 stay at home days" you have when you are in another country and I think that I have done just that my entire time being in New Zealand.
On Friday night, Miranda and I went up the scenic drive with Amanda, my co-op, to her parents home for supper. We have been up the scenic drive one other time to see the views and they were amazing so I was really excited to see what it would look like having a house there. Needless to say, the view that we had from their porch was indescribable. It was nice to have a night away to just relax and enjoy the beauty that is surrounding Swanson. The supper that I had was so yummy and once again, I found myself being "Thanksgiving stuffed".
Saturday morning came and it was time to head to the Sky Tower, something that I have wanted to do since we came here. The Sky Tower is similar to the Space Needle in Seattle and you can see the entire city from the top of it. When we got there, we saw some people doing the sky jump, where you bungee jump off the top of the building. It looked really fun but way too scary for me to even think about. We decided that we would simply take the elevator (which was kind of like the Tower of Terror where you can see outside as you are going up) and enjoy the view. We were able to go up 212 m (696 feet) and get a view of the entire city. It was absolutely gorgeous!
Needless to say, it was an incredible experience. It really made me think how quickly that this journey has been when I realized that it probably would be my last time in Auckland because I only have two weekends left and they are both jam packed with travel.
Miranda and I even managed to find some time on Saturday to spend at the casino!
While in the city on Saturday, we also came upon a group of protestors who were outside the American consulate building. There were protesting the American stance in what has happened at the Gaza Strip. Needless to say, Miranda and I stayed on the other side of the street and tried to blend in as much as possible so that no one would get mad at us for being American. It was an interesting protest because the police were involved and were helping to keep everyone safe by deferring traffic around the people in the street. I had never seen that before, not that I have been to a whole lot of protests in my days.
On Sunday, I spent most of the day planning out my upcoming week and getting myself ready for the following week as well. The exciting part of Sunday didn't come until the early evening when it was time to go surfing! I really didn't know what to think as I was getting ready to go. I was extremely excited to try it but nervous that I might be absolutely terrible at it! The beach that I went surfing at is called Piha Beach and it is one that Miranda and I had not yet visited. Our surf instructor picked us up at Swanson School and our adventure began!
Once we arrived at the beach, it was time to get changed into wetsuits and learn how to surf. We probably spent about 10 minutes total learning how to surf and the other hour and 50 minutes in the water, actually surfing. At first, it was really tricky trying to get up but after a few tries, I started to get the hang of it. The waves were probably 5-6ft in height so it was very intimidating at first. Once I got going though, I was able to stand up on my surf board quite a few times!! The time flew by and I honestly had the most amazing time of my life. It was so incredible to be in the ocean, surfing in New Zealand. Not many people can say that they have done that!
Miranda and I are really hoping that we are going to be able to go one more time before we leave because it was so much fun! However, that will depend on how sore I am after this adventure. No one mentioned how tough it is to fight waves for 2 hours!! But it definitely was an experience that I would never take back. I can see how people can become so addicted to it. There truly is the most indescribable feeling when you finally stand up on your board and the ocean moves you. It is just incredible to be part of the ocean in that sense.
5 weeks have come and gone. It is hard to believe that this incredible experience will soon be coming to an end. I have learned so much from the people here and I am trying to embrace the more laid back lifestyle here and make it part of my own. When I do get back, however, the first thing I am doing is having a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese because I miss it sooooo much!! (Who ever thought that noodles and cheese could be missed, but trust me when I say that they can)
Have a wonderful week everyone and I hope to hear from all of you very soon!
XOXO
Surfer Girl
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| Room 13 and Room 11 are thankful for many different things, including family, friends, and being alive! |
I have learned that no matter how tired you are, you have no choice but to take full advantage of the "2 stay at home days" you have when you are in another country and I think that I have done just that my entire time being in New Zealand.
On Friday night, Miranda and I went up the scenic drive with Amanda, my co-op, to her parents home for supper. We have been up the scenic drive one other time to see the views and they were amazing so I was really excited to see what it would look like having a house there. Needless to say, the view that we had from their porch was indescribable. It was nice to have a night away to just relax and enjoy the beauty that is surrounding Swanson. The supper that I had was so yummy and once again, I found myself being "Thanksgiving stuffed".
Saturday morning came and it was time to head to the Sky Tower, something that I have wanted to do since we came here. The Sky Tower is similar to the Space Needle in Seattle and you can see the entire city from the top of it. When we got there, we saw some people doing the sky jump, where you bungee jump off the top of the building. It looked really fun but way too scary for me to even think about. We decided that we would simply take the elevator (which was kind of like the Tower of Terror where you can see outside as you are going up) and enjoy the view. We were able to go up 212 m (696 feet) and get a view of the entire city. It was absolutely gorgeous!
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| View from the top! |
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| I even found our new boat Dad! |
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| The Harbor Bridge |
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| Looking down on the city |
Miranda and I even managed to find some time on Saturday to spend at the casino!
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| The casino was decorate for Christmas!! |
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| Just playing the slots in Auckland :) |
On Sunday, I spent most of the day planning out my upcoming week and getting myself ready for the following week as well. The exciting part of Sunday didn't come until the early evening when it was time to go surfing! I really didn't know what to think as I was getting ready to go. I was extremely excited to try it but nervous that I might be absolutely terrible at it! The beach that I went surfing at is called Piha Beach and it is one that Miranda and I had not yet visited. Our surf instructor picked us up at Swanson School and our adventure began!
Once we arrived at the beach, it was time to get changed into wetsuits and learn how to surf. We probably spent about 10 minutes total learning how to surf and the other hour and 50 minutes in the water, actually surfing. At first, it was really tricky trying to get up but after a few tries, I started to get the hang of it. The waves were probably 5-6ft in height so it was very intimidating at first. Once I got going though, I was able to stand up on my surf board quite a few times!! The time flew by and I honestly had the most amazing time of my life. It was so incredible to be in the ocean, surfing in New Zealand. Not many people can say that they have done that!
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| Learning about rips on the beach. |
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| And now we learn to stand up! |
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| Time for a little warm up, without our boards |
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| Heading off to hang 10! |
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| Surfer Girl!! Sadly, he didn't get one of me standing up. |
Miranda and I are really hoping that we are going to be able to go one more time before we leave because it was so much fun! However, that will depend on how sore I am after this adventure. No one mentioned how tough it is to fight waves for 2 hours!! But it definitely was an experience that I would never take back. I can see how people can become so addicted to it. There truly is the most indescribable feeling when you finally stand up on your board and the ocean moves you. It is just incredible to be part of the ocean in that sense.
5 weeks have come and gone. It is hard to believe that this incredible experience will soon be coming to an end. I have learned so much from the people here and I am trying to embrace the more laid back lifestyle here and make it part of my own. When I do get back, however, the first thing I am doing is having a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese because I miss it sooooo much!! (Who ever thought that noodles and cheese could be missed, but trust me when I say that they can)
Have a wonderful week everyone and I hope to hear from all of you very soon!
XOXO
Surfer Girl
Friday, November 23, 2012
Thanksgving and Football: 2 American Traditions
I just want to start this by saying that I am incredibly jealous of everyone in America right now who is getting time off of student teaching, work, school, etc. to be home for the holiday's but I guess quite a few of you could be jealous of me so I won't really complain ;)
This week, Room 13 has been focusing on two main things: Thanksgiving and American Football. All of the students in my New Zealand class room love sport and they are the most engaged when they are either participating in sports or learning about sports. Because of this, I decided that we would have a few days centered around learning all about American sports, mostly football.
On Monday, my kids had to read all about football and learn the rules of the game. Football is much different from rugby, the sport that most people in New Zealand love. I had to explain to my students how football was played and what the main objective was. Mind you, this meant that I had to do my research to learn a little more about football since it is not my personal favorite sport.
I made sure to incorporate writing into our football day as well. Students had to decide what job they would want to hold at a football arena (a player, cheerleader, mascot, coach, vendor, etc.) and describe what their typical game day would look like. It was really interesting to hear what the students thought that everyone would be doing without actually having been to a game.
We spent a lot of time on Tuesday discussing all the rules, learning the positions, and also learning how to line up before a play starts. Overall, my students seemed to be understanding the game fairly well. I showed them videos of what it looked like and more thoroughly explained all the positions. It was then time for the students to learn who was on their team.
I divided the students up into 2 teams. They had to decide who was going to be their quarterback and also who they would have as captain. We also had to determine the kicker. From there, students were in charge of making up names for their teams. In the end, we ended up with the Auckland Vikings (based on the Minnesota Vikings for some odd reason) and the New York Machetes (based on the New York Giants).
Tuesday night, I was able to go on a little adventure to another beach. It was a black sand beach again and was absolutely gorgeous. From being at the beach, Miranda and I got this idea that we should probably try to go surfing before we leave here because honestly, when are we ever going to have the opportunity again!?
Wednesday came and it was finally time to play football! Needless to say, students kind of looked like chickens with their heads cut off as they were running around the field but they sure were enjoying the time that they had playing. After 25 minutes of play, we stopped our game with a tie score of 7-7 and we had plans to play again later in the week.
Thursday came and that meant HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! (but not really because of the whole time change thing but I just like to ignore that). We spent a lot of time on Thursday talking about the things in life that we are thankful for and why we are thankful for them. Miranda and I even made a big turkey in the hallway that we had the kids make feathers for and write the things that they are thankful for. We ended up having a shared lunch, where each student was to bring a traditional dish that his/her family eats to share with the class. It was a really fun day but the truly exciting things weren't happening until the real Thanksgiving.
So then it was Friday, the real Thanksgiving. This meant that we had a skype date with my family, who spent Thanksgiving in Green Bay, as usual, with my oldest brother and his family. It was really cool being able to watch my family interact with my students and get an inside look as to what my life looks like everyday while I am here. We even were able to Skype with David's family, which was even more exciting for them. After we talked with the family, we learned why Thanksgiving is important to America and what exactly it is celebrating.
This week really flew by! It is hard to believe that we only have 3 more weeks left with our students. My time in New Zealand has flown by so far but I am excited to see what my time left here is going to be like! This weekend is our last weekend in Swanson because we have trips planned for out last 2 weekends. So, we are planning to go to the Sky Tower and try surfing! I am so excited to see how it goes!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and made sure to tell your family and friends how thankful you are for them. I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have had here and for all the people who have been so supportive throughout the entire thing.
Now, go spend some money on black Friday!!
Kia Ora
Elizabeth
This week, Room 13 has been focusing on two main things: Thanksgiving and American Football. All of the students in my New Zealand class room love sport and they are the most engaged when they are either participating in sports or learning about sports. Because of this, I decided that we would have a few days centered around learning all about American sports, mostly football.
On Monday, my kids had to read all about football and learn the rules of the game. Football is much different from rugby, the sport that most people in New Zealand love. I had to explain to my students how football was played and what the main objective was. Mind you, this meant that I had to do my research to learn a little more about football since it is not my personal favorite sport.
I made sure to incorporate writing into our football day as well. Students had to decide what job they would want to hold at a football arena (a player, cheerleader, mascot, coach, vendor, etc.) and describe what their typical game day would look like. It was really interesting to hear what the students thought that everyone would be doing without actually having been to a game.
We spent a lot of time on Tuesday discussing all the rules, learning the positions, and also learning how to line up before a play starts. Overall, my students seemed to be understanding the game fairly well. I showed them videos of what it looked like and more thoroughly explained all the positions. It was then time for the students to learn who was on their team.
I divided the students up into 2 teams. They had to decide who was going to be their quarterback and also who they would have as captain. We also had to determine the kicker. From there, students were in charge of making up names for their teams. In the end, we ended up with the Auckland Vikings (based on the Minnesota Vikings for some odd reason) and the New York Machetes (based on the New York Giants).
Tuesday night, I was able to go on a little adventure to another beach. It was a black sand beach again and was absolutely gorgeous. From being at the beach, Miranda and I got this idea that we should probably try to go surfing before we leave here because honestly, when are we ever going to have the opportunity again!?
Wednesday came and it was finally time to play football! Needless to say, students kind of looked like chickens with their heads cut off as they were running around the field but they sure were enjoying the time that they had playing. After 25 minutes of play, we stopped our game with a tie score of 7-7 and we had plans to play again later in the week.
Thursday came and that meant HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! (but not really because of the whole time change thing but I just like to ignore that). We spent a lot of time on Thursday talking about the things in life that we are thankful for and why we are thankful for them. Miranda and I even made a big turkey in the hallway that we had the kids make feathers for and write the things that they are thankful for. We ended up having a shared lunch, where each student was to bring a traditional dish that his/her family eats to share with the class. It was a really fun day but the truly exciting things weren't happening until the real Thanksgiving.
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| Our naked turkey. Only 2 feathers, Miss Zygiel's and mine, before the kids added their own |
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| Our Thanksgiving in New Zealand! Complete with turkey and stuffing |
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| The Thanksgiving Queens :) |
This week really flew by! It is hard to believe that we only have 3 more weeks left with our students. My time in New Zealand has flown by so far but I am excited to see what my time left here is going to be like! This weekend is our last weekend in Swanson because we have trips planned for out last 2 weekends. So, we are planning to go to the Sky Tower and try surfing! I am so excited to see how it goes!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and made sure to tell your family and friends how thankful you are for them. I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have had here and for all the people who have been so supportive throughout the entire thing.
Now, go spend some money on black Friday!!
Kia Ora
Elizabeth
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Penguins, Sharks, and a Run Through The City!
What a weekend this has been! It seems like I never, ever stop going! This weekend, Miranda and I got to spend some time with my cooperating teacher Amanda and see some more of the city.
Friday night was just a relaxed night. We hung around at Miranda's home and watched Finding Nemo (a must watch movie when you are basically living in Australia!). It was a really nice way to spend a Friday night, relaxing and being able to just sit around for one of the first times since we have gotten here!
Saturday came and that meant that we got to go to the aquarium! Miranda and I decided that before we would start our adventure, we deserved some coffee from our long week. Coffee is not as common here as it is in the states. People tend to drink more tea, which is also delicious, but sometimes a girl just needs her coffee. So, we went to the cafe that is right in town and decided that we would make a breakfast out of it. Unfortunately, we were tormented by an annoying bird the entire time who really wanted to join us. Mind you, if we had been sitting outside then I could say that we asked to be annoyed by a bird but we were INSIDE! After our lovely bird encounter, it was time to meet Amanda.
The first stop on our adventure was to have a Chinese lunch with Amanda's parents. We had yum cha, which is a Chinese style morning or afternoon tea. It was the coolest experience to be apart of. These people come around with all sorts of Chinese dishes and you tell them if you want what they have or you send them away. We ended up with all different types of pork, chicken, fish, prawns (also known as shrimp), dumplings of all varieties, and many different vegetables. The pace was so quick and it was nice to have Amanda's parents with us because they know exactly what to get and what not to get. After about an hour of constant eating, it was time to go to the aquarium.
We arrived at Kelly Tarlton's aquarium and I was very confused. There was just a small building that said aquarium. It didn't really look like anything that was exciting. However, the aquarium was underground! It was created in the old pipes and septic tanks that used to be part of the city. The first thing that we saw when we walked in were the penguins! Of course, I was happy as could be at that point and didn't need to see anything else :)
Some of the penguins were sitting on eggs and some of the penguins were molting. It was so much fun to see them waddling all around. There were so many penguins and some of them were huge!
After the penguins, we got to see sharks swimming in a tunnel above us and we saw some of the biggest stingrays that I have ever seen! The aquarium had really beautiful sharks and there were so many of them. It was awesome when they would swim right over your head. We even saw one shark who looked like he had been recently attacked by another shark!
There were beautiful star fish and sea horses too. We even found Nemo and Dory hiding in one of the fish tanks! After the aquarium, we walked through the gift shop and we ended up purchasing the photo of us as a group that they took when we got to the aquarium.
After that was over, Amanda drove us around the bays and took us to KiwiYo, which is a frozen yogurt place. It was super delicious. That ended our adventure for the day but we did get to see fireworks at night that were going off basically right in our backyard.
On Sunday, Miranda and I ran a 6K through Auckland. It was a last minute decision and needless to say, we were not exactly ready for it. Neither of us has done any running since we have arrived here but we ended up doing really well in our race. We finished in about 40 minutes and were pretty close to the beginning with our ending time. Running a race in another country was never something that I had thought of doing but I sure did enjoy it!!
And now, another week has come and gone. It is hard to believe that I only have 20 school days left in New Zealand. The past 4 weeks have flown by and I have a feeling that the next 4 are going to go just as fast, if not faster!
I hope everyone has a wonderful week and a very happy Thanksgiving. I know I will be thinking of my family on Thursday as they all gather together for a delicious meal. This Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for my parents who have made all of this possible for me. Thank you mom and dad. I love you both!
Kia Ora :)
Elizabeth
Friday night was just a relaxed night. We hung around at Miranda's home and watched Finding Nemo (a must watch movie when you are basically living in Australia!). It was a really nice way to spend a Friday night, relaxing and being able to just sit around for one of the first times since we have gotten here!
Saturday came and that meant that we got to go to the aquarium! Miranda and I decided that before we would start our adventure, we deserved some coffee from our long week. Coffee is not as common here as it is in the states. People tend to drink more tea, which is also delicious, but sometimes a girl just needs her coffee. So, we went to the cafe that is right in town and decided that we would make a breakfast out of it. Unfortunately, we were tormented by an annoying bird the entire time who really wanted to join us. Mind you, if we had been sitting outside then I could say that we asked to be annoyed by a bird but we were INSIDE! After our lovely bird encounter, it was time to meet Amanda.
The first stop on our adventure was to have a Chinese lunch with Amanda's parents. We had yum cha, which is a Chinese style morning or afternoon tea. It was the coolest experience to be apart of. These people come around with all sorts of Chinese dishes and you tell them if you want what they have or you send them away. We ended up with all different types of pork, chicken, fish, prawns (also known as shrimp), dumplings of all varieties, and many different vegetables. The pace was so quick and it was nice to have Amanda's parents with us because they know exactly what to get and what not to get. After about an hour of constant eating, it was time to go to the aquarium.
We arrived at Kelly Tarlton's aquarium and I was very confused. There was just a small building that said aquarium. It didn't really look like anything that was exciting. However, the aquarium was underground! It was created in the old pipes and septic tanks that used to be part of the city. The first thing that we saw when we walked in were the penguins! Of course, I was happy as could be at that point and didn't need to see anything else :)
Some of the penguins were sitting on eggs and some of the penguins were molting. It was so much fun to see them waddling all around. There were so many penguins and some of them were huge!
After the penguins, we got to see sharks swimming in a tunnel above us and we saw some of the biggest stingrays that I have ever seen! The aquarium had really beautiful sharks and there were so many of them. It was awesome when they would swim right over your head. We even saw one shark who looked like he had been recently attacked by another shark!
 |
| "Name's Bruce" |
 |
| "You so totally rock dude!!"- Finding Nemo :) |
 | ||||
| I found you Nemo! |
 |
| Ahhhhh! Sharks! |
On Sunday, Miranda and I ran a 6K through Auckland. It was a last minute decision and needless to say, we were not exactly ready for it. Neither of us has done any running since we have arrived here but we ended up doing really well in our race. We finished in about 40 minutes and were pretty close to the beginning with our ending time. Running a race in another country was never something that I had thought of doing but I sure did enjoy it!!
 |
| Pre-race. Making sure to represent the Spartans :) |
I hope everyone has a wonderful week and a very happy Thanksgiving. I know I will be thinking of my family on Thursday as they all gather together for a delicious meal. This Thanksgiving, I am especially thankful for my parents who have made all of this possible for me. Thank you mom and dad. I love you both!
Kia Ora :)
Elizabeth
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
School House Rock
You truly never know what to expect when you go into a school week. Every day is a brand new experience and you may think that you have a perfect week planned out, but there is always something that seems to happen and change your plans. Well, that was my week in a nutshell. I thought I had a wonderful week planned but children can easily change what you thought was perfect.
On Monday, I explained to my students that we were going to be learning even more about America over the week. I think it is important to understand the history of every nation, especially one that you are going to be learning about, so I took time to inform my students. Monday was spent talking about currency because the kids were really confused about pennies and dollar bills. In New Zealand, the smallest coin that they have is $0.20 and the smallest bill that they have is $5. They use $1 coins and $2 coins. So on Monday, we made sure to tackle the money side of things.
The day seemed to be going great until all of the sudden it wasn't. It is amazing how quickly things can shift in a classroom. One minute you think that everything is hunky dory and the next minute you have students acting like wild animals. Because of the crazy shift, Monday ended on a somewhat negative note (sadly) with students having to work completely silent because they couldn't seem to handle talking.
Tuesday came and the kids were acting much better. It was like I had a whole different class! We got to watch some Schoolhouse Rock and learn all about American history. They all loved the clips and were singing along once they caught on. We had a very watered down discussion about American history and what has happened over the years. Basically, we touched on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, slavery, and the nation today. Even though it was brief, the kids seemed to really love it.
Wednesday was a special day in New Zealand because there was a solar eclipse that was happening. Kids were able to buy glasses to see the eclipse and we took time out of our day to talk about it. It was one of the most amazing sights that I have ever seen and I wish I could have taken a picture of it. Unfortunately, there was no way to get a picture of it because you could only see it through the glasses.
Today is Thursday and we had quite the busy day. My co-op was sick today so I was on full control (which isn't anything new) but I had no supervisor watching me today. It was just me and the kiddos. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous about my first day ever without having someone at least popping in and out to how I was doing. However, the day went smoothly. We had our typical first block with maths and reading. Block two then came and I ended up dropping all of my plans because as a class, we were having some problems with respecting one another. Because of this, we spent an entire block on building a community and learning more about one another. It seemed like it helped but we will see tomorrow. For our last block, we talked all about body language as it pertained to our unit on communication. The kids were really interested in what was going on.
Tomorrow is Friday and I have more of a relaxed day planned. We have a syndicate assembly in the morning and we are going to be learning more about America. Hopefully, all of our time spend on building a classroom community will have helped!
This weekend, Miranda and I are going to an aquarium with my co-op Amanda. I am really excited to see the penguins!!! Then on Sunday, we are participating in a 6k run that goes all around Auckland. It should be a really fun and exciting weekend!
Kia Ora and until next time- (This is from the Maori language and means be healthy/well)
Elizabeth
On Monday, I explained to my students that we were going to be learning even more about America over the week. I think it is important to understand the history of every nation, especially one that you are going to be learning about, so I took time to inform my students. Monday was spent talking about currency because the kids were really confused about pennies and dollar bills. In New Zealand, the smallest coin that they have is $0.20 and the smallest bill that they have is $5. They use $1 coins and $2 coins. So on Monday, we made sure to tackle the money side of things.
The day seemed to be going great until all of the sudden it wasn't. It is amazing how quickly things can shift in a classroom. One minute you think that everything is hunky dory and the next minute you have students acting like wild animals. Because of the crazy shift, Monday ended on a somewhat negative note (sadly) with students having to work completely silent because they couldn't seem to handle talking.
Tuesday came and the kids were acting much better. It was like I had a whole different class! We got to watch some Schoolhouse Rock and learn all about American history. They all loved the clips and were singing along once they caught on. We had a very watered down discussion about American history and what has happened over the years. Basically, we touched on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, slavery, and the nation today. Even though it was brief, the kids seemed to really love it.
Wednesday was a special day in New Zealand because there was a solar eclipse that was happening. Kids were able to buy glasses to see the eclipse and we took time out of our day to talk about it. It was one of the most amazing sights that I have ever seen and I wish I could have taken a picture of it. Unfortunately, there was no way to get a picture of it because you could only see it through the glasses.
Today is Thursday and we had quite the busy day. My co-op was sick today so I was on full control (which isn't anything new) but I had no supervisor watching me today. It was just me and the kiddos. Needless to say, I was extremely nervous about my first day ever without having someone at least popping in and out to how I was doing. However, the day went smoothly. We had our typical first block with maths and reading. Block two then came and I ended up dropping all of my plans because as a class, we were having some problems with respecting one another. Because of this, we spent an entire block on building a community and learning more about one another. It seemed like it helped but we will see tomorrow. For our last block, we talked all about body language as it pertained to our unit on communication. The kids were really interested in what was going on.
Tomorrow is Friday and I have more of a relaxed day planned. We have a syndicate assembly in the morning and we are going to be learning more about America. Hopefully, all of our time spend on building a classroom community will have helped!
This weekend, Miranda and I are going to an aquarium with my co-op Amanda. I am really excited to see the penguins!!! Then on Sunday, we are participating in a 6k run that goes all around Auckland. It should be a really fun and exciting weekend!
Kia Ora and until next time- (This is from the Maori language and means be healthy/well)
Elizabeth
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