Here is a little information on my new friends.... I am staying with Anne-Marie and Kerry. They have been married for 26 years and have 2 children, Laura and Alex. Anne-Marie is a principal at Normandale School, which I will be going to today for the first time. I was able to meet Laura in Tempe several weeks back and she was absolutely wonderful, she is North Carolina working at a summer camp right now. Alex is married to Bethany and they have an absolutely adorable little girl, Audrey, who I just want to squeeze!
My Host Family
I have been traveling with Janice, who is a reading coach at Hudson. She is staying with Kathy and Tony.
Kathy, Janice, Me and Anne-Marie
On Monday, we went to Boulcott School where Kathy (Janice's host) is the principal. It is a Year 1 through Year 6 school in Lower Hutt. We were welcomed by the Kapahaka group of students. They had a Powhiri, which is a Maori welcoming ceremony. I have never seen anything so amazing, the students were amazing and you could just feel their excitement for their culture.
I was able to go into a "year 1" classroom, which is equivalent to our kindergarten. It was great to be around kids, it made me miss my class. I was working with a little guy helping him sound out words. He was trying to sound out the word "yes" and I was stretching it out for him. He wrote the "y" and then he was looking at me like I was crazy when I was saying the sound for "e". Well finally, he was very blunt and told me that I was saying my sound wrong. He just could not figure out what I was saying because of my weird accent! It was great to see that teachers and kids are the same everywhere.... The teachers always apologize for whatever is going on at the time, including their difficult little ones, and the kids....well they are definitely the same :)
On Tuesday, we were back at Boulcott School for the day visiting many different classrooms. After only 2 days in New Zealand schools, Janice and I discovered one of our favorite things was morning tea. All the staff go into a staff lounge and have tea (and snacks) together while the kids go out for a recess for a half hour. This was so fun and what a great break for the teachers. AND.....they do this for their hour lunch as well.... Yes, I did say an hour lunch!! They do not shovel their food like we have to.
Wednesday, Janice and I went to Samuel Marsden all girls private school with Jennifer who was an exchange teacher from last year. This brought back memories of my private school days....we sat in on year 10 French, year 7 theology, year 10 mathematics, and year 10 PE. The Theology teacher was amazing. I went to a catholic school all my life and learned more in this one class than I did the whole time....well maybe it was his delivery. I couldnt believe how engaged his 11 year olds were learning about Christian symbols. We also toured their primary school which was fantastic.
Janice and I went in to Wellington to explore on our own today, and only got lost once...well only really lost once! We lunch by the water and did a little shopping and sight seeing. Then we braved a train back to Lower Hutt...which mostly worked out. We saw a Starbucks and decided to have a little piece of home.
Last night, we had a dinner with the sister cities members and the Student delegates. The Tempe students from Corona High School are here for 5 weeks and overlap with us. We will be going to the embassy with them next week as well.
That explains all the "teacher " stuff, but I can't even do justice to the rest of it. I have had a blast getting to know Anne-Marie, Kathy and Janice along with the rest of the family. There has been lots of laughter....and I am sure there will be more. These ladies are wonderful, I am so lucky to now have all of them in my life and share this experience with them.
Update on new words:
Chilly bin = cooler
Ice Block = popsicle
Tiki Tour = mini tour (quick tour)
Lollies = candies (any type)
One side note...as Taylor pointed out on video chat this morning, I have an extremely LARGE zit right in the middle of my forehead...not kidding...this thing is a monster.... I have never seen anything like it! Today, Janice and I decided that this thing has been on this trip for 5 days and doesn't seem to be going anywhere, so he needed a proper name. His name is "George". I mean he is stealing the spotlight in every picture... Just thought I would put that out there, so you don't think I didn't see him :). It will kind of be like an I-spy game for the rest of the trip....
"George" went to Starbucks to have a cup of coffee with us :)
Photo Dump..... Here are a bunch of random but amazing pictures of my trip so far!
1 comment:
What a fantastic adventure --- I just love reading all about it. Keep writing - keep having fun!
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