today ended my third week at school and the second term. all our children are so tired and definitely ready for a break, i hope they get lots of rest because we have had far too many tears and arguments the  past few days. sweet things. anyway we had an assembly with the whole school today (everyone squeezed into the gym or "hall" as they call it here for some singing and awards) and they sang the national anthem. i wanted to share it because i thought it was beautiful, and how beautiful to hear it sung by a room full of children. i almost started crying... geez looks like i need the break too. it also made me want to sing the US national athem...

the first part is sung in Maori, the native language, which i think is so neat!


tomorrow morning i leave for the south island! ah crazy, i'm so pumped! its snowing right now and is in the negative degrees (celcius that is) brrrr cold. finished packing tonight, a very small bag for one week in such cold weather if you ask me but i think it'll be just perfect. i heard landing in Queenstown can be a little scary because its in snowy mountains eek i'll just close my eyes and hope for the best.

i am feeling much better. i went to school for half the day on wednesday, drank some vitamin supplement and walked home and got a new life it seemed. my legs did feel like that were going to fall out from under me on my 10 min walk home but the fresh air and "exercise" was good for me. also i haven't thrown up any food since tuesday which is awesomeee. i was ambitious and ate pizza last night and woke up with heartburn and was pretty bummed but again, with consistent medication i'm ok. just wish my back didn't hurt when it hits but i'll survive.

hoping my energy levels keep rising. i have vitamins packed, plan on buying some snack bars and drinking lots of water. and no alcohol until this whole thing is behind me (please be gone by the 4th of july!). looking forward to some fun times with friends and seeing this beautiful country. prayers for my energy to keep building so i'll be strong enough to do all the fun activities, and the knowledge to know when i don't need to push my body any further. also for wise decisions about my food choices, sometimes i never know what could hurt. and of course for warmth and safe travels (especially on icey roads).

cheers! updates to come!

health update: been having this awful like acid reflux/heartburn since thursday as i said earlier, i took some medicine over the weekend but nothing changed so yesterday we went to the doctor. she thinks i have bad damage to my esophagus or probably an ulcer which is why the pain is so bad in my back as well. the good news is i have prescriptions to help heal me, the bad news is i have to wait for the medicine to work before i'll feel better.

had to miss school today but i barely slept last night. praying that after some rest today and consistent medication that i will be back tomorrow. at least we went to the doctor and things are hopefully on the mend. if you know me and know how much i burp i guess it comes as no surprise that this would happen, just a bummer its here. i am thankful for the Morrow's taking such wonderful care of me, its hard being in pain like this in another country but they've been great.

happy start of my third week here. looking forward to feeling better and getting back to work.

got a little feverish today so had to leave school early. i felt bad but as everyone told me it is better to get well so i can be there tomorrow. i had a very restful afternoon and am feeling better but not pushing it.... really though wanted to stop by and reflect on how wonderful it is to work with children. seeing their successes and figuring out how to work with their behavior and get them to be excited about learning. its just awesome. not to mention they are huge confidence boosters, today one of my little girls told me: "you're the bestest and you will never forget us, and your eyes are just beautiful, actually you are all beautiful, and i'm going to miss your clothes because i like all the beautiful clothes you wear" haha if only everyone talked to one another like this everyday the world would be a much happier place.

looking forward to our mask parade tomorrow. i'm a hen, got my red jeans to wear because its "Muffti" day which means the kids don't have to wear their uniforms. sally said they'll be on a crazy high all day so this should be fun.

taking this advice. and learning so much everyday that i am here.

school is going wonderfully! i've had the opportunity to lead more this week and am looking forward to  getting to plan things soon. yesterday i led all the guided reading groups and math groups. i'm gaining more responsibility with writing and such and the kids, i think, have really come to see me as their other teacher. it feels like i've been here for more than two weeks...

today was "animal antics" day at school. they brought a truck with lots of animals like rabbits, rats and guinea pigs and then some ponies. it was fun and the kids loved it. the rats kinda freaked me out haha but it was neat to see the kids interacting with all the animals. we also got to paint animal masks for a parade we're having friday. should be lots of fun! thought i'd share some pictures, how precious are they?!?

as promised more photos...

our cute hostel the first night

aaron has an awesome camera that takes great pics like this! how unbelievable. 

looking through Cathedral Cove.

in our kayaking gear

 digging at Hot Water Beach.

 Hot Water Beach during the daytime.

this weekend was my first away trip. what a great time! New Zealand is absolutely gorgeous. we left school early on Friday, thank goodness or we never would have made it with all the stops we had to take, and headed to Thames (pronounced Tims) where we stayed in a cute little hostel right near the beach.

saturday morning we got up and cooked eggs and breakfast stuff for ourselves and headed out to go kayaking in coromandel. we ended up taking somewhat of a wrong turn somewhere along the way and wound up two hours out of the way of where we needed to be. luckily it was easy for our tour to wait for us, and i'm so glad we did go the wrong way because we had been driving all along the coast. just indescribable, each view was different and beautiful in its own way that could never be captured except in our memories. the two hours went by so quickly because we all have so much fun together and the scenery was breath taking.

we made it to the beach finally! and if it was possible it was even more beautiful. we met the rest of our group (8 of us went all from America and teaching here), and our tour guide who was Maori (native sort of) and very easy to look at. we teamed up, i was with Macie and headed out. we had on water proof wind blockers and the kayaking skirts, so we were very warm. we went pretty far out and circled some huge cliffs. it was pretty intense. we also saw a mamma seal and her babies, up close and personal. and she was swimming around beside our kayaks.

we then kayaked across to the Cathedral Cove and got out on the beach, which was ahh awesome. and i needed a little time with stand on solid ground, i was surprised but i got a little sea sick and maybe claustrophobic in my kayak skirt. we got to walk around on the beach and then Rewi (our cute tour guide) made us hot chocolate on the beach. how cool. its just so wonderful sitting on the beach and looking out at the vastness of the Pacific ocean and the mountains in the background, with huge cliffs rising out of the water. and then to sit in the middle of it all in your little kayak. it just makes you realize how much is so easily taken for granted and how small we really are in the scheme of things. its peaceful and overwhelming all at the same time. and the joy felt in these moments is hard to put into words. i guess i find it hard to put things into words quite often but thats the only way i know how to describe it.

we then found a cute little hostel right up from where we kayaked, which was two cottages connected in a place that looked like it would be thriving and tons of fun in the summer time when everyone could hang out and barbeque. we were in Hahei beach which is a tiny little town with a quaint restaurant where i enjoyed some delicious fresh scallops. we were a little tired but decided to venture to hot water beach which is a beach where you dig down at low tide and find hot water because of the thermal heat from the ground. we were quite early and just layed out on a blanket for a while watching the stars. remember i mentioned the stars earlier? another image i will never be able to explain but i will always always hold close to my heart. seriously the most insane night sky i have ever seen in my entire life. no joke we saw at least 13 shooting stars. anyway let me get off my stars tangent and back to hot water beach. we had shovels, and just started digging a pool like we did at the beach when we were kids. it was crazy how hot the water was in some places, i couldn't even stand on the sand in some spots because it was burning my feet. so we dug our little pool but it wasn't that great so a nice kiwi man (again the nicest people in the world) told us we could use their pool. it was awesome the pool was steaming up and we just laid in the water and could keep ourselves warm by digging down a little at a time. getting out was probably one of the most miserable experiences i've had. we just grabbed our clothes and sprinted through the sand. but cold sand, with wet feet, basically feels like running through snow. i'm sure it would've been funny to watch.

after a warm shower trying to remove all the sand from our hair we had a good nights sleep in our cute hostel (with heat!) we found our way to another sweet little cafe near hot water beach where i enjoyed probably the best breakfast i will have this entire trip and then we made our way back to Auckland.

i'm sorry this is so lengthy but i had just a fabulous weekend! i'm looking forward to another great week at school and "animal antics" day is coming up which will be lots of fun. happy fathers day dad!! its already happened here but hope tomorrow is great. still feeling blessed always. cheers!

some photos (more to come)....

 these are both taken at Cathedral Cove (fun fact Narnia was filmed here)

oh and here is a picture of most of my class (11 out of 18)!! today was wacky hair day at school. it was so much fun! thought i'd give you a peek into the personalities i have the joy of working with everyday. they are the best.

today marks my first full week here. wow weird! it feels like I've been here longer because my family is just amazing and the school is wonderful and my teacher is just great so I just feel like I've known them all much longer than a week. but at the same time I can't believe a week is gone, only 11 left and I don't want to leave.

i just got back from a staff trivia night at the school. i love how all of the staff is so close and support one another so much. as Sharleen said tonight, its the little things that they do at this school that make such a huge difference, and you can tell that everyone truly cares about one another. 

its getting chilly (very chilly) here, actually two nights ago it was 1 degree. but its beautiful and so pleasant when we are out in the sunshine. last night we went to watch an Australian rugby league game. tonight PJ filled me in that rugby and rugby league are two different things, so that will be important to remember. we went with william (another teacher from school) and some of his friends to the "club" which is similar to a country club in most ways except the tennis, golf and swimming. but they had a cool lounge and restaurant and sports bar, which is where we hung out for the night. it was fun, my fist night out with people my own age and i had a great time, we were all exhausted though and very ready for bed.

fun/awesome fact. the constellations that are visible in New Zealand are different! how great. and how weird not seeing the dippers when you look up into the sky? but the stars are beautiful here. they are SO so bright i'm looking forward to being away this weekend and really getting a chance to take them in to their full extent.

don't have much to say besides i am feeling so lucky for this amazing opportunity. i know i am going to learn so much while i'm here. looking forward to traveling and a little adventure this weekend. wish me luck in staying warm!! hope all is well at home. cheers!

wrapping up the weekend here. and starting to feel more in place. net ball was fun, a cool sport and very different than basketball. last night the neighbors came over for the All Blacks rugby match against Ireland. i'm slowly learning the rules of rugby, got a lot of it but probably couldn't explain it to anyone else. it was a good time, i've got to work on staying up later though after a few glasses of "bubbly" or wine i'm fading quickly by 9:00. today was a lazy sunday which was perfect. then we had a barbeque with Sharleen's family at her parents house (which is literally 10 steps away) and the neighbors. it was a lot of fun, food's a little different than ours but same concept. my favorite was the prawns wrapped in bacon.

two interesting things about NZ:
1) the bathroom is all spread out, the toilet is it's own room, shower it's own room and then the tub and sink are in a room. you have to remind yourself to wash your hands (klug you would love it)
2) the houses are very close together, in a different way than at home, like multiples share a driveway, they all seem intertwined somehow to me. its kind of neat though because families live close and neighbors become like family.

well i officially start school tomorrow. can't wait to see my cute little kiwi kids and learn more about how they learn!

also new favorite thing, Sharleen's (and my new) friends from the school coming over on friday for drinks! providing lots of laughs and great time to get to know more people. 

today was my second full day here. i already love it! i've made a generalization about all of the people from Auckland; they are the most welcoming, laid back, funny people of all the countries i have visited. really everyone here has been so wonderful. my family is great and very lively. they are open with one another and with me and make it easy for me to feel at home and comfortable, as coming into someone else's home can be awkward. they have more wine glasses than any other cup in their house which is fine by me!

so this morning i went into school for a little bit just to meet my teacher and see my way around, that sort of thing. what a wonderful place. here children start school on the day of their 5th birthday. crazy right?!? so children are coming in every week as new students and they just fill up their classrooms, and once they reach 18 they move on to the next teacher. i will be interested to ask my teacher more about what she thinks of this process. our classroom is full but it would be interesting to see what its like when new children are coming in all the time. but anyways, my little ones are precious! if you thought you liked accents then you would love these little ones. i can't get enough. favorite quote of the day "look mrs turner i can balance my lunch box on my head," funnier seen/hear probably, but it made me laugh. i can also tell i'm going to come to love morning tea. a sort of snack period that happens just before 11:00. on fridays the teacher go up to the staff room and there is a lot of food and the principal (the funniest man!) makes announcements and people share things. its fun. and i think its great that all the teachers are so close to one another! or at least are so involved in knowing what is happening with all the grades at the school.

so, so far so good! i'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend. i'm going to watch my first game of net ball tomorrow, similar to basketball but with no backboard. i'll have to report back. also plan on making some of my traveling plans this weekend which will be great! so happy weekend to you all, hope its a wonderful one. and as they say in NZ, cheers!

my bags are all packed and i'm ready for tomorrow. ah can't believe its already here! must admit i had a little anxiety this morning but i'm over it and feeling more prepared. the past month has brought some major changes in my life, and tomorrow i feel that i truly am turning a page and starting a new chapter. which again i must admit leaves me feeling a little anxious. many things are very uncertain right now and for one of the first times in a very long time i will be completely alone. i am a little nervous but most of me is looking forward to this opportunity. to let God fill the empty spaces in me and provide the strength i need. as i leave for NZ i ask for prayers of courage and knowledge and a peaceful heart throughout my journey. i will be thinking of all of you at home during my time there and cannot wait to share the stories of my children and the adventures i have while traveling. hopes for safe travels and not too miserable layovers/long flights, i've got some tylenol pm to get me through and if you know me well you know how good i am at sleeping.

so bon voyage! here we goooo!