on saturday, i had such a lovely day! we went over to an island thats away a 45 min ferry ride away for a wine tour. and i had a very interesting start to the day....

ended up missing my bus to get me to the ferry by about one minute, literally saw it pulling away at the bus stop. so Sharleen picked me up and took me down to catch another ferry to get into town. this put me behind the group but that was ok i just got my voucher filled and caught the ferry an hour later into Waiheke. it really was such a gorgeous day i wasn't going to let this stress me out, plus i got some chocolate ice gelato and was feeling much better, ice cream really does fix everything. so i made it to Waiheke and i had to get cash out so i could grab a cab, well then all the cabs were gone so i called a company to send one. i was just sitting on the curb waiting when i heard a honk and someone asking if i needed a ride. without thinking i immediately said yes and hopped in the car, then i realized i hadn't even really taken a good look at this man. but luckily he was such a sweet elderly man, Paul, he was so kind to take me to find my friends. so i guess this was officially my first "hitchhiking" experience. i was quite proud of myself haha and was really so lucky that he was so sweet. we just chatted, and turns out i missed the first stop on the tour so he took my to the olive vineyard where i finally caught up with martin and danielle. it was a laugh, and i was happy to finally be there. and hey i missed the first stop but i had my own little adventure, probably wouldn't have changed it.

we learned a little about picking olives and making olive oil and then had some tastings. yummmmy. it was all amazing. and i love the lemon trees. we then headed to the brewery/winery called "wild on Waiheke" it was a cool little place with a fun cafe and an archery range. and lots of different chutneys and spreads for tasting, i wanted to buy them all and don't worry i tasted every single one. we had some great beers and good wine. fun fact this wine/beer is not sold anywhere else in the world (get ready for your surprise mom!). we also had a shot of their rum which well i'm not a huge rum drinker so it was a little strong for me, but we put half, into an alcohol free ginger beer and that was much more doable. then we went to one of the most beautiful places i have been all trip, i've said that a lot but seriously it was amazing. this was called mudbrick winery and its on the highest point of Waiheke, you can see Auckland city in the distance. the pictures will show you more, but there was a gorgeous little patio for eating and a wonderful big house with a nice restaurant inside and wines and trees and flowers everywhere. my favorite part was the big outdoor fireplace patio where i could've easily spend an entire day. they were even setting up for a wedding on the top patio, would die if i got married there, seriously. we walked up the hill to the top of the vineyards where we had somemore wine and got to see an absolutely amazing view. i have someone emailing me pictures so once they arrive i will definitely share! we headed into town after all of this and found a cute little restaurant called vino vino for an appetizer and a wine. then we met up with this awesome couple from san diego who was on their honey moon for a drink at a different bar followed by dinner. they were such a fun couple it was really cool to get to hang out with them!

we caught an evening ferry back into auckland and decided why not just get a hostel in town and stay the night. it was my first night in town and i had a good time. its fun going to bars that are right on the harbor. caught the ferry back to half moon bay the next morning, well around noon and had a relaxing day at home getting ready for the week. so thankful for awesome weather on saturday because since sunday its been raining like crazy here. all in all a great weekend. 

ferry ride into the city.

happy friday!

just got back a little bit ago from the junior school (year 0-2) "disco" aka dance. it was so much fun! and a wonderful end to a very busy but great week! really this week has been so great. my first full week in total full control. as i've mentioned it was Maori language week which definitely provided some challenges but was a good learning experience for me. i caught on with the help of all the songs, learned my maori colors, numbers, parts of the body and a few other things. it really made me think about incorporating spanish or other languages into my classroom. even just basic commands and such, its really not hard and it helps to immerse the kids in any way possible.

each day in full control seemed to get better, its busy when you're working with five year olds and can get crazy sometimes. wednesday i was observed by our contact at Auckland University, Isabel who is the sweetest lady. i really enjoyed getting to talk with her after she observed my math/art lesson, since we group teach i was doing math groups while the other students were working on an art project. Sally gives me lots of feedback which is always helpful and great to hear, but it was nice sitting down and with Isabel and hearing what she had to say. am i confident in my abilities as a teacher obviously, but its always nice to hear you're doing a good job, and when people point out things you do naturally that maybe don't even realize are good teaching practices. so i was very please and excited about this! and on wednesday we got a self inking date stamp which is super exciting and makes things heaps easier. also at the end of the day as i was tidying up the room and getting things ready for thursday one of the men on the grounds team peeped in to ask how my observation went. how nice? it made me feel so good that people here care and take the time to check in even if they don't know you that well.

thursday was another fun day, it was sunny again which just makes everything better. the kids worked on one of my lessons which was to make a maori number book. it seemed a little chaotic to me, but i think it actually went well. a busy classroom is a classroom where learning is truly taking place which i had to remind myself of. the book turned out well and i think the kids had fun with it.

which brings me back to today...what a great day! i think i've said that about 50 times in this post. but anyway. we had our year 0 assembly and sang some songs etc, then did a little makeshift fitness around the courts outside of our room which wore them out a little i think haha. we carried on with our usual morning. morning tea was super yummy, i had pizza with pumpkin on it, amazing! then we had "choosing time" and sponge painted the last bit of our maori art project, i just love painting with little ones and they have so much fun with the sponges. then we all gathered as a school in the hall to have a powhiri (pronounced pofiri -- wh in maori sounds like f) and to welcome all of the international students that are here right now. gosh it was insane i was tearing up in parts, and of course during their national anthem the beginning is just gorgeous and when all the children sing it you just get this happy feeling. i'm going to try to post some videos of the powhiri, so bummed that my phone ran out of memory so i wasn't able to get the complete haka, i'll post another one so you know what it really looks like, it SO COOL. and all the little boys in my class were running around screaming and trying to act like the boys doing the haka it was so cute.

ran for a wine at the pub with a few teachers after school, came home got my wacky hair done. aka olivia and sharleen pulling my hair in a billion different directions, in braids and buns and pony tails and ribbons. i looked really cute. and headed to the dance. it was precious the kids were all dressed in their "party outfits" and they had glowsticks and sprayed hair and everything it was awesome. we did jump jams most of the time, i danced with all my kids gosh i'm in love with them. seriously though going to cry when i have to leave them! excited for vineyard tours tomorrow i can tell its going to be a great weekend!

just a little Maori language for ya.

whew, sorry that's taken me so long i've been busy and not always in the mood to sit down and type once i get home from school. its been a good almost week and a half back. i started my two weeks of full control this week which has been good so far, a little challenging because its Maori Language Week and well I don't know Maori very well, but i'm picking it up and the kids are helping me out. its been fun though because we've been reading a lot of Maori myths and tales and getting to do some awesome creative work and writing and fun art projects! so thats been wonderful and i'm definitely getting into the flow of things after today. better with time management and behavior management and such. really i've been doing a lot of this already, but these are my own plans and i'm always the one leading this class rather than us switching off sometimes.

i can't believe that i'm already in full control and already on my 5th week at school! that means i'm halfway through my teaching and over halfway through my time here. whatttt? its unbelievable. love everyone at home but definitely not ready to think about leaving here yet. but i'm not going to think about it. thought i'd share a picture with my family and some of my friends here (besides team america). we had a fun mexican party at one of the teacher's houses this weekend, we have all been craving mexican so she said she'd throw a party. it was great we wore sombreros and had a slushie machine with margartias and my ties (a run and orange kinda drink, they were good) it was awesome! i really love all of these people, they have been so welcoming since the very beginning and are always so much fun and down for a laugh, i feel so lucky to have met them.

an Owairoa pic.

 with Sharleen and PJ (my host parents)

 sue, she works in the office with Sharleen.

 william and kerry, year 4 teachers. nice ponchos.

this is from before holiday at Reagan's field hockey game. i'll have to get a pic with all of us in it! Olivia  , Sharleen and PJ. they're wonderful!!

Day 13 - July 12th -- Bay of Islands
got up and got on the road to make our way way up north to the Bay of Islands. it was a neat little drive not too bad length wise and we made a pit stop in a cute little town that i can't remember the name of now but we found our way to a small alley with an italian restaurant where we were able to relax in the sun and eat some yummy and filling food, i also got some chocolate ice cream which always always makes me so happy.

we arrived in bay of islands and i was immediately in love. i mean i was back at the beach! our hostel was cute too it looked more like a little beachside motel it was fun. we made our way down to the beach walked around, and i dipped my toes in the water. it felt so good to be walking barefoot on the beach, and not miserable from the cold sand. hung out on the pier for a little bit and met two nice older couples who we chatted with about traveling etc and made our way into town. lots of small little souvenir type shops, but fun to look around in. we also stopped by the farmers market which was awesome and smelled wonderful with all the fresh fruits and veggies. wish i'd been home and been able to buy some. also tasted the best avocado smoothie i have ever had, amazing. klug i'll have to share the recipe with you, you would have died. slowly walked back to the hostel enjoying every second of the scenery along the way. ate some kabobs for dinner, drank some wine, went to the bar for a quick drink and headed to bed after a wonderful day!

Day 14 - July 13th -- Bay of Islands
and today starts one of my top favorite days of the trip. in fact i may venture to say that it was my favorite and will be my favorite. woke up and walked over to the pier to catch "She's a Lady" to head out sailing for the day! blah i was so excited. there wasn't much wind the first part of the morning so we motored out to a little island all the way out at the end of the islands that make up the bay of islands. we had warm cups of tea and were sitting on the bow just breathing in the sunshine and sea. it was wonderful. and beautiful. the water was so calm and everything was so peaceful. we got out at the island and took a walk (aka vertical climb) up to the top where we could see the entire bay. fun part about this was there were two fantails flying around us, and coming so close. it was awesome, jokingly we felt like cinderella or snow white or some disney princess with the birds as our friends. the view from the top was insane and as we made our way back down we could see the clear blue water and i was all ready to go swimming.... but i settled for kayaking instead. although i did get to wear just my bathing suit and was perfectly comfortable. it was just a little one person kayak, with a clear circle in the bottom so i could love below me. it was another experience like being in our sea kayaks where i felt so small, but so at peace with this feeling. i had so much control over this little kayak and felt safe within these waters with these gorgeous islands popping up around me. made it back in for yummy sandwiches on the beach and some hang out time then back onto the boat, hoping to be able to catch some wind!

we made our way out through some more of the islands. just relaxing, still in my suit for as long as i possibly could be. we ended up catching some wind which was awesome and i got to sail which was again awesome. hung out with the captain and first mate for a little bit trying to brush up on my sailing skills haha sunfish master here you know. i soon spotted some dolphins in the distance they didn't believe me at first but we motored over towards where i saw them and all of a sudden there were like ten of them, and they kept seeming to multiply. they were so fun! they came up and were swimming right under our bow and jumping up and spraying water on us. it was amazing. they were so friendly and we were all cheering for them, and so excited. you would've thought we had never seen a dolphin before.

all in all just a peaceful beautiful day. couldn't have asked for better weather and great company. was beyond content just sitting and taking in the absolute beauty of this place.

Day 15 - July 14th -- Back to Auckland, down the east coast
woke up very early so we could make our way through a few stops, and then back down the east coast and get back in time to return our rental car. our first stop along the way was oponini which is a tiny little beach town where we were able to go dune surfing. aka boggy boarding down a sand dune. it was cool though, pretty fun, ended up covered in sand but had some good laughs along the way, and a great tomato and cheese toasty (toasted sandwich). also we went with a cute little family with two young boys, they were so active and fun, quite kiwi. we left there and hit up the 2,000 year old tree which was neat. it was huge but shorter than i expected for how wide it was. so much history and legend behind these trees though which was awesome.

Day 11 - July 10th -- Rotorua to Taupo
woke up ready to head out to Taupo. we walked across the street from our hostel to see some of the thermal pools i was talking about earlier. it smelled horrible, but was pretty cool. its just a park covered in marked off spots with thermal heat/water coming through the ground.

road tripping to Taupo was fun. we stopped at huka falls which was a really cool and we got to get out and stretch our legs/get out our energy. wanted to walk more but the only options were an hour or two hour walk so i got voted down haha.

got there and made our way around the little town and found a cute cafe to eat lunch at. i really liked Taupo it was full of shops and cafes and the lake, well what we saw of it the first day was beautiful! such a cute little waterfront. after we settled into our hostel we headed to a hot water spa that was a funny little thing down by the river. it was natural so it was pretty little but it was basically these two waterfall type things with rocks everywhere but little pools had been created so you could sit in the water and it felt great! we were here for awhile because it was so nice to just relax and hang out.

Day 12 - July 11th -- Taupo back to Auckland
we woke up in hopes to see the beautiful lake that we had seen from the day before, to take a nice stroll down next to the clear water, but sadly it was a chilly day and it was super foggy. i was quite upset to say the least so just grabbed some subway for breakfast and hit the road back to Auckland. made it back and had some great family time, and Macie was here for some yummy lamb and wii gaming.

now starts our tour of the north island....
Day 9 - July 8th -- Auckland to Rotorua
woke up, lounged around the house, did all my laundry and headed out late afternoon to pick up our rental car. haha what a car, our radio didn't work and the gps was quite ancient but it was great! pretty much took our time getting to Rotorua and found our way to our base hostel of course. here's the thing about Rotorua, it is on top of a volcano so there is hot sulfur steam coming out of the ground everyone, and even creating some thermal pools in places. this makes everything smell pretty awful, all the time. its a cool thing but ew the smell was gross. we settled in, met our roomies who were from germany and china. we loved our roommate from China - Didi. haha he was great, couldn't understand him much but he came out with us (to the hostel bar) and had the time of his life. we all had a great night making our own fun!

Day 10 - July 9th -- Rotorua
today was a great day. slept in a little bit and had an easy lazy start. then danielle, macie and I had the boys drop us off at Paradise Valley, which is a wildlife park. best part about this park 1) you get to pet a lion cub! 2) you get to feed the animals 3) you get to watch lions being fed 4) its a beautiful walk with a river running through and a jungle like feel. we immediately found the lion cubs as this is what had attracted us here in the first place. loved loved loved it. there were twin girls and they were precious and so sweet! i just wanted to cuddle with them. then we made our way through the rest of the park, saw lots of birds and there were ducks everywhere. then we got to feed deer, pigs, goats, alpaca's (which are like lamas and some other animals). we also drank water fresh from a stream! then we went to hang out with the lions, the big lions. it was fun just sitting there watching them. there was one male and five females. they were being so lazy, just laying around soaking up the sun. although at one point (close to feeding time i guess) the male started roaring at us. how cool? i will say i fell in love with lions this day, and i felt like a little kid in awe at the zoo. they really are beautiful animals. i was sad to leave, had the best time hanging out with all the little creatures and walking through the beautiful forest.

how precious?!?!

 wallabies chillen.

alpaca haha what a funny guy.

 my favorite little duckling.

 roarrrrring.

 how beautiful are they?

was excited though to get back and have a brief rest before heading to the Maori village for our "Maori Experience." we got picked up on the bus by Sonny, our awesome bus driver and were told kind of the traditions and things we may see when we arrived. we were greeted in the traditional way that visitors were greeted when entering a village. basically men with lots of tattoos and weird outfits screaming a different language and doing things with their weapons. it was cool. we walked around the village and heard things about how they used to live, and certain traditions they had. best one -- when women are in labor their husband goes and gets a tattoo at the same time, but the thing about their tattoos is they used a bone thing and would tap all the way down into the bone so that your bone would forever be marked as well, ouch painful! but it was neat because women are so respected in their communities. we then saw a performance with lots of different songs and dance, i can't remember all of them but they were beautiful. and then we ate! we had tons and tons of food we were all dying at the end but it was all pretty tasty. it was a great night and i felt like i was able to get a glimpse into the Maori culture which is especially helpful with Maori language week coming up in school.

Day 6 - July 5th -- to Christchurch
well day 6 of our trip we were supposed to be leaving Queenstown to finish our stray bus tour and head to Mt. Cook followed by Rangitata and then end up in Christchurch. to make a long story short we were not able to get on the bus, confusion and bad communication from the company which i don't really want to get into. we had to then book a flight in order to get to Christchurch in time to catch our flights back to Auckland... anyway.

we settled in in Christchurch grabbed some Subway and headed to bed early. we were all a little frustrated with the situation and tired from all our traveling.

Day 7 - July 6th -- Christchurch
Danielle and I wanted to find something exciting to do during the day in Christchurch so we got booked in to do the "Adrenaline Forest." i'm so glad we did this! we rode out to this area that had some camping grounds and different parks around. it was so weird driving out there and seeing all the destruction still around, even in areas that weren't in the center of the city and still needed lots of work.

if you've ever done a high ropes course then you know what this was like. basically we had a harness with two clips and a pulley on it. we climbed up each course to start and had to move our clips along as we went. the challenges got harder and higher as we went along. there were definitely some very difficult ones. the hardest though were courses 5 and 6. these were the more advanced ones and it was crazy that i'm so scared of heights and could still do this. i mean i was attached at all times but still, at one point i was walking along one wire, that was at a steep incline moving up to 20m above ground. it was a wonderful experience though and a good workout! i had a blast!

Day 8 -- July 7th -- Christchurch back to Auckland
woke up, left our luggage at the hostel and Caitlin and i started our walk towards the center of Christchurch. it was pretty close to our hostel and a very interesting walk. its just so weird that Christchurch seems so deserted. i'll post some photos but we walked all through the town which is still mostly blocked off with red zones that are still too dangerous to enter. they were still tearing down buildings but a lot were still standing just with rubble all around.

apparently its becoming so hard to rebuild because insurance companies don't really know how to handle the whole situation and there are still earthquakes occurring (there was even one while we were doing the high ropes course) so who knows when another one could hit and take everything out again. it was so sad seeing the town like this. we did find some streets that have been rebuilt and a cute little market running along the street next to the University (which is still blocked off). that was refreshing and the people here seem to have a lot of hope, and everyone wants to work together to make Christchurch what it once was. we got to go through the Cambridge museum which had a lot of new zealand history but then a huge display about the earth quakes. there were videos of what had happened from security cameras and such, which was crazy to see. and there were ruins from different important things around town. it was a great experience getting to see all of this. again, putting a lot into perspective.

we got our shuttle back to the airport, thus ending our adventure in the south islands. it was sad to leave, but i was glad to be heading "home" where i had family, home cooked food and my own bed waiting for. oh and a birthday party for the neighbor, which was also lots of fun!

so that wraps up one of the best trips of my entire life!