As always, life has been crazy busy. I feel like I have spent every waking moment at the school in the past week. Last Friday was parent-teacher conference day. The parents are required to come to conferences, so I met with 27 sets of parents. It was a little stressful, but it went well. Saturday was an inservice day, so I was at school all day again. Yesterday, Benny invited Nikki, Steve, Mel and me over for a Sunday lunch of roast, potatoes, carrots, rolls and brownies. It was awesome! Then, it was off to school again to get some lesson planning done.
In my spare time, Mel and I have been busy with our evening work out routine. We just got a Tae Bo workout DVD, which is really hard! We are trying to get in shape for our spring break trip to Hawaii (hopefully). We have also been hanging out with Nikki and Steve a lot.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Monday, September 24, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Hunting for for Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen
Well, it has been crazy the past few weeks! School has kept me so busy! Last Saturday we had Saturday school. We have school one Saturday a month, that way we end up getting out in the middle of May so the students have more time to work in the summers. Our Saturday schools aren't like normal school days, we usually do some cultural activities. So, this past Saturday I took a group of the students out reindeer hunting. Well, actually I was more like the teacher chaparone who went with two local hunters who took a group of students reindeer hunting. But whatever. Anyway, we were driving around looking for the herd when one of the students said, "I just saw one back there". It is really usual for a reindeer to be roaming around on its own during this time in the year. They are usually all in the herd. So, we figured the herd must be near. We drove up a hill and there they were! 600 of them!!! It was so cool! We all got out of the van quietly and figured out the best way to sneak up around the herd so they wouldn't see or smell us. As we stalked up to the herd, I was in the rear making sure all the students were coming. One of the girls was having a difficult time walking through the rough tundra and was trailing behind. I was coaxing her on, when I heard a grunt. I looked up and there was a reindeer trotting right for us. I was trying to get the girl's attention without scaring the reindeer. She was so oblivious to the fact that at any moment we might become the new version of "Grandma Gor Runover By a Reindeer." Can't you picture it, "Teacher Got Run Over By a Reindeer". All of a sudden it stopped and stared right at us. We both froze. We turned around and the other hunters were taking pictures! haha. Finally, it ran to catch up with the rest of the heard. By the time we caught up with the rest of our group, two of the girls didn't want to walk any further. So, I was asked to stay behind with them. We sat in the fog on soggy moss covered rocks in the middle of the tundra for an hour and fifteen minutes, while the others were off on a hunting escapade. I was a little bummed, but then the girls decided it would be fun to sing "High School Musical" songs. So, time went faster after that. And the hunters didn't get a reindeer in the end, so I really didn't miss out.
Anywho, we made it back to the school in time for the hot dog luncheon. After sharing our adventures with the other students I was sent off to lead the traditional Aleut story telling and games. I asked Ms. Edna, the Aleut teacher, to teach me a few things. It was really fun! After all of this the last half hour was spent celebrating Grandparents Day. All of the grandparents were invited to the gym, where there were tables of crafts and food. The students made seal and halibut cracker spread and spicy seal chilli. And that my friends, is Saturday school in St. Paul.
The rest of this week has been rather uneventful seen as how I have been swamped with school work! I think I am actually getting the students excited about books! I gave one class the option of playing a game for the last ten minutes of class or I could read to them out of our book. They asked for the book and were bummed when the class period was over because they wanted to know what happens! It was awesome!!!
Sunday, September 2, 2007
1st Week of School
Well, it has been a crazy week!
We finished our teacher training and I got my room all set and ready to go. Wednesday, Father (the Russian Orthodox Church Father) came into the school and blessed each room and all of the teachers. Religion is a huge part of this community here and culture here, so it was really cool to see a religious figure inside of the school! Thursday was registration day. The students and their parents came in and met with us to fill out paper work and get their schedules. It was a great way to get to see the students. Friday was the first real day! It went really well. Over the weekend we had another work day on Saturday and Sunday I spent writing lesson plans and getting ready for the next week.
This first week of school went well. I am still learning a lot and figuring things out. I think my students have taught me way more than I have taught them. It has been a challenge all ready, but I am ready for it!!!
This weekend is the 100th year celebration of the church, so there has been a lot of excitement. Friday, the bishop flew into the island. A bunch of the teachers and students left school and greeted him at the airport. Yesterday, Mel and I went for a walk around the island and walked to the church. They are putting a new traditional gold dome on it for the celebration. it is a beautiful church with a lot of history. It was cool to watch them get it all ready. We ended up walking around the island for 3 hours. We saw alot of Arctic Fox and seals! We walked down to a seal blind hoping to get some good pictures. Seal blinds are like little shelters that you can stand in a look through windows to see the seals. They can charge you and are very dangerous, so there needs to be something between you and the seals for safety. We walked a few miles to get out to one. As we walked closer to the seal blind we could hear how loud the seals were! They make so many weird noises. Sometimes they sound like they are burping. When we started toward the seal blind we saw that some seals were actually IN the blind. And on the stairs. And they were BIG seals. So, we couldn't get any closer!
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Almost Time for School!!
I have moved most of my stuff into my new house! I love it!!!!! The past few days I have been cleaning my room like mad. The principal said that the last time the room had been cleaned and rearranged was over 16 years ago!!!! I completely tore it apart and now it is a mess! But I am seeing progress after putting in 20 hours so far!!! Last night Nikki, Mel, and I had a crab dinner with free crab we got from Mr. Mac.The we went over to the Stacks house (our principal and her husband) and watched a movie, which was a good way to chill out after being at school.
This morning we woke up to the sun shining and a huge full rainbow!!! It was awesome! I could see parts of the island that I had never been able to see through the fog before. It was so pretty. The island is gorgeous in the sunshine. Anywho, Steve, my brother-in-law just flew in today and we are all having a big crab dinner again tonight with. So I am off.
This morning we woke up to the sun shining and a huge full rainbow!!! It was awesome! I could see parts of the island that I had never been able to see through the fog before. It was so pretty. The island is gorgeous in the sunshine. Anywho, Steve, my brother-in-law just flew in today and we are all having a big crab dinner again tonight with. So I am off.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Arrival on St. Paul
Well our plane took off. Three hours into the flight we were told that it was too foggy to land on St. Paul, so we were going to fly to the other island, St. George. We circled around for a little bit and then went in for the landing. All I could see out the windows was fog and more fog, and then water. I was freaking out at this point, thinking for sure we were landing in the Bering Sea, then out of nowhere we hit land! And it was St. Paul after all! We walked off the plane and through a garage into the airport/hotel/restaurant. There were tons of people there and they all watched us as we walked in. Nikki said a lot of them were my students and they wanted to see the new teachers. We were met by Mr. Mac, the maintenance man, and the principal and her husband. We loaded all our stuff into Mr. Mac's truck and jumped in for a tour of the island. It was a foggy day, but the ground is so green and the island is really pretty. We drove past the school, the store, the post office and Mr. Mac also pointed us who lives in what house. We drove down to the docks to see the Halibut boats and the crab pots. It made me so excited to live here. We stopped at the post office and picked up our first load of our boxes and Mac helped us bring everything back to our houses. Mel and I were super excited to see our new home. It is awesome! I love it! We will post pics as soon as everything is unpacked. While we were starting to put stuff away we could hear little kids giggling outside our door and then our doorbell rang. Mel and I went to answer. There were 4 little kids standing on our porch holding up a couple of bones. When we opened the door they said, "Hi! We found some seal bones for you," and handed them to us. Two more kids came by and joined our little group and they introduced themselves and talked to us for quite awhile. They came by about 8 more times in the next hour. Once they wanted to come in and us our bathroom, a few times they would ring the bell and run and hide and one time they came by with another seal gift. The principle's daughter, Stormy, held out a seal eyeball. I didn't believe that that is what it was, until I could smell it. It was a decaying seal eyeball from the seal harvest they just had! Nasty! But it was so cute to see all the curious kids come by and to meet us. Later we went to Nikki's for pizza and one of the other teachers, Betty came over to say hi. She invited us to her place for a glass of wine. We stayed there until I could barely keep my eyes open any longer. I crawled in bed at 11:30 p.m., while it was still light out.
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
I am in ALASKA!!!!
Well, I'm here! Right now I am writing this from the Anchorage airport where I am waiting to catch a plane to my island. We have had 2 delays so far and are hoping to fly out of here soon. I am with my sister Nikki, and my friends Melissa and Benny.
Anchorage is gorgeous! When we flew in, the skies were clear and we had an awesome view of Mt. McKinley! Nikki, Mel and I checked into our hotel and did a bit of shopping to buy some supplies. We then picked up Benny V. from the airport and headed out to dinner. We stopped at the Sourdough Factory where we ran into "Hobo Jim" a famous Alaskan musician and we even took a picture with him. We then ate dinner, which was actually quite nasty, but made for a funny time.
Yesterday morning we did a Walmart run and then headed off to Sam's Club to buy our food supply for the next 4 months. We forgot to think about how we were going to fit our purchases into the car with the four of us. Nikki ended up driving with our huge load and Benny, Mel and I walked back to the hotel crossing the highway with our three months-worth of toilet paper in hand. We got to see downtown Anchorage that evening and did some more shopping. After all this we had a packing party back at a condo that the teachers own and shipped all our stuff off.
This morning was a whole other adventure! We went to Walmart to ship off the rest of our stuff. We pulled 3 carts of boxes into the Walmart post office where the cashier told us the scale to weigh our boxes wasn't working so we couldn't ship anything from there. We were already in a time crunch to get to the airport, so Nikki and Benny drove to another post office on the other side of town while Mel and I went back to the hotel and got all of our bags down by the lobby door and waited for Nikki to come back and get us. After sitting with our 8 suitcases and 8 carry-ons in the lobby, the lady at the desk came up to me and told me I had a phone call. It was Nikki saying she dropped Benny off at the post office to ship things off and headed to the teacher condo where she locked to keys in the rental car while it was running. So, Mel and I called a cab and planned to head to the condo to meet her there, when we realized we didn't know the address. As the cabbie loaded our mound of luggage into the car we tried calling Nikki for the street name, but her cell was also locked in the car with the keys. So, we gave the driver as much info. about the condo as we knew and he told us he knew where it was. Nikki was at the condo waiting and she called and got someone to unlock the car. We were rapidly running out of time, so we packed Mel, Nikki and I into the car with 8 suitcases and 8 carry-ons! The three of us sat in the front with two suitcases. Nikki dropped Mel and I and all our luggage off on the corner at the airport and flew back to get Benny from the post office an hour and a half after she dropped him off there. After the four of us were together again, we went up to the ticket counter to find out Mel didn't have a ticket reserved for this flight. Nikki talked called the principle of the school who then called the reservation desk and we got Mel on the flight. After making it to the gate just in the knick of time our plane has now been delayed twice. Hopefully we will be heading out the the island soon!! I'll keep you posted!
Anchorage is gorgeous! When we flew in, the skies were clear and we had an awesome view of Mt. McKinley! Nikki, Mel and I checked into our hotel and did a bit of shopping to buy some supplies. We then picked up Benny V. from the airport and headed out to dinner. We stopped at the Sourdough Factory where we ran into "Hobo Jim" a famous Alaskan musician and we even took a picture with him. We then ate dinner, which was actually quite nasty, but made for a funny time.
Yesterday morning we did a Walmart run and then headed off to Sam's Club to buy our food supply for the next 4 months. We forgot to think about how we were going to fit our purchases into the car with the four of us. Nikki ended up driving with our huge load and Benny, Mel and I walked back to the hotel crossing the highway with our three months-worth of toilet paper in hand. We got to see downtown Anchorage that evening and did some more shopping. After all this we had a packing party back at a condo that the teachers own and shipped all our stuff off.
This morning was a whole other adventure! We went to Walmart to ship off the rest of our stuff. We pulled 3 carts of boxes into the Walmart post office where the cashier told us the scale to weigh our boxes wasn't working so we couldn't ship anything from there. We were already in a time crunch to get to the airport, so Nikki and Benny drove to another post office on the other side of town while Mel and I went back to the hotel and got all of our bags down by the lobby door and waited for Nikki to come back and get us. After sitting with our 8 suitcases and 8 carry-ons in the lobby, the lady at the desk came up to me and told me I had a phone call. It was Nikki saying she dropped Benny off at the post office to ship things off and headed to the teacher condo where she locked to keys in the rental car while it was running. So, Mel and I called a cab and planned to head to the condo to meet her there, when we realized we didn't know the address. As the cabbie loaded our mound of luggage into the car we tried calling Nikki for the street name, but her cell was also locked in the car with the keys. So, we gave the driver as much info. about the condo as we knew and he told us he knew where it was. Nikki was at the condo waiting and she called and got someone to unlock the car. We were rapidly running out of time, so we packed Mel, Nikki and I into the car with 8 suitcases and 8 carry-ons! The three of us sat in the front with two suitcases. Nikki dropped Mel and I and all our luggage off on the corner at the airport and flew back to get Benny from the post office an hour and a half after she dropped him off there. After the four of us were together again, we went up to the ticket counter to find out Mel didn't have a ticket reserved for this flight. Nikki talked called the principle of the school who then called the reservation desk and we got Mel on the flight. After making it to the gate just in the knick of time our plane has now been delayed twice. Hopefully we will be heading out the the island soon!! I'll keep you posted!
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Catch up!
Well, it has been awhile and A LOT has happened. I will write this blog in little parts to catch up on life so far.
Leaving NZ-
It was hard to say good bye to my students as well as the teachers and great friends I made. My friends from church there had an awesome BBQ for me before I left. I was so lucky to have met such cool and caring people. I was sad to leave NZ, but I was excited about what was ahead. I know I will come back some day.
Fiji-
I then headed off to Fiji. Just me and my suitcase. I never thought I would travel to a tropical island alone, but it was awesome! The first night I stayed in a hostel with 40 people to a room in Nadi, Fiji. The next 3 nights I stayed at the Octopus Resort on Waya Island. It was amazing. It was so gorgeous. Too hard to explain how gorgeous it was in words. Look at the pics! Then I spent one more night back in Nadi before flying home.
Coming home-
It was so good to see my family. After over 40 hours in planes and airports I was so ready to be home. My mom and sister picked me up at the airport. It took awhile to adjust back into life here again, but it was so good to be back. The day after I flew in I drove downstate to see my grandparents and my cousin Jennifer who is getting married soon! It was such a good week with them.
G.E.-
Now I am back home teaching third grade for Great Explorations, which is a fun summer school. It has been really fun so far, but I come home exhausted at the end of the day after playing with kids for 8 hours!
Shell Lake-
Last weekend I went to my friends Katie and Ryan's wedding in Shell Lake, WI. It was so much fun! It was great to see all of my bestest buds again. I hadn't seen anyone since before Christmas. The wedding was beautiful, but the whole weekend went by way to fast.
Now-
Now I am teaching at GE and enjoying the warm weather while I get everything in order to move up to Alaska. I love the sun and am trying to soak it all up before I move to the Arctic!!
Leaving NZ-
It was hard to say good bye to my students as well as the teachers and great friends I made. My friends from church there had an awesome BBQ for me before I left. I was so lucky to have met such cool and caring people. I was sad to leave NZ, but I was excited about what was ahead. I know I will come back some day.
Fiji-
I then headed off to Fiji. Just me and my suitcase. I never thought I would travel to a tropical island alone, but it was awesome! The first night I stayed in a hostel with 40 people to a room in Nadi, Fiji. The next 3 nights I stayed at the Octopus Resort on Waya Island. It was amazing. It was so gorgeous. Too hard to explain how gorgeous it was in words. Look at the pics! Then I spent one more night back in Nadi before flying home.
Coming home-
It was so good to see my family. After over 40 hours in planes and airports I was so ready to be home. My mom and sister picked me up at the airport. It took awhile to adjust back into life here again, but it was so good to be back. The day after I flew in I drove downstate to see my grandparents and my cousin Jennifer who is getting married soon! It was such a good week with them.
G.E.-
Now I am back home teaching third grade for Great Explorations, which is a fun summer school. It has been really fun so far, but I come home exhausted at the end of the day after playing with kids for 8 hours!
Shell Lake-
Last weekend I went to my friends Katie and Ryan's wedding in Shell Lake, WI. It was so much fun! It was great to see all of my bestest buds again. I hadn't seen anyone since before Christmas. The wedding was beautiful, but the whole weekend went by way to fast.
Now-
Now I am teaching at GE and enjoying the warm weather while I get everything in order to move up to Alaska. I love the sun and am trying to soak it all up before I move to the Arctic!!
Monday, May 21, 2007
New Pics and Exciting News
I put some more pics onto my website. Now that Megan is gone I will be posting most of my pics onto my site. So check it out!
The other exciting news is that I just booked my plane tickets to Fiji!!! I leave a week from tomorrow for 5 days in the sun and surf! Thanks Grampa and Maggie!
The other exciting news is that I just booked my plane tickets to Fiji!!! I leave a week from tomorrow for 5 days in the sun and surf! Thanks Grampa and Maggie!
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Waihi Weekends
Last weekend was my first weekend without major travel plans since Megan left. Friday night I had some guys from church over for a Mexican meal. I made them some wonderful tacos using my great cooking skills. Haha. Saturday I went to see some of my kids play rugby and netball. It was fun to watch them play and they were really excited that I came to see them play. Saturday night Kristy and I went to a Pink Floyd tribute concert at the beach pub. We thought it would be pretty cool, but it turned out that it was a bunch of middle-aged people in their black t-shirts drinking away and I was with my baby blue polar fleece on. I felt a bit out of the loop. So Kristy and I left and came back to my house for junk food and a chick flick. Sunday was church and that night for the evening service I lead the worship team. It was really fun and it made me being on a worship team a lot (I did it at university for awhile). This week has been pretty good. It is crazy trying to get everything done before I leave. And I am planning my trip to Fiji!!! I cannot wait!
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Moving to Alaska
So, as if life isn't crazy enough, I am moving to Alaska in August! The adventures continue! I interviewed for a teaching job there on Wednesday and was hired yesterday! I am thrilled! I know I am using a lot of exclamation points, but I am just excited! I will be teaching grades 6-12 English and possibly Social Studies at St. Paul School on St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea. My sister is currently teaching elementary school there and my brother-in-law teaches high school. Another friend from home was also hired yesterday to teach elem. school as well. I am so pumped! I know it will be tough to be so far away, but then again, hey I have been living across the world for four months already. It will be such a great learning experience. I cannot wait! YAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pics
Megs and I put up more pics on her website. For some reason they show up at the bottom of that page. But they are there and ready for viewing and I will put up more soon!
Life is Crazy!
Okay, so a lot has happened since I last wrote on here. So I shall break it up into chunks for you.
Beach Hop-
Two weekends ago Megs and I chilled in Waihi. It was weird to be there for a weekend when we are usually out traveling, but it was really nice to relax. That Saturday we went to the Whangamata Beach Hop. It is basically a classic car showcase. There were classic cars lining the roads. People were dressed in 50's clothes and there were bands and vendors everywhere. It was a gorgeous day. We sat on the beach for quite awhile too. I love the beach! Sigh.
Auckland-
Megs and I hit up Auckland last weekend. We hadn't had much of a chance to check out New Zealand's biggest city so we went to see what it was all about. We brought Myles along with us for the trip. We dropped him off to see some friends and us gals went off into the town. We ate a bite to eat and then hit the markets in the town square. I love the markets. They are really artsy and sometimes really cheap! There were street performers all around. It was great. We hit up some other stores wishing we had more room in our suitcases to bring stuff home. We checked out a park and then the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. It has amazing views of Auckland. Gorgeous. I think it is safe for me to tell people now that I then dropped Megan off at the airport. She didn't want anyone to know she was going home so she could surprise them. So I have had to be hush hush for awhile. It was hard to say goodbye to such a great travel partner. But I didn't cry! After we hugged goodbye and I saw her off, I had to try and catch up with Myles. I drove around Auckland for an hour completely lost! Not a shocker if you know me! haha. I finally found him and we headed off with his cousins and some friends of his to a cocktail party. It was really fun. I felt a little out of place at first but I met tons of great people and even taught people how to swing dance there! It was a late night. We stayed at Myles cousin's house that night and headed back to Waihi on the way home. We stopped at the Karangahake Gorge to checkout a cool waterfall on the way.
That night it was weird to be alone in my house without Megs, but I was so exhausted I just feel right to sleep.
This week-
This week has gone by so fast. I cannot believe it. I only have two weeks left here at the school. I am going to miss the kids so much. My supervisor came in for the last time to observe me. It is weird to have everything winding down now.
Wednesday I went surfing again with Myles and his cousin and I actually got up on the board! Not for long, but when I did I screamed and then lost it! haha. I also got wacked on my head with my board. As I was out there surfing the sun was setting and it was gorgeous. I realized how lucky I am. As I am sitting there in the waves trying to get back on my board like a beached whale I hear "hi". I turned around to see some of the Year 8 kids (who are competitive surfers) out there riding the waves and waving at me. I tried to pretend like I was just waiting to a good wave, paddling away on my board, when one crashed into me and threw me off. I looked like such a dork out there! haha. Well, the kids thought it was cool that I was trying anyway!
Beach Hop-
Two weekends ago Megs and I chilled in Waihi. It was weird to be there for a weekend when we are usually out traveling, but it was really nice to relax. That Saturday we went to the Whangamata Beach Hop. It is basically a classic car showcase. There were classic cars lining the roads. People were dressed in 50's clothes and there were bands and vendors everywhere. It was a gorgeous day. We sat on the beach for quite awhile too. I love the beach! Sigh.
Auckland-
Megs and I hit up Auckland last weekend. We hadn't had much of a chance to check out New Zealand's biggest city so we went to see what it was all about. We brought Myles along with us for the trip. We dropped him off to see some friends and us gals went off into the town. We ate a bite to eat and then hit the markets in the town square. I love the markets. They are really artsy and sometimes really cheap! There were street performers all around. It was great. We hit up some other stores wishing we had more room in our suitcases to bring stuff home. We checked out a park and then the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower is the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. It has amazing views of Auckland. Gorgeous. I think it is safe for me to tell people now that I then dropped Megan off at the airport. She didn't want anyone to know she was going home so she could surprise them. So I have had to be hush hush for awhile. It was hard to say goodbye to such a great travel partner. But I didn't cry! After we hugged goodbye and I saw her off, I had to try and catch up with Myles. I drove around Auckland for an hour completely lost! Not a shocker if you know me! haha. I finally found him and we headed off with his cousins and some friends of his to a cocktail party. It was really fun. I felt a little out of place at first but I met tons of great people and even taught people how to swing dance there! It was a late night. We stayed at Myles cousin's house that night and headed back to Waihi on the way home. We stopped at the Karangahake Gorge to checkout a cool waterfall on the way.
That night it was weird to be alone in my house without Megs, but I was so exhausted I just feel right to sleep.
This week-
This week has gone by so fast. I cannot believe it. I only have two weeks left here at the school. I am going to miss the kids so much. My supervisor came in for the last time to observe me. It is weird to have everything winding down now.
Wednesday I went surfing again with Myles and his cousin and I actually got up on the board! Not for long, but when I did I screamed and then lost it! haha. I also got wacked on my head with my board. As I was out there surfing the sun was setting and it was gorgeous. I realized how lucky I am. As I am sitting there in the waves trying to get back on my board like a beached whale I hear "hi". I turned around to see some of the Year 8 kids (who are competitive surfers) out there riding the waves and waving at me. I tried to pretend like I was just waiting to a good wave, paddling away on my board, when one crashed into me and threw me off. I looked like such a dork out there! haha. Well, the kids thought it was cool that I was trying anyway!
Friday, April 27, 2007
Surfing!
Today after school, one of the other student teachers, Miles, took Megan and I surfing. It was so fun! Since it is fall here, the weather is a little chilly and it gets dark pretty early, like 6ish. But we didn't know how many more chances we would get to try and surf. We left school grabbed the boards and wetsuits and headed to the beach. Miles said the waves weren't that great, but they looked big to me! We all put our wetsuits on (I had to put mine on twice, because apparently I had it on backwards the first time) and headed out to the waves. Miles gave us a quick lesson and then we were off. We "surfed" for an hour or so. I had so much water in my mouth and ears by the end of it and I am pretty sure I looked like a drown rat (notice no pictures were taken of this). We stayed in until it got dark and by the end I was able to get onto one knee a few times but was nowhere near standing up! That will take a lot more practice. My goal is to get up on two knees on my board before I go home. It might take awhile. Guess I will just have to keep going for it until I get it down!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Wellington
I tried posting this ages ago and for some reason it wouldn't post. So, I forgot to say in the previous post that Megs and I stopped in Nelson in the South Island at the museum of Wearable Art. It was so cool and weird! There were the craziest costumes! After Megan and I left the South Island we stayed at Ruth and Michael's house. They are our host parents kids. The next day we walked around Wellington. We checked out the national museum, which was huge! Then we took the cable car up to the city gardens where there was a great view of the city. After that we walked back down and checked out all the parliment buildings. That night Michael made us a fantastic meal and Sunday morning we were off. We drove back to Waihi sad to say good bye to our adventure but happy to sleep in real beds!
Friday, April 20, 2007
The Last of the South Island Adventures
Not only did Megs and I hit up all the adventure areas of Queenstown, we also enjoyed some of the city life. We went to every souvenir shop imaginable! There were little arts and craft tables set up along the lakefront and a concert was going on. While we were walking around I saw a girl I had gone to school with walk down the street! I knew she was working in Abel Tasman for a few months, but I didn't think I would run into her. What a small world!
That night we went to the Minus 5 Degree bar. Now I am not a big bar person, but this was cool. The ice bar originated in Sweden and are now found in a few other places. It is a popular place to go, even with families and kids, so we had to make reservations. You are alotted a half hour in the bar. Before we went in, we were fitted with fur trimmed parkas and gloves. The whole room is made of ice, and I mean EVERYTHING; the bar, the seats, and the glasses! There were amazing ice sculptures everywhere. That was cool. We met a crazy group of English backpackers when we were there, which made for a good time.
After all the Queenstown craziness we drove on to Wanaka. We stayed at a campsite that night. The next day we went into town to check everything out. We heard from a friend it was pretty cool. Wanaka is situated right on a lake and because it is fall here, the scenery was beautiful. Along the lakewalk was a photography display. There were huge aerial photos displayed all about the changing enviroment and learning to care about the earth we live on. We walked through display for about an hour. That was also very cool. We did some shopping and again headed on to Franz Josef.
Franz Josef is a huge glacier set back in a big rock valley with rainforesty-type woods surrounding it. We stayed at the Rainforest Holiday Park that night, and prepared for our full-day glacier hike the following day. That morning we headed to the Franz Josef center where we were fitted with raincoats, over trousers, wool socks, boots, crampons (grips strapped to the bottom of your boots), hats and mittens. We boarded a bus and off we went. We were in a group of about 10 and a guide. We spent the next 7 hours together exploring around. I was super excited about it, since I see cold and snow all the time, but it was awesome. We even got to use ice picks. We wandered up the glacier where the views of the valley were gorgeous. We tramped through blue crevaces and all arounded. By the end of the day, we were really tired out! We made tacos for dinner, took a warm shower and were in bed by 7:45!
The following morning we headed to Lake Mathison, a well known scenic lake. the backdrop of the lake are the snow covered mountains that are reflected in the water. Again, gorgeous.
Okay, moving on....
The rest of the day we drove through to Abel Tasman. It was a long day of driving; about another 8 hours total. But we stopped at great places along the way. We drove down the highway along the beach, so we stopped for pictures here and there. We also saw Pancake Rocks. On the beach are these massive layered rock formations. When we get the pictures up, you will see what I am talking about. We finally made our way to Abel Tasman and booked a hostel for the night. Yeah, no sleeping in the back of the van! After 13 nights, it was nice to have a break!
Abel Tasman national park is right near the top of the south island. It is known for it's aqua waters and white beaches. In fact, it was one of the top five beaches in the world! The thing to do here is go out on a kayak trip, since most of the beaches can only be reached by water. We booked the "Royal with Cheese" all-day trip. When we got there, one of the guides told us that they drew peoples names for an upgrade to a better kayak package and we had won! So, we were put on the trip that was twenty bucks more and we got it for the same price as the other. We met our guide, Gloria, who was awesome and the other four kayakers in our group. They came from, Israel, France, England, and Austrailia. What a multicultural group! We were fitted into our life jackets and boarded the water taxi that brought us to the beach we would be launching from. The kayaks were two-person, so Megs was in the back in charge of steering and I was in the front. Our guide told us that we were sure to see some seal pups along the way. Not ten minutes after we got going we spotted seals doing there thing on the rocks; lazing in the sun and making noise! Gloria suggested we head to this secluded lagoon where there are usually some seal pups. She said we would be able to get there because it was still high tide. The lagoon was so pretty, but there were no seals in sight. We paddled on further to a little cove. All of a sudden these pups emerged from the trees on the banks and started swimming around our boats. Gloria said they were about 4 months old and often the mother leaves them there for the day while she goes out because they are safe in the cove. One of the pups grabbed onto a rope tied to Gloria's kayak and was swimming and plaing with it. We are watched and pulled our kayaks up side by side. The seals were so playful! Our kayaks was resting on top of a tree that was in the water. The pups would walk on the log and come up to sniff our kayak. All of a sudden, one jumped onto the kayak next to us and sat there for awhile. Gloria was laughing so hard. She said this had never happened before! We are all taked pictures like crazy when another one jumped onto ours. But instead of sitting there, he came up to me and sat on my spray skirt, right on my lap and sniffed my life jacket! haha. Gloria couldn't believe it! After awile we got out to swim with them. The water was freeezing and we were in the shade, so it didn't last long. But the seals would dodge all around us. They were swimming in between Megan's legs and one grabbed the tie on my life jacket and started pulling it! It was the highlight of the trip! Eventually we headed out of the lagoon because the tide was going out. We paddled to a beach where we had the lunches that were provided for us. We even got mochaccinos! Yum! Gloria said she had a surprise for us. She pulled a violin out of her kayak and started playing it. It was so cool. Beach, catered lunch, mochaccino, sun, and violin music. How lucky is that? Total paradise. We explored some more beaches and even sailed our kayaks. Yeah, sailed them. We connected them all together out in the water by holding on to each other's boats. Then the back people tied a tarp the their oars and raised it in the air, the front people (me), held onto the other corners down low and away we went. It was one of the best days, our group was awesome and the weather couldn't have been better! Abel Tasman was one of the most gorgeous places we went to! I loved it!!! We were freezing by the end of the day and headed back to the hostel for dinner and hot showers.
This brings us up to today. Basically we drove from Abel Tasman so Nelson, where we stopped and explored the city and then drove on to Picton, where we are now. We only have a few hours left on the South Island. In fact, we board the ferry in about 2 hours to head back to the North. I am sad to leave here. I fell in love with the South Island. Tonight we are staying at our host parents' other child's house in Wellington. Tomorrow we plan to check out the capital and then head back to Waihi on Sunday to get ready for the last five weeks of teaching.
So, for now I am off since I have been sitting at United Video store to type this! haha.
Love you all.
That night we went to the Minus 5 Degree bar. Now I am not a big bar person, but this was cool. The ice bar originated in Sweden and are now found in a few other places. It is a popular place to go, even with families and kids, so we had to make reservations. You are alotted a half hour in the bar. Before we went in, we were fitted with fur trimmed parkas and gloves. The whole room is made of ice, and I mean EVERYTHING; the bar, the seats, and the glasses! There were amazing ice sculptures everywhere. That was cool. We met a crazy group of English backpackers when we were there, which made for a good time.
After all the Queenstown craziness we drove on to Wanaka. We stayed at a campsite that night. The next day we went into town to check everything out. We heard from a friend it was pretty cool. Wanaka is situated right on a lake and because it is fall here, the scenery was beautiful. Along the lakewalk was a photography display. There were huge aerial photos displayed all about the changing enviroment and learning to care about the earth we live on. We walked through display for about an hour. That was also very cool. We did some shopping and again headed on to Franz Josef.
Franz Josef is a huge glacier set back in a big rock valley with rainforesty-type woods surrounding it. We stayed at the Rainforest Holiday Park that night, and prepared for our full-day glacier hike the following day. That morning we headed to the Franz Josef center where we were fitted with raincoats, over trousers, wool socks, boots, crampons (grips strapped to the bottom of your boots), hats and mittens. We boarded a bus and off we went. We were in a group of about 10 and a guide. We spent the next 7 hours together exploring around. I was super excited about it, since I see cold and snow all the time, but it was awesome. We even got to use ice picks. We wandered up the glacier where the views of the valley were gorgeous. We tramped through blue crevaces and all arounded. By the end of the day, we were really tired out! We made tacos for dinner, took a warm shower and were in bed by 7:45!
The following morning we headed to Lake Mathison, a well known scenic lake. the backdrop of the lake are the snow covered mountains that are reflected in the water. Again, gorgeous.
Okay, moving on....
The rest of the day we drove through to Abel Tasman. It was a long day of driving; about another 8 hours total. But we stopped at great places along the way. We drove down the highway along the beach, so we stopped for pictures here and there. We also saw Pancake Rocks. On the beach are these massive layered rock formations. When we get the pictures up, you will see what I am talking about. We finally made our way to Abel Tasman and booked a hostel for the night. Yeah, no sleeping in the back of the van! After 13 nights, it was nice to have a break!
Abel Tasman national park is right near the top of the south island. It is known for it's aqua waters and white beaches. In fact, it was one of the top five beaches in the world! The thing to do here is go out on a kayak trip, since most of the beaches can only be reached by water. We booked the "Royal with Cheese" all-day trip. When we got there, one of the guides told us that they drew peoples names for an upgrade to a better kayak package and we had won! So, we were put on the trip that was twenty bucks more and we got it for the same price as the other. We met our guide, Gloria, who was awesome and the other four kayakers in our group. They came from, Israel, France, England, and Austrailia. What a multicultural group! We were fitted into our life jackets and boarded the water taxi that brought us to the beach we would be launching from. The kayaks were two-person, so Megs was in the back in charge of steering and I was in the front. Our guide told us that we were sure to see some seal pups along the way. Not ten minutes after we got going we spotted seals doing there thing on the rocks; lazing in the sun and making noise! Gloria suggested we head to this secluded lagoon where there are usually some seal pups. She said we would be able to get there because it was still high tide. The lagoon was so pretty, but there were no seals in sight. We paddled on further to a little cove. All of a sudden these pups emerged from the trees on the banks and started swimming around our boats. Gloria said they were about 4 months old and often the mother leaves them there for the day while she goes out because they are safe in the cove. One of the pups grabbed onto a rope tied to Gloria's kayak and was swimming and plaing with it. We are watched and pulled our kayaks up side by side. The seals were so playful! Our kayaks was resting on top of a tree that was in the water. The pups would walk on the log and come up to sniff our kayak. All of a sudden, one jumped onto the kayak next to us and sat there for awhile. Gloria was laughing so hard. She said this had never happened before! We are all taked pictures like crazy when another one jumped onto ours. But instead of sitting there, he came up to me and sat on my spray skirt, right on my lap and sniffed my life jacket! haha. Gloria couldn't believe it! After awile we got out to swim with them. The water was freeezing and we were in the shade, so it didn't last long. But the seals would dodge all around us. They were swimming in between Megan's legs and one grabbed the tie on my life jacket and started pulling it! It was the highlight of the trip! Eventually we headed out of the lagoon because the tide was going out. We paddled to a beach where we had the lunches that were provided for us. We even got mochaccinos! Yum! Gloria said she had a surprise for us. She pulled a violin out of her kayak and started playing it. It was so cool. Beach, catered lunch, mochaccino, sun, and violin music. How lucky is that? Total paradise. We explored some more beaches and even sailed our kayaks. Yeah, sailed them. We connected them all together out in the water by holding on to each other's boats. Then the back people tied a tarp the their oars and raised it in the air, the front people (me), held onto the other corners down low and away we went. It was one of the best days, our group was awesome and the weather couldn't have been better! Abel Tasman was one of the most gorgeous places we went to! I loved it!!! We were freezing by the end of the day and headed back to the hostel for dinner and hot showers.
This brings us up to today. Basically we drove from Abel Tasman so Nelson, where we stopped and explored the city and then drove on to Picton, where we are now. We only have a few hours left on the South Island. In fact, we board the ferry in about 2 hours to head back to the North. I am sad to leave here. I fell in love with the South Island. Tonight we are staying at our host parents' other child's house in Wellington. Tomorrow we plan to check out the capital and then head back to Waihi on Sunday to get ready for the last five weeks of teaching.
So, for now I am off since I have been sitting at United Video store to type this! haha.
Love you all.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Adventure Guru
Well, I am alive! So Megs and I both did the canyon swing. Basically, you stand out on a platform 300 ft. above the canyon. It is sort of like bungy jumping. You have a rope and harness attached to your waist by your belly button. You can choose to jump off anyway you want. Megan hung upside down! No way. Not for me. I got up there to the edge and was shaking to bad! I held onto my rope and then stepped off. I started to scream, but then you are going too fast that you can't make noise anymore! You drop to the bottom and then swing back and forth until they raise you up again. It was a rush, that is for sure!!!! Celebrities like Adrien Brody, Jack Osborne, and Jack Black have done the swing too! About 3 hours later Megs and I got in a plane and jumped out of it! Ahhh!!!! I went skydiving! It was so amazing. When we first got there I was more excited than the day before. Our van driver said it isn't scary once you are in the air. It said it is more euphoric than frightening. This eased my fears. We got all siuted up and the guy who was helping me introduced himself as Uros. I asked if he was my instructor (the one who would jump with me). He said no, that he is just the parachute packer and helps fit people into their jumpsuits. He said that he will take people if something happens to the instructors, and that he has gone a few times (compared to the thousand that the instructors have gone). After we got suited up we headed out into the field for instruction. Then we hopped in the plane. There were 3 of us jumping, our instructors and our cameramen. We each hired a camera guy so we could get pics of the jump. My instructor still hadn't come. The low and behold, Uros comes out! I was freaking out! I wanted someone who had jumped more than a few times since they were the ones in charge of the parachute and the landing! Ahhh.... I was trying not to freak. We were all crammed into a little cockpit. As we rose the view was awesome. We were above the mountains and the clouds. When we reached 12,000 ft. The door opened. Meg and her instructor leaned out the door and were gone. It was my turn. Just me and good ole' Uros! He told me to scoot near the door. I was sitting with my legs hanging out. My photographer was hanging on to the wing and told me to smile. Yeah, smile while I am hanging 12,000 ft. out of a plane. Then Uros, who was strapped behind me rocked backwards and forwards and we were out! It was nuts! My feet were up to the sky and we flipped a few times. Then we turned so I was looking out ahead. Because the air is pushing up on you, you sort of feel like you are floating. It was scary! The view was amazing! Lakes, mountains, and sheep pastures. We were free-falling for 45 seconds, then the parachute opened and it was another 5 minutes before we touched down. During that time Uros, asked if I wanted to spin. I said, "why not" so we did. He spun all around and it was so cool, all though I was nervous that my lunch would come up! When we hit the ground I was so pumped! I did it!!!! And that's when I found out that Uros is a jokester. He had done over 10, 500 jumps! Phew! haha. I was a great experience and I would do it all over again. Who wants to join me!
Friday, April 13, 2007
The South Island details
So, here we go, bare with me on this long one.
Thursday: Last day of school, left Waihi at 4:30 and drove the 8 hours to Wellington. There we spent the night in the back of the van in the ferry parking lot.
Friday: We took the 3 hour ferry ride from the North Island to the South Island. The scenery was amazing and the wind was cold! We arrived in Picton and drove further down to Kaikoura. On the way we stopped at an awesome beach for lunch and then saw tons of seals along the rocks. There were tons of seal pups playing around. I loved this little town. The weather was good and we looked around town before camping for the night.
Saturday: We went whale watching! It was soooo cool. We saw two different sperm whales. You can't see much of them, just a bit of their backs and blowhole. When they dive down again, you can see their tale. That was amazing. We also saw some albatross and 200 dusky dolphins. These dolphins are the smallest in the world and were so fun to watch. They would swim right up to the boat and dive and jump all over. We then headed off to Hanmer Springs. We went to the Springs spa and enjoyed a few of the dozen outdoor hot pools. It was nice to do on a cool day. Then we went to a fun maze. We had to find clues in the maze to spell out a little message. From here we drove on to Christchurch where we camped for the night.
Sunday: Easter! We went to church at the Christchurch Cathedral. It was huge and gorgeous. It was cool to see an old church in the middle of town square. Most the shops were closed so we just browsed around town a bit. Then we went to the Antarctic Centre. We saw the blue penguin, the world's smallest. We watched them get fed. That night we stayed with our host parents kids and their family.
Monday: We went up to a cool lookout of town and then to the town centre where we walked around the arts center. It was soooo awesome. It is like 3 blocks of an old campus. There are art stores, theatres, movie theatres, and galleries throughout the whole thing. There are people performing on the streets too. Then we went on the Mount Cook. The drive took about 5 hours to see NZ's tallest mountain. We spent the night in the van at a campground there with the snow covered mountains and a lake all around us.
Tuesday: We did a two hour hike by the mount. It was again a gorgeous site.We headed out and drove to Dunedin. This town was awesome. It is a little bigger than Duluth and had a cool town centre. We stayed in a hostel that night. It was like an old big house and you rent a room for like 20 NZ$ and there are 4 people per room. There was a big kitchen, pool table and tv room. It was nice to sleep in a bed for once instead of a van. We walked to the city at night and went to a piano bar and a few other hangouts. It was really quite in town because it is the holidays so all the students are gone.
Wednesday we went to the Cadbury chocolate factory. You know the cadbury bunny? Yeah, I saw him in real life! haha. It was a cool tour. The place is huge and employs like 600 people. Then we went to the only castle in NZ. That was awesome too. It isn't huge, but it is beautiful. After that we saw the steepest city in the world, and i hiked it. In the evening, it was off to a brewery tour which was also pretty cool. After all of this, we drove to a beach and parked the van on the side of the road to sleep.
Thursday: We got up early in the morning and saw some seals on the rocks by a cool old lighthouse. We could hear all this grunting and realized it was a mother seal and her pups playing in a cove. We then drove to Te Anau and walked around town and stayed in a great holiday park for the night. It had fireplaces and was log-cabin style. Which was nice and warm since it was really cold outside. We even watched Grey's Anatomy in the TV lounge, before climbing into our cold van again for the night.
Friday: We went on a cruise through Milfrod Sound! It was the most spectacular thing ever! The drive took about 2 hours. Te Anau is the closest town. The whole Fiordland Park is all natural and huge! The are steep green cliffs and mountains everywhere. The cruise was a 3 hour boat tour from the beginning of the Sound to the Tasman Sea. It was freezing, even snowed and hailed, but while we were on the boat the sun was shining and everything was beautiful! We even saw seals and a pod of bottlenose dolphins. Last night we drove into Queenstown. We have taken it easy here so far, since tomorrow is a big day! We are skydiving! I will definitely update after all that excitement. Well that is all for now! More later if I survive!
Thursday: Last day of school, left Waihi at 4:30 and drove the 8 hours to Wellington. There we spent the night in the back of the van in the ferry parking lot.
Friday: We took the 3 hour ferry ride from the North Island to the South Island. The scenery was amazing and the wind was cold! We arrived in Picton and drove further down to Kaikoura. On the way we stopped at an awesome beach for lunch and then saw tons of seals along the rocks. There were tons of seal pups playing around. I loved this little town. The weather was good and we looked around town before camping for the night.
Saturday: We went whale watching! It was soooo cool. We saw two different sperm whales. You can't see much of them, just a bit of their backs and blowhole. When they dive down again, you can see their tale. That was amazing. We also saw some albatross and 200 dusky dolphins. These dolphins are the smallest in the world and were so fun to watch. They would swim right up to the boat and dive and jump all over. We then headed off to Hanmer Springs. We went to the Springs spa and enjoyed a few of the dozen outdoor hot pools. It was nice to do on a cool day. Then we went to a fun maze. We had to find clues in the maze to spell out a little message. From here we drove on to Christchurch where we camped for the night.
Sunday: Easter! We went to church at the Christchurch Cathedral. It was huge and gorgeous. It was cool to see an old church in the middle of town square. Most the shops were closed so we just browsed around town a bit. Then we went to the Antarctic Centre. We saw the blue penguin, the world's smallest. We watched them get fed. That night we stayed with our host parents kids and their family.
Monday: We went up to a cool lookout of town and then to the town centre where we walked around the arts center. It was soooo awesome. It is like 3 blocks of an old campus. There are art stores, theatres, movie theatres, and galleries throughout the whole thing. There are people performing on the streets too. Then we went on the Mount Cook. The drive took about 5 hours to see NZ's tallest mountain. We spent the night in the van at a campground there with the snow covered mountains and a lake all around us.
Tuesday: We did a two hour hike by the mount. It was again a gorgeous site.We headed out and drove to Dunedin. This town was awesome. It is a little bigger than Duluth and had a cool town centre. We stayed in a hostel that night. It was like an old big house and you rent a room for like 20 NZ$ and there are 4 people per room. There was a big kitchen, pool table and tv room. It was nice to sleep in a bed for once instead of a van. We walked to the city at night and went to a piano bar and a few other hangouts. It was really quite in town because it is the holidays so all the students are gone.
Wednesday we went to the Cadbury chocolate factory. You know the cadbury bunny? Yeah, I saw him in real life! haha. It was a cool tour. The place is huge and employs like 600 people. Then we went to the only castle in NZ. That was awesome too. It isn't huge, but it is beautiful. After that we saw the steepest city in the world, and i hiked it. In the evening, it was off to a brewery tour which was also pretty cool. After all of this, we drove to a beach and parked the van on the side of the road to sleep.
Thursday: We got up early in the morning and saw some seals on the rocks by a cool old lighthouse. We could hear all this grunting and realized it was a mother seal and her pups playing in a cove. We then drove to Te Anau and walked around town and stayed in a great holiday park for the night. It had fireplaces and was log-cabin style. Which was nice and warm since it was really cold outside. We even watched Grey's Anatomy in the TV lounge, before climbing into our cold van again for the night.
Friday: We went on a cruise through Milfrod Sound! It was the most spectacular thing ever! The drive took about 2 hours. Te Anau is the closest town. The whole Fiordland Park is all natural and huge! The are steep green cliffs and mountains everywhere. The cruise was a 3 hour boat tour from the beginning of the Sound to the Tasman Sea. It was freezing, even snowed and hailed, but while we were on the boat the sun was shining and everything was beautiful! We even saw seals and a pod of bottlenose dolphins. Last night we drove into Queenstown. We have taken it easy here so far, since tomorrow is a big day! We are skydiving! I will definitely update after all that excitement. Well that is all for now! More later if I survive!
South Island is AMAZING!
This is a quick blog for ya. Megs and I are in the South Island and it is so amazingly awesome. We have whale watched, hiked by the mountains, been to a castle, gone on a chocolate factory and brew house tour, cruised through Milford Sound and more. It truely is the most beautiful place I have ever been to. But I have five more minutes left on the internet here at the campsite. So farewell to all and there will be more to come. Check out the pics! Cheers!
Monday, April 2, 2007
Good times in Rotorua
Rotorua was cool. It was a very touristy town, but there was lots to do. We went to see some boiling mud pools in a park, went to the Historic Bathhouse, which is the Rotorua museum and the government gardens there. But by far, the coolest thing we did was zorbing! It is pretty much rolling people down a hill in padded gerbil balls. Megs and I went in a hydro one together. We climbed in the ball where there was a small pool of warm water inside and then we roll down the hill in it. We were soaked by the end. It was the funnest 30 seconds of my life! We also saw a Maori concert. So awesome. We stayed in a thermal camp park that night and woke up to have the thermal pools all to our selves for the morning. Very relaxing!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)