Ka Pai!

Posted by Brandon |

Katie and I just finished our first workout in New Zealand! haha. We asked Alice if there were any streets that we should avoid, and her daughter Carla (Noah's mom, who is absolutely hilarious) laughed as she simply said "West Auckland?!" I guess I should have assumed that we are not in the best part of town, as we get the chance to teach at Decile 2 schools, when the schools here are ranked from Decile 1-10, with low being the lowest socioeconomic status. But this part of the experience! I can't wait to teach in a school where they don't necessarily have the resources that I will have teaching in the US. It is going to be so great! Anyway, so Alice told us about a loop that brings us right back to her house that was about a mile and a half that is on all main roads. We ran that just once, and then did this awesome Nike Training workout that is an app on Katie's Itouch. We were drenched in sweat, but it was so fun and felt SO good to get some energy out after being in class all day.

When we came back inside, we decided that since it is our second day here, we are going to say 2 things that we miss about home, then 4 things we love about being here. Every day we'll add one more thing about home that we miss, but double what we love about New Zealand! So I said that I miss the normalcy of being in Provo, walking to campus, knowing my way around, going to the gym, doing my own grocery shopping...just my comfort zone! I also said I miss the convenience of a cell phone. BUT there are so many things we are loving! We love our homestay. Alice is just wonderful. She has done so many things in her lifetime. I really hope that I can look back when I am a grandmother and be so proud of my accomplishments in my life. I know that this experience will be one that I will look back on for the rest of my life. I love the weather- seriously, I was out running in shorts and tank top...and it is light here until like 9pm! I love it. I also love how laid back class is going to be. Obviously there will still be tons of work during the practicum and especially during these first three weeks of classes, but class is going to be so fun. I am learning things that I love and am really interested in. Today we learned so much about the Maori culture, and it was so interesting. The schools we will be teaching at are all very multicultural, with a lot of Maori influence. We'll catch on to everything soon enough, but today we learned so much. And Alice is teaching us a lot. Noah is just 3, and goes to Pona, like our preschool, except it is a bilingual school, where he learns Maori. He is so smart! We're even learning a lot from him :)

I wanted to write about my first day here in New Zealand! It was an absolute whirlwind of a day! I do not even remember laying down, I fell asleep so fast. In general I do usually fall asleep fast, but holy cow, I do not think I moved a muscle in the night. And Katie and both we wide awake at 6 am...hopefully it won't take too many days to adjust. But we met Alice at the airport, dropped our stuff off at home, picked up Noah (she watches her grandson often), went to grocery store, went and bought a blow dryer...just a lot of little things. We had lunch, corn fritters, chutney, toast, lettuce and tomato, then spent the afternoon unpacking and getting organized. For dinner I had roasted lamb!! I really liked it! We had the mint sauce and everything! It was so good. And Noah just entertains us through every meal. He is so adorable. I need to get a picture with him soon...

A few things I learned today:
Jangles = flip flops
Give way = Yield signs!
Ka Pai = good, well
Powhiri = welcome ceremony - we will have our very own Powhiri once we start teaching! The schools welcome us as their manuhiri = visitors! It is a really neat ceremony.

and so much more...

But here is where we are living! :)