Well… I made it home!! It’s good to be back for the holidays, although I’m missing the New Zealand weather a lot. During our last week in New Zealand, we had to wrap up the school year for the students. We did some reindeer and Christmas tree art projects. Since it was the last week of school, we had to have a little bit of fun before break so we had a water balloon fight (perks of it being 75 degrees out!). We had our Christmas concert outside this week. The kids were SO excited. A lot of families came as the students sang their songs. A lot of the classes had a song with New Zealand Sign Language since it is one of their national languages. My class sang a song with sign language and a song with Maori words. They also had a dance to Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree. They did AMAZING. We, the teachers, also had the opportunity to shine on stage when we sang Christmas In The Summertime and Surfing In The USA (yes, I got to be the U during that song and my other American student teacher friends were the S and the A).
Speaking of surfing, we had the opportunity to go surfing during the last week! It was probably one of my favorite experiences in New Zealand! I stood up twice and got knocked down more times than I can count. The journey back home was a long one. BUT GUESS WHAT! My luggage was exactly at 50 pounds so I didn’t have to pay the $200 like on the way there!!! So I was pretty happy about that. I was so excited to come back to my student teaching placement in Seymour. I missed my favorite fourth graders. This week back has been a crazy one because all the kids are getting excited for Christmas. I will have 3 weeks left there in January and then I will be completing my last semester before graduating. I have been so blessed to have the opportunity to teach abroad. It was an unforgettable experience. I learned a lot about teaching and about myself. I left part of my heart across the world so I’ll have to go back to pick up someday. I hope you’ve enjoyed following my adventure. MERRY CHRISTMAS! :)
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Last weekend was our big trip to Queenstown. We bought plane tickets for what seemed to be such a long time ago (the first weekend we were here). I’m pretty sure in every blog post I’ve done I have mentioned the beauty of New Zealand, so I’ll do it again. When people think of New Zealand, I feel like they think of the views we saw on the South Island. There are a lot of snow topped mountains and glaciers (just when I thought New Zealand couldn’t get any more beautiful). We took a 4 hour bus ride to get to Milford Sound to do a cruise and on the way there were a lot of sheep and little waterfalls from the ice melting down the mountains. During the cruise we saw some bigger waterfalls, amazing views, and some seals on a rock (SO cute). That pretty much took up the whole day on Saturday. On Sunday, we had to fly back to Auckland so we just hung out in Queenstown at the beach. We also took the gondola overlooking Queenstown. I wish we could’ve stayed longer!
This week at school, we went on a field trip with the older students to a trampoline park. They had their graduation this week too. I did a scavenger hunt with my students, which was fun. Since it’s getting close to the end of their school year and to Christmas, they have been getting antsy so they need to get outside as much as possible. The weather was perfect this week so it ended up being a hit! On Friday, we had our staff Christmas/ end of the year party. It was enjoyable to spend time with all of the teachers before we leave next weekend. Speaking of which, this was our last weekend in New Zealand :(. For our last weekend, we took the train into the city one last time. We decided to go on a sailboat tour just to get a different experience of Auckland and without going somewhere far. We also went hiking with our host sister, Teresa, and her boyfriend, Dan. They took us on the Hillary trail that overlooks O’Neill beach. It was super humid out so, of course, we had to take a dip in the ocean. It was a good last weekend for our time being abroad. It feels super weird saying this but we have one week left of student teaching here and then we will be home. It’s crazy how time flies! Last weekend I was able to have dinner with my mom and her fellow travelers from our church. They had been traveling Australia and New Zealand for 3 weeks and they were ending their trip in Auckland that Friday. It was nice to see some familiar faces on this side of the world.
We went to Waiheke Island on Saturday. Waiheke is known for its wine so we went to visit a few vineyards. I also took my mom zip lining for her birthday! It was scary and beautiful all at the same time! After we zip lined, we had to walk back up to the start, which turned out to be a 45-minute hike through the forest. I have to say, the views looking down on the trees is way different than looking up at the trees (definitely recommend zip lining at least once in your life). On Sunday, we went to the Santa parade that was well talked up by some of the students in my class. It was an intense parade! I mean, it wasn’t the Macy’s Day Parade, but it was still really good. It was interesting to see the similarities and differences that the parade had here compared to the ones at home (like the lack of candy at this one… sorry Kiwi kiddos). I walked around with my mom for the rest of the day and sat at a café. I love the amount of small cafés they have here. The last time I was at Starbucks was at the airport in LA. I can’t say that I miss it that much… This week in class was the big move. On Monday, we spent the whole day moving everything over into our new classroom. This week we also had the privilege of having Dr. Kirst from St. Norbert here! Again, it was nice to see a familiar face. The students have been getting used to the new room so it’s been a lot of getting back into a routine. Now it’s nearing the end of the school year and we have been practicing our singing for the Christmas concert. Even though we are singing Christmas songs right now, it doesn’t feel like Christmas because it is summertime here. I’m not complaining though! With only two weeks left, I don’t know if I’m ready to come home to freezing winter weather… This weekend, my cooperating teacher, Bex, took us to Mt. Maunganui in Tauranga. It was six hours of driving total and the drive was gorge-ous (we passed a gorge on the way back… pun credit goes to Bex). We walked along the beach and cliffs and watched all the surfers. We also walked around the mountain and went out for lunch overlooking the water. We were debating whether or not we should go to Tauranga because of the weather that morning (pun intended). But seriously, the weather is so funky in New Zealand. You can experience like three different seasons in one day. It was raining in the morning but we decided to go anyways and it was a good thing we did because it ended up being a super nice day. While we were driving, there was steam coming off the mountains where there are geothermal areas. There were also a lot of sheep and cows along the mountainsides, which was kind of weird to see because I am so used to seeing them on flat farmland.
This week in school, we are working on moving out of our classroom and into a new one next week. We’ve been doing a lot of packing and relocating. The students have been working on a STEAM activity. We talked about deforestation and how if people were to cut down trees to build a road, the animals that live in trees would lose their homes. The animals would also have to cross the new road and have the risk of being hit and killed. The students had to choose an animal and create a wildlife bridge or tunnel (depending on the animal) so the animal could cross the road safely. Today, we celebrated Thanksgiving. Instead of having turkey and all the typical Thanksgiving food for dinner, we made lasagna! To remind some people, Thanksgiving is an American holiday so it’s not celebrated in New Zealand. So yes, I am a little jealous that everyone at home gets to go home and have a break BUT guess who is in New Zealand with me today and for the rest of the week/ weekend… MY MOM! I have a little taste of home while I’m here and I can’t wait to spend time with her. Also, Dr. Kirst, one of our professors at St. Norbert, will be here visiting next week! Really hoping he can bring over some SNC potato bowls… Last weekend was Mackenzie’s birthday. Her parents were here so we celebrated with them in Auckland all weekend. We did a lot of walking (per usual), shopping, and eating.
This week was a busy week at school. We had math testing all week and athletics day on Friday. In America, we sometimes do STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in schools but New Zealand does STEAM where the A (art) is integrated into the lessons. During the times the students do STEAM activities, they work independently or with each other, without teacher instruction so there is room for discovery and creativity. We will be doing some of that more next week since we are finishing up math testing. The students have been using the iPads with some new, cool apps. One is called Quiver where they can draw a picture and then the iPad will make the picture come to life and the students can interact with it. The other app they have been practicing using is Action Movie where they can create their own action movie clips. We had a challenge for them the other day where they had to make five short clips and we voted on whose was the most creative. On Thursday after school, we took a spontaneous trip to Bethells Beach. The black sand here never ceases to amaze me. It was BEAUTIFUL. On Friday at school, we had athletics day where the whole school participated in track and field events at the Trusts Arena. I was in charge of discus. You could say I definitely learned a lot because I had NO idea what I was doing at the beginning of the day. The weather was perfect and it was a fun day for all of the students. Four weeks down, four weeks to go! It’s week three and I am LOVING New Zealand. The weeks are busy with teaching and the weekends are busy with adventuring! After a long week of teaching, we went to the movies on Friday night. Before the movie, I got McDonald’s. For anyone who knows me, they know that chicken tenders/ nuggets are my favorite food so I HAD to see how the chicken nuggets here compare to the ones in America. If anyone was wondering (maybe there are other chicken tender/ nugget enthusiasts out there?), I think the chicken nuggets are better in America, but I would still get them again here.
On Sunday, we went to Rangitoto Island and climbed a volcano! Unfortunately, it was raining the whole time but we made the most of it! At the top, we literally saw nothing because of the weather. We got a little muddy and explored some lava caves on the way up though, which was SO cool. After we crawled through the cave opening, we were able to stand up once we got a deeper inside the cave (thank goodness for iPhone flashlights because it was pitch black in there)! We came out another end, which tested a little bit of our rock climbing skills. After that, we went back to Auckland and had dinner in our soaking wet clothes. Let’s just say, the raincoats weren’t doing much for us at that point. We ended up in Auckland again on Sunday. Jason Derulo happened to be having a concert so, yes, we impulse bought tickets to see him. Most of the day was spent walking around the city, waiting for the concert and enjoying the nice weather (they weren’t lying about the weather in NZ being bipolar). This week of teaching so far has been good! I was able to go on a filed trip to the Star Dome. The Star Dome is a planetarium where we got to watch a movie on the dome- shaped screen. The kids learned all about the planets, stars, moons, etc. in this interactive way! I also learned a few things too. I knew that the constellations were based off of Greek mythology; for example, the constellation Scorpius is the scorpion. In New Zealand, they believe it is the demigod Maui’s magical fishhook that he used to pull up the islands. Maui had never seen a scorpion before because there are no scorpions in NZ, so what could be seen as a scorpion’s tail, can also be seen as a hook depending on the stories you choose to believe. If you have seen the movie Moana, it makes a lot of references to the Māori culture and you will notice that this is one of the references in the movie. So whether you see a scorpion’s tail or Maui’s fishhook, it’s all about perspective and I’m really glad I was able to learn more about the Māori culture. It is nighttime in New Zealand as I post this blog, but morning in Wisconsin, so I’ll say to you as I say to my NZ students every morning: Ata mārie (Ah-tah-mar-ee-aye = good morning)! I hope you have a good day! :) We survived the second week of school! This week was super busy because my cooperating teacher is involved with the school production and I helped her with that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday night. I found out that I am really bad at doing stage makeup on kids (which I already kind of knew I’d be bad at). But on the third night I was able to watch the show! The students preformed Back to the Future and they did an amazing job!
Last Saturday we explored downtown Auckland. We did some shopping and eating. For lunch we went to a place called Giapo to have the most expensive ice cream I’ve ever had (TOTALLY worth it). Then we took the ferry to Devonport and climbed to the top of Mount Victoria. It was beautiful. For dinner we went to a restaurant on the water before taking the train back home. We also went on a scenic drive on Sunday. We stopped at a bunch of lookouts to admire the views. We ended up at Piha Beach where the sand is black because of the volcanoes. There were tons of people out surfing. I can see now how people fall in love with New Zealand. It truly is a beautiful place! I have learned SO many things in the first four days of going abroad to New Zealand.
Day 1- Sunday One thing I learned today: Traveling is a good way to meet new people. We (my other student teacher friends and I) spent a total of 18 hours on airplanes, not including the time of driving to the airport, the time of our layover, the time it took to go through customs, etc. Not a lot happened during our travel day besides the fact that I am out $200 (they weren’t lying when they said your checked bag couldn’t be over 50 pounds). Honestly, I spent most of the time sleeping and this day is kind of a blur. What I do remember is some of my interactions with strangers. My faith in humanity was restored when people helped me get my carry-on suitcase in and out of the overhead luggage compartment on both flights (this bag was also pretty heavy, might I add… I really did need the help getting it up there). *I don’t know how to pack light. On our long flight from LA to Auckland, I sat next to a woman from Romania. We were able to talk for a while about why we were traveling and she told me a little about her life. She was a super interesting person to get to know on the flight. It’s crazy to think about how many people from all over the world come together in an airport and interact with each other (Shout out to the Starbucks barista in LA who was also super friendly). Overall, the flights were exhausting but it wasn’t horrible. We were glad to make it to New Zealand in once piece. Day 2- Monday One thing I learned today: American hairdryers don’t work in New Zealand outlets. This was our first full day in New Zealand. It was New Zealand’s Labor Day so there wasn’t school. This day was a pretty relaxed day, which was nice to have a day off between traveling and student teaching. We did a little shopping around to get food and supplies to prepare for the week. Let’s just say that part of the reason for going shopping was to purchase a new hair dryer, since mine stopped working after turning it on without a converter (Yes, it did look like it was going to blow up, but there was no explosion). The grocery stores here are VERY similar to American grocery stores, minus the unrefrigerated eggs. Driving around, on the other hand, is VERY different. Here, the steering wheel is on the right, they drive on the left, and their roundabouts go clockwise. The light switches here also go down to turn the light on. I think I can get used to the light switches, but I don’t think I will be attempting to drive here. Day 3- Tuesday One thing I learned today: American schools and New Zealand schools are different. Today was our first day of school! It was truly an interesting day to say the least. The school held a Pōwhiri, a Māori welcoming ceremony, for us new teachers and for some of the new students. The Māori people are the native people of New Zealand. Part of the ceremony is engaging in the hongi, which is a traditional greeting by pressing one’s nose and forehead together where the ha (breath of life) is exchanged. It was a beautiful ceremony to watch and be a part of. The “no rules” recess was super interesting to observe. They are able to ride bikes and scooters, climb trees, go on the roof of the garage, and many other things (A LOT different than the US… Made me pretty nervous!). It is pretty relaxed during the school day. Students aren’t required to wear shoes so there are a lot of people walking around barefoot. The students spend a ton of time outside and the classrooms have a lot of windows so the sunlight can shine through. The Māori language is incorporated into the lessons and utilized in the classroom. It seems like I will be learning a lot of Māori words while I’m here! :) Day 4- Wednesday One thing I learned today: The struggle of jet lag is real. This is the third morning I have woken up at 4am. It is a pretty hard adjustment with being 18 hours ahead of Wisconsin. Speaking of being tired, the classroom teachers here do EVERYTHING. In America we have special teachers for art, music, and gym, but in New Zealand, the classroom teachers have to teach those classes (Talk about exhausting!). But in all seriousness, being a teacher anywhere in the world is hard work and an important job (It’s also the best job, but I’m biased). There is a temporary swimming pool set up outside on the pavement at the school and I was able to watch swimming be taught today. Again, the classroom teachers have to teach swimming since there is no gym teacher. It is pretty cool that they have access to that resource! Overall, I’d have to say that Frankie’s first four days have been nothing but fantastic. I can’t wait to see what else New Zealand has to offer. ;) I think the real question should be...
Why WOULDN'T I go abroad?!? I have an amazing opportunity through the wonderful global teach abroad program at St. Norbert College (part of the reason for coming to school here in the first place!). I also think it is a great experience to show flexibility and adaptability. I will have the pleasure of teaching Kindergarten while in New Zealand and I couldn't be more excited. Student teaching abroad will also allow me to become more culturally aware and I will learn new ways of teaching to bring back to the United States. |
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