Sheeeeep!

It's been a good 2 weeks now that I have settled into a schedule. I love walking to and from school and my class is awesome. The girls are so well-behaved and fun to have around. It doesnt seem like work at all because the day passes by so quickly! I think it has something to do with the schedule because there are set in breaks in the day. Also, I have been teaching for at least part of each day and planning the other parts so it works out very well. I was even officially observed by my supervisor and the lesson went really well. :) It was writing poems about summer so it was the perfect lesson for me to teach.

I also think my time has gone by so quickly because there is always something exciting happening! Last week Monday I watched the score of the superbowl and had the class chanting with me Go Pack, Go! every time they scored. It was awesome that the girls wanted my team to win even though they didnt know anything about football! On Friday after school I played tennis for the first time here with a group of the teachers from Frimley. Turns out, the courts are very different! Instead of a hard surface it is similar to an artificial turf with sand on top. Needless to say, I did not play well. Everyone knew I played on a university team and had high expectations for me. My performance was extremely underwhelming. But this week was different :) I went with Katie to practice on Tuesday night and get used to things so I rocked it tonight!

This past weekend was nice and relaxing. I went to dinner with Katie at one of her friend's house on Saturday night and had my first New Zealand roast. It was pretty good but I am not a huge meat and vegetable person. On Sunday morning I made myself get up early before the hot sun came up and ran 18 miles as training for my marathon in May. It took just under 3 hours and the sights I saw were awesome. I saw sheep (a lot), palm trees, mountains, wineries, ocean water, and surfer boys. :) I love the variety in scenery here and it makes running long distances great. The only problem was that cars here do not move over for runners at all. There were a couple of close calls! After that my reward was a lovely day at the beach, Waimarama. It was sunny, sandy, and gorgeous! It was fun to see everyone there playing rugby, tanning, and even surfing. The water was cold so most people in the water wore wetsuits.

On Monday Katie and I were lucky enough to be able to skip out of school for a free day at an adventure camp. They sent the school a free pass for two people to check it out and spread good things back for future field trip ideas. It was so much fun! We went white-water rafting, toured the grounds, and shot archery. The white-water rafting was great. It's what I would imagine Colorado would be like in the summer with the blue skys, warm weather, and grassy peaks. we even got to jump in the river at times and float down holding on to the raft. Archery was also fun even though I haven't done that since 8th grade!

Thursday was another day that I got to skip school for a day at the beach with a 2nd grade class field trip. :) It was a different beach but was still nice. Instead of sand it had more pebbles. The lifeguards there did a whole program about being smart swimming in the ocean and also being sun smart. They played games and then went in the water. The parents and teachers stood in the water and watched them/helped them on the boogie boards. The kids had to get out of the water early to change and the parents and teachers got to stay and play in the waves for a while which was actually more fun that I thought it would be.

Today was art deco day at school and a bunch of the teachers (including me) dressed up in 1920/1930's clothes. Also, children from Beijing in a children's orchestra came and toured the school. It reminded me of going to China last year with the water ski team and touring the country like they are doing in New Zealand! This weekend is the Art Deco celebration in Napier and it sounds like it should be exciting. Once again everyone dresses up and I guess I am not sure what else happens but I'm sure I will talk about it in my next update!

The time is absolutely flying by!! 7 more weeks to go...I am already dreading going back to finish my student teaching in WI because I know it cannot possibly be as good of an experience as I am having here. The school is so great is run in a completely different way but I am open to adapting my ways. New Zealand does have higher scores than America in every subject so maybe they are on to something...I just have to figure it out and bring it back with me!

Sweet As Bro

I have officially finished my first week of student teaching at Frimley Elementary School. I absolutely love school here. It is so much more relaxed than school in the United States but still creates educated children. It's just a different approach. My favorite difference is how open the schools are to the outside. It's like the big lawn and outdoors are an extension of the classroom. The doors and large windows are often open so the wind can come in and breaks to go outside come multiple times through-out the day. For PE the students dont go to an indoor gym but have all lessons (general teacher run) outside.

Another fun difference is the fact that the kids and sometimes teachers dont have to wear shoes. About half the children in the class are not wearing shoes at any point in the day and while in the classroom shoes are optional for teachers as well. I absolutely love being barefoot so this is great for me but im sure for other americans who are more concerned about germs it would be different. What's interesting about the optional shoes part is how strict the dress code is for the children. They have uniforms (even though it is a public school) that they must wear every day. This includes always having long hair pulled back and no necklaces showing. The students also have to wear a school uniform "sun hat" every time they are outside for recesses, lunch, or other outside activities. The sun is much stronger here because of a hold in the O-zone layer here. Everyone warns me to wear sunscreen but I continue to be a stupid american and avoid it because i love the sun and the color it gives my pale skin.

My cooperating teacher, the principal, and all the other staff are so very friendly (much more than any school I've taught in in Wisconsin) and are so helpful with any and everything I need. They treat me like a real teacher, not a student teacher. I also love the town. It is a small but full of character town that is very fun to explore. I had a bit of a housing change (long story) but I am very happy with where I am living now!! I can walk to school within 5 minutes and not much longer to town. I also am living with the best "flatmate" ever, Katie (also my cooperating teacher). She has been so great to let me live with her while I am here.

Carolyn is another american student teacher who lives a couple minutes walk away and is so great to have near. We get along great and are planning on exploring the country together on weekends! Last night Carolyn, Katie, Laura (another Frimley teacher), and I drank wine, danced to/sang songs, and shared funny YouTube videos we have from our countries. It was a good time. Then we went out to Napier to a bar by a marina. It was fun to get dressed up and meet some locals! Today Carolyn and I walked around the town to explore and tomorrow we are walking up Te Mata Peak which looks beautiful.

So far student teaching in New Zealand has been a great experience. The school is one of the best I've ever been in, my housing situation is perfect, the town is cute, and i LOVE the warm weather :). I feel like i cheated the wisconsin system by skipping out on winter for New Zealand summer but the bad news is that I am going to miss the Superbowl!! :( It will be happening when it will be my Monday afternoon so I will just have to keep my laptop open at school to check the score in between classes!