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"We are sooo European!"
My First Month in New Zealand!!!!
Week one - Touched down in Aucland around 9am feeling very tired, greasy haired, smelly-you get the picture and was greeted by the whole Lattitude entourage as well as my Aunty Lucy and gorgeous neice Sophie! Only to be told we would only be able to have a ten minute shower before our Maori welcome at Wesley college! - You can imagine how bemused we were!
So off we went to the hostel with me hanging my head out of the window due to travel sickness (I hadnt ate anything on the 12 hour flight from Hong Kong- the food was so disgusting!) only to arrive and realise there was no showers left for us to use!!! NOT HAPPY.
Then off we went to Wesley college for our Maori welcome which I have to say was an amazing experience but would have been better if i wasnt so ill/jetlagged...
The next day we went over to a hotel for our orientation...I did think we would be sat in a room all day bored as ever! However, we were encouraged to mingle with other volunteers (Germans are actually nice people-THERE I SAID IT!!) and even began to learn speaking Maori which was pretty fun. Then a chance to explore Auckland- I FINALLY bought a toothbrush as the nasty air hostess threw mine away by accident...and we all got the ferry over to a place called the Devenport (-Coincidence?) and ate a whole meal...then fell asleep on the table!
The next day was the day we were to travel to our placements, Me, Hannah, Rene and Emma were all flying off to Hawkes Bay and were very amused at the sight of the small, propeller-engined planes that looked like they had been in use since the 1920's - until we realised that was the plane we be getting on! I met a really nice lady on the plane who gave me a free coffee voucher and her number if I ever wanted a place to stay (she lived on a farm apparently) and she told me all about Napier aswell as pointing out all the attractions as we landed (which was pretty scary considering the runaway had sheep on it!)
I was greeted at the airport by a lovely lady named Sue who took me back to hers 4 lunch and discussed what I would be doing in the school week - mainly drama and helping international students with English. On arriving to the hostel I met a lovely year 13 named Sam who was very friendly and cheerful and showed me around for a bit before leaving me in my TINY room to rest...and boy did I sleep that night!
The next few days were a complete blur as my jetlag had well and truly kicked in meaning I didnt want to do anything but sleep, I even managed to miss dinner without knowing it as I had set my alarm and placed it right underneath my pillow yet was so tiredd i never heard it go off!
Then, after the jetlag, came the homesickness, which made me feel pretty down as I hadnt expected my first week to be like that...but bthe year 13's soon made me feel very welcome and at home by invinting me to hang out with them and asking me LOTS of questions about NZ!
So yeah, a very strange and disorientated first week in NZ!
Week two- This was pretty much the second week I got to know most of the students and began o settle in to the hostel...not much happened really other than going to the cinema on Sat night, with Sarah, a gappie in a nearby school and sme of her students staying in the hostel, and then going on a "Tiki tour" (Thats what Kiwi's call road trips round here) in her schools minibus around Hawke's Bay stopping at the famous Rush Monroes Ice Cream Parlour (Even though it was FREEZING cold!) and then too a chocolate factory which was pretty cool considering they had a chocolate model of Hawke's Bay!
Week Three- The school had an opening of one of their new buildings which meat a big ceremony...This time I was able to witness a Maori welcome to invited guests of the ceremony which as pretty cool as I was no longer jetlagged! Then the Kapa Haka performed a Maori dance combined with Maori boys from the Girls joint Boys School.
That weekend, I was invited over to Jeanine and Rene's place who are volunteering over at Havelock North and have their own flat as wel as Hannah and Emma who are working in a nearby school in Havelock called Woodford - Lots of drunken times, espesh on friday night when we bgan early and didnt go out until about 11pm...and it was dead! Urgh, so drunk, so tired...CRASH!
Yes, needless to say Saturday was deffo a better night than the Fridayy- although we had a laugh before we were out...everyone is so lovely!
Week Four - Went on a school trip with the international students to Wellington...Had such fun! We droe up Mt.Victoria (Named after Queen V.) to see the stunning view both during the day and the nighttime...only to realise that I had left my camera at Emma and Hannah's Flat...Oh Dear! We also went to lots of Mueseums and learned about the famous Boat sink in Wellingto Bay...wont be jumping on a ferry too soon! And visited Parliament which was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be...We ate A LOT of Asian food as there is only one international student who wasnt from Asia and That was Daria- A german student who, like me, was just about sick of seeing rice by the third day! (Very European we are!) so we resorted to pleading with Sue - the head of the trip for a Subway whilst the others had Sushi! Definately a better choice!
So, all in all, a good week and a good month, love you all and miss you!! Hope you like this!
Love Becki :)
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