Simply Scientific

Can air lift people?

Tuesday in science we did a new fun experiment! I love the breaks in our lectures when we are able to do some hands on learning. Today we were testing whether air can lift heavy things. We blew up 4 balloons, put them under a table upside down, then saw how many people can stand on the table!

yes somehow there are still balloons not popped under this table! So YES it can!

What happens to a gingerbread man in the water?

The ginger break man initially floats. It will expand as it absorbs water and then begin to sink. As it loses its color and the water becomes yellow, the cookie becomes less dense and rises back to the top of the water.

How about an M&M?

The color spreads throughout the water and then the white candy shell disperses eventually leaving just the chocolate in the midst of colored water.  

Cookies = a chemical change in science

Well first off what is a chemical change? It is producing one or more new substances; in this case it is through absorption of energy through heat. We had the opportunity this morning to teach to science to our group of 4 in class. In order to teach to NZ curriculum I taught to objectives L 1-4 comparing the differences in physical and chemical change that occur when materials are mixed, heated and cooled. Every ingredient serves s purpose for how the cookies turn out. The sugar melts, crystallizing and browning, creating the hard texture. The flour absorbs the liquid helping the cookie to keep its structure or shape. The butter is necessary to allow the cookie to spread and most importantly the baking powder that causes the cookies to rise. The baking powder lets off CO2 in the heat, which creates those tiny air bubbles in cookies. Well that is all the science lesson, not I will get to the fun!

No snickerdoodles?

So since they do not have snickerdoodles in New Zealand I decided to bake some. Michael (my little host brother) and I began to make the dough. (It was great because Michael bakes desserts about every night!) It’s can be pretty tricky here because they use a metric measuring system, so either I am not sure how much a measurement is, or I google a US recipe and don’t have the conversions. Luckily they have measuring cups and spoons that worked to follow the US recipe. We cooked about half the cookies last night and I saved half the dough to bring to school today. The ovens heat up in Celsius, so I found out I must use 180 degrees, not 350! 

My science group consisted of Amanda, who was in charge of butter. It is amazing you buy a little bottle of cream, split it into 2 containers so there is room to shake, and you begin shaking. It separates butter and milk, allowing you to pour the milk down the sink and rinse it with water so it does not have the sour flavor from the milk. We put that on French bread with some garlic salt……mmmm it was so creamy I highly recommend it! Then there was Brooke was in charge of the pizza talking about differences in physical and chemical change and lastly Kirsten who was in charge ofthe iceblocks (popsicles) and discussing the differences in states of matter. It is necessary to have a 2^nd to last day of school party!!

So the church building we meet in for school is pretty old and the kitchen smells horrendous! We toughed it out though in order to get our food made. We switched on the power supply to the circuit for the over, but when we turned that oven dial, nothing happened! Can you believe that? The stovetop worked, but the oven was done for! We decided since we are supposed to be doing a science experiment we need to try to be resourceful. We searched around for what we could possibly use in order to create an oven. All we had was a roll of aluminum foil (no pans or trays), a plastic with cookie dough and a plastic with cinnamon and sugar in it.

I had the great idea of trying the microwave. It is simply applying heat to the dough, right? RIGHT! The first cookie I put in a one of the plastic lids and turned the microwave on for 1 minute. ABORT MISSION, something started burning, we ran the cookie out the door smoking, and found the cookie was black and the plastic was melting. It seemed the microwave was working though because the cookie had spread from a ball into a perfect cookie form, just cooked a little too long and on the wrong material. We had no plates or even paper towels, but we found a paper and a glass jar! Hmm we would have to make do with what we have. I tried a second time with the microwave placing dough on the top of an upside down jar, stopping it in 15-second intervals. Perfection, 45 seconds on the glass was just right! The cookie was not as good as the oven, but it was pretty dang close! I then tried the paper, and voila! The same thing happened!!

Little Burnt!

While I was busy with the Microwave Amanda was busy building an over on the stovetop. She pulled out the metal racks from the oven and paced them over the stove, balancing on a hunk of brick and some bark! We used the foil to make a bottom and also create a top to allow the heat to travel. We put sticks around the side of the newly created over in order to keep the heat within it. 

These cookies took a little longer than 45 seconds and did require flipping about half way through, but about 8 minutes later we had more cookies! Science is amazing! These tasted a little more like the oven, but not the exact same! Both were delicious. Some preferred the microwave ones, while others liked the stovetop. I was so impressed how creative we could be! Yes I do not think my major could be more fitting for me, I just love it!

Well tomorrow is the last day of school! I cannot believe how the time has flown! I have already been here 24 days! That is crazy! Tomorrow we will be headed to school with all our camping gear and all us girls will be heading out to Cormandle just after school. I am so excited for camping on the beach! We will be back Sunday night and take off at 5am Monday morning for the South Island! 

Oh and I am planning to do the half marathon February 25^th! I have been training like no other, endurance, speed, hill repeats, etc! Hopefully that will help balance out all the treats I have been eating since I got here! Wish me luck!

Ride Like the Wind, Bullseye

I tried out my new shorts on my run this morning…amazing run, amazing weather! Some of the girls here are doing a half marathon in February, I am thinking of participating!! My only worries are February is the hottest month here and the run is at 12:30pm, which is the peak of the sun! I have always wanted to do a half marathon though and it is a flat run along the beach, which sounds nice! Hopefully writing this on my blog will help me to stick to it! The morning was spent planning how to get us 20 girls to and from horseback riding. The girl who made the plans got sick on Friday and did not get travel plans completed. Not too many bus routes go to Helensville from West Harbor, so we had to find times to work. The next problem was once the bus stop we would get off at was 5.1 km away from the horseback-riding place. I called the horse place to make a later appointment because it was the only bus time, and they offered to drive a van and make trips to pick us up! Thankfully after trying just about everything we had made a plan! Some of the girls have never ridden the bus before so they struggled. I am glad we have so much experience with the bus and know most all of the drivers!

We all met at the Westgate shopping center, all but one! My family loaned me one of their cell phones so I could call the horse place for the van when we got there. I was able to call our leader on the cell and tell her who was missing. She was able to find her and meet us just in time.

I chose to get on a black horse named Surprise! She was beautiful! I later learned she was usually one of the slower horses. Not with me riding, no way. I got her trotting and I was the only girl who got her horse cantering! Everyone was jealous! 

One of the girls in our group was riding Philip from The Chronicles of Narnia! It was Edmunds horse! Two other horses were also in the movie, but one just in the background and one actually knows how to play dead and played a dead horse in the movie! Back at the ranch they had a bunch of Shetland ponies….my favorite! They were so adorable; I could have just taken one home with me! I hope we can go back when Kaity comes out here in April!

Since I was in charge of making all the travel plans, when our leader had 2 seats left to head home, I volunteered Emily and I to go. All the girls were a bit jealous because they had an hour wait for the bus and a long bus ride ahead of them. 

We got ice cream from one of the fruit markets. I got mixed berry! They put in a rectangular chunk of ice cream and they pour in the berries, and then put it through something that swirls them together! So delicious!

Once we got home Elyse took us out to La Porchetta for dinner. It is a fairly priced, semi-casual, Italian restaurant. I got a focaccia with cheese pizza! New Zealand includes tax in all prices, which seems really nice because you know the exact cost. They also round their price and do not have once cent coins. Ten cents is their lowest currency so any price is rounded! Sort of a smart idea if you think about it! Another great thing here is you do not tip! You don’t tip the waiters or hairdressers or anything else for that matter. Elyse says they make enough hourly, you do not tip! I kind of like that concept as well. When will America learn?

We got back to the house and Brooke and Kirsten came over for girls’ night! We tried some new lollies, while we watched Just Like Heaven! Oh how I love chick flicks! We stayed up until after midnight, which is extremely late for me, sharing life stories and then crashed! 

Sending all my Love!!

Wednesday afternoon my host family took me to a black sand beach to see the gannet collanies at a place called Muriwai! It was absolutely beautiful! It stays so light here, it is not dark til about  9:30 or 10 pm so it makes for so many more activities :)

I have always loved Math! There is just something about it, but I find it enjoyable! Yes most people do laugh when I tell them about my past few math classes I have taken. The most common response is, “You are learning how to do elementary school math?” Well, yes, yes I am. That is exactly what I am learning, but it is fascinating because I am learning it in a whole new context. At BYU I took 2 different math education classes covering all the basic concepts of how math works and why we do it the way we do. The most common response from my teachers when a question was asked was, “Well I don’t know. What do you think?”  Ha and they are allowed to teach? Really they taught more than anyone would realize. We were able to discover so much on our own and experiment or take risks with math! There is a lot more to elementary math then one would think. In my math class here we learned application of how to apply, instruct, and assess math in a classroom. This was the fun part! We started with a whole bunch of problem solving. One goes a little something like this:

There are 7 girls on a bus. Each girl has 7 backpacks. In each backpack there are 7 big cats. Every big cat has 7 small cats. How many legs are there on the bus?

Go ahead solve it then check your answer at the end of this post!

We did a bunch more problems like that that are super fun to work out. Another day we learned the story of a measurement.

How big is a Foot?

So we learned that the measurement of a foot was changed every time a new king came to rule. Finally they created one length that stuck and that foot was made into a ruler. Get it, ruler? I’m not quite sure where the name inch came from, but if you find out let me know!

Another fun thing we did was exploring the golden ratio. We traced one of our feet and cut it out 6 times. We taped them all together to create a feet chain. With this we measured our height. So I would say my feet are pretty big for my height; we lined up in order from tallest feet chain to shortest and I was only about 4 from the tallest chain. Although there were about 5 or more girls to my right who were taller than me, but had shorter feet chains. I guess I do have big feet! We then measured with strings our base of our thumb wrapped around twice was equal to our wrist, and neck twice equaled our waist, and hand span times 3 equals your feet, so on and so it! With this knew knowledge we were able to create a giant man all off the size of his hands! Wednesday was so hot, so it was nice to be outside a lot of the day. I have to say our giant man (Ferdinand) turned out rather good. I am the creator of the barbed wire and Mom tattoo on his big muscled biceps!

Thursday was the last day of math. I cannot believe how quickly the time flies by. It is a weird concept to think about because 7 hour straight of math or any other subject for that matter goes by so slowly, I honestly think to myself a few times a day, “I don’t think I am going to make it.” But somehow the end of the school day comes and I made it and then the week is over before I know it. Each one of us made what is called a Tapa cloth. I am not exactly sure what it is, but my host family has a tapa cloth hanging on the wall and also a tablecloth. I know they got the painting on the wall from Fiji, but they are cool designs in neutral colors. I just Wikipediaed tapa cloth and a lot came up, if you are curious about them. My design was copied off the side of a rugby ball. I thought it turned out pretty good. We took brown paper, sharpied our design onto it, and then had to dye the paper the orange brown color. The sharpie stayed black and once the dye was dry we were able to use bleach on a q-tip to turn the parts we wanted white.

Friday was just about the longest day. It feels like it could have encompassed a week by itself. We began 2 new classes this week. First science, followed by social studies! Both spent a good chunk of time talking about and discussing what the definition is and why it is taught. In social studies we made this…..

Ko Kirsten Taku Ingoa

Ko Tahoe taku Maunga

Ko Golden Hills taku whenua

Ko Pacific Ocean taku moana

Ko American River taku awa

Ko Califonia taku marae

Ko Oakland temple taku iwi

Ko Mayflower taku waka

Ko Paul me Renee taku Matua

Ko Kirsten Taku Ingoa

This tells a little bit about me and my background. It is a traditional Maori greeting!

School ended a bit early, which is always a nice treat and we loaded a different bus to deliver us to our destination, the westfield mall! Yes I found out the westfield malls (like the Roseville galleria) started in Australia and have spread! Interesting! The mall did not have a ton. I did not notice any department stores, but instead a countdown and pak n save (both grocery stores) and a farmers (like a bed bath and beyond). Yea, pretty strange…. We shopped at a few cute stores, sort of like a h&m style, maybe a little toned down. To my surprise more clothes are more expensive here. Not too bad, but more for cheaper quality. I left with a new bracelet and headband and we made way to Kmart. Yes, I know what you are thinking. KMART? I took this direct quote from my mom’s email this morning, " I never thought I'd see the day you shopped at Kmart! Haha" Well I have nothing against Kmart and we heard from some other girls here it was pretty good. I would say comparable to a target! They had some cute clothes, but some not so cute. Most things were $19 or $25, which is not expensive, but for kmart that is dang expensive! I ended up with a shirt for $8 and some short shorts for running! Exactly what I needed in this hot weather. They also have a store here called reduce to clear, which sells food, candy, cleaning supplies, bath supplies, etc. All this stuff was either over ordered or has gotten close to its expiration, so they sell it discounted here! I got some sour fruit gummies and Emily got some pineapple lumps (chocolate covering this pineapple flavored marshmallow type stuff. Really Delicious!)

Another long bus ride home, but we came home to dinner on the table! Just after dinner our sister Elyse took us out to the Chocolate Boutique. This store was filled with everything sweet and so much chocolate! A little taste of heaven! I got the DEATH BY CHOCOLATE! It was scoops of chocolate ice cream with chocolate covered peanuts in it, covered with a chocolate mouse, cream, a chocolate flake stick, and a chocolate fish! We decided this might have to be a regular stop for the 3 of us, which could be bad on the diet! We walked a bit of downtown after eating to let our full bellies settle. By the time we got back to the house I was exhausted!

and the answer to the math problem is....

10,990 legs!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

Fri Jan 13

It was not a bad day at all for being Friday the 13^th. It was actually a rather good day! After skyping my family last night and getting a response from my mom asking, “if I was turning granola yet”, Kaity asking, “what was going on with my hair”, followed by Kendall asking, “if I had taken the smoothing balm with me?” When I responded “No” she has the nerve to say, “well you should have!” Can you believe that! Just in spite of them I wore eye shadow today! Dang I was looking good! I learned this new trick that I have fallen in love with! My hair is just the perfect length and it works every time. When I get out of the shower at night I twist my wet hair as if I was going to put in a low ballet bun. As I twist it around I end up tying a knot, pulling the ends through the center of the hole I created. I then wrap those ends around the bun I one more time, just tucking them in. It is perfect to hold my hair back and the best part is it leaves no mark for the hair tie. If I leave it like that the next day by the time it is all the way dried (almost 24 hours later hahah) I can take it out and it looks like I curled it! It worked out fabulous today! I have been looking all over for the sock for my sock bun but cannot find it anywhere. I may need to get another pair of tall socks to make one, but for now I will continue this strategy.

The sun was very bright if you could not tell!

So today started off good. We got on the bus with Tua (who was excited as ever to see us!) and because of a comment I made about his bus not having music, to our surprise he is blasting some good music this morning. Let’s Dance the Last Dance was playing and it has been stuck in my head all day. We got off the bus just behind Brooke and Kirsten and made our way to the coffee shop. We ended up ditching our upscale “expensive” coffee shop for the morning and making our way to the hole in the wall Hollywood Bakery. This has been a regular stop during our lunch breaks! It is delicious, but the workers do not speak English, so you take a risk when ordersing something unfamiliar. We got lemmintons and neenish tarts for breakfast! Both so delicious! The sun was out and it was Friday so I did not think it could get much better. School went by quicker than usual today. It was the last classes for both assessment and literacy! I cannot believe how quick this week passed by. On our lunch break I tried to venture to find the closest McDonald’s because I heard that is one of the only places for free internet here. They pay for there data package for internet here in NZ so even Starbucks charges for internet. Skyping takes so much, but we just found out McDonald’s is free, so looks like I will be spending a lot of my free time there! We did not make it all the way before we turned back, but it was a nice walk. Today’s weather was on and off with heavy rain for a couple minutes then hot sun and some wind.

Haddad Burgers!

School got out and I was very excited for Friday night because this is the first time since I got here I had made plans! If you know me at all I love plans! I met a boy Reece at the YSA activity last week and we planned to get a group together and go out to Mission Bay! Brooke, Kirsten, Natalie, Stacey, and Mallory came home with Emily and I! We all got to take good old Bus 130 and make out way to our home. Reece and his two friends Jershon and Ephraim came to pick us up! The sister I live with Elyse came too! Going through the city and over to Mission Bay was absolutely beautiful. I cannot even describe it and pictures do not do it justice! When we arrived we got to this huge park by a large beach area. There was a huge fountain smack dab in the center of the park and people were running through it and climbing up it! I wished I were in my togs (swimsuit) so I could have climbed on in. We hung out on the grass area and I was taught how to throw the rugby ball! As you could have guessed, I was pretty much a natural! We played a few pass games, bull , and touch rugby. Rugby was quite challenging because of having to throw the ball backwards, never forwards. That got me a few times! We went to walk he streets in search for some dinner, but got distracted by the ice cream. I tried chocolate chip and mango passion fruit! The mango passion fruit definitely won, but both were delicious! We were planning to play cricket, but we decided to head back toward our house to stop for burgers from Haddad! The burgers were huge! Something strange here is they put a fried egg on their burgers. I tried it at my host families and it wasn’t bad, but I decided to pass at Haddad’s. I tried some ginger beer, which I thought tasted a bit like medicine. Maybe its an acquired taste? I had so much fun hanging out with our new friends! We had so many good laughs and I learned some great slang terms! Being in New Zealand is hilarious because they speak English, but we still have to ask how do you say this or have you heard of that.

Beautiful day!

Mission Bay!

Saturday Jan 14

I slept in until 9 today, which was very nice in comparison to my usual 5:30am! It was nice to take some time relaxing this morning after being up late last night (11:30pm). Haha my sleep schedule has been early to bed and early to rise since I have arrived here. Hopefully I will keep it this way! Fredda, Elyse, Michael, Emily, and I went to the supermarket and did some grocery shopping. I did not think we bought that much until check out was about $400 dollars! Wow groceries can be so expensive but hopefully these will last a little while.

Auckland Zoo

Not having a phone here sure makes things hard to meet up with people! Some of the girls were headed into Auckland City today while others were going to the beach or the zoo. It was now too late to meet up with any of them because we would have had to plan a time! It is hard to be on other’s schedules. After the supermarket Emily and I got ready and we began researching bus routes. My friend Reece was quick to rescue and just in time! He emailed me back and planned to come with us to the zoo. This means he drove, which I feel terrible about because gas here is over 2 dollars a liter. Yes a liter, not a gallon! Imagine those two liter soda bottles…. now stop complaining about gas prices in America!

Reece came to get us and Michael and his friend Breckyn came with us! What could be more exciting then taking kids to the zoo! My idea of fun may not be the same as everyone else’s, but taking kids to the zoo with my friends is just about one of my favorite activities! We got to see just about every animal! The zoo was very big! We watched the tiger show that Michael said should probably be called the tiger information show (he had a very good point). The giraffes were my favorite as usual! I could not find the otters! We got to the zoo and the sun was out, then it started raining, then the sun came back out, then it rained again, then the sun came out. It started raining just before we left and when we got to the car the sun was out! Whoever says Utah’s weather is unpredictable has obviously never been to New Zealand! The orangutans were adorable because they grabbed sacks and would hold them over their head to block out the rain! I got to try some feijoa hard candy Reece bought at the gift shop. I guess it is feijoa is a fruit here! I will have to try it! I bought a bracelet and the proceeds go to help the golden lions tamarin monkeys! I got home exhausted and finished up some schoolwork!

Zoo Fun!!!

Sunday Jan 15

I swear time goes by quicker in New Zealand than in Utah! I cannot believe it is already Sunday afternoon! Church was great this morning! Brooke and Kirsten come to our ward and we get to teach the 12 and 13 year olds! The class was so unbelievably quiet today, but the lesson went well with 4 teachers to 8 students! The sun is out and the day has been beautiful! Let's hope the rain is gone away with now! I am going to lay outside and read my book or maybe take a walk! This whole New Zealand thing still feels a bit unreal to me. It’s weird I have thought about what it would be like for so long and to be here over a week and half already is crazy. I love it here though and it feels like it could be home. I will go out for a jog and feel like I am just in the states until I realize I looked the wrong way crossing the street and almost got taken out by a car without a driver and only a person in the passenger seat! Day by day things are seeming as if they are more normal here. The differences I am falling in love with and they are actually becoming normal. There was a picture book read in literacy about someone being born in China and then living in San Francisco and moving back to China because he missed it, but then he realized he missed San Francisco. Ha I guess that is basically how I feel, I wish I could have everything! No matter where I am, Utah, California, or New Zealand, I will miss the others because they all have become a part of who I am. Bring on more stories and memories!!

You learn something new everyday!

Today started out a bit rainy, but warmed up as the day went on. Everyday the alarm goes off I say to Emily, “Wanna ditch school today?” Everday getting a little more serious than the last! School was not too bad today, assessment ended a half an hour early and literacy like 10 minutes early! Woo hoo! Ever thought to put a fried egg on your hamburger? Ya me neither, but tonight I tried it! Was not half bad. The baker Michael made some chocolate muffins and then we played on the trampoline. I taught him add on, dead man, and peanut rolls, while he taught me bacon strips! You must try it! First lay on the trampoline with your hands gripping around the edge. You can do this on your back or stomach, but I preferred back. Then have someone bounce you! Your body flies just like a bacon strip, hence the name of the game. I cannot wait to do this with Caysen!

These are the trees I was telling you about! Christmas trees, but all their needles stick straight up! 

The classroom....oh joy!

Whittaker's chocolate!

3 new things I learned today

-        When jogging pass someone coming in the opposite direction you pass to the left! (Makes sense if that is how you drive I guess)

-        When driving (keep in mind you are on the left side of the road) and you go to make a right hand turn and you see a car coming in your direction going straight you must yield (obviously, I have not gotten to my point yet…) Well if that car going straight has on it’s blinker, like it will turn left where you are turning right, they must yield to you, and you have the right away. If this made no sense maybe draw a picture. It is a really weird concept. My question is what if the person accidently has their blinker on? That would be a bad accident….

 -        My roommate Emily was in my bowling class my first semester at BYU! Random! 

Goodnight and hope for sunshine!