I just love School!

Well seeing as my trip is quickly coming to an end I better hurry and blog my little heart out! I will catch you up as quickly as possible on the many adventures of my life. I just love it here and am sad to be leaving in a few short weeks!

It just so happened to be pouring rain to start out our last week of school. I did not realize how much I hated the rain until I spent miles walking to and from the bus stops. I learned that umbrellas are good for nothing! Other than keeping my hair dry, my umbrella just dripped all on my pants and shoes, leaving me more soaked than walking in the rain alone. Blasted weather, I wont let it get me down! 

Good old Colwill!

This may as well just be the fastest 6 weeks of my life! I have seriously grown to love all these kids so much! If they offered me a position to teach here I would not be coming home. I am sure mom is happy to hear that did not happen!

This week I got to begin working with one of the groups building their waka (boat). Our supplies were Styrofoam and wood. I was given some random building materials and was told to begin. As I tried to figure out how to even work the power drill I was handed, I also had the task of divvying up work and involving the children in the project. Quite challenging, but by day 2 it was finally piecing together. 

Here is the FINISHED Waka! We named it the black pearl! They did not get to test it out in the pool until Friday, but my teacher emailed me and said it floated like a dream! Should have know...

 My class is just the cutest! They all brought in something to share and we had a delicious shared lunch for me. The table was filled mostly with sweet things and some things I had yet to try! The day was basically one big party!

Gotta love this rattail!

After lunch the class went swimming for PE. The class had a ball once they learned I could put my camera under the water. If it wasn’t so darn cold I would have joined them, but with the rain and wind I sat this one out. 

Thursday rolled around so quickly. I was barely able to get the tons of snickerdoodles I made for the class done the night before! Emily and I made 5 times the batch and they turned out good! The last day was surreal. All the 6,7,8 girls are so sweet! Many came in to hang out with me for the last day and they carried around my camera photographing me every second or two! That is what I need while in New Zealand, some personal photographers. They did a pretty good job if I do say so myself! I got some of the cutest cards from the students and amazing gifts from my teacher and aid! I am stopping back by after my travels in order to pick up my book they made all about Miss Whittaker! 

Meet Kokiri. The little boy on Sonny's back with his adorable smile! It is pronounced Cokerey, but you roll the r. I am not sure if that is the best description, but close enough. He is the cutest boy with a little rat-tail haircut. He is a little bit spunky, but as soon as he gets told to quiet down, or gets pointed out for bad behavior he immediately makes the cutest face squinting his eyes and grinning so huge he follows instruction. He does not need to be told more that once and that face is just priceless. It is as if he gets all embarrassed he forgot! Today while sitting on the mat I spotted Kokiri massaging Junior U’s back. Junior U is the biggest boy in the class from Samoa and Kokiri is just about the smallest, next to Hilton. It was so cute to watch him massage Junior’s back and as he would get lower he would tickle his sides and make that same squinting smiling face he does so often! 

Our modeling shots 

This game knucklebones is played by throwing these five pieces in the air, then catching them on the back of your hand. You then have to throw one up in the air and grab one off the ground before catching the one in the air again. If you make it through the first round you must then do it grabbing two off the ground at a time. Just about every kid in the class was able to show me up, but by the last day of school I was doing pretty good!

That there on my back is Hilton. He is just the tiniest little boy with the raspiest voice. He resembles a gremlin mixed with a monkey. He is quite the character. He is always running from thing to thing as if he were performing parkour, and it does not matter if we are in the classroom or on the playground. He is the brownest little boy in class. His nose is like a leaky faucet that never stops running and he is the smallest kid in the class. Although he has very poor listening skills there is something about him that is so sweet. He puts on this tough guy act, but is the sweetest thing ever. Hilton helped me working with our deaf student Trisha last week and he did an excellent job teaching her math and playing ring around the rosies with her. At the library I was reading a book to him and he moved from standing next to me to slowly inching his way up to my lap. My heart just melts for this crazy kid!

My class’s favorite game I taught them is partner tag. We play it for fitness at least 3 times a week. They can now organize themselves into a circle and have gotten good at playing the game. They are finally getting over the linking elbows with people they don’t like problem. Today Hilton (year 3) ran straight to the tallest in our class Patsy (year 5) and I see him try to reach up tall and hook her elbow. It was like Tom and Jerry and I could not help laughing! One of the little boys from my class Tee had been chasing for a while so Hilton yelled for him to come switch out with his partner so he would not have to run. He then takes in Tee, who is larger than him, and puts his arm around him while he catches his breath. He sounds so pleasant, but don’t be deceived he is one of the kids who struggles most to listen. It is almost pointless to tell him something because he will more likely do the opposite, but I learned to work well with that!

The end of the day came and went and our usual crew accompanied us home! We stopped at the park for a quick play before saying our goodbyes. Emily and I hurried to the bus in order to get home in time for…..the HUNGER GAMES! Yes, we got to see it not only 1 day, but 2 days before the states. I had been waiting for this day since coming to NZ. The movie was amazing, I just cannot wait to see it again!