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!

Not so much of a Beach Day!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!                                                                                      Jan 7

I woke up early today, excited to meet my group for the beach! When I walked out to the bathroom I caught a glance out the back windows! Gray and rain was all I could see and clearing up did not look promising! I decided to call our director Ramona and see if plans should be changed, but to my surprise when I picked up the house phone the dial tone was different! The ringing was different than America as well. But no the beach was still in in hopes it may clear up.

Never play Mind Games on the bus

I met a boy on the bus. He was a college student and started talking to us when he heard our “cool accents” haha. He asked us to play a game. I was thinking what kind of game…..he then told me it would be a mind game. I agreed to play the game and at this point he had me imagine a blank playing card. He told me to think of a number while he very obviously flashed me a 3. He then told me to think of a shape while he then flashed me a diamond with his hands. I thought to myself hm, 8 of clovers. He then says let me guess you were thinking the 3 of the three of diamonds. Ha I was like no I saw you do that, so I purposely did not choose that. After telling us he is studying psychology he tried to claim that 90% of people would guess the 3 of diamonds! I wonder where this statistic comes from!

Hot Chocolate on the Beach

Stacey, Natalie, and I

We met everyone and loaded up in 2 large vans and my director’s small pink car. It was rainy and pretty cold at the beach. I may be a bit of a wimp, but I had no desire to swim in the ocean while I am cold! Most of the girls went in but I am waiting for vitamin D! It was nice to watch from under the trees. I actually went to walk to some shops and bought hot chocolate. I walked down to touch the water, with my umbrella and hot chocolate in hand. I was surprised how warm the water was! It was warmer than the rain! As soon as the girls got out of the water they were freezing!

Forgotten at the Thermal Hot Pools

It was still early when we left; we headed to the “hot pools”. I was picturing these to be like hot springs, but I was wrong. We pulled up to a small water park! This was not just any water park, but the water was natural and so that is how they were hot pools. They had pools of all different temperatures. The movie pool was nice probably about 95 degrees. You never know because they use Celsius here! There was another covered pool a little bit warmer, with a lava pool flowing into it at 48 degrees Celsius. I believe that converts to doubled, plus 32 ish, so I am thinking 130? It may have been! It was so hot, dipping my foot in singed off any hairs on my feet! My favorite of the waterslides was the Black Hole Choob!! I got to try out my new underwater camera and it working so great! Well my roommate Emily and I were planning to meet up with a few more girls at a shopping center called West Gate to hang out and go out to dinner, so we decided to take our stuff and change out of our suits. When we went to the bathroom all the other girls were still in the pool. I did not think we were in there that long, until we came out and our table was empty….Where could everyone have gone so quickly? Emily, Brooke, and I went walking to the entrance, but could not spot any of our group. We decided to go out and look for the vans and to my surprise the vans were gone! They had seriously left us high and dry and all alone! I had taken out leader Ramona’s number out of my backpack with my notebook that morning, but luckily Brooke had it on her. I went and asked to use the office phone! We got ahold of Ramona and she got everyone to turn around to come and get us! Hmmm….I guess I am glad it worked out, but I better not get forgotten like that again. Oh the crazy adventures!

Westgate has NO normal food and everything closes at 5pm

Emily, Brooke, Kirsten (no not me, another girl here!), Mikayla, Amanda, and I all arrived to Westgate and did some shopping around. We went to a craft store where people rent out booths and put the items they make in there to sell. There was some really cool stuff. It was basically Pinterest on steroids! The best find was probably the trucker hat that said, “SWEET AS BRO”. Don’t ask me how this expression makes sense, but sweet as is a common one. I am still trying to get down the context to use it but to my understanding it means cool or another word you hear often here is “far out!” I also think you can make variations to this such as Hot as or something to those lines! I will let you know once I get that figured out. Just about every store closed at 5 and the food court had indian and thai food. We ended up eating a burger and chips at a café! Oh so American. I realized after I got my meal that chips are fries, not potato chips! We also indulged in some desserts we all split! I have tried so many more desserts and candy here only to find out how much better they are than the US! Well somehow we looked at the wrong bus times and thought our but would arrive at 6:40, so we waited at 6:30. Well this is the coldest it has been since I have been here and it was starting to rain harder. In my capris and flip flops I tried to get warm and wait for the bus, only to find 30 minutes later the bus still wasn’t coming! I asked another driver and said the bus was done for the night! Ah I just about could have cried until 7:10 our bus finally came! We were the only people on the bus and the last stop of the night! I sweet-talked the driver into dropping us in front of our house, and it worked!! He also gave me his number because he is LDS and told us we could come over for lunch! That is the 2^nd number I have gotten in less than a week! Job well done if I say so myself!

Sunday’s are a wonderful day!                                                                                     Jan 8

Today I got to go to church with the Sorenson’s! It was so much fun. The ward was very small, but so similar to church back home! The people were very funny and I tried to get used to the handshake to hug to fake kiss on the cheek. Every time it is just awkward! One of these days I am going to mess it us and hit some square in the face haha! After church I got to skype my family and that was so nice to see them! We had a YSA activity at our house that night and most of the BYU girls came! It was great to see everyone and we took up at least half of the YSA (keep in mind this is the stake activity, they do not have singles wards here!) More people filtered in and it was fun getting to know people! Everyone was asked to bring “a plate.” Most people brought desserts, a few brought chips, but one group of BYU girls showed up with an empty plate! So hilarious, everyone got a good laugh! The party seemed to go on forever, well until they were kicked out and I was about to fall asleep!

It’s Monday, so school continues on….                                                                          Jan 9

Today is over and that means only 14 more days of classes for me! Things have been so busy, but I did get in a beautiful run today to the harbor! My oh my I sure sweat a lot. I thought it was a lower elevation than Utah so running here would be easier, but boy was I wrong. Either I am out of shape now or I did not take into consideration the humidity! I could just feel the air sticking to me, but taking in the sunshine was such a treat! I am so lucky to be staying in the area I am in! You have a beautiful view of Auckland city and can see the ocean all around! I have to get to bed so I can make it to my early bus tomorrow so we can see our usual driver, but I will keep this posted with more updates soon! Miss you all and hope your new year is going as well as mine :)

The Harbor

Auckland City in the background and me on my run!

There is no such thing as parking lots here!

P.S. 

Light switches switch down for on and up for off and I am still trying to get used to crossing the road and figuring out which way traffic is coming (I know its opposite, but I sometimes forget which direction is opposite) I basically just run across the road quickly swinging my head side to side. Even if they clearly see you, no one stops or even slows down unless you are in a crosswalk. Also you must wave to the bus, because if you just get up off the bench, stand there looking at it, and don't wave, it will drive right past you. Luckily I have heard other girls stories and my bus driver complained about people not waving this morning. Now I know better it will not happen to me!

Kia Ora!

No my plane did not crash, I have just been so busy since my arrival I have not found time for this blog! But I am watching green lantern now and have found time to get it updated!

Day of Travel

Mon. January 2

After having been charged twice for my plane ticket and getting refunded, I arrived to the Salt Lake City airport only for the man checking me in to claim my entire flight reservation was cancelled! I just about flipped out on him, until I got my travel agent on the phone. It was still considered a holiday so the office was closed. My mom called the emergency hotline while I was talking to my travel agent, after about 25 mins, the man somehow found my reservation and said he got my boarding pass printed………sketchy, I think YES! I got to San Francisco and instead of sitting in the airport 7 hours like all the other girls I was picked up by all 4 of my grandparents and taken out to BJs! Man can a girl get any luckier? It was great to see them all and helped my nerves with my big flight ahead! I got back and waited to board my plane. The weirdest thing was sending my last text. My phone service I turned off, but I still carry it around as it I could be on it! My flight only took 12 hours, instead of 13 so that was a plus. All 20 of us girls flew together and were sat in the same three rows. All of the flight attendants had accents, so what could get me more excited. I loved it! They had over 70 movie choices and some pretty good ones too! They had some tv episodes too! I chose Kung Fu Panda 2 and the Office. I had not slept much the night before and all I could think about was falling asleep for the night. I took my shoes off, pulled on the blanket and somehow managed to get into an Indian style position with my legs on the fold down tray! I never quite got the sleep I wanted. I slept in intervals, like an hour at the most before waking up uncomfortable. I probably slept for 6 or 7 hours total.  I read my magazines while snacking on my nilla wafers and twizlers. I also filled up on a chicken macaroni bake for dinner and a cheese omelet for breakfast. The food wasn’t half bad for airplane food!

The Roes

The Whittakers

On the Plane!

Maori Tongue and My Tourist Pants

All Blacks........HOT

The Grand Arrival

I landed and I could not believe it. It was 4:17 am Wed. January 4^th! It went pretty fast going through customs. I got my two bags and headed out to wait. The airport looked fairly normal; there was even a McDonalds right inside where we were waiting. My host mom Freeda came shortly after to meet us! I said goodbye to the other girls and headed out into Auckland. Hans (the dad) was waiting in a 5 series BMW!  Um so the weirdest thing…..HANS WAS IN THE PASSENGER SEAT AND SO WAS THE STEERING WHEEL! Driving on the opposite side of the road is really weird. I could not watch the driving. As we left the airport I immediately saw the strangest trees. They look like Christmas trees, but the pine needles are growing straight up. I still haven’t figured them out, but I will let you know once I do. I arrived to my new home. I am in the West Bay, which is very close to the water. You can see the city of Auckland from here just over the harbor! It is beautiful here, so many trees. Palm Trees everywhere. I just love it! I am sharing a room with my roommate Emily! It has been so much fun to have someone with me going through all of this and moving into an unfamiliar place. We have our own bathroom and it is pretty big! Because of the different outlets, I did not bring any hair appliances. We are lucky to be given a hair dryer in our bathroom! SCORE! There are 2 children in the family, Michael is 11 and he is fun. He reminds me a lot of Caysen! Elyse is 23 and she is very nice. You pronounce her name Elayse, but only because of the accent. So which am I supposed to call her? I think Elayse because that is her name, right? My name is Kirsten, not Kirsten with an Australian accent! One of Hans brothers is moving to Australia so I got to go to dinner with all the family at another brothers home. It was so much fun. They had a ton of delicious food such as sweet and sour chicken, plain chicken, rice, rolls, and salad. They also had curry, taro, and some other random foods I had never heard of. We all hung out and there were some very cute nieces and nephews! One was about 5 and her name was Braxton. She was laughing at me because I am apparently saying her name wrong. I haven’t seemed to master the accent yet! We then had some apple pie, banana cake, homemade custard and whipped cream, fruit, and ice cream! New Zealand is the dairy capital of the world, so there milk, ice cream, and all dairy is just delicious! I was so tired I fell asleep on the way home!

My House!!

My cute little room!

Bathroom

Trampoline

Kitchen! I love the white!

Backyard!

Day 2

The day began with a crazy adventure. School began today and it is about a 20-minute drive to get to the church building we will hold our classes in. We planned at night so we will know what bus route to take and where to go. We were planning to get on the bus at 6:40am, so we set the alarm for 5:30am. Early! I know! Well unfortunately we forgot to turn on the alarm after having set it! Luckily Emily woke up at 6:15 and woke me up! I jumped from my bed and got ready in a hurry. We ran out the front door and ran all the way to the bus stop. In our rush, we forgot out directions we had printed out, so we just hoped to find the school and our way home. We arrive to the bus stop and this is what we find……..BUS STOP TEMPORAROLY CLOSED. Please use other stop.  Just my luck, right? We ran to look for another stop, but found nothing.  We thought the bus must pass by the stop so we ran back to it, just as we saw the bus coming up the hill. We ran out to the street and flagged him down! He was nice enough to pull over in the middle of the street. We got in, but were unsure what to do. Luckily I was with Emily because I have little to no bus knowledge! She had to pay for the both of us because I had no cash. She only happened to have a $20 and the bus is $3.40 each. He had to flag down another bus with his speaker and get change for us! At least we made it to the bus! Sweating a bit we could finally relax until we got close to our stop. Because it is still a holiday for most workers here, we were the only people on the bus for the first while. Our bus driver is named Tuae? I’m not sure, but I know it sounds like Tour with an accent! He got us to where we need to be and we found the church so early! We had not had time for any breakfast so we went to a coffee shop. I got the most delicious strawberry muffin and Emily got a Neenish tart. We made it to school and barely survived it all day! It is fun to be around all the girls, but the same room for almost 8 hours is killer. We had a picnic for lunch with sandwiches and chips! It was delicious. By the time we got home it was almost 5, we cleaned up and helped with dinner. Dinner was sausage, pork chops, salad, corn, potato salad, and brownies for dessert! I am really branching out from my picky eating, not by choice, but because I cannot say no!!! They asked if there are any foods we do not like, but I just responded with a smile, no I will try anything; this was ironic because I am a very very picky eater and do not like a lot. The salad was made with cilantro…..dang I should have thought before I took such a large scoop because I had to gag it all down and hated every bite. At the end I was like wow this was great that you so much! I better hope this is not a recurring problem! Things are very different here. The roundabouts are the opposite way and it is still freaking me out. You must look the opposite way when you cross the street, I am still trying to figure that one out! Families, at least the one I am staying with are super close. Not a lot of technology and not really ever on the cell phones. The 23 yr old I have never seen on the cell phone! There are many different words they use here, I am still getting used to it! The flushes on the toilets here are crazy! They actually scare me a little bit. There are 2 buttons on the top of the toilet, one for a half flush and one for a whole flush. The toilets are supposed to spin the opposite way, but I have not really been able to tell. You do not really have time to watch the toilet flush because it shoots down so fast, almost like airplane bathrooms. I have only used a have flush and it is pretty crazy, so I do not dare use the whole flush! I will let you know when I venture out and try it one day! I got to skype my family! It was so good to see them and catch up! The nice thing about New Zealand is it stays light until 9pm. I was able to go for a jog last night at 8:30 pm in the light. The weather and sunset was beautiful! It is like paradise here! After my jog I had homework to do and got to bed!

The flushers!

Bus Adventure

Coffee Shop!

I will spend a lot of time here if I continue to take the early bus!

Day 3 It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday!

Well this has been a short week! I cannot believe it is Friday! This has been a short week, literally! We got up and to the bus this morning! The bus driver is so nice!! He asked us how our first day of school was and makes so much small talk! He is a cute old guy! I will have to get a picture. I have found that I can ride a later bus, but it would not have the same driver, so we decided to just go early and do our reading at the coffee shop in the morning before class! It worked out nice today! School was SO LONG today! But I am glad it is over! About 9 other girls and I went to the big Pack n Save close by our school. It is a large store like a Wal-Mart! We sure looked like tourists all in backpacks and wandering around aimlessly. The only thing I bought were these cookies that are a big marshmallow with a graham and covered in chocolate! Delicious! We walked around to some shops that reminded me of Chinatown! They had just about everything in these shops, from Justin Bieber backpacks to costume pieces to pieces I believe are used to smoke weed! So I know I have only been here a few days, but I talk in an accent on accident all the time! It is absolutely hilarious! I cannot help it! Every time a person is talking in their accent I naturally am thinking to myself how I can repeat exactly what they are saying.  As I talk with the 11 yr old Micheal I repeat back to him things he says in an accent. Today I asked a lady for directions and went back over to the group of girls and on accident I repeated them all in an accent. Funny thing is New Zealand is similar to a British accent, just with a twist! My accent sounds more like just a British accent only!  Well I may be coming home with an accent! All us girls split on our own ways to get on our buses to get home. I arrived home in perfect time for chicken salad for dinner. Yes the thought crossed my mind that the parents think I loved the salad the night before so maybe this salad too included cilantro…..ahh I thought, at least I have cookies to eat! To my surprise the salad did not and it was pretty good! We also went to a very cool park and are back now to watch a movie! Tomorrow is going to be a beach day with all the girls! I cannot wait! We are going with 2 of the girls who live by us to a local shopping center called West Gate and shopping around and going out to dinner after the beach! I will let you know how it goes! For now this is about all I have to write and that is a good thing because this is longer than just about any paper I have ever written! Phew! Well I miss my family and friends like crazy and hope they are having fun back in America! I will update this again soon, hopefully so I do not get behind like this! Love you all!

Panoramic of the Park

Some sort of nut or something to climb in!

Beautiful Palm Trees

Michael and I at the Park

Here is some New Zealand Vocab for you all:

Ice Block – Popsicle

Jangles – Sandals

Knit ball – women’s basketball

Trolleys – shopping carts

Motorways – freeways

Sick bed – nurse’s office

Cloakroom – coat closet

Jumper – coat or sweater

Kitchen bench – counter

Togs – swimsuit

Lollies - candies

The Final Countdown

Less than 24 hours now and I will embark upon my journey! I cannot believe 2011 went so fast! It has been a busy month for the Whittaker clan! I love having all of my family so close to me and getting to spend so much time together, but I am really beginning to miss El Dorado Hills. The December traditions I have had all my life, going to applehill to cut down a christmas tree or dovewood court every year to admire the christmas lights. Things just aren't the same! Kendall turned 18 this month, which makes her an adult, while Caysen turned 8. Now I know I am Old! Packing into one 50 lb suitcasae and one 15 lb carryon for 4 months has sure been a process. The thing that freaks me out most is just leaving all my stuff as it is....and leaving my heels of course, that sucks! I have thought about sneaking in, but doesn't seem logical if we have limited space and a lot of walking to do. Here are some pictures I will leave you with to wrap up December and 2011! Best of luck to all this new year and hopefully I can stick to some resolutions or something!

Cutting down a Christmas tree in Alpine, Utah......a change, but a new tradition maybe?

Hogle Zoo Lights on Christmas Eve (So much fun if it weren't for the freezing weather! Also a lot of the animals were closed like the giraffes, elephants, and monkeys and those are my favorites)

Kendall's Surprise 18th Birthday Party! Chocolate fountain, mocktails and more! Check out that DJ set up behind us....shout out to Brae for helping out!

Early Christmas Before Cassie left! Sister's Are Best Friends as our new alisa michele necklaces state! So True, I sure am going to miss them while in New Zealand! 

Opening our early Christmas Gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Whittaker!

New traditions have been formed and new memories have been left in all our hearts as well as photos! I am so blessed to have the greatest family! Not talking to them daily will be hard for me, but I know we will talk so much while I am gone! Things changing it weird and getting older, even weirder! I would never change how close my family has grown and our situations for anything! It is always a party in the Whittaker house which has held strong now that Caysen keeps us busy with Nerf wars and xbox Kinect! I have packing to try and finish (almost seems impossible) then spending time with the family! Until next time......

Haere ra (Farewell) 

E noho ra (Stay Well)