THE WALK

Well seeing how I do a lot of walking over here, and it's my new favorite hobby (or it has to be seeing that it is my form of transportation a lot of the time), I decide I would show you my morning when I go to school! To start off I have to ride a bus, then walk about twenty minutes to get to the church. Not too bad when you use to be walking for about forty minutes! ha ha! But each morning waiting for the bus stop I sing "Back to school, Back to school, to prove to dad that I'm not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight." I feel Billy every time I wait for the bus. Plus to top that off once it even drove right past us. That was very sad. But no worries we are best buds with Checko now, and he won't leave us.

 

 After we take our twenty minute bus ride we get to walk down Rathgarth. It's just a block down to our street. Don't let the block  word fool you...it is a very long block! As we venture our way down the road, we see very many pretty things. First is the little park, this is a normal park like in the states.

 

Then we pass tons of beautiful flowers! 

 

Then we pass the 7th best school in Auckland. Whenever I walk by this I am always so surprised! It makes me laugh 7th best!

A little farther down the road we have our little strip mall. We have the lottery, a post office, a two dollar store, and a few others! One day I'm going to go exploring! Oh yeah and there is a fish and chips place. Maybe one day I will try it out...or then again maybe not, it doesn't look very clean. ha ha!

 Then after we pass all of that we finally get to the rode to our short cut! We get to walk half way down another block then we walk into the park! These are the street signs where we turn!

After that we walk till we get to the park! But first we get to cross a little bridge. Of course there is bush there! 

Then every morning we take a little swing on the playground, and on a good days we even take a trip down the slide.

 After we play and get all excited we walk by the trees. This park is dedicated to the children born in a certain year. A lot of the parks have an area designated for this in them over here..

Then after we pass this, we finally get to school. But since we go by the bus schedule there, we usually get there about ten minutes early. This is our relaxing time where we sit in front of the church and get honked at several times! It's crazy I bet we get honked at on our way to school at least 5 times a day! It's crazy! I usually eat a snack here too. I'm not sure why, but by the time I have walked and done all of that, I am ready for my second breakfast! Then we go to school, and we get to walk it all the way back home at the end of the day! Except lately, Paea has been surprising us and picking us up! She is so cute! She's like, "The girls need a ride! They spend way too much time walking!" But that is what a typical day walking to the church where we have classes is! It's a pretty walk!

NEW ZEALAND!

Kia Ora! Hello from New Zealand! I finally can update you on everything going on! I hope life is going great back in the states! Things are going very well over here! The time seems to be going by so fast! I don’t even know where my days go! It’s so great! I think Ashlyn’s chain might be getting a little bit smaller! Ha ha! 

 

Anyhow, l before I took off for New Zealand, I was going to write a little bit about my California trip. Although, time got the best of me, and I never quite did that! But first things first we will start there! California was so great! I love California! The first night we got there we went to the Pirates show! I had never been to this, it was really fun! They had a whole pirate ship in the middle of the eating area, and they put on a little show! It was really cute! Kolt even got to get up and be in the show! Ha ha! It was really fun, and the food was really good too!

           The next day was Disneyland! I love Disneyland! It was crazy busy though! I don’t think I have ever been there when it was that busy (granite my family always avoids the busy times), but it was super busy! Even though it was busy my family still got a lot done, and loved it! Christmas time is one of my favorite times to go to Disneyland! They redo a lot of the rides so they are Christmassy (not really sure if that’s a word, but it sounded good). I love the Haunted Mansion! They redo it into the Nightmare Before Christmas! It’s so cute! They also redo Small World! The lighting on the outside of small world is so incredible! It’s so pretty! It was really fun! When we rode small world, I didn’t know they had put Disney Characters in the ride, and it was so exciting to be able to spot them!  They redo other rides as well, but those are my favorites redone. They also put up tons of Christmas decorations, and the Christmas tree and the Castle are beautiful! I love Disneyland at this time of the year! Anyway my family got to watch the Christmas parade that day, we watched the firework show (Where they even made it snow), and we saw Fantasmic! That is my favorite show ever! I could watch it a thousand times and never get sick of it! I love how magical everything is! 

The next day we went to California Adventure! Now I know that everyone in California was hating the rain they were having at this time, but this particular day I was loving it! It made it so the park wasn’t half as busy! We got to do a lot of things there!  We even got to ride my favorite ride!

Yup, Toy story Mania! I was even the highest scorer out of my family! I have been practicing very hard for that! I wanted to make sure I won! Ha ha! We also got to watch a Pixar Parade! It was so cute! It was even a parade I hadn’t seen before! I enjoyed that very much! 

 

        Later that evening we got to see the new Festival of Colors show. I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this show. I had heard really good things about it, but did not know what it would be like! It ended up being incredible! The Engineers and the person that created that show were brilliant! The lighting, water, music, and then the screen were so cool! I was very impressed by the show! I must say we had the best view sitting on the bridge! It was very cool! Here is a picture I took of the ferris wheel waiting for the show to begin! I loved this picture!

 

The next day we went back to Disneyland! We got to do all of our favorites  and then some shopping! That was a very fun day! I even got my ice cream! I kept saying it wasn’t Disneyland till I have eaten my ice cream from the shop on main street, but not to worry, I got my ice cream that day! Disneyland was so much fun! I will always love Disneyland, definitely one of the happiest places on earth!

                Happy New Years Eve! The next day was New Years Eve! We were all tired from Disneyland the previous days, so today we just slept in! It was nice! We got up, and worked on Kenken, Crossword puzzles, and Sudoku. It was a great morning! Later on in the afternoon, we went over to the golf shop. Carol and Chuck, bought me a really pretty vest! I really like it! Thank you!  After we went there, we went out to El Adobe! I really like this place! It’s got to be one of my favorites! They have some of the best Mexican food I have ever tasted in my life! After eating, we came back and watched several movies! We watched Despicable Me (I hadn’t seen this, and it was pretty cute), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (I had seen this one, but like it a lot), and Some Like it Hot (I had never seen this one, and found it very funny).  Then be brought in the New Year! I can’t believe it is already 2011! It’s crazy how fast time flies! 

 

         New Years Day, we went to Medieval Times! This is also one of my favorite dinners! It is so much fun!  When We got there we got some drinks while we were waiting to be seated. They were pretty fancy! I had a Pina Colada! 

             We were on the red team! Even though my knight was a little bit of a weakling (he died first in the jousting and sword fight), we had the best cheering section ever! We definitely should have won if it was only based off the cheering section!  Anyway this was so much fun! I love the food there! I think its very fun how you still eat with your hands, just like they did then. I love watching the jousting, and the sport on the horses! This was so much fun! 

The next day my family and I went down to Mission Viejo. Out of all of the times that I have gone to California, and I have stayed with Carol and Chuck, I don’t think I have ever gone through the mission, or at least if I have, I don’t remember it at all. I really enjoyed this! It was neat to go and learn about when it was settled, and what things were used for. I really enjoyed this. After that we went to a movie, True Grit. It was very good! It made me want to see the old one to compare them, it was very good! Following the movie we went to the Savannah for Dinner. It was delicious! That was a very fun day!

                The next day was the day I left! It was crazy! I woke up and was making sure I had everything, You think you have everything, but really you never know if you have everything and you are ready to go.  Anyway after I got ready, we went up to The Cheese Cake Factory for lunch! It was very good! It was my last meal in the states for a while! It was very good! Following this, we packed up my bags, took the goodbye pictures, and headed up to the airport! 

I now was on my way to leaving! This is when my nerves started to get to me, I began to get really scared! It was okay though! I got to the airport, made it through security and everything found my group, and played games while we waited to board the plane!

                Once we got on the plane it was HUGE! I have never even seen a plane this big in my entire life! I got to sit next to two girls going over with the group so it was very fun, but very long! It was a thirteen hour flight! It was crazy! I slept most of the way! Thank goodness or I would have been so jet lagged the next day!

When we got to the air port, I’m going to be honest I didn’t know what to do! It was the weirdest feeling I have ever felt, all the girls I am with just kept looking at each other, and saying this is weird, we are in a different country, it’s weird. But then we got off the plane! This airport was so laid back! It was such a contrast from the LAX. We went down to baggage claim and I was waiting for my bag, and guess what! I got chosen to be sniffed down by a dog! Yeah, I was then terrified! I didn’t know what to do! I was so panicked! They wanted to check my backpack! Man I started telling them everything that was in there! I didn’t even have anything in there, but I was telling everything. I’m pretty sure the lady thought I was just a little bit weird. That’s okay though. Good news though, I passed and I made it into the country! After we got through security and customs we walked out to the waiting area. There were about four of us that were the first ones out, and we couldn’t find Professor Jacobs! We got a little bit scared! No worries though, in our standing around (for about two minutes) He found us! This was such a relief! Ha ha!

                After he found us, he went over and got Paea!  Paea was at the airport to pick us up! Paea and her son Cooper were there, they were so excited to see us! We also got to meet her older son too! He is a teacher too! 

 

We got home, and then got into our rooms and unpacked (it was only like nine in the morning by the time we unpacked).   After that we went into the Mall, Paea, Cooper, Hannah and I. We walked into the mall and Hannah and I were just in awe! We had no idea where we were, it was all a little bit over whelming. After a little bit of being in the mall looking around Paea says, “Well this is where I leave you. You can find your way home?” ha ha! I am sure I gave her one of the most surprised looks I have ever had in my entire life! I thought she was joking, but guess what! She wasn’t! ha ha! So she left me an Hannah in the mall, in the center of Waitakere to find our way home.  Good News, there is a happy ending to this story, and we successfully made it home.

                Hannah and I looked around the mall for a while, then we decided to go try and find the library. Good news we found it! That is how I e-mailed you the first day. Yeah, our house wasn’t quite set up with the internet, but not to worry! I survived, you never realize how much you use the internet until you don’t have it!

                Anyway after Hannah and I had looked around the city…and successfully made it back to our house, Paea took us and showed us the park that is just in our backyard. And for those of you back home when I say park it’s nothing like the parks in the states! It’s HUGE! I has tons of walking trails! A couple of soccer fields, several different access points, tons of bush (that’s the rainforest here). We walked all around it for the rest of the evening!

                The next day was the first day of school! Yeah that’s right, I’m in this beautiful place, and I have to go to school! It was really good though! The first day was so much fun! We met our Literacy professor, and her name is Carol Anderton! We did a lot of learning about New Zealand! We started learning the Maori language! We got so sing tons of songs in Maori, and we even learned a Maori dance! It was so pretty! She had her granddaughter come teach us that, I loved it so much! In that same school day, we got to do the Te Raku! This was so much fun! They are the lemming sticks, as I’ve always heard them called. My partner Emily and I she said were the Champions! That’s not the only reason I like it! It was also fun to be learning what they do with them! Ha ha! 

This day in school we also got to try a lot of food! She had brought food that was known for New Zealand! We got to try Meat Pie (Neely and my new favorite food), yellow kiwi, cumera (Much like  sweet potato but much sweeter), L&P (a soda), Marmite (Kind of like our peanut butter-but didn’t taste anything like it), and Milo (Like our Hot chocolate, only SOOO much sweeter). This was so great! The first day of class was so much fun! It was one of the best days of school!

                We also learned about a powhiri. This is a ceremony that the Maori people do to welcome you in to the land. When we go into the schools, we will have one of these for us. We will get to participate in the ceremony. This is why we learned about it. After you have the ceremony, you greet everybody. We got to practice greeting each other as the Maori people do. If you are unaware of how the Maori people greet each other, they touch noses. This is to symbolize the mingling of breath. They say if your breath mingles you are friends, and will touch each other’s lives for the better. 

     Anyway, it’s rather interesting; we have school in a church building. It is one of the prettiest church buildings I have ever seen! It’s crazy, over here; you never have to turn lights on (well after dark but that’s not till late at night). The sunlight is just enough!

After school a bunch of us decided we wanted to go play around and see what we could find. After walking through a park, we saw some guys, we decided we would talk to them. (No worries Mom, they were high schoolers, nothing to worry about), but we asked them what they do for fun. They said they played rugby, so we asked them to teach us! And guess what! They did! It was so much fun!

                After Rugby, Paea wanted Hannah and I to go to Zumba class with her! So we did! This was so much fun! It was so funny watching all the old ladies, young ladies, and guys, and even me do Zumba! This was hilarious! It even gave me quite a good work out! After we went to Zumba, Paea came back and taught us how to do Poi ball dancing! It was so hard! I never realized how hard it really is! The balls just swing, and I would try and hit it with the back of my hand, and I would completely miss! It was really hard! But very fun!

 

The next day we to school again we got home work that day! This day we went to school and it was actual school. We started out with an adventure though, I’m about an hour walk from the church where we have school, and Paea took us the day before. So today Hannah and I decided to try and take the bus. We got out to the bus stop (we were ten minutes early) and we waited! We kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting, our bus never came. We aren’t really sure what happened, but it never came! Ha ha!  So Paea was kind enough to give us a ride again!

After school though, a bunch of us went to the mall! At the mall we got ice cream! Can I just say ice cream here is so much better than ice cream in America! All of you know me, and you know I think ice cream is the best thing in America and I love it, but all the cream they put in it over here makes it so good! Don’t be surprised when I come home fat!

Anyway, the next day (January 8, 2011), I went to the beach! That is right, on January 8 I was at the beach! It still blows my mind that in the middle of January I was at the beach! Who would have thought! Ha ha! It was great! I have officially decided I love the beach! I was at Orewa Beach! It was so much fun! On the way there we were so excited! We couldn’t wait to get there! The beach was gorgeous! When we got there we just took off and ran into the water! 

 

 It was gorgeous! Neely, Katie and I pretty much just boogie boarded the entire time! It is officially my new favorite thing! I am planning on doing this a lot in California whenever I am there now!  I definitely need to make this a new hobby of mine.

After we had Boogie boarded for a little while, we deiced to walk down to the dairy that was about a half a block away. Guess what! They had meat pies! Neely and I had to have one! They are so good!

This is another reason I will be coming home very fat! Ha ha! Anyway, a bunch of us walked down to this dairy for lunch! While there James (one of the people who took us to the beach) told us we needed to try ginger beer. I was a little confused at first, I didn’t think we could drink it, but we really could! It was just a soda from over here. It was so good! I was worried about the food over here, but there hasn’t been a problem at all!  After lunch, since we were at the dairy, we couldn’t just let the good ice cream go to waste, so of course we got some ice cream. I asked the guy who was working what his favorite kind was and he gave it to me! It was Passion Fruit! It was so good too! I feel like everything I am saying was it was good! But it really is! 

Anyway, we went back to the beach and we boogie boarded a little bit more. I even met some friends there; they were helping us get better. I must say I am getting pretty good! By the end of this trip I am going to be a pro! After that we all got together and took some pictures! We had to we were at the beach! We had so much fun! This was just a little preview into the beaches and everything, but it truly was so much fun!

        

On the way back from the beach, we took the long way and got to go into Auckland and drive around for a little bit! This was a lot of fun! Ha ha! It wasn’t planned, but it was very fun! Once we got back, we all went and got ready and ate dinner with our families! After that eight of us got together for a game night! It was a lot of fun!

                The next day it was time for us to go to church! The people here are so friendly! Everyone was greeting us, and talking to us, and anywhere we go, we get a special welcome to the Byu girls! It’s crazy over here we are such a novelty. Anyway, I’m thankful for all my music lessons I had growing up now! I already had to sing in church, and I am in the ward choir now! Who would have thought! Ha ha! I’m glad I can sing though, or man I would have been scared today! It was interesting to see the differences in the wards! So much was similar, but in relief society when they sing, they don’t have a pianist. I think I’m going to keep that a secret that I play the piano. It’s really interesting to start singing, the chorister would just sing the first line then say toru wha (three four in the Maori language) and everyone begins singing. It was really neat! After that Hannah and I decided we would go take a walk in the park, and take some pictures! It was very pretty! Everything over here so pretty! The bush is so pretty! So far it’s been a really great experience! 

Well now on Monday, I had a great day! We went to school again like normal! For some reason I struggled so bad today! I was exhausted! I don’t even know why! I could barely keep my eyes open. I think it’s just something about the school thing that makes me tired, because after school I was completely up and awake! Anyway after I went to school I took my first adventure to the PakNSave! Ha ha it’s the equivalent of a Walmart over here. It was quite the adventure. It was funny how many girls I ran into there! We all were figuring stuff out and trying to find what they had here. It was good! Anyway, after I went there, I went over to Emily’s and Whitney’s house! I asked if I could skype my family and I got to!!! It was the best thing ever! I heard my mom’s voice and I just started crying, not because I was sad or anything, it was just so great to hear her voice! I loved talking to them! Then I walked home and guess what!!!! I had a card from my parents too! It’s so great to be loved! It really made my day! All of it! After that, I was out doing homework, and Cooper and his friend Jason wanted to play Monopoly Deal! They came out as soon as you are done can you play with us. So of course, I just put away everything I was doing and played monopoly deal! It was great! It was so much fun to play a game I had played with my family over here! It really has been such a great day!

         Well, it has officially been forever since I have written on this blog! I know I am horrible! Don't worry I will do better now though! It's almost Christmas! Guess what that means! Lot's of family time, and also it's time for me to leave!!! I am so excited! We will be leaving Sunday and spending about a week in California with Carol and Chuck! I can't wait! Then after that I am on my way to New Zealand!

         Here is a few updates about New Zealand! I am living with Paea Haraki, and her 11 year old son Cooper. We live in Henderson! I will be working at Henderson South School! I am so excited! I started to pack, and at first it was so overwhelming! I didn't have a clue what to take, but now I think I have got it! Well I better have it seeing that I leave in three days! I am very excited!

         Well that is just a few updates about where I will be in New Zealand! Don't worry when I am over there I will do tons better and keeping this updated about what I am doing! Merry Christmas to everyone!