I've been doing a whole lot of reminiscing in the past few weeks, most of which has been guided by different songs that are playing or smells that are wafting. It's been a sad experience but I have grown accustomed to sad, I can live with sad. The recent holidays and my upcoming birthday were/are chocker with distracted sadness. That's not to say I didn't enjoy my holidays, because I did, my mind simply drove through the past allocating memories to senses, pulling my attention away from those I was with.
I wholeheartedly intend to write about my fantastic adventures that took place on the South Island. I'm really excited to tell all and enthrall you with my antics, but I've been momentarily held up. You see, we wrote a Tour diary during the 3 weeks that I was away and I have been waiting for the legible version, haha. Please be patient and keep checking this page, because sooner or later you will be enlightened. ;)
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Marae weekend
Wow so i'm ashamed to see how long it's been since i last posted. well a lot has happened since i moved to Scott's Landing.
First of all, i had the best weekend of my exchange so far when all the inbounds and outbounds went up north to the Bay of Islands College Marae and had a maori culture weekend. we arrived friday and lined up opposite the whanau (family) and sang songs and presented speeches. I was fortunate enough to speak on behalf of all the students and i did so first in french and then in english. i won't lie i threw in a few jokes in french that i didn't say in english :D. that night the maori boys taught us the Ka Mate Haka which is the video on Facebook. At the end of the night my thighs were bruised, my right are was covered in broken blood vessels and my voice was gone.
The next morning we did Waka (massive canoe) training. we learned the the sides and sections of the waka and different strokes. then we took the waka out to this lake and paddled around while singing songs like "pokarekare ana"... you know the usual stuff. that same day we went to Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. it's a document kinda like the US constitution [oh! props to Obama btw] after learning about it we went back to the Bay of Islands and hung out in the marae, and played touch rugby in the field with the maori boys. Rugby has actually become a huge part of my life here, loving it.
the next day we did Rotary stuff i.e. talked about the south island tour.. 2 weeks from now yikes! and then to cap things off we had a hangi. basically meat and veges and stuffing is all packed together and buried in the ground to cook. it was delicious but signified the end of the weekend..
before we left however the boys stripped down and did the haka opposite the maori boys as a kind of Haka-off. Doing the haka is an incredibly spiritual thing and it really gives you strength, confidence and just an overall feeling of being powerful, i was very humbled to have learned it and i am forever indebted to the boys at the Bay of Islands.
in short: words cannot describe the amazing weekend i had up north.
kia ora,
pete
First of all, i had the best weekend of my exchange so far when all the inbounds and outbounds went up north to the Bay of Islands College Marae and had a maori culture weekend. we arrived friday and lined up opposite the whanau (family) and sang songs and presented speeches. I was fortunate enough to speak on behalf of all the students and i did so first in french and then in english. i won't lie i threw in a few jokes in french that i didn't say in english :D. that night the maori boys taught us the Ka Mate Haka which is the video on Facebook. At the end of the night my thighs were bruised, my right are was covered in broken blood vessels and my voice was gone.
The next morning we did Waka (massive canoe) training. we learned the the sides and sections of the waka and different strokes. then we took the waka out to this lake and paddled around while singing songs like "pokarekare ana"... you know the usual stuff. that same day we went to Waitangi where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. it's a document kinda like the US constitution [oh! props to Obama btw] after learning about it we went back to the Bay of Islands and hung out in the marae, and played touch rugby in the field with the maori boys. Rugby has actually become a huge part of my life here, loving it.
the next day we did Rotary stuff i.e. talked about the south island tour.. 2 weeks from now yikes! and then to cap things off we had a hangi. basically meat and veges and stuffing is all packed together and buried in the ground to cook. it was delicious but signified the end of the weekend..
before we left however the boys stripped down and did the haka opposite the maori boys as a kind of Haka-off. Doing the haka is an incredibly spiritual thing and it really gives you strength, confidence and just an overall feeling of being powerful, i was very humbled to have learned it and i am forever indebted to the boys at the Bay of Islands.
in short: words cannot describe the amazing weekend i had up north.
kia ora,
pete
Monday, October 13, 2008
tsbinawile
Kia ora,
I have just recently changed addresses! Thats right i am now with my second host family, living in Scott's Landing. It's another very rural location but instead of being at the top of a hill i'm near the bottom, VERY close to the water.
My family consists of Keith and Joan Jones (parents) and a brother Calum. Calum is 17 and is a very avid sailor. he's very sporty as well and plays hockey (feild hockey) squash and a little bit of rugby. There's is also an older sister, who went on exchange to Denmark a few years back.
So far things are going well, i'm just off school holidays and so now i'm on study leave haha. this is exam time for the Kiwis and the teachers have been given the option to give us international students exams or not and the majority have decided not too. To be perfectly honest, i am not impressed with how the internationals are treated at Mahurangi College. We're never given much attention and often separated from the kiwi students. Many of the Germans aren't impressed either.
Although school is slowing down, Rotary events seem to be coming more freqeuntly. A week back from this past weekend was a training session for us inbounds who are involved with the Targa Rally. It's a Rally which runs for 4 days and there are races from Auckland down to Wellington. These kinds of things are always great fun.. whenever the inbounds get together we always have a blast. After the training, we went down to Queen St. (it's like barrington st. or.. st catherines st.) and hung out/ate/went to see a movie. The next Rotary event is a Marae Weekend which looks to be a super experience. We (inbounds/outbounds) will be sleeping in a Marae for a night and learning a lot about Maori culture.
on the whole i'm disapponited about the directoin school is going butthere is not much we can do to change things. i'm gonna peace, i have some speeches to write for Marae weekend.
new addresss:
4 young st.
RD2 Warkworth,
Auckland, New Zealand
I have just recently changed addresses! Thats right i am now with my second host family, living in Scott's Landing. It's another very rural location but instead of being at the top of a hill i'm near the bottom, VERY close to the water.
My family consists of Keith and Joan Jones (parents) and a brother Calum. Calum is 17 and is a very avid sailor. he's very sporty as well and plays hockey (feild hockey) squash and a little bit of rugby. There's is also an older sister, who went on exchange to Denmark a few years back.
So far things are going well, i'm just off school holidays and so now i'm on study leave haha. this is exam time for the Kiwis and the teachers have been given the option to give us international students exams or not and the majority have decided not too. To be perfectly honest, i am not impressed with how the internationals are treated at Mahurangi College. We're never given much attention and often separated from the kiwi students. Many of the Germans aren't impressed either.
Although school is slowing down, Rotary events seem to be coming more freqeuntly. A week back from this past weekend was a training session for us inbounds who are involved with the Targa Rally. It's a Rally which runs for 4 days and there are races from Auckland down to Wellington. These kinds of things are always great fun.. whenever the inbounds get together we always have a blast. After the training, we went down to Queen St. (it's like barrington st. or.. st catherines st.) and hung out/ate/went to see a movie. The next Rotary event is a Marae Weekend which looks to be a super experience. We (inbounds/outbounds) will be sleeping in a Marae for a night and learning a lot about Maori culture.
on the whole i'm disapponited about the directoin school is going butthere is not much we can do to change things. i'm gonna peace, i have some speeches to write for Marae weekend.
new addresss:
4 young st.
RD2 Warkworth,
Auckland, New Zealand
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Rotorua/Waitomo Caves
ait so.
The college I attend (Mahurangi) organised a school trip for the international students to the Waitomo Caves and to Rototua.
First off, the international students are composed of 15 Germans, 3 Chileans, 2 South Africans, 1 American, 1 Canadian, 1 Swiss girl, and about 15-20 Koreans, Chinese, Japanese. we departed on a Friday morning at about 8am and drove straight to Rotorua. once we got there we took a gondola to the top of this massive hill and then a chairlift and we luged.. did the luge? for a couple hours. Luging is amazing you go fast on asphalt and there are tight turns.. very exciting. A couple guys did a skyswing which a picture shows is pretty gnarly, the video is pretty profane.
After the luge we went into town and got settled at the hostel and then went downtown and chilled, ate, and then returned to the hostel for a jolly good time. (we didn't get much sleep)
The next morning we got up to eat at 8am and then climbed onto the bus to go to Te Piua. There we (myself, Nora, and Merle (both German)) walked around this park and saw boiling mud, hot pools, a crazy geyser (see picture) and all kinds of Jurassic park stuff.. AND WE SAW A KIWI, LIKE A REAL LIVE KIWI BIRD. my one goal for the exchange is complete. just kidding.. after we finished walking around, we went to the murae (maori meeting place) and saw a culture show. At the end of the show, they pulled all the males out of the crowd and on stage to do the Haka. And guess who was in front row? yeh me. apparently my pukana is scary.
Then we went to a sheep show.. the guy running was too ridic. like NZer Larry the Cable Guy.. It was basically him humiliating random people in the crowd and bringing them up on stage.. you had to be there, i'm sorry. but he talked about the different breeds of sheep in NZ and he sheared a sheep on stage.
then we went back to the hostel and swam/played touch rugby/soccer/ate and then went to see the worst movie ever made, not sure what it was called but it had Brendan Fraser in it. nuff said.
Sunday: woke up, packed up, loaded up and headed for the Waitomo Caves. These caves are absolutely amazing. like the guide showed us the oldest stalagtite in the cave system and it was aprox. 400,000 years old. and 13 meters long. so crazy, this one section they call the Cathedral has had weddings, Sting (The Police), a couple U2 members, this Russian Choir.. all kinds of crazy stuff up there. We were also in the glowworm caves, very crazy but no pictures allowed. Also dificult to explain.. Google it.
then we drove 4 hours back to the College while I slept on the floor of the bus. XD awesome weekend.
after this week, i'm entering a 2 week school holiday, which i'm looking forward to.
Kia Ora.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
hard work is rewarding.
Just thought that I'd give a short little update about life on the farm for those who might be interested.
Peter has 2 farms; one on Woodcock's Road and the other is part of his land here on Rodney Road. He has a lot of land and it's all quite hilly(sp?) and TumulTuous Terrain To Trample.. To daTe. (hurrah for calf muscles) anyway, you know those steps on the sides of hills that you see in photographs? well those are called, sheep tracks. they get cut into the sides of hills by the animals routinely making their way up and down the hills in perpendicular direction.
I really love my time spent on the farm, it makes me feel purposeful and useful. typically we go out on the bike (quad) and "feed out" which is basically taking hay bales out to the cattle and distributing it around. At first it was really intimidating to have 20 or so bulls jogging towards you while you frantically try to break up a bale but now it's cool and i really like being in the middle of all the cattle. after feeding out we typically move sheep from paddock to paddock so that the grass gets a chance to grow. Peter's dog's name is Tip and she's a pretty sweet sheepdog.
yesterday a beast got stuck in the creek during a rainstorm we'd had. it was waist (do bulls have waists?) deep in mud and it'd been there for a long time. after school Peter came and got Richard and I and we had to haul the beast out. the creek is at the bottom of a shallow ravine in a grove of trees. The bull's hind leg was caught under a root and we had to dig it out. Richard and I looped a rope around the bull's neck and peter pushed from the back so after a long time and a lot of rough work we got it out. hopefully it's still doing alright but we basically saved Peter $800+ so that was good and we also saved the bull. good news all around.
I really wouldn't mind working on the farm for a part-time job sometime if i ever get the chance to return here.. moral of the post: I love the farm.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
it's been a longtime coming
Alright so it's been 2 wonderfully stressful and stimulating months since I arrived in New Zealand. Alot has happened but I'll do my best to reccount as much as possible.
On y va: My first host family is a family of 6. Peter and Anna, my parents are very kind, and caring people. Anna, a GP, is norweigian and so the family is all fluent and oftentimes speaks norwegian in the house. Peter is a Kiwi farmer who has been nearly everywhere in the world. Their children are Synove (at uni) Ragnhild (a year younger than me) Jimmy (2 years younger) and Richard (4 years younger). Ragnhild has become a good friend of mine. Within my first 24 hours here I helped to herd sheep and also ate lamb. We eat meat with absolutely every meal, which is an unfortunate change from my vegetarian diet which I followed for the better part of the past year and a half. I have tried and eaten everything put in front of me and I seek every opportunity to try my hand at something new. I go to the farm with Peter every chance I get and I've grown to enjoy "feeding out." I'm trying to say yes to everything I can but I'm living in the sticks and it's dificult to get into town often.
I go to school at Mahurangi College and I have become good friends with a couple girls and a few guys. My classes are Drama, English, NZ studies, Photography and Painting. I'm loving my Painting and Drama classes but otherwise school is quite a bore. I'm in level 2 classes, which is the equivalent of grade 11.. so you can see how challenged I am by the work i get here. ..But I get out every so often to go on trips or stay with other Rotarians.
I got to go skiing at Mt Ruapehu (Mt Doom & one of the worlds most active volcanoes) a couple weeks back. Skiing at 2700m is much more exciting than Wentworth at 250m. It was probably the best skiing experience that I have had to date, and we (2 Rotarians and I) are planning to go back for another shot at the volcano.
August 15-17 was my orientation here where i got to meet all the inbounds and outbounds. I am truly here with a wonderful group of people. There are students from Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Austria, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, CANADA, and the states.. haha jokes. Petra (Finland), Caio (Brasil) and Lea (Switzerland) are most probably my best friends out of the whole group, though everyone is really close. The week after orientation I got to do my presentation on Canada which went extremely well. Being mostly all sailors, the rotarians were blown away by the tides in the Bay of Fundy. and I presented them with the Rotary club of Sackville's Banner for which they were very thankful. My Rotary club is full of some really genuine people, most importantly Mick Saunders. I have had the pleasure of staying at his place on a few occasions and he and his wife June are truly two of the most interesting people that I have/will ever meet. I'm really thankful that he has taken an interest in me.
thats all for now. I'm planning on updating the blog after a significant event during my exchange.
laters.
On y va: My first host family is a family of 6. Peter and Anna, my parents are very kind, and caring people. Anna, a GP, is norweigian and so the family is all fluent and oftentimes speaks norwegian in the house. Peter is a Kiwi farmer who has been nearly everywhere in the world. Their children are Synove (at uni) Ragnhild (a year younger than me) Jimmy (2 years younger) and Richard (4 years younger). Ragnhild has become a good friend of mine. Within my first 24 hours here I helped to herd sheep and also ate lamb. We eat meat with absolutely every meal, which is an unfortunate change from my vegetarian diet which I followed for the better part of the past year and a half. I have tried and eaten everything put in front of me and I seek every opportunity to try my hand at something new. I go to the farm with Peter every chance I get and I've grown to enjoy "feeding out." I'm trying to say yes to everything I can but I'm living in the sticks and it's dificult to get into town often.
I go to school at Mahurangi College and I have become good friends with a couple girls and a few guys. My classes are Drama, English, NZ studies, Photography and Painting. I'm loving my Painting and Drama classes but otherwise school is quite a bore. I'm in level 2 classes, which is the equivalent of grade 11.. so you can see how challenged I am by the work i get here. ..But I get out every so often to go on trips or stay with other Rotarians.
I got to go skiing at Mt Ruapehu (Mt Doom & one of the worlds most active volcanoes) a couple weeks back. Skiing at 2700m is much more exciting than Wentworth at 250m. It was probably the best skiing experience that I have had to date, and we (2 Rotarians and I) are planning to go back for another shot at the volcano.
August 15-17 was my orientation here where i got to meet all the inbounds and outbounds. I am truly here with a wonderful group of people. There are students from Brasil, Argentina, Chile, Austria, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, CANADA, and the states.. haha jokes. Petra (Finland), Caio (Brasil) and Lea (Switzerland) are most probably my best friends out of the whole group, though everyone is really close. The week after orientation I got to do my presentation on Canada which went extremely well. Being mostly all sailors, the rotarians were blown away by the tides in the Bay of Fundy. and I presented them with the Rotary club of Sackville's Banner for which they were very thankful. My Rotary club is full of some really genuine people, most importantly Mick Saunders. I have had the pleasure of staying at his place on a few occasions and he and his wife June are truly two of the most interesting people that I have/will ever meet. I'm really thankful that he has taken an interest in me.
thats all for now. I'm planning on updating the blog after a significant event during my exchange.
laters.
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