New Zealand- Week 4

Hello everyone!

I've been here for over a month. What? Where has the time gone? I feel like I've already done and seen so much.

This week was absolutely lovely. The sun was out all week and it was 25(75 F) and sunny. I started off the week with a long walk through the woods to a beautiful waterfall. Then another walk to another waterfall. There are a lot of waterfalls here, lots of elevation. Not like flat ass Kansas at all. 

I honestly can't get over how beautiful the landscape of this country is. Just driving through the hills is like being in a dream. It's stunning. I wish the pictures did it justice.

I went to my first assembly this week! The school has an assembly every Friday. They give out awards to different kids for different things. They even give out awards for having waste-free lunches, they call them waste-free warriors. I love how much New Zealand cares about the environment. Its a breath of fresh air. Literally. Mister Cohen got an award this week <3 For being such a smartie and giving insightful thoughts into class discussions. So proud! 

They sing their National Anthem at the assemblies and this week the music had a malfunction, it was so cool though because the kids stood there quietly and then stood up and sang the anthem A Cappella. It was honestly really moving. They not only sang their national anthem without music, but they sang it in Moari, the native peoples language. It was beautiful. 

Friday I went with Mel and the kiddos to Cornwall park, we had some snacks and then wandered around and took some pictures. They had a pasture with sheep and cattle, even baby and mommy cows together!! We spent like an hour trying to pet them, and finally one of the mommy cows let us pet her. haha. The kids were so cute trying to get close to the animals. 

I'm really enjoying my time here and I honestly can't say enough great things about my host family. I feel so comfortable and at home here. Ahhhh :)

Anyways, that's about it. I hope you all had a great week and I will check back in next week!

All my love,

Sidni

New Zealand- Week 3

WHHHAAADUPPPP GUYS

So week three has been super wet. Not the good kind either. Rain out the ass. It literally rained for six days straight. All day, all night, never-ending rain. It was cool at first, but as the days continued the depression started kicking in. I WANT SUNSHINE! Finally yesterday, the sun broke through the clouds and It was a lovely Saturday. Woo freakin hoo. Tony told me, and I quote "I've never seen a week of straight rain in February in my entire life"... Just my luck right?? Oh well, Its still pretty here and I got to use the dryer for the first time so thats my silver lining.

So I live in a suburb of Auckland called Mount Albert.. because get this, they have a volcanic mount named Mount Albert. Anyways, so despite the never ending rain, I climbed it. It was a very short climb I have to say, but it was a great view from the top, you could see the city and the ocean(which is a beautiful blue color). Then I got back in the car and drove on the left side of the road to a vegan bakery... I had my first donut in years, it was raspberry filled and absolutely delicious. Hands down best vegan baked good I've had :) Then I had a nice little grocery shopping trip, the tax is already added into everything they sell here, so if a loaf of bread is 3 dollars, its actually 3 dollars, no tax change to add in at the end. Its wonderful. America needs to step it up.

Yesterday I went with a group of girls to the Auckland museum and the Wintergarden which is right next door. The museum was very interesting. They had a lot of Moari(They're natives) relics, wood carvings, weapons, and such. They had a volcano room where there was a little house you could go into that simulated what it was like when a Volcano erupted in Auckland a while back. There's a Volcano underneath Auckland that becomes active every few hundred to a thousand years. Pretty broad time range they've given us, those scientists *rolls eyes* So I'm hoping it won't decide to wake up and party while I'm here.

The top floor of the museum is dedicated to the soldiers who fought for NZ in WWI. They had all the names of their fallen soldiers inscribed on the walls and some beautiful stained glass windows in tribute. It's always very heartbreaking to see all the death and tragedy that we have and continue to put ourselves through as humans. I hope one day John Lennon can look down and smile at his imagined world of peace.

We walked through the gardens, climbed a big tree, all that fun stuff...

P.S. The bird in the picture is a Kiwi bird. Its native to NZ, thats why they call the people who live here Kiwis.

Anyways, you can enjoy the photos and Ill see you all next week.

Sidni

New Zealand- Week 2

Kia Ora!

So this week was totally epic. Saturday I took a day trip with a company called Student Trips, they offer discounted trips to sights of NZ for Au Pairs, Students, Inters, etc. 

We started off the day at Port Waikato, Its a black sand beach and its just gorgeous. It was a bit chilly so I didn't jump in the water but it was a beautiful view. After the beach we went to the Glow Worm caves... They are seriously as cool as you think they are. The cave was about a 1 Kilometer journey, during which at one point we had to army crawl in water through a tiny rock tunnel. If you're claustrophobic, I don't recommend you try it. When we reached an enormous cavern in the cave, they had everyone turn off their torches(NZ for flashlight) and it was like a galaxy on the ceiling. The glow worms are just marvelous little creatures. After that excursion we took about a mile hike through the hillside/forest to a pretty cool waterfall. 

We spent a lot of time on the bus driving on windy gravel roads through the hillside and the landscape on New Zealand is just breathtakingly beautiful. I mean, rolling green hills as far as the eye can see, its miraculous. We also saw a lot of sheep as there are heaps of them in New Zealand, around 27.6 million. Crazy. 

I drove this week! On the right side of the car on the left side of the road. It's wild.  Luckily all of the road rules here are very similar to ours in the US. However they have a lot more Give Way(Yield) Signs than actual stop signs, so if you're into California stopping, NZ should be your new home. haha. The hardest thing has been the darn blinker! It's on the right side of the steering wheel, so Im constantly turning on the windshield wipers trying to signal. I'll get used to it and then be all confused again when I'm back in the US. 

I have a couple new vocab words as well:

Speed Bumps- Jutterbars

Trunk of the car- The boot

Gas Burners- Hobbs

Also, they don't have biscuits and gravy here. When I mentioned it Tony and Mel had no idea what I was talking about. Just a midwest thing I guess. 

That's really all that has happened to me this week, so Ill keep you all posted. 

Sending love from the future!

Sidni

New Zealand- Week 1

Kia Ora!

That's means "Hello" in NZ.

Because Stefanie is the perfect sister she is and has blogged all of her travels, I am now expected to do the same. Just kidding. She's great though. This is my first blog ever, so I expect no judgement on how terrible it is.

I started off last week with a 4 hour flight to LA and then a 13 hour flight to Auckland. The 13 hour flight wasn't terrible seeing as I slept through most of it. They also had all of the Hobbit movies for free, so I watched the first two in preparation for Hobbiton, which I will be visiting in a couple of months. You can expect a full report on that journey as I am very excited about it :) I had two full days of orientation at the Jet Park Hotel, that consisted of Au Pair expectation, host family expectations, a first aid course and a driving briefing. In case anyone is unaware, they drive on the left side of the road here. It's crazy.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous. They're well into summer, so It's been 75 and sunny here. 25 in celsius, Im having to learn that. They don't have Air conditioning or Central Heating because they have mild weather all year round. Fun fact about New Zealand; they have absolutely no ozone layer above them, which means that the sun is brutal. I slathered myself with sunblock and still got burnt like a lobster at the beach. I need SPF 100 and a long shirt to save my skin. Bright side is, Ill come home super tan!

I've gotten quite the vocabulary lesson since I've been here. The list of new words I have learned is as follows:

1. Flip flops- Jandals
2. Swim Suits- Togs
3. Peppers(like green,red yellow)- Capsicum
4. They say eh, a lot when asking questions. This shirt looks good, eh?
5. Tank tops- Singlets
6. Tennis Shoes- Trainers
7. Parking lots- Car Parks
8. Fries- Chips
9. Gas Station- Petrol Station
10. Fast Food- Takeaways
11. Friends- Mates

I know there are more, but those are the words I can think of off the top of my head. Also, they pronounce their words differently. They use long vowels when sounding out words, so they sound all nice and proper, whereas we use wide vowels, so we sound Yankee. I don't think anyone finds my accent attractive. haha.

I've made some new friends, including the Au Pair who has been here for the last 10 months, her name is Meike and she's from Germany. She's been showing me around. We went to the Sky tower that overlooks Auckland. It was cool to see all of the places I'll become so familiar with over this next year. We went out to a club on Sunday night called bar 101 and danced for like 5 hours straight, my feet were killing me the next day.

I feel very comfortable and at home with my new family. My host parents are Melissa and Tony and they are super laid back and go with the flow. They have 3 kiddos, Cohen is 9, Hazel is 7, and Frances is 5. They are super sweet kids and I've grown very fond of them already. They have a black lab named Casper and a manx kitty named Lucy.

All in all, Im settling into my NZ life quite nicely. Im enjoying some peace and quiet in my own space and new country. lll try to keep everyone updated with all of my cool travels!