Saturday, January 29, 2011

Last Week of Classes...EVER!

Kia Ora! Time again for me to post on the ol’ blog for yous. As always, I’m loving life here in NZ. It’s just wonderful. Here’s a summary of my week:

Sunday (23 Jan): We went to church for the third time in our ward. I got to teach singing time again which was really fun. It went pretty well! I met a guy in the ward is getting ready to serve a mission in San Diego and he was really excited to find out that I’m from Southern California. It was raining buckets and Beau was sick so Julie stayed home with him and we got a ride with Natalia, Heber, and the kids. After church I just hung out at home for a little while, then Julie got a text from Shayna (one of the YSA in our ward) inviting us to another activity. Whitney, Nicole, and I went with her out to the Pilling’s house in Hobsonville (the same house the last big YSA FHE thing was at) and had a great time. We played games, ate food, and made lots of new friends. 2 of the guys there were trying to get our numbers so they could hang out with us but I didn’t have a phone number to give to them. Haha. Then they were grilling us about whether we had boyfriends back at home. Apparently the BYU girls are notorious for having relationships with guys in the YSA here. Don’t worry Grandma, it’s not gonna happen with me. Haha. They’re super nice though, and I got to borrow a guitar and play for a little while too which was great! I haven’t played since I’ve been here! (although I’m pretty sure Julie has one that I could borrow, I just have yet to ask her about that. I need to get on that). It was a great day though and I’m looking forward to getting involved with the YSA here because they are all super nice.

Monday (24 Jan): Sometimes 8 hours of classes feels like 800 hours of classes. That’s how Monday was for me. Haha. It wasn’t really that bad, I just have a little trouble sitting in one spot for soooo long. But that’s ok. I survived it and it really wasn’t terrible. After school we had our FHE potluck (with the whole group of “American BYU Princesses” and their host families) that was postponed from last week because of the rain. It was a lot fun though! We had it at the Lord Family’s house in Massey (just 10 or 15 minutes away from here) and it was gorgeous! They have a bunch of fruit trees and grapes and a beehive in their backyard and they have a really pretty view of a river. It was great. And the food was delicious, as always. I always leave those get-togethers feeling like I’m going to die. It’s fantastic. I love getting together with all the girls outside of school though. We always have a lot of good laughs and a great time. We’ve got some fun group activities planned for the next few weeks. I’m super excited! (I'd put up pictures from the potluck, but I didn't take any with my camera, and everyone else is slow putting them online. So you don't get any right now. Haha)

Tuesday (25 Jan): In science class, we did a pretty awesome experiment with m&m’s. The lesson was on dissolving and we put m&m’s in water and soaked them until the candy had all dissolved and the color had dispersed and it was just the chocolate left. It looked way cool! And made for some pretty sweet pictures. After school, Whitney and I came home and got started on some homework. When Julie got home, we went with her and Beau over to an ice-cream stand a few blocks away and got some delicious real fruit ice cream. It was great! You just pick your fruit, and they mash it up with some vanilla ice cream for you. I got pineapple, and Whitney got strawberry. Both were delicious, but the pineapple was far superior. We went for a little drive over to a jewelry shop that ended up being closed and then came back home to work on homework until tea-time. We had filleted fish and I actually ate it! Aren’t you so proud of me? It really was pretty good. I didn’t even hate it like I expected to. Haha. After dinner, Shayna came by again and picked up Whitney, Nicole, and me and we went to another YSA activity. I guess they play basketball twice a week, but we didn’t know it was going to be basketball so we definitely didn’t dress appropriately. We ended up just sitting on the stage and playing mad-gab with some of the other girls who weren’t playing. I bet we really looked like “American BYU Princesses” then. Haha. We had a great time though, and the other girls loved playing with us because apparently mad-gab was not made for kiwi accents. It’s a lot harder to play with an accent, so they liked hearing us say the phrases. It was great.
Some cool looking m&m's dissolving
Whitney, Beau, and Me with our ice cream!
Wednesday (26 Jan): In social studies, we had a really great discussion about the living conditions of people all over the world. Alexis (our teacher) gave us some pretty shocking statistics about literacy and wealth and poverty around the world and we had a really great class. After school, Whitney, Nicole, Neeley, and I walked to the little market by our house and I bought a Diet Coke (surprised? I think not) before heading home to work on homework. Nicole came over for a little while and worked on our science experiment planning too. Then Dr. Jacobs came by to drop off the chilly bin (cooler) he had borrowed from Julie and we talked to him for a little bit. He is way funny. After Nicole and Dr. J left, Julie asked us what we wanted for dinner and we suggested chicken fajitas. Turns out, the Mexican food here is so scarce, she didn’t even know what a fajita was! It was crazy! But she was on her way to the store, so she got the ingredients to make them and we helped her with them when she got back. There was one minor adjustment though…apparently she forgot to get chicken at pak’n’save so she opted for BACON at the market by our house. Don’t ask me why, but I’m pretty sure bacon is the go-to substitute for anything and everything here. It makes me laugh. So we had bacon fajitas for dinner. Interesting, but not bad. Haha. I definitely want to make some chicken ones for her one day though. 

Thursday (27 Jan): In science, we had to present lesson plans to a small group. My lesson consisted of making popcorn on the stove and discussing physical changes (and of course, eating the popcorn). It was a lot of fun! Then in social studies we got to basically just read children’s books the entire time. It was great. I love children’s books so much. They’re the best! After school, Whitney and I went to the dairy by our house to buy a phone card for our new cell phone. It’s pretty ghetto… it was Julie’s daughter’s old phone. But we’re excited to have a phone now. It will make getting in touch with the other girls a lot easier and we feel pretty cool using this old-school phone. Two of Julie’s grandsons were over for dinner. Mosiah (11) lives just a few minutes away (and his family actually has a couple BYU girls staying with them too. Liam (12) lives in Sydney and is here on holiday before he goes back to school in a couple weeks. They are both super cute, and after dinner they offered to teach us how to play rugby. So Whitney and I took them to the park by our house and we played a game of touch rugby with them. It was so much fun!
Me in a tree
Whitney posing with Liam and Mosiah
Liam trying to look cool
Friday (28 Jan): LAST DAY OF COLLEGE CLASSES EVER! What a great feeling that was. I can’t even begin to tell you. Whitney and I went to the bakery on our way to school and got donuts for breakfast. I had a chocolate donut with sprinkles and Whitney got a custard twist. They were delicious! At school, we had a great day—especially knowing that it was our last day ever! We did some fun experiments in science and had a great time. After school, Whitney and I came home and our internet was magically working (the wireless had been down the entire day on Thursday). We were pretty excited and I got to skype with Mom for a bit, but then in the middle of my skype conversation, our internet cut out again! It was very frustrating, and we got on the phone with the internet people for like an hour before we figured out what was wrong. It was stressing me out because I was supposed to have a skype date with my roommate Jillian from back home at 5, and that was right when the internet went out. So we finally got it fixed and I had my skype date with Jillian (which is always a pleasure). And I got another pleasant surprise too! My friend Nate was over at Jillian’s house too, so I got to see him. It was great. After talking to them for almost 2 hours (and keeping them up way past their bedtimes, I’m sure) I got off and had some dinner before starting my mounds of homework. I worked on homework for a couple hours, and then went to bed. Not a super exciting evening, but it was productive!
The whole group eating lunch in front of the chapel
where we have classes (i'm in the back on the left)
Saturday (29 Jan): What an exciting day we had on Saturday! I woke up around 8 and it was beautiful and sunny so I was thinking we were going to go to Piha beach (that was the plan for good weather). So Whitney and I got in our swimsuits and packed a lunch—ready to be picked up at 9:15. Of course, the weather started to take a turn around 9:30 and as we were waiting for our ride, it started raining a little and the wind picked up a lot. We finally got picked up, and met up with the rest of the group to go to the Auckland Museum in the city. It was a really cool museum, and we got to see the Maori cultural performance too, which was AWESOME! After that, Nicole and I wandered around the museum and looked at a bunch of cool stuff—lots of WWII memorabilia, some cool dinosaur stuff, and a lot of traditional Maori culture stuff. It was a really cool museum. Then we spent FOREVER in the gift shop because they had a ton of cool stuff and I spent a little more money than I originally planned…but I didn’t spend it all on myself! (Haley, Olivia, Ivy, and Mom—you all got something cool today. But you don’t get to see it til April so…sucks to be you. Haha). After the museum, we headed out to Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World. It was a really awesome place! We got there just in time for the Stingray Encounter—where this guy gets in a wetsuit and goes in the tank with the sting rays and feeds them and stuff. It was pretty awesome. I would never have gotten in that tank though…they were HUGE! After the stingrays, we headed over to see the penguins. They were super cute! I wanted to take one home with me, but that didn’t work out too well. They were seriously adorable though. After the penguins, we went and saw some little sand tiger sharks and then ended up in the gift shop where I spent even more money and got a really cute bag! It was a wonderful day full of excitement and spending money. Haha. But I had a great time. Came home just in time for lamb chops and to plan my singing time lesson before finishing up my last homework assignment and heading off to bed.
Nicole and me bein crazy in front of the museum
a REAL tapa cloth (slightly cooler than the one
I made...)
Me in front of a cool tiki man
View of the Skytower from the museum
beautiful view from the museum
HUGE stingray with a crazy man feeding it
PENGUINS! They were so dang cute.
Another shot of the giant stingray
ME!
Some sharks we saw

I took videos of the Maori performance, the stingrays, and the penguins, but my internet is being slow and it would take like 6 hours to upload them... so looks like you guys don't get to see those. Maybe when I get back from the South Island next week I'll be able to get it working again. Sorry! Love and miss you all!
P.S. I leave tomorrow (Monday 31 Jan) for a trip to the South Island (Queenstown, Christchurch, and Milford Sound) and I can't bring my computer with me. I'll have my iPod so I can still get emails and FB notifications and such, but I won't be able to update my blog or skype with anyone til I get back (on the evening of Wednesday 9 Feb). But when I get back I'll have quite a bit of adventure to tell you about, so get excited. Haha. Love you!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Another Week in Paradise

Ok, so let me start by sharing some pictures from my fish and chips adventure from last week with you.
Me posing with the greasiest meal of my life
Whitney with the so-called hot dog
Me with the amazing view of Auckland City in the Background
One day, we came home from school to find Beau and his babysitter Emily. But Beau had the most hilarious facial hair. It was quite a sight. And Beau kept reassuring us that it was him under all that hair. "Hey guys, it's really just me." He's great.
Emily and Beau
Ok. Now to tell you about my week. On Monday, we started our Math Methods class. We had that class all day every day until Thursday, and I loved it! I know what you're thinking...who could love 8 hours of math for 4 days straight? Well, I could. And so could you if you had the math class we had. Haha. It was basically 4 days of art projects and playing games. It was legit. But the most awesome thing we did was make tapa cloths (a traditional Maori cloth used for quilts or mats). It was really cool! First, we made our tapa design on grid paper. Then, we transferred that design onto a big sheet of brown butcher paper. Then, we went over everything in permanent black marker and colored in all the spots we wanted to be black. After that, we crinkled the paper up into a little ball to give it an old wrinkled look. We ironed the back of it so it would be flat, but it still had that old look to it. Then we took brown dye and dyed the entire sheet of paper (and also our hands in the process). After the dye was done drying, we took a q-tip and some bleach and bleached out all the spots we wanted to be white. They looked so awesome at the end! Here's my finished product:
Pretty impressive, huh? Don't worry though, this all related to math. It wasn't just for kicks and giggles. After we did this project, we had a discussion of how it related to math and other subjects. It was pretty awesome how we could take such a fun and awesome project, and relate it to math (because of the geometry, measuring, reflection, rotation, and symmetry involved), science (because of the chemical reaction of the bleach to dye the white spots), and social studies (because of the relation to traditional Maori culture). Definitely something I'd like to do in my own class one day. And this is just one of the many many ideas she gave us for math lessons. She loaded all of us up with a flash drive full of folders and documents of math lesson resources. It was awesome!
On Monday night it rained, so our group FHE BBQ with all the girls and their host families had to be canceled. Luckily, Julie's family was having a potluck too, so we still had a fun night. We got to go over to Julie's sister's house (which is really close here in Waitakere) and meet a bunch of her family. It was a lot of fun, and we had pavlova again for dessert (but it was store-bought and didn't taste half as good as Julie's homemade pavlova).
Tuesday evening we got to go to a fireside at the Sunset chapel (only like 20 minutes or so from here--but it kinda looks like a bomb shelter. haha). It was so awesome! Elder Andersen was the main speaker, but we got to hear from Elder and Sister Costa, and Elder Andersen's wife too. It was an amazing fireside. Elder Andersen talked about the importance of trusting in the Lord and remembering that although things don't always go the way we want them too, the Lord knows what's best for us. It was a great night! When we got home, Julie had made us banana pancakes with ice cream and maple syrup on top for dessert! Whitney and I felt like we were in that scene in Elf when Will Ferrell puts syrup on everything. But it was pretty delicious.
Wednesday after school, Nicole, Neeley, Whitney, and I decided we needed to take a little trip to the mall to check it out. So we looked up the bus schedule and found out how to get there and made our way over to the bus stop. We were just around the corner from the bus stop when we saw the bus we needed pass by us. We tried to wave it down, but that didn't happen. So we sat at the bus stop for another half hour waiting for the next bus to come. It wasn't bad though, gave us some bonding time. First kiss stories always make for good bonding time. Haha. Once the bus finally came, we hopped on and headed to the mall. Here are a few discoveries I made at the mall:
Discovery 1: they don't have regular escalators--they have escalator ramps. And they are a little hard to keep your balance on. haha.
Discovery 2: they have suuuper cute clothes and they are fairly inexpensive. I came pretty close to buying a pair of $15 shoes that I'd been wanting, but I bought 2 dresses instead (pictures to come...when I wear them sometime).
Discovery 3: a tube of mascara that would cost $6 at home costs $22 here (granted that's only $17.08 when you factor in the exchange rate. but it's still ridiculous)
Discovery 4: the ENTIRE mall closes at 6pm! except on Thurs. and Fri. when it's open til 9pm. That was a pretty depressing discovery because we didn't even get there until like 5:20ish so we didn't get much time to shop. We're definitely going to have to go back another day. And that day will definitely be a Thursday or Friday. Haha.
Thursday was pretty uneventful. We just went to classes and then came home and went to the grocery store with Julie. Actually, now that I think about it, our trip to the grocery store was very eventful. We brought Beau and Minnie (Julie's 6 year old granddaughter) with us as well, and it was pretty insane. I want to take a moment to apologize to my mom for my behavior at the grocery store as a child. If I was anything like those 2 were, I don't know how you did it mom. Props to you. Haha.
Friday evening we got to go to a "Milo-side" with the YSA in the area. Milo is a drink they have here (it's pretty similar to hot chocolate). But the funny thing was, they didn't even have any milo at the so-called milo-side. haha. It was still fun though. We danced for a while in the beginning and got to "mingle-jingle with the singles." Haha. Cheesy, I know. But we met some cool people and had a good time making fools of ourselves on the dance floor (as always). But they played a surprising amount of Justin Bieber. I was pleased. Haha. After the dance portion of the evening, there was a variety show. And let me just tell you, the YSA here have more talent in their little finger than I do in my whole body. These big huge gangster-looking guys got up to sing, and they didn't look like much, but when they sang, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Every single song was incredible! It was a blessing just sitting there listening. I wish I had video so I could show you the amazing talent they all had, but you'll just have to take my word for it. It was incredible.
On Saturday, Whitney and I went with Jessica and Christine (and their host-mom Phyllis) to the Puhoi River for another kayaking excursion. We had a great time! It was rainy in the morning, so we dressed warm and brought a change of clothes. But the rain stopped just in time for us to get on the water. We started at the canoe hire, and went up the river about 1 km through the Puhoi Village. It was way cute! And the weather was perfect for us. It was cloudy, so we didn't get too hot, but it wasn't too cold. And the rain had stopped so we didn't even get wet. After going through the Puhoi Village, we came back down to the canoe hire, and went another 8 km down the river to the mouth where it meets up with the ocean. It was a beautiful ride, and I got a lot of great pictures. It was so peaceful though, just going along and looking at all the amazing nature there is here. It's so gorgeous! The whole time I was wishing that my mom was there, she would have loved it!
Me, Jess, Whit, Christine, and Phyllis--Gettin ready to head out!
Whitney, Christine, Jessica, and Me in our kayaks!

Me and Christine coming in at the end of the trip

After we got done kayaking, Phyllis took us to this cute little cafe in Puhoi Village called "The Art of Cheese Cafe." It was really small and cute, and they had a million different kinds of cheeses (I didn't try any of them. Surprised?) But lunch was delicious. Whitney and I couldn't decide on just one thing, so we each got something and split them. I got the chicken and mushroom pastie (pretty much a calzone stuffed with chicken, mushrooms, and spinach) and Whitney got a roast beef panini. They were both delicious. And we had vanilla chocolate cheesecake for dessert. That was also delicious, but it's different from the cheesecake I'm used to in America. It was a lot fluffier, but still good. I thoroughly enjoyed the meal. On the way home, Phyllis decided to take the scenic coastal route. I was pretty excited about that. We stopped off at Long Bay on the way home to see if we could find the YSA (because there was a YSA activity there today that we didn't go to) but we wandered around in the rain for like 20 minutes and didn't find them. But it was ok, because it was gorgeous there.
Beautiful view on the drive home
View of Orewa from a lookout point on the drive home
Some pretty shells on the beach at Long Bay
Long Bay--reminds me a little of PV cliffs
After a great day, we finally came home, and Julie had dinner just about ready for us. Mashed potatoes and gravy with beef, peas, and carrots. It was delicious. And after dinner, we made some really yummy lemon guacamole salsa for her to try (because their attempt at mexican food here is pathetic). Then we sat and chatted and watched youtube videos all evening. It was a ton of fun!
It has been another amazing week, and I've learned a lot. I learned from Elder Andersen's fireside that no life turns out exactly as we planned it to, but that we should "be not afraid, only believe" (Mark 5:36). I learned from Sister Andersen's talk that we are so blessed to have to the words of our prophets at our fingertips and I made the goal to read the entire Ensign every month. I learned from my kayaking trip that I'm so grateful to have my eternal family because no matter how amazing my experiences here in New Zealand are, I'm always wishing that I could share them with my family and friends.
I'm missing you all lots and hope you're all doing well. If I haven't skyped with you yet, we should set up a skype date, because I love skyping with people from home. Love you HEAPS! -Em

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Fish and Chips Don't Go Well With Merry Go Rounds

Kia Ora!
So I decided that I'm probably just going to have time to blog about once a week so it's gonna be a looong post, but hopefully not boring. haha.
So on Monday we had quite an interesting day. First, we had the loongest day of school EVER! It seriously felt like it went on for days. But once we FINALLY finished our 8 hours of class, Whitney and I headed home. Julie and Beau were out of town for the day (they went to the Bay of Plenty to help her dad out) so Whit and I had the place to ourselves. We had some girls from our group over to eat our leftover Pavlova and we hung out with them for a little bit. After they left, we started working on our homework (somewhat reluctantly). Then, Natalia (from next door) came over to see if we wanted to go to dinner with her and the kids. So we quickly finished our homework and went with Natalia and the kids to Point Chev and we got fish and chips for the first time. Let me tell you, it was quite an experience. Natalia also insisted that we try the fried Mars bar, so she got us each one of those. I may not be the healthiest eater, but I don't think I have ever had a meal that unhealthy in my life. There was sooo much grease! It tasted good, but I don't think I will ever eat that again. After we ate, Bella wanted us to play on the playground with her. And in case you were ever planning on it... NEVER GO ON A MERRY GO ROUND AFTER EATING FISH AND CHIPS. It is the worst possible combination. Obvious, I know. But we made the mistake anyways. Haha. Whitney and I walked around the park a little bit, and you could see the skytower from there so we took some pictures too. It was really cool! It was nice getting to know Natalia and the kids a little better. They are so awesome! And I'm glad Bella isn't scared of us anymore. She's too cute.
Bella, Whitney and I all got matching pedicures!
Bella and Whitney!
Me and Bella. I LOVE this girl :)

Yesterday we had class, as usual, but it didn't drag quite as much as Monday's class did. It was a lot better. Probably because we got to do a reader's theater in our literacy class so we weren't just sitting in our chairs the whole time.
This is our lovely classroom...aka the cultural hall at the Universal Drive chapel

After we got home from school, Whitney and I worked on our copious amounts of homework and then went upstairs around 6 for tea (that's what we call dinner). Julie made 2 delicious pizzas--one mushroom and tomato and one pineapple. Whitney and I were so hungry, we both ate like 6 pieces. They were so good! Then we sat and chatted with Julie for a little while, which was a lot of fun. She is great.
Julie!!

Wednesday we just had class all day again. The weather was beautiful and I definitely got a little color at lunch. After school, Whitney and I did a Jillian Michaels DVD and I kind of died. Haha. I guess I'm more out of shape than I thought!
Thursday was a great day. First, let me tell you about one of the things we did in my literacy class that I thought was really cool. Our teacher was talking about how kids produce better writing when they have to write within boundaries because it gets them to think about different ways to say things. To demonstrate this, she gave us a little writing assignment. We had like 5 or 10 minutes to write about Antarctica without using the letter "A". At first, I was super frustrated with the assignment, but then once I got started it was actually pretty fun. Here's what I came up with:
It is very cold here on this snowy continent. The penguins love to slip, even slide down the long white hills. The sun glistens on the fresh snow-covered ground. I squint my eyes so I don't go blind. The white ground goes on forever. I don't see green, yellow, red, or blue--just lots of white. It's difficult to remember the colors I'm used to when I'm home. I miss the flower, I miss the trees, I miss home.
Pretty good, huh? Haha. It was a way cool activity. At least, I liked it. Definitely got me using my brain.
Anyways, after classes, we came home and had a super awesome party at our house! We invited all the girls and their host families over for a pizza/pasta party (and no, pizza/pasta wasn't my idea--although it sounds like something I'd suggest, doesn't it?) It was so much fun though, getting to meet everyone's host families and getting to hang out with the girls outside of school. We all are getting along so well so far (which is a miracle being that we are 16 girls--I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can stay relatively drama-free). But it was a really great party and we had some really delicious food. Although I did find out that the pepperoni here doesn't taste quite like the pepperoni at home which is a real shame. Haha. I do love pepperoni.
All 16 of us girls and Dr. Jacobs
Dr. Jacobs and his wife, Linda
Friday was our last day of our literacy and assessment classes! I almost feel guilty being done with them in just a week, but not that guilty. It's a great feeling. Haha. And next week we have math for 8 hours 4 days in a row so that's definitely going to be...interesting. Hahah. No, I love math so I'm actually kind of excited for that class. In assessment, Dr. J gave us all Magnum bars (they're kind of like the Dove ice cream bars that are just ice cream dipped in dark chocolate, but the ice cream is much better--and I don't even really like ice cream!) to illustrate a point about how you can describe what it's like to teach, but you never really know what it's like until you experience it. They were a pretty delicious experience though.
After class, we came home and hung out for a little while with Bella and Beau. Julie packed us a picnic tea and we invited some of the other girls to go with us and Natalia and the kids to have it up in the Waitakere Ranges. It was so beautiful! I can't even tell you how gorgeous it was, and the pictures don't do it justice, so you'll just have to take my word for it. It was amazing. I wish I could bring all of you here to experience it for yourselves, but that's not really an option so the pictures will have to do. Haha.
Julie also took us over to this hotel in the Waitakere Ranges that's way nice and way pretty. I decided that I'm going on my honeymoon there, so whoever I marry better be able to afford that. Haha. It's a prerequisite now.
The view from our picnic tea

SO BEAUTIFUL!
Jealous yet?
Bella!
The girls at the picnic. From the left: Janet, Whitney, Nicole, Diana, Me, and Neeley
me posing on a post!
Me and Nicole :)
Aren't I adorable?
Pretty flowers!

Me and Bella again. she is a doll
Saturday was an AWESOME day. We got up around 8 and had breakfast and packed our lunches. Then we headed down to the bus stop and 14 of us (everyone but Anna and Heidi because they had a prior engagement with their host family) took the bus into Auckland. From there, we took another bus that took us to Mission Bay. It was a little cloudier than expected at Mission Bay, so we walked one bay over--to Okahu Bay and it was much nicer there. At Okahu Bay, there was a place where we could rent kayaks and paddle boards so a bunch of us got those and took them out for a spin in the harbor for about an hour. It was so much fun! The water was perfect, and we had a lot of fun trading off between the kayaks and paddle boards. It was way cool. Mom--you have to try paddle boarding sometime. It's the best. And you would be great at it.
After we finished kayaking, we went to the beach and laid out for about an hour. It felt so wonderful, and we saw some...interesting people. I swear, the old men here are all super fit. Haha. We saw this guy that was definitely at least in his 70's and he was in a speedo, but he had a total 6 pack! It was hilarious. Once we felt we had enough sun, we caught the bus back into Auckland and walked up Queen St. to look at souvenirs. There were some way awesome souvenirs--you're all in for a treat when I get back. I didn't buy anything today, but I have some way good ideas of what to buy. I'm excited. Haha. After we walked around for a bit, we got back on the bus and came home. It was a wonderful day. And when we got home, Julie had left us a note telling us that our dinner was in the fridge and ready for us. She made her "kiwi-fied attempt at spaghetti and meatballs" (before we made it the other day, she had never had it!) and it was pretty dang good! Whitney and I ate waaay more than we should have, but it was good. Haha. Then we did some laundry (hanging it up outside makes me feel like pioneer. haha), did the dishes, and just relaxed the rest of the evening.
Nicole, Neeley, Diana, and Me on the bus
Allison, Nicole, Christine, and Me at Mission Bay
The view of some island from Mission Bay
The view of Auckland City from Okahu Bay
That's ME!
Look at me! I'm a winner
Nicole and Me jumping for joy at Okahu Bay
Nicole and Me and a lovely fat woman
Scandalous!
A way pretty fountain at Mission Bay
Me, Neeley, and Janet (how uncharacteristic of me to make this face...)
Today (Sunday), we went to church and I had my first week teaching singing time! It was actually a lot of fun! The primary is a lot bigger than it was last week, I guess most of the kids were on holiday last week but there were a lot of kids there today. They are super cute, and they were pretty well behaved. But it wasn't as scary as I thought! Haha. After church, we came home and had pasta for afternoon tea that Julie had made for us. It was pretty delicious. Then right as we were finishing, Sylvana Talamaivo (Neeley and Nicole's Mum), called us and asked if we were coming over for lunch too. I guess Julie had forgotten that we were going to go over there, so she came and picked us up and we had another lunch with them. It was pretty good. We had some way good chicken, hash browns, chop suey on white rice, and salad. And then for dessert she gave us Hokey Pokey ice cream and then these coconut sweet rolls that her son-in-law's mum made for us. They were pretty dang good. Tasted kinda like a Hawaiian sweet roll with coconut frosting. I enjoyed it. Then we sat and played go-fish with the bishop's son Lucas who is 6 and three quarters. He's way cute.
While we were sitting there, one of the YSA guys in our ward called and talked to Sylvana and invited us all to a stake-wide YSA FHE at the stake YSA parent's house in Hobsonville (about 10 min away from Henderson). So Natalia dropped us off there, and we got to meet a bunch of the YSA from our stake. They are super nice, and there are a lot of activities coming up so we'll probably get to know them pretty well! Daniel (the guy from our ward) gave us a ride home, and he is way cool. He's from Zimbabwe and his family moved here about 8 or 9 years ago. He's studying law at the University of Auckland. It was fun getting to know some people our age and playing games and everything. And the area authority whose house we were at knew where Torrance was! I was pretty impressed. Haha.
So that was my week, hope you enjoyed reading this super long blog post. Look forward to hearing from you guys! Love and miss you all!