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!