Sunday, February 27, 2011

Honeymoon Cove, Jellyfish Fights, and a Kimono Fashion Show!

This week was just wonderful, as expected. We had school all week again, and it was full of adventures. Isn't it always? Haha. The kids are great though. On Monday, we gave them an assignment to watch over an egg for a week. They had to give their egg a name and treat it as their pet. Those kids who still had their egg "alive" on Friday were given a special prize. We were trying to teach them responsibility and how to take care of something. So we distributed the eggs and the kids were all super excited about the project. Some of them had some really funny names too. 2 of the girls named their eggs after me. But the boys had some of the funniest names. We had a Bob Marley egg (complete with permanent marker dreadlocks), a Vanessa Hudgens egg (because Stephen is in love with her), and a Megan Fox egg (because Kairyn is in love with her). Those are just the funniest ones, but there were quite a few good ones.
Victoria with her egg "Emily"
Gardenia with her egg "Riley"
Torigrace with her egg "Rua"
Kaipara (the kid who has been getting in fights since day 1) has only gotten worse with his behavior. Poor kid, I really feel bad for him. I wish there was something I could do to help, but on Tuesday they removed him from my classroom and he is with a minder all day every day. It's sad because he hates that, but he also can't be trusted in the classroom because having him there puts other kids in danger. I've been praying for him though, and I always talk to him at swim practice to see how his day went. All I know is that even though he has been destroying things left and right, he kept his egg alive until Friday (even though he was suspended on Thursday so he didn't even get to take part in the party for the remaining eggs on Friday).

Tuesday, as I'm sure you all heard, there was a massive earthquake in Christchurch. Although this earthquake wasn't as big as the last big one that hit them in September (a 6.3 compared to a 7.1) it was a lot closer to the surface of the ground (5 km deep as opposed to 33 km deep) so it caused a lot more damage. Luckily, we are nowhere close to Christchurch--we're on a whole different island. But even though we didn't feel the earthquake or experience physical damage from it, Auckland is certainly feeling the effects of this tragic event. The current death toll (as of Sunday 27 Feb) is 146 dead and more than 200 still missing. It is really hard on this country to see that many people dead, missing, injured, and uprooted from their homes. It is such a small country and when something big like this happens, everyone is affected. There are students in my class and on my swim team that have family that lives down there--some are still missing, others injured, and others are ok, but have had no water or power for a week. It is devastating to watch the news and I'm just doing what I can to comfort those students in my class that are having a real hard time with this. What scared me the most is that I was just there less than 2 weeks before the earthquake. I just barely missed all the damage and I'm so grateful that I'm back--safe and sound--in Auckland. It's hard to believe that just a few weeks ago I was standing in front of a cathedral that's now in complete ruin.
What's left of the Cathedral in Christchurch
On Friday I went to the library and to Parnell with Julie, Nicole, Whitney, Diana, and Janet. It was a lot of fun! I checked out a few children's books that were recently recommended to me at the library ("Love That Dog" and "Hate That Cat" both by Sharon Creech). Then we drove out to Parnell--a small suburb of Auckland where there are lots of really cute shops to look at and spend to your hearts content. It was great! I saw only a million things I wanted but did my best to restrain myself and not spend TOO much money. I did, however, find a ring there that I absolutely loved. But it was just out of my price-range so I decided not to get it. Of course, upon getting home and talking to my parents, I regretted not buying it and they (being the awesome parents that they are) offered to pay for it if I went back to get it.
The rest of our evening was spent grocery shopping (which is surprisingly stressful considering the lack of simple ingredients needed for great desserts like cheesecake...) and hanging out at the house. It was a very relaxing and fun day!

Saturday morning, the whole group went with Dr. J, Linda, and James out to Piha Beach. It is absolutely gorgeous there! There was a grom surf comp. going on at the time so we sat and watched the little boys paddle into these massive waves for a little while. It was pretty awesome. Then we hiked around the cliffs over to Honeymoon Cove. It was pretty cool because we were the only ones in the cove and we could hike up a bunch of rocks and swim in the waves and eat lunch on the sand all by ourselves! It was great!
climbing over the rocks to get to the cove
(that's James in the green helping people down)
Nicole and me in front of a cool little cave
Lookin cute at Honeymoon Cove
Me on the edge of a cliff at Honeymoon Cove (I didn't jump)
Yoga!
Future Roomie Pic! Nancy, Nicole, and me :)
After Honeymoon Cove, the tide was coming in so we couldn't hike out the way we hiked in. We ended up having to climb up a huge rock and over the edge to get back. But it was all good and we all made it back to Piha safe and sound. Once we got there, a few of us decided we wanted to hike up Lion Rock (a GIANT rock in the middle of Piha Beach). We were told it was about a 10 minute hike to the top, and we didn't have a ton of time, so we told Dr. J we would run up and run down--we just really wanted to do it. So he gave us 20 minutes to get back to the car and we started towards the rock. Nicole, Nancy, and I (future roommates for this year) were running up the path the whole way and we made it to the top in just 4 minutes! Impressed? You should be. Haha. It was gorgeous though, and quite a good little hike. I was feelin' it at the top for sure.
Me at the top of Lion Rock!
Nancy, Me, and Nicole on Lion Rock
View of Piha from Lion Rock
Then we left Piha and headed over to another beach (which I don't know the name of). We had to wade through a river and walk a little ways before we made it to the beach. But it was TOTALLY worth it. It was so pretty! I found about a million jellyfish washed up on the shore and I brought one over to show the other girls (some of whom were VERY excited about seeing a real dead jellyfish for the first time in their lives. haha). But of course, being the tourists that we are, we all got a picture with the jellyfish. It was fun though!
Me cooling off in the beautiful water
I will call him squishy, and he shall be my squishy
After we'd had our fill of jellyfish, we hiked to Karekare Waterfall (not too far from where we parked the car). It was seriously beautiful. Some of the girls swam out to it and sat on the waterfall itself, but I was feeling lazy so I opted for pictures from in front of it. Haha.
The BEAUTIFUL waterfall at Karekare
Me in front of the waterfall
After Karekare, we were supposed to head home, but I convinced Linda to take me and a few of the other girls back to Parnell so I could purchase the afore-mentioned ring of destiny. We got there (with help from my awesome navigation skills) and I got the ring. It was pretty exciting. And I also bought some chocolates from the chocolate shop up the street (they were DELICIOUS. feel free to be jealous).
You can't tell how sparkly it is, but I LOVE it!
Once I had my lovely ring, I was happy as a clam (are clams really that happy?) and we headed back to Auckland. It was great because back in Auckland, we were preparing for a surprise birthday party for 3 of the girls who turned 21 this month. 21 is a big deal in New Zealand and we had a great time celebrating together. Sister Talamaivao (Nicole and Neeley's mum here) hosted the party and fed us waaay more than any of us should have eaten. It was so much fun!
The birthday girls with the hugest cake EVER!
Sunday after church, our new Japanese roommate, Emi, and her friend Saya dressed Whitney and me up in kimonos! I'm not sure why, because sometimes we have a hard time understanding what Emi is saying, but it was a lot of fun! We looked pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. But you can be the judge...
Whitney and Me looking awesome
I could totally be Japanese, right?
Don't be TOO jealous of how awesome I look
Whitney, Emi, and Me
All in all, it was a wonderful week. (When is it not a wonderful week?) I am looking forward to our trip to Hot Water Beach this coming weekend and some more adventures in the school. Hope everyone is doing well! Thanks for your concern when the earthquake hit! I have never felt so loved! Love you all!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Craziest Weekend Ever!

Oh boy. This weekend was seriously insane. We had it jam-packed with adventures, and it was so much fun!
On Friday, we took the bus out to Pt. Chev beach for the day. It was a lot of fun. We got some sun, and then went exploring around the caves and stuff over there. It was really beautiful.
just sittin in a little cave
isn't it beautiful?? the tide was waaay out
my name was carved into a rock! it was meant to be. haha
Friday evening, Nicole, Whitney, and I went with Natalia and the kids out to downtown Auckland where we got to see the Chinese Lantern Festival. They had a lot of really cool lanterns and there were about a bajillion people there, but it was a blast.
One of the many awesome lanterns at the
festival!
Whitney, Nicole, Me, and Bella!
Saturday morning, we woke up pretty early and took a bus out to Auckland where we caught a ferry that took us to Rangitoto (a beautiful island off the coast of Auckland). When we got there, we did a few way beautiful hikes--up to the summit and out to McKenzie Bay and just around the island for a bit. We were hiking for almost 5 hours! It was pretty awesome, and the island was gorgeous!
Me and Jessica--halfway up!
Me, Jess, Kara, and Allie made it to the top in 35 min!
We were the first ones up there :)
view from the summit of Rangitoto
Love those asian pictures!
Nicole, Rebecca, and me at the summit!
So beautiful!
I couldn't even capture the beauty, but I tried.
idk if you can tell, but all that black stuff is volcanic rock
Me at McKenzie Bay
When we got back to Auckland, we found a MEXICAN RESTAURANT! I was so happy, I could have cried. Haha. So Nancy, Nicole, Neeley, Whitney and I went to "Mexicali Fresh" for dinner and I got the chicken tacos and chips and salsa I have been craving. It was way good (but let's be honest, it was no LBJ's). The craziest thing though, was that when we were in line, we were talking to the guys that work there at the restaurant and one of them had an American accent and was asking us where we were all from. I told him I was from California and then he asked where and I told him LA. Then he asked where in LA (this question always gets me excited because it means they actually know LA pretty well) and I told him Torrance. Turns out, this guy is from Cerritos! How crazy is that? I come all the way across the world and meet a guy from Cerritos! He was way cool though and I talked to him for a little while.
YUM!!!

felt like home seeing these stickers!
After dinner, we walked back up to where the lantern festival was being held to get some dessert. Best. Dessert. Ever. I got a pineapple that was chopped in have, bowled out, filled with pineapple chunks, and then topped with 3 huge scoops of vanilla ice cream. It was incredible. May possibly be my new favorite thing on earth. I was amazed. Haha.
Me, Nicole, and Nancy with our amazing desserts
Then we had a little adventure trying to find a bus that got us where we needed to go, but we eventually found it and hopped on the bus to Eden Park where we went to an Auckland Blues vs. Canterbury Crusaders rugby game! Oh. My. Gosh. Rugby is most definitely my new favorite sport. I love it! It was such an exciting game, and a lot of the players from the All-Blacks come from those 2 teams, so it was super awesome to see them. Our seats were pretty dang good, and we got a lot of good pictures. We had a blast, and I decided that when I get back to Provo I am going to be a religious BYU rugby fan. I am in love with it. Can't wait for the rugby world cup coming up in September. Sucks that I won't be in NZ anymore so I'll miss all the excitement, but you can bet I'll be having RWC parties with all my girls from here when the time comes. I can't wait!
LEGIT

Nicole, Nancy and Me
Auckland Blues mascot
Whitney, me and Hannah
my husband - best rugby player in the world
my other husband - hottest guy on the Blues
After the game, we took the train back to Henderson (along with a billion other people). We were so tired by the time we got home--we'd been gone fro 16 hours! But it was a WONDERFUL day, full of adventure and fun. I just love it here! This country was made for me. Can't wait to have even more adventures! Hope you're all doing well! Miss you and love you!!!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Why I'm Supposed to be Here

Thursday (10 Feb) was a pretty exciting day for me. I woke up early and went with Whitney, Nicole, and Neeley over to Ranui Primary School, where we’ll be teaching for the next 6 weeks. We met with Sharon Fuemanu, the deputy (or assistant) principal at the school. She gave us a lot of information about the school, including the fact that it’s a behaviour reform school and they have a lot of behaviour problems in all the classes but that the teachers are experts in discipline and management. After we talked to her for a little bit, she took us to the classrooms where we’ll be working. I’m assigned to a year 5/6 class (which is the equivalent of 4/5 grade in the US) and my associate teacher’s name is Whaea Del. That leads me to another explanation. Here in New Zealand, teachers don’t go by “Ms. Bergen” or whatever their last name is. Whaea is “teacher” in Maori, and teachers often go by Whaea (or Matu for males) and their first name. So to the kids, I’m Whaea Emily. (Whaea is pronounced fi-ya.)
My class is really adorable. There is one white girl in the class—she’s from Scotland. Everyone else in the class is an adorable little islander from a variety of different countries. We have kids from Fiji, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, New Zealand, and a few other islands that I don’t remember the names of. The kids are all so cute and they were so excited for me to be there! Only about a third of the kids wore shoes to school…even my teacher doesn’t wear shoes when she teaches! I can’t wait to work with them more.
After I met with my class for a little bit, it was time for morning tea (or as Americans call it, snack). We have morning tea every day at 10:30 for about 20 minutes. This is a time for the kids to eat their snack and then play for a little bit, and for the teachers to gather in the teacher’s lounge, drink coffee, tea, or in our case, milo, and socialize. During morning tea, I met a lot of the other teachers at the school, including one who I will be working with very closely in the next 6 weeks…the SWIM COACH! Yes, our elementary school has a swim team, and yes, I get to help coach it! I’m so excited! It is going to be the most amazing experience. I start on Monday (Valentine’s Day) and I couldn’t be happier about it.
After we came home from the school, I was thinking about all the factors that contributed to my being at Ranui. At first, I was a little upset that we have to walk 30 minutes to Ranui when Pomaria (another school that some of our girls are assigned to) is less than a 5 minute walk from our house. I thought it was dumb that we walk right past Rebecca and Katie’s place to get to school and they walk right past ours. But after having gone to the school I realized that it was no accident that I was placed at Ranui. I belong there. There are too many things that have gone exactly as they needed to get me there this year. I shouldn’t even be here. If I hadn’t skipped kindergarten 15 years ago, I wouldn’t be here. If I hadn’t hap-hazardly stumbled upon the New Zealand information meeting a year ago, I wouldn’t be here. If I hadn’t gotten a scholarship and qualified for a loan, I wouldn’t be here. It is not a coincidence that I’m here. There is a reason I’m at Ranui, and although I don’t know exactly what that reason is yet, I am eager to find out. I may be here to teach these children, but I am pretty sure that I will learn much more from them and my experiences with them than I could ever teach them.

Friday morning I woke up with a headache and then got some news that made for a pretty unhappy morning. It was just a tough day all around and then I had to go to a meeting with my professor and the other girls for about 4 hours—something I was dreading going to. After my difficult morning, there was little I wanted to do. But I went anyway and ended up talking to all the girls for a while about my day. I couldn’t ask for a better group of girls to be here with. They are so awesome and they all totally had my back. Every one of them was so supportive and caring and just wanted to make sure I was doing ok the rest of the day. As I was talking to them, I realized I had a decision to make. I could either let one unhappy circumstance get me down and feel depressed all day, or I could accept the fact that it was happening and just move on. Thinking about it, I realized, I’m in NEW ZEALAND! There is virtually nothing that could happen to bring me down right now. I am so blessed to be here and I shouldn’t let one dumb thing upset me. So I decided to be happy the rest of the day and I’ve been feeling fantastic ever since.
Later that evening, Julie and Beau took Whitney and Me on a picnic to Cornwall Park. It was a beautiful park situated at the base of “One Tree Hill”—an old volcano that used to have one tree at the top but now just has a monument. It was absolutely gorgeous! The trees were like nothing I’ve seen before, and we had a great time sitting, eating, and laughing together there. Then we drove up to the summit of one tree hill and got some great pictures. After that, Julie took us to Mt. Eden—another volcano here in Auckland. It was so cool seeing these places, which are sacred to the Maori people. We had a great time!
How awesome is this tree??
Gorgeous view from One Tree Hill
Me in front of the crater at Mt. Eden
(with Auckland in the background)
another shot of that amazing tree
When we got home, Shayna (from our YSA) picked us up and we went to a YSA Valentine’s dance with Nicole, Shayna, and 2 of Shayna’s friends from the stake. It was a ton of fun mingling with some of the YSA that we know, and some that we don’t know, and just having a good time. I love how welcoming everyone here is—even though they always make fun of our accents. Haha. After the dance, Shayna wanted to take us to this really good ice cream shop, but it was closed, and since it was already almost 1am, we were beat. Us BYU folk aren’t used to staying up that late here in New Zealand, and we looked pretty pathetic because we were all falling asleep in the car on the way home. It was a lot of fun though and we finally got to go to bed around 2.
Saturday morning we got up super early and went to Otara Market—a flea market in the city. They had TONS of stuff! Some of it was really cool, and as with all flea markets, some of it was totally useless. But we loved walking around and almost all of us bought these really cool handmade photo albums to keep all our New Zealand memories in when we get back home.
Saturday evening Whitney and I went over to the Talamaivao's house to hang out with Nicole and Neeley for a bit and watched Despicable Me. Great movie. Haha. We're adults, I swear.
Sunday we had stake conference, which was great, and then in the evening we went to a devotional with the YSA at a brand new chapel by the Auckland MTC. I didn't even know they HAD an MTC. It was a gorgeous building though, and a great fireside all about the recent YSA conference they had. It sounded like a lot of fun--I wish we could have gone.
Monday was my first full day at Ranui and it was a million times better than I could have ever imagined. I love Whaea Del, all my kids, and the school itself. It was seriously amazing. There are 24 kids in my class (8 girls and 16 boys) and they are incredible. I have yet to learn their names though. Usually I'm pretty good with names, but when you can't pronounce half of them, it's pretty tough. Haha. I remember some of them though. Here's a little taste of what I'm trying to memorize...
Boys: Kaipora, Blessing, Tutu, Malachi, Lazarus, Tuafono, Kairyn... I don't remember the rest of the crazy ones
Girls: Elezier, Lotus, Remedy, Kaya, Torigrace... and some other more normal names
The kids were so sweet to me, and they had endless amounts of questions about America. They somehow of this picture of it in their heads as a perfect Utopian society where everyone is or knows a celebrity. They asked if I knew Justin Bieber and were very disappointed that I didn't. Isn't looking like him enough for them?? Haha. They were cute though. And Elezier (Ellie) basically idolizes me. She brought her 6-year-old sister to meet me and she told me I was pretty and kept complimenting me on everything I was wearing. She is seriously adorable. I love every one of those kids so much, I can't even tell you.
Two fights did break out in my class. Both of them involved Kaipora, and they were pretty intense fights. He's at our school because of government funding to help him with his intense violent behavior. He's really a sweetheart though. He just needs some help learning how to control his temper. 
After school, I got to go swimming in the super ghetto pool with the swim team. It was an adventure, let me tell you. Those kids need a lot of work before their competition that's coming up in 3 weeks. But I'm excited to work with them. And one of the girls from my class is on the team too! She was excited to have me in the pool today. It's going to be a ton of fun.
I'm really looking forward to working with them more--teaching them and learning from them. They are a great group of kids and I know I'm going to have an AMAZING experience. Pictures to come!