Whoa oh, we're half way there, Whoa oh, livin' on a prayer.

This week we decided the weather was too beautiful to stay at home so we headed to Raglan. We spent the evening walking along the beach, watching the sun set and eating.

Yes, that is a huge zit on my face. Just focus on the background, pretty eh?


Every year Hamilton has a balloon festival. Balloons come from all over the world. They fly in the morning and afternoon all week, have parades, visit schools and have a night glow. A turtle shaped balloon came to our school. They blew it up and let the kids watch. It is all the kids at school can talk about. Quite honestly I am sick of balloons.


Over the weekend we went on a roadie with Stewart and Averil. We drove along the Coromandel Peninsula and ended up at (drum roll please) HOT WATER BEACH! There is thermal activity along the beach so for 2 hours on either side of low tide you can dig a hole and it fills up with hot water. It was insanely busy (thanks to Lonely Planet) but also very amazing. We dug our hole, relaxed in the hot water, cooled off in the ocean and repeated for about 2 hours.


We stayed the night at a beach motel and our room was SO small I could touch both wall at the same time. We also visited a little social club that Averil and Stewart belong to and I won $66 on the pokies. I don't have any idea how or why I won, I just pushed buttons.

A little note I wrote for those who are stuck in the snow in Utah while I am gallivanting around the beach.

We did a short hike to a place called Cathedral Cove. It is a huge arch carved in the white rock right on the beach. It was beautiful and so HOT there. We had to get our togs on jump in the ocean to cool off. This is myself, Candace and Stewart in front of Cathedral Cove.


Apparently I am just loading this blog down with pictures. Candace and I at Cathedral Cove.

P.S. Could you all please make sure it stops snowing before I come back. Otherwise I am staying here. Thanks.

Why are we the only white people here?

Wow, this week has just flown by. On Thursday we met up with some people from our group and went to an English pub, where Candace, Averil and I danced to a live band playing Bon Jovi. I am pretty sure Candace and I were they only ones dancing who were not intoxicated.

Then Friday we found a Mexican restaurant, which is rare, so we tried it. It was good, but didn't really taste like Mexican food. Our waitress was Indian and the cook was from Cairo, go figure. We then went to a stake dance, with a western theme. I felt like I was recreating a scene from Napleon Dynomite. It was so hilarious. There were lots of old people, and awkward couples all dressed up in what they considered "western" wear. They had a live band, kind of. They played songs from their laptop then strummed the guitar and sang along. There was usually only 8 people dancing, 5 of which were us. At one point everyone was doing a line dance and following a 90 year old woman. We did meet someone from Utah State which was weird. Then (because we hadn't had enough awkward dancing) we decided to hit up a YSA (Young Single Adult) stake dance. I have never been to one of these in Utah and don't know why I was expecting it to be different in New Zealand. It was still the same group of people, and I felt like I was 15. I am not much of a dancer and while I was doing the safe slide-step clap, slide-step clap I was surrounded by Maori girls who were "gettin' jiggy wit it" to the blasting hip-hop music. As if I didn't stick out enough here.

Saturday our group went to see the Waitomo caves with the glow worms. You may recognize them from such films as PLANET EARTH! First we decided to go black water rafting where we suited up in wetsuits, jackets, boots, helmets and tiny inner tubes. Then we hiked across a green field and down into an underground cave.

Brooke, Jaylayne, Candace and I , looking very tough in our gear.

Once we started hiking the cave filled with water. We had to sit on our tiny inner tubes and float through the cave. At times they had us all turn off our lights. It was slightly creepy being in the pitch black floating down the water in a cave. Who knows what little creatures were there (that is probably why they had us turn off our lights).

There was a drop off where we stood at the top, held onto our tubes, looked up and fell backwards. It sounded very loud when people were dropping, but it actually wasn't too far, maybe 8-10 feet. This is me if you can't tell.


We saw glow worms when we were caving, then we also went on a tour through another cave where there were even more. The worms light up the tips of their tails, then secrete these long sticky strings. Other bugs fly to the light then get trapped in their nasty strings. They bring up the string and eat the bugs. The worms form cocoons like butterflies. When they emerge as adults they don't have a mouth, so they quickly mate and reproduce, then die of starvation. Awful eh?
At the end of our tour we took a short boat ride. There were so many glow worms it looked like stars in the sky. It was so beautiful, in a creepy cave sort of way.

Today, Sunday, Candace and I decided that we should go to church. We didn't really want to go to the singles ward (especially after the dancing) so we decided we would just find a church and go at 9:00 am. Steve said he knew where one was so he dropped us off. We walked in, sat down and realized we were the only white people there. We couldn't figure it out until we grabbed the hymn book and it said "Tongan branch". I was laughing so hard. Luckily the speakers were an older missionary couple who spoke in English but the rest of the meeting was done in Tongan. It is amazing that even though we don't speak Tongan, we still knew what was going on and it was still spiritual. I did feel like a missionary for a moment though, in a different country, it was just me and Candace, singing Choose the Right in Tongan.

After church we went on a drive to Pirongia, one of the mountains near by. We went on a little walk and had a picnic. It was beautiful. I wish I could take a picture that would really capture and show what the bush looks like but nothing does it justice.

Weekends here are sweet as.

Well I am a little surprised that no one noticed the last blog title didn't make any sense (didn't noticed myself honestly). I was going to blog about going to the cricket match. We played India and we were the only white people in our stand. Point is we felt like we were in India not New Zealand.

This weekend we spent a night on the town. We ate, bowled, and GAMBLED! This was the first time I had gambled... I lost two dollars very quickly. I got a little bored because I had NO idea what made you win or lose and I just pushed a button for five minutes.

Saturday we went to Cambridge, a little English modeled town. We shopped a little, we have been in used book stores where I have to have serious self control! We drove to the top of a hill to see the view of the Waikato region.


That afternoon we went to Rotorua. Rotorua is very much a tourist place. It is a very large thermal geyser region and also has lots of old Maori villages and cultural attractions. This is a church that we stopped by that was right on the lake.


We went to a Maori village where they put on a welcome ceremony and do a reenactment type show. They do an official welcoming ceremony, even though you know it is fake they are still a little scary. The Maori can make their eyes bulge out like no one I have seen before. Candace and I got a picture with the Chief and the rebel warrior.


We spent the night and went to see the geysers and the boiling mud pits. Our hotel pool said it was open til 10:30, but at 9:50 they told us we couldn't go in. We just sadly walked away, but when Averil heard she left us and went straight to the desk. Next thing we knew she walked out with the key and told us we had 20 minutes in our own spa pool. We love Averil. Rotorua is very volcanic. I would say that I don't know why people would choose to live here because it could blow up any day, but then again I live on a fault line that is ready to burst.


There are also a lot of lakes in the area. We went to Blue lake and walked the trail all the way around the lake. It was so beautiful!

Oh and by the way, Candace just wanted me to remind everyone that WE ARE IN NEW ZEALAND and it is SWEET AS!

I thought I was in NZ...

On Sunday Morning Averil and Stewart took Candace, Linda (another student) and I to Raglan, a small beach town on the Western coast. They live about 45 min from the West coast and 90 minutes from the East coast, oh the joy of living on and island! You can pick and choose which beach you want to go to. Being here makes me rethink the "beach this way" sign we have at Utah Lake.

On our way we stopped at a water fall name BRIDAL VEIL FALLS, guess that is a common name for a waterfall. We took a short little hike/walk to the waterfall. The bush (forest, woods etc.) was very different from Utah.Stewart, Averil, Myself and Linda in front of the waterfall.

This looks like a postcard. It is hard to take a bad picture here.

It is so humid that there are plants growing all over the tree trunks, everything is green. We even saw a live Koru, which is a very popular symbol in Maori for rebirth.

The beaches on the West coast are black sand beaches, and this one in particular is famous for its surfing (unfortunately we just watched the surfers). We walked along the rocks and dipped our feet in the Tasman Sea. The water was freezing and the waves were HUGE. Candace and I ventured out on the rocks and the waves came in around our legs. I kept getting nervous that the huge waves were going to come all the way up, but they didn't.


I love this picture of Candace, she looks so happy. One of us literally has to remind the other that we are the on the other side of the world at least once a day.


I have to go quickly, we have a night on the town awaiting us. I hope everyone at home is doing well.

Today I saved a life.

This week has been such a whirlwind. By Friday I felt mentally exhausted. The school system here is similar to the US but in ways very different. It has just been a lot to wrap my mind around. It is very beautiful here and I just try to soak up everyday because I know time is going to fly.This is the classroom I am in. There are walls of windows on both sides of the room. The classrooms go directly outdoors and into a courtyard area where they eat lunch. It gives the classroom a very open feel, the breeze comes in and you can constantly hear the Cicadas (which makes it sound so tropical).Friday night I went to my first rugby game. Rugby and Cricket are HUGE here. Megan, a teacher from our school got both me and Candace free tickets. The rugby players are quite possibly the biggest men I have ever seen. Their quads, necks, and chests are MASSIVE! I thought that rugby was much more fun to watch than football. The game rarely stops, if they get tackled they are just supposed to let go of the ball, then they all pile on top and ram into each other. It was fun to watch.
When they throw the ball in from the sides both teams line up and then lift a player up by their legs to catch the ball, this was my favorite part. The All Blacks aren't playing right now, but several of their players play for the Waikato Chief's, who we saw.

Candace's host, Gaylene, insisted on us wearing scarves, hats, jerseys and taking a cow bell. She said we would fit in better. We only really ended up wearing the scarves. This is Megan, who got us tickets and also teaches at Bankwood.

After the rugby game, Stewart and Averil picked us up (I feel like we are 15 again). They told us they had a surprise for us. Candace figured out the surprise when she noticed we were driving on TEMPLE Dr. The picture isn't great because it was so dark, but we will go back. They are so sweet to take us there! Averil had researched about the church before I came, so she is pretty knowledgeable. So far they don't think we are crazy (but there is A LOT they don't know).

Today Candace and I met Jalayne in town. We spent the day trying to navigate the bus system. Apparently you have to flag down buses here if you want them to stop. Otherwise they just keep on going. Unfortunately we had to learn that the hard way.

They have these street signs to remind people to be safe, but their slogan is "Give a Damn". I just think it is so funny. Damn really isn't a swear word here (Yay!) but it still cracks me up. We saw one the other day that said "Slow down school crossing, Give a Damn."

We also took a little stroll along the Waikato River. The river goes right through Hamilton and kind of cuts the town in half. This was about the time the torrential downpour hit.

It really is so beautiful here.


I am putting this picture up solely for my Nephew Rio. There was this massive tree and the closer I got I noticed these bugs on the bark. but it was just their exo-skeleton, it looked like the bug had crawled right out of their skin, or disintegrated or something. It was gross, but he will think it is cool.

You might be wondering why this blog is entitled "Today I saved a life". Well today on our way home from town we were walking home and Candace, who is normally quite bright, looked the wrong way first (it is backwards here) before crossing the road. She walked right our into the road and I had to lunge forward and grab her and pull her to safety. Without me she would have died today. You're welcome Candace.

Also if this long blog post doesn't fill your New Zealand needs you can also check Candace's blog, it is listed on the sidebar or at canderander.blogspot.com

I love it, I love it, I love it!

I am here! After a traveling for way too long I am here in NEW ZEALAND!! The 13 hour plane ride was okay, it went faster than I expected. I was sitting by two men who were going on their honeymoon, Edward and Mel. We became buds. They were so sweet, so at least I had good company. Because the flight was sold out we couldn't choose were we sat, so I didn't get to sit by Candace. I am staying with a couple, Averil and Stewart who are delightful. They have been so good to me. Averil is the teacher that I will be working with at the school as well.This is Candace and I after making it through customs with our newly stamped passports.


Driving on the wrong side of the car and the road is scaring the hell out of me. Every turn we make I feel like we are going to die. I even look the wrong way when I cross the street. Please pray that I don't die walking across the street!

Today (Monday) we went to a local elementary school for a Maori welcoming ceremony. We stood at the gates and a Maori woman sings or calls for the visitors (us) to come. We had a Maori woman with us who sang back in response and we went into the assembly hall. The chief Maori then talked (in Maori) welcoming us. Our speaker, (men have to speak for the women in traditional Maori ceremonies) Richard, introduced us to the children. They sang us a welcome song and we had to respond with a song. We ended up singing the Star Spangled Banner (I may mention that I do not sing... well). Then we did the traditional Hongi where you touch noses with the Maori chief, principal and many students. This meant that we were now a part of them and no longer visitors. Then we went in for morning tea (which we have everyday, afternoon tea equates to dinner). The students then sang for us and did the haka. It was so fun to watch, they did an amazing job. They have an extracurricular group that does the singing and the haka.

-I have a video but I can't make it work. So check back later for this video.

Many of the students don't wear shoes to school, no one really minds. They also have to wear these adorable sun hats anytime they go outside. They sun is really strong in NZ, I guess there is a whole in the ozone layer right above it (that is what I have been told) so they have to be really careful in the sun. I loved the schools, they seem to have a great atmosphere. So far I love it! Oh and did I mention that it is warm here!