The Fun Continues On

When we got back, Courtney only had a week before she was leaving us. We decided to do some last minute activities while we could. One thing we did was go and watch some netball games. The only reason I know what netball is is because we used to play it in gym class, however nobody in class ever knew why we had to play it. It's a pretty big deal here in NZ. If you're a dude, you play rugby, and if you're a girl, you play netball. It's pretty similar to basketball only there is no net and only certain players can shoot and be in certain places on the court. It's really interesting. We had some students playing and Petro was reffing one game, so that's why we decided to check it out. We spent the whole time trying to figure out the rules (we were probably half successful). 

Then on Thursday, we had a pot luck for anybody in the staff who wanted to come as a goodbye to us. Since Courtney was leaving that weekend, we had to do it a bit early for me and Shaina which was fine. Most of the math people came. There was so much food! Courtney and I made puppy chow which was something only a couple teachers had heard of before. They loved it. We all just hung out and ate, and then we watched the 20 minute video that Shaina made from our trip. It was a lot of fun.

Starting with me and going to the right, we have Shaina, Debbie (careers and college person), Gary, Doug (math), Doug's partner, Matt (math), Zac (math), Ian (technology), Dave (principle), Michelle (English), Karien (math), Sue (math), and Allison (Relief)

On Friday, we had one of the greatest experiences of our lives. We got to graduate at Thames High. Since the day I started seriously considering student teaching in New Zealand, I knew I probably wouldn't be walking at graduation. I never really thought I was not going to graduate, so walking didn't seem like that big of a deal. We had talked to a couple of the staff back in March about how we would be missing our graduations, and we were jokingly talking about having a graduation for us at school. Then after that conversation in never really came up again. I started seeing pictures on Facebook of people graduating and I realized I was actually kind of bummed that I wasn't home (but obviously I'd miss it again for the chance to be in NZ). After second period, Shaina, Courtney, and I headed down to interval and were shuffled off into another room by Petro. Zac had just asked me to send him some pictures, so I thought maybe he was just going to say a little something, but it ended up being much much more than that. Once we got to the room, all of a sudden they had flowers and gowns for us to wear and we realized what they were about to do. Naturally we all got super emotional. We walked out to the staff room and everyone applauded. Zac had three seats up front and a podium. They all sang a traditional song called "Whakataka Te Hau" (you can google it and look up the translation). Then Zac said a few words about each of us and they handed us a Thames Teacher Diploma. It was really nice. Then Linnea came up and gave us a bunch of little items that had some funny meanings to help us in our classrooms. Linnea is orignally from California and has been in NZ for like 16 years. I was supposed to work with her, but she got shoulder surgery right before I came so that's why I wound up with Zac and Petro. The staff sang the graduation song and then we were congratulated as the Class of 2014. It was so nice and I just can't believe how awesome the staff are for doing that for us. Luckily we even got it on video so I can watch it whenever I want!

After school on Friday, we headed back home to get ready to go to Auckland. Courtney really wanted to experience Auckland, so Petro and Gary let us take their car on Friday so that Courtney would have most of Saturday to explore Auckland. On our way out, we had to stop and take pictures of our home base!

Now if you can stick with me here, I'm jumping ahead a few days. I want to write about Auckland separately, so I'm jumping ahead to my birthday. This is now after Auckland on Sunday (mother's day too). At this point, Courtney is gone, which is really sad. Anyways, I do have a picture of the awesome presents that Courtney and Shaina got me for my birthday. Obviously, the awesome birthday sunglasses, a sheep card with wonderful things written inside, and a beautiful necklace. It is common for people to have bone carvings here as necklaces. They are a Maori tradition and each design means something different. Now, you can buy the designs in all sorts of materials. Jade is a really nice one. I got a nice silver one which is so pretty. The twisting design I got from Shaina and Courtney means lasting friendship. The point is that you get it from someone else. You wouldn't buy one of these necklaces for yourself. It really made me happy that they gave me one. 

What I woke up to on my birthday was wonderful decorations done by Shaina in the middle of the night! It was awesome. I had streamers from my door, balloons all over the ground and a big happy birthday sign. It was so nice of her. She is the best and really did try and make me feel so special on my birthday.

I went down for breakfast and hung out with Shaina, Petro, and Gary. Petro had made me cupcakes and then they sang and let me blow out the candles. These people really are wonderful. It felt like I was home with my family. I think there were 22 candles total, but we ate some cupcakes before this picture was taken.

Petro and Gary had gotten me some really pretty earrings that are also a well-known piece of jewelry in NZ. The material is like a shell which a lot of jewelry is made out of here, and the swirl is similar to my necklace. It means new beginnings and growth. It was such a nice gift.

Since it also happened to be mother's day, Petro and Gary went to go and see Petro's mom, so me and Shaina had the day to ourselves to do stuff for my birthday. Thames has this attraction called "Goldmine Experience" that I really wanted to. It's right in town and since Thames is known for gold, I thought it would be a fun activity. I had been meaning to do it since I got to Thames, but it is only open on Sundays from like 10am - 1pm, and we were almost always gone on Sundays and had no time to go. You get to tour a gold mine and go through the tunnels. It looked really cool. Unfortunately, it happened to be closed for maintenance, so I didn't get to go. I did get a picture by the sign though which is like a fourth of the way there!

The other activity I had been wanting to do was ride the mini train in Thames down by the water. I ran past the little track every day, so I always thought it'd be fun to do since I was living here. The train is also only open on Sundays, so it was a great day to go. Usually people with children go on it otherwise you just look ridiculous riding a mini train around the park as an adult, but Shaina and I had no shame. I think the birthday glasses definitely helped with that...

When I say mini train, I really do mean mini train. You are basically just squatting on it. The only people on the train were Shaina and I and two workers. Believe me when I say we felt really cool. The ride lasted about 5 minutes long. I'm definitely glad we did it because it just seems like everyone has ridden the train at some point in their life while living in Thames! Of course that meant we had to as well.

It was a beautiful day to be out and about on my birthday. The path in this picture below is the one I ran on every day. It's so lovely because it is right between the ocean (the Firth of Thames to be exact) and some hills. I seriously couldn't ask for a better route to go around each day.

Shaina knows someone who needed to send a Flat Stanley for a project, so we had him in NZ. We took some pictures of him in Thames, so we treated him as our child while on the train to make us feel a little better about riding a mini train.

The final thing I wanted to do on my birthday was go on a tramp in the bush right by our house. There was the Karaka Tramping Track right down the steep hill from my house. We could have walked for about six hours on the track, but we only wanted to go for a couple hours. We began the hike, and it was definitely one of the most "hardcore" tramps we did yet. When I say hardcore, I don't mean really hard or long (like Tongariro), but hardcore as in really outdoorsy. Unlike the other treks we had been on, there really wasn't much of a path. It was just a trail through the bush that had been walked on so much that a trail formed. The other tracks we were on had rocks or gravel laid down to make it easier to walk. Plus, it had rained the day before, so it was really muddy in some areas of the track. We were doing a great job jumping over mud, skirting the edges of puzzles, jumping on rocks to cross rivers...you know...hardcore. 

Overall, it was a really fun adventure. It was just different from what we had done before, and it made us feel like true kiwis. You can see how much bush was just all around us. I am kind of a klutz, so I definitely had to make sure to watch my feet! Well worth the struggle though!

Although I wasn't home, my birthday was very successful this year! I am so grateful to everyone who helped to make it so awesome. I really did enjoy being in New Zealand for it. I was able to facetime my best friend and my family and even though it wasn't May 11 quite yet in the States, they still made sure to FaceTime me on my New Zealand birthday. Then I was able to re-celebrate my birthday the next day since it was May 11 in the States.

My time is Thames was running short, so I definitely was trying to make the most of it!