It has been about a week since my arrival in New Zealand. From what I have gathered, it is either the most beautiful country in the world or advertised as such. It's probably a little bit of both. Happily, I can write and tell to you that I feel right at home here in the land of the Kiwis. The situation with my host family is far better than I have expected.
The mother and father are some of the most kind people I have ever met. Brett enjoys a good joke, skulling beers (shotgunning for all you amuricans reading this) and any sport you can name. He referees for quite legitimate rugby matches and is constantly competing in triathlon type races. My favorite story so far was when he competed in the Single Speed World Championship (This story will probably get its own post eventually). Aside his absurd stories and jokes, my host mother Jackie is incredibly generous. Mitchell and Chelsea are my host siblings, ages 16 and 18 respectively. Naturally I play Call of Duty and Need for Speed with Mitchell and Chelsea tells me where all the best places to go in the city.
After being here for about a week, I've quickly fallen into what will be my routine. Waking up earlier than I'd prefer (about 7am) to University of Auckland, or Uni for short. I'm taking one class each day on mondays, tuesdays and fridays. To get to Uni, I now ride the bus. This bus ride is about 45-55 minutes long, depending on the bus driver. It took me a few days to figure out where to get on and what stop to get off, seeing that I've never had to rely on public transportation. At first, I hated it but it is quickly growing on me.
On wednesdays and thursdays I walk to the Blockhouse Bay Primary School near my homestay. There I teach from 8:30am-3pm. Here I'm working with a year one classroom. If I had to compare a year one class to something back in the states, I'd say it was a kindergarten or 1st grade class. The students are ages 5-6 so they can become quite a handful. With 17 little ones running around, who knows what is going to happen.
Teaching here is much more enjoyable than back home. The students are outside much longer periods of time and the teachers even get a morning tea break. These breaks throughout the day help the students (and teachers!) relieve their pent up energy and stress. This kiwi lifestyle is much more laid back than I had imagined.
Probably the coolest thing so far about New Zealand is that the Rugby World Cup 2011 is hosted in Auckland. I'm going to find a way to go to a game and root for the world famous All Blacks as well as their Haka.
If you guys have any specific questions you want me to ask about my trip, leave a comment and I'll get back to you.
P.S. I'd like to give thanks to Denis for the blog title Kiwistopher.
Until next time, Hei kona ra.
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