Half way!

Kia ora!

I only have 3 weeks left of teaching...Oh my gosh!! It is really getting down to the end, and hard to believe that I may actually have to decide what to do with my life!! (I think living with mom and dad for the rest of my life is probably the best option!)

It's hard to believe I am half way through with my time here. School has been going pretty well. It is hard to get used to allowing the students so much freedom, as well as having so much time that does not involve learning! The main things that are taught here are: reading, writing, and math...science/social studies is rarely taught. My class did start swimming this past week. Two days a week for 1/2 hour we walk down to the pool and swim! It is great. The school's outdoor education is amazing...I think it is probably the most interesting aspect, and the one thing I hope I am able to implement into my classroom one day, along with a few other things! It has been described to me that in America our teaching style is to focus on teaching "knowledge" of facts, and in New Zealand the focus is not on the content you are teaching it is on "how to gain the knowledge."


I just got home from a road trip through the Coromandel Peninsula. It is beautiful! It is an area about 1.5 hours from Auckland. Once you get there you drive up the left part of the peninsula, and then drive down the right! The views are amazing, the road is incredibly windy, sometimes unpaved, and incredibly narrow! It is worth mentioning that we were traveling on their main roads...New Zealand is notorious for not posting road signs, not improving roads, and having 1 lane bridges!


There are tons of great hikes to do on the peninsula. We took a 6 km. (4 mile) hike to Cathedral Cove. It was a fairly easy hike that traveled along native bush with blossoming flowers and ended at a gorgeous beach where a giant rock stands with a hole in it!! It looks a lot cooler than I explain it as. It must be pretty cool, because parts of The Chronicles of Narnia were filmed there!

Not far down the road from the hike is a beach called Hot Water Beach. You have to time it perfectly and arrive within 2 hours after low tide. You need to bring your shovel, because all you do is dig a hole in the sand and allow it to fill with water. The water will heat up due to the volcanoes surrounding the country, and basically all you do is lay around in the warm water! It is pretty interesting!

Here is just another way of solidifying the phrase: "what a small world!" When Alli (the girl I traveled with) and I checked into our hostel we heard 2 girls talking and new they were from the USA. As we began talking to them we realized they were past UM students! One of them went through the education program and is now traveling through NZ for 3 months. The other girl is originally from Belt, and knew of some people I know of in Helena...what a small world it is! They were a few years older than me, but it was crazy meeting people from my home!! Hostels are truly the best way to meet people!

Another great way to meet people in New Zealand is to travel to the pub and have a few drinks! Don't worry...we experienced it on Saturday! This weekend was the rugby world cup. New Zealand Kiwis were playing Australia (a huge rival) and they won. The pubs get packed when either of the New Zealand teams are playing rugby, and it is a good chance that rounds will be bought for the whole bar if the team wins.

I should get going, I have a professor from the USA coming to visit me tomorrow and none of my lessons are planned!

Miss you all...HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
xoxoxo Kylie