Busted

I was sitting outside of a coffee shop in my car late at night - like I normally do - just minding my own business, and a police car pulled up and asked if I was from around here. I told him where I lived, he asked me what I was doing and if I got good service. I told him I was just sending a few e-mails, downloading an episode of Heroes (I hear it's pretty good) and yes I got good reception. I asked him if I looked a little shady sitting in my car. He laughed and said yes, then drove away. I might see him here next time with his laptop.

I didn't ask him if I could take a picture for my blog - oh well.

Small town living

I was running errands on Saturday morning and had to return the boogie board that I bought the week before. So I went to the shop where I bought it. The manager remembered me. I showed him the board - that it was warped after one use. He said that shouldn't happen and I could get a new one. I told him that I wanted to get a bigger one and told him that I would pay the difference. He found a bigger and more expensive one but told me that I wouldn't have to pay the difference since I had the inconvenience of getting a bad boogie board and the inconvenience of coming into the store again.

Then, I went to get the battery in my watch replaced. I went to local jeweller and he told me that he was pretty busy and he'd have to keep it in the shop over the weekend and could I pick it up on Monday. I'm not a jeweller, but I've watched people replace batteries. I didn't think it was a 3-day process, but he is the only jeweller in town.

The simple life.

Guy Fowkes

Last Saturday, Kathy and Steve's community celebrated Guy Fowkes Day. It's a holiday celebrated throughout New Zealand and the U.K. Guy Fowkes who trid to blow up Parliament a couple of hundred years ago. The police caught him before anything happened and he was burned at the stake. So, to commemorate him being caught, New Zealanders set off fireworks and have bonfires where they burn a dummie on the fire.
By the time got my camera, only his boot was left.

I know you're not supposed to pass judgements on other cultures, but it did seem a bit odd. Kids of all ages get excited and cheer when they throw the guy on the fire. I don't know - you be the judge.

Graduation Time

This past week, the senior classes left the school to prepare for their exams. The senior classes are years 11, 12, and 13. Here are 2 of my classes on the last day. The classes are bigger, but a lot of students cut the last day.
My year 11 class - also called 5th form.
Year 12 (aka 6th form) I apologized to Louise - the girl that I blocked in the picture. I felt bad, but I had to make sure that I got in.
Wednesday night was the Senior Prize-giving, which is the kind of equivalent to graduation. The teachers had to dress in a hood and gown and process in. They didn't have the hood for Towson University, so I got to pretend I graduated from the University of Auckland.

The prize giving, like most graduations was long and had a lot of speeches. But, only in New Zealand do they start with a kapahaka.

I had to leave early because I got sick. I don't have any pictures of that, I just want people to feel bad for me. I drove with Sarah and Carolyn, so I couldn't go home. I had to go out to the car and sleep there until it was over. Don't worry, I'm better and at 100%.

The packages

There's nothing like getting packages from home. Thank you family and Tina for the packages. Thanks for the coffee, the lotion, the gum, the hand towels, the poster, the pictures, the CD, everything.


Diana sent chocolate chip cookie bars. They weren't moldy when they got here, but they did taste a lot like the gum and the coffee that was in the package. don't worry - I managed to eat them all anyway.


The package that came this past week was from Amy when she was in Balto. The fam collected leaves, glued them to a poster, signed it and sent it this way. The leaves are totally illegal to send over, but customs didn't pick up on it - could have been a huge fine. The poster was covered with notes and marshmallow residue (fire and smores at mom and dad's). I got a little teary-eyed reading the poster. Kathy's kids were there asking me why I was crying and pointing out the tears in my eyes. Kathy explained that sometimes people cry when they are happy. When Steve came home, Ella and Owen told him that I got a package from the states and that I was crying, but that they were happy tears.

So, thanks for thinking of me and thanks for the poster and thanks for the happy tears.

The last couple of weeks....

I meant to post earlier, but I guess I've been having too much fun. Actually, I'm getting a little tired of sitting outside of a coffee shop in my car writing by blog. I'm pretty sure every one in the town thinks I'm on a stakeout. But, since coffee shops close at 3 pm every day, I don't have a lot of options except to look like I'm casing the joint.

2 weeks ago, I got to see some of my students perform traditional Maori dances and war challenges called the haka. The pictures below are my students performing the haka. The video link is just something I found on you tube that can give you a better idea of what it is. The New Zealand rugby team, the All-Blacks, does this before each game. It's pretty impressive and intimidating to watch. My students looked great and were very proud of how well they performed.





I enjoyed the local market on Saturday morning. They have all sorts of stuff (junk) for sale, but also lots of locally grown fruits and veggies as well as local artwork and pottery and an old guy singing Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.



Then, on Saturday and Sunday I headed to Kathy's and we took the kids to the beach. It was definitely to cold to go, but we took the kids anyway. We spent the day in the sun bundled up under blankets and towels. The sun was warm but there an Arctic wind coming off the ocean. So, I made a windblock (and an oceanblock) so we could enjoy the beach.



During the week, the weather was great, and I went to the beach a couple of times after work. Got to see a couple of great sunsets, and had fun playing on rocks.




This past weekend, Sarah and I took off to the towns of Napier and Hastings on the east coast. Neither of us had been there before and it was beautiful. The town of Napier is right on the ocean- it would have been ideal except that you can't swim there. You can actaully stand in the shallow water and look just 1-2 feet beyond where you're standing and be looking into the deep ocean.

This is about the only water you can play in.

We woke up early Saturday morning and saw the sun rise over the Pacific - definitely a first for that.


I was very excited about using my camping stove and my new coffee mug.

We spent a good part of the day at the beach. Water was really really really cold, so it was a perfect day for long naps on the beach.

We found some trails around the area and spent the afternoon hiking.

The sign says keep off - I'm not sure why the boards are there and I'm pretty sure noone would want to get on them.


You never who or what you're going to run into when you're hiking. I heard there are 2 sheep for every 1 person in New Zealand - or I might have just made that up, but there are a lot of them here (sheep, not people).


The weather is getting warmer, the daylight lasts longer every day, and I'm trying to spend as much time as possibleoutside. In case you're wondering, I did do some teaching these past couple of weeks.