Kia Ora!

Well friends, I finally made it to New Zealand. I apologize to all those I didn’t get to see before I got down here, but I have to be back into the states by mid-August, and I will see you all then!

First, a little background as to why I’m in New Zealand. This past September I decided to return to school to complete my teaching certificate I had begun originally in school. I found that I would be able to complete the necessary courses in 3 months and that I could complete the necessary courses for a B.S. in math in another 3 months. This put me in a predicament. If I stayed to complete my B.S. I would be required to do my student teaching Fall/Winter of next year and then be looking for a job come January or February. It was suggested that I look into teaching abroad in order to complete my student teaching spring/summer. In order to complete my student teaching in this way I looked into going to the southern hemisphere and ended up in New Zealand.

After a few weeks of seeming chaos I was able to throw all my stuff into my truck and move it all back to the trailer at mom and dad’s (thanks mom and dad). I repacked that night and by 6am the next morning was on the road to Sea-tac. Due to the Hood Canal Bridge being closed we drove through Port Townsend, down through Clinton and out through Lynnwood. We made a few stops in Seattle before finally finishing at Sea-tac. I had some time there where I was able to catch up with some last minute details before my flight to San Fran. I had 4 hours in San Fran where I was able to pick up some last minute items and make the last of my phone calls for a bit before I boarded the plane for New Zealand. The flight to New Zealand took about 12 hours and we pretty uneventful. My roommates would laugh at the situation on the plane because there were movies playing most of the time and I slept like a baby right through them. Just before leaving the plane we were questioned by the local health officials about how we felt due to the recent scares in North America. I made it through customs and immigration and received a 3-month visa. They even took the time to wash my hiking boots for me J I exited the terminal and could have sworn I had come full circle back to Seattle. It was dark, chilly, cloudy, and drizzly. Auckland felt right at home. I walked to the domestic terminal and after a short delay boarded my flight to Napier. I have a couple of pictures from this flight to try and show what New Zealand is like from the air, but I’m still working out how I can upload those from near where I’m staying. Finally I arrived in Napier and met my supervisor, John, who gave me a wonderful tour around Napier, Hastings, and Havelock North.

A little geography about where I’m staying. I’m living on the north island about 2/3 down on the eastern shore in Hawes Bay. I’m staying in Havelock North which everyone just calls “the village”. It’s a small town about 5km southeast of Hastings, also about 19 km south of Napier. Napier and Hastings are both about 40,000 people and Havelock North is much smaller, I believe John said it was about 4,000 people, but I could be mistaken on that.

I’m living in a house up on a hill above the city that looks out over the city, countryside and into the foothills and mountains. The house is immaculate. I have my own room and bathroom which is really nice. My house parents are so welcoming and have given me all sorts of help over the past 2 days getting settled. They have two dogs, Max and Buster, both small dogs that love to run around.

I’m looking forward to starting work on Monday. I will have 4-5 high school math classes ranging from year 9 to year 12. This translates to 8th to 11th grade in the US system. I will also have a mentor class. I’m not exactly sure what this class will be but I’ll find out tomorrow.

Sorry for all the prose in this post, I hope to have photos figured out shortly.