alright, so, last sunday evening we had our first waterpolo match of the season. Waitakere vs Kelson Boys, the really poorly managed and mostly newcomers vs the super experienced and slightly intimidating. Needless to say, we got beat badly, like so badly that for a while it just seemed like Kelson Boys waterpolo practice. The score ended up being 14 -1 (i don't think i need to further emphasize what side of that Waitakere was on.) But it's all good, first game of the year, and really, as a team, we have no expectations, which means it's going to be fun and relaxed most of the time in the next 7 weeks of the season.
So that was that. It was fun, and i'm not complaining, for my first waterpolo game ever i did play a fair amount, and i can now say that i understand how the game works ( I didn't 5 minutes before we started.) But whoever deemed waterpolo as a non-contact sport got their stuff wrong, it's mean under the water. Kicking, punching, elbows to the face, as well as attempts in drowning opposing players, but it's really fun surprisingly, even with the kicking and drowning and such.
But then, the school week began, more lessons, more time stuck in the classroom, but it hasn't been to bad, especially because on Tuesday i was excused from school to participate in Swimming Day (pretty much athletics day part 2.) It was mandatory that i attend, because i'm on waterpolo, so i went, that was all good with me.
However, i pretty much got destroyed by the actual swimming kids who are in shape, but it was fun, and i was basically the sole representative of Aroha, out of the 45 or so kids that attended Swimming Day, 6 were from Aroha ( which is hardly any people.) But it was fun, and by 2 o' clock, i was out of school and went to the beach with my AFS liason-type-cool-guy, Carey.
Carey picked me straight up from the pool area (which isn't at school,) and drove me and his friend out to the beach. The beach itself is called anawhata, and is awesome. It's about a 30 minute hike down after a 3-4 mile off-road drive on this pretty sketchy dirt road. But it was totally worth it, the water was really warm, like comfortable with a wetsuit and with really deep blue rich water. The beach is extremely isolated and is surrounded by huge mountains and rocks covered with jungle that seem to shoot straight out of the sand. There's also a pretty big river that empties out into the water there as well.
Pretty much it was just super awesome.
Today, was a pretty average school day, as far as that goes, and wasn't super interesting at all. But, i did get to cook tonight, and let me just say, it was another flawless meal concocted by myself. Spaghetti with meat sauce doesn't get much better than that.
So that to was super awesome, but right now i'm pretty much waiting for this weekend, which should be fun considering that i have plans now because i have friends now!
But what i've really come to realize now, is that it isn't all that hard to make friends and to meet people. Yeah, it does seem sort of awkward at first, but that's part of it, and what i've really learned over the past few weeks is that people, generally, seem really accepting. Whether that's just here, or over most parts of the world has yet to be determined, but so far i can honestly say that it's been fun meeting people and making friends, because, as much as i want to know them, they want to know me, and that's pretty cool to say the least.
well, that's been the week so far, and now it's "hump day," (meaning the middle of the week, it took me a second to figure out to.) And right now, this place, New Zealand, is starting to more and more feel like a natural home to me. I even address my house as home, it's not just some random house with people inside it anymore.
Still, i feel attached to California, and think about it everyday. I miss the people there, but slowly, that to is fading away, my attachment to my 'actual home' doesn't seem as prevalant as it did just a matter of weeks ago.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
its been like 10 days
so its been 10 days since i've posted anything on the blog, and i'm definitely due for a post, its seeming more like a chore now, but here it goes, for you readers.
first i'll outline some of the major events in the last 10 days that have prevented me from writing on the blog:
- went to the auckland horse races and "told" my host parents to "bet" on some horses with "money they borrowed from me" which just happened to "collect" like $100 "profit"
- went to piha beach to see the lifeguard boat races
- made more friends
- made another ridiculously good meal (chicken paprikash)
- had "athletics day" at school
- hung out with newly made friends
- went to raglan to go on a surf expedition and meet the rest of my host family's family, but got totally skunked at raglan
alright, so i'll start with last weekend. but first, let me explain what a quiz is. Every Tuesday night at a local pub called The Hangar, people from around the area gather to partake in a 'quiz.' it's 8 rounds of random questions on random topics and you're limited to the knowledge of your team. my host parents are a part of the team (Paul pretty much is the team) and go every Tuesday night. And apparently, out of all the teams (there is a lot of them actually) that participated in quiz nights in 2010, their team had the highest total score.
For their prize, they won free VIP tickets to the Auckland horse races, this included free food AND drinks (nice).
So, last friday, the team (and me) got to go to the horse races. it was super fun. everyone was having fun and most all of us (of legal age of course) were winning loads of money.
They also had a good friend that met us there who used to help run the racetrack and breed and own horses. he pretty much new everything about horse racing and basically told everyone who to bet on. he also helped us in picking 6 horses that were racing in Christchurch that night to. if we won, we would have split like $30000, but unfortunately, out of the 6 horses we picked, 5 won, in a row. it was a heart breaker. but no one was complaining, everyone walked away with free food and drinks and some extra cash in hand.
the next day (last saturday) we went to the piha paddle boat race classic. teams from around Australia and New Zealand, and even a team from the UK, were competing in races that were extremely gnarly (that's really the only way to describe it.) They had these huge paddle boats, filled with about 8 people rowing and one person in the back with the steering oar, and had to paddle out in and around the surf and then come to the beach and race to the finish line. and with the huge rivalry between aussie's and kiwi's, national pride was on the line, which is pretty much greater than anything in New Zealand.
The surf out at piha was killer, and it hurt to look at it and not have a surfboard. It was perfect lefts, shoulder to a few feet over head, with awesome barrels. But, although it was good to be a surfer, the easily 8 -9 ft sets were nothing short of shit for the paddle racers.
it was crazy to watch, huge wipeouts, broken oars, broken faces, broken pride, all in all, it was awesome. But unfortunately, most of the Kiwi teams fell short of first place and let the Aussie's take first prize. But what really was proved in that afternoon, was how hardcore and tough New Zealander's and Australian's are. I saw this one lifeguard guy pretty much break his nose, and then go back out to paddle again. It was crazy.
I also sliced my foot open on the beach, which wasn't as hardcore as the races, but still, it was pretty wannabe hardcore.
The next day (last sunday) i had to go to a AFS student picnic. The picnic itself was really uneventful, except i saw this one huge islander guy with a face covered in tattoos fishing for eel, by hand. But the coolest thing was being able to see the town near the beach where the picnic was. the town is called titirangi and is a really cool artsy community situated right in the jungle (called ranges.) There's not many houses, but there are a lot of art galleries and pretty much art where ever there is a little space. Painted fences, random sculptures on the side of the road. It was pretty cool, the town, not the picnic.
Anyway, school this past week as been pretty cool. Not the actual school portion, but the social part has been really fun.
Work wise, school is super boring because all the material we're learning is stuff i've already learned. For instance, the advanced english i'm placed in, is the equivalent of 8th grade english. the "hardest project ever," was writing three paragraphs about a crappy poem. Math too. "super hard math," is factoring. which, is definitely a little tricky when you learn it at first, but it's pretty easy when you've already been doing it for about 4 years. But i keep this to myself. I don't want to offend anyone, but it's pretty hard to be at school (at least in these classes) when you just feel like you're getting dumber.
On the other hand however, i've been making more friends daily, and now pretty much have a solid friend base which is really cool and fun. i get invites to go do stuff, and i'm slowly detaching myself from the 'exchange student mark.' it's cool, and as far as the social aspect of school goes, i'm having a lot of fun.
but the BIG event this week at school was Athletics Day. athletics day is a huge all-day event in which the entire school participates. The school (everyone in the school) is in one of 3 houses that compete against each other all year in order to claim the title of best house. it's sort of like harry potter, like with griffindor and stuff.
anyway each house has a color and you're supposed to come decked out in your color on sports day, you're also supposed to compete in events to earn points for your house.
my house is Aroha (which means 'love' in Maori), and is traditionally known as the 'shit house,' that has yet to win anything in the last 15 years or so. Our color is red, and on Athletics Day (which was on Friday) everyone comes to school in their red stuff ( everyone who is in Aroha.) But, alas, i have no red. and instead, i thought i would come to school in other colors that would be acceptable amongst my Aroha peers, yellow and green, and a white shirt. Unfortunately, yellow and green are the colors of the other two houses, and i had to draw AROHA on my arms in big red letters just to let everyone know what team i was on.
The day was a lot of fun though. Everyone was pretty much hanging out on the field all day, and i got to know a lot of people way more. Pretty much, i know good group of kids now, and i'm not an outsider. I'm a part of their group i guess. i'm accepted amongst them, and i can truly say that, through waterpolo and through school life, i've made a bunch of friends with a bunch of really cool people.
As far as Athletics Day events go, i only did two, the intermediate high jump and the 100 meter sprint ( i came in 4th behind all the extremely athletic islander kids.) But hey, i tried my best and got some points for Aroha i think, but judging on my colors i probably just earned points for the other teams.
Then there was this weekend.
Friday was cool and pretty mellow. It was after Athletics day, so everyone was pretty worn down from a long day of athletics in the sun and crazy humidity. So i just hung around with a couple mates and watched Harold and Kumar, and then went to this kids house to play night-tennis. Night tennis was cool, and it got even better when it turned into nigh frisbee on the kids private tennis court (he was pretty loaded.) Then, we went swimming in his equally awesome pool that changed colors.
But the real highlight of the weekend was going to Raglan to do some actual surfing (i haven't surfed in forever it seems.) The plan was to surf all day, then meet up with Paul's sister's family and have fish and chips and spend the night at their house in Hamilton, which is 45 minutes from Raglan. However, upon reaching Raglan, to my dismay, we realized it was as flat as a pancake. we got skunked.
so we talked to the surf shop manager in raglan, to see if he could some how offer us (by us i mean me) answers to why it was flat. He simply said: "that's shit luck." Apparently it was the flattest day he'd seen in a good long while. But this isn't to say it was a fun trip. Raglan in one of the coolest places i have seen in NZ, not unlike Santa Cruz. Super laid back and downright funky, with barefoot people everywhere in the pubs and cafes. i also got to meet the rest of my "family." which was pretty cool. And i also got super good meal of fish and chips (pronounced 'fush and chups') i don't know why, but that's how they say it.
any way, that's pretty much it for now, that's a good long post that will hopefully last me another 10 days or so. NZ ( n zed) is pretty cool right now, especially with having made a solid friend base.
right now, i'm preparing for my first waterpolo game of the season. i still have to learn the rules, but i think it'll be good, i can do the eggbeat thing (waterpolo slang), which is a good start.
first i'll outline some of the major events in the last 10 days that have prevented me from writing on the blog:
- went to the auckland horse races and "told" my host parents to "bet" on some horses with "money they borrowed from me" which just happened to "collect" like $100 "profit"
- went to piha beach to see the lifeguard boat races
- made more friends
- made another ridiculously good meal (chicken paprikash)
- had "athletics day" at school
- hung out with newly made friends
- went to raglan to go on a surf expedition and meet the rest of my host family's family, but got totally skunked at raglan
alright, so i'll start with last weekend. but first, let me explain what a quiz is. Every Tuesday night at a local pub called The Hangar, people from around the area gather to partake in a 'quiz.' it's 8 rounds of random questions on random topics and you're limited to the knowledge of your team. my host parents are a part of the team (Paul pretty much is the team) and go every Tuesday night. And apparently, out of all the teams (there is a lot of them actually) that participated in quiz nights in 2010, their team had the highest total score.
For their prize, they won free VIP tickets to the Auckland horse races, this included free food AND drinks (nice).
So, last friday, the team (and me) got to go to the horse races. it was super fun. everyone was having fun and most all of us (of legal age of course) were winning loads of money.
They also had a good friend that met us there who used to help run the racetrack and breed and own horses. he pretty much new everything about horse racing and basically told everyone who to bet on. he also helped us in picking 6 horses that were racing in Christchurch that night to. if we won, we would have split like $30000, but unfortunately, out of the 6 horses we picked, 5 won, in a row. it was a heart breaker. but no one was complaining, everyone walked away with free food and drinks and some extra cash in hand.
the next day (last saturday) we went to the piha paddle boat race classic. teams from around Australia and New Zealand, and even a team from the UK, were competing in races that were extremely gnarly (that's really the only way to describe it.) They had these huge paddle boats, filled with about 8 people rowing and one person in the back with the steering oar, and had to paddle out in and around the surf and then come to the beach and race to the finish line. and with the huge rivalry between aussie's and kiwi's, national pride was on the line, which is pretty much greater than anything in New Zealand.
The surf out at piha was killer, and it hurt to look at it and not have a surfboard. It was perfect lefts, shoulder to a few feet over head, with awesome barrels. But, although it was good to be a surfer, the easily 8 -9 ft sets were nothing short of shit for the paddle racers.
it was crazy to watch, huge wipeouts, broken oars, broken faces, broken pride, all in all, it was awesome. But unfortunately, most of the Kiwi teams fell short of first place and let the Aussie's take first prize. But what really was proved in that afternoon, was how hardcore and tough New Zealander's and Australian's are. I saw this one lifeguard guy pretty much break his nose, and then go back out to paddle again. It was crazy.
I also sliced my foot open on the beach, which wasn't as hardcore as the races, but still, it was pretty wannabe hardcore.
The next day (last sunday) i had to go to a AFS student picnic. The picnic itself was really uneventful, except i saw this one huge islander guy with a face covered in tattoos fishing for eel, by hand. But the coolest thing was being able to see the town near the beach where the picnic was. the town is called titirangi and is a really cool artsy community situated right in the jungle (called ranges.) There's not many houses, but there are a lot of art galleries and pretty much art where ever there is a little space. Painted fences, random sculptures on the side of the road. It was pretty cool, the town, not the picnic.
Anyway, school this past week as been pretty cool. Not the actual school portion, but the social part has been really fun.
Work wise, school is super boring because all the material we're learning is stuff i've already learned. For instance, the advanced english i'm placed in, is the equivalent of 8th grade english. the "hardest project ever," was writing three paragraphs about a crappy poem. Math too. "super hard math," is factoring. which, is definitely a little tricky when you learn it at first, but it's pretty easy when you've already been doing it for about 4 years. But i keep this to myself. I don't want to offend anyone, but it's pretty hard to be at school (at least in these classes) when you just feel like you're getting dumber.
On the other hand however, i've been making more friends daily, and now pretty much have a solid friend base which is really cool and fun. i get invites to go do stuff, and i'm slowly detaching myself from the 'exchange student mark.' it's cool, and as far as the social aspect of school goes, i'm having a lot of fun.
but the BIG event this week at school was Athletics Day. athletics day is a huge all-day event in which the entire school participates. The school (everyone in the school) is in one of 3 houses that compete against each other all year in order to claim the title of best house. it's sort of like harry potter, like with griffindor and stuff.
anyway each house has a color and you're supposed to come decked out in your color on sports day, you're also supposed to compete in events to earn points for your house.
my house is Aroha (which means 'love' in Maori), and is traditionally known as the 'shit house,' that has yet to win anything in the last 15 years or so. Our color is red, and on Athletics Day (which was on Friday) everyone comes to school in their red stuff ( everyone who is in Aroha.) But, alas, i have no red. and instead, i thought i would come to school in other colors that would be acceptable amongst my Aroha peers, yellow and green, and a white shirt. Unfortunately, yellow and green are the colors of the other two houses, and i had to draw AROHA on my arms in big red letters just to let everyone know what team i was on.
The day was a lot of fun though. Everyone was pretty much hanging out on the field all day, and i got to know a lot of people way more. Pretty much, i know good group of kids now, and i'm not an outsider. I'm a part of their group i guess. i'm accepted amongst them, and i can truly say that, through waterpolo and through school life, i've made a bunch of friends with a bunch of really cool people.
As far as Athletics Day events go, i only did two, the intermediate high jump and the 100 meter sprint ( i came in 4th behind all the extremely athletic islander kids.) But hey, i tried my best and got some points for Aroha i think, but judging on my colors i probably just earned points for the other teams.
Then there was this weekend.
Friday was cool and pretty mellow. It was after Athletics day, so everyone was pretty worn down from a long day of athletics in the sun and crazy humidity. So i just hung around with a couple mates and watched Harold and Kumar, and then went to this kids house to play night-tennis. Night tennis was cool, and it got even better when it turned into nigh frisbee on the kids private tennis court (he was pretty loaded.) Then, we went swimming in his equally awesome pool that changed colors.
But the real highlight of the weekend was going to Raglan to do some actual surfing (i haven't surfed in forever it seems.) The plan was to surf all day, then meet up with Paul's sister's family and have fish and chips and spend the night at their house in Hamilton, which is 45 minutes from Raglan. However, upon reaching Raglan, to my dismay, we realized it was as flat as a pancake. we got skunked.
so we talked to the surf shop manager in raglan, to see if he could some how offer us (by us i mean me) answers to why it was flat. He simply said: "that's shit luck." Apparently it was the flattest day he'd seen in a good long while. But this isn't to say it was a fun trip. Raglan in one of the coolest places i have seen in NZ, not unlike Santa Cruz. Super laid back and downright funky, with barefoot people everywhere in the pubs and cafes. i also got to meet the rest of my "family." which was pretty cool. And i also got super good meal of fish and chips (pronounced 'fush and chups') i don't know why, but that's how they say it.
any way, that's pretty much it for now, that's a good long post that will hopefully last me another 10 days or so. NZ ( n zed) is pretty cool right now, especially with having made a solid friend base.
right now, i'm preparing for my first waterpolo game of the season. i still have to learn the rules, but i think it'll be good, i can do the eggbeat thing (waterpolo slang), which is a good start.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
mean as.... thrusday!
Alright, so, its the weekend! I just finished my first week at Waitakere, and it seems as if each day keeps getting better and more fun. Yesterday was particularly fun because I went with some friends to a concert at this really cool cafe called Zeal. I didn't know anything about the show itself going into it. I didn't know what type of music or where it was, all i was told was to definietly go. So I went. And it was super awesome.
The venue itself was really cool. A huge cafe with various different concert hall areas for shows. It was super funky, and really crowded with all sorts of indie hipsters and us. Around the back was were the show was at, and i heard upon getting to the venue itself that it was a thrash metal, scream-your-face-off concert. No my favorite per say, but i was open to the idea of screaming and mosh pits on a Thursday night. But as we got there, we decided it would be best to get food first. So we, myself and two friends, got another dude (their friend) with huge dreads and walked to Frankiez Fish and Chips.
Fish and chips are pretty amazing.
Its just a huge fried slab of greasy white fish covered in what seemed like 2 pounds of french fries (called chips here). It was so good. We pretty much feasted in a park next to the shop. But upon finishing, we headed back to the show and it was just starting (you could literally here the screaming from like a block away). so we paid the few dollars to get in and headed for the concert room. The concert room itself ended up being more like a concert closest which was like a prison cell packed to the brim with people. It was easily 15 degrees hotter in the concert closest and people were moshing really hard. But I could tell that moshing here was way different than the few mosh pits i had been in before. The people in the pit don't just bump and hit against each other, they flail their arms and feet around punching and kicking each other. So i pretty much avoided going into the pit for the entire show.
After the first band played we decided it was pretty hot in the concert closest and that the fish and chips in our stomachs wasn't really agreeing with that. So we took a break and walked out to a park to get some blood flowing and get some fresh air. The park we went to had some pretty steep grass slopes and we had a skateboard so we ended up grass-skating for like 30 minutes down these grass hills. It was super fun, and after a while we headed back to the show to get screamed at by some dude holding a microphone with a guitar backing him.
Overall, it wasn't to bad for a Thursday night, except school today was terrible, because i was super duper tired all day.
What i'm finding though, is that everyday is getting a little better and more fun, and as i get to know people more, i'm finding that i really am happy here. Today was a little difficult though, mostly because i was tired, but also was feeling sort of homesick again. It wasn't so much like depression or anything, it was more like i was just thinking a lot about home for some reason, i don't really know why.
But i would say that overall it is getting better and, even though i wake up and am still in New Zealand and not home, i would say that its really just starting to get fun.
The venue itself was really cool. A huge cafe with various different concert hall areas for shows. It was super funky, and really crowded with all sorts of indie hipsters and us. Around the back was were the show was at, and i heard upon getting to the venue itself that it was a thrash metal, scream-your-face-off concert. No my favorite per say, but i was open to the idea of screaming and mosh pits on a Thursday night. But as we got there, we decided it would be best to get food first. So we, myself and two friends, got another dude (their friend) with huge dreads and walked to Frankiez Fish and Chips.
Fish and chips are pretty amazing.
Its just a huge fried slab of greasy white fish covered in what seemed like 2 pounds of french fries (called chips here). It was so good. We pretty much feasted in a park next to the shop. But upon finishing, we headed back to the show and it was just starting (you could literally here the screaming from like a block away). so we paid the few dollars to get in and headed for the concert room. The concert room itself ended up being more like a concert closest which was like a prison cell packed to the brim with people. It was easily 15 degrees hotter in the concert closest and people were moshing really hard. But I could tell that moshing here was way different than the few mosh pits i had been in before. The people in the pit don't just bump and hit against each other, they flail their arms and feet around punching and kicking each other. So i pretty much avoided going into the pit for the entire show.
After the first band played we decided it was pretty hot in the concert closest and that the fish and chips in our stomachs wasn't really agreeing with that. So we took a break and walked out to a park to get some blood flowing and get some fresh air. The park we went to had some pretty steep grass slopes and we had a skateboard so we ended up grass-skating for like 30 minutes down these grass hills. It was super fun, and after a while we headed back to the show to get screamed at by some dude holding a microphone with a guitar backing him.
Overall, it wasn't to bad for a Thursday night, except school today was terrible, because i was super duper tired all day.
What i'm finding though, is that everyday is getting a little better and more fun, and as i get to know people more, i'm finding that i really am happy here. Today was a little difficult though, mostly because i was tired, but also was feeling sort of homesick again. It wasn't so much like depression or anything, it was more like i was just thinking a lot about home for some reason, i don't really know why.
But i would say that overall it is getting better and, even though i wake up and am still in New Zealand and not home, i would say that its really just starting to get fun.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
school and the best sausage/potato combo ever
Alright, i've been in school for 3 days officially, and it's way different from what i'm used to. unlike high school in America ( or at least California), school here is all about cramming in a bunch of knowledge so you can take two sets of tests to get credits: 1) the externals (tests) and 2) the internals (also tests). all the teachers do is talk about how to make sure you can pass the tests in 10 months so you get your credits. Credits themselves are the equivalent of grades, and if you don't obtain a certain amount by doing well on the test's, you don't pass the course and you either drop it, or retake it next year.
So far, i can't say i like this system that much. you're not learning for the sake of learning, but for the sake of making sure you can pass the test.
But otherwise, school is good and sort of weird. i'm making friends, getting adjusted and still attracting "oooo's" and "ahhh's" and finger pointing from some people. i've also managed to join the water polo team, as i was pressured into it by my biology teacher, and i start that tomorrow (unfortunately because practices are before school at 7). but school itself is good in general, it's a whole lot easier than it is in America, and my 'super hard math class' consists of stuff i've already learned in the past two years. today someone even asked me if i was some sort of math genius because i understood the lesson so well today ( to which i replied, "Really? whoa").
Music is also really cool, because the classes are small, and unlike with Mr. Mattern, we actually learn ear-training, theory, and jazz in a non-dysfunctional way. But the coolest class i have, by far, is media studies. The teacher, Mr. McArdle, is a total bro, and right now we're beginning to design our own radio show, which is even more awesome because my group is pretty much my only friends at the school.
Overall, life here in New Zealand is getting easier and more comftrable with each day. Basically, I'm really starting to ease into life here and adjust. it's getting more fun, and i'm excited to see what the coming months hold.
that's pretty much it right now
So far, i can't say i like this system that much. you're not learning for the sake of learning, but for the sake of making sure you can pass the test.
But otherwise, school is good and sort of weird. i'm making friends, getting adjusted and still attracting "oooo's" and "ahhh's" and finger pointing from some people. i've also managed to join the water polo team, as i was pressured into it by my biology teacher, and i start that tomorrow (unfortunately because practices are before school at 7). but school itself is good in general, it's a whole lot easier than it is in America, and my 'super hard math class' consists of stuff i've already learned in the past two years. today someone even asked me if i was some sort of math genius because i understood the lesson so well today ( to which i replied, "Really? whoa").
Music is also really cool, because the classes are small, and unlike with Mr. Mattern, we actually learn ear-training, theory, and jazz in a non-dysfunctional way. But the coolest class i have, by far, is media studies. The teacher, Mr. McArdle, is a total bro, and right now we're beginning to design our own radio show, which is even more awesome because my group is pretty much my only friends at the school.
Overall, life here in New Zealand is getting easier and more comftrable with each day. Basically, I'm really starting to ease into life here and adjust. it's getting more fun, and i'm excited to see what the coming months hold.
that's pretty much it right now
Sunday, February 6, 2011
lots of activites! and school to
alright, so its been aboot 4 days since i've written anything, and that means that its been a good 4 days.
for this blog entry, i'll take it day by day i guess:
starting with friday..........
friday, i had no plans, and decided that i had nothing really to do. i woke up and looked outside to discover it was raining, and still very very hot and humid outside. but his made me want to do one thing: hike around in the ranges. so i got dressed, got a rain jacket and a banana and headed for the ranges and farmlands behind my house, hoping to find something cool, or at least kill some time. i walked and explored for 3 hours in the rain. i was soaking wet and hungry but for the first time, i really got to see the land way out behind the sea of houses that my neighborhood is. it was super cool to say the least. huge expanses of rolling green hills and farms; horses and sheep everywhere. it completely felt like i was in the shire. walking around, i felt lost in the rapidly changing environments. patches of forest blended into pastures and fields of sheep, flat grasslands developed into large slopes of flowers and more green grass. it was very cool, and by the time i got back from my walk, i felt like i had seen the new zealand i had come to see. big farms, beautiful scenery, sheep, and more sheep, it was really cool, i don't know if i can explain it any other way.
But then i returned to the house to dry off and to rest a little. it was then that Paul (host dad, but he's pretty much just a cool uncle) decided that we should go and pick strawberries in the strawberry fields about 15 minutes away. it sounded fun, so we loaded into the car and went, the rain was slowing down and we figured it would be super fun, and plus, cheap strawberries. but, unfortunately, somebody, somewhere decided that strawberry pickin' season was over in new zealand.
however, this didn't stop us from doing something else. so we decided to go and check out murawai beach, which was another 15 minutes away.
the drive out was amazing. more large green fields of grass and flowers as well as big farms with even more sheep and cows. it was extremely rural, and very cool. there were hardly any houses to be seen on the rolling hills dotted with little white sheep. we then descended into murawai, which is hardly a town at all. little funky, colorful beach shacks just spring up around the jungle that abruptly gives into a huge beach.
the beach itself is amazing. on the south end, there is a huge cave that absolutely reeks of shit, but is still really cool, that leads into a rock ledge over the ocean where fisherman stand and fish, i guess. to the north, is a huge black sand beach, with sand dunes and everything. for those of you who are familiar, it's like stinson beach, except all the sand is black and instead of the rocks at the south end, you have a giant cave that smells like poo.
anyway, we explored the beach for a while, but soon headed back to check out the surf shop, which was right at the roads end, about 100 ft from the beach.
i asked them about renting a surfboard, but i didn't look hopeful amongst all the softtops, until they mentioned that i could probably just borrow one of their personal boards. they were the nicest people ever, they even offered to pick me up to go surfing sometime. we talked about the beach itself, the surf, what the prime conditions were, and then we said our goodbyes as we had to go, to get ready for saturdays' big event.....
AN ALL DAY CRICKET EXTRAVAGANZA!!!
saturday:
For those you unfamiliar with cricket, it's basically british baseball except way longer (like 9 hours), more boring, not really fun at all, more complicated and even more boring. all you really need to know about cricket is to never go to a game without a dark pair of sunglasses and like two or three books, because i finished mine with the first half of the game (which, in itself, was longer than a baseball game).
but it wasn't all that bad. i finally understand how cricket works ( one thing to knock of the bucket list i guess), i got a sweet tan, and a free beer! i also got to meet some guys that go to school with my friend, and we hung out for a while, so i guess i made some more friends to, which was also really cool. all in all, it wasn't that bad, new zealand did beat pakistan (there first win in their last 15 games someone said) and it was definitely something that i was happy i got to do with my host family.
but nonetheless, it was really boring.
sunday:
sunday, was a really good day, mostly because it was the first time i got to go surfing in like 2 1/2 weeks ( which may not sound like a lot, but it is). Paul and i drove back to murawai beach to check some waves for the day before connor's bithday bbq later that evening. upon reaching murawai, i rented a board ( 6'1 webber) from the really awesome people at the surf shop, and they didn't even charge me full price. next, it was off to the waves, because the water was warm and the wind was offshore.
Unlike California (at least from my experience) surfing in the Tasman sea is much different. instead of paddling out and waiting for sets, in the Tasman, a wave is always coming, and (apparently) on the Tasman sea the surf is all to often to large, and surfers usually wait for it to die down before heading out.
But anyways the surf seemed good, there were guys out and the wind was offshore. however, the current was very very strong, very reminiscent of sf ob. it dragged all the surfers down the beach, and was basically an up hill battle all afternoon. however, the waves were pretty fun. shoulder to a foot overhead with occasional sets of 7 feet, maybe 8 max. i got a couple solid rides and was completely satisfied, especially since i hadn't surfed in so long. but soon enough, it was time to part from surfing again, it was time to move on and go to the bbq, the next activity in a fairly action-packed weekend.
the bbq itself was really fun, lots of good food, and drink and it was overall pretty sweet. however, it was scorching hot all afternoon, with humidity reaching 95%. but the problem was soon solved, because of a solid combination of a hose and a trampoline. at first it was just me and dom (connor's little brother, other nephew/halo 3 fiend) but then all the kids joined in. it was pretty refreshing and a lot of fun.
then, after more eating, we all decided to go play halo 3. dom, apparently, lives off of halo, and preceded to whoop my ass in it numerous times, but it was all really fun, a solid day.
monday:
Time fo' school! first time in school for like 8 weeks or something like that. except this time, i knew no one in the entire school, i had no clue where any of my classes were and i had to wear a uniform ( which sucks). but i went in thinking that this is what i signed up for, because that's just what it was, a new experience, a new start, where i knew no one and no one knew me.
after all, it wasn't that bad.
besides the slight awkwardness at first, i made some friends right off the bat. the people here are really different in a good way, unlike in the states, there is no awkward middle ground in which your sort of friends, but not really, but like you talk to them at school, here, once you meet and break the ice, you're either taken in or not ( at least so far it seems like this, but i don't know, it was only the first day.) so it was good, i made some friends, talked with some people, got some weird glances and heard some whispers of : " oh yea, that's the American kid." but it was fun, i got good classes, except for math, and i had fun.
But it's pretty funny, the stereotypes of American high school. People asked all sorts of things, but the best were: "Is it like Glee?", "do you really have cheerleaders," "do the popular kids pick on the nerds" and "do you actually have to walk through metal detectors?"
But besides the funny stereotypes, school was pretty legit, especially media studies which is arguably the coolest class every, we watch movies and analyze them and then make our own radio show, and the teacher is a total boss, he doesn't wear shows and ( for those of you who know him) he's a lot like Mr. Vp at Redwood.
But what i'm really starting to find about new zealand, is that i really love it. it's an awesome place, the people are super nice, and i really like it here. it was hard the first few days, but i've learned to accept the fact that homesickness is just part of the experience and that, really, it puts a new perspective and appreciation on home itself. i do think about home everyday, and in a sense, i do feel sort of detached from new zealand because i'll only be here 5 more months, but i think that's a good and bad thing, but i guess i'll figure that out eventually too.
overall, i really like it here, and it's getting better everyday. i still have to work out some of the kinks but that's all going to come with time.
i'm really happy right now, and i really love new zealand.
and emmet and luke, i miss you guys
for this blog entry, i'll take it day by day i guess:
starting with friday..........
friday, i had no plans, and decided that i had nothing really to do. i woke up and looked outside to discover it was raining, and still very very hot and humid outside. but his made me want to do one thing: hike around in the ranges. so i got dressed, got a rain jacket and a banana and headed for the ranges and farmlands behind my house, hoping to find something cool, or at least kill some time. i walked and explored for 3 hours in the rain. i was soaking wet and hungry but for the first time, i really got to see the land way out behind the sea of houses that my neighborhood is. it was super cool to say the least. huge expanses of rolling green hills and farms; horses and sheep everywhere. it completely felt like i was in the shire. walking around, i felt lost in the rapidly changing environments. patches of forest blended into pastures and fields of sheep, flat grasslands developed into large slopes of flowers and more green grass. it was very cool, and by the time i got back from my walk, i felt like i had seen the new zealand i had come to see. big farms, beautiful scenery, sheep, and more sheep, it was really cool, i don't know if i can explain it any other way.
But then i returned to the house to dry off and to rest a little. it was then that Paul (host dad, but he's pretty much just a cool uncle) decided that we should go and pick strawberries in the strawberry fields about 15 minutes away. it sounded fun, so we loaded into the car and went, the rain was slowing down and we figured it would be super fun, and plus, cheap strawberries. but, unfortunately, somebody, somewhere decided that strawberry pickin' season was over in new zealand.
however, this didn't stop us from doing something else. so we decided to go and check out murawai beach, which was another 15 minutes away.
the drive out was amazing. more large green fields of grass and flowers as well as big farms with even more sheep and cows. it was extremely rural, and very cool. there were hardly any houses to be seen on the rolling hills dotted with little white sheep. we then descended into murawai, which is hardly a town at all. little funky, colorful beach shacks just spring up around the jungle that abruptly gives into a huge beach.
the beach itself is amazing. on the south end, there is a huge cave that absolutely reeks of shit, but is still really cool, that leads into a rock ledge over the ocean where fisherman stand and fish, i guess. to the north, is a huge black sand beach, with sand dunes and everything. for those of you who are familiar, it's like stinson beach, except all the sand is black and instead of the rocks at the south end, you have a giant cave that smells like poo.
anyway, we explored the beach for a while, but soon headed back to check out the surf shop, which was right at the roads end, about 100 ft from the beach.
i asked them about renting a surfboard, but i didn't look hopeful amongst all the softtops, until they mentioned that i could probably just borrow one of their personal boards. they were the nicest people ever, they even offered to pick me up to go surfing sometime. we talked about the beach itself, the surf, what the prime conditions were, and then we said our goodbyes as we had to go, to get ready for saturdays' big event.....
AN ALL DAY CRICKET EXTRAVAGANZA!!!
saturday:
For those you unfamiliar with cricket, it's basically british baseball except way longer (like 9 hours), more boring, not really fun at all, more complicated and even more boring. all you really need to know about cricket is to never go to a game without a dark pair of sunglasses and like two or three books, because i finished mine with the first half of the game (which, in itself, was longer than a baseball game).
but it wasn't all that bad. i finally understand how cricket works ( one thing to knock of the bucket list i guess), i got a sweet tan, and a free beer! i also got to meet some guys that go to school with my friend, and we hung out for a while, so i guess i made some more friends to, which was also really cool. all in all, it wasn't that bad, new zealand did beat pakistan (there first win in their last 15 games someone said) and it was definitely something that i was happy i got to do with my host family.
but nonetheless, it was really boring.
sunday:
sunday, was a really good day, mostly because it was the first time i got to go surfing in like 2 1/2 weeks ( which may not sound like a lot, but it is). Paul and i drove back to murawai beach to check some waves for the day before connor's bithday bbq later that evening. upon reaching murawai, i rented a board ( 6'1 webber) from the really awesome people at the surf shop, and they didn't even charge me full price. next, it was off to the waves, because the water was warm and the wind was offshore.
Unlike California (at least from my experience) surfing in the Tasman sea is much different. instead of paddling out and waiting for sets, in the Tasman, a wave is always coming, and (apparently) on the Tasman sea the surf is all to often to large, and surfers usually wait for it to die down before heading out.
But anyways the surf seemed good, there were guys out and the wind was offshore. however, the current was very very strong, very reminiscent of sf ob. it dragged all the surfers down the beach, and was basically an up hill battle all afternoon. however, the waves were pretty fun. shoulder to a foot overhead with occasional sets of 7 feet, maybe 8 max. i got a couple solid rides and was completely satisfied, especially since i hadn't surfed in so long. but soon enough, it was time to part from surfing again, it was time to move on and go to the bbq, the next activity in a fairly action-packed weekend.
the bbq itself was really fun, lots of good food, and drink and it was overall pretty sweet. however, it was scorching hot all afternoon, with humidity reaching 95%. but the problem was soon solved, because of a solid combination of a hose and a trampoline. at first it was just me and dom (connor's little brother, other nephew/halo 3 fiend) but then all the kids joined in. it was pretty refreshing and a lot of fun.
then, after more eating, we all decided to go play halo 3. dom, apparently, lives off of halo, and preceded to whoop my ass in it numerous times, but it was all really fun, a solid day.
monday:
Time fo' school! first time in school for like 8 weeks or something like that. except this time, i knew no one in the entire school, i had no clue where any of my classes were and i had to wear a uniform ( which sucks). but i went in thinking that this is what i signed up for, because that's just what it was, a new experience, a new start, where i knew no one and no one knew me.
after all, it wasn't that bad.
besides the slight awkwardness at first, i made some friends right off the bat. the people here are really different in a good way, unlike in the states, there is no awkward middle ground in which your sort of friends, but not really, but like you talk to them at school, here, once you meet and break the ice, you're either taken in or not ( at least so far it seems like this, but i don't know, it was only the first day.) so it was good, i made some friends, talked with some people, got some weird glances and heard some whispers of : " oh yea, that's the American kid." but it was fun, i got good classes, except for math, and i had fun.
But it's pretty funny, the stereotypes of American high school. People asked all sorts of things, but the best were: "Is it like Glee?", "do you really have cheerleaders," "do the popular kids pick on the nerds" and "do you actually have to walk through metal detectors?"
But besides the funny stereotypes, school was pretty legit, especially media studies which is arguably the coolest class every, we watch movies and analyze them and then make our own radio show, and the teacher is a total boss, he doesn't wear shows and ( for those of you who know him) he's a lot like Mr. Vp at Redwood.
But what i'm really starting to find about new zealand, is that i really love it. it's an awesome place, the people are super nice, and i really like it here. it was hard the first few days, but i've learned to accept the fact that homesickness is just part of the experience and that, really, it puts a new perspective and appreciation on home itself. i do think about home everyday, and in a sense, i do feel sort of detached from new zealand because i'll only be here 5 more months, but i think that's a good and bad thing, but i guess i'll figure that out eventually too.
overall, i really like it here, and it's getting better everyday. i still have to work out some of the kinks but that's all going to come with time.
i'm really happy right now, and i really love new zealand.
and emmet and luke, i miss you guys
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
in the ranges
today was pretty cool, and by far the most adventurous so far. my mate and i decided to go into the ranges ( i.e. the jungle or bush) by biking into them. we biked all over the place, up and down hills, through the woods, off trail and on and it was really super awesome. the bush is pretty crazy, just really thick jungle and today it felt like a jungle to: hot and humid. i think that the best way to explain it is just sticky, the type of hot in which your clothes start to stick onto you and then leave trails of sweat, point is, it was hot. But that didn't stop us at all as we biked and tramped all over the place. i definitely should have brought my camera, but i'll try and explain the scenery as well as possible.
at first, we just biked down the road into the 'foothills,' thick jungle on both sides, and a river running right to our left (haha). but soon came time to ditch the bikes in the bush and head out into the real ranges. (ranges are the equivalent of the mountains). upon wandering aimlessly through the thick jungle we came upon a field of extremely tall grasses. this grass was easily a foot or two over head and there was no direct pathway through it. so we continued on as the large thick grass (which was starting to get wet, that's how humid it was) turned into large purple, orange and white flowers. it felt like we were in alice and wonderland sort of. just walking through these huge bushels and sects of giant grass and flowers. it was pretty awesome to say the least.
eventually, i guess we made a loop and because we found ourselves back at the bikes shortly after that. by this time we were getting pretty hungry and got on the bikes, heading out for a dairy (small shop) about 2 miles away. by the time we got there the sun and heat had taken its toll on us and we were dehydrated and starving; and everyone knows that when your starving the only thing that can truly fix it is a New Zealand meat pie. It is possibly the greatest invention of all time and it filled us right up.
after eating, we got back on the bikes and headed out again into another stretch of the ranges. this time we hit a good biking trail that carried us all the way through the bush for about a mile and a half. it was cool, the jungle was thick and there were a couple big pairs of butterflies hanging around by this river bank were we stopped to take a break. but the trail ended and took us back to the main roads.
But we weren't done yet.
We followed the main roads up and up until all that we could see was huge stretches of vast farmland and empty jungle. it honestly looked like a postcard at times. massive green hills expanding into deep jungles and rivers, with plenty of sheep and horses around as well. and, as it turns out, it was all of 10 minutes from my house.
All in all, i'm adjusting into life in New Zealand (people just call it nz [pronounced n zed]) and i can definitely tell that it's getting easier to accept the fact that this far away from home. tomorrow is technically my last day of summer, but i'm ready for school and i'm ready to do a lot here in the next 6 or so months. i guess i'm really excited to see how this will all play out. But for now, i'm going to take it day by day and enjoy every moment i have in this particullary beautiful country.
but i'm pretty tired from my ride today so i think i'll go to bed
at first, we just biked down the road into the 'foothills,' thick jungle on both sides, and a river running right to our left (haha). but soon came time to ditch the bikes in the bush and head out into the real ranges. (ranges are the equivalent of the mountains). upon wandering aimlessly through the thick jungle we came upon a field of extremely tall grasses. this grass was easily a foot or two over head and there was no direct pathway through it. so we continued on as the large thick grass (which was starting to get wet, that's how humid it was) turned into large purple, orange and white flowers. it felt like we were in alice and wonderland sort of. just walking through these huge bushels and sects of giant grass and flowers. it was pretty awesome to say the least.
eventually, i guess we made a loop and because we found ourselves back at the bikes shortly after that. by this time we were getting pretty hungry and got on the bikes, heading out for a dairy (small shop) about 2 miles away. by the time we got there the sun and heat had taken its toll on us and we were dehydrated and starving; and everyone knows that when your starving the only thing that can truly fix it is a New Zealand meat pie. It is possibly the greatest invention of all time and it filled us right up.
after eating, we got back on the bikes and headed out again into another stretch of the ranges. this time we hit a good biking trail that carried us all the way through the bush for about a mile and a half. it was cool, the jungle was thick and there were a couple big pairs of butterflies hanging around by this river bank were we stopped to take a break. but the trail ended and took us back to the main roads.
But we weren't done yet.
We followed the main roads up and up until all that we could see was huge stretches of vast farmland and empty jungle. it honestly looked like a postcard at times. massive green hills expanding into deep jungles and rivers, with plenty of sheep and horses around as well. and, as it turns out, it was all of 10 minutes from my house.
All in all, i'm adjusting into life in New Zealand (people just call it nz [pronounced n zed]) and i can definitely tell that it's getting easier to accept the fact that this far away from home. tomorrow is technically my last day of summer, but i'm ready for school and i'm ready to do a lot here in the next 6 or so months. i guess i'm really excited to see how this will all play out. But for now, i'm going to take it day by day and enjoy every moment i have in this particullary beautiful country.
but i'm pretty tired from my ride today so i think i'll go to bed
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
maybe it'll make me stronger....
alright so, today was my first glimpse of school life in new zealand. it was cool, a little awkward, and super busy. it started off with an assembly with the entire year 12 grade. actually, no, it started with putting the uniform on this morning, which was really funny and weird. coming from never having to adhere to a real dress code or uniform rules, it was a trip. basically, my uniform consists of a waitakere collard shirt (navy blue), navy blue slacks, shin-high socks, a dress belt and huge black shoes that probably could be used as a weapon. anyway, before the assembly, everyone was outside the gym talking with friends while i stood just observing, really just thinking about how i'm going to fit in here. while this was happening, school uniform-enforcement was making their rounds making sure that everyone's socks were high up and that belts were on tight enough, i guess. anywho, the assembly began with the principal and vice principal talking about how proud they were of everyone last year and a bunch of stuff, and then they mentioned that there were a few foreign exchange students in the grade, one of whom was from the u.s. next, a teacher made a little speech and asked if "tom was in the crowd," so i rose my hand and everyone stared at me and i awkwardly said "hey' but like it was kind of muffled so you really couldn't hear me that well. then, the vice principal stood up at the podium and went on to say that "while tom is pointed out, he's from america." this was greeted by even more stares and a semi-awkward silence. after that, i went and got my classes sorted out and here's what it looks like :
1. economics
2. english
3. biology
4. math
5. media studies
6. music
so as far as school goes, class-wise, it looks pretty good although i couldn't take horticulture (which is a total bummer). after that, i was walking through the hallways and was greeted by more stares as well as, "so YOU'RE the American!" but it didn't feel to weird, although i can already tell the first couple of days are going to be tough, as i have no friends there.
but the day continued and i went up to the waitakere ranges with my host day Paul (who is a total boss) and hiked around in the dense jungle (they just call it the bush). after that though, i began to feel this immense homesickness which has, for the last few days upon my coming here, lingered with me. i can't really seem to get over it and right now, between the not really having many friends and not knowing the area and what to do, i really just feel sort of bad. the area is beautiful and i feel like a total brat for not being super appreciative of it, but it's really very hard with my friends and family so far away from me. i guess that this is mostly stemming from my (pretty ignorant) perceptions and expectations of what new zealand would be. i figured it would be adventure 24/7, between hiking, surfing and outdoorsy type stuff, but what i'm finding is that here, at least, it doesn't seem to be that. i think my expectations were definately unrealilistic (misspelled), but i didn't figure i would miss my home this much and be doing a whole lot of nothing this much.
but i guess this is just a part of it, just a dimmer chapter in my experience here.
hopefully, i can get over this hump and into my real experience, but i guess i'll just take the good with the bad. in a lot of ways, this is a very real part of the experience itself, and it's hard, but maybe it'll make me stronger as a person.
i don't know, really, but i'll figure it out, more so, i think these times will help me figure myself out so i can get out there into the new zealand that is the adventure that it is portrayed to be.
1. economics
2. english
3. biology
4. math
5. media studies
6. music
so as far as school goes, class-wise, it looks pretty good although i couldn't take horticulture (which is a total bummer). after that, i was walking through the hallways and was greeted by more stares as well as, "so YOU'RE the American!" but it didn't feel to weird, although i can already tell the first couple of days are going to be tough, as i have no friends there.
but the day continued and i went up to the waitakere ranges with my host day Paul (who is a total boss) and hiked around in the dense jungle (they just call it the bush). after that though, i began to feel this immense homesickness which has, for the last few days upon my coming here, lingered with me. i can't really seem to get over it and right now, between the not really having many friends and not knowing the area and what to do, i really just feel sort of bad. the area is beautiful and i feel like a total brat for not being super appreciative of it, but it's really very hard with my friends and family so far away from me. i guess that this is mostly stemming from my (pretty ignorant) perceptions and expectations of what new zealand would be. i figured it would be adventure 24/7, between hiking, surfing and outdoorsy type stuff, but what i'm finding is that here, at least, it doesn't seem to be that. i think my expectations were definately unrealilistic (misspelled), but i didn't figure i would miss my home this much and be doing a whole lot of nothing this much.
but i guess this is just a part of it, just a dimmer chapter in my experience here.
hopefully, i can get over this hump and into my real experience, but i guess i'll just take the good with the bad. in a lot of ways, this is a very real part of the experience itself, and it's hard, but maybe it'll make me stronger as a person.
i don't know, really, but i'll figure it out, more so, i think these times will help me figure myself out so i can get out there into the new zealand that is the adventure that it is portrayed to be.
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