Spontaneous road trippin'

I wasn't kidding when I said this.  The wait was getting so difficult that now halfway between January (when I saw Kendall last) and June (when I'm going to see him again), we've decided to meet up... coincidentally, we're meeting halfway between Saskatoon and Minot in a small city in south-eastern Saskatchewan.  He's on spring break visiting family right now, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a spontaneous road trip while we're 7 hours closer together than we usually are.

Hurry up, tomorrow!!!!!

Sending me a letter?

If so, please do it today! Including today, I have only 12.5 days left in New Zealand! To avoid causing Fiona and Sam to forward my mail back to Canada, please make sure you get to the post office asap. If you are not planning to send me a letter, then fine. Be that way. I will remember it, and hold a grudge against you for years to come.

Just kidding. Thanks to everyone who has sent letters and packages - it has been fun getting mail here over the past 3.5 months! I can't believe it's almost time to go home... as they say, time flies when you're having fun!

Speaking of having fun, this Labour Day long weekend was a good one, as we rounded up the group (Fi, Sam, Richard, Kirsten, and me) for 2 days in Wanganui and Waitomo. We saw the Waitomo glowworm caves, and Fish and I sang "Pie Jesu" in the cathedral room, which was pretty neat.... we also went jet boating on the Whanganui River, and visited the Bridge to Nowhere - see Fi's and Sam's blogs for pictures and other highlights of the trip. :o)

Now I'm at Upper Hutt College, where I will be observing music classes for the day (and in the music teacher's non-contact spell I will be sitting in on one of Fiona's maths classes!). I have only 6.5 days of teaching at HVHS left... CRAZY. We're having a few farewell-type things at the school over the next week or so. My Year 13s are having a performance night, and Andrew and I will be performing 2 jazz pieces (vocal/piano), which should be a blast, if we can ever figure out which tunes to do! :o) Then next Saturday (Nov. 3rd) we're having a farewell theme party at our house - you must come dressed as very obviously kiwi, Canadian, or some other nationality. I've got enough Canadian garb to outfit half of the Hutt Valley, so come one, come all!

Must run. Looking forward to camping with Tommy this weekend in Palmi, then enjoying my last week at HVHS before heading off to Brisbane to visit Emma! Yay!

Until next time, cheers!

Road trip time!

In about 15 minutes I will be hitting the road with Fish, Sam, Kirsten, and Richard - we're heading up to Wanganui and Waitomo this weekend to check out the glow worm caves and the "bridge to nowhere." It should be a lot of fun - good times with great people!

It's hard to believe that I only have a couple more weekend left in New Zealand. We're doing Wanganui and Waitomo this weekend, then next weekend I'm planning to go camping with Tommy near Palmerston North, and then after that I have my last weekend in the Hutt to pack my stuff up and say some good-byes! Amazing.

The tattoo is doing well. It's a bit tender at times, but that's to be expected while it's healing. It should be just fine in a couple weeks.

I went to Palmerston North today with Katriona and 2 other teachers, and 17 Year 12 and 13 Art History students to check out the Da Vinci Machines exhibition at Te Manawa. It was super interesting - I was amazed at some of the things Da Vinci invented (the parachute, the life buoy, the double-hulled boat, a spring-powered car, the jack, etc.).... it was a really neat exhibition, and mind-boggling to think how far ahead of his time Da Vinci really was.

Must run - time to start road trippin'!!!! Cheers everyone!

We came.... we zorbed and swooped.... we conquered!

I'm back from a fantastically adventurous and exhausting weekend in Rotorua with Jude, Julia, and Grace. We met up with Grace's friend Jay at the Zorb and spent the rest of the day with him zorbing, swooping, luging, etc. We spent lots of money but saw lots of awesome sights and had lots of extremely entertaining and memorable bonding experiences. I'll do a post of some other pics from Taupo and area later, but for now here are the adventure photo highlights from our picture CDs ($50 NZ worth! Hahaha):

The Zorb ball at the bottom of the hill

Jude and Julia after their ride in the Zorb

Jay, Grace, and I give a thumbs up to Zorbing!

I'm screaming as I pull the rip cord at the Swoop. All 3 of us proceed to scream for the entire free-fall.

Headfirst.... what a view!

The bluriness of the background, Jay's screaming face, and Grace clutching Jay's arm say it all.

Once the initial "pee-your-pants" moment subsided, we were able to enjoy the ride and pretend we were flying.

All in all a great weekend! As Jay put it, it was a "sweet as Saturday" (and yes, that's sweet AS. One 's.' The kiwis say it all the time... basically it means really sweet. This also works for sayings such as "That joke was funny as" or "That test was easy as"). Yep, our trip to Rotorua was sweet as!

More updates to come later. Don't be surprised if the blogging is a bit lacking this week, as I am doing my first week of sole charge (i.e. teaching all of Stephen's classes) this week. Things are CRAZY around here. That being said, I need to get to bed. I've got lots to do tomorrow and I need all the sleep I can get, especially since I've still got this ridiculous cold! Must rest. Until next time, cheers! (Oh, and wish me luck for tomorrow.... WYC is singing my arrangement of God Defend New Zealand and O Canada, and I'm conducting!!!!)

Kiwi road trip time!

Kia ora! Grace, Jude, Julia and I are all heading off on our weekend road trip extravaganza to Taupo and Rotorua, the latter being the home of the infamous "Swoop" and "Zorb" today after school/work! YAY!!!! Grace and I have been planning this trip for months, and it's finally happening! Stay tuned for some hilariously fun and adventurous pictures from our weekend.

Stephen and I just had the most ridiculous and unstoppable giggle fit in the staff lounge whilst marking Year 13 harmony exams. It was SO funny though, and I even said to him (between gasps for air, tears, and outbursts of laughter) that "my mother would really appreciate this right now...." It was hilarious, and we were both being so silly that we could hardly look at each other while we were talking without bursting out in laughter again. Oy! SO funny. I am SO happy that he's my co-op teacher. What a great guy.

I should jet here. Take care everyone, and think of me on Saturday afternoon (Friday night at home) as I soar through the sky on Rotorua's "Swoop" and get sloshed around down a hill in a big giant ball known as the "Zorb." I reckon it will be a fun time with good mates.... add another one to my list of kiwi adventures!!!!

Much love!

Cowboy hats, beautiful beaches, and dead sharks... who could ask for anything more?

Here are just a couple photographic highlights of my weekend. It has been a great weekend - hoedown party at Liz's place on Friday, Castlepoint with Grace, Fi, Sam, Richard, and Kirsten on Saturday, movie night with Grace and Aidyn last night, and then a productive Sunday (today). So far I've cleaned my room, done laundry, finished and e-mailed my Week 8 reflection to my Global Student Teaching supervisor, re-booked my flights to Australia and Vancouver for November, and now I'm updating the blog. Will do some lesson planning today as well. But for now, here are the pictures (oh, and if you somehow missed my massive post from yesterday, do check that one out too! Tons of pictures!)!:

Julia, Jude and I sporting our fabulously sparkly and matching cowboy hats at Liz's hoedown party. The matching freckles are courtesy of Julia and her eyeliner pencil.

The view of the lighthouse in the distance at Castlepoint

Me and Grace at Castlepoint

This rock was HEAVY!

Nice view of the water on a beach at Castlepoint

Yeah, that's a dead shark. Don't worry, I washed my hands. Haha. EWW.

Another section of the beach at Castlepoint