Term 4 Life - MP

Term 4 has ended. We are officially on summer holidays until the end of January (6 weeks). 

Looking back on Term 4, I realize that I've become a part of some important teams at Onehunga High School. 

The Maths Department is made of a dozen staff members. There are some rookie teachers at the start of their careers and then some seasoned veterans. The Maths Department over the recent past has undergone some significant changes in staffing and leadership. It now looks for stability and to move forward with a more clear vision. This folks, with the leadership of Joanne and Mark, are the future of the Maths Department. 

I was invited to help supervise the Year 10 Camp that happens during the last full week of school. All Year 10 students are encouraged to participate in a 2.5 day camp experience and do two Out-of-Class-Learning-Experiences (Field Trips). The week is a huge part of High School culture in NZ. Many schools do Camps and a full week of special activities. Jonah and Siena get their "Camp" experience in Year 8 next school year during Term 1 prior to our departure to Australia. 

These are the leaders of Year 10 Camp. We were up at camp all week long. It was a privilege to work along side these cool people. We sent the kids home on Friday with their group leaders and supervising teachers so we could give the camp one last clean. Then, we followed with tradition stopping at the local Mangawhai Pub for one pint. 

During camp, students had the opportunity to participate in three major activities; kayaking, learning about surf rescue from life guards at the beach and completing the Mangawhai Survivor Challenge (an experience with many different team building activities and challenges). Here is a group of students rafting during their kayaking experience. Major activities were mixed with many minor activities such as; a haunted walk at night, cooking dinner on a coleman stove, camping in a tent, swimming, going down a water slide, basketball, frisbee and many others. Students completed many of these activities for the first time during camp. They "gave it a go" with a positive attitude! 

Random pic - sometimes Jonah and Siena bunk together. This is how they were sleeping one night when we went in to kiss them goodnight before our adult bedtime.  

I took on the coaching responsibility of the Junior Boys (Year 9 and 10) Touch Ruby Team this term. This sport has not really made it to Canada. Some Canadian rugby teams will play a dumbed-down version of it as a warm-up or cool-down. It's a fast paced, highly skilled, strategic game. A team has six touches to advance the ball and to score a try. There are many systems and tactics that can be used to invade the opponents territory. These boys were the devoted players that tied 3rd in the league.
Pretty good considering the unfortunate circumstance that saw the 1st and 2nd place teams ending their season with a brawl involving fathers, players and coaches.

Never fall asleep on a New Zealand beach without sunscreen. Trust me.  

Christmas is very different in the Southern Hemisphere. Since it's the beginning of summer it is very weird trying to wrap our heads around a Christmas Spirit that we commonly associate with colder weather, snow and family. We've decided not to decorate a Christmas tree which can be purchased here. Instead we created our own Christmas tree with sea glass, a scrap piece of wood and some glue. Siena and Jonah are certain that Santa will still be able to find it! 

We all contributed to making this piece of art!

While Jonah has concentrated on sailing, Parkour and doing flips, Siena has joined a netball team with many of her friends from Belmont Primary School. They train once a week and play a game every Saturday morning during Term 4. Siena likes to play Goal Keep which is a defensive position. She hopes some skills transition back to hockey for when we return to London. 

Random pic - I've been able to get to sleep earlier here in NZ. Which means I get up earlier so I beat the traffic out of Devonport on school days. On weekends, I have time in the morning to read, check social media and do tours to the Farmer's Market or on this morning go to the top of North Head for sunrise. This is the sun rising over Devonport and Auckland.

Sunrise over the Wiatemata Harbour.

We will definitely be updating the blog over the next 6 weeks as we go on Summer adventures.

Upcoming:

1. Xmas in the Coromandel

2. New Year's with Scott, Kristin, Zyler and Taya in the Bay of Islands

3. Touring the South Island for 3 weeks.

4. Other Auckland area adventrures

Bye for now,

Mike

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas LP

Well, actually, not really at all:) I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that it’s December. The weather over the past month has been spectacular, 24+ and sunny each day. And the sun is VERY hot here. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I had to put sunscreen on my legs @ 9am last Saturday morning while I was watching Siena’s netball game so I wouldn’t get burnt. 

Time is ticking along and today marks the official beginning of our 6-week summer holiday, although if I am being honest, mine has kinda started already...the senior School has finished for the year, so no more relief teaching for me this year. What’s a girl to do?! 

A brief update on our latest events:

Last weekend we tried to get ourselves into the Christmas spirit and took the ferry into the CBD for the Santa Claus Parade. It was a horrible experience, never again! It was BUSY and LONG and HOT. We stood around, 10 people deep in the crowd and waited an hour for the parade to get to us and then the parade was an hour + long. There were some cool floats, but nothing spectacular enough to WOW us:)

Siena’s netball team wrapped up a fun season with a win on the court and a win for best dressed team. They were the Belmont Beestings. 

Siena qualified in high jump for her the interschool athletics day, where she ended up placing 2nd in her 9-year-old girls category. 

And...LICE...grrrr! Until now, both kids had managed to avoid getting lice...and if you know me at all, it’s a bit of a ‘thing’ for me, something I have always dreaded because of S’s long, blond and curly hair. What can I say, I called in sick (not cool as a relief teacher...oops!) and spent the better part of 7 hours picking through Siena’s hair section by section to get all of the eggs. We then treated her hair with coconut & tea tree oil overnight for 3 nights in a row. I was diligent all week and think we have eradicated it. Of course, not without ME managing to get it too. ARGH! Mike was a Saint and picked through my hair...but fortunately we found it early & it took much less time! Let’s hope THAT is behind us FOREVER!!

One day last week I ran into Jonah down at the beach during school. I took my PE class down (yeah, like that would ever happen at home!) and Jonah was down there with his ‘Get Fit Fast’ elective. I couldn’t pass up on the photo op and fortunately Jonah still thinks I am cool enough to take a picture with me:) As you can see, I was not dressed to teach PE that day!

In other big news, last weekend we booked four tickets to Cambodia in May. I have been keen to take the kids somewhere culturally very different and during my research, Cambodia really piqued my interest. I figure that we are as close as we will ever be to SE Asia, so why not, right?! We still have lots of planning to do, but I am very excited about our 2-week adventure. 

Next week is a big week of end of year prizegivings, Secret Santas, picnics and then school holidays begin. 

We are very much looking forward to celebrating Christmas ‘Kiwi style’, on a beach in the Coromandel with kayaks, body boards & a BBQ.

Stay tuned for our Merry Christmas from New Zealand message. XO

Sushi Making with Friends - SP

On October 21st I went to my friend Nanae’s  house with Milla. We were going to have a sushi lesson taught by Nanae’s mom Etsuko. First, Etsuko showed us how to put the rice onto the seaweed.

Soon after that, she showed us how to put the filling or groceries inside and how to wrap it up. Finally it was time to make ours. Once we were finished we went and got Etsuko to cut it up into pieces. We kept doing this and doing it over again. Then Nanae’s mom got a sushi roller and tightened some of our sushi. One time I made a really fat sushi everyone laughed. This was lots of fun mostly because I have never made sushi before. We had sushi for dinner and finally after a long fun party my mom came to pick me up.  

We took some sushi home and dropped off Milla. But my mom started to chat with Milla’s parents, Claudia and Craig. After a long time chatting away it was time to go home for bed.

Sent from my iPad

A Slice of Jonah's Life - MP

This kid loves to move.

Jonah has started to learn how to lead climb. I've obtained my lead certificate to belay him at two different gyms. We go once or twice a week to climb. He likes it but misses Junction and his teammates.

If there is a tree to climb then he will climb it.

Last weekend we went to Bethell's Beach on the west coast of Auckland. We body surfed and slide down the sand dunes!

The surf was messy and rough. There were life guards on duty and we stayed at belly button level.

Jonah has fallen for Parcour and Free Running. He's starting to work on front and back flips. At Takapuna Beach there is a kids' park that has a small trampoline-like structure.

He also convinced two friends to go with him to Flow, a gym focused on Parcour and Free Running.

On the way to dinner (or whenever out in public) Jonah looks to climb over or onto things.

Later that same night, we took a walk along the beach. Jonah climbed and did push-ups.

Jonah, we love you to the moon and back!

All of these videos and pictures were captured within the last 2 -3 weeks! Coming soon a blog focused on Siena's recent activities...

Senior Prize Giving (a.k.a. Graduation) - MP

It is week 4 of an 8.5 week long Term 4. At the end of Term 4 we have a six week summer holiday. We will be off from December 14th until late January.

Year 11, 12 and 13 students are required to write NCEA standardized exams across the country during the last weeks of Term 4 to earn credits that are tracked towards graduation. These standardized tests are also used for entrance into universities. Each exam is written at a specific time. For example, the Probability Exam is written at 2:00 PM on Friday 24 November (format for date in NZ). Senior students have no classes during the last weeks. They are at home studying or visit the school to study in a study hall or meet with teachers for tutorial sessions.

Senior Prize Giving is scheduled prior to the seniors leaving school during week 4, prior to exams. The ceremony takes place during the day, in the Assembly Hall. Whanua (extend family) are invited and it's a big deal! Here are three students smiling after the Prize Giving.

Over the past 6 years, I was honoured to sit on stage, shake hands and congratulating all the students. This time, I sat in the audience. It was nice for a change to watch from the floor. I helped to organize the stage and all the awards. Many students received large sums of scholarship money for their achievements! To start the ceremony, the Kapa Haka group performed a traditional Maori welcome.

A Pacific Island tradition is the Lolly Lei. When students receive an award, their family and friends meet them at the stage and present them with one or more Lolly Lei (I think there are no plural words in Pasifica languages). These lei are made from plastic wrap, chocolate bars and streamers. They are quite colourful!

Sometimes, family members even walk right up on stage to present their lei to the award winner or the presenter as a sign of respect.

The jazz band performed a Ray Charles piece with Elijah as the lead singer!

Two times during the ceremony, students performed their haka to show respect and congratulate award winners. Our school has a Services Academy that supports students to train for a career in the NZ military. These two award winners were recognized by their peers for their outstanding accomplishments.

Overall the Senior Prize Giving was a fantastic event to witness and celebrate. Afterward an afternoon tea (snacks) were hosted in the gymnasium for all students and their whanau.

Junior classes continue until Tuesday 12 December. Year 9s and 10s continue to complete their studies. Year 10s have the opportunity to go "on Camp" for one week at the beginning of December. They would spend two nights and three days camping and take two other full day field trips during that week. I've volunteered to go camping for the entire week!

Senior exams are administered by the New Zealand Qaulifications Authority (NZQA). This arm's reach organization is like EQAO but they administer the exams too. So, teachers are not responsible for organizing or supervising the exams. We were told this morning that we need to stay far away from the hall during the exams so we do not interfere. 

All the best to all of you,

Mike

October and November Update - LP

Mike has kindly been keeping our blog post relatively up to date the vast majority of the time, so I thought perhaps it was my turn to contribute.

As his last post indicated, we had a lovely visit with my Mom when she was here for the October school holidays. Check out his last post for details on her visit.

We are now starting week 4 of term 4, leaving only 5 more weeks until our 6 week summer holiday. Some exciting news on that front, my brother, sister-in-law, nephew and niece (Scott, Kristin, Zyler and Taya) are coming to visit us over the summer holidays...something we are all very much looking forward to!

For now we are all keeping busy with school and activities. Jonah is very much enjoying his sailing course on Sunday mornings. He is gaining more confidence each week which is awesome to see!

Tuesdays after school both kids are taking tennis lessons at the local racquet club. Sorry, no pictures of that yet, but they are both enjoying it and improving each week.

Although we set our expectations low for Halloween, relative to North American Halloween, we ended up with two events and were VERY impressed with the effort that several local families made in decorating their houses and handing out lollies to the kids. The first event was the Friday night before Halloween when a local community group hosted the Bayswater Halloween Trail. They had decorations and people dressed up handing out lollies all along a walking trail and a free sausage sizzle. Fortunately it was a warm and sunny evening, so it was enjoyable for all.

On the 31st, one of Siena's friends had us over for a bite to eat and to go trick-or-treating. Claudia is a professional make-up artist, so Siena's vampire make up was fantastic and she even mastered the straight face:) Jonah did an awesome job of creating his own Rubik's cube costume. Lollies (candies) are given out instead of chocolate bars. There is always room for improvement.

Last week I had a bonus day off, so I got to spend a few minutes with Siena at school and then I got to watch J's athletics day. It was nice to spend some extra time with each kiddo separately!

A sneaky little bakery treat after J's athletics day:)

Siena has started Netball on Saturday mornings with some friends from school. It is recreational and pretty casual, but they are working hard, having fun and improving each week.

She got her first goal on Saturday.

Last Friday Siena had a "mufti day" at school. It is often a fundraiser and for a "gold coin" donation, students don't have to wear their unforms to school for the day. To top it off, we decided to straighten Siena's hair for the day. It's always fun to hear everyone's reaction when they see her with straight hair for the first time:)

As for me, I have just recently joined the gym at the local racquet club. It's small, but the membership is reasonable and it's close to home. I am in the process of convincing my body AND my brain that I can get up and work out early in the morning. Somehow the evenings just get away from me...they don't seem to be about me anymore...funny that eh?! I'll keep you posted on my morning workouts...today I set my alarm for 5:45am and if you know me at all, that is off the charts early for me!! I have to admit, it does feel good once you get up and going. I have also signed up for a Pilates session at 6:15am on Wednesdays for the next 6 weeks...it is something I have always wanted to try, so why not?! 

Well, I think that has you pretty much up to date (and hopefully not asleep:)

We hope that all of you are keeping well. 

XO

Northland, Bay of Islands and Paihia Part 2 - MP

On the way home from the west coast we stopped at these cool looking boulders along the Hokinga Harbour. Formed from a volcanic eruption many years ago they make for a great photo. A short hike down the beach from the car park was all that was needed to find this fun boulders. 

If one kid has a picture with mommy, then the other kid must too. Mommy doesn't mind. 

Jonah tried to create some bouldering problems on it but found them too difficult. 

The drive back was a long trip and everyone was exhausted.  Once home, left Grandma to recover from a long trip and we dropped into Matauri Bay (10 minutes from the BnB) to visit friends that we haven't seen in years. Rachel, Shonty and their kids were having a beach campfire. They invited us to crash it. We took in the night sky showing all it's Southern Hemisphere constellations seeing the southern cross and the well defined Milky Way. 

The next day we booked into a Bay of Islands cruise that travelled out to the Hole in the Rock. This was a magnificent three hour cruise taking in many of the sites within the Bay. We had a great time going through the hole, seeing the lighthouse at Cape Brett and snapping photos of many dolphins. We also saw Motuarohia Island (Roberton Island) and Urupukapuka Island. Both islands look beautiful from the water and we hope to explore them the next time we're visiting...

 

On the way home, we got silly with pictures. The wind doesn't seem to affect me as much as the others. Paihia is over my left shoulder and Russell is off to the left in the picture. A short ferry ride can get you to and from Paihia and Russell. 

My tattoo is almost healed. It takes about 10 days for the entire tattoo to heal. I've had some compliments already. 

Sometimes the drives can get a bit silly. To pass the time Jonah seems to like making silly faces into stolen iPhones. When I am not driving, I tend to be a pillow or Tickle-Me-Elmo (sometimes both at the same time). Sometimes kids play on their mini iPads until we yell at them to look out the window at another hill, valley or body or water. 

Grandma's trip has come to an end. We've loved showing Grandma parts of the North Island. It's been an absolute pleasure spending time with her in Auckland, Taupo and Northland. We will all miss her for the rest of our trip. She is kind and caring and up for an adventure. Kudos to her for flying half way around the world to visit us for the past three weeks. We will drop her off to the airport this evening. As she says, we wish her, "safe home".

Northland, Bay of Islands and Paihia Adventure - MP

For the last part of our Spring two week holiday we rented an Air BnB north of Paihia and the Bay of Islands. We arrived to the house in Te Ngaere Bay to witness this amazing view for four days and nights. Being very remote and on the east coast the views of the stars and sunrises were absolutely amazing. 

This was Grandma's last leg of her vacation from retirement back in London, Ontario so we wanted to show her the sights of Northland. Matauri Bay never ceases to disappoint. The kids used their skim boards to body surf on this very safe beach. The weather was at least 2 - 3 degrees warmer than down in Auckland so it felt like summer had arrived early. 

On the way north, we stoppped in Kawakawa for a photo opportunity at Bay of Islands College. Lynn and I taught here for 3 terms, 14 years ago. 

The next day we toured the Waitangi Treaty Grounds just north of Paihia. Having lived in Paihia for 9 months previously Lynn and I have realised that we missed out engaging in some really cool things the first time. We toured the grounds with a guide to learn more about the significance of the Treaty between the Maori People and the monarch. This is flagstaff hill where the original treaty was signed by northland chiefs before it was carried throughout New Zealand to be signed by other chiefs. 

We took in a cultural performance that always entertains!

Afterwards, the kids weren't interested in a photo opportunity so just Lynn and I jumped in.

Later that afternoon, we let Grandma and Lynn have a tour over to Russell on the ferry. They also had a quick opportunity to do a bit of shopping. The kids and I went to Adventure World to climb on inflatable Ninja Warrior obstacles! 

I did most of the photography and let Siena and Jonah work their muscles. Afterward, we were kindly invited to our friends home for dinner. Lynda and Dave are simply the best! Thanks for being such kind soles, even when we eat and run over your flower bed. Sorry!

The second day north, we decided to drive to the west coast. Along the way we stopped at the Wairere Boulders. This next picture doesn't show the large boulders. We all had fun hiking up this stream in and under the boulders. Jonah and Siena rated it a 9 and 10 out of 10 respectively. 

After this stop, we almost ran out of gas. We were in the middle of nowhere and drove past three small towns keeping an eye out for a gas station. There was no luck. Fortunately, the kids trust us so much that they fell asleep while the adults crossed their fingers that we would find a station. We the needle under the E, we arrived to our destination for a lunch break and a re-fill of gasoline!

After lunch we visited the west coast of Hokinga Harbour where I proposed to Lynn over 14 years ago. We had fun re-telling the story to the kids and Grandma. 

I proposed to Lynn at this bench looking west as the sunset over the Tasman Sea. 

Just south of Omapere and Opononi is Tane Mahuta, the large Kauri tree in New Zealand. It was nice to return to this natural wonder and pay our respect to nature and Maori history. 

To be continued... (Lynn and I are heading to a LuLu Lemon sale! While Grandma stays home with the kiddos).