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