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