In My Wildest Dreams

OKAY OKAY better late than never

2008-06-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

Yes - sorry I did not have a chance to keep up with the blog. Or perhaps it was moreso due to an aversion to anything with a keyboard, after having spent the past several months plastered to a laptop. In any event, pangs of guilt and remorse have driven me to write a brief update of my trip, albeit after the fact, but only less than 24 hours so. Anyway, Meng and I did in fact go SCUBA diving. But as of my last blog, we had spent our first night in Phuket, at a lovely hotel (pics to come). A beautiful Southeast Asian room, with glass doors opening up to a pool that circled and sinewed around the hotel grounds. The first thing Meng and did, however, once we arrived at the hotel, was crash out for about 3 hours. Then we were able to get out for a bit - went to the beach a few blocks down from the hotel and sat out under a palm leaf bungalow (palapa as I have learned to call them from living in Mexico) drinking watermelon juice. Went for a dip in the GORGEOUS blue ocean, beautiful waves and clear shallow water. That night we ate dinner on the beach and I ordered a less than satisfactory lobster (oh well) but Meng ordered crab with glass noodles that was absolutely mahvelous.

The next day (June 17) we took the one-hour-ish ferry to Koh Phi Phi, a small island that reminded me so much of San Pedro Island (La Isla Bonita) in Belize. Spent the evening walking around the island and ate dinner by the water, this time yummy Thai food so I was not disappointed. We had booked a room at the Chunut house, and although it was a cluster of lovely little wooden bungalows, it was a bit jungly and mosquito-ish. We slept under a mosquito net. Very rustic, in a good way, but not in a honeymoon way. And as I told Meng, I felt like I needed to set my alarm at 5 a.m. to wake my students up for birdwatching. (In other words, it reminded me so much of places I stayed while working in Guatemala that I almost felt like I was working in Guatemala.) Meng was not incredibly psyched either, so the next day we apologized profusely to the nice Thai owner and went to check in at a place we'd found on the beach, called Baia Baia. We had our own little bungalow (with A/C - guilty admission) right in front of the water, which offered much less protection from any impending tsunamis than did Chunut House, but a sacrifice I was willing to make for my (I mean our) honeymoon experience :).

That day we found Phi Phi Bakery, which Meng had remembered from his last trip to the island, and at fresh soft boiled eggs on toast with nice bright orange yolks that one only finds in places far far away from hormone-contaminated soil, or whatever it is they use to make yolks so plainly yellow. Yummy. At this point, after a full afternoon and then morning without any scheduled activities, Meng was about to go crazy with cabin fever, (the man cannot sit still), so we booked a snorkeling/kayaking trip to Monkey Beach, Phi Phi Lei, and Maya Beach. We boarded our little ferry and I slathered on the sun screen, preparing for our afternoon out in the sun. Our first stop was Monkey Beach, so after all of us on the ferry had scared most of the monkeys away, save one or two, we hopped in a little boat and some kayaks and headed toward the shore, to make sure we had frightened off every last one of them. I was fortunate enough to arrive early and fed the sole remaining monkey a piece of banana (going against everything my ecotourism training had engrained in me, but aw he was so damn cute!). At that point, another ferry pulled up to unload another slew of tourists in kayaks and small boats, and my little monkey took off for the caves, dragging his banana bloated belly the whole way.

The next stop was Phi Phi Lei, where we got off the boat to kayak a bit, although the water was quite shallow in some places - and of course, me being the kayak master that I am - found myself barking orders at Meng who was steering in the back. Was a nice little jaunt, but I think I may have foiled any plans to rent kayaks back at Koh Phi Phi. Meng had suddenly lost interest in this idea (hmm... how could it be?).

Our final stop was Maya Beach, where the film The Beach was shot. Was a really nice beach, super clear water, and Meng and I took a brief dip until it was time to get back on the ferry to watch the sunset over the water. Gorgeous.

The next day we went SCUBA diving. Fortunately, my ear did not give me any problems - as much as I had worried that I'd messed it up forever trying to equalize in New Zealand. But, it was fine and we had two very lovely dives. Saw some purdy fish and a sea snake.

THEN the next day we took it easy cuz I had managed to catch a cold. Did some shopping, went to the market for fresh Som Tum (green papaya salad) and Pad Thai. All very yummy but super spicy, even for me. Somethin about them Thai Chili peppers. I don't remember what else we did that day. A lot of walking around. Oh yea! I got my second Thai massage. So nice. Only $10 an hour. Other than that we took it easy, hung out with the folks at the dive shop, I read my book, and Meng got really bored. So I convinced him to book another dive trip for himself the next day. That night we went to this bar where you can challenge your friend to a kickboxing match in an actual ring in the middle of a bar. Two of our friends from the dive shop actually took to the challenge and kind of bashed each other up a bit. Hm. As much as I love to box, that just didn't seem like my idea of fun at the moment. Meng and I thought about going in there, but something about being in the ring makes people forget that it's just for fun, and we thought better about it.

The next day Meng went diving and I spent the entire day flat on my back (except when I was on my belly) on the beach, reading and sleeping. AHHHHHHHHHH yea. Was feeling pretty sick with a cold, but no where I'd rather be in that condition.

On our last day, we went for a tour on a long boat (traditional Thai wooden boat with motor) to snorkel with the reef sharks. Spent a couple of hours swimming around looking for and waiting for sharks - saw about 10 to 15 in total, but by the last half hour I had to pee so bad I just couldn't stand it. And I couldn't seem to take care of business in the water, something about wearing a wet suit and being in a lateral position. Finally my bladder was about to burst and I just took off swimming for the boat, Meng and guide in tow. Turned out it was pretty much time to head back anyway.

That afternoon we did some more shopping before catching the ferry back. Was a 3 or 4 level ferry and we went up to the top where there were the least amount of people. Was nice and sunny when we left but hit a bit of a storm mid way and got to play Pirate for a bit. When we arrived in Phuket we went back to our original hotel. It was still raining so we didn't get to do any swimming but I did take a nice hot bath in the cutest clay tub in our room. Love that hotel. That night we went out for our last phenomenal Thai meal. Took a tuk tuk to another part of the island. I was a bit disappointed that we couldn't find a place on the beach, but we managed to find a little Thai restaurant where the food was so good that I almost forgot I was irritated about the beach thing. Almost.

The next morning we got up early to catch our flight back to Singapore, where we spent another 2 days with Meng's completely adorable incredibly lovable family. His mom is great. She's 72 years old and when we went to the mall, she wore these cute little hipster jeans, a New York t-shirt, and some white copycat Chanel sunglasses I bought her in Thailand. I told Meng she reminds me of Edith Piaf - same hair, same walk, and she's so full of joy and always laughing -but he doesn't see the resemblance.

On our last day, Vivien, his sister, took us and his parents out for dim sum for lunch, and then we had a huge meal at a seafood restaurant that night with his (our) extended family - brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephews. So many courses I don't even remember. Although I can say that I would probably be just fine if I didn't eat for the next week. During our last two days as well, Meng's mom filled me up with all kinds of tonics and Chinese elixirs, so I should be in tip top health. Although I was only able to drink about half of the Black Chicken and Korean Ginseng soup.

AND I STILL NEED TO WRITE about the tea ceremony and wedding banquet, one of the most amazing days of my life. But that's all for now.

Love,
Sara

Honeymoon in Thailand

2008-06-18T00:22:00.000-07:00

Wellllllllll........... Meng and I have a few minutes to surf the web while we wait for our snorkeling trip to leave. Today snorkeling, tomorrow SCUBA, and on the third day she rested. Actually, we've had a chance to rest a bit since the wedding, which was preceded by several days of sleepless nights, not due to nerves (too much to do to be nervous), but rather to preparation preparation preparation. We didn't get back to the hotel on our wedding day until around 1 a.m., then got up at 5 to get ready for 8 a.m. flight to Phuket. Our hotel in Phuket was friggin' phenomenal, and Meng and I have both decided to model our first apt (or at least the bedroom) after our hotel room there. Was all mahogany colored hard wood floors, four poster hard wood bed, glass door opening straight to the pool, which was also uniquely designed and circled the hotel (kinda like the Hooch in White Water Park).

MOre later. Got to go book SCUBA trip....

Lee how eeee.....!

2008-01-13T23:48:00.001-08:00

Yeah--something like that. Goodbye in Khmer, um, I think. Am in the Tokyo Narita airport, which is beautiful and clean and lots of stores calling my name, but I'm trying to resist the temptation. My bags are absolutely packed solid after shopping at the Psar Chaa Market/"Old" Market in Siem Reap, but, man, duty free Chanel....... :) :) Yea, okay, so I already succumbed to the duty free Chanel in the Singapore Airport. Maybe I'll just settle for dinner (and there's this really cool meditation bell in the Japanese gift shop...that's a spiritual thing, right, so it doesn't count????).

Well, last coupla days were mostly (m restful, shopping, massage :), laying by the pool, getting my reading done for class, and, um, making frequent frequent trips to the bathroom. Yes--of course, I just HAD to drink the fresh palm juice from one of the villagers at Angkor Wat. I had a feeling that was not a good move, but where else will I drink fresh palm juice? Plus, it's not really quite the same experience w/o a good case of the sh*$s!!!! (I know, certainly, there are those who would beg to differ). So, being down and out for a couple of days forced me to chill out by the pool, which is exactly what I needed before going back to the 'real world.' Fortunately, Jennifer had been through the same experience a few days earlier and talked me into starting the CIPRO she brought with her, sooner rather than later. I didn't need much convincing. I had already developed a rash on my arm earlier in the trip and was beginning to think that, now with the diarrhea and flu-like symptoms, that maybe I had typhoid or some other wild swamp disease, being the hypochondriac that I am.

Sunday morning we left Siem Reap by boat. Fortunately by that time I was almost back at 100%. We hopped up on the top of the boat, which left from Siem Reap's Floating Village, and geared up for the 6 hour boat ride up the river to Phnom Penh. Apparently, so did all the other American and European tourists in Cambodia that day. We had not run into so many tourists during the whole trip.... There's just something about American tourists that makes me feel, well, "full of judgment," as Jennifer expressed it. She and I shared the same sentiment, so practiced acknowledging judgment and letting it go--pretty much the whole boat ride there. Good meditation :). He he...I'm still practicing a bit, I think, b/c I still feel like I'm on the boat, rocking back and forth.... Mildy uncomfortable, but oh well. (Is this karma?)

We arrived with enough time for me to shower at Jennifer's hotel and get to the airport for my flight to Singapore. Good, b/c I was pretty grimy and in no condition to make a good impression on Meng's sister, who was planning to meet me at the airport. After a good clean up, I made it to the airport without managing to get too covered in dust. Flight was easy, and Vivien was waiting for me as I walked about of Singapore's (incredibly low-key) customs. She and I went to grab dinner--lots of food, noodles with shrimp, fish ball soup, rice paper rolls with something yummy but unfamiliar on the inside, chicken and lamb satay, sugar cane juice, and fish paste in banana leaves. Needless to say, I was quite full and went to bed with a happy tummy after she took me for a drive around the city at night. It was really nice to meet her; she's very sweet, just like her baby brother :). Got 3 hours sleep before the cab came to pick me up. Had originally been assigned a really crappy middle seat from Tokyo to SFO (the longest part of the flight), but upgraded for a reasonable fee to a window seat in Economy Plus (oh boy, 5 more inches of leg room...amazing that this seemingly silly pitch actually works these days, with Economy being so amazingly sardine-ish).

So now I'm here in TOKYO!!!! Well, not really. I'm here at the airport. Gonna go grab some noodles, I suppose.

LOVE,
Me

Tomb Raider

2008-01-10T04:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a very nice mellow day, most of which was spent by the pool, talking w/ other travellers about their adventures in this and other regions... I did go visit a wat (temple), though, in the morning. Went to ask the front desk where it was located before setting off. Knew it was close but upon asking found it was, in fact, just across the street. Went there, lit some incense for the large, golden Buddha and met a nice friendly monk who wanted to practice his English. Sarwat is his name. We talked for a bit and then I went off to tour the rest of the grounds, which are home to shrines for people killed by the Khmer Rouge and during the civil war. Was approached by a young boy who spoke very fine English. He is an orphan staying with the monks, so he gave me a brief, informative tour of the grounds, after which I honored his request for a donation to the Buddhist monks that take care of him, plus a special donation for his fund to attend computer school :). No, not swindled--I am convinced that all people here are in need of and deserve as much help as possible... :)

Last night we went to see the Askara dancers, a beautiful show of traditional Khmer dancing, which included a Khmer dinner. The costumes were breathtaking, and each dance was a story, usually a mythological one. Today we got up, ate our nice French breakfast that is included w/ the hotel stay, and went to see Angkor Wat on a tuk-tuk we hired, plus a trained guide. Both driver and guide were absolutely excellent!!!! The guide, Sarat, was extremely well-informed, told us much about the wall carvings and the mythology behind each. Angkor Wat, well, I can't put it into words. Just breath-taking.

Has been a long day. Tomorrow, market and massage.

Love,
Sara

Su'sadai!

2008-01-08T17:02:00.000-08:00

That's my phonetic spelling of Hello in Khmer. Probably totally off, but guess it doesn't matter since they don't use the Roman alphabet here. Anyway, catching up where I left off... Polaroids in the village... hm..bucket shower.... yes, then a good night's rest under the mosquito net, though the mosquitoes aren't bad at all right now. It's the dry season. A larger problem is the huge amount of dust that is kicked up from the dirt roads. The Many Cambodians ride around with masks on or shirts covering their faces to protect themselves from the dust.

So, yesterday morning we woke up very early to go to the school. I had set up a meeting to work with the science teachers on lesson planning and to review the materials that they currently available to them at the school. We arrived at the school--a public government school that houses pre-K to grade 12. 1800 children attend. They receive add'l funding from the Christian org here in order to do pre-K and to pay the teachers a regular salary. HOwever, the catch is that all the teachers must attend a monthly Bible class back at the orphanage. (It was run by the teachers from Singapore on Monday and went on allllllllllllll day.) Now, I don't have a problem with freedom of religion or with religiously affiliated groups spending money to help less developed countries. I believe, in fact, that helping those in need should be a cornerstone of spiritual practice. BUT, this group, these people are those fundamental evangelicals you were reading about over Christmas, Poppee. So you know, this is not really about freedom of choice. I heard one of the Bible teachers trying to find out how many of the teachers were "non-believers"and how many Buddhist wats were in the area. He was also trying to arrange for a door-to-door evangelical campaign. HE was also telling me and Jennifer how one of the pastors was "given"Spanish when he was workign in Guatemala. He didn't learn it. It was just given to him by GOd after a period of time while he was there. It was given to him so he could preach in Spanish. Jennifer and I turned to each other and she said, "Yea, the silent period,"which is, of course, a part of the normal trajectory of language learning in which you can understand more than you can speak, and then suddenly you experience a drastic improvement in oral speech over time... But, yeah, whatever.

So, these are the reasons Jennifer and I have had to separate from this group. We made it very clear that we are here to help the teachers and students with science, but we will work with the MInister to determine the needs of the schools as opposed to the evangelicals. It turns out, after all, that the needs assessment was miscommunicated by the evangelizers. During my visit to the school, I discovered that the teachers actually do have a fairly decent set of text books for science, K-12, that does in fact integrate community resources. There were lessons on water contamination and malnutrition, as well as animal husbandry. So, after meeting with the teachers, I learned that the problem is not really the lack of a curriculum, but the lack of pedagogical content knowledge--or HOW to teach science. The teachers also expressed frustration with the lack of science materials, making it difficult to teach some of the lessons. They also needed help with lesson planning, so I went over a basic lesson plan design with them and agreed to write up some formats and activities they can use to be translated by one of the women who works at the orphanage (She has been our gracious translator the whole time and speaks excellent English. She received a BA in English from PP Univ.).

So now, the task is to help secure materials for the teachers. I will develop a list of supplies for the elementary science curriculum. The teachers gave me a copy of the science books for each grade level, 1 to 6, and although they are in Khmer, there are many pictures to help me get a general idea of what is needed. On a positive note about the Bible people, they seem to have tons of money (a kind of scary double-edged sword) and will be more than happy to purchase whatever supplies I tell them are needed. So that's that.

Yesterday we caught a bus to Siem Reap. Was a long hot bumpy ride, but we made it. We are staying in a mid-range hotel because we are feelin'the need for a little comfort. There are a handful of hotels in town with a pool, and we are staying at one of them! The place is beautiful. There are little bungalows, it's off the beaten track, and lots of jungle vegetation throughout the grounds. We're staying in a room for $35 a night, incl breakfast. Pretty good deal. Hotels here range from $10 to $1500 a night. Apparently there are some very high end tourists who come from all over, particularly Asian countries, though, to see Angkor Wat. Today we are going to rest up, tomorrow the temples.

Safe and sound,
Sara

2008-01-08T04:05:00.000-08:00

Wow. It's been 3 or 4 days since my last post. Feels like 3 or 4 months. Weird. Well, let's see.

Saturday morning after I last wrote:
Jennifer and I hired a tuk-tuk and went down to the river. We at at the Press Club, which I guess was where the journalists spent a lot of time during the past twenty years or so covering the civil war, etc. Anyway, was a nice restaurant overlooking the river. Then, we went for a massage/facial/body scrub combo. (I know, I know, rough life!) Was 2 hours of body work for $50! Kind of on the higher end of the price range here, but well worth it. Then...we went to dinner with the people who are sponsoring us here, at which point I (and, I think, Jennifer, too) decided that in order to continue working here in Cambodia we will have to make a complete break from this org. Jennifer had informed me that this group was religiously affiliated, but before coming here, she interrogated them several times as to whether or not the school at which we would be working was connected to any sort of outsider religious endeavor/agenda, to which they reassured her, that, no, the task was only to help with the science curriculum. AND, SOO... let me just put it this way: We ate dinner with the organizers who had invited as well a group of students from Jerry Falwell's Liberty College. NEedless to say, I didn't eat much, and pretty much completely lost my appetite when they started talking about the importance of Christian witnesses in such remote areas, particularly in a 95% Buddhist country. We walked out before the meeting was over and waited outside for our ride back to the hotel. However, we remained as diplomatic as possible (I let Jennifer do the talking:) ) and kept our plans/promise to go up on Sunday to the province to assess the curricular need and do some science teacher training while there.

Sunday, to the Banteay Meanchey Province:
We rode up with several other Cambodian workers and 2 very ambitious Bible teachers from Singapore. I endured the attempted conversion in the van on the way up, and managed to survive without biting a hole through my tongue (although just barely). On the ride up, though, we quickly lost our paved road in Phnom Penh for the bumpy dirt roads of rural Cambodia, which is most of the country. The similarities between the countryside here and that of Guatemala were absolutely uncanny. I felt like I'd been transported back in time.

We made it there after dark, and Jennifer and I declined an invitation to attend the (Pentacostal?) service and went to bed early, staying in one of the villager's huts--which was very nice. We each had a mat the size of a double bed on the second floor of the hut (well, the only floor of the hut, which is on stilts, but there are hammocks on the first floor). We slept under queen-sized mosquito nets as well.

Monday in the Province:
Monday morning, (pleasantly) awoken early by the chanting and prayer from the Buddhist wat (temple), I went for breakfast with some of the other visitors. We went to a restaurant "downtown"and I had rice noodles with pork. Ten of us ate and drank for a total of $4....

Later that morning, Jennifer and I went for a walk in the village. We met several of the kids and were invited into the houses of some of the elders. They were the most amazing people--one of them was toting me down the road exclaming to everyone that I was her daughter. We didn't know what she was saying until we ran into one of the children from the local school who spoke some English. When she realized we now understood what she was shouting (My daughter! My daughter!) she cracked up laughing. One older jovial woman who wanted us to come see her house said that her house was very very old (we borrowed the kids who spoke English for the rest of our walk). We asked how long she had been here, and she said she was born in the house. Of course, she has the strength of a survivor. I can only imagine the things she must have seen.

Afterward, we rode a tractor/trailer (no, not what you think--no semi's here) to the rice fields to see the kids from the orphanages working in the fields. Apparently, it is harvest time, so everyone goes to work in the fields all day for 2 weeks to a month, depending on the amount of land they have. All of the kids (orphanages or not) and families go; the children go at 3 or 4 in the morning and then come back to school for the rest of the day. I asked some of them if they ever play sports, but they say there's not much time for that. It was about 45 min to ride on the bumpy dirt road to and then through the fields before we came to the orphanage's plot. Jennifer and I asked if we could help, and though our request was met by sheepish grins and chuckles from the kids, they were patient and kind teachers. We harvested for a bit and no one lost any limbs due to our inexperience with the sickle, and then we rode back to the orphanage. We were incredibly impressed by the children. After just a short time in the field, Jennifer and I were ready for a long rest.

That afternoon, I met with the science teachers to discuss problems they were having. Only about 6 of 25 are actually teaching science right now, so we talked about some of the problems (materials, teacher training) and discussed some simple lessons they could start with, based on resources/problems in the community (sanitation, bacteria, dust, water contamination, etc). The teachers are phenomenal and very eager to learn, but the need here is very huge.

In the evening, we went for another walk in the village. I brought a Polaroid camera that I'd borrowed from a friend. It was a huge hit!!! Some of the families, once they saw some pictures, went inside to clean up and then came back out for family portraits. The kids loved the photos, of course, and I think we nearly started a riot. Wish I had brought more film!

That night, I took an all-too-familiar bucket shower, again taking me back to L. America, but it felt sooooooooo good. I was pretty ripe :).

Well, I've got to continue these updates but I think we're going to eat so I'll finish later. We are now in Siem Reap. I'll explain more tomorrow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LARA!!!!!!

Love,
Sara

Tuk-tuks and sea legs

2008-01-04T21:20:00.000-08:00

Hellllllllloooooooooo!! Spent my first night in Cambodia last night. For the most part, I slept well, though woke up every couple of hours due to weird dreams and jet lag. Still have sea legs this morning. Feel a bit loopy and dazed but relatively okay otherwise. My roommate/professor-adviser-friend, Jennifer, slept in, so I got up this morning to come down and call my Gemini twin. Talked for half an hour on internet phone for only $4! Then went and got more fish porridge for breakfast--thought about diversifying and maybe going for the intestine porridge, but, nah, I'll save my food adventure for the fried crickets at some later point in the trip. Had a cup of STRONG coffee with milk--which is actually sweetened condensed milk just like in my old Dominican neighborhood in NYC. Yum yum. Then they brought me the check which was only $1.50 for the whole meal, but instead of being excited I felt a huge lump in my throat. This is actually one of the nicer restaurants in town and I ate for less than $2???.... When Jennifer woke up she had to go to the bank, so we hired a tuk-tuk (or took-took?) which is a motorbike with a sort of carriage attached. Afterwards we came back and had 2 more coffees (WIRED!) and I ran by her some of my ideas for the curriculum, which she was very excited about. Man, if I only had 2 years instead of 2 weeks... She is meeting with the national curriculum specialist on the 15th after I leave, unfortunately, but I will look forward to hearing how it all goes. Today we plan to tour around Phnom Penh a bit, have most of the day free, then dinner w/ some of the Cambodia Project people. Tomorrow it's off to the province so I will be out of touch for a couple of days as of tomorrow morning. Then, I think we will travel to Angkor Wat. We will have a few days off so that's probably our best bet.

Jennifer has been giving me updates on the village before we go. She was there for 2 days and stayed in one of the orphanages, which is where I will sleep. Apparently there are a lot of orphanages due to parents dying from HIV/AIDS as well as from landmines, etc. Anyway, I"m looking forward to meeting the children, the teachers, seeing the area, getting out of the city. She said the teachers are very eager for help, training. There are few teachers who've been formally trained--obviously. I asked Jennifer about the availability of scientists as resources in this country, even in the capital, who could help out with the science curriculum and teacher training. She's going to look into this, but most academics left the country during the Khmer Rouge regime when any person with formal education (although that was not the only requirement for being designated as a threat to the Pol Pot regime) was executed. More recently, people are going to the university in Phnom Penh, however. So things are transitioning. The Minister of Education just secured a multi-million dollar grant to invest in "Education for All," which is kind of a new thing here b/c formerly education was only for the elite. So, possibilities are endless.

Weather here is kinda weird. Was really hot last night but this morning it's quite cool although now starting to warm up. The cool weather was very refreshing, however.

What more to say for now? I don't know. Only that I am SOOOOOOOO excited, feel so incredibly indebted to the Universe for this opportunity. I hope I can accomplish whatever it is I came here to do, learn, etc... I am too cheesy, but I LOVE this planet, these people, this fascinatingly unique place.

Love,
Sara

Rice is the new black

2008-01-04T04:58:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. How I managed to get here I can't quite figure out yet. Sometimes things just happen, it seems. Still a bit jet-lagged but not too bad. Left on Wednesday, Jan 2. Arrived in Singapore at 12:50 a.m. on Jan 4 after a short layover in Hong Kong. Flight wasn't too unbearable, except for the fact that United apparently is one of the few airlines w/o the personal on-flight video screens, so I didn't really get to watch any movies, but it was fine. Once in Singapore I took a taxi to my hotel, showered, and went to bed. The next day I woke up to BBC, found out that (what?!) Huckabee is the Republican choice for Iowa. Scary. At least Obama won. That's cool although Im still torn between the top 3 (and Kucinich who is my fave but oh well). ANYWAY, then I went for a walk and got some fish (rice) porridge for breakfast in honor of Meng. A very nice woman named Grace came to pick me up after I checked out of the hotel. She is with the organization that is working in Cambodia. She drove me around Singapore, to Mt. Fabor where we checked out views of the city, and then for chicken and rice and sugar cane juice across from the WTC. Yum. I had 2 glasses of sugar cane juice. Delicious and not as sweet as you might think. She chuckled at my inability to properly use a fork, which is mostly for scooping rice onto your spoon, apparently. Singapore is a beautiful, very developed city. Lots of high rises surrounded by water--I mean, the island, not the high rises :).

Grace dropped me and my happy bloated belly off at the airport, where I bought some trinkets for the kids in Cambodia, drooled in front of Starbucks (did not allow myself to indulge), and briefly checked email. On the flight from Singapore to Cambodia, I was served a meal of fish and rice which I mostly picked at, but then we were served rice--I mean, ice--cream for dessert. Happy, bloated belly Take 3.

I arrived in Cambodia painlessly after freaking out a bit on the plane when I finally got around to reading my Lonely Planet and realized that there are no ATMs in Cambodia. You must bring US dollars, which you can use and then get change in Cambodian riels, but apparently US$ are preferred in most places. So I'm thinking, huh, mmm, okay cuz I didn't have many US$.... WELL, as it turns out there are now like 3 ATM machines in Cambodia: 2 in the airport, so I pulled out a bunch of money just in case (I passed another on the way through Phnom Penh--Take note, Lonely Planet.) I exited the airport to find no one waiting for me, except for a few anxious taxi drivers. I hated to disappoint them but I had absolutely no knowledge of my destination and therefore no way of supporting them with my patronage, though they continued to try to convince me otherwise. Just as I was getting, uh, nervous, someone ran up to me with a sign that said SARAH, so I figured that was probably my ride. Turns out, it was. Riding through Phnom Penh was an amazing experience. It's a very interesting mix of thatch huts, "lamina" shacks, and French colonial buildings along mostly dirt roads. Also, motorbikes and scooters seem to be the preferred method of transportation. :)

I got here and was let into the room that I am sharing with Jennifer, the professor from San Jose State who got me involved with the Cambodia project. She was out at a meeting with the Ministry of Education and some people from the province where we will be teaching/developing curriculum/etc. Apparently, the govt is very interested in supporting the community-based science curriculum that we will be developing. Well, that's very cool. Will be even cooler when I have more of an idea of what the curriculum will look like, but for now I'm thinking of several strands to be developed across grade levels, including Health (HIV, water/food-borne bacterial illnesses, etc),. Sustainable Agriculture, Natural Resources management/Ecotourism, Anatomy/Medicine, and Ethnoscience/Community Science Knowledge (medicinal plants, etc). We'll see where it goes. The teachers have no formal science training. It's pretty clear that the curriculum must be tied to that which is both familiar and helpful to the people. Competition in the global scientific/technological arena is not a suitable or realistic vision for the country, but revenue from ecotourism certainly is. Apparently there's been massive logging over the past several years to earn some revenue for the country, but Cambodia is actually one of the countries with the most impressive rainforests and fauna in the area, so to earn income from preserving it rather than destroying it makes some sense.

Anyway, I'm rambling. Met up with Jennifer a couple of hours ago. She brought me dinner--fried egg and rice--a couple of hours ago. She has been here for a few days already--is excited but also exhausted. Tomorrow she and I will explore the city before we take off for the villages.

Take care and write me emails,
Sara

Riding through the twisties, Santa Cruz

2006-09-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

Aptos Creek State Park--sorry so blurry

2006-08-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

News from Sta. Cruz

2006-08-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

This morning it is pretty cloudy which makes it very conducive to sleeping in, which Dante and I have been doing a lot of these days. We're getting ready to go for a run along the beach. Hopefully it won't rain on us, but the typical pattern seems to be cool and cloudy in the morning, warm and sunny in the afternoon, and pretty chilly at night. Yesterday I had a lot of things to get done online and over the phone, so Dante's activities were postponed and he was not happy about it. He's become quite accustomed to waking up and going for a run on the trails at Pogonip, which is some sort of state park near our sublet. I've been trying to branch out a bit lately so we've been exploring some different areas. Yesterday we went to another state park near Aptos, CA, and Dante practiced walking next to me off-leash. We had a really nice time. I took a picnic lunch. The trails are beautiful and not all that populated save a few mountain bikers who came pretty close to running us over. Dante was fine for most of the walk until something snapped in him and he started acting a little crazy and nervous on the way back. That kid is such a weirdo.

I finally found a boxing gym, I think. It's not the one where I'd originally planned to train. The trainer at that gym and I had been emailing back and forth since February, but when I arrived in CA he got kind of flaky on me and never called back. Plus, I get the feeling that I would be the only boxer over 16 (and well over 16...) at his gym, which is not exactly my idea of fun. The downside is his gym is pretty close to where I will be living, 'bout 10 miles away. I found another gym in San Jose, which is 27 miles (thank you, MapQuest) door to door from my new place in Capitola. It'll probably take me 45 minutes or so to get there, but I would try to train just 3 times a week there and do the rest on my own at the UCSC rec center, so I'm hoping I can manage it. The reason I hadn't even considered this gym is b/c membership appeared to be $100+/month, but I decided to go ahead and email those in charge, anyway, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that for registered boxers dues are only $50/month. Nice. Well, I'm registered in NZ, so I need to transfer my registration...

In the meantime, I've gotten my CA license, voter registration, car registration, etc. The only problem is my motorcycle, which can't be registered in CA 'til it has 7500 miles on it due to some sort of bizarre emissions regulations or something. Now, I'm all for emissions regulations, but I mean, it's a motorcycle. Emissions have got to be relatively insignificant. Whatever, though. Trying to convince the DMV of that was unproductive. So now, I can't ride it, technically, but yet I need to put another 2000 miles on it before I can register it. Problem is that the GA plates are also expired.... Hm....... Dilemma. A friend of mine has tags that I can just throw on it and ride the hell out of it til I get 7500 but that's obviously risky. In the meantime, I've parked it in her garage so that at the very least I know it's safe and sound.

Well, that's all for now. I'm feelin' that my GoLean has digested so I guess I can take Dante out for a run, although he's snoring next to me.

Love,
Me

Dante learns to surf

2006-08-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Thought I'd pick this blog back up now that I'm out on the west coast, once again away from my friends and family down south. Drove here from Atlanta a week ago Friday and arrived Monday. My parents came along to help with the drive, which was awesome. Couldn't have done it w/o them. Would've had to transfer to the University of Arkansas or somethin cuz that's about as far as I think I could've driven on my own.

We arrived late Monday night and they stayed Tuesday to help me set up in my temporary sublet, which is way too psychadelic for my taste--the sublet, that is. Not my parents. So I'm here for two weeks, 'til the end of August. I guess I can handle anything for two weeks, although I don't think this place has ever been cleaned. Ever. Anyway, we (me and the dog) just kinda keep to ourselves and that's OK with us. I found a more permanent situation starting September 1. I have a room in a condo with a woman who is an adult ESL teacher. She is older, in her fifties, I think, and very nice, laid back, friendly. The room is a bit small but it will do. The rent is reasonable for the area and it is a ten-minute walk to the beach. It is also right off of the highway for easy access to campus (north) and my boxing gym (south). On the grounds, there are two pools and a hot tub. Not too shabby. One is a lap pool so I think I will teach myself how to swim. (Yes, I know how to swim but not well. I swim froggy style with my head above water.) Time to invest in some goggles. Also, my new housemate has a dog, Chaz, and he and Dante get along famously, so it was actually Dante who convinced me to take the room.

This morning I went to a dog park and dog beach with a girl I met, a friend of a friend. She has a motorcycle as well, so I have someone to go riding with. She is also a surfer and has invited me to go surfing with her anytime. She has extra boards and wet suits. I will definitely take her up on that sometime.

She and her boyfriend have two dogs and Dante also got along very well with them. We met this morning for coffee, then piled the dogs in the back of her truck (she has placed to hook them in), and went to the beach/dog park. It is an off-leash area before 10 a.m. and after 4 p.m. I was a little nervous about lettting Dante off the leash but he had a blast! He almost drowned in the waves a couple of times, but he didn't let that stop him. He played and played in the water, running up and down the beach daring his new doggie friends to join him. He met several other dogs. There were about 20 or 30 dogs total and he didn't have problems with any of them. Needless to say, he will be pretty much passed out for the rest of the day.

I've been keeping him well-exercised since our arrival in Santa Cruz. He was really nervous and anxious at first, buf now he's easing in to his new home and I think he's in love with this town. There are several beautiful trails right near where I currently live, so I've been taking him for runs there in the morning. In the afternoon, we walk around town so he gets used to all the different noises, people, places, etc.

I'm going to Disney land at the end of the month to see my sister and her family. Can't wait! Emily and I are going to have a blast. I'm meeting with my adviser this Wednesday for lunch. Hopefully I'll also be able to go ahead and register for classes so I can figure out what my schedule will be like.

Overall, this area is incredible and I can see why people fork out the big bucks to live here.

Miss y'all,
Sara

Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament 2006

2006-05-29T22:18:00.000-07:00

This weekend I achieved one of my most challenging goals: I had my first (boxing) fight. I didn't want to make the announcement beforehand so as not to cause the sleepless nights among certain family members. Anyway, I survived and I am in good shape aside from a small bruise to the lower lip and a sore forehead. I went with my Papatoetoe Boxing Club from South Auckland. Everything was paid for. We stayed in a really nice hotel for two nights in Taupo, New Zealand.

Of course, there is a story behind the fight. We arrived Friday night and went straight to bed. Then, Saturday the fighters (6 of us) got up early to go weigh in. After weigh-in, we came back to the hotel to eat a "proper" breakfast: cereal, eggs, sausages, and then rest until the fights started at 1 p.m. My coach went back to the arena to find out the line-up. When he returned, he had bad news for me. He pulled me out of the fight. I was scheduled to fight the Oceania champion. She's had over 70 fights and has won medals all over NZ and Australia. I was supposed to be fighting in the novice category. Apparently, (same in the States) there is no novice category for women because there are so few female fighters. I was pretty disappointed. We all went to the stadium to watch the tournament. Later, a couple of the other girls from my gym (who had just come to support) and I went for a walk around town. When we got back to the hotel, my coach was waiting for me. He gave in and said he would let me fight if I really wanted to do it. So, the next day, I fought her. We were fight #79 of the tournament. Talk about anticipation. Anyway, it was a difficult fight b/c this girl has spaghetti arms, meaning her arms are longer than anyone I've ever seen--and she was taller than I. The fight was stopped in the second of three rounds b/c she had already racked up enough points to win. But, I fought the Oceania champion. And, I did pretty well for my first fight, so I am pleased.

My team got me this really nice greenstone necklace. I will miss them. They had become like a second family to me. Okay, well I am writing from a beachside hotel in Fiji (more on that in the next post) and internet is way expensive.

Later,
Sara

Coming to the End

2006-05-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been two weeks since my last confession--I mean, post. I've gotten to know 2 new classes of students this cycle. This week is my last one. Of course, I have mixed feelings about leaving. I'm looking forward to getting back to my family, my friends, my dog, my motorcycle, and taking the next step in my life, but I am also going to miss my life here. I've gotten pretty well-established in the last 4 months. Of course, by now I should be used to this constant coming and going, moving around. Saying goodbye is definitely a more familiar "phenomenon" to me--the ache of impending nostalgia and the lump in my throat that I'm so good at swallowing away are really just facets of my lifestyle, I guess.

But, as I come to the conclusion of this most wonderful chapter in my travels, I will miss...

my kiwi family, Aidan and Bridgey
"my" cat, Snowball--okay, not really ;)
my crazy students
Coach Grant and my boxing team
Camping in huts
Maori and Polynesian culture and people
"morning tea" and "afternoon tea"
"I can't be bothered"
"Good on ya"
It's so "flash" (as in really nice, stylish, or expensive)
"proper"
"rubbish"
"mate"
"Aye" (the kiwi version of the Canadian "eh")
Ginger Nuts (a type of "biscuit" aka cookie)
Ginger Beer
Fush n chippies (fish n chips)
Wedges (big steak fries with sour cream and soft cheese on top)
V (my new favorite energy drink)
The Woman's Day (chock full of all the latest really horrible Hollywood gos')
WheatBix cereal with (fake) berries
Driving on the left side of the road (It's actually quite fun!)

I will not miss:

Having to repeat myself frequently
Shortland Street (the NZ daily soap opera)
the rain
the high prices!
sushi that isn't sushi (b/c the meat inside it is cooked!)
car troubles
turning into the wrong lane (b/c of driving on the left side of the road)

Yeah well here comes the lump again.

More later,
Sara

My Kids

2006-05-15T21:26:00.000-07:00

My kids don't think twice about telling you what's on their mind. My kids throw things. They wear me out. They pick fights with each other. My kids are easily offended. My kids are loud. My kids are BIG. My kids and I have a lot of long lunchtime talks about being honest and kind, having integrity and doing the right thing. Lunch time is not often a time for me to "decompress." Some days I feel like I'm going to pass out, scream, cry, or punch something. But I don't because I have 35 human beings in one classroom who depend on me to keep it together.

My kids are gregarious and hilarious. My kids make me work so hard that I feel like I'm really alive. My kids really do care about each other. They know about community, even though they're at the age where they challenge everything they know. My kids respect me because I respect them, because I take the time to win them over one by one. And it's hard work. It takes a long time to build a relationship. We take risks. We offend each other. Sometimes I don't back down. Sometimes they don't. My kids are worth every anxiety-ridden, panic-stricken, threshold breaking moment.

Flying into the South Island: I discover why everyone told me I absolutely had to visit this place before I left New Zealand.

2006-05-10T22:56:00.000-07:00

Arrival in Queenstown: The Adventure Capital of the World

2006-05-10T22:55:00.000-07:00

3-Day Backpacking trip into the Lord of the Rings territory: The Routeburn Track through Mt. Aspiring and the Fiordlands

2006-05-10T22:52:00.000-07:00

Lake MacKenzie Hut--not too shabby after a 15-km walk with a 10-kg pack.

2006-05-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

View from the hut

2006-05-10T22:47:00.000-07:00

OOOOOOhhh! Another waterfall! (I stopped taking photos of all of 'em--that's how many there were!)

2006-05-10T22:45:00.000-07:00

Didn't realize the trail was gonna go quite so close to it--and I even lost sight of it (the trail) for one very wet minute!

2006-05-10T22:43:00.000-07:00

I've woken up to worse views, that's for sure. This is the beginning of the second day's leg.

2006-05-10T22:41:00.000-07:00

Worth every breathtaking second, even in the rain.

2006-05-10T22:39:00.000-07:00

What?! No stopping? This bag ain't full of pillows, man!

2006-05-10T22:37:00.000-07:00

Side Trek in the Rain...Saved by the leprechaun suit

2006-05-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

Queenstown--A view from the gondola (sky lift)

2006-05-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

We're gonna jump from that thing? Sure! Just don't look down, they tell me.

2006-05-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

And the girl takin' the photo says, "Wow, you look really happy...Do you know what you're about to do?"

2006-05-08T21:22:00.000-07:00

"Okay, on 3! 1, 2 (she jumped!)...3?"

2006-05-08T21:14:00.000-07:00

No, really, from where do we jump?

2006-05-07T03:36:00.000-07:00

Rapunzel, Rapunzel: Christchurch Cathedral Bell Tower and Black Eyeliner... Tee hee...

2006-05-07T03:28:00.000-07:00

Canterbury Museum Christchurch--Riggin' the auto-timer on the cam. It works!

2006-05-07T03:26:00.000-07:00

"Hi Mom! Hi Dad!" from the Blue Mountains

2006-05-07T03:21:00.000-07:00

The Three Sisters, Blue Mountains World Heritage Site, Oz--There's Lara, Sara, and Katie! :)

2006-05-07T03:19:00.000-07:00

Beaches, beaches, beaches... This one is at Castle Rock, Sydney.

2006-05-07T03:17:00.000-07:00

Sydney Ferries: On the bow (I am a pirate after all!)

2006-05-07T03:12:00.000-07:00

Taronga Zoo: I love her and I want to set her free (but she won't wake up)!

2006-05-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

Manly Beach Scenic Walk

2006-05-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

Jeanette's a MUM! Watson's Bay with the Hazel and Leo:

2006-05-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

The Twin Pram!

2006-05-06T16:11:00.000-07:00

Rip, curl, snooze...

2006-04-30T01:11:00.000-07:00

I had every intention of going surfing on Friday. Every intention. But, let me tell you a little story about mind over matter. It doesn't always work...

To make a short story long:

Woke up leisurely on Friday, ate my breakfast--more toast, read The Economist for a bit (not necessarily with the intention of trying to look smart in front of all the cute single male backpackers in the breakfast room, but maybe just a little--however, I think it has the opposite effect). Then, decided to walk down to Circular Quay to catch the Manly Ferry to the beach. Took my time walking. Decided to check out Mooks, one of the coolest stores in Australia, which is located in the Galerie Victoria, next to the amazing architectural wonder, the Queen Victoria Building which is also a shopping center. However, I had already checked out the QVB and decided it was way out of my price league. Anyway, went to Mooks and talked myself out of buying a cute little sweatsuit and handbag. Kept on walking down toward the Quay. Stopped by the Parliament Building and had a little tour after stripping down to my knickers (well, almost) to get through security. Actually, I'm exaggerating. The security was nothing like it would be back home. Walked around, waved at all the men in wigs, nearly walked into an official government meeting, and trotted out back to the street.

I made it down to the wharf about 15 minutes before the next ferry. Plenty of time, no more Forrest Gump. Plopped down to listen to my favorite Aboriginal peoples playing their digeridoos until about 11:20 a.m. when I headed back toward the wharf. Uh-oh. Now the schedule has been changed. No ferry until 12 p.m.!!!! UGH!!! Apparently there was some accident with the 11:30 and it had run into the wharf or something. I don't know. Didn't see any damage myself, but you know, me and ships are kind of like me and cars, although I'm probably better with ships 'cuz they at least they can float along if they break down, right? Anyway, they announced that there would be a bus leaving instead for those who didn't want to wait until 12. Decided I'd go catch the bus, but it didn't arrive until 11:50 and then waited around until 12. Nice one.

Got to Manly about 12:30 and started heading down the Corsco toward the beach when I suddenly felt the need to pass out. From exhaustion, I think. Hm. If I can't even stand up walking then how will I be able to stand up on a surfboard? I darted (well, wobbled) into the local juice bar and bought myself an acai recovery smoothy with an energy shooter (all herbs and fruits, people). Sucked 'em down and went on my merry way to the beach. 'Soon as I got there my mind went, "OOooooooo!! Surfing!" and my body went, "OOOooooo, sand!!!" My body won and I plopped down on the sand where I stayed and slept for a good two or three hours. I saw many surfers out of the corner of my eye, watched a couple of surfing students come and go (picked up some pointers from my right ear--the one not immersed in sand). Finally I woke up, went and bought some food, and came back to the sand where I attached myself like I mussel for another good while. At about 4:30 I made my way groggily toward the cinema. "Oh, look!" says my mind to my body, "There's a 4:45 showing of TransAmerica!" Body says, "Fine. Can we get a gelato first?" SO, me, myself, and my American Chocolate Gelato went to the movie. It was a good one. Felicity Huffman (sp?) was brilliant, although I wonder why they didn't get a transexual or transgendered person to play the part... Same reason they don't hire gay actors (or so they think) to play gay characters? Because it wouldn't be "acting"? Oh, is that why they don't hire heterosexual actors to play hetero characters? Sorry. Soapbox.

Anyway, that was Friday.

Saturday: (My LAST DAY in Sydney!)

Woke up early this time. Still ate my toast in a leisurely fashion and still read my Economist, trying to pick up some cute backpacker. Think it worked although I haven't yet figured out to do once I make mutual eye contact. Okay, I'm thirty going on thirteen. I guess "coyly" burying my face back in the magazine is not sending a friendly message. Anyway, people tell me my coy face looks more like, 'What the *&*@# do you want?" Yeah, gotta work on that one. Whatever.

Then, I walked on over to Paddington Market where I planned to spend two hours and instead spent nearly four, agonizing over all the beautiful things that I wanted to buy, yet feeling it would be highly inappropriate to do so. This particular market was much nicer than the one I had walked through at The Rocks on Sunday. Much less touristy, and everything is hand made by local artisans: jewelry, paintings, clothing, clocks, scarves, etc. All very beautiful and creative.

Well, I may be a shopaholic. I'm not quite ready to admit it yet because that would mean setting out on a road to recovery. I made a full trip around the market, practicing the words, "No, just browsing," before I sat down awaiting a moment of clarity while I chewed on a Thai spring roll. Finally, I made a list of the things I wanted to buy and made myself cross out half of them. Then, I ended up buying the others as well as half of the things I had crossed off. So, next time I should cross out three-fourths of my list, I suppose...

After Paddington, I walked shamefully and guilt-ridden back toward the hotel to drop off my purchases (out of sight, out of mind). Then, I walked through Chinatown and found a Chinese bakery where I bought some pastries--one of those sticky rice balls with custard inside and a red bean roll for breakfast on the plane the following morning. I made my way over to the Chinese Friendship Tea Garden. Walked around and regained my serenity for a bit until the mozzies started to bite cuz it was right around 5 p.m. Tried desperately to holistically appreciate the mosquitoes and the gardens for their innate worth. Breathe in, breathe out, and slap yourself silly cuz them are some bloody little buggers! Decided I'd leave both the mozzies and the gardens in their holistic peace, but find myself another little place to be. Walked over through some sort of Nepalese festival in the park. Thought I would buy myself some Nepalese momos for dinner. I think that's what they're called--they're steamed dumplings. Anyway, apparently all the Nepalese people had the same idea cuz that was the most popular booth. Guess I won't know what's inside the dumplings. I'll get back to you after my next big trip--Southeast Asia.

Finally ended up at Darling Harbour and Cockle Bay. Sat there and watched the sun go down. Then I headed over to a restaurant listed as mighty scrumptious by the Lonely Planet. It was on the other side of the Aquarium all the way around the bay. When I got there, I realized it wasn't a very fun place for a dinner party of one. No place to hide, really. Loud music, boisterous crowds... would be all right with a group of friends, but just wasn't feeling it. So, I jumped on my last ferry and went back to Circular Quay. Ended up at another LP restaurant called Bodha. It was absolutely delicious. Good, wholesome, vegan Chinese food. I had steamed dumplings (finally) and a spicy tofu dish. And green tea with real leaves in it. It was right by the park and next to St. Mary's, so I still had a fairly decent backdrop.

And, that, my friends and family members, concludes my whirlwind tour of the South Island, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia. Now, I have 500 photos to go through and a full day of teaching tomorrow. Entonces, muy buenas noches...

Love,
Sara

Forrest Gump and the Blue Mountains

2006-04-27T04:42:00.000-07:00

TODAY (Thursday):

If you haven't yet read the previous post, you may not get the Forrest Gump reference. Today, I decided to make a wilderness trip into the bush, up in the Blue Mountains, which is about a two-hour train ride from Central Station in Sydney. Woke up early enough to catch the 7:25 a.m. train, then decided before I left my hotel, "Oh look! I'm early!" I don't know how I figured that since I don't have a watch, but I decided to scarf down some of the free breakfast (more toast) and lukewarm coffee before I left. Suddenly, I got the feeling that I might be running late since breakfast started at 7, so I made a sandwich out of my two remaining pieces of PB toast and took off running (not kidding) for the train station. I ran like the wind--choppy wind, mind you, cuz it's not easy to run in big ol' hikin' boots. I got to the station right at 7:25 a.m., but still had to buy a ticket. By the time I got my ticket and figured out where I needed to be, my train had left. The next one was not due to leave until 55 minutes later. !!!!@&@# is what I said to myself. I gave myself a big talking to for being so silly about trying to get a free breakfast and then went and ordered a proper coffee from the railway deli--with an extra shot of espresso. I sat there and wrote in my journal for over half an hour or so. Then, I decided to go to the restroom. After all that, I found myself nearly late for the next train so I ran to the platform to catch it. Yes, I made it.

Got to Katoomba around 10:30. Katoomba is just outside The Blue Mountains World Heritage Site. I walked all the way down the main drag (no way was I going to pay $15 for the double decker bus) and then all the way to the trail heads after getting some info from the YHA. The views from the visitor's center at the trail heads are unbelievable. Then, it was time for some bushwalking: I did the Three Sisters Walk, The Great Stairs, part of the Dardanelles Pass and the Federal Pass straight up to the Scenic Railway. That whole walk was supposed to take 3 hours and it took me about 1.5 (it's the Forrest Gump syndrome--I'm stuck in running mode). Well, then I began to feel a little overly confident and, even though I'd ruled against it before due to time constraints, decided that just maybe I should do the 12 km return walk labeled "HARD" to the Ruined Castle. This is the name of a rock formation in the middle of the Blue Mountains Park from which you can get spectacular views. I sat there teetering on indecision for a bit (but no walking in circles this time) and then finally decided to go for it.

When I started the bush walk around the Scenic Railway area, there were several people around. As I continued there were fewer and fewer and fewer until the only people I saw were coming toward me after having completed the trek. Apparently I was getting a bit of a late start. It was around 1 pm, and most people had started the walk really early as to avoid getting stuck out there after dark. (Close your eyes for a minute, Mom:) I thought maybe I should have told someone where I was going. Or at least I should have brought my headlamp, maybe even an antivenom kit? Well, I didn't. I was just really careful about where I stepped and decided, again, to Forrest Gump it pretty much all the way to the Ruined Castle (yeah, I know--those two things sound mutually exclusive, but they're not--trust me). By that time, I'd caught up with another couple of people hiking that way. I made it to the top of the Castle rock formation and it was SOOOOO worth it. A little bit of a scary climb at the very tippy top, but not bad and the views, yes, the views were spectacular. Panoramic views of the entire plateau and basin, the entire ridge line and the Three Sisters rock formation.... I was a happy hiker. Unfortunately, I pretty much limped my way back down the whole trail b/c hiking shoes are not good running shoes and my heels are completely buggered. Sore. I think I have what my friend Emily calls "heel spurs." Whatever it is, it hurts.

The good news is that although I had no idea of the time (was trying to work it out based on my shadow but not getting anywhere with that strategy), I made it to the end of the trail just in time to catch the last rail car UUUUUUUUP the mountain (the steepest track in the world), and the LAST bus back to town. I actually got off the bus in Leura, a quaint little mountain town, and ate dinner at a little rundown but cute cafe. I had a salmon and leek tart. Then I ordered a slice of Baked Ricotta Torte for takeaway (to go) which I ate on the train home. And, now I'm at the Internet cafe right near Central Station. And I'm completely stuffed--as in "tired," as my flatmate, Aidan, would say. Time to go to my fancy hotel.

Love,
Me

The Baby Ate My Dingo!!!!

2006-04-27T04:02:00.000-07:00

Wait, no, that's not quite how it goes, is it? In any case, I have neither a baby nor a dingo, so just in case you were worried, it was all a big rumour (yeah, I know, I put a "u" in there--when in Rome...). Um, where did I leave off last night? With clean clothes :). LOL. Yeah, okay, Barbara. You're right. I need to find someone to talk to. I'm getting way too slapstick silly just hanging out with myself for so long.

Whoa. Anyway, so after I saw the Fastest Indian movie (was half-price night! :)), I took the ferry back to Steve's place (well, to Circular Quay, and then from there I took the bus. Unfortunately the captain couldn't be bribed into door-to-door ferry service). By that time it was really really late (like--gasp!--10:30) and I still had to take a shower and eat some toast so I didn't get to bed until (GASP!!!) midnight. A bit about the movie: Good stuff. Anthony Hopkins rides the world's fastest Indian, which, by the way, is a motorcycle. And we all know how I like motorcycles. And fast things. So there you go. Not only that, the main character played by Hopkins is a kiwi, so the story takes place in New Zealand and the States. I forgot to mention one very important occurrence. Just before the movie I bought some Gelatto which is some of the best Gelatto I've ever had. Yum.

The next day, I got up and took it easy, had 2 cups of (horror!) instant coffee and some toast. Toast for breakfast, toast for dinner, but toast will never make me thinner. LOL!!!!!!!!!! Oh, gawd, I am killing myself here. I'm the funniest person I know. Back to the travelogue, I was out the door by 'round 10 am and decided to walk down to Circular Quay where I just missed the ferry to Taronga Zoo. So, I wandered around in circles trying to figure out what to do with myself for about 20 minutes. Then I saw some Aboriginal musicians playing digeridoos. It was awesome, enchanting, and so I decided to buy the CD, but didn't have the proper change so I walked around in some more circles looking for change. Finally bought some water and got change. Then I walked back in a few more circles and went back to the musicians just as they were packing up and realized I was about to miss the ferry!!! I shoved the money in their loincloths, I mean, pockets, grabbed a CD, and ran off to catch my ferry. This was now becoming a theme for me: having PLENTY of time to get somewhere and then deciding to waste some of it until I really need to be at that somewhere, and then finding myself busting a move to get there on time. Anyway, I JUST made the ferry.

Taronga Zoo:
So unimpressed. Sorry. I did not like this zoo. I found it depressing and I found myself resisting the strong inclination to liberate all of the animals. First of all, you take a sky lift to the top of the zoo and walk down. Well, they put me in one with a mom and a stinky kid. Maybe the nappies should have been changed BEFORE the sky lift. Then, at the zoo, many of the enclosures were not clean or attractive. I took a pic of the poor spider monkey exhibit just to show you all how bad it looked. I mean, not as bad as some travelling zoos or anything, but I'd heard really good things about this zoo. It did not meet the high expectations that I'd had. Oh yeah, and there were some Italians throwing bacon at the spider monkeys. They thought it was hilarious watching the monkeys catch the bacon. Dude, spider monkeys eat fruit, not pork. It was depressing seeing these animals scrambling for bacon (no pun intended) in an ugly concrete area since I'd become used to seeing them swinging freely through the chicozapote trees in Guatemala (often throwing things at me).

On a good note, I did succumb to a couple of the attractions (yes, I'm a hypocrite) and got my photo taken with a koala. OHHHHHHHHH, sooooo cute! Well, at least I didn't throw bacon at it, 'kay? Also, got to see a Komodo Dragon slip on a rock (I think he was a little embarrassed), a Tasmanian Devil, dingos, a duckpilled platypus, ghost bats, wallabys, and lots of other cool Australian animals. I skipped the Asia and Africa exhibits 'cuz I just couldn't be bothered. And, I was afraid I might try to ride one of the elephants to its freedom.

After I returned from the zoo, I got a sandwich and made myself sit down for a minute and eat it on a bench in Circular Quay by the harbour. Then suddenly it began to rain. Well, I hadn't figured out what to do with myself yet so I began to do this walking in circles thing again. I did that for about half an hour til finally I decided to buy myself a Ferrero Rocher flavoured gelatto. YUMMMY! Then, it began to rain harder so I started to walk back to the apartment. Duh. Why I didn't just catch a bus at Circular Quay, I don't know. Suddenly, it became more apparent to me that I was walking in the rain, and I looked up and realized that I was right next to my bus, the 389, which was stopped at a light. Unfortunately, it was not stopped at a bus stop. Then, the light began to change, so I raced the bus to the next stop and just made it. I'm like friggin' Forrest Gump these days. I seem to run everywhere.

I got back to the apartment and that's when I began to pack my things and move to my hotel in Hyde Park. Oh, that sounds really posh. No, it's a shared dorm in the Y Hotel. I moved my stuff, dumped it, changed clothes, and went to the boxing gym for a couple of hours. That was my Wednesday. Let's see. I don't know if I yet have the energy to write about today. I think I'll publish this one first as it's becoming quite the lengthy post.

Ciao (how do you say, "don't throw bacon at the monkeys" in Italian?),

Sara

Manly Scenic Walk and the Taronga Zoo

2006-04-26T04:20:00.000-07:00

Omigod. Look, I'm just halfway through my Sydney visit and I swear, I am EXHAUSTED. I think it's more exhausting traveling by oneself. More time to think about how tired you are, less idle chatter with a companion to keep your mind off of it, I guess. I think I'm ready to be back home in Auckland, but yet I still have so much to see!

I actually checked into the YWCA Hotel today b/c I was a little worried about overstaying my welcome with Jeanette's friend, Steve. He seemed to be under the impression that I was going to go visit Jeanette at her place for a coupla days and when I told him, no, I was just going to the zoo today, he looked a little confused. In the end, I have stayed four nights in his bed while he sleeps on an air mattress, so I just made the executive (ha--as if there could be anyone else involved in my current decision-making) decision to check myself into a little hostel type place. I am staying in a shared dorm, but only four beds and so far just one other girl has checked in. The beds are firm, at least--not all bumpy and weird like the last few places I've stayed in (except for Steve's), so hopefully my back won't suffer any more than it already has. Now, when I left Steve's and told him I was going to a hotel, he still looked confused and then I started to feel bad that I'd offended him. But, I was feeling bad about overstaying my welcome and now I feel bad that maybe I should have stayed, but, you see, I must always feel bad about something. You would think I was brought up Catholic. Nope. Just a guilt-ridden worrier. Now that I do blame on my parents but not b/c of upbringing. More to do with genetics. Oh, I'm rambling. Back to Sydney:

Yesterday I spent the ENTIRE day in Manly, which is a little coastal area across the bay. I took the ferry from Circular Quay, which was a half-hour ride. I wanted so badly to stand on the bow and pull a "Titanic" pose but they wouldn't let me. I got the next best thing which was to stand in the upper front area (I forget what they call that part of the ship. Damn! I'm not a pirate after all). Took loads of pics. Then, I walked down the main drag which was blocked off to cars for Anzac day, so it was pretty much a pedestrian mall. Made it down to the beach and pondered for quite while about whether or not I would go for a surf. Finally decided against it cuz I didn't want to be wet and gross for my four-hour walk on the Manly Scenic Trail. Headed out toward the scenic trail when I was attacked by a shoe store right at the end of the main drag. I swear, some shoe store monster just pulled me right in and made me by the most chidisisimo pair of boots I've ever seen. Problem was I was getting ready to go on a LONG hike, but found a way to stuff them in my backpack and headed out on the trail. No, Dad, I don't know what I'm going to leave in order to make room for all this stuff but I'm starting to think it will be my brain b/c I'm losing more and more of it each day. Is it the fatigue or overstimulation? Or too much alone time???? Well, whatever....

So I went and walked all along the Manly coastline. It's like a scenic walk on the edge of the city. Goes through small cliffs, coves, fishing wharfs, beaches. It's a really cute walk. Reminded me a lot of northern California. I actually completed the walk in a little less than three hours. I was really bookin' it. I'm starting to get the "Oh no! There's too much to see and not enough time!" bug which is making me anxious but quite speedy, actually. I'm like the little Tasmanian Devil I saw at the zoo today. He wouldn't even stop running long enough for a picture. I had to video him. Reminded me of Dante when he was a wee pup.

Well, after my Manly walk it started to rain, but I made it to the end. Then I caught I bus back the the wharf where I decided to sit my butt down and eat a decent fish meal, so I had some perch. Then, I walked around for another two hours along the beach and down all the side streets, killing time before I went to see The World's Fastest Indian.

Uh-oh. To be continued. My time is running out and I've gotta go get my laundry!

More later,
Sara

No Worries Down Under

2006-04-25T01:42:00.000-07:00

I made it to Sydney! What a spectacular city (I'm running out of creative adjectives for beautiful on this trip). I arrived Saturday night and was recruited by the driver an airport shuttle, which worked out to be much cheaper than taking a cab. Arrived at Steve's apartment 'round 9 p.m. (He's a friend of my friend, Jeanette, who lives two hours south of Sydney). Chatted with him for awhile and then just PASSED OUT. He's been very nice and given me his bedroom while he sleeps in what resembles a closet of a room on an air mattress. The gesture is greatly appreciated b/c I haven't slept on a comfortable bed in quite awhile. Needless to say I've been sleeping like a baby these past coupla nights...

Sunday morning I got up early and Steve showed me the public transport ropes, so I bought a 7-day bus/ferry/train pass and headed down to Town Hall, where I walked through the Victoria building where there are tons of beautiful (there I go again) stores and shoppes. Fortunately for me, most of them were closed, so I just did a bit of window shopping. Then, I walked down to The Rocks, another shopping area. I did less window shopping here and more real shopping. Found the cutest little puppet workshop and bought a marionnette for my niece, Emily, and an Australian animals mobile for my other baby niece, Melanie. I also bought a couple of small surprises for my beloved dog sitters, Katie and Dee (my sister and her partner--my other sister).

Jeanette and her nine-month-old twins were actually in town for a couple of days to hang out with me, so I met them after my shopping spree on Sunday for lunch at the Sydney Opera House. I had crusted kingfish with ginger and bok choy, which she shouted me (that's kiwi/ozzie for "her treat"). It was muy rico. We walked around for awhile, 'round the Harbor and through the Botanical Gardens, and then headed back to Darlinghurst (the neighborhood in which I'm staying) for a coffee. Then she dropped me off at Steve's but I didn't yet have a key, so I walked down to Sulley Hills down Oxford St and (oops--more shopping) bought myself a t-shirt that says :"I make stuff up." It just cracked me up when I saw it so I had to get it for a laugh. Anyway, if you ask my friends it's actually true cuz I have this habit of pretending to know things when people ask me questions and I may or may not really know the answer (it just happens, completely unintentional!). My friend Katie always calls me on it. At least now I've got a shirt to warn people...

After that, I just walked back to the apt and by that time Steve was home. He went out with some friends and I just read for awhile and then CRASHED out on my cozy bed.

Today, I got up relatively early--thought I'd go for a run, but talked myself out of it. Then, I headed out to check out Paddington, another nearby neighborhood with lots of cool clothing stores. Walked the other way down Oxford St. and didn't get too far before I found a store called Sports Girl. Tried on clothes there for about an hour and then put some things on hold while I went to another store called Mambo (Jeanette had already given me a tank that says Mambo Goddess when she left Mexico--everyone always asks me about it). I didn't find any bargains at Mambo, so I started to walk on down the street when I spotted a store called Rodeo Show and a little sign that said, "CLEARANCE." Well, I went in there and talked myself out of (tragedy) most of the things I tried on except for three lovely pieces--a lightweight brown jacket, a teal peacoat, and a black knit sweater (all for about $70 US--and they are NICE clothes!!!) Then I went back and picked up the two things I'd left at Sports Girl--a pair of tan jeans and another jacket. All in all I am quite impressed with my self control, although I don't know how I'm going to get all these things back to Auckland, much less back to the States.

Then I met Jeanette, Hazel, and Leo (the twins) and we drove out to Watson's Bay and had a picnic of fish and chips that we got from Doyle's. Got some fabulous shots of the bay and across it, the Sydney Harbo(u)r Bridge. Also walked up to a point called The Gap and took more photos. A bizarre little extra tidbit: Apparently this is a common place for people to commit suicide. So, a common expression in Sydney is, "Oh, why don't you just go jump off the Gap..." Well, I told you it was bizarre. After that, we went to Bondi Beach and walked around and had some coffee. Got to check out some surfers, although the beach was pretty bare cuz it was quite windy today. Anyway, we didn't stay long cuz it was time to get the kids home. Jeanette is such a cute little mommy!

Got back to the apt and then changed for boxing. Found a boxing gym online and jumped on a bus--was really easy! I got a week pass for $20 cuz, you see, I am new to Sydney and shopping around for boxing gyms.. (wink wink). Worked out for about an hour and a half and I AM SO out of fit (out of shape in American)!!!! I mean, I have been really active these past several days but boxing is different. Different muscles, and muscles that don't generally have a lot of endurance, so here I go again, working my way back up to the proper fitness level.
Well, I'm gonna go home and have some tea and toast for dinner, so I'll be back to update you in a couple of days.

Love you and miss you all,
Sara

Cathedrals, Tattoos, and Backtracking

2006-04-21T19:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, I actually have a few more minutes here cuz the Cathedral took less time than I thought. Don't mean to sound haughty but the cathedral was not all that fascinating. Doesn't compare much to those in Europe, particularly after having seen St. Mark's in Venice not too long ago. Plus, and maybe it's just me, but I don't like the feeling of being the STARED AT little tattooed girl. Guess it's better than having to wear the paper sheath that they made me put on in Italy. A good friend of mine has a t-shirt that says, "Jesus loves me and my tattoos." I need one of those.

I did climb the Bell Tower--134 stairs. A nice little workout. Now I'm getting ready to go get my fringe (bangs) cut b/c it is driving me mad. Don't want to get my hair cut until I can get back to see Lyric in Athens. I did manage to put a semi-permanent rinse in it not too long ago. The blonde roots were starting to show. I'm spacey enough as it is and don't need any "your blonde roots are showing" jokes to add to it...

Like I said, I still have some updates left from Queenstown. On Wednesday, before the jetboat/heli/rafting combo, I got up early and went for a run. Then, I took the Skyline Gondola up to the top of the Queenstown Hill (I think that's what it's called) and luged down it three times. There's this luge at the top and you can buy a pass to ride up to 5 times. There's a ski lift that takes you up and then you luge down. I sort of crashed on the first ride. This little girl became my friend and offered me her guiding services, so she basically showed me the ropes. Then my second two rides were smooth sailing...

I have so many new favorite hobbies: luge riding, Irish jigging, pool playing, bungy jumping....

That night after the water/heli adventures, I did partake in the spa, which is in a sort of wooden enclosure that you can rent out at the front desk of the Pinewood Lodge. I rented it for a half hour at 8 p.m., so I had a nice view of the stars (you can see out the top of the enclosure). It was incredibly relaxing. I really needed it. As we speak, I am so exhausted...slowly running out of steam and I'm sitting here wondering, "What's wrong with me? Why am I so low energy?" Then I stop to think about the fact that I've had absolutely no rest in a week, except for the bus ride yesterday which was not all that restful (probably due to the triple espresso).

Yeah, well... I'll sleep well on the plane today.

More later. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

Me

Christchurch in a Day

2006-04-21T18:07:00.000-07:00

Yup. And that's about all the time I need here. It's nice, but just a big city and you really can see the highlights in a day. Left from Queenstown yesterday morning and took the bus for 9 hours up to Christchurch. Was a gorgeous ride. I did not sleep at all. Stayed awake with my mouth open and eyes bugged looking out the window the whole time, jammin' out to U2 on my MP3, singing "WIDE AWAAAAAAAAAAKKKE!" Okay, it really was beautiful, but that all also had a lot to do with the triple espresso that I had before I left.

I'm really gonna have to go back and edit these blogs cuz every time I find myself writing them I only have like 10 minutes to do so before I have to run off to my next activity. There's so much I want to say, to tell you, to describe.... to remember for myself! I will definitely be adding some info about my travels once I get back to Auckland.

Last night arrived in CC at about 5:30. Made my way to my dingey little backpacker's (hostel) and threw down my bags, powdered my nose (literally), smacked (?) on some eyeliner and headed out on the town. Went out and grabbed a local paper and some sushi and then went and ate in the Cathedral Square. I called Sarah who is also in town with her parents. They arrived a coupla days ago. Anyway, she and I met up and hung out with her parents a bit before they headed back to the hotel. Then Sarah and I went off walking around town and ended up at a little pub where we played three very very mean games of pool. After that we went to Bog, an Irish pub, where I danced my little butt off, learned how to dance like the Irish. It's great fun! A lot like boxing (the feet movement, sort of--well, a lot like skipping rope in a way). Had a blast!!!

This morning got up EARLY to go down and partake in the FREE cornflakes (ooo, aaaahhh) and head off for my full day in CC before I catch the plane to Sydney this evening. Have so far done one complete self-guided walking tour, visited the Canterbury Museum, walked through the Arts Center, putzed around the open air market, and talked myself out of buying fake Uggs (or however it's spelled). Now I'm off to climb the Cathedral Tower!!! More soon...

Love,
Sara

Awesome Foursome Challenge

2006-04-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

Addendum to the Routeburn info:

Forgot to expound on my lack of observation to detail... So on the way up to the Routeburn trailhead, the bus stopped in Glenorchy. The driver had informed us in Queenstown that we would be staying on the SAME bus but getting off in Glenorchy for a 20-minute break to pick up some more people. Well, when I got back on the bus I had to sit in the very back (on the way to Glenorchy I was in the very first seat). I started to look around and think that we had changed buses. In fact, I became absolutely convinced that this was the case. Just before the bus took off, I made my way all the way up to the front to ask people who had been on the earlier bus with me if they had moved their packs. I was afraid that mine was stuck on another bus. They looked at me strangely and said that, no, this was the same bus. I had them assure me that this was so, and finally exclaimed to a bus full of people. "Don't mind me. I think I'm losing my mind." Yes, how smooth am I? So smooth. Yeah, okay. A little spacey.

Awesome Foursome (brief summary cuz I'm about to go sit in the spa that I have reserved for half an hour--one of the few luxuries this particular lodge offers):

So, today I completed the other three extreme feats that were left in my Awesome Foursome package. Yesterday, if you remember, I did the Nevis bungy. Today, I did the

Shotover River jetboating--
A jetboat flies around the Shotover river, careening around sharp turns in the canyon and doing 360 spins. It was so wild. I did not fall out. I had a great time!!!

Helicopter ride over Skipper's Canyon--
They let me sit in the very front. I loved it. I want to get my pilot's license.

Shotoever River rafting--
Rafted through class 3 to 5 rapids. Sat in the back with my very gorgeous Maori tour guide, "Chief." Again, I did not fall out. And I think I'm in love. Oh well, have to leave tomorrow. No time for romantic endeavors and I don't think Chief is planning on moving to California anytime soon.

Just got back a little while ago and grabbed some fish and chips. Mmmmm. Orange Roughy. So yummy.

Off to Christchurch in the morning!

Love,
Me

Mission Impossible 4

2006-04-19T02:25:00.000-07:00

I think I've found my new calling as a stunt double... OOOOOOhhh, where do I start here?

3-Day Backpacking Trip:
Yes, well last night I came back from three days on the Routeburn Track, which apparently was rated as one of the top 12 best walks in the world by National Geographic. It was stunning, although pretty wet the first and second days. Fortunately and unfortunately, I had bought a rain suit a few weeks before I left. However, in my attempt to be frugal I got one that is absolutely impermeable and so although I was kept dry from the rain, I was drenched in sweat by the time I arrived to my hut on the first night. Yuck. Two more full days of hiking and nooooo showers. Guess it was good that I was hiking alone.

In fact, though, one does not really hike alone on any of the Great Walks in New Zealand. There were many stretches when I was completely alone, but it's pretty common to pass or be passed by other merry trampers. The first day of hiking I took a four-hour detour on a side trail with another guy from California. Good thing he was leading cuz my sense of direction is nil. Guess that goes hand-in-hand with my general lack of attention to detail. Well, I prefer to say that it's "deep thinking" that keeps me from noticing my surroundings. (I'm an idea person, 'kay? 100% intuitive and 0% sensing.... What can I say? I'm my dad's daughter.) Anyway, it was gorgeous. We hiked through mossy forests and then grassy plains that were made of "mole hill" type things. Quite a challenging walk. The views from all parts of the track were phenomenal, each one different from the next. Hiked through mountains and valleys and waterfall after waterfall after waterfall. I can't begin to explain it. As soon as I can I will try to put some pics up, but more likely you'll just have to wait for the slide show when I return.

The Routeburn Track winds through both Mt. Aspiring National Park and Fiordlands National Park. Much of The Lord of the Rings was filmed around this track. Now, when I get back I'll have to watch the movies and maybe I won't fall asleep this time (Gasp! Blaspheme!). I spent two nights in huts: one at Routeburn Falls and the next at Lake MacKenzie. They were both quite nice although I'm so glad to be back in a room of my own here in Queenstown. They were packed--50 people in each. I was so worried about someone snoring when as it turns out I was the dreaded snorer. Well, I'm not sure of it, but I have this sneaking feeling it was me. Of course, however, my snoring is daintly and lady-like just like me (rolling laughter).

Anyway, the hiking was just out of this world, and I'm so proud of myself for doing a backpacking trip into the wilderness on me' own. Pretty cool. BUT NOT AS BADASS AS THIS!!!!!!::::

AJ Hackett Nevis High Wire Bungy Jump:
Today I DID IT!!!! I am absolutely off my rocker. I am more insane than I ever thought. Today I JUMPED OFF of a 134 metre (that's over 400 feet) platform suspended on wires over the middle of a canyon. I just jumped, man. I just jumped. I jumped before they could count to 3, that's how ready I was (cuz you don't really want to be standing on that platform anymore). And then afterwards I kept asking random fellow bungy jumpers if they could believe that I just did that. Can you believe I just did that? Cuz I can't. It's the second highest bungy jump in the world, and the only one that is suspended. And, I've got the photos and the DVD so you can check it out. Then you can believe I just did that. First you jump, then you bounce. Then you bounce again. Then you have to reach up and pull a cord attached to your ankle which turns you right side up again so that you can be "reeled in" in a sitting position as opposed to upside down. I did it. I pulled the cord. I am that coordinated. So you see, I am looking into a career as a stunt double. In my next life.

More later. My friend Sarah is waiting for me. (Ran into her--by chance!!!--at the Nevis Bungy! Crazy.)

Love,
Sara

Adrenaline Junkie

2006-04-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it! I only have 19 minutes to blog and publish so here goes. Today is my first day in Queenstown, the adventure capital of the world. The view during the last bit of the flight exceeds my ability to describe. The South Island is as amazing as everyone has said, and I've barely seen any of it. Queenstown reminds me of Switzerland a bit. Today is grey and a little foggy, but still really nice. I walked around town for awhile, ate a big fat lunch, and bought some goodies for my 3-day trek into the wilderness. (Now I know Mom is gonna be losing sleep for the next three days until I get back and online--but don't worry!!! I'm eating my Wheaties.... lol.)

I picked up my hut passes at the Deptartment of Conservation. The huts have heating and cooking facilities, but no pots/pans and the water is untreated. Well, I have my little camping pot but I need to go buy some iodine tablets unless I want to carry HEAPS of water in with me, which I may do, anyway. I also bought a children's book on native NZ birds, since I just finished teaching that unit.

I went window shopping--well, almost. Everything I see I want to buy for Miss Emily, my darling little spunky little niece. BUT, I have to c arry everything I buy on my back for the next two weeks so I'm trying to hold out. I did break down and bought a Aotearoa (that's Maori for NZ) New Zealand Harley Davidson shirt with the HD logo on top of a Maori design. Sweet as. Oh yea, and that's for me. I don't think my sister and brother-in-law are quite ready for Em to become a biker chick (I have a feeling she'll be a handful without my influence...)

I also went to the "i" center to look into other activities for my time here in QT. I am thinking I will do the Awesome Foursome. It is a package of 4 adventure activities in one day: bungee jumping, jet boating, river rafting, and a helicopter ride--an ALL DAY adrenaline rush. The idea is actually quite scary to me, but I figure, hell, I'm in the adventure capital of the world...probably for the once and only time in my life, ya know? So WHATEVER... carpe diem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll let you know if I wimp out at the last minute. I wouldn't be going until Wednesday or Thursday, so you'll hear from me before then.

I am staying at the Pinewood Lodge. It's nice, but dumpy. I don't know how it can be those 2 things at once, but it is. I can't do shared dorm rooms. I'm too old for all that, so I have booked singles for all of my stays, although the kitchen and bathroom facilties are shared. My room is like a closet with 2 beds in it and, although I know it's not true, I felt like no one had either redecorated or step foot in it since the 70s.

I'm having fun on my little solo adventure. I bought The Economist and an O magazine at the airport today, just in case I start to get too wrapped up in my own little world of Sara. Some reading material to keep me somewhat socially connected to the outside world.

On a similar note, I am starting to worry that I am becoming more and more fiercely independent since I've been doing things largely on my own (not without the help of others, mind you)... but I'm going to be so set in MY ways of doing things... it's gonna take quite the man to tame this wild mustang. Hahahaha..... He'll have to outrun me first, I guess.

Barbies! (and Pebbles Flintstone)

2006-04-13T03:58:00.000-07:00

Students in mufti give a shout out to America

2006-04-11T02:27:00.000-07:00

Mufti Circus

2006-04-11T01:56:00.000-07:00

Well, that's weird. I know I updated this thing last week, but it's not shown up. Anyway, who knows what I was rambling on about. Frustrating.

Let's see... last week in teaching: Still teaching the unit on native birds. Last week our homeroom had tech and cooking in the morning when they usually have English and Maths, so we had Block 1 free for planning and marking work. That was nice since there was a lot of marking to be caught up on before the end of the term. I really like the marking system, though. Students complete all classwork in notebooks that they keep in our room in a basket. That way, no student shows up without his/her papers. All activities are glued into the notebook. Plus, notebooks are marked at the end of each three-week cycle-which is pretty much what I did all last week, which gives teachers time to really go through the student's work and give more effective feedback (as opposed to trying to collect and grade every day or couple of days--overwhelming). Additionally, the organizational system allows you to really evaluate how a student is doing as opposed to how well they are able to keep up with all their papers. Homework is only given in maths and English and is marked with the homeroom teacher, so we really don't ever have any science homework to grade except for one research assignment given per cycle.

Well, last week in science class was another typical challenging week and set of behavior problems, but no major dramatic episodes or anything. Just the usual lunch detentions, (sometimes empty, I must admit) threats, names on the board, etc.... However, now that it is mid-cycle I'm getting to know these students better and I really enjoy them--and all their quirks... "A" who really thinks he's a gangsta--constantly asking him to remove gang-related clothing items, "S" who could not figure out how to draw lines for his bingo card to save his life, "Ann" who might as well have Terrett's Syndrome given the nature of her largely uncontrollable and randomly inappropriate comment making in class, "L" who put his head down for nearly fifteen minutes b/c someone told him he had marker on his face, and the generally chaotic atmosphere that pervades most Block 4 classes in the afternoon. I sometimes have to step back and chuckle, wondering whether I'm running a classroom or a circus training camp. Really. The thing is, although at times it's chaotic, I'm getting more learning out of these students as they get to know me and trust that I really do have their best interests at heart. Unfortunately, the next cycle may be an entirely new set of three classes.

Friday the kids had Mufti Day and a disco. Mufti is when they don't have to wear a uniform. The disco lasted about an hour and a half during Blocks 3 and 4. A complete nightmare for the teachers--600 students in the gym dancing (well, some), another 50 or so outside running around--but a well-deserved reward for the kids' hard work during Term 1.

I had a good weekend, too. Friday just went to boxing and learned a couple of new things from my marvelous trainer. He's such the ideal boxing coach. He has a full-time day job at a painting business, but he and his wife run the boxing gym in the evenings. You can tell he's just in love with the sport, and that makes him a great coach. He knows his stuff. He tries to develop each individual boxer's strengths instead of making everyone fight the same.

Saturday I went to the Barbie party as...well... Flinstone Barbie, I guess. I like to call it "Cheap Costume" Barbie. We had a lot of fun. I danced my butt off and then we all went out to Celsius, a local club, and danced some more until about 3:30 in the morning. Sunday was a sleep-in day and grocery shopping day.

This week I've just got two days left and then a two week break. Looking forward to it. Today I confirmed all my reservations for my week in the South Island. After that, it's off to Sydney for a week. I will be staying with a friend of a friend. Will be nice to save $$$ on lodging since the South Island is a bit on the pricey side.

Miss you all.

Love,
Me

Stacey (well, her back), in for an uppercut to the chin

2006-04-01T23:37:00.000-08:00

That's the other woman...blurry, I know.

2006-04-01T23:35:00.000-08:00

Boxing and Barbies

2006-04-01T23:00:00.000-08:00

Well, let's see. Where did I leave off in my last post? Hold on, I think I should go read it before I repeat myself. Oh yeah, okay. Raglan and generic ramblings on curriculum and instruction. Well, anyway, this week has been relatively uneventful. I caught one serious cold and have been feeling under the weather since Thursday, but starting to recover. Just a little tired and achey. I went to buy cold medicine on Friday--thought I must be getting some really powerful stuff cuz the pharmacist asked me for my identification and the meds cost me $30 including the lozenges (about $20 US). Turns out what I got was an ibuprofen/pseudophedring combo. Wow. So, like Advil Sinus or something. That's okay. Today I paid $20 for contact solution. It's just what things cost here. When in Rome, pay like you're in Rome...

This week in teaching... We have a new cycle of students which means 3 new sets of 30-35 students each--all year 8's. They are a tough bunch. It's a bit difficult 'cuz the cycles change every 3 weeks which means just when you've got one class working the way you want them to, you get entirely new classes. That's a bit rough on me since my classroom management is largely based on creating a rapport with each student. Hence, the tough as nails strategy all over again... I made one class line up and come in 4 times last week. And, still, four or five of them looked like didn't care if I made them do it all period, even though I was making them come back to finish the lesson during their lunch period. Wow. Well, I finally got them settled and we conducted the lesson in complete silence. The purpose of all this is to set the standard so that we can do more interactive things later without too many discipline issues, but-again, by the time later comes we get a new set of students. So, mostly this week's lessons on native birds of New Zealand have been based on independent work. Not highly satisfying for me or the students... Hopefully this week and next will be a bit smoother and we can do some cool things. I hesitate to report all of this because the last thing I want is for people to think, "Oh, it's THOSE kids...." It's not about that at all. Partly, yes--it's a different set of management strategies that reflect to a greater degree the type of discipline the kids respect in their homes, which is not necessarily well-matched to a White upper and middle class type of discipline system. And, also, there's the cultural difference that often with working class non-mainstream families, often parents/guardians expect you as the teacher to handle discipline in school, while they handle discipline at home. This means that a phone call or not home does not always effect the kind of behavior management that one might desire. The kids and the families expect you as the teacher to be the disciplinarian, to be able to manage the class. So, it's not bad or wrong, just different... and makes me wonder then if the school organization is as ideal as I originally thought. Although I think the principal is AMAZING, I do think that the 3-week cycle system leads to less risk-taking and creativity in instruction throughout the year. I believe that if I had the same classes for the entire four-month period that I am teaching here, things would be much different. People ask me was it easier or more difficult teaching in the Bronx, and my initial response is "easier," but I really do think that's because, although I had 150 to 180 students total, I had them for the entire year--enough time to work with and get good work out of almost each one of them. I would put up quite a fight if the administration tried to remove any student from my homeroom. Just leave them there. They need some element of consistency.

Well, on the social side of things, everything is fabulous. My flatmates are trying to get pregnant. I keep telling them they should just adopt me instead. They may actually be tempted :). On Friday we went out to dinner with some of Bridge's friends, then went to hear some live music. Was pretty fun. Then, Saturday Bridge and I went out for sushi and did a bit of shopping. I came back home and just chilled out, took a nap, until some people from my boxing gym came to pick me up and take me to ABA stadium that night. There were some fights going on. I was actually invited to fight, but my coach wants me to wait a couple of months. The girl I would have been fighting has had more than 100 bouts. Not a good match, he thought, even though it would have just been an exhibition fight. Too many promoters and she might get tempted to show off. Anyway, she ended up fighting (see blurry pic above) another girl anyway and actually lost by one point. It was a great fight,though. There were 6 total and the women's fight was probably the best, the most action packed. The other woman was in amazing shape--a trained kickboxer although this was a straight up boxing bout. Stacey, the girl I train with, had been sick all week and wasn't up to par although she still fought really well. The rest of the fights were mediocre except for one. Some of these guys, they're supposed to be pros, and they just get up there and jab jab jab. Boring. Same thing happens in the States. Anyway, no one except for Stacey from my gym ended up fighting because their opponents backed out at the last minute. Was kind of depressing for them. They'd been training so hard. But, it was something different to do and I had a really good time. 'Course I want to fight now! (Sorry, Mom. But don't worry--won't be any time soon. Anyway, it satifies my devious side and keeps me out of trouble!!)

Today, Bridge, Sarah, and I went to this costume place cuz we're going to a "Barbie Party" next week and we all have to dress up as some sort of makeshift Barbie. Anyway, I decided to do something easy and I'm going as "Flintstone Barbie," specifically Pebbles Barbie, although could also be "Cavegirl Barbie" or something. Anyway, I rented these animal print tall boots, a club, and a Stone Age looking necklace made from mammoth's teeth (okay, not really). Now I've got to go buy a doggie bone for my hair. Should be fun. The rest of today has been chill. Went grocery shopping and then got some work done for my student teaching portfolio. Had rented a movie but started to play it and realized I'd rented it like three or four months ago. Okay, no I've not been hit in the head too many times--that kind of short-term (lack of) memory runs in the family.

Love,
Me

Point Break

2006-03-26T21:44:00.000-08:00

Well, I have been absolutely slack about keeping up with this here blog over these past 2 weeks. Things have gotten busier at school and I just got a little behind (HA! No actually it's never going to be little but that's okay--yes, pun intended). Anyway, school has been stressful but manageable. I struggle with the inability to experiment with different instructional strategies due to the nature of the school's structure as well as my situation as both a student teacher and an international visitor. Keep having to remind myself that I am not here to do action research but to fulfill a certification requirement. However, being "me" means trying to make as much MEANING out of everything as possible, which can be a little exhausting but I guess in the long run it's both a defect and an asset. (Aren't they all?) In the meantime, I teach what I'm told to, how I'm told to, and maintain highly professional and respectful relationships with my colleagues. (Omigod, I am getting old...)

The kids are good, but oh do they try and try to push the limits in ways that you would not believe. That's adolescence for ya, but some days are just seriously exhausting. However, tough as they may be, the kids are never the toughest part of the job for me. It's the lack of freedom--for whatever reason (school structure, standardized curriculum, behavior, etc)--to be able to teach the lessons that would be the best ones for these particular students. I think I might need to try, though. Maybe after I get my PhD I will become head of the science dept at some progressive lower income middle school where I can help design the curriculum. Options...

Anyway, what else? My flatmates are absolutely lovely. I am going to miss them. They are so fun and we hang out a lot. This weekend we and one of their friends went to Raglan, which is one of the prime surfing spots in the world. We left Saturday and stayed the night in a lovely backpackers (hostel) which had hammocks and free kayaks and really nice and clean rooms. Cute place. Only problem was we got there too late to hit the beach on Saturday and then Sunday it was RAINY and COLD, but you know I was the only damn one who went surfing in spite of it all (oh yea--cuz I had already paid for the morning's surf lesson). I ended up (once again) getting my butt kicked by a few good waves, although they were apparently very small (the waves, not my butt) compared to the usual day in Raglan. Then the instructor said that I should try to catch the big ones right after they've broken instead of right before. Oh. Duh. That way the wave doesn't come crashing down on top of me? Cool. I must've inhaled several liters of salt water, and I mean inhaled. Cough cough. So, it was all a little bit scary but fun. And now I can say that I've surfed two of the most "radical" surf spots in the world: Maui and Raglan. Hey, I never said I did it gracefully...

Other than that I've just been shopping (can't help it--there was a HUGE sale at the outdoor adventure store here last Thursday and I got to shop on the preview day cuz I am a club member or whatever), boxing boxing boxing, and watching stupid television. Have you seen the show Invasion? Aliens!!!! They're all aliens!!!!

I finally bought some books, tho--5 for $20 at the local Whitcoul's (like Walden's). Must wean myself off of the stupid TV.

Love,
Sara

Our little hut...at long last. Lassie, come home.

2006-03-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

The Emerald Lakes

2006-03-15T20:12:00.000-08:00

Speechless

2006-03-15T20:10:00.000-08:00

The Red Crater

2006-03-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Steam Vents Will Burn Your Bum!

2006-03-15T20:08:00.000-08:00

Four steps up, two steps back...

2006-03-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Recovery

2006-03-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am still recovering after an exhausting but absolutely breathtaking weekend in Tongariro National Park. Went with two friends of mine, Kristin and Sarah. Sarah had never been backpacking before and don't think she quite realized what she was getting herself into. We left Friday afternoon and drove for about 5 hours until we reached National Park Village, where we stayed in the National Park Backpackers (aka hostel). We got up early on Saturday and caught a shuttle to the Tongariro Crossing trailhead near Whakapapa village. It was pretty cloudy and a bit cool and drizzly but as soon as we began hiking, no one noticed. It gets quite steamy with the weight of a big pack on your shoulders. Anyway, we hiked through gorgeous old volcanic rock, took a side trail to see a waterfall, and then, for awhile, hiked straight up until we reached the base of Mt. Ngauruhoge. It was all still pretty foggy, but quite eery looking and beautiful.

Tongariro National Park is in the Taupo Volcanic Zone and within the park are three very famous volcanoes--Ngauruhoe, Ruapehu, and Tongariro. Interestingly enough, these are all the volcanoes that were part of the Maori legend that I had read to my students earlier in the term. The legend is that these three volcanoes were once mountains and had grown up with Pihanga, another mountain. She is the only girl mountain, so the boys decide to fight over her and begin to spit fire, etc... One by one they defeat each other and retreat. I forget who finally wins. Anyway, that's the story in a nutshell. Never expected that I would be hiking through these volcanoes.

Okay, back to the hike. So, we looked at the sign for Ngauruhoe which read 3 hours return (meaning there and back) . It is sort of a side track that you can do off of the main one, Tongariro Crossing. Ngauruhoe is one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes, with 61 eruptions since the mid-1800s. How could we NOT hike it!!!!! We hesitated because it was difficult to see the trail with the fog so thick and low. We started off on it to see how far we could get and then decided that we better not take the risk. Kristin had forgotten to bring her compass, so we would pretty much be up S.C. without a paddle if the fog were to get any worse than it already was.

We continued to hike along the crossing, through a volcanic basin that looked a lot like Mars, started up the track toward Red Crater and then--suddenly and momentarily--the fog cleared. There it was--Mt. Ngauruhoe, right before our eyes with her bright red rim calling out to us... Well, at least it was calling out to me and Kristin. Sarah, smart girl, heard the hut where we would stay that night calling her name. But, Kristin and I looked at each other and instantly knew we had to hike it--a once in a lifetime opportunity. Problem is that we had already passed the trailhead, but looking at it we thought we could make it up the side that was now facing us, so we took off. The first part of the hike wasn't too bad. As we got up closer and closer to the top, it was all pumice and old lava bombs and hardened volcanic rubble. So, basically, you climb four steps up the extremely steep slope and then you slide two steps back. Took what seemed like FOREVER to finally get to the top. REMEMBER, we have our big backpacking packs on this whole time. We were afraid that if we dropped them off at the bottom of the volcano we might not be able to find them again. That meant extra work on the legs and glutes--and also gravity trying to pull you backwards cuz the bag is so damn heavy, or at least feels like it on such a steep slope. I literally thought my legs were going to give out on me.

At the top, we hiked along the ridge of the crater. Kristin plopped down on what seemed like an inviting rock but turned out to be right over a steam vent and she consequently burned her bum. Ouch! Well, we used the steam vents to warm our hands because it was really cold up at the top and the fog was now rolling in quite thick. We decided we had better make our descent, without much of a direly needed rest break, before we got stuck on top. We started down, sliding and falling much of the way. Both of us have all sorts of cuts from trying to break our falls on the sharp lava rocks. At one point, Kristin, who was a good bit ahead of me, fell pretty hard and just stayed there and pulled out a sandwich. )It's really hard to get up once you're down b/c of the pack.) In the midst of my incredible mental anguish and physical pain, I found it quite humorous and slid down to join her. We both just sat there munching, tears streaming down our faces from the cold wind, hands bleeding, etc...eating PB & J. Gotta admit that's pretty comical. Finally, there came an Irish guy trotting along with a GPS, so we walked along with him and made it down safely (although the two of us would have been fine, mind you--not trying to insinuate that we were saved by Prince Charming. Not too big to admit, though, that we were saved, possibly, by Prince GPS).

Anyway, at that time it was a BEAUTIFUL hike back on the Crossing. In the morning there had been heaps of other hikers because it is one of NZ's most popular tracks, but at this point, after Ngauruhoe, all the hikers had returned to town and we walked pretty much alone--just the 3 of us--over the ridge, along the Red Crater, down to the Emerald Lakes, and up through the alpine brush to our lovely little hut, where we stayed the night. All of New Zealand's tracks have this hut system where you buy a pass from the DOC and then you can stay in the huts. Many of them have heat, toilets, bunk beds, and cooking facilities. SWANK! You don't have to carry your tent. It's really nice. We met up with Sarah there, which was good cuz she made it over there alone--well, we left her with another group of hikers when we split off for Ngauruhoe. Anyway, we stayed in the bunks with a bunch of Germans, another American, and some French people. I had a bowl of hot noodles and a hot vanilla latte that I had packed. Yes! No more PB&J.

Then we got up in the morning and hiked out. On our way back up we stopped at Lake Taupo and ate Thai food. Made it back to Auckland by about 6;30 PM. Now I'm thinking that I want to hike the entire Kepler Track in the South Island during my spring break.... We shall see.

I am exhausted and have not had enough time to catch up on rest, so I will leave with that. I will write more on teaching/etc later.

Love,
ME

Yes, it was that steep... My legs will never be the same.

2006-03-12T00:58:00.000-08:00

Mt. Ngauruhoe, an active volcano--We climbed (well, scrambled) it!

2006-03-12T00:55:00.000-08:00

Backpacking the Tongariro Crossing

2006-03-12T00:52:00.000-08:00

2006-03-04T21:36:00.000-08:00

S is for Seashells and Sara and Sundays at Piha

2006-03-04T21:33:00.001-08:00

2006-03-04T21:33:00.000-08:00

Dooooooooooons

2006-03-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

Tramping in Piha

2006-03-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

Went to Piha again today, but this time to do some "tramping" (hiking). Was on my way to meet my friend, Kristin, who I've met at Tuesday meditations at the Shambhala Center, when my car begin to click. Hmm... I thought. Will have to ask Aidan about this. Then, it stopped in the middle of the highway. Completely dead. Poor little Woofie. Meanwhile, I thought about freaking out. Several cars nearly rammed in to me. I thought I was going to be seriously injured. Then, I thought that freaking out wouldn't do me much good in this situation. So... I said a quick little prayer to the Universe (went something like, "Oh, please don't let me die here!") and tried to start the car once again. It started. I made it to the next exit where, at the end of the ramp, it died again. A nice man rope-towed me to the nearby Shell station.

A very friendly old police officer who had also followed me to the petrol station got out to take a look under the hood. Said he thought the thermostat may have broken and that I'd burned the car out. "DO NOT START IT AGAIN, Love," he warned. The engine was smoking. I told him I'd have my flatmate, a mechanic, look at it. Then we went on his merry way. No questions about registration, license, American drivers, etc. How nice! Anyway, had to get my car towed back to the house after I called Aidan who said he will look at it tomorrow (he had to work today). So, I called my friend Kristin and had her come pick me up at the petrol station. Decided I may as well go hiking, anyway, since there was nothing I could do about the car today. She picked me up and I told her the story. "Well, I guess that's what happens, " she says. "Yeah, that's what happens," I said. Buddhism has its benefits. And we drove on up to go hiking.

Hiking was amazing. We hiked all up and down the ridges of Piha, following the river's edge. Was some serious scrambling and bouldering. We also cut across to the ocean at one point, hiking through bog and marsh, over the black sand dunes (well, dune) to the sea, where I made an "S" with the beautiful shells. Did not take them with me. They belong to the ocean, which, here, according the Maori, is ruled by the great sea god Tangaroa. I did take a photo. (Take only photos; leave only footprints.) Was a nice, rigorous hike and, for most of the day, we were the only ones out there.

Got home this afternoon and Aidan had looked at the car. He thinks that it will end up costing around $500 (would probably be much more than that if I didn't have a mechanic for a flatmate). He will have to replace the gaskets or something like that. He's just going to rip the thermostat out so I won't have problems again. Man, cars. They're so much trouble, aren't they? Bummer. So, it won't be fixed before Wednesday which means bussing it to school these next few days.

Love,
Sara

Diversity, Boxing, and Religious Freedom?

2006-02-27T19:57:00.000-08:00

Got an email from Trish at UCSC today saying that I am the first non-minority to receive a Cota Robles Fellowship. Wow. She said that really says a lot about my commitment to diversity. Yes, that is true, but must've also been one fine letter of recommendation she wrote. Either way, I electronically accepted the admission today, so everything is set in stone (well, pretty much--you know what they say about life... don't make plans, is it?). Felt a little uncomfortable about that whole "first non-minority" thing, at first, because it was weird being recommended for a diversity fellowship. However, knowing that I was awarded the fellowship specifically for my commitment to equity issues makes it a bit more right in my mind. Anyway, I'm obviously not going to decline the award so there's no point in quibbling over it in my little head, now, is there? Que sera sera...

Last night I sparred with Stacey for the first time. We went a good three rounds--nothing is bleeding or broken (Mom). It was fine. This was real sparring, not stupid sparring like they do at some boxing gyms (not going to mention any names...)--meaning neither of us was instructed to hit as hard as we could; in fact, both of us were instructed to avoid the face and not to knock each other out. Heh heh. I would hope that goes without saying...Anyway, it was fun, and like Coach Grant (name of the coach here) says, you're not learning when you're just punching a bag. That's just working out. The bag doesn't hit you back. True enough.

My year 8 class is improving. Their behavior has been much better the past couple of days. Yesterday we practiced going quietly to and from their desks a couple of times and then we were able to have a fairly good lesson on the layers of the Earth, in which I had them make comparisons between the Earth's layers and an avocado that I had brought in. Then we made some other comparisons: the temperature of the Earth's core (5000 C) to the hottest day in Auckland, boiling water, and the temperature of a roasting lamb. We discussed how magma in the mantle is sort of like _________________ (chocolate, jelly--that's Jello here, etc) because it is molten at high temperatures and solid when cooled. We drew and labeled some pictures of the Earth.

Oh yeah, I know what I wanted to talk about, too. Last week when we read the Maori volcano lesson, I asked one class if it was a true story. Most everyone said no but one girl responded with yes. So, I mentioned how, to some people, it is a true story, but it's what we call a legend--the type of story that some believe and others don't, depending on your cultural background. So... there's an interesting point of discussion. I have always been so against creationism in science class, but this little incident reveals to me that, if I want to be a proponent for multiple viewpoints--and if there is room for indigenous students to believe in indigenous legends, then there must also be room for creationism. Yes, I said it--but, do you see that I did not teach the Maori volcano legend as science? I used it as a hook/focus to teach the science of volcanoes. There's the difference. But, with that said, room for multiple viewpoints must be allowed to exist, but not necessarily taught, in science class. That is my humble opinion. Oh no, now I'm going to have Pat Robertson-ites coming after me for indirectly referring to the Bible as a collection of legends, aren't I?

What buoyancy test?

2006-02-26T00:57:00.000-08:00

Really, I, uh, think there's somethin' wrong with it...

2006-02-26T00:55:00.000-08:00

Dive Site I

2006-02-26T00:52:00.000-08:00

Off to Poor Knight

2006-02-26T00:50:00.000-08:00

Sara No Mayo

2006-02-26T00:18:00.000-08:00

That was my nickname for the weekend... Long story, but mainly used to distinguish me from my friend, Sarah and originated with my request for no mayo on the ham sandwich they served us during our diving excursion in Poor Knight's Island. Anyway, long story....

Went up on Friday afternoon straight after school. Was supposed to meet Sarah's "host-dad" (the father of the children she nannies)'s coworkers and company in Ponsonby, a neighborhood in downtown Auckland. From there I was to ride with them to Tutukaka, where we would stay this weekend. Thought I'd be fine with just the address of their house and an atlas. WRONG! The exits are all totally confusing and I ended up crossing the bridge that leads out of Auckland over the harbor and far far away... Well, not that far, but far enough to get more than a little frustrated. After a few "Om Mane Padme Oms" and a couple of "I never did mind the little things..." (Point of No Return, Bridgette Fonda?), things worked out and my ride came to pick up my little lost self. Just left my car on a side street there (in Northcote, turns out) and hopped in with the others.

We made it up to Tutukaka (yes, it is a real name) where we were to stay at a beach house for the weekend. Was quite a lovely house. All the rooms were beautiful except the one where Sarah, me, the 8-year-old twins that Sarah nannies, and another woman about my age, Jackie, all shared. 'Twas an attic with no A/C, extremely hot, smelling of saw dust, and not-so-comfortable beds (finally realized at the end of the weekend that mine was just an old foam pad with a sheet over it--that would explain the back pain). Wouldn't have been too bad except that (unbeknownst to me before the trip) we were all apparently renting the house for $250 a night. After everyone split it, it only ended up being $50 a piece, but still....BUT, just one of those things where you have to (again) take a deep breath, hold your tongue, and visualize people having real problems (which then makes the whole situation seem much more tolerable). So, sleep was not something I got a lot of, but I had a great weekend.

Went diving in Poor Knight's Island--one of Jacques Cousteau's top ten dive sites in the world. Was awesome. During the first dive I was a little--okay, a lot--rusty. Cold water diving is way different than Carribean diving. Hard to get my buoyancy all figured out. You have to use the BCD a lot more--whereas in Carribean diving you can use your lungs to regulate your buoyancy. Also, had to use more weights due to the thicker dive suit. Plus, couldn't get my right ear to equalize. That was not so good. Then, I had problems with my mask not being the best one (okay, also I'm a little rusty) and it kept filling with water. SOOO, the first dive was more about me flailing around trying to fix my stuff and make sure I wasn't going to lose my right ear. Yeah, but the second dive was MUCH better and beautiful. Cool stuff--nudibranches (little sea sluggies) and they were mating! Also saw lots of scorpion fish, sting rays, eels, etc. I do have to say (and, mind you, I didn't say this to anyone on the trip) that Katie (sister) and I have been spoiled by our Central American diving. Every dive is like fish galore--lots of them and all kinds of different ones, sea turtles, etc.... Plus, stingrays don't look like much compared to the HUGE manta rays that I dove with in Baja. Okay. Spoiled. But, it was still fun--just being underwater looking at things is fun. Hmmm, well, the first dive wasn't fun b/c I really was the least graceful diver on the boat. I didn't win any prizes for the smooth factor. But, we had a good time. And, I'm sure everyone had a good laugh (at me).

Sarah's twins are soooooo cute. I had a really good time with them. They are absolutely hilarious. We told jokes and played Uno. They took me on a "blind walk" along the beach and made me fall into a whole. Good fun.

Anyway, will write more later after a good night's rest.

Love,
Sara

Moving to Santa Cruz

2006-02-22T20:19:00.000-08:00

Okay... now that things are official and I'm not going to muck anything up (kiwi expression, 'kay?) by making an overly previous announcement, I can make this "public." I have been offered a Cota Robles Fellowship for my first two years of graduate study at the University of California in Santa Cruz. This will cover tuition and in-state fees plus a pretty decent living stipend. The UCSC Education Department will pay my out-of-state fees. I have also been offered a research assistantship for the summer of 2007 that will continue after my two-year fellowship expires. As a Research Assistant, I will be working with exactly the professor with whom I aspired to work.

So here's the story: During my visit in January, Dr. S tenatively offered me a pretty significant research assistantship for the duration of my doctoral program--working on a really exciting grant in which we would be implementing teacher-training programs specific to science education for ELL students, designing the program, monitoring the pre-service teachers during their student teaching experience, and then also during their first year of teaching. She had said that our interests and experiences were a really good fit--was so nice to hear because I felt the same way about her, obviously. She was still trying to find a way to pay my out-of-state fees, though, and so she recommended me for this fellowship. We were not sure about how realistic it was, but thought we would give it a go. Only 10 fellowships are awarded for the entire university. So, anyway, just found out today that I got the fellowship--which means I won't need the research assistantship for the first two years while I am on fellowship. Although I was looking forward to being a part of the research team for the science teacher ed program from start to finish, being on fellowship means I can focus entirely on my academic program the first two years of my doctoral studies. And so begins the next stage of my life...well, once I get back from New Zealand, that is! I will be moving sometime in August. Road trip, anyone?

Love,
Me

My name is Ms. T, and I am a US Marine!

2006-02-22T19:49:00.000-08:00

Oh yea, right--that's not entirely true. But, I do have to say that I, for the first time since I've been here, did have to pull out the whole Michelle Pfeiffer/Dangerous Minds bit out on one class today. Today was the second day of specializations (I mean, specialisations), which is kiwi for subject areas--meaning, today was the second day that kids left their homerooms for other classes. Anyway, Ms. A and I have two Year 7 classes and one Year 8 class. Today the year 8 class refreshed my memory of the HUGE differences between the ages of 11 and 13. 13 year olds, as you know, can be a little testy. They were relatively okay, just not where I want them to be on the second day as far as listening to instructions and following them without threats. Consequently, two of them stayed for lunch detention and we had the typical Ms. T chat, which they may become more familiar with than they like. It goes something like this:

Please copy and answer the following questions.
What did I do that was inappropriate?
What does inappropriate mean?
Why was my behavior inappropriate?
How can I modify my behavior so that I can be more successful?
What does modify mean?
What does it mean for you to be successful?

One child's response was that, yes his behavior was inappropriate, but he did it anyway because he "likes to." So I said, "Hm. Let's consider that idea. Sounds kind of cool. Let's all do what we feel like when we feel like it from now on." And, we, of course, had a little discussion about what kind of world that would be.

I am so grateful for this class, however, because I was getting spoiled by my other two classes--one being my homeroom so we have a natural "bond," and the other being very motivated by praise and positive reinforcement. This class is a good reminder of what it is like to really teach, especially in an inner city area. I feel that I will need to be consistently reminded of this if/when I go into teacher education--b/c the realities are that if you don't take the FIRST MONTH to firmly and consistently establish respect, community, authority, boundaries, procedures, etc, you will NEVER be able to implement these awesome instructional strategies that we learn about in teacher ed programs. SOOOO, this class will not do science the whole period on Monday. The first half of the next class will be a discussion and practice of rules and procedures. And, included in that lesson will be practicing how we line up, how we have a discussion, how we follow instructions, etc... but, even with that said, I also know that next week's lunch periods will be full of detentions for those who need a little extra help getting the picture :).

Other than that, I had an excellent day. And, even with the one more difficult class, it was still nice. I've feel that I've finally come close to mastering the concept of not taking things personally as a teacher. Kids will be kids. And, like I said, it was a good reminder. Thinking of asking Ms. A if I can teach that class from here on out until I leave...They weren't really that poorly-behaved, either--but just pushing the limits enough to see whether or not they can. The trick is not to let them. At all. Then we can become one big happy family. Well, one big family, at least, 'cos families aren't always happy, are they? But they are always families...

Oh, and the lesson I taught was COOL. We had fun. We learned about volcanoes. First, I read them a Maori legend about The Great Battle Between the Mountains. Then, we watched an interactive slide show that I created on volcanoes in New Zealand. It was pretty cool. They got to see photos of familiar neighborhoods in Auckland that have been built on volcanic remains/extinct volcanoes (Mt. Eden, One Tree Hill, etc). After that, the students labeled and colored (coloured) maps of New Zealand and identified all the active volcanoes. Then I was hoping to have the students make up their own volcano legends, but--well, map-labeling takes a bit more time than I expected.

Lonely day

2006-02-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

Today is a lonely day for no particular reason. It just "woke up" that way. Have some work to get done, got to go grocery shopping as well. Will find things to fill up the time. Went to see River Queen yesterday. Was such a good movie! You've got to see it. It's about the Maori Wars during the mid 1800s, about this Irish woman who has a child with a Maori man, and then her child is taken from her when he is 6 by the Maori chief. Very engaging and emotionally involved movie. I highly recommend it. Kiefer Sutherland is in it, too. Then I went and bought a Time and a Newsweek! Yes. News... I'm so out of it--although Friday I found a BBC station on the radio that I can listen to while I'm going to and from work. That will satisfy my NPR withdrawal.

Went out with Aidan and Bridgette last night to a friend's "barbie." Had sizzlers and chicken skewers. Man, I am eating my way through this country. There was a dog there named Jack--a little Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy. Oh, he was sooo cute, only 4 months old. Little wrinkle face. Made me miss my big baby monster!!!!! Then, we went dancing for a bit, came home, and then we stayed up talking til pretty late, so I am tired and groggy today. Maybe I am mistaking fatigue for loneliness... Who knows...Anyway, keep the emails coming, PLEASE. Sorry if I don't get back to you all right away. I do read them all and enjoy hearing from all of you.

Love,
Me

One by one, we divide

2006-02-17T15:02:00.000-08:00

Then one by one we multiply.
Subtraction's next
Then don't forget--
Drop down the number
That is left....

This is a little diddy I created for my students this week. They are on a roll with long division. I'll add this one to my collection, including the Scientific Method Blues (shout out to my Attucks MS summer school students in Houston), the Tendon and Ligament Lyric (holla to IS 145 in the Bronx), and ahhhh--the countless crazy tunes we came up with in NGTP Mexico and Guatemala. I'm currently looking for a Schoolhouse Rock contract and hope to be on the road with my collection in the next year or two... ;)

Sometimes I forget where I am when I'm teaching, until the students open their mouths to speak and this thick kiwi accent emerges... The similarities are uncanny. Kids are kids, I guess. Don't get me wrong--there are differences, and I cherish them, but, really, these are the same curious, bright, fun-loving kids that got me hooked on teaching in the first place. So interesting... They even like hip-hop ("Have you met Ludacris, Miss?"), and--unfortunately--there is the same threat of gang violence--even the same gangs (the Bloods and the Crips). HOWEVER, (and not to negate the problem) I imagine the threat is much less pervasive than the general population often believes--just as it was with my students in NY. I do find it a little weird, though, that the gangs here are replicas of the East Coast/West Coast rival gangs in the US. Never underestimate the power of the media.

I don't believe that the gang problem here can have nearly the potential that it could have in the US, a nation where gun control is nearly nonexistent (compared to all other industrialized nations). A police officer came to speak to our class this week. Apparently, his job is community relations, so he goes to the schools to talk to the students about the job of the police force. Anyway, he told the kids that A) he doesn't carry a gun, and B) he is so glad because guns are very scary. It seems that most police officers do not carry guns. There are a few on each force who are trained to use and carry them, but very rarely do they have problems of gun-related violence in this country. How nice... As a single woman, I feel much safer knowing that, if someone were to break in to the apartment (and the chances of this are very slim, Mom), they would almost certainly not have a gun. That is such a comforting thought--the idea that I don't have to be scared at night when/if I am alone in my own home. Oh yeah, and apparently, there are no venomous snakes, no poisonous spiders, really no predators in general. How bizarre. Although all that stuff doesn't really bother me, but I guess that means I can go hiking in my Chacos, ay?

Okay, back to the students... some differences: They play interteam sports at lunch where each class chooses 12 students to compete in a game of cricket. Huh? Little "inner city" kids playing cricket!!! Picture it... I was scorekeeper the other day. Talk about confusing... Kids shouting out to me about who broke what rule, what counts and doesn't count as a point or an out... Whoa. Well, now I know how to play. Talk about baptism by fire...

What else? The students are doing very well on their long divison. One group has already moved on to long division with remainders. They had another assembly on Friday. This one was a singing assembly. It was all I could do not to cry in front of the entire Year 7 class. They were so amazing. There is a small student band that assists the music director in leading the students in song. The first one they sang was a Maori folk song. Then, they learned the KI school song, which is also totally in Maori. It is such a beautiful language. The girls have a part, and the boys have a part. The boys' part is sort of like a warrior chant. It's unbelievable.

Oh, that reminds me of the whole dual language issue I wanted to talk about. Almost everything in this country is at least partly translated in Maori (remember, the Maori are the indigenous population here)--road signs, names of government services and offices, etc. Most of the kids learn at least some Maori in primary school, and some (usually Maori students) even attend kindergartens and preschools in which Maori is the only language. Our school is looking to hire a Maori language teacher as well--and apparently you can make pretty good money if you are fluent in the language.

I think there are many reasons for such as strong propagation of the indigenous culture here. First of all, NZ was one of the last "colonies" of the Commonwealth. Secondly, the Maori have been pretty astute about becoming bicultural--learning the ways of the dominant class without losing their own heritage and traditions. It doesn't appear to have been easy--for a time it looked like their language was going to die out (due to a staunch English Only campaign here a while back), but they've fought long and hard to make sure that doesn't happen. Not to say that the Maori don't struggle to attain their rights--always a difficult task for a minority culture, but their successes have been significant if you compare their struggles to those of most indigenous peoples in colonized countries around the world.

Okay, I've been rambling on here with no particular order or structure to my rambles. I'm going to the mall :).

Love,
Sara

Smashing, Aidan...

2006-02-15T20:07:00.000-08:00

Fun with noisemakers...

2006-02-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

Settled, at last.

2006-02-15T19:57:00.000-08:00

I have finally gotten my schedule together and it is busy busy busy, as usual--hence, less blog time. However, with a gentle hint from my sister I've decided to try to update it at least 2 times a week.

The trainer at my boxing gym has added an extra practice for us more "serious folk," so I will be going to practice again tonight. Apparently, I am a "damn good fighter." Well, okay--a little ego stroking and next thing you know I'm training like I think I'm Rocky or something. On Tuesday night, I ventured a drive into the City (downtown Auckland) and found, amazingly, this tiny little Shambhala Center I'd been looking for. It's a Buddhist meditation center based on the teachings of Chogyam Rinpoche. Was good meditation--an hour and a half--and then a little dharma talk. The cushions are actually quite nice, much nicer than the Athens Zen Center, I must say. Anyway, they are also reading his latest book, The Sacred Path of the Warrior, which I had picked up right before I left and almost bought, except talked myself out of it just before reaching the register (learning not to give in to the impulse buying...). Hmmm... guess I'm meant to buy that one, though, huh?

The Center is in a very cute part of town called Parnell--lots of nice looking restaurants and cafes, and a place to buy New Zealand wool. Think I will go early next week and have a look around.

The party bus last weekend was entertaining, although after 3 Red Bulls I'd had enough and was ready to go home, so we went and danced off our energy drinks for about an hour before catching a taxi back. This weekend I make a day trip on the ferry to Waikehe Island with Sarah, but I'm actually thinking about just taking it easy. There are also some motorcycle races in town, according to the radio today, so I'm going to investigate that a bit as well.

Will give an update on the kiddies this weekend. Will try to catch some ZZZZZZs quickly before I go to boxing tonight.

Love,
Me

First Days of School

2006-02-10T13:40:00.000-08:00

This week has been quite a long one. It is so unbelievably strange to me that I have only been here for two weeks. Can that be possible?

Week 1 at my school has been, overall, a great learning experience. Here are a few key things to remember if you are a student at KI in Auckland:

"Source" and "sauce" are difficult to spell because they are pronounced exactly the same way.
Don't ask your American teacher too many questions during the first week because she has difficulty understanding you. (i.e. "Is there another word for jewelry?" means "Is there another word for during?" "Can I get some water?" means "Can I start on the bottom (of the page)?"
Also, don't ask your American teacher for help completing the crossword because she has probably never heard the expressions: "fizzy drink" (a soda), "ice block" (an ice cream), "paddock" (a field for sheep), and nor would she know that cricket is a summertime sport or that rugby is a sport that you can play all year round. She would probably also have no idea that "lolly folly" is a clue for chewing gum...
Shoes are, apparently, optional during the first week.
Bring a pencil for "Maths." (Yes, it is "maths.")
Don't put your hand over your heart during the national anthem like the fanatical Americans do (Yes, this is exactly how it was explained to the students!)

This school is in an area that has a reputation for being a "rough" one. However, I don't find that to really be the case. But, because it is what we would call a diverse, urban school, the way things are run are actually very similar to the way they were run at AT Junior High in the Bronx. Discipline is very strict. All of the students wear uniforms (this was not the case in the Bronx--although it might be now--but I wish it had been!). I actually kind of like the jerseys and the fleeces and will probably buy one of each for myself! The only weird thing is that the students are allowed to wear sandals, but they aren't allowed to wear socks with their sandals. I mean, I have to admit that socks with sandals is a bit unfashionable (though I've been known to do it, anyway), but fashion regulated by school policy is pretty interesting...

What else? This week was the very first week of the new school year, since school here starts in February and ends in December (with breaks in between, obviously). That was good because I got to be a part of class rule-making, etc., and seeing how teachers set the standard for the rest of the year. I really like my supervising teacher. I'll call her Ms. A for the sake of the blog (since it is public and I'm talking about a school, etc.). She is of Indian descent, studied in Canada, and taught in a very poor Muslim school in Africa (she was the only female teacher--brave!). So she is pretty wordly. Anyway, she has done an excellent job of welcoming her new students here at KI with a tone that is firm, yet reasonable and understanding. She is strict, but she explains all of the school rules carefully so that the students understand the reasons behind each of them. The kids come up from their desks and sit on the floor in the front of the room for many of our class discussions. Ms. A led them in a very detailed discussion of "put-downs" and why we don't use them in the classroom.

Although it is difficult for me at times to not be in the "driver's seat" while in a classroom, I have already had several opportunities to teach. I taught a lessons on the heart, long division, order of operations, and goal-setting. Okay, the order of operations lessons was a review for manyof the students. BUT--interesting fact: here they use the acronym BEDMAS instead of PEMDAS. Why? Because parentheses are not parentheses here--they are called brackets. HA! But they don't have a cute little saying like "Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally" so I am going to have to help them make one up for BEDMAS. Ideas, anyone?

Long division was interesting because I've never taught that before--haven't really taught much "maths" at all. Plus, I was assigned to teach the lesson about an hour beforehand--which is fine. I didn't mind that part. Actually, the whole school--teachers and students--receives a workbook that they use for the first two weeks. Students don't begin to change classes until after the first two weeks, and that way teachers don't really have to worry about lesson planning, either. This gives teachers time to really establish the rules and procedures that will ensure a good, productive year. That is absolutely awesome--you don't have to worry about making copies, etc., either, because you already have the workbook. The workbook is half "maths" and half reading/writing activities--but many of those are based on science and social studies concepts.

What else? Enough about school. It's the weekend. Time to NOT think about school. Okay, I joined a boxing gym--finally! Started on Wednesday, and they train MWF, so I went last night as well. Was good stuff. THere is another girl there who has already had a few fights. She seems quiet and nice. She's an awesome boxer. I will finally have a good sparring partner! The trainer told me he wouldn't start me sparring immediately--give me a couple of weeks to get back in shape (or "back in fit" as they say here). Even then, he says that she won't get in there and try to pummel me, like some might, but that we can both learn from each other. Then, he watched me hit the bag for a little while, gave me a few tips, and said I was a "little terror." Cool. Was nice to get the affirmation that it's not just my coach in Athens who thinks I'm a decent boxer.

Today am going shopping with Bridgette, my flatmate, and Sarah, my American friend, (why are there sooooooooo many Sara(h)s in this world?), and then we are going out to celebrate one of Bridgette's friends birthdays.

Miss you all. Give my monster a BIG hug for me, Katie.

Love,
Sara

Somebody pinch me...

2006-02-05T20:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, really... I'm going to try to update you about my weekend trip to Rotorua as succinctly as possible (and for those of you who know me well, that is going to be quite a challenge--me being the champion of making a short story long...). Anyway... we left on Friday morning. No problems driving. Only missed a couple of minor head on collisions, but pulled ourselves out of it. These blasted roundabouts are a killer. I'll take a pic of one and post it for those who are not familiar with them. But, we made it to Sarah's host dad's brother-in-law's (second cousin's uncle's father-in-law's sister's... no, really--only kidding) house right in town. There's a pic there in the collage (love this new photo manager program by Google, btw, Picasa--download it if you haven't already; it's free--sorry, Bill!). Nice deck--we watched their pets all weekend in exchange for a free place to stay. Had my own room w/ pics of all the latest hearthrobs posted on the walls--clearly the room of a pre-teen!

The first night we went and made reservations for our (gasp) spa treatments at one of the top 10 spas in the world, Polynesian Spas. Then, we went out, got dinner, and went to a little pub to hear a live cover band and (try) to meet some locals. Got good and giddy on ginger beers (100% non-alcoholic--Sarah's not a real big drinker, either) and danced a bit before calling it a night around 12.

Then, Saturday I got up and went for a run. Tried to take the dog, but he preferred to try to eat the leash rather than run with it. Then we went and ate breakfast at Shirley's (don't call me Shirley--lol!), and then stopped by the tattoo parlor (no, Mom, not what you think) to ask for info on some of the better tourist sites. Ended up jotting down their instructions but totally ignored them completely and went to Waimangu Valley, home of Tamaku volcano and dozens of hot springs. So--all those pics in the collage that look steamy--they are! The steam is from magma that is a little too close to the Earth's crust and heats the water. It is literally scorching hot. Could not even put my big toe in the streams (and you know how hot I like my baths! Okay, well, maybe you don't, but I like them nearly scalding, you see?)... Basically, New Zealand is right where the IndoAustralian tectonic plate meets the Pacific plate and Rotorua is right there on top of a subduction zone--where the Pacific plate goes under the IA plate and the result is that spurts of magma rise up through the Earth's crust (or just under it), causing volcanic eruptions and/or hot springs. There you go. A little geography lesson. And that all makes for some VERY HOT water.

That night, we went to the Mitai hangi. The Mitai are a Maori family that live in Rotorua. They (for a heftly little price, but it's all good) invite you to their land and cook dinner for you. So the pic you see of those potatoes on the ground, etc--that's what we ate. They are being roasted atop of a fire pit. Before dinner, we went to one of their tents and watched them perform some traditional Maori rituals. We learned a lot about their customs and culture. Was really amazing. The chief had tattoos all over his legs and buttocks (well, they don't have a need for briefs, 'kay?) that apparently took over 55 hours. That's really not bad b/c apparently the tattooing custom used to be such that they cut you open, insert the ink, and then continue to recut you as you are healing. Only the strong and brave can withstand the pain. You don't say... Anyway, then we went back and ate dinner--roast chicken, lamb, stuffing, yams, potatoes, curry egg salad (yeah, that's not exactly traditional), etc. All you can eat so we did. And then some! We sat at a table next to a couple from Melbourne, Australia. They were in their late 70's and such little lovebirds. Sarah asked them how long they'd been married and they said, "We're not! We're living in sin!" HA! So cute... "LIfe begins at 70," says the woman. Well, I have a lot to look forward to, then...

After that long day, we were absolutely "stuffed" (as the Kiwis say), so we called it a night. Then, Sunday, we went for our "spa treatments" and sat in heated mineral lakes all day. I had an Aix massage, which is where the therapist massages you under several shower heads, so you are essentially massaged both by the shower heads and the massage therapist. Yeah... not too shabby.

Sunday night we met the family who had lent us the house for the weekend. They were very nice and I picked their brains a bit about politics and the system of government here. There are essentially two major parties that control Parliament and the liberal Labour party has been in slim majority for the past few terms--highly unusual, apparently. Anyway, hope the States might follow that trend in the coming election... I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Today we went to the Art and History museum before we left and I picked up a book on Maori culture, since, as you know, most of my students are Maori. Well, that's it for now. Think I covered the major points of the trip.

Love you all,
Sara

Weekend Trip to Rotorua Thermal Hot springs, volcanoes, and Maori village

2006-02-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

Away for the weekend

2006-02-02T01:32:00.000-08:00

Going to Rotorua this weekend, so I'll be out of touch until Monday (well, I guess that's Sunday over there). Bought a car today!!! A '94 Ford Laser for about $900 US--really great deal. Probably will put another $100 into it for a new battery, but wanted to try to keep the total under $1000, so it's all good. Runs well, but it's a manual so I will have to learn how to do "mirror image" shifting. Went for a drive tonight with my flatmates and pulled out onto the wrong side of the road... Fortunately there were no cars heading my way! Anyway, don't worry--I'm not driving this weekend. Going with Sarah, the au pair, who I met on the plane. She is taking her "family car," which is an automatic transmission at least.

Talked to my dad today. So nice to be on the other side of the world and, still, comforting voices are just a phone call away. Was nice... we live vicariously through one another's travel adventures, I think!

Love,
Me

pushbikes and crockery

2006-02-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

Crockery--that's dishes in kiwi, and a bicycle is a "pushbike." Went to my school today. It is a beautiful school... As the principal was explaining, standards of poverty in New Zealand are much higher than they are in other Western countries. Maybe we should take some lessons from the kiwis in that department. Anyway, I figured out how to get the bus over. Was pretty easy, though I was following along in my brand new road atlas so I would know exactly where I was. Went to the mall this afternoon to buy some more New Zealand chocolate (yummy!) and get my eyebrows waxed. TMI, yeah I know. It's bloody cheap here, though--like $4US, but I guess it depends on where you go...

Oh yeah, back to my school... The kids have two breaks: "morning tea" and afternoon lunch. The largest percentage of students are Maori, then Polynesian, then Asian and European. Very, very diverse. Can't wait. One of the school staff members was telling me about some important cultural differences between European descendens and Maoris. You should never sit on a table or desk. Good thing she told me this cuz when I teach I often do just that! Apparently, it's bad manners in Maori culture. ('Course it's probably bad manners in my culture, too, eh?) BUT, it's okay to wear jeans. Nice ones. I have one pair of those...

They seem to run the school quite like the way my principal ran the school where I taught in NY. Classroom mangagement (aka "Discipline" for non-ed folks) is #1, first and foremost. 'Course I totally agree with that. YOu can't do much in the way of anything if the kids won't listen to you. The supervisors seem to think I'll fit in quite well. The Bronx experience seems to carry quite a bit of clout--guess they've seen all the "Dangerous Minds" movies, etc. ('Course I don't win my babies over with chocolate bars...)

My principal did say that he likes to work from a non-deficit perspective. AWESOME. Looking forward to learning more about how he facilitates that kind of environment. I'm so happy he feels that way. That's always how I've felt about my students. In other words, "what poverty?" All I've ever found is them is richness and life...

Day in the city...

2006-01-31T22:28:00.000-08:00

Went for a trip downtown today. Took the ferry from Half Moon Bay and ended up at the Ferry Building in Auckland. Then I explored Queen St., the main drag. Stopped by a few hostels to see if I could find any good deals on cars...After the bus ride home today (1 hour and 15 min!), I have no doubt left about buying a vehicle. Anyway, went ahead and stopped by STA Travel and booked my spring break trip. Will fly from Auckland to Queenstown in the South Island (where they filmed Lord of the Rings and Narnia), spend a week in the South Island, making my way back up to Christchurch where I will then fly to Sydney, Australia, for a week. Yes, I'm going to Australia. Good thing I have 2 weeks for spring break.... Actually got a pretty good deal on the whole itinerary. The first place wanted $900 NZ (and they are supposed to be discount travel!) and then I went to STA and the total amnt was $700NZ (a little less than 500 US--not bad). I will be staying (hopefully, Jeannette?) with a friend in Sydney--or maybe at least with friends of friends.

Will go into school tomorrow. Called yesterday and my contact person was not back at the school, yet, but she called today and so I will go in tomorrow to meet everyone and get acquainted before I officially start next Tuesday (Monday is yet another holiday!). Think this girl I met on the plane, Sarah, who is from San Diego, CA, and I will take a weekend trip to Rotorua. She is an au pair and her host family has a cabin there that we may be able to use... We'll see. It's about a 3 hour drive from here.

Hm. I like it here. But miss you all, of course!

Love,
Me

Fush and Chippies!

2006-01-31T22:26:00.000-08:00

HAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sand and butt cracks. That's funny...

Ferry to Auckland City

2006-01-31T22:24:00.000-08:00

Aidan dropped me off here at the ferry. Caught the ferry to Auckland City and then took the bus back home...all by myself. Still haven't gotten lost yet!

outside on the patio

2006-01-31T22:22:00.000-08:00

There's a nice set of clotheslines, too. Bridge thinks it's funny that I was so excited by them.

my bathroom

2006-01-31T22:19:00.000-08:00

Love this tub. There's a little "shelf" for your head. And look how clean my bathroom is. Can I bring it back to GA with me?

just press hash

2006-01-30T16:49:00.000-08:00

Okay, "hash" is the word for "pound" on a keypad. You know, this sign right here: # Yeah, that's what they call hash. Found out when I was trying to learn how to set the alarm system. This house is really nice and clean. I will show you. Anyway, today I'm just sitting around catching up on some reading for my independent study course. I went for a jog this morning. Didn't get lost (although I brought along a map so would've been a little pathetic had I lost myself), but I was pretty happy with that. It's kind of cloudy today but still really warm. I'm making friends with the cat, Snowy, even though you all know I am NOT a cat person. But, I kind of like her cuz she does her own thing and I do mine. We have this understanding, you know. She's not a snuggler, so we're cool. I kind of like having her around, actually. I respect her independence, and she mine. It's a good thing we've got going.

I was thinking of getting out today and exploring the city but I'm here alone at the house, and I've realized I haven't had a day to relax in quite some time now. I decided I'd just stay in, enjoy the quiet, and get some laundry done. In a minute I'll cook up some brown rice (which Bridge thinks is totally odd--"How do you get used to that?") and chicken. Okay, you can tell I've got a little too much time on my hands today cuz I am telling you about my completely uneventful lunch.

I'll go now. The cat is knocking. Tried to call Mom and Dad, but nobody was home. Where are you guys? Okay, EMAIL ME, PEOPLE!!!

Love,
Me

2006-01-29T22:45:00.000-08:00

Me and my guitar

2006-01-29T22:25:00.000-08:00

Having a "barbie"

2006-01-29T22:23:00.000-08:00

a view from the twisties :)