Swimming Sports

Last Monday was Swimming Sports. Remember Athletics Day? Well this was similar (not so much with the nakedness although I did spot quite a few bikinis) in the sense that they don't have a swim team; students sign up for certain events and go participate. They get an entire day off of school to spend time sitting in the sun and swimming in a pool.

It's such a big event that the entire PE department leaves school for the day in order to monitor the students and activities. What do they do with all of their classes? They hire three relievers (substitutes/temps) and send all of the remaining students to the hall to watch a movie. So being a temporary part of the PE department I got to spend my day sitting by the pool, drinking Starbucks Hot Chocolate (which is too bitter for my liking), eating a free lunch, and making sure students didn't go up the stairs and escape into the big, wide world. (This was the day my rash came back; it's because I sat in the sun all day. Tough day, I know.)

Catching some rays with Candace and Michelle

In order to keep students from signing up and then just sitting around, they check students for togs (swimsuits) before they get on the bus. The students must participate in at least one event and keep their behavior under control or else they are sent back to school (no joke; they had a van ready and waiting for students causing a ruckus). They held a doggy paddle race and a running under water race so that none of the students had an excuse not to participate.

Students lining up and getting ready for the underwater sprint

And they're off!



Fellow PE Staff: Candace and Michelle

The final event was a relay race and the teachers participated in this one. Apparently they win every year.

Ready to race



Michelle diving in to start the relay



Vaughn starting off the third leg



If you look closely, you'll notice that Keryn is wearing flippers

This is the most fit PE staff I have ever come across. One of them just made it onto the New Zealand triathlon team, another one tried out, another one is training for a half marathon, etc. Needless to say, they won by a long shot.

After the students loaded the buses and headed back to school, the staff walked over to the CBD Corner Pub for a "debriefing". Everyone ordered their beers and fancy drinks while I sipped my Diet Coke. It was really a pointless debriefing, however drinks were on the school and everyone loves their alcohol after a hard day's work. I think I'll stick with my Diet Coke.

New Zealand Sports

Last Saturday night I went to my first rugby game. I didn't sit next to anyone who understands the game so I used my limited knowledge of the sport to understand the game. It wasn't an All Blacks game (they aren't in season right now) but it was still a good game. I have learned that a lot of cities have their own rugby teams (Hamilton's team is the Chiefs) and at the end of the cities' seasons they pick the best players to make up the All Blacks team.

This is what they call a scrum
(I hate this word because the first word that pops into my head when I hear scrum is scrotum)

The scrum is a big part of the game, but I can't remember why...

This is my favorite part. When the ball goes out of bounds (I am just making this up, but it sounds pretty good to me) they have to throw the ball back in; but they can't throw it to a teammate, they have to throw it really high in the air. In order to get the ball, they grab one of their players and hold them high in the air so that they can get possession first.

In rugby, you can kick the ball whenever you want; you don't have to wait for someone to score a goal. They played two forty minute halves with a ten minute half time and the clock never stops running so you know the game is going to last an hour and a half and the last five minutes of the game is going to be five minutes and not a half hour. I like that part. I think football could change its rules to match that. Another thing that I like about Rugby is that the WHOLE team is incredibly fit. (The men in New Zealand wear short shorts, they have NO shame, and you can tell who plays rugby because their quads are AMAZING; I have learned that some short shorts are okay, like on rugby players because I really enjoy their tan thighs, which usually aren't hairy, they're very muscly, and you get the point...) In football you have incredibly fit receivers because they do a lot of running, but in order to play defense in football you just have to be incredibly large (notice I didn't say large with muscles, I just said large) and so you don't really have to be fit to be on a football team. (That was a major generalization and Justin will probably attack me for that one)

It's a different game and I think if someone explained things to me as the game went on, I would have enjoyed it a little more. I prefer football but I think that's because I understand the game. It is fun to look for the plays and strategies and to watch the long passes in football. In rugby, I just see really strong men grabbing and touching each other more than they do in wrestling (hard to believe, I know) ending up in a doggy pile in which the ball disappears until you see it suddenly pooped out and shot across the field. It's more of a male bonding game than football...

Monday night I got to go see a couple of the PE staff play Netball. I have asked people before how to play netball and I have had the same responses, "It's like basketball without a backboard and without dribbling." Oh right. No problem. Let's just say...FALSE

I showed up and Emma (a staff member who's injured and can't play) gave me a thirty second run down of the game. It went something like this, "Each player has their own position and that position allows them in certain areas of the court. For instance some people can play in the first third and the second third, some people can play in every third except the goalie circle, some people can only play in one third. You can't dribble, you have to pass. Every time a shot is made, the ball starts in the middle again." Easy peasy, right? Again...FALSE

After this little rundown I thought "No problem. I will just go sit down on this bench and watch it all go." Thirty seconds into the game and I have heard three whistle blows. Within the first five minutes I swear I heard twenty to thirty whistle blows. I could not figure out what was going on. They don't stop the clock with every whistle blow (thank goodness) and I don't understand the arm motions so I couldn't figure it out. After the first quarter, I noticed Keryn, another staff member, had shown up to watch the game. "Keryn. You gotta help me. I don't understand what's going on. Why do they blow the whistle so much?"

Turns out Netball is a non-contact sport and every time contact is made they either lose possession of the ball, get a free pass, or get a free shot. That was one minor detail Emma forgot to share in her thirty second run down of the game.

When I got home, I explained my confusions to Robyn, my host mum, and she said "Yeah, netball is a sissy sport. They aren't allowed to touch each other." Again, an interesting game. I think netball to basketball would be an awesome transfer of skills because you have extremely accurate shooting (you don't use a backboard), your passing skills are really good (because you can't dribble) and when you go to play basketball you won't travel because you can't run with the ball in netball either. But basketball to netball would be hard because you would forget that you can't dribble and probably make lots of contact and miss every shot because in basketball you're taught to use the backboard.

On Tuesday I get to teach my Year 9 class touch skills. Touch is like rugby but you don't tackle, you touch. And some of the rules on different. So I get to do lots of studying up tomorrow so that I can figure out how to play. Let's just say that I will be relying 100% on my students for demonstrations...

It's Ba-ack

So it looks like this rash of mine is going to be an annual thing.

A Disgustingly Expensive Shower

I crawled out of bed this morning to get in the shower and realized that I forgot to grab a new bar of soap and I ran out yesterday. I looked frantically around and all I could find that resembled soap was shampoo. I didn't even have face wash and I needed to wash my face so badly. A greasy face equals lots of pimples, right? So I washed with shampoo because I really had no other choice. So I had a full body wash with shampoo. That is one expensive body wash.

While I was washing my legs I saw two antennas poke out from behind the shower caddy. "That canNOT be good!" I thought. Before I knew it, a little cockroach came crawling out from behind. Now if you knew me you would know that I don't do bugs, spiders, or things that crawl. I was calm enough to know that this didn't constitute a real emergency so screaming bloody murder while standing naked in the shower wasn't an option. I did the first thing I could think of and I formed a bowl with my hands, filled it with water from the shower, and tried to drop it on the nasty thing. After soaking it enough that it wasn't dead but wet enough that it couldn't crawl as fast, I tried to go back to my shower routine. But the moaning and wondering and irregular breathing wasn't going away and I knew I wouldn't feel good about finishing my shower and leaving the room with a live cockroach crawling around somewhere. So as the cockroach gained enough courage to begin to climb the caddy again, I weighed my options and somewhere inside I found enough courage to take my shampoo bottle and knock the disgusting bug to the floor. I watched the bug flow down the drain and I started breathing normally once again.

Now the cockroach is gone but with my luck I will now break out because of the chemicals in the shampoo that I used to wash my face.

167 Years

Myself, McKenzie, and Brooke headed out to Church College tonight for a birthday celebration in honor of the Relief Society's 167 years of organization.

The enrichment committee put together a wonderful carnival with several booths. We enjoyed a variety of fun games while getting to know some of the girls in the YSA ward. Everyone has been really nice and helpful. McKenzie and I have gone to church a couple of times and have gone to a few activities and we're both impressed with how friendly everyone is. The carnival tonight was great.

We had a hula-hoop contest, which I won!



We raced to see who could eat a cookie-on-a-string the fastest. After I put my blind fold on, I realized that all of the cookies in front of me were too high so I had to find another one. It was pretty tricky...McKenzie was the winner of this contest.





I wasn't expecting a picture after I finished



We bobbed for apples. Well, Brooke and McKenzie bobbed for apples (I don't usually participate in this activity-okay okay-I've never participated in this activity) Brooke was victorious in this event.





We shot little drops of paint through a plastic gun



We fished for suckers (Brooke won and McKenzie caught one but my efforts were futile)



Brooke and McKenzie got their faces painted (this is also an activity in which I don't participate-it qualifies as dressing up and I don't do that)



McKenzie and I enjoyed a hot dog with tomato sauce (not ketchup; ketchup here is really expensive so everyone uses tomato sauce and let me tell you what, it most certainly doesn't taste the same)



I've never seen a strand of wieners in real life, I thought it was just a made-up thing you see in the movies. But nope, they really exist.

A St. Patty's Day Not to Hate

The last few St. Patrick's Days have not been very exciting for me. I actually hated a couple of them because of the stupid parades that ruined my plans. The first time was Spring Break 2005 when I went to New York with Mom and my sisters. We were walking along Fifth Avenue because we really just wanted to look at the stores and step into Saks Fifth Avenue, just once. But alas, it was not to be for it was St. Patrick's Day (or what I lovingly refer to as Snake Chasers Day) and little did I know that New York City throws a MONDO parade and it's absolutely impossible to get through. That was horrible experience number one.

Horrible experience number two wasn't quite so bad. It was a couple of years later and I was spending Spring Break in Spokane with Ashley. We wanted to head downtown and see the giant red wagon and walk along the river, but whaddaya know: it's Snake Chaser's Day yet again and Spokane is having a parade blocking all roads leading to the giant red wagon. We shook our fists and went to the mall instead.

It turns out that St. Patty's Day just isn't a big deal in New Zealand. I guess they don't have enough Irish immigrants. People definitely use it as an excuse to get sloshed but there are no parties, the students don't worry about wearing green, and there are NO PARADES!

This year McKenzie, myself, and Alicia...

...decided to head downtown to spend our evening with the crowds in a local Irish pub.

We had a marvelous time (smoking isn't allowed in pubs so it really was quite marvelous). Alicia and I ordered Diet Coke while McKenzie drank pineapple juice. We took a few pictures and enjoyed watching the green mobs drink their alcohol (which wasn't died green).

Since we wanted to do more than drink, we each ordered cheeseburgers. When the burgers arrived we were all amazed at their size. McKenzie and Alicia strove for manners as they cut their burgers in half. I figured I was dining with a few drunks anyway who wouldn't know the difference so I threw my manners out the window.

The menu said these burger came with salad and fries. Little did we know that the salad came ON the burger, not next to it.

This salad was complete with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, onions, and beets! I found it very strange. I've never had a burger with beets before. Normally I like beets, but the flavor of them was too strong and it was taking away from the rest of the meal so I had to remove them. Something interesting: these burgers weren't big slabs of juicy ground meet, it looked like a slice of roast beef. I enjoyed my burger, but it just wasn't meaty enough for me.

After finishing our meals we decided we wanted to people watch for a while so I headed over to the counter to order myself another Diet Coke. I never though I would see the day when I stood at a bar waiting to order a drink.

After a sufficient amount of people watching, we sober ones meandered down the street. We discovered a used book store (that sells cheap piano music so I bought myself some so that I have something else to entertain myself with when I am at home with my host family) and a MEXICAN RESTAURANT! We went inside and checked it out. The man told us that he doesn't sell alcohol so we'll have to bring our own. I guess he couldn't tell that his lack of vending alcohol would have zero effect on our desire to eat at his place. Mexican food just isn't available here in New Zealand and I am pretty sad about it. We're going to go try this place on Friday.

So it shaped up to be a great St. Patrick's Day. Good thing it's not a big deal down here because if my plans got foiled for another parade I think I'd turn to drinking. Hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

A Glimpse of the Schedule

Let me introduce you to the school schedule.



(Sorry that this is a picture of my computer screen. I could not find any other way to insert it.)

They have six classes total, but they only go to five classes every day. They only have four classes on Wednesday because they have an assembly every week, and they get out early on Wednesdays. There aren't hallways. There are separate buildings for each subject and even those aren't linked with hallways. These students definitely get an opportunity to soak up some Vitamin D on a daily basis.

I teach four classes. I teach V, W, X, and Z. (V is Sports Science; W is Outdoor Education; X is Year 11 Phys. Ed; Z is Year 9 Phys Ed) Because of the way the schedule is organized some days I teach four classes and other days I only teach three. One thing I do like is that classes are exactly fifty minutes; none of the 62 minute stuff with 7 minute passing periods. Fifty minutes of class, five minutes to get to class. Everything ends at an even time.

Interval lasts for twenty-five minutes and lunch lasts for fifty. There isn't a cafeteria; students get food from The Canteen and they eat outside. When it rains (not just sprinkling, but really raining), everybody brings umbrellas; lunch is shortened and everyone gets out early.

Maybe this isn't unique to New Zealand but it's different for me. It has been an interesting schedule to get used to, but I am starting to like it. Every day is a little bit different which adds an element of excitement!

A Maori Cultural Experience

Saturday afternoon we headed to Rotorua for a Maori cultural experience. Rotorua in New Zealand is like Yellowstone in Wyoming (without the organization). They've built a town around the hot pots and boiling water. Every now and then something moves and there's a big pop and life goes on. We saw maybe three or four DANGER signs and they were about 6"x6". It smells worse than Yellowstone and I think it's more active than Yellowstone. Can you imagine building a town on Yellowstone National Park? I mean really, these Maoris literally built homes around the hot pots. They use pipes to heat their homes in the winter. They've built little shacks around these hot pots and use the heat for their own purposes. I just can't imagine the United States being okay with something like that.

This is some body's backyard

And this was just a few feet away (you can see the steam, but you can't really see the bubbles)

When we got to town, we stopped at Maori church and took a few pictures. The woodwork was amazing.

After we took this picture we found out it was one of their gods...we felt kind of bad after that

We also took some pictures by the lake; Rotorua means two lakes.

After driving around town it was time to head to the dinner show/cultural experience. We hopped on another bus which took us to a "realistic Maori village". Our bus driver gave our group a tribe name (Kiwi) and we selected a chief-Chief Michael from Canada. Once we got there, we experienced a traditional Maori greeting with lots of bulging eyes and big tongues. They do this little drill to try to scare off those coming to the village.

The Maori tribe then offers a leaf or some gift for the visitors to accept



The chief of a visiting tribe slowly approaches the gift and accepts it



After the gift has been accepted, the visitors are then free to enter the village. We walked around and looked at the different set ups and listened to the Maori people talk about their roles in the community.

After this presentation we were led to a little auditorium for dancing and celebration.

After all of this it was finally time to eat dinner (which really wasn't anything spectacular; I would have been just as content, if not more so, with a McDonald's hamburger). The bus ride home was the highlight for me. The driver made note of the fact that there were representatives from six different countries on our bus and part of the Maori experience is to share a song from you tribe (or your country or where you come from). At this point I was feeling pretty restless and fidgety. Our chief went to the front of the bus and called a representative from each country to come up to the microphone and sing a song. When he shouted "USA!" Linda and I jumped up and headed to the front. We proceeded to serenade our fellow passengers with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

Linda, me, and McKenzie enjoying our bus ride home

It was a fun trip. The cultural experience was a lot like what you get at the Polynesian Cultural Center in Hawaii and having just done that, I felt like this was pretty redundant. It was a first time experience for most everyone else though so ROCK ON!