I stink at posting and keeping you guys updated

Just want to say I am very sorry for not keeping you guys informed on my life here. For the past month and a bit, I have done a lot of things. Problem is, now that I've been a slacker, it's harder to remember what I've done. I shall try and inform you of my adventures, none-the-less.



Starting in December I did YMCA volunteer work. It was fabulous and fun. I got to work with such great people and the kids were amazing. We did things like going to the movies, swimming, and beach days. I've officially gone to the beach more in the last 3 months, than I have in my whole entire life. The one thing I found, was that kids cry a lot more than you'd think, and mostly it's for attention. I had a girl who would cry anywhere from 6 to 10 times a day. Everyday. Anyways, my time at the New Plymouth Y was great and I would love to do it again.

The photos below are some I took on the train ride in Waitara (why-tra). This was a very cool day!

 

 

 

My last day of YMCA was January 29th. I started school on the 30th.

As I've told you before, I think, New Zealand has 13 school years. Last year I was in year 11. This year I'm in year 13. No I did not get my math wrong, for the first time in my life, I skipped a grade! Technically, I am a year 12, but I've been but up in all year 13 classes, and do the year 13 stuff.

School has been easy and fun (except for Chemistry). I am currently taking English, Statistics, Biology, Chemistry, and History (along with a free period).

I've found this year to be better, because along with the more challenging classes, I have also made some more friends.

Last week on Wednesday, I went on a year 13 leadership and team building activity day. It was at a place called Vertical Horizons, which is a high ropes course area. We got to do a lot of fun activities, although it was quite hot and we got a bit irritated at the end. Our day consisted of a swamp man challenge, where we had to work together and get a carrot from the opposing island. That was messy and we didn't work well together. on Flying Kiwi, we had to pull each other up by a rope, and we "flew" in the air.

Later we had to make a raft and float our patient across the lake to the jetty, that was difficult and we spent 3 long hours in the sun. After we went for a mud run and had a blast, although I sunk becasue of my shortness.

The day, overall, was fun and I slept well that night.

 

On the 8th of Decmeber, our family friends, Jim and Melissa, got married. it was on a beautiful day and we had a great time.  It was at a little historic cottage and the day was amazing.



 

Also at school we've been having school sports days. Which are the school tabloid sports. It's so much fun, and we all have "house colors" that we dress for. The activities give us points and we try to win the tabloids overall. I'll post some pictures soon!

 

Festival of Lights- New Plymouth, New Zealand

Every year, since 1993, in New Plymouth a festival called "Festival of Lights" takes place at Pukekura Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pukekura_Park). The park is lit up with thousands of lights and is beautiful. They have a bridge that has drop shaped lights above it. Everything there is breathtaking! They even have row boats that you can take around the lake! Danni and I had a lot of fun and laughs trying to row, we eventually got the hang of it though!

 

Christmas, New Years, and this week!

Well a few weeks ago was Christmas, as we all know. This year's Christmas was great and sad at the same time. The families of both Glan and Suse came to our house and spent Christmas with us. We got up and had breakfast, which was toast and bacon, then opened our gifts! I got many nice things and Mom even sent over gifts for us. After opening our gifts we had lunch at 12:30ish. It consisted of a lot of yummy things including chicken, ham, and even a very large crawfish (caught by Danielle's boyfriend). I think this has been the hardest Christmas for me, because I wasn't with my Mom and Grandmother (and my extended family).

After Christmas, we went to the beach for New Years. We went to a beach called Opunaki which was only about a half hour or so away. The weather was so so, it was really hot, but we had a lot of showers. We ended up going down to the beach only once. While there we camped. Our tent was quite large and I have a better perspective of camping.

Today we did house work then we had a swim in our pool!