Life as a Kiwi

AFSers BEWARE:

2010-07-06T06:40:00.000-07:00

Yes, beware reverse culture shock.

I am in LA right now getting ready to board my plane back to Tampa Florida and I already feel culture shock. My NZ family is so far away from me now and so is my real family. LA is so crazy with buildings everywhere and SO many people. No fields, no sheep, no rolling green hills, and no more Kiwis. I walk around this airport hearing my native accent and seeing the American people. Americans seem so much more distinctive to me now as a group. Even though there are so many differences throughout the whole country, it feels like I have been gone long enough to see the American people as a whole now. The people in the states are way easier to start up a conversation with and are openly very friendly upon first meeting. This is good and bad for me. Its GREAT now. I feel like anyone would come over and talk to me and try and make me feel better if I acted upset. Its bad for me in a way because I also do not feel like I have to really try hard to talk to someone or get them to be my friend. Ill try to explain this the best way I can. I think Kiwis are much harder to develop close relationships with and just all around not as easy to talk to as Americans. But in this way when I was able to feel completely comfortable talking to anyone in NZ is gave me heaps of confidence and made me feel like I could actually relate to the person. And furthermore, when I started to have closer relationships to these people it became even more meaningful to me and was my favorite achievement of my whole experience.

My culture shock is pretty bad right now but I think once I back to Tampa and my family itll subside. I also better start getting mentally prepared for university. I know that through this whole experience University will not be as hard for me, but it will be a brand new chapter in my life and I am very excited.

I love New Zealand and I love the United States. I definitely have to homes on this planet now and its an awesome feeling. Studying abroad is probably the best decision of my life and I regret nothing about it. Thank you for reading my blog and following me on this insane journey. I have left the states not knowing what I was going to find in the middle of the pacific, became a part of a family, made friends, immersed myself in a culture, fell in love with a country, came home, and now I am saying goodbye. And once more, thanks again for reading. Cheers

My favo(u)rite photos to date

2010-06-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

The Takatimu Mountain Range right outside of Invercargill
My eyes are closed and liam is not even looking at the camera but I still loves this family picture. Too bad Emma and Libby could not be there to make it in this one. This was taken on top of Bald hill in the Longwoods.
Kayla and I in our "flash" Chevy before the Ball.
All Blacks Test Match Versus Wales at Carisbrook's last game.
Cape Reinga, the very northern tip of New Zealand. This is one of the most sacred places for the Maori people.
Crazy sand formation in Naseby, Central Otago.
Milford Sound with Kayla.
Routeburn Track in Fiordland National Park with my Mates Nika and Ingrid.
Mount Cook, the tallest mountain in New Zealand. Too bad you cant quite see it behind the cloud, should have taken the picture the day before. Gutted

BIG update

2010-06-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

Wow I have left myself to a massive update but I will do the best I can to get it all in.

-Joined underwater hockey team

-came in second at southland cross country champs in Te Anau

-got lost during Southland championships orienteering course and came in last by over an hour

-Went night swimming at Oreti beach in 30 F degree weather, -1 degree Celsius

-Did our three nights of the production Kiss Me Kate

-Went to the ball

-Went to the even better After-Ball

-My american mate came to visit and we

-explored the takatimu mountain range with some other friends

-took a bus tour to Milford Sound (Iconic NZ destination)

- saw seals

-Nearly Shat ourselves bungee jumping in Queenstown off highest bungee in NZ, The Nevis. it was 400ft high right into a valley.

-Took a jet boat ride through shot over river

- Drove to Mount Cook with host family (Highest mountain in NZ seeming to be in the middle of nowhere when in reality only 1 hour away from a town)

- Drove down the east coast of NZ from Mount Cook to see the Moeraki Boulders

-Arrived in Dunedin

-Ran up the Steepest street in the world (Baldwin Street)

-took pictures at a church that is famous to me because it appeared in one of my favorite TV shows called Drive Thru

- All Blacks test match against Wales at the historical last game at the famous Carisbrook stadium

- went into Gardies (pub) with my host dad for its historical last night in business. It was a huge institution in Dunedin

-Saw people playing nude rugby on the news with nothing blurred out. shows what you can put on NZ news and US news.

-And finally, I gave a speech to my whole school today on what its like to be an exchange student. I also thank the school for being so welcoming and told them I would be coming back to visit very soon.

What I can say right at this moment is that I have been in NZ for 5 months now and it is my life. It is not just a place that I feel at home but it is a place where I lived for a portion on my life, had a family, friends, school, sports teams, clubs, productions, Shakespeare?, great times, a few bad times, and AMAZING memories. I have dreams about NZ and my kiwi friends and family in them. It is definitely a part of me and it will be very hard to leave. That is not to say, though, that I dont want to go back to the US, because I am very excited to go back and see everyone, I miss them so much. Anyways it will be hard to leave and I think will almost feel like a divorce I guess. I mean I can always come back to NZ but itll never be the same as it was when I was here. I wont be able to be the son of my host family, I wont be going to high school and hanging out with my friends everyday, my friends will all be at different universities, I wont be on the sports teams, and well, its just wont be the same. But I know I will always be welcomed back here and I do love this place a lot, so I am sure New Zealand has not seen the last of Trenor Wilkins.

newspaper

2010-06-22T13:51:00.000-07:00

This article came out two days after the ball article came out. Here is something also worthy of note. Everyone in Southland, maybe in all of NZ for that matter, reads the newspaper. NO JOKE> I had literally everyone at school comment on the newspaper articles: My friends, other year 13 students, teachers, other staff, my rugby coaches, whole classes of year 7 and 8 students (I had to look after class as the teacher was gone, who also commented on it), and people I dont even know.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/sport/3811219/US-student-praises-variety-of-sports-in-NZ

US student praises variety of sports in NZ

By BRENDON EGAN - The Southland Times

Last updated 05:00 15/06/2010

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NICOLE GOURLEY/The Southland Times

WORTHWHILE EXCHANGE: American exchange student Trenor Wilkins has had a blast trying out a variety of sports during his time at Southland Boys' High School.

United States exchange student Trenor Wilkins reckons high schools back home should take a leaf out of New Zealand's book when it comes to sport.

In the US, students were encouraged to stick to their preferred sport and concentrated solely on it, Wilkins said. The Tampa, Florida native – who has been on exchange at Southland Boys' High School since January – admitted New Zealand had been a breath of fresh air with the way it allowed students to try their hand at a multitude of sports.

"In the States, you specialise and become really good at it. You practise every single day. Here, they don't practise every day. Everyone is really naturally good at a lot of sports. It's so cool that everyone does a lot of sport."

Wilkins' chosen sport is cross- country running and the 17-year-old has made his mark in it since arriving in New Zealand. He won the over-16 cross-country title at Southland Boys', then backed that up with a second-place finish at the recent Southland cross-country championships in Te Anau.

Wilkins led after 2km of the 6km distance, but was overtaken by precocious Gore High School talent Aaron Barclay, who won the race by 13sec from the American in a time of 21min 4sec.

While in Southland, Wilkins has tried his hand at a variety of sports. He took up mountainbiking in New Zealand and has competed in the Motatapu, Moonshine and WindFarm Classic events.

The youngster has also dabbled in water polo, underwater hockey, represented the Southland Boys' High first XI football team, and even lined up on the wing for the school's under-18 blue rugby side.

Coming from the gridiron-mad United States, Wilkins confessed it had been an interesting experience playing rugby.

"I didn't even know the rules," he laughed.

"I played a game and almost got a try against James Hargest.

"It was an easy open try and I just missed it."

Wilkins heads back home next month where he will begin his first year at college at the University of Florida.

He hoped to break into the university's cross-country team and said that would involve beating people who were already on the team in a race to gain their spot.

"They have a walk-on race.

"It's pretty hard to walk on (to the team). If I work hard all summer, I can do it."

The 60kg whippet admitted he would love to do the London Marathon and also had a few other running goals he wanted to tick off his list.

2010-06-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

I got this article off the Southland Times website and there was even a picture of me and Kayla in the actual newspaper to go along with it.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/3804716/US-pair-praise-Southland-schools-ball

US pair praise Southland schools' ball

By JARED MORGAN - The Southland Times

Last updated 05:00 12/06/2010

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NICOLE GOURLEY/The Press

LET'S DANCE: Southland Boys' and Southland Girls' high schools seniors in their finery at last night's combined ball. About 400 students from both schools donned gowns and tuxedos for the secret garden-themed event.

Southland does it better.

That's the verdict from two United States high school students transplanted at last night's combined Southland Boys' and Southland Girls' high schools ball.

The praise came from Trenor Wilkins and Kayla Kennedy, a pair weaned on the traditional high school prom, an institution as American as mom and apple pie.

The Tampa, Florida, natives who are seniors at HB Plant High School, joined about 400 other southern beaus and belles at the secret garden-themed ball held at Stadium Southland in Invercargill.

Trenor, who has been in Invercargill since January on a student exchange, said the Kiwi-version had impressed him. "I would say this is way better," he said.

His and "good mate" Kayla's ball experience included being driven to the big event in a Chevrolet, the paparazzi treatment from a crowd of envious younger girls at the stadium's entrance, walking a red carpet and being paraded in front of pride-swelled parents, he said.

"Back home we show up, have a dance and go home." Kayla, who arrived in New Zealand on holiday on Thursday, agreed.

"It's definitely a lot more formal – it's nice." For Trenor, last night's ball stood in for his own senior prom, which he missed while on his exchange, which finishes next month.

"I'm here until July 5, which I'm also pretty bummed about – I miss Fourth of July (American Independence Day) celebrations." For both, last night's ball comes close to the end of their schooling.

A series of photos of ball couples will loaded on our website, www.southlandtimes.co.nz, in the coming days.

We want to see your snaps, too.

Send your ball pictures to news@stl.co.nz and we'll put them in our online gallery.

Make sure you include the names of everyone in the photo caption details.

ITS DUCK SEASON!

2010-05-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

I am constantly surprised by Kiwis. Its hard to describe the situations I am meaning when they surprise me because the are not always clear cut. But here is one kind of example: my first week of school everyone just stared at me and no one said a single word to even prove that I existed. When I thought that everyone at school were really cold people that were extremely hard to talk to, I showed up next week to find that people I had never even seen before were saying hello to me in the hallways. You definitely can't go by first impressions in this country. Some people that I thought I would never be friends with are people I like most at school now. There are heaps more examples that I have seen but are just hard to describe in typing, but I can honestly say that I am surprised almost everyday by people here, in a good way that is.

One thing that surprised me was how much more legit their Ball is compared to our Prom. This cant account for every Prom across the US but it definitely counts for mine. Prom at my school is considered really lame and no one really goes to it and everyone just looks forward to the after party. The Ball here is completely different. It is seen as one of the biggest nights of their whole time at school. Some people even get there dates up to 6 or 7 months in advance. Ball dancing practice started a couple weeks ago and goes all the way up to when the ball starts 5 weeks from now in June. We have to learn 14 dances! Its ridiculous! It is a very formal affair and all the guys have to wear white gloves and everything. Everyone meets at a friends house before for drinks and then has a rented or borrowed nice car come to pick them up to take them to dinner and then later to the ball. Then comes the ball, which has a lot of hand shaking and rehearsed dances. Then there is an hour between the Ball and After Ball. The After Ball is also very different. Its not like an after party like prom where you go to someone's house for a party but not everyone goes to the same place. Here there is an actual hall booked where everyone from the Ball goes to for a more relaxed atmosphere and dancing. Everyone stays there very late into the night and then taken home by a ride or picked up by parents that volunteer. Everyone is already really excited about it and discussing their plans for the evening.

There are practices for the Ball every Tuesday and Thursday for an hour and a half. We have to learn 14 dances for it! Insane I think. Our first practice was a little bit of an awkward fest I have to say. It is a joint Ball with Southland Boys High School and Southland Girls High school, but I have found that Boys High guys and Girls High girls dont often hang out. The guys at my school usually hang out with the girls at the public coed school Hargest. Anyways, when we were all in the hall getting ready to start it was clear that the guys sit with the guys and same goes with the girls. The lady teaching us to dance did the ever so popular "how bout lets make it really awkward so it won't be so awkward" bit. So she made every guy offer a right hand to a random girl and ask to dance. Not so bad except for the fact that everyone is really bad at dancing. The girls would catch on quicker however and then you would hear shrieks from girls whose feet who got stepped on, guys tripping all over the place, and even the occasional girl stepping inn a small whole at the bottom of someones jeens and getting it caught and then falling all over the place with her foot caught in the guys pants (I was this guy by the way). Really fun ae? Well actually it really was fun and by the time everyone got the dances down everyone got really comfortable with each other and was having a ton of fun.

Another thing that surprised me about Kiwis is how intense they take duck shooting. Everyone talks about it and everyone does it. Well mostly just the guys in the family, but just about every family has a guy doing it. Opening weekend for duck hunting is known to usually just be a piss up for mates so me and Liam were not going to be out there our the first day with my host dad. Duck season had an opeing weekend last weekend and this is what I came to find when me and Liam came out on Sunday:^^^^ pictures above

How to be Skux Delux

2010-05-04T03:17:00.000-07:00

The title really has nothing to do with this post but skux is the word of the year at Boys High and I thought I may as well put it into a title.

This will just be a catch up the my goings on since the holidays.

I know I have said it feels like home here in earlier posts but I have to say that life has hit a normality here, and not in a bad boring way, but in a I-have-a-handle-on-New-Zealand-and-school-and-home-and-social-life-and-athletic-life sort of way. Over holidays I traveled to the north island and Stewart Island and was a tourist, but when I got to my HOME, I was not a tourist any more. Invercargill is not a tourist destination and there are very few foreigners and when you speak the language you tend to fit right in with sometimes the occasional person asking where you are from. I do not notice the accents anymore, not at all... literally, they are just not there. Accents in general with me are all kind of a blur now. What with American TV shows all the time, American commercials with kiwi voice overs, kiwi tv shows, kiwi commercials, tons of UK influence on TV, and the region I live in is also very Scottish. I hear different accents all the time and I am not even aware most of the time. Like when I was on the Stewart Island in the hut, one of my mates said I should go over and talk with the American girl in the corner because we had our mother nations in common. I gave a bewildered look and asked how he had known, to his reply that her accent was so strong. I had been talking to her about the island less than 5 minutes earlier and never even noticed that she was not a kiwi.

Man, I am so ADD I was not even meaning to write about this. Anyways, what I am trying to say is that I do not notice my accent anymore and I often forget I even have one. So in this way when I feel like I no longer have an accent, when I dont feel like a tourist in Invercargill, when I am involved with school, playing sports, and hanging out with people on the weekend, I just feel like I belong. Like I have hit my stride to be actually LIVING here and no longer on a "foreign exchange."

So my normal life goes like this right now:

Mondays: soccer practice

Tuesdays: Rugby practice, Ball Practice (I will get to this later but its like prom and we have to learn 14 dances.), Production Practice (will also get to this later)

Wednesday: soccer game

Thursday: rugby practice, Ball practice, Production practice

Friday:

Saturday: Rugby game

Sunday: Production practice, and this is also the day we do a massive house clean up

Things happening since I last wrote... I won the school Round the Park race. It was a complete debacle though. It was around the very large park right beside the school and had like 2 people directing people along the 2.4k course for juniors and 4k course for seniors. I was leading the senior race and just following the juniors who started before us. Well, these juniors turn in early at a spot that is unmarked for seniors but that I promptly turn into. turns out...WRONG! I was told this by a fat little junior who was so puffed that all he could get out was just that, "wrong!" And I had to back track to second place and catch up and pass before I made my turn behind the school to the finish line. Right before i crossed the line a mate from my class said "Oi Trenor! you went the wrong way you were supposed to go in front of the school not BEHIND!" I looked behind me terrified that I would not see second place who probably had gone the right way and that my chances of going the southland cross country champs would disappear ( but even more worrisome, my free day off school would be gone as well). However, the second place guy did follow me the wrong way, and the third place, and fourth, and everyone else. I lead the whole freakin race the wrong way. The people putting on the race were all pissy but I was like "its not my fault no one was there to direct me which way to go!" and they were all "your a senior you should know this" and I was all "well yea thats true and shizz except for the fact that I am a foreign exchange student and have never seen this course and did not anticipate the follies that would befall me whilst running this poorly run race event." except thats not really how it happened. It was more like they were really pissy and grumbling behind my back that I messed up the whole senior race and I stood in the background looking all around thinking "where the flip was the place I made the second wrong turn???" But it still really wasnt my fault, seriously, how was I supposed to know? Anyways I was still counted as the winner and am going to Southland Cross Country Champs in Te Anau in a week.

The next day I did a 9k race around the same park with all the Invercargill club teams and came in 2nd which I was very delighted with

I have been cast as Hortensio in Kiss Me Kate, my high school's production. I have to sing Tom Dick or Harry with two other chaps to one of the female main characters. I think we have to do a dance but I have also heard rumors that our dance was cut out. I will not be a happy camper if this is so because it will make the song look stupid if we are all just standing there trying to sing the song seriously. I just want to joke around and do lame dance moves on stage to make it more fun. AND it also turns out that in my solo for the song I have to hit this one really long and really high note at the end of my line saying "marry me". I can see it now: Marry Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee(((CRACK!!!!)))) ---- in front of the whole audience on the night of the show which will also include half the school. Do you know what my school does to a guy when his voice cracks?? Everyone stands up (if in the sitting position. If already standing, the position is maintained, but maybe just a step forward is taken for emphasis) and points to the horrified boy and yells "SQUEAKER! SQUEAKERRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" -- I would go back to America right then and there...

I will get to the Ball on my next post along with duck shooting and orienteering, this one is long enough for now.

Aotearoa part 4

2010-04-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

Our first hut
Near the peak at a waterfall fed lake
on the way to the first hut
Treacherous part on the way to the peak
Group shot of us ready to take on the track

Finally, the last part of my holiday travels across NZ end at the Routeburn Track in Fiordland National Park.

My host parents, host brother, and I drove up to Te Anau (T-OW-NOW) to stay for the day before the big hike and my host dad also had business to attend to there. Te Anau is a town that has been working on increasing tourism to compete with the likes of Queenstown, but its doubtful that it will ever happen. It is a BEAUTIFUL place right on incredible fiords, but there is only one road to get in AND out of the town. However, it is also a very popular place for people to have vacation houses in and is still considered a big destination on the South Island. We ate the cheese rolls that I had rolled at school a couple of weeks before and it was a long enough time for them to not seem appalling to me anymore. When we woke up the next morning we got our heavy packs together and went to meet the rest of the people we were going with. Me, Pip (host dad), Liam (host brother), Eric (family friend), Nika (Eric's daughter and my friend), Julia (Nika's sister), and then 2 of Julia's friends in all.

We drove up to the start of the track all very excited for the tramp and our last few days of holiday. We assessed our haul of lollies for the next three days and decided it would be enough and then we were off. It took us about 5 minutes before we started to sing sing-a-long-songs and then about another 10 minutes before we stopped singing because of what we saw infront of us: spectacular snow capped mountains. Just like out of Lord of the Rings ae?- I thought to myself. Its really hard to describe though. Just imagine yourself walking up to the top of a mountain with all you need on your back surrounded by untouched national park filled with mountains, fiords, endless amounts of waterfalls and streams , and basically just pure mother nature. Pictures can help with it, but it really does not compare at all to the feeling you get while you are there.

The huts that we stayed at, housed 50 people and were extremely nice. The Routeburn Track along with all the other tracks surrounding that area in Fiordland National Park are world class and in turn attracts people from all over the world. So in the huts I got to meet people from Aussie, USA, parts of Asia, Germany, and more. Everyone is there for the same reason and can all sit down, relax, and enjoy the other peoples company for the night before their long day of hiking the next early morning. Our group spent most of our time playing charades, cards, scrabble, and other funny little games.

The second day of our hike took us to the very top of the mountain where we were supposed to get some pretty spectacular views, however the weather was not on our side and we were stuck in a cloud the whole time. This was no matter because the day before was amazing enough for me and it was quite an eerily cool feeling to be up so high yet not quite knowing where you are. It was definitely a climb that day to make it to the top but we made and and had a very deserving marmite and cheese sandwhich. O yes! BREAKING NEWS: i like marmite and vegemite now. O and i guess while I am at it with breaking news I might as well say that I have also learned my schools haka for rugby and I also know the NZ national anthem in English and Maori. I am very happy with all of this.... anyways we later made it to our next hut and resumed our fun games and all that shizz. We made a delicious curry dinner and had lots of hot chocolate (we packed a whole lot of stuff).

There is not much to write about here because it was mostly the same thing for the 3 days but what I can say is that these 3 days held some of the most breath taking views that anyone could ever see in their life and that I am a very very lucky person to have been able to go there. This was the best tramp of all and will be one of the major things that sticks out to me in my memories on NZ

Aotearoa part 3

2010-04-28T15:17:00.000-07:00

Beach we went swimming at and spent the whole day on
Fun in the hut with everyone
Stewart Island Chain Link, linking it to the rest of New Zealand (The whole Blue Light group)
On the vomit voyage back to the main land

Now my journey over my holiday goes to Stewart Island, the third and smallest of the main islands of NZ. Through school I got signed up to do a three day tramp across the island with a group called Blue Light. Its a group of police volunteers that try to set up better relations with youth by taking them on little trips. The trip started with a departure from Bluff (a place world renowned for oysters and also the most southern point on the South Island) by ferry to the island. The ferry crosses one of the roughest strips of water over the Foveaux Straight. It is where the Pacific Ocean meets another body of water (its either the Tasman Sea or Indian Ocean) and it gets very very shallow and makes the waves big and powerful. Luckily going there it was a very flat day and no one got sea sick. Upon arriving it was sussed out that there were 2 kids from each school around Invercargill and there were 12 of us in all with 3 leaders. 2 of the leaders were really cool while the other definitely had something against me. Whether it be I am from the US or my school got me into the group late or something else, he just did not like me.

We walked from the town of Oban off into the bush to reach our first hut. It was a very cold and rainy day but our spirits were not dampened because the island was so amazing to be on. Even though it is so close to Invercargill, they are nothing alike. It reminded me of a cold and rainier Bay of Islands. Very tropical with crystal clear water. Stewart Island is known for having Kiwis, the flightless bird to which NZ people are named after, Sea Lions, and penguins. Those are all very cool things but unfortunately we did not see any of those except for penguins on far off rocks. This is probably because we were so loud as we walked and anything that would have been alive around us would have been running as fast as it could in the other direction. The first hut was pretty cool and me and some of the mates I made went hunting for possums. A NZ pest that people kill all the time but it is quite different than the possums in the US. These are black and furry and look more like lemurs to me, but everyone HATES them. We saw a lot but never quite got one. We also had one of my Maori mates telling stories of the "waka days" basically taking the mickey of his own heritage, and it was so funny everyone was left in tears (more than half the people we were with were Maori). Waka in Maori means boat and that is what the Maori people came in to NZ with, and I swear with the made up stories he was telling he could do stand up comedy at all the major cities in NZ. It would not really work in any other country because no one would get the Maori humor but I have to say that it was pure genious.

The next day we made our way to Port William that was a little bay with glassy clear water. We were so hot and tired from all our walking, and even though it was raining and cold enough to see your breath we decided that we were going to go swimming. I also must say that there is nothing between NZ and Antarctica. So we went to the warf and stripped down to our poly props (like under armor) and dove in. FREEEEEEEEZZZZINNNGGGG! but at the same time SO awesome. We had our own bay to ourselves with a big beach and we stayed out there from 3 pm till about 10pm, not swimming anymore of course but just chilling on the beach with warm clothes. Great great day with lots of laughs and stories and hot chocolate.

The last day was not our best day... I had the worst blisters on the back of my heel, my shoes were completely soaked, we were all completely buggered, and it was rainy and windy as hell. I am not complaining at all thought because it was still freakin awesome but it was not as good as the first 2 days. But when we got back everyone bought the biggest meals of fish and chips that we have ever had and just demolished them... leading to what also made the day not so good. We arrive to catch the ferry only to hear to that the water is very very rough but that they are still going to take the chances of going across ensuring our safety was of the utmost concern. They did say however that if you could stay another night on the island and take the boat out the next day that would be the better option. I was not excited for this...

WARING: this is kinda gross and not completely necessary to read. If you dont want to, go to the next SAFE ZONE reading spot.

As the boat started to hit the big waves everyone was squealing with joy and even this one American guy came to the very front of the boat to ride the waves as this was the place that got the most air. The waves were taller than the boat at times and the fun lasted for about ummm, 5 minutes. Next thing I know a chick next to me is puking in a barf bag. I run away in the other direction to an old woman who has just puked on the ground. I look for another place to take safe refuge on the boat to realize that over half the people on it have their faces in a bag. Even the giddy american was embarrassingly handing used barf bag after used barf bag to the ship's crew. Fish and chips was not looking like the best choice at this moment, especially when I was looking at it all over the floor now. Not from me though, I do not get sea sick but I have to tell you I was on the verge from everyone else all around me. When we finally made it back I was very thankful and just glad to be able to stand solid (and not have puke bombs going off everywhere around me). I went home and got ready for the Routeburn Track which I would be leaving for the following morning for another 3 day tramp. I dont know if you are keeping count but it was 2 days tramping on north island, 3 days on Stewart island, and now 3 days on the Routeburn with less than a day between each. I was starting to feel pretty bloody knackered, but still having the best time of my life!

Aotearoa part 2

2010-04-22T18:07:00.000-07:00

Wellington
Manuela and Iida on the train to Welly
Beach in Paraparaumu
Bungy ball sling shot thing in the middle of the city

Current location: Assistant Principal's Office at Southland Boys High School (but just using the computer)

Now my journey through "The Land of the Long White Cloud" moves to the the southern part of the North Island by plane to Palmerston North. I am picked up by my AFS Bolivian friend, Manuela, and her host family and taken to their house in Levin. It is a town about half the size of Invercargill and sits on flat land surrounded by hills to one side, mountains to another, and then the big Mt. Ruapehu and Mt. Tongariro (this is Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings and is very spectacular) sitting off in the distance. Manuela's family consists of just a host mother and father, and kids that live in other parts of NZ. They live in a pretty big 2 story house that the father built himself. I was very surprised when I heard this because the house had many intricacies and things that you would think one man could not do himself.

My first day there we went to Paraparaumu for a car museum, which surprsingly was very fun and interesting. Some of the very first cars ever made were there and it was massive. Just rows and rows of old cars like Fords and... well other cars. I am not interested in cars at all but it was still very cool to go to and it had a lot of history there.

Back at the house we had delicious fish and chips and Manuela made everyone Cappacinos (thats gotta be spelled wrong) because she is origionally from Italy and is very good at making those things. The next day we went to the Country's capitol, Wellington. We woke up at 6 and caught the 6:30 train to Windy Welly with Manuela's friends Iida (Finland) and Christian (Germany). It was a 1 and 1/2 hour comfortable ride with all the business people on their way to work. We were very loud kids taking pictures the whole time and I am quite sure that all the people around were not to pleased. It was the first time that we exchange kids had been without any adults on our way to a big city to explore it alone and do whatever we wanted and we were, needless to say, giddy. It wasnt like being with NZ kids that you sometimes feel uncomfortable around because you want to fit in all the time, because international kids always immediately share a common bond and almost automatically become great friends. We would not see anyone in the city or the train ever again and we are not trying to impress any kids at school so it was complete relaxed freedom and we were taking it all in.

We pull up to the city and it was a MASSIVE difference to Levin or Invercargill with people EVERYWHERE! People driving their cars, riding their bikes, and walking all with a purpose to get to their jobs. It was just so busy and I loved it. We walked by the Bee Hive, the capitol building, and then decided we wanted to got to Te Papa, the national museum. A big plus being that it was FREE! This museum was amazing with all kinds of NZ history and cool things to do. We then road the Wellington Cable Car up the hill to the Carter Observatory. Also amazing because I love learning about space and the rest of the universe. It blew our minds a lot, and I did not understand half of the stuff but it was really brilliant.

We ate, went around the shops, and then finally decided we needed to do something exciting! Me and Iida chose to do this Bungy-Ball-Slingshot in the middle of the city. SO exhilerating! But the funny thing was that we had to wear one of those doctors masks, with a freakin fighter jet pilot mask over that. We told the guy working there that it must be a joke but he responded that it muffles our screams so the business people in the surrounding buildings would not sue the bungy company. We had quite a laugh about that... only you could not hear it because we were already wearing the masks. After that it was getting late and we had to get back to the train so we said our last goodbyes to the awesome city and were off.

The very next morning we woke up and got ready for my first ever "real" tramp into the hills around Levin and hoping that we might actually be able to shoot some deer. It was pretty cool to get my first shooting permit I have to say. So Mr. Day, Manuela, Iida, and myself were off for our two day treck. I was in charge of carring the rifle the whole way which sounded cool at the time, but ended up being a huge pain in the arse (NZ speak for ass), but I got over it. It was 2 hours on a track through the bush and went into a 3 hour walk up and through and across and in and across again and up a river all the way to the hut we would be staying at. It was quite literally roughing it and we got to cook all of our food and hang around outside roaring at deer to get them to come over to kill. I learned that deer roar as a territorial thing, so if you roar and they roar back they will usually come closer to defend their area. My roar was somewhere between a raspy bark and dry heaving, but I did get a lot of responses surprisingly. It was a very cold night but we had a warm fire inside and it was a great time just to be in the wild.

Little highlights: Manuela's host family had a three legged dog, really good fish and chips, did some dancing in the shops in Wellington, and much more stupid little things.

All in all I had a blast on the North Island but it was time for me to come home for my three day tramp on Stewart Island.

Aotearoa part 1

2010-04-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Place where treaty of Waitangi was signed.
Host Family
Bay of Islands
Cape Reinga
Hole in the Rock

Aotearoa means New Zealand in the Maori language, and that is what I saw over the Easter Holidays. Literally, I almost saw all of New Zeleand.

I may or may not be able to fit this in to one post but lets see shall we.

The Easter holidays started off to an amazing start with getting out of school early on Thursday to travel to one of New Zealand's must see places, The Bay of Islands. But before we could get there, we were picked up in Auckland by my host sister in this wicked as silver Hyundai van (she works for them and was able to use it as a family bus) and driven to her flat to stay there for the night. Just a nice relaxing evening and I also had the pleasure of eating Hell's pizza for the first time, one of NZ's favorite eateries. Auckland is NZ's biggest cities and it actually reminds me a lot of my hometown of Tampa. A tight city center right on the water with nice houses and apartments that line the water all up the bay. Its a lot like Bayshore for people that live in Tampa. Auckland has about 1 and 1/2 million living there and is the most "busy" place in NZ. The farther south in the country you get from Auckland, the more you hate Auckland. And if I would tell someone from Auckland that I am living in Invercargill (a major city on the south island) they would either not know where it is or just say "O... Invercargill..." Auckland is like a different country to the people on the south island, as the south island is to people in Auckland. People that live in the big city are just considered busy townies. It is a very weird relationship to have in such a small country with an equally small population. Not sure if I have said this before, but NZ is known for having 40million sheep (i think its a little less now) and 4 million people.

We then left Auckland the next day for the Bay of Islands which also might as well be in a different country... well at least from Invercargill at any rate. Invercargill is the cloudiest place in NZ and is cold and rainy and windy almost all year. Bay of Islands looked like it could have been our of some amazing Caribbean island... but better. Sandy shores combined with other rocky shores and often cliffs cover the coastline of this Kiwi getaway. Quite literally a bay of islands, the place was definitely not bad on the eyes. Our vacation house that we rented sat right at the end of a peninsula on a hill that led right down to the clear blue water. The peninsula is part of a town called Russell, one of New Zealand's first white people inhabited towns. There is a lot of NZ history on this part of the country because this is where the European people came NZ, came up with the Maori written language, and collaborated and signed the Treaty of Waitangi with the Maori people. This is STILL a very very big issue in NZ and has helped shine light on the differences I find between the white and Maori people. (Its all very complicated and there is more to this whole thing but this is the gist of what I have learned) When the treaty was signed the white people were highly more educated than the Maori people and had the treaty written in both Maori and English and through the misinterpretations of the Maori people with the treaty they were seen as taken advantage of by the white people by modern day Maori people. They essentially signed over the right to vast majorities of their land guns, some European commodities, etc. At the time the Maori people thought the treaty was good but now as time has gone by they see it as wrongful. To this day the Maori people still are fighting the Treaty of Waitangi and trying to attain lands lost in this treaty. OK, so now it gets weird with the whole thing that it was many many years ago and people saying that Maori people today are not affected by it and cant claim land that was peacefully signed away that long ago by their ancestors. Also it should be noted that there are no longer any pure blooded Maori people in NZ anymore. This makes Maori people mad at white people and vice versa. For example: my host father sells farms and was going to sell one to this guy when a Maori man stopped it because the land used the be his ancestors and was wrongfully taken away so the government gave it back to him. Its hard to say who is right in this argument, but its definitely taught me something very interesting about NZ.

wow I just got really off track... anyways the Russell is a really cool place to stay in with a very limited touristy feel and great restaurants right on the beach. While we were there we took a day trip up to Cape Reinga, the most northern tip of NZ where a lighthouse sits right at the end. This is where the Pacific ocean meets the Tasman Sea in a fantastic way. You can see the line where they meet on a windy day that starts right at the shore and goes far out into the sea. It truly is brilliant. On the drive there you could definitely tell you were approaching the end of some land even though it was still very hill. After that we all swan at the most northern beach in NZ and then we did one of the coolest things ever. Sand boarding! you get a boogey board at the top of these MASSIVE and STEEP sand dunes and just run and dive with it down them. You fly down them so fast and hit the bottom and skid for about 40 meters.

The next day we did a speed boat ride to the famous Hole in the Rock, and actually went through the whole in the rock! I was not expecting that one! On the way there we saw a school of about 40 dolphins jumping and playing around in the water. Never seen anything like that before. And the rock was also fantastic, when I come back to NZ I am definitely doing that boat ride again.

The rest of the trip was spent relaxing and playing gin rummy (sp?). A perfect start to a perfect vacation.

He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich

2010-04-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

Now I know why they say this in the song, Down Under, because vegemite is disgusting. Well actually in New Zealand they have Marmite which is almost the exact thing, but whatever they taste like the saltiest smoothe spread you have ever had. They in no way compare to our peanut butter that I was told to believe in the States. I made the mistake of thinking vegemite was a chocolate spread at my host sister's flat, smearing tons of the stuff on a piece of toast, which in turn made me gag and spit the vile thing into the sink. I guess you are supposed to eat it on toast with a lot of butter and the thinnest spread of the stuff.

Ok I have not written in here in awhile (with good reason) but a TON of stuff has happened so I am going to try and get through 2 today.

A few weeks ago I had been awarded with a part in a short play because I was sitting closest to my drama teacher at the time when the other guy managed to not show up. So anyway, BAM I am in a competition called Sheila Win. Our play was taken out of Hamlet and we did a modern interpretation of it, wearing actual gear worn in WW2. I played the messanger and had a couple of lines to memorize and we had about zero practices before the actual competion. I should also mention that the winners of the competion win a free trip to Christchurch for five days for a bigger Shakespeare competition. Shakespeare is really not my thing at all but I really wanted to win this trip because my school won last year and they had a blast there. So with our gear all set and our lines memorized we went to the show at Center Stage in Invercargill. It was actually very nerve wracking because our play was meant to be serious and I am not the most serious guy, and it wasn't until we got right on stage that I realized how many fighting scenes we had...

The play started off good, and then my part came on. How stupid I must have looked up there! I completely forget sometimes that I have a different accent then other people and that not everyone knows I am from America. First line: "Gracious my Lord, I should report that which I say I saw." Confused faces in the crowd I'm sure thinking to themselves "what the hell kinda accent is this guy trying to put on???" Well anyways I am then strangled by the main character and shoved to the ground on stage. Then another guy comes out and the main charater strangles him to death. then another guy comes out and they fight again, pause, then again, pause, and then that guy kills the main character. The play is only 11 minutes long and as you can see the last five minutes were a constant barely-rehearsed fighting scene. Bound to look stupid on stage with high school kids trying to be serious and constantly fighting. I also forgot to mention that at the end I was a scavenger and had to take all the gear off the dead main character including his shirt (that happened to be a tight long sleeve one that took at least 20 awkward seconds to rip off) I believe that our very serious take on the play somehow came out looking somewhere between funny, awkward, and bleak. Well thats over with and needless to say we did not win. However, another team from our school did, so thats good. They were 3 guys that were also in our play but did another funny one on there own that was very impressive. I do have to say though, that all in all it was a very good time and I am SO glad I did it. I mean come on, how random to do this in New Zealand. Who knows maybe I will still be able to go to Wellington anyways with those guys as, I dont know, stage manager?

I am trying to remember other stuff I did before the play, but it was mostly sports practices and getting more acquainted with New Zealand and the people here. I can honestly say I feel more like I live here now than a tourist. Especially in Invercargill, it just feels like home, and since I have been doing sports, getting involved in school, doing lame shakespeare things, doing school production, and other stuff, people here see me more than just a random exchange student. This makes me very happy as this is the exact thing I would like to achieve.

AFS Camp

2010-03-28T12:41:00.001-07:00

Before I start with afs camp I can talk about what I have done since the Motatapu.

I made the first 11 soccer team which was pretty cool and I did another thing that was definitely less exciting. Over the weekend I needed a ride home after a water polo game and my ride asked me if I wanted to help him and a few other people make cheese rolls for a fundraiser. Cheese rolls are a south NZ treat that is similar to a grilled to cheese but you make them before hand, sell them, and then the owner cooks them. Pretty much just bread with a soupy cheese mixture on top then rolled into a little log. So anyways, I assume I am going to someone's house to make about 60 to 100 rolls and then all of a sudden we pull up in my school's parking lot. I ask what are we doing here to a response that we are making cheese rolls. We walk into the catering room and.... I see crate upon crate upon crate of bread stacked high and wide along all the walls. Turns out we had to make 48,000 CHEESE ROLLS! No joke! It was to help raise money for their history class to go to Vietnam. I am not even going to Vietnam! We arrived at nine and the first few hours were kinda fun because it was so random and we were just listening to music but when the clock hit one o'clock I hit the cheese roll making wall. I became a zombie making roll after cheese roll. We ended up making them until 3 in the morning! what a great friday night! I cant even look at another cheese roll.

Week of school went well and then on Thursday after school I got picked up by my afs support coordinator to stay the night in Edendale before our very long drive up to Christchurch on Friday morning. T-vo (Paraguay) lives in my city and came up with us and Mia (Norway) lives at my support coordinator's house. So USA, Paraguay, Norway, and NZ all got in a truck Friday morning and set out on a freakin long journey to afs gateway camp. We left at around ten and got to Chtch (Christchurch) at eight. We took around turn close to camp and ended up taking the craziest road to get there with many cliffs, sharp turns, and bikers all the way up. Upon arriving I found a lot of my friends that I had made in Auckland when I first got here. The majority was South American kids which is fine with me because I love to practice my Spanish and they are the most out going people of all the international kids.m The camp was at Living Springs, a camp site on a bay outside of the city. It was very beautiful. First night all the kids just got re-acquainted with each other and talked unitl late at night when every one was just so tired they had to go to bed. The next day we did a lot of pointless classes that we had already done in our home country, when we first arrived in Auckland, and now were doing yet again. So that was pretty lame but after the classes were over we had our free time. We jumped on trampolines, took pictures, swam in the indoor pool, and talked about our lives in NZ. Everyone is loving this country and no one seemed to have any major problems and if not then no problems at all. Already the semester students are complaining that they do not want to go home and the six months is not long enough. I felt a little inferior to all the other kids because they all had improved their english to much and were becoming fluent AND also had their first language. So I tried as best I could to mix with the hispanic students so that I may improve my spanish. I think I did pretty well and had major crack ups along the whole way with my mispronunciations. We also had a "party" that lasted until 3 in the morning with pretty much every one just sitting down on the floor and talking to each other. I find it very interesting how easy it is to make friends with people that you barely even know just because we all share the commonality of being in a different country. Hopefully with these new friends I made I can make use of it in the future and go and stay with them so I can see the rest of NZ. I might be able to go to the north island and stay with my Bolivian friend Manuela over the holidays and just go around and explore the island I do not live on.

The camp was definitely a great experience for me minus the 18 hours worth of driving I had in 3 days. This holiday coming up is also going to be such an experience. I am going to the Bay of Islands to go scuba diving, Stewart Island for a 3 day hike( nz's third island), Routeburn track for another 3 day hike, and possibly many other little trips on the north island. We have holidays in school after every quater or term and they are all pretty long. Should be a nice break from the routine of school and my best chance to experience everything NZ has to offer.

embarrassing and not so embarrassing

2010-03-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

These are just half the bike racers by the way.
View from our vacation home.
The start of the Motatapu right outside of Shania Twain's land. Some people flew helicopters to the start, it was pretty insane

While I still have any dignity left I will shead some light on some past events.

Lets start with the history behind the first story: When I first arrived in NZ I was greeted by my smiling host family at the ariport who then took me to their amazing house in Otatara. Upon arriving, they generously gave me a letter, a NZ flag towel, NZ flag pencil case for school (both were a hit with my NZ friends), and a ten day pass for a gym that they attend. A week ago I decided that I would like to go to the gym and work out as I have not done it in a while and I felt like doing something active. My host mom said it would be ok, but it is not a regular gym, but a gym for classes. Host mom- "There are spin classes, boxing classes, etc. You are signed up for the body attack class, so I assume that is the boxing one." Me- "ok thats cool, I am down for some boxing." When we pull up to the gym it hits me for a very scary second that this could be some aerobics class with all women doing step up. I voice this in hopes that my host mom knows this is not what I am getting myself into and she says "o, no look behind us there is a guy." It was a sixty year old man in short shorts and tank top but non the less he was a dude. I am feeling a little bit better. We walk inside and my worst fears are imagined. About fifteen high school girls, three older women, the old creepy man, my 13 year old host brother, me, and an instructer in the craziest clothes and hair that I could not possibly describe through typing. She motions for us to gather around the stage and I am saying to myself "F this! F this! F this! what I have got myself into?!" The next thing I know the music is on and she is leading us through a dance/run in place combo that not only takes coordination (something I dont have) but also the desire to run/dance in place in front of girls your own age and an old creepy man (something I also dont have). An hour of pure hell. Well it wasnt all so bad. I was laughing my head off from the entertainment the instucter was giving me with classic lines such as "I hurt so much, but Ive never been so alive!!!" "Now your a famous football player! Go and win the Heisman!" "We are strong women in here!!!" I was laughing the whole time. They were all syncronized dances that you immediatly had to go into and just pick up as you went along. I could not for the life of me get one of the moves perfect. I was always a step behind everyone, or bent over laughing. Classic.

Something less embarrassing: I had rugby trials last Thursday. I was DREADING the trials as I have never played or even watched a game of rugby. People told me I should try out but then would laugh and then some people would sincerely say that I should not try out. I really did not want to but I thought to myself that I would regret it for a long time if I didnt. Im in NZ anyways, I got to try out! I just went out there not knowing what to expect with my gym shoes and running shorts. I got stares for that. "The americans out here and he doesnt even have boots or rugby shorts." I was told to play on wing because of my size and speed and it was definitely a good choice for me. Trials is just a big rugby game by the way. I had no practice, no viewing experience, no nothing for my first time playing real rugby (i have played a little touch and hold rugby but never tackle or anything serious). I am not going to describe how to play rugby for those of you who dont know but the general idea is that you got the ball and you try to get it to the other side while the other team tries to tackle you (there are no pads involved and everyone here calls football a puffter (gay) sport). You can only pass the ball backwards and your team runs in a long line across the width of the field. I played on the outside where you get way less action, but when you do get the action you are usually trying to get a try (score). For my first time playing I was pretty happy. I got a few runs and one long run, made 2 tackles, and caught the ball after a punt.

Side note: I am in the school library right now and a few kids have realized that I have a blog and have begun to read it. I really dont like this because even though I am not writing anything bad about anyone its just uncomfortable that they are looking at it. I dont reread my blog and I dont want to think that they might be judging what I have past put down or anything like that.

And for not emabarrassing at all:

Over the weekend I competed in the Motatapu Mountain Bike race! AMAZING! Not as hard as the Moonshine race I competed in a few weeks ago but it was still very very challenging. It is one of NZ premier racing events and had over 2000 riders in the biking race alone (also a marathon run that I originionally thought I was going to do). 2000 may not seem like a lot but when every one is on a mountain bike, it is MASSIVE! I started around in the middle for my category (junior recreation) and passed over 500 people in the first hour on a small track. O the track goes through Motatapu Station, Shania Twains land that she only opens up once a year for the race, and ends at Arrowtown. It goes through a valley through the mountains with fantastic views the whole way. There were multiple creek crossing along the way and 5 river crossings at the end that were so wide and deep I had to get off my bike, carry it over my head, and run through the rushing waters. I finished in a time of 2:42, 18 minutes ahead of my goal time.

The race was in Wanaka by the city of Queenstown, the capital of adventure in the southern hemisphere. You can sky dive, bungy jump, jet boat ride, ski, ride the gondola, luge, go to bars, eat fine dining, swim in the massive lake, or basically do anything amazing in this place. My family has a vacation home in this city right on Lake Wakatipu (main lake and it is massive. queenstown sits right on it). It is small but three stories high, cozy, and an just a great place to go on vacation to. I would actually love to just live there. There is a plum, apple, and some other kind of fruit tree in the backyard. In fact, my host brother picked about 100 plums off the tree and sold them at the race. On our way up to Queenstown I heard all of the stories of what it was like to grow up in NZ and how this city was a second home to my host parents. The town has changed a lot since then to be more touristy but it still has a quality about it that keeps the locals coming back and has the kids at my school saying its their favorite place in NZ. Next time I go up I am bungy jumping and jet boating, should be an interesting experience...

Host dad cheering me on along with the Bullings who are family friends. you also get a shot of my host brother at the end asking if the cameras on. I did 2:42, Mrs. Bulling was a little off...

Breaking News!

2010-03-06T23:39:00.000-08:00

Our sunday afternoon tramp.
The Tikitimus Mountains (I think thats how you spell it)
The Wind Farm Race. Had spectacularly massive windmills to ride under, but you had to get to the top of the very steep hills first to get to them.

I should really be doing my homework but... I dont really feel like it

Today, Sunday March 7th 2010, something awesome happened: My host dad said that I was the best exchange student to be staying with his family! Ok, now this may sound pretty whatever and it was just said as a side comment right before dinner, but I have to say this comment was massive. My host dad is nothing like my real dad and he just does not say things like this or voice them. He is very cool and often very sarcastic (like my dad at home) but in a different sarcastic way that you can't always tell if he is actually being sarcastic. He says real things and sarcastic things in the exact same way. He is very friendly, a very hard worker, and a great businessman. He is very well known around town, and in fact, the whole Ryan family is very known around town. But anyways, with the personality that he has he often does not say things very seriously to me. For example: when I got my new haircut and I asked him if he like it and he said, "It looks gay." Or when I finished the Moonshine race and beat his estimated time for me by 25 minutes he said, "that was a pretty good wee effort." However this is not negative at all, when he called my haircut gay joking around with me he knew that I knew him well enough that I would not get offended and find it funny. And with my bike race, he knew I did good but he did not want to be over complimentary of me cause that could make me cocky or something. So thats why before dinner when he said that I was the best exchange student to have at their house was so huge to me. This is also precisely why I made this post, just because of it. My host dad is a very interesting person and has lived a very interesting life along with my whole host family and I should really write about them more. I'll try to make that my next post but I really think I should do it at the end because I learn new things about them and the amazing things that they have done everyday.

This past week and weekend definitely had its ups and downs for me. Way more ups though (actually there werent even any downs durring the week). I got my new haircut, I became the Southland 3,000m champion (the most southern province of NZ), had an awesome mountain bike race at a wind farm, and had an incredible tramp up to the top of Bald Hill. The downs consisted of miscommunications and not having a cell phone that resulted in a guy that I thought I was pretty good friends with blowing me off and missing my first Saturday night party that I was supposed to go to. Those two things dont relate to each other though. The other down came from America but that is pretty much resolved, but it is definitely weird to have your home country life collide with your experiences in your exchange life. BUT ANYWAYS that comment tonight totally made my weekend and the downs feel like nothing to me now. Its nice to say that the worst parts of my whole exchange so far are so few and so minor that they can be forgotten within a day. New Zealand is pretty F-ing awesome... or should I say SWEET AS BRO!

side note: you can't wear tennis shoes and jeans here. They will call you a snean or a shnean, I am not really sure which. Just never do it. I unfortunately did it my first day of year 13 camp and no one was there to tell me it was a mistake. So when I was up in Dunedin I got a $30 pair of Dunlops which I am very happy with. Shoes here are so expensive! like $200 a lot of times! This is another up for me.

also... Jason kyte if you are reading this I dont have your e-mail but if you send it to me I can find out more about Tuatapere. The Bald Hill we hike up today was in the "Longwoods." It is also right by Tuatapere. I will also definitely make it to the Clifton Caves before long--- anyone reading this like "what the hell is he talking about?" my cousin posted a comment on my last post about his friends that used to live near my town

more dictionary words just so i dont forget later (note: some are offensive but I just want to show what it is like.)::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Bogan= white trash i think?

mufty= you can wear whatever you wan to school

puffter= someone you think is queer or someone who is British

puffed= panting

lemon aid= sprite

skux= I still have no idea what it means but I hear it all the time

mountain oysters= sheeps testicles

root= to have sex with

yank= what americans are often called sometimes offensively sometimes not

suss= figure out

In the future for me----

this weekend- to Queenstown for the Motatapu mountain bike race and will be there all weekend

next weekend- to Christchurch for AFS camp. will be all the South Island kids

haircut and beach photos

2010-03-05T00:59:00.000-08:00

Just drive up and on to the beach.
Sand dunes everywhere, and they can get massive
I did not get too adventurous with the haircut or anything but maybe I will my next one here. O and one haircut at super cuts: $15. One haircut here: $70
Big empty beach that you can drive on... amazing

A day for sports... and Shakespear

2010-03-03T01:06:00.000-08:00

Sports day was pretty crazy. I woke up and found my younger host brother in the bathroom with his face covered a tribal-like black paint design. I asked uncertainly "umm... so are we going on the bus like this?" I got a simple "duh." So I did up my whole face in black, found my shortest black running shorts and long running socks, and then just got on the bus. I was so worried to find people in regular clothes on it but I was pleasantly surprised to find the whole bus a mess of orange, blue, red, black, and green. Even the seats were found to be covered in paint. A very fun bus ride I must say. The beginning of sports day started out with each house gathering all their members together and march on to the main field doing chants. I am proud to say that I came up with our house's main chant of "we are Pearce and we are black! we have balls which the other houses lack!" Our house leader was going around with ideas the week before and I said this as a joke and what do you know, it becomes our main one. Coldstream was painted orange and wore kilts and freshly skinned sheep skin from the day before (some had maggots in them). They were the best looking because they all looked like characters from braveheart and a guy even came out onto the field galloping on a horse! The rest of the day was spent doing athletics (track and field). I qualified in all the running events and Pearce came in fourth out of the five houses. it was the first time in 19 years that we did not come in last. We all cheered like crazy.

This next bit is an e-mail to my sister discussing my school's Shakespeare day where the year 12 and 13s dressed up as shakespearean characters and recited lines as a monologue from the play. Note: only a minority dressed up and a minority of that minority recited lines. ok:

Shakespeare day was fun, and I totally forgot my lines. A lot of people dressed up but not a lot had a speech. So anyway my house was the first to go and this one kid (the freaking best actor in the world who the fundraiser was actually for, to send him to london to go to the globe theatre) was first and did amazing. O yea, all the year 12 and 13 came to watch, about 200 people plus. They all sat in a huge circle around the hall with the judges table about 1/3 of the way from the end in the middle. And then the judges say "anymore from pearce? anyone at all? no one?" I could not remember my speech for the life of me so I just sat there thinking to myself "well F that shit." But then all of a sudden some random guys that I had told earlier I might do it but I did not really think I had the guts said "hey trenor, its trenor, hes doing one." Then a kid next to me pushed me in to the middle of the hall. Since i could not remember any of my caesar speech I immediatly thought of the romeo one that says "but soft, what light through yonder window breaks" cause I remembered that I knew a little bit of that. The good actor recited his acts and scenes and shizz before he started but I said "well I have no idea what scene or act it is or whatever and im not exactly dressed the part either (i was dressed as caesar) but here it goes." So I did this damn romeo speech and messed up like 3 times even though I only knew a few lines and then after I said one line I forgot those words so I said "for it is sick and pale with grief... eh.. (que long silence)..." and then I just bowed. It was a very abrupt ending and no one thought it would end there. it was pretty lame but also pretty funny. Everyone elses were all also relatively stupid so i did not look bad or anything so it was just kinda fun. Our house came in second for shakespear day! A complete success id say. Im in the paper today for it along with everyone else who dressed up. We had to parade the streets in our outfits. It was a very weird day but im glad i did it. I dont want to just be the random foreign exchange kid. I was pretty much smiling the whole day from the stupidity of it all. I bid good morrow to you Lauren.

I am to tired to write about my weekend and championship day but Ill get that in very soon, both were pretty interesting. Here are a few more differences I have noticed:

It is was easier to make a conversation or meet someone in America, but it is also harder to make friends. You have to make an effort in NZ for them to talk to you/like you but thats pretty much it. If you give effort, they recognize it. Whether it be not knowing how to play rugby but just jumping in (even though you may mess up a lot) or just talking to someone about the farm their family owns or an upcoming sports even, kiwis will almost automatically accept you. I had about two conversations with this one kid and the next day he invited me to go out his farm to four wheel. With my experiences in America you can meet someone really easily but it takes awhile to actually become friends with them and it is often, dare I say it... awkward for awhile. Here there is now awkwardness with people. You don't walk down the hallway and see someone you kind of know and whip out your cell phone to act like your texting to avoid their gaze or something stupid like that. When you have met someone your pretty much golden. Another thing I have noticed is the accent thing is still weird. I desperately want to get the accent but whenever I talk or say something to a kiwi in their accent, they always say "that sounds weird, dont say it like that." For example: the name Becca here is pronounce like bEAcca like ea at the beginning of eagle, whereas americans pronounce the vowel e like "Eh." I ask my host brother Liam how to say the name slowly and he says bEEEAAAca. I repeat back exactly bEEAAca. He responds "why do you say it like that like the first part is a birds 'beak'" I say thats because thats how you says it. I say it again like him to which he says it still sounds wrong, and then he tells me to say it like americans say it and then I do. I say Becca like with no ea sound at all in the middle then he says "NOW you said it right, its just like that, bEEAAca." Me- "wtf"

host moms explanation is that when they hear an american talk they already know from tv what its going to sound like therefore whenever I say something how they say it even if its exactly like them it will sound wrong because it will just sound different coming from an american. Then how am I supposed to get an accent??? this may not make any sense at all even though it does to me, its just hard to explain via typing.

another different thing here is that if someone says they are going to drink piss, that means that they are going to drink alcohol.

Short update

2010-02-22T00:00:00.001-08:00

It all of a sudden feels like home, and not really for any specific reason at all. I mean not that home-ey feeling you get when your with your real mom and dad who know everything about you and care for you without any judgement and just be there for you. But just sitting here right now it does not feel uncomfortable or new or awkward and I feel no homesickness. I don't wake up in the morning and go "where the hell am I?" anymore. I don't go in to school anymore going "well who the hell am I going to sit with at lunch?" I can talk and be normal with people now. Of course I still am the new kid and the american but I am no longer seen as just a random exchange student anymore. I still get the odd stare-down in the hallway from kids who have not seen me yet, and I definitely recognize stares on the bus sometimes but the people who used to do the staring have finally started talking to me I am not seen as a mysterious foreigner. I have definitely clarified (on several occasions... ok, almost every new conversation I have had) that americans are not how they appear in the movies, we do not have to go through medal detectors to get in to school, we all are not rich white people down on poor black people, we do not see drive-by's regularly on the street, I do not notice how skinny people are in NZ compared to the usa, yes we do have fraternities and cafeterias but the parties arent always as crazy as they appear on the movies and we do not always have food fights in our dinning areas, we DO say tomAto even if it sounds stupid to them (here it is tomoto as the saying goes), and the "NO WE DONT HAVE MEAT PIES IN AMERICA, we just put fruit in pastry... YES, I KNOW, ITS CRAZY!" --- but even though these are funny and sound quite stupid they actually think this based on TV. And that is why I find this experience so great along with finally feeling completely at home. I am able to live totally immersed in a new society in a place that I now feel at home in while learning about the world and gaining a better understanding of people and I am in return sharing my culture with the people who live here. I am debunking stereotypes and also proving them in some cases, and they are doing the same. I am never bored here and I find every interaction I have with people here very fun and interesting every time, whether it be a ten year old on the bus asking what lollies I eat in America or an adult that is sharing some history with me on a country they are very proud of. I am starting to feel like a kiwi.

Moonshine

2010-02-20T17:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I probably did one of the most exhilarating and hardest things I have ever done. It was called the Moonshine, and the Moonshine was a 40k mountain bike race through the "hills" of Gore (I would have called them mountains). Well the Moonshine actually consisted of a 30k, 35k, and 40k mountain bike race as well as a 10k, 15k, and 30k running race. This race was pretty much decided on a whim when a friend at school asked me if I was doing the race. I had never even hear of it but asked my host family if i could do it and they said yes. My host dad had heard of it and knew it was pretty hard and tried to discourage me from doing the 40k which had the Cone Peak climb and the end. I was dead set on doing this race and I wanted it to be as challenging as possible because I have never been pushed to my limits physically in a race solely based on the terrain. Even with my host parents telling me it was really hard I thought to myself that it really couldnt be that bad and that I would actually try and race really well. I was in for a huge shocker...

The night before I had the run through with my host dad and a family friend who is amazing with bikes on what to do if something goes wrong. I learned how to take off the tires, change tires, check for loose debris hidden in tires, and break and re-fix the chain. I also had a go through of my backpack which would save me in the race. I had a whistle, gu (energy jells), chocolate bars, jelly beans (seemed unnecessary), tools for bike, a camelback, spare tires, and a caffeine tablet. All of a sudden the 40k bike race was starting to seem a little intimidating, but seriously this is around 25 miles and I have done 70 miles on a bike before, how could it be that bad? I just assumed my host dad thought I was really unathletic.

After the debrief was done I had one of the most random things I've done here. A water polo match! It was really really fun and I met a lot of cool guys through it. I was talking with a swimmer at school and I told him I swam for 6 weeks when I was injured with running. He then told me I was on the water polo team. They dont even have practices lol. We lost the game but I got to play for the majority of the game and I did not even make a fool of myself.... ok I did a little bit but I never even heard the whistle blow so it doesnt count. I then came home and went to sleep thinking about a race that I had no idea what it would be like.

I woke up early, put on my biking clothes, got my backpack, had breakfast (toast with a poached egg and beans on top, so good), my host dad set up the bike, and then he took me an hour away to a town called Gore. My race started first and as we took off on the gravel road we immediately hit hills. I thought "wow this must be the hardest part and must be down hill for most of the way." Well we did hit a long fast downhill (which i did no take fast because I am not use to mountain biking or hard terrain) and then turned onto a paddock that raised up onto a very large hill. The path was grass going up a steep hill and it hit me that this is probably the most physically demanding part of the course. After grinding to the top of that it was a downhill of steep grassy and rocky path to which I had numerous close calls with falling. The race progressed and only got hillier, steeper, grassier, and rockier. I could not even use the downhills as breaks because I had to hold the bike so steady so as I did not fall off the faces of cliffs (werent exactly cliff cliffs but they were a hell of a drop off). When I was certain i must be at least over half way (no kilometer markers) a man told me I was only 10k in! My legs were already becoming useless with so much effort being placed on them. sometimes as we would go up the hills we would be going slower then I could walk it carrying my bike. But to walk is to be weak. I then sucked it up and prepared myself mentally for what I thought would be the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

I crossed rivers carrying my bike over my head, speed down hills with mud pits at the bottom of them, but the most fun of all was just being able to look to the left or right of me and see the AMAZING scenery. It was incredibly beautiful. I could not see any houses, just mountains, hills, sheep, and fields. I was not racing for time anymore (even though my goal was to break 3:30 which my host dad said would be a really good time for me, and I wanted to prove that I could do really well) I was going just for the finish. As I reached around the 2/3 mark of the race I stuffed my face with the jelly beans and chocolate bars as I kept riding. They took my mind off the pain and became complete necessities for me. I seriously ravaged through my food. And as i furtherd myself into the race with the terrain getting harder and harder, I saw people beginning to walk more with their bike ahead of me. That was all i needed and I was off my bike pushing. Of course there were places earlier in the race where it was too steep and walking was necessary but these hills were just as steep as the hills that people were climbing at the beginning and now were walking here. Racers were starting to break down and I could feel myself starting to also. We made our way out on to a relatively flat gravel road where the bike races would split up. 30 and 35k riders striaght to the finish line, 40k riders do a u-turn up to Cone Peak. That was so gutting to see these riders go off to the finish line when I had to still do 5 more kilometers the hardest part of the race. Little did I know that I would not even be on my bike for the majority of it.

As I turned in the U-turn that took me out into a grassy field I looked up and saw a mountain and people just walking their bikes up to the top of it. Not one person was on their bike. My quads were completely done and I had to walk 2k up one of the steepest paths I have ever been on to the top of a mountain. It took 40 minutes to get to top with every single one of my muscles grinding to just get to the end get to the end get to the end. I passed many people going to the top, I think mostly because I am used to running and all of these people were cyclists. But now came the most exhilarating part. A straight down path to the bottom and finish line only 3ks away. I knew I was at the end and I knew what I had accomplished and to just be at the top of the peak and see the finish line so far away at the bottom was incredible. This down hill was not as steep and rocky as the previous ones and I could fly down going as fast as 60ks almost all the way to the finish. It was crazy and I was hooting and hollering all the way down. Maybe that sounds lame but I was on such an incredible high from the whole experience. I came across the finish line in 3 hours and 5 minutes with a huge smile on my face.

When I finished I was not even tired because I was so excited. My medal was a lanyard with a little Hokonui Whiskey bottle at the end of it (it is actually whiskey). It was completely amazing and now I find myself in love with mountain biking!

To run barefoot at the end of the world

2010-02-18T01:11:00.000-08:00

I am writing this before I go to bed so I can get the full story of my day as it is fresh in my memory. Its not a very long story though, but Ill try to catch my mindset that I had throughout the experience. Today at school there was supposed to be sports day, a major major school event in which all of the houses go head to head in a big athletics competition, but it was cancelled due to rain. Everyone at school was completely gutted, because as I have heard, its supposed to be the best day of the school year. All the houses paint up in there house color (my house is Pearce and the color black) and do crazy chants trying to intimidate the competition. You can enter in to all the events and if you qualify (I dont know how, maybe top 5?) you go to championship day a couple of weeks later. This is where the really athletic compete to win major house points, and this is also where I plan on winning as many running races as I can. I talked to people here about how I run and they think I am fast and when they tell other kids I am fast they all assume at sprints. Now my whole house and House leaders (some teachers) all think I am going to dominate the sprinting events. They are in for a rude awakening. Anything under 400m I am pretty worthless at. But no matter because sports day is mostly about having fun (even though most take it very seriously and take it to heart if their house looses. as my house has never won the competition in all of the almost 100 years the school has been around, I am not to worried about doing poorly). So hopefully if there is no rain tomorrow it will be on.

O, my outfit for sports day is a pair of my shortest running splitter shorts, long black socks, and a black tie to tie around my head. I will also be completely painted in black. Hopefully it wont be cold, but its invercargill and I was cold today with it being 55-60 degreesish and people were complaining at school because they were so hot they were sweating.

School was so boring because everyone was expecting to be having a blast all day when it turned out to be just a regular school day. My geography class in particular was boring with the teacher having a picture of a mountain and a car on a screen and had us recap on which one was man-made or natural and why... for the third day and a row... Anyways the day was a bit brightened by my catering class in which we had a savory scone assessment (pronounced scON with the ending like the word on. I get laughed at whenever I say scOWN) and I got a pass. I also got to eat and share them at my bus stop. side note: i thought i would hate riding the bus but I really like the group of guys on it and there is never a dull moment and I always walk home from the bus happy.

When I got home I just lazed around and was tired from the boring day. When I was about to take a nap, my host mom walked in and said "your going to get fat you need to go run or bike or something." Completely offended... not, I got up and decided that a bike ride would be nice. So I put on some biking shoes that clip into the pedals and went off for a 6k ride to Oreti beach (which incidentally had a shard attack there that was all over the news with my host mom's cousin's daughter being "bitten in the bum"). The 6k took way longer than I thought because the head wind was SO powerful but I got there and had an amazing view.

I was looking out over the end of the world. Invercargill is located on the southern tip of the southern island to show you proof of how far south it is, Invercargill has been awarded with the recognition of having the most southern McDonalds (mackers) in the world. No one is ever on the beach which I think is crazy being from FL and the coast is stunning. Massive sand dunes, wide beach area due to far receding low tide, and long long stretches of sand.

I had a what-the-hell moment: I hid my bike in the sand dunes, took off my shoes and socks, tied my shirt around my head, and then just ran down the coast. The wind was so strong, the temperature was crisp, and the the wet sand was packed in hard. It was amazing running, and I just kept going and going. I never run barefoot (which completely showed when I came home with tons of painful blisters) but I am going to have to do that more often. It was the first time I think it really sunk into me that I am really in New Zealand and living here. I was alone on a massive beach at the end of the world and I could just think to myself of all the things I came here for and all of what I want to accomplish.

Then I came home and ate an ice cream bar and butterfinger and then watched South Park... the day was pretty much epic

Borland Lodge and random things

2010-02-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

Borland Lodge was the camp that my year 13 class attended the second week of school. It was a blast! If it was my class back home and around the area that I used to live in the camp would not have been that fun because we did not really leave the area to explore or do any outdoor activities. The days were mostly spent in classes where we had our 100 guys class split up into groups where we would learn about being a leader and mentor. Not very exciting but I got to meet everyone from my class who I really like and I learned how to play rugby and cricket just by jumping in the sport while everyone was playing. When I was going up to bat for cricket I got the american joke "hey batter batter batter" with everyone laughing which made me nervous and when the bowl came and I hit it I got over excited and went back to baseball ways and ran forward and threw my cricket bat behind me to the complete joy of everyone in the feild. Your not supposed to do that. You are supposed to run with your cricket bat... I am so american. They laughed for about 20 minutes but it was ok because I hit the ball pretty good and I stayed up for awhile before getting out. You really do need to prove yourself here through some sort of sport or at least try or everyone thinks your lame. There is this one sort of hipster kid in the class who would fit perfectly in to my old high school but he is seen as very weird here and kind of an outcast. We also got to swim in a river which was fun, but the best part by far was when we all got in a circle in the grass and had a tap out competition where one guy who wanted to fight would call out another guy in the circle of similar wait and then it would be on. Wasnt too serious or anything but we definitely had some entertaining fights!

Commercials here are very weird. I guess there must be a lot of car crashes because all the commercial are about driving too fast, intersections, and drunk drving and they all involve someone dying. They are very creepy.

I saw the Prime Minister of New Zealand 2 days ago at the small Invercargill airport when we were picking up my host sister. That was lucky.

Invercargill is a very small town and much of it is rural like the place I am living, but it is known for its indoor biking track called the Velodrome. Its a 250 meter track with high steep banked turns. I am definitely going to start cycling there when the championships over the weekends stop in March. Over this past weekend I saw 2 new zealand records broken by a guy by the name of eddie dawkins who my host family knows and has been to out house. It was crazy, everyone in the Velodrome went crazy since he is from southland, the province Invercargill is located in.

Food here is delicious consisting of a lot of food that suits cold weather and a hardy eater: meat pies, toasties (bread with cheese bacon, onion, tomato, pineapple, ham, or basically anything you want) minced meat and spaghetti, sheep, lolli cake (cake with some sort of candy), and other hardy dishes. I eat ice cream everyday here too, its awesome. There is this thing called a crunchy bar that I had today... glorious

I had a track race 2 days ago where I ran the 1500m. It was kinda a joke since there were only like 30 people at the whole meet, but it was still pretty fun. I think I might take off running awhile though and try more touch rugby and cycling. O, I am also getting back in to tennis. I guess my school team is not very good and I now have a court in my backyard so why not. There is a match in Christchurch which I am pretty keen to do so ill practice so i can make it. I might even do some soccer because our school also sucks at that and they need some more players. My friend says I dont even need to come to practice i can just show up for games lol.

Tonight I have an AFS pot luck tea, so that should be fun. I have been so busy here there is not really anytime to feel homesick which can only be good, but I am sure the day will be inevitable. I will just think about how lucky I am to be here and that this is a crazy adventure that will change my life and I will also remember it for the rest of my life.

Everything is amazing so far and I know it will only get better!

I will try to make the next post about the people here and how they react to me being american.

video post

2010-02-13T20:07:00.000-08:00

first day of school

School

2010-02-11T16:16:00.000-08:00

Ill do school first before i talk about Borland Lodge year 13 retreat because I am at school right now.

current location: southland boys high school library
time: fourth period (my free period) 1:21 pm

School is way different then i expected it to be from america. School works like this: there are five periods in a day with a tutor period inbetween 1st and 2nd and 4th and 5th(kinda like homeroom but you just read for about 15 minutes and its a few kids from each grade in there) and there is an interval break (its like morning tea here) inbetween 2nd and 3rd for about 20 minutes. lunch is between 3rd and 4th, so you can see that there is a significant break inbetween each period. very confusing my first day when no one told me this and all i had on my time table was 5 periods. all year 13 get a free period each day too, and the classes shift around each day so that ill have all of my five classes 4 times a week. if you took away all the breaks that we get here and lunch, we would get out at like 12. they seem a little unnecessary and completely SUCK if you dont know anyone... my first 2 days of school. Now its completely different now that i know the majority of my class, i now fnd school awesome. Also my first days i realized that you are allowed to just leave school for lunch or if you have a free period. now its great but the first days i just saw everyone from year 13 just walk right off campus and i was like well wtf am i going to be doing. And being the big lamo i am, i just went to the library and chilled. first 2 days like i said, not very good. we also have assemblies once a week on thursdays that take the place of our second tutor period. And another juge difference here is that there are no bells, none. ok well thats a little lie. they only have 2. one for when interval is over and... actually i think that might be the only one. teachers here just release you when the time is over.

my classes:
PE-fun
catering- awesome!
calculus-easy and i like it
geography- boring and easy, but i think itll get better
media studies- i really like it and its easy

all of my classes are very easy and have minimal work. it could just be because i am comparing it to my old school which i was taking 5 ap classes and it was very hard to keep up with sometimes. On the other hand I LOVE catering. you just get to go in there and the teacher (who is a really good chef) has up a recipe and all the ingredients and you just make the food. today we made savory scones with bacon onion and tomato. they were so good and i was pleased with my work. a very nice snack for interval. more people eat durring interval than they do at lunch it seems like. i have also been lucky enough to meet people that are able to drive me off campus for lunch which is fun.

side note- here you get a learners permit at 15 and when yout turn 16 you can get a restricted license which you can only drive by yourself. and if you get caught taking anyone then you get a major fine. people here take this very seriously. and it is at eith 16 1/2 or 17 which you get your full liscense. luckily everyone in year 13 is at least 17 so i have no problem.

Cussing is way more exceptable here. I here the f word, c word, and all the other ones so often here now that it just seems like regular language. even adults and at nice places, and teachers to students and students to teachers!! its just not a big deal at all.

there are houses here just like in harry potter. I am in pearce house which is traditionally known as the "shit house." there is a massive day here called sports day where all the houses i think there are 6 compete against eachother in a lot of athletic events. pearce has never won so i hope that changes. ok i got to go to my next class

Oh bugger

2010-02-10T01:09:00.000-08:00

my new zealand dictionary---------

conversation= yarn

crappy conversation= shit yarn or sharn

awesome etc= sweet as

ae= what? or right?

moldy= maori

mackers= mcdonalds

bush= wilderness

tramp= long hike

college= high school

pissed= drunk

uni= university

bugger= i think is used in replacing something like damn it

suss= figure out

reckon= think

heaps= loads or lots

paddock= field

kiwi= new zealander

kiwi fruit= kiwi

american mustard= our regular mustard

chilly bin= cooler

bin= trash can

rubbish= trash

lou= toilet

biscuits= cookies

lollies= candy

knackered= tired

dunnies= toilets i think also

and there is way more where that came from but thats just off the top of my head

I have had a busy and awesome week! I went camping with my host family and 4 other families to Naseby and then went on a year 13 retreat to borland lodge.

Naseby- With a population of only 100 permanent residents in central Otago, the small town is a mecca for the olympic sport curling and a great place to have a family camping trip. We went swimming and jumped off cliffs at the Blue Lakes, one of the most beautiful little lakes I have ever seen. We also stayed at these really cool cabins in the middle of the camp grounds. There i learned how to play touch rugby with all the kids and adjusted myself more to the kiwi culture. we listened to music, drank, (supervised of course) and as always had amazing food. the next day we woke up early and went for a 20 km mountain bike ride through the hills of naseby and saw some scenery that was sweet as. we then went for the craziest drive i have ever been on in my life. we 4-wheel-drove up a mountain on the bumbiest large rock and gravel road that was on the edge of the mountain face. we arrived at a place at the top that looked very barrent but had some crazy sand features blown about it. or maybe they were man made i dont really know. we climbed all around there and then had a picnic in a paddock full of sheep at the bottom of the mountain. wow wow wow thats all i can say about that. later that night was another awesome dinner but filled with competition. there was a family quiz off where each family asked five questions each without answering their own question and whoever got the most right won. i think we came in 3rd but it was heaps of fun. then there was a fear factor where the kids going from youngest to oldest had to choose a mystery shot and a food item. food items ranged from chocolate to a full kiwi fruit to a cracker with wasabi and peppers on it. the shots were coke alcohol or water. it was quite fun and then the kids got back at the adults by making our own mystery shots for them. they consisted of hard alcohol, milk, salt, water, strawberry grenedine, and i think maybe oil. the adults even played along and drank them.

then the next day came where we went to an indoor curling rink and got to play with everyone. it was so much fun and way better than i think anyone expected. but i had to leave early with my host parents to be back in time in invercargill for my year 13 leadership retreat. the only thing was that it was 3 hours away and i was not even able to stop back at the house for anything and was just dropped off at school to leave.

it was so awkward at first getting on the bus with 100 kids i did not know but this camp was by far the most important thing i have done here so far even if it wasnt the most fun ( it was really fun tho), however i am about to go to sleep cause i just got back from that retreat and i am exhausted so ill write about it in my next post.

the pics are of house and my first day of school because i forgot to post them and the others are of the camping trip to naseby.

An E-mail home

2010-02-10T00:58:00.000-08:00

just some observations and stuff before i go to bed. its 920 here and its still not dark. its not really sunny out or anything but the sun is definitely not down. i have really good blinds in my room tho that block out the sun. I have a really really hard time understanding the kids at school because they talk so fast and their accent is way harder to catch than i thought i would be. people are nice but you have to talk to them first. some dont have much to say tho. i think they are used to the same 100 kids in their grade. also the school is not as intense at academics as my old school. its so known for their rugby that the people that go there are kinda known as meat heads and are just what they call here "naughty" however there are definitely smart guys and tons of people id definitely like to be friends with. I got a ride with a kid named george today which was good so i actually knew someone before i got there. also people have a hard time with my name. I have to repeat it a lot and then spell it out so people get it. i definitely get stares so i know people know im new but maybe they are just shy to say something. im going to just make it my goal tomorrow to just not be shy and just talk to everyone. its just hard to think of something to say.

on a different note... race is a very weird thing here. there are absolutely no black people here. what would you even call a black person here. an african kiwi??? moari or pronounced moldy ( host brother says this is the actual pronunciation) are called black people here.
i look forward to every meal because sharri cooks a lot. they definitely want me to be part of the family and push me to try everything that id like.

o and back to school. everyone has the wildest haircuts ever! some are long, a lot have mullets (yes a ton do), some have a shaved front head with a fro in the back, and a very popular style is to have long hair spiked with gel in all different directions. and MOST of them have a whitish-gold dye in them. im surprised this is all allowed at an all guys private school. I really dont think the school can control the students well as theyd like.

I love everything a lot and i really have nothing negative to say except for the fact that i hate not knowing anyone at school and having no one to be with at breaks because durring them all the senior kids seem to leave campus and drive some place.

when i first arrived i did not see many differences. i think this is due to the massive differences i saw between other countries with different languages at orientation. i just thought well maybe the accent is just different here. Now after going to school, going to a physiotherapist, talking to the principle, meeting the running club coach, and just in general talking to people, this country and america are WAY different. they really expect guys to be big manly rugby players or some other rough contact sport player. this isnt really me. When i met the principle for the first time he said "i read your records you very good at athletics, (gives me an up and down look) I thought youd be taller."

the people here seem to be harder with a tougher shell to crack than people in america describe them to be. when i got talking to the principle more about everything he was very nice. You have to prove yourself first here i think before they accept you.

now i make the choice: do i run and do the regular routine i do in the states with the possibility of making it to NZ championships but probably not. but i could also make some great friends doing this. but it would also be hard to do this when i am trying to go on trips and have fun. or more importantly... do i do some sport like rugby or cricket where i can have fun but most likely be very bad at it. this has its ups and downs. i really do believe you need to prove yourself with a sport here and i know i can with running and i know i cant with another sport. but on the other hand i would have no pressures to run everyday or have a schedule and could just have fun. its just that i see not running biting me in the ass later because i know its me and that id love to make it to nz champs. if my knee was not bad the choice would be simple.

just random thoughts...

ok I'm here!

2010-02-01T17:33:00.000-08:00

I have been in Invercargill New Zealand for almost 3 whole days now and have been through quite a lot since I left from LAX to Auckland. We flew NZ Air, which is a very nice flight service, and arrived in Auckland at 6:30 in the morning. We were the first AFSers to arrive and then came Iceland, France, Peru, and Bolivia. I spent about 20 minutes learning the names of the 2 icelanders, did not really talk to the french at all (HUGE language barrier), and did my best (with an epic fail) to communicate with Peru and Bolivia. Everyone was very friendly even as we had not had any sleep at all on the plane. All the americans fell asleep and the bus, so it was me, icelanders, peru, and bolivia all trying to communicate for an hour to get to our camp site. Icelanders spook perfect English while the peruvians and bolivian barely spook any. I speak and little spanish and the Icelanders speak none. So I acted as a horrible mediator between conversations of spanish, english, and icelandic. It was quite fun. We arrived at the camp grounds that was located in a very hilly area and is used as a religious youth camp. Not much to do there besides hang out with people that speak very little english, but I had a blast. USA, Iceland, Latvia, Peru, and Bolivia pretty much became a big team there. O, and for Americas presentation of our country we did not have a flag like everyone else. So I had to bust out my american flag running short shorts and team USA jersey. We described the flag on them and got quite a few screams and roaring laughter as I took off my clothes that were concealing the jersey and short shorts. I dont think any countries were offended but I cant be for sure.

When we left the camp grounds about ten of the AFSers from camp went to Christchurch via plane and then me and a Norwegian girl flew to Invercargill. I was picked up by my host mom and dad (my host brother was in Auckland for a touch rugby game) and then we drove to my new home. Its incredible, ill post pics soon. Windows everywhere, some that even cover walls. We have a really cool dog name Paddy and I think 10 chickens with a really cool hen house. AND we have a tennis court. Very "flash" as they say down here.

As for the accent... I dont think I understand half of what people are saying and I dont think they understand me sometimes. My family was planning games for the camping trip we are going on this weekend and they kept talking about how they were going to throw hammers at pigs. I thought that was kinda mean and I kept listening and then they said that they were going to put the pigs in the ground. I was like "huh?" But then it slowly dawned on me that they were talking about pegs not pigs. I told them my realization and they laughed saying cant you tell the difference between a "peeg" and a "peeg." I still have no idea which one they were talking about when they said this.

School starts tomorrow so I got all my school supplies today. This is the only thing I am really nervous about. I dont think I really like first days of school. Ill get over it though. then this weekend we are going camping in Naseby and then the next week right when we get back I am going to someplace with my year 13 class for some retreat. So i have a lot going on this next week that I am excited/nervous about but I know its all going to be great.

The day has come!... almost

2010-01-26T22:14:00.000-08:00

The countdown is finally over. My AFS experience has officially started. I am currently located in the LA La Hacienda Hotel and have gone through my first orientation. Pretty normal stuff I was expecting, a little boring, but definitely necessary for the company. Wow, this does not feel real at all. As I am writing this I am thinking to myself I am leaving my house and everyone I love for 5 months! It hits me real fast and I cannot believe it for a second, but then all of a sudden I am flooded with the oddest sensation. I can not describe it, but it just does not feel like I am leaving. When I first found out I was going the idea of me leaving was crazy and absurd, but then I got used to it and it seemed just a sort of fake idea. Three months before departure my mom asked me if it felt real yet and I said no but maybe a month before I go. A month before I left came and my sister asked me if it felt read and I said no maybe the week before it will. Well it turns out it never felt real and it still doesnt. I do not think it actually will until I meet my family and attend school for the first day. WOW WOW WOW WOW this is SO FREAKIN WEIRD!!! I do really for ready for it now though, I have been mentally preparing myself for this for a long time and here it is.

I am coming for the Land of the Long White Cloud

One week left

2010-01-18T15:27:00.000-08:00

Time has FLOWN by. I am completely done with high school in America now! I finished all of my exams a few days ago and have off until I leave. I have even said my first goodbyes: I got to visit my brothers over the weekend who are both at college. My first stop was FSU where my 22 year old brother, Teddy, goes. I had an AWESOME 2 days there. We went to a basketball game, went out to eat, and best of all, went to an urban crowd surfing party (and yes it is as crazy as it sounds, I crowd surfed three times and was "the kid thats going New Zealand, wheres that again?"). I said goodbye to Teddy as he was pretty much asleep so it wasnt exactly emotional or anything but it was a great way to spend my last days with until I'm back in 6 months. Then it was off to UF to visit my other 19 year old brother, Peter. It was for all of 2 hours! I was supposed to be spending the night but I was also supposed to be driving friends back earlier that day and they would not stay another day at UF as a change a plans happened to have us stay an extra day at FSU. It was nice though, we went out to eat and hung out in his dorm. We said goodbye just as brothers say goodbye if one might be leaving for a couple of days, but his girlfriend, who I am pretty tight, with did shed some tears. All in all, I had a freakin awesome second to last weekend in the states.

To think about the future is weird now because things will never again be truly the same once I get on that plane to LAX. Once I leave my parents that have had kids in their house for 30 years, no kids will ever live there anymore. I am the

youngest in the family and I am a senior that is leaving for the second semester of his senior year, once I get back, its off to college. It is really the ending of an era for me as being a real kid and living at home, and for my parents never to have kids that live with them. And this is all going to happen in just a 7 days. Its very sad to think about but things are always changing and I know everything is going to be great and my parents are going to be fine. I am very greatly looking forward to this amazing adventure and I am thankful that I am lucky enough to participate, life really could not be better right now. Now all I have to do is decide the rest of my life while I am gone: What college I'll be going to (right now I have FSU, CU, Colorado College, and waiting to hear from USC and UF), do I want to run in college, do I join a frat, what will I major in, and these all depend on the col

lege I decide to go to.

Now all I got to do is learn how to play rugby

so I dont make a fool out of myself when I arrive

My brothers and I: We are very close. I also have a sister who I am very close with that lives in Ohio but I do not have a picture of her on my computer right now

Countdown: 20 days

2010-01-06T18:44:00.000-08:00

Well the days are coming down still very fast. I only have to finish this week of school and next when we have our first semester exams. For some strange reason my school decided that we should have our semester exams after Christmas break where everyone will surely not study and forget every singly thing they have done all year. And this is the first year they are doing it too. If it was how it was last year I would have been done with school three weeks ago. But I can't really complain because I get to be with my friends at school and what would I have done with myself almost a month while everyone was in school, AND I still get about 10 days off school before my departure January 26.

Christmas was great here. I got pretty much a whole new wardrobe because I am going to a place that gets VERY cold and I also needed new clothes for my college experience when I get back. New Years was spent in Ohio with my cousins and my sister so I could see them for the last time in 6 months. Went to a fun OSU party, hung out, ate some Skyline, ran around in the snow, ate a sandwich consisting of chicken tenders french fries mozzarella sticks cheese onion rings and "high sauce" (it was called The Fat Bitch), and watched the best show ever made, Jersey Shore. O I also received a Jersey Shore t-shirt from my brother, it was one of my favorite gifts.

Today pretty much consisted of me waking up at 6:20 missing first period of school so I could run a track work out. It was 28 degrees outside which is INSANE for Florida. I cannot reiterate that enough, it was INSANELY cold. Everyone at my club was wearing full running winter outfits which I don't own. One guy had ear warmers and the full ski mask with only eyes and nose cut out. All I had were my shorty shorts and a t-shirt. When I was in Ohio I did not run at all because of the snow so I don't think I was ready for this one. I puked before I even finished the workout (I did finish it though) and my hands hurt so much from the cold I could not untie my shoes. I have not puke from running in four years, so it was actually kind of embarrassing. Also, I know a lot of people have the perception that all runner are all small skinny weak kids, but my running partner for the track workout could not be a better example of the opposite. He is a personal trainer and freakin huge and very hard to keep up with at long distances. Sorry I just got to say that cause I get some crap for distance running being a weak sport, even though now I think I have gotten more people that know me see it differently.

The rest of the day was spent at school trying to sell our senior calendar, not an easy task at all. No seniors really want them except for the parents which never hear about the calendar from their son or daughter, so my plan of attack was to go after the teachers. I made three sales, and I still have 11 more. If I don't sell them I have to buy them. Anyway, back to the selling. So going to each teachers door in the middle of their class is not fun. Some get pissed, some flat out just deny it, but sometimes you get lucky. I had this one teacher in his room by himself not even look at me when I asked him.

And the day was rounded off with me making a facebook status about 20 days until I leave. It does not seem real to me at all right now. Sometimes I am like wow 5 months isnt long at all, but then I am like WOW 5 months is SO frick a lickin long! Anyways I am pumped even though I dont even really know what I am pumped for besides it is New Zealand. I am going to have a life there that I cant even imagine what it is going to be like now: the friends I make, my new family, my school, my new running club, the stuff I'll do, my accent might change, the way people view me, etc etc etc. Is New Zealand anything like Flight of the Conchords tells me it is?

A little over a month...

2009-12-14T19:02:00.000-08:00

Time is ticking down actually a lot faster than I expected. Only about a month and ten days till I leave... well hopefully. There has been some Visa mishaps but it all seems to be working out, but if worst comes to worst I will leave a month later than planned (and that will be the absolute worst!) Anyways, a lot of NZ (pronounced N Zed there) stuff has been happening since my last post. About three months ago my host mom informed me that my host brother said another American attends the high school that I will be attending when I arrive. "Probably from one of the Carolinas," she said. Well since then about two months ago I made a thread on an AFS discussion board on facebook seeing if anyone else would be going to NZ the same time as me. Six girls from Finland said they would be going, a guy from Argentina, and one girl from Latvia. I thought that was pretty cool, but then later I got a message from a girl that said she lives in the city I will be moving to, but that she is currently on an exchange in Argentina with AFS. So we became friends on FB blah blah blah. And then last week (a point is coming to this story I swear) I got a random girl to friend request me on FB with a message that said that she was also from Invercargill (my host city) and heard from another girl that I was moving there. Turns out both of these girls are in Argentina and they both are from my host city and are friends. She then goes on to say that her family in Invercargill is hosting an American kid also and he goes to Southland Boys High School. That is the same school I am going to, and that is the same kid my host mom was talking about from three months ago. That story may sound COMPLETELY pointless and stupid and boring, but I just thought how completely crazy it is that I became friends with someone from a girl that had been messaged by another girl who are both in different countries from seeing a thread on some sight from an American (me) that had heard about this other American kid randomly from my host mom's 13 year old son. The point is, the internet is crazy to me and as much as I don't really like it or want to use it, it has helped me connect to people from all over the world (to me that whole American kid thing was like a big circle and I just could not believe I came in contact with him through a girl in Argentina) and helped my exchange progress into something I would like it to be. One of the girls from Argentina gave me the name of a girl in Invercargill that participates in a running club, and I have now contacted her and have received info all about that. This will surely help my running and definitely make my experience a whole lot better since I think that sports can really help in socializing and also just help because I love to run and it will make me happier.

So now I know a few people from NZ, so I won't be completely friendless when I arrive lol. Hopefully making friends won't be too hard and hopefully this running club will help with this. The first day of school will definitely be hard for me, I am not shy at all but when it comes to knowing no one in a certain place, its hard for me to make the first move to talk to someone. I also don't really want to worry about anything though because that will get me nowhere, so I am just trying to think of ways to make the experience awesome. Like when I do my running club, I don't want to just do it just for fun, I want to really compete hard. I got the school record at my high school here for 5k and I would for sure like to try and win a few races and maybe beat some fast kiwis (what new zealanders call themselves). I love to compete and I love a competitive atmosphere. And talking about running, most host sister signed me up for the Motatapu marathon

look it up at www.motatapu.com

This is not just a regular marathon, its more like survival. The race directors are still unsure of letting me run the race because they dont normally let under 20 year olds do it. I have to have my coach send a letter of recommendation and also have to have a list of races and times I have run and wether they were on road or off road. It feels like applying to another college which I am already so sick of lol. The course runs through the beautiful southern region of NZ on a piece of property Shania Twain bought a while ago. This land is only open to the public once a year for this marathon and bike race. You have to run through rivers and across some crazy terrain. This is not a go for a fast time race, but more of a just try and finish it. I gotta say I am pretty nervous for it, but I have never been more excited for a race in my whole life!

As you can see by the pics above, this race is no joke but the scenery is completely amazing!!

Confirmation

2009-11-22T12:34:00.000-08:00

So, it is finally settled. I am 100%, absolutely, positively, most definitely for sure going to New Zealand for five months of my life!!! The process of getting my parents approval, hours in the guidance office, classes online over the summer, applying, waiting, interviews, applying again, and waiting again, have finally paid off. Its happening! I have received confirmation that I am indeed going to Middle Earth and that I will be living with the Ryan family in Invercargill (The most southern city in the country). The Ryan's are friends with one of my good friend's parents.

Sharri Ryan (mom) did an AFS exchange to the US when she was in high school and stayed with my friend's dad. They became great friends and since then he has visited them in NZ and has even taken his family to visit. It may seem as if I will be living with some friends there, but I still know very little about them besides that they are very kind, very outdoorsy, and very fun. They seem completely awesome and I have contacted them some via the all amazing and universal Facebook and e-mail (which happens to not work three quarters of the time). The family consists of Sharri (mom), Pip (dad), Emma (sister), Libby (sister), and Liam (son). Emma lives in Auckland, and Libby goes to university in Dunedin. So its going to be me, mom, dad, and 13 year Liam, who also will be going to my same school. I will be attending Southland Boys High School, which will be a HUGE transition for me because I will be going from a coed class of 560 to an all guys class of I think less than 100, maybe even a lot less. But not to fear, because there is also a Southland Girls High School there, which I assume is close by. My host sisters attended there and Libby assures me that they are always hanging out together at parties and such. They play a lot of rugby there and I'll try not to embarrass myself. I'm not exactly jacked of my mind or anything (high school cross country runner here) but I do try to get a little swoll at the gym every now and then. Another huge adjustment will be the fact that I am from Florida where our temperature in winter will most likely be the summer temperatures of the place I will be living. Invercargill is not that far away from Antarctica if you look at a world map. When I use the words transitions and adjustments, I definitely don't mean those in the negative sense at all though. I love experiencing new ways of life, culture, etc. I also am VERY excited to be living where it actually snows! My friend tells me that they go skiing very often! I also got an e-mail from my host mom saying that they plan on going scuba diving in the north someplace over Easter, and that my host sister has signed me up for a marathon. My exchange is already starting to look completely amazing and I am still 2 months from leaving. O, I will be gone from January 25 through July 7. I will update this as much as I can throughout my experience and hopefully will be able to post lost of pictures and videos. Also, my goal is that eventually my blog can make it on to the famous AFS USA blog home page. That is where I read all of the other AFSers cool blogs, and maybe mine might be as good to possibly get on there. I'll keep my fingers crossed but I seriously doubt my writing skills on this one, but whatever

The pictures above are first of NZ with the most southern part highlighted being Southland the region I am going to live in with Invercargill being on the coast just north of the little island, second of my host city, third is the Milford Sound which is in Southland, and fourth of my school.