Kia Ora

Today was my first day of school. We hold all of our classes at a local church building. We have different professors that come to us each day and teach us from 8:00 am till 3:30 PM.

This first day was an introduction to New Zealand culture and their school systems. Here are a few of the things I learned.

The first is the word Hongi. This is when you press your nose against anothers and say “kia ora.” This phrase is a welcoming phrase, a maori word for a greetings. We had to practice this action with all the girls in our class so that we wouldn’t laugh when we have to do it with some of the school leaders. Our teacher described this action as mixing your breathe together as friends, kinda weird but cool :)

Another thing that they taught us about the culture here is “They cement their love together with food.” I think my Bringhurst family could fit right in with the love the people share here together :)

I have been also trying to remember some of my favorite words that I hear them say down here. "Crikey" is one of my favorites because the only person I have ever heard say that was the Crocodile Hunter, who I loved, and now it is being used as a common word! "Have a go at it" is another one of my favorite phrases that I am trying to add into my own personal vocabulary! "Jandels" is another word for sandels. "Togs" is another word for swim suits.

I finally have some picture of where I live! This is Phyllis's (my host grandma's) house!  I've decided she is more of a host grandma than host mom.  She is a very proper, reserved, elderly lady.

Her backyard has a great deck that we sit on every evening to read and do our homework! This Saturday morning Christine and I got the chance to help her with the yard work! We pulled lots of weeds in her beautiful yard. She has flowers, bushes, fruit trees that she is constantly working on to keep it looking nice!  Her yard is definitely one thing that she takes great pride in.

Then Saturday night I had a girls night with Phyllis, Christine, Anna, and Heidi! Phyllis had never had her toe nails painted before so we decided to change that, painting them bright pink! We also watched one of Phyllis's favorite movies, "The Sister Act" with Whoopi Goldberg! I have never heard our proper host grandma laugh so hard!

We have also been able to visit the beach already!  The beach in January, CRAZY!  I’m sorry for everyone who is still sitting in the cold at home! We went to a beautiful white sand beach that had millions of shells! I ended up a little sunburned (I promise I used sunscreen mom) The girls got a little carried away with the pictures so I'll put a few up now and more up on my next post!