Rotorua: Part 2

After the performance we got the chance to walk around the park.  There were some homes that were built to be similar to traditional Maori homes and huts.

 There was a huge rock of green jade rock.  It is said that if you rub it, it will bring good luck.  We weren't going to turn down an opportunity like that.

Next we walked over to the see the huge Geysers!  The water and steam were blowing far up into the air!  It was an amazing sight to see these natural springs of water and steam shooting up from the ground.  The water and steam were as tall as big buildings in the middle of large city.

Next we went for a little bit more sightseeing.  We went to a lookout place where you could stand on this hill and see the Green lake on one side of you and the Blue lake on the other side of you.  The trees where rising up and each side and we could make out the different colored lakes (named green and blue for obvious reasons).

Then we had some time to walk through the city and see more of the town.  A few of us found a little place to go paddle boating along the lake side as well!

We also spent one night at a dinner theater.   This place is owned by the Lady that we were staying with on this trip.   The food was a nice buffet and the show was private just for us.  The entertainment was interesting.  They tried to incorporate a lot of audience participation.  The story line was a little bit difficult to follow but it was still a fun night of eating, acting, dancing, and laughing!

 We tried muscles for the first time.... Honestly I didn't enjoy it at all.  It was super rubbery/fatty/yucky!

Even though I wasn't thrilled they had me play a small part in the play.  They also roped over half of our group into small rolls.

The last day was one of my all time favorite activities of being here in New Zealand.  We went to the Glow Worm’s Cave.  We took a tour called the Black Labyrinth.  This required us to gear up into wet suits, wet suit booties, rubber boots, helmet with a light, and to carry a thick inner tube.  

We were bused up to the start of the cave.  We headed into a dark, wet cave together as a group.  There were parts that were very rocky that we had to climb over and under.  Then we came to parts that were very deep and required us to float along.  There were two little waterfalls that we had to stand backwards, holding our tubs behind us, and jump out into the darkness landing on our tubes to get down.

 There was one part that the water level was so high and the roof of the cave was so low that we had to lean way back in our tub as our body scrapped across the top while we squeezed under it.  I must admit I began to feel a little bit claustrophobic and panicked.  Luckily it didn’t last for too long.  There was also a part where our guides said that there was really good acoustics if anyone felt like singing.  Of course our group of girls never turns down an opportunity like that.  We all began to sing the song that we sang for the Powhari.  It was magical!!!!! I sound of us in that caves was one I will never forget J

There were a few times when we turn out all of our head lights to take in the beautiful of the glow worm light.  As we looked up it was as though we were star gazing.  There were hundreds of lights all around above me.  It was even better than most star gazing I have done because there were no mosquitoes, I was rafting down a cave, and the whole experience was unlike any other.

When we reached the end of our hour journey in the cave we started to see the light from outside.  When we could finally start to see the greenery and rocks there was an amazing sun light beam shining straight into the water!


There was quite a lot of driving in our vans during this trip.  After hours and hours we start to resort to playing games and taking pictures of us making different faces.  This picture particularly came from Christine trying to get a picture of us laughing naturally, it didn't work at all.

Our Rotorua trip was a success!   We have one free day and then we head off to our final New Zealand trip to the Northland.

Rotorua: Part 1

Friday morning we left Auckland and set out for our Rotorua holiday.  On the way we made a stop at the New Zealand, Henderson, Temple.  

This is one of the few temples with out an Angle Moroni on top.  The temple workers didn't have a clear answer as to why this part is missing.  But they are soon doing some adjustments soon to make it earthquake proof and improve the inside, and there is rumor that they may add an angel to the top.

The temple workers were so sweet to cater to our big group of 16 girls!  But it was as beautiful as ever!  We also had time to spend at the visitors center.

We headed on and made it to the house we were staying in.  Our friend James had family friends that have a large house that were sweet to take all of us in for the next few days.  We tried to be gracious guests but we kind of took over the entire house.  We unpacked with girls sleeping on the floor, couches, and a few rooms.  Heidi and I were lucky enough to get our own room.

That night we hung out, made dinner and enjoyed being together.  I had the wonderful opportunity to sit down and talk with my professor, Dr. Jacobs.  I really like talking to this man!  He reminds me of my dad in some ways because we have some of the most thought provoking, meaningful, thought felt conversations.  We are really lucky to have him be the director of our study abroad because I am constantly learning from him.

Saturday morning we got up early so that we could get to the Sheep show an hour early!!!  We wanted to be in the front row, and let me tell you that we beat everyone else by a long shot.   

The rest of the audience started showing up twenty till.  But the front row was well worth it!  While we were waiting for the show we got to spend time with the wonderful sheep and animals!

I was going for the pretend kissing pose, until the sheep actually lunged towards me.  It got a lot closer to my face than I was expecting.

This was the Great Marino!  He was the number one sheep of the show.  Very lovely guy :)

I got some time to pet the baby lambs!

My great friend Marino and me!  We bonded at the show.

During the show we got to learn about all these different varieties of sheep.  Who knew there were so many different kinds.  We also got to watch a sheep get sheared, dogs heard ducks and climb onto the sheep’s’ backs, baby sheep get feed, and best of all I got to milk a cow!!!

Christine, Me, and Heidi all got chosen for the "Milk the Cow" portion of the show!

Here is the proof that I milked a cow!

I got super excited :)  They even gave me a "Certificate of Udderance" afterwards! 

Later that day we headed over to the Zorbing course!  Zorbing is one of the touristy activities that is a “must do.”  This is where 1 to 3 people get driven to the top of a large hill.  Then you walk up next to these huge blown up balls.  The worker fills up the ball with a little bit of water, which then gets dyed with food coloring.  Then the 1 to 3 people slide into the hole in this ball.  The hole is zipped up and the ball is pushed down the huge hill.  I went in a group with Heidi and Diana.  We dyed our water black to intimidate the ball next to us which Anna, Whitney, and Janet where getting into.  They let us race another group because there were two tracks down the hill!  On the count of three we were off.  At the beginning the three in my group tried our best to run/crawl to get our ball to go as fast as possible down the hill.  After a few steps we slipped and we were sliding all around as our ball speed quickly down the hill!  I felt a bit like a hamster in a cage, but it was So fun!

Here is the Zorbing Track!

Group shot with the ball that we were inside behind us!

After a busy day we were able to take advantage of natural hot sulfur hot tub in the back yard.  Now I haven’t quite explained some of their very distinguishing factors of Rotorua.  The first thing that many people think of when they hear Rotorua is, rotten eggs.  As soon as you drive into town there is a very strong smells that envelopes you.  This smell comes from the sulfur from the city.  There are gysers, hot springs, and mud baths that are created by the geothermic activity that occurs here.  The house that we are staying at as a hot tub in the back that runs completely from the hot water from the ground .  All natural!  It was so wonderful.

This house had another activity that we took full advantage of, Karaoke!  Nicole, Emily, Christine, Heidi, Neeley, and others participated in some “one of a kind” song performances.  This kept us entertained for hours.

Sunday we attended a nearby church.  It’s such a special spirit that comes with joining a small ward.  I have never been a part of such small numbers in any of the wards I’ve attended in California, Idaho, or Utah.  The members here are often very unique but they are strong and they rely on each other for a lot of support.  The members were very friendly the moment that we walked into the building.

That afternoon we got the chance to walk along the coast of Lake Taupo, the largest lake in New Zealand.  It was formed from a crater that came about from a massive Volcanic eruption that happened a long time ago.

Monday morning we headed out to Te Puia, a Maori Cultural center.  We walked in and attended a special performance a dancing a singing.  They asked for audience participation and Dr. Jacobs got to be part of an intense Haka.  In fact they made him the chief.  Some of the girls and I got to come up onto stage and try out the poi balls.  They were a lot harder than I expected them to be.  In fact at one point I hit myself in the head with one of them. 

After the performance we got a tour of the rest of Te Pauia.  He gave us extra details about the Maori culture, trees, animals, and geysers.  At one point we got to go into an exhibit that had live Kiwi Birds!  This bird is such a huge New Zealand icon but I couldn’t figure out why I hadn’t seen any live ones yet.  But as we went into the room our guide explained that Kiwi’s are Nocturnal.  Hhhmm this explains why I haven’t seen any running around in the parks during the days.  They are also flightless birds that live in the forests.  The room was very dark that we went in, but I was still able to see two real life Kiwi Birds!

Last Day of School

I couldn't believe when I woke up today that it was going to be the end of my second practicum experience.  These past 6 weeks have flown by.  I have made some amazing friendships and learned so much!  I wish I could bring Colwill Primary School back to Utah with me.

Today was extra fun because our Harakiki team had a park clean up day!  We all walked to Moire park about ten minutes away from the school to help pick up rubbish.  This term all the classes are focusing their units around environment.  In class we have talked about how to make our school environment better and today we were helping make our community environment improved.    One the walk over Riana started bringing out a ton of different lollies that I hadn’t ever tried before.  She was so sweet and shared them with me on the walk over to the park!

This was on our walk

The Harakiki Team w/ Mrs. Chase giving directions

We got sweet as "car for our coast" bibs to wear as we pick up the rubbish haha

My sweet, tough year 7/8 boys!

After the cleanup we gave the students time for morning tea to eat their food and play on the playground.  During play time Riana and I decide to record some interviews on my camera :)

After we did our cleanup we had an hour of working on a writing project and then swim time.  The kids were begging me to come swim with them but it was a little bit cold.  Finally I decided to give in.  We played keep away girls vs. boys!  It so fun :)  I’m going to miss swim time during school.

The other teachers at the school were so sweet to bring treats and snacks to thank us for our work at Colwill.  At the end of the day we sat with teacher in the staff room eating the food and socializing.  Two of my boys, Zane and Henare, walked into the room.  They came right up to me and said “Good bye Ms. Bringhurst” and gave me a big hug!  This was huge because these 10 and 11 year old boys were never ones to be huggy and sentimental at all!    I was shocked and it almost made me cry.  I am going to miss my tough little boys.  It was fun to play softball, basketball, and swimming with them because it gave me a chance to really connect with some of them.  But this hug at the end was really big.

My students were so sweet in saying good bye.  I was overwhelmed with love notes, thank you notes, pictures, gifts, lollies, and hugs!  I couldn’t believe everything that they did for us.  Even random kids that I didn’t know were telling me how much they were going to me ha. 

I had a few presents in particular that really stood out to me.  The first was one of the funniest things that has happened to me at this school.  I went back to visit my year ¾ class and bring them a little treat for being such good students when I was in their classroom.  Of course all the little girls and drew me pictures and one of my little boys Ani even had a plastic “Winner” metal for me.  One of my students Moki, who is one of the cutest little boys I have ever seen, decided that he wanted to give me something as well.  He didn’t have much but he found a dollar coin in his pocket.  He preceded to hand it to me.  I told him no, no I can’t take your money.  You keep it!  But he was persistent and finally forced it into my hands.   Later that day school was over and I started heading towards the front of the school.  Christine and I were still surrounded by kids hanging off us and getting hugged by them.  Even Moki found me again and gave me a big hug.  Then he looked up at me and said “Ms. Can I have my dollar back now?” haha I laughed and handed the money right back.  It was so funny to see that he wanted to give me something so badly but he really did want to keep that dollar.  Haha gosh he is so cute!

I also had a sweet little Korean student named Min Gyeong.  She made me a beautiful card with pop out letters and she gave me a friendship key.  It matched a key that she had.  We put it onto our name tags we made at Tech together and she had me promise I would keep it forever.  I am going to miss her lots.  Even though it was hard to understand her because her English wasn’t very good, she was always happy to see me with a big hug every morning and afternoon!

Another one of my students, Szahn, pulled me aside in the morning.  She had gotten me a lotion pack and half of a crystal rock.  She said it was our friendship crystal because she has the other half that goes with it.  She said that as long as I keep it we will be friends :)

 Here is little Filipi- We've been friends since the very first day I came to school haha I'll never forget my little funny moments with him!

 Here is my whole room 18 students that are year 7/8 minus two kids that were absent today.  

 Here is Min Gyeong!  We are holding our friendship keys that are hooked onto our tags we made!  Excuse my stringy hair, I had just gotten out of the pool with my kids.  I did my best to try and keep my hair dry.  Gosh I am turning my mom.  Who tries to keep their hair dry when they are in the pool ha, Suzanne does :)

The last day we started to give out our email addresses so that we could try to keep in touch with some of our kids for a little while.  It will be so great if I can hear about graduations and other exciting events in their lives. We got the first email from Riana.  She is so sweet, it made me laugh and smile as I read it!  Here's the email!

Hi Awesome American Teachers,
 
Its Riana,
Im really going to miss you when you leave to go to Rotorua.
I hope you will never foget about me because il never forget yous.
You never growl and are so kind and pretty.
When you leave il have noone  to have as much fun with you guys.
My expeience with you people was so amazing your funny nice & taleneted.
Highlights.
Miss Bringhurst: Tech was so cool how Mr Parker had the hots for you,  your answer (HE WAS SO OLD !)xxx gonna miss you Heaps ! xxx :) 
Miss Wirthlin:Our funny times were so cool your so awesome and fun hope you've had fun with us gonna be sad to see you leave! xxxx :(
Miss Goode:You were cool at the NorthWest swimming thanks for the awesome compliment btw about my swimming skills ! xxxx :L you are so fun to hang out with
Miss Burnett:OMG what to say about you WOW ! you standout I thourght you were a NZ teacher for a second you stand out in the Colwill Crowd !xoxoxoxoxoxoxox :P 
WOW this is making me wanna cry typing this hahahaha but it was so cool to meet you im really gonna miss you out of the whole entire school you were my favourite student teachers still are but i dont know what to say i guess.Maybe just Bye and Il miss yous heaps .
Beyond the past few weeks ive learnt alot about you American people there are alot on different things about us but the same thing that we have in common is the passion and friendshop we have and I hope it will never end between us ! Thanx for being great friends with me! IM GONNA MISS YOU HEAPS ANDI LOVE YOU LIKE BIG SISTERS ! btw Miss Burnett i love the Taylor Swift shirt i wish i could have it your so lucky and i wish you the best for the future ! xxxx ! PLZ never forget about ME !!!!!!  xxxxxx xx xxx xx xxx xx xxx xxx ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Ever lasting kisses and hugs !

Today really was such a great day!  Tomorrow morning at 6am I am heading with the whole 16 group to the Hamilton Temple and then on to Rotorua!  I won't have my computer for the next few days on my trip so be patient with the blog posts.  I'll probably only make two or three more before I come home because of all the traveling!!!! I can't believe its coming to an end.


Oh and probably the very best part of my day today was getting to talk to my brother about his MISSION CALL to GUATEMALA RETALHULEU MISSION :)  I am so excited for him!  He is going to be an amazing missionary!  He is such an example to me.  I look up to him so much.  I really love my brother!  He leave's August 10th  so I'll get plenty of time to spend with him before he has to leave.