"Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking-stick."- J.R.R Tolkien
What an amazing week it has been! Amazing and tiring to say the least. This country continues to leave me yearning for more and more adventure and I don't think I will ever be able to satisfy the wanderlust that this experience has left me with so far.
I have not blogged for a bit so a lot has happened! Last week, I began to take over the class fully and have settled into being in full control of the class this week. So far, it has been going very well. There is always a bit of a testing period where the students push to see what boundaries there are, but thankfully we got that out of the way last week, so this week has been very smooth. They have begun to respond very well to me and have certainly opened up and accepted me into their lives. They all greet me with very big smiles in the morning and I enjoy having the opportunity to work with them. I teach them narrative writing, maths, and then we work on their product-based collaborative learning, which is pretty much the same thing as project-based collaborative learning but these kids get to choose what they would like to research and learn about, and how they will present it. I give them a topic and maybe one or two required criteria and then they get a few days to put together a whole presentation. For example, this week I gave them the topic of space and the only criteria for the whole thing is that they must include some sort of media support in their presentation. Some students have chosen to include a song, a video, a podcast, etc. Other than that, they have all chosen in their groups what questions they have and what they want to learn. They are very independent and unlike at home, they are not motivated by grades for EACH project. They receive an overall grade at the end of term, based on what levels they reach, but I do not grade every project and presentation. Rather, they get group points and whichever group ends the week with the most points gets a little trophy for the week. It is very exciting to see them so motivated to produce quality results without relying on a grade!
The weekend was just as crazy as the week! We left pretty much straight from school to fly down to Queenstown on the South Island. We got there around 10 at night and were so exhausted from teaching and traveling that we just grabbed some late dinner at McDonald's (I didn't think a cheeseburger and fries could ever taste so good...) and then checked into the hostel and went to bed. We got lucky and ended up with a room of just the six of us. I truly think my abs are stronger after this weekend as well due to all the laughing we did. We probably would have killed each other had we had to spend one more night together but it was definitely a weekend full of laughter. Especially at how cheap and broke we all are. It was to the point that none of us wanted to spend the $5 to use a towel at the hostel, so we used our clothes and extra bed sheets to dry off. I also was the only person who brought shower shoes so the entire room (minus the one guy traveling with us) used my flip flops even though no one else has the same size feet as me. Furthermore, some of us didn't bring toothpaste (I didn't have a travel size) so we shared about 2 toothpastes between the 6 of us. Traveling certainly bonds a group of college aged kids together!
On Saturday, we woke up very early and jumped on a bus to make the 4ish hour drive to Milford Sound. The drive was BEAUTIFUL. I've learned that the bus rides alone to different places are definitely worth the money I spend to get there because the landscape is just so stunningly beautiful. We stopped at a couple different lookouts and were able to take some amazing pictures. We ended up working out quite a good system where if the right side of the bus had good photo opportunities, we all would call on the right side (those of us sitting on the right) to take pictures and then the same with the left. It turned into quite a funny experience and other people on the bus even began to get involved!
When we got to Milford Sound, we jumped on a ferry tour that took us to see the Tasman Sea, a few different waterfalls, some adorable little penguins, and some adolescent fur seals. When we approached one waterfall, the captain made an announcement that they could get the boat extremely close to the waterfall and that those who wanted to feel the power of the waterfall could go to the front of the boat but also to prepare to get wet. It is also apparently a legend that if the water from this waterfall touches a maiden, she will look 10 years younger. Of course you can probably guess that I jumped at the chance to run to the front of the boat. As the boat approached, I could most definitely feel the power of the waterfall. The spray was extremely cold and made it to where you could hardly take a breath in as there was so much pouring down. You could also probably guess who the last person standing in the front of the boat was…;) Everyone else ran to the back of the boat when we got too close to the waterfall but I decided that I am in New Zealand to experience new things and I stuck it out in the front of the boat for as long as we were there. I had stuffed my bag under my shirt to keep it dry and thank goodness I did, as my clothes, shoes, undergarments, jacket, and hair were soaking wet after we backed away. Thankfully, I had a bit of time left on the tour where I could go up on the top deck and try and dry off in the sun. I may have spent the bus ride home slightly damp and cold, but it was certainly an exhilarating experience. Milford Sound certainly holds up to its reputation of being amazingly beautiful and I am so happy we went.
On Sunday, two people from our group got up early to go hike the Ben Lomond Trail and the rest of us slept in a bit and then prepared to go hike Queenstown Hill. I hadn’t heard of Queenstown Hill before this trip and so let me tell you, I underestimated quite severely what kind of a hike this was. The fact that it’s name was Queenstown Hill for some reason made me think it was a city street that was a hill and takes you to the top of the city. Nope. This is a nature trail and I wouldn’t necessarily qualify what we hiked as a hill. Perhaps foothill would be more clear because this felt more like climbing a mountain than walking up a hill. It was a beautiful trail though and well worth the quite steep hike up. We hiked for a few hours and finally made it to where there is an art sculpture called the “Basket of Dreams” and took some pictures of the amazing view of Queenstown and the mountain that this lookout gives you. I guess I was feeling adventurous again because I looked up and saw that the trail continued to the summit of the hill and decided that I had already made it so far up the hill that I couldn’t turn back now. My friends were content just lounging at the lookout so I started the rest of the trail by myself. The trail to the summit was even steeper than the trail we had taken to get to the lookout! On my way up though, I met a very nice Australian lady, a couple from Singapore, and a couple from New Zealand who thought I was Irish because of my accent! They all graciously complied when I asked if they could take a picture of me on the summit and the view were even more spectacular than they were down at the lookout! It definitely took a little bit of guts for me to hike up by myself, as I don’t normally hike by myself, but it was well worth it. I can definitely say my confidence and motivation to push myself harder has grown during my time here in New Zealand.
After we all returned back from our hikes, we got dinner at a small little restaurant (by staying at the hostel we did, we got a free entrée if we bought a drink!) and then relaxed in the beautiful park. I have to say, the park in the city center may have been one of my absolute favorite places in Queenstown. It had free, extremely good Wi-Fi and a creek running through it that was home to many ducks that I really enjoyed watching. We would bring a few drinks with us and just lounge and people watch while we recovered from our hikes. After we had relaxed and freshened up, we also went to a few bars in the city. I’m not a bar person and don’t really like to be jammed into a crowded, loud space, but it was still fun to explore and see the nightlife of the city.
On Monday, we had some hours to kill before our flight so a few of us took the gondola up the mountain and explored the gift shop and one of us was extremely brave and adventurous (not me this time) and went bungee jumping. It was so cool to watch her and I am amazed at her bravery! I thought about doing it, but chickened out before I even talked to someone about it. I do want to try some of the parasailing and such that I saw around Queenstown though. When we were back down from the mountain, we made our way to a little restaurant and ate lunch. Then, we found our way to the airport and were amazed again at how relaxed traveling is here. We got to the airport about an hour before our flight (which made me nervous as I’m used to getting there at least two hours before even a domestic flight) only to find that security was closed! I went into a bit of a stressed mode trying to figure out how we would make our flight and when to talk to the information desk. There, they told me that security won’t open until an hour before our flight is supposed to take off (not board!) and I looked up at the flight status monitor and our flight status was RELAX. I still think that is hilarious! I kind of wish that traveling in the states was that low stress as well.
Overall, it was an absolutely amazing weekend. I feel so blessed to be able to travel with the people that are here with me and love spending time with them exploring this beautiful country. Furthermore, I am over the moon that my placement here has gone very well and the transition to full control has been extremely smooth. I truly cannot wait to see what else this country has in store for me and am beginning to feel the sadness that I am halfway through my time here. I can’t wait to make the most of every minute here!
Thanks for reading!
Comments