"I would rather spend one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone"- J.R.R Tolkien
As much as I try and stay on top of these blogs, life certainly seems to keep getting in the way! School has been so very, very busy as we gear up for the end of the year and I have been busy trying to make the most of my last two and a half weeks in New Zealand.
As for school, it has still been wonderful but so crazy busy as well. I never thought that the end of the year could be as insane as our weeks have been, but I guess that's what happens at a primary school at the end of the year! It still feels so weird that the kids are gearing up for summer break and also getting ready to celebrate Christmas! It certainly doesn't feel like Christmas here as it is warm and sometimes sunny (there has been an unbelievable amount of rain). I certainly am missing the Christmas spirit and am excited to get home to the snow (crazy, I know) and Christmas decorations so it can finally feel like the holidays.
We have been all over the place at school recently because there have been so many events planned. I chaperoned a trip to a science performance where we had to take almost the whole school on a train and then on a very long walk to the performance space. That was fairly stressful as our kids took up almost the entire street and we had to cross many busy streets. Then, the next week, I chaperoned an athletics day for some of our kids where one teacher, the other American student teachers, and I took the kids on a bus for a full day of the students competing in different athletic events. That same week (which was two weeks ago at this point...I think...), the other student teachers, some teachers, and I chaperoned the kids on a trip to the wave pool near school as a reward for all the students who had jobs throughout the year. All of this was within a week and a half of everything else!
This week also held the best surprise I could have ever asked for. As you all know, Adam flew in to visit me, which was already enough to make me the happiest girl in the world, BUT he also had another plan up his sleeve. On Thursday, November 29th, Adam took me into the city (well Mt. Eden to be exact) for what I thought was just a fun date night (after he had to spend hours convincing me nothing was going on and I called my parents to tell them he was acting weird and I was frustrated. After all of that, I was convinced he had just planned a great date night). I knew we had a sunset photoshoot and that was about it. We caught dinner at a cute little restaurant where I had some of the best minestrone soup I've ever tasted! Then, we walked to meet up with our photographer. When we met up with her, she drove us to Mt. Eden where we hiked up the mount in order to take our photos. We started taking some lovely photos as the sun began to set and as we were taking photos, the photographer asked me to face away from Adam so she could focus on some pictures of just me. Obviously, without thinking, I did as she asked and she continued taking pictures. She then told me that when she said, I should turn around to pose with Adam and so I went to look behind me to see where Adam was, and found it slightly strange when both Adam and our photographer started yelling for me to turn back around, but I concluded that I probably just messed up the shot somehow. So, when the photographer told me to turn around, I saw a sight I was never expecting! Adam was down on one knee with a RING! Before I could even process what was happening, Adam proposed and I was so surprised and excited that I forgot to say yes! I just hugged him until he finally asked me, "Is that a yes?" to which I responded YES!
After I said yes and Adam put the ring on my finger (EEK!), he still had more surprises up his sleeve! The photographer had brought a picnic basket, which I assumed had just a blanket in it and was going to be used for aesthetic purposes, but I was wrong on that as well! After we had a chance to hug and share in our excitement of our brand new engagement, the picnic basket was opened to reveal a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes that Adam had asked the photographer to bring along in order to celebrate our engagement. The amount of thought and effort this man put into this still amazes me and only reiterates why I am marrying him!
We then celebrated our engagement by sitting on a blanket, sipping champagne, and watching the sunset with the Auckland skyline in the background. It was such an amazing view and I can't think of a better way to have spent our time as a newly engaged couple. We were able to still take many pictures which I will forever cherish and we stayed on the mount (which is actually an old volcano) until the sun had gone down. It was absolutely perfect and I still cannot believe it actually happened. I am writing this about two weeks later and I am still smiling as I write. I also cannot stop looking at the ring. Adam had it custom made just for me, based on a ring I had pinned multiple different times on my Pinterest without realizing it! Apparently it took 12 weeks to make and apparently Adam has been thinking about/planning this for almost 6 months! I am SO in love with this ring and it is the perfect ring for me. I love it so much more, not because I am a materialistic kind of person, but because Adam took so much time to think about the perfect ring for me and had it specially made for me!
On Friday, a two of the other student teachers, Adam, our new German friend Justus (a friend of my host family), and I left for Mt. Maunganui. We had an amazing airbnb there and were excited to go out and blow off a bit of steam on Friday night, as well as celebrate our engagement. We hit a couple of bars around the city and had an overall very fun night hanging out with friends, dancing, and trying to make the most of our second last weekend in this beautiful country.
On Saturday, we got up late (thank goodness) and went to the thermal pools near the mount. The weather wasn't the best, but the pools are naturally heated so it didn't matter that we were in the rain as we were already wet and they felt like very large hot tubs. Apparently, they take thermal heat up from Rotorua and divert it to Mt. Maunganui and mix it with water from the harbor or sea, which is filtered multiple times. It makes for an extremely relaxing and pleasant soak in the pools. After we had soaked for a bit, Adam, Justus, and I decided to climb the mount. In the pouring rain. Maybe not the best decision we've ever made but it was still a funny experience. We were absolutely SOAKED by the time we got to the summit and were rewarded with a view of....literally nothing. It was so foggy that our "view" was pretty much a white wall. Regardless, at least we can say we climbed the mount!
Sunday was just a day of laying around, souvenir shopping, and then the long drive back home. Thank goodness Justus was able to drive on this side of the road and we got a rental car. It would have been a very, very long bus ride back!
Overall, this has definitely had to be one of my absolute favorite weeks here and ever. I truly am the happiest girl in the world and cannot wait to marry my best friend. He amazes me each and every day and his proposal was more than I could have ever wanted or expected. I am so happy that I will always have this amazing memory of New Zealand to carry with me. If my trip here wasn't special enough to begin with, it certainly has now become the trip of a lifetime and one I will always remember and cherish.
Thanks to everyone for your continued support and to my new fiancé, I love you!