No more class!!!

I can’t believe it’s almost February already! Time is going by so quickly! Monday was Auckland Appreciation Day so we didn’t have class. Erika rented a van and we all went to the beach and spent the whole day there! It was awesome. And I am so tan now! Haha, it’s great. We walked around Orewa for a little bit and then we headed into the city to see what was going on. Me and Brooke knew that Of Monsters and Men was playing at the Laneway Festival but tickets were really expensive so we just wanted to see if we could stand near the stage and listen to them. When we got there we saw that a bunch of people had climbed on top of the playground just outside the fence blocking off the festival so we climbed up there, too. We could totally see the stage but there was a tent blocking part of it so we could only see the band every once in a while but we could hear them and it was awesome! They are so good live! Then we walked around the wharf for a little bit and then we decided to go watch the sunset at one of the west coast beaches. We got some fish and chips on the way for dinner and then we sat on the beach and watched the sunset. It was so beautiful. Then Tuesday and Wednesday were our last days of class! Woohoo!! We made rockets and musical instruments in science and talked some more about social studies. It was pretty fun. Today we had a guest speaker from the University of Auckland. She talked to us about the Maori immersion program she helped start and how awesome it is! It’s pretty great and she created an app to help people learn some Maori. I definitely downloaded it right away so I can learn some more Maori. I love it! After that we went over to the zoo with Kylie and Brooke. It was so much fun! We saw the cutest little monkeys and baby baboons. So freaking adorable! Then we went to Kmart and the mall to get some snacks and things for our trip to the temple and Rotarua this weekend. I’m so excited! Also, I forgot to mention that I ate a mussel for the first time the other day! It was surprisingly not that bad. I actually kind of liked it. Granted it was deep fried but still… haha :)

 The beach in Orewa!

 The beautiful sunset :)

 Yes, we're super cheesy.

 These are all of Kylie's monkey emotions...

 I think this one's my favorite. Hahaha :)

 The cutest little baby baboon ever!!

 Family picture

Welcome to Hogwarts!

So this week in class we have been learning about how to teach Science and Social Studies. However, the whole time all we can think about it how everything we do relates to Harry Potter. Haha, we are so obsessed! My great friend and roomie Rachel wrote the best blog posts about how classroom experiences and all of the Harry Potter correlations. So please go read these two blog posts:

http://rachel-elizabeth4.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/hogwarts-school-of-witchcraft-no.html 
http://rachel-elizabeth4.blogspot.co.nz/2013/01/hogwarts-school-of-witchcraft-no_22.html

On Monday we had FHE and an impromptu talent show. Haha, that was very interesting. I had no idea what to do because Rachel did a tripod headstand thing and Andrea did the splits. I cannot to anything like that so I decided to play the only piano song I still have memorized: A Thousand Miles by Vanessa Carlton. Let's just say I need to work on memorizing some more songs... On Tuesday we went and saw Les Miserables again and it was even more amazing the second time! We all cried the whole time and were so emotionally drained when it finished. I just can't get over how amazing that musical is! I've also started reading the book and I already love it. Wednesday and Thursday were pretty chill and we just hung out at home. Friday we went to the mall and I mostly just did some window shopping. We also got some really yummy Chinese food for dinner at the mall. Then we just came home and crashed because we were all going on a hike today. However, I woke up pretty tired and worn out. This whole wake up at 6am every day thing is really wearing me down and I need to be able to sleep in on Saturdays so I can function for the next week. I was also pretty skeptical about the hike in the first place because James mentioned that we would need our hands free so we could rock climb and hang on to ledges at certain points. Yeah, definitely not something I want to do. So I stayed home. It was GREAT!! I slept in til 9 and then got caught up on some tv shows and read my book and attempted to get some homework done... It felt awesome to just relax for a little bit. Then Erin came and asked if I wanted to go to the beach for a little bit so I absolutely said yes! So me, Sizzle, Snowden, Jivarne, and Erin went to the beach. Jivarne and Erin surfed while I played in the sand and boogie boarded with the girls. It was so fun! I've always loved beaches and the ocean but now I think I'm obsessed. I don't know if I'll survive another year in beachless Provo! Haha, on the way home we got some yummy fish and chips for dinner (my favorite!) and it made me miss London. When we got home the other girls had just gotten back from their hike. They said they had a blast but it sounded like I would have been miserable the whole time so I'm glad I didn't go. Apparently that's what I have to look forward to on our two week trip to the South Island so I don't know how I feel about that... Hopefully the hikes won't be that intense and if they are then I'll find something else to do. So I guess we'll just see what happens.

 Since Nessie has been one of my many nicknames I figured I had to take a picture of this.

 Some of the fun things we did in class this week

 Trying to see how many drops of water we can get on a coin.

 We watched Pocahontas for most of our Social Studies class one day. Best day ever!

Also we dyed Andrea's hair Friday night. It turned out so cute!

Better than Subway...

So on Friday we came home from school and just crashed. We watched What To Expect When You’re Expecting, ate popcorn and cookie dough, and then worked on writing our talks. I fell asleep pretty early because I was exhausted. It was a good thing though because we got up early to catch a bus to the city so we could take the ferry over to Devonport. It was so much fun! We were able to figure out the bus system and got where we needed to go. Then we took the ferry over to Devonport and it was a beautiful little ride. Then we walked around the city and went to all of the cute shops. It’s a very quaint, British-looking town. I love it! Then we got some lunch at a cute, little café and it was delicious! I got this mushroom and pesto pasta thing that was amazing! Yum J Then we took the ferry back to the city and walked around trying to find the flea market. When we got to the street it was supposed to be on, it wasn’t there… So instead, we went down and walked along the wharf. It is so beautiful! They were setting up for an ironman race triathlon thing so that was cool to see. We also found a really yummy ice cream place by the ferry dock that I will definitely be going back to! There was also a very smelly fish market which was gross. That’s the one gross thing about being here is that there are smelly fish every where. Every time we walk into the grocery store we have to walk past a bunch of smelly fish to get to the rest of the store. It’s our least favorite thing to do. Haha, anyways, we came home after that and finished up our talks. We finally got to meet the other girl that is living downstairs with us at the Joseph’s. Her name is Ra and she is awesome! She’s a preschool teacher and she likes to make really gross smoothies. Hahaha, she’s so great and she has an amazing singing voice! We really like her. It was really hard for me to enjoy last week and last weekend though because I was so nervous about my talk. Ugh, I really hate speaking in church. It just gives me so much anxiety! However, I did survive. I just read exactly what I wrote down and it was as long as it was supposed to be and I didn’t mess up my words too badly… I don’t mind being asked to play piano and sight read hymns (which I end up having to do in Relief Society every week) but talking in church is not something I will ever enjoy doing. After church we went over to Brittany and Elise’s house because it was Elise’s birthday. Their host mom made all these little finger foods for us to eat that were delicious! Then we ate cake and desserts and just sat around outside and talked. It was so fun. Then we went home and hung out with our family for a while. We talked to Jivarne about Jimmer and BYU basketball. And we made some cookies. For some reason they love the chocolate chip cookies we made for them a while ago so we keep making them. Hahaha, Jivarne said they are even better than Subway’s cookies! 

 Riding the ferry!

 Devonport has the cutest buildings

 The posts were covered with knit scarf-like sleeves. Haha, so cute!

 I need these!

 The ice cubes are shaped like the titanic and icebergs...

 Haha, these could come in handy...

 I keep finding little pieces of England here! I love it :)

 A milk and cookies cafe called The Mustache

 Some sweet street art on some stairs