Pinch Me Please

In honor of our last day of classes on Friday, it was only appropriate to go camping at Coromandel Beach! This is the place where the second Chronicles of Narnia was filmed! It is just as gorgeous in person as it is in the movies. It was unreal. Pictures don't do it justice.

When we got there it was already dark and we were all pooped so we put our stuff into our tents and got ready for bed. We quickly discovered that nights are FREEZING. To give you an idea of how cold it was check out my sleeping arrangements. It will give you a good laugh. 

Saturday was when the real fun began. While we waited for the outside temperature to heat up the Joseph’s (the family that took us camping) cut open the sea urchins that some of the girls went diving/fishing for at the crack of dawn. When they said that they were going to go fishing I thought for real fish, not sea urchins. Anyways, they cut them open and wanted us all to try it. I was very reluctant, but I eventually gave it and tried sea urchin tongue. Yeah, I ate tongue.  To keep a long story short lets just say that it is something I will NEVER eat again.  It was slimy, soggy and kind of lumpy with a ridiculously salty taste. Basically I ate the sea.

Then we made our way down to the beach. The weather was so fantastic. We were so thankful for a good beach day seeing as our last beach day it was pouring rain. The Josephs had so many things for us to do while we were there. They had kayaks, surfboards and even snorkeling gear for us.

Emily and I went kayaking out in the ocean and it was breath taking. It was so cool to see the changing colors of the water the further we went out. It went from a ridiculously clear color to the deepest of blue. Gorgeous.

After our arms were about to fall off I relearned how to surf! It was awesome. I might have bruises all over my knees, but it was so worth it because not only can I legitimately surf but I can officially say that I have been surfing in New Zealand!

These things were all so much fun, but talking, laughing, and swimming in the ocean with some of these girls, whom have become some of my best friends, was absolutely priceless.

I'm a Scientist!

Normal science classes can tend to be a drag, thank goodness my science class is not normal. Most of the time in class we do exciting experiments that you can do with all ages to spark an interest in science.

Here are just a few we have done

Tables and Balloons: 


Our science professor gave us a challenge to see how many people we could fit on a table being held up only by balloons. We all about freaked out. When we got divided up into our small groups to practice before we put the whole class together, the children in us escaped. We all got so giddy and excited to stand on the tables held by balloons.

For this experiment we had a table and flipped it up side down so the legs were in the air. Then we filled up 4 balloons with air. We then put a balloon under each corner of the table tucked underneath so you couldn't see them. Then we stood on the table and tried not to move much. Then we used more balloons and put them underneath a large table so we could see if we could get the entire class on a table. We did it! It was really pretty cool to see that our entire class could all stand on a single table held up only by balloons! Thats over 2000 lbs held by balloons!

Balloons , Baking Soda and Vinegar:

It seems to me that our science teacher really loves balloons. We use them for a lot of our experiments or investigations as he calls them. Anyways, this experiment is very similar to the chemical reaction that takes place for making homemade volcanoes. 

Here's what you do: 

1. Take a few large spoonfuls of baking soda and put them inside a balloon
2. Pour a generous amount of vinegar into a bottle (the size of a Coke bottle)
3. Put the balloon over the lip of the bottle and hold it up so that the baking soda will pour into the vinegar
4. Watch the reaction!

Hint: The balloon should then fill up with air

M&M's: 

This experiment is one that children would love to do! It's so simple and all you really have to do is observe. 

Here's what you do: 

1. Have 4 plastic cups of water, 2 with hot water and 2 with cold (make sure to remember which is which)
2. Drop a different colored M&M into each cup of water (you can mix two colors if you want, but you can see it better with only one)
3. Watch and observe the what colors expand the quickest (take note of the layers that come off of the M&M and if water temperature has an effect on it)! 

Prayer

In Relief Society today we had an amazing lesson taught by Elyse Sorenson, Kirsten and Emily's home stay sister. She did an absolutely fantastic job that was just what I needed to hear.

In her lesson she quoted Elder Cornish of the Seventy when he said, "Prayer is the most precious gifts of God to man." Take a minute, think about it and reflect.

As always, here is a fantastic Mormon Message. I thought it was only appropriate to post one about prayer. Enjoy!

Good Ol' Memphis

This weekend was full of grand events.

Friday:

Friday was the night we spent hanging out with Phyllis. She took us to a movie and ice cream. It was a blast. The movie we saw was titled “The First Grader.” In 2003, the Kenyan government introduced free primary school for all. It was a surprise to all when 84-year-old village elder, Kimani Nganga Maruge, saw this as an opportunity of a lifetime to receive the education he had always wanted, but could never afford. With the help of Jane Obinchu, the principal of Maruge's village school, Kimani battles the opposition at a governmental level in his quest for an education. It was an amazing and uplifting movie about the importance of education. It reminded me of a Kenyan version of Freedom Writers. Awesome.

Saturday:

On Saturday our group had a scheduled horseback riding excursion through the countryside. I was absolutely ecstatic because I haven’t been on a horse in so long!

My horse was named Memphis. He was a doll. However, he rarely had more than one speed, slow. The only time that he actually started a brisk pace was because another horse passed us (one with a guide on it) running.  He was more interested in enjoying the breath taking scenery than trotting around. At the time I felt bad because my horse was holding everybody else up! But now, a day later, I am so thankful. I am sore enough from the horse just walking around!

Before our ride started we had about an hour to wait thanks to the bus schedule. It turned out great because at this ranch there was a bunch of miniature horses! These little fellows were probably my favorite thing. They were hilarious. They were so short and so fat. I could of sworn some of them were pregnant. We all had a blast petting them, playing with their hair, and feeding them grass. 

From this experience I have realized the New Zealand sun is HOT! We haven’t had much sun since we have been here so we haven’t really felt the rays that much. This made me very, very, very unaware of its powers. At home, I could spend all day outside without sunscreen no problem, so I figured I’d be okay for just an hour or so. This was a very bad idea. Long story short; I have learned my lesson: ALWAYS wear sunscreen. 

Just a Dab of Creativity

Have I mentioned I love my math class? It is all applying math concepts to a classroom and using our own individual creativity. 

Today we made our own Polynesian tapa cloth. Basically our assignment was to create a tapa cloth using geometric designs that have either rotations, translations or reflections.

This activity required a lot of imagination, which is kind of difficult when you have been up since the crack of dawn, literally. But alas, we did succeed and all of our cloths turned out really neat.

How it works:

1. Draw a grid on a white piece of paper (preferably square)
2. Create a design that has some sort of reflection, translation or rotation in it (just a sketch)
3. Get a larger square of brown paper that is more rough on one side than the other and create another grid that replicates your sketch/rough draft
4. Draw your sketch on to the brown paper
5. Outline all of your lines in a black permanent marker
6. Color in anything you want to remain black
7. Crumple up your piece of paper into a tight ball and then undo it. 
8. Iron flat (yes, a real iron) your wrinkled paper
9. Using a rag you want to throw away, dip your rag into brown dye and cover your paper with it. 
10. Once your paper has been covered, ring out the rag and gently wipe it across the page to remove any remaining dye
11. Set it in the sun to dry.
12. Once it has dried take a Q-tip and dip it in bleach and rub thoroughly, yet gently across the areas you want to be white. Don't worry about getting it on the black lines. It won't bleach it out because you outlined in a permanent marker. 

Here are our final products! 

It's a Love/Hate Relationship

 Its true, I have a love/hate relationship with the bus.

While we are here in New Zealand the bus is our main form of transportation. We aren’t aloud to drive (thank goodness) so the bus is the next best thing. We take the bus to and from school everyday and then other places we want to discover. Kirsten and I have become very acquainted with many bus drivers. They seem to really love the silly American girls that have no idea where they are going. Honestly, I would probably like it too if I was in their shoes. Talk about a comedy show everyday!

Our bus comes to our lovely bus stop every morning at 7:03am. It’s slightly unfortunate seeing as our bus ride is only about 10-15 minutes to the church and class starts at 8am.  That just means that we have almost an entire hour to do last minute reading.

Because our bus leaves so early that means we have to wake up even earlier. I feel as if it is getting progressively harder to wake up in the morning. It takes us a while to finally get out of bed and everyday we push the time we leave a little later then a little later. Today we pushed it a little too late. We left our house at 7:00am and rushed up the hill towards our bus stop. As soon as we reached the top of the hill we have to turn down a street maybe 100 feet to the stop.  We reached the top of the hill and we saw our bus drive pass us. We both had a mini heart attack and then booked it up another hill to the next stop. We have come to find out that running up hill, in flip-flops, with a heavy backpack is very difficult to do. We made it with time to catch our breath before the bus came to the next stop. When the bus came we hopped on and our usual bus driver had the biggest goofy grin on his face with a slight chuckle sneaked in there too.  He told us he asked the gentlemen that we usually see and chat with at our usual bus stop if “the girls” were there and obviously we weren’t. He then asked us to explain what had happened and it just made him laugh even harder. He’s funny fellow.

The world is such a small place. Kirsten and I stopped off at a shopping place instead of going straight home after school. As we were done and ready to head home a bus driver waved us down whom we had had the pleasure of riding with before. He told us exactly which bus routes he drives and what times he is at each so we could be on his bus again. He’s such a friendly guy.

We then got on the bus we were supposed to and when we got on, the bus driver immediately asked us if we were Mormon. We were both shocked that he could tell just from walking on the bus. He told us that he was too. Then he just talked and talked about the people he knows, the schools we will be teaching and the other BYU girls that were here last year. He’s such a chatty man.

Maybe riding the bus isn't so bad after all. 

As Strange as It Seems

I love math! I know it probably seems crazy. My Teacher Helen Walters is fantastic! She makes math fun. (I know, another crazy concept). She teaches us so many fun games, brain teasers and teaching applications. Who wouldn’t love that?

Here is a question that she gave us. See if you can get it right.

There are 7 girls on a bus. Each girl has 7 backpacks. In each backpack there are seven big cats. For every big cat, there are 7 little cats. How many legs are on the bus?

If you can get it right, you will get an imaginary smile from me.

Like I said before we do a lot of different activities.

The first activity we did was an experiment to see how many blows it took to move a few different objects. The objects were a paper clip, rubber band, a marker, and a leaf. We had to make our own estimations before and then compare it to how many it actually took.

Helen was walking around the classroom taking pictures of us as well and she said, "Wow! You guys look like retards!" Thanks Helen.  

The second activity we did was to learn about the “foot” came to be.  There’s an old story that goes a little something like this. There was a king a long time ago that wanted to give his Queen (wife) a special gift. This was tricky seeing how she was the queen and already had everything. She, however, did not have a bed so the king decided to have one made for her. She laid down on the ground in her pj’s and the king measured around her, using his feet. The bed was supposed to be made 6’ X 3’ in order to fit the queen. The message was passed down and the bed was made. The bed was made too small because the size of foot that was used to measure the bed was significantly smaller. Because the king realized this problem they decided to use his foot as the standard “foot”. This is also why they call a ruler a “ruler” (because the king was a ruler…get it? Pretty clever huh?)

Anyways, we talked about measurements and how it is standard for everybody. We cut our measurements of our own feet and did a bunch of different activities to compare the size of our feet to the rest of our body.

Did you know that you are about as tall as 7 of your feet? How about, the distance around your thumb twice is the circumference of your wrist? Last, Did you know twice around your neck is the same as your waist?

Along with measurement, we were given a giants hand print. We then had to draw a picture of this giant using chalk in the church parking lot (we have classes in the church) with correct proportions based on the size of his hand. It was quite hilarious to draw our manly/studly giant. 

The last fun thing we do is play with blocks! We had to work out questions, like figuring out how many blocks could fit into each point and side of an equilateral triangle with no corner and side having the same amount and only having 21 blocks. Try it. It is kind of tricky. 

Now do you think that math can be fun? 

What A Lovely Day

 I just love Sundays. Today was a particularly wonderful. After a long week it is always nice to go to church and be uplifted. Today did just that. It was great to meet and interact with the people in the ward and to chat the bishop. The people are so friendly and all have such strong testimonies. 

Kirstin, Emily, Kirsten and I taught the Sunday school class for the 12 turning 13 year olds. The lesson was titled Agency: The Power to Choose. I love teaching lessons like this to remind me of the basics, like agency.

Then in Relief Society we had a fantastic lesson based off of the prophet George Albert Smith. There was one quote in particular that stuck out to me to stew upon. It said, “You’re happiness will be in proportion to your charity and kindness and its your love of those with whom you associate on Earth.” I know that I am sure the happiest when I serve those around me.

After church we went to visit Phyllis’ “adopted” son. He was unfortunately not there, but we mingled with his wife and played with his two children: Hood (2 years old) and Miriam (1 Year old). These kids were absolutely darling. Hood is probably one of the smartest 2 year olds I know. He can maneuver his way around an iPhone no problem and type things into YouTube. He also knows his way around a car without any hesitation. He unlocked the door, opened the door, put the key in the ignition and almost started it. It was comical to watch his face turn completely stunned when the button to lock and unlock the car worked every time. It was like a surprise.

Nevertheless, it was a great day.

Because It’s Sunday Here is another favorite Mormon Message. Enjoy! 

What A Weekend!

This weekend was an absolute blast!

Last week Kirsten and Emily, two other girls in our group who happen to be roommates met a boy named Reece at a YSA discussion (what we call a fireside). They talked for a while and exchanged emails. One thing led to another and a group of us got together with him and 2 of his friends and did some stuff down by Mission Bay. Needless to say it was so much fun! It felt like we were all just hanging out with old friends, talking, laughing and teasing each other. It was good fun.

While we were with them Jershon, one of the boys, taught Kirsten and I how to throw a rugby ball. He was so patient with us. It’s really tricky to go from throwing a football and switching to a rugby ball. But don’t worry we finally got it down!

Then we moved to the next step, and learned how to actually play rugby. It was slightly confusing so we played a very simplified version. Rugby is sweet as! 

 Once we were starving we walked around, being completely indecisive I might add, to where we wanted to eat. We then chose to just get in the car and have Jershon, Ephraim and Reece take us to one of their favorite places. On the way we took a little detour to an amazing lookout over the city where they have a war monument. 

When we couldn’t stand it anymore we finally went to this hole in the wall burger place called Haddads. Jershon, Emphraim and Reece all love it and decided to take us there. It was absolutely scrumptious!

They taught us a bunch of New Zealand slang that just cracked me up. Here are a few things we learned: 

•   Stubbies – Short shorts (Almost all men wear them. It’s quite amusing.)
•  Far Out
• Sweet as – They use it in place of saying something is cool/awesome etc.
• Take a wizzle break – Bathroom break

There was so much more but they have seemed to slip my mind. However, as soon as I hear more I’ll make sure to post them. 

After we had laughed the night away, Reece, Ephraim and Jershon took us home. They were such gentlemen and showed us the true New Zealand chivalry and kindness that we had heard so much about. We had mentioned our home wasn’t exactly close to where they lived; all they said was “oh it doesn’t matter” and insisted on taking us home. The entire time they were driving I had no idea if they were being serious with where they knew they were going or if they were making it up as they went. Thankfully, after a series of clues and landmarks we finally made it home safely!

Saturday
On Saturday we had another treat! Phyllis took us to the zoo! 

I got reconnected with my childhood and loved every minute of it. Kirsten and I were like those silly tourists that took pictures of everything we saw. It was probably very comical for Phyllis to watch. Now Phyllis was quite the child herself, but in a different way. We never knew where she was! She had her own agenda and kept disappearing. We would be looking at the exhibits, turn around, and poof! She was gone. We would then have to play a game of “Where’s Phyllis!" It kept the zoo even more interesting that’s for sure.

Even though it sporadically poured rain, I think that Kirsten and I rock the poncho look. 

Here are some of my favorite things from the zoo:    

• Kangaroos: I have never ever seen a kangaroo in person so naturally I got super excited to see not 1, but 7!

• Birds: There were so many different kinds of birds that I had never seen before. Who knew there were so many different types of parrots. This is one of my favorite pictures. It looks like they are kissing! Tender moment.  

•  Seals: Who doesn’t love seals? They are adorable. I especially loved when I saw one of them meander/walk into the shade. It was kind of like a hop/waddle, which had me dying laughing.

• Giraffe: I love everything giraffe. These giraffes were particularly awesome because there was a mom, a 2 year old and then a pregnant giraffe. The zoo was set up in a way where you could really get up close to them and see the details on them. Granted I did have the help of zoom on my camera to get this awesome picture.

• Ice Cream: Phyllis was so sweet. She was looking on the map and we were following her, since she kept disappearing. (We thought we would play it safe and follow her instead of her following us). We thought that we were following her to another exhibit and she took us into this ice cream place and told us to pick one, her treat. Hokey Pokey was my choice and it was delightful!

• Abominable Snowman: Now this was the perfect way to top off a wonderful day at the zoo! Who knew I would be able to see a part of the Abominable Snowman in New Zealand?

Close up: 

Then we came home, relaxed momentarily and then began to fix dinner for Phyllis brother and his wife. Dinner was such a treat and I could tell that Phyllis really enjoyed having her brother there. She seems to love to entertain. Her brother was fun to talk to. Her sister in law was…different. I honestly have no idea what she said most of the night. Her accent wasn’t a typical New Zealand accent, which made it very, very, very difficult to understand. It made the night that much more interesting.