On Saturday I went with Daria, Judi (Korea) and Aline (Brazil) to the Kaiteriteri, the gate to the Abel Tasman National Park. There we took a watertaxi which drove along the famous Split Apple Rock and further to Apple Tree Bay where our walk started. Unfortunately it was quite cloudy and at 1pm it started to rain. But we had an amazing day walking across abandoned beaches and stunnimg cliffs. It is such a beautiful area and I am very thankful that I can go there again with school!
On Friday we went to the beach with the teachers and the students to have a barbecue. Tahunanui is a beautiful beach, just a few kilometers from the city center. I usually go there by bike, which is hamdy but also quite exhausting because my homestay family lives at the top of a hill.
At the beach we spent the whole afternoon playing volleyball which was especially for me very nice after not having played such a long time.
Next Friday will be totally different: it is time to jump out of the airplane :))
Something what I am very impressed by is the cultural interaction between the students. We can learn so much of each other, and we make friends!
Also during the lessons we have got a lot of fun. Today for example, we looked at some quotations by Bush. I requote Philip, my teacher:'I love Bush, he is the greatest example of being an idiot...'
Just a few bushisms:
'The case has had full analyzation.'
'Is your children learning?'
'How many hands have I shaked?'
'... You are working hard to put food on your family'
You see, we have a lot of fun ;)
Yesterday after school it would have been a waste to go home and do your homework, the weather was stunning! So with a fried of my class I walked up to the center of New Zealand, the most famous hill in Nelson. There you have a beautiful view to the valleys, the city and of course the ocean.
Today we went to the sports field where we played Ultimate Frisbee with some teachers and 20 students. It was great fun :)
And just a little pun:
John, while Fred had had 'had', had had 'had had'. 'Had had' had had a better impression on the teacher.
Dear everyone
Time seems to fly away! It is already the end of the second week in Nelson.
The course in school is perfect for me, I really enjoy learning English. And what a miracle, I realized that I am already dreaming in English :)
On Thursday we went rock climbing in an indoor hall. In the beginning I was afraid that my knee wouldn't stand this high effort but during climbing it didn't disturb me. In the end, Marcel who is in my class convinved me to try one of the difficult ones. He was a great coach but I failed in the last quarter of the wall.
On Friday afternoon we watched a film together with the headteacher. It is called 'Gloomy Sunday' and is famous for its beautiful music. After that I went home to make some washing (one white shirt is colored now :)) and in the evening we went first to the violin recital of Sophie, my homestay sisters and then we watched another music film called 'August Rush' which tells the touching story of an orphan boy who follows the music and finally finds a home.
On Saturday it seems to be snowing, it was sooo cold! So we decided to go to the cinema with a few friends and afterwards, the sun was shining(!), we drank a hot chocolate in front of the cathedral. Bye for now!
Even though school and homework takes a lot of time, I use my free minutes to enjoy Nelson and the beautiful area for doing some new things I have never done.
Well, of course, I have often been hiking in the hills, but never before with such a lovely Taiwanese lady and homestay sister called Vivi An. We spent a nice afternoon walking up to the top of Nelson's famoust hill, the Grampian. Although it started to rain, we enjoyed the stunning view among the horizon and the port and we used the time to talk about our cultures and our countries.
On Tuesday aafternoon I prepared a chocolate mousse with Daria because today we had an International Food-Day at school where every person must bring something to share with the other students and teachers. What yummy food we could taste!!
Later in the afternoon we went fishing with Miles, the receptionist of the school. He introduced us into this (boring) sport. Even though I nearly fell asleep by doing sports (haha), I spent a nice time at the ocean with my friends. And on top of that: we caught a carpet shark which has the size of a cat. But after having taken pictures, we let him free.
Bye for now and I hope you're all fine!
Dear friends and family,
In the end of the first week it is time to tell you what I have been doing these days.
I usually get up at 7.45 am, then I have breakfast (my homestay mother prepares her own bread!) and after that I walk down to school which takes about 15 minutes. Every morning, the ocean looks different, an amazing observation.
On Monday and Tuesday I joined a class of General English, but the headteacher suggested that I should change the course to the Cambridge Advanced because he supposed I was too ambitious for just a general course. He might be right :)
I enjoy my lessons a lot, teachers and classmates are great. But however, it seems, that I am attracting teachers playing the guitar :) Mister Fässler used to sing songs with us and Philip, he sings and plays beautifully during the break.
After school I doing homework, using the possibility of conversation with teachers, joining the yoga course or drinking a hot chocolate. On Thursday I have been to a Rugby game of the national league whivh was great fun even if I hadn't any chance to understand all the rules...
On Friday night I watches a film with some of my homestay sisters and on Saturday morning I had a look at the city and the markets.
Tonight my homestay sister Katherine will play with the Nelson Synfonie Orchestra, and it will be amazing!
I am very happy that I can stay with such a nice family and Margaret is such an incredible cooker!
After my busy Sunday I started with School on Monday. In the morning I had to pass an exam to look which class fits best to me.
As I am intending to try Cambridge Proficiency, all teachers are pushing me which is fantastic!
The lessons are very funny, useful and kind of exhausting. After school there are a lots of activities to do, tomorrow I am trying yoga, Thursday a Rugby game and on Friday will be a barbecue down at the beach.
My homestay family is so nice, and Margaret is such a good cooker!
Today we celebrated Father's Day. In the morning we went to the church which is a lot different than in Switzerland. In the beginning, during the kids sunday school, there is a discussion round where people can ask questions. After that we sang two praise songs before the service started. The sermon was so enthralling!
After church where I have met a lot of new people we went home and had shared dishes with the whole family. At 5pm we parted again for the evening service before we got a yummy dinner cooked by a student from Taiwan. Later we had a hot chocolat and now I am looking forward on having my first day st school tomorrow! :)
Yesterday we had a relaxing day. We sat in a nice French coffee shop, ate pancakes, learned some words and played games. After dinner we packed our backpacks because today we had to leave early.
Now we are waiting for our flight and I can't wait meeting my homestay family!
We have just arrived in Auckland, having landed on one of the most beautiful runways I have ever seen. There our shoes needed to be cleaned because of our stay in Australia. But we got plenty time to take our plane which brings us to Nelson.
Funny and crazy day.
We hired free city bikes with which we would have loved to ride to the beach. We were almost at Henley beach, which is about 13 km from the city, when Daria's bicycle tube burst. In fact it wasn't that funny because we had to walk back our way back for almost 3 hours. We didn't meet a lot of people but these few smiled at us and wished us good luck to find our way home.
Tired and exhausted but also proud of having found the path and getting back this long way we are now in the hostel, which is quiet good, before we will go out for dinner.
By the way: we are not only travelling but we take time to learn english vocabulary :)
Our guided tour was kind of a letdown. There wasn't a guide but only the boss of the hostel drove us to the summit of this hill. There she let us out and told us to walk down. Well, how many roads must a man walk to arrive in adelaide?
We felt a little abandoned but we came across a beautiful wildlifepark where we could cuddle koalas, feed kangoroos and a lot of other animals. The highlight was to see how a kangoroo mother bear her little child in the bag.
After our visit in this natural park we searched our way down to adelaide. We didn't meet lots of people and sometimes we had the feeling we were in a valley which never ends.
In fact it ended, but buses back to the city were not in service. Fortunately there are such amazing people who helped us finding our way to the central part of adelaide where we ate in an Indian restaurant.
What a wonder: we really had a quiet night and we spent a relaxing day in adelaide. It is a small and well manageable city with beautiful botanic gardens along the river Torrens. We sat down and looked at the very elegant Black swans, beautiful fountains and a military ceremony. Furthermore we had time to look at one of the most impressive churches I have ever seen. And i was surprised by myself: i went to the national art gallery! (to get out of the rain :))
Tomorrow we will have a free guided hiking tour to a beautiful mountainside.
Maybe we have planned to much time for this little city but it is good to relax a little bit before we will fly to Nelson. I hope you're all fine!
