Last Weeks of School

Alright so I have been adventuring a lot and really terrible at writing, or staying in contact with home at all.  Just in case you want to hear about the adventures of the last three weeks, I will put them here.  Travelling as I update so this will not be done for a bit :)

I had the opportunity to go up to Rotorua with the girls’ football team as a chaperone.  Basically I played games, mediated teen girl conflicts, and made kids drink water.  I even earned the nickname "Miss Hydration" for my efforts.  The experience reminded me of summer camp, and it was incredible to interact with kids here in that way.  There were around 60 kids from Heretaunga at the tournament and it was awesome to see them shine outside of the classroom walls.  We all stayed in a Marae and ate food that the school catering students put together for us.  Highlights were eating spaghetti on toast for breakfast and enjoying the bubbling mud going on everywhere (once I got over the smell).  I also really enjoyed connecting with students outside of English.  

 The girls making pizza for dinner.  You should have seen the set-up when it was time to make sandwiches.  110 every day!

Chat before one of the games.  The girls played 8 games in 3 days.  

 The Marae where the girls slept.

 Because of all of the geothermal activity the morning is often clouded with sulfuric mist.  It was crazy to see bubbling mud and boiling hot water scattered throughout the city, along sidewalks, in ponds, in people's backyards.  It is just a part of life there.  

The giant gumboot (rainboot) on the way home from the tournament.  This group of ladies was a joy to spend the weekend with.  

The term finished up wonderfully.  After my three weeks of sole charge it was hard for me to give classes back over to Emily.  Because she had been gone with a family emergency so early in the term I really had the opportunity to build a strong class culture in even my most difficult classes.  It took some students almost the entire term to understand that I wasn't mad at them ever, or that discipline in my classroom exists to encourage a positive learning environment, not establish my authority.  I went through a couple weeks of hell with a year 11 class that set out each day with the goal of making me cry, and I finally felt like things were in good working order.  I felt like their teacher, and it was hard for me to say goodbye.  Students wrote me cards and chocolates and the English Department had a cake and celebration for me.  I loved being a part of the community at this school, and I want to come back if I can.  

Teaching abroad taught me a lot about who I am as an educator.  The combination of finally having classes to myself and being in a new place challenged me to grow in ways I didn't know where possible.  I am so grateful that I got to do it.  

What Teaching Feels Like

I haven't talked much about my time here as an educator because I write weekly reflections, lesson reflections, discuss it at school, and well let's face it, most of you really REALLY couldn't care less about the day to day classroom life of Miss Vincent.  But today was an awesome day for me, so I thought I would share.

The past three weeks I have been teaching full time and by the end of all of it I had this lingering headache.  Going on three days of what I am now affectionately calling, my teaching hangover.  I have been working hard to prove myself as an educator, and to be the best teacher I possibly can for my students.  Most lessons I know I could bring a little more, do a little better.  Some lessons I completely fail, but every now and then there is a day that makes me grateful to be a teacher.

Today my students gave speeches to finish out a unit we have been doing for a month.  I have taught and planned the entire thing on my own.  Of course checking in with the department for help and clarification along the way.  Half of them had been in after school at some point to work with me and I have spent weeks working with each of them to help them clarify and articulate their ideas.  My students got up in front of their peers today and spoke about personal and difficult issues.  The spoke about the expectations of not showing emotion that young men face, the difficulties of being an introvert, growing up facing racial injustices and low expectations, abortions, judgments,  the struggles and confusion of teenage years, and a slew of other topics important to them.  It was clear to me that the way our classroom culture developed created a space where they felt safe to speak about things that were important to them, and share a part of themselves.  During the process of these speeches I have gotten to have wonderful and meaningful conversations with them about life, and what they thought and valued.  It was incredible to finally feel like the things that drew me to teaching English were actually possible in the classroom.

For so long I have been frustrated with the lack of connection I was feeling with students.  I love working with youth, and helping kids grow and be more confident in themselves.  I have had amazing opportunities to do this kind of work at camps and in after-school programs, but I have always longed for it in the classroom.  Today was amazing for me.  This is what I am meant to do.  I am a teacher!

Easter Weekend

This weekend we had five days off of school for Easter.  I decided to take myself on an adventure and finally venture beyond the Wellington area.  I had a lot to think about, but I'll get to that later.  I left on Friday morning on a bus 6 hour bus trip toward Lake Taupo.  I slept most of the way and chatted with my seat-mate.  When she got on the bus I assumed from her Stitch hat and size she was a visiting teenage tourist, but she turned out to be a Chinese student working on her Masters in Law.  Teach me to make assumptions based on Disney apparel.

I got into Taupo and found the YHA with no issue.  Not being accustomed to hostel life I didn't realize that as a girl you ALWAYS....ALWAYS...request an all girls room, but I'll get to that later too.  My first move was to introduce myself to all of my roommates.  A travel from Scotland, one from England, and one from North Carolina.  I really enjoyed chatting with all of these guys about the adventures they had been on in New Zealand and other places.  I realized that my experience here has been so different than a three week sightseeing tour.  I am not a traveler, I am a visitor.

That afternoon I set out with Stuart, my new North Carolina friend, toward Huka Falls and the hot-springs   We ended up on a 6 hour hike and then had some killer Indian food.

The next day I woke up at 5 am to hike the Tongoriro Crossing.  It was WAY different than anything I have seen or experienced hiking in the past.  There was a constant stream of people hiking up at the same time.  In places the track felt like waiting in rush hour traffic.  I realized how lucky I have been in the past to feel like I had entire mountains to myself.  To be fair I went on one of the busiest days of the year, they estimated that 2,000 people hiked the crossing that day.  I was incredibly grumpy for the first two hours on the mountain, but the volcanoes snapped me out of it pretty quickly.  The volcanic surroundings were so foreign and vast that I feel like I can only really describe them as epic, not beautiful, just amazingly large and powerful.

In the morning I couldn't see much above the cloud line.  As I ate breakfast the clouds began to role over the hills around me.  

 The crater you walk through before the second large stint of uphill climbing.  

Woman who took this, "You are making me really nervous standing like that"

Her friend, "That's the mother coming out in her"

Me, "Don't worry I am sure my mom will back you up on that one" 

An idea of the number of people on the track.  This is a ROUGH climb, I was amazed at how many people did it.  

The Emerald Lakes on the other side of the summit.  Again, really different beauty from the alpine lakes I am used to.  

The red crater 

Mount Ngauruhoe, Mt. Doom for my LOTR fans.  The clouds cleared and all of a sudden this MASSIVE volcano was there.  

That night I came back to the YHA to find a letter from Stuart inviting me to dinner at his friend's house in town.  I went and spent the night hanging out with the lovely company of two new NC camp oriented friends and a French roommate.  They really reminded me of my lovely Orkila adventure minded friends.  It was wonderful to encounter genuine and friendly people on the other side of the planet.  They made an Easter Feast and I had my first Speights.  Overall a nice relaxing end to a very busy and awe inspiring day.

Now imagine this.  I am asleep, snug as a bug in my YHA comforter and completely zonked out.  2:30 AM enter drunken Kiwi roommates.  Four of them, all completely and utterly wasted.  So to set the scene a little more, I am one female in a room with 7 men.  No big deal, except the bro to normal human ratio got far to high.  The guy next to me decides he would rather have his misadventure sans clothes.  So now there is a very naked very drunken Kiwi who is really struggling to make his bed about 3 feet from me.  I decided to help him out rather than listen to him struggle for another 20 minutes.  2:30 am Ashley is evidently much less of a prude than 7 am Ashley, and lucky for me YHA doesn't believe in nighlights.  Anyway helped him with his pillowcase and just kept saying, "yep, yep, ok, just go to sleep".  Around 20 minutes of conversations I wish I could unhear about tattoos in unheard of places and sex and all sorts of sillyness ensued and then the whole lot of them were snoring.  I would sincerely like to thank the drunken escapades of NWICSA sailors over the years for getting me through through that experience.  

Easter morning I went out for a walk around Taupo to avoid the parade of hungover naked men that I expected my room was about to become.  Had a lovely coffee and walk along the shore.  It had that feeling a place has before people really start moving.  It feels like the world isn't quite awake yet.  

I checked out, accepted apologies from my roommates, and spent the rest of the morning writing postcards and poking around the shops.  Then it was back to Wellington and dinner with Nikki and Cam.  Getting so excited to go on our trip in a few weeks!

Sailing

SAILING!  

Last weekend I got to go out sailing on Prime Mover, a 36' Farr 1104.  Really awesome day out on the water.  We did a race around the entire harbor.  It is wonderful to connect with people through the sport I have come to realize I am never going to give up.  It was beautiful and we had a fair amount of breeze.  I feel so much more connected to a place after spending time out on the water.  

I got there first and the owner, Sean, told me where the keys were and said I could get things started.  Really trusting considering he only knew me from a few email messages.  

Upwind!  I did the keys downwind so I was too busy to get any shots of the spin.  

The crew!  Notice anything, yep dudes...glad to represent the lady sailors out there.  I am determined to learn a ton about keel-boat racing and get my fellow ladies into the big boat game.  Also these guys were REALLY cool about me being on board.  In retrospect they were probably expecting a young fit guy, Ashley is a unisex name here!  

Another boat out on the water, just to make the sailing folk jealous of the breeze and sunshine :)

Kapiti Island

This Saturday I went to Kapiti Island with Barb.  It was wonderful to leave the city and see a bit more of this beautiful country.  I am really looking forward to having the time and energy to travel.  I cannot believe how fast time has been going here.  We went for a hike to the top of the island, stopping along the way to listen and look for birds.  We also talked with a lot of different people from all over the country.  It was really amazing to be outside and walking through the woods.  The birds are so loud here.  I got to see so many different kinds of birds and I really enjoyed learning about them.  On the way down we saw a Kaka while we were standing and listening to birds.  In came down on the ground and I was excitedly taking some great close pictures.  It then flew unexpectedly onto my backpack.  I freaked out and Barb and I had a great laugh over it.  Apparently it is quite common for them to land on you.  I’ve never seen a parrot in the wild before and it was amazing.  

My friend the Kaka!

Barb and I on the boat trip back.  She has been a wonderful host.

Just to give you an idea of what the woods looked like.  AMAZING!  I wish you could hear the noise that the birds make.  Barb described the morning birdsong as, "the dawn chorus," I think that's a very beautiful way to describe it.  I cannot wait to hear it while I am out tramping (backpacking) in May.  

How they get the boats in and out of the water.  They literally just attach them to these tractors and back them into the ocean.  I have never seen anything quite like it.  

I am still incredibly busy at school.  For all of you slogging through Dead Week and Finals back home, let me tell you know, it has NOTHING on Student Teaching.  I am plunging into a labyrinth of school demands and requirements for my practicum.  

Challenging Cultural Differences

I want to start this post off by saying, I am safe and I am not writing this to cause concern.  When I decided to write a blog while I am here I wanted it to be honest, and this experience made me think a lot about my own culture.  Below is an excerpt from my teaching journal.  If you just want to know the happy stuff about my trip, go ahead and skip this bit, it is simply some food for thought.  

After an assembly during spell 4 on Friday the assistant principal, who is our acting principal because Bruce is in China, came into the hall to tell us there had been a bomb at the school.  Apparently a student she expelled earlier that day came back with a bomb.  During this assembly the wing had been evacuated and the rest of the school had been informed.  She also said the fire department and police had cleared the building and we were safe to go to class.  And that was it.  Only I didn’t feel safe at all, I felt terrified.  At home violence in schools is a terrible reality.  One as a future educator I have taken very seriously.  At home even the threat of a bomb is a big deal.  This would have meant a school lockdown while the suspect is being apprehended, and the end of school for the day.  Also tons of media attention and a lot of very scared parents.  That was all of the information I went into the last spell of my day with.  I had my difficult year 11 class and they came in joking about it.  Trying to keep cultural differences in mind, I explained to them that where I am from violence in schools is a reality, and it’s terrifying.  I just asked them to please not joke about it and that the school had said we were safe so there was not cause for concern anymore.  But it was hard, because I felt VERY concerned.  I almost started crying in front of them.  After school Mr. Douglass came to talk to me about it, I think to make me feel better.  He explained that the bomb was simply a bottle full of gas with some nails in it, and it was never going to explode.  He also said that the students probably just wanted to cause trouble, and were never going to blow up the school.  Honestly though, that didn’t make me feel better about it at all.  Just because the kids involved didn’t know what they were doing does not mean the issue should be dismissed.  In my mind just the fact that a student put anything resembling a bomb in the school has a very clear and scary implication.  It means that someone had the intention to cause harm to the school, students, and staff.  The staff and students gave the general idea that this just wasn’t a big deal.  I kept trying to get my head around the idea that this country as a culture has never had to face the deaths of students and school teachers, and that changes the perceived level of danger.  I felt like I was being overdramatic about it.  Even in trying to explain my reaction to Barb I really struggled to connect my perspective with hers.  The way I think about it is so different that I am not sure people that do not share the cultural history of Columbine, Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and a whole slew of smaller incidents of violence can understand.  After talking to people from home about it I feel like my response was validated.  It is an unfortunate and painful reality of my culture, and I hope that people here never have to understand it.  

I think I am still processing this in some ways.  It isn't that I am worried about anything going wrong, or that I was ever really in any danger.  The way the people here responded to the situation created one of the most significant moments of culture shock I have experienced here.  I felt like no one around me understood my thinking at all.  It is one thing to explain to people why you feel afraid, but quite another for them to understand.  My Kiwi colleagues and students were respectful of my feelings, but they just didn't get it.  And like I said, I hope that they never do.  

Constantly I am faced with small realizations of my own identity as an American.  In the last few years I have grown to feel a sense of pride about being from the North-west, but I haven't ever really considered what it means to be a member of my country.  I know the basics, I get it, but traveling has a way of making you realize the subtitles.   

Some Fun Things

Last weekend was lovely.  I started off with a kayak trip with some of the staff down the Hutt River.  The kayaks belong to the school and have presumably been buried in storage somewhere since the late 80's.  I got invited Friday morning, so naturally I was wearing a dress and longing for my board-shorts and sperrys waiting for water fun in my closet.  No matter, I borrowed some loaner PE gear and hopped in a Subaru headed to the river.  Our trip was around 3 hours and no one was home in time for dinner.  It was wonderful though, to be out on the water and enjoying the river I go over every day on my way to school.  I really enjoyed the kayaking as well.  It is such a different way to interact with the water than a sailboat.  Went over some small rapids, and did a lot of scooting over rocks.  Wonderful afternoon and a great start to the weekend.  

 

Saturday I went out to Evans Bay to help with the learn to sail class again.  I just did some coaching from the markboat this time, but it was still great to be out there.  It feels really good to teach something I have a lot of experience teaching.  I know someday I will hopefully feel that way about English, but there is just nothing quite so wonderful as sharing sailing with people.

After sailing, Remy, the coach for the day, drove me up Mt. Victoria on his way home.  I am never sure if it is ok to take people up on this kind of taxi service because it's a bit of a cultural difference.  This is the 2nd time someone from the club has driven me around after sailing.  Last weekend a different coaches wife, Sue, drove me into town for ice cream.  Anyway I found myself at the top of a very large hill...erm mountain....in the middle of the city.  It was beautiful and seeing Wellington from that angle made the harbor suddenly seem so much smaller and less daunting.  Just full of exciting new places to check out.  Remy pointed out a lot of landmarks and told me about some local hikes.  He also kindly pointed me in the direction of home, "pretty much walk down the hill and keep going down until you get to water," right sounds good.

As I was sitting there I could hear the reggae music from the city way down below.  After I ate lunch I tromped down the hill and through the city to the train station.  It's in about the middle of the picture to give you an idea, so my tromp was around 3 hours long.  I loved walking through Wellington and just running into things.  It reminded me at lot of the way I stumbled through NY a few years ago.  Only I am so much less afraid now, and so much more ready to explore.  It turns out the music was coming from a Jim Beam event at the waterfront.  I have NEVER seen so many wasted teenagers at 3pm in the afternoon.  The drinking age here is 18, which apparently really means like 16.  A bit of a culture shock for sure.

The weekend ended and I went back to school for another week.  Only the Kiwi germs took me out for two days this week.  I finally got back to school today.

Things haven't honestly gotten much easier down here.  This is by far the most I have ever challenged myself as an educator and person.  My weekdays are consumed by teaching, but I think that's how it is supposed to be right now.  I am learning and changing every day.  More than anything each hour in the classroom gives me more confidence in myself as an educator.  In a short few weeks I will be a certified English Teacher.  So hard to believe it is actually so close.

The past three weeks have taught me so much about myself.  I think the biggest lesson is to ask for help, and accept that it's ok to make mistakes.  For me these are things I have always known, but never really understood.  Truthfully I am learning to balance holding myself to the high standards I have always expected, and living the rich and full life I have learned to value.  I really love teaching, genuinely, or there is no way I would have made it through the last couple of weeks.  The English Department at Heretaunga has done a wonderful job looking after me and I cannot imagine what the last three weeks would have been like without them.  Lisa described them as, "a village raising a child" and I consider myself lucky to be that child.

Sink or Swim

This week has been one of the most challenging of my career.  Suddenly I found myself in a school, in a foreign country, with a new system of standards, and completely on my own.  My cooperating teacher is in Japan because of a family emergency, indefinitely.  I realized on Monday that Emily was like a life-raft for me last week.  Without her guidance and support I felt completely overwhelmed by the two classes I agreed to take for the week.  To give you some perspective I was in week 3 of my 11 week program, and supposed to be taking on lessons here and there.

Monday was a mess of relievers (subs) and trying to get myself ready for my teaching on Wednesday.  I couldn't even talk about school without stressed out tears exploding from my face.  I felt way in over my head, and completely alone.  Tuesday was athletics day, so I spent the day in the sun helping direct kids through shot-put throws.  The entire school dresses up in house-colors and participates in events for the entire day.  It was wonderful to see my students acting like kids.  Something about the school culture makes them into mini-adults all the time.  On Wednesday we had an official school opening, and the prime minister came to speak.  We held an assembly outside for most of the day.  Between Thursday and Friday I taught 6 of the 7 lessons on our schedule.  Most days I got up at 6:30 and was either at school or planning for school until around 11pm every night.  I was a mess, dreaming about lessons, completely breaking down via skype, and just in way over my head.  But I made it through.

I ended the week exhausted, but incredibly proud of myself.  I learned a lot about myself as a teacher through the week and the things I need to improve.  In the sink or swim scenario I wouldn't say I was swimming, but at least my head was above water.  Once I started asking for help from the other teachers in my department things got much easier.  By the end of the week I felt more like a beginning teacher than a student teacher.  I also had the opportunity to teach two classes I hadn't gotten to instruct yet, and establish myself as their teacher.

To celebrate making it to Friday I went to the pub with most of the English department and had my first Kiwi beer.  Later on I followed that up with two more in Petone with Nikki.  It was so wonderful to talk to someone who understood all of the challenges I had faced during the week, I feel very lucky to have her around.  We ate greasy food and enjoyed hearing American accents.  I think we have both realized that traveling to another country and teaching in another country are two very different things.

Yesterday I got up and took an hour long bus ride to Evans Bay.  SAILING!  I helped out with a beginning sailing class and got out on the water for the first time.  We sailed Fivas, which are these Laser like things that really like to flip over.  I was a volunteer teacher and crewed most of the day, so I went swimming of course, four times.  But I could care less, just being out on the water in the breeze and the salt felt incredible. It reminded me that I am in a beautiful and new place, and I am so lucky to be here.

And here I am again on Sunday, with a weeks worth of lessons to plan, and papers to grade.  Challenge accepted!!!

Kiwi-isms

I am going to keep adding to this while I am here because I know I will want to remember these later.

college - high school
university - college
get it sussed - get things sorted out
tea - lunch or dinner
spell - class period
spunky - sexy (I definitely called a student this in the English Department office, I am really glad that particular misunderstanding did not occur around students)
full stop - period (like at the end of a sentence - unfortunately that one did happen during class)
sultana - raisins
muesli bars - granola bars
mates - friends (and yes they really say mates)
jandals - flip-flops
boots - shoes, like soccer boots are cleats.....ah except they are football boots :), and boots are just shoes
trainers - tennis shoes
I couldn't be bothered - When I ask kids about their homework, or skipping class they say this.  It's like the Kiwi version of "I don't care" or "I'm lazy" but for some reason they way they say it drives me CRAZY.
wagging - skipping class
Ice Blocks - Popsicle
flash - cool or awesome, and they really say this....often
heaps - lots
Miss - My students call me this, and I actually really love it
plaster - band-aid (if you say band-aid they really will not get it)
Adidas - So not a Kiwi term, but here it is pronounced adi-dez
shattered - really really tired
pissed - really really drunk, they do not really use this for angry

Two Weeks In

I cannot believe I have already been in New Zealand for two weeks.  I have hardly seen a speck of this beautiful country and I know I have a lot of exploring to do.  I want to have grand adventures and explore, but I also really need to keep in mind that teaching is the grand adventure while I am here.  I knew adjusting to a new culture and taking on teaching full time would bring challenges, but I had no idea how far it would push me.  I am spending most of my time teaching, reading papers, researching education, planning, or stressing about any or all of these things.  I think it is pretty normal to feel a bit overwhelmed at the start of student teaching, but I also think doing it abroad might up the scales a bit.  Every day I encounter language differences, cultural clashes, and a million misunderstandings.  Two weeks in I am feeling incredibly challenged, and exhausted.

I'm growing.

First Day of School

The first day of classes went really well.  I am mainly listening and giving my little, "I'm Miss Vincent from....." speech at the proper moment.  Today we started with form time (like US advisory class) and then we went off to an all school welcome assembly.  After that the school broke out into house meetings.  They divide the school into four groups across grade levels.  The house meeting was led by a year 13 girl with pretty much no teacher interference.  It was really cool to see the students teaching each other cheers, and to watch student leadership take on that role the first day of school.  After the house meetings we had two classes for the day.  I got to meet the Yr 12 class (equivalent to our Juniors) who are on a track toward University.  Then we met the Yr 10 class, who are also my group from form class.  We pretty much just went over the courses and talked a bit about the works we will read in each class.

It is really nice to start the year out with a class and get to be a part of the culture of the classroom from day one.  

After school my supervisor from Educators Abroad came up to chat with Emily and I about my time here.  I should be taking over classes fully by week 6, but I hope to start teaching here and there before then.  Between EA and the TPA (Teacher Performance Assessment, if you don't know what it is consider yourself lucky) I will have a lot on my plate in addition to teaching.  I know that later on time will start passing very quickly and there will be things I wish I had time to do, but right now while I have the time I don't have a clue about what those things might be.  That being said I really like Emily and Bunnie and I think they will challenge me and help me become a better teacher.  

I also got to meet Nikki, another American placed with EA in Lower Hutt, after school today.  We chatted for a while at her school and it was so nice to be able to talk with someone my own age for a bit.  It's also nice to know I'm not the only one facing challenges with language and making sense of a whole new education system.  Talking with her I also realized some of the things that are different that I hadn't really thought about yet.  There are lots of misconceptions about the US education system here, and vice-versa.  One of my favorite professors at Western mentioned to me before I left that it was a shame I had chosen New Zealand because they have a very teacher-centered approach to education.  What's funny is my supervisor said almost the same thing about the American system today.  I think it has much more to do with the school climate and teachers on a classroom level.  So far Emily's class is exactly the kind of place I want to be.

So that is how my first day was.  In the evenings I am finding myself completely exhausted from the amount of new information I am trying to fit in. 

Waitangi Day and Wandering Wellington

Yesterday I had the day off from class so I went into Wellington for the first time to have a look around.  The jet-lag finally got a bit stronger than the new country excitement, so I slept in and took the train into the city around 12.  I walked along the waterfront from the railway station to check out the Waitangi Day celebrations in the park.  Waitangi Day is a national holiday on the anniversary of the treaty between Maori people and the British.  There are some cultural nuances involved with the day and the relationship between Maori, Europeans, and the government that I still haven't quite gotten a grip on, so I think that's the only comment about it I'll make.  Anyway I got there in time to see a Wellington group perform the haka which was fantastic.  I really want to learn more about Maori culture while I am here.  I also wandered a bit around the city (and by a bit I mean I walked around for 5 hours).  I am definitely still adjusting to it being summer here, and then start of the school year.  I put in a few pictures of Wellington below.

These three are of the water area near the park.  The building in the bottom picture is a place you can rent boats for an afternoon.  

Over the bridge from the lagoon area.

Where I had lunch a chicken pot pie and a "short black coffee" which for your information is three sips of really strong espresso.  Whoopsie....American moment I guess.     

Outdoor shopping area.  

Te Papa the national museum.  It is AMAZING!  There are tons of exhibits about New Zealand history and culture, and lots of other things to check out as well.  I will definitely be going back.   

Straight ahead is an old bank building that is renovated into a fancy shopping mall.