We filled this week pretty well with lots of activities. I can't get over how awesome the Te Papa museum was here in Wellington... and it was free! We went walking on Wednesday, and although the weather was gorgeous, we just stumbled upon the museum and decided to take advantage of it. They had a whole exhibition on immigrants to New Zealand, most of them young adults and many of them refugees. It was really touching.
The next day, Chelsea's host sister Annabel (23) took us down to Cuba Street, the "hippie" street here in Wellington. We walked up and down there for a while, she showed us some of the bars, we got some essentials (straightener... hello!) and then headed back home. Earlier that day we saw a movie called "Boy" about a Maori (natives of New Zealand) boy in the 1980s. I learned that calling someone "an egg" is a putdown... huh. Go figure.
Friday, the highlight was that we went out with Annabel and some of her friends for our first night out on the town. She organized a dinner with a bunch of her friends as well as some clubbing out on Courteney Place (where are the college kids go out... well, and some high schoolers). I met SO many nice people, including one girl who taught last year at the school I'll be working at here, so she filled me in on ALL of the stuff I need to know about the school. Alright! We went dancing for a while, but since we met up with Annabel at 530, by 130 we were ready to come home. It was a fun night!
Yesterday, I spent the day with my host family, which was soooo great. We drove around, went to the mall (which I could spend a day in, it's so sweet), and then went grocery shopping. My host mom gave my host dad and me a list that was 3 1/2 pages long (she had to stay in the car since her foot is broken), and we went during Saturday rush hour, so it ended up taking us an hour and a half!! We got home and I made my host family TACOS!! It was the first time my host dad had eaten a TACO! Oh my gosh! They all seemed to like it, but I think the whole eating with your fingers and getting all full of your food thing was kinda gross, haha.
After dinner, I quick got ready and my host dad took me over to Laura's house. I got to meet her family, and then we walked to Chelsea's and I met her family! Her mom then drove us all into town to go to a little house party. We met some more fabulous people there and then it was time to head into town! Annabel, in her state, thought it would be about a 20 minute walk downtown. An hour and a half later! (with a detour to Parliament, a gas station, and a huge slide down by the water) we got downtown, just in time for me to catch Wellington's version of the "drunk bus". Annabel made sure the driver knew exactly where I needed to get off and made sure that he told me when we arrived close to my home. It was so cute. And inspired me to make a list of everything I love about Kiwis (coming soon).
Today, we woke up early (haha, 830) to go hike Mount KauKau. My host dad took Laura, the other guy that lives with me, and I. The views from up there of all of Wellington and beyond were INCREDIBLE. We also got to see a Tui bird (native to NZ, also a beer named after it). It was a great walk. Laura and I came back to my house and had some coffee. Then we went into town to go to the Visitor's Center to find information about how to get to the shopping mall (I'm a little obsessive over it... I guess I probably COULD be spending my weekends enjoying the scenery, but I've never felt like I had so little clothes-wise as I do right now... and my mom isn't around to help me be rational). We got some delish lunch and then headed back home on the train, both exhausted (she stayed out a lot later than I did last night and was still up and raring to go for a 9 AM hike!) I got home and tried to stay awake, but ended up taking a two hour nap. I just introduced my family to the masterful television show Modern Family (I'm not sure if they enjoyed it as much as I did, haha. And I've seen that episode twice already). Pretty soon it'll be time for bed and get ready for my first day at Raroa Intermediate School!!!
Introduced Dad to Modern Family at Jon's a couple weeks ago and he's now a fan!! Guess which character he relates to the most! hahaha! We know which one I am- I tried to tell Jon and Kate about being at your place in Madison and you making me watch an episode but I think you had to be there.....I was about to pee my pants I was laughing so hard and they just were looking at me....hmmmmmm....I can't wait to hear about school and how teaching is going. Love you much, Mommy!
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