Wednesday, March 19
The first day of Spring Break that I've had in a few years. I started the day by cleaning a cemetery and then ate my weight in pizza at DaVinci's. I fed ducks at Queens Park and saw the wallaby. We went to the museum and saw the tuatara. The day ended with Katie Jo, KPax, and I sneaking into an abandoned haunted house. And that's about the time my bike seat broke so I had to ride home standing up all the way from Tramway to home. Haeree left to go tramping.
Thursday, March 20th
I volunteered at New River school all day. I get there (after biking ALL that way standing up, of course) and introduce myself and the teacher says to the class, "Let's all guess what country Marcie is from."
"Dunedin?" asked a little girl
"No. That's still in the South Island. Nice try."
"China?"
"Auckland?"
"Chile?"
That's about the time we gave up and told them that I'm American. (Do I really look that racially confusing?)
During morning tea (morning recess) the teacher asked me if I wanted to go to the teacher's lounge for a cup of tea or coffee. I politely declined and went to the playground instead. This blond girl looked up at me and cocked her head to the side. "Are you a kid?"
"Yeah."
"You don't look like a kid. You look like an adult."
"Well I'm not. I'm a kid."
"Okay. Do you want to play tag?"
Basically I love playground politics and how the kids just adore me simply because of my height and accent. I'm cool.
Friday March 21
Good Friday. (It's not a big deal in the States but here it's a compulsory holiday and even grocery stores are closed.)
Brother Price picked up Me, Ben, Brooke, Maggie, Katie Jo, Stefanie Tanner, Heather, and three Polyn
esians Evan, Trio, and Annie and off we went to Dunedin. We watched a surfing competition. That's us cheering. You can see a lot of black dots out there in the ocean warming up for their heat. We snagged a picture with Dwayne (some random surfer) but I'll have to find who has it. I love the beach. I love the music they play at the beach. I love being at the beach in Dunedin on my way to a YSA conference and watching a surfing competition.
The first day of Spring Break that I've had in a few years. I started the day by cleaning a cemetery and then ate my weight in pizza at DaVinci's. I fed ducks at Queens Park and saw the wallaby. We went to the museum and saw the tuatara. The day ended with Katie Jo, KPax, and I sneaking into an abandoned haunted house. And that's about the time my bike seat broke so I had to ride home standing up all the way from Tramway to home. Haeree left to go tramping.
Thursday, March 20th
I volunteered at New River school all day. I get there (after biking ALL that way standing up, of course) and introduce myself and the teacher says to the class, "Let's all guess what country Marcie is from."
"Dunedin?" asked a little girl
"No. That's still in the South Island. Nice try."
"China?"
"Auckland?"
"Chile?"
That's about the time we gave up and told them that I'm American. (Do I really look that racially confusing?)
During morning tea (morning recess) the teacher asked me if I wanted to go to the teacher's lounge for a cup of tea or coffee. I politely declined and went to the playground instead. This blond girl looked up at me and cocked her head to the side. "Are you a kid?"
"Yeah."
"You don't look like a kid. You look like an adult."
"Well I'm not. I'm a kid."
"Okay. Do you want to play tag?"
Basically I love playground politics and how the kids just adore me simply because of my height and accent. I'm cool.
Friday March 21
Good Friday. (It's not a big deal in the States but here it's a compulsory holiday and even grocery stores are closed.)
Brother Price picked up Me, Ben, Brooke, Maggie, Katie Jo, Stefanie Tanner, Heather, and three Polyn
esians Evan, Trio, and Annie and off we went to Dunedin. We watched a surfing competition. That's us cheering. You can see a lot of black dots out there in the ocean warming up for their heat. We snagged a picture with Dwayne (some random surfer) but I'll have to find who has it. I love the beach. I love the music they play at the beach. I love being at the beach in Dunedin on my way to a YSA conference and watching a surfing competition.We met up with other YSA at the church. We divided into teams and recieved bandannas. I was given a blue bandanna and joined the other blue-bandana folk: Ronnie (rugby star), Stacey (enthusiastic), Erin (unenthusiastic), Nathan (29 year old drummer), and Jimmy (skinny Asian). I brilliantly came up with the name Shark Bait (oo ah ah!) and our cheer "wanahaka wanahaka wanaka LUGEE! *spitting noise*)
We left the church and started heading out to Girls Guide Camp out in Otago. We stopped for lunch and I had a Kiwi Burger from McDonalds. It has hamburger, egg, cheese, beets, and the standard lettuce and tomato. Once we found the camp we played Boogedy Boogedy Boo, Zip Zip Bong, and Samarai.
Kool Kiwis at the Camp
Lennox: He's 18 and about as funny as they come. Brooke says we should get married.
Ronnie: Rugby Maori man Brook wishes she could marry
Terenamu: She has a really cool name (pronounced tea-rain-a-moo)
Kotuku: Brother of the above
Kala: From Niue Island. Her full name is Kalavatagaloa.
Sam: Helpful
Mikey: Visually impaired and the leader of the group
Kaho: from Tonga
Matai: from Tonga, BIG man from Tonga
Apparently I have a newly discovered talent: I kick butt at Mafia. Factoring the direction of the echo, the motives behind kills, and past behaviors I could predict-with my eyes closed-who the mafia was. Don't mess with this.
We met a married couple (they were kind of chaperons) who were from the states. He grew up in Orem and Maggie and Ben knew his cousins. Small world. What are the odds we find this guy....in New Zealand?
Saturday March 22
I hopped out into the foyer while still in my sleeping bag. Why? Because it was comfy. I did the worm in my sleeping bag and then Brooke and I started arguing about how to say patronizing and then next thing I know she's tickling me and I can't go anywhere because I'm in a mummy bag.
Shortly following we went to the beach to pick up trash (one of my favorite pastimes) Katie Jo and I found natural bubble wrap (seaweed pods) and probably had more fun than we should have while popping them. One massive sprong of kelp had washed itself on the beach and wouldn't you know we walked around with it on our heads like hair. It was pretty great.
We also played games on the beach: chicken fighting on steroids and putting one lucky soul balancing on a board with the board across other team members and all the unlucky souls rolled over to get the board moving. I'm pretty sure I could have died. I took a dip in the frigid Tasmanian Sea and stepped on a crab. Luckily it didn't latch on.
We drove back to camp and packed more people in the car than for which the car was manufactured. We're getting really good at that. We went to a hangi. This is code for "eat a lot of food that's all been cooked together in a rubbish bin underground" The dessert was pretty good and they made a cake for Brooke because her birthday is tomorrow.
A few of us helped to do the dishes after the hangi while the others dutifully decorated the foyer for our dance. Katie Jo and I sat in the room for a while, tired from the hangi and not wanting to go to the dance. But we had to pee. And we would have to cut straight through the dance and that would be awkward because it's not a very big foyer. So we opted to escape through the window, army crawl across the big window, run around the building, and use the alternative toilet entrance. Jason Bourne would be proud of the way Katie Jo re-entered our room by going head first. After that the dance was pretty good. Heather has the best hip hop moves. I put my hair in a high pony tail for an 80's song and I pulled my neck. It was worth it though because I got some sweet moves.
We left the church and started heading out to Girls Guide Camp out in Otago. We stopped for lunch and I had a Kiwi Burger from McDonalds. It has hamburger, egg, cheese, beets, and the standard lettuce and tomato. Once we found the camp we played Boogedy Boogedy Boo, Zip Zip Bong, and Samarai.
Kool Kiwis at the Camp
Lennox: He's 18 and about as funny as they come. Brooke says we should get married.
Ronnie: Rugby Maori man Brook wishes she could marry
Terenamu: She has a really cool name (pronounced tea-rain-a-moo)
Kotuku: Brother of the above
Kala: From Niue Island. Her full name is Kalavatagaloa.
Sam: Helpful
Mikey: Visually impaired and the leader of the group
Kaho: from Tonga
Matai: from Tonga, BIG man from Tonga
Apparently I have a newly discovered talent: I kick butt at Mafia. Factoring the direction of the echo, the motives behind kills, and past behaviors I could predict-with my eyes closed-who the mafia was. Don't mess with this.
We met a married couple (they were kind of chaperons) who were from the states. He grew up in Orem and Maggie and Ben knew his cousins. Small world. What are the odds we find this guy....in New Zealand?
Saturday March 22
I hopped out into the foyer while still in my sleeping bag. Why? Because it was comfy. I did the worm in my sleeping bag and then Brooke and I started arguing about how to say patronizing and then next thing I know she's tickling me and I can't go anywhere because I'm in a mummy bag.
Shortly following we went to the beach to pick up trash (one of my favorite pastimes) Katie Jo and I found natural bubble wrap (seaweed pods) and probably had more fun than we should have while popping them. One massive sprong of kelp had washed itself on the beach and wouldn't you know we walked around with it on our heads like hair. It was pretty great.
We also played games on the beach: chicken fighting on steroids and putting one lucky soul balancing on a board with the board across other team members and all the unlucky souls rolled over to get the board moving. I'm pretty sure I could have died. I took a dip in the frigid Tasmanian Sea and stepped on a crab. Luckily it didn't latch on.
We drove back to camp and packed more people in the car than for which the car was manufactured. We're getting really good at that. We went to a hangi. This is code for "eat a lot of food that's all been cooked together in a rubbish bin underground" The dessert was pretty good and they made a cake for Brooke because her birthday is tomorrow.
A few of us helped to do the dishes after the hangi while the others dutifully decorated the foyer for our dance. Katie Jo and I sat in the room for a while, tired from the hangi and not wanting to go to the dance. But we had to pee. And we would have to cut straight through the dance and that would be awkward because it's not a very big foyer. So we opted to escape through the window, army crawl across the big window, run around the building, and use the alternative toilet entrance. Jason Bourne would be proud of the way Katie Jo re-entered our room by going head first. After that the dance was pretty good. Heather has the best hip hop moves. I put my hair in a high pony tail for an 80's song and I pulled my neck. It was worth it though because I got some sweet moves.
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