Following the footsteps of the great Emily Quarmby im going to do a continuous blog thing while im away with pictures.
I arrived this morning about half 9 at Auckland Airport being pretty knackered from the 24 hour flight, thats right 24 hours of pain and suffering especially around the gluteus maximus (the but) and generally just bored out of my skin.
I watched a couple of good films during my time in hell, Blood Diamond which you should all go and see because its awesome!!I had to stop over at Hong Kong for a couple of hours.Quite an amazing airport!!
Got picked up by my godparents who im going to stay with for the next 6 months who are fantastic!!Anyway i thought it would be a good idea to get a NZ simcard for my new phone, but the phones locked which sucks and it means i cant put this simcard and blah blah blah blah blah, it doesnt work so im going to have to buy a cheapo NZ phone to save all the hassle. Also set up a bank account but im not going to go into detail for that for obvious reasons lol ( the pin number is ..... lol). Then in the evening i found myself dozing off quite a bit due to jet lag i guess and so went to sleep!!ahhh sleep!!
Wednesday 11th July 2007
WOW!!What a great day it was despite the jet lagg!I had booked myself in to a Christian Conference for this evening and tomorrow all day which was excellent. Hillsong United played tonight and they were immense. I would have been disappointed if they were panse because they're like my favourite band but they were excellent!
Phil Dooley (their Youth Pastor) spoke who was pretty good too so all in all a good start to the Conference. It's always good when you see 800 other christians jumping around for Jesus!But seriously, some of them were complete weirdos, especially one of security guards who called himself Slane, or Slay or something lol it was hilarious.
Thursday 12th July 2007
Woke up at half 7 which is always impressive. I realised that when i came here all the food was going to be different brands etc. I was particularly worried about the cereal because there's nothing worse than a bad cereal like Special K-man i hate that stuff. Ive been having this stuff called Light and Tasty which is delightful!!anyway thats the rant finished.Went to the Conference which once again was very good. A band from a church called CLCA played who were really good, infact they were raving and mental and well just really good. Then Phil Dooley's wife Lucinda spoke for 2 sessions. She was really good and very clear but she had this weird laugh (much like Emily's laugh but sillier) that everyone laughed at but she thought she was funny-it was all very funny.Then Christian City Youth played in the evening who are from Sydney and my second cousin is in, so i managed to briefly catch up with him which was really good.
Friday 13th July 2007
Again i woke up early. There is something about NZ and waking up early. It seems that everyone is out and about at like 7 doing the shopping etc, quite strange. Got up and played squash against Ross, I lost 3-2 but i really should have won and he knows it. I missed a sitter of a shot that would have won me the 3rd game but i fluffed it. oh well ill get him next time!Went to a coffee shop afterwards which was nice, nice coffee too!Then i went into school where im starting work on Monday as a PE teacher so that was good to meet some of the staff and have a snoop. Then in the afternoon went down to the waterfront, to St Helliers Bay, Mission Bay etc and took Matty the dog for a walk too. Really spectacular views from the top end of St Helliers Bay of Rangitoto so that was really good.
Also I lived in Mission Bay as a baby so was good to revisit there.Pretty busy because the weather was good. We also went up Mt Eden which was one of the extinct volcanoes in Auckland and you can see the entire city from up there, so some really good views. Then in the evening got a DVD out, The Last King of Scotland-its pretty good. About some Scottish doctor that goes out to Uganda, its quite good actually but i was quite tired so didnt fully concentrate.
Saturday 14th July 2007
We hit the shops today, to get some stuff for out trip in September to the South Island, so just got some tops and bike helmet. It was also Ross and Jaquie's niece's birthday party today so they needed to get some presents for her. We went to the party around 5 in the afternoon. But lets be serious for a moment, how many friends can a little girl of 9 have, flipping loads lol!oh well!
Monday 16th July 2007
Started work today which was great. For those who dont know im working at a school being a PE teacher for the next 6 months, its gona be awesome!!It rained heaps though so we couldnt get outside or anything which is a bummer so took most of the classes into the swimming pool which i guess isnt so bad!Looking forward to when the sun comes out cause they are a rugby obsessed school so cant wait to start training. Did some admin stuff and met some of the teachers and stuff, but a pretty good start.
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Tuesday 17th July 2007
I woke up to the lovely, beautiful sunny sun!!YES!!GET IN!!Sports outside allday today which was excellent.Taught Years 1 and 3 on the astro, bit of football with them, then in the afternoon did middle school rugby, with the first 15 which was sweet. They are actually amazing, these are boys in Year 6 so what, 10 years old and they were making huge tackles, and their handling skills were excellent!!You wonder why the All Blacks are so good, well they start young!Speaking of the All Blacks, me and Chris got tickets for the match against Australia at Eden Park on Saturday which is gona be amazing!Cant wait for that, bound to be good rugby!!Something ive learnt in the last two days of teaching is how ridiculous little children are!They seriosuly are in a world of their own, and whenever they decide to communicate with us (normal people), they ask the most ridiculous questions, or expect the most ridiculous things from us. For example, a Yr 1 came up to us today on the astro and said that another boy had called him stupid.What did he expect us to do??seriously though, i know they are small but what the helk!!Simon (PE teacher) said he'd ring the boys mum and the kid who asked the question ran away all happy and smily!MAN ALIVE!!
Friday 20th July 2007
So ive finished my first week at school.Its been really good teaching the kids and getting to know some of the staff.Ive had to do all sorts which has been good. The thing i still cant quite believe is the standard at whic these guys play sport (except football-they're pretty crap at that). The rugby, hockey and cricket teams are very good, especially the rugby teams as you would expect i guess. Today i taught the seniors today which was good stuff. In the staff room there's a pool table and a ladder in which i moved from 28th to 4th so im doing well!!I had a few frees today so i managed to bunk up my position. The school has just had a new building finished called The Lighthouse-ive yet to work out why its called that but anyway, its amazing, so hi-tech, with Macs everywhere. It would be a good place to rob eh!!Anyway so basically they officially opened it today and then afterwards, we had some beers etc. Apparently the beer thing happens every Friday which is sweet!!Ive managed to find someone whos got a couple of surf boards which is good (member of staff) so we're going surfing sometime when its warm. The weather was pretty good today, good sun, im getting a tan in winter which is got to be good i guess.All Blacks tomorrow!!Cant Wait!!!
Saturday 21st July 2007
Well it was a monumental day for me!!I woke up and played Ross at squash and I beat him 4-1. He brought up all these excuses about being tired etc etc which i think is a load of rabble!!Anyway it was a good start to the day. Then went into town with Ross and Jaqui and the Hedges to buy the new Harry Potter book which i started reading straight away!Its very good. Then I met up with Chris to go to the big match, and it kicked off at half 7. To put it midly it chucked it down, and if it wasnt for the big Maori with the umbrella behind us we would have drowned.
The match was pretty good, although it was mostly a kicking game but it was good being there an the haka was incredible.
I have to say i was a bit disappointed wih the atmosphere at Eden Park, i think its because they're used to winning all the time. There was more atmosphere when the trained turned up at the station than when the All Blacks scored a try, but i really enjoyed myself.
Monday 23rd July 2007
Back to school bright and early this morning. The boys were back from their rugby tour in Christchurch which meant our cubby hole of an office was a bit fuller with 4 of us crammed in there. Its all good really, just feel like Harry Potter forced underneath the stairs though!!Did some hockey training with the Year 6's today which made me realise I know nothing about hockey whatsoever. The afternoon was a bit of a cuffuffle, full of misunderstandings about timetables etc nothing bad at all just a bit of a mix up but that was all sorted. We went out for dinner with some of Ross and Jacqui's (inculuding the Bishop of Auckland!!!!) to this Italian resteraunt which was very nice and absolutely hilarious. It was someones birthday on another table and inevitably they started singing Happy Birthday, well some of the ladies joined too and after it had finished one of them said "Ohhh I love that song!!". I'm sorry, but Happy Birthday isnt the most inspiring song in the world. I'm not sure that statement is a true representation of Kiwi music, the fact that Happy Birthday is a no1 bestseller due to the fact that all New Zealand can produce Brooke Fraser!!Anyway me and Ross were in stiches!!
Then we took a nice walk afterwards with Matty the dog which was good.
Wednesday 25th July 2007
Today was a good day, although i was a bit tired this morning because i stayed up to watch the Netball between NZ and Australia. Taught the Yr 4's this morning then had a break and then taught the Year 3's. The boys are preparing to do cross country in a couple of weeks so we send them on runs that take a while so to occupy ourselves we play silly games like the Crossbar challenge. For example i played Simon today (another PE teaecher) and he wooped me 11-0. It was such a big event that Chris decided to enter the result on the kings website. Go to www.kings.school.nz/sport and the click on crossbar challenge, you'll see it. The funny thing is that its a pretty official website with all the results of the matches and then you see cross bar challenge results-its hilarious but before i get the blame it was Chris' idea NOT MINE!!
I took the Senior Games to the Table Tennis stadium today. One of the Year 8's was the North Island Champion and he played for New Zealand. I played with and I reckon I gave him a run for his money!!lol NOT!!He was flipping amazing!!
Then this evening i went to the Youth Group which was good where i met some new people and others that i met last week!some of them are actually hilarious and so we never get anything done but i think Brian (the curate/youth worker) has finally sorted out a programme for this term so there might be a little bit of focus.
Oh yeh, also the school provided me with my own laptop which is sweet-its an iBook so its taking me a little bit of getting used to because ive never worked with Macs before but i reckon im doing pretty well on it so far. only thing is i dont seem to be able to work MSN on it which is a bummer!
Friday 27th July 2007
Although it started really misty this morning, it turned out to be a beautiful day, sunny and warm which was excellent. Fridays are always very laid back and school finishes at 3 which is good and so the teachers stay aferwards and have a few beers and play pool. After that i decided to sort my camera out once and for all which was a successful mission and now ive been able to put pics up on the blog. This evening i went out with some friends to watch the Harry Potter film which was pretty good although Harry looked really short eh!lol, also i finished the book today which is good-obviously i cant really talk about it because ill get hate mail for revealing the story, but it is very bizarre!!
Saturday 28th July 2007
Today started off well with a win over Ross in squash. I beat him 3-2 and we started a 6th game but ran out of time so im taking that as a win for the James Lee. Get In!!
This afternoon i went to a car show in Epsom with a family called the Sidnams who we've known since i was born really which was sweet. There were some mean ass cars man alive, check these babies out:
Sunday 29th July 2007
I was feeling pretty tired this morning but i managed to shift my body to church which was good. Ross spoke so that was good-of course!!Then I kind of did nothing around lunchtime, just kind of slobbed and then this afternoon Ross and I decided we'd go to Devonport which i think is Northshore ish but im really not sure-anyway we caught a ferry over there so that was sweet.
Although the weather wasn't great, the rain held off while wondered around Devonport. Its got a naval base quite close by so they had some pill boxes etc which were pretty cool, and some really good views of the city from a distance.
Thats the amazing thing about Auckland, its that you can come across amazing views everywhere you go!!From Devonport you could see everything, so the city, Rangitoto and into Mission Bay which was sweet.
Took some silly pictures mainly me pulling faces which amused Ross i think, walked along a beach with some pretty amazing houses too. Seriously, people must pay so much money to live in some of those beach side houses!!
Then this evening, we went to Charlie's house for dinner which was nice. They're people from church and they are rugby fanatics it seems so it was a good time and nice food!!
