After the saga of the VISA, I started work on Tuesday. My timetable was wrong and I ended up teaching classes I was not expecting. It was a baptism of fire being put in front of classes studying a different curriculum with absolutely no time to prepare and extremely limited resources. However, it was a necessary process to go through.
The school is mostly Samoan but these pupils are immature and need to be invested in. The rapport I have needs to be further developed but is starting. I went to watch them play Pakauranga College in rugby on Thursday. They won 32 10 but were 10 nil down after ten minutes. There were 6 staff watching and 30 or so pupils and the game was away, about 10km from school. At the end of the game the teams shook hands in the middle of the field. The team was made up of 13 Samoans and 2 Tongans. Then Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate (SEHC) sang a Samoan song. Hairs on the back of your neck time, the boys then went and all took a knee in front of the coach and I think said a prayer. I liked this attitude a lot. The game was played in such a good spirit, fast, open, aggressive. It was good, really good to see. Rugby union is embedded so deeply in the culture here. Every lunch time pupils play touch rugby in the yard. Even the girls play. There is a ‘can do’ attitude here too, probably underpinned by the idea that there is no benefit culture to encourage dis-application. If you don’t work you don’t eat. I have also been given a laptop as part of the “laptops for teachers” scheme. A scheme designed to get staff IT literate. $100 dollars deposit to cover insurance and this is refunded at the end of the scheme, a brand new Toshiba. I met the school’s commissioner who liked my accent! The commissioner is finishing in June and a new board of governors will take over. Do you know the interesting thing considering my take on being forced to speak Welsh is that no one asks me if I can speak Welsh. They all ask “CAN YOU SING?” so watch out Wales for incidental singing – coming your way soon.
House
We have secured a house too in a part of Auckland called Mellons Bay. It is quite expensive area of Auckland, but will do for now. Maybe not where we end up, but a four bed roomed house with a rumpus room and double garage facing north.
The girls went to visit their school on Friday. They are going to Cockle Bay school and I have put up a few a pictures of them in their uniform. Wowser they look smart. The school has two adventure playgrounds, friendship tables and a swimming pool. There are 600 pupils there. Amelia is going to attend camp next week, from Tuesday. So in summary, Amelia has been in the country for 2 weeks and is now going away with school for four days camping! Rules for camp – no mobile phones, no fizzy drinks or chocolate allowed, no money, no computers. Off today to get their learning packs of stationery. Imagine that! Both the girls are thrilled with their uniforms, Amelia with the sports kit and Ellen with the dress. Hannah is not in school yet. The whole school is kitted out with Apple Macs.
Weather
This week Auckland had a tornado. It ended about 20km away from us. It ran for about 20 miles and one person was killed. New Zealand hasn’t seen a tornado for 20 odd years and there have been 4 recorded in the last 100 years. I blame Hannah, she runs about so quickly mostly barefoot it is like the butterfly effect! The weather is like a Welsh summer. It rains heavily and then is really sunny 10 minutes later. I was out sunbathing this morning at 9am. It is really bright now too.
Maretai
The girls went to Maretai again this week the weather was awesome, well just judge for yourself. Maretai is another beach community just down the road. Here are some of Jo's pictures.
Maretai
The girls went to Maretai again this week the weather was awesome, well just judge for yourself. Maretai is another beach community just down the road. Here are some of Jo's pictures.
