One Week Down

I can't believe I've been here for a week already! It has flown by. 1 week down 9 to go! I know it's going to go by way too quickly.

School is a lot different and not so much different in a lot of ways. The school is very bright and open. There are individual buildings with classrooms all of which are surrounded by windows. Everyone here about died when I said my Indiana classroom had no windows. They kept asking me how students in Indiana could possibly work under such conditions. The students are really not that different from American ones. I have only seen one tattoo since I've been here and there are not piercings and things like you would normally see in an American high school. Part of that I think is not having access to tattoo and piercing parlors. There isn't one in town so they'd have to go to Napier or Hastings. They have to wear a uniform. The girls have to wear a plaid skirt and white button down. They have the option of black shoes that tie and tights or sandals. When they wear their sandals they are NOT allowed to have socks or tights on. the boys wear grey polo's and grey shorts. They also have the option of shoes or sandals and the same sock rule applies. When they have to "dress up" then everyone wears the white shirt and a blue and yellow striped tie except for head boy and girl who have a different tie. There is also blue sweaters and blazers that are a pretty awful color of blue to be seen everyday. The uniforms are hard to get used to. I've never been in a school with uniforms so I sort of always feel like I'm on a movie set or something. It's definitely not like "Gossip Girl" though trust me. The girls are required to keep their uniforms modest. The students also have to address everyone as Miss and Sir. It makes them sound very polite even when they are not being so. My first day there I got a massive headache from the sunshine. I'm not used to so much light! J laughed at me and gave me tamol (tylenol). They also call erasers, rubbers, which I knew before I came so it wasn't a surprise. It's still a bit funny though to have kids constantly be asking for rubbers. I am in school from 8-3:10 in the afternoon. J is always the first one at school so it's been tough for me to not be running behind and grabbing things last minute.

There are a ton of cultural differences. I was thought to be rude when I asked a little boy to please stop farting at gymnastics practice. Seriously. Also, that same day I guess I spoke too sharply at some kids when putting equipment away and snapping your fingers and clapping your hands is uncalled for. I was doing it in a hurry up lets get this done sort of way. For this, I got told I was going to get a reputation as a "right-bitch". I was a bit offended for probably a day but I'm not anymore. It's just a cultural difference and in all honestly (they also don't say honestly, it's always- to be honest- or If I'm being right honest) the term bitch is used pretty loosely.



CHBC has never had a student teacher before so a lot of the students think I am an exchange student. They think it's neat that I'm from American but have not asked me anything beyond "have you been to Disney Land." They also think it's really cool that I have not because I've only been to Disney World. Most have no idea where Indiana is. They mostly know California or New York where TV shows and Films are made.

I have four different classes with four different teachers. Being in the classes makes me miss OV because there my students were very relatable and here they are not. I'm going to have to find another way in. I am following years 10 (14 year olds) 11 (age 15-16) 12 (age 17) and 13 (age 18). It's more like they don't have Kindergarten it's just year 1. The students seem pretty un-interested in my being there. I'm still just trying to catch up though so I'm not real active yet. I lead a discussion today and had to keep asking the students what they were saying. Some of the students have a much thicker accent than the adults. They think it's funny when I can't understand and when they speak more slowly it often only makes it worse. The teacher interprets for me. One of the students said, "I think he just wanted to take the puss out of her" and she got in trouble. I don't know exactly what it means but I can imagine that it's not good. The students will throw around cuss words. Often it will just be ignored or other times I teacher will point and say something. The students aren't embarassed at all though to cuss in front of the teachers. The teachers, on the other hand, when alone, have horrible mouths! My first day there, J, was showing me around the school. There is a board in the teacher's lounge and on it a teacher had written he was looking for roosters and chickens. Another teacher as a joke wrote, "He's looking for c*ck and p*ssy." This was after knowing J for about 3 hours. I about fell on the floor! It took me like 10 minutes to actually laugh. J thought my reaction was more funny than the joke itself.

Last weekend (28-29) the school had it's 50th Jubilee. I went to the concert they put on of various acts from present day and songs from plays that were performed over the 50 years. The Maori Club started out. (The Maori are the indegenous people of NZ) They did traditional Maori song and dance. It was amazing. I was really impressed with the students. The boys part especially. They usually had one leader of the girls and guys and then the rest of the "choir" would follow. The boys were just great. They were down low to the groud and sang very forcefully and their motions were violent almost. They stick out their tongues and make like a hissing sound while stomping their feet and beating their chests. It may sound silly reading it but it was really something to see. There's some really talented people in the school which I don't get to see so often being in the English department.

That's all I've got for now. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to post some pictures!