Thursday, May 28, 2009
A Little Gem from My Parents
Thanks Mom and Dad! I LOVE that you did this for me! Grandma looks so precious! I can just imagine mom saying, "oh wait let's put her paws over my arm!" :) Can't wait to see you guys and the kitty. Oh, and NO, you cannot keep her! :)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Ode to My Fur Kitty Baby
I have LOADS of work to do and I do not want to do it. I have a pile of papers sitting right next to me at this moment, and I do not want to grade them. Usually, in moments like this, I torture my poor roommate Grandma. She's not here though and it makes my heart ache. So, instead, to fill the Grandma sized hole in my heart, I am going to post my favorite pictures of the fur face. I get to see her two weeks from today!! I CANNOT wait! I miss my parents and my friends and all, but I really really miss Grandma. She's my pal.
Amy actually took this picture. She snuck Grandma into the spare room and told me I wasn't allowed to peek. She came back out and here is the result. You can see the pleased look on Grandma's face. I like the way her paws are turned out. It makes me smile.
I love how Grandma and Monte match in this picture. Also, they are both looking at the camera which is a rarity!
Proof Grandma watches TV. She prefers Friends and Full House.
Cone Kitty! Grandma had to wear this cone for a week when she got fixed. She tore her staples out twice. She acted so defeated when she had to wear the cone. She would try to run but the cone would catch and flip her over. I felt SO sorry for her.
Grandma's Halloween Costume! She hates it but somehow fell asleep with it on.
Somehow Grandma gave herself a fat lip. I didn't even know cats could get fat lips. I have no idea how it happened. She has been known to ran into a wall or two though...
This is what I do when I'm avoiding work... Poor poor Kitty Grandma...
Grandma couldn't resist the power that a lighted candle has over her and she stuck her face in it. This is the consequence. She had black smut all over her face and burnt off her whiskers. I tried to get the black off but it wouldn't come off. Her whiskers were more hilarious because they were real short and curly. They took FOREVER to grow back.
Grandma! I miss you! I'll be home soon, Kitty!!
Amy actually took this picture. She snuck Grandma into the spare room and told me I wasn't allowed to peek. She came back out and here is the result. You can see the pleased look on Grandma's face. I like the way her paws are turned out. It makes me smile.
I love how Grandma and Monte match in this picture. Also, they are both looking at the camera which is a rarity!
Proof Grandma watches TV. She prefers Friends and Full House.
Cone Kitty! Grandma had to wear this cone for a week when she got fixed. She tore her staples out twice. She acted so defeated when she had to wear the cone. She would try to run but the cone would catch and flip her over. I felt SO sorry for her.
Grandma's Halloween Costume! She hates it but somehow fell asleep with it on.
Somehow Grandma gave herself a fat lip. I didn't even know cats could get fat lips. I have no idea how it happened. She has been known to ran into a wall or two though...
This is what I do when I'm avoiding work... Poor poor Kitty Grandma...
Grandma couldn't resist the power that a lighted candle has over her and she stuck her face in it. This is the consequence. She had black smut all over her face and burnt off her whiskers. I tried to get the black off but it wouldn't come off. Her whiskers were more hilarious because they were real short and curly. They took FOREVER to grow back.
Grandma! I miss you! I'll be home soon, Kitty!!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Pukekaihau
Pukekaihau is my favorite club at CHBC! I'm so glad I got to see them perform again and record it. I am literally like five feet away so the video is not ideal but it's still good. I LOVE it! The first time I watched them I got goosebumps. One of the videos if all of them singing, one is just the females, and then one is the males doing a haka (my favorite!).
Only 9 Days Left! :(
Only 9 Days Left! :(
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Non-Automatic Glass Door
Last Wednesday we went to the public pool for swimming sports. Swimming sports are an event that the school holds every year to promote house unity. The school has four different houses. Yes, like true Harry Potter: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw. Of course, the school I am at, the four names are not from Harry Potter, but still very cool. The students sign up to participate in an event like the 25m freestyle, backstroke, or butterfly. There's a 50m and 100m in each of those events as well. It goes by junior girls, junior boys, senior girls, and senior boys. Juniors in the school are years 9 and 10. Seniors are years 11, 12, and 13. Anyone who doesn't sign up stays at school and goes to class like normal except for a lot of the classes are combined because so many students are out and they just have a "fun" day. Each person who participates in a race gets points and then whoever gets first, second, and third gets additional points for their house. The house who wins gets bragging rights for the rest of the year. They are only in the second term here so literally their school year is still in the beginning not the end.
I went with J early to help out. I was walking in with all of these cones and paper work and walk through the first automatic doors. I get to the second set of doors and expect like the first that they are going to open automatically. Except for they don't. Me, not really getting why, am standing there like a dope slowing moving towards the door to see if I've just missed the sensor but no, the door still does not open. Finally, the woman who runs the indoor swimming facility tells me, "um, you have to push the door open". Me: "What?" Her: "push the door" Me: "What?" It's like I so expected those stupid doors to be automatic that I couldn't process the fact that they were NOT in fact automatic. The lady came and pushed the door open. I walk through all red and hot faced laughing.
This is not the end of the door saga though. I was pleased that there was hardly anyone there yet so there was only a few witnesses to my stupidity. I figured the rest of the students and staff had probably been there enough to know that the second door wasn't automatic. To my great surprise and entertainment ALL day, many people did NOT know this fact. I was near the doors all day checking people in and telling when the next group of swimmers could go to to start blocks. I could not tell you how much I laughed at people thinking the second set of doors were going to open for them. Some would walk right up until their noses were practically against the glass, some would move slowly foward, and then back, forward again, and then back, and some would even walk through the first set of doors AGAIN and then come back to the second set to test it out. Eventually, they would figure it out, be embarrassed, and walk through to find me on the other side cracking up. It was SO good. Honestly. I live for stupid things like that.
The next day a few of my of students were like, "Ms. V! Ms. V! We saw you yesterday cracking up all by yourself by the doors!" I'd tell them what I was laughing at one of my students goes, "but, Ms. V, it's not that funny!" Oh! But I promise you it was! I wonder if they thought I was laughing at all the students who were running around completely embarrassed to be in their togs (bathing suites) in front of essentially the whole school and three quarters of the staff.
Needless to say it was a good day and I found out that there are quite a few of really good swimmers in one of my classes and I had no idea. One of them was even was in the last olympic trials and just barely missed out and is a true contender to represent En Zed in the next summer olympics. I know New Zealand is small, but sweet as! I had no idea. How wicked cool, ey?
Sometimes, I'm so happy to be so easily entertained.
Another good glass door situation was on the first night on the Kiwi Bus. We were staying at Turtle Cove hostel and had a huge spaghetti dinner for the whole bus. The kitchen in the hostel had sliding glass doors that went out to the bar area and there was a significent step down into it. I was sitting there happily eating away and this girl is about to walk from the bar area back into the kitchen. Well, she, I'm certain, was like "I am going to MAKE SURE I don't trip over this ledge and make it into the kitchen" because she lifted her leg really high up for the step, and then she SMACKED right into the glass!!! I DIED! Honestly, died. It was one of the BEST "run into a glass door" situations I have ever seen in my life! Only a few other people saw it and we didn't know each other very well so it was right rude of me to laugh but I couldn't hold it in! I had to walk away because it was a near impossibility to calm myself down. LOVE it. Oh man, I'm even laughing right now thinking about it! She needn't feel so bad. Two other people walked into the door as well. Though nobody lifted their leg as high as she did in preperation for the step. By the way this is a competely true story. You can ask anyone on the Kiwi Bus. Anytime someone wanted to make me laugh they would just say, "ask her about the girl who lifted her leg and ran into the door!" I died thinking about it before I had even said a word!
Okay... no more stories. I'm meant to be grading papers right now! ;)
I went with J early to help out. I was walking in with all of these cones and paper work and walk through the first automatic doors. I get to the second set of doors and expect like the first that they are going to open automatically. Except for they don't. Me, not really getting why, am standing there like a dope slowing moving towards the door to see if I've just missed the sensor but no, the door still does not open. Finally, the woman who runs the indoor swimming facility tells me, "um, you have to push the door open". Me: "What?" Her: "push the door" Me: "What?" It's like I so expected those stupid doors to be automatic that I couldn't process the fact that they were NOT in fact automatic. The lady came and pushed the door open. I walk through all red and hot faced laughing.
This is not the end of the door saga though. I was pleased that there was hardly anyone there yet so there was only a few witnesses to my stupidity. I figured the rest of the students and staff had probably been there enough to know that the second door wasn't automatic. To my great surprise and entertainment ALL day, many people did NOT know this fact. I was near the doors all day checking people in and telling when the next group of swimmers could go to to start blocks. I could not tell you how much I laughed at people thinking the second set of doors were going to open for them. Some would walk right up until their noses were practically against the glass, some would move slowly foward, and then back, forward again, and then back, and some would even walk through the first set of doors AGAIN and then come back to the second set to test it out. Eventually, they would figure it out, be embarrassed, and walk through to find me on the other side cracking up. It was SO good. Honestly. I live for stupid things like that.
The next day a few of my of students were like, "Ms. V! Ms. V! We saw you yesterday cracking up all by yourself by the doors!" I'd tell them what I was laughing at one of my students goes, "but, Ms. V, it's not that funny!" Oh! But I promise you it was! I wonder if they thought I was laughing at all the students who were running around completely embarrassed to be in their togs (bathing suites) in front of essentially the whole school and three quarters of the staff.
Needless to say it was a good day and I found out that there are quite a few of really good swimmers in one of my classes and I had no idea. One of them was even was in the last olympic trials and just barely missed out and is a true contender to represent En Zed in the next summer olympics. I know New Zealand is small, but sweet as! I had no idea. How wicked cool, ey?
Sometimes, I'm so happy to be so easily entertained.
Another good glass door situation was on the first night on the Kiwi Bus. We were staying at Turtle Cove hostel and had a huge spaghetti dinner for the whole bus. The kitchen in the hostel had sliding glass doors that went out to the bar area and there was a significent step down into it. I was sitting there happily eating away and this girl is about to walk from the bar area back into the kitchen. Well, she, I'm certain, was like "I am going to MAKE SURE I don't trip over this ledge and make it into the kitchen" because she lifted her leg really high up for the step, and then she SMACKED right into the glass!!! I DIED! Honestly, died. It was one of the BEST "run into a glass door" situations I have ever seen in my life! Only a few other people saw it and we didn't know each other very well so it was right rude of me to laugh but I couldn't hold it in! I had to walk away because it was a near impossibility to calm myself down. LOVE it. Oh man, I'm even laughing right now thinking about it! She needn't feel so bad. Two other people walked into the door as well. Though nobody lifted their leg as high as she did in preperation for the step. By the way this is a competely true story. You can ask anyone on the Kiwi Bus. Anytime someone wanted to make me laugh they would just say, "ask her about the girl who lifted her leg and ran into the door!" I died thinking about it before I had even said a word!
Okay... no more stories. I'm meant to be grading papers right now! ;)
My Volunteer Project
For the Overseas project we have to do a Service Learning Project. I was slow to come by one but luckily J thought of one for me. She suggested that I go by Scally's to see if they could use my services. Scally's is a pre-kindergarten school for little kids ages 5 and younger and is also an after school sort of day care for primary school kids. I had to do something that was outside of my school and was apart of the community. The thought of working with all those young kids was really daunting for me. Personally, I'd rather shear a sheep. (By the way, there were some farmers from England on the Kiwi Bus and they said that shearing a sheep is nothing to laugh at. All of them said it's really hard work. Plus, sheep farmers make almost twice as much as regular farmers. But still, I think it'd be fun to have a go at a sheep. (poor, poor sheep, right?) There are sheep ALL over the place over here and once we even got in a sheep traffic jam (I have a picture of it. HILARIOUS. There's all these little sheep faces in the screen.) They look so soft and fluffy. It'd seems like it would feel nice to hug a sheep.
Anyway, back to Scally's. I went yesterday for the first time. I haven't spent any time in a kindergarten classroom since I was in Kindergarten myself. I felt SO awkward and out of place. I kept trying to talk to the little ones but could only hear what a dweeb I sounded like! The fake little laugh that I kept producing was horrid. I have little cousins! Several, actually. It should not be that hard. Part of the problem is the wonderful kiwi accent that I thought I had a hold on until I met these little ones. A kiwi accent is already hard to understand and then coupled with little kids who can't pronounce all their words right in the first place was nearly impossible. I would just look at them blankly then say, "mmm yea.. neat." There was this one little girl that constantly cracked me up. She says everything in the form of a question. For example, "you work at scally's today, ey? (ey is is pronounced A) Or, it's time for lunch, ey?" This little four year old and her dear accent and saying "ey" at the end of everything made her sound like a pirate! I'm certain I'm the only one who thought so but it was so entertaining to me I couldn't help crack a smile. There is also another little girl who has to be watched all the time because if she gets away she immediately will stop up the sink and flood the bathroom. It's such a funny problem to have. Just like the little kid who decided to paint the bottom of his feet instead of his firetruck and stamped little purple feet prints all over the cement. It was pretty cute. I sort of wish I had those sort of problems instead of kids flinging every cussword in the book at me or indecent behavior of another kind going on in the bathroom. Can you imagine a high school student who would think it'd be great fun to paint the bottom of his feet purple and stamp on down the hallway? Actually, I think I could imagine some of my students doing it! In the states and here!
Scally's really is a pre-kindy (they call Kindergarten, kindy, it's easier for the little one's to say) heaven. The facility is amazing. The different age groups occupy three different buildings and the yards in between. The buildings are old houses aside from the one that was just built which is a huge heated gym (tumble room, they call it). Each age group has their different areas and have AWESOME outside play areas. It really is like nothing I've ever seen. So cool.
Towards the end I started to feel more comfortable and even got a little boy to stop crying! Anyway, I got the little kid to stop crying by picking up this toy cat and meowing at him! So appropriate, ey? I don't know what I was thinking. I just meowed at him and he answered me with a mew. So, I go meow mew mew! I have a kitty at home do you have kitty as a pet (Grandma!)? Meow. Okay, typing it, it sounds incredibly stupid and weird but my old cat lady ways saved me of the awkward situation of having a howling kid on my hands. But really, what kind of person just meows at a kid to get them to stop crying?! Even I think I'm weird.
I have to go back today because I have to do at least 8 hours. I'm not exactly looking forward to it but I'm not dreading it like before. All the teachers there or pre-degree teachers are super nice so it's not all bad. Luckily, no one saw my meowing yesterday so at least no one will be calling me "that girl who meows at the kids" when they can't remember my name!
Anyway, back to Scally's. I went yesterday for the first time. I haven't spent any time in a kindergarten classroom since I was in Kindergarten myself. I felt SO awkward and out of place. I kept trying to talk to the little ones but could only hear what a dweeb I sounded like! The fake little laugh that I kept producing was horrid. I have little cousins! Several, actually. It should not be that hard. Part of the problem is the wonderful kiwi accent that I thought I had a hold on until I met these little ones. A kiwi accent is already hard to understand and then coupled with little kids who can't pronounce all their words right in the first place was nearly impossible. I would just look at them blankly then say, "mmm yea.. neat." There was this one little girl that constantly cracked me up. She says everything in the form of a question. For example, "you work at scally's today, ey? (ey is is pronounced A) Or, it's time for lunch, ey?" This little four year old and her dear accent and saying "ey" at the end of everything made her sound like a pirate! I'm certain I'm the only one who thought so but it was so entertaining to me I couldn't help crack a smile. There is also another little girl who has to be watched all the time because if she gets away she immediately will stop up the sink and flood the bathroom. It's such a funny problem to have. Just like the little kid who decided to paint the bottom of his feet instead of his firetruck and stamped little purple feet prints all over the cement. It was pretty cute. I sort of wish I had those sort of problems instead of kids flinging every cussword in the book at me or indecent behavior of another kind going on in the bathroom. Can you imagine a high school student who would think it'd be great fun to paint the bottom of his feet purple and stamp on down the hallway? Actually, I think I could imagine some of my students doing it! In the states and here!
Scally's really is a pre-kindy (they call Kindergarten, kindy, it's easier for the little one's to say) heaven. The facility is amazing. The different age groups occupy three different buildings and the yards in between. The buildings are old houses aside from the one that was just built which is a huge heated gym (tumble room, they call it). Each age group has their different areas and have AWESOME outside play areas. It really is like nothing I've ever seen. So cool.
Towards the end I started to feel more comfortable and even got a little boy to stop crying! Anyway, I got the little kid to stop crying by picking up this toy cat and meowing at him! So appropriate, ey? I don't know what I was thinking. I just meowed at him and he answered me with a mew. So, I go meow mew mew! I have a kitty at home do you have kitty as a pet (Grandma!)? Meow. Okay, typing it, it sounds incredibly stupid and weird but my old cat lady ways saved me of the awkward situation of having a howling kid on my hands. But really, what kind of person just meows at a kid to get them to stop crying?! Even I think I'm weird.
I have to go back today because I have to do at least 8 hours. I'm not exactly looking forward to it but I'm not dreading it like before. All the teachers there or pre-degree teachers are super nice so it's not all bad. Luckily, no one saw my meowing yesterday so at least no one will be calling me "that girl who meows at the kids" when they can't remember my name!
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