Beginning

Well I've made it! After a very long day of traveling I finally touched down in New Zealand 4:40 am local time. The travel time was extremely long. I flew from Toronto to L.A and then had a 7 hour lay over in the L.A terminal but with the excitement and the travelers high running through me I could not wait to sit on the plane for another 13 hours and arrive in New Zealand. I spent 2 days in Auckland with the group orientation and met some really amazing people. There are only 5 Canadians in the program and the rest are mainly from Germany and the U.K. There are so many different things about New Zealand that are different from home already.. the fact that they eat 5 times a day might be one, or the fact that they drive on the other side of the road.. I think it pure luck that I have not yet been hit by a car.. I love New Zealand already and it hasnt even been a week.

I arrived at my school on Sunday and it is incredible. It could easily be described as "posh" or possibly used as a set in a hollywood movie. Nga Tawa is located outside of the city of Marton which is about 1500 people.. It really reminds me of Elmira a small town which is mainly ran by a farming community. I live across the street from the school in "Garden Cottage" which i share with 3 other tutors. We are having a riot. The cottage is surrounded by fields of sheep.. the real New Zealand experience..

It feels so wierd to be included as a staff member at the school and not a student. To the students I am Ms. C because they seem to have some trouble saying Conlon. They are very curious to know my first name and it seems to be a non stop guessing game. I have already gotten "inducted" into the P.E department and I am assisting in coaching and running soccer practices with the girls team. They are very proud of their athletics here at the school.

The other day I was on "canteytrack" supervision which involves watching the girls work their horses out on the 1.4 km track that the school provides. I quickly learned that the girls like to compete and compare whose horse is the best or who is the best rider, and in this i learned that one father dropped 30 grand on his 12 year old daughters horse.. My jaw dropped.. Not something you would hear at G.C for sure..

This is all jumble wording and events arent in order but its a start.. I really do love it here, and cant wait to get out and have an adventure outside of small Marton. Signing off, I have a "house meeting" in a few. Loving it a lot.

Em