saturday

This Saturday, was a typical lazy Saturday. But I don't mind. I'm still a little bit sick but it's getting better:) So I was reading a lot, laying in bed, eating, doing a bit of workout, but it was nice :) Just a relax day;) Sadly it was a rainy day, so I wasn't really able to go out..

Tomorrow is going to be a fine day-said the news:)

SKI TRIP part 2

So I have to say it was pretty amazing to know that we were skiing on a vulcano, eventhough the vulcano isn't active, it's still special.

In fact there were around 30 internationals and 2 kiwi kids. I have to say that the landscape was ver yamazing, there were moments when it looked just like desert and then in the next moment it looked like the jungle and you could see snowy mountains!

The first day, we had breakfast at 7am and then we had to meet at 8 am on the mountain to rent the skis, helmets and shoes, or snowboards. It was a short but very, very early..


So then it all went very fast, everybody got their gear and then the people already started to do some slopes. The rule we had is to always stay in groups of 3, so if one had an accident, one could stay next to them and the last one could go and get some help.



So I was in a team with Carla from germany and Rikke from Danmark. We were a great group and started slowly but then went up the mountain and did a lot of T-Lifts on the very top of the mountain. It was very fun and the weather was great. You were even able to ride with an open jacket, because the view was clear and th esun was shining. But the we made a little break in the top mountain restaurant and then we went to the lodge to eat our lunch. We were already quite tired, but we wanted to do some more skiing. We had to eat quite fast because we had a meeting with a mountain guide who brought us to the other side of the mountain, to the far west. And a Snowboarder, samuel from Germany, joined us too. So the guide brought us already halfway to the other side, but then suddenly he told us one of his partners had an accident, so he had to leave us.. But we managed to get to a very nice slope, so we could ride that slope a few times and then we went back to the main side of the mountain. But what we didn't know, to get back to that side, you have to tae some black slopes... But eveything went very well! We found our way back and then we could go quite fast back to our lodge, and eat some afternoon tea- so biscuts and cake, yummy.





In the lodge there is a very hot heating room, so the ski cloths could dry nicely during the night! At 4 we made our way to the hot pool, which are really wonderful, to warm up. They are 38 degrees, which is very nice, to compare to the cold outside temperature. But I must say, it was almost to warm, after a time it's getting harder to breath..



In the evening we were all sitting around the fireplace and talking and laughing around. The atmosphere was very nice and the we had had dinner:) So yummi, but it was strange for my belly- always doing strange sounds- be we had plenty to eat with delicious deserts and everything:)



this night was much more relaxed becaus ethis lady from the first night wasn't there anymore, so we were all able to brush our teeth and to make us bedready when we wanted to. For thi snight I changed my room, because Sarah a girl from Germany too, was very ill. She wasn't able to ski, she felt very bad adn miserable. Then the teacher dicided to take her to the doctor's and they said she needed surgery and her appendice has to be taken out.. So I took her place in the room, so I was with Reesa- from Japan-, Ann-Sofie and Carla in one room. It was very funny:p

cars

In New Zealand, car that are white or blue aren't very popular, because a lot of cars were imported from Japan and these cars were  all white or blue. So a lot of cars are painted in different colors, so the cars are quite colorful. There are a lot of red, yellow, lilac, or even green cars.

Finally friday

Friday, is always a nice day, because you can always already feel the weekend coming!
Sadly, when I woke up this morning I didn't feel good, I had stomach cramps and fiever.. So I stayed at home all day long.

At school I should have baked magic slices and because of my illness I couldn't do them:( Then it was the last day for an international student from Germany and they is always alittle meeting to say goodbye to them, so I wasn't there either.. And in my form class a chared lunch was organized for the birthday of a boy who has trouble at home and I missed that too..

I almost slept all day long and now I am tired again, even if I almost did nothing.. But I still have some fiever.. But what can I do else than rest?!

And I am sad, because some friends and I organized a sleepover at another girl's house and because of my illness I didn't want to go, because I don't want to infect the others.

And yesterday, I forgot to mention that there was again an cockroach in the kitchen but thank god, Brooke my elder hostsister was there and she just killed it with her bare hands-and a kitchetowel-but still, i am really impressed!
Brooke was here for this and the last week. She is studying at the Uni to become a teacher and she currently has some days off. She is really nice and helpful!:)

Thursday

Today, was a sad rainy day. In the morning it was still fine, but during the last period (lesson) it started raining.. It was very cold during the lunchbreak, so everybody was staying in the corridors of the school and the younger students were very loud and that was kind of annoying, because we weren't even able to speak propperly..



Otherwise everything weent very well! In the cookingclass, our teacher demonstrated us how to do the magic slices, the treat we are going to do tomorrow. It looked very good, but it has to stay in the fridge, so we weren't able to try them.. But we will eat our own tomorrow, so that's allright;)



the magic slice

I now subscribed into the tennis practice, because, the Rugby season will end after this therm, so in one month, so I decided that this could be my next activity. I also like Canoe polo, so I will see if I can try this. I must say I have never played tennis before, but I always wanted to try it! So that's the perfect oppertunity:)





After school, I had to go to the supermarket, because I need some biscuits and nuts for the magic slices I am doing tomorrow. Sadly it was still raining, but it was fine because I had my nice raincoat, but the wind was very strong and it was a very strong pressure, so it was kind of exhausting and a little workout for me:)



Tomorrow, there are only going to be 12 degrees..:(

Wednesday

Today I already felt less tired, but it was still hard to get up..
But I  had a very nice day, and at form time we had assembley, so the best student sof the school got like a diplome from the schoolprincipal. It was incredible how good some students are! But I must say that in Luxembourg, the grades aren't so public as here, because they are saying into the micophone which grad they had.. and luch was very nice today, we all were sunbathing in the schoolcourt. It was very nice! And then we made our pizzasvin the cooking class. A delicious tomato, basil and mozzarella pizza! It was wonderful and very filling!

Then I didn't do anything else and when I arrived at home, I fell asleep, so I had a nice little nap:)

Oh and I started editing the film of our skitrip. It's very interessting to do that and I really enjoy doing that!:)

But I finally not went to the rugby match, because it is far away and you need a ride home and I only had one practice until now, so I don't feel ready to do that right now... Next time!:D


And something traditional are Tim-Tam. These are biscuts covered with chocolate and with alight chocolate filling or with other fillings, they are really tasty!:)







now there are even more different flavour available! :D

But it is a little tradition to bite of the both ends and then you can use it as a strow and drink milk trew it!

school on Tuesday

Today, it was very hard for me to get up, because I was very tired, maybe because of the rugbypractice, maybe because I couldn't sleep very well during night, who knows?!

So then up to school! First lesson, New Zealand Cooking! We made yeast dough for the pizza we are going to do tomorrow. It was very interesting and our teacher also showed us how to make chapatis or something similar. It's very nice because she has a very big knowledge about all things that belong to cooking. So tomorrow, we are doing to pizza topping and I am really looking forward to doing that!



The weather was good today, but the wind was quite cold.. In studyclass, a men explained about the future events for the students, if they want to go to uni or rather not...
During the lunchbreak there were the house touch teams playing against eachother. So every house in the school has touch rugby teams and they are all playing against eachother and the winningteam can collect points on this way. But it was quite windy, so cold, so I didn't watch a lot.. Tomorrow, the girls are playing:)
After school I got some Rugby shoes for the training and matches. In fact there are Rugby matches tomorrow, but they are somewhere farer away and I'm already very tired and I only had one single training so I won't go tomorrow;)



Then at home I did some Apfeleierkuchen and then with a friend we went to New World, the supermarket to buy a few ingredients for the topping for the pizza for tomorrow.



At the News they said that there will be 18 degrees tomorrow, which is very nice and I am looking forward for tomorrow! It's going to be a relaxed day and I am perfectly fine with that!

First rugby practice

YAAAY!!!

Today I had my first rugby practice and it was wonderful!! I had so much fun and the athmosphere was great!

Our trainer is a boy from Year 13 and today, there weren't too many people, but it was very fun! I tackled, I ran I cought the ball, I didn't kick, but that's fine;) It was really nice, and everybody was very symphatical! I will defenetly go for the next practice on Wednesday and maybe we are going to participate on a match soon!! That's all so exciting!:)

Sunday

On Sunday, I woke up very late, and then I dicovered that I was invited for a bearbeque. The barbeque was at the girl's house who was in the hospital, because it was her last weekend. So I went there per bike. I was very fun and there were quite a lot of people, also from year 13:)



So we had hamburgers, hotdogs, salad, eggs and then bananacake and cupcakes as desert. And some L&P chocolate, which is a typical kind of white chocolate in New Zealand, which is prickeling in your mouth. It's really yummy!!!




So that was a great Sunday and a wonderful weekend:)

Hastings

Saturday morning, I went to Hastings with 3 friends to visit a friend who's in hospital and had surgery because her appendix has been removed.. So it was her last hospital day and we wanted to still visit her. We talked to her about the skitrip, she sadly had to leave from Whakapapa.. I was kind of sad, it was her first operation, she was alone and she only stays here for 5 weeks, she's going to leave on Friday alrady.. But her twinsister who is also in New Zealand, but in Auckland was able to visit her!

Then we left her because we knew some more people would come to visit her and she needed a bit rest..



So we walked into town, and looked a bit around. We all were a bit tired because of the skitrip, but the weather was wonderful and it was very enjoyable! We also had a look at a few shops and then went to Subway for lunch:)
It looked like a nice artdecostyled town, but I also heard that there were gangs and similar things which is not so good, but saw no incident, so everything's perfect:)



Then we went to K-Mart, and Dick Smith, finally we waited for the bus. The last bus sadly leaves at four from Hastings so that's kind of early, but it was fine. Sadly, we sat on the floor at the busstop and the bus didn't see us and passed by us. But then a second bus passed right behind this one, and the busdriver talked trew his walkey-talkey to the busdriver of the bus we had to take. And actually, the bus we had to take waited for us around the next corner, and this friendly busdriver took us there! Something I never experienced in Luxembourg!!

Then we went to New World, the supermarket, and bought some biscuts. So we were sitting next to the playground and watched how some boys made incredible tricks on their scooter, bikes and skateboards!!

Then two of my friends came over to my house until their hostfamilies could pick them up:) It was a wonderful day! And we had a lot of fun!!

Sadly, I didn't have my camera, so I wasn't able to take any pictures..

Emirates Team New Zealand

Emirates Team New Zealand remporte la Coupe Louis-Vuitton

Les Néo-Zélandais d'Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) ont remporté dimanche à San Francisco (Californie) la Coupe Louis-Vuitton (éliminatoires des challengers de la Coupe de l'America) en battant leurs adversaires italiens de Luna Rossa.

Grandissimes favoris, les Kiwis ont gagné la 8e régate courue dans le brouillard dans la baie de San Francisco, avec des vents d'ouest/sud-ouest de 12,5 à 14,5 noeuds. C'était leur 7e victoire dans cette compétition disputée au meilleur des 13 manches, préalable indispensable pour pouvoir affronter à partir du 7 septembre et

sur le même plan d'eau les Américains d'Oracle Team USA, détenteurs de la Coupe de l'America depuis 2010.

Skitrip Part 1

The Skitrip was really good!
On Monday, I went to school, like every other  day, but in mufti-so with my own cloths- and I only had the first 4 lessons.  Befor the school started, I had to put my luggage in a locked up room in the gymnasium. My luggage was composed by a big bag with my cloths, my backpack and a bag with the sleepingbag in it. So it was kind of a challange to carry everything to school, but that was okay ;)

Then after the fourth lesson, meeting at the gymnasium to put the bags in the car and sort the food we had to bring in a separate container. All in one, there were 3 busses and one car. During the ride, we stopped to buy a few vegetables. Then we had only a few toilet breaks, that's all for a four hour drive.. So it was quite long, and it takes quite some time to come up the mountain with the van.. I must confess I mostly slept during the travel and that was very fine.

https://maps.google.de/maps?q=whakapapa+ski+area&ie=UTF-8&ei=n48ZUqzbIsbdigeEt4GoCQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg

So there are a few people who stayed only for two days and these could not stay in the lodge where the rest of us stayed, but they stayed down  the mountain at a teacher's second house. This was apperently very good too, but they didn't have the possibility to go home whenever they wanted after the skiing and had to come up the mountain everyday, so 40 minuterides.. That's kind of sad and it was also sad that they coulnd't stay with the rest of the group...



It was very strange to see, when we got up the mountain the landscape change and you could see some snow and at the same time green and brown areas!




After a while we arrived at the lodge and everybody was positevely surprised that everything was so cozy and warm. It felt really good and like on the skitrips in Austria or so. It was amazing!
There was a lot of wood a big open kitchen and a big dinningroom, then a big lounge with a chimney, so in the evenings we used to meet all down there and the heat of the chimney could easily get into our rooms, so it was all good warm:) The rooms were for four people and were quite small but cozy, so it was fine. We had to sleep in sleeping bags and with our own pillowcase.

We had  awonderfull dinner when we came and before time to put our luggage in our rooms. There was always a lot of food available and with desert and water to drink. Every night my stomach was doing noises bacause I ate so much..

There was always a party leader, so a responsable for the lodge. The first nights one, was very strikt and she explained quickly the rules. She said we must be at 9:30 in our rooms and the light must be off at 10. So everybody wanted to brush their teeth at 9:30 and then this lady just shut the light off, so that we spead up and then we weren't allowed to go into the bathroom again, so a lot of people had to brush their teeth in the rooms and split the foam threw the window.. That was very discusting! I had to do that too and we all had to go to the toilets, so we all waited until this woman went to bed and then we could finally go.. That wasn't really nice, but the room was very warm and it was the first time in New Zealand that I could sleep without a sweatshirt or something long on but in T-Shirt! That was a kind of strange feeling;p
But all in one we had a very good night!

Next week

Today, was a rainy sunday, so I stayed at home and had a very relaxed day. And I did my luggage for tomorrow for the skitrip.

We are going to leave from havelock after the 4th lesson, so we have to come to school in mufti-so without uniform- and our luggage will be locked away in the gymnasium. At least I don't have to wake earlier then usually, so that's good.
I'm really excited for the trip and we are going to have a good souvenir of it, because my friend and I are going to do a little film about it!!

So I won't be able to post anything next week until thursday or friday...

Have a nice week!!:)

Bread

Here they say bread to toast, and that's the only common bread they have here. I kind of really miss a Bauernbrot, or a bread with a hard crust and a dark bread with some flour still over it. And baguette, something crispy and you can just rip it of the loaf..




And I miss just a normal buttercroissant, or something similar, because I haven't found any pateries of that kind..


So sometimes, when I go for a walk I just buy myself a little plain bread roll and I then enjoy it during my walk, such a deliscious snack!

Sports

In New Zealand the big sports teams have all black in their name,
like the all blacks,

the tall blacks,

the black socks

Carglass

Smith & smith are the new Zealand equivalent of Carglass;)

So it's smith&smith repair, smith&smith replace!

Winter

So it is winter now and it's still quite cold. The day can be 13 degrees cold or sometimes 18 degrees warm. But whatever weather it is the people are dressing like in summer! My host sister is wearing dresses and skirts all the time and the guys are wearing shorts.. It's somethign I really can't understand.. I'm running around with pants and a pretty big and warm winterjacket and the kiwis in summercloths and jerseys..
I could especially realize that on  muftiday, allmost everybody was waering shorts, skirts or dresses.. I was kind of shocked because of that, and then the internationals, all had their jackets, pants and scarfs.. It'S kind of strange for me;)

Saturday

Today, I wanted to go to Napier with some girlfriends, but sadly one of them couldn't come and then we discovered that there was acctually no bus going to Napier.. So we canceled our little shopping afternoon:( We will see if we can do it another day!

And this morning there was a big storm at around 9 am. I wasn't really sure if it was in my dream or for real. But now the sun is shining and I am going to go for a walk! I have to enjoy the nice weather:)

Ginny Blackmore

She is an New Zealand singer and I have to say that I really like her song:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ye5fxkj0CQs



Lorde, the singer I have already mentionned a time ago, is doing very well with her release in the USA and she's only 16!!

Rugby

Everything you ever wanted to know about rugby:)

http://foxi.ltam.lu/T0IF2/grake212/NetBeansProjects/RUGBY/RUGBY.html

second earthquake..

Today, I had my second earthquake in 1 month!!

I was in my Maori class and suddenly my head was shaking again and it was quite silent in the class-which is really unusual,- and i had the feeling I'm about to faint again.. so I didn't say anything, bacause I thought that I am the only one that has such feelings..
And then suddenly everybody is like, yeah have you felt that? It's an earthquake!!! And it didn't stop and it went on and on.. But finally it went slower and slower and then stopped. Voila, the story of the second earthquake I felt in New Zealand

http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/2013/08/16/02/31/magnitude6-NewZealand-quake.html

Annabel Langbein

Annabel Langbein is a famous cook that lives ona farm on the South Island. The New Zealander uses regional and seasonal ingredients for her recipies.

My New Zealand cooking teacher showed us a part of one of her DVDs. The food looked yummy and she seemed very symatical!

Her blog where you can also find some recepies:)
http://www.annabel-langbein.com/

the legend of the North Island

The Story of He Ika A Maui

The story of He Ika A Maui
as told by Thomas Kahu of Whale Watch Kaikoura.

Maui and his exploits are legendary within Maori story telling, especially significant to us "Ngati Kuri" is the story of "He Ika A Maui".

Te Waiponamu (the South Island), is the waka upon which Maui and his brothers fished up the north island, and is what forms the focus of this story.

Maui was determined to go fishing with his brothers, but they did not want to take maui with them, and so he stowed away on their fishing boat until they were well out to sea. He then, to the disappointment of his brothers, sprung from his hiding place, yet Maui managed to convince his brothers not to turn back with him, but to continue on with the fishing trip.

He prepared his line and magic jawbone hook, and used his blood as bait as his brothers refused to share their bait with him. Soon after he had dropped his line he felt a tremendous pull on the line. He had landed a mighty fish, the water became turbulent and his brothers were fearful, pleading with Maui to cut the line and release his catch. Maui refused and begun to haul his mighty fish to the surface.

The strain on the line was so immense that Maui needed to adjust his footing by placing one foot on the side of the waka, giving him better leverage to haul the great fish to the surface. So tremendous was the strain, that the side of the waka broke out into the sea forming the Kaikoura Peninsula, Te Whakatakahanga A Maui.

This secret was retained by Ngati kuri and preserved in nature within the Kopu a species of limpet. The Limpet makes great fishing bait but be prepared, you may get more bite then you can chew.

http://www.newzealand.com/int/feature/the-legend-of-new-zealand/

Finally Friday!

Today, school strted like every Friday on  9 am, which is really late, and very nice!! So I was able to sleep until 8:) This is so nice!!!

At school I had my digital technology class and I just continued on my second workbook:) Because I have finished my assessment. The new workbook is about word, so is pretty easy:)

In the cooking class, we did hokey pokey biscuits, which are a New Zealand speciality. That worked really well and I just did some more this afternoon. I will absolutaly make some at home for my family!!

In my media class I talked to my teacher, becuase in fact I am really motivated to do a movie or something but not a music video, because you need some actors and it's a lot of work with the editing and I have absolutely no experience with this kind of stuff.. SO I told my teacher that-proud of my communication- and I told him that this is too difficult for me and that I might change subject because of that.. So he said that would be sad if I changed and I could just do a video about my skitrip I am going to do next week and then he lend me a camera and I can film a lot and edit it in class and he can then support me and help me and my denish friend Henrik then decided to participate. So now I am going to do a video about the skitrip and then everybody has great souveniers!



In history we watched a movie and sadly our Maori teacher is not there for the moment because her sister is dying.. so we all made some cards for her.

super sweet *_*

Missing U

http://vimeo.com/71316649

my evening, not like the others

Okay, so two day ago, in the evening, I was doing my habitual hot water bottle, when I just see something walking on the floor! It was black and had very long sensing devices.. And then I came clear trow my mind, it is a cockroach!! Ohh, I began to panik, because everybody was already in bed and I didn't know what to do, so I started running from left to right in the kitchen. Finally I grabbed a tissuepaper and made the insect go on it, then i folded the tissue over it and started to punsh and soll with a can over it, a cocnut cream can. I finally thought it was dead, when it just walked out of the tissue again.. And I had to repeat that whole prosses 3 times until it was finally dead.



Then I put my hot water bottle in bed and then I sat in bed and everything was wet! What happened? The hot water bottle broke, or it rather burned.. So a lot of water had gone out of it and went into my bed.. Ohh, what a nice evening..

My taupo and Rotorua trip! :)

Wake up at 6 am, which is quite early for me because I'm used to wake up at 7 to 7:30.. But it was okay, and then I had to go to the school where we all met. Then we went into the bus and drove to Taupo. 

1st Stop was the SKydive station, but unfortunately, no Skydive could take place, because it was too cloudy. But there will be a second chance to do that when we are going to the Skitrip. 

Our second Stop was the Bungy jumping stop. It was really impressive to see the people jump down and then you hear them shouting and everything and rebouncing in the high again. I have a lot of respect of the guys who did that! But I didn't do that right now, because I think when I would do it the weather should be nicer, and I want my parents to be with me! But we will see if I really dare to do it. Otherwise there is another thing called tandem I think, which is just like a giant swing in the middle of nothing, which you can do in pairs and looked like a lot of fun!

That's the platform from where you jump into nowhere..

These are the Huka Falls which are quite impressive and the water looked really nice and had a very fair blue amazing color! And it was just full of movement! Really impressive!

Then we went to Rotorua and there is a photo of the town. I took the photo from the top of the mountain from where we did the luge. We went up the mountain with the gondola and on top we got some tickets for 3 luge rides! That was a whole lot of fun! There were 3 different difficulty degrees and I did them all, first the easy then the difficult and finally the middle one. In fact it started raining for my last ride, so when I arrived at the top again I was all wet.. So in the restaurant I ate my lunch with the others. After that, we went back to the base of the mountain. 

Then we made another stop at the ogo ball thing. So that's where you go into that plastic ball and they trow some water with you inside and the ball rolls down the mountain. It looked like a whole lot of fun, but it was really cold (10C) and you had to be in your swim suit, so that was defenetly not for me! I might do it in summer if the occasion comes again. 

That's the historical area of the hot and mud pools. It lookes really nice but was not really too interesting, because there was not too much to see so we only stayed there for 20 minutes. 

But it was really smelly because of the brimstone coming out of the pool.. 

That's a mud pool, which was really stinky..  But appearently the mud is very good for your skin, but I rather didn't try that;)

These are the hot pools where you can swim in. And the water was sooo hot- 40 degrees and my feeds were really hurting alot when I dipped them in it, because they were so cold.. But it was really refreshing and enjoyable! I loved it and after that, fish and chips just next to the pools;) Finally we had 10 minutes to get dressed again.. that was a real challange and there was only one old hairdryer for all the girls, so I and some others had to go into the bus with wet hair.. And then the 2 hours drive and back at the house at 9:20, and at leased they dropped me right here, which was really nice!

When I came home, first thing I did is I took a shower and then then I drank some water and went to bed! 

It was a very fun trip but it was really exhausing.. At least the next morning I could get up really easily:)

That was my trip report!:D