Sick to My Stomach, Literally!

I forgot how much fun 6 year olds are. They have constant energy, even when they are exhausted, to learn and play. They are really cute too! Even when they are crying and wiping their snot on your sleeve, it still manages to be heartwarming.

I know that I shouldn't play favorites, but I do have some kids that are my favorite (don't get me wrong, I treat them all the same)! Siena is just so cute and little that I want to pinch her cheeks. Instead, when she was crying the other day, I told her I would read a book with her at independent reading time. Her face lit up. Next is little Eve. She is fashionable in her brown leather boots, and is just such a sweetheart to everyone. Amy is a little girl who is so intelligent. When Amanda, the teacher, asked the class what 21 + 12 equaled, she threw her hand up, answered correctly, and continued to make me smile by saying she got the answer by adding 10 + 20, and the three leftover. That's how I got the answer, and I am 12 years older than she is! Michael is another great one...he watches Family Guy every night, and talks to me about the episodes from the previous night (that we have both watched). He also serenades me with rap songs. It is quite endearing. The list could go on and on, but there is one more child that I need to tell you about! Piper! She is so mature for her age, a known fact by all, and has a constant smile on her face. Her positive attitude is amazing and I hope that she stays the way she is forever!

This, more or less, summarizes my first week in the classroom! Of course there were a few temper tantrums on the side, but they don't need to be discussed. One event that did occur was on Friday. The entire school, all 200 students (K-8) went to an assembly. We sang songs in Maori! I think I might finally be catching on to the language a little bit! Kia ora means hello (in case you were wondering). I became very amused at the assembly when the teachers and students started to sing Three Little Birds by Bob Marley! YES! Bob! What a great school :)

Wednesday evening, I went out with all of the teachers and got to know them a little bit! Amanda and I hung out most of the night, and got along really well! All of the faculty is extremely kind and even said they would help me plan a trip to the South Island! Amanda made me a fantastic list of things I need to do before I leave! It also helped that the Chinese food we were eating was amazing!

Fast-forward to Friday night. Jenny, the 22 year old intern from the third apartment, came over to meet us! She is very nice and we might even go for a hike or something together next weekend! The restaurant that we wanted to eat at was packed, so we ended up at this little pub (we should have known that it was going to suck because it was empty). Jeni (the other one) and I both got Vegetable Stir Fry. It looked and tasted good, but as soon as we had finished eating it, we looked at each other and knew, this was a terrible idea.

We both wanted to ignore the fact that we just had a bad dinner, and enjoy our Friday night. We went out for a while, and managed to find Amanda! I introduced her to my roommates and chatted for a while. After, we managed to get to a Karaoke bar, and signed up Louis, one of our roommates, without telling him! He was surprised to be singing Hit Me With Your Best Shot, but did a decent job with the song. After, we walked around for a while, and found Logan, from the other apartment. We dragged him along with us to Rain, a little dance club. After dancing for a few minutes, I was giving up to the dinner sitting in my stomach. We all went back home. Feeling like absolute crap, I curled up into a little ball, and went to bed.

I was surprised that I slept until 8 A.M., but my wake up could not have been any worse. I was nearly in tears sitting up in my bed, trying to not throw up last nights veggies in my room. I made it to the bathroom and sat on the floor for two hours with tears streaming down my face. But, don't worry! I didn't throw up. You can ask anyone that I know, but it is my least favorite thing to do. I will do just about anything to avoid it, and I did well. I went back to bed, and slept until noon! I was woken up with a text from dad asking to video chat on Skype! I hopped out of bed, and got ready! It was nice to see mom and dad for the first time in about a week!

Yesterday was a relaxing day, despite my disaster of a morning. We relaxed in the house for a while. Later in the afternoon, Jeni and I went to Te Papa, the famous museum in Wellington. It was amazing, but too big to see it all in one day. We managed to get through half of the fourth floor when we realized that we still felt like crap from dinner the night before. We went to New World, the supermarket, got some bagels and cream-cheese (nothing like New York though, even though it says "New York Bagels" on the packaging), and went back home. I had Dominos for dinner, watched She's the Man (a classic Amanda Bynes movie), and went to bed early.

Today, I am feeling a lot better (my stomach is at least)! I am now stuck with a cold, just like my mom! Despite my sickness, we are all going to the Italian Festival today! Jeni and I have been looking forward to  good Italian food all week!

Tomorrow's adventure should be a true adventure. I have off from work tomorrow, and Jeni is taking off. We are going to go out for brunch at Espressoholic, a fantastic pancake place, and taking a train to somewhere! We won't know where that somewhere is until we buy the ticket! This method of exploration has been proven (by myself) to be a great way to find and learn about new places without any premises or assumptions.

A train adventure to come!