Past month and a half

Long time no see! My holidays ended last Monday so after nearly 4 months without school (beginning November) I had to start again.. I changed schools by the way. I’m now at JPC where my two host sisters go to and another exchange student who I already now so it’s way easier to start! School has been you know school but oh well. I decided to choose some different subjects so for instance I chose ‘Adventure’. Basically every second Monday you go with a little group somewhere around in Rotorua to do an outdoor activity. This term we’re going to do rock climbing, should be interesting tomorrow. I basically get the day off of school to do this  Also I used to walk to school every morning but now I changed schools I have to take the bus! So every morning I take a school bus to school. Well that about school. Today I went to ‘Waiotapu thermal wonderland’. It’s an amazing thermal park with lots of bubbling mud and colourful lakes. There was a big light green lake and at the end even a neon yellow lake! So weird to see! There was an awful smell throughout the park though because of all the sulphur but it was worth it. I also saw some Dutch people haha!

NEW YEAR:
My new year was honestly soooooo amazing! Best new year I’ve ever had! As I told you in my last blog I was going to The Mount a few days and spend new year’s there. We stayed in a little house that was 3 minutes from town AND the beach. Perfect! Maria and I spend our time relaxing on the beach, swimming and even running (once, never again). On the day of new year’s eve it was getting pretty crowded. Another Brazilian exchange student, Rafael, from our district came to our house and we started preparing for the night. All dresses up we left around 22.30. I had no idea what was happening or where to go but the moment we got out of the house we could here this big crowd cheering on the street. We walked towards the noise and saw that the whole street between the beach and houses was blocked off for cars and was filled with numerous of teenagers. We walked towards the main beach but during our walk we were just talking to different people. Everybody was keen to have a good time and celebrate so just randomly started talking to each other. The houses we were walking past were super flash! Huge balconies were filled with people celebrating and singing to music, such a good atmosphere! When we got to the main beach there was a huge stage with a DJ and a big crowd dancing on the beach. We found a spot and started dancing and dancing and singing. We walked around a bit and saw lots of people we knew because this is a really popular spot for teenagers to come for new year’s or just for a road trip. It was getting closer to midnight as we were cheering and getting excited. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEWYEAAAAAAR!!!! I hugged Maria and lots of other random people around me and wished them a happy new year while the song ‘Celebration’ was playing. The fireworks were starting and the whole crowd was singing, such a cool feeling and view! Then me and Maria decided to follow a Brazilian tradition. We jumped 7 waves! So after midnight you jump 7 waves in the ocean and for every wave you can make a wish. So we did. We danced around in the sea while the music was playing loud and the stars were shining bright as usual. Honestly New Zealand has the most beautiful night skies I’ve ever seen. After that we went back to the stage were we danced until it was over, 2AM. I was sitting on somebody’s shoulders dancing and it was so cool haha! Well knowing us, exchange students, we’re always hungry so off we went to Subway for a big sandwich. Little did we know that it had jalapenos in it. Pfeew! After this we wandered around town and ended up hanging with these other foreign people until 5 in the morning! They were from Argentina, Germany, Chile, France and Belgium. Love this international country!

The next morning, first of January, I already had something exciting planned. My plane to Nelson (South Island) left at 17.00. I had the most amazing view over the country with clear blue water and lots of little bays. I was sitting next to a weird old man who was wearing his sunglasses and mountain bike helmet. I was sitting next to the window and he just kept on leaning over me to see out of the window. He seemed like he was very into everything he would do so I asked him one simple question ‘Excuse me, but could you tell me what the name of all these islands are?’ worst decision ever. It ended up in an one hour story about god knows what. I smiled and nodded and honestly I have no idea what he was saying. He started talking about his past and a fisherman town and then he started naming e v e r y s i n g l e island!! My god! Honestly I just wanted to listen to music and enjoy the view but oh well. All part of the experience. Down in Nelson my host mum and sisters were waiting for me and took me to the hostel were the whole family was! Nice to meet them all. There were 2 other cousins our age and 4 younger ones. We spent the night in Nelson and left the next day to Abel Tasman. Both places I missed on the South Island Trip with the exchange students. We had signed up to do a 2 day kayak trip so a few days later we spent 2 hours getting instructions on how not to die while doing the kayak trip. There were 4 double kayaks and I was in 1 with Hannah. I was scared because I haven’t had that much practise with kayaking but oh well. We were wearing all these layers of gear and had our stuff in the kayak. At 11.30 we left the bay. Surprisingly enough Hannah and I were taking the lead. The sun started to shine, finally, and it was so beautiful! Clear blue sea and the famous golden sand on the shore. After an hour we took a morning tea break on one of the beaches. After that we continued. We were told that double kayaks were called ‘divorce boats’ because people always end up fighting. Which happened indeed for some of us. I was sitting in the back and was in charge of steering the boat with my feet! The weather was turning cloudy and windy. It was getting pretty hard and we were spreading. When we got together again we saw that 1 boat was missing. It started to rain and we decided to stop on a bay close by. After waiting for a really long time we got back in our kayaks and then a water taxi came to us and told us that there was a kayak stuck in the rocks! We stayed on the beach and the others went back to look. What happened? The waves were so strong they pushed the kayak towards the rocks. It was high tide so they got stuck up there but then the tide was going out and low and they couldn’t get down anymore. Well everybody was pretty sick of it. After a while we saw all the kayaks around the corner We all had sore arms and shoulders and were soaked and the wind was sooo strong! It pushed us back and the waves pushed us back as well. Nobody knew how far it was but there. After 8,5 hours (which were supposed to take 3) we got to the bay. Only to see that the tide was out so we had to carry our kayaks full of gear and water 100 meters to the huts. The huts had no electricity or hot water or even clean water. I felt so dirty and sweaty and miserable that I ‘washed myself’ with the freezing cold hose. After that we had our dinner in plastic bags where you only have to add water. My arms were so sore I could honestly not lift a plastic plate! I put all my gear in front of the fire and tried to warm up. We all went to sleep at 21.00 because well it was dark and there was nothing else to do. It poured the whole night with rain pff! We got up at 7am the morning after and had porridge for breakfast, never again honestly. Then the worst bit came: putting our soaking wet gear on again. Also sweaty from all the people that had used it yuck!!! Off we went on that huge kayak trip back. We went outside and the waves were so high and strong! Whenever I looked back I couldn’t see anything because the wave was bigger than us. We saw a bay close by and we decided to go there. It took us like 40 minutes to get in there, don’t underestimate distance pff. Once we pulled our kayaks on the shore I just threw myself in star fish position on the sand. No more moving, I was knackered. So was everyone else. We talked and decided to call a water taxi back. We had a few hours on the beach and it actually cleared up pretty well and was hot! The golden sand, or as Maria told me; peanut butter sand, was shining and the water was so clear and fresh! I went for a swim and then we went on the water taxi. 10 people, 4 kayaks on a little boat! The way back looked endless honestly I couldn’t believe we had kayaked all of that, because it took like 15/20 minutes by boat on high speed! He said that the waves were so rough and choppy and they should not send anybody out on the sea. Once we got back the boat went a tractor and we drove back to the hut. It felt so weird to sit on a boat on the road haha. When we saw the instructor again (he didn’t go with us) we had a little walk of shame but oh well. That afternoon we went back to Nelson and spent the day in our pajamas watching movies and eating peanut butter m&m’s. The day after we were going back to Rotorua. Honestly longest trip ever. First 2 hours in the car to Picton, a city where the ferry leaves to the north island, then 4,5 hours on the ferry and then 7 hours back to rotorua! Pfff we got home at like 1 in the morning totally knackered! We had horrible weather down south but I’m glad I went and could explore the beautiful abel tasman!

It’s almost midnight here and I have school tomorrow woops. But I promised to write my blog this weekend so here it is. Sorry that it’s so long I just get carried away once I start. I’ll try to write one every week/2 weeks again! Good night it’s so hot here!!