Busy week

The last week was busy and I have to say, it wasn't my favorite one.

On Monday (when we had a day off) I was invited to Kendra's 17th birthday party, which was really nice. We watched a movie and ate cake and popcorn. Unfortunately I forgot to leave a note to my host parents were I was. 

I didn't think something bad about what I did, but I also didn't think about the consequenzes.

So I was grounded for the first time.. That might sound really awful, but it wasn't that bad.

It was only for one weekend or less and I think after this time I won't do it again..

On Wednesday we did our rock climbing assessment in Outdoor Ed as I already reported.

I don't really remember the Thursday, so I continue with Friday.. ;)

On Friday we had a 50 words French vocab test again, but me and my French crew did really well and we all got a prize! :)

We also planned to do a french breakfast next week.

On Saturday my host family organized the 50th wedding anniversary of Mike's parents. It was kind of a suprise party and I helped decorating the room. Mike and Michelle ordered a huge chocolate cake from a dessert shop and invited friends and family.

It was a nice evening and the food, especially the cake and the pavlova was delicious. I felt a bit strange, because I only knew few people, but it was okay.

My host sisters and me went home around nine o' clock, but my host parents returned at 2am :)

Good for me that I went home so early, because on Sunday it was St. Hilda's Day. That means everybody at school has to go to the church with school uniform. It was actually pretty boring, because it was so hard to understand and it was so long...! :(

Michelle allowed me to stay in town and have lunch with Kie, Jess, Sophie and An. We went to a japanese restaurant and I ordered something really yummy!

After lunch we all wanted a dessert and searched one at the supermarket. Best thing ever: We bought 2 big chocolate cakes for only 7$!! 

We enjoyed those cakes at the old railway station (that sounds odd, but this station is with flowers and hedges).

In the afternoon I went to Kie's house, we baked doughnuts and watched Vampire Diaries. In her house live three more internationals and that's why the eat Asian cuisine most of the time. Kendra and Angel, from Hong Kong cooked chicken wings and stir- fried noodles with beef. It was yummy and I really have to learn them..

We enjoyed our cake :)

Angel and me baking doughnuts

That was all of my last week..

Outdoor Education on Wednesday

Yesterday me and my Outdoor Education class did rock climbing in Port Chalmers. This time it was an assignment and I was a little nervous, but it worked very well.

To warm up we did boldern, that's climbing on a lower level without a harness.

Then Celine and I tried the Merit climb, which I already climbed the last time and we both did a pretty good job. Jessica needed a bit motivation, but she also managed to climb on Merit level.

The Excellence climb was a bit too hard for us so Celine and I finally climbed an other high Merit climb.

At the end we got a bit silly and climbed the easy wall on time and with only one hand :)

It was very fun. The feeling of fear I had when I started climbing becomes less and less every time I do it...

When I'm bored...

 I was ectually a bit suprised that my small digital camera can take those photos.. :)

School starts again...

On Monday I was sooo tired, you can't imagine, beacuse the day before we had tea at 10pm, 4-5 hours later than usually..

I was really hungry, but I had a stomach ache, because it was too late.

School was alright, I got my french internal back, of course: excellence!

The rest of the day was like Tuesday uneventfully.

On Wednesday we had Outdoor Ed again and we did rock climbing. It was so much fun!

Rock climbing is so much better than indoor climbing and I learned so much about my limits and what I can do, if I'm a bit brave.

Furthermore it was the final practice for my rock climbing assessment. I climbed an achieved and a merit climb and I hope I can do the same performance next week again.

It was also Kendra's birthday and she invited me to her birthday party on Monday (it's a public holiday, so we don't need to go to school).

On Thursday it was a nice day. The weather was also quite nice, different to the days before.

I got my certificate during student assembly.

Friday morning we had no cornflakes left :(

I usually eat cornflakes and yogurt, but today I had to eat weet- bix with milk and sugar.

In the evening all german girls will have dinner in town and we wll celebrate Karlas birthday. :)

I;m really looking forward to this.

The rest of the holidays

After the tour the rest of the holidays was mostly quiet and relaxed.
I sometimes got up at 10 or 11am and had a nice breakfast, but on Thursday, after the tour I had to do exercise.
I got up at 7.20am and I went to the gym with my host sister and her friend.. 30 min workout ;), bit short but it was really necessary.
From Wednesday to Thursday I stayed at Kie's house and we had a lot of fun :)
On Thursday we went to the movies and watched "Pitch Perfect" a singing movie and it's so cool!

I also had a lot of fun watching my funny cat Puss Puss drinking :)

I got a certificate!

Yesterday in student assembly during the student achievement presentation Sophie, Celine and I got an certificate! We had to go to the stage and received the certificate for high distinction in a french listening test!
I was kind of proud :)

North- Island Tour

During the springtime holidays I went up to the North- Island.

On Saturday morning, very early at 7.20 I jumped on my plane to Christchurch with Teresa and Karla. After a 45min flight we had to change the plane, that finally brought us to Auckland.

We were a bit tired when we first met our group and tour guides, but we still had to go on a 4-5h bus ride to Paihia, a small village more northern than Auckland.

At the airport we ate Mc Donald's and Teresa ate a fresh looking expensive chicken wrap.

Unfortunately we forgot to buy some water and I almost died of thirst. :(

Our accommodation, Saltwater Lodge was a nice hostel and I shared a bedroom with Teresa, Karla and Klara. Klara was as all the other girls and boys of our 14 people group from Germany.

We had turkish kebab for dinner and in the evening we went along the beach, enjoyed the sunset.

Teresa felt a bit sick and she had to threw up at night. 

The next morning she still was sick so she couldn't go on the dolphin boat tour trip.

The weather was maybe 27 degrees and clouds in the sky :( Not exactly what I expected.

Unfortunately we only saw two dolphins and there was no possibility to swim with them. I guess they were in a bad mood.

But the clouds broke up and the sun came out and we had a beautiful view over the Bay of Islands with its 144 islands. The water was clear and colored in a deep turqoise..

Anyway the trip was really nice and I had a lot of fun with Karla, Alex and Conrad ;)

The afternoon we chilled at the beach (grass) and bought some nice gits for my friends and family.

In the evening we had a barbecue and played the good old game "Werwolf" :)

On Monday we went on the Cape Reigna da ytrip and I have to say that was the highlight of the whole tour!

We had to get up at 6am (it actually was 5am, because we turned our clocks forward) und waited to get on our truck- like bus. Teresa really wanted to come with us, but she wasn't fit yet.

Our first stop was a gum tree plantage and we saw one Kauri tree (a huge tree that is more than 1000 years old). It was interesting.

Next stop: Cape Reigna. The most northern point of New Zealand. And you could see an impressive spectacle: The Tasmanian Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet in a point. The waves go in both directions it was really cool! The landscape was breathtaking and really wanted to go to the small untouched beach to swim in the sea(s).

After we had lunch we headed up to the famous "90 Mile beach, but before we stopped at a big dune to do sandboarding. It's a very funny activity. We got a surf board and climbed up the dune (it was really hard, because we sank in the sand) lied on the board and slided down. It was exciting and a bit scary, because it was very steep.

After to slides I had sand almost everywhere and we were ready to go the beach.

The "90 Mile beach" isn't really 90 miles long, only 73, but the sailors, that discovered the beach hundreds of years ago, needed 3 days to walk from one end to another. They knew they can walk 30 miles a day, so they thought it's 90 miles long..
Because of our bus, that looked like a truck we could drive along the beach. The beach looked amazing and the sun came out in right moment.
We saw a gorgeous seal <3
I couldn't wait to get off the bus and feel the sand under my feet... Unfortunately I could feel a bit more ;) I ran in the sea and stood in the water, but then came a huge wave!  Of course I fall in the sea and all of my cloths were totally wet!! Quite embarrassing!

After I changed we continued our way back to Paihia. We arrived at dinner time and the boys, who did canoeing, cooked pasta and it was actually really yummy :)

On Tuesday we had to leave Paihia and went back to Auckland. It was kind of sad, but I was already excited to see Auckland and the "Skytower".
Our hostel was horrible! The room was so small and the toilets and showers were not separated!! The boy pissed on the toilet seat! Disgusting!
We went to a Asian food court and I ate sushi. It was delicious!  After dinner we went to the cinema and watched Madagascar 3 in 3D. It was funny.. :)

The next day was another highlight! Teresa, Klara and I went to the "Skytower". It was so scary, we had to take the lift to the 50st floor and in the ground there was a hole made out of glass!
At the top, 220 meters above the ground, the view over Auckland was amazing!
We could see all the bis buildings, but compared to Cologne there weren't any churches.

At 12pm the shuttle came to the hostel and brought us to the airport. We had a direct flight to Dunedin. In the afternoon I was back at home, but I would rather have spent a couple more days on the North- Island.

Sooooooooo scary!

This tour was so great! The new people I met, the places I visited and the new experiences I gained.

That's the best picture I got from the dolphins.

Cape Reigna...

A beautiful beach near Cape Reigna.

The skytower

I was totally scared in the elevator!

from the skytower..

Klara, I met her on the tour.

Luisa, we tried to make jumping photos ;)

before..

after..

A shell beach...

The two seas: Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean

90 Mile beach..

Our bus..