October 31st is a pretty exciting day back in the states because of course trick-or-treating! I was surprised at how many teachers at school this week have asked me about Halloween back in the states. Questions such as do you guys really dress up, walk around and ask strangers for candy? Have you ever had someone pull a trick on you instead of giving you candy? Were you able to dress up at school? It was interesting how curious people were as to how we celebrated Halloween in the states. Here in NZ, trick-or-treating is not very popular at all. Many families do not believe in it and find it contradicting that we teach children not to talk/take things from strangers; yet let them go knock on stranger’s doors and ask them for candy. We were out and about on Tuesday night and we saw no more than 15 trick-or-treaters. In NZ, if you choose to participate in trick-or-treating; you hang up a balloon on your mailbox so people know that they may come to your door. Our host family’s grandchildren went for the first time this year and they came back and said it was the most awkward experience going up to someone’s door and asking for candy, so they only made it to a couple houses. They were in shock when I told them that kids back at home come home with pillowcases full of candy.
This week at school I have finally master the NZ alphabet in sign language and am still working on my Maori. Only week two and I have taken over most of our day already. I have been adjusting to the different styles of teaching and have been falling in love with the school routines here. My students have been working hard this week on drawing self-portraits and describing themselves using adjectives. It is neat to compare their self-portraits they made during Term 1 to now at the start of Term 4. The progress they have made is incredible—most of them now have bodies and aren’t sticks anymore!!! I cannot believe how fast this week has already gone and that tomorrow is already Thursday here. The weeks always go by crazy fast! Next week, I am going on two field trips, which I am really looking forward to. On Wednesday we are taking students on the train into Downtown Auckland to do a scavenger hunt around the city and on Thursday, we are going to the Planetarium.
This weekend we are going to take the ferry from Downtown Auckland to Rangitoto Island (a volcanic island) and hike to the top of it in the morning. We are crossing our fingers again that the weather is nice so we can hang out at the beach in the afternoon! Sunday is Guy Fawke’s day in NZ, so we are going to watch some fireworks—we’ll see if they are anything compared to the firework shows we have here on the Fourth of July! I will fill you in after the weekend if any spur of the moment adventures pop in!
