Crisis!

Well guys, there has been a case of computer problems roaming around the girls, I was happy to not get it until BAM, my charger stops working. Good news is that my computer is fine but waiting for a charger is a bit stressful. It will all work out in the end, and as my Kiwi friends would say, NO WORRIES! What does this mean for my blog, I know you all are anxious, well no blog posts for awhile, at least not with any pictures. Also, they won't be very long or good. Not to mention, starting on Monday (Sunday your day) I will be gone for a week and a half and won't have much access anyway. Therefore, my poor blog will be pretty empty for some time. But I am still loving it here and can not wait for these last two days of school to be over! It is weird to think these are my last two BYU classes I will ever have to take. I am also excited to start teaching here, although, literally every single person we told which primary school we will be teaching in, their reactions are all the same. Shock, laughter, and lots of "good lucks." I hear its like the Bronx of NZ. This should scare me a bit, but actually, it makes me that more excited to get that experience and diversity. I can not wait to love those little balls of energy! It will give me great experience to pursue future dreams of working my teacher magic in third world countries, or inner city schools! My social studies class today simply reminded me of the children all over the world needing an education, and a place to start that education. Children are growing up in illiterate homes, and being forced to participate in child labor and have no schools to educate them. It was heartbreaking to hear the stories and see the pictures, but all that more reason to find a way to help! If any of you have time, check out the story on Iqbal, he was a 10 year old boy sold into labor by his family so they could earn money. He escaped and had a dream of building schools. He was killed at age 12 but his impact has made a difference world wide with 8 schools being built in his name. Kids are inspiring!

Video about Iqbal : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0D6K18wq8A

Happy Chinese New Year!

Math is officially over and science and social studies have begun! I am sad to report, we will actually have homework, LOTS of homework. I guess that is what I get for gloating about having no homework the first two weeks, although I'm still okay seeing as this is the last week of school EVER!! So update on this weekend, Friday there was a multi stake YSA activity. This was interesting. . .most of us American girls were dancing in the middle and everyone else was lined up against the wall. . .we felt like animals in a zoo! We met some pretty nice people though, and they were very welcoming. We also found out that they can ALL sing! Some of the guys that looked a little rough around the edges got up and sang some of the most beautiful church songs ever! They can all play multiple instruments and dance as well! I feel inadequate. haha Overall it was a pretty fun night.
Saturday was an adventure as always. We decided to go celebrate the new year with our fellow Asian's. They have a huge convention downtown that we had to take 3 different buses to get to, and yes, there were only 4 of us this time and we were able to make it just fine! There were tons of little food booths, art, toys, jewelry, Chinese show, all the above. They also had some of the most amazing juices ever!!After the festival, we walked across the street and saw real live New Zealand sheep, we have been waiting a long time for that!

Sunday was fabulous, I gave a talk and taught Young Womens. I think they went well, I was actually excited about doing it and had a good time preparing and learning. The girls in young womens were really good, they were engaged and participating and I think we had fun! I am excited to get to know them better. We then went to a YSA family home evening activity which ended up being heaps of fun! We met a bunch of new people that are super fun! It makes me want to stay here, they have the funnest personalities,best accents, and are very talented, this culture is the greatest!! I just may never come home, well at least until after the rugby world cup, which would be a dream come true to see! Well anyway, i survived the massive amounts of constant rain and wind so that is good, can't wait to see what the weather will be like tomorrow!

Mmmm random food! 

Chinese pose. . maybe?

Passion fruit juive, amazing!!

Yes mom, they Baa with an accent!

YAY!!

No Worries!

So far this week has been fabulous, there have again been many things I have learned and found interesting as I have been here in wonderful New Zealand. Here is a brief overview of the week in lessons.

•  Elder Anderson's talk on trusting in the Lord through adversity was amazing, who knew he could be so funny and outgoing too!
• New Zealand donuts are LARGE and probably 90% cream. . .very fattening, but pretty tasty!
• Walking to school in 98% humidity right after a rain. . .well lets just say it looked like we all swam to school!
• Therefore, my hair does not like humidity, but living without a straightener is actually really nice, cuts back getting ready time!
• My life long dream of actually eating crumpet came true!! I had my first crumpet with nutella on it, sadly, I wasn't too impressed.
• Passion Fruit Cheesecake and Boysenberry Cheescake is to die for! Along with HELLZ Pizza!! Oh my. . . so not overrated!
• Math class was easy, surprisingly, but VERY informational and fun at the same time, made fun math art!
• Breaking News! Baby Allison likes us, she blows us kisses, says Bye, and even sits by us! She is adorable, loves to dance and show off!
• Found out they do have the "pull my finger" game here, little Lucas is absolutely obsessed and thinks its hilarious!
• The mall definitely closes at 6 everyday, except Thurs. and Fri. its open till late they say, which is 9! Good to know before wait for a bus, miss it, wait for another one and get there at 5:30.
• WE SURVIVED THE CYCLONE! 
• The bees and flies here take steroids.
• No worries is their favorite saying/motto, and oh they do live by it
• Their ice cream and chocolates are to die for, I have probably gained 100 pounds. .. 
• but doing a Jillian Michaels Video after class and walking to and from school in the heat should shed about half of those pounds! Its all about balance!
• And last but definitely least, they do not have purple skittles here, just plain red ones that they call skittles fruits, although they are mini and cute. And to somewhat make up for that, they have LONG LOST, very much loved, crispy M&M's!!!!!

Anyway, it has once again been a fabulous week, here are some pictures!!

That is only half of the donut, its FILLED with cream and some have chocolate on the top!

This is what I have everyday, except bigger, I had already eaten some :)

Wierdest candies ever, but our mum made us try them!

My beautiful Maori tapa I made in math, yes this is what we did for 3 hours one day!

Yes, last day of math, we made clothes out of newspaper!

The back!

The models, I did have a purse!

Proud Aunties!

Well another week has come and gone here in Kiwiland! It's hard to believe I am already on to my next set of classes, just math this week and so far so good, not much homework, I feel strange! But to back up a bit, yesterday was a wonderful Sunday as always. I went to YW's and made the mistake of volunteering to help with anything, yes, I got assigned to give the lesson next week and what could it be on. . . .. nothing other than preparing to me an eternal companion!!! Ya know I should have plenty to say coming from PROVO! Oh and later that night, the bishop (whom is also my "brother" that lives next door) came over and hand delivered our assignments to speak in church. That's two for two! Anyway, I am actually excited, just not excited to prepare. Later on we went to a YSA stake FHE which was a lot of fun and I met a lot of great people. They said it was sometimes hard to understand us because of our accents, its funny to think I have an accent! I will probably come home saying some of the words they use here because they are so much better, like ice blocks, rice bubbles, chippies, choice, dodgey, and so on! Oh and you can't forget about the kids, they never fail to come over when we are tired! I got another lesson from Lucas on how to say Tuesday, he says it like "chooseday" so I was wrong.Oh and I asked Tatiana where she got her energy from, she said form Harry Potter! Aren't they great! Big news, Lucas has been working all week on riding a two wheeler, we were eating dinner tonight and the window looks out to the driveway so we were watching him and he finally got it! Me and Neeley, without thinking, yelled and jumped up! haha I guess it's just an instinct to be so proud, and proud "aunties" we were!
Tomorrow is our fireside with Elder Anderson, I am very excited about, there is also another one with Elder Bednar, who knew they would follow us out to this wonderful country! There is then two YSA activities this weekend so that will be exciting I'm sure! Anyway, life couldn't be better, it is great to be alive, especially when it's 80 degrees :) Hopefully I make it through the cyclone thats coming tomorrow!

P.S. Ice cream here. . .no words to describe the amazingness, and creaminess of every flavour, it is so not overrated, neither are the cookies! And yes, here they spell things like flavour with a "u" so I am not incorrect!

A taste of Auckland

So uh I feel a bit guilty saying this but I am finished with my first two classes of the semester! What would normally be done 3 times a week for 4 months, was done in 5 days, no final, just assessments throughout the week :) On to math next week but luckily it is only 4 days but from 8:15-3:30! Anyway, I must comment on this gorgeous country. I do not think there has been a sunset yet that hasn't been perfect! A bunch of us had a picnic up in the jungly mountains last night and can I just say it was breathtaking! We stopped and looked around a private resort and the view. . .well there aren't words or even a picture to describe it! We stood there in awe and I still don't believe that I am here sometimes!

Today was an adventure! We went up to Mission Bay and kayaked and hung out on the beach! Yes, we took the bus and we were successful for all of those who didn't believe 12 girls could do that! The bus system is always an adventure though because you have to transfer buses a bunch. We got to look around Auckland for a bit too which was fun, but being in the city, it isn't much different than cities in the states. Although, they do have sushi station things on just about every corner! I have yet to get any but I hear its fabulous here, I'm saving that for later!

I had a great conversation with Tatiana again, she is great, never stops talking, even if you don't respond! My roommate was skyping her boyfriend and Tatiana comes and sits on my lap while I do pictures and says "Why is she talking to her computer, do you know why I didn't want to talk to him, its not because I'm shy, its because I do not like boys." Then a bit later continues, "I like you better because you do not have a boyfriend." Ha kids are great! Oh and Lucas was watching me hang up my laundry outside and says "hey look, Nicole hung up her pajama pants, her stretchy pants!" It is so much funnier with their accents. Overall it was a good night, finished with jumping on the trampoline with the kiddies!

We were basically standind in the middle of a green bowl, this is what it looked like on all sides of us! Pictures do not do it justice!

Auckland city behind me!

Getting ready to kayak!

We basically were exahusted after a very eventful adventure :)

Honks and Whistles!

Group Pizza/Pasta night!

So there is something that we have all noticed while being in this lovely country. . . the people are extremely kind, but at times, can be too kind. Let me tell you, walking to school and back and to the store, we had about 10 people honk/whistle at us! And yes, this is a regular occurrence for ALL of us "BYU Princesses" as Dr. Jacobs calls us. At first we were startled, then we were amazed at the occurrence, now its normal and doesn't even phase us.Its kind of fun to count now how many we get each day on the way to and from school! Although, two of our other girls were walking the other day and a couple lovely people decided to show them something on their middle finger, they couldn't quite make out what it was but oh well, they got a honk too! :) Tonight was a fun night, all the girls and our mums/dads went over to one house so we could all get to know each other. It was pizza/pasta night!! Me and Neeley made chicken carbonara pasta. . . mmmm yes it was lovely although our mum and dad laughed at us as we cooked because the pot was so big and tough to maneuver. It was an experience let me tell you!

Our fabulous director/teacher and his lovely wife!

School has been amazing lately, I have learned a lot of great insight about the classrooms here and its amazing how good of writers there first graders are! We are doing something seriously wrong in the states! They have some great techniques and ideas that I can not wait to try here and back  home! This was by far one of the best decisions I have ever made! The amount I have learned so far about myself, the gospel, life, and my profession is just heaps!:) I can only imagine what this next 3 months will bring! Oh and only 3 more weeks until. . .SKYDIVING, on my Birthday! 

Bacon?

Alright first of all I must address the title of my blog. . .bacon. What does bacon have to do with New Zealand you ask, well let me tell you. . .everything!!! There is bacon flavored everything you can imagine, chips, crackers, cheese, bread, sauces, pastas etc. You name it, they probably have bacon flavor of it! Its fun to see the interesting things at the stores, such as hamburger and chicken flavored chips, and crumpets! Yes crumpets exist, i always just liked saying "tea and crumpets" but they are real my friends. Oh and they have rice krispies made by Kellogs but they call them rice bubbles! So cute, I know!
So anyway, these past couple days have been the same old going to school, doing homework and playing with the family. Oh the children are hilarious, they are always there to greet us when we get home and when were not there, there knocking on there Nana's door at 7:30 in the morning asking "where are the girls nana?" I had the funniest conversation about boyfriends with Tatiana the 4 year old, according to her, you cant have a boyfriend until you are married,. . . hmmm. Well they keep us very entertained, there is never a dull moment here I can tell you that!

Today Natalia, my parents daughter thats married with 2 kids, took us on a ride to the Waitakre Mt. range. It is absolutely gorgeous! So green, beaches everywhere, we stopped and took some pictures with the kids, yes they had to come along, they love following "the gulls" (the girls) it sounds like they are saying gulls because of their accents! We will be hiking there one of these weekends so it was fun to stop and see it a bit! Definitely different than Mts. in Utah! Anyway, overall it was a beautiful day in Kiwiland! (More pics on FB)

Stupendous Sabbath!

It was a stupendous Sunday today with much going on. Church was fantastic, not as different as I would think which is whats so great about the gospel. The ward has about 120 members, and  we arrived at 9AM to sacrament, i would say there was a total of about 12 there! By the end,there were a lot but it was funny to see how few were there for the beginning. The counselor conducting did mention at the end of sacrament how blessed we were to have the building in to meet so to be on time next week haha! Time doesnt seem to be an issue, they went 20 minutes over, and in class, announcements dragged on, the lady giving them liked to tell little random stories and say a lot of comments, i think announcements lasted 30 min. Anyway i felt right at home even though we were literally the ONLY white people there. The bishop (whom is the son of the people we are staying with) took us girls (from BYU) into his office to officially welcome us into the ward and he put us right to work! Some of us already have talks for next week, and I get to be in YW's which is interesting because he had mentioned the first day that I met him at the airport that he would like to utilize us in the ward and the first thing that came to my mind was YW's even though love primary and thats where I am most comfortable; so when he said YW's, I wasn't really surprised, I kind of thought thats where I would be and I am excited but nervous at the same time.

We then got the opportunity to attend a family baptism which was fun as well. These people are just so welcoming; some random lady grabbed us and took us right to the food and made sure we ate, a lot! The primary children sung a couple songs; children are the same no matter where in the world you are, they all have the sweetest spirits! It was an especially neat baptism because  just two days before, she had been sealed to her parents whom were sealed in the temple on Friday! We then had my favorite part of the day, family prayer. The kids and grandkids were over and little Lucas chose the song, out of all the songs he could choose, he chose How Firm a Foundation. The grandchildren go around and say a scripture or article of faith they have memorized and they are so proud and confident! This family is so strong in the gospel and they are a great example of how a family should be! Sitting around talking to Big Lucas (or bishop) and Maria while there kids ran around and tried to show off for us and play little games with us, really made me feel like  I was in their family and I could't be happier!
P.S. in case you are reading this mommy, I do miss you and you're still my favorite mum :)

Simplicity!

It is fascinating to me as I talk to the other girls in the group we have come to realize the simplicity of the New Zelanders lives, especially the Samoans whom I am staying with. No one seems to really have decorations whereas in the US we are obsessed with making and keeping our houses so pretty with decorations and so clean. It is just a different way of living but I have noticed that through the simplicity of it all, it makes them happier and closer as a family! Speaking of family, The Talamavaios or amazing, they have adopted us as one of their own and our referring to us as their daughters! I feel right at home! I got to attend a Samoan funeral family service yesterday and tomorrow I get to attend a baptism of a family member! Getting to attend these family gatherings are some of the most interesting and exciting because of all the great lessons I learn from their culture. Time isn't much of an issue, its all about relaxing and enjoying the moments they have right then. I noticed mum drags out doing dishes because she would rather play with her grandkids or sit outside with her husband, i think this is fabulous!
Anyway, today was our first day at the beach which was wonderful. The sun is very intense down here so sitting for ten minutes just waiting to leave, we already had lines and some burns even! Lather lather lather, my mother would be proud, i put more on than usual although of course, I was still my stubborn self and didnt put as much as I should so yes, i burnt but I will be better! The beach was gorgeous and it was nice to relax before a crazy week of school begins! Six of the girls came over tonight and had game night, my mum is so sweet offering to have them over and always trying to feed us! What a fabulous weekend :)

Ya I learned Rugby from a real New Zealander!

The Land of Aroha!

Today was the first day of school in kiwi land! I already love it although today was an easy day. We have school from 8 to 3:30 everyday with a 45 minute lunch break. School is held in a church house about 25 minutes  away. Today was the fun easy day at school it was basically an introduction to NZ schools and the culture! It is interesting how important music is here becuase that is the first thing they taught is a song in Maori. We learned welcome songs, the national anthem and even a dance! We then got to taste test a bunch of food, some was better then others. The schools here have a lot of differences and although they speak English, they are constantly throwing in Maori words so we have to learn the common words and sayings and use them when we teach! Our teacher, whom is Maori, even had to stop herself a couple times and tell us what she said because she wasn't used to having to do that. For example, in the schools they often say give yourself a clap, or a hand, but they say paka paka! So that should be interesting, Im beginning to learn how to read it as well so we learned the vowels and the sounds different letters make, one thing i love is that you pronounce each letter, so if an a and e are together, you say them both instead of blend them together which is lovely! Anyway after school we went on an adventure and met some NZ boys and they taught us how to play rugby!! It was funny, we asked whats fun to do and the first thing they asked is if we drink! ha then they found out we were mormon and laughed and i quote, "you are those!The church must be true!" Well anyway it was a funny experience and a great day. I'm very hot and the kids are peeking in, they must want to play!

Kiaora!

So after 10 hours in an airport and 15 hours total on an airplane we have arrived in kiwiland! (yes we did do yoga in the airport) My cute mum and dad were there to greet us and show us around a bit. Its super humid and hot and arriving at the house I realized AC is not present! It really isn't that bad though, I just picture myself at Lake Powell or something and its fantastic! We have a cute little room and our own bathroom we share which is nice, although, my first shower was an experience, cold water, tiny shower like on cruises but felt great after the long couple days we had getting here! I got to meet there children and grandchildren and come to find out hugs and kisses are a normal greeting here which i have to get used to. The grandkids are always over, ALWAYS like they basically live here but I love them already. They have the cutest accents and have already laughed at how we say some things. I have to go to bed, school at 8 in the morning, we have been fighting to stay awake all day, even got some of the other girls to help us as we walked around! The walk to our school for BYU classes is at a chapel and its 30 minute walk so i must sleep, and lots! So goodnight for now!