Kiwiana Aroha!: It's all Kapai!

So I don't need to say it again but I will, it was another fantastic weekend! It started off on Thursday with a wonderful, moving, day at school. . .
Thursday: Thursday was the swim competition and there are 3 boys in my class on the swim team, including Kahu my buddy! They were all so excited but I was nervous for them because our kids have had hardly any training where as the other schools were all more wealthy areas so all the kids had been swimming their whole lives on competing teams. Anyway, Kahu was super bummed I didn't go to watch. But when they came back, he ran right up to me jumping and yelling because they had gotten 2nd place!! I have never been so proud! Our little school got 2nd place above all those other fancy shmancy schools, and only lost by 2 points! It was so fun to see the happiness on their little faces! Another cool experience that day was James, the little boy who is extremely low for his age and has trouble fitting in in all aspects, was actually working really well during math and also amazed me during my writing lesson I taught! I was so proud of him so at the assembly that day, I awarded him with a certificate (3 kids get them each assembly). He has never been one to really listen to me, he is very defiant so when he ran up to me afterwards and gave me a hug and thanked me, I was shocked. But then again, that is why I chose this profession, I love seeing the children flourish in a certain subject and feel proud of what they do! All together, it was a fantastic day at school. After school, we got picked up and headed off to Hot Water Beach!
Thursday Night: Thursday night we arrived at our flashy little beach house. Oh it was super cool and exciting until we looked out the windows, which were basically the entire house, and we were surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of crickets, all sizes, with the biggest probably 2 inches! There really was no way out or in without hundreds coming in! We thought we were safe inside, but we go to our wonderful room and they are all over, not to mention GIANT spiders!! We killed eight in our room alone, and then found a cricket in our bed! Me and Emily stayed up for an hour and a half killing bugs and making a bug spray shield around our beds and everywhere you can possibly imagine in our room. Its amazing we are alive with how much spray we sprayed!
Friday: After a restless night worrying about bugs, we woke up to a beautiful day and walked across the street to the beach. It was gorgeous and there were great waves so we rented a surfboard and Emily taught me and Nancy the basics of surfing. Good grief the board was huge, and hard to manage but it was super fun, definitely will continue learning! We then headed over to dig some holes and find the hot water! It was crazy to be in one spot that was cold and move over a couple inches and stick your feet in and bet burnt! It was fun until little old ladies tried stealing our pools we made, they are aggressive! It was basically a beach day, then played games and had dinner with everyone, then. . . well that was it :)
Saturday: We woke up and left to Cathedral cove in the morning even though it was pouring rain! We found out it was closed and we were all bummed but we still hiked down to a bay to see the cove across the way. (Cathedral cove is in Narnia apparently) Anyway, that was an adventure because it was super steep down hill and muddy and most of us were in jandals which caused for a fun adventure! Afterwards we had to wash off in the rain water which was a funny sight to see 16 girls washing in puddles and the grass trying to get clean! To finish off the day we stopped at James's house to look at bone carvings and green-stone carvings his friend makes. They were really neat and of course I had to get one! All in all it was a wonderful weekend, again! :)

As soon as I get my camera out, everyone wants to be in the pictures!

Two of the girls, Miriam and Rose!

The infamous Kahu my buddy on the left, and Sanduone on the right! This is the day Kahu lost his pants, notice hi is in his boxers, totally normal at this school!