9-28-11 USA vs. Italia World Cup Match by Zander

               Yesterday we drove all the way to Nelson (which is a 6 hour drive from Christchurch) to watch this rugby game. The drive was really boring!!! We were almost late, so we didn’t have time to get dinner in Nelson.  We had to buy dinner at the game. The security is really tight. They don’t let you bring food, water, and alcohol. They don’t let you bring your water bottle in. It isn’t like the water bottles are going to blow up or something. They even shut down the streets in all direction, so everyone has to walk to the game. When we had checked in and had gone through security, we were finally let into the stadium to go to our seats.

            When we were settled in, we watched the band play. It was really cool because they did the Hakka. They did lots of other dances too. While the band was playing, the rugby teams warmed up. It was pretty entertaining watching all theirs big guys tackling each other when they stretch out; they roll around on their heads. I think that they do that so when they go into scrums, they don’t break their necks. It was pretty fun to watch. When all the players went in to their locker rooms,  my dad got us Fish and chips and for my parents  a 4 pack of beer. Then the teams came out and they sang there National anthems. We sang along with the American one, my mom almost broke a window. Then they took the starting position.

           

            When they kicked off everyone screamed. The lady siting behind me kept on yelling “I love you to number 22” really loud all through the game. It was really annoying, and it is not like he doesn’t get that every game. They were pretty evenly matched but I knew Italia was going to win. By the first half they were beating USA by one try and a few penalties.  During half time everyone was going to the bath room. So when I went I couldn’t use the Urinals so I had to use an actual toilet. After that, I went back to my seat and watched commercials on TV. There are some pretty funny ones about cheap beer. Then when the players took the field, everyone cheered and hurried to get back to their seats. In the second half, the crowed made a really good wave that went around the stadium 3 times. All the crowds’ attempts in the first half didn’t work. They were able to do it 3 times in the second half, I was pretty impressed.

            The Italian got a few more penalty goals and one more Try. The US did pretty well but they didn’t score any more tries. The final score for the game was 10 to 27 which pretty close game is. When the game ended I was sad that the US didn’t win.  They did pretty well, considering that they aren’t a rugby nation. I had a great time at the game, and I am sad that we aren’t going to any more rugby game.

            Over all, both teams had different strategies. The US always paused when they got the ball. They did that to decide what they were going to do next. If they were a little more fluid, they could have won. Italia had that mastered and could play that ball really well. And that is why they won the game and the USA had to go home.

The ride to Nelson by Sarah

On Tuesday we went to Nelson to watch the rugby world cup game. On Tuesday morning we packed the car and drove away. The teams that were playing were the U.S.A verse Italy.  We had some problems because mommy forgot her pills at home so we had to go back home to grab them. I was so bored in that I was staring at Mia type random latters in to the computer. When we got back mommy got her pills and we were off. For a while Zander was typing then I got a turn typing a blog first I typed about exchange rates. I got the time on the swirly roads.  Then I stared this blog. After a while we stopped and to eat lunch. Some of the time I was going in and out with the waves. I had an avocado sandwich for lunch. The sandwich was very good and yummy. After that we left the beach to get to Nelson. Then I got on the computer to type my blog again. I typed for about ten minutes then it got to curvy so I had to stop. When I give mommy the computer I was nauseous and dizzy. I was lucky enough to get some straight parts on the road on the way to Nelson. After one or two more hours we arrived at Nelson to watch the rugby game!

Exchange Rates by sarah

During the last couple of days my dad has been teaching us about exchange rates. On Monday he made us a test that we would half to figure out how much something cost in a different country. Before we did that we wright something down then we estimated how much it cost. After we did that we got a computer to see how much it exchanges for in all the currencies. When we finished we played on the computers. I felt very good in a weird way. Today we went on the lap top and saw the different currencies in the world. They had a chart of how much you would pay to get a New Zealand dollar. Exchange rates are pretty interesting here.

THE END

First Volleyball Game!!~mia

On Monday I had my first volleyball game of the season. We played against Burnside HS. The way the game works is that you play two sets to 25 points and if one team wins both of them, they win the game. If each team wins one set, then they play another one as a tie breaker. In the beginning no one really had any idea about what to do or anything because it was the first real game of the season. When we got used to it we creamed them!!! My team won both sets so we won the game. We were done so early that we played another set just for fun and we won that one too. The game was right after school so the rest of the family didn’t make it until the last two sets. Daddy kept taking pictures so of course I messed up a lot. Those last two were the closest games. It was really cool and it’s a bummer that I won’t get to stay for the whole season because they are probably going to kick me out of the school soon. I was supposed to stop comeing last week but the haven't told me to leave yet so I'm not going anywhere!!

my camp visual diary 9/25/2011

At camp the teachers gave us time to write in out visual diaries about what we did that day. in the evenings before dinner. we drew pictures and and and colored in our drawings in our diaries and how quiet our bunk rooms are determines when we go to dinner.  

We saw tons of keas on roofs and cars.

On the train to chch I read most of the way.

You might have to turn your computer up side down to read what I wrote  but it's worth it because it tells you what I did at camp.

I slept on the top bunk at camp

The lodge was awesome and the wood floors were perfect for slideng on. 

This picture is up side down too but it's just a drawing of the inside of the train and me sayin the view was awesome.

Indonesia ~mia

At school my favourite teacher is my social studies teacher. He’s really cool because he pretty much just teaches us about whatever he feels like has a remote connection with what we are learning about. Right now we are learning about refugees and he showed us pictures from his trip to Indonesia. He said that a bunch of people there are refugees from Afghanistan or something. Anyway, he showed us pictures from his last trip to the big city in Indonesia (I forget what it’s called but whatever).

Most of the pictures were from when he rode the train all through the city. He told us about all the ways they make money in the slums. Lots of people sell food on the train, so if you are taking the train you don’t have to make a separate trip to get your groceries because they come to you. The way they get the food to sell it is they go buy food from the market and sell them for a few cents more that they bought it for. That way they hopefully earn enough money to buy food and more fruit for the next day. Another way they earn money is by renting instruments and putting together at band with their friends. They sit in the aisle of the train and play while someone goes around with a hat asking for money. My teacher said that the musicians in the band he saw were really good. He also saw a woman who walked up and down the aisle sweeping with her little son following behind her with a little tin asking for money. He said that there are little kids running around everywhere because their parents couldn’t afford them. They wander around getting whatever food they can and begging. My teacher said that he didn’t give them any money because they will just go buy paint thinner to sniff so they aren’t hungry for the next few days. He says that when they are young is the best time of their lives because they have complete freedom, and he says that all the kids are really happy.
The houses in the slums fill up every available space and are made of any scraps they can find or steal from building sites. There are a bunch of pictures he took out the side of the train of houses that come right up to about 10 feet from the train tracks. He said that his friends that live there have people building little houses in his back yard daily. The houses take up every available space.
Not the entire city is poor. Just a few yards down the road there are expensive cars, big houses, tall buildings, and designer clothes. It’s really sad that they can’t spread the wealth around. When he finished showing the pictures he had us write a few questions he could ask the people there the next time he went.

2 day at Camp by Zander

            I woke up in the morning and I was in Arthurs Pass learning center in my bunk room. I really wanted to get up, but no one was up yet, so I stayed in bed.  I waited for my friends to wake up.  When they woke up, we went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and go to the bath room. Then I got dressed and went to the main room to eat breakfast. I was reall hungry and I had rice puffs with milk and sugar and a piece of orange. Once everyone had eaten breakfast, we sat and waited for the teacher to explain what we needed to wear for our daily activity. It was  really boring and I felt like I had already heard it.  But when she told us that we would be making shelters out of sticks, a rope, and a big tarp. I got really exiteded because I like building stuff.

            To get to the building site, we had to walk to a school and then we had to go into the forest and find where the best place to make a shelter would be. My grouped were going to make a room like shelter that would fit all of us in it. I was pretty excited about making the shelter and I wanted to get it done really quickly. We had 45 minutes to make it. In that time, we had almost completed it. But there were some windows that weren't supposed to be there. We didn’t get first place, because it wasn’t wind proof. We got to go up second for food at lunch because my team worked well together. For lunch we had spaghetti on toast. I didn't know, it was so good! But you have to try something new every day.

            After lunch, we went on a really long hike to a water fall. The trail head was about a 15 minute walk form the lodge and from the trail head, the waterfall was another 30 minutes. We had to take a lot of breaks because people got tired. I didn’t really need to rest, so it took all my self-restraint not to go ahead of the group. But when we got to the waterfall, there was a lot of picture taking, talking, and eating.  We all had a great time eating our cookies and talking right underneath the water fall. Once everyone had their fill of looking at the waterfall, we walked back to the lodge to have dinner. For dinner we had lamb chops. I have never had them before, so this was going to be a new thing for me. It turned out, they were pretty good after a good day of exercise. But after dinner I was pretty happy that I didn’t have to do dishes.  I played games with my friends and looked at pictures from our day, instead.  Then at 10:00 pm everyone got ready for bed and went to their bunk rooms. We stayed up really late talking and the teachers had to come to tell us to go to bed. Eventually, we did. I was really tired and I was happy to get a good night’s sleep.  I had a really good 2 day at Camp and I was looking forward for tomorrow.



Zander

Last Friday by Sarah

Last Friday, when we went to school in the morning, I was really happy.  We biked! When I got to school, I was early and I played on the play structure in the Junior playground by myself. The boys were playing soccer and most of the girls and 1 boy was playing on the top of the metal climbing structure. When school started, I went in the class room and sat on the mat to wait for the rest of the class. When teacher came in, she took attendence and checked who did or did not turne in there home work.  I turned in my homework.  When we were done, we divided into reading groups to research Nelson Mandella, who protested for the blacks to get more freedom in South Africa and later became president of South Africa. It was really intresting. After reading, we did our hand writing and we wnet to Morning tea, which is what they call snack or meal time. After tea, we went outside to play soccer. I was really happy about plaing soccer, becuase I scored a goal.
After morning tea we went in side and finished our writing, I was happy about finishing my wrirting and I was proud of what I wrote. After that I researched lions while other people played games. I like to research lions.  They are the biggest cat and they are the king of the forest. After that we worked on our maths. During maths, we did math games and I had a really fun time. After that we went to lunch.  During lunch, I played rugby with my frinds and my teacher.
After lunch, we did drop everything and read. I read a chapter book, Cupid Doesn't Flip Hamburgers, and I cleaned out my desk. Then I researched South Africa some more. South Africa is a really intesting country and they are in the world cup.  After school, I was kind of happy to get to go to the library to play on the computers; and kind of sad because that day was my second to last day at CNB school.

THE SECOND HALF OF THE RUGBY GAME ~sarah

              Once the second half of the game started, everybody but me headed back to their seats to watch the game. I didn’t hurry back to my seat, because I am not interested in rugby. When I got back, I stared at the screen in the stadium. Then I saw this guy score a try by jumping up and put his arms and legs up with the ball. That was my favorite part of the whole game. Like the whole game, people were doing the wave.  The wave is when tons of people in a stadium go around in a circles standing up and waving their arms. Usually the wave stops before us because the people next to us were really bad. When we did the wave, we usually went around a lot because people would build it up again. After the wave stopped, I was really bored again. Then after a while the game ended and we left. I was happy about leaving, because I was not bored anymore.

The End

My Birthday!!

Yahooo!!! I'm fourteen!! Don't ask me if I feel different because I don't. Who ever feels different on their birthday? All it is is being a day older than yesterday, except people celebrate it (usually). I'm pretty sure the only times you feel different on your birthday is when you are 18, or 16, or 21 because  it comes with new privileges. For example: your 18th birthday is the day your can get the hell away from your parents (can't wait), your 16th you can drive, and on your 21st you can drink without hiding from people (that comes at 18 here, man, I can't wait!). Your birthday is the same as any other day, you get older, but only by a day. Your age is just a number, and if you celebrated everytime you got older, well that would be awesome.
To 'celebrate' my birthday we went out to dinner at a nice turkish place. The food was really good and a bellydancer came out and preformed for a bit because it was their reopening. I'm pretty sure thats why daddy chose that particular restaurant! When we got home, we watched TV and a movie until midnight. It was great! Daddy was supposed to bring home ice cream, whipped cream and cherries (yummm) for dessert but the grocery store was closed when he got there.  So we didn't have dessert. We were going to go window shopping at the mall, but I thought it would be too deppressing because we can't buy anything. Pretty much I just want money for my birthday because you can carry it everywhere!
~mia

Guess what happened Yesterday? 24/9/2011

                Yesterday, at school Ms. Honey, the office lady, asked me if mommy and daddy had jobs, and I said "no". I knew they needed a visa or for mommy to pay them for Sarah, Zander and I to keep going to school.  Then at lunch time I saw mommy talking to the principal.  When the principal left,  I went over to mommy and she told Sarah and I that it was my last day at CNB school.   I was really sad and then I told Astra that it was my last day .  Then I went to find the rest of my friends and told them.

               After lunch, Ms. Jones told Bailey and I to go and help room 4  in the library.   It was Bailey's last day too, he was transferring to a different school closer to his house. Working in the library was fun. I really liked scaning the books, because I was the only one who could do it and I got to give the little kids that were doing what they were supposed to do star stickers.  At the end of the school day my class gathered in a circle on the mat and Ms. Jones gave Bailey and me a card thst the whole class signed. Then I cleaned out my desk and my teacher took me to the office and told the principal that I earned a active learned rist band  and the princeble gave me and a responsable wrist band too.

               I really wish I could stay at CNB  because I'll really miss my friends. But hopefully  we'll come back  here after the world tour.


                                         - KAYLEY

The Rugby Game

                                                                                                                                                      9/23/2011
On Saturday, my family and I went to the Rugby World Cup game. When we got to the stadium after the museum, we got our and got our tickets and went to security. During security, mommy almost freaked out about how you can't bring water bottles in the stadium.Once we got into the stadium, found our seats and sat down.Once the game started, Mia and I went to the stores at the stadium and got the kids drnks to have during the game. Mia got a Fanta and the rest of the kids a Sprite. When we got back, we gave the kids there sodas and started to watch the game again. The teams that were playing was Georgia and England. Once I caught up on the game, it was half time and I was yawning.

When half time was over, every body hurried back to there seats to watch the game. I did not want to watch the game, so I took my time. Zander finished his soda before half time. Kayley and Mia finish at half time. I  had three quarters of mine left.Once they started the game again, I was playing around with my fingers or clothes. Maybe I was in to rugby a little bit, but not that time.I was so board that Iwas stuck staring at the screen in the stadium.Then I saw this guy score  a try by jumping up and putting his arms and legs out and up.  That was my favorite part of the whole game.

Train to camp by Zander

This week I got to go to a school camp. It was at Arthurs Pass in the south Island. It was for 3 days and I am really excited because of it. Before we went we had to choose our cabins and, I got a cabin with all my Friends. To get to Arthurs Pass you have to go on a really long train ride. We had to get up really early and drive to the train station. When I got there were already tons of people there and there wasn’t much time to wait for the train. So I put my bag in the baggage car and got into the train. I sat with JW, Nathan, and William. We sat next to some girls but we had to move because the teacher made us. We had to move because someone was lonely so we had to sit with them.

            It took 2 hours to get to Arthurs pass in that time my friends and I ate lots of candy and, talked a lot. It was a really fun time because we could move around the train and go outside. There were lots of tunnels and after the first few I got tired of holding my breath. There was supposed to be a really good view from the Train. I guess that was true but I didn’t look out the window very much so I didn’t get to see it. When we got to the station we got out of the train and packed our luggage into the van and walked to the lodge .Whale we were walking I saw my first kea the famous birds that eat anything that they see. We were walking I knew that I was going to have a good time at camp.

First Day at Camp; Arthur's Pass by Kayley

I got home from camp Yesterday and it was really fun.  On Wednesday my class and I arrived in Arthur’s Pass by train.  Then we waited for the instructor to tell us about Arthurs Pass and about stuff. I couldn't wait to see some keas and the moutains.  Then we walked to the Lodge where we were staying and the adults told us the rules and then we went to our bunkrooms and made our beds and tidied up.My bunk room was the loudest and I was really exited.  Then we ate lunch and  got ready to hike to the Devil’s Punchbowl falls.

            The walk to devil’s Punchbowl was super steep and there was about 350 stair steps.Lots of people were complaining and I got tierd too.  When we got to the viewer’s platform we all just stared at the awesome water fall for a while, it was beuatyful.  On the way back to the lodge we went on a different path to an old water station and Dave, our instructor, told us about what it did and what it looked like.   Then walked to the bridge and split up into two groups one group was going to do the river crossing and I was in the other group because I didn’t want to cross the river.

 

            After I saw the first group cross the river I was glad I chose not to cross the river.  The water was probably really cold because everyone who crossed the river was screaming.   I was also glad I didn’t cross the river because we got to the lodge way before the others did.   When the rest of the people came back we wrote in our visual diaries about what we did that day.  Then we ate Nachos for dinner and cleared our plates.  Then we took our showers and ate our desert, then we did a challenge activity competition and went to bed.    

world cup game in Duniden Zander

World cup rugby match 9-18-11 Zander

                Today was a big day. It was the reason that we had driven all the way from Christchurch to Dunedin (which is 4 hours away) to go to a rugby game that is during the world cup. Dunedin is really far south. It is where people stop before going to Antarctica. But is also has a really good indoor rugby stadium which is why we were there.

                The game was supposed to be a pretty good one and England was set to win ageist Georgia. We had some really bad seats because our parents are choose and they don’t want to spend over 400$on a rugby game. But I was still happy to be there and we were going to a world cup match so things could have been wours. When we got to the match my mom was about to freaked out because the security wouldn’t let us take our water bottle in. So my dad came in and saved the day by taking that bottle and hiding it under the cone. We were pretty happy that mommy didn’t get us kicked out of the game.

                When we got into the stadium we took our seats and watched the build-up for about 30 minutes. It was pretty boring because all the players did was run around and through and kick the balls whale the speakers played music and we watched commercials on the TV. When the game came closer they interviewed the captains and introduced the starting line-up. Then we son there national anthems I have noticed that mowed of the British colonies have the same music but different words to their anthems. Then all the players got in their position and they kicked off.

                In the first 10 minutes UK scored a tri and converted it I was pretty happy because I wanted them to win.  The kicker for the Gorgon teem was really bad because he missed all the penalty kicks that he took until there team scored and then he converted it. By halftime UK was winning by 20 points to 7 and, when the Wissler sounded I jumped up because I had to go to the bathroom really bad. When I got back there was a few more commercials on the big screen, then after about 20 minutes the game started again. In this corroder the Georgina kicker mad one of his kicks and UK scored 2 more try’s.  My favourite part of the game was when a UK player scored he jumped up really high and dove into the try zone. The crowd went willed. All in all it was a pretty cool game s and it was wouth the really lone drive to it.

Zander

Oamaru zander

                Today we went to Oamaru, a town in the south island that has really good architecture. It has really good architectural because it has a white stone mine near it. White stone is really soft Limestone.  You can carve it into anything. There are tons of different styles that they used because they could. They have Gothic revival to neoclassical Italianate and Venetian palazzo. There are lots of museums, like a history one, Car, and Art museum. We went to a history museum because it was free.  It was pretty interesting because there were lots of guns, and that is all I am interested in. There were people walking around in costumes to look like they were from the 1800s when we were there. It was pretty funny because they looked pretty weird with the guys wearing coats with tails, the girls were wearing fancy dresses with hoops.  When my family were going to get in the car to drive to Dunedin, we stopped for drinks at a Whisky pub that served Tea like a cafe. We got chi lattés.  They were the best that I have ever had. They were sweet and spicy, and were really foamy with cinnamon on top. But my mom liked the beams and the wooden pillars better than anything.

Zander

Zander

ROCK BALLS by mia

Saturday night we stayed at a house that we rented for one night. The house that we were going to rent was already occupied and the lady we were renting it from had forgotten. Then she drove us to a way bigger house that we stayed in instead. Momma and daddy made up a story about how it stunk really bad and momma had cussed the lady out so we couldn’t stay there and would have to go camp somewhere. We all totally believed her because it was something that she would actually do… I mean, she was so pissed about how the New Brighton house smelled too dusty, and we have heard her cuss plenty of people out over the phone. We were all bummed and daddy said that we should ‘break in’. Then we just walked in the back door. I didn’t get it until they told me but I think the rest of the kids got it when he pulled out a key to the house…. I was pretty brain dead, obviously. The house was really nice. It had a wood stove and enough beds for everyone (surprise!!! That never happens!) and mommy was obsessing over the oven or something.

We ate macaroni and cheese (that daddy and I made) for dinner and then watched TV for a while before we went to bed. There were three bedrooms: one had a double, the other had bunks and a twin, and the third had a twin and a king. Zander got the king because he is just that gentlemanly (what a jerk) and everyone else got the other ones. 

The next morning we slept in until like 9:30 (at least I did, I think everyone else got up before then) and had some scones for breakfast. We drove down to the beach and walked along it until we got to a place with a bunch of perfectly round rock balls that were just scattered about. They were really cool because they were perfectly round and you don’t usually find that in nature. There were a bunch of old people milling around looking at them. I guess that’s how old you have to be to be interested in rocks…. Anyway, after looking around at them for a few minutes and trying to figure out how they got made and taking pictures with them and stuff. Then we walked back to the car and started driving to Dunedin.

~mia

THE FANZONE

On Friday there was a New Zealand vs Japan game at 8 pm that we went to watch at the fan zone at Hagley Park which is right across from the school where we swim. The plan was to drop me and Zander off at swimming and go to the train station to pick up Kayley (she was at camp with her school). Then, we would all meet back at the fan zone to watch the game. That plan kinda failed though because swimming was cancelled due to some dance that the school was having and the scuba school had the pool anyways.

Since I had left momma’s cell phone at home, Zander and I wandered around the botanical gardens looking for them because that was where they normally go to walk around while we swim. When we finally decided to go back to the car and see if we could catch them before they left to pick up Kayley, I saw the car drive away. So then Zander and I wandered around some more to kill time, and we went to look around at Hagley Park.

The event set up at Hagley is really cool. There was a field at one end with a bar, a few stages and some people walking around in costume dressed up as witches, carrying puppets, or being creepy old ladies. There was this poor guy at the entrance dressed up as an old lady and he would say ‘welcome to the garden of variety. Enjoy!’ in a falsetto voice. I just said ok, sure and smiled cause that guy looked like he was having a bad day. I mean, I would be too if I had to dress up as an old lady and hang out in the freezing cold for hours with people looking at me weird. Zander and I walked around talking about house horrible the guy preforming of the stage was at rapping (he sounded like he was trying to copy Eminem but failing miserably. Some people just can’t rap). On the way back out the guy at the entrance/ old lady said ‘I hope you enjoyed the garden of variety… and thanks for making eye contact with us unlike everyone else!’ I just said you’re welcome and laughed. I made his/ her day! That was pretty cool.

Zander and I were buying some fried fat with sugar (aka churros) when momma and daddy found us. We still had a ton of time to kill before the game started so we went to try and find Zander some shoes. We ended up driving around for a while looking for a shoe store but we couldn’t find one. Then we went back and of course daddy had to park like a mile away from the park so we walked for a while in the rain till we got there. The fan zone is the pubic rugby world cup watching place for ChCh. There are two big screens and bleachers facing them and a mini rugby field in the middle. We mopped up all the water on our seats with my towel and then watched the game. It was really cool cause there was a mini game going on on the mini field at the same time. The All Blacks won of course by like 50 pts but at the two times Japan did score they got the biggest cheers of the night.

~mia

The Fan Zone

On Friday, Mia and Zander went to swim practice wail mommy, daddy and I picked up Kayley from the train station. Apparently swim practise was consoled and they had a swim meet. When we got back, we walked around the fan zone. We were there  to watch the Japan vs. All Blacks (NZ) game.  We found Mia and Zander buying a chero by the fan zone and she gave me some.  After that we got a seat to watch the game.

 Dering the game most of the time I was ether laying down or playing on the grass. Some of the time I was jumping on the medal platform under the chairs. But some of the time I was watching the game. The seats are on metal sheets on stilts. There are also shops near the fan zone. After the game we went to the car and drove home.

By Sarah

My Dreams

                                                      

For the last couple of days, I’ve had really eird dreams.  On Thursday night, I dreamt about if daddy lost the world tour ticketss   and already sold the house.  Then we bought a crappy house.  After that an earth quake hit and the house collapsed. Then my dad made a better house. Then I woke up.

   On Friday night I dreamed  about my life if I was in Peter pan. I dreamed, l flew up to wonder land then I got attacked by Captain Hook and got captured.  After a while, we escaped and flew back home.  Then the dream was over and I woke up.

   By SARAH

KiwiPost.... Simply Briliant -By Brian

So in new Zealand they have post offices where you can mail stuff right? Of course!  Only here you can do so much more:

*Renew the registration on your vehicle.

*Request an IRD number (like an SSN).

*Pay your phone bill.  That's right you just tell them your phone number and how much you want to pay and they will credit your account via cash or eftpos.  If you don't know how much to pay, just text 'bal' to your phone service and they will text back your usage and billing details.

*Register to vote.

*Ordinary banking needs via kiwibank and western union.



Update by Chenda

Thank you!  Thank you! Thank you!  For all the comments to the recent blogs.  The kids (and B and I) really appreciate all the feedback. 
Just wanted to update everyone on our status from my point of view (yeah, what's really going on!)  We just moved out of the earthquake dammaged house I rented for us, sight unseen (except for pictures of the house bf the quaking that was sent to me-anyway, that's behind us now and we've forgiven and have moved on) and into this cute house with no dammage and now that we've figured out how to turn on the oven, is perfect!  And comes with 3 bikes that we're making full use of and a single kayak that we have yet to take out (wating for a calmer day at sea, storm's coming in!  surf's up!). 

All the kids are still in school, although I've started to get the phone calls and warnings that we either take care of the Visa issue (like get a working one already) or their time is up.  Mia's 28 days ends next Monday, and for some reason, Z,K,&S have until the week after.  I'm thinking, come clean with the school and tell them our true intentions (that we're traveling around the world and might come back in a year with some kind of working Visa), take some pics with them and the school for our blog and record keeping, and have the kids "visit" (ask another school that we'd like to try to let the kids visit for 2 weeks) another school and then travel and do more writing and home/library school for the duration.  That's the plan anyway.

As for Brian and I, we are planning the rest of our world tour (the picture of Sarah pilotting and me looking not so sure pretty much illustrates our state on this matter at the moment!).  Usually people get this portion done before they purchase the round the world tix, but we are flying by the seat of our pants, but how else are we suppose to do it if we are under time and family constraints!  So we've nailed down the rest of our NZ stay; Sidney and Cairns, Australia; Bali, Singapore, and almost Cambodia.  Now I'm needing some serious help with India.  We are landing New Delhi in mid January and our intention is to see the Taj Mahal and the Himilayas (along with the culture, architecture, food, etc.) and to stay safe (just got word that the High Court in ND just got bombed last week...)  With that said, do any of you have a contact person/local travel agent we could trust in or near New Delhi?  Also just filled out the online visa applications for all of us!! Yahoo-that was a lot and just the first step.  Have to wait for an email reply and further directions before we can have the priviledge of sending in our passports with photos, copies of birth certs, the original printed applications I just submitted online, and the $165/person bank check into the High Court in Wellington for the actual visas.  That's if all of us gets approved. The kid's and I shouldn't have a problem, but I worry about Brian's caucasianess being a possible problem (JJ! I'm usually the one that gets patted down at the airports, border crossings, etc.).   After all that, hope we don't have a problem with the postage and we get it all back before we leave for Sidney in October!!!

Other than that, we've been watching lots of World Cup Rugby and feeling the nation go crazy over this game.  It's really very cool!  Going to Dunedin this weekend to see England vs. Georgia!! 

Gotta get back to being a mom!  Cheers, Chenda

earth quake during rugby game by zander

 Today was a special day.  there are 3 rugby games that are happening to day. during the france vs Japan one we expirenced the biggest one that we have ever felt. I do not know what it was but it shook the house so much that sarah felt it and she has never felt a earth quake yet. Everyone in my family ducked under furnituer and waited until it was over.

 I was surprised that nothing broke becuase the cup cabinet opened but nothing came out. I was really thankful that the house didnt fall over.But we still go to finish watching that rugby game. France beat japan 21 to 42. I wanted france to win. It was really funny that japans team didnt have very many japanies people, most of them were English. and it was really funny because it was Japan and they were mostly english.

 I felt scared of the earth quake but i cant immagine how it must of felt for the locales here. they must have ben really scared. I think that they were because of the big ones that they have expiriances they were probaly pretty scared for there house. I will probaly find out tomorrow at school.

Camp and School stuff

                                                               CAMP
 
            Next  Wednesday I'm going to camp for three days with my class.  We're going to Aurthur's pass on an electric train.  We are staying at a lodge in the mountains and I think we are going to hike and crose a river.  It's suposed to be REALLY pretty.  Hopefully there will be lots of snow on the ground and we'll have good weather for the time that we're there. 

                                                                   KEAS

           I learned that Kea birds live in the alpine forests and Keas are big green parrots that are really smart and almost extinct.  The Keas are almost extinct  because they used to be killed for bounty because they killed livestock.   Also keas live in Aurthur's pass and they are reported to rip up  people's cars and steel stuff.   Keas really like shiny things so thats why they're steeling stuff.  I'm really looking forward to going to Aurthur's pass next week.

                                       SCHOOL

           Last  friday I got another award and it was for the color wheel I made.  Also on friday we brought our clothes for camp for Ms. Jones,my teacher, to check. Every one is really looking forward to going to camp in my class. 

Volleyball

A few weeks ago my volleyball coach handed out notes to people who are good enough to try out for the team that would represent east Christchurch. I got one even though I had only just joined (I guess that just how good I am!!!). The trials were on Thursday evening and Saturday morning. On Thursday I got dropped off like half an hour early so I had to set up all the nets and stuff with Mr Hoffman which was really awkward by the way, and pretty much just stood there hitting a ball agains the wall for a while before everyone eventually got there.
The trials was pretty much just a really long practice because, even though the team was for the entire east CC area, there were only like three girls from other schools that showed up.We did a bunch of basic stuff like bumping, setting and spiking and then we just played some little games.
The Saturday trials was just 2 hours instead of to 2 and a half like the other one was. We did pretty much the same things except at the end he told us who made the team. The people who made it were the oldest ones who were all like fifteen. There was only like one person my age who made the team, so that was pretty lame. I'm just going to play on the normal school team instead!
On the way home I had to take the bus and I accidentally rode it way too far because I didn't know when to get off. The street our house is on is really damaged so it just a one way. The bus had to take a detour and I didn't know when to get off because I didn't want to get off too early. I ended up having too walk like five blocks in the freezing cold, wearing shorts. Not fun. Well... on the bright side, at least my life isn't boring!
~mia

This is a really cool thing a guy drew on the beach!!!

Our new house

Last Tuesday we moved to a different, less broken (woohoo!!) house that daddy picked out. Of course, no one really told me directly we were moving till the day before, so it was lucky that all I had to pack up was my pitifully small bag of clothes (really, its sad how little clothes I have... and its just gunna get smaller). This house it only one story but it has 3 bedrooms, an efficient floor plan so the heaters actually work and the toilet is firmly attached to the wall. The handle that turns on the shower is metal so it won't break off like the other one did, but the water preasure in the shower is really sad. Also, all three of the rooms have one double bet each which pretty much sucks because we have to share beds. I kinda miss my bed from the other house which was all mine, a double, and I didn't feel the springs. Writing all this down kinda made me realize that I sort of liked the other house a bit better because it was closer to the library, the TV was really nice, and my bed was comfy. I was reallly getting used to all the bad stuff about the other house and the one we moved in to sucks just as much. The stuff that was bad about the other house was just things about comfort or how it looked. We all had our own beds (which were really confortable), a shower that was really nice pressure (even though Sarah needed help turning it on), SPACE (no space in this house, our rooms are about the size of momma and daddys old closet), and we were super close to the library. Now that I think about it the other house was quite a bit better!!!
~mia

New house- by Sarah

Yesterday we moved to a different house.  We moved form a bad house to a good house.  The bad house had tons of cracks in the wall it even had a howl in the wall and the toilet was half way off the wall. The kitchen has no sharp nights and no serving spoons. 

The good house has no cracks in the wall and in and there is no holes in the selling’s and walls. There are also sharp knives and the toilets don’t have problems. Plus the house came with a DVD player and lots of movies. Also it came with 3 bikes and a kayak.         

Earthquake Stories -by Zander

               Some of my friends have been living in horrible conditions for a year. They have had to live in their house that is so earthquake damaged, that it could fall down on them at any minute. They have been forced to live in the house because they have been promised money from the government. If the damage on the house has been assessed by house inspectors, the government will pay them money to fix the house. But the government hasn’t paid them yet.

                My friends from school have been really affected by the earthquakes in Christchurch. One of them has a house that has been split in half and has liquefaction flooded through the gaps. So they had to wade through a foot of wet mud to get anywhere. His house was only a few years old and he was forced to move out and buy a new one to live in.  He luckily was able to afford to move from the house but still hasn’t been paid by the government.  

                Another one of my friends from school has a sewage leek under her back yard. So sewage comes up into her yard and the pipes haven’t been fixed. She has been forced to live in the house with a big pile of poop in her back yard for 1 year. The government hasn’t fixed it till recently.

                Lots of my friend’s families are forced to use public port o potties because they do not have running water it their houses. When you drive by, you see a few potties on every street corner because they do not have water in their houses.  For one year, they’ve had to live like that because of the earth quake damage to their pipes that haven’t been fixed until recently.

Zander

Cooking... Yum Yum - by Zander

                On Tuesday at school, we went to a cooking class.  To get the school, we had to get on a bus for 10 minutes because our school doesn’t have a kitchen. On the way, we got to talk to each other. I sat with JT, JW, and Junior. We talked about the soccer tournament that was going to happen next week. Everyone was really happy about the cooking lesson because we were going to cook hamburgers.

                When we got to the school with a kitchen, the teacher was sitting outside. So we went in and washed our hands, got our aprons on, and got our stools and sat at that front of the class room. Then the teacher came in and explained the recipe to us. The first thing that we did was make the patties. To do it, we had to get ground beef, beans, some oil, and salt and pepper.  Then we mixed it all up. Then we put it in the oven and choose what we were going to put on the hamburgers.  I put tomatoes lettuce and pickles on a plate so they were ready to put on the hamburger. It was a pretty easy recipe and I had a fun time making it.

                I was pretty happy because at the end of the class we get to eat the hamburger. We waited for a little while and then we got out our hamburger patty out of the oven and assembled our hamburgers and put it in our bags. Then there was a big hassle to wash the dishes and clean our table. Then we went outside to eat our hamburger and wait for the bus to take us back to school. My hamburger was really good and it was still warm.  I had a really pleasurable time at cooking class.

Below a couple of random Photos:  one from soccer tryouts, the other a view of a sand painting from New Brighton Pier.

My School by Sarah

My school has lots of problems.  Students are able to say bad words at school without getting into trouble.  For example, Black, a person in my class, said the "f" word to Isaia really loud during recess.  The teacher heard it, but she just ignored it.  Also, somebody said the "f" word to someone else, that shall remain nameless.  The teacher was notified, but she didn't even give out a red card!

The school also tolerates bullying. For example, on the same exact day as the "f" words, Black slapped Isaia and strangled him and Mrs. Sele, my teacher, only gave Black one red card the whole entire day!  Another example of bullying is when Kai, Kyle, Zoey, and Javia started hitting James until he told them his real name, which was James.  The teacher just ignored it.  I felt like it was really annoying and bad of the bullies to hit James because of his name.  I just wanted to intervene and get them to stop, but I didn't want to get into a fight. 

My class is also annoying because Kaia, she's in my group, whenever I say something she copies me.  And whatever I do, she copies me too.  For example, when I put my elbow on my desk and lean my head on my hand, she did it too!  Whenever I move, she moves the same way!  Also, they are really loud and chatty.  But some people in my class are fun.  Like today at lunch, Mrs. Sele let Charlie, Rebecca, Turnannette, Grace, and I do collages inside the whole time.  And then afterward, she let us have 10 minutes of playing time outside, while the rest of the class had to read.

Netball on Friday

          My teacher is also the netball coach and she wasn't at school on friday.  She tore a neck musle and that made it so she couldn't move.  We had a really cool subsitut teacher instead.  The sub couldn't coach the netball game, so we didn't have a coach. 

           Before lunch,  a teacher from my school handed out the uniforms and I learned that I was only going to watch the game instead of playing it.  After we ate our lunches we warmed up by doing some drills and ran around.  Next we played a little scrimige and I didn't even know which team I was on.  The North New brighton teem was a couple minutes late so we ended up waiting for a while.  When they finally came, we did some more running and started the game.  I thought that the line up was really wierd because the line up was nothing like basketball or soccer.

        For the first half, we were in the lead and at the end of the game North New Brighton won.  Shanay, my friend on the  team, said we lost because we needed a tall person in defense and I agreed with her.   After the game, Nekita,who is on my team, gave every one lollipops. 

That was a really interesting day becauseI kind of wanted to play but I didn't know  the Netball rules.  But now that I've watched the game, I have a better idea.  Too bad the netball season is over!   


-Kayley