Pasifika, Giraffes and Gaga!

Hi there!

Another week has gone by with lots to report! My class and internship are still going well, but my muscles are stil sore from biking so hopefully by the next time I check in I will be in better shape! It's been getting a bit colder here - it seems like it has become fall overnight! Hopefully there will still be a few more warm days but luckily it doesn't really get below 50 here. Oh also just a tidbit: we haven't done daylight savings yet so I'm currently 17 hours ahead of the US but we will "fall back" at the beginning of April. I figure I will talk about my internship at the end per usual, and I'll write about other things going on in Auckland first.

Friday I went to services at the local synagogue which was really nice. A lot of the tunes were the same which was really comforting. It is an Orthodox synagogue with a separation between men and women, but it was still pretty inclusive except almost none of the women sing! My friend and I were basically the only ones singin, oh well. After services some of the people our age came up to us to introduce themselves which was nice, and they were really welcoming. Then I went to a really great italian restaurant for dinner where I had handmade pasta that was delicious!

Saturday was Pasifika! Pasifika is a festival put on by the Auckland city council and is considered to be one of the most significant cultural events in the Pacific! The UniLodge (where I live) arranged a free bus for us and took us there at 9am. The festival was located about 20 min away from where I live right next to the zoo at the Western Springs regional park. The park itself is really nice and centered around a beautiful lake. The festival was basically a celebration of all Pacific islands - specifically those which have people who have immigrated to NZ. Pacifika was set up so that each Pacific island was a village, consisting of food and craft booths, activities and a stage for performances. Some of the villages were bigger than others, but they were all really interesting! Each village was run by people who had lived in the pacific island and some had special guests that are the equivalent of "Ms America." I saw performances in places ranging from Tuvalu to Samoa to Nieu and more and they were all really good! There was also a TON of food which was delicious. I had doughnuts, fish, rice, salad and corn. But there were a lot of people walking around with huge watermelons with ice cream in it. The other cool thing about it was just how many people were there - it was HUGE! The villages all merged into each other nicely and each village also had some facts about the island - apparently most of them will go underwater with global warming which is awful. I really felt that each village I went to I was able to get a sense of the island and what it was like there - but now I just want to go visit all of them! There were also tons of corporate sponsors who were handing out free things. It was a really fun day! Sunday I went to the Lady Gaga concert which was a lot of fun! We had general admission tickets and got there early so that we were SO close to that stage - it was awesome! It was a really cool concert because she made it like a story line and of course her costumes were ridiculous.

Now onto my internship!

Thursday March 11
Today we went to the zoo! We have been building up to this trip in the classroom for a while with our zoo animals unit and it was exciting that the day was finally here! When I arrived into work though, none of the students were there and one of the teacher's aides was out sick. By 9 only 2 of the students were in and it was looking a little grim for the day. However, apparently there is really bad traffic on thursdays, and all of the kids made it in by 9:20. After getting them all ready we buckled the kids into the van and set off for the zoo! We were able to have a one-to-one ratio which was great so that each of us were able to push a kid and give them individual attention. We walked around and saw tigers which was exciting because they were pretty up close. Some of the kids have devices which speak for them so they were able to announce which each animal was which was really cool! We saw a couple other animals and then it was time to go to the Africa section to feed a Giraffe! Apparently every day at 11:15 the zoo does a giraffe talk and demonstration and then everyone in line gets a chance to feed a giraffe! We were pretty far up in line and when we got to the front each child got a piece of celery and a chance to feed a giraffe! The girl that I was with was a little scared and had a hard time letting go of her celery so I helped guide her hand to feed the giraffe and it was so cool! Giraffes have really long, strong purple tongues and I got licked by one! It was so awesome!! After that exciting event we saw some more animals and then stopped for lunch. While we were eating a mother and child came over and the mother asked what school program we were with. The speech language therapist who was with us discussed Carlson and the mother said that her child has cerebral palsy and that she was very interested in Carlson. It was really interesting to see how most of my kids probably started and how excited their mothers probably got when they learned about Carlson. It made me remember what a unique school Carlson is with all the different programs they offer for children with cerebral palsy. After lunch we walked around the zoo a bit more and then it was time to load up the vans and drive back to school. It was such a rewarding but exhausting day. The children really seemed to love the zoo and it made me happy to see them so excited! Something else that happened today is that my head teacher's car got in an accident which was the fault of the person behind her. However, when she was talking about the insurance policies it made me realize how different it is from the US and how the person whose fault it was that rammed into her might get away from the entire situation without paying anything, whereas she the victim will probably have to pay money. It seems like a pretty crazy system to me - the whole not being accountable for injuries you inflict on others seems strange. I guess that's what happens when insurance is free in a country.

Monday March 15
Today was a very busy day in the classroom! Two of the teacher's aides were out and all six kids were there so there was a lot to do. We didn't go swimming today because of the weather but there was still a lot going on. I helped with all the routine things that we do in a day but ended up doing a lot more of the behind the scenes work (helping with bathroom runs, lifting, cutting food, putting away things) rather than face time with the kids, which was fine and just a different aspect of what it is like to work with kids with cerebral palsy. It is also nice because there is a Carlson classroom next door so we were able to merge for part of the day and one of their teacher aides was able to help us out. It was also interesting for me because when we were getting the children ready the other room teacher aide had a couple questions and I was finally able to be the person who knew what was going on! That was pretty exciting. What I really found interesting about the day though was the fact that two of the teacher aides were out. It seems like almost every other day at least one of the teacher aides are out. This is such a contrast to the US where people rarely are out of work, especially so frequently! One of the aide's was out because she didn't feel well and her back hurt, but the other one was supposed to come in. She called and told the head teacher that she was running late because she couldn't find her car keys. She finally realized that they were in her partner's (it's interesting that people in NZ refer to boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wives as "partners") car and decided she would just come in the next day when she got her keys back. I feel like if this situation happened in the US the person would jump on a bus or in a taxi to get to work. It just shows how different the culture and approach to working is, especially the fact that the head teacher didn't seem to mind that much except for being short-staffed.

That's about all I have for now!
Lots of love from down under!!