Turns out New Zealand is really far away...who knew?

Thursday, January 18^th 2018

Kia Ora Everyone!

Kia Ora means hi, welcome and wishing good health in the language Te Reo. Te Reo is the language the Maori (first people of New Zealand) speak.  It also seems to have been adopted among non-Maori as a general greeting.  So that’s why I have called my blog “Kia Ora Nora” because of the meaning but also because it rhymes with my name.

This is day two for me in Christchurch, New Zealand.  I’m here for one year for the teacher’s college primary program. Darn, I fell into the family trap of becoming a teacher. I’m a sellout, is that what you’re thinking? Give me a chance to explain! Over the past year I realized that I really enjoy working with students and thought my gentle, warm and kind nature could support students with their learning. I want to make my future classroom exciting, warm, and welcoming, and I would like for the students to never dread coming to school! In the future, since my background is in coaching, I thought I could figure out how to put coaching in place in schools early for students so that they can realize they have choice and that anything is possible if they have strong intentions around their desired goals.

On Monday January 15^th I left home and it took me 22 hours and three flights to arrive in New Zealand. Surprisingly, I had slept well on the 14 hour flight from Vancouver to Auckland. I ordered some hot tea and milo (in Canada we call it Ovaltine) and that seemed to knock me right out. I did have high anxiety on the flight thinking repeatedly, “Oh my god, why am I moving so far from home? Can I do this? Was this a good idea? What if I fail my courses? I should have just stayed home with my cat.”  Despite those anxious thoughts I pushed through and tried to ground myself by thinking about what my sister said her French teacher told her class, “Don’t allow failing to even be an option.”

I arrived in Christchurch yesterday Wednesday January 17^th at 9:25am because I crossed the International Date Line and lost a day. I would have arrived sooner but I missed my flight from Auckland to Christchurch because I had a tight connection time and I had to clear customs with my suitcases and then recheck my luggage back in. I just tried to stay positive when I missed my flight. I tried to reframe it by thinking; well this is a good flight to miss. It would have been more difficult for me to reschedule the other flights.

Mike from CanTeach picked me up and helped me set up my cell phone with a student plan at a booth located at the airport. Then he gave me a quick tour of where the banks, groceries stores and restaurants were.  As we drove onto the University of Canterbury’s campus he showed me the building where my classes will be and the new residence I’ll be moving into in February. Right, now I’m staying in an older residence called Sonada with Japanese-inspired grounds. 

My Temporary Residence

My future residence still being worked on

After getting my keys and dropping my luggage I decided to be ambitious and went to set up my New Zealand bank account and get groceries. I squeezed in lunch and coffee too. Coffee is very expensive here! The cheapest cup of coffee you can get is $4.00 NZ. The groceries are fairly expensive too because of New Zealand being an Island so everything costs more to be imported here.

Where I had my first NZ meal

Promoted to have "feel alive" flavor! That's all I ever wanted out of life is to feel alive!

Today I was able to meet more of the Canadians in my teaching program. Mike took us over to student services to make sure everyone was enrolled and to get our student cards. It was 27 degrees Celsius so I’m just red and sweaty in my student I.D. photo. The buildings don’t seem to have air condition just a couple of fans. After that several of us went over to the book store to get our bus pass which is basically like a Presto card in Canada. The University of Canterbury looks similar to Trent University’s campus with grey cement buildings. There are some nice water fountains and a lot of green space on campus with interesting trees.  Later a couple of us went to the closest grocery store which was called New World. Everyone told me not to go there because it’s too expensive but it’s actually not bad if you buy the no name items and get the New World card which is free if you’re a student. My roommate and I bought chicken fajita makings and salad makings that we are going to share for the week. I saw several customers in New World walking barefoot. Apparently that is a thing here! People just walk around without shoes. When we were walking home we passed someone walking barefoot on the side walk.

Library

View across from Library

Canterbury is the region I live in NZ, basically like a province but they don't call it that here

Artwork on campus, check out the pugs!

My roommate and I are really hitting it off. We seem to like the same food and have similar family background and outlook on life.

My intentions for this blog are to help family, friends and clients stay connected with me while I’m living abroad. Also, I want these entries to serve as an educational and motivational tool to anyone who is contemplating a change in their life about how to overcome the stress that comes with trying something new. I hope to post three times a week until February 12th. However, after that once a week as I'll be in school and won't have much time to write.

Keep shining bright,

Nora:)