Boat trip

Marie: First, I have to say sorry, because I don’t write something on here that often. My homestay family has no internet at the moment, so it was difficult to put something on here.
However, I did a boat trip on Sunday with my host sister, a friend of her and my host dad. It was a one hour tour and really beautiful. I saw dolphins, seals, the albatross, penguins and many more animals. We had real luck, because the sun was shinning.
I promise that from now on, I will write more regularly.

Waterski and Kanu

Ann: Today my hostfamily, Bees, a friend and I went to a lake to go waterskiing, kneeboarding and some more things. Olthough I just tried the biscuit, or donat, wich is a tire behind the boat, I had lots of fun!! It was very nice watching the others and the barbecue was great!! It was a nice sunday, I hope all the others had as much fun as I had.

Botanic Gardens and DVD´s

Ann: Yesterday we all and some other german and japanese students went to the Botanic Gardens and had a wounderful picknick. Maybe we ate a bit to much, but it was really great:)We fed the dugs, too.
After the Botanic Gardes we walked down to town and got some DVD´s from the library, wich we watched at a friend´s house. OK, I and Bees and Krissy just watched one, because we had to go home then, but the pthers wanted to watch more.
Today was a great day, we had lots of fun, like every day actually.
Now Britta and I go waterskiing with my family. We´ve never done that before, but I think it´ll be fun.
See you!!

Maths test and tennis competition

Katy: Today we had our very first Maths test. But it wasn't very exiting because everybody saw this test before and we had more than enough time to find the answers. In school we had a food party in our Tutor group as well. This means we al had to bring eating staff and than ate. Tutor group is something like sitting in a room and do nothing before lunch time. Ok the most time you do nothing but when we do presentation introdutions and even food partys.After school me and Katharina had a tennis competition but we had to play against someone who has never played before so it wasn't so difficult to win. It was really interesting because the one we played against, could speak a litle bit german because her parents are both germans although she has never been in Germany.

Here is another picture for you guys:

EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ann: I think you have all heard about the earthquake in Chistchurch. Well, don´t worry, we didn´t even feel it. But it was very worse, even if it wasn´t that hard as the one in september, because it was just about 5km under the ground. When we were shopping, Bees hostmum texted her and asked if we felt it and we all were very surprised!!
But on some places in Dunedin you could feel the earthquake. My hostbrother´s girlfriend had to leave her school/university because they felt it. And my hostmum´s sister called at 1 o´clock at nicht and asked if we were OK and then at 3 o´clock her other sister´s partner called to ask the same, so she didn´t sleep very much that nicht.
Well, we in Dunedin are all fine, but the situation in Christchurch is very bad. Hopefully we won´t get that again, specially for the time we are here.

Awesome weekend

Krissy:

 Hey guys! I want you to tell about my awesome weekend (By the way, awesome is a word, which every New Zealander says to something, which is really cool!!!

 On Saturday We (Bees, Kathy Marie and I) were at the Botanic Gardens, but Bees have already written about that so I just want you to show some cool pictures.

As you can see, we had a lot of fun:-))!!!

The weather was really good and I enjoyed staying there all day!!!:-))

BOTANIC GARDENS

Bees: We have been to the botanic gardens at the weekend. They are very beautiful. We had a pick nick with chocolate, biscuits and sandwiches. At a store we got duck food for free that we used to feed the ducks. We also fed some Tauben. They were sitting on our arms.

I live in a new family!!

Ann: I arrived in my new family now. I live nearer at town, but I have to take the bus or my hostparents can take me to town or school. I have my own room :) :) and much more space to put all my things in. By the way, my room is clean:), and I´m allowed to use my laptop in my room and to use internet when I want to. I can also stay into town after school, which was a bit difficult in Mosgiel and just have to be back for tea at 6 pm.
My new family has two dogs and a cat, but I don´t know how many people live here, I have seen 6.

New Family!!

Ann: Today Maggie told me that I will move into my new family tomorrow. Then I live in Dunedin, not that far to town and can do more things with the others and more sightseeing. I'll have my own room, too. I'm very excited and I'm very looking forward to that. I don't know how big the family is yet, but Maggie said they have children, a cat and at least one dog. She said the family would be very busy and I won't get bored :) And I know that my new hostmum doesn't work, actually she's a teacher for the little, little children.

New Familymembers

Ann: My homestaymum just told me that there´ll come a thaigirl on saturday, which will sleep in my room instead of my japanese homesister, because she will move into another room. This girl will stay in our family till Maggie, the woman from school who´s job it is to take care about the Internationals, finds a new homestayfamily for her. Then in march, when my japanese hostbrother goes back home, we´ll get a thaigirl from another school, but just for 3 weeks. So you see, our house is very busy and there are many people coming and going. I´ll have many different roompartners I think.

Birthday!!!

Yesterday it was my sisters and my birthday!!! In school we got a cake from Ann, Bees and Marie, and Muffins from Jule(Thanks very much for this girls you are so great!!!) But unfortunately we had P.E, where we had to run about 4Km (!!!) This is normal for the girls here because they do something like this 4times a week in P.E. But for us it's new...that's the reason why it was so hard for us to manage it. In the evening I got a present from my host mum and a letter from my mum and my grandma. I also got a birthday card from my host sister which was really nice because she wrote Herzlichen Glueckwunsch in it. Besides the weather was amazing and so we ate Hockey Pockey ice cream in the town. It was a really great day!!!

Differences between Germany and New Zealand

Marie: We are in New Zealand for nearly 3 weeks now and of course I noticed some differences in comparison to Germany. So here is a list of some things, that I think are really interesting or different.



        New Zealand                                           Germany
    
    •    the windows are really thin      → we have normally bigger walls, 
         and the houses are colder             so that you don't hear what the   
    •    → the people use electric             person in the next room is saying
         blankets, which keep you            or doing
         warm when you are sleeping   → our houses are warmer
    •    you say 'Thank you'                 → we are not that friendly, the New
         whenever you leave e.g.               Zealanders  are really nice and
         the bus or class                             warmhearted
    •    the adds in the TV are              → adds between a movie are longer,
         sometimes quite disturbing           but we have less adds
         e.g. an add against drunken
         driving was really scary
    •    the main movies, dinner and  → you sleep longer on weekends and
         bedtime is an hour earlier            go to bed later
    •    on the streets are nearly no     → there are way too many signs, so
         signs  which say you where         that you can get really confused
         you need to go 


I am sure, that there are much more differences, but this is everything I noticed so far. I can't say that one country is better than the other, because I really like both. Maybe I will extend the list when   I am living here for a bit longer.

Kathi:

Today was a very cold day. It's not belive able that it was a summer day...we were in the salt water pool, which is outside, at the beach. Because of the temperature we went out very quick and ate Pancakes with Maple sirup (Ahornsirup), bananas and bacon. It was really funny. On wednesday we all were ,how you know, on the orientation trip through Dunedin. So here is a video:

A beautiful saturday

Krissi:

There was a big market at the octagon today, which is only one time a year so we went there. It was a cool atmosphere and good music :-)). Besides we saw a stand where you could have the famous german Bratwurst. That was really funny. Then we ate ice cream in the sun, which cost only about 2 $ and was really big.

Year 12

Krissy:
It was a really good day today because we changed into year 12. That's because we have already had two courses in year 12 (Maths and French) but they didn't work with the courses of year 11 so now we are in year 12!!! I chosen some new subjects too, Photographie instead of Graphics and Outdoor Education instead of PE. Besides we will have a winter ball at the end of term 2!!! That's so cool!!! So we desided to take dance lessons. Furthermore we sign in Touch, that's a sport like Rugby but not so hard :-)).

Tour through Dunedin

Ann: Today all the new international students went to a bustour through Dunedin, while all the others had to go to school :) We saw signal hill, baldwin street, octagon, railway station and many other things. It was very nice and Meggie bought us an icecreme, whichwas quite big.

Hokey-Pokey ice cream

Kathy
Today was a very funny day!!! First it started like everyday. I went downstairs to have my breakfast and then left at 8 o'ckock. In school we had drama which was funny too. There was a drama in the drama because Bees had to die 5 times!!!And maths, which was very difficult for me because I was a blockhead:-) Afterwords we had P.E and Graphics. The school is classify in four houses like in Harry Potter. So we also had a group meeting with our houses. My one is called Lawrence and has the colour red. That's the reason why I we all had to buy clothes in this colours for the athletic day on Thurthday. So we all went to town today. We were 6 German and 2 Japanese girls. This was really great because we bought Hunky Punky ice cream, wich is traditional New Zealand ice cream. We also bought 8 spoons and ate this ice cream on one of the benches. As you can imagin this was very funny!!!

Homestay Family...

Marie: I thought, that I didn’t wrote that much about my homestay family jet, but I want to change this know. So I will just start writing.

First when I arrived, everything felt strange. I did not know how to behave. But I learned the rules pretty quick.

At my house, I have to do my lunch every day, so I can choose what I want to eat. First I was to shy to ask where they keep special stuff for example tomatoes and I only ate a really boring sandwich for lunch. But by the time I got used to my family and I am not afraid to ask anymore. A important rule  for them is that I have to be back for tea (the same as dinner) every day. Then I eat with the family and we just talk a bit about our day and what we did. By the way, the food I get, tastes really good, but is normally a bit to much.

My family is playing a lot of different games for example chess or Chinese cheakers (in German Halma). I just play with them even if I don’t really know the game. I think it is really important that you do things with your family. Otherwise you have no chance to find out more about them and what they like or don’t like. I already played Singstar with them as well. It was really funny, because I had to sing “99 red ballons” by Nena. An originally German song on the other end of the world, how strange is that.

In the end I can say that it was weird a the beginning to live with a totally different family, who has different manners and rules. But I start getting used to my new live and I really enjoy it.

BEACH AND BARBECUE

Bees: Today it was so hot, when I woke up at about 8.30 am it was already 28 degrees warm so marie, Krissy and I decided to go to the beach. The water was freezing cold so we didn´t go swimming but we still had lots of fun. When it got colder we left the beach to have some food in a restaurant. Then my host family picked me up and took me to my host mother´s father´s house where we had a barbecue. My host mother´s sister was there, too which was really nice. She´s a very friendly person.

Rodeo

Ann: Today my hostfamily went to Rodeo, which was lots fun!! It was very hot first but then it got windy and it was very great weather, till it started raining 15 minutes before the end. We had pickneck with a lot of jummy food.

Our house is mostly empty now and tomorrow the new carpet comes in, hopefully our room is ready at the evening so that we can put all our things in then.

My weekend!!

Marie:  Yesterday I went with Kathy, Krissy and Bee too the pool. It was really funny and really cheap (just 3$).

Afterwards we went too the really pretty and old Railway station in Dunedin. Maybe we want to take a train from there trough the beautiful landscape of Otago next weekend.

Here is a picture of the railway, I hope you like it:

Today, I went too the beach for the first time. It was really hot (30°). It was nice, but the water was too cold to swim in. On the beach I saw a shark bell, which you have to use when there are sharks in the water. 

Here is a picture of Krissy, Bee and me (and an unknown woman in the background):

A dream in New Zealand

 Katy:
Hey everybody!!! It's so amazing to be here!!! Today my host mum gave me and my host sister, who is a Japanese girl and very very nice,  a chain with a green whale tail as a presets. It stands for speed and strenght and it's an Maori tradition.And because my host dad is a real Maori he blessed this whale tail in english and in Maori. This was really amazing and interesting. The school is very exiting and nothing like boring. We do a lot of different and new things there. For exanpl: We had our first drama lessons today and it is completly different then it supposed to be. We had to shout against the wall and all those crazy things...

Chinese New Year at Chinese Garden

Ann: Hello again!!! Yesterdaywas a very exditing day!! First school, which was good, and at the evening Chinese New Year at Chinese Garden. I was there with my hostfamily and Bees and Kathy were there, too. We all had lots of fun!!! First we went through the garden and saw the special flowers and so. Then we watched some presentations of chinese songs, instruments and dances and the lion dance, which was really fun. At 10 o´clock the fireworks began. We took some very good photos of the day, some of them we´ll show here later.

At sunday my hostfamily goes to a rodeo. And saturday we have to do all things out of the house because we get new carpet.

Marie:We went to school for two days now. School here is really different in comparison to school in Germany. We are not allowed to take our bags with us in the different classes. So we have to hang them up every morning on our own hanger. Wearing a school uniform feels really strange for me as well, but I think, that I will get used to the heavy shoes and to the skirt.
On Mondays and Fridays we will have Chapel, this is in the little church of the school. But I don’t really know what we will do their. I can write more about it tomorrow.
Tomorrow, I will have Drama for the very first time. I am really excited, because I don’t really know what we are going to do.

I am thinking about start taking piano lessons. I really like the piano and I always wanted to try it out.

SECOND DAY AT SCHOOL

Bees: Our 2nd day at school was as exciting as the 1st one. We did DVC for the first time and it was great. We had a lot of fun. PE was good, too. The girls seem to be really nice. They help us whenever they can help. That makes it lots easier for us to get along.

Krissy: The first day was quite good although I often didn't understand the teacher but I think that will be better in a few weeks. I chosen English, which we have to choose, Math, which I have in year 12, French, which I have in year 12 as well, Music, Graphics and PE.
On Thursday next week, we have sport day and the whole school will be divide into  4 groups, which are called Havelook (yellow), Lawvence (red), Wellington (green) and Nelson (blue). I'm in Lawvence so I have to wear red on this day.

The first day at school

 

Today it was our first day at school and of course we had to wear our school uniform. 

Ann: Hey everybody!! At the weekend I went to a kind of "Kirmes" with my hostparents and my japanese hostsister. It was quite funny. My hostsister and I took a photo with the McDonalds clown.

Today was our first schoolday. It was good, I think. We met other international students from Germany, Japan and Korea. We are in year 11. As subjects I chosed economic, art, PE ( Sports, we all chosed that) and Graphics ( Design). English and maths are the subjects we have to do and Kathy and I also have to do cooking and relogios education. We all chosed PE because we can do a one-week trip to a nationalpark for cajaking and so. Some subjects I have together with one of us or the asian international students, but some I have just alone.

This afternoon my japanese hostsister and I went to Mosgiels main street and now we know all the shops here and can go to buy something when we need it, which is really good.