So it has been about a week since I have returned home from New Zealand and it has been quite difficult getting back into my regular routine of life. The flight back was a bit more strenuous than it was flying down. Sleeping was more challenging due to time change (and yes I struggled a lot with jet lag).
It was sad to say goodbye to everybody because we had developed such strong relationships but thank God for facebook because we are from all over the U.S. and visiting will be hard.
I will NEVER forget my time in Aetearoa (meaning 'land of the long white cloud'). I gained so much from this experience whether it be learning more about conservation and sustainable development to becoming a more well rounded person and appreciating everyones culture not to mention doing crazy adventurous things that I don't have the opportunity to do here at home. I strongly recommend becoming a part of the International Student Volunteers program, because not only do you get a life changing experience out of it, but it looks great on resumes as well =p. I posted below just a few pics for you to enjoy but there are many more where that came from....Aetearoa, you will be missed! cheers everyone!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Back in the states
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wet n' Wild in New Zealand
Continuing from our many adventures I must say it has been outrageous! We spent a majority of our 20th day in NZ traveling to Rotorua. On our way, we made a few stops, one in particular was in a quaint little town, Taihape, known for its famous gumboot throwing competition. Upon arrival, we went to the throwing court and each of us got a chance to break the record of throwing a rubber boot, I failed due to it being slippery. Later in the evening, we made it to our lodge and relaxed in the hot pool until dinner. For dinner, we traveled to Tamaki Brothers Maori village for a real Maori culture experience. We arrived to the village and we greeted by the people with their ritual introductions. Eventually, we made our way in the village and got a chance to learn about some of their traditions, which was very cool! We proceeded to the dining room where we were entertained by some song and dance and story telling. Then began our feast which we learned was cooked in the ground which gave the food an awesome, smokey taste. Afterwards we got to wonder a bit more and were dismissed by the amazing haka, a chant that only the men do and also the NZ rugby team does before each match.
As for the next day, a majority of it was spent in water. Our first stop was to Hells Gate, a popular attraction for its natural thermal pools. This place was so cool and rich in sulfur smell. We spent some time in the mud baths and relaxed in some more hot pools. Once we rinsed off we got to take a walk and explore all of the natural springs. Some of these pools got up to 122 degrees celcius! It was definitely an awesome first spa experience for me. After lunch we went white water rafting, which was crazy considering it has just rained a lot the night before (and I was the only one to not fall off our raft :) We all had an awesome time and views were awesome. I also learned that the movie 'Without a Paddle' was filmed on the river we were on.
Now day 22 was one of the most memorable. We went hydro zorbing, which for those of you who don't know what that is, you basically slip into a giant rubber hamster ball filled with water and roll down a hill. Fun? I think so! Later in the afternoon we made our way to Waitomo Caves where upon we black water rafted!!! This was an experience like no other. We began by repelling 120 meters under then ground, then zip lined in the pitch black and jump off ledges into dark (COLD) waters and floated down the cavern looking up at the glow worms, and it really looked like a midnight sky, on top of this we slid and climbed water falls. Yes, I highly recommend this!! Welp, that's all for now! Be home very shortly!!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
From Glacier to Rain Forest
Kia ora!
So it's been an outrageous couple of days and I havent had much time to even sleep because there is just so much to do and I'm loving every minute of it! Starting off from where I left off after our time in Queenstown, we departed early in the morning and drove a fair amount of the day, making it to Franz Joseph. FJ is known for is famous ice glaciers which we got the opportunity to hike all day. It was a pretty eventful day, waking up super early and gearing up for our journey. Once we arrived to the base of the glacier we hooked on our clamps to our boots and began. This glacier is considered a warm glacier, so even though it was all ice, we didn't wear much and I even got some sun. The views were amazing (and I assure you that I have many pics of all of the activities I am doing.) After eating lunch at the top we filled our water bottles from the glacier and began to hike back down. So, after much intense climbing and hacking away at the ice, we were exhausted and we made our way to the hot pools right by our hotel. It felt amazing and the resort was wicked! It was nestled in the middle of the woods and we just chilled in the pools under a canopy, we were really one with nature. Later in the night we went out for pizza and beverage then ended up doing outrageous challenges for free drinks the bartender gave us.
Leia Mais…
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Mission Complete
Kia ora!
So this country never ceases to amaze me. We ended our project on the Motuihe island on August 5 accomplishing a lot! Our project achievements including (keep in mind there were only 8 of us) planting 2800 trees, removing 25 meters of old fencing, creating 50 meters of hiking trail, extreme weed removal of 70 meters of hillside, planting thousands of seedlings into root trainers and rescuing 300 kakabeak plants from pests, doing a decent sum of beach and nursery clean up, and installing post markers for the trails. Aside from this we've created a lot of good memories during our 2 weeks on the island.
We spent our last night in Auckland participating in a bar crawl and celebrating one of our members birthdays...goood night. The next morning we hopped on a flight to the south island, Queenstown. I can already say this is probably my favorite town, its so gorgeous, sitting at the base of the snow capped mountains, it's fit for a queen (hence why its called Queenstown. It is also the adventure capital of the world, and if you want to do something outrageous, this is the place to do it, and I am certainly living it up! Our first night in the town, we did yet another bar crawl and I got to experience minus 5, an ice bar that was so cool, litereally :) everything was made of ice, including the cups we drank out of.
As for today, we spent to morning jet boating on one of the rivers, doing intense things from 360 degree whip turns to dodging the rocks. Then in the afternoon, a bunch of us went bungy jumping on the 2nd highest jump in the world, but this is also where the bungy jump originated! and I'm doing it again tonight....in the dark! call me an adrenaline junkie I guess ;) Tonight, I think we might take it easy and watch some parkour snowboarding and eat at a local pub. That's all for now, but there will definitely be more posts to come.
E noho ra!
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Billy Goat Point(NZ)
It has been another productive couple of days since my last update, and it feels good to have another day off. Following the work we have done, Day 7 started off by path making. We cleared and leveled off about 25 meters and even got fancy by putting in some drainage. By lunch time we were given a break by doing some work around the nursery. We continued to protect 150 more kakabeaks and then transplanted 672 karamu seedlings into root trainers.
Once again our evenings havent been too fun so we decided to change it up a bit by taking a dip in the ocean, invigorating! so now we can check that off of our to do list =) Once it got dark enough we went out searching for kiwi birds, we didn't see any but we heard them, sneaky buggas.
As for yesterday, it was a bit cold and rainy which held us back from doing more epic work. We went back to Billy Goat and planted around 350 trees and then went back to the nursery and planted more seedlings. Not the most eventful day outside, but later in the afternoon we had some discussion time where we conversed about biodiversity and how important it is. I rather enjoyed the rap presentation my group did on it (videos and pictures soon to come) The rest of the evening consisted of playing games, eating, reading and just being our abnormally werid selves.
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| searching for kiwi birds |
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Kia Ora
Greeting from New Zealand, y'all!
So its been close to a week since I've been here, and I only get 2 chances to use the internet during my 2weeks on the island so I will try to sum up all that I've done so far. (plus these internet cafes are expensive so im gonna do a quick write up)
So I guess i'll start from the beginning of when I arrived in NZ. I was greeted by my project leader, Kirsty, and then met up with the 7 others that I'd be working with for the next 2 weeks. We then loaded all of our stuff in a van and headed to Auckland where upon we took a ferry to our island, Motuihe (mot-too-ee-hey). From the moment I stepped foot on the island, I was in awe of how beautiful everything was. We took a trek to our house which sat up on the cliff side, overlooking the water and the city line...perfection. We didn't do too much our first day, besides taking a tour of the island (which is only about 400 acres)and getting to know one another. The Motuihe project consists of rebuilding the land with it's native plants and birds and getting rid of those that don't belong (piss plants). There is no other wild life besides the lizards and birds.
Day one of actually working consisted of planting some native trees. After about 3 hours, 10 of us planted about 500 trees. After lunch we did some work in the green house by planting seeds in root trainers so that they can be planted later in the future. Our evenings haven't been too crazy b/c we're always so tired, but we've been playing a lot of cards and jenga.
Day 2 we did pretty much the same thing in the morning by continuing to plant. This time we planted 600 more! Later in the afternoon, we did some plant/weed removal which wore us out, but it was pretty entertaining.
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| our house |
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| view from our house |
Day 4 we got to sleep in, and considering we have been going to bed around 1030 every night we got plenty of sleep. We took a chill day and worked around the nursery cleaning and preparing other things. Lastly, we rescued a very rare plant (kakabeak) from being pulled out by birds.
As for today, it is our free day and we took the taxi boat into auckland and are just gonna explore before we have to go back and do more work. Our goal before we leave the island is to cliff jump into the water, even though it's a bit nippy.
Until next time, peace! Leia Mais…
Monday, June 21, 2010
Camp Claggett
This summer I decided to switch things up a bit by working for another church camp. My friend Rue is now the new director for The Claggett Center in Buckeystown, Maryland. When I was offered the position by her, I was more than thrilled to be a part of her leadership team to this amazing place. Claggett is truly a tranquil setting with amazing views and facilities.
What was once the Buckingham Industrial School for Boys in 1898, the school served as an institution where poor boys might have a home and receive a good education. The school closed in 1943 due to regulations that were difficult to obtain.
Just years later, this space was given to the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland that became a conference and retreat center. In 1952 the center was officially dedicated and named the Claggett Diocesan Center after Thomas John Claggett, the first Bishop of the Diocese of Maryland and the first Episcopal bishop ordained on American soil.
As for the camp life today, It is filled with so many fun activities to do from biking,hiking, canoeing and even high/low ropes challenge courses. My favorite part about this camp is the big red barn that is emptied out for any recreational purposes such as our weekly hoedowns. On top of this, my favorite worship space is in an old farm shiloh that was rennovated and the ceiling is all window so the sunshine is the source of light...breathtaking. This place is a perfect get away from ones everyday routine and an even better place in getting reacquainted with your faith and making everlasting memories...for more photos and info, visit www.claggettcenter.org
