February is the new September

This is my first week at Henderson Primary school! And it's only the second week for the children. They just finished holiday and February is when they all head back to school. I am already in love with the school, the children, and the melting pot of cultures. In my classroom we have children from Tonga, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Australia, and India. And some are still learning English.

I am teaching in a combined fourth/fifth grade class and have 31 students. The school is a small school, only 180 kids. And only 5 of those children are white! They are the most adorable children on the planet :) The first couple of days I have spent time learning their names and getting to know them. It's hard when half of the names I can't pronounce! But I'm getting better at it. I'm particularly having a hard time keeping straight Kavindi, Kwanesha, Saheeba, Ngariki, Siaosi, and Taeario. I'm hoping in time I will figure those out!

I can already tell it's going to be a lot of work. We arrive before the children do and stay late after school almost every day. We do whatever the teachers do. If they have staff meetings, team meetings, or planning sessions, we go with them. The nice thing about NZ schools is that there is a break everyday from 10:20 - 10:50 called "morning interval" or "morning tea". The kids go play and the staff sits down, talks, and drinks tea. Which means I'll be having a lot of milo every day - which I love! It's like hot chocolate but better :)

Being from America is apparently a big deal!! I've had so many questions. . .

"Where are you from Miss?" (they always call me Miss. I just wanna die!)

"Washington!! Do you live in the white house? That's where the President lives eh?"

"Have you met Obama??"

"Have you met Beyonce?"

"Are you famous in America?"

"How did you get your accent? I want one!"

"What's your phone number?"

"Do you live in a mansion?"

"What color is your blood?"

"Do you like Justin Bieber?" (I suddenly made a lot of friends answering "yes" to that question!)

"Do you speak English? Can you speak American too?"

"Can you come over after school?!"

"How come you don't wear lots of makeup? Is it because you would be too pretty and people would know you are a celebrity?? Are you undercover?"

I spent the whole day not trying to laugh. When they asked if I was famous in America I told them that I was a secret celebrity and now they believe me. There was an argument at lunch about who could be the #1 fan. One girl asked me how to spell my first name because she wanted to add me to her "best friends" list. I wanted to cry! Not really, but almost!

At lunch I taught them how to play Ninja, and tomorrow they are going to teach me how to play rugby and cricket. Tomorrow we also have swimming class, which means they will all be bringing their "togs" and towels for the pool. Even the youngest children are taught to swim and learn about how to be safe in the ocean.

our group in front of the school

Today there was a Powhiri, which is a Maori welcoming ceremony at Ranui Primary for all of the BYU students. I was absolutely blown. away. The children take great pride in their culture, which was obvious when they sang and performed a haka for us. There is a strict protocol to follow for a Powhiri. We took off our shoes outside of the assembly hall, while two students chanted in Maori to invite us inside. We took a seat at the front of the room, while they continued to chant which then turned into the haka. I had goosebumps. Those kids sounded so powerful! I took a video (I am such a tourist) and the sound quality is just money! I don't know why I filmed from extremely weird angles - with this quality I should really consider switching my major to film. There's a bit of the haka shown in the video below.

Following the haka, a boy gave a speech in Maori. It was beautiful to listen to. Then the children sang their national anthem and another Maori song. The national anthem was my favorite part. The children here are brought up singing at a very early age and it's very obvious! They all sound like angels and sing very proudly (again I apologize for the crazy angles in this video).

the students of Ranui Primary

In response to their song and speech, our director's husband spoke on our behalf and we sang this song we learned a couple weeks back. It's a Maori song that talks about peace, love, and unity. This video was taken during a practice session, and we do not sound nearly as good as the kids!

On Thursday I'll have one week under my belt and then only five more! Time is flying. It will be great to come home, but I can already tell that I'm going to really miss New Zealand.