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Kiwi Terminology
Suss- To figure out. “Did you suss out that math problem yet?”
Taupo bungy jumping. Don’t worry mom I was safe the whole time. This was awesome, as you can tell from the video you get tossed around like a rag doll.
[Flash 10 is required to watch video]
This would be me, jumping off ledges. Ignore the first minute of me retying my shoes.
This weekend I went out to do the Tongariro Crossing. The picture here is already about 2 hours into the hike and you continue to go up to the top of Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings) which is a pain. Our group picked one of the worst days to go because of the constant rain and horrendous winds near the top. In all it took 8 hours, by that time my clothes were completely saturated and didn’t dry for a few days. I would imagine the views would be amazing if we would have been able to see more than 10 feet in front of us through all the mist. Nonetheless it was still fun to hang out with some fellow foreigners.
Thankfully, afterwards we went to Taupo for the hot pools which were surprisingly burning hot but well worth it on the aching muscles.
Last weekend Mike and I went up to the luge in town. You take a short gondola ride up the side of a hill to a small resort area. Then you sit in these cart-like vehicles, that are equipped with only a steering wheel and brakes, and ride down courses on the hill. After you take a chairlift back up to the start and repeat.
Kiwi Terminology
Brekkie- I haven’t actually heard anyone say this yet, but I’ve read it on multiple things. Not too difficult to figure out it means breakfast but I like to share nonetheless.
A few weekends back I went Zorbing. I’m almost positive this originated in Rotorua and I think I touched base on the idea of what it was when I first arrived. But anyhow, you get in this giant ball and roll down a hill, while you get tossed around inside with a bit of water. The pictures don’t do justice to how fun it actually is inside. Honestly I was skeptical at first because it didn’t look too thrilling but once you’re going down it’s pretty awesome.
Kiwi Terminology
Jersey- A sweater. This was one of the words that confused me for quite a while. My host mum would tell me I needed to get a jersey to keep warm. I was thinking more like a sports jersey and didn’t understand how that would help.
Kiwi Terminology
Flat- An apartment. Your flatmates are equivalent to roommates.
Boy. I’m pretty sure this was only in theatres (British spelling) here but my mates from school took me to see it. I’ll try and bring a copy of it home so anyone can watch it. It’s an awesome movie about a Maori kid and his family.
Kiwi Terminology
Boot- The trunk of a car. “My reds and whites (our PE uniform) are in the boot”
Once Again
I’ve fallen out of my blogging routine. I promise to start up again! I have been doing a lot lately and should keep all you American folks in the loop. Plus I’m not here for much longer so I have to do as much as possible before I have to return home.
Starting at the 1st of April we had school holidays up until this previous monday. The first half of break consisted of hanging out with friends from school, mountain biking, hiking and other activities around Rotorua.
For the second half I went out to Otorhanga and stayed with a family on their farm. While there we visited the Waitomo caves, which are famous for the glow worm caves. The first night out there we went abseiling (basically repelling down rope) into the caves. The next day we went black water rafting through the caves which was freezing cold but awesome none the less. Unfortunately I couldn’t get any pictures, well I could but they would just be all black. Anyways, later on in the week we ventured out to Raglan to surf on the black sand beaches. We had made plans to hike the Tongariro Crossing (Mt. Doom from Lord of the Rings) but it decided to rain that day so that got pushed back to sometime next month.
Aside from all of the adventuring activities, I helped out on the farm most everyday which was interesting. We did the usual dairy farm ordeal; driving ATVs, milking cows, feeding calves, herding cattle. All in all, I’m glad my actual family decided to move from Minnesota before I was born.
Eventually I headed back to Rotorua and for the last day of holidays, my host family took me to go Zorbing. Previously we had run around in the Zorbs at our school but this was much more fun. Basically it’s a big plastic ball that you crawl into, filled with a little water, and rolled down a massive hill.
That’s more or less the awesomeness that occupied my 19-day break from school.
Holidays
Have been over for a few days now and I’m back in school once again. I figure I should fill everyone in on what exciting things I did over my 2 weeks off from school. So after I get back from school today I’ll post some pictures and type up some words and whatnot.
Sorry to be depriving everyone of posts lately but I’ll try to get better at being more consistent.
