Week 1: Exploration

Kia ora, welcome back to my blog! As promised, I'm gonna let you all know some of the things I've been up to!

I've gotten the chance to try fish and chips in Takapuna, and I have to say it was fantastic! I've never had fish this fresh before. The piece of fish I received was decently sized, compared to American fish and chips which tend to be smaller strips. I also got to have ice cream on the beach and try some other soft drink flavors, specifically Coca-Cola Lime and Coca-Cola Raspberry. Both are excellent flavors that I wish we had in the States, but I suppose I'll just have to enjoy them while I'm here!

On Saturday afternoon, I met up with some of my mates from Global Gateway and went up Sky Tower, an iconic Auckland structure. The 360° view was spectacular, and I imagine it gets fairly busy at sunset. My group went during the day. Afterward, we walked around downtown for a bit and went to a mini golf place called Holey Moley. There were two courses, and we chose the one with pop culture references like The Simpsons, The Flintstones, Tetris, Lord of the Rings, Nintendo, and Game of Thrones. It was fun and quirky, and a great way to connect with the rest of my cohort. After this, we walked around some more and ended up running into a demonstration in support of freeing Palestine. We stood from afar just in case anything were to go down, but in New Zealand, things going awry during a protest are unlikely. It was neat to see that part of history unfold in another part of the world.

The next day, I joined one of my fellow GG participants for a day trip to the Auckland Museum. We started with the Ancient Egypt exhibit, a temporary exhibit that just happened to be open while we were in the country. It was really neat, I didn't realize there were 31 dynasties in Egypt, which I'm ashamed to say as a social studies educator. At the museum, a Māori performing group put on a cultural demonstration for attendees. This was my favorite part of the day, as the music they performed was great to listen to and the dance/play aspects were impressive. After making it through most of the museum, I grew tired, but still went to the supermarket for this week's groceries afterwards. I had to stock up on more Raspberry Coke and L&P soft drinks, as well as find some other essentials.

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For a bit, I was worried I hadn't been venturing the city enough in my first week abroad. though according to my host mom, I've done more in a single week in the country than most people on extended stays manage to do in a few months. The weather has truly been on my side since I arrived, so that has been helpful for me to do. I still have yet to make Kiwi friends, but I'm working on it. This week, I plan to do some more walks around the bush and mountains in Auckland. I'll update you all on my continued exploration of the country!

Mā te wā,

Wolfe