Kia Ora! Doing a little bit of Churchill Park reminiscing today. As the school year ended (last day was 17 December), there were some fun end-of-year events that Trey and Laurel got to participate in. Trey was one of two Year 8 boys that went to the Eastern Zone track and field day in Howick for shot put, and Laurel was one of two Year 6 girls that qualified in ball toss for Bay Suburbs in St Heliers, just down the street from our house. As always, very fun to attend these big gatherings and see how they do these sorts of things in New Zealand.
One obvious difference from sports that I've watched in Ohio was that Bay Suburbs was held in the remains of the cone of an ancient volcano. Most of the other differences involved the rampant lack of footwear.
Neither of my kids placed or anything, but it was pretty cool to be there with the other kids from many other area schools. Lots of shapes, sizes, and colors. More than one person brought a large whole smoked fish, head and tail included, which they ate for lunch straight out of a plastic grocery bag.
For their year-end field trip, the Year 8 students spent a day at a farm out in the country (south of Clevedon), riding horses, a flying fox, and getting all wet and muddy on the challenge course. I was one of the fortunate ones chosen to chaperone :o) and they even talked me into doing the flying fox!! It was SO fun!! My family would be happy to tell you what a chicken I usually am about anything to do with heights, so this was a pretty big deal to me and I'd do it again right this second!
You can see how high and far the flying fox looked from the starting platform. I truly was afraid I might just pee my pants!
I didn't though! I promise. :o)
It was quite an added bonus to get to be part of all of these school field trips and events. I got to know so many more people and see so many unique places and happenings. My time there was definitely much richer because of these extra experiences! What a hoot!
xo all! K.
Karin
ReplyDeleteit is a real pleasure seeing our country and our pastimes through your eyes. Things we don't even see, because they are so ingrained in our culture, such as bare feet and smoked fish, we take for granted. We truly feel blessed to have had you with us.