Exchange
I decided to participate in an exchange program offered by Pacific University where I am pursuing a Master’s in Teaching. My husband strong-armed me into taking a few selfish weeks away from my kids to travel to Auckland, New Zealand and enjoy an experience in education free from parental duties and household obligations. I mean, convincing me to go to one of the most beautiful, peaceful, and friendly countries where progressive and innovative teaching techniques are being implemented and shared all while being able to sleep through the night without any kids waking me to change their pee-stained sheets was a hard sell. And did I mention it’s a paradise? The locals are generous and have a very simple, straight-forward etiquette that is refreshing and delightful.
I left Portland, Oregon on a sunny Friday evening in late spring/early summer only to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand on a rainy, dark Sunday morning in late fall. My classmate and I took a shuttle downtown and checked our baggage into a “luggage hotel” down by the wharf where we could pay to store our suitcases for the day, permitting us to wander and sightsee uninhibited. We started with breakfast at a local cafe and mapped out our plan for the day because we wouldn’t be meeting our host families until late afternoon and had a full 9 hours to kill.
We decided to walk to an cell phone store to purchase SIM cards in order to establish phone service in our new country. Then we trekked to the SkyTower, which can be spotted from anywhere downtown, to check out Auckland from 60 floors up. Once we rode the elevator to the top, we stepped onto the observation deck and had a panorama of the whole city and the bay, which was temporarily obscured by fog. There were panels of glass embedded into the floor. so that you could stand on them and see directly below you, thousands of feet to the street below.
After we lingered at the SkyTower for an hour hoping to see someone bungee off the structure, we set off for the Maritime Museum. Upon entering the museum, we found that their most popular ship, the Ted Ashby, was unable to take out passengers due to needed repairs. So we settled for a self-guided tour of the museum and its various wings and learned all about New Zealand’s immigration history. Something I didn’t know was that the story of Maui’i from the movie “Moana” is actually the story of the New Zealand people as well.
We had lunch at a little out-of-the-way Mexican dive and wandered back to the marina in time to catch an Uber to Pt. England Primary School. We met our host families and were greeted with check-kiss, that I managed to make really awkward, before heading home. At this point, I was so tired and was struggling to keep my eyes propped open. I was operating on little sleep and and the time change was throwing my internal clock out of whack. After dinner and a long shower, I retreated to my room and lapsed into a coma almost immediately. The first day was busy but good.
I left Portland, Oregon on a sunny Friday evening in late spring/early summer only to arrive in Auckland, New Zealand on a rainy, dark Sunday morning in late fall. My classmate and I took a shuttle downtown and checked our baggage into a “luggage hotel” down by the wharf where we could pay to store our suitcases for the day, permitting us to wander and sightsee uninhibited. We started with breakfast at a local cafe and mapped out our plan for the day because we wouldn’t be meeting our host families until late afternoon and had a full 9 hours to kill.
We decided to walk to an cell phone store to purchase SIM cards in order to establish phone service in our new country. Then we trekked to the SkyTower, which can be spotted from anywhere downtown, to check out Auckland from 60 floors up. Once we rode the elevator to the top, we stepped onto the observation deck and had a panorama of the whole city and the bay, which was temporarily obscured by fog. There were panels of glass embedded into the floor. so that you could stand on them and see directly below you, thousands of feet to the street below.
After we lingered at the SkyTower for an hour hoping to see someone bungee off the structure, we set off for the Maritime Museum. Upon entering the museum, we found that their most popular ship, the Ted Ashby, was unable to take out passengers due to needed repairs. So we settled for a self-guided tour of the museum and its various wings and learned all about New Zealand’s immigration history. Something I didn’t know was that the story of Maui’i from the movie “Moana” is actually the story of the New Zealand people as well.
We had lunch at a little out-of-the-way Mexican dive and wandered back to the marina in time to catch an Uber to Pt. England Primary School. We met our host families and were greeted with check-kiss, that I managed to make really awkward, before heading home. At this point, I was so tired and was struggling to keep my eyes propped open. I was operating on little sleep and and the time change was throwing my internal clock out of whack. After dinner and a long shower, I retreated to my room and lapsed into a coma almost immediately. The first day was busy but good.
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