On Being Slack...

Hello!

I am sorry that my initial plan to write once a week has completely fallen through, but I think that now a more realistic aim is once a month. I seem to be so busy, and it isn’t easy to find enough time to update my blog.

So, as per usual, a lot has been happening since I last wrote.

I now feel well and truly settled in, and this is beginning to seem like normal life now. It is weird however to think that I have been here for 3months already, as it feels like just yesterday!

So, spring has well and truly arrived in Burlington. Apparently this is very early for spring, and the weather we are having at the moment is rather unusual – it has gone up as high as 25 degrees Celsius! Of course, being a crazy New Zealander, I thought that this weather meant that the freshly melted pool would be perfect for swimming in… it turned out to be 12.5 degrees, which while not deathly cold, wasn’t ideal. Let’s just say that I haven’t been back in since. I have attached a video of my swim anyway.

But the weather really is great. The daffodils are out now, and I have been playing football (Gridiron) on the turf most lunch times at school. It’s funny, because this school doesn’t have a field like Howick does. Instead, there is an artificial football pitch, surrounded by a running track and bleachers. Full stop. I guess it is low maintenance, but there is something odd about the feeling of plastic grass underneath your feet.

So, about two weeks ago I attended the “Tim Hortons Camp”, with all of the other exchange students. We stayed there from Friday through to Sunday, and had lots of fun. We played heaps of basketball and rugby, and just hung out in general. We played pool, and messed around with the dress ups (an old favourite of mine :P ).

We also did some scheduled activities, like High-Ropes climbing, painting tiles, and star gazing (despite the noted lack of stars). It’s funny how close I feel to the other Exchange students, after only having seen some of them 3 times. These people really have become my family for this year, and I am utterly terrified just thinking about what will happen when they all leave. But – no point thinking about that now.

Then, last Friday, I had my school prom! I had been planning on wearing my black and purple Senior Honours dress, but then out of the blue, I found (and fell in love with) another dress. So, I bought and wore it. Kaley’s friend Michelle came over to do my hair and makeup, and then Megan Knights and her bf Mike picked me up. We drove to another friends house, where a group of us met, and got a limo :D. I only knew Megan before then, but I ended up making lots of new friends that night, and sat and danced with them all night.

Tomorrow night I will be temporarily moving to another host family, just for the week while Laurie is in Cuba. And then, a few days after she returns I will be going to Florida with her! So I am very excited about that, more details to follow.

Lots of Love

Heidi

xxx

March!

Hi Everyone!

Wow, time seems to have gone by so fast, I can't believe that it has been a month since I wrote on my blog, and nearly two months that I have been in Canada! A lot has happened since I last wrote, and the snow has all melted, in fact this past week it has been up around 10 degrees Celsius!

While I do miss the snow, I can't wait for summer to come. On the last weekend of February Kirsten (the girl who will be coming to Auckland in July) invited me up to her 'cottage' to go skiing. That was heaps of fun; we ate beaver tails and Poutine, and made a snow fort. We also watched Canada win the Gold Medal Hockey Game - it was a truly Canadian weekend.

I went to a Rotary dinner for all of the clubs in Burlington, where 'Paul Harris Awards' were presented. It was a very interesting evening, and the guest speaker was Fergie Jenkins, a Canadian baseball player. While he is now retired, it was fascinating listening to him speak, and I really enjoyed it. All of the exchange students from Burlington got a photo with him, and a signed baseball. It was a great evening though, and I enjoyed speaking to the other Rotary members.

On the weekend, I went bowling with Nicole and Meaghan, some of my friends from school. That was good fun, and I didn't fail quite as miserably as last time. (Though it isn't hard to do any better than that). That afternoon Mark (Aussie) and I went over to Misaki's home, and had dinner there. She had made a Japanese Sushi dish, though it wasn't like the sushi we are used too, and Mark made Lamingtons. I took a Pavlova, which actually turned out okay, believe it or not! It was a little mushy on the inside, kinda like mouse, but it was pretty good.

Then, last Friday I went to a 'Blue Rodeo' concert with Laurie, her sister in-law, and her niece. Blue Rodeo is a Canadian band, and they sing kinda country music, kinda slow rock. It was great though, and I loved it! They sang some really nice songs, and I am going to have to get a CD of their music.

On Saturday Terry took Misaki, Mark and I to see a Hamilton Bulldogs Hockey game. The Hamilton Bulldogs are in the league below the NHL, and it was a fantastic game to see. They were tied at the end, so the game went into overtime, and then into a shootout. Apparently it is quite rare to see a shootout, so that was really exciting. That atmosphere at the game was awesome, and we had great seats, very close to the rink. It was my first Hockey game, and Misaki's too, and we all loved it! We got to have this week off school, for 'March Break'. I guess it is kinda like the

Term 1 Holiday, but this is all they get until summer... NZ has much better school holidays! I went bowling with Nicole and Jordan (friends from school), and then we went and saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D, it was a pretty awesome movie, I really enjoyed it. We got to the movie early, so guess what we did... more bowling! The way I am talking, I'm sure you guys are going to think that the only thing people do in Canada is bowl! I have been more times this year than the rest of my life put together! Well, close to it anyway...

Then, on Thursday Julie (a woman from the Burlington North Rotary Club) picked me up, and took me and Misaki along with her and her daughters to see her Aunt Noelle and Uncle Raymond who live on a farm, and make their own Maple Syrup. It was quite a long car ride up there, about 370km, but it was worth every minute. I had an amazing time! It took us nearly all day Thursday to get up there, as we stopped to see several of Julie's relatives. When we got there we went out to the barn (exactly like the ones on Farmville :P. In the barn were two massive horses, the top of their backs were higher than my head! They are work horses, and Raymond uses them when he is tapping the Maple Trees. There were also 3 cats in the barn, who Raymond said don't ever come into the house, they are purely barn cats. On Friday we got up and had Maple Syrup on French Toast, before getting dressed up warmly and heading out into the bush. We took the Quad-Bike, and it was quite a way out. We headed out to the 'Sugar Shack', which is where Noelle and Raymond make boil down the sap into maple syrup. It was a small hut that they had built by hand, in the middle of the maple forest. It was very picturesque, and I loved it there. Raymond showed us how to tap the trees, and then took us for a walk around the forest, showing us the different types of maple, and which trees are the best. He has had this farm for about 11 years now, and said that he knows each tree off by heart. We got back to the sugar shack around lunch time, and Noella had made some chilli for us to have. It was really good, and warmed me right up. Then we went outside to the fire, and began to boil down some maple syrup into taffy. We then poured the Taffy onto some snow Noella had saved for us, and ate it. And, it was amazing. It tasted so, so good. We then boiled it down even more, and made it into sugar cakes, which Noella and Raymond gave us to take home. I haven’t started eating mine yet, but I am sure it will be incredible. I was really sad to leave this morning, as I had had such an incredible time. We left at about 9am this morning, and were home for around 1pm, which wasn't too bad.

School again on Monday, something I am beginning to get used too. It still feels weird going to school and not seeing my friends, but I have made lots of new friends, which is good! I have also begun to get used to the amount of homework we get given! Nearly every night we get homework, and I am very glad I will not be getting Credit for it, because I am sure my grades would not be so great. Saying that however, each test I do is better than the last.

I miss you all lots, Love Sarah. xoxox

One Month!

Well, on Wednesay the 24th of February, I had been in Canada for exactly one month.
It's scary to think that I have been here that long, as it only feels like 2 weeks at the max.
However, I have also fallen behind on my blog(s). Which is rather pathetic, as this is only, what, my 6th entry? Anyway, I will do my best to keep up from now on.

School is good. While I do miss being able to make those personal jokes, and laugh around in class with my friendlings, I am still having fun. Everyday I meet new people, and slowly I am starting to remember everybody's name! And, as an added bonus, I didn't get lost at all this week! Although, when I was getting lost it wasn't because I didn't know where to go, it was because I didn't know where I was to begin with, as it all looked similar. Hopefully I have got the hang of it now.
One thing I notice that is really different about school here, is the classwork vs. homework. At Howick we do lots of work in class, writing paragraphs, doing quizes, answering questions, e.t.c. Here, the teacher will read to you, or get you to take notes, and then set all exercises as homework. So, I think I have had more homework these past few weeks than the entire of year 11!
We have started reading 'A Catcher in the Rye' in English, (I have finished it)
and it is actually a relatively good book! I had heard that it was very out of date and boring, but after Shukov anything is interesting - this included!

Last weekend I went skiing with Misaki, Emma and Book (an exchange student from Thailand). It was lots of fun, although the skiing was nothing compared to Cardrona; the runs were much shorter, and the queues were longer. However, it was still fun too get out and ski, and hang out with them. We also saw 'Valentine's Day', the movie together, which was fun. I thought the movie was a lot like 'Love Actually', only I prefer 'Love Actually'.

Infact, since I have been here I have been to the movies quite a bit.
Laurie, Kaley and I went to see 'Wolfman' last week, and then Laurie and I saw 'Shutter Island' last night. While I won't say too much, I didn't like Shutter Island, I felt very cheated after it, they tricked me!!

We had the Outbound Announcement Day last Saturday, where the Canadian Exchange Students find out where they are going to be next year. It was very suspenseful, and everyone was very excited. Kirsten Hentschel is going to be coming to New Zealand in July which she is very excited about, as am I. While we know she will be in Auckland for sure - somewhere between Pukekohe and the Harbour Bridge, I can't wait to find out where exactly she will be staying, hopefully near Howick, so you guys can all show her around!
After the Announcement Ceremony, many of us went bowling together. I was in a bowling lane with Mille (Denmark), Aurelien (France), Geoff (France), Dario (Switzerland), and Mark (Australia). Sadly, I was by far the worst bowler there, not getting a single strike, and filling up the scoreboard with zero after zero. It was fun though, despite my... 'interesting' score.

Anyway, sorry this is so fragmented, I am trying to catch you up on everything that has been happening, and trying to remember it at the same time!
I miss you guys,
Sarah.
xxx

Schoolio...

Hi there!
Believe it or not, as of this Wednesday, it has been 3 weeks since I left New Zealand, and as of this Saturday, 3 weeks that I have been in Canada. 1/17 of my year!!! This is unbelievable; the time seems to have gone so fast! I am being sure to keep busy, as that distracts me from all you awesome people back home. So, even since last Sunday I have been busy….
On Sunday the 7th February, the SuperBowl was played. Misaki and her host-sisters invited me over to their house to watch the game along with a couple of friends. As a New Zealand girl, I had no idea what the SuperBowl was. It came as quite a shock to me to see how worked up over it people were getting. It turns out that the SuperBowl is one of the biggest North American sporting events of the year, and is an American Football match. This year the Colts and the Saints had made it into the finals, and while everyone was sure that the Colts would win, the Saints pulled their game together, and won! However, despite watching the game, I still don’t have any idea how it is played, so if you want any more detail than that, Wikipedia it. It was really interesting watching the game, and the halftime show was awesome - The Who played, and they put on a fantastic show. After watching that, we all watched Madagascar on DVD, I am sure that every time I watch it I love it a little bit more. <3 King Julian…
Then, on Monday I had my first day at school. I had forgotten just how terrifying would be, starting at a school where I knew no-one. But, as always, it turned out that I had nothing to fear. Everyone was really nice, and I think that I will really enjoy all of my classes. School here is rather odd though, only 4 classes per semester, and the same schedule, with all 4 classes, everyday. Each class is about 1hour and 20mins, which is a long time (esp. in religion)! I have my first three classes all in a row, and then I have about 40mins off for lunch, before I go to my fourth class. School starts at 8.10 in the morning – I know, torture! However it ends at 2.20, which isn’t so bad.
I have World History first period, with Miss Ianni. She seems like a fantastic teacher, and so far I am really enjoying her class. Second period is Drama. While it is relatively fun, it is nothing compared to Howick’s drama department! I do miss all you Year11 Drama kids! Third period I have English, with Ms Sarjas. At the moment we are looking at short stories (believe it or not, I prefer Sonnets!?!), and ways in which you can interpret them. Apparently we will be moving onto a novel study of ‘Catcher in the Rye’ later in the semester, which is apparently a quintessential Canadian book. First comes Love, then comes Marriage, then comes LUNCH! Ok, so maybe just lunch on its own. They have a cafeteria where we eat, but you are allowed to leave the school grounds to eat if you want. Meaning that if you live across the road, or have a car, you can do what you want. Apparently you can buy food there, but I have been taking my own lunch – Cheese and Marmite (have to represent NZ) sandwiches. I know, shock horror, a normal lunch. Sorry guys, no cornflakes and coconut (yet). I am really enjoying my sandwiches, though it is a vague reminder of Singapore, processed cheese on white bread… Anyway, fourth period is World Religion. I started off in Mr Eves’ class, but as there were too many people in the class I have been transferred to Mr Macdonald’s class. So far all we have studied is Christianity, and Mr Macdonald is a devout Christian, making us pray from the bible before each class. Then, after school I catch the 11 bus to the Appleby station, before transferring to the 10 West, and catching that bus all the way home.
On Tuesday, Mille (a Danish Exchange Student) and her Host Father picked me up from school, and took me and Misaki back to their house. When we got there we had Ice Cream and Cookies ( =D ) for afternoon tea, before her host parents drove us into a restaurant to meet us with the Exchange Students for Kricia’s (from Brazil) 18th Birthday. We met at the Mandarin, a restaurant that has Chinese style food, as a buffet. Mille was very excited to be a part of my first ‘Mandarin Experience’ – apparently it is her favourite place to eat. We had lots of fun there, although I ate a lot – it’s surprising that I didn’t explode, and spray my organs all over the room! In the evening Misaki’s host sister Ashley picked us up, and dropped me home. The evening was heaps of fun, and I enjoyed seeing everyone again.
Since then, I have just been settling into a school routine. Corpus Christi has their ‘semi-formal’ tonight, a school dance. I didn’t hear about it until Tuesday, by which point it was too late to get tickets etc. This is quite a shame but apparently this is not their major dance; ‘Prom’ and other dances are still coming up, so I haven’t missed out entirely.
Anyway, time for dinner now (steak – om nom nom).
I miss you all,
Sarah.
xxx

Camp Wanakita!

Hi Everyone!

I have been very busy over the last week, but I have had heaps of fun!
On Saturday we got up early(ish), and drove south. We went down past Niagara Falls, and across the border America. Despite having purchased a Multi-Entry Visa, I still had to have my passport taken inside and checked, and I had to pay extra – rather infuriating. I didn’t buy too much, but I did manage to get a pair of Chucks for only $20US, which is around $30NZ! I was pretty pleased with that purchase! We had lots of fun, and I can now say that I have been to New York State!

On Sunday morning I left the house at 6.30am, and Terry drove me to Emi Johnson’s house. From there her dad took Emi, Misaki and I to Milton, where we got on the bus bound for Wanakita, along with 30 odd other students. The bus ride took around 3 hours, but before we knew it we were at Camp Wanakita. We went and set up our cabins, before going down to the lake to build our quintzees. We had to make a big mound that night, which was hard work, and we had to go back in the dark after dinner to get them finished! We also started learning to cross-country ski that day.
The next day we started to dig out the quintzees, learnt how to snowshoe, and went for a big cross country ski, across the lake!! It was so beautiful, it was very exciting, the idea of skiing on ice. Half of us slept in the quintzees that night, though I waited until Tuesday night.
On Tuesday we had to make ourselves lunch, and pack it into our bags before heading off on our snowshoe trek! It was lots of fun, and we walked through the woods for 6 hours, until we reached a tiny waterfall, that is partially frozen. The woods were incredible; it looked just like we were walking into Narnia. We also had lots of fun shaking the trees that people were standing under, and making snow fall on them. Our instructor showed us a moose carcass that he had found just a week before! He said when he found it there were wolf tracks all around it, and it had been entirely eaten, all that was left was the skull, backbone, rib cage, and the fur. Everything else had been eaten. We got to see rabbit tracks and fox tracks as well!
That night I got to sleep in the quintzee! It was made for 4 people, but we had to fit 5 girls in there, which was a bit of a squish. There was Kirstin, a Canadian outbound; Tammi, a Canadian outbound; Mickie, a German; Mille, a Danish girl and then me. We were packed in very tightly, so we all had to lie on our sides. It wasn’t at all cold, but the ground was pretty hard, and a good night’s sleep was not had.
Then on Wednesday we all packed up, and split into two groups - one group got to break down the quintzee, the other got to go Tobogganing. I chose tobogganing, which was so much fun!
After that we all got back on the bus, and began the drive back home. I still can’t believe that the weekend went by so quickly; it didn’t feel like I was there for 3 nights.
Thursday, the day after Wanakita, I went snowboarding with Misaki, Emma and Ashley. None of us had snowboarded before, so it was definitely an adventure. I had lots of fun, although I think I spent about 2/3 of the time on my butt.

I miss you all,
Sarah.

Burlington, Week One.

Well, a lot has been happening since I arrived here nearly a week ago...

I spent most of sunday unpacking my bags, and getting settled in. I hadn't actually realised how much stuff I had brought, so it took longer than I had expected to get my clothes all put away in the drawers. That afternoon I went out to the supermarket with Terry (my host-dad), to pick up a few things for dinner (or supper, as they call it here). The supermarket was pretty cool, I have to say. It was a lot bigger than New World or Foodtown, and everything was sold in larger amounts than you could normally buy in NZ. One thing I found fascinating, was that every thing there was labelled in bothe English and French! I was very confused at first, as to why a pie was called a 'pie-tarte' instead of just a 'pie'. I did figure it out eventually...
Terry's son and his family came over for dinner, so I got to met them which was lovely, and then their kids Ben (2years old) and Sarah (4months old) stayed the night.

It was nice having the kids around, and we spend Monday playing with them, and watching 'Mickey Mouse' and a Canadian kids show "Toopy and Binoo" - look it up
:P Sandra Strauss from the Burlington North Rotary Club came over in the afternoon, to see how I was doing, and also to drop off some clothes left behind by a previous exchange student, Shauna from Australia. There were mountains of sweaters and hoodies, which I am sure will be great, as it is very very cold here.

On Tuesday I had an appointment at Corpus Christi, the school will be going too. I picked my 'courses': English, History, World Religion, and Drama. I was given a tour around the school, which is three storeys high, but not as big as Howick College. It is only two/three years old, and only about 900 students go there. They have the American lockers!!!I don't actually start school until Monday 8th February,but it was nice to go in and get sorted out.

On Wednesday I got to sleep in, and then in the afternoon Laurie (my host-mum) took me around town. She showed me the swimming pool, the bus stop, and then took me to the Mapleview Mall, one of the biggest in Burlington. It was fun looking around there, as all of their stores are totally different to ours - The Body Shop was the only store I recognised!

Laurie and I drove into Hamilton on Thursday morning to get my school uniform - but when we got there we were told that they don't infact stock Corpus Christi Uniform, and the we needed to go to Oakville - on the other side of Burlington. It wasn't too far however, and I did get to see Hamilton! I was amazed at the choice all the schools have when it comes to uniform!! I could choose from a button up shirt, a formal shirt, or a long sleeved polo shirt, in black or white. There were three types of pants for girls, and a skirt/kilt to choose from (you think Howick had a short skirt...), and then three options when it came it sweaters - a striped rugby jersey was even available! I have the white polo shirt, a pair of pants, a skirt, and a plain sweater.. though it was very hard to choose!
I had 'Kraft Dinner' for lunch, which is one of Laurie's favourites. It is that Macaroni Cheese in a box kinda thing, and while it was nice, the powdered cheese was a little disturbing..
That evening, I got to go Iceskating with Emma, Ashley, Misaki and Jesse, some previous exchange students and their friends! It was lots of fun, and was in an Outdoor rink, something you would never find in New Zealand! I only fell over a few times, and didn't crash into anyone (not too hard, considering we were the only ones on the rink!).

This morning I got to attend my host club's Rotary meeting. They have a breakfast meeting, which started at 7.00, so Terry and I had to leave the house by 6.30 :S, far too early for my liking. However I did enjoy it, and I got to see Misaki (student from Japan) and Emi (soon to be going on an exchange) again, and meet a previous exchange student Connor, who had gone to Equador. I was introduced to lots of the Rotary members who I had only spoken too over email, so it was nice to be able to 'put a face to a name'.

I miss you all,
Sarah
xxx

Mission Acomplished.

Well, I made it! I am now officially in Burlington!

On the 20th of January, I left New Zealand with 34 other Rotary Exchange students. Rhi, Emily, Pippa, Kaden and Ange came to see me off, and gave me a St. Christopher Necklace, which I haven't taken off yet. It was so nice to get to say goodbye too them, and Em phoned me at the airport to say goodbye, which was very special. With only a few tears, I eventually went through the gates.
An 11hour flight followed, which, while exciting at first, the novelty wore off pretty fast. I did however get to watch Zombieland (:D) and Case 39. Needless to say, no sleep was had.

After landing in LAX, we caught a shuttle bus to the Hacienda Hotel, and after changing out of our Rotary Uniforms, we went to Westfield Mall (and ate maaaassiive pizzas), and Venice Beach. We all had lots of fun there, and learnt that it takes 3 Helium Balloons to float a wafer biscuit. We then spent the evening chilling in the hallway with the other students, all using the internet.

We went to Disneyland the next day, and that was aaaawesome! It was raining, but that meant that there were no queues, so we could get straight on all the rides, and stay on for a second turn if we wanted! We spend the second half of the day at California Adventure, a joining theme park, where we did the California Screamin' Rollercoaster, the Maliboomer, and the Tower of Terror! We then had dinner with the Westchester Rotary Club, which was great! It was lots of fun meeting the people who have helped make our stopover so awesome.

The next day was Universal Studios. We took a train ride through all the sets, saw where Desperate Housewives was being filmed, right as we drove past!! We also saw where David is-a-god Boreanaz's Irish Flashback scenes on Buffy and Angel were filmed, and I am fairly sure that if I could have gotten out I would have been licking the floor. We also saw where C.S.I and Bones are filmed. We saw some seriously cool sets. like the Jaws set, and the War of the Worlds set. Plus there were some seriously insane special effects we got to experience, Like earthquakes, and flash floods!
After that we did some of the rides, like the Simspons Ride (A simulated rollercaoster, that really makes you feel like you are on it) and the Mummy Ride, (a freaky indoor rollercoaster thingie) though Jurasic Park was closed. We also saw the 'backdraft' show - showing how they create and contain movie fire, and a show on special effects, which we got front ro seats on, as Sam volunteered to help out. After that, we got to drive down Rodeo Drive, and see the Beverly Hills sign. We stopped on the Walk of Fame, took heaps of pictures, and saw the hollywood sign!

That night we had dinner with the Westchester Roteract and Interact members (kinda like a junior Rotary). We ate lots of Pizza, and met some pretty cool new people.
Then, we packed up, and (some of us :P ) tried to get a goodnights sleep, before hitting the road the next day. Destination: Burlington!!

Nick and I, who were both flying to Canada got on the shuttle bus with Sue at 10am, and drove to Los Angeles Airport. There we checked in, and had around 2hours to kill before our flight. I bought a coffee thing from Starbucks, which was horrendously expensive - around the same price it would be in $NZ! Finally we boarded the plane, and took off. We were sitting beside an ex-kiwi, who has been living in Canada for the last 15 years or so. I watched some 'Big Bang theory' and the Simpsons, and befor I knew it we were preparing for landing. It was 0' as we landed, and very, very cold. There were virtually no queues going through immigration, and we had a lovely lady proccessing our visas, who we chatted to. I was met at the airport by lots of people! Laurie and Terry, my host parents were there, along with lots of others. They gave me a red and white canadian scarf, and some Helium Balloons :D
We went to 'Tim Hortons', a canadian icon, for coffee and hot chocolate, before Terry and Laurie took me home.

That's all for now, I will upload some photos next time.
I miss you all,
Sarah
xxx