CROSS CANADA TOUR! :D

Hi Everybody!

I am sorry for the lapse in communication, it is summer over here, and I have been out and about a lot, saying goodbye to the Northern Hemisphere exchange students who have finished their year, catching up with school friends, and of course travelling across Canada on my month long trip!

So, while I do have a lot to talk about, I really wanted to tell you guys about the CCT (Cross Canada Tour) that I did last month – which really was one of the best months of my life. There were 3 Chaperones and 44 exchange students on the trip, from all around the world. About 15 of them were from my Rotary District over here, 7080, so it was great having some close friends on the trip with me, but there were also a lot of people I had never met, and I have definitely made some new friendships that will last a lifetime!

We started the tour in Moncton, New Brunswick, North East of where I am living. We spent about a week up in this area, and saw some amazing things. One of my favourites was the Hopewell Rocks, in the Bay of Fundy. This is where there are huge tides, up to 7m tall! I don’t know how much you know about this area, but because of the large tides, the rocks there have eroded away, and are left in some incredible formations – they are also known as the flowerpot rocks, as they look a bit like flowerpots, with a large bulbous part on top where the water hasn’t washed away the rock.

We spent a day on Prince Edward Island, which was a lot of fun – we swam in a river, went lobster fishing, and dressed up as Anne of Green Gables (as PEI is her hometown), yes, even the boys donned the green gown and plaited wigs!

From there we travelled to Quebec on the train, which was an overnight train ride… lets just say I don’t think much sleep was had, and when we arrived in Quebec City at 6am the next morning, we were a very tired bunch. But, we made the most of our time in the city and started off with a scavenger hunt around town (yes, at 6am!), which ended in us finding our way to the hostel. What none of us knew at the time, was that the day before had been St-Jean Baptiste Day, which is the provincial holiday of Quebec, and is basically an excuse for a large party. In Quebec we watched some of the FIFA football matches (there was great international rivalry!), and explored the city. I must say, it was definitely my favourite city on the Tour, and all the exchange students said it reminded them of Europe – looks like I will have to plan a trip there in the future!

We moved onto Montreal, which was another fun city, and we had another scavenger hunt to complete – I am now very familiar with the subway system in Montreal, this tour led us all over the place. We saw the Basilica, and some amazing cathedrals – Montreal really is a beautiful city.

By July 29th we were in Toronto, very close to home for me. We did all of the touristy things there, including a trip up the CN Tower, and a visit to the Niagara Falls, which really are spectacular. We did a jet boat ride up the Niagara River, which was awesome, and we visited the Hockey Hall of fame, and of course, there was some great shopping in Toronto.

We caught another early morning train on July 1st, this time Ottawa – Canada’s capital. This was an incredible experience, because July 1st is Canada day, and the major celebrations are held in Ottawa, even the queen was there – as you can see from my photos, everyone went overboard with the red and white decoration, but it was a lot of fun!

After that though, we had what has to have been the longest train ride of my life – 3 nights and days onboard without stopping. We didn’t have sleeper carriages or anything, so we slept in regular train seats, which only recline about 2 degrees, or so it felt like! Despite the lack off actual sleep and the cramped conditions, we all loved the train ride, as it gave us all a great chance to get to know each other even better, I think some of the best friendships were made during that time (and we learnt a lot of new card games).

Finally we stopped in Edmonton, and went straight to the West Edmonton Mall – the biggest mall in North America! And boy, it was big. Inside the mall there was a movie theatre, and theme park, and a water park! It was crazy how big it was. An Edmonton Rotary club had sponsored us all tickets into the water park, which was fantastic, especially since none of us had showered for three days! So we played in the water park, and looked around the mall and had a chance just to relax and hang our together.

We travelled to Jasper National park that evening and settled into our hostel there. We all kept our eyes peeled for bears and moose, but sadly none were to be found.

We travelled to the Columbia Ice fields, which are one of the largest glacier areas in the world, and we took a tour up to the actual ice fields themselves. We had a lot of travelling to get through, so we moved straight up to Banff where we stayed for the next few days.

Banff was an amazing area –

 we visited hot springs, went white water rafting and explored the town, which was quaint, but lovely. We also visited Lake Louise, which was nearby, and was absolutely stunning. A few of us took a hike up a nearby mountain to get a better view of the lake, and I am so glad I did it, I was amazing. It took us a good 5 hours to get up though, and part of it was almost rock-climbing, we had to scramble up a steep hill covered in shale and gravel.

We moved on again, this time to Calgary, where we saw the Calgary Stampede! That was awesome, and we explored the fairgrounds and watched some of the shows, including the rodeo. That was awesome to see, I had never seen anything like it, and we got to watch all kinds of events, involving horses, bulls, calves, and the chuck wagons!

July 11th, we visited the dinosaur museum, and we also watched the FIFA final – by this point the trip had been divided into supporting sides, Netherlands vs. Spain. Let’s just say there were about 20 very happy people that day!

We spent a bit more time in Edmonton, where we were billeted by families, and we got to see some more of the city. We also got to have a home cooked meal, and get some laundry done, which was awesome. My family took me and Johanna (Swedish girl I was billeted with) out to a fondue place for dinner, which was so cool! I have never had a fondue meal, so that was very exciting, and the food was amazing.

Then of course we made it out all the way to British Columbia, first stop Vancouver.

That was another amazing city, there was so much to see and do there, and we barely scratched the surface. We explored Stanley Park, biked around the city, saw an outdoor theatre production, visited the Aquarium and saw Beluga whales, and I saw my first racoon and skunk!

Salt Spring Island was our next stop, and that was beautiful. Half of us were billeted, the other half stayed in a motel. I was part of the group in a motel, which was good fun. Salt Spring reminded me a lot of Waiheke Island actually. The beaches were amazing, and there were some very fancy houses on the island. There was also a market every Saturday, which we were lucky enough to see, and we all spent a fair bit of money there, on souvenirs and little trinkets.

Last but not least, we caught the ferry to Victoria, Vancouver Island. Victoria was another of my favourite cities. We went to China Town, had fish and chips on the water front and just spent time with our friends, getting our flags signed and preparing to say goodbye.

Sadly, the trip did end there, and there were many tears when we parted. I for one cried my eyes out at the airport; it was unbelievable how close we had all become spending just a month together.
When I started writing this, I intended to keep it short; I was aiming for just a summary, maybe a paragraph or two… apparently that didn’t happen! And this is only half of what we did, there are a lot more things that happened on our trip and places that we saw to tell you, but if I include everything, this will be about 5 pages longer! But I am sure you will hear all about it when I get back, and I have a lot of photographs to share with you all! I am sorry it has taken me this long to get this to you, and I will work on keeping you better informed on my adventures in the upcoming months. This year really has been absolutely fantastic for me so far – and believe it or not, I am past the halfway point! That certainly is daunting, though I am excited to return home and see everyone again!
Love Sarah
xox

P.S More CCT photos, and other news to come!! :)

Wow!

Hi Guys!
Wow, I just looked at my last blog entry - I had no idea it had been that long since I last posted!
I have been super busy in the last two months, so I will tell you a bit about May and June in this post, and then I will write again this week, telling you about the Cross Canada Tour, which honestly was the most amazing trip of my life! So, no suspense whatso ever...

When I last wrote, I was preparing to move to my second family. Now, I am preparing to move out of my second family, and into my third! My time spent here with Kathy, Pat, Krystine, Greg, Vanessa, Kyle and Jonathan, was absoulutely a blast! Because of the CCT I was only really here for one month, but even then, I really really enjoyed it. It was a very different experience indeed, having 5 kids in the house, and it was certainly always busy. They also have two dogs -Taz and Nikki, a cat - Cuddles, and a turtle - Mr T, along with multiple fish!

I also spoke about a rotary weekend, where we kinda 'initiated' the 7080 Outbound students. That weekend held at the Missisauga University (refered to as Erindale) was so much fun! The first thing we did was a scavenger hunt around the campus. I was paired with Kricia, my amazing Brazilian girl, and we had a fantastic time. We also placed second, thanks to the stranger we met, who helped us name 49 states of America, and Kricia's valiant muesli-bar juggling attempt.

I helped out at Lobster Fest, which is a Rotary Lobster dinner, hosted by my club in May. There were a lot of people there, and all the exchange students from Burlington, (inbounds outbounds and rebounds) helped out by selling 50/50 tickets. I was with Mille (Denmark) which was hilarious, she is a fantastic sales person ;)
I also got to eat lobster, which was cool! There was a lot left over, so we could have as much as we wanted, and while I only ate one, some people had 2,3, even 4!

Another Burlington event I attendedwas Sound of Music - a huge free music festival held in June, down by the lakeshore. That was a lot of fun, and I wasn't needed to help out there, so I just enjoyed it. I spent the first night there with Emi (outbound, France-bound on August 25th :S ) and we saw the canadian bands Mariana's Trench, and Faber Drive! I also went another night with Nicole, Eric, Jeff, Zack, and some other people from school, which was a lot of fun! We explored the rest of the grounds that night, and went on some of the rides.

And then I left on my CCT the next morning! And that, was amazing. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G

Love you all,
xoxox

Just a quick update:

Hi Everybody!

I have spent this afternoon packing up my clothes (which seem to have greatly multiplied) and preparing to move to my second family on Monday.
While I know I am going to miss Laurie and Terry, who I am with now, I am also very excited because my next family has 5 children! That will definitely be an experience.

This weekend I will be going to another Rotary Camp, this time along with the soon-to-be outbound students. This weekend will be more of an information session so that we can tell the Canadian students a bit about what they will be experiencing this time next year. There will be a girl from this district going to the Auckland 9920 District in August, so I am very excited for her.

Over the past month I have caught the train  into Toronto twice, with different groups of exchange students, and I have had a lot of fun. The train trip in is around an hour, so we have found all sorts of ways to entertain ourselves, and I have learnt to say some rather 'interesting' things in German and Danish.

While the weather was really beautiful last week it seems to have taken a turn for the worst this week, and the temperatures have been all single digits with a lot of rain. Apparently this is normal spring weather though, and the sunshine earlier was too good to be true. But, not long until Summer...

In summer I will be taking a Rotary trip across Canada, leaving Burlington on the 20th of June, and not returning until the 20th of July. A lot of the students from my district will be going, as will many students from other districts, so I cannot wait to meet them. I was posted the itinerary a few days ago, and it looks very full on. Some of the many exciting things we will be doing include seeing the Calgary Stampede, and being in Ottawa for Canada Day!

Thanks so much,
Sarah.

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