My First Week at Heretaunga Intermediate School

Kia Ora! (Translated means: hello and hope you have good health)
New Zealand is beautiful! After my long journey from the United States to New Zealand, I am happy to say that it only took me a couple of days to adjust to the time difference here. After I arrived at the airport in Napier, one of the deputy principals picked me up and took me straight to the school. Everyday there is morning tea, when the students have a recess and most of the teachers gather for coffee, tea, and biscuits (similar to cookies). For my first morning tea with the school staff, the teachers brought in foods that are special to Kiwis (people from New Zealand). Some of the treats that they had made for me were Pavlov topped with kiwi fruit, lollycake (delicious), lamingtons, sweet potato chips (fries) and a variety of locally grown fruits. The staff also set out several different books about New Zealand customs and foods for me to flip through. After tea, I met my class. There are 33 students in my new class. All of the students at Heretaunga dress in uniform when at school.
My first week was spent observing and getting to know the students. When students come to class, they must take off their shoes and store them on a shoe rack. All students do this in respect of the Maori culture and beliefs. Many students are barefoot when they play sports during recess and PE. The students always eat lunch outdoors here. If it is raining then they sit under the overhang of the classroom roof. Students must bring their own lunch, since the schools do not have cafeterias or cafeteria workers. Students have reading, maths (which is what they call math here), spelling (they use spelling city), music, art, hard materials (like woodshop), food tech (home ec.), writing, P.E. and digital projects (which include social studies, science, and language arts). Classrooms here have themes. My classroom’s theme is digital classroom, where most of their work is done through computers.
I am staying with a very nice family that live about 2 miles from the school, where I am teaching. I walk to and from school every day. The weather has been beautiful here. It has been sunny and warm with an average of 26 degrees Celsius. Yesterday I walked downtown and explored Hastings a little bit. Most of the architecture is in art deco style, as the town was leveled by a serious earthquake in 1931.
People here are very friendly and willing to talk about their country. One family even offered to take me out for some hokey pokey ice cream. Hokey pokey ice cream is vanilla ice cream with honey, caramel, and bits of honey comb all mixed together. It is really delicious. It’s my new favorite ice cream.