Not sure how long this will be as i left it another week to write it as there really wasnt much of huge interest in the week, however the second week included the All Blacks vs the Wallabies so thought i would fit them all into one. Been away for prety much a month now, it really does go quickely, and it is getting quicker all the time as i have more and more to do andthings to get involved in. So from where i left off Wednesday 9th Sept (my time). As is routine with a summers day after school all the boys go out and play league. Being the gappy a few too many times they make sure i get it and make me run with it, although i dont think i have let my self down! That night i was invited to go watch the College House social Hockey team play in the semi final of a cup. I had been told this was one of the funniest things to watch and it didnt dissapoint. The social team comprised of 6th and 7th formers who played sport, but not hockey. They joined a local league and played everyweek in the 6th division. However as they hadnt expected to make it this far they decided to put in 4 of the College House boys who are in the schools 1st IX. They were playing one of the local school 1st team which made it very embarassing when with 10 minutes to go we were 3-1 up. However they scored 2 late goals making it go to penalties int he last 5 minutes. I dont think i have seen a team celebrate so over the top. Halfway through strokes (starting to use hockey terminology) their coach came on the field questioning whether some of the players were registered, of course we denied there was any wrong doing and decided to play on first. Fortunatly we lost, otherwise there may have be reprecussions. Next year when the Hockey season starts i have put my name forward to register to play, i mean, it cant be that hard to look good?
The following day was another sporting eye opener, apparently i played 1st IX cricket for Gordons! I was told to write a little something about myself for the Rector to read out in assembly when introducing me as a new member of staff. Somehow he read that i was a cricketer, so along with rugby and Football, i think they have a false intepretation of my abilities. Being introduced to 1600 boys in itself was something quite new. Later that day having set up a touch game with one of the tutors, i came into my own when we play first to three to end the game. Scoring the last two tries securing our victory. I was then asked if i played netball by one of the 7th formers, obviously i said ‘yes, im amazing’ just always think about how you will live up to the lie later. So i had now joined an indoor netball team. There was 5 boys and 2 girls, but little did we know we could only play 3 boys as there had to be 3 girls. So we were immediatly disadvantaged to playing with 5 players against 6. Indoor netball is also very diffferent as we couldnt work out how the other teams points had rocketed up, until it was poiinted out that if you shoot outside the ‘D’ its two points. I think that was the downfall of my game, as i kept going for the 2 pointer, i didnt make one. So losing to a team of obese people, was demoralising. They were surprisingly skillfull!
The weekend began and the second road trip of Chris and I also started. We had another rough plan but as always it changed. We first drove up to Marton, only about 30 minutes away and picked up some of th Gappies working in Nga Tawa School. We then drove to Wanganui, another 30 minute drive where some more Gappies were there. I took the leading role in walking around a school i didnt even know, knocking on doors trying to find the Gappies accomodation. When i stumbled across them, they didnt seem to happy to see me. I later found out they didnt recognise me with my hair cut! After catching upfor a bit, we asked if they wanted to go out in Wanganui, only to find out they had two minutes befor we arrive decided they were going to drive down to Palmy. Since Palmy actually had some nightlife we happily agreed, and pointlessly drove back at 9pm to get ready to go out in Palmy. We then crashed at the teachers house of the road, which i am hoping to move to in February when the other gappy comes out here. Saturday not much was achieved, a fulll english breakfast in town, a short drive to an outlet store, watched the All Blacks lose then bed.
Jumping to Monday i had a very fun drive taking a bunch of teachers to a nearby mountain, only an hour and half away. After following a car there i set a time of 1 hour 30 minutes however driving back my self i set a record of 1 hour and 15 minutes , since half the journey is on gravel roads, i was practising my rally car driving in a 14 seater minibus drifting round the courners. After getting back i was picked up by the Lattitude workers and along with all the gappys in the area we went to Hato Paola (dont think its spelt right) a Maori school in Fielding. It was organised because the new CEO of Lattitude was travelling the world looking at whats going on. So along with him we had another Porferii (again not spelt right). This is another Maori greeting however this was was extremely good as the whole school was waiting in the hall chanting as we walked in. They then did their sppeches and sang a song, which we had to follow. So singing the song we learnt on the first day didnt go to well. At the end the school did their haka, which again was awesome. Sharyn then asked if each of us would stannd up and say where we are working at, after Leno a German Gappy said where he was from and staying here it was my turn. So i stood up said i was from England and was working at Palmy Boys .... Silence along with noise of dissaproval. It was all local rivalry and banter luckily. We then met four of the boys who in January are going over to England on their Gap years. This was the fisrt time they had ever got some from this school and it was really interesting talking to them about it. Sharyn then had us all back to her house for a BBQ which went down extremely well. The next morning i was up early again picking up the teachers, however this time i held back on speeding as it was raining, i know my risk assesments. That night i went on my first run in months, which absolutly killed me. As i have decided to run the 2011 marathon im glad i am starting training early as i have a very very long way to go. 30 minutes and i was dead.
On Wednesday night i saw the boys from HP sooner than i expected as Josh ( teacher at the school) i was taken to play some touch with his team. The Deputy Head of HP who played with Josh had brought the boys down to practice some sevens for a tournament coming up. So i joined in with their training and played sevens for the first time in a long while, again i was dead. They asked if i wanted to play for them, but unfortunatly im away as im off travelling the south island that day. Hopefully another one will come up soon as it would be awesome to play sevens out here. I have been trying to sort out wireless in my room for a long time, and it is the only thing left to do then i will be completly sorted, but for some unknown reason to me of th IT guys it wont work. But i will still try as willl be good to get skype up and running. Over the past week i had been struggling to breathe after sport and at night, i had to use someones spare puffer to help me breather one day so i went to the doctors. I didnt realise you have to pay here for a consultation, so i shouldnt of gone as i am pretty sure i am running out of money fast. But luckily it was only a chest infection. After asking whether you can drink whilst on these antibiotics i was given the go ahead so i started taking them. As on Friday we drove back up to Havelock North when Hannah and Emma are and when to the South African girls school. Where pre drinks ended up just drinks because in New Zealand Friday nights are not really good at all. The next morning began the long journey down to Wellington...
The drive wasnt too bad, as driving in New Zealand doesnt get too boring as you dont sit on Motorways the whole way, we came through the mountains driving down to Wellington on the shore. We had pre booked accomadation, and Wellington is surprisingly small for a Capital city so it was too long before we found the Hostel. Even though we had been told it was $30 dollars a night, they clearly saw us as stupid tourists and blabbed some story about being an american company and the website quotes were in US Dollars so the price was over $50 dollars. But this had to do as there would be no other places free. We had planned to drop off the car at Jesse Johnsons house just outside of town. Jesse is the current gappy at Gordons and i had met his Dad in England who was has been extremely nice in giving us the option of putting us up there whenever. It was decided we would get changed for the Rugby, take the car, then train it in. First problem, i forgot a towel so i had to dry myself in the duvet of my bed, not that comfortable really. We found their house, and after a 2 minute conversation they shipped us to the train station to catch the train to the stadium. The stadium with only a 35000 capacity had a real atmosphere about it. I shouldnt have done but i bought an All Blacks Scarf, turned out to be 2nd on the best buys of this year as the temperature dropped remarkably. We were so fortunate that the weather had cleared up that day and it didnt rain. The game was great, we really got into being Kiwi’s although im pretty sure they knew we werent. The hihglight was seeing the guy in front jump up to cheer for a try and with a beer in his hand threw it in the air and it landing on top of one guy. This guy did not react well, picking up the cup with some beer left in it, turning and chucking it at him. He immediatly regretted it when he realised they were two huge Maori blokes. Him and his wife then moved seats as everyone around was in hysterics laughing at them. But a real downer was when a flag we had bought, still in its packet went missing from the floor. And after looking around it was conviently being hidden inbetween the knees of the women in front. We even said at the end excuse me you have our flag, she stuck by the story she had just bought it, but we knew it was not a good idea to argue, as they were a pretty big group. The final score was 33-6 to the All Blacks, and we even got to grab the cup that was paraded around at the end. Then began our night out in Wellington, which after the All Blacks had one was really buzzing. We went back to the Hostel, and on the way met up with Finbarr who emmigrated out here from Gordons two years ago and we then went out with him. It was a very heavy, fun and long night. One weird moment, was after going to the Wellington College Balls after party at a club, we met their Head Boy, who is going to Gordons in January as the Gappy!. Small world. Got to bed at 5am and had 4 hours sleep before we had to be getting ready to leave and check out by 10am. That afternoon we went to the Johnsons and met them properly before driving back to Palmy. First night out in Wellington by far exceeded expectations.
As per usual now, i have been playing league after school, or just kicking from the tee, and then bossing kids around at night to make toasties. On Thursday i fly to Christchurch where i am there for two nights and on Saturday am joined by the other Gordons guys and Emma. We have booked two campervans for two weeks, which we will take around the South Island. I have decided to do the Bungy Jump in Queenstown by the Shotover Jet, which was the first place it was ever done. So wont think about it too much will just do it! In november i will be on a year 10 camp where i will be able to do a bungy jump, canyon swing, and a flying fox. All pretty exhilaerating things. So thats the plan, hopefully that all goes well, and i will write about it after the two weeks are up. Till then...

Prim x