Prior to my first year at university, I had refused to eat salad because of the various textures. Trying new things terrified me as I was hesitant to ever traveling abroad. Today, four years later, I am teaching Year 7/8 in New Zealand, across the world.
I set off for my flight from Chicago, to then transfer in San Francisco, to New Zealand around 5:30PM on Tuesday, and arrived TODAY Thursday morning around 6:17AM. Thankfully, I was traveling with a friend so I had some company and an exit buddy (*Finding Nemo
reference*). However, even with a friend, we had made the choice to listen to our travel agent that we could make a flight that landed an hour before our next flight departed. On top of that, I just happened to check my email and received an email stating my first day of teaching was going to be the 10th...the day I arrived. I only almost had a mental breakdown before I realized I had a plane to catch. BUT, once we successfully sprinted to the other terminal and made it to our seats, I managed to budget in a nice cold adult drink. SO. Traveling Tip #1: Do not schedule flights within an hour of each other, even if the travel booking agency thinks you can make it.
Once we were up in the air and my clothes dried from the drenching sweat (mostly from stressing about making the flight, but the cardio part didn't help either) we were served dinner (chicken and potatoes) and then I took a beautifully long nap to wake up just in time for breakfast (omelette and fruit)! It was pretty good, but I got to sleep the rest of the way so I was pretty happy about that...as you could imagine.
That being said, the rest of the flight wasn't too bad. Because I sat in the middle, I obviously had to introduce myself to the other person in our row. Unfortunately it wasn't an attractive single, young, professional rugby player, but it was the kindest Kiwi who helped us learn the behind-the-scenes facts of New Zealand. Traveling Tip #2: Meet new friends on the plane, especially easy if they're in your row. She was about our age and returning from a 2-year ski resort job exchange type program up in Canada. I took 2 minutes to imagine if I went to work in a country half way across the country after high school instead of attending college...yeah I laughed, too. Thankfully, after four years of preparation, I can confidently travel 8,872 miles to work for 8 weeks.
Once we arrived Thursday morning (6:17AM), we bought international SIM cards (Vodaphone), picked up our suitcases, and found the man holding a sign with our names ready to drive us to my new home. About an hour and $60 later, we arrived to loving open arms by my host mum! She generously allowed me to shower and get ready for my first day at school while my friend could rest and figure out her international phone.
My host 'mum' drove my roommate (a graduated master's student teaching art) and I to school where she introduced me to the entire staff and all her favorite students. The bell rang at 9AM and the chaos began. Kids running in from every direction and trying to navigate between teachers, kids, and buildings. Finally, I made it to my classroom and spent the morning observing my host teacher, who I had found out it the Block Leader, Deputy Principal AND 71 years old, what a lovely, passionate, phenomenal woman.
The morning was pretty blurry, but I was able to take a few notes to remember post-jet lag. The students recited something as an entire Block (which I will explain later), we had "PE" where my teacher led the class in teaching a very energetic dance with a few Year 7 girls to "Witch Doctor". Before this period, I was running on adrenaline. After an hour of jumping and dancing, I was done-zo. I needed a nap. My new bed was calling. Thankfully "Morning Tea" was right after and I was able to get a ride home to rest.
Around 3PM, my friend and I decided to go down for a little bite to eat and explore the area before my host mum returned. We found a delicious little bakery, but this was when we realized how expensive things were here in NZ. Thankfully we get more bang for our buck here with the better conversion (every $1NZD was about $.73USD). Our
sandwiches were each about $10 and didn't include a drink or chips...like come on at least give me some chips or fries! I have been taking fatty American food for granted. There weren't many options, they wouldn't make me another one of her sandwiches because there were plenty of others out that I could choose from. What?! I just wanted a big sandwich, ugh. Well, it was still delicious to say the least. New Zealand, I approve my first meal.
Somehow, we kept going. I believed it was a great idea to stay awake and push through that jet-lag so my host mum decided to take us to Devonport our first night. Traveling Tip #3: Stay awake abiding by the new country's time zone, but it's okay to take a little itty bitty nap to tide ya over. This allowed us to enjoy the beautiful sunset on Mount Victoria, the tallest volcano on the North Shore, while eating delicious, crunchy, beer battered fish n chips. We were home in bed by 8PM and I couldn't be happier. Talk about a successful first "day." As best quoted by Annie, "I think I'm gonna like it hereeeeeeee!"
Comments