Good Bye New Zealand

As I begin to pack our bags for our return trip to New York, I've had time to reflect on our life here over the past year. It's been a wonderful experience living in New Zealand. I've made some good friends. I've tried different things. I've seen beautiful, memorable sights.

Working in the schools has been a valuable experience, giving me the chance to see other teachers in action. I'm very grateful to those who opened up their classrooms to me and shared their insights and passion for teaching, and to those who have steered me toward the educational books that have so influenced New Zealand education. Having the time to read, discuss and reflect has been priceless.

Perhaps one of the best reasons for travelling is that it gives you a chance to think about your own life in a way you could not before you were exposed to a different culture. Living in a foreign country has reminded me how much I enjoy my life back in New York and how much I miss teaching at Cottage Lane. While I'll miss my beautiful New Zealand, and I know that my life is richer for having spent time here, I am excited to be heading home. A year is a long time to be away.

Thanks to all of you who have been reading this blog. How I've loved reading your comments!

See you all soon! If you're around Cottage Lane at the end of August, please stop in. You know I'd love to see you!
~Ms. Christie-Blick

North Island, New Zealand

As you'll recall, New Zealand is made up of two large islands (plus some smaller islands). Although we've spent most of our time down on South Island, North Island is not to be missed! Here are some pictures we took while exploring the mountains, the forests, and the caves. Can you tell that the mountain in the photo above is a volcano? Would you go inside a cave with just the light on your helmet to see?

North Island also has some awesome geothermal features! That means it has geysers, hot springs and mudpots. They are fascinating and beautiful. They are also fun to watch because the heat inside the ground heats up the groundwater, causing it to shoot high into the air as a geyser. Sometimes the water boils and bubbles in a mudpot, making a blurping, blubbing sound.

Click here to listen to, and see, mudpots in action!

Click here to see an animation of how a geyser works.

Click here to see hot springs in other countries.

Visiting The Kingdom of Tonga

Chirpy and I completed our last set of school visits in the Kingdom of Tonga. What amazing sights we saw! This is a different country from New Zealand. We flew four hours north from my home in Christchurch, NZ, to reach the main island.

See if you can find Tonga on Google Earth. When you do, you'll see that it's an archipelago. It's a difficult word to pronounce, so click on the word to hear the pronunciation, and then try saying it aloud. An archipelago is a bunch of islands. Tonga is an archipelago because it is made up of 169 islands, although only 36 of the islands have people living on them.

Because it's so close to the equator, it stays warm all year round. Even though it's winter there now in June, the days are warm and sunny, with highs around 80 F. They also get lots of rain throughout the year. That means there are lots of beautiful, tropical plants growing all over the islands. There are also coconut trees and banana trees in people's yards, as well as just growing wild. See the banana tree growing at this school?

Even if you live on a beautiful, tropical island, you still have to go to school, so that's what the kids of Tonga do every day, Monday through Friday, just like the kids in the United States. Chirpy and I found many differences between the Tongan schools and Cottage Lane, however.

You'll notice in these pictures that the students wear uniforms. On Wednesdays and Saturdays mothers wash clothes, so the kids can wear whatever they like to school on Wednesdays.

The adults, both men and women, usually wear skirts. All of the teachers, and other government workers, are required to wear a taovala over their skirt. In the photos you can see the taovala tied on top of the skirts. Most Tongan adults wear skirts and sandals to keep cool and comfortable, and because it's part of their tradition.

The taovala is made out of plant leaves. The leaves are soaked in water, then hit with a wooden hammer until soft. They are then woven together to make the wrap-around. There are many different types of taovalas, and different designs are woven into the taovalas. It reminds Tongans of their traditions. In this photo, you see some young men in their skirts and taovalas walking past the fruit and vegetable markets.

One of the mothers made a taovala for me, so I too had one to wear to school each day. In this photo you can see some of the mothers making taovalas while they're waiting for their children at school. The mother on the right in the blue shirt made mine. I was delighted. The Tongans were pleased that I would wear one because it showed I respected their traditions.

The country of Tonga is a poor country. It doesn't have many natural resources like the United States, and until recently, it hasn't had the help of other countries. The result is that the people have a much simpler lifestyle than the typical American. Their houses are smaller and not as strong; the people don't own as many things; and many of their roads and buildings are in need of repair. This photo shows a typical house in Tonga. Notice the roosters in the front yard. Most families have roosters, chickens, and pigs. They run free around the neighborhood until they're cooked for dinner.

Many of the school buildings are also in need of cleaning and repair. Most classrooms have no books for the children to read, paper to draw on, or crayons with which to draw. They are given notebooks to write in, but these need to last them all year. This photo shows the entrance to one of the classrooms.

Many of the classrooms are overcrowded, with 40 children per class. The teachers do the best they can, but it's impossible to give individual help in classes this big. This photo shows a typical classroom. Notice that the teachers try to make the classroom as nice as possible by putting up children's work and instructional posters. If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you may notice that some of the posters are in Tongan but many are in English. At school, the children learn both languages.

Often, the school play areas are very muddy because there's so much rain in Tonga. Also, the pigs get in and tear up the grass looking for grubs in the soil. The schools cannot afford playground equipment likes slides and swings, but the kids always find fun games to play. The boys especially like playing in the mud. Since shoes are not required they don't have to worry about getting them dirty! In contrast, most of the girls don't like getting muddy. Click here to see a video of the girls playing on the playground.

In addition to the main island, I visited four other islands in Tonga. Some of the islands were so small that they had only one village and one elementary school on the whole island. To get to them I had to fly in a small plane for an hour and then take a boat for another hour. In this photo, an officer from the Department of Education is leading the way back to our boat (at the end of the jetty on the right) after one of our school visits.

To get to some of the schools I then had to walk through the bush (wilderness) to get to the village. This photo shows a boy in front of his house on one of the small islands. There are no cars and no roads on this island. In the village, and at the school, there is no electricity and no running water.

There are only 17 children and 2 classrooms at this school. The 5 to 8-year-olds are in one class, and the kids 9 - 12 are in the other class. There are two teachers. One of them is also the principal. When the children are 13, they have to move to another island and live with a relative if they go to high school. There is no high school on this island. In this photo, the younger kids have joined the other class while their teacher is at a principal's meeting. I gave paper and crayons to the school. The kids drew pictures for my American students in return. They liked the idea that their pictures would travel all the way to the United States!

You may be wondering where I lived while I was in Tonga. I stayed in the homes of teachers. They were very good to me and helped me understand Tongan culture. I learned a lot from them. I lived with Teuloi and her family on the island of Tongatapu for a week and a half. She teaches 8-year-olds at Longolongo School. This is a photo of Teuloi in her front garden.

I stayed with Losana and her family for a week on Va vau Island. She teaches at Va vau High School. She is also the assistant principal. Her husband is the principal. This is a photo of Losana looking at sea urchins on the coral reef. It was interesting to talk with these teachers in a country so far away from my own, and so different in so many ways, and discover that we had so much in common. We all work very hard to try to do what's best for our students.

I had many wonderful experiences in Tonga. I saw many sights that I had never seen before. Conversations with the Tongans made me think about our American society, our values, and our schools in a different way. My life is richer for having known them. I come away with a great deal of respect of the people of this small kingdom in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean.

Christchurch vs. Manhattan

When I tell you that Christchurch is the largest city here on South Island, in New Zealand, you probably picture a city like Manhattan. While it's true there are some similarities, they are very different. The most noticeable is the size. While Manhattan is home to about 8 million people, less than half a million live in Christchurch. In order to accommodate all of those people, Manhattan has many skyscrapers. Christchurch doesn't need to build such tall buildings. There wouldn't be enough people to live and work in all of them!

Here are some pictures from around the city. In the photo above you'll notice there are some tall buildings, although they aren't tall enough to be called skyscrapers. The trolley you see runs on tracks and is touching electric wires overhead. It takes tourists around the city and doesn't cause any pollution since it runs on electricity rather than gasoline.

In the middle of the city is a large, open area. It is often used by buskers. These are people who perform for anyone who is passing by. They ask for donations after their performance. The people decide how much to give depending on how much they enjoyed the show. This juggler has drawn quite a crowd for his performance!

Also in this large courtyard is a large chess set. Anyone who wants to can play. As you can see, the chess pieces are very large, although they are lightweight for easy moving.

While some of the buildings are quite modern looking, like the Art Gallery in this photo, other buildings are very old looking.

The early settlers came from England, Scotland, and Ireland. They missed their homeland when they moved to New Zealand, so they built some buildings that would look similar to the ones they left behind in their own countries. This building, made of stone, looks like it belongs in England, Ireland or Scotland. It used to be a university, but now it's a cultural center for the city. There are specialty shops and restaurants here, as well as movie theaters, and theaters for live shows.

One thing both Christchurch and Manhattan have in common is a large, beautiful park. Instead of Central Park, Christchurch has The Botanical Gardens. It has many lovely gardens, as well as grassy areas for picnics, and a little river for kayaking.

One of my favorite streets in Christchurch is New Regent Street, pictured here. The shops and restaurants are built to look like a street in Spain, with each one a different color. If you enlarge this picture, you can see teddy bears escaping from a shop window!

There are many fountains and gardens around the city to make it look beautiful. One of my favorite fountains is this one outside a restaurant. Does it remind you of dandelions? We went to this restaurant for dinner once. The fountain and pond looked even more beautiful at night all lit up.

The River Avon flows through the city. There are lovely gardens and grassy areas all along it so people can take a relaxing stroll, or sit on its banks and have a picnic lunch. It's very shallow, but it's deep enough for small boats. Some people rent kayaks and go kayaking on the river.

You won't be surprised to learn that the river bank is Chirpy's favorite place in the city. He makes friends wherever he goes!

We're lucky to live so close to this lovely little city, just a 20-minute drive away. There's always something interesting or fun to do: watching a show, looking through a museum, shopping in the New Zealand specialty stores, picnicking in a park, or just walking along the streets looking at all the sights. Do you enjoy going into the city?