First week

I arrived in Nelson on Sunday evening shortly after eleven o’clock. Jude Green, my host mother, was already waiting for me. In fact, it was the second time she had driven to the airport already, because she naturally thought the plane would be on time. Then she was informed about the delay and went home once again. When I arrived in Blenheim, I called her and she could imagine what time we would arrive in Nelson. I was really happy to be at the end of my journey after such a long time. All in all, I arrived in my “new” home (21c Paremata Street, Atawhai, 7071 Nelson, New Zealand) about 42 hours after my departure from my “old” home. So I was pretty tired, but happy to be there. I talked a little bit with my new family and then went to bed.
View from my room...Interior of my room...

- Monday: For my first day, Jude drove me to school, so I didn’t have to look for it. I first was introduced to some important people at school, and then Marlene, the registrar, showed me the rooms that belong to the school. The rooms are in two buildings. Uptown, were the office is, and Lambretta’s, where the rooms are above a café called like that. At 9:45 I joined the morning class leaded by Ali, a teacher from Scotland. In my morning class there are eight students. Two from Taiwan, Jane and John, two from South-Korea, Eunji and Charles, Laura from Columbia, Keiko from Japan and Michel and me from Switzerland. I spent lunchtime with some other students in Uptown, I just bought some bread and a Hot-Dog for today. From now on I’ll take something with me, like the other students do. I.e. instant soup or Noodles. In our afternoon-class we were only three students. Charles, Michel and Me. We have a real funny teacher, Tim, from England. After school, Jude came to pick me up and show me some places in the city. Then we went home. I spent the evening with talking to my new family but was tired very soon and went to bed early.

- Tuesday: Today I took the Bus to school. I already told my host family that I would like to ride a bike to school, but they didn’t have a bike for me, so I should buy or borrow one. My morning classes begin at 9 a.m. and finish quarter past 12 a.m. The afternoon classes are from 1.15 p.m. to 3.15 p.m. After school I stayed in school because there’s wireless internet. The evening was about the same as yesterday. I got tired very fast. Perhaps still the jet-lag.

- Wednesday: Today I went shopping after school. I bought a Vodafone prepaid card, because I think that’s cheaper than always using my Swiss card. After that I went to the library and looked for a book recommended by Ali, but unfortunately the book was already borrowed. I went to the supermarket to buy some instant soups and noodles. At the same time Jude was at the supermarket too, so she gave me a lift home.

- Thursday: After school I joined the Salsa Dance Class. It was really funny and it’s an opportunity to be able to learn Salsa Dancing for free. This one hour practice seemed to be over just after we had begun. Tonight the first Brass Band rehersal was on my programme. Andrew Clark, the person I had contacted already from Switzerland, picked me up and drove me to the band room. It was great to socialize with so many Kiwis. After the practice I signed up for the Slow Melody Contest in Hokitika. In this town, the West Coast Brass Band Contest will take place as well, where the Nelson City Brass Band takes part. I also agreed to play in a quintet for the contest. After the practice I got a uniform and everything I’ll need for the contest.

- Friday: Today I only had school lessons in the morning. At eleven o’clock we said goodbye to the leaving students. One of them was Jane from our class. In the afternoon I updated my blog about the journey. After that I went shopping with Charles and got home then. Today and also yesterday I walked to school. It took me about 40 Minutes one way.

- Saturday: What a beautiful day. There were absolutely no clouds and it was pretty clear. When I ran to the Centre of New Zealand, I took some pictures. One of them is now my Desktop-Background:

When I got back home, I talked to Marc, he showed me his boat (not the one on the picture...), his car and his rifle and then we went to the city in his car. He showed me around a bit and bought a newspaper for me, where I found an advertisement for a Bike. In the afternoon I called the owner of the bike, who was an old man, and then Marc drove me to his house and I finally bought the bike. From now on, I can go to school by bike. In the evening I wanted to practise and watch a film, but I was simply too tired and went to bed very early.

- Sunday: Today I went to Church (Atawhai Community Church) with Jude, Ashley and Ralph. After that we spent lunchtime at the pastors house. This is not normal, but today a pastor from England was here and that’s why the local pastor invited us for lunch. In the afternoon I had a band practice. Today we started with street marching, because we’ll have to do that on the contest as well. When I got home, Ralph cooked spaghetti Bolognese for me. Fortunately I don’t have to wash my clothes on my own, because I found the clothes I wore this week on my bed. Jude had washed them. In the evening I watched a bit of TV and went to bed, once again pretty early.