Monday: I got up early to be ready at eight o'clock at the alpine recreation, but unfortunately the reception opened only at eight, so I had to wait until then to check out. I arrived about five minutes late, but that didn't really matter. Waiting for me was Gottlieb Braun-Elwert, the guide, as well as Andre, who worked for Gottlieb and a couple who lives in Perth, Australia. Theodora originally was from Ireland and Jon from Chicago, but they now lived in Australia. We checked all the equipment and got the stuff we didn't have from Gottliebs stock. Fortunately his biggest hiking-shoes were just the right size for me. Then we drove over to Mount Cook Village and Gottlieb checked in, that means he told the information centre we were going into the park. We finally started walking at about quarter to twelve, and the weather was cloudy and dreary. First we climbed up a pretty steep, rocky section and then we put on our snow-shoes to hike to Caroline Hut. The snow was pretty deep and it was hard work for our leader Gottlieb to stamp the track. It was about half past four when we finally finished the 800 meter altitude difference and arrived at the hut. We spent the evening in the cosy warm hut next to a fire in the stove and Gottlieb talked about his former trips and his experiences in the mountains.
Tuesday: We got up at about seven o'clock and after eating breakfast we got ready for today's hike. We climbed up near Ball Pass to a little peak called quadruple two, because it's height was exactly 2222 meters above sea level. In the beginning it was pretty cloudy but now it opened for a while and we had a fantastic panorama and sunshine for our lunch-break. But suddenly there were dark clowds appearing over Mount Cook and Gottlieb was anxious about an upcoming storm he heard about in the weather forecasts. It would only come by Wednesday, but perhaps it was too late to go down on Wednesday and he thought about going down and back to Lake Tekapo already today. But after half an hour a new front was coming up and pushed the dark clouds away, so Gottlieb decided to go down early on Wednesday morning. The evening ran about the same way as the day before: tea and biscuits, dinner, talking. Now we had to go to bed especially early, who knew how early we would have to get up the next morning.
Wednesday: We got up at quarter to five and prepared everything for the descent. We left the hut at half past six, still in the darkness. The others had head-lamps, but I had to manage to see something with my hand-torch, what worked as well. We finally arrived down in the valley on the glacier moraine at nine o'clock. We went back to Mount Cook Village, gave Gottlieb all his equipment back and then went for a tea in a nearby hut of the New Zealand Alpine Club. Now I said goodbye to my new friends from Australia, because they stayed in Mount Cook Village. Back in Lake Tekapo I helped to put away all the gear and then had a cup of tea with Gottlieb, his wife and Andre. Looking at the weather forecast and because I was back so early I decided to cancel the second night in Lake Tekapo and go to Christchurch already on Thursday. Because I had booked and payed the accommodation in Nelson, it wasn't quite easy to do that, but I eventually got it changed. After that I went to the hot pool in Lake Tekapo and it was a great way to relax after these three days to have a hot bath. (One of the outside pools was about 38° C). The place even provided free wireless internet access for customers and I used that to update my blog.
Thursday: When I looked out the window in the morning I saw a lot of snow. Possibly twenty or thirty centimetres. The magic bus didn’t leave because the road was closed, as Ms Braun-Elwert had predicted it yesterday. So I watched a movie until noon, but then decided to see whether it’s possible to drive or not. The other guests in the hostel were surprised, that I was leaving and told me I was crazy. Though a Californian girl from my room asked me, if I could give her a ride as she had to be in Christchurch today. The hardest part of the drive was to get out of the car park because of all the snow. But then it was quite easy to drive, only a little bit wet snow on the road, no ice and I made several break-tests and the car never slipped away. I didn’t even have snow-chains which were essential due to a sign on the road. Although it was no problem to drive it was still quite an adventure, but I didn’t regret my decision a second. The good thing was that I had good company from this Californian girl. We stopped somewhere on the way for lunch and a second time for a hot chocolate. Then there was a little pile-up and I asked myself why, but after a little while we could go on and I found out the reason: a guy in a orange jacket told me, they had just opened the road but I still had to drive very carefully because there were many flooded parts. In Christchurch I dropped the girl of at the YHA and then went to the museum. I took me a while to find a car park and then I realised that I had no coin to feed the tax meter. So I had to find a free parking. The one in the nearby park was for free and it was only five minutes to walk from there to the museum. Unfortunately it was already half past four and the museum closed at five o’clock. I just had enough time to get a good survey of the things to see there and decided to come back the next morning. Although I had a pretty good description from Amanda how to get to her house it took me ages to find it. I already spent more than half an hour until I realised that her place was about seventeen kilometres out of town in a little village called West Melton. There I had to turn right at the BP-Station and then take the second road on the left. Sounds very easy, but because it was dark and this second road that she meant was about two kilometres away from the petrol station it took me a long time again. Eventually I arrived in front of a black gate as Amanda had described it. But when I heard a dog barking pretty aggressively I was unsure if it really was the right place. I pressed the button to call and her voice said she’s going to open the gate for me. Finally there, I talked to Amanda for hours and she cooked a Thai-meal for me. Her parents were in holiday, so she had the whole villa for herself and seemed to be quite happy to have some company.
Friday: Amanda had to work today but she could take me to town where I visited the museum and read a lot about the Antarctic expeditions in the nineteenth and twentieth century. Tired from reading I decided to visit the Christchurch cathedral and on my way back I went to the art gallery. After visiting an exhibition I was asked to participate in a poll and I decided to do it. It was about twenty minutes on a computer, but I got a free hot chocolate for it, so it was worth it, as it was raining pretty cold outside. Then I met Amanda and we went to the airport to pick up to Portuguese guys who stayed at Amanda’s home as well tonight. Back in town, Amanda had to go to work again for about one hour. For this short time I went with her and then we went shopping together. Now we went to the Willowbank Wildlife Reserve. We had a guided tour there and I saw living Kiwi-Birds for the first time. Our guide gave good background information and made funny comments like: “Now the Kiwi is doing what he’s meant to do: Sticking his nose into the ground.” Back home it was the same as the day before, except that we were four to talk today, but Amanda cooked again.
Saturday: In the morning we first dropped of the Portuguese guys at the train station and then picked up Amanda’s friend Nick and went on our way to Mt Hutt to go skiing. The weather was very good and the snow conditions fabulous. They had 0.9 m, 1 m and again 1 m snowfall the last week, so there was about 2.5m snow on the slopes. A Kiwi told me the snow conditions were the best he ever had in ten years. Amanda and I did a foto-session, where we took pictures from each other skiing. It was good fun to take these action-pictures and Amanda quite liked my camera and to play with it. Then we went down some very steep hills in the deep snow, for experts only due to a sign. The weather turned bad and it was almost four o’clock already but I decided to take the lift one last time before going back to Christchurch. Amanda invited some friends to her house. She cooked a couscous-based salad and somebody brought pizzas. In the mean time we watched the Rugby-Match New Zealand versus Australia. I had never seen a whole match and especially the Haka before. Fortunately the All Blacks won, so the mood was pretty good. I had asked Amanda if I can do my laundry here and she agreed. After putting all my clothes in to the washing machine I tried to watch a comedy-DVD. But I fell asleep and went to bed.
Sunday: Amanda hung up all my clothes last night, but they were still not dry yet, so she put them into the dryer. What a nice girl, what she all did for me, I really had a good time with her. At ten o’clock I left her to go to Kaikourra for whale-watching in the afternoon. I was quite late and had to hurry. After a stop on the coast I finally arrived about one minute early at the whale watch office. But the journey started only half an hour later, so a delay would have been no problem. Whale watching was quite exciting and I got a lot of interesting information around whales and wild life in New Zealand. And we didn’t only see whales but also albatrosses, seals and penguins. After that I went to Kaikourra peninsula for a little walk to the view point and to see the seal-colony. On the way back I gave a Malaysian guy a lift who underestimated the long way out there. At the hostel I watched the most successful Kiwi-Movie called The World’s Fastest Indian, which was indeed very captivating. My room mate was a French guy and it was a real challenge for me to talk French to him. I really liked that and he would always start to speak English and then say oh no, I can talk French to you!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Travelling First Week
Monday: In the morning I first went to town to send a parcel with all my stuff from school and the music home. It was about ten kilogram which cost me a lot. But still less expensive than paying for overweight on the aeroplane home I thought. When I got home again at half past 9 I packed everything and luckily enough there was just enough space for it. Jude then drove me to town on her way to Motueka. I was at the car rental more than one hour early, but the friendly guy gave me the car at eleven o’clock, so I didn’t have to wait. After a shopping tour I started my trip to Greymouth. The weather first was fine, but then the sky got very cloudy and dark. I stopped at several attractions on the way, the main one was a little bridge and a park. Then near Greymouth I read something about the coal mines who were the main business around nineteen-hundred. After 290 km I finally arrived in Greymouth. The hostel I stayed in for the night was quite nice, the only problem was, that it was a bit cold there. Noah’s Arch got friendly staff, free internet, tv and funny painted rooms. My room was called TIGER and with me was Clare from London. She told me, that she wanted to go to Franz Josef on the next day but that there was no bus, so I offered her to give her a lift, because I was heading to Franz Josef anyway.
Tuesday: I slept quiet well although there was a storm in the morning. The weather didn’t get any better and was raining more or less all day. On our trip we visited Shantytown, a little village who looked like a settler village from the 19th century. After a steam-rail trip I had my first gold panning experience. In the end I got some tiny little nuggets out of the sand and stones. The weather wasn’t easing up, so it wasn’t much fun to see the otherwise certainly beautiful scenery. At two o’clock we arrived in Franz Josef Glacier and what a surprise: As we went into a restaurant for a hot chocolate I met two Swiss girls who had been at the Nelson English Centre as well. I now helped Clare to find an accommodation, in the end she decided not to stay in the glow worm cottages which I already had booked before, but we agreed to go for a walk in the evening, expecting to see some glow worms. At my hostel there was free vegetables soup at six o’clock which was very nice. I didn’t need much more for dinner and spent the rest of the evening with watching TV, because the weather was too bad for a walk.
Wednesday: I had to get up early to be ready for the full day glacier walk at 8:15. Fortunately I realised that I had forgotten my sunglasses and had the time to go back to the hostel and pick them up, while others were waiting. Then I got over trousers, hiking shoes and suitable crampons. They also provided raincoats, but I didn’t need one. Then the about 50 hikers got on the bus which brought us near the glacier. From here it took 45 minutes to the glacier, where we had to put on the crampons. Now we got separated into groups of eight or nine people and begun our walk on the ice. That was a really good experience, to be amongst all this ice and I really enjoyed it. The only bad thing was that our guide wanted to find a new route after lunch and we had to wait almost one hour until he finished the new track. It was freezing and I couldn’t understand why he did that while he is leading a group and not in advance. But it was a great experience all the same and I took heaps of pictures. In the evening I had the soup at six o’clock and then went for a walk with John from England. The receptionist had told us we could see some glow-worms on a certain track, and there were loads of them. I had thought they were big worms glowing on their whole body, but they were very small and only one little dot glow. After that we had a free shot at the blue ice bar and then went to my hostel again.
Thursday: I got up quite early today to leave this place as soon as possible. Finally I took off at quarter to eight. First I went to a view point to see Fox Glacier, the second famous one near Franz Josef Glacier. After that I just stopped every once in a while to see the scenery. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy and I couldn’t see all the surrounding mountains. After about 390 km I arrived in Queenstown. It wasn’t what I expected and I didn’t have a good start here: I parked my car on the only parking near the Youth Hostel to check in and asked for a place to park the car overnight. But only five minutes later, I got a nice little paper on my windshield. It was a fee for wrong parking and I had to pay 40 dollars. That really bothered me, just because it wouldn’t have been necessary. After going to the supermarket and writing my diary I wanted to go out with some guys from my room, but I was too tired and slept at about seven o’clock already.
Friday: I didn’t sleep very well, it was a bit cold, but I still had to get up at six o’clock. At 6:35 I had to be at the real journeys office for my trip to Milford Sound. I was one of the first and most of the others seemed to be late. The sky was still a bit cloudy, like the day before and it was almost dark. For the next six hours our coach drove to Milford Sound, with a stop every once in a while at the tourist attractions to take pictures. At one o’clock our ship took off for the one and a half hour scenic cruise in the Sound. The weather was just too god to be true: blue sky, no clouds, very good sight. It was just a little bit cold. We were meant to eat lunch on the boat, but I was busy taking pictures and finally ate the food I brought while waiting for the bus. On the way back the bus only stopped at several places to drop off and pick up people. After about 640 km today we finally arrived in Queenstown at quarter to eight.
Saturday: I had to leave Queenstown quite early to be in Dunedin by one o’clock for the wildlife tour. In Queenstown the weather was quite good today, but it got worse on the way to Dunedin. I finally arrived there at quarter to one, just before I got picked up by the guy from the wildlife tour at one o’clock. I thought that it wasn’t the best day, but it didn’t rain at least. On our way to the albatross station our guide told us a lot about nature in New Zealand and I learned that most of the animals were imported and didn’t use to live here before the first humans came here. The imported animals were often more powerful than the original one’s and that was a problem. Quite a few species died out because of these new opponents and some of the imported animals were like a pest now, for example the possums. It was freezing, when we tried to see some albatross and I decided to go inside the albatross centre. Later we went to a different place to see fur seals, sea lions and yellow white penguins. Now it was raining, and that made it even colder. I couldn’t enjoy it anymore, it was just to cold and wet, but it was still interesting. When I got home at about half past six, I went to the supermarket and bought a lot of yummy things to spoil myself after this torture. In the evening I wrote a lot of postcards, because I was all alone in my room and there wasn’t a lounge to be and meet people.
Sunday: In the morning I first visited the First Church of Otago, the famous railway station and then Larnach Castle. Unfortunately it was so foggy, that I wasn’t able to see the castle from about 50 m distance. So this was a bit an unfortunate visit. Then I went to the steepest road in the world, located in the north of Dunedin and drove the car up and down. That was quite impressive. Now I went on my way to Lake Tekapo and just stopped here and then, fortunately the weather was clearing up a bit. In Lake Tekapo the weather was quite good, just a bit cloudy. I went to the Alpine Recreation to see where I have to go the next morning and to say hello to my guide. Back in the hostel I prepared everything for the three day trip and ate dinner. Now I was pretty tired and just wrote my diary, sent some e-mails and went to bed then.
Tuesday: I slept quiet well although there was a storm in the morning. The weather didn’t get any better and was raining more or less all day. On our trip we visited Shantytown, a little village who looked like a settler village from the 19th century. After a steam-rail trip I had my first gold panning experience. In the end I got some tiny little nuggets out of the sand and stones. The weather wasn’t easing up, so it wasn’t much fun to see the otherwise certainly beautiful scenery. At two o’clock we arrived in Franz Josef Glacier and what a surprise: As we went into a restaurant for a hot chocolate I met two Swiss girls who had been at the Nelson English Centre as well. I now helped Clare to find an accommodation, in the end she decided not to stay in the glow worm cottages which I already had booked before, but we agreed to go for a walk in the evening, expecting to see some glow worms. At my hostel there was free vegetables soup at six o’clock which was very nice. I didn’t need much more for dinner and spent the rest of the evening with watching TV, because the weather was too bad for a walk.
Wednesday: I had to get up early to be ready for the full day glacier walk at 8:15. Fortunately I realised that I had forgotten my sunglasses and had the time to go back to the hostel and pick them up, while others were waiting. Then I got over trousers, hiking shoes and suitable crampons. They also provided raincoats, but I didn’t need one. Then the about 50 hikers got on the bus which brought us near the glacier. From here it took 45 minutes to the glacier, where we had to put on the crampons. Now we got separated into groups of eight or nine people and begun our walk on the ice. That was a really good experience, to be amongst all this ice and I really enjoyed it. The only bad thing was that our guide wanted to find a new route after lunch and we had to wait almost one hour until he finished the new track. It was freezing and I couldn’t understand why he did that while he is leading a group and not in advance. But it was a great experience all the same and I took heaps of pictures. In the evening I had the soup at six o’clock and then went for a walk with John from England. The receptionist had told us we could see some glow-worms on a certain track, and there were loads of them. I had thought they were big worms glowing on their whole body, but they were very small and only one little dot glow. After that we had a free shot at the blue ice bar and then went to my hostel again.
Thursday: I got up quite early today to leave this place as soon as possible. Finally I took off at quarter to eight. First I went to a view point to see Fox Glacier, the second famous one near Franz Josef Glacier. After that I just stopped every once in a while to see the scenery. Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy and I couldn’t see all the surrounding mountains. After about 390 km I arrived in Queenstown. It wasn’t what I expected and I didn’t have a good start here: I parked my car on the only parking near the Youth Hostel to check in and asked for a place to park the car overnight. But only five minutes later, I got a nice little paper on my windshield. It was a fee for wrong parking and I had to pay 40 dollars. That really bothered me, just because it wouldn’t have been necessary. After going to the supermarket and writing my diary I wanted to go out with some guys from my room, but I was too tired and slept at about seven o’clock already.
Friday: I didn’t sleep very well, it was a bit cold, but I still had to get up at six o’clock. At 6:35 I had to be at the real journeys office for my trip to Milford Sound. I was one of the first and most of the others seemed to be late. The sky was still a bit cloudy, like the day before and it was almost dark. For the next six hours our coach drove to Milford Sound, with a stop every once in a while at the tourist attractions to take pictures. At one o’clock our ship took off for the one and a half hour scenic cruise in the Sound. The weather was just too god to be true: blue sky, no clouds, very good sight. It was just a little bit cold. We were meant to eat lunch on the boat, but I was busy taking pictures and finally ate the food I brought while waiting for the bus. On the way back the bus only stopped at several places to drop off and pick up people. After about 640 km today we finally arrived in Queenstown at quarter to eight.
Saturday: I had to leave Queenstown quite early to be in Dunedin by one o’clock for the wildlife tour. In Queenstown the weather was quite good today, but it got worse on the way to Dunedin. I finally arrived there at quarter to one, just before I got picked up by the guy from the wildlife tour at one o’clock. I thought that it wasn’t the best day, but it didn’t rain at least. On our way to the albatross station our guide told us a lot about nature in New Zealand and I learned that most of the animals were imported and didn’t use to live here before the first humans came here. The imported animals were often more powerful than the original one’s and that was a problem. Quite a few species died out because of these new opponents and some of the imported animals were like a pest now, for example the possums. It was freezing, when we tried to see some albatross and I decided to go inside the albatross centre. Later we went to a different place to see fur seals, sea lions and yellow white penguins. Now it was raining, and that made it even colder. I couldn’t enjoy it anymore, it was just to cold and wet, but it was still interesting. When I got home at about half past six, I went to the supermarket and bought a lot of yummy things to spoil myself after this torture. In the evening I wrote a lot of postcards, because I was all alone in my room and there wasn’t a lounge to be and meet people.
Sunday: In the morning I first visited the First Church of Otago, the famous railway station and then Larnach Castle. Unfortunately it was so foggy, that I wasn’t able to see the castle from about 50 m distance. So this was a bit an unfortunate visit. Then I went to the steepest road in the world, located in the north of Dunedin and drove the car up and down. That was quite impressive. Now I went on my way to Lake Tekapo and just stopped here and then, fortunately the weather was clearing up a bit. In Lake Tekapo the weather was quite good, just a bit cloudy. I went to the Alpine Recreation to see where I have to go the next morning and to say hello to my guide. Back in the hostel I prepared everything for the three day trip and ate dinner. Now I was pretty tired and just wrote my diary, sent some e-mails and went to bed then.
Twelfth Week: The Final Week in Nelson
Monday: This week I’m going to have two days morning-lessons with Eleanor and three days with James because Dillwyn has another class this week. After school I talked a long time with Hanna in a little café in Nelson about our special relationship and I felt that we are very good friends. I really admire her and think she’s a great person, she made me very happy. I arrived at home at half past six, just when Jude was ready with tea. After dinner I felt very tired and decided to go to bed early, even before eight o’clock. Later I woke up and wrote the diary for the last week, which took me hours.
Tuesday: Today I wanted to plan my travelling. But unfortunately the lady who is responsible for itinerary planning wasn’t in the Nelson Tourist Office today and I was told to come back the next day. When I practiced with my instrument, Hanna wrote me a text-message and I decided to call her to answer her question. The call took longer than I thought. Because I told Hanna that I had been practising and she likes music I played some songs on my tenor horn for her while phoning. Then I decided to invite her for dinner for Wednesday to play for her. Jude agreed with that.
Wednesday: After two days with Eleanor my teacher was school-owner James today. He told me details about the flood at school that occurred the last Friday (I didn’t hear anything about it, because I wasn’t there.) Unfortunately he was very busy and I felt that he did two jobs at the same time. I didn’t mind, because it was only for two more days. Eventually I was able to plan my four-week New-Zealand trip in the Nelson Tourist Office. I took me a bit more than one hour to discuss all the options I had for my travelling. After having planned my travelling, I went to the car rental company to book a car, because I now knew when to pick it up and when to drop it off. Because I hire the car for more than ten days, an Inter Islander Ferry ticket is included for free, so I can pick the car up in Nelson and drop it off in Auckland, with no additional costs. (The Inter Islander Ferry would cost about 180 $ for a car!). Today Hanna came to my home-stay for dinner. After dinner I played a pretty long time for her and showed her all my sheet music. She was very interested and I enjoyed being with her for the evening.
Thursday: Katja from the Nelson Tourism Office told me to get my travel itinerary already today, because she finished all the bookings and had another customer tomorrow. That was great: She had booked all the accommodations and tours for me for free, and I didn’t have to do anything. I was only at home for a short time, because Liz had asked me for a last brass lesson. One last time I helped her to improve her skills. She was thankful for that and gave me a present. I was happy, because it was also a good experience for me to give tuition, especially because it was in English. Once again there were only few people in the brass band rehearsal, although it was the last practice before the Blessing of the Fleet on Saturday. After the rehearsal, Christoph and I went to the pub to catch up with other students form the English school. I had a great evening and it was half past two when I finally went to bed.
Friday: For my last day at the language school, James gave me some information about the Maori culture. That was very interesting. In the break time it was time for me to say good bye officially. I got a certificate for twelve weeks of school attendance and had a short speech about my time here. After the break, I watched a movie about Maori culture called Whale Rider. I can recommend this movie for everybody who’s interested in cultural problems showed by this myth about a Maori tribe. Dillwyn helped me to correct my diary at lunchtime, even though he wasn’t my teacher this week. Although we worked on it for about one hour, we didn’t finish it off. Then I had a cooking class with Sarah. She, who has ancestors in the Ukraine, showed us how to prepare a traditional Ukrainian meal called Varenyky. I took a long time to prepare all the little bits, but it smelled very nice. Sarah told us, that Ukrainian people usually prepare this food the day before Christmas, and that they drink Vodka during the long procedure. It was already four o’clock, when we finished the meal. I went to town to buy a little present for today’s Christmas party. After that, school looked very different. There was Christmas décor everywhere and at five o’clock the party begun. The free drinks at the bar, mixed mainly by Sarah, were delicious and the mood great. After some time, Father Christmas came, to give all the nice children a present. That was good fun and already my second Christmas party this year. After the party I went to salsa-teacher Catherine’s house, where she organised another social dance night. I only stayed there a short time, because Hanna and Christoph were in the Royal Hotel and I wanted to catch up with them. Unfortunately Hanna wasn’t in the pub when I got there because she had been too tired, so Christoph and I went home soon. On the way home I passed by Hanna’s home-stay and because I saw light in her room, I called her. She said she was tired, but didn’t want to go to bed yet and invited me for a hot chocolate. I had a long talk with her and it was half past one when I finally came home.
Saturday: Because it was pouring down very heavily, the Blessing of the Fleet was postponed for two weeks. That meant we didn’t have to play with the brass band. Hanna, who wanted to come and listen, was a bit disappointed. That’s why I decided to ask her, if she liked to go out for lunch with me. She agreed, so I went to her house at twelve o’clock. Though or as she said because it was a very wet day, she had knee-long trousers and sandals on, which looked very funny for mid-winter. She wouldn’t get wet like that, was her explanation. I deposed my Tenor horn and my uniform at the band-room and we met Christoph there. Together we were heading to the language school, were we caught up with Dominik, who had lunch with us as well. After a delicious meal in the Indian restaurant Mango, I had to do some shopping. The other three accompanied me and especially Hanna helped me to take decisions. I had to buy some stuff for my three day snow-shoe hiking trip and needed trousers for the upcoming ski-trip with Amanda. After shopping, Christoph and Dominik went home, but Hanna and me went to the band-room again, where we met the conductor Joel. David Todd, the band manager, caught up with us as well, to say goodbye to me and to give me a Nelson City Brass banner as a gift. Then Hanna and I went to Joel’s home. Because he was quite a good painter, I had asked him, if he could show me his pictures and he agreed that Hanna could come as well. We had a quite a good discussion about his pictures and about languages with him, his wife and his daughter. Besides being a professional musician and doing paintings, Joel has a fascination for languages. He speaks about eleven different languages and some of them, like Hungarian, Korean or Chinese, are rated the most difficult ones in the world. Hanna was naturally fascinated by his Korean. After that, it was about quarter past six, Joel drove us into town where Hanna and I decided to go to the cinema. Unfortunately the movie we wanted to watch started at ten past eight only so we looked for a restaurant for dinner first. “Get Smart” is a very funny movie and was exactly the right thing for us, after this dreary day. After the cinema, we went on to the pub, where a live band should play from about 11 o’clock. We were there earlier and played ping pong for about one hour. Then we enjoyed the band, though it was too loud for both of us and we soon decided to go home. Now it was time for me to say good bye to Hanna. This was very emotional and I really hope I can meet her again some day. She said she would come to Switzerland, but only after five or ten years. We both wonder, how the other changes in so many years time.
Sunday: I decided to go to church for the last time here in Nelson to say goodbye and also because I still owed somebody the recipe for my chocolate cake. After the church service, there was lunch at church, which I enjoyed very much. I talked to many people and they all wished me all the best for my travelling. And the lady I handed out the recipe said she will always be reminded of me, when she bakes this cake. Back home I started to sort out all the rubbish from my room, and prepared stuff for my travelling. I had a few things to prepare and was happy to have this day for it. First I wanted to leave on Sunday morning, but now I’m glad I have a bit more time and a last chance to relax before my four busy travelling weeks.
Tuesday: Today I wanted to plan my travelling. But unfortunately the lady who is responsible for itinerary planning wasn’t in the Nelson Tourist Office today and I was told to come back the next day. When I practiced with my instrument, Hanna wrote me a text-message and I decided to call her to answer her question. The call took longer than I thought. Because I told Hanna that I had been practising and she likes music I played some songs on my tenor horn for her while phoning. Then I decided to invite her for dinner for Wednesday to play for her. Jude agreed with that.
Wednesday: After two days with Eleanor my teacher was school-owner James today. He told me details about the flood at school that occurred the last Friday (I didn’t hear anything about it, because I wasn’t there.) Unfortunately he was very busy and I felt that he did two jobs at the same time. I didn’t mind, because it was only for two more days. Eventually I was able to plan my four-week New-Zealand trip in the Nelson Tourist Office. I took me a bit more than one hour to discuss all the options I had for my travelling. After having planned my travelling, I went to the car rental company to book a car, because I now knew when to pick it up and when to drop it off. Because I hire the car for more than ten days, an Inter Islander Ferry ticket is included for free, so I can pick the car up in Nelson and drop it off in Auckland, with no additional costs. (The Inter Islander Ferry would cost about 180 $ for a car!). Today Hanna came to my home-stay for dinner. After dinner I played a pretty long time for her and showed her all my sheet music. She was very interested and I enjoyed being with her for the evening.
Thursday: Katja from the Nelson Tourism Office told me to get my travel itinerary already today, because she finished all the bookings and had another customer tomorrow. That was great: She had booked all the accommodations and tours for me for free, and I didn’t have to do anything. I was only at home for a short time, because Liz had asked me for a last brass lesson. One last time I helped her to improve her skills. She was thankful for that and gave me a present. I was happy, because it was also a good experience for me to give tuition, especially because it was in English. Once again there were only few people in the brass band rehearsal, although it was the last practice before the Blessing of the Fleet on Saturday. After the rehearsal, Christoph and I went to the pub to catch up with other students form the English school. I had a great evening and it was half past two when I finally went to bed.
Friday: For my last day at the language school, James gave me some information about the Maori culture. That was very interesting. In the break time it was time for me to say good bye officially. I got a certificate for twelve weeks of school attendance and had a short speech about my time here. After the break, I watched a movie about Maori culture called Whale Rider. I can recommend this movie for everybody who’s interested in cultural problems showed by this myth about a Maori tribe. Dillwyn helped me to correct my diary at lunchtime, even though he wasn’t my teacher this week. Although we worked on it for about one hour, we didn’t finish it off. Then I had a cooking class with Sarah. She, who has ancestors in the Ukraine, showed us how to prepare a traditional Ukrainian meal called Varenyky. I took a long time to prepare all the little bits, but it smelled very nice. Sarah told us, that Ukrainian people usually prepare this food the day before Christmas, and that they drink Vodka during the long procedure. It was already four o’clock, when we finished the meal. I went to town to buy a little present for today’s Christmas party. After that, school looked very different. There was Christmas décor everywhere and at five o’clock the party begun. The free drinks at the bar, mixed mainly by Sarah, were delicious and the mood great. After some time, Father Christmas came, to give all the nice children a present. That was good fun and already my second Christmas party this year. After the party I went to salsa-teacher Catherine’s house, where she organised another social dance night. I only stayed there a short time, because Hanna and Christoph were in the Royal Hotel and I wanted to catch up with them. Unfortunately Hanna wasn’t in the pub when I got there because she had been too tired, so Christoph and I went home soon. On the way home I passed by Hanna’s home-stay and because I saw light in her room, I called her. She said she was tired, but didn’t want to go to bed yet and invited me for a hot chocolate. I had a long talk with her and it was half past one when I finally came home.
Saturday: Because it was pouring down very heavily, the Blessing of the Fleet was postponed for two weeks. That meant we didn’t have to play with the brass band. Hanna, who wanted to come and listen, was a bit disappointed. That’s why I decided to ask her, if she liked to go out for lunch with me. She agreed, so I went to her house at twelve o’clock. Though or as she said because it was a very wet day, she had knee-long trousers and sandals on, which looked very funny for mid-winter. She wouldn’t get wet like that, was her explanation. I deposed my Tenor horn and my uniform at the band-room and we met Christoph there. Together we were heading to the language school, were we caught up with Dominik, who had lunch with us as well. After a delicious meal in the Indian restaurant Mango, I had to do some shopping. The other three accompanied me and especially Hanna helped me to take decisions. I had to buy some stuff for my three day snow-shoe hiking trip and needed trousers for the upcoming ski-trip with Amanda. After shopping, Christoph and Dominik went home, but Hanna and me went to the band-room again, where we met the conductor Joel. David Todd, the band manager, caught up with us as well, to say goodbye to me and to give me a Nelson City Brass banner as a gift. Then Hanna and I went to Joel’s home. Because he was quite a good painter, I had asked him, if he could show me his pictures and he agreed that Hanna could come as well. We had a quite a good discussion about his pictures and about languages with him, his wife and his daughter. Besides being a professional musician and doing paintings, Joel has a fascination for languages. He speaks about eleven different languages and some of them, like Hungarian, Korean or Chinese, are rated the most difficult ones in the world. Hanna was naturally fascinated by his Korean. After that, it was about quarter past six, Joel drove us into town where Hanna and I decided to go to the cinema. Unfortunately the movie we wanted to watch started at ten past eight only so we looked for a restaurant for dinner first. “Get Smart” is a very funny movie and was exactly the right thing for us, after this dreary day. After the cinema, we went on to the pub, where a live band should play from about 11 o’clock. We were there earlier and played ping pong for about one hour. Then we enjoyed the band, though it was too loud for both of us and we soon decided to go home. Now it was time for me to say good bye to Hanna. This was very emotional and I really hope I can meet her again some day. She said she would come to Switzerland, but only after five or ten years. We both wonder, how the other changes in so many years time.
Sunday: I decided to go to church for the last time here in Nelson to say goodbye and also because I still owed somebody the recipe for my chocolate cake. After the church service, there was lunch at church, which I enjoyed very much. I talked to many people and they all wished me all the best for my travelling. And the lady I handed out the recipe said she will always be reminded of me, when she bakes this cake. Back home I started to sort out all the rubbish from my room, and prepared stuff for my travelling. I had a few things to prepare and was happy to have this day for it. First I wanted to leave on Sunday morning, but now I’m glad I have a bit more time and a last chance to relax before my four busy travelling weeks.
Eleventh Week
Monday to Wednesday: I started to jot down all the ideas of places I want to visit when travelling after my twelve weeks of school. I wanted to go to the travel office, to get some help with ideas and to book the essential things, but I didn’t manage to get there as I spent the whole time after school each day talking to people or looking for further ideas on the internet. But I was finally able to change my flight back to Switzerland to a later date. Well I have to say that Miles changed it, after he heard how helpless I was on the phone. It was the fourth time I called the Emirates to change my flight and I decided it should be the last time, because I was just sick and tired of their usual response that they had to contact Zurich to find out whether I could change my ticket to a higher class and how much it would cost. It was the same torture for the fourth time, but Miles told me that I was simply to nice on the phone and that he probably could get the change made. I told him my preferred date for a flight back and within five minutes I had my flight changed. It’s not changed to the date I intended first, but I’ll have one week more to travel now, and it doesn’t cost me a cent, fair enough. That change means I arrive in Zurich on 20 August.
Thursday: This morning I packed everything I’d need on my trip to Christchurch and naturally things for school. During the day, that means in the break times and at lunchtime, I went shopping for some other things I’d probably need on my trip. Hanna accompanied me on my shopping tour and helped me decide which beanie I should buy. I left school a bit early, shortly after three o’clock, because my bus was due to leave at twenty past three at the information centre. Unfortunately the bus was late and I even thought I was probably at the wrong place or something and that the bus left without me, but it was just late. The journey was pretty rough, not only because of the bumpy road but also because the bus was pretty old. In Blenheim I had to wait about one hour for people coming from Picton heading to Christchurch and I ate my dinner. The second part of the bus trip was a bit smoother, and this time I sat in the front row where I had enough space for my legs to make myself comfortable. I was listening to one of my favourite Bands, the “Toten Hosen”, for the first time in ages and after a short stop for toilets and refreshments the bus finally arrived in Christchurch at half past ten. That was twenty minutes early, but although I had sent Patrick a text he wasn’t there. Patrick is my friend from Christchurch who played Euphonium with the Nelson band at the West Coast competition. He is a professional musician playing for the New Zealand Army Band and he also plays for one of the top A-Grade bands in New Zealand, Woolston Brass from Christchurch. It was freezing and after three unsuccessful attempts at calling him I was starting to think he might never turn up. Eventually he phoned back and asked me where I was. I probably mispronounced Worcester street, and he didn’t come for quite a while so I called him again. Finally he picked me up just before midnight. It was a bit hard for me to understand why he was so late but I didn’t think about that too much, I just accepted it and was happy that he came in the end. At his home I met Graham, the house-owner and conductor of the Woolston Band, and his girlfriend and after having a beer and talking with Patrick I went to bed.
Friday: I got up at about nine o’clock and Patrick took me to the city centre where I listened to the competitions. He himself had a band rehearsal, but I wasn’t alone: I met some people I knew from the West Coast contest or from Nelson and enjoyed listening and discussing the B-grade bands with them. In the afternoon there was the street marching competition and in the evening the A-grade bands had to play their sacred item and test piece. After the seventh band out of ten, or, in other words, seven times the same test-piece, I went to the hotel of a friend from the Marlborough District Band and we agreed to have dinner together. Because it was already nine o’clock, the Thai restaurant we were heading to offered takeaways only. So we ate back at the town hall. Now the competitions were over for today so I headed to the pub to catch up with Patrick. Graham and a lot of other people from different bands where there as well. I met Zac from Wellington who played timpani for Woolston, who was also staying at Graham’s house during the contest. Curiously I hadn’t seen him in the morning.
Saturday: In the morning, Patrick took me to Lyttelton, a part of Christchurch, where he goes to the market every Saturday. After a hot chocolate and a special bacon-sandwich we went back home. On the way there he had driven through a tunnel connecting the city and Lyttelton, but on the way back he went over the hills, to show me the beautiful view and to give his two dogs a bit of a run around. After that we first went to the supermarket and then Patrick had a rehearsal again, and I went to listen to the competitions, which were B-Grade own choice, D-Grade hymn, own choice and stage march and in the evening A-Grade own choice. In contrast to yesterday, I had a bit more variety today and I especially liked the A-Grade own choice competition. That was just one great brass band oeuvre after the other, like a top concert. And the contest feeling was just like what I’m used to from Switzerland, so it wasn’t a strange world for me. This was the last competition event of the “2008 Festival of Brass” and after hearing the results there was a party in the AMI Stadium. Patrick played there with a big-band-like formation of the army band. At one o’clock, this party was over, but not the festival in general. I first wanted to go home and sleep now, because my train would leave at quarter past eight in the morning, but then I decided to go on partying because it was a very special occasion which I would probably never experience again. After a stopover in a bar in the centre of Christchurch, we went to the Casino where I finally ate seafood and chips for dinner at about four o’clock in the morning. I had some good conversations here, one with an Australian lady who had recorded the contest and done the live internet-streaming, and another one with Martin Britt, the soprano cornet from the Desford Colliery Band from the UK. He came to New Zealand just for one week to play at the competition with one of the A-Grade bands. He didn’t get a wage for that, but they paid him accommodation for one week and the flight. That’s a pretty cool way to spend your holiday. At half past five we finally decided to put an end to partying and go home. It was six o’clock when I was finally able to lie down on my long desired bed.
Sunday: That was a pretty short night, because it was only half past seven, when my clock rang. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear it, or I just fell asleep again after turning it off, I can’t remember, but somehow I managed to get up. The problem was only that it was already ten to eight and Patrick, who had offered to drive me to the train station, was still asleep as well. I was to have been at the train station at least twenty minutes before departure, in other words five to eight. But fortunately it wasn’t too late to catch the train; I eventually got on the train about three minutes before departure. I had decided to go back to Nelson by taking the transalpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth and then on with the bus back, because I had heard that it’s a beautiful trip and you can see a lot of the mountains. That was true and I was very lucky with the weather as well. Until Arthur’s Pass there were almost no clouds in the sky and visibility was excellent, so I took a lot of pictures and I wasn’t even feeling too tired at this stage. However, as the train was going through a pretty long tunnel, I fell asleep. I woke up after the tunnel but then slept again, because it was cloudy now and I wasn’t able to see much of the scenery; though in Greymouth the weather was better and I enjoyed my trip up the rough West Coast. The bus even stopped for forty-five minutes at the Pancake Rocks, a tourist attraction, and I naturally took the chance to take a look at them. Later I slept again and only took an occasional glance at the rather monotonous scenery. The bus stopped again in Murchison, where we had about fifty minutes to go to the café. That was too long for me; I was neither hungry nor thirsty and I would have preferred to be fifty minutes earlier in Nelson. But I still had a drink and a snack, just because I couldn’t imagine what else to do. The result of drinking without being thirsty and being in a pretty cold bus was that I nearly burst on the final leg of the journey, so badly did I need to go to the loo! But I had to hold on until seven thirty, after we arrived in Nelson. After that I went straight to the party at Hanna’s home-stay. She cooked Korean food and intended to play card games after dinner. I obviously was late for dinner, but she had kept the food warm and prepared a lovely plate for me. After that, we enjoyed playing UNO and were fascinated by the apple peeling machine of Hanna’s home-stay parents. It takes off the skin, takes out the core and cuts the apple into slices all at once. Back home at quarter past ten, I went to bed without making any detours.
Thursday: This morning I packed everything I’d need on my trip to Christchurch and naturally things for school. During the day, that means in the break times and at lunchtime, I went shopping for some other things I’d probably need on my trip. Hanna accompanied me on my shopping tour and helped me decide which beanie I should buy. I left school a bit early, shortly after three o’clock, because my bus was due to leave at twenty past three at the information centre. Unfortunately the bus was late and I even thought I was probably at the wrong place or something and that the bus left without me, but it was just late. The journey was pretty rough, not only because of the bumpy road but also because the bus was pretty old. In Blenheim I had to wait about one hour for people coming from Picton heading to Christchurch and I ate my dinner. The second part of the bus trip was a bit smoother, and this time I sat in the front row where I had enough space for my legs to make myself comfortable. I was listening to one of my favourite Bands, the “Toten Hosen”, for the first time in ages and after a short stop for toilets and refreshments the bus finally arrived in Christchurch at half past ten. That was twenty minutes early, but although I had sent Patrick a text he wasn’t there. Patrick is my friend from Christchurch who played Euphonium with the Nelson band at the West Coast competition. He is a professional musician playing for the New Zealand Army Band and he also plays for one of the top A-Grade bands in New Zealand, Woolston Brass from Christchurch. It was freezing and after three unsuccessful attempts at calling him I was starting to think he might never turn up. Eventually he phoned back and asked me where I was. I probably mispronounced Worcester street, and he didn’t come for quite a while so I called him again. Finally he picked me up just before midnight. It was a bit hard for me to understand why he was so late but I didn’t think about that too much, I just accepted it and was happy that he came in the end. At his home I met Graham, the house-owner and conductor of the Woolston Band, and his girlfriend and after having a beer and talking with Patrick I went to bed.
Friday: I got up at about nine o’clock and Patrick took me to the city centre where I listened to the competitions. He himself had a band rehearsal, but I wasn’t alone: I met some people I knew from the West Coast contest or from Nelson and enjoyed listening and discussing the B-grade bands with them. In the afternoon there was the street marching competition and in the evening the A-grade bands had to play their sacred item and test piece. After the seventh band out of ten, or, in other words, seven times the same test-piece, I went to the hotel of a friend from the Marlborough District Band and we agreed to have dinner together. Because it was already nine o’clock, the Thai restaurant we were heading to offered takeaways only. So we ate back at the town hall. Now the competitions were over for today so I headed to the pub to catch up with Patrick. Graham and a lot of other people from different bands where there as well. I met Zac from Wellington who played timpani for Woolston, who was also staying at Graham’s house during the contest. Curiously I hadn’t seen him in the morning.
Saturday: In the morning, Patrick took me to Lyttelton, a part of Christchurch, where he goes to the market every Saturday. After a hot chocolate and a special bacon-sandwich we went back home. On the way there he had driven through a tunnel connecting the city and Lyttelton, but on the way back he went over the hills, to show me the beautiful view and to give his two dogs a bit of a run around. After that we first went to the supermarket and then Patrick had a rehearsal again, and I went to listen to the competitions, which were B-Grade own choice, D-Grade hymn, own choice and stage march and in the evening A-Grade own choice. In contrast to yesterday, I had a bit more variety today and I especially liked the A-Grade own choice competition. That was just one great brass band oeuvre after the other, like a top concert. And the contest feeling was just like what I’m used to from Switzerland, so it wasn’t a strange world for me. This was the last competition event of the “2008 Festival of Brass” and after hearing the results there was a party in the AMI Stadium. Patrick played there with a big-band-like formation of the army band. At one o’clock, this party was over, but not the festival in general. I first wanted to go home and sleep now, because my train would leave at quarter past eight in the morning, but then I decided to go on partying because it was a very special occasion which I would probably never experience again. After a stopover in a bar in the centre of Christchurch, we went to the Casino where I finally ate seafood and chips for dinner at about four o’clock in the morning. I had some good conversations here, one with an Australian lady who had recorded the contest and done the live internet-streaming, and another one with Martin Britt, the soprano cornet from the Desford Colliery Band from the UK. He came to New Zealand just for one week to play at the competition with one of the A-Grade bands. He didn’t get a wage for that, but they paid him accommodation for one week and the flight. That’s a pretty cool way to spend your holiday. At half past five we finally decided to put an end to partying and go home. It was six o’clock when I was finally able to lie down on my long desired bed.
Sunday: That was a pretty short night, because it was only half past seven, when my clock rang. Unfortunately I couldn’t hear it, or I just fell asleep again after turning it off, I can’t remember, but somehow I managed to get up. The problem was only that it was already ten to eight and Patrick, who had offered to drive me to the train station, was still asleep as well. I was to have been at the train station at least twenty minutes before departure, in other words five to eight. But fortunately it wasn’t too late to catch the train; I eventually got on the train about three minutes before departure. I had decided to go back to Nelson by taking the transalpine train from Christchurch to Greymouth and then on with the bus back, because I had heard that it’s a beautiful trip and you can see a lot of the mountains. That was true and I was very lucky with the weather as well. Until Arthur’s Pass there were almost no clouds in the sky and visibility was excellent, so I took a lot of pictures and I wasn’t even feeling too tired at this stage. However, as the train was going through a pretty long tunnel, I fell asleep. I woke up after the tunnel but then slept again, because it was cloudy now and I wasn’t able to see much of the scenery; though in Greymouth the weather was better and I enjoyed my trip up the rough West Coast. The bus even stopped for forty-five minutes at the Pancake Rocks, a tourist attraction, and I naturally took the chance to take a look at them. Later I slept again and only took an occasional glance at the rather monotonous scenery. The bus stopped again in Murchison, where we had about fifty minutes to go to the café. That was too long for me; I was neither hungry nor thirsty and I would have preferred to be fifty minutes earlier in Nelson. But I still had a drink and a snack, just because I couldn’t imagine what else to do. The result of drinking without being thirsty and being in a pretty cold bus was that I nearly burst on the final leg of the journey, so badly did I need to go to the loo! But I had to hold on until seven thirty, after we arrived in Nelson. After that I went straight to the party at Hanna’s home-stay. She cooked Korean food and intended to play card games after dinner. I obviously was late for dinner, but she had kept the food warm and prepared a lovely plate for me. After that, we enjoyed playing UNO and were fascinated by the apple peeling machine of Hanna’s home-stay parents. It takes off the skin, takes out the core and cuts the apple into slices all at once. Back home at quarter past ten, I went to bed without making any detours.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Tenth Week
Monday: After only a few hours of sleep, I got up at quarter to six and my stomach was still a bit sore. At half past six the final of the European Football Championships was on TV. Michel picked me up at twenty past six and we went into the deserted town of Nelson. There was only a roadman making noise in the otherwise calm and quiet sleepy city. Michel had decided to watch this final match live, because after earlier games in the competition sometimes people had told him the result before he watched the replay. This really annoyed him and he didn’t want that to happen after the final. The match was live on Sky-TV and school-owner James offered to come and open the school for us at 6:30. We were five minutes early and it was freezing outside. At half past we saw the Sports Café opening, just 30 metres from school, and there was a surprising number of people around it immediately. Unfortunately James didn’t come. At twenty to seven we decided to send him a txt-message that we would watch the title-fight between Germany and Portugal in the café. It was warm and cosy there and with the other people around us the right atmosphere. After half-time Michel went home to pick up his girlfriend for the second half. Fortunately Spain scored a goal and won the hard, prestigious match. We went on to the English Centre and watched the winner’s cup presentation there until 9 o’clock. Concentration was a bit hard today, especially near the end, because I just felt pretty tired. After school I wrote my diary for the last week and, because I was tired, went to bed early.
Tuesday: Chika and Hitomi surprised me with a birthday card. The two Japanese girls who I had spent lunchtime with several times and who were also in the bone-carving workshop wrote lovely things to me and were nice enough to tell me about the Japanese part of it. In the evening I stuck to my plan to do a lot of homework. I worked on it for many hours and it was past eleven when I finally decided that I was too tired to keep on going.
Wednesday: Today Christoph Hüsler, a brass-band friend from Switzerland, had his first day at the English Centre. Despite initially not wanting to come to the same school as me, he was pleased to see me, had a lot of questions and I was happy to help him to have a good start here in Nelson. The yoga class was pretty easy for me, either the exercises were easier or I was getting better. I hope it was the latter. Jude asked me if I wanted to go to the youth-group tonight and because I felt pretty tired with a bit of a headache I was at first reluctant to go and decided to concentrate on my homework instead. But then she convinced me that going there would certainly be good English practice and would – unlike homework – would have a social element as well. And I didn’t regret it. It was good fun and at the end I saw an inspiring movie about an arm- and leg-less man who didn’t only cope with his immense disability but also made the best of his possibilities. He became a motivation-trainer with the ability to show people that they shouldn’t feel hindered from getting on with life and overcoming difficulties, and that everyone’s capabilities are much greater than one would expect. Naturally it was very authentic, presented by somebody who had to deal with such a severe handicap. Unfortunately I came home late and went straight to bed, so I didn’t do any homework.
Thursday: There were a lot of people at salsa class today. Some of them were new and some had only been to one lesson before. So we only practised the basics for today, apart from one dance I had with Mayumi at the end of the lesson. But I still enjoyed myself and the great atmosphere; I didn’t feel bored at all. It was fun to be there, to shake a leg and to try to make it easy for the newcomers to learn dancing. After salsa class I organised somebody to pick Christoph up for tonight’s brass band rehearsal. I wanted to give Liz a lesson, but unfortunately there was no intermediate-band practice today and the band room was locked. Instead of a practice we had a discussion about rental cars. I’m pretty sure I’m going to travel by car, but I haven’t made up my mind definitely. There were only 13 people at today’s rehearsal, but once again the atmosphere was great and I enjoyed it a lot.
Friday: Once again I had to tell Dillwyn that I hadn’t done any homework. Nevertheless we had a good lesson and a great discussion about travelling and borders. At lunchtime I was Dave’s photo-model for his private project about foreigners. He is going to give a presentation with some of his pictures at his photo-club. In the afternoon I started watching the beginning of a movie, but then planned the weekend. I made a reservation for a scenic flight with Hanna on Sunday. Then I had a beer with Hanna, Christoph and Dominik at the House Of Ales.
Saturday: Dominik, Christoph, Hanna and I had agreed to meet today at 10 o’clock in front of the Suter Art Gallery. I first went to Hanna’s home-stay and waited for her. We walked into town together and as we were passing by the car rental company, I thought I would ask for my sunglasses. There was nobody in the office, but the owner replied on the phone that he had found my sunglasses and that he was going to be back in the office in an hour. This delay caused us to be a little late at the gallery. Christoph wasn’t there. Because the exhibition only opened at half past ten, we went to the café behind the gallery. There I tried a hot lemonade with ginger in it, recommended by the waitress. I had sent Christoph a text-message, but he didn’t show up. The gallery was rather small and we were through it in no time. We went on to the Nelson Museum on Hardy Street and on the way I picked up my sunglasses. We spent more time there, but I was getting tired. At one o’clock we were sitting in the Golden Bell, a Thai-restaurant, waiting for our dishes. It was a great meal and it was cosy, too, so we stayed there quite a long time talking about everything under the sun. Unfortunately the weather was getting worse but we still climbed up to the Centre Of New Zealand. A cold wind blew from the sea, making our time up there rather uncomfortable. On the way down we saw “The Kauri Tree”, which must be a kind of attraction. Its importance was shown by the little fence around it, but we couldn’t find out why this tree was special. Back home I rushed to have a cake baked by the time I was picked up for the International Dinner Party. It would be a similar event to the one at my home-stay some weeks ago, but this time it was at Pastor Allan and his wife Linda’s home. Unfortunately the cake was still in the oven when Ingrid came, but she didn’t mind and used the time to try some of my Swiss cheese. This evening turned out to be great. There were only about 25 people, but still heaps of different types of food. After dinner I played card games with some of the others and had a lot of fun. Now it was pudding-time, as Linda used to say. Even though I had baked my cake in a hurry, it smelled pretty good, and I got compliments! Allan suggested I should become a professional baker, and a Japanese lady asked me for the recipe.
Sunday: After sleeping in and getting up at nine o’clock I felt too tired to do anything and went back to bed. In the end it was just before noon, when I got up and prepared for the afternoon. I was going to go with Hanna over to Motueka for a scenic flight. Therefore Michel lent us his beloved car for a couple of hours. After a short discussion about the flight track, we got into the little aeroplane and up to the snow-covered mountains. Our pilot said there hadn’t been as much snow since 1978, and this white blanket over the landscape looked just incredibly beautiful and fresh. It was a very special view of the upper South Island. After the mountains we flew over the Abel Tasman National Park, where I could see the track I had been walking along a few weeks ago. The colours of the water, the beaches and the forests were so amazing that I couldn’t get enough of it. But after one hour and two minutes and about 270 pictures (!), the flight was over!
Tuesday: Chika and Hitomi surprised me with a birthday card. The two Japanese girls who I had spent lunchtime with several times and who were also in the bone-carving workshop wrote lovely things to me and were nice enough to tell me about the Japanese part of it. In the evening I stuck to my plan to do a lot of homework. I worked on it for many hours and it was past eleven when I finally decided that I was too tired to keep on going.
Wednesday: Today Christoph Hüsler, a brass-band friend from Switzerland, had his first day at the English Centre. Despite initially not wanting to come to the same school as me, he was pleased to see me, had a lot of questions and I was happy to help him to have a good start here in Nelson. The yoga class was pretty easy for me, either the exercises were easier or I was getting better. I hope it was the latter. Jude asked me if I wanted to go to the youth-group tonight and because I felt pretty tired with a bit of a headache I was at first reluctant to go and decided to concentrate on my homework instead. But then she convinced me that going there would certainly be good English practice and would – unlike homework – would have a social element as well. And I didn’t regret it. It was good fun and at the end I saw an inspiring movie about an arm- and leg-less man who didn’t only cope with his immense disability but also made the best of his possibilities. He became a motivation-trainer with the ability to show people that they shouldn’t feel hindered from getting on with life and overcoming difficulties, and that everyone’s capabilities are much greater than one would expect. Naturally it was very authentic, presented by somebody who had to deal with such a severe handicap. Unfortunately I came home late and went straight to bed, so I didn’t do any homework.
Thursday: There were a lot of people at salsa class today. Some of them were new and some had only been to one lesson before. So we only practised the basics for today, apart from one dance I had with Mayumi at the end of the lesson. But I still enjoyed myself and the great atmosphere; I didn’t feel bored at all. It was fun to be there, to shake a leg and to try to make it easy for the newcomers to learn dancing. After salsa class I organised somebody to pick Christoph up for tonight’s brass band rehearsal. I wanted to give Liz a lesson, but unfortunately there was no intermediate-band practice today and the band room was locked. Instead of a practice we had a discussion about rental cars. I’m pretty sure I’m going to travel by car, but I haven’t made up my mind definitely. There were only 13 people at today’s rehearsal, but once again the atmosphere was great and I enjoyed it a lot.
Friday: Once again I had to tell Dillwyn that I hadn’t done any homework. Nevertheless we had a good lesson and a great discussion about travelling and borders. At lunchtime I was Dave’s photo-model for his private project about foreigners. He is going to give a presentation with some of his pictures at his photo-club. In the afternoon I started watching the beginning of a movie, but then planned the weekend. I made a reservation for a scenic flight with Hanna on Sunday. Then I had a beer with Hanna, Christoph and Dominik at the House Of Ales.
Saturday: Dominik, Christoph, Hanna and I had agreed to meet today at 10 o’clock in front of the Suter Art Gallery. I first went to Hanna’s home-stay and waited for her. We walked into town together and as we were passing by the car rental company, I thought I would ask for my sunglasses. There was nobody in the office, but the owner replied on the phone that he had found my sunglasses and that he was going to be back in the office in an hour. This delay caused us to be a little late at the gallery. Christoph wasn’t there. Because the exhibition only opened at half past ten, we went to the café behind the gallery. There I tried a hot lemonade with ginger in it, recommended by the waitress. I had sent Christoph a text-message, but he didn’t show up. The gallery was rather small and we were through it in no time. We went on to the Nelson Museum on Hardy Street and on the way I picked up my sunglasses. We spent more time there, but I was getting tired. At one o’clock we were sitting in the Golden Bell, a Thai-restaurant, waiting for our dishes. It was a great meal and it was cosy, too, so we stayed there quite a long time talking about everything under the sun. Unfortunately the weather was getting worse but we still climbed up to the Centre Of New Zealand. A cold wind blew from the sea, making our time up there rather uncomfortable. On the way down we saw “The Kauri Tree”, which must be a kind of attraction. Its importance was shown by the little fence around it, but we couldn’t find out why this tree was special. Back home I rushed to have a cake baked by the time I was picked up for the International Dinner Party. It would be a similar event to the one at my home-stay some weeks ago, but this time it was at Pastor Allan and his wife Linda’s home. Unfortunately the cake was still in the oven when Ingrid came, but she didn’t mind and used the time to try some of my Swiss cheese. This evening turned out to be great. There were only about 25 people, but still heaps of different types of food. After dinner I played card games with some of the others and had a lot of fun. Now it was pudding-time, as Linda used to say. Even though I had baked my cake in a hurry, it smelled pretty good, and I got compliments! Allan suggested I should become a professional baker, and a Japanese lady asked me for the recipe.
Sunday: After sleeping in and getting up at nine o’clock I felt too tired to do anything and went back to bed. In the end it was just before noon, when I got up and prepared for the afternoon. I was going to go with Hanna over to Motueka for a scenic flight. Therefore Michel lent us his beloved car for a couple of hours. After a short discussion about the flight track, we got into the little aeroplane and up to the snow-covered mountains. Our pilot said there hadn’t been as much snow since 1978, and this white blanket over the landscape looked just incredibly beautiful and fresh. It was a very special view of the upper South Island. After the mountains we flew over the Abel Tasman National Park, where I could see the track I had been walking along a few weeks ago. The colours of the water, the beaches and the forests were so amazing that I couldn’t get enough of it. But after one hour and two minutes and about 270 pictures (!), the flight was over!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Ninth Week
Monday: This week I got a new teacher in the morning classes. I had the luck to have a personal one-to-one teacher this week, because my English level was a bit higher than the average in the upper-intermediate group and I sometimes was bored. To provide as much progress as possible to me, James now offered me to have my own teacher, Dillwyn. This way, classes can be tailored to me, very efficient and I was a little bit exhausted when the clock showed quarter past twelve. That’s the challenge I was looking for! In the evening I tried to do as much homework as possible, to get ahead as far as possible at school the next day.
Tuesday: James said it was a difficult story, but he needed Dillwyn for another class. So I discussed the homework with him instead. Working with him was not bad at all, especially because he explained to me the way British people think about Churchill, and why they are so proud of their role in the Second World War. That was a lot of cultural knowledge conveyed to me in a much more authentic way than I had experienced it in any of my history lessons at school. After school I agreed with Hanna and Mayumi to hire a car on Saturday and go to the Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds. Therefore we went to the car company Rent-a-Dent to book a vehicle.
Wednesday: This evening I went to a swimming pool with people from church. It was so relaxing to be in this warm pool usually used by the hospital for disabled people. Especially after another yoga lesson when you can feel almost every muscle of your body. First I enjoyed fighting for an air filled plastic rugby ball and after that I played with a little girl called Marguerite some games she obviously found interesting: holding your breath as long as you can, jumping into the pool with as much of a splash as possible or even diving with her on my back with her arms around my neck. The funniest thing came at the end: I had to pretend to be unconscious or dead and she would rescue me. Apparently she was fascinated by how long I could hold my breath and that was now useful for playing dead. Although the last game in particular was a bit strange, it showed me again how much I love children. It’s just intriguing how they think and act and how easy it is to make them happy. The Icing on the cake was eating chips after all that. I just felt so comfortable and fresh that everything smelled twice as good as normal.
Thursdays are Thursdays. For me that meant salsa dancing and band practice after school. The only special thing was that I had two dances in the Little Rock after band practice. One with teacher Sarah and the other with Liza, who I got to know some weeks ago in the Little Rock.
Friday: In the afternoon some students were watching a movie provided by Sarah. I was one of them. After that, I had an interesting discussion with Hanna, who had told me I was like a brother to her. That was a big compliment to me, and I really enjoyed talking about all kinds of things with her.
Saturday: On my birthday I got up early and prepared for the journey. At nine o’clock I had to be in town, but Jude told me to open a present from her first. I could share the Chocolates with my friends, she said and that was a good idea. I met Hanna at the Rent-a-Dent before going to pick up Jörn and Mayumi. Jörn from Germany decided on Friday afternoon to come with us and we were happy to share the costs with one more person. First we drove to Havelock and walked up a hill to a lookout point from where we had a great view of the surrounding countryside. Unfortunately there were a lot of dark, high cloud and it even looked a bit like rain. Later we went to a place called Te Mahia. Now almost all the clouds had gone, there were only a few leftovers on the horizon. The clear water of the fiord-like “sounds” reflected the whole landscape and it was just wonderful. From there we set off up a hill with our lunch-backpacks. During the ascent we were accompanied by a fantail, a little bird, who entertained us with his sounds and showed off his artistic abilities all the way up and even stayed with us for lunch. Unfortunately I had forgotten to recharge my Camera, and after a couple of pictures from the top of this hill, the battery was empty. Fortunately there had just been enough energy to capture the stunning panorama. Now we intended to go to French Pass, but as we were driving over a winding hill heading to Okiwi Bay, Hanna got terribly carsick and even wanted to walk the rest of the way. But that would have been too dangerous and I didn’t want to let her do that so we just waited some minutes until she felt a little bit better. At Okiwi Bay I realized that it was too much to continue as far as French Pass. After skimming some stones over the sea we all agreed to go back to Nelson, not only because of carsick Hanna but also because it was already half past four and would be getting dark soon. I had expected more but it was a beautiful day all the same. Back home I ate my dinner and because it was my birthday, Jude had even baked a cake for me. With a full belly I sat down in front of my computer, wondering whether I could contact somebody in Switzerland. My mother was already waiting for me and phoned me when she saw that I was online. That was the first phone call for nine weeks and naturally I enjoyed it. After reading all my e-mails I went tired but happy to bed.
Sunday: I started reading 1984 by George Orwell at about ten o’clock in the morning. It was so engrossing that I read it through in one go. I was only interrupted twice. The first time because of lunch and the second time Jude was waiting with popcorn for me and Ashley, when I was only three pages before the end. Finishing the book at about four o’clock I just had time to have a shower and prepare myself for the evening. At half past four Michel, a friend from school, picked me up to go shopping. We only needed some white wine and bread for the Fondue. Back at my home-stay we started to prepare everything for this traditional Swiss meal. Even the appetizer, consisting as it did of a cheese board, bread and white wine was typically Swiss. The cheeses were three different Swiss types, an Italian one and a New Zealand one. At the smell of the Fondue both Michel and I felt as if we were at home and we were even a little bit homesick. The meal smelled exactly like in Switzerland, though it was an imported Swiss product. Only the bread wasn’t the same, but it was a fantastic meal all the same. To stay with the theme of the evening, Jude prepared a bread-based dessert, though I had to give my stomach some minutes to process the fondue before I could eat any more. This was one of the most enjoyable evenings I’ve ever had in New Zealand. If only it hadn’t left me with a sore stomach from overeating!
Tuesday: James said it was a difficult story, but he needed Dillwyn for another class. So I discussed the homework with him instead. Working with him was not bad at all, especially because he explained to me the way British people think about Churchill, and why they are so proud of their role in the Second World War. That was a lot of cultural knowledge conveyed to me in a much more authentic way than I had experienced it in any of my history lessons at school. After school I agreed with Hanna and Mayumi to hire a car on Saturday and go to the Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds. Therefore we went to the car company Rent-a-Dent to book a vehicle.
Wednesday: This evening I went to a swimming pool with people from church. It was so relaxing to be in this warm pool usually used by the hospital for disabled people. Especially after another yoga lesson when you can feel almost every muscle of your body. First I enjoyed fighting for an air filled plastic rugby ball and after that I played with a little girl called Marguerite some games she obviously found interesting: holding your breath as long as you can, jumping into the pool with as much of a splash as possible or even diving with her on my back with her arms around my neck. The funniest thing came at the end: I had to pretend to be unconscious or dead and she would rescue me. Apparently she was fascinated by how long I could hold my breath and that was now useful for playing dead. Although the last game in particular was a bit strange, it showed me again how much I love children. It’s just intriguing how they think and act and how easy it is to make them happy. The Icing on the cake was eating chips after all that. I just felt so comfortable and fresh that everything smelled twice as good as normal.
Thursdays are Thursdays. For me that meant salsa dancing and band practice after school. The only special thing was that I had two dances in the Little Rock after band practice. One with teacher Sarah and the other with Liza, who I got to know some weeks ago in the Little Rock.
Friday: In the afternoon some students were watching a movie provided by Sarah. I was one of them. After that, I had an interesting discussion with Hanna, who had told me I was like a brother to her. That was a big compliment to me, and I really enjoyed talking about all kinds of things with her.
Saturday: On my birthday I got up early and prepared for the journey. At nine o’clock I had to be in town, but Jude told me to open a present from her first. I could share the Chocolates with my friends, she said and that was a good idea. I met Hanna at the Rent-a-Dent before going to pick up Jörn and Mayumi. Jörn from Germany decided on Friday afternoon to come with us and we were happy to share the costs with one more person. First we drove to Havelock and walked up a hill to a lookout point from where we had a great view of the surrounding countryside. Unfortunately there were a lot of dark, high cloud and it even looked a bit like rain. Later we went to a place called Te Mahia. Now almost all the clouds had gone, there were only a few leftovers on the horizon. The clear water of the fiord-like “sounds” reflected the whole landscape and it was just wonderful. From there we set off up a hill with our lunch-backpacks. During the ascent we were accompanied by a fantail, a little bird, who entertained us with his sounds and showed off his artistic abilities all the way up and even stayed with us for lunch. Unfortunately I had forgotten to recharge my Camera, and after a couple of pictures from the top of this hill, the battery was empty. Fortunately there had just been enough energy to capture the stunning panorama. Now we intended to go to French Pass, but as we were driving over a winding hill heading to Okiwi Bay, Hanna got terribly carsick and even wanted to walk the rest of the way. But that would have been too dangerous and I didn’t want to let her do that so we just waited some minutes until she felt a little bit better. At Okiwi Bay I realized that it was too much to continue as far as French Pass. After skimming some stones over the sea we all agreed to go back to Nelson, not only because of carsick Hanna but also because it was already half past four and would be getting dark soon. I had expected more but it was a beautiful day all the same. Back home I ate my dinner and because it was my birthday, Jude had even baked a cake for me. With a full belly I sat down in front of my computer, wondering whether I could contact somebody in Switzerland. My mother was already waiting for me and phoned me when she saw that I was online. That was the first phone call for nine weeks and naturally I enjoyed it. After reading all my e-mails I went tired but happy to bed.
Sunday: I started reading 1984 by George Orwell at about ten o’clock in the morning. It was so engrossing that I read it through in one go. I was only interrupted twice. The first time because of lunch and the second time Jude was waiting with popcorn for me and Ashley, when I was only three pages before the end. Finishing the book at about four o’clock I just had time to have a shower and prepare myself for the evening. At half past four Michel, a friend from school, picked me up to go shopping. We only needed some white wine and bread for the Fondue. Back at my home-stay we started to prepare everything for this traditional Swiss meal. Even the appetizer, consisting as it did of a cheese board, bread and white wine was typically Swiss. The cheeses were three different Swiss types, an Italian one and a New Zealand one. At the smell of the Fondue both Michel and I felt as if we were at home and we were even a little bit homesick. The meal smelled exactly like in Switzerland, though it was an imported Swiss product. Only the bread wasn’t the same, but it was a fantastic meal all the same. To stay with the theme of the evening, Jude prepared a bread-based dessert, though I had to give my stomach some minutes to process the fondue before I could eat any more. This was one of the most enjoyable evenings I’ve ever had in New Zealand. If only it hadn’t left me with a sore stomach from overeating!
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