First Attempts at Playing the Guitar

Very exciting news: J bought me a guitar! It is blue and beautiful, with nylon strings so I don't hurt my fingers. I didn't know that learning to play the guitar hurt your fingers, so good thing J was the one who went out and bought it. It was sort of an early anniversary present, and sort of just because I've been talking about learning to play the guitar for years without actually doing anything about it. In my defense, however, we have been rather absorbed in moving countries and such.

Anyway, J bought me a guitar, so now I'm going to learn to play it. My first discovery upon receiving this wonderful present was that, for a musical person, I know astonishingly little about guitars. I pulled it out of the case, held it up, and started to strum, when J informed me that I was holding it backwards. Oops. Then I decided to tune it with this awesome digital tuner J got me, and discovered that I don't know what note each string is supposed to play. Having surmounted that barrier (thank you, Internet), I proceeded to twist the first knob back and forth for several frustrated minutes with no change in the digital tuner's reading of E flat, before realizing that I was turning the knob for the wrong string. Off to a great start! Just to add insult to injury, I learned later that they are actually called tuners, not knobs. I find it a very sad predicament to not even possess the vocabulary to describe how utterly ignorant you are. 

Not to worry, however, the saving grace of starting at absolute zero is that upward progression tends to feel rapid, at least at first. Once the guitar was tuned, I popped in the Teach Yourself Classical Guitar DVD that had come with it, and started learning. At the end of my first session, I could play two chords (although I have trouble remembering which one is which) and can pluck a simple tune that the (quite odd) man on the DVD taught me. Also - and I am much more proud of this bit - I figured out how to pluck Mary Had A Little Lamb all by myself! Yay! 

Then, added to my excitement about new guitar knowledge, J found a store in New Plymouth that sells Dr. Pepper and bought me a whole case of it! I don't know if I've whined about this yet, but on the rare occasions that I drink pop, it absolutely must be Dr. Pepper, but they don't have it in NZ! Or rather, they have it, but only at one or two stores in each town, and never in restaurants! Anyway, that is the long way of saying that I am thrilled to be able to indulge in the occasional Dr. Pepper, now that I have them available at home.

In conclusion, here I am, looking almost like I might be able to play the guitar someday, and like I will definitely be enjoying that Dr. Pepper right away!

My Bike Ride to Work - Coastal Walkway

Wow, it has been a very good, but very busy week, with the unfortunate ending of me getting quite sick. As I mentioned before, you always get sick within the first month of starting at a new centre with all its new bugs, so no surprises there. Friday and Saturday were awful, but today is getting better, and tomorrow I'm sure will be fine.

More importantly, I have finally compiled and uploaded a selection of pictures from my bike ride to work every day! 

I bike 8km (5m) each way every day, from my house in New Plymouth to my work in Bell Block. It is a stunningly beautiful bike ride along the New Plymouth Coastal Walkway, from which I can see the beautiful ocean and the beautiful mountain every day!

 In the morning, I bike a little way through New Plymouth (not bad, but not exciting either), but then I come down a hill and there is the ocean right in front of me! Whoosh - instant good mood, every day! 

Then, in the afternoon, I bike a little way through Bell Block (not bad, but not exciting either), but then I reach the top of a hill, and there's Mount Taranaki! Boom - instant good mood, every day!

And the amazing thing is - you can see the ocean and the mountain all the way along the way, just by looking to your left or to your right. Wow!

Also, at the moment, given that it is the beginning of winter, I am biking to work just after sunrise and biking home from work (most days), just before sunset, so I get to see some of the sky's most beautiful displays.

Green and growing - remember, this is the beginning of "winter." No wonder my sense of seasons is all confused!

I have always been an ocean person, and I am so thankful and amazed that I live right next to one!

Loving all the striking colours!

This is the Te Rewa Rewa bridge. It was built as a connection between New Plymouth and Bell Block, and is on a Māori "rewa rewa" (burial ground), making it sacred.

"The designer, Peter Mulqueen, is quoted as saying he understood that the bridge should "touch lightly" on the Rewa Rewa side of the river, in order to honour the deceased. This ruled out heavier designs like cable stays and angular truss structures. Mulqueen wanted to achieve a bridge with a "harmonious and dignified character." With the ribs yielding to the prevailing wind, the bridge is aligned to Mount Taranaki. The sacred mountain is framed within the skewed arch when viewed while leaving the sacred ground - promising what is eternal" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Te_Rewa_Rewa_Bridge).

See? You can see the mountain through the bridge! How amazing is it that I get to see this every day!?!

This is looking back from the bridge, which crosses the Waiwhakaiho River.

This is part of the walkway. Only bits of it are boardwalk (the rest is paved), but I love the rhythm my bike tires make on the wood planks. Often, there is someone sitting on many of these benches, just watching the sea.

Me on the bridge! When I stopped to take (yet another) picture one day, these two ladies had stopped for the same reason, and offered to take a picture for me, which was lovely.

This is Mount Taranaki over the Waiwhakiaho River and Bridge. I go under the bridge on a little bike trail (on the right side) each morning, so I don't have to deal with the traffic, which is apparently quite bad.

This is one of my favourite bits of my bike ride, because it is a bit downhill slope towards the sea, and I can let loose and just enjoy all the wonderful sensations.

Sunrise over Lake Rotomatu, which I pass right before I get to the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge.

That same morning, these are those gorgeous sunrise colours splashed onto the bridge and the mountain.

Last, but not least, this is the end of my ride each afternoon - Mount Taranaki over our neighbourhood (Glen Avon). You can't see the mountain from our house, because it is quite tucked in among loads of trees, but you don't have to go far to be able to appreciate its beauty.

In fact, my overall impression of Taranaki and New Plymouth is that you never have to go very far at all to be able to appreciate all kinds of beauty!

Puketapu Kindergarten Pictures

Wow, I am finally posting the long-awaited Puketapu Kindergarten pictures. All 29 of them. I realize that that is a lot, but part of what I love about NZ Kindergarten environments is that there are lots of different areas for the children to play and explore. So I thought the best way to share that was to take pictures of all the different areas, so you can see the amazing variety of choices that the children have available. The pictures move from outside to the veranda, to inside.

Outside:

Here is the front of the building. Not that exciting, but don't worry, it gets better.

Here is one view of the soft-fall section of the playground. The big fort and awesome slide are actually taller than current regulations allow, but they have been "grandfathered in," thank goodness! They are so much fun!

Notice the beautifully carved rock - our head teacher made that! How cool! And there are several small feijoa trees spread around. Yum! 

Another view of the soft fall area. The children love the big "boxes," which have a bridge going in between them.

Grassy area for running, obstacle courses, the see-saw, or whatever strikes your fancy. Also, it's hard to see in the picture, but there are a bunch of swings behind it, which are great.

This is our kaitiaki. He is the guardian of our gardens and trolly track, and he lets the teachers know if children are being disrespectful or dangerous.

This is our trolly track, weaving through some of the gardens. Our kindergarten won an environmental award last year for this area, which is planted entirely with native plants.

Isn't it magical?

Another view of this area. 

Next to the trolly track are the compost bins and worm farms. We have tiger worms in the worm farms, and the children bring their food scraps and add them to the farms every day. It is wonderful for them to be involved in this process. We sell the nitrogen-rich "worm juice" and "worm dirt" from the farms as a fundraiser for the kindergarten, which is neat because the parents buy it and then the children get to use it on their own gardens at home, bringing it full circle.

This is the "messy play" area. The blue tubs are huge and really fun to fill with coloured water, sawdust, paper, goop, moonsand, cloud dough, etc. This area usually has a shade cover over it, but it got taken down for repairs.

This is the sand pit, with the herb garden next to it. Somehow the sand pit doesn't look very big in this picture, but it is quite big in real life. The red shed door to the left is for the trolly track materials, and the sand pit shed is to the left. They both stay open for the children to access materials as they choose.

Here are the vegetable gardens, which are looking a bit bare right now, as the fall harvest was done just a week or two ago. However, we still have some strawberries producing, and we planted some green onions last week. 

The house on the left side of the picture is a work in progress, but the children are enjoying it already.

The Veranda:

This is the view looking from the grassy area towards the veranda. You will notice that the "walls" can be rolled up and down, which is quite nice. They are almost always open, unless it is very rainy with a lot of wind.

Here is the comfy couch on the veranda, with the painting easels behind.

This is the kai (food) table. The children can get their kai any time and bring it to the table to eat. They usually come in groups with their friends. 

The different buckets are for worm food, rubbish, recyclable yogurt containers (used for art), and spoons.

This is the natural materials area. The children explore various natural things that the teachers have collected, and then every so often, we put out hot glue guns and they get to make them into artwork.

There is a big emphasis on using natural materials in NZ Kindergartens, which I love.

This is the block area. We have two big cabinets of blocks, and lots of different props and materials to go with them. We also have live "play plants," which are miraculously sturdy, and which the children use as props for imaginative play with the animals.

This is the carpentry area, with hammers, nails, wood, string, mesh, plastic, stickers, safety goggles, etc. There are also drills and saws, which are available on request with teacher supervision.

Sometimes we pull the block shelf table over and use it with cushions for Legos or Mobilos or pyramids or other building materials.

Inside:

This is the sign-in table. While the parent writes the time they dropped the child off, the child finds his/her magnetic name and sticks it to the white board. They stick their names here if they are just staying for the morning or afternoon, and there is a different white board where they put their names if they are going to stay all day.

This is our Trading Table. The parents donate items (clothes, food, shoes, accessories, books, etc.) that they don't need any more, and anyone can take them. We also for a dollar donation if they want to give it, otherwise they can just take it. There is information above it explaining how reusing things is good for the environment. Lots of parents bring in things from their gardens, which is awesome.

This is the puzzle/game table. It is also used in the morning for the children to sign themselves in by writing their names, although I didn't take a picture of that set-up.

This is the writing table. There are a variety of worksheets and other materials at this table, based on the children's interests. In the yellow box is a writing book for each child, where they keep their drawings, worksheets, writing, etc.

This is the science area, which includes different materials (in the basket) for children to examine under magnifying glasses. It also includes a variety of books (we have small bookshelves and book boxes in several places around the room).

This is the "Family Corner," (it is not a corner, but if you try to call it an "Area," the children will correct you every time). We have dress-up clothes, dog leashes, dolls, medical equipment, food, dishes, a bed and blankets, etc.

This is the other side of the "Family Corner," with the kitchen and couch. Also, notice the awesome pushchair (stroller).

This is the mat/flex area. The children use it for a lot of higher-energy activities like dancing and making music, and it is where we come together for group activities.

This is the other side of the mat/flex area. 

This is the "Making Table." The green part tends to be for painting, while the blue part tends to be for everything else. I really like that it is called the "Making Table" rather than the "Art Table," because it is so open-ended and exciting sounding! We have paper, paints, tape, fabrics, plastic bottles, stickers, chalk, cardboard boxes, glitter, ribbons, glue, markers, staples, scissors... everything! You should see some of the cool things the children create!

Last, but not least, is the playdough table. It is next to a shelf with lots of materials on it, and by the oven/stove, because playdough just lends itself so nicely to cooking.

Well... can you see why I love my job? Who wouldn't want to work at Puketapu Kindergarten? And you know the amazing thing is that this is what most Kindergartens in NZ look like - there is an expectation that the places where children learn and play should be beautiful, intriguing, exciting, and inspiring. And they are! 

Bushy Park

My blog is becoming distressingly non-chronological, but sometimes interesting things don't happen in a neat sort of pattern, so that's how it goes. 

These pictures are from a tramp Anna and I did several weeks ago in Bushy Park, which is about 25 minutes outside Whanganui. It is native, virgin bush, and it is quite beautiful, so mostly this post is just for you to enjoy the pictures. I have included some information from the signposts in the park for your enjoyment as well. Bushy Park is also a bird sanctuary, but we didn't see many different kinds of birds. They even have a Kiwi rehabilitation programme, which is awesome.

From a signpost that helpfully clarified something I have been wondering about:
"New Zealand bush can correctly be called rainforest. Its composition, structure, climate, and vegetation history meet all criteria. It show features such as buttressing, abundant lianes and ferns, and being evergreen."

This is a North Island Robin, and one of the friendliest birds I've met! I think that people must feed them sometimes, because they were very excited to make friends with Anna and I. They were the only type of bird we caught more than a fleeting glimpse of, but we saw loads of them!

Can't remember if I've posted a picture of a silver fern before, but here's one, just in case. Only the bottoms are silver (you can see the green tops in the top of the picture), so this one was noticeable because it had broken off and twisted, showing the silver undersides.

From a signpost:

"Vines which reach the top of the canopy are a distinctive feature of the New Zealand bush. Here we have Supplejack most commonly, four species of Rata Vine, Metrosideros fulgens being the most showy, three Clematis species, and Kiekie."

From a signpost:

"Ratanui [Big Rata] is the name affectionately given to this tree in Bushy Park. It is generally acknowledged as the largest living specimen of Northern Rata in NZ and is part of the "Project Crimson" programme.

In Māori mythology Tane [a Māori god] mated with female deities to produce trees, birds, and natural features. His mating with Rere-noa begat Rata and all climbing, parasitic, and epiphytic plants. The Tuhoe [a Māori iwi/tribe] call Rata flowers Kanohi-o-tawhaki, the eyes of Tawhaki, whose blood had stained them red when he fell from the first heaven, Ranginui-a-tamaku-rangi."

From me: 

The picture cannot begin to communicate how huge this tree is! Imagine it as huge as you can, and then imagine it bigger.

Also, it is between 800 and 1000 years old!

This is a "twin" fern tree. It split right at the bottom and grew evenly and quite symmetrically, both of which are quite uncommon, so it is a lovely specimen of unique beauty.

For part of our walk (possibly because we got lost, although the map was so confusing that we never did figure out if we had followed it properly or not), we had forest on one side of us, and fields of sheep on the other.

After our walk, we headed back to the Homestead, which is a big, beautiful house on a hill. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of the outside, but so be it. The Homestead is now a bed and breakfast, with beautiful rooms.

This is the stained glass in the entryway.

And this is me in the entrance, with more beautiful glass.

This is Anna's and my lovely tea and scones to replenish our strength after a couple hours of tramping. Also, I just realized that this glimpse of Anna's arm is the only bit of her in a picture. Whoops! I promise she was there - she just wasn't as interested in being in pictures.