Hello again!
Well, ten days have past. I'm getting used to being in New Zealand, wearing warm clothes, going to a different school, meeting new people. I have had a great time until now.
My first day of school was rather hard. It was a big shock for me to go into a place where I knew absolutely nobody. 1400 of unknown people. After choosing my subjects I was to go to classes. The school is so big it takes me five minutes to go from one of my classes to another so as you can imagine I didn't get to class until half the period had past: I was completely lost. I felt so weird when lunch time arrived, it was a feeling of not belonging there. Luckily I had the fortune to have a host sister that went through the same experience as I am going through, talking to her made me feel much better.
The next days were much easier. I found the other AFS student from Canada, Karine, (the school is so big you can go through days without seing someone!) and I met lots and lots of nice girls in my form (the form is the year I attend, it's the 6th form which is equivalent to year 12, we must be around 300 students just in the 6th form). Everyone is really nice and have treated me really well. I have chosen some very interesting subjects and most of my teachers are really nice so I'm liking school quite a bit.
On Friday afternoon I went with Karine and some other girls to have some coffee. It was really nice just hanging around and talking. I had a great time. On Saturday we went to town. We went shopping in Queen St which is the most important avenue of the city. We sat down and had some coffee again and then I walked home. It was also a really nice afternoon.
That night Karen, Chris, Tim and I went to Piha, a beach near Auckland. It is a beautiful place but unfortunately it was raining a lot so we couldn't do much. I wouldn't have swimmed anyway since it is the middle of the winter here and it's rather cold but we could have walked around some more. Nevertheless it was a nice weekend, I hope we'll go there again when it's warmer.
I think I have been really lucky in my placement: I am in a beautiful city and in a really good family. My year ahead seams very promising!
So that's what my firsts days look like, I'll be writing again soon.
Besos,
Camila
martes, 31 de julio de 2007
viernes, 27 de julio de 2007
miércoles, 25 de julio de 2007
Mis primeros dias
Queridos amigos:
¡Mi aventura ha comenzado!
Salí de República Dominicana el miércoles de madrugada y tomé un vuelo a Miami. Mi escala de seis horas allí no fue mala porque conseguí salir del aeropuerto y encontrarme con Déborah, mi amiga querida, a quien no había visto desde hace más de un año. Pasé un rato chulísimo con ella y con un amigo suyo. Después de despedirme, regresé sola al aeropuerto.
Ya camino a Los Ángeles tuve la suerte de conocer a un chico de Paraguay que al igual que yo iba para Nueva Zelanda. No sólo me alegró conocerlo sino que me encantó no tener que seguir viajando solita. El muchacho resultó súper agradable, tanto que me da vergüenza haber olvidado su nombre. Debe ser que tenía un nombre arabe extraño, puesto que sus padres son de arabes. Desafortunadamente, el paraguayo se enfermó y tuvo que quedarse a pasar la noche en LA, así que ahí estaba sola de nuevo.
El vuelo a Nueva Zelanda fue increíblemente largo y aburrido, parecía como que no terminaría nunca. Cuando finalmente me bajé del avión en Auckland eran las 5 de la mañana del viernes. Un representante de AFS nos esperaba, a mí y a otros estudiantes. Ahí conocí a Pablo y a Tomás, dos chilenos divertidísimos, y a dos paraguayas muy agradables, Andrea y Laura.
Nos llevaron directamente al Campamento de Bienvenida donde nos contaron algo más sobre NZ y donde tuve la oportunidad de conocer nuevos amigos de todas partes del mundo. ¡Éramos más de 100 estudiantes!
Durante la noche a los estudiantes nos tocaba hacer una pequeña presentación cultural de nuestros países. Yo, que soy la única dominicana de todo el grupo, me las ví negras pues primero tuve que buscar algún latino que quisiera bailar conmigo un merengue (nuestra danza folclórica) y luego no hubo forma de poder poner la música, así que tuve que levantarme y ponerme a cantar el himno nacional dominicano. Me aplaudieron mucho, no creo que porque cantara bien, sino porque se solidarizaron conmigo cuando me vieron haciendo ese papelazo ahí arriba. Y yo lo que sentía era pena por ellos que tuvieron que escucharme cantar.
Después de dormir la noche del día más largo de mi vida, cerré mis bultos y me puse a esperar que viniera a buscarme mi familia anfitriona. Mi nerviosismo fue creciendo mientras veía irse con sus nuevas familias a algunos de mis compañeros. Finalmente aparecieron Chris (mi padre AFS) y Karen (mi madre AFS) a recogerme. Fuimos primero a ver el final de un juego de fútbol en el que participaba Tim (mi hermano anfitrión) y cerca del mediodía llegué a mi casa. Es una casa muy agradable en un vecindario encantador al lado de un parque. Me gustó mucho el lugar. Luego Karen y yo nos fuimos de paseo hasta una tienda en la que trabaja Georgia, mi hermana anfitriona que me recibió cálidamente y con un abrazo.
Por la noche en Auckland se jugaba un partido de rugby entre los “All Blacks” de Nueva Zelanda, y los “Wallabis” de Australia. Como no entendía nada del juego, Chris tuvo que darme unas lecciones de rugby. A mí, que vengo de un país donde el deporte más popular es el béisbol -en el que no hay contacto físico entre los jugadores- me pareció un poco violento el rugby. Sin embargo, estoy segura de que antes de que termine mi año aquí me habré convertido en una fanatica del rugby. En fin, que eso es un poco de lo que he estado haciendo aquí. Les prometo que pronto bajaré algunas fotos al blog.
Besos,
Camila.
¡Mi aventura ha comenzado!
Salí de República Dominicana el miércoles de madrugada y tomé un vuelo a Miami. Mi escala de seis horas allí no fue mala porque conseguí salir del aeropuerto y encontrarme con Déborah, mi amiga querida, a quien no había visto desde hace más de un año. Pasé un rato chulísimo con ella y con un amigo suyo. Después de despedirme, regresé sola al aeropuerto.
Ya camino a Los Ángeles tuve la suerte de conocer a un chico de Paraguay que al igual que yo iba para Nueva Zelanda. No sólo me alegró conocerlo sino que me encantó no tener que seguir viajando solita. El muchacho resultó súper agradable, tanto que me da vergüenza haber olvidado su nombre. Debe ser que tenía un nombre arabe extraño, puesto que sus padres son de arabes. Desafortunadamente, el paraguayo se enfermó y tuvo que quedarse a pasar la noche en LA, así que ahí estaba sola de nuevo.
El vuelo a Nueva Zelanda fue increíblemente largo y aburrido, parecía como que no terminaría nunca. Cuando finalmente me bajé del avión en Auckland eran las 5 de la mañana del viernes. Un representante de AFS nos esperaba, a mí y a otros estudiantes. Ahí conocí a Pablo y a Tomás, dos chilenos divertidísimos, y a dos paraguayas muy agradables, Andrea y Laura.
Nos llevaron directamente al Campamento de Bienvenida donde nos contaron algo más sobre NZ y donde tuve la oportunidad de conocer nuevos amigos de todas partes del mundo. ¡Éramos más de 100 estudiantes!
Durante la noche a los estudiantes nos tocaba hacer una pequeña presentación cultural de nuestros países. Yo, que soy la única dominicana de todo el grupo, me las ví negras pues primero tuve que buscar algún latino que quisiera bailar conmigo un merengue (nuestra danza folclórica) y luego no hubo forma de poder poner la música, así que tuve que levantarme y ponerme a cantar el himno nacional dominicano. Me aplaudieron mucho, no creo que porque cantara bien, sino porque se solidarizaron conmigo cuando me vieron haciendo ese papelazo ahí arriba. Y yo lo que sentía era pena por ellos que tuvieron que escucharme cantar.
Después de dormir la noche del día más largo de mi vida, cerré mis bultos y me puse a esperar que viniera a buscarme mi familia anfitriona. Mi nerviosismo fue creciendo mientras veía irse con sus nuevas familias a algunos de mis compañeros. Finalmente aparecieron Chris (mi padre AFS) y Karen (mi madre AFS) a recogerme. Fuimos primero a ver el final de un juego de fútbol en el que participaba Tim (mi hermano anfitrión) y cerca del mediodía llegué a mi casa. Es una casa muy agradable en un vecindario encantador al lado de un parque. Me gustó mucho el lugar. Luego Karen y yo nos fuimos de paseo hasta una tienda en la que trabaja Georgia, mi hermana anfitriona que me recibió cálidamente y con un abrazo.
Por la noche en Auckland se jugaba un partido de rugby entre los “All Blacks” de Nueva Zelanda, y los “Wallabis” de Australia. Como no entendía nada del juego, Chris tuvo que darme unas lecciones de rugby. A mí, que vengo de un país donde el deporte más popular es el béisbol -en el que no hay contacto físico entre los jugadores- me pareció un poco violento el rugby. Sin embargo, estoy segura de que antes de que termine mi año aquí me habré convertido en una fanatica del rugby. En fin, que eso es un poco de lo que he estado haciendo aquí. Les prometo que pronto bajaré algunas fotos al blog.
Besos,
Camila.
domingo, 22 de julio de 2007
My first days
Hello friends:
My adventure has started! I left the Dominican Republic early Wenesday morning and took a flight to Miami. I had a six hour scale there but it was not a bad thing since I got to get out of the airport and meet my deerest friend, which I hadn't seen for over a year, Deborah. I had a lovely time with her and a friend. After saying goodbye again I got back into the airport by myself.
Luckily I met a teenager from Paraguay that was also going to New Zealand. This was some good news since it ment that I did not have to travel alone anymore. He was a really nice boy and I am embarrased to say that I can't recall his name, it was a weird meddle west name since his parents are from there. Unfortunately, he got sick in LA and had to spend the night there leaving me all alone again.
The last flight was incredibly long and boring and seemed to be never ending. When I finally got out in Auckland it was 5 am in the morning. An Afs representative was waiting for me and for other sudents at the airport. There I met Pablo and Tomas, two really funny chilian boys and Andrea and Lore, two very nice paraguayans. Together we set off to the arrival camp were we were told a little bit more about NZ and were we got to make new friends from all over the world. We were over 100 students!
At night every country had to do a lttle representation of something of their culture. Me being the only dominican I wanted to ask a latino to dance some merengue (the dominican folkloric dance) with me, but I could not put music on so I had to get up by myself and sing the Dominican national anthem. Everyone clapped harder at me, not because I sang well but because they felt pity about me being the only one having to sing alone, I felt more pity about them having to listen to me singing.
After a long night sleep of the longest day of my life, I closed all my bags and waited to be picked up by my host family. As I said goodbye to some of the students as they left I became more and more exited. Finally Chris (my host father) and Karen (my host mother) arrived to the camp. we lwft to see the end of Tim's football game (my host brother).
At around midday I arrived home. It's a very nice house in a lovely neighborhood next to a park. I like the place very much. Karen and I then took a ride to the shop where Georgie (my host sister works). She warmly greeted me with a hug.
That night took place in Auckland a rugby match between the All Blacks from New Zealand, and the Wallabies from Australia. I could not understand anything of the game so Chis had to give me a rugby lesson. Coming from a country where the biggest sport is baseball, a non contact sport, I found rugby rather violent. Nevertheless I'm shure that by the end of my year here I will be a big rugby fan.
So that's a bit of what I've been doing here, I'll soon upload some pictures.
Besos,
Camia.
My adventure has started! I left the Dominican Republic early Wenesday morning and took a flight to Miami. I had a six hour scale there but it was not a bad thing since I got to get out of the airport and meet my deerest friend, which I hadn't seen for over a year, Deborah. I had a lovely time with her and a friend. After saying goodbye again I got back into the airport by myself.
Luckily I met a teenager from Paraguay that was also going to New Zealand. This was some good news since it ment that I did not have to travel alone anymore. He was a really nice boy and I am embarrased to say that I can't recall his name, it was a weird meddle west name since his parents are from there. Unfortunately, he got sick in LA and had to spend the night there leaving me all alone again.
The last flight was incredibly long and boring and seemed to be never ending. When I finally got out in Auckland it was 5 am in the morning. An Afs representative was waiting for me and for other sudents at the airport. There I met Pablo and Tomas, two really funny chilian boys and Andrea and Lore, two very nice paraguayans. Together we set off to the arrival camp were we were told a little bit more about NZ and were we got to make new friends from all over the world. We were over 100 students!
At night every country had to do a lttle representation of something of their culture. Me being the only dominican I wanted to ask a latino to dance some merengue (the dominican folkloric dance) with me, but I could not put music on so I had to get up by myself and sing the Dominican national anthem. Everyone clapped harder at me, not because I sang well but because they felt pity about me being the only one having to sing alone, I felt more pity about them having to listen to me singing.
After a long night sleep of the longest day of my life, I closed all my bags and waited to be picked up by my host family. As I said goodbye to some of the students as they left I became more and more exited. Finally Chris (my host father) and Karen (my host mother) arrived to the camp. we lwft to see the end of Tim's football game (my host brother).
At around midday I arrived home. It's a very nice house in a lovely neighborhood next to a park. I like the place very much. Karen and I then took a ride to the shop where Georgie (my host sister works). She warmly greeted me with a hug.
That night took place in Auckland a rugby match between the All Blacks from New Zealand, and the Wallabies from Australia. I could not understand anything of the game so Chis had to give me a rugby lesson. Coming from a country where the biggest sport is baseball, a non contact sport, I found rugby rather violent. Nevertheless I'm shure that by the end of my year here I will be a big rugby fan.
So that's a bit of what I've been doing here, I'll soon upload some pictures.
Besos,
Camia.
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