Homestay Week Reflections

Josh Peterson, Westmont ’11 writes,

Last weekend Issac and I joined the O’conner family for three days and two nights. On Friday evening Brian picked us up and took us to his comfortable home located on the edge of the peninsula with a stunning view of the coastline and the Pacific Ocean. Once we arrived we were introduced to the rest of family, but on the first pass of names were unable to retain any of their names due to Brian’s pleasantly thick New Zealand accent. That evening we had hamburgers New Zealand style with thick slices of bacon, eggs, a beef patty, tomato sauce and all the regular fixings. We also learned that first night that New Zealanders, well at least Brian’s family, all get plenty of sleep at night (8 to 11 hours).

The next morning after peering through their telescope to scope out the local surf breaks, we got in the four-wheel drive van to check out the local surf spots, drove off road up grass and muddy slopes, and power slid the car to a stop in the gravel parking lots. In the afternoon we had a pleasant bonfire at the beach and collected Paua (abalone) shells, which we later ground down into beautiful works of art at Brian’s Paua Factory. That evening we had a delicious venison roast and went to bed with full stomachs and the sound of crashing waves on the beach below.

After church on Sunday morning we attended a local ecumenical BBQ and played some touch rugby and volleyball. Later that afternoon Issac, Brian and I went on an ATV in South Bay. The ATV’s battery was dead, so anytime we stalled the engine we had to drive Brian’s off road van near the ATV and jump-start it. It was strenuous exercise, but a lot of fun. Tea that night was another tasty delight and then Issac and I gave our thanks and said our goodbyes to our new, New Zealand family. By the way what is a ‘Zealand?’

Paul Figueroa, Westmont ’11 writes:

Living in the Old Convent has been one of my greatest experiences; the chance to live in community with an amazing group of young believers. The problem with living with only North Americans is that you don’t get to really experience Kiwi culture from the “home” perspective. This is why I was completely ecstatic when it came time to do homestays with local Kiwi families. I got paired with two other students and we got placed in the home of a local farming family. Coming from Southern California, this was a completely new experience for me. The farm was a sheep farm (they had over 3,000) and the couple that owned it were some of the nicest and warmest people I have ever met. Mealtimes at the farm were some of the best times. A highlight of our first tea together was while eating mutton we were told that it was fresh from right outside. I guess with 3,000 sheep what more would be expected? Owning as much land as our host family did was incomprehensible to me. I could not wrap my mind around the fact that two people owned pretty much an entire mountain. The biggest highlight of my time at their farm was actually getting to explore the mountain. The group of us spent the morning hiking up to some of the best views of the snow-capped mountains above us and the sprawling landscape below us. All in all, it was a relaxing weekend where I really got to see the Kiwi culture in action and form a strong relationship with a local family.

Reading Week was Great!

Reading week flew by with Bananagram and Euchre games, reading lists, homework parties and beautiful weather. A number of optional activities occurred throughout the week including a swing dance lesson taught by Paul, Canadian trivia night hosted by Marcel, Courtnay, Robyn and Stacie, and line dancing taught by Courtney. Dinner on Tuesday was prepared by this semester’s PA contingent. After an explanation of the approximate English translation of “Stillers,” “Iggles,” and “Chooeat,” everyone dug into a huge meal of sandwiches with coleslaw and fries on top and pirogies.

Students enjoyed some small group time as well during the week. Several groups went to visit a nearby waterfall where seal pups come to play, while others visited a local pottery studio and still others went to an establishment called The Fudge Factory for breakfast.

This past weekend just happened to be NEW ZEALAND HOMESTAY WEEKEND! Students were picked up by their host families and spent the weekend getting to know some of our local friends and neighbors better and experiencing a bit more of Kiwi culture.

Birthday Parties Are A Big Deal!

Birthdays are a big deal at CCSP and this semester promises to be no exception. Three of the eleven birthdays of the semester have happened already. Sara’s special celebratory day included recognition not only of her birthday but also the fact that she has recently become the caretaker of a lamb named Stewart. Marcel was greeted on his birthday morning by a scrumptious crumpet contest in full swing. He sampled a number of scrumptious crumpets before announcing the winner.

Courtnay woke up on her birthday to find everyone in the convent dressed as a twin. Matching coats from Christchurch made their debut, Marcel and Stephen both wore plaid, and Rich managed to look enough like Mick Duncan that a few people were startled once or twice when asking about class assignments.

Courtnay may not have known when she arrived at the pool deck on the afternoon of the 16th, but a life-long dream of hers, that she might not have known that she had, was about to come true. LIFE SIZED BOGGLE! Sixteen “bogglers” in the empty swimming pool took turns playing the part of Boggle pieces while everyone else stood on the deck frantically writing down great Boggle words like “Poise,” “Ion,” and “Yeah.” It turns out that Lizzy and Rachel are quite good at Boggle, and Tyler can be an excellent Boggle piece.

Student Trip Weekend

Student trip weekend was adventure-filled as seven of the guys tramped through the Seaward Kaikoura Mountains over the Kowhai (pronounced Co-fie) saddle.

They stayed at huts along their way to Mt Fyffe. All of the ladies, as well as Mike and Paul spent the weekend in Christchurch attending rugby games, exploring the botanic gardens and the cathedral and visiting costume shops.

After many loads of laundry on the part of the hiking group, and some time spent recovering from unfortunate nachos on the part of the Christchurch group everyone was ready to welcome our Sustainable Community Development professor, Mick Duncan, a New Zealander who lives in South Auckland.

Photos courtesy of Tyler Amy (Waynesburg '10) and Robyn Haarsma (Trinity Western '11).

Orientation Part II

The rest of orientation week flew by with visits to the Peninsula during which students examined seals (from the suggested viewing distance of 10 meters), looked out for Hutton’s Shearwaters, an endangered bird that is being reintroduced to Kaikoura, and planted some cabbage trees and flax plants for the local DOC (Department of Conservation).

The following afternoon everyone went to visit the Marae that is located in Kaikoura. Students remembered all of the instructions for their entry onto the Marae, Marcel gave a great speech and everyone sang a song in Maori. We were able to hear part of the history of the people of this Marae, an oral tradition that has been passed down for generations.Students also enjoyed an evening filled with an introduction to Maori culture. The origins of the Haka were explained, along with the fact that the Haka that most westerners know from it’s performance at the beginning of each All Blacks rugby game, is actually a North Island Maori Haka, and is not performed by South Island Maori. Instead we learned a Haka that may or may not have had something to do with oranges and apples? The translation was a bit obscure.

Other highlights of the week included;

• Visits to the Resource Recovery Centre where all of the recycling goes. In Kaikoura recycling is free, getting rid of trash or “Rubbish” as it is known here costs money.
• Several students and staff went to see a showing of The Cove in the little Kaikoura theatre, the Mayfair, home to one of the oldest movie projectors in New Zealand. The projector only broke down once, as the audience learned about the annual slaughter of 23,000 dolphins in the small Japanese fishing village of Taiji. The dolphin meat which contains approximately 500 times the amount of mercury that the Japanese government stipulates is acceptable to sell to consumers is used in mandatory school lunches and is mislabeled and sold in supermarkets as whale meat.

The weekend at the Old Convent was quiet as all 24 students left on their “Student Trip Weekend.” A number of them took the bus to Christchurch and spent the weekend exploring the city which another group ventured into the Seaward Kaikoura Mountains to go “Tramping.”

Welcome to Kaikoura!

Welcome to the Creation Care Study Program South Pacific Fall 2009 blog. Hopefully the coming weeks will find this page filling up with accounts of the adventures and discoveries the 24 students and 8 staff members who are living here in Kaikoura, New Zealand.

Kaikoura is a small town on New Zealand’s South Island located a two and a half hour car ride northeast of Christchurch. CCSP makes it’s home at the Old Convent a beautiful building that was built as a convent and school house in 1911. It became a bed and breakfast in 1980, and then in the fall of 2008 welcomed it’s first group of CCSP students.

All of the students arrived on the afternoon of the 2^nd after many long hours of flying from The States and Canada, some via Australia and Papua New Guinea. After several hectic moments of introductions...

“Hi I’m Kelley, Kellsie, Kayti, Rich, Isaac, Beth, Sarah, Paul, Mike, Rachel, Stacie, Josh, Curtis, Stephen, Lizzy, Meaghan, Jo, Tyler, Tim, Kat, Julia, Courtney, Erin, Robyn.”

“Welcome to New Zealand, we’re Courtnay, Sara, Jess, Marcel, Abe, Derek, Ashley and Allie.”

...everyone piled into the van for the drive home to Kaikoura. During the drive back Rich took approximately 971 pictures, it was just that beautiful.

After a supper of fish and chips on the beach, the students and staff gathered for a service of dedication for the coming semester before all 24 jet lagged students went to sleep. The convent was completely quiet with lights out by 9:30 PM.

The last few days have been jam packed with orientation to life at the Old Convent and Kaikoura. Students had the chance to learn a little about doing laundry, recycling, bicycle care, and Stewart, CCSP’s resident lamb. Their first bike ride into town may have turned a few heads. It’s not every day 26 people bike through Kaikoura. But they soon made some new friends as they searched the town for photos of items such as “gum boots,” the “Why Not Café,” and the most reasonably priced accommodation for any guests that might come to visit them. I should note here that any readers who decide to come visit could find themselves sleeping on park benches, the beach, or unoccupied garages.

The second full day of orientation included a forest walk with Barry, a local who explained the ecological history of Kaikoura and what the land would have looked like before the Maori came and then after European settlers came 200 years ago. Some of the highlights of the walk included listening to Bellbirds and Fantails, hearing about trapping Australian Possums (a destructive invasive species in New Zealand), and staring up into the high branches of Matai and Rimu trees. After the hike small groups gathered for their first small group outing. One group ate lunch at the lookout, others went to the Thai food restaurant and still others went to the lavender farm, a 3km bike ride up the road.

On Saturday the whole crew drove up to Kevin and Sandy Top’s farm to learn about sheep shearing. On their farm the Tops raise Romney and Merino sheep. Not only does wool come from a renewable resource, unlike most synthetic petroleum based materials, but students have discovered over the last few days that wool socks are a must have in the often chilly Convent. An interesting fact that Kevin explained to us sheep shearers from New Zealand are in high demand worldwide, a New Zealand sheep shearer can shear 500 sheep in a day while shearers from Britain can only shear 50. As far as I know this is information that you can’t find on Wikipedia!