Weekly Update

Hey Friends,

So the past week has been incredibly busy.  Last Tuesday Dr. Dye gave a seminar on how to arrange and such.  It was very interesting and informative.  The students here seemed to get a lot out of it.  We also had extra practices last week in preparation for the concert on Sunday.  Both the school band and community band practiced on Tuesday and Thursday night.  Since I played in both bands I had to be here for the entirety of each 3 hour rehearsal.   I have also been teaching a lot of individual lessons as well as helping with the classes.  The year 9's just finished their individual assessments and I had the  privilege of grading them.  

Saturday the four of us booked all of our hostels for our trip to the south island at the end of our trip.  We're planning on spending several days in Wellington, the country's capital, Queenstown, Dunedin, Christchurch, Fox Glacier, Auckland, and Waitamo Caves.  More info on what we are doing there to come.  We also watched the All Blacks play France on Saturday, again.  This time the young team emerged victorious over the "roosters."  

The concert on Sunday went fairly well.  The school band sounded fine and performed well, and the community band... well it could have been worse.  I had a solo in Danny Boy that went alright.  I find it humorous that I had to travel to New Zealand to perform a solo with Dr. Dye conducting.  

Monday was a half yet full day.  John Snowling invited the local nursing home to come and listen to some year 11 solo performances.  The year 11's have their public assessments Wednesday evening and they got to use that opportunity as practice in front of a live audience.  The elderly came during morning tea so we had the responsibility of serving them tea and muffins.  It was nice talking to all of them and chatting about where we come from and such.  At the end of the year 11's performances John asked the four of us to perform the victory march for everyone.  

Today has been a fairly lackluster day and will end up being an early evening for myself.  I'm probably going to walk home soon.  Hopefully there will be more pictures next week.  

Tp

Obligatory Update

Hey Friends,

Well I'm sorry to say that there are no exciting stories from the past weekend to tell.  Nor are there any photos.  Saturday we (the Americans) went to see a movie.  That was fun, then later we watched a rugby game.  The New Zealand All Blacks, apparently the best rugby team in the world,  lost to France.  That was a bummer; however, apparently New Zealand loses to France once every 15 years, and this was about that time.  

Sunday we went to the Feilding festival of Bands.  I performed in both the school band and the community band.  Both groups ended up receiving a silver award at the competition.  Dr. Dye was the adjudicator for the event so that might of had something to do with it.  

Monday, the school officially welcomed us, and Dr. Dye by doing the Haka.  The Haka is an ancient Maori ritual, usually done before battle to intimidate the enemy.  It was incredibly impressive. (See picture of All Blacks doing Haka and embedded video) Monday night Dr. Dye gave a conducting seminar that we all participated in.  It was fun conducting the group and receiving pointers from him.  He also gave a seminar today on arranging music which was equally informative and interesting.  

That's about all from NZ.  I've been busy giving lessons to the kids who are preparing for their music evaluations.  It is raining today; however, that hasn't been the case a lot.  The South Island has been getting snow lately, but we won't see any of that until the end of our trip.

Tp

1st weekend out

Hey Friends,

So we had an awesome 1st weekend adventure in New Zealand.  Saturday, we hiked to the top of Te Mata peak.  The mountain is called the sleeping giant as it looks like a giant lying on its' back from the distance.  It was awesome hiking up and through the rocks and across the valleys.  We saw lots of animals including a very special sounding bird that makes an incredible call.  I'll give somebody a hug or some other friendly gesture if they can figure out what type of bird it is. 

The view from the top of the peak was awesome.  We could see not only the surrounding towns of Hastings and Napier, but also the pacific ocean and farmlands as well.  It should be noted that there were sheep all over the mountain, yet they were impossible to catch as can be seen in one of the photos.

Sunday we drove through the mountains to Lake Taupo which is the largest natural lake in Australasia...about the size of Singapore.  The lake was beautiful yet cold.  The best part about this day trip was actually the drive there.  To get there you have to drive up and down several mountain ranges which was pretty exciting.  

So that was our first weekend adventure.  Maybe I should get back to work now. 

Cheers,

Tp

Blog Teaser

Greetings!

The picture above is of Cape Kidnappers in Napier. We've seen this from afar; however, tomorrow, during low tide, we will hike out to the end of it. More info and stories to come soon.

Cheers,

Tp