My memory

Our host family.

Natalie, Ivy Wong, Ivy Lee and Sherrry

Lynn helped us to take this photo and she put it in her memory book.

Joao, Sherry, Pam, Natalie, Ivy Wong and Ivy Lee

I have been looking forward to the trip to NZ for a long time. Actually, the trip was satisfying as I had a chance to experience different kinds of activities every day. After the trip, I gain more confidence to speak in English. Moreover, I met plenty of friendly people in NZ. They always hung on a smile on their faces. They are considerate and caring, unlike most people in Hong Kong. BaBa was our driver during the two weeks. I think he is a funny guy as he brought us lots of happiness. Sarah is the most patient teacher I have ever met. I enjoy singing songs in class. The songs reflected that we are creative. Also, the songs can be a good memory for me. I am sure that no one in my class will forget "Say Thanks to Sarah". Once again, thank you for my parents and 2 Johns. http://abcmoviesclips.blogspot.com/

Kiwi Birdlife park and a cultural show

We were not allowed to take some photos of Kiwis so these two Kiwi are fake.

I am not sure what the wood is called. I just know it is some decoration for Maori.

Four crazy girls are sitting on the trunk.

Look! There is the cultural show.

Look at his eyes. It is terrible but I appreciate the show very much.

Horseriding

Horseriding is exciting but I think it is quite dangerous. It was difficult to control the horse and my horse was greedy. It always stopped to eat the grass. It even kissed Natalie's horse. I needed to take my great effort to push it up. I just wanted I could get back as soon as possible. After that, our legs were painful and tired.

Arrowtown

Do you know what is the doing? Actually, it is a toilet.

Ivy Lee and I were at the classroom.

This piano has a long history.

Can you see there is a litte river behind me? We tried goldpanning in the Arrow river. I strongly believe that it is impossible to find any gold here.

Earnslaw and Walter Peak farm

I love Queenstown. It is as beautiful as a picture.

This sheep was so lovely.

This sheep is pregnant but the man is going to shear its wool.

This house is beautiful. Everyone asks that " Is it your homestay?" In reality, it is part of the farm, which serves guests some homemade cakes and drinks.

It is the Earnslaw. It is as old as Titanic.

We took a steam ship crise on the Earnslaw over to Walter Peak Farm. I saw many sheep here. They are lovely bt stpid. I fed them and took man photos with them. After that, I tried some homemade cakes and they were delicious. We bought a few lanolin in the gift shop. When we were back on the Earnslaw, we had an enjoyable trip as we sang some songs together. We even sang a famous Chinese song in front of westerens.

Mini golf tournment

This was the last part of the tournment. You can get a candy from the factory.

Because of the bad weather, horse-riding had been cancelled. Instead, we played mini-golf this afternoon. I am not good at golf so I thouht it was quite difficult at first. Gradually, I could control it well. I found it was interesting and this design was lovely. It just liked a mini size of Queenstown. When we have finished, we got a free drink and a candy.

Puzzling World

This design is quite strange.

The maze. It is quite tricky.

We were asked to find four corners in the maze and it was one of it.

In the illusion room.

Be careful! It was easy to fall down.

If you look around it, you will discover that he is staring at you.

In the morning, we took nearly two hours to go to the Puzzling World. But, we stopped for a while on the way to it as there was a fresh market along the road. Most of us bought some food here. I bought some honey to my relatives. I tried some honey and it tasted good. Then we arrived at the Puzzling World. We spent nearly 1 hour to find four corners in order to get out of the maze. The illusion room made me feel dizzy but it was funny.

Parasailing

Today, we went to parasailing. I was quite scared of it. We divided into two groups and I was in the first group. I wsn't willing to try first but Natalie encouraged me that even a little child wants to play. Therefore , I felt more confident and willing to play it. I played it with Vanessa and we sang in the sky. It was enjoyable so I didn't want to get back. To be honest, it is very safe. It just liked playing swing in the sky. The parasailing was fantastic. It was a wonderful experience for me. I have never thought that I can "fly" in the sky. Natalie's voice became lower after the parasailing. Maybe the weather is too cold in the sky.

Jetboating

We went Jetboating on the famous Shotover Jet. Ivy Lee said she was frightened before playing it. Luckily, she didn't feel frightened when she was playing. Actually, we just found it was exciting. Also, it was extremely cold and windy. We got wet but we were very happy. It was difficult to speak and smile after that because our faces had no feeling.

Skyline Gondola Ride and 5 exciting Luge Rides

Ready? Go. It was so exciting and comfortable.

Luckily, I didn't get hurt because I was careful.

It is the chairlift. It looks like dangerous. In reality, it is safe.

Amazing view!!!!!!!!!

A memorable song for Sarah and us

Say thanks to Sarah
We've spent two weeks studying together
Our teacher is called Sarah
We say thanks to Sarah cause you teach us a lot
Sarah thank you for you be patient, even though we are not intelligent
Sometimes we do not pay attention, never got punishment.
Sarah thank you for taling care, do not let ever go away
Time's gotta rush very fast, topic seems close to the last
If you travel to Hong Kong one day, remember to contact us.

We sang this song to Sarah in order to express our feeling at the last lesson. It is a touching song. As the song mentioned, Sarah is a patient teacher. She takes care of us very well so we all miss her.

Songs

Every day Sarah taught different kinds of topics. It was quite useful as she helped me to remind some vocabulary. I remembered that once Sarah asked us to create some songs for our class. I realised that it was the most impressive lesson because we used our creativity and imagination to create songs for our classmates. We were divided into 3 groups and each of group created the song for other group. Finally, there were 3 songs for our class.

Suki, Sherry, Natalie
Who guys you wanna ask in our class, Suki Natalie.
Sherry is an old lady, short-term memory.
Suki said she is the most beautiful,
but that point we don't think so.
Natalie looks like a man, her voice very strange.
After playing paraflight, Natalie went to men's toilet.
Gentlemen, be careful, very funny!

Ivy Lee, Vanessa, Jessica
Everytime she smiles, seemed to be a ghost.
Ugly-Ivy lee, not a real woman.
Little Vanessa, tallking too much thins.
Shut the ears, hear her voice, and then we don't know.
Sleeply Jessica, always keeps quiet.
Like the cats, so lovely, speaking as a dog.

Ivy Wong, Jack, Lau
Ivy Wong looks Doreamon, loves eating fruit, smiles all day.
She wears glasses all the time, all the time.
Jack is tall and intelligent, sometimes a jerk, good at singing.
Also good at guitar, funny man.
Lau is funny and lovely, cute and quiet, wears glasses.
He wears a scarf around, all day long.

I really think they are wonderful song as the lyrics are very good. It can describle all of us thoroughly. They brought our class together and I noticed that we were very active in the lesson. I will not forget the songs because they are my priceless memory.

Sarah and I

This is our classroom

Southern Lakes English College (SLEC)

Apart from sightseeing and adventure activities, we had to study at Southern Lakes English College. normally, we had lessons in the morning and had activities in the afternoon. On the first day at school, the prinicipal, Blaise, introuduced the school for us. The school was quite small as there were only 6 classrooms, which was really different from the school in Hong Kong.

We were asked to have a test in order to seperate us into different classes. To be honest, the test was quite easy. If you did it carefully, you will not have any mistakes. 16 students were seperated into two classes. Natalie, Suki, Ivy Lee, Jack, Jessica, Vanessa, Lau and I were in the same class. There were only 9 Hong Kong students in this class. It may be a pity that we could not have a chance to study in an International Class but we could talk with them during lunch time.

Our teacher was Sarah and we all liked her very much. She is friendly teacher because she always hung on a smile on her face. She is considerate and takes care of us very well. We love to share our feeling with her. I think she is the most patient teacher that I ever met. The lesson was completely different from Hong Kong as Sarah gave us lots of activities everyday. She asked us to do survey and interview with the classmates. Sometimes, we even sang a song or created a song together. She reminded us lots of vocabularly which we forgot. More importantly, she told us some history about New Zealand. The only thing she asked us was to speak in English every time.

My house

We lived in this lovely house for 2 weeks. We needed to walk up a steep ride when we came back. We were very tired but it was a good exercise for us.

Four girls shared a bedroom. It was quite crowded but warm.

It is a big kitchen.

It is the dinning room.We also did our journal here.

It is very warm.

Our host family

After we had arrived at the Queenstown Airport, we took a minibus to our host family's houses straightly. Natalie, Ivy Lee and Sherry and I lived in the same host family. The view around Queenstown was wonderful and I was surprised to see some sheep along the road. After a while, we met our host family. My host mum is called Lynn and She is about 50. She is very friendly as she gave a big hug for each of us when we came to her house. Her cooking is very good so we really enjoyed the meal every night. She is very hardworking as she goes out for cleaning work in the supermarket somtimes. She also took care us of very well. When we came back home, we always shared our feeling with her.

There is no father in our host family. But, Lynn has a son lived here and two grandchildren stayed here for holiday. Her son is called Philip. He is 24 years old and he looks like Prince William. (Sherry loves him very much) We thought he was a strange guy first. Once, we saw Philip sang with her sister in front of us. He was quite crazy so we changed our mind of Philip. Then, I would like to talk about her two grandchildren. Kate is 9 and Jamie is 7. Both of them are lovely and talknative. We like them very much. Natalie always played hide-and -seek with them. We laughed so much when two little children were performing "Chicken Dance". it was really funny. Kate has a good memory as she can still remember how to speak some Cantonese.

Apart from Lynn's family, there were 4 roomates from other countries. Yukie comes from Japan and she also arrived at the same day with us. She is nice and we always chat with each other. She taught me some Japanese. At the same time, we tried to help with her homework. Pam comes from Thaiand. She is a beautiful lady and her cooking is quite good. Yuko also comes from Japan but she has stayed in New Zealand for 4 years so she is able to speak English well. She works in Starbucks and her cooking is good too. John comes from Brazil. He had curly hair. All the roomates are very kind so we can get along very well.

Arrival in Queenstown

I was extremely tired so I had a good sleep on the plane to Queenstown. The flight to Queenstown only took about two hours. It was shorter than the first flight. I saw some beautiful scenary through the window on the plane. When I got off the plane, I thought I went to another world as it has a big difference with Hong Kong. Although it was quite cold, there was no polloution so I could breathe a fresh air here. Queenstown is different from Hong Kong because there is no tall buildings around the town. All I could see were lovely houses, mountains and fatastic view. More importantly, people in New Zealand are unliked Hongkongers. Most Hongkongers are impolite and inconsiderate.They are completely different from Hongkongers because they are friendly and always hang on a smile on their faces. They have a good temper so they will not get angry easily. When I said hello to them, they would give me responses.

At the Auckland airport

I took this photo on the plane. Wonderful!!!
I have no chance to enjoy it when I am back to Hong Kong.

The day we left Hong Kong

I woke up quite early in the morning because I needed time to check my luaggage carefully. As it was my first time to travel without my parents, they always kept telling me to check it carefully (especially be careful for the passport). Before I had got on the bus, I had a delicious meal in a Chinese restaurant. Then, I met Natalie at the bus stop. It took about 45mins to the airport so we arrived at the airport too early.

Since we were asked to meet at 3:00, we still had enough time to hang around the airport. Natalie and I spent some time to drink a coffee and surf the internet in Pacific Coffee. Many people may think it is very boring to wait at the airport. Actually, it was true. But I could chat with Natalie.

At about 3:00, we started to check in and get our boarding pass. The flight we took was provided by Air New Zealand. The plane took off at about 7:00. At that moment, I felt uncomfortable, but it was not serious. It took about ten hours to fly to Auckland and we needed to take another plane to Queenstown at Auckland. It was difficult for me to sleep on the plane.

Pavlova

Being a Hongkongers, I don't know anything about Pavlova. I even had no idea that it is a dessert. Once, I asked Sarah what her favourite dessert was and she told me that she liked Pavlova the most. She explained to me that it is a traditional dessert in New Zealand. She even asked us to guess how to cook it. Sarah said it tastes very sweet but I still wanted to try. Unfortunately, I counldn't notice it in Queenstown. I just saw that in Auckland airport. The method below was given by Sarah.



Pavlova

Ingredients

4 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tsp vinegar
1 cup castor sugar



Method

Beat the egg whites until they are very stiff. Fold in the vinegar and the vanilla. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture until smooth. Grease the oven tray. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Place the pavlova in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 100 degrees for 90 minutes. If the pavlova is cooked correctly, it will be crunchie on the outside and soft like marshmallow on the inside. Serve with cream and slices of fresh strawberries and kiwifruit.

My feeling of Maori language

I learnt some useful expression in Maori during the lessons. I found that it was extremely difficult and I nearly forgot what I have learnt. Sarah also gave us some exercise about it. I tried to translate it to English, but it was quite hard for me. I almost wanted to give up. However, I can still remember "kia ora" (hello) and "kai pai"(good) as I always used them when I visited in Maori village. It was very interesting to learn a special language. Although it may not useful when I come back Hong Kong, I can teach my friends.

Maori language

English vs Maori

hello ----------> Kia ora

good-----------> Ka pai

green stone--------> Pounamu

sweet potato---------> Kumara

family----------> Whanau

food---------------> Kai

house/hut------------> Whare

big hill-----------------> Pykenui

unpleasant water------> Waikino

clound in the sky-------> Aorangi

heart-eater-------------> Kaimanawa

the second lake---------> Rotorua

level land of red soil-----> Papakura

foridden island----------> Motutapu

weeping waters---------> Taniwai

little lake----------------> Rotoiti

the hill------------------> Te Puke

hot water---------------> Wainui

red hill------------------> pukekure

the spring---------------> Te Puna

good land----------------> Whenuapai

northern wind-----------> Hauraki

The photos from the Maori village

Ivy with a Maori house.

It was very cold here.

She was dancing with the Pois.

I tried it and I thought it was very difficult to control.

I even hit myself and the others beside me.

They were dancing?

Look at Blaise and John. They were really funny.