3 Down...9 to go!

Heyhey,


Its a little scary to think that its been 3 months since i arrived here; and the thing that gets said the most about me is that my accent in now critical....in other words i have nearly no kiwi accent left...which is a little sad- but hey, i think ill get over it! And i also cant believe how much stuff i.e. crap ive gathered over 3 months...CRAZY TALK!


Since my last blog post, there are a few things are worth mentioning- first; i have just moved host families...this is too strange. I didnt realize how attached to a new family when they are just simply the best. I was living in the south end of Guelph, now im living in the complete opposite end of the city, so far out im almost in the country! This is a nice change i have to say, although its a little different.

Also which i think is pretty cool is the fact that i played rugby....in the snow! WOW! This was truely an experience i will always be proud of. I remember that we were scheduled to play at the tournament on the Wednesday...and it snowed all day Monday. So when we got to the field at 8.30am Wednesday morning, i, to be completley honest, was scared at the sight of playing in snow. I guess we were lucky as by the end of the day majority of the snow was gone, which allowed for a better game of Rugby, but nevertheless it was fun to play in the freezing snow!


So by this date i have played a total of 5 games with a 1-1-2 record...if you're wondering how to decipher the intense intergration of numbers...we've won 1, tied 1, lost 2...now if you're wondering why we have lost 2...my honest answer is i have no idea...

Like most parts of the world, Canada has just had Easter! So i went to a place called Sauble Beach to spend the long weekend with my host mum's sister and brother in law, also along with Shoni the dog, Emily my host sister and Sam, whos at western university in London, Ontario- not London, England! So on Easter morning we all went to church and for lunch, we had LAMB! how i miss that delacacy.....it made me feel somewhat homesick to be eating lamb when i wasnt with the Fambam...

Whats happening for me in the future...sweet 16! WHOOP! More rugby games, adapting to a new family and surroundings, and the CCT! Oh, and im also looking forward to all the presents that you all are going to send me...

The Intense Snow covered field

Eating lamb with whom i now call 'Jesus' for supplying Lamb...on easter!

Michael Jordan Got Nothin' On Me.......

Heyhey,

So its been a few weeks since my last post and lots has been done. First thing that scared me was when my host brother said to me, "youre losing your accent"! I almost cried....nevertheless i held my head up high and said "NO!", and which to my delight he said, "Im joking!" - NOT cool when you pride yourself on being known as the "guy from New Zealand". So its supposidly spring now, and to be quite plain with it, it still FREEZING!! I find that ive been asking myself if it will ever be a positive temperature....we shall soon find out!

In the last little while ive been lucky enough to venture into Toronto again for the second time in two weeks! But this time i went and saw.....an NBA game!! Toronto Raptors were hosting the Chicago Bulls at the Air Canada Centre. This was an event i shall never forget....the atmosphere was UNREAL! I wasn't in in the V.I.P section but was close enough to hear the players shoes squeaking on the floor and it was truely amazing to see how these players make it look so easy to dunk the ball with almost no effort involved!

What also was really interesting, was how they could hold an NHL hocky game where the Toronto Maple Leafs played the night before which is played on ice, and then put a floor down and hold an NBA game!

The nuts crowd at the raptors game

The start of the game

On the movies and the american TV shows we hear of things like "Prom" and the "School Dance". Well i was fortunate enough to go to the "Semi-Formal" and needless to say, i had alot of fun and it really was exactly like the movies...lots of people, the raging mosh pits, laser lights, strobes, the whole nine yards! and not to mention the Dinner (kai) that was served! So i sat at a table of 10, which was neat. We even had waiters! And they were talking and asking how the food is, if we needed any more drinks and that sort of thing- it was really a good night.

Myself and a few buddies.

A nice picture at dinner...

My host Dad took me out the annual Maple Syrup Festivle last week; and i actually learnt that to make 1 litre of actual maple syrup, you have to boil 40 litres of sap! which explaines why 4 litres is almost 40 Canadian dollars (almost 90NZ Dollars!)

I have alot coming up soon! Sweet 16 in a month- so dont forget to send something! And the CCT (Cross Canada Tour) is in June! Cant wait!!

2 Months without REAL heat.....?"YEAH RIGHT"

So after 2 months in a country where 7 degress is warm, i find that 2 months have passed and i finally get a break from school- not that i dont enjoy school.....

Anyway, in the last month i have:

-Gone to 3 Rugby trainings in 1 week (all in the morning!!)

-Got locked out of the house for an hour and a half

-FINALLY been to Toronto!

-Been asked to work in Hollister, based around the way i was dressed (yea, only in Canada...)

-Been to another OHL game (Ontario Hockey League) where i was able to sit in V.I.P......yes, they DO know a VIP when they see one!

-Been told that im going to stay at my counsellor's house as my host fambam are going to Panama for a week......and i didnt get asked on HOW i felt about this situation! I mean, who wouldnt want to go to PANAMA for a week!

So as my host family were soking up the sun in Panama, i was left behind in Guelph. So my March break, also called in the USA called "Spring Break", has been pretty uneventful, until today! My counsellor felt bad that our exchange student get-together fell through as not enough people were coming to make it worth while, so he and his family and i took off to Toronto for the day; and WOW! This place was amazing! The atmosphere was somewhat ALOT different to that of the infamous Queen Street in Auckland.....needless to say i had a blast.

Toronto is home to the tallest man made structure in the world (to date)- the CN Tower, which is very similair to the Sky Tower in Auckland; shape, the rotating restaurant, even the glass floor which i can proudly say i stood on!! So after about 30mins in altitude with my counsellors daughter, we headed off the the Hard-Rock Cafe! for a good-old, genuine feed....so whilst we were eating there was the "Annual Toronto Square Pillow-Fight". So there was entertainment involved! It was so funny to see about 200 hundred people take after one another with pillows and it was even more funny when the pillows popped and feathers went everywhere!

Then it was off to the Eaton Centre which is a 5-floor shopping mall which is about 100m in length....so it was pretty big! To cap off a good day, the managers of the Hollister shop, which is a brand similar to American Eagle, came up to me and asked where i was from; then asked if i had a working visa! Only in Canada...."eh"!

Outside the CN Tower

The Glass Floor Level

The Funniest Advertising i've ever seen! SCREW YOU RECESSION!

Hard Rock Cafe

The Eaton Centre

A Grey Saturday...

Today, March 7th 2009 will be remembered as a day where the sky was grey and i had a sudden epiphany- that i have forgotten what home looks like! Is this a good thing? I dont know; either way im having the time of my life and i cant see myself being anywhere else, other than living it up in the land of Maple syrup, aka'd as Canada!

Since announcement day things were going smoothly until an outbound to Ecuador, drove the opposite way from home.....went around in cricles for 20 minutes trying to find a coffee shop......went the opposite way to traffic on a 1 way street...... and missed the turn off to get to Guelph from the main highway (similair to a state highway in NZ). So after tiki-touring around for about 3 hours i finally walked through the door to a stressed host mum who ended up laughing at the reason as to why i was so late getting home!

That fateful day were my life flashed infront of my eyes, was about 2 weeks after announcement day. A few of the exchange students (Inbound & Outbound) went to Brampton which is a suburb of Toronto (closer to it than what Guelph is anyway) to support the Youth Exchange Programme which was the fundrasing event that was happening at the Womens hockey game which was being played.....a mouthful i know.....but it was a chance to see all the exchange kids and we all had a ball! We even got to walk on the ice and hold up our flags and yell and scream!

The after match function was great also. We got time to talk to the players and talk about hockey and the programme which was funny at the same time as humbling as the players were all VERY laidback people! So we're talking away and theyre making jokes all the time so that was also quite entertaining!

School rugby has also started within my last post. I guess the major difference between NZ Rugby and Canadian Rugby is the difference in average skill level. I actually got told to stop passing the ball so fast which was equally fustrating as funny! So we're playing in a tournament in a city called Hamilton in about 3 weeks at the local University and we're actually playing on a turf field similair to the ones which the NFL is played on.

Carol from Brazil and Blair the Outbound to NZ!!!
Amateur modelling poses at the hockey game! (Carol Barzil, Myself, Avery to Ecudor and Poori from Thailand) We should just stay as exchange students- not sunglass models!

1 Month Anniversary! + Announcement Day

heyhey,

Today, it is the 23rd February 2009; which means that i have been away from NZ for 1month and 2 days. It is really hard to believe that it has been only 1 month; time really does fly. Enough with the cheesy cliche's; in a month i have,

-Been to Los Angeles and visited Universal Studios, Disney Land and Venice Beach
-Had a spa in -20degree weather

-Been to 2 ice hockey game

-Had my laptop broken

-Slept for 14 hours straight (oops!)

-Had my laptop fixed

-Shoveled the driveway after being in Canada 2 days

-Slept in a Quinzhee (snowhut) in -25degree weather

-Gotten lost at school

-Been to the "mall" at lunchtime

-Caught the yellow bus to school

-Played bingo at an elderly persons residense

For 18 outbounds, their lives have been influienced by the magic workings of Rotary. These 18 extraordinary people found out what country they would be spending their year abroad in. Most importantly, it was the 1 lucky person who will experience the laidback lifestyle we have in NZ. It was amazing to see how happy these people were to find out where they will be going. The smiles were from ear to ear. And from smiles, then became questions. From questions became excitement. From Excitement, became fears. For me it was the most rewarding thing was to be able to say "Hi, im Marcus from New Zealand" to the parents of the person who will be venturing down-under. And by that i dont mean Australia!!

Karen from Japan, Katharina from Austria and Myself at announcement day

(from left) Carol from Brazil, Poori from Thailand, Avery bound for Ecuador and Myself at announcement day.

Well i guess i should write something about where in Canada exaclty i am! I stay in a little town, about 117'000 people, called Guelph (gwelf) and im the only exchange student in Guelph.....sad, but true. I go to school which is alot smaller and different than the average school in NZ. School here is split into Academic halls, Athletic halls, and Trade skills. Intertwined in this is the school weights room, cafeteria, 2 full sized basketball courts, a swimming pool and a full gourmet buffet! NZ so needs to upgrade!! In a nutshell, the school is a whole lot of box-like buildings put together to form a school. The school i go to is called Centennial Collegiate & Vocational Institute (yes, a mouthful)

So far, i am enjoying my time here so much and i cant see myself at home in NZ anymore (to be honest, i cant remember what my house looks like!)

The house at which im staying at for the first 3 months

The main street of Guelph with more pubs than people!

The cathedral "church of our lady" located in Downtown Guelph

The view from uptown Guelph with the Church of our lady in the background.

My counsellors business which is located at the University of Guelph

Just some modest advertising at the University

......And After 19 Days Away.....

Kia Ora,

19 days after my epic farewell from the land of the lond white cloud, i have had (so far) the experience of a lifetime.

Firstly, Los Angeles Stopover- After 12 hours on a plane, we arrived in America, the land of fun, ready to explore the land of dreams, which is exactly what we experienced when we arrived on the infamous Venice "muscle" Beach. Just cruising along the beach, you notice a number of things. The thing i noticed instantly was the people who were selling homemade items on the footpath/sidewalk. Anything, wether it be big, small, wide, fat or short was on sale. And for reletavley cheap aswell (not that i bought anything......) The next thing i noticed was the aray of bongs and pipes that were for sale. Just walking along i counted 13 pipe stores!! The smell of .... became more evident as we walked further down the beach, so we decided to head back into some more, "fresher" air.

The next day we were off to the world renound DISNEY LAND!! This place had its ups and downs. Great atmophere with all the Disney Characters walking around and all the little kids fighting over which ride they want to go on next but the food really made me miss home and my mothers' cooking. Also, CALIFORNIA LAND!! was a spectacle in itself. The giant letters outside the gates was just amazing.

The next day was UNIVERSAL STUDIOS and after missing the wake up call, we were on our way at 9am. The USA is truely the land of fun. The rides make Rainbows end look like a whole lot of nothing. I guess with the rides being actually "themed" helpes the atmosphere and enjoyment of things. Rides similair to the log flume, dont compare to rides like the Jurassic Park or the mummy. Just so much more adreneline.

After leaving Universal early, we headed on our sightseeing sidetrack of the area of LA. Beverley Hills, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd was just amazing. I guess our Queen street was similair but after venturing casually into louis vuitton and seeing a manbag (aka as fagbag) priced at US$800 i quickly realized that this place was different. US$800 was at the time double the NZD, so it was equevelant to NZ$1600....Justify spending that on a bag.

The 24th Jan was d-day for all exchange student. The bulk of the group were headed for Frankfurt, Germany and then onto their host country. For me, It was onto the land of the Maple Leaf and COLD! On arrival i was greeted with warm smiles from my first host family.

So after almost 3 weeks gone, i have been to America, the land of the weird and wonderful and have been greeted with a smile and a hug. What i have also done is gone winter camping with 17 Inbounds from all over the world and 18 Outbounds which are in the process of finding out which country they will be living abroad for 12 months on this experience of a lifetime.

Camp Wanakita, also known as winter camp was again held in Haliburton, ON which is approx 2 hours north of Toronto city. We were treated with each others company, smiles, fears and hopes of going on an exchange. 4 days of snow was a treat for a little white boy who lives in New Zealand. Cross country skiing was a huge step. Falling over was another. And getting back up was harder than trying to stay up haha

Another experience which i will never forget is sleeping in a "quinzhee" which is a hollwed out mound of snow which can room 4MAX! If it wasn't for the moment of being inside a quinzhee, i surely wouldve froze which is real as the temperature outside was a whopping -25degrees celcuis.....which was very, very cold.

The next evet for us is the announcment day which will be on the 22nd of February....until then ill spot ya later!

The exchange students outside LAX

The graffiiti along a FLAT wall- quite trippy

The Venice Beach Sunset (notice the hippie van, bottom left)

(From left to right)- Shona-France, Caitlin-Denmark, Chole-Germany, Myself-CANADA, Cameron-Switzerland

Cars- love that movie hahah

Louis Vuitton on Rodeo Drive......very expensive

Me outside Universal Studios

Crash and burning at Camp wanakita!

Inbound/Outbound Zoo Day

Reflecting on this day, the 27th September, i can honestly say i went to the infamous Auckland Zoo for the first time in many years; only this time it was with a bunch of people i thought id never meet in my entire life; Rotary inbound students from Germany, Belguim, Sweden, France, and Finland. Too bad Denmark & Switzerland were not present with us on this fine day but beggers cant be choosers.

This day was a chance for the Inbounders to explore one of Auckland's most exciting attractions, although Auckland isnt all that exciting to begin with. They all had the opportunity to expereience New Zealands wildlife, on show, as well as some more foriegn and exotic animals for example the Sumatran Tigers and the African Lions.

I guess the weather wasn't too kind for us, but i can say from a personal point of view that i enjoyed everybody's company. We all had some laughs; like some of us getting our faces painted (people, how old are we again???), and some dissapointments, like the world renound Kiwi wasn't witnessed in its own little enclosure thing. Sorry goes out to Sweden, France and Finland- its not my fault the Kiwi is shy.

Overall, a sucessful day all around. We were treated with Native and Exotic wildlife, Bad weather (that isn't soo good but owell), and eachothers company. Believe it or not, we hadn't seen eachother in about a month- gosh dosen't time fly?!?!

I have attached some photos also. Hope these bring back some laughs which were plentiful and some memories. Enjoy team.
Lucy; you aren't in year 2 any more!

One of many species that Caitlin wants as a pet! (sorry there were no pictures of Meerkats)

Everybody has height asperations- Dam those Giraffe things!