Merry Christmas

On our last day of after school tutoring the students get together for a picture on my front porch.

Beach Camping

Every Wednesday for the last 6 weeks I have been doing an outdoors class with CHAT. These classes are used as incentives for kids who participate in our reading program. Last weekend our class culminated with a trip to False Cape state park where we used the skills we had learned in our class.We packed back packs and went on

our way planning to spend two nights camping out on the beach. Arriving after dark we ran into some trouble getting into the state park and ended up just sleeping out in sand dunes. The weather was relatively nice so even though we had practiced setting up tents in the class we didn't even use them.

I was impressed with all the kids for not complaining even though we asked them to sleep on sand without tents. The night got pretty cold and wet with the dew but the sunrise over the ocean was well worth it the following morning.

In the morning we had the kids cook

pancakes on camping stoves which was something else we had practiced

in our class. Although the first few tries were rough I was surprised that

by the end these mostly middle

schoolers could make a pretty good looking pancake.

After breakfast we got all our gear loaded up and went for a hike.After breakfast we got all our gear loaded up and went for a hike down the beach. Thankfully we had beautiful weather. I even got to take a little swim.

We walked about 6 miles that day, which was a huge accomplishment for some of the kids. I think it was the farthest they had ever walked in one day. This time we made it to the state park and spent the night again sleeping on sand under the stars.

The kids had a great time. They don't get many chances to go somewhere to just have fun for a whole weekend. And with 4 chaperons and 6 kids they all get individual attention which they so desperately crave.

I was thankful for the opportunity to go but the weekend but the weekend really wore me out so i couldn't help cathing a few zzz's on the way home.

Halloween celebration

For Halloween we had a big neighborhood party.

There were carnival type games in our backyard ( to the left) where you could win candy.

I spent most of the night in our haunted house. We transformed our basement into a pretty horrifying haunted house. I have never heard so many kids cry before, but they really l

iked it. They like to claim afterwards they they were never scared even though they were screaming in fear. Here are two kids running out they were so afraid.

Kids inside enjoyed face painting and arts and crafts

with cupcakes and cookies.

Overall a great Halloween celebration

Pumpkin Experimnents at CHA

The day before Halloween and lab day at Church Hill Academy we couldn't resist doing experiments with pumpkins, here is the grand finale.

A few students were very interested in this chemical reaction and asked if it would work inside a car gas tank. I am hoping that experiments like this will get them interested in science, but some of them may be too interested now.

My longest day

I have been living and working in Richmond now for almost 2 months. Overall it has been a wonderful time. There have been times of great fun, exhaustion, realization of great injustices and deeply rewarding experiences.

I would like to chronicle my longest day of work yet.

5:00 a.m. wake up, breakfast, prepare for my two classes: physics and physical science

7:15 Drive the bus pick up students for school.

9:00-12:00 I teach two classes and work one-on-one with a student

12-1 Lunch

1-2:30 grade papers, prepare for next day

2:30 -3:00 Driving the bus again, instead of dropping student off at their homes most come to my house to help us prepare for after school tutoring.

3:30-4:30 I had a student absent on a lab day so I act as his lab partner for an hour to catch him up, school is never ending.

4:45 Drive bus again to pick up kids for after school tutoring. We have some time to play outside, have snack time, and then pair up kids and volunteers one-on-one to read books and answer reading comprehension questions. This time can be pretty stressful because I am in charge. When the kids misbehave I have to be a disciplinarian which is not fun but when they behave well it is a blast to read and interact with them.Today is a special day because when kids do well at tutoring they earn "bones" which

means we will take them out to eat or get ice cream. Today after tutoring we are taking about 25 kids to Denny's.

6:30 drive bus to take kids home

7:15 go with kids who earn bones to Denny's

7:45 you should see the look on the waiters faces when 6-7 "grownups" like me walk in with 25 kids. It was a blast to spend time with the kids at Denny's.

because of our large group we didn't get our food until 8:45 or so and on the way home we ran into traffic and had to drop kids off at their homes so at

10:00 p.m my work day has ended. Reflecting back it was a great day. The hours were long but it was fun. Before I started working here i wasn't sure that i liked being around kids. Although sometimes I just want to be around older people, it has been great to have the opportunity to invest in the lives of so many kids.

It is at this time that I realize I have to wake up in 7 hours to do it all again. :) 17 hours in one day...not bad.

Rotorua to Taupo

To get you caught up geographically, we took a bus from A to B. Then biked from B to C to D. The following account is from my journal describing the trip from B to C.

6/30/2009

Yesterday we biked from Rotorua to Taupo, 80 km. We left Rotorua at 9 a.m. and didn't arrive in Taupo until 5 p.m. (8 hrs) The first part of the journey had the characteristic grey sky (it was cloudy the first week we were there) and green hills covered with sheep, cattle, and elk. Quite spectacular. As we started out our spirits were high but the strong head wind and long up hills quickly took their toll. We took a break to get a snack and rest, but it is miserably cold when you stop pedaling so we pressed on. We got to a place where there is a hot pool that you can swim in off the side of the road but we let the opportunity pass for fear of being cold and wet. Instead we ate meat pies (like chicken pot pie and sold in every cafe in New Zealand) and warmed up in a convenience store. Being warm and well fed raised our spirits enough to continue. The scenery changed from green hills to forest and a light drizzle began...at least there was less wind. Just as we were beginning to lose hope of making it before dark Kris's back tire went flat. We had some problems setting it on straight but eventually started again. I was almost ready to give up...I was so tired. I started to wonder how bad it would be to sleep in the forest without a tent. We came upon a arcade/cafe and went inside. The attendant said we were only 12 km away! After getting hot drinks and eating Peanut butter and sugar sandwiches (Kris was so hungry he ate butter and sugar sandwich) we decide to do the last leg quickly. It around 4 p.m. and the sun usually sets around 5. I can't tell you how happy i was to crest a hill and see LakeTaupo below. After checking into a hostel we relaxed in the hot tub. We decided no more 80 km rides for a while.

In Taupo we went for a little hike.

Notice how blue the water is and how tropical the plants.

Here a hot spring meets the cold river! I wish i could swim but it would be too cold when you get out.

The rapids leading up to Huka falls. I wish I could kayak this.

The gorgeous Huka falls. Now I am glad I wasn't in a kayak.

Stories from New Zealand: A Pictoral Acount

Kris and I went to New Zeland planning to see the country via bicycle. Here we are about to leave Auckland and bike to a bus stop 10 km away. We are a little nervous because the night before we

got lost going from the bike rental store to the house we were staying. To make matters worse after it got dark it started to rain, and I ripped a huge hole in the only pair of pants i brought to New Zealand.

We took the bus to Rotorua. Rotorua is known for geothermal activity. We came upon this sign after wandering around the area for half an hour.

This

is what we saw. Hot pools with beautiful blue water.

Pools with not so beautiful water. Although boiling mud makes neat designs.

The whole place smelled like sulfur and then we figured out why. We came upon some people boiling eggs in one of the hot pools

Every where you see what looks like chimney smoke is really a hot spring.

Needless to say as our first sight seeing adventure in New Zealand we were horrified.