Challenge Camp

I literally slept 12 hours last night! I felt like I had discovered a brand new level of tiredness...

Last week was definitely a challenging but also great experience. Each exchange student got a camper with a disability to look after and we spent a week doing different activities with our buddies. While the campers where challenged to do things they'd never done before we were challenged to see the world through their eyes and understand their world. It was a real eyeopener to see the challenges these incredible people have to face every day but also to learn to know the unique personalities behind the disabilities.

 Here are the activities we did on the first day. Unfortunately I have no photos on the water activities from the second day which included canoeing and raft building.

Building a slingshot

Because of the poor weather we spent some time playing games indoors

I loved archery but was really bad a it

raincoat gang

Inga's reaching the heavens

 On Thursday we visited an aquarium

It's a penguin

Yes I'm really proud of myself thank you very much

 One of the highlights of the week was the talents show on the last night.

 

After the camp me and my friend stayed the night with the wonderful Paul and Maree and next morning Maree took us shopping and to the skytower:

Challenge Camp pähkinänkuoressa:
Jokainen vaihtari sai parikseen kehitysvammaisen tai kuuron leiriläisen jonka kanssa vietettiin koko viikko tehden erilaisia hauskoja aktiviteetteja. Myös huone jaettiin kahdestaan leiriläisen kanssa. Vaikka viikko oli ehdottomasti haastava ja rankka oli se myös hieno ja opettavainen kokemus.

Last homely home / viimeinen koto

 Tähän väliin sopii hyvin lyhyt suomennos. Olen taas vaihtanut host perhettä ja uusi perhe eroaa vähän edellisistä, sillä tämä perhe on ainoa "rotary" perheeni ja minulla on nyt kaksi ihanaa pikkuveljeä, joiden kanssa on jo opeteltu pelaamaan rugbya. (Siis minä olen opetellut, pojat on jo ammattilaisia siinä) Edellisen perheen kanssa tehtiin viimeisenä viikonloppuna matka Waiheke -saarelle, joka on Aucklannin lähellä ja on tunnettu viinitarhoistaan. 
 Meidän Rotary clubi järjesti alueen rotary clubeille illallisen ja pukuteemana oli länsi ja itä. Täällä on myös juhlittu Ansac päivää, joka on vähän niinkuin suomen Itsenäisyyspäivä. Tuona viikonloppuna menimme rannalle ja pääsin taas treenaamaan surffausta. 
 Koulussa meidän musikaali"Pieni kauhujen kauppa" sai ensi-iltansa jasamana viikonloppuna menin muiden vaihtareiden kanssa Rotaryn aluekonferenssiin. Pääsin myös lopultakin esittämään oman puheeni omalle Rotary-clubilleni ja muutamille host-perheideni jäsenille.
Ps. teille jotka ihmettelette, tekstin otsikko on Taru sormusten herrasta ja Hobitista, jotka ovat olleet blogin teemana mikäli ette ole huomanneet ;)

 Did I mention I'm in love with Baylis Beach? anyway here's what's been going on...

I'm living with my last host-family. It's scary how quick the time has gone! My last weekend with the McLarens was lovely. We made a trip to the beautiful Waiheke island which is close to Auckland and has lots of wine yards.

On the ferry

A wine yard

 

 

 My new family is quite different from my previous families.  They are my only "rotary" family and I now have two small host-brothers. Having little brothers has definitely been an experience and I've already learned how to play rugby. I feel very lucky for I've had four fantastic host-families.  

We had heaps of fun dressing up for interclub Rotary dinner with my host parents. The theme was east and west.

On anzac day (anzac stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and anzac day is a day dedicated to remember those who fought in the war) we first went to see the dawn service literally at dawn, then we went to the beach to spend the long weekend and I got a chance to practice my surfing.

 As always drama's been heaps of fun. This year's school production was a musical called "Little shop  of horrors"

 I just love theatre make-up :D

All the exchange students participated district conference, it was great catching up with this crazy bunch of people:

Back to the future!

It's a 3D printer!

And last but not least here's pics of my two talented host-brothers being little stars on a rugby field:

Oh and by the way I've finally given my speech to Dargaville Rotary Club, what a relief to get that done!
Ps. for those who're still wondering the title of this post is from Lord of The Rings and Hobbit which has kind of been the theam of this blog ;)