First of all I need to apologize for not having blogged in a little time. I’ve been on holidays, and then there was Christmas and my host sister’s birthdayJ. I went touring the South Island with my host family which was awesome. First we drove to the West Coast...

This is a Weka, one of New Zealand's flightless birds.

First a cute animal, then...

...dead in a shop. Hard to look at as a vegetarian haha

Yeah Franz Joseph-the new metropolis xD

We saw the Franz Joseph and also the Fox Glacier

On the way to Wanaka

The beautiful Lake Hawea

We arrived in Wanaka...

and then finally saw Queenstown from the top of the mountains.

Queenstown at nighttime :-)

 



Wellington

We were making little baskets out of flachs

Farmers Market



Little chicks running round



Visiting a christmas house with the international girls!

Baking at school

Mini- Pavlova

We had Breakfast in town to finish off our awesome three international weeks

After two weeks of the international program we finished this day off with our last primary school visit at Whitney Street School. The children were lovely and we had a great day. Another class was doing Hundertwasser painting so we joined and painted pictures for the class we spent the most of the time with...

Oh no I just forgot to show you the most famous mountain in New Zealand!!!

NACHO MOUNTAIN à LA LEIGH yummmmmmy

Hello to everyone! It's been a months now since I last blogged. I've been so busy with my new life-spending time with my host family, meeting friends and going to school. Sorry that I didn't find the time to tell you all about it!

School has finally finished for this year. I am already in holiday-mood... While the others sit the end of year exams we are doing an international program. So last Friday we visited a primary school and talked about our home countries. Aileen and I went to Whitney Street School and visited about ten classes. Children at primary school in New Zealand stay at school from about nine to three o'clock and don't go home at lunchtime like we used to. They all wear school uniform. The day we visited them they had an international assembly so each class presented one country from around the world. Unfortunately they didn't talk about Switzerland or Germany so we had to tell them. The children asked us about our cultures and especially wanted to know about the food haha. So we decided to buy some Lindt chocolates for our next school visit. Swiss chocolate and cheese is known quite well here. You can buy "Swiss" cheese in the supermarket but it just doesn't taste the same. And if you buy Lindt chocolate you have to check if it's produced in Switzerland. They've got a factory in Australia but it doesn't taste like we know (and love) it ;-)

The last day at school last Monday was pretty emotional...It was the year thirteen leavers assembly and everyone cried because the lead girl started to cry when she did her final speech... All this stuff made me think about me leaving next July. And I decided I really don't want to go home. Life is so different here and I've got so much more time here to actually do some stuff apart from school. When I come home from school each day it's only four o'clock and I can do my homework and practise the instruments with no hurry. So I really enjoy the time I have here. But well I think I'm coming home anyway haha. People I really miss you. Thanks for all the messages you send me regularly! I'm always so excited about hearing what you're doing.

Last Wednesday I went downtown with Marie and Aileen to go shopping and having lunch. Well I actually thought I wouldn't buy much stuff but at the end I got a new pair of shorts that I really needed because it's getting summer here. And shoes and a blouse and a shirt and a dress too. Haha now I'm ready for summer! We biked through Blenheim and were still pretty confused by driving on the left side of the road.. especially because there are so many roundabouts in Blenheim!

Wednesday night I went bowling with Marie and some girls I hadn't met before. It was pretty cool, we must to do stuff together again!

And thanks to the international comittee for that nice desert evening Friday night at Raupo's. It was a great evening and I really enjoyed meeting all the international girls from the MGC. The crème brulée was quite yummy too ;-)





EF Girls xoxo

And also my weekend was awesome. My host mum took me and Marie to Quinnies Bush where we met other EF students who live in Nelson and Motueka. We got there by about eleven o'clock Saturday morning and because it was raining we decided to sleep in a cabin although we had a big tent with us. Marie and I also got to know Maureen, our RC. On the camping ground there live two exchange students as well. One of them is a Swiss girl. For a long time I hadn't spoken Swiss german so I felt really strange realizing that I sound pretty stupid speaking german haha.

On the way home we quickly went to Nelson to go shopping and go to the beach. We passed the Rutherford Birthplace. Who knows what Ernest Rutherford is known for haha?

Well don't expect me to tell you what that means...

On another weekend, I went to the beach with Jess and a few friends. White's Bay is so pretty but it was freezing and after we went swimming we all were shaking because the clouds were covering the sun -.-

Freezing hands haha

The next few weeks will certainly pass incredibly fast and then holidays are going to start soon! Also Christmas is pretty soon!!! I still can't think of Christmas in summer. I think I'll bake some Mailänderli or Zimtstärn...Christmas isn't the same without them :-) My christmas parcel for you guys is on it's way. I sent it on the 26 of October so it should arrive soon. Haha don't forget to bring your parcels to the post office early enough otherwise I won't get them before Christmas :-P No just joking...

At the moment I often study English because I really want to do the Cambridge First or Advanced exam in March/ June. I thought it will be so much easier to do them while I'm here because I'll maybe forget some stuff when I'm back home. I'm pretty motivated at the moment haha. Four days and two months are actually such a long time to be away from home. There are so many differences between Switzerland and New Zealand, honestly. The whole lifestyle is different. But I feel like New Zealand is home now. I don't even realize that I'm so far away from you guys...probably because I slept in the plane and can't remember how long it takes to get here :-)

Okay I think that's all I can tell you at the moment. Hope to hear from you guys soon.

Kisses your Seraina

Lake Rotoiti (if that's spelled right..) where I spent a weekend with the Brass Band in September. Oh and if you're wondering what that strange person's doing on the footbridge there are eals in the lake which you can see the best when you're laying on the floor ;-)

The longest kiwi swingbridge...quite scary!

Earthquake - the ground fell

Such a nice spot beneath the swing bridge...

The daisies so reminded me of Switzerland!

West Coast - nice waves, can't wait for the Surf Camp in January!



Schwöschderli ich vermiss dich



Pancake rocks

Haven't seen a ny sunsets right at the beach like that before. So romantic :-P

Like that photo..taken by mee!

Shantytown



Me driving a train :-)



Moss Bed

Walkways at Arthur's Pass

Walkway through the cave

Looks like Switzerland :-)



These birds named Kea only live in New Zealand. They like to sit on cars to take the rubber off...
"Fatty", the one on the right was picking stones off the road :-P Must be yummy.



Nice feather sticking out!

  

And this one didn't want to fly off the car when we drove to Arthur's Pass

 

Mummy, Daddy and I :-)



We went on a little tiki tour round some massive rocks...it was a bit steep :-)



Do you recognize it? Lord of the Rings was filmed here! 

Caves on the way to Christchurch where you can go caving, but you need a wetsuit.

I did not take any photos of Christchurch. After the second earthquake in the beginning of the year, it's devastated. For example, some houses just sunk into the ground. Some of the houses lost their chimneys and the road dropped below the level of the Avon river. The bridges are pretty much torn apart and there are cracks through them. It is amazing how some of the places can be so destroyed while other areas still seem to be in their normal shape. The whole centre of Christchurch is not accessable and also many old buildings are destroyed. It's so hard to see the devestation of such a big city and it doesn't seem to be possible to fix it all.



"This monument was erected by the runholders of the MacKenzie county and those who also appreciate the value of the Collie Dog, without the help of which the grazing of this mountain country would be impossible."



Lake Tekapo with its famous little church

Sunset at Lake Tekapo with Mummy :-)

The next day we went to the glaciers...



In front of the glaciers on the boat



Our picnic spot on  the way back to Christchurch...

...where we couldn't be bothered going home and decided to extend our holidays and to go to Hanmer Springs for a night :-)





This is nice. And the hot springs there are even nicer. Haha Jess and I liked the slides as well although it was freezing outside.

I just want to say Thank you to my host family. It's so amazing that you take me to these awesome spots around the country. I so love to be here with you! :-)