New Zealand

I know I'm a little out of order - but Internet is a bit hard to come by in the countryside. We are in Auckland now, and have an early wake-up call for our journey to the airport and Australia. This is our last night in NZ and it is on the "come back" list for future visits. Today we visited Mt. Eden, a volcano, walked along the West coast beach which is a favorite surfing and fishing spot, and explored all over Auckland's Queen St - the main shopping district. (Sorry Parents - I feel some may have really supported the local economy today...)
We all had an amazing home stay visits - spending 3 nights with a family mostly with several children. Mine had 3 boys - the youngest was 7yrs old and introduced me to Captain Underpants - which I was designated as the nightly reader at bedtime! We ate the most delicious lamb chops - really fresh! Lamb is cheaper than ground beef and Mc D's is almost as expensive to the Kiwi's as Jeff Ruby's is to us.

They play a lot of field hockey here - and of course the "All Blacks" Rugby team rule as the country's favorite sons. Rugby is a passion here - more so than soccer or any other sport. If you can talk Rugby, you can talk to anyone - young or old! Mt. Eden will be the site of the 2011 World Cup Rugby, which NZ is keen to win.

While Fiji was hot and humid - NZ has been quite cold and crisp. We have heavy frost in the mornings but nice clear sky. We was the Milky way last night, and my host dad gave me a lesson in the southern hemisphere's amazing star clusters, including the Southern Cross and the "fake Southern Cross" - I saw a dozen of shooting stars before I had to go in and get warm at the fireplace.
Families may cook on the pot belly stove, and the food is outstanding. If it weren't so cold, it would be paradise. The funniest thing is that we are all bundled up, and they will all be in bare feet - shoes are not required at the school, but uniforms are! it's quite amusing to see all the US students wearing gloves and mittens and multiple layers and see the Kiwi's walking in flip-flops or no shoes at all! Burr, it makes us cold thinking of it. Tonight's hot shower was a piece of heaven!
After dinner, the hotel gave us a private room and the students had a dance, and played Nintendo until our 9:00 curfew and room check. The Cincinnati students continue to be the best role models of good behavior! You can be so proud of them!
Tomorrow we head to Australia but we are already so full of memorable events that it seems almost impossible that we still have another week of activities. We miss all of you very much and can't wait to be able to tell you about this amazing country. It's a MUST SEE - and we all now have several homes and families that would be more than happy to have any of us come for a visit!