Getting Back into the Swing of Things

It has been so amazing not having to wear that sling everywhere! My arm is almost totally healed, and I've spent the last week or two slowly getting back into the swing of things. I've played 4 games, and each is getting better. Also there are so many other things I can do again! For example, I can finally try out our Super Swing!

Sunday afternoon we went down to show it to some youth from our branch, and I finally felt up to trying it out. Here's some of my favorites from the afternoon...

 

Hannah, one of the YSA's, complained that that first picture makes her look like a "mum" so I had to post this other one as well to make her happy :D

Mercy, riding like a pro :)

 

Tyler, visiting from Boise Idaho, "learned the ropes" really quickly and had a great time :)

3… 2… 1…. Jump!

 

Sagey, our little dare-devil kept saying, "Higher Noah, higher!"

But the most daring trick of the day goes to Joycie… "No hands, Noah, no hands! I not even holding on!"

Practice Exam

What do you think of when I say "Practice Exam"? ...I'll bet words like "backpacking, tent, stove, compass, campfire" probably weren't some of the first ones to pop into your mind!

This Wednesday night we had a "practice exam" in my outdoor ed class. You see, our final exam is a 5-day expedition that includes backpacking, snow caving, rock climbing, and whitewater kayaking. So its only logical that a practice exam would be an overnight backpacking camp, right? Right.

Our class is quite small (14 guys, when everybody shows up), and a big part of having fun with our activities was getting to know all the interesting characters in my class.

 

Meet Flynn and Phil...

 

 Cam and Roy (Yes, Cam is hiking in the knee-high school socks and gumboots, and Roy is holding a knife. Apparently he lost the sheath...)

 

 Koki (he's a Japanese exchange student, and I'm pretty sure he'd never been outside a big city in his life before this)...

...and Josh and George. These were my two crazy tent mates, and oh boy have we had some adventures.

It started with an extensive gear check during lunch,

Then we drove 30 minutes up out of the city and into the National Park.

We only hiked about 45 minutes into our campsite, but the trail was pretty exciting :D

When we got there, we set up camp, then explored the river and found a good place for a fire.

 

Once it started getting dark we cooked ourselves a delicious dinner of pasta, cheese sauce, sausages and rolls.

We then lit a nice fire and proceeded to "roast marshmallows", except that New Zealand marshmallows are posh little pink things covered in powdered sugar, and they don't roast very well :P

The next morning started bright and early, eating breakfast and hiking out in the dark, cause we had to be back to school for first period.

 

We came out of the forest to a beautiful sunrise.

Staying awake in school that day was a struggle, but I survived, and the trip was definitely worth it!

Forever Strong

 

If you're like I was before moving to New Zealand, the Haka is something you had only ever seen on the movie "Forever Strong". (If you haven't seen Forever Strong, put it at the top of your Netflix queue or something, its that good :D)

Anyway, I now have a much better understanding the Haka. Our school has its own Haka, and as you can see below we have an inter-house competition to see who can do it best, as well as doing it at Rugby games, important assemblies, when representing the school in foreign countries etc.

 

We had a big rugby game today, against Hamilton Boys High, and this is the video my dad took of us:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP8SVDrE_O8 

I recommend turning the volume all the way up so you can tell what it was actually like :) I'm somewhere on the second row, and Danny and Oak there as well.