Kia Ora (Hello in Maori)

Kia Ora everyone. I am finally seeing how important all of my posts are because I recieved many emails today wondering why I didn't post! I have been so busy with school! All is good here in New Zealand though. The weather is starting to shape up quite well around here finally! Once again, what have I been doing? Well this past weekend I was able to go golfing for the first time since I left the US. The golf course was very nice and was well kept. The weird thing is, here in NZ, they have many honesty boxes where the person golfing would just slip the money into an envelope and then into a locked metal box. This is very different to me considering I have never seen an honesty box in the USA. Of course there is people who take advantage of that and they don’t put their money into the box but there are way more honest people here than not honest. School is going good but it is keeping me busy throughout the week which is a good and a bad thing (haha).
Also, this past weekend I went to a local concert which was held at school. It was a group of community members and high school students who put together many different songs and performed them. The neat thing is, the group was directed by two gentlemen who flew to NZ from the USA. One was from NY and one was from Pennsylvania. I enjoyed the concert a lot and I enjoyed many of the songs they performed because I have sung a few of them with the Osseo- Fairchild Choir back home.
Every Wednesday at school, the students go to the gym for an assembly. Here, we learn about how the past weeks sports turned out and any future events that are going to happen throughout the week. We also get to see some kind of cultural thing. I have gotten to see many different kinds of clothes and I have also got to see the Haka which is a Maori dance. It is probably THE coolest thing I have seen in all my life. This dance is done to stand up for their fears. It involves loud yelling, chanting, and feet stomping. Also during the assembly, the headmaster and the deputy principal discuss and issues that need to be addressed such students not wearing their uniforms or the gym being left dirty after lunch.
I also forgot to mention in the last post about the first basketball game I went to. It was a Friday night and the Varsity guys were almost done with the game. There was 1min 30sec left. Our team (Mercury Bay0 was winning by 15 or so points. One of the opposing players got angered by one of our players and he threw a punch. This caused both teams to CLEAR THE BENCHES. Punches and kicks were flying everywhere. Some of the parents even started attacking the opposing parents. Finally, after the officials and administration stopped the fighting, the game was just called off. It was VERY intense (haha). I had told Coach Jeff Stoik about this and all he had to say was, “I guess the Osseo Fairchild Fans aren't so bad after all” (haha).

A few key things that I find very different so far:
· Students don’t get a hot lunch of an account like back home; they bring their own or buy something from the Tuck Shop/Food Barn.
· Going outside to go from class to class.
· Sports are taken very seriously.

If you want to contact me, you may do so with the following:
House Phone: 64 07 866 3303
Email: hound_dog588@hotmail.com
Address:
Josh Pettis
161 Purangi Road
Rd1 Whitianga 3591 NZ