Kiwi Lea

Not all 17 year olds are willing to leave their social life to travel with their PARENTS for 6 months and attend school in a foreign country.  So Lea…Good On You.  (Notice the use of local lingo-good on me!)

Lea is really taking advantage of everything that interests her.  She is in Year 13 at Westland High School, equivalent to being a high school senior at home.  Year 13 class size is 24 students!  The school includes year 7s (6^th graders) through year 13s and the entire school population is 400 or so students.  Her classes include Outdoor Ed, Photography, Maths (Statistics), English, Physics and part time Calculus. 

School work is easier for various reasons which leaves more time for other activities.  Far and away the best class she is taking is outdoor ed.  Term 1 of Outdoor Ed is all about river kayaking which includes going out on a river twice a week, indoor pool sessions to learn to roll, and two multiday camping/kayaking outings. The class is taught by an exceptional and well regarded kayaker, Bruce Barnes.  Term 2 will focus on outdoor survival skills. WOW!  Another fascinating aspect of this small school is the number of international students and the fact that they have an international coordinator on staff.  Currently there is a student from Italy, two from Germany, two from Japan, one from Brazil and some Thai students coming later in the year who will be here for several weeks.  It feels more international than the IB program at Lakewood!  Her local school friends include a girl who has moved here from South Africa and another from the US.    

That's Lea out there!

Excellent teacher, in the pool and in the river!

Kind of hard for me to watch from the side - this did not make her nervous, she really wanted to master the roll!

A little assistance provided - this guy jumped up with joy when she did one without his help!

She joined the girls’ rugby team.  It’s nice for Greg and I because as we watch games on TV and try to figure out what’s going on, she can tell us about the rules and strategy.  Last week her team played some other school teams.  Greg and I went to watch and she scored a try!  (Google that to figure it out – basically she crossed the line at the end of the field with the ball in her hand which meant her team scored points.) 

Westland High School Girls Rugby Team

This is actually the math teacher - the coach was helping with the games, this guy just came out and jumped in giving the girls advice and tips - mostly hit low! LOW!

Smile Girls! Then go tackle the other girls!

Westland team in action - they won this game

The school fixed up a saxophone they had and she is playing with a jazz group that meets on Thursday nights in Greymouth, a half hour drive from Hokitika.  The jazz group includes her photography teacher, who also teaches music at the school, the wife of someone I work with and another person from Hoki.  They pick her up from our house and bring her to Greymouth to jam.   A couple of Fridays ago they had a gig at an elementary school fair.  Greg and I went to watch and were the only ones taking photos of the performance!  It’s like we are parents of four year old again…proud of every event our child does and oohing and aahing about how awesome she is.

The Jazz Players

There were some other spectators dancing besides Mickey

Fellow Alto Sax Players

She has quickly become friends with several girls from school and is full into having a social life here.  We are seeing her less and less on weekends and sleepovers are popular.  Last Friday night there was a party for a former exchange student who had come back to Hoki to visit.  They had a bon fire at the beach and then went to someone’s house two doors down from ours to watch movies.  She had planned a sleep over at our house with two other girls but when Greg woke up to start work at 4AM Lea was not home. She walked in at 4:30AM with the explanation that she had fallen asleep at the neighbor’s house once the movie started. All I can say is it’s a good thing I slept through all that. 

Year 13s on Athletic Day

Three princesses at Wild Foods Festival

It’s nice to see her embrace all this.  She has discovered that she likes a small school because when there is something she would like to do, she can always take part in it.  There are not too many people for the team or play or band.  It’s not competitive to take part in most activities.  You want to do it, go for it!  This has made her realize that perhaps a small college would be a good choice, but we’ll see what happens, we still have several months to go for that decision.  It’s enjoyable to live a rural life but when we take a trip to a city she does enjoy the shops (so do I)!