Happy New Year! (31/12/12)

Happy New Year to everyone! If you're across the globe from New Zealand, like UK, Happy Late Christmas!

When midnight strikes my family and I are going to watch fireworks, wear polka-dot clothes, have ten fruits surrounding the room and jumping for the new year!

I'll be taking down the background when the 3rd of Jan. comes up. 

Merry Christmas! (25/12/12)

I've been waiting for this holiday all year long! Aside from my birthday, this is my favourite time of the year! Decorating the house, cooking delicious dinner, spending time with family; oh, I just LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Later in the afternoon my family and I will attend a Christmas party with my mother and father's friends. I'm not that excited, though. I don't know why...

Last night we had a family dinner with my grandparents who came a long way back in our original home country. My mother had cooked ham, spaghetti and cheese (well, bought cheese. She just bought it from the grocery store). It was one of our rare dinners that didn't have rice on the table.

Since it's Christmas break I didn't have a chance to hang out with my teachers and friends at school. I really miss going to Primary school. Well, I wish them a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

To end this post, I would like to greet everyone (especially the ones who are lonely or celebrating their first Christmas without an important loved one) a very merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year (mind me saying that again, haha).

Graduation! (17/12/12)

On Friday (14th of Dec.) I graduated from Primary/Elementary! Today is the first day of the weekday summer holidays and since I don't have much to do today I will post about my final week in Primary/Elementary!

Monday.
Nothing important really happened. Just some practices for the celebration and graduation.
Got presented that triathlon was tomorrow (Tuesday).

Tuesday.
Was nervous for triathlon that I kept on screaming in class. My friends told me triathlons are not such a big deal if you win or lose.
Late morning came and the triathlon started. Swimming was first, then biking, then running.
Instead of swimming, I ran in the pool looking different than the others ACTUALLY swimming.
Biking time! I struggled to put on my helmet but got on with it then biked around the track looking crazy biking in swimsuits (I got so humiliated when boys were looking at me, eek!)
When I reached to the running stage I nearly fainted of tiredness and I went the wrong way (we were meant to turn but I went straight)
When it seemed like one thousand years, I finished the triathlon! I got in one of the last places.
Samantha E. didn't do the triathlon so she was left on the field burning (since there wasn't any shade).

Wednesday.
I actually forgot what happened when Wednesday stroke. I'll edit this post if I remember or someone reminds me.
EDIT:
My class and another class had a shared lunch in the school garden. On the picnic rugs were biscuits, sandwiches and other delicious and healthy foods.
My pikelets (mini pancakes we call here in New Zealand) that I cooked were gone by a minute that I didn't get a chance to have a little nibble.
My class and the other class pigged out on all the food and enjoyed it.
After the shared lunch we had another break to play with friends, run errands (if you're a senior or teacher) or do as you please.
When the break finished we had a secret Santa and this time it was just our class.
Whenever a boy has a girl or a girl has a boy for Secret Santa, we made 'eee' noises and felt romantic.
A boy got me for Secret Santa and my classmates made the 'eee' noise. I ignored it.
But lucky for me, I had a girl for Secret Santa.
The classroom was noisy filled with talking, opening presents and laughing. I loved that kind of noise.
Thursday.
The day of our Prizegiving. It was presenting the winners of the top four in each class, the student who showed faith in actions, 100% attendance, etc.
When they showed which house group (groups which participate in school events) won the most amount of house points it was my house group who won! Since I was a house leader I got up to the stage and accepted the award.
It was also the day when my best friend, Samantha, left New Zealand in the morning. Te Mania, Samantha I and myself took a final photo together along with two other girls who were our classmates.
In the evening we had a Thanksgiving mass and graduation.

Friday.
In the morning I started to cry. I am going to miss my primary/elementary school so much (I've spent five years studying there and I will miss everything we do at school) but I had to face the fact that I was finishing and I was only supposed to be there 'til year six.
School was going to end at 12:00pm so time was limited.
In the morning my whole class had a big tidy up putting all our desks on the lino, vacuuming the carpet and tearing off the paper on the walls.
When the final hour of school arrived all of the school headed for the hall to farewell the year six students going off the intermediate. Each year six held and candle and a laminated sheet of paper. The younger students sang a song to us.
At the end we did Gangnam Style and everybody hopped onto the stage and did the dance.
Gangnam Style playing on your graduation was awesome! It was possibly the best graduation of my life.

I felt so tired and sad about school ending. Well, once again, I had to face it. I just have to work hard and look forward to the future.

New Blog! (Again!) (15/12/12)

I have a new blog hopefully that I don't delete again!
It's called Stuff n' Nonsense... Bits n' Bobs.
This is a blog where I can post ANYTHING. From memories, to turtles, to random things I find in my house.
Where did I get the name?
I got the name Stuff n' Nonsense from a shop in Ann M. Martin's book series Main Street. I thought the name was very creative and so I used it.
Stuff n' Nonsense wasn't enough, so I added Bits n' Bobs.
Bits n' Bobs just came into my mind. I thought it was a very random phrase and since I'm a random person, I used it.

Why (8/12/12)

Do you ever wonder why I don't post much on my blogs?
Well, since I have spare time now, here is why:

1) Finishing School
I'm close to ending my primary school (actually I have one week left of it and it's so sad) and these days all I do is study and I don't want you guys to know about my boring studying days because you'll get easily bored.

2) Bookworming
My teachers want all students of my school (and me) to keep on reading because every year a bunch of students are getting low grades in reading. Even though I'm one of the best readers at school I still need to keep on reading.

3) Writing my First Book Series
Months ago I have told you that I've been writing my first book series, The Book of Natalie. Like Bookworming, this helps me to improve my grades in English.

4) Running Errands and Doing Chores
Since mum and dad are always busy and I'm the eldest child, I go busy running errands and doing chores. Toilet duty, window cleaning, vacuuming the carpet, you name it!

5) Samantha E. and Myself
Best friends need time together you know! Samantha is also always on the go and hardly has time for anything too. After she hangs out with her family or finds some spare time, she invites me to her house so we could do best friend things together.

So there you go! Things why I'm always busy everyday.
You guys might think that if I'm too busy to do blogging, I should delete it. Well, blogging is the best thing that makes me happy after a busy day and I try my best to keep this blog going.

Fresh from Year six Camp and Happy Birthday Sammi! (1/12/12)

Hello blog readers! I am back from camp and ready to write about it.
BUT FIRST...
It's someone's birthday today...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BESTIE SAMANTHA E!
I'm not telling how old she's turning but I would like to tell you more about her.
Samantha is a short, quiet and artistic girl. She loves to paint and collect Rilakkuma and Disney pins, but she hates P.E and people waking her up.
If she had to change her name, it would be Zoey.

Once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAMMI (A.K.A Miko Meeks)!
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WARNING: LONG POST AHEAD
Now, let's focus on camp.
It was amazing. It was amazing that everyone wants to go back there.
It will always be a memory to everyone.
Camp is where you get to be free, travel, get delicious food and have fun with your best mates. (If it was an army training camp, forget what I said.)
And that was exactly what happened at our camp.

MONDAY:

Monday was the day when everyone struggled to carry their luggages, say goodbye to their families and friends and get bus sick.
After meeting in the school hall we headed for our two buses. Half of my cabin mates were on the same bus as me and half were on another.
Luckily not most people on our bus got motion sickness and luckily our bus did not break down, but the opposite happened to the other bus. So we stopped at a town called Matamata.
After a half hour break Bus B (the other bus) caught up, got the bus into shape and had a break with us then we both rode off.
Finally we arrived in Auckland and we entered Butterfly Creek, our first visit in Auckland. Butterfly Creek 'is the home to the crocodiles and butterflies and other animals', so we took heaps of photos of the animals.

After Butterfly Creek we went to the home of the Sister's of St. Joseph.We sang a couple of songs to them then had some food they gave us and looked at their archives.
Then we were off to the place where we were staying, Willow Park Christian Camp, to eat, sleep and do fun activities.

TUESDAY:

After a good night's rest we were off to Maritime museum to see their historical exhibits about boats (since they live close to the port of Auckland.

Later on we went on a boat to view the Port of Auckland. We saw groups of boats carrying cargo exported from New Zealand. 

When the boat ride finished we rode on the Auckland Tram and saw places around Mission Bay.

Afterwards we went back to Willow Park Campus and played mini golf, tennis, ping pong and other sports.

WEDNESDAY:

The middle day of camp. This is my favourite day out of all days. Why? Find out by reading further...

Firstly we were off to the Auckland Art Gallery. We viewed the exquisite paintings and sculptures. Most of the paintings and sculptures were made overseas but we found some created in Aotearoa (New Zealand).

We looked for about a half an hour then ate morning tea.

After morning tea we told stories by using pictures.

When we finished we ate lunch then played a game using a ball and net and tossing it into the air lots of times.

 The Art Gallery visit finished and we rode the bus to the famous Sky Tower. We saw an amazing view from the top floor and walked on the glass floor to see what the astonishing view looks like from the floor.

Now, this is my favourite part. Are you ready?

As 8:00pm strikes, everybody puts on warm clothes, thick socks and gets ready to hit the road.

It was ice skating time.

While on our way to Paradice Ice Skating, my cabin mate saw this boy doing the Gangnam Style dance in his car. He was doing the dance for over ten minutes and Olivia and I were laughing our lungs out on the whole bus trip.
When we arrived at Paradice we immediately put our skates on then skated around in the dark with music booming.
This was my third time going ice skating and I get faster every time I go.
I learned how to skate as fast as pros without falling. One time I nearly fell but instead I did a 360 spin.

THURSDAY:

The trip leaders planned us to go to two factories that are famous in New Zealand: the place where they print newspapers, APN Printers and the famous ice cream company, Tip Top.

Our first stop was at APN Printers, where they print newspapers like the New Zealand Herald and Dominion Post. They showed us how they print newspaper, how much paper they use everyday and presented to us their robots who lift rolls of paper.

The Tip Top factory visit followed by and we saw how the ice cream is made, what ingredients they use and saw the other products they made. 

At the end we got delicious ice cream for free and watched the history of Tip Top.

FRIDAY:

It was a sad time for everyone because this was the last day of camp.

But before the long bus trip we went to Stardome Planetarium and Observatory. We saw how the solar system works and watched a video that taught us about the seasons.

We saw constellations of stars. Most of them (maybe all, I don't know) are upside down.

We ate lunch at the park next to the observatory, One Tree Hill Domain, and went on the flying fox. The ride was scary at the beginning but it just got more hilarious at the middle of it.

Farwell, Auckland! It was time to leave for Rotorua. We also stopped at Matamata but it was a better trip than going to Auckland because the other bus didn't break down and not a single person got bus sick.

It was back to ordinary life in Rotorua. No more sharing rooms with besties, no more getting canteen food. Just back to the ordinary.

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You guys may think that I go to Auckland too much and I bet you wanna know why.

It's because my parents have friends there and we like spending the holidays there. My family loves to travel.

And for school, they want older kids to get out of town by themselves and to learn how to live without family. They also want you to enjoy and live while we're alive.