First Day in NZ

All of the girls at the Airport in New Zealand! This is a picture I should have included in my last post, but I didn't have it until now so here it is!

Before I start this post, I've decided I want to introduce you to the people that we are living with and that I'm sure you will be hearing a lot about in the next few months. So rather than do it all and once and bore you all with a whole list, I thought I'd try to introduce you to one or two each post! First since I already talked about Erin in the last post I'll introduce him. Erin Joseph is the father of our family here, when we talk about him we just call him our dad because it makes it easier when talking to the other girls in our group. Here in NZ most people are very informal, at church you hear very few Brother and Sister titles if any, and if you try and say Brother or Sister they usually correct you with their first name instead, so we all call him Erin. Erin is a builder, he never went to University so he likes to tell us that we must know certain things because we were smart and went to school. He is really a humble man and I think he likes being a father to us all (he already has 4 girls of his own so I guess adding a few to that for a few months isn't to bad) so that is nice to have that father figure even though we are so far away from home. He is the 2nd counselor of the bishopric in our ward I believe so he is over the YSAs of the ward. He has warned us many times to watch out for those NZ boys who only come back to church when the BYU girls come (because a new group comes every year and they've been hosting girls for 6 years, they know) He has also warned us countless times to wear lots and lots of sunblock because the NZ sun is vicious...we have yet to see too much of the sun so we haven't experienced that yet. Anyway, Erin is really funny, he likes to joke with us a lot, he loves music (which seems to be a family trait, which is great because I love it too) He plays the guitar when we sing for family night, and he plays the uke, and he has already showed us many of his favorite videos of songs. Oh and also he is going to teach us how to surf (later this week), and as seen in the picture above, how to play the guitar (which he is already showing Micah). We have a lot to learn while we are hear, and much of what we are learning is already coming though the family we are living with, they are all really great and I'm excited to introduce you to them as I go through the next few posts!
Our first day in NZ started very early because our plane got in at 4 AM. After getting all settled in to our house we took a short nap, and then because we thought we heard people upstairs we got up to try and meet more people. Unfortunately the one person we had been hearing was leaving for work and we missed her so we still didn't meet anyone for a while. We just spent some time upstairs looking at family pictures and trying to match names to faces. Then after a little while we heard one little girl and she went and woke up another little girl and then very timidly came in and talked to us. The timidness did not last long at all, soon they were jumping off the walls and having a ball showing off for us. The two "babies" as they are fondly known are Snowden (6 nicknamed Foo, because of the song Little Bunny Foo Foo), and Denzel (4 I think that is how you spell it but I'm not sure, her nickname is Sizzle...probably because it sounds similar, but also probably because she is a spitfire). I'll tell you more about them in the future. Then we met Ati (Atarangi) who lives with the family. She is a daughter of a good friend of Erin's and she is living with the Joseph's right now while she goes to school here. She has quickly become a good friend to all of us. We waited a bit longer and we met Pascal (14) she is also a bit of a spitfire, but so much fun and at such an interesting age. Then we met Rose, the Mum of our family. She, like all of the family is stunning, and so kind and inviting. Seriously, I don't feel too homesick yet because I feel like our family has been so welcoming and inviting. I can't imagine how hard it would be to have 3 strangers, from a foreign country invade your home for a few months, but they have been so wonderful to us already! After we met all of these people, we got ready for the day and then we went to the store with Ati. It was a bit of a walk, but we made it and at the mall we met Cheyenne (19, Chey).

On our way to the mall, it started raining pretty hard so we stopped off at a little store and we tried a fried moro bar...it was interesting but pretty good, probably not something I'll eat very often because I think I could feel my arteries clogging up just from the few bites I had of the shared one! (basically a fried moro bar is a moro bar which is chocolate with nougat in the middle, which is then put in batter and fried...it kind of reminded me of a chocolate filled doughnut)

On the candy aisle looking for Pineapple lumps

At the mall we had to get a few things and ask around a bit about internet possibilities because we had to try and get something set up for us. The Josephs have internet, but because of some problems with people who used to live here they asked that we find something separate so that there would be no similar situations. This didn't take long so we just wandered for a bit after we got all that we needed, and we got some things we probably didn't need, including some Pineapple lumps, which we all had to try. Basically they remind me of Laffy Taffy (only pineapple flavored) which is then covered in chocolate...it sounds weird, but they are amazing!! We headed home and to our room to at least lay down and rest because at this point we were exhausted! We didn't mean to fall asleep, but we all laid down on the big bed on the bottom, because we were chatting with Pascal and Ati and then we all kind of crashed. We were woken up 3 hours later by a very loud Foo, who was sent to get us for dinner. Dinner was a new meal for me, ramen type noodles, but without the broth, just the noodle part, and hard boiled eggs, with a bit of mayonnaise and lettuce on top. It was so good! Who knew that combination of things could work out so well! After dinner, we helped clean up, and then we had a little family meeting. Basically it was a little meeting to welcome us into their home and into their family. It was really sweet, and they sang this beautiful song to us in Maori. Then we all gave the family the gifts that we brought them from America...Erin was very hopeful that we had included some Jolly Ranchers because apparently he loves those and he can't find them anywhere here, so if anyone is feeling generous feel free to send some Jolly Ranchers...none of our gifts were very big, but they loved them because we brought them! Also Nanette if you read this, I told them how you contributed a few things to my gift and they said to tell you thank you very much! It was a lovely little family meeting, and then because we were so tired, and because we had school bright and early at 8 AM we headed off to bed soon after we finished.

Sorry I'm behind already...I'll get caught up soon, there is just so much I want to tell you guys all about! Also, sorry this is so long, with very few pictures to break it up...I promise I'll work on getting more pictures, it is just so hard when there are so many people with cameras, it seems like every different thing ends up on someone different's camera...we have a photo sharing site, but not too many have been put up there yet, so I might not have a lot of the pictures until later...like a lot later...I'm working on taking more with my camera though! For now, just know that I love you all, and that I am thinking of y'all back home!