Its crazy being so far from home - so out of touch with the world as you know it.
New Zealand is such a small country, and it seems so very far from home at times. Yet it has an admirable quality about it. It seems younger and more innocent than America. I'm living in a suburb of Wellington and everyone here is so laid back. Many of the daily stressors which affect us in the states simply do not exist here.
How many states are there in America/The United States?
I challenge you to ask this question of every person in every foreign country (outside Canada and Mexico) and see what they say. Every person, except one, has answered 52. Craaaaaaaaaazy!
I've been doing quite a bit of teaching. Some of it has been my own planning and some has been just gradually taking the lead when my cooperating teacher has been tied up with something else. I have just completed my third week of student teaching and I can see an enormous change in the way the students relate to me. I have gone from being the cool foreigner to the cool foreigner who is respected by the students. I love that I have been developing my own teaching style. I am INCREDIBLY lucky that the structure, set in place by my cooperating teacher, fits me so well. She is very strict/stern with the kids, expects respectful behavior at all times, and likes a quiet classroom. She's done all the hard work, in setting the standard of what is expected. All I had to do was come in and learn her cues. The kids have decided that I am someone to be reckoned with! But they also can have fun with me and often ask me about America. Their favorite question is "Do you know (insert name of someone famous)?" Not "Have you heard of __?" but do I know them... they crack me up!
In short, I'm really enjoying my time here. I've started researching what it would take for me to get a job here. It's looking like a real possibility.