"An inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom)"
The longer I am here, the less I want to go home.
This past weekend was packed full of activities. Friday after school the other Americans and I were treated to a special hike to a waterfall. My host mom and her daughter took us to a nice 30min hike through the bush (forest). We took some beautiful pictures and splashed in the water a bit. When we got home we decorated my host families house for Christmas. Let me just say it looked like Christmas threw up everywhere but it was perfect. Later, my host mom let us bake a traditional New Zealand pastry called Pavlova. It made of egg whites and sugar. The photo above is the finished product. This pastry takes 2 hours to bake and you have to leave it in the oven over night go it cools down naturally. If it doesn't cool down naturally the pastry will sink and look like a flat piece of cardboard.
We all had a slumber party at my host families house because that next day we had to leave early for kayaking. We kayaked down the Puhoi river that had the most amazing views. We took our sweet time and then once we were down we went the a manuka honey store. Where we took some time to learn about the different bees in New Zealand and the different plants that influence the taste of the honey. New Zealand is very protective of their bees and every country should take notes. After spending too much money on honey we went Goat Island marine reserve. We spent about an hour swimming around like little fish and became snorkeling masters. Just when we thought becoming snorkeling masters was enough we deiced to hit the town and also become dance floor masters.
On that next beautiful Sunday morning I had a large cup of coffee and went Christmas tree hunting with my host feeling. We found the best one because it was the fattest tree around. That afternoon I went to a Christmas party my host families friends were having. It was so cool to see different New Zealand families and their kiddos. They asked me so many questions about the United States and what has been my favorite thing about New Zealand. They kept giving me more and more things to do if I come back...
*When I come back.