Sometimes There Are No Words

After the temple we drove to Rotorua to stay for the rest of the weekend. We went to this dinner show Friday night at a place called Tribal Lights and I literally had no idea what was going on. I think the point was to talk about the pink and white terraces that were destroyed by a volcano/earthquake. Needless to say it was the weirdest show I've ever seen. So the cast was made up of basically three ladies and one guy (which I'm pretty sure he's a little slow and not all there). It was a community show. It started off with them singing Hello Maggie, not Dolly, they changed her name to Maggie. Then they did the version of I Will Follow Him from Sister Act, they even did some of the same dance moves. Too funny. One of the ladies was this older lady who was supposed to be the chief's wife. And she was a dirty old lady lol Any chance she had to make an inappropriate joke she took. I think she scared our director's son who is only 10. In the middle of the show he left his chair in front to go sit on his mom's lap. At one point during the show we had to get under our tables. It was to add that dramatic touch for when the volcano explosion was supposed to be happening. We were all so confused. Oh so the guy that i'm pretty sure is slow, he was playing several different characters and at one point he came out in like an old fashioned bathing suit that was skin tight and danced to the splish splash I was taking a bath song. That was a treat to watch. After his dance the next scene he had on a normal shirt but forgot to put his pants on and was in the bottom of the bathing suit outfit haha (if anyone has seen Drop Dead Gorgeous, all I could think of was the line, "The retard's pants are completely off"). Good news was that after the explosion he found his pants.
It was a dinner show, so there was food. It was much better than the show. I am just ready to be back to American food... I tried mussels. I think they have to be an acquired taste because they are just chewy and weird. But I didn't gag so that was good :) Maybe the more I try them the better they will get. But it's kinda cool to have the little shell on your plate once you're done eating it.
Overall it was an interesting night.

lovely mussel 

really chewy and weird

that's his bathing suit outfit

under the table!

no idea what's going on

Donuts and the Temple

Friday March 23rd

The group headed to Hamilton to see the temple. First we were told by our host dad that we had to stop at Mamas Donuts. I'm so glad that we did. Best donuts ever. Apparently the blueberry ones were really good. I just had glazed because when it was my turn to order I panicked and just said glazed because the lady kept asking me what I wanted. I was very happy with my glaze choice because they were amazing. Mandy and I shared. It was kind of fun to get donuts out of this trailer thing, which apparently the lady changes the location. I guess it's a surprise where she'll be for the day.

loved it

The temple was beautiful. It's one of the few that doesn't have an Angel Moroni on top. We asked about it and they say there are rumors that the temple will be remodeled and get an angel. 

A Week In NZ

This week I mainly just went to school and hung out with my host family. I haven't done a whole yet because of school, but soon I'll be traveling to the South Island which will be awesome! Here are just some random pics from the week (Jan 9-13).

Love my bed

We came home from school to find our clothes drying outside. No shame here

A park by our house

Can you believe ham is this much!?

Some flower thing my teacher brought in, It made me sneeze

exactly how I feel when I get home from school

Josiah with his T-Rex

Working in our mini class

Ok, so this taste like Sprite on Steroids

So far the way I have made this it tastes like chocolate milk

trying to get some sleep here

Mandy is too (She's usually the one that throws things at Margo when she snores too loud)

We went on a walk to found ice cream and passed this shop

This is where our host dad Phil works (College is high school here)

found the place finally

Here we made dinner for the family, not sure what to call it but it was really good

Josiah really liked the meal

They come to say hi to us everyday when we get home from school 

I'm wearing Cameron's shirt because it doesn't fit him anymore

playing on the trampoline

We had a "ladies night" going to the local Denny's for dessert

So Bangers & Mash is sausage and mashed potatoes and expensive!

I think this is a shank of lamb, maybe?

All restaurants should have this sign!

Go to Church and "Bring A Plate"

They awesome thing is that church is still church even in a foreign place! Church is at 10 here which is the perfect time. We get to sleep in :) Our first Sunday was a fast Sunday and we got to hear all the testimonies. It was mainly guys that spoke and then one lady got up at the end. It was a little difficult understanding them because of their accents, but a pretty normal meeting.

Ok, so the "Bring a Plate" part. So during Sunday School they announced that there would be a discussion thing that night and to bring a plate. We were getting ready to go and we  figured that we could just share a plate between the four of us because we wouldn't eat that many cookies or whatever. We get to the house for the discussion after getting lost with our host mom lol We get there and sit down and kind of notice that no one else has a plate but we don't think anything of it. The discussion was really good. Afterwards, they put out the refreshments. There were some cookies, chips, (which chicken flavored is really popular here) and some cake. We had our empty plate on the table because we didn't want to keep holding it. Margo was eating a piece of cake and getting crumbs everywhere so I told her she might as well use our plate. We stayed for awhile and hung out. Then our host dad picked us up. We get in the car and he has the serious tone with us and is telling us how he meant to ask us if there was something that we needed to bring to the discussion. Brooke told him that we just brought one of our plates from downstairs (she thought we were in trouble for bringing one of their plates out of the house). Then he told us that in New Zealand when they say to "bring a plate" they mean to bring a plate of cookies or something. He was laughing at us so hard. He thought we would have realized that when we got there and then said something to him. We had no idea. I then told him that when we have break the fast on Sunday's the food is provided and you bring an empty plate to eat once you get there. That made us not seem so dumb lol but he still laughed at us the whole ride home. Our host mom posted the story on her facebook page too. "Some people brought cookies, some brought cake, and BYU girls brought a plate." Awesome. So far that has been our biggest misunderstanding. haha.

Got our plate!

That's the cake that I had Margo use the plate to eat

Beach Day!

The first Saturday here was our beach day with the whole group. And of course it was rainy and cold. The weather has been cold and rainy so much here! good thing I brought at least one hoodie, I'm freezing out here on this island! The beach we went to was Orewa. It was a pretty beach, but just not a very good day. I was super brave and actually got in the water. At first I wasn't sure why I did, but then I got to boogie board and it was a lot of fun. I got the hang of it and could ride the waves to shore :) I want to learn how to surf if I can get over the whole being deathly afraid off sharks thing.. Well it kept getting colder and didn't stop raining at the beach so we went to this water park that uses natural spring water so it's warm. That was like my heaven to be in warm water. They had water slides but it meant waiting in line in the freezing cold, so I only went down the slides once and then got back in the warm water. It was a long day. We came home and all four of us showered (I was smart enough to dibbs the shower first) and we accidentally used up all of their hot water. Now we have a shower schedule. It makes getting up in the morning a little easier when you know it's your day to shower. Oh, and my first time showering here there was a spider in the shower. First I squealed a bit, and then splashed it with water. Made it out alive.

the pink little car that I rode to the beach in

just a bit chilly!

This is the director of the program, Dr. Cutri.. haha

So, we didn't quite make it off the ground for the jumping picture

well, this was a little better

this is the natural spring water place

you could watch a movie! I think it was Hoodwinked 2

this slide was like metal and you went super fast, I liked turned sideways when I landed