My New Zealand Experience

If I could pick any experiences that I can say truly changed my life, I would say that my four week stint in New Zealand would be it. I joined up with the International Student Volunteers during the summer of 2005, and traveled halfway around the world to the most beautiful place in the world: New Zealand. For the first two weeks, our group spent hours and hours doing conservation work for this wonderful country. We planted almost 3,000 trees for them in two weeks, helping their island nation stay together, physically. The ocean is slowly eroding away at the island, and planting the trees will help keep the island together longer. We were also blessed with the opportunity to meet a group of the native New Zealanders, the Maori. We went through a welcoming ceremony to be welcomed onto their "marae"which is almost like a tribe or a reservation that American Indians live on. This was a very sacred experience, one that less than 10% of people who actually live in New Zealand have experienced. We helped them plant more trees, and clean up their marae, and afterward we had a traditional Maori feast. They even taught the men how to do the "haka."This is a war dance done in the past by the Maori warriors to attempt to scare off their attackers. Watch this YouTube video and you will see how incredibly intimidating the dance is. Now, the New Zealand All Blacks, their rugby team, perform the haka before every match.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMCAV6Yd0Y

One of the most amazing parts about New Zealand was how incredibly beautiful it was, everywhere we went. We never saw garbage on the ground, everyone that lives there cares about their home, about the environment. We smokers even learned to be cautious about where we threw away our butts because most of us would rather quit smoking than defile any part of this wonderful country. As you can see from this picture, we tried not to be TOO serious about our volunteer work... this was taken after a long day of rescuing sea turtle eggs from a beach that would have been unsafe for them. You can see that we're wearing "wellies."I believe it's impossible to keep your serious face on when you're wearing wellies, so my friend Mia and I decided to pose as ninjas on a cliff instead.

Another amazing experience was being able to work with kids at a local school. We spent the entire day learning about these students' lives, and teaching them about our own. They were so genuinely interested in learning what it was like to live in America. We did indoor and outdoor activities with them, and the experience was especially dear to me because I'm going to be a teacher, and I couldn't believe how lucky I was to be volunteering in a school in New Zealand. They loved us, as you can see from this picture as well. The one that is clinging to my neck was Renee, and she followed me around the entire day. By the time we were getting ready to leave, I wanted to take her with me, and we both cried a little when we said goodbye. They were all wonderful children, I'd love to be able to go back to New Zealand and see how they're doing one day.

This is the Franz Josef glacier, and yes, I hiked up it. I've absolutely never seen a glacier up close, but I was able to see this one, as well as hike on it. It was, again, an INCREDIBLE experience. Firstly, it was hot on the glacier, which sounds silly, but the light from the sun reflected off of the ice, and kept us all warm. Also, we had to be extremely careful, because once you get into the glacier, there are crevasses and holes that you could fall through, and since we're essentially walking over ice, it was an interesting hike. You can see from the next picture that it could've been potentially fatal to fall through any of the cracks or craters we were hiking around, but that only made it all the more interesting.


These are only a few of the many, many incredible experiences I had in New Zealand, the land of
the kiwis. I will most definitely be going back someday, no matter what I have to do to get back there. I'm already looking at a number of graduate programs that will send you over there complete your graduate work while working for the New Zealand school systems. The schools are also always looking for English teachers, particularly from America and Great Britain, so I have options there as well. I love New Zealand more than anywhere I've ever been, for so many reasons, but I think that the biggest reason would that the native people are so kind and appreciative of everything. They take care of their land, they are welcoming and they generally appreciate the life they've been given. It was truly an amazing experience, and I believe that it helped shape me into the person that I am today.

Why we travel:

What makes you get up and go far away from your cozy home?
Among my answers are seeing something new to me, exploration, "the journey", being in different cultures, and breathing different air.



I've been in the eastern USA most of my life, and can navigate the roads in the New England area as well as New York and New Jersey. I've driven the entire length of I-95, from north of the Canadian border all the way to the Florida Keys (not all in one trip or over several days!)

I've taken trips to see many astronomical points of interest across the US. I've gone by boat to Nova Scotia and enjoyed Cape Breton Island.


By airplane, I've jetted to Florida, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and California.

Recently, we drove from Indiana to Florida and got to see new states I'd never traveled through before.

I have felt twinges of sweet memories from each of these places, and in the next post I will devote much time and space to individual places and what interested me most about them.

Let's get up and go!

Vacations: A Stress Creator or Reliever

Vacations are supposed to be relaxing but some feel more stressed when on vacation versus the everyday routine.

Vacations are beneficial. They are a time, if able to, to let go of all the work-time stresses. Dr. Cantor, president of the American Psychological Foundation, says, "An ideal vacation should eliminate stress, encourage relaxation and provide opportunities for rejuvenation, making the benefits of the experience immeasurable." If an employee takes a vacation, they are less likely to make mistakes, be angry towards others, have high stress levels, feel symptoms of clinical depression and neglect their health. Relationships also benefit from vacations.

Many people are not able to forget the stresses of home on vacation. This is why The Sedona Method was created by Hale Dwoskin. This method is scientifically proven to help stop the feeling of guilt for taking a vacation. It uses a technique called "releasing." This method shows a person how to tap into their natural ability to stop unwanted thoughts. The Sedona method training is delivered through an audio recording or through a seminar. A sample exercise can be found at: http://www.sedona.com/html/Sample-Of-Process.aspx

Vacations don't have to be a major stress. There are many benefits to them that can only come when a person allows him or herself to relax and enjoy the time off. Later I will talk about what great attractions the Dominican Republic has to offer as a vacation location.

The Dominican Republic as a Vacation Attraction

The Dominican Republic is a country located in the Caribbean Sea and is a popular tourist attraction. It is a country about twice the size of New Hampshire. It shares an island with the country of Haiti. The language spoken is Spanish. Most of the country lives in poverty. The villages I visited while in the DR were run down with few advancements in technology. I could sense that the people were community oriented which is different from our individualistic society. Its major exports include sugar, tobacco and coffee. The economy is highly based on the US purchasing it's exports but also on tourism. (www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/dr) When visiting the Dominican Republic, a person can easily be attracted to the typical visitor attractions and not realize that the country is stricken with poverty. Some common visitor attractions include:

• Beaches. The DR has numerous beaches. Some have the white sand and palm trees where a person can relax and be lazy for the day. Some beaches such as the Cabarete offer the ideal conditions for kite boarding and windsurfing. Some are ideal for diving and snorkeling. Others have vendors up and down the coastline selling local foods and personal tours. Still other have dunes and natural waterfalls.








• Golfing. The DR has golf courses designed by Pete Dye, Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo. Others have waterfalls and coral formations spread throughout the course.








• Adventure Activities. Many of these adventure activities offers the visitor to see beautiful sites of the country. These activities include: bird watching, camping, canyoning and cascading, caving, four-wheeling, hiking, glass-bottom boats, helicopter tours, hiking, horseback riding, island exploring, Jeep safaris, kayaking, kite boarding, monster trucks and off-road runners, mountain biking, rock climbing, sand boarding, surfing, waterfalls, whale watching, white-water rafting and windsurfing.








• Museums. Historical museums are located on the North, East and South Central coasts.

More information about each of these places can be found at www. godominicanrepublic.com.

It is important before picking any vacation spot to learn about the location. It is also important to, while enjoying the numerous activities, be aware of the history possessed by the country. Why is it a tourist attraction? What makes people want to visit place A over place B? Be an educated vacationer.

Traveling to the Dominican Republic

Vacation can either have a positive or negative feeling associated with it. Some view a vacation as a time to relax, while others may think it just adds more stress due to the added expenses which may stretch a previously planned budget.

In 2008, I had the experience of going to the Dominican Republic for my Senior Trip. We went through SCORE International. It was an awesome experience. Granted, my flights and activities were basically planned out for me; all I had to do was supply the money. This fact made the vacation, for me, less stressful.

While in the Dominican Republic, my class split up into three different groups that ministered to three different villages. Each group member was responsible for planning a certain part of a Vacation Bible School that we would be presenting at a local school. Different tasks included songs, craft, story and games. It was really neat to see how the kids, and some parents, opened up to what we were saying about the love of Jesus. One day while we were about to leave our village, a group of people were talking to the bus driver about Chinese Firedrills. The driver had no idea what they were talking about. So, all 20 students did a Chinese Firedrill. After ministering to the villages in the morning, we, as a class, would go out to a different village at night and participate in sports or just talk to some of the local people (sometimes the language barrier was hard to overcome-thank you translators!). One of the days, we had the opportunity to visit a local orphanage. The children there were striving for attention and simply just wanted to play with anyone. While we were at this orphanage, we were able to do a live satellite feed back to the school for everyone to see.

We were able to do other activities besides ministry while in the DR. Here, I had my first taste of real sugar cane. One afternoon we went to a local market where we bargained with people for particular items of interest. One lady vendor followed one of the sponsors around calling him "cheapy cheapy" because he was bargaining too low. One night, one of our translators took a group of us tarantula hunting. I saw two great big ones! At the end of the week, we had a free day. This was when we went to Catalina Island. This is an uninhabited island where tourists can purchase local souvenirs, lay out on the beach, go snorkeling and go cliff jumping. This was a great way to end a great week.

My experience at the Dominican Republic was amazing. Later I am going to inform on different attractions the DR has to offer. Here is a link to a YouTube video created by one of my classmates during my trip to the Dominican Republic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWGWI7Swbg

Go Green in the Classroom

Adults are not the only ones who need to be educated on ways to go green. It is a good idea to instill good habits, such as recycling, at young ages. This way we will have a new generation of people who automatically make environmently friendly choices. I found a great website that gives teachers ideas on how to go green in the classroom. Here is the link: http://www.teachingtips.com/blog/2008/06/23/50-ways-to-go-green-in-the-classroom/

Here are just a few highlights:

• Start a recycling competition. See what classroom can collect the most items and reward them for collecting the most.


• Start a garden. This could double as a science lesson too!


• Plan a check of the room. At the end of the day, have students make sure lights are off, water faucets are turned off all the way, computers are off, windows are shut, etc.


• Have plants in the classroom. They could double as a classroom pet!


• Use water-based paints.


• Encourage students to buy recycled school supplies such as recycled notebooks.


• If the weather is nice, open the windows. Save the energy used by fans.


• Encourage the school coorporation to use Energy Star lights.
  

Here are some ideas for teachers themselves:

• Keep grades online instead of in a paper gradebook.


• Drink coffee from a mug instead of a styrofoam cup.


• Use Popwerpoint to deliver notes.


• Communicate with others by email.


• Turn off the computer at night or when not in use.


• Carpool with people who live in your neighborhood.

Recycle!

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
With the green movement in full effect there are a lot of old ways being challenged and changed to make way for new ideas and innovative technology in order to help preserve our resources and reduce our output of waste and such. People are buying hybrid cars and using solar and wind energy for their power supplies, and people are recycling. If you cannot afford solar panels and new cars like most of us you can always recycle.

I have always recycled for as long as I can remember, but never religiously. About 2 years ago I did a research project on the green movement and got really inspired to get involved into the recycling movement. So, all this information I’m going to post just re-opened my eyes to why I do what I do. I feel it really shows that anyone can make a difference. There are tons of resources we can recycle, but I’m just going to run down a few that are pretty major in our society. If you would like to find out more of these facts you can go to: http://www.oberlin.edu/recycle/facts.html

PAPER

--> Each of us use approximately one 100 foot tall Douglas Fir tree in paper and wood products per year.

-->More than 56% of the paper consumed in the U.S. during 2007 was recovered for recycling- an all-time high. This impressive figure equals nearly 360 pounds of paper for each man, woman and child in the U.S.

--> More than 400 paper mills in the U.S. use at least some recovered materials in their manufacturing processes, more than 200 of those mills use fiber exclusively.

Savings: Energy & Water
--> De-inked paper fiber is the most efficient source of fiber for the manufacturing of new paper products; one de-inked pulp saves over 7,000 gallons of water, 390 gallons of oil, and reduces air emissions by 60 pounds compared to traditional virgin fiber processes.

--> Recycling 1 ton of paper saves 17 mature trees, 7,000 gallons of water, 3 cubic yards in a landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, and 4,100 kilowatt-hours of electricity of—enough energy to power the average American home for 5 months!

--> Recycling paper instead of making it from new materials generates 74% less air pollution, and uses 50% less water.

These facts alone are quite convincing that recycling does matter, and that anyone can help. Recycling is a big deal, and if you can help why wouldn’t you? 7,000 gallons of water being saved by just using recycled goods to make paper instead of using brand new paper…it’s great! Think about how much more water could be saved if everyone chipped in and decided to make recycling a part of their everyday lives. Saving water is going to be a big deal in the future because it has already been assumptions that there will be a water shortage crisis eventually. Also by saving oil we will be contributing to the U.S.’s wish to gain independence from foreign oil. It may not seem like much, but every bit counts. Now that you have some what of an idea how recycling has an impact on society you might wonder like I have many times, “What do they do with all the paper that people are recycling?” So here are a few ways our scrap paper is being reused:

--> Just over 48% of office paper is recovered for recycling. This becomes raw material for paperboard, tissue, and printing and writing papers.

-->Over 73% of all newspapers are recovered for recycling. Almost 1/3 goes back into making more newsprint. The remainder is used to make paperboard, tissue, and insulation, or is exported.

--> Approximately 1.5 million tons of construction products are made each year by paper, including: insulation, gypsum wallboard, roofing paper, flooring, padding and sound absorbing materials.

--> Recycled paper can also make: paper towels, notebook paper, envelopes, copy paper, and other paper products such as boxes, hydro-mulch, molded packaging, compost, and even kitty litter.

I buy notebooks who use recycled paper, and one company Sasquatch makes really cute notebooks (guys I’m sure this doesn’t impress you, sorry) and it’s 100% recycled paper.

ALUMINUM
There is also an issue that I’m sure will be addressed in the future as well, aluminum cans. Before recycling became mainstream I’m sure tons of people (including myself) just tossed their empty pop cans in the garbage without ever giving it a second thought. Now we’re predicting in the future we’ll be digging up all of the landfills to get some of our aluminum resource back.

--> More than 50% of new aluminum cans are made from recycled aluminum.

--> 36 billion aluminum cans landfilled last year had a scrap value of $600 million (Like I said, someday we will be mining our landfills for resources we’ve buried).
(recycled aluminum cans)


PLASTIC
Plastic for me is the easiest thing to recycle because so many products are made out of it. Milk cartons, bottles of water(you can cut your bottled water usage by using a water bottle and a water purifier), a lot of miscellaneous containers that hold food or liquid. I think that plastic is probably what we throw away the most of since so many things come in plastic containers or are actually plastic themselves and we don’t really think about recycling it. But for me it’s easiest to remember to recycle because that’s what I throw most of away.

--> Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap Texas.

--> Americans go through 25 billion plastic bottles a year.

--> 26 recycled PET bottles equals a polyester suit. 5 recycled PET bottles makes enough fiberfill to stuff a ski jacket.

--> In 1998 we used 2 billion pounds of HDPE just to make bottles for household products. That’s about the weight of 90,000 Honda Civics.

--> If every American household recycled just one out of every 10 HDPE bottles they used, we’d keep 200 million pounds of plastic out of the landfills every year.

**PET stands for polyethylene terephthalate and consists of oxygen, hydrogen and carbon (classified by the federal government as capable of being incinerated without releasing pollutants). PET belongs to the group of synthetic polymers known as polyesters, which are used above all in the textile industry.a href="http://www.bafu.admin.ch/abfall/01495/01498/01503/index.html?lang=en#sprungmarke3_3">http://www.bafu.admin.ch/abfall/01495/01498/01503/index.html?lang=en#sprungmarke3_3

**HDPE =High-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polyethylene high-density (PEHD) is a polyethylene thermoplastic made from petroleum. a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GFRD_enUS332&defl=en&q=define:Hdpe&ei=PP9xS9f8Ms76nAeywuSSCw&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAcQkAE">http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1R2GFRD_enUS332&defl=en&q=define:Hdpe&ei=PP9xS9f8Ms76nAeywuSSCw&sa=X&oi=glossary_definition&ct=title&ved=0CAcQkAE
So that’s all I really have to say about recycling. You should do it, if not that’s your prerogative. It’s something simple anyone and everyone can do to “go green” and it will benefit the planet, our pocketbooks (by saving energy), and hopefully keep the Earth beautiful for future generations to come. Here’s a link to a really cheesy video clip, I just like it because it shows how much junk we just throw away that can be recycled. The only problem with it that I have is it shows a Styrofoam egg carton which is not recyclable. So stay away from Styrofoam! :)
a href="http://everydayexplorers.nationalgeographic.com/individual-video.php?mediaid=254481">http://everydayexplorers.nationalgeographic.com/individual-video.php?mediaid=254481