Home, Work, and School

Hello to everyone :D I miss you all now! I'm almost half way through...it seems like the trip is getting longer though!


I promised to show you where I live, work, and go to school. I live in Hamilton East, Hamilton, New Zealand. Susan C. is my homestay mum - she is awesome :) Susan is a lecturer in the Early Childhood Education program at Wintec, the college in Hamilton. This is a map of where I live, work, and go to school:

                     SCHOOL                                                                   HOME              WORK

Here are some photos (video tour coming soon) of the house:

Looking down the driveway

View of the house

New Zealand light switch

View of my room (bed and desk)

View of my room (desk and closet)

I am registered in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) program at the Waikato Institute of Technology (better known as WINTEC).  Next week I will sit in on a few ECE classes. One class is about positive guidance and behavioural management in the classroom; one about inclusion for infants and toddlers with special needs; and one about Maori development and learning.  Here is a photo of Wintec:

I work at The Park Early Education Centre, which is about a 15 minute walk from the house - I work four days a week from 9:00am to 5:30pm.  There are four full-day "childcare" education rooms at The Park.  The Baby Room, Toddler Room, Kindergarten Room, and Transition Room.  I work in the Kindergarten Room, which currently has a group of 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 year olds :) They are all very cute and fun! Here is a picture of The Park (and sign):

I will put up a post about last weekend (going out to Lake Taupo) soon.


This weekend I am going to see a rugby game: Waikato Chiefs from New Zealand VS Pretoria Bulls from South Africa!


Talk to you all again soon!


Karen Trotter

A Day in Auckland

Hello everyone! I'm beginning to miss you all, but it is still proving to be a really great trip and experience. Since last week, I've been working four days a week at The Park Early Education Centre, which is only two blocks from where I'm staying - it's nice to be able to walk to work. I haven't attended any classes at Wintec College yet, but I will be going to one in a couple weeks. I will post some more information on my work, school, and homestay in my next blog.


For now, let me show you what I saw in Auckland! Auckland city is quite like Vancouver (in terms of weather and layout (very big!)). It is quite a bit more hilly than Vancouver though, so after 3 hours of walking through the city I was pretty tired.

City Hall

A Church

Sky Tower

New Zealand Racing Yacht

Sailing Boats

The Harbour and Downtown Auckland

After getting a nice student discount with my Wintec International Student ID card, I took the elevator up the Sky Tower to the main deck, and then to the top deck 220 m above the ground (250 m above sea level).  It's similar to the Calgary Tower in that there are information plaques around the decks that tell you about parts of Auckland that you can see from the Tower. I've attached some views that you can see from the top.

View from the 38 inch glass floor atop the Sky Tower

View down to The Church (pictured earlier)

View of the Harbour from above

Views through the hexagon looking glass...

Mt. Eden (Volcano)

City Hall

One Tree Hill (Maori settlement and volcano)

North Head (volcanic cone and coastal defense)

Rangitoto (volcano)

And now...the craziest part of the Auckland Sky Tower...the BASE JUMP FROM THE TOP! I've got a picture from the top so you can see where the landing strip is for the base jumpers (guided by lines down to the landing) AND a short video of one of the base jumpers (sorry it's sideways)!

And that was my wonderful day in Auckland :)  Well, tah tah for now! I will tell you more about where I am staying and working in my next blog, which I should be able to have ready in a few days.

Miss you all!

Karen Trotter