JESUS IS THE REASON OF THE SEASON!

ah my dear friends and family members. christmas time is arising all around us. christmas trees in shopping malls and the windows. mannequins dressed up as angels and santa clauses. woderful. last sunday i was in wellington with some friends to attend the chrism's parade. the main road was closed for cars to drive through so it was a bit like fasnachtsomzog in lucerne. different groups of society dressed up and performed their little show. but most of them just sat on their wagons dressed as santas and dancing around more or less motivated. but that was understandable for it was very hot. the range of groups was very wide. it reached from 'a' for amateur cheerleader to 'f' for fallun gong brass band. it was very entertaining.
last wednesday i went to a three day tramping trip with the school. this was one of the many things we do during the time we have the alternative school program with the other international students that dont do the exams. we where about 7 international students that went on the trip. with us where three adults. mrs. howes (she teaches japanese at our school and is in charge of the program) a japanese man and kiwi man (they are both into photography so we stopped at different places on the way up to national park to take beautiful pictures of the scenery). it took us around 6 hours to drive up to national park because as i said we stopped at different places not just to take pictures but also to buy vegis and sweet potatoes for the barbecue we enjoyed this evening. the little motel we lived in in national park was very comfortable and it reminded me of a swiss ski hut because there where old pairs of skies attached to the walls and an old fireplace stood in the middle of the living room at a wall. this is because close to the place is one of the big ski resorts of the north island. the one on mount ruapehu. a volcano which erupted recently. national park itself is a very small village with not much to see. for those of you who read my blog regularly: this is the place where i had the long break on my 12 hour train trip to auckland. remember? just a little restaurant at the train station and then a long, long road and nothing else. yes, that's the place. national park is a village but as the name says also a national park. this park was a gift to the nation by the local maoris. they gave the land to the nation in 1880. and the only condition for the nation was to make it a national park. the maori of course didnt just voluntarily give up a beautiful peace of land. but they believed in group ownership rather than in individual one. they where afraid that the english settlers would split the land up in many, many small compartments for farmers and private persons. thats why the maoris gave it as a gift and made it the 4th national park in the world at that time. the second day was the day of our great tramp. the 'tongariro crossing'. people form all over the world come here to do this tramp and now that ive done it i know why!!
we got up at 7am to eat some scrambled egg and to pack our clothes and lunches and big water bottles. the owner of the motel drove us to the starting point of the tamp in a white van. we got off the van and surrounded by a volcanic landscape with small bushes on infertile soils we put some suncream on and started off at 8.45am. the tramp was incredible. i have never seen anything like that before. to be so close to a volcano is amazing. we walked passed blue lakes and mineral pools and through moon like landscapes. and johnson touched snow for the first time in his life. we made snowballs and fought each other. eight and a half hours later we arrived at the other car park where we were picked up again. not willing to do another step on this day i went to bed early after the chicken curry because i had a head ache. maybe because of the heat we had the whole day long or maybe because i didnt sleep enough last week or maybe because of both. the next day we got up at 8.30am i had a shower ate breakfast and packed my things again. we put our stuff into the red van we had come to national park with. we headed to tauronga first. a small village close to lake taupo which is a huge volcanic crater. we went to a hot mineral pool there. but it wasnt excieting at all. it was indoor on a camping site and a hot pool was the last thing i needed with my head still aching. so i just lay on the soil outside the pool, enjoyed the sun and listened to the birds that enjoyed the spring with me. after that we headed back home. stopping just to eat something at subway and for a toilet break. i was back home on friday at 5.30pm where a happy family waited for me. im really part of them now. juhui. ah yes and i cook every week. and they really like it. even the fuzzy kids.

i wish you all a merry christmas season

dario

Fireworks, stock car racing and more...

OK, this is gonna be a long blog again. you are going to read about many things ive done recently. and i might even add some pictures of events ive been through and persons ive bee with. i dont know if im gonna finish this blog tonight but i will publish it before wednesday. i promise. ok im gonna start just about around the time i left my welcome family. maybe even a bit further back.

about one week before i left them micaela and cherise had a home party. because all clubs are just for people 18 home parties have taken over the role of the place where younger people get drunk. and so did i. it was nothing bad. i mean i had a great time. everything was very funny and i had probably the best conversations with young people ever since ive come here. so i leaned to know many people. it really makes talking to people easier. another thing i learned about being drunk is that the best place to get drunk is at home. because you can just go to bed when you feel like and you dont have to walk home with a head ache. but no worries i had my self under control i was just in an extraordinary good mood and i didnt vomit(gall eliane :) . so really no reason to worry for all parents and grandparents.

i spent the weekend with johnsons family because fiona and tony where at the beach house. it was a long weekend thats why and johnson had asked me before that if i want to come camping with them. so of course i said yes. the time with his family started at their friends house with a BBQ and a board game named 'cash flow' on saturday evening. it reminded me of an advanced version of monopoly and took a long, long time. but if was fun. the plan was to go camping in paekakariki on sunday but jenny, johnons host mother, had a cold and so we choose plan b which in this case was: drive to paekakariki, examine the camping site, go to the beach ,collect shells build a dam with drift wood to hold a little river back then eat the lunch we had made, drive another 20 minutes to paraparumu go to the indoor pool and play on a playground before driving back home again. hui, that was a busy day. i still wonder how jenny managed to keep up with our program. the next morning we went to the movies in lower hutt and i saw 'hair spray' (what do you think about it, peter?) for the second time in just one month. it was still good but ive had enough jhon travolta in the role of e woman for a while now. after the movie (dont ask me why we went to the movies on this beautiful day it was) we of course drove back home where sue (siehe personenliste) was waiting for us right in front of the red brick house johnson lives in. in her car with the pink steering wheel and the pile of blankets. she followed us into the house. had a quick talk to the family. she recommended the 'spirit of adventure'-trip (sailing trip) to me and johnson just before she took me for a ride through upper hutt and beyond. now that we were alone she told me what was really going on. she had a conversation with fiona about me and it turned out that... too much pressure... too much... too less space... privacy... tony moving in... finance... just welcome family... anyway. after this i must say beautiful (as i said wonderful weather this day) ride through the 'lord of the rings' landscapes we both agreed that it would be best for me to change the family now.

and now im gonna tell you some things i did in the last few week. i dont exactly remember when they where(i could look it up in my diary, which i now write every day) but i think it is that you know what i did rather then when i did it.

i was at a stock car racing in palmerston north with johnson and his family. there are stock car racings in upper hutt too but they are later in the season. the stock car racing started at 7 pm. and we left upper hutt at 11 am. johnsons family has two little daughters thats why they often do excursions like this and on the way to places like palmerston north they get off the car at least 2 or 3 times to visit a new playground or an old one or a special one with a little train with cheering kids on it. in palmerston north we had enough time to walk around through the city. its a nice little place. like all cities in new zealand the shops are arranged around a park where all international and new zealand students eat their lunch. there are often some old buildings that look very european on the main road. from there the buildings start to decrease in height and youll soon find your self in a labyrinth of neat little houses. most of them wooden with a garage and a mowed lawn. industry is concentrated on little spots spread throughout the villages and so are cricket and rugby fields, characterized by the very high poles of the goals. we went to an exhibition about a cookie factory which is close to palmerston north because the national rugby museum was closed(what a pity). the stock car racing was great fun. there were several disciplines from big cars that sprinkled us with little mud pieces from the track to small cars. and from motorcycles without breaks to motorcycles with two drivers. a great variety. johnson and i used to bet which car is going to win and we couldnt stop laughing when a car we picked didnt start because its engine shut down before the race even begun. to evening was celebrated with a big firework at the and of the show. after this breathtaking, loud event in the stadium of palmerston north we drove back home. a wonderful two hours ride through the night with nice music from my ipod. oh how i love it to drive through the wonderful landscape with some good music in my ears. those are always my happiest moments.

what else did i do recently? hmm... ah, yes! i went to wellington to see the parliament building from the inside. i was there with many afs students from around wellington although i just planned to go there with johnson and anna. but somehow we were not the only ones that wanted to use this chance. the parliament building it self was a bid disappointment because we were just allowed to walk through the hallways that looked all the same. and no pictures where aloud to be taken. luckily it was fro free. but it was cool to see al our friends but the group split up soon after the visit in the most important building in new zealand.

a week after that we were again in wellington. this time to see the big firework in wellington harbor. the atmosphere reminded me of the seenachtsfest in lucerne. it was very nice. but short too. the started it with firework fired off a helicopter that flew over the harbor and then continued with 18 minutes of consecutive colorful explosions shot off two barks. the firework was on a holiday on which the whole nation celebrates a man who tried to blow up the parliament many years ago. but he had been stopped. now i still dont know if we were celebrating his attempt to blow something up or the people that stopped him from blowing something up.

during my time at julie walters house ive been to the marae which is the maori's holy/sacred place. a marae contains several buildings like a community room or better a hall a big kitchen and some have a kindergarten too where they speak only maori with the children. and there is the actual marae which is the house where they actually have their services and their funerals. ive never been in this building yet but ive been to community dinners. a wonderful experience.

everything is fine at school. today was my last school day because the other students start their one week study holidays on thursday an then two weeks of end-of-year exams follow. the school provides all international students that dont do these exams with a program containing bone carving, horse riding, history lessons(NZ, Maori) and several one or more day trips.
something im really happy about in the moment is that im now in a dragon boating team. after three weeks of evaluation training they finally named the teams. a great opportunity to make friends because we do a lot of teambuilding work. almost like in a theatre group.

so i hope you have a better idea of what im up to now.

have a nice day. dario from new

Finally...

hello,

nice to finally see you again. :)
i know its been a long time since i wrote my last post. many things happened in this period of time. to make it clear for all of you: i changed my host family. this of course is nothing bad even though it sounds very inconvenient. it might be bad for some people that break up with their family in anger and after arguments. but it wasnt form me. it was just something that sneaked up from behind and one they it was clear for both parties. there were several indicators that pointed into this direction. i dont want to explain this here on my blog. it would be far too long to describe ind im sure i will still remember when im back home so for all of you who want to know details about how exactly it all happened just ask me and ill tell you verbally.
now i do have a new address and thats the following one:

Dario Brander
11 Kentucky Street
Totara Park
Upper Hutt
New Zealand

my new home is only about 5 minutes by bike from my old one. so thats a very good thin and i can still go to school by bike and i can still go there with johnson. my family is very nice. i would say nicer than the first one because thei never had an student before. well they had annie before a girl from check republic but only for 3 month and it didnt work out with her because she was too quiet. and i think this wont happen with me. it is again a mother with two children without a partner this time. the kids, caitiann and marshall are 12 and 10 years old. they were very shy at first and are now opening up. i integrated very well in the two weeks ive been here now and we have lots of fun. i do well at school :) and improve my social contacts rapidly.
so thats it for today because i feel tired and my head aches a bit. i didnt sleep much last night because was in wellington last night to see the fireworks. but more about that and other things i did lately soon this week.

greetings dario