Can't turn back the hands of time..

I'm writing this from the comfort of the Wharekai as the wind blows loud enough to whistle through the windows and Jason Derulo blasts over the sound system in the kitchen. It's been a pretty academic day here at EcoQuest which is fine since it's been so crumby out and we haven't had a whole lot of classroom time yet. Hope put it pretty well comparing EcoQuest to elementary school: we have one classroom that we stay in all day, we have breaks for snacks ("tea time") every hour, we have cubbies ("pigeon holes"), and it's FUN unlike high school/college style learning (for the most part).

Yesterday was a half-day, which was spent on the beach in Tapapakanga Regional Park, a few minutes north of Kaiaua. We started off by having a half-hour to explore, which they encouraged us to do by ourselves so that we could reflect on the

past few days. I took this "scheduled me-time" as a blessing because we have spent so much time together that it was nice to take a step back. It was the fastest half an hour of my life, and before I knew it I was a mile away from our meeting tree in front of a waterfall coming down from the red clay cliffs with no one else in sight. It was chilly but peaceful and I made my way back slowly, as it turned out everyone else did.

We had a solo activity in which we had to draw a "tree of life" that had our roots, trunk, branches, and leaves representing different aspects of our lives. We were allowed to get as creative as possible and they urged us to be as honest with ourselves as possible since sharing our work was optional. Normally I hate those self-exploration type things since they are kind of a pain and really cheesy, but I honestly enjoyed this one. It helped me take a step back and realize where I am and where I plan on going with my life. Later on, we worked in groups to make a sculpture of our vision of "sustainability." Every group had a different idea, some complex and some simple, but they were all really great.

Later on I went on a bike ride with some girls. They make us wear these goofy reflective vests every time we go running/cycling and the helmets are at least 15 years old. The bikes are these rusty old "mountain bikes" but they get the job done. Needless to say, as if all the townspeople didn't know before, they knew now that the Americans were back in town... aka band of retards haha. We stopped to take a walk on a natural jetty made entirely out of seashells and a pick-up truck sped by with a guy hanging out the window and screaming "PRAISE JESUS!". I think he was glad that there is going to be a new group of females frequenting the only pub for miles.

I woke up feeling really crumby today so I decided to not to go for a run in case it made me feel worse. We learned a lot about the Maori today and their customs, like how to do the Hangi greeting and what to do when we enter the Marae. There is a song that we learned to sing as a greeting to the Maori as well, which is incredibly pretty and meaningful (I'll post it later). Other than that, nothing too exciting. I'm sitting at Grannie's with the whole gang watching the Blues Brothers on DVD.