The Botanical Gardens

I assume it will take some time to adapt to the time change. Last night, my jet-lagged body fell asleep shortly after 9 pm. I rested well but then woke up at 4:00 am Monday morning which is 10:00 am Sunday morning back home. On a positive note, it was great timing to do a Facetime call with my wife and daughter.

I hung around the lobby until 6:00 am for the breakfast buffet. While eating, I learned a lot about the country from the local newspaper as well as my waiter.

The New Zealand Herald resembles the Winnipeg Sun but is much more tabloid focused. Several pages were dedicated to a political scandal involving the Mayor of Wellington, his alleged mistress, and an aide to his opponent that was somehow tied up in the whole thing. There was a neat quote in one article that put a different spin on similar phrases in North American culture. In referencing the aide and his tactics, one article said ‘Dirt smears the digger as well as the target”.

I also read some interesting things about the New Zealand education system which gave me some important perspective as I begin my time here. We came to learn about the unique and innovative things that they are doing in this country. However, they are not without their challenges...and these challenges are similar to what many schools and divisions face back home.

For example, a front page story chronicled recent teen suicides in the Northland region of the country that were apparently connected with bullying and social media.  This region has been shaken by 34 suicides in the past year while having only 20 highway fatalities.

Also, there was a full page story about how schools and educators are concerned about the national standards tests and the countries practice of listing and ranking school and district results.
I also chatted a bit with my waiter, a former primary school teacher. He told me about some interesting places to visit, talked about the high cost of living, and gave me advice about who and when to tip. Interestingly, because it was a breakfast buffet, he told me I absolutely did not have to tip him. He joked about how in North America people tip hairdressers and cab drivers.

We spent the early part of the day visiting the Botanical Gardens at the top of the mountain in Wellington. We reached it by a cable car ride up and walked down. Later, we took a train about twenty minutes north of the city to a small town of Porirua to visit its museum and art gallery.
During the day, I was impressed with the unique vehicles and vehicles names. There were Nissan Pulsars and Qashqai’s, Mitsubishi Tritons, a Toyata Hilux, and several different models of Holden.

We just finished watching the end of the World Series game 4 on ESPN. After a bit of a break, we are getting together for supper. Tomorrow morning we get down to business with a visit to the Ministry of Education.