My Study Abroad

My bucket list only has one item on in it: travel outside the United States.  I've completed that, so I guess I can die now.

I've been living in New Zealand for a few months.  And since I am still taking my online classes, I sometimes call this my study abroad.  But because I do a lot of babysitting my nephew, my sister calls me her au pair.  Whatever this time is called, I thought some peoples would want to know what it's like.

I came to New Zealand with my dad and friend from Utah.  My sister and her husband have been gracious hosts.  The beach is so close.  And I love beaches.  If you wade in the bay close to their house, there are often crabs scurrying across your feet or away from them.  The last time I saw so many crabs was in my neighbourhood in Wilmington, North Carolina.  And they would be in the gutters after a large rain.

 We live across the street from the marae.  I've been able to attend a powhiri for one of the teams participating in Te Matatini.  They stayed at the marae across the street.  And Te Matatini was awesome, even though we only watched some of it on TV.

One of the classes I was taking while being abroad was a diversity in recreation.  And the class was mainly about race, ethnicity, and the struggles of participating in recreation if a person is not White.  It has been awesome to hear various sides of relationships among different races and cultures and to see differences in how people participate in life.  However, so many times while reading the textbook and thinking about my experiences, I think people are really the same.  We have the same needs and desires.  Some of us are just raised a little differently.

I have had roommates who are Chinese, Indonesian, Belarusian, Argentine, Mexican, Polynesian, Nigerian, Colombian, and more.  We have the same basic needs.  And living in New Zealand, we still have the same needs.  During my class, the chorus of Depeche Mode's "People are People" played over and over in my head.

Now that my study abroad rant is over, I'll share the joys of being an au pair.  I'm not a real au pair; all I do is babysit my nephew for a few hours a day.  I get baby snuggles every day.  What could be better than that?  My sister and I used to joke that I would come live with her and be a stay-at-home aunt while she worked.  That would be awesome, but eventually I'm gonna have to leave this cute baby.  And then I'll have to be a real adult.  Boo.  Guess I'll squeeze in as many snuggles as I can.