7月25日(金)～8月8日(金）にオークランドにあるセント・ピーターズ校で行われる夏季研修へ、中３から高２までの7名の生徒が出発しました。セント・ピーターズ校は、1936年創立のオークランドから車で3時間ほど北にあるケンブリッジという町にある、共学の私立高です。今夏も、校内の選考を経て派遣が決まった生徒達が楽しみにしていました。皆で旅の安全を祈り、伊丹空港を出発しました。実りある研修となりますように！

Day1～Day4（Golf lesson）

The day has finally come for our trip to New Zealand. Here are the students before our first flight to Narita.

After a long 11 hour journey, we have arrived! Everyone is very excited to be here. 

The students were able to meet their homestay families at St. Peter’s school after a lunch break. Hopefully they were all able to have a relaxing Sunday. 

We had a welcoming ceremony for our first official day at St. Peter’s called the Powhiri. This is a special Maori tradition and we are very fortunate to listen to beautiful Maori songs. Everyone sings so well!

Next, it was off to the driving range for our golf lesson. Some great shots were made. Well done ladies! It’s not so easy to play golf in Japan so this really is a wonderful opportunity.

Day5　Farm Visit

It’s not winter in New Zealand without some rain, and unfortunately we received a lot of it on Tuesday. Despite this, the students seemed to enjoy spending time on the farm under shelter with the calves. We are hoping the weather improves for our trip to Rotorua tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Day6　Rotorua visit

This part of our adventure gives the students an opportunity to learn about the unique aspects of Maori culture. In the morning we visited the Agrodome where we enjoyed the sheep show. Very entertaining!

In the afternoon we were given a guided tour of Te Puia, a facility that boasts three different Maori schools of arts and craft. On top of that, the students were lucky enough to see the New Zealand kiwis and the geysers. The weather had finally cleared. Happy times!

Day7　Velodrome Experience

Today the students had the rare chance to cycle in the Velodrome, a facility used by Olympic cyclists for their competitions. Our coach commended the girls on how well they could ride and their confidence levels would only grow as the lesson progressed. These bicycles do not have brakes so there is a technique on how to ride them and slow down. Well done ladies!

In the afternoon, our two groups made their presentations to a Year 9 English class. The St. Peter’s students were curious to learn more about Japanese food and anime. Everyone seemed to have a great time and overall it was a very successful day.

Day8　Horse riding

We have been blessed with fine weather once again today. Perfect for horse riding, although a little windy and chilly. The students worked in pairs initially to get used to both leading and riding the horses. A course was set up for the girls to complete. Job well done everybody!

Day9 and 10　

The fine weather has continued into the weekend. Very lucky! The shoin students are enjoying time with their homestay families. I’m sure they are taking advantage of the fine  conditions and also recharging for our second and final week at St. Peter’s school.

Day11　Te Miro School visit

The students and teachers of Te Miro School welcomed our group this morning with a Powhiri. All the students played the hot potato game and color tag while practicing as much English as possible. Not only were the Shoin students able to practice English communication, but were able to learn a little more about New Zealand. We were gifted with a Taniwha, a protector of sorts in Maori culture. After our classroom activities, we were given a tour of the school grounds and were shown how much our planted tree from last year had grown. These visits are always very special to us and we will cherish these moments for a long time.

Day12　Waitomo Caves and Kiwi House Visits

We were very fortunate to see the kiwi birds on more than one occasion this trip at both Te Puia and the Kiwi House. The students were able to see the different kinds of New Zealand wildlife. In the afternoon we visited Waitomo Caves and enjoyed seeing the glow worms. What a spectacular sight to see! This is always one of the highlights of this trip.

Day13　Farewell presentation and shopping

It was a wonderful two weeks in beautiful New Zealand. Sadly, the farewell party comes around very quickly. A big thank you to the St. Peter’s community, staff members, buddies and the homestay families for welcoming us every year with open arms. We cannot thank you all enough.We stopped by Sylvia Park Shopping Mall on the way back to Auckland. This is the final chance for the students to buy souvenirs.

day14 and 15

We made it back safely to Japan. Our stay at a Narita hotel for one night is always pleasant after a long 10 hour flight. The food is delicious!Thank you all for an amazing trip. I hope you cherish these memories for years to come.