Our three new international students have been settling into life in New Zealand. Here is an update of how they have adapted to life here.

❤ My life in New Zealand ❤ by Betty Liu

I went to see the penguins and sea lions with my friend Guoguo when I had just arrived in New Zealand. The sea lions were very funny, they just lay on the big rocks, and basked in the sun. Actually, we saw two sea lions fighting against each other, too! One intruded onto another’s rock, and they used their long sharp teeth to bite each other. And the penguins were very cute, we just saw some little penguins, they were all in a sink-like box, and looked vigilantly at us, but the smell was not very nice!

I joined a church activity, too. I read the Bible with other children, and felt the Lord’s power. We also acted the story, I was the narrator in it. We played games, and the teachers would tell us the reason we played the game, and we had sweets to eat! There was a BBQ that day (the BBQ is held once a year), and we ate roast sausages and drumsticks, it was delicious! We watched the magic show, and every magic trick contained a truth. The BBQ was meaningful.

I also went to the Train Station, and saw the art exhibition. I watched a lovely lady drawing the coast and sea of Dunedin, she was good at painting. She was very enthusiastic, too. There were many fantastic works - abstract, realistic, landscape paintings, figure paintings, animals and flower paintings. They also had some exquisite bookmarks, labels and pretty earrings in the shop. I loved all of them!

My new school – Columba College – is superb. We have done a lot of activities such as Athletics Day. We wore our house colours and showed our individuality. We had the 100 meters race, high jump, long jump, shot put, 400 meters, 800 meters, 1500 meters, houses relay and the boarders vs. Day girls relay. It was all fabulous! It was hot that day, and we were all sweating. At noon, I ate hotdogs and snacks with my friends, we sat on the lawn, played games, and listened to music. We danced our house dance, it was really fun. My house, Solway, was the champion of the Athletics Day 2023, it was unforgettable. We all enjoyed that day.

Columba College organised for the international students to see the mayor. All of the international students in Dunedin attended this ceremony. The mayor was very kind, he not only welcomed us to come to Dunedin, but also encouraged us to study English hard. And then, we ate many delicious snacks and talked to the students from other schools. There was a playground on the hill, too. And then, we took photographs. We were all reluctant to go back to the school.     

❤ Life in New Zealand ❤ by Hayley Tsang

I have been in New Zealand for a while now and I am getting used to life here.

I went to Lake Tekapo and Queenstown with my family in January. I also went to pick cherries. There are many different types of cherries and I ate a lot. I love rainier cherries the most because they are sweet.

Lake Tekapo is very pretty because the water is so blue. My cousin taught me how to skim stones. I tried many times, almost hitting my cousin, but I only managed to get stones to skip three times. We went to the Church of the Good Shepherd and we saw a wedding. My cousin wanted to watch it because she was getting married soon afterwards. Finally, we went to Tekapo Springs. We had fun playing in the springs, but unfortunately we were too late to go on the slides. Maybe next time.

The next day, we also went to NZ Alpine Lavender. I fell in love with lavender after this trip. Lavender smells good and it’s pretty. I took some photos with my nana and the rest of my family. There were some bicycles and we could ride them in the lavender garden. It was like a romantic movie. There were lots of places in the gardens to take beautiful photos. I brought my toy shark, Dog (my Christmas present from my friends) and I put it in the basket in front of the bicycle but it fell out. I didn’t notice Dog was missing for ages. When I found it, it was really dirty. My nana bought lavender hand cream for her and me. It smells so good. I also bought dried flowers and I love them so much. I put them in my room. Before returning to Dunedin, we went to Queenstown. I ate a big FergBurger there - it was yummy, but to be honest, I thought their fries were even better.

When we came back to Dunedin, I also went to the beach. It is very big but the water is very cold. I went to a restaurant near the beach for a sweet dessert. I ate tiramisu and I loved it so much. I had never tried it in Hong Kong. I surprised my cousin by eating it in less than one minute. I felt like I was in heaven and now it is my favourite dessert.

I started to go to school in February. I joined the social volleyball team and I love it so much. At first, I was too afraid to talk to people, but after a couple of weeks, I made some new friends. They are nice and I talk to them sometimes. I love Wednesdays and Fridays because I can play volleyball with my friends. I sometimes go to Unipol after school and have tutoring twice a week after school. I sometimes go skateboarding and play my guitar on the weekend. I also draw when I'm bored. I think I will join basketball and cross country in terms 2 and 3. I hope I can love my new life in New Zealand.

During this term break, I will go to Melbourne because my parents will go to Melbourne to travel. I haven’t seen my parents for seven months so I'm so excited. We’ll go to the zoo and gallery. I like art so I want to see some beautiful paintings. My mum wants to see a kangaroo and I want to see a koala because I think it is so cute! I’m so excited but I need to go by myself so I'm a little bit scared. That's fine because I think I can do this.

❤ My New Life in New Zealand ❤ by Guoguo Yang

This is my first time leaving China and going to another country so everything for me is all new. There are a lot of things that I should know, to try and work hard on. New Zealand is a big and beautiful country and I want to learn more about it, so I have traveled to a lot of interesting places.

I went to Oamaru to see the penguins with my friend Betty. Most of the penguins had gone to hunt for their dinner, but there still were a few penguins left by the base and they looked pretty cute. There were a lot of sea lions next to the base and they were also very cute. Some of them were sleeping, some of them were fighting, and some of them were laying by the rock and enjoying the sunshine. We didn’t take a photo of the penguins, but my mum took a lot of photos of the sea lions.

I went to many different beaches, and we did different activities. The beaches are all so beautiful, I can’t say which of them is the most beautiful one. The beaches and ice-cream are the best for Summer. Sometimes, I’ll go for a ride on my bike next to the ocean where I can see the beautiful ocean, be active and enjoy the sunshine at the same time! After that, mum will reward me with a chocolate milkshake, which is super yummy!

One day I went to the weekend market with my mum. It was a sunny day and lots of people were there - everyone felt happy. There are many kinds of little shops there, like candy shops, rock shops, skin care shops, wood shops, food shops, and so on. We had a lot of fun on that day.