Haere Mai! Welcome!

Greetings and welcome to the CCSP New Zealand Spring 2014 blog! What better way to hear about the first weeks of the semester than from one of our very own students Sarah (from Gordon College)!

The group, plus staff members Adam, Kristen, and Brian.

Kia Ora!

Hello from CCSP class of Spring 2014! We are excited to update you about our first few weeks here in Kaikoura. We all arrived on Wednesday January 22 in Christchurch and made our way back to the Old Convent, our home for the next three and a half months. We began our semester by gathering together for an iconic meal of Fish and Chips on the beach. That night we had a small service opening our time together and inviting the Lord to come and work in us and through us this semester. 

Everyone enjoyed our Iconic Kiwi Tea night, an evening of popular kiwi foods, films, and phrases.

Over the week we participated in many activities including a scavenger hunt of downtown Kaikoura in order to help us become familiar with the town. In order to get points we had to provide picture evidence with at least one group member in the photo. Kristen, one of our Student Life Coordinators, compiled a slide show of the craziest and arguably best pictures and made each group explain what question it was answering. There were some pretty great photos and we all know the town pretty well now!

Getting acquainted with Kaikoura during the photo scavenger hunt.

We also had the privilege of going on the Peninsula Walk, which has great views of the Kaikoura Mountain Range and South Bay. If you look closely enough you can see seal colonies, a variety of birds including the endangered Hutton Shearwater, and potentially even a whale or two. On this walk Brett, a local Department of Conservation Officer and our Maori language and culture instructor, guided us along the walk. Later in the week Brett instructed us in the procedure for a Maori welcome ceremony, which we participated in at the beautiful marae (Maori meeting house) in Kaikoura. We also got to learn how to use a taiaha, a Maori staff. We all had a great time practicing our moves throughout the week.

We had beautiful weather for the Kaikoura Peninsula Walk.

 On Saturday we all headed out to Sawcut Gorge, which is located about an hour north of Kaikoura. Lead by Brian (Sustainable Food Coordinator), Kristen and Adam (Student Life Coordinators) we traversed the trail through the river and up towards the gorge. About 2/3 of the way up we stopped for a bit of a swim and we all had fun swimming in the chilly mountain runoff. Sunday after church we hosted a community BBQ to help the new students get to know local friends of the program and to learn about what we do here at the Old Convent. 

Another beautiful day for a hike up to Sawcut Gorge!

Another day we got to visit the Topp’s sheep farm. Kevin and Sandy are good friends of our director and staff at the convent, and Kevin was ordained as an Anglican priest on our first Sunday here. Kevin and Sandy own a 4,000 acre farm and own 3,000 sheep which they shear for wool every year. They kindly hosted us, providing an insight into one of the animals that New Zealand is well known for (there are more sheep than there are people here!). Kevin sheared two sheep for us and explained the symbiotic process between sheep and farmer. If a sheep is not sheared every two years, it will die of infection. When the farmer shears a sheep he can profit from the wool, allowing both to exist. While on the farm we also got to see how sheep dogs herd and feed a lamb named Leah. 

Sheep, sheep, and more sheep (and of course our wonderful hosts Kevin and Sandy Topp)! Sarah enjoyed feeding "Leah" the lamb her mid-morning meal.

Love,

Sarah & the Rest of CCSP Spring 2014