Moving on to Porirua

First thing in the morning, we drove about 30 minutes to the beautiful Pataka complex to meet our second host family in Porirua.  Unfortunately, Nathalie had to immediately leave to go to the doctor.  The day before, her sore throat had gotten worse, and it sounded like she was about to get laryngitis.  Since we desperately need her as part of our presentation, I suggested that she try a natural remedy that had worked for me in the past - green tea with baking soda.  Unfortunately, she listened to me and ended up vomiting it up as soon as she reached Porirua.  She has since recovered, thank goodness.

A stunning hand-crafted lae in Pataka

We were then whisked away to our next vocational visits, which for me meant spending about three hours at Whiterea Polytech.  I was able to meet with the program manager of the pre-apprenticeship programs, sit in on a pre-tourism class, and meet with the woman responsible for foundational programming leading to health and social services careers.  It was a wonderful morning, and I learned a lot of interesting things.  What I am quickly learning is that the education system in New Zealand is VERY different from the one in Canada.

It was then off to my second vocational visit, which was a Partners Poirurua.  I met with the woman in charge of programming there and learned how they partner professionals with classrooms in schools in order to create relevant learning for students.  I also learned about some of their transitional education and employment programs and all the wonderful work they are doing for single parents under the age of 18 as well as youth under 18 who are living on their own.  The government has recently started a new welfare benefits program, which is set up more like an allowance and was really interesting to learn about.

It was then back to Bruce and Sue's wonderful home with amazing views for a great lamb dinner before heading back to Wellington to socialize with some more Rotarians.  This group meets monthly as a travel group, and the hosts' son and his partner were there to show photos and talk about their trip around the world.  They are in the seventh month of the trip (They live in Germany, so they are stopping at mom and dad's on the way) and have had the wonderful opportunity to visit both the Galapagos Islands and Antarctica.  The presentation was wonderful and the photos were absolutely amazing.

We then came home, where I immediately fell into bed.