Monday 30 September 2013

Blue and Gold Hockey

Men's ice hockey is the only D 1 and probably the biggest sport at school. The blue gold is their first match of the season, the team is split into two and they play against each other.


It's a hockey stick


Puck drop.



So I've never been to hockey before but there's five people plus a goalie on each team. It's really fast paced and they can hit the puck up to 100mph.




The Zamboni smooths the ice before the game and at half time.



Lots of the team are from Canada Eh.











Sunday 29 September 2013

Hall of Fame

Today was the annual Nanook Hall of Fame induction ceremony. One of Coach's past swimmers was one of four inductees, so we got two tables brought out for us to attend. It was held in the ballroom of the Wedgewood resort.


There was a breakfast buffet with reindeer sausage.


Heres a link to the event info: http://alaskananooks.com/news.
Of the four inductees one of them was Jamie Gray, a nanook alumni and 2012 Olympic gold medalist in rifle shooting. So adding to my collection of famous sports people's autographs I now have Jamie's and Pat Spurgin (now Pitney) who was gold medalist in 1984 also for shooting. She is also a friend of one of the girls on the team. Even in America its a small world!





Wednesday 25 September 2013

Care package

Just because you're in America doesn't mean mum won't send you the essentials.



To share or not to share?




Tuesday 24 September 2013

More snow

Third day of snow, thought it wasn't going to stick but it was snowing most of the day yesterday and again ths morning.



They put these up as a mark of the first day of snow.


And this guy was putting salt on the stairs and paths.









In America

You can walk out onto the road and cars won't hit you.


Halloween candy in September


I ordered a small




You can also chew gum, wear hats and sit on tables in class. Shout out to Mrs T from Pahiatua School, I can handle the gum, but not bums on desks. And hats mess up my hair anyway.

Monday 23 September 2013

For Andrew

Proof I am not just hiding at home.


Moose are much more docile that you think.


Bit this guy freaked me out a little bit.





Friday 20 September 2013

Business 151

Intro to business starts off with chapter one, the world of business. It decribes the types of business, inputs into a firm, GDP, the business cycle and types of competition. This is a first level class, and so far the first week has been stuff from year 11-13 economics.


As you get towards the end of the chapter, there is a whole section on 19th and 20th century Business in America. Are you sure thats the WORLD of Business? So I had to brush up on a some federal laws but Im sorted now. Thanks to Roosevelt in the 1930s, the economy recovered well after the depression. Great news.
There was a 'pop quiz' last week. 10/10 thank you. 8.5/10 for participation ie putting your hand up. Good start, but since the class is out of a total 1000 points (with 50-75 extra credit!) there is only 980 points to go.



Thursday 19 September 2013

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Swimming Life


Here's an update for all the swimmers back home. Last week was the first full twenty hour week. Every morning starts at 5.30, what a sleep in! We do stretches and get split up into lanes where each lanes focusses on a certain race. For Kathryn that is a mixture of 200,500, 1000 and the mile. Sometimes for a change, the 400 IM.

Its cool doing fast as times. I can do 200s on a send off like 10-15 seconds faster than I could back at kiwi. We did a dive start 50 and I went two 26.5s. The weird thing is doing 500s instead of 400s and 100s on the 1.20 are pretty easy.

Coach Scott invented fist gloves. Funny feeling at first, but gets you to focus on pulling with the rest of your arm, not just your hand. Once you take them off, it feels awesome to swim fast easily. Fist Gloves

Just like they drive, we all swim up the right hand side of the lane. But the side lane is not so bad because the water comes right up to the wall so you don't hit your hand. It used to be a diving pool so one end is super deep. Scott likes the pool to be cold because he swims in it himself. It has been around 27, which is a bit colder than home, but the goal temp is around 24-25. No time for standing around at training because you get cold.



As much as I love Andrew's playlist, Its much better to have the girls pick out some songs from this century :). Theres an underwater speaker so you can hear listen to music when your doing warm up.

Got some more new gears as well.



Tuesday 17 September 2013

Sunday 15 September 2013

Chena Riverboat

Here is a bit of education for ya'll.
The river boat discovery is a family run business that takes you down the Chena river. Its a huge paddle steamer boat with three storeys.


                           








We saw these planes take off and land on the water. Along the way there were about 5-6 docked up by people's houses. (the rich people can afford to live on the river bank)


The sled dogs that compete in the Iditarod race. 1,100 miles up through Alaska. Learnt some of the calls "hock" for left and "gee" for right. What do you think Dad? Would that work for our dogs?



In this hes going about 30kms but when they race the Iditarod, they hold about 13-16 km/hr. Or just turn the motor on?


Caribou, apparently they are basically wild reindeer.


This lady showed us how to cut and dry salmon.



They let us off at the Chena village, a native Indian village. There were a lot of tourists, I felt right at home.









Up close with the dogs and their trainer. This guy looks like my dog Emma, just maybe double or even triple the size. This team of dogs have part Border Collie in them, I guess they why they also win.



Back on shore theres a forty below room I had to check out. Ive got to prepare myself for the months ahead.