It's December and nearly Christmas!!!

                              
Feliz Natal!!     Joyeux Noël  메리 크리스마스 Feliz Navidad   メリークリスマス 
Fröhliche Weihnachten


Our end of the year celebration was truly special!! Our families headed to the beach to reproduce a truly Kiwi Summer's Day! We all met at the playground which gave time for the kids to run around and have fun together. The weather wasn't really typical of a Summer's day.... what a shame....but it didn't stop us having fun!! We decided not to go down to the beach for our picnic so we camped at the grass sheltering from the persistent wind!

It was lovely to hear the families sharing stories about Christmas in our own countries and how it compares to New Zealand. In Brazil we also have a very hot Christmas as it's Summer there too - Southern Hemisphere. But places like England, France and Germany, for example, in the Northern Hemisphere have a very cold Christmas and sometimes even a white Christmas with snow falling in some areas of the countries... 

When I immigrated with my family to New Zealand, a friend gave us a lovely book/cd called "A Kiwi Jingle Bells" by Yvonne Morrison and Deborah Hinde. It is just a really sweet story about a traditional Kiwi family spending a day over Christmas  Holiday on the beach doing all "Kiwi" things. The International Children's Group had a great time trying to reproduce this day with a picnic where everyone brought a bit of the kiwi snacks and we ended the day with a Fish & Chips dinner together. Kids had a game of touch of course, a bit of cricket and parents joined them too for a traditional "Bat Down" game - someone pitches the ball, you try to hit it and everyone (but batter) tries to get the ball. When ball is collected, batter puts bat down and persons with the ball has to roll it at the bat, if it hits they get to be batter, if not, you go again. Great fun!!

Have a look at the song on the book I copied below. I'm sure you have done some of these activities or eaten some of these food! If not, try this Summer with the family! Have a good one! Pictures of the day on the bottom. 

Thank you to all the families members of the International Children's Group! We had a great year and I can't wait to start planning our meetings for 2016!! Merry Christmas!!

Dashing to the bay,

on a Kombi campervan,

Christmas at the beach -

the family's master plan.

Dad is at the wheel

and Mum sits by his side,

we kids are squabbling in the back

as we go for a ride.

Oh jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,

Christmas in New Zealand on a sunny summer's day, ay!

Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way,

Oh what fun is to have a kiwi holiday!

We stop at the shops,

to load the chilly bin,

hockey-pockey ice cream

soon dribbles down my chin.

We jump into the van,

heading for the shore,

Dad fiddles with the radio

to hear the cricket score.

Oh jingle bells, jingle bells...

Soon we're at at he beach,

our rellies shout "G'day!"

We swap our christmas pressies

A boogie board - hooray!

We change into our togs,

and to the sea we run...

what a joy to splash and swim,

summer's so much fun!

Oh jingle bells, jingle bells.....

The grown-ups call us in,

they've laid us out a spread:

lunch is fish 'n' chips

and cheerios in bread

L&P to drink

pavlova, pud and pie

Anzac bikkies, choccy fish

- it's cracker Kiwi kai!

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells....

The kids are keen to play,

but the Dads all went to nap,

the sunscreen starts to fly,

as Mums go slip-slop-slap.

We race out to the sand,

to play a game of touch, 

but all the cuzzies are too slow,

because they ate too much!

Oh jingle bells, jingle bells ....

The barbecue heats up,

the sun begins to sink,

our tea's as good as gold,

we've scoffed it in a wink.

It's nearly time for bed,

we've had an awesome day,

celebrating Christmas time

the real New Zealand way!

Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells....

                     

A Sports Day in the Park! Our October Meeting

                

What a beautiful sunny day we had for our Sports Day! It's the middle of school holidays but we had a few families keen in meeting up and sharing a bit of their culture with us at the park!

It's only Spring but it felt like a Summer's Day! The sun was shinning, the sky was blue and the park was filled with children having fun and playing in the fields. It was actually very hot and sun scream and hats were a must among all of us!

We had a relaxed day where all the cultures came together to talk about a traditional sport of their country. I started talking about Brazil and we did our usual geography with the help of the world map, followed by Brazilian's most loved sport..... Soccer!! Ben helped me to explain the rules of soccer and all the other children joined in too as soccer seems to be a well loved sport played by many different cultures! 

Sandy and Mai showed us how to play the Petanque, a very traditional game in France where people gather together to play as a social event.

Zoya talked about her favopurite sport - Equestrian Vaulting. A very popular sport right here in Kapiti with the Equestrian centre located in Waikanae.

Then was England's turn and Robert talked about Cricket. A sport that is also widely played in New Zealand! In England is very common to see cricket players dressed traditionally all in white playing at the parks in the suburbs. A sport that can last for days! Very complicated if you ask me!

Then was the time for some Martial Arts! Malte talked about Judo and gave some demonstration of this martial art which is very popular in France and other parts of the world. Ben and Daniel also demonstrated the Brazilian JiuJitsu and Sandy mentioned that in Korea Taekwondo is the traditional martial art of the country.

Then was the turn for Aki to talk about a traditional sport in Japan. We were introduced to Sumo - "a competitive full-contact wrestling sport where a rikishi (wrestler) attempts to force another wrestler out of a circular ring (dohyō) or into touching the ground with anything other than the soles of the feet. The characters 相撲 literally mean "striking one another".

Here is a little bit about Sumo that I extracted from Wikipedia:

The sport originated in Japan, the only country where it is practiced professionally. It is generally considered to be a gendai budō (a modern Japanese martial art), though this definition is misleading as the sport has a history spanning many centuries. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from the days when sumo was used in the Shinto religion. Life as a wrestler is highly regimented, with rules laid down by the Japan Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal "sumo training stables", known in Japanese as heya, where all aspects of their daily lives—from meals to their manner of dress—are dictated by strict tradition.

Aki showed us many pictures of Sumo players and the kind of food they have to eat.... a lot! They eat a lot! The bigger you are the better in Sumo!

After our talk was time for some fun! The children had the chance to actually practise the real Sumo! Have a look at some of our pictures below. The day continued with lots of games of cricket, soccer and rugby with the children choosing what they wanted to play. The EdgeWater Park in Waikanae was a perfect place for our day which ended with a shared picnic and lots of splashing in the river! We will definitely have more meetings in the park as the Summer approaches!

Enjoy the pics:

We always start with a bit of Geography 

                        

 

Robert talking about Cricket

Zoya Talking about Vaulting

Malte talking about Judo

                      

 

Our Sumo session begins!!!!

                          

                    

 

                         

 

                            

 
 

A bit of Soccer

                   

 

Great time splashing!! What a beautiful day!

Brazilian Festa Junina

In September we talked about the Brazilian "Festa Junina"! The winter country party in Brazil that traditionally happens in June (hence the name "Junina"). Being in the South Hemisphere, the winter months in Brazil are the same as in New Zealand - June, July and August. So sometimes we have the "Festa Junina" happening in the other months too. Although we welcome the Spring in September, we had a fantastic time in our party last Saturday. And remember, the winter in most parts of Brazil is very mild, specially in the areas near the Equator Line! The south of Brazil though can get very cold.

It was great to see all the children dressed up as we do in Brazil for "Festa Junina"!! The straw hat and the moustache for the boys was a must and the checked shirts and ponytails for the girls were awesome too! Even the parents joined in the fun!

We started our meeting as usual with our talk about the country. Geography, continent, history, flag, language etc. The children were great counting the numbers in Portuguese and again I was amazed by their knowledge of the flags around the world in our Flag Game!

The fun started with our party!! Traditional Brazilian music at "Festa Junina"  - "Forro" - played during the party and we danced the "Quadrilha". Check some of the photos below. Traditional games were set up around the hall and the children had fun choosing which ones they wanted to play first. Great help from the parents here supervising all the games, thank you! Our craft activity was a hit too! Buntings are the decoration you will see in every "Arraia" - as we call in Brazil (the place where the party happens). 

The food was so yummy!! Cakes are very traditional in our winter party as well as corn, sweet potatoes (that we actually cook in the bonfire during the party in Brazil!) and the very tasty Brazilian hot dog with lots of home-made sauce!! The cheese bread were an extra touch of Brazilian finger food. Not used much in "Festa Junina", but you will see pretty much in every birthday party, get togethers etc... everyone loves them and it is so easy to make!! Find its very easy recipe at the end of this post.

So, enjoy the pictures below, while I will actually make another batch of cheese bread for afternoon tea!

We started with the Brazil presentation 

  

            

 

Who knows this flag?

             

 

Great Costumes!                                                   My little helper!

 And the dance starts!!  "Quadrilha"

Time for some games!!

Can you dance with a potato in your forehead?

 Hit the cans!

Potato on the Spoon!

Sack Race!

Food yummie food!

           

Making buntings

And dancing the limbo with them!

Thank you everyone!!

The Brazilian Cheese Bread - Easy Peasy!!

Easy Brazilian Cheese Bread Recipe

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 15 minutes
• Yield: Enough batter for 16 mini muffin sized cheese breads.

Ingredients

• 1 egg*
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2/3 cup milk
• Scant 1 1/2 cups (170 grams) tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup (packed, about 66 grams) grated cheese, your preference, though we got the best results from Mexican farmer's cheese - queso fresco
• 1 teaspoon of salt (or more to taste)

Special equipment recommended:

• One or two mini muffin tins. Mini muffin tins are about half the size of a regular muffin pan. The muffin openings are about 1-inch deep, and 1 3/4 inch wide at the top.

*It helps when baking with eggs to start with eggs at room temperature. If you don't plan ahead (that would be me, usually) you can put the egg in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes to gently take off the chill of the fridge.

1 Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a mini-muffin tin. Put all of the ingredients into a blender and pulse until smooth. You may need to use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the blender so that everything gets blended well. At this point you can store the batter in the refrigerator for up to a week.

                                

2 Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until all puffy and just lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool on a rack for a few minutes.

Eat while warm or save to reheat later.