Hello wonderful Carpe Diem students and families,
We hope you are well and, for those on the east coast, recovering from the recent snowstorm. We at Carpe HQ are finalizing all the details for your travels and trying to troubleshoot in advance any problems that may arise due to the weather we’ve been having over the past week.
We want to emphasize the importance of checking in for any domestic… Read More
Hey Hongi Crew, Family, and Friends!
Just over one week to go until the Hongi crew is standing on the shores of Fiji. It may seem like a world away, but the days are flying by here in Portland as all of the Carpe Diem leaders plan and prepare for our adventures.
Welcome to the blog. While we are overseas this will be our link to family and friends at… Read More
This week, the group arrived in Newcastle, Australia, to begin our week of volunteer work with the CVA (Conservation Volunteers Australia)! We were split up into two different groups for the week–Neil, Courtney, Sadie, Tommy, Abbott, and me (Sienna) stayed in Newcastle, and Macy, Ally, Rob, Taylor, and Kitch were driven out about three hours to a farm, where I’m sure they’re having a blast.
My group is staying in… Read More
It’s time now for our free travel! We have managed to land an awesome deal with a rafting company which Michelle had some contacts in. 9 of us will be doing 2.5 days hiking on the St. James Walkway and deviating from it a little bit to reach the destination where we will be picked up and then go rafting down the Clarence River for 3 days. We woke up… Read More
Hello friends and family! What an awesome trip it’s been so far. About a week ago we took a 3 hour ferry ride from the northern island to the southern island and stayed in Wellington for a couple nights. I didn’t think New Zealand could get any more beautiful but the southern island is proving me wrong. Right outside the hostel I’m typing this from I can see vibrant bright… Read More
We are broken up into four groups every day; Daily Chores, Kitchen Crew, Gardening Crew and Farming Crew.
The Daily group is the only group who’s job is the same everyday; milking the cows! Your day begins at 6 am when you walk to the milking house and milk 55 cows whose milk is used to feed the baby calves. Then its off to feed the chickens before breakfast. The… Read More
It’s day three on the Sentry Hill organic farm in New Zealand and we’ve been up to just about everything. Tom and P.J. have taught us how to herd flock, milk cows, feed chickens and pigs, thistle grub, plant crops, sheer sheep, and cook for 19 people three times a day! However today held a special suprise for the Hongi students; Pet Day! We accompanied Tom and P.J’s kids, Ben,… Read More
After a long morning of leaving te Nananu village and spending a few days at a hostel in Nadi, we finally made our (long way of connecting flights from Nadi to Sydney back up to Auckland), where we would spend three days running around Auckland and indluging in the city. It was a great change of pace for many of us, from the use of internet to the choice of… Read More
We arrived on a late, chilly night in New Plymouth, NZ after a long day of traveling from Auckland. Tran, the leader of TOA, picked up up from the bus stop and piled all of us and all of our stuff into his truck. Trans family and Martin, another leader of TOA, had an amazing meal waiting for us at the cottage we would be staying at. Since it was… Read More
Hello from New Zealand! We have made it safe and sound, despite all the stress of travel. We are so excited to be here, though we do miss our Fijian family terribly. Our last week in Nananu was wonderful: chock full of family time, kava, and mangoes. We spent our days continuing work on the community center (or doing the best we could, the Fijians bested us a bit), with… Read More
Hongi group arrived in Nadi, Fiji early Saturday morning. We traveled by bus to Tubakula Beach Bungalow. We immediately dropped our things off and decided we wanted food so we needed to go grocery shopping in town. We headed off to the nearest town, Sigatoka, got our groceries and then were paired into two’s and started a scavenger hunt. Certain tasks on the scavenger hunt included; visiting the Hindu temple,… Read More
Greetings Friends and Families,
After a wonderful and lengthy leadership training the final group has gathered in the airport, passed through security, and are minutes away from taking off on their flight to Fiji. In just over 11 hours, plus a day, they will be walking out onto the tarmac into a hot, sweaty, sunny and beautiful Pacific island.
Stay tuned to the blog for updates on their safe arrival… Read More
Dear Carpe Diem Students and Parents,
It’s just a few more days until all our to-be travelers and Overseas Educators will be departing for destinations across the globe. We have been busy preparing the OE’s over the last two weeks while getting all the last minute preparations finished! We are all feeling really great and ready to embark on the myriad journeys that will take place over the next 3… Read More
Shangu and I arrived in Portland just 11 days ago, but in someways time has flown by and in other way it seems like months ago that I stepped off the train in Portland and made my way over to where we were doing out staff training and prep. Our days have been a mix of getting to know this crazy, beautiful, diverse, passionate, inspiring group of other Overseas Educators… Read More
In honor of the amazing, unforgettable past three months, I just wanted to share this picture of our beautiful family in our awesome MORP outfits that we got for each other 🙂 We sure are a good-looking group!
We finished up our trip with delicious Indian food (per tradition), some good ol’ Essence and Hawk and Prey, and a few awesome reflections on the beach by candlelight. We also… Read More
Hello all blog followers,
First off, I would like to thank you for following our blog throughout the trip and for commenting and showing interest in our many adventures. It has meant a lot to us 🙂
Now, on to the blog:
Monday morning we woke up super early and headed out to Fitzroy Island! We spent Monday diving and snorkeling in the GREAT BARRIER REEF! It was breath takingly… Read More
Shalom everybody! (That hello in Hebrew if anyone was wondering…)
After we left the house of Buddha on Monday morning we began FREE TRAVEL!!! Wait wait wait. Didn’t we already have free travel? Oh what a good question Ori, but you see – our trip is sooooo awesome that we have two free travels! AHHH poop in my pants thats amazing!
So what did we do this past week? Lets… Read More
What up family and friends!! It’s Zackariah here coming at you with this weeks blog update!
First off I’d like to apologize for delaying in posting this weeks update, I take ownership for the delay.
Now on to business.
Last week we finished up our final day on the Groovy Grape Tour of the Outback. On Monday we went on an incredible morning hike threw the Kings Canyon. To start… Read More
This week we explored the dryest state (central Australia) of the dryest continent. We began our journey and spent alot of the day in the van. The second day we went to a quirky art exhibit. Inside there were figurines and sculptures. The artist himself taught us the history of letters which dated back to the early creation stories. He taught us the meanings of letters that make up words… Read More
G’day Mates! Maddie coming at you with the weekly blog of the beuaoooooooooooooootiful week with the conservation of australia including Katie, Ori, Ben, and Simone. I would like to send a shoutout to the fam; Daddio (whats good), Tray, Beans, Auntie M, Bubba and Riley hope your all doing well! We started off the week with a stunning sunset ferry to the beautiful kangaroo island. Our time at Kangaroo Island… Read More
