November Recap

On November 2nd, there was a 4-hour relay here at the RDA, which means the children from the therapy sessions could sign up and then rode on Saturday to show their families and sponsors what they had learned here. It was a very nice and successful day. 😊 For the next day, Holly asked us if we wanted to help at a horse event, and we got to assist as jump judges at a show jumping competition, which was really fun. However, it was also stressful to check whether the riders jumped over the obstacle while simultaneously stopping and recording the landing time.
Additionally, we started going climbing regularly. It's very fun, but I always had a very strong muscle soreness in my arms the first few times. 😄 Each of us also has two days a week when we ride regularly now. By now, I can even gallop with Santa, which is getting better every time. Unfortunately, one horse had been having issues with its eye for a while, and since it didn’t improve, it had to be removed. (Let me tell you, a horse’s eye is really huge!) At the beginning of the month, two volunteers from Australia also visited, and it was really nice to see each other again and show a bit of the area. :) On November 17th, we went to Auckland to attend the twenty one pilots concert, and it was definitely worth it; the atmosphere in the Spark Arena was fantastic! Because the concert went on until almost 11 PM and we had to drive back since we were working the next day, we didn't get home until nearly 3 AM. Accordingly, we were very tired the next day. 😅 The following weekend, we went to the Wairere Falls again, which was quite an adventure. This time, we walked all the way to the top and thought there would be another way down, so we ended up walking 2 hours in the wrong direction before we realized it, as we had no signal and couldn't check where exactly we were. On the way down, we all had our legs shaking... The next morning, I set off early with Anja and Charlotte to go to the Santa Parade in Auckland. You can imagine it as a carnival parade but with a Christmas theme. It was really fun for sure. In the end, Santa also showed up and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. ;)