27 SHI JIE MAGAZINE – SPRING
Where Are They Now? The Raper Sisters – Lauren and Eloise
2017
Where do you live now?
W here are they now ?
We moved from our life on Lantau to New Zealand. Our dad is from Christchurch but our mum is from the UK, so they agreed to live in Auckland on the North Shore. We found a place to call home in Greenhithe close to our school as we are busy with after school sports. It is great as we are close to the west coast beaches for the surf and the east coast beaches for calmer beach days.
What brought you there? We decided to leave Hong Kong to experience something new and to spend more family time together with less time in the
office for our dad. He had been in HK since he was three years old with his family and our mum moved to HK with her family when she was 15. Both our parents went to school in HK and it was time for a change and to live a life outdoors exploring new things.
Where do you go to school? We go to school at Kristin School in Albany, Auckland.
What are some differences between your school and Discovery College? Kristin is an IB school so it feels very similar to Discovery College. We chose the school because of its similarities. It is also a co-ed school. Eloise is in Year 6 and Lauren is in the middle school in Year 8. We are enjoying the school and everyone has made us feel very welcome but they still miss our DC friends. We are also missing the simpleness of the DC uniform as we are not enjoying having to wear a tie and a skirt!
What types of activities are you involved in? There are lots of opportunities for sport here, from surfing to snow sports and adventure camps with caving and mountain biking. Lauren has been selected to play waterpolo and Eloise plays flippaball for the school. Eloise
still plays netball for the school team and is still swim training. Lauren has chosen sailing as her new sport. We spend time surfing when we aren’t poolside. We will both be representing Kristin at the inter schools swimming competition. Lauren won the Year 8 swimming sports championship and Eloise was awarded Year 6 age champion. Eloise has also been swimming competitively since arriving in NZ and made the qualifying times for nationals.
What do you like best about living in your new home? We love the fresh air and the cooler weather. We love having a pool in our back garden and stargazing at night. We can see the amazing sunrises and sunsets from our home and watch the horses in the nearby fields. Our mum is loving growing our own fresh salad and vegetables.
How is it different from living in Hong Kong? We found it hard seeing all the plastic rubbish in the sea and on the beaches in HK, here the beaches and sea are so clean, but the water is cold! We don’t miss the pollution and humidity in Hong Kong but we do miss our friends and family. We would love to extend a welcome to any DC family visiting NZ.