Do I have to?

Well ladies and gentlemen, the time has come to begin packing, say my goodbyes, and head back home. This summer has gone by so fast! I can't believe that I have already been here for 10 weeks and it is already time to go home. As much as I want to go home and enjoy some warm weather and of course see everyone, I love this country and I have had such an amazing time that I don't know if I am ready to leave.

Tonight we are going out for our last house dinner. We are going down to the pub on the corner, which is the same place that we all went out to on our first night in Sydney so we felt it only appropriate. Tomorrow is my last day of work and I am definitely going to miss my kids and everyone at Rozelle a lot. This has been such an amazing experience and they were such a big part of it. Tomorrow is going to feel very weird knowing that I won't be coming back on Monday.

As much as I know I am going home, I really don't think it has hit me much yet. I haven't started cleaning my room or packing any of my things. I figure that Friday night will be a good night to get all of that done. Hopefully this will make me very tired and let me sleep on the plane ride back. I am really excited to get to the beach and just relax for a bit.

I am sorry that I have been so lax about posting lately. I will try and post one more time before I leave, but at least once when I get home (just so everyone knows I am alive haha).

See you back in the states soon!

One Week!!

One week from right now I will be on a plane back home! I can't believe that 9 weeks have already flown by and I only have one week left to go. It is a total bittersweet feeling. I am extremely excited to go home and see everyone and sleep in my own bed and enjoy some warm weather, but at the same time I am really sad to be leaving Sydney and all of the amazing people that I have met here.

Thursday was Multicultural Day at school and it was very successful. The kids all wore their red, white, and blue and brought in lots of food to eat. Adam rented a Red, White, and Blue Mickey Mouse costume to wear. The kids loved seeing Mickey walking around during the day, especially the little ones in kindergarten. All of the parents came into the classroom and we sang the Fifty-Nifty United States song before telling the parents some information about what they learned. The kids brought in a ton of "American food" and we had so much sweets to eat. There were cupcakes, popcorn, cookies, oreos, hot dogs, ice cream, soda...everything. After the parents left we got to see some of the other stage 2 classrooms decorations and performances. One of the classes did a very cute play about the animals that live in Botswana.

Friday was pretty chill. Adam and I had RFF in the morning so he helped me work on my portfolio and answered a bunch of questions I had. We went to class for about an hour, in which his friend came in and taught the kids how to make paper cranes and after lunch we went out for Sport.

When I got home on Friday night I took a much needed nap for about two hours and then got ready for a fun night out with the girls. We started our scavenger hunt at 8 and it was a blast. We were running all over the city trying to check things off of our list. We actually did really well. Supposedly, we did not do as well as the other team, but we haven't seen the proof yet. It was a great way to spend part of the last weekend.

Who knows what is on the books for tonight, but i have no doubt it will be a fun evening.

Blame Park Lodge

I apologize for not posting anything in ages, but the internet has been awful lately. I can get into my e-mail and facebook, but rarely anything else and to be quite honest with you, after a couple days of not posting I kind of forgot I was even keeping this. So sorry to any of you who may actually read it.

Last week was a pretty chill week at school. We did not do too much and Adam did a lot of the teaching, which was kind of a nice break from all the teaching I did last week. I only worked 4 days last week because we left for Melbourne late on Thursday night. There was about 8 of us that went and it was a great little break from Sydney before our last weekend. We finally got to our hostel around midnight after a short delayed flight out of Sydney. After checking us all in we passed out, however, unfortunately the beds were extremely hard and squeaky whenever anyone moved the slightest bit so I didn't really sleep much.

Blair, Meg, and I had to wake up around 6am to get ready for our tour of the Great Ocean Road. We had a long drive to all of our points and we slept a bit on the way down. We saw some amazing beaches and drove on the cliffs right along the water. It was absolutely gorgeous and I have been totally spoiled with beaches over the past 8 weeks. I know it isn't summer, but the beaches here are gorgeous and nothing else can compare. We saw wild kangaroos and wild koalas. The Koalas were adorable, just snuggled up in their trees. One even ran in front of our bus and another along the side of the road. He was close enough that I just wanted to pick him up and take him home. There were also these really colorful birds that would come and sit on your hands and head. It was really cool. On our tour we went to see the 12 Apostles, they are amazing pieces of stone in the water and sometime in my lifetime they will all disintegrate into the ocean. There were some absolutely beautiful sights on the drive and it was absolutely worth it. We made it back to the hostel around 7:00pm and got some dinner and then got ready to go out with the girls. We met up with everyone over at the Casino for some drinks and gambling. I decided to play $5 and once I lost it I would be done. I played roulette and made about $15 before I ended up losing that $15 again. I only had my $5 left and thought about just cashing out so I didn't loose anything, but when I went to sit down at the table after someone had left I found a $2.50 chip on the floor. Of course I picked it up and decided to play it. We were on the lowest table so I could only play it on a number, I picked a random number and guess what?!?! I won....$80. As soon as I figured out how much each chip was worth and how much I had total, I was done and quite content with my winnings for the night. The rest of the girls wanted to go out, but I was exhausted so I decided to go back to the hostel. The girls were back within the hour so it didn't really matter anyway, they said it was a bust.

Saturday morning we all slept in until about 11am, which was glorious. Meg, Denning, Blair, and I went out to walk around Melbourne and just see the city. It was fun, but decided we needed to come back for a bit of a rest. We relaxed for a while and then got ready for the rugby game. We got some drinks and dinner and played some card games before the game. We walked to the game with just about the entire city to cheer on the New Zealand All Blacks instead of the Qantas Wallabies. The game was really fun and we had a great time attempting to understand it. The people around us were so fun and they have a great friendly fan relationship with each other. Although they get really quiet when something big is not going on. It was a bit weird for the entire stadium to get quiet and not be cheering the entire time. We met up with the girls to head out for the night after the game. It was alright and we made it to a couple bars before coming back around 2.

We slept in Sunday again and then went to St. Kilda. We had lunch and then walked down by the beach, it was extremely windy and we didn't end up staying long because of how cold it was. We came back and took a nap before meeting up with Tori at the Casino for dinner. It was great to go out and get a really nice dinner (that wasn't too expensive either).

We had a early flight Monday morning and got back to Sydney around 8:30 and I was to work by 10. Adam and I have been doing a lot to work with the kids for the multicultural expo on Thursday. They have been making decorations, finishing their road trip, and practicing the Fifty Nifty United States song (which I know have stuck in my head constantly). I am a little nervous about Thursday with all of the parents being there, but it should be a great experience.

Only 11 days left in Sydney! We have a pretty big weekend planned and I can't believe it will be my last weekend before I fly back to the States. I love Sydney, but I am kind of excited to get home and enjoy some relaxing time at the beach in the warmth.

I haven't been eaten by a kangaroo

Sorry that it has been so long since I have made my last post, but the Internet has been so weird here and only lets me check my e-mail and occasionally facebook.

Friday was a pretty chill day at school because Adam got back. We did some of the basic Friday morning routine and then the kids worked more on their United States project. We ended up the day with Adam showing some of his pictures and videos from his vacation to America. The kids loved seeing pictures of DisneyWorld, although many of them have already been before. Adam got pencils for all of the kids and I even got one too. I picked a Disney Princess pencil! None of the kids wanted any of the other princess pencils. I was so disappointed in them! I got home from work and just relaxed for a bit after work. We all met up around 8:30 and had dinner out on the patio. Soon all of our visitors came over. It was so great to see all of the other AustraLearn girls from other cities. We were planning on going out, but it started raining pretty hard so we all decided that it wasn't worth it and ended up going to bed around 1am.

I spend most of Saturday morning sleeping and then met up with Blair, Tori, and Dorothy for lunch before doing some shopping at Glebe Markets and Paddys, where I picked up some last minute gifts for myself and friends. Blair and I made it back around 4 and I took a much needed nap before Saturday night. We all got dressed and headed out to the patio for dinner. After dinner we hung out at the apartment for a bit before meeting up with all the girls at a bar downtown. We were there until they closed at about 2. Some people kept going, but I was so tired that I had to head back and get some sleep.

Sunday was spent enjoying the nice warmth of my bed. I watched some movies and just spent the day relaxing. Blair and I finally wandered to the grocery store around 5 and then came home to cook some Tacos. We started watching the Debate when Carl and Travis showed up, the debate was a bit boring so we all ended up talking over top of it. Soon more people ended up joining us and the season finale of MasterChef was on! We all just hung out and watched Adam kick ass and win this season of MasterChef. Next season, MasterChef is doing a junior competition for kids ages 3-12 and from the preview, some of those kids can cook!

Monday wasn't a bad day at work. I didn't teach too much, and spent the whole morning in planning. The kids did some work with the United States and I kind of sat back and relaxed.

Only three more days then off to Melbourne! One weekend in Melbourne and then my final weekend in Sydney. It is so weird that I am almost going home. Sorry this is so short, but I have to go to work. I probably should be on the way to the bus stop, but I decided since the internet was working, I would do this instead. Off to work now, I will hopefully find some time to be back on later this week before I head off to Melbourne.

TGIF

Ok well it's not Friday today, but it is Friday tomorrow! The past two days have been busy busy busy. Wednesday went pretty well, lots of time working on my Great American Road Trip. The kids are doing a great job working through all of the state information. I also made sure to add an activity to the back of every sheet. This way they are still learning and still applying what they have learned, but it is a bit more fun.

I got to work at about 7:15 this morning to get some work done because the internet was not working at all last night. I spent about an hour or more working on my planning for today and the United States unit. Today we practiced the high jump for sport. Some kids got it much better than others, but some were just funny to watch. There is one little boy, Owen, who is in another class, and maybe 3 feet tall. He is so tiny and about a head taller than how high the mat was. He tried to run up and jump and practically had to climb up onto the mat. It was so cute! We also did a lot more with the United States unit today too. The kids were really good today and even earned two top fifty points.

Tonight we are hopefully going to buy our tickets for the Wallabies Vs. All Blacks Rugby game in Melbourne. Hopefully they still have tickets left and we can all sit together. We are also going to dinner with some of the girls from Cairns that got in this afternoon. It seems like it is going to be a busy weekend, but it should be good because the internet has been a bit picky lately so it will give me something to do. I can't believe I only have three more weekends!

Is it bed time yet?

Well ladies and gentlemen I am officially fried. I spent all of this weekend attempting to be productive. I went grocery shopping, did some laundry (not that much because I still have a lot on my floor right now), and working on my portfolio and lesson plans. I attempted to get a lot of my portfolio done, but lets be honest I kept getting distracted and did not want to work on it for that long. I did get a fair amount done and I still have some more time to work on it. I spent most of Saturday working on that and then finally decided to start planning on Sunday. I had some basic things to work on, like figuring out the spelling lessons and the basic stuff, but I had no idea what to do for my unit on America. The kids are doing the United States for Multicultural Week so I am attempting to teach them about it. I had no idea what I wanted to do, but after having a conversation with my mom (I think) I got some kind of an idea. I spend some of Sunday night working on it and then I assumed that I would have time to work on it during Staff Development Day on Monday, but I was definitely wrong about that.

Monday was Staff Development Day at work. We had a quick staff meeting then Phonics training. It was really really long, but interesting I guess. Some of the stuff I feel like I have already gone over and some of it was just pointless information that really didn't need to be discussed. Some of the staff thought it was just as long and sometimes unnecessary as I did so it was ok. I got home a little later than usual on Monday and spent all of the evening working on my lesson. Lets just say I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night.

Today was a long day! I got to work really early because we had a staff meeting and I wanted to try and finish some things up before the kids got there. I got some of it done but with everyone trying to use the computers and printers I did not have enough time to finish. This morning we had Yoga first thing. Yoga is new for the term and of course we had to be the first class going. It was really difficult because we did not have time to got to the classroom after morning lines so I didn't really get a chance to talk to them. They were very loud and no matter what I did I could not get them to quiet down. It was just so difficult and I felt awful, but there was nothing I could do. These kids are very talkative in the first place, let alone the first thing, first day back from a two week break. We went back to the classroom and had a little talk about how they did not have a good start to the week and were very disrespectful to the yoga teachers. We spent time sharing what we did over the holiday and then had time to write about it in their journals. We were supposed to have maths groups, but those ended up being cancelled. We spent some time doing our spelling pretest and then got an opportunity for the casual to show some sites on the internet about some of the places in America we would be studying about. I of course spent more of my afternoon tea break working on my lesson and finishing some printing and copying. For the last hour of class we got started with our American road trip. The kids were broken into 5 groups and had some questions to answer, stories to read, and activities to do. I thought we could get done with one state in 15 minutes, but I was definitely wrong. It took us about 45 minutes and we were lucky if the kids actually finished two states.

I love teaching, but it wears me out. I am so exhausted and all I want to do is take a nap. Of course a nap or early bed time really won't happen. I have more planning to do, most of my portfolio to work on, and laundry to do.

Alone again

I just dropped Mackenzie off at the airport. We got her all packed successfully and were under the weight limit!! I even had room to put all of my souvenirs and some of the clothes I haven't worn much. Hopefully that will help when I pack and my suitcases will not be overweight by much. We got Mackenzie all ready last night and some last minute things this morning. Our taxi was right on time and we had plenty of time to check in. We had about an extra hour so we walked around the stores a bit, got some subway for lunch, and picked up some water for Mackenzie. One o'clock rolled around very quickly and it was time to hand Mackenzie over to the attendant. I tried really hard not to cry, but I did, which of course made Mackenzie cry a bit. It has been a while since I have been home and it was nice to have a piece of home here with me. Only 4 more weeks and I know that it will fly by just as quickly as the past 6 weeks have. I love Sydney, but I can't wait to be home with my family again. But, as I have said, I would have no objection to them moving out here with me :)

Cuddling, Diving, Jumping!

Oh my goodness it has been an eventful couple days with Mackenzie!

Let me see, where did I last leave off? Mackenzie and I had a very successful Taco night after we went to Luna Park. We had a mini fiesta of tacos and chips and salsa for dinner. The next day we decided to head to the botanical gardens. It was really pretty, even though there were not a lot of flowers, considering it is winter. We walked around the water to get a different view of the Opera House and Bridge and of course ran into a bunch of asian tourists. We got back to Circular Quay right before the rain started to pour. We had lunch and then decided to check out the Museum of Contemporary Art since it was raining and we didn't have anything else to do. It was....interesting to say the least, luckily it was free. We were planning on going to the rugby match that night, but it kept raining and the stadium doesn't have much of a roof, so we decided that it wasn't the best idea. It ended up working out because we had a big dinner to celebrate Carl and Stephen's birthdays. We had tacos, chili, and nachos for everyone. After dinner we all hung out for a while before finally getting some sleep.

The next day we decided to go Whale Watching, since it was our last day in Sydney before going to Cairns. I was really worried that we weren't going to see anything, but we actually saw two sets of two whales. It was really cool and they seemed really close. There were a couple times with the first set that we could see their tail fins come up. We got to see a second set of whales come all the way out of the water twice! Of course, I couldn't manage to capture a good picture of it though. Mackenzie started to feel a bit sea sick from being out on the boat for so long so we spend most of the ride home inside.

We left for Cairns bright and early on Sunday morning. We got there and the weather was great! I could be outside without a jacket and it was soooooo nice! We got to our hostel, checked in, and headed into town to go to the zoo. The zoo was ok, nothing too special, but we got to hold a Koala! The Koala was so cute, her name was Gina and she was just about to turn two years old. I got to hold her first and then Mackenzie. Of course we had to get a picture of the two of us together. Once we got our picture with the Koala we were pretty content with the day so we just wandered around the zoo. We saw the Kangaroos when they were all sleeping and then went back after they started to wake up. We found the cutest Joey too! After making sure we saw everything we caught the bus back to town. We were going to walk around the mall a bit, but everything began to close at 4pm, so that didn't really happen. We went to Coles to get some stuff for breakfast for the next few days and then got McDonalds for dinner. We tried so hard to find something to keep us up for a while after dinner, but ended up falling asleep around 7:30.

Monday morning, we had a 7:30 pick up to head down to the reef for scuba diving. We made sure to take some sea sick tablets this time to ensure no problems on the boat ride. We headed out to the reef and stayed inside most of the time just because we didn't want to be in the sun all day. There were about 5 people who started to get sick within 30 minutes of leaving the harbor. I was really worried that was going to be one of us on the way home, but we did ok and took our medicine regularly throughout the day and ended up with no problems at all. We were lucky enough to be in the first scuba group so we got ready before we got to our first stop. After getting all suited up, we jumped on into the water and got ready to head out into the reef. I was a little worried that Mackenzie wasn't going to be comfortable with the scuba diving because she kept bringing her head out of the water, but everything was ok, and we were on our way with the instructor and one other person in our group. We stayed attached for a while, but shortly after she let us go by ourselves. We saw a couple stingrays laying in the sand, a few families of Nemos, and 3 sea turtles. It was so cool to swim right by the turtles. I didn't see any turtles when I went scuba diving during my orientation, so this was even cooler. They were so close and we just swam right next to them for a while. We were down for about 30 minutes before heading to the boat to get ready for snorkeling. We went on our snorkeling adventure more just to take pictures and goof off since we had already seen a better view of the reef. After snorkeling it was time for lunch! We had lunch and then layed out on the front of the boat. We didn't have too much time before we had to get ready for our next scuba dive. We decided to pay extra to go on the second dive because it was so cool the first time. We got to go for about 45 minutes the second time and go even deeper. We didn't see any turtles this time, but we did see a lot more coral and fish. Our guide even brought some left over lunch with her to feed to the fish. They would come and eat right in front of us. One even tried to nibble at my fingers when she was feeding them haha. We made it back and shortly began our venture back to the harbor. The boat ride back wasn't too bad and we got to talk to some of the scuba instructors and take a bit of a nap. After scuba diving we came back and took a much needed shower, I was so happy that my hair did not feel like a gross mat of salt water. We went to dinner at Cactus Jacks and then headed back a little later than the night before.

We had a big day on Tuesday as we got up around 8 to get ready for our adventure. We had a pick up at 9am and had to stop by the office to fill out some paperwork before heading to the airport. Because there were a lot of people that wanted to get videos and pictures we had to wait a little longer before we could leave. We walked around Cairns a little, but didn't really have anything to do so we went back and took a tiny nap at the office. Finally around 11, the group before us came back! They were a bit wet from the rain and I was really worried that the rain wouldn't stop for our dive. We got all suited up and met the tandem masters we were going with, but then we got a call that the airplane wasn't back yet, so we had to wait. At some point during our wait, it started raining again so we had to wait even more. It was even harder waiting around while you were all strapped into the equipment. Finally we got the go ahead to leave. We all hopped into the van and we were on our way to the airport. You could see a bit of sun in the sky and we were keeping our fingers crossed that it stayed that way. When we got to the airport we all headed out and wait for the plane. Let me tell you, that was one tiny plane! Mackenzie and I both started to get a bit more nervous. Finally the plane pulled in front of the gate and we got the go ahead to get on. Two of the guys jumping got on first and then Mackenzie. Of course I was the last one to get on, what does that mean...I was the first to jump!!! We started to move down the runway and the huge door was still open! Finally they shut it, but it was a clear sliding door that didn't do much. For being such a small plane I actually did ok on take off and flying. We kept going up and up and up and up. I never thought we were going to hit 11,000 ft. Next thing I knew, I was being strapped to my instructor and he was tightening everything up for the last check. As soon as that was done the door was being opened and that was when it really hit me that I was about to jump out of this plane! Before I had any time to think, my feet were being swung over the edge and were hanging outside of the plane! One....Two...Three and were were gone! The first jump right out of the plane happened so fast and was such a crazy feeling. There really are no words to explain how crazy it felt! I just remember seeing blue, clouds, and a bit of grass here and there. Finally we I was going straight and was free falling! I had to remember to keep smiling for the camera guy and even gave him a couple thumbs ups! I was surprisingly really enjoying the free fall!!! It is such an amazing feeling and it happens so fast. Next thing I know, we were pulling the cord and up went the parachute. The guy I went with kept asking me how I liked it and I didn't even have words. It was a great ride down and so cool to see the beach and the mountains of Cairns. I did get to see Mackenzie's parachute open and that made me feel much better!! We had a bit of a rough landing, it is much harder to get your legs up when you are heading toward the ground than you think it would be. Mackenzie landed shortly after me and I still couldn't believe that we just jumped out of an airplane. It happened soooooo fast and it was absolutely amazing. We headed back to the office and waited about an hour to get our pictures and videos. We watched the videos and both just freaked out when we saw ourselves jump, well more like be pushed, out of the plane. I am pretty sure that it still hasn't really hit both of us that we really did jump! We went to dinner in Cairns for our last night and splurged on some drinks and desserts to celebrate a good end to a wonderful trip.

We got picked up at 4:30 the next morning and headed to the airport. We were there pretty early, as usual, but still had a bit of a line to get through security. I was randomly chosen to have my bag and clothes swabbed to make sure their was nothing associated with explosives on my stuff. It was quite entertaining to talk to the guy while I was going through it. We had hungry jacks for breakfast and then boarded our plane. Our plane was actually much smaller than what I am typically comfortable with, but considering the fact that I jumped out of a really really really small plane, I figured I would be ok with this one. We had about 25 rows of 2 by 2. It was a bit rocky on the landing, but not to bad other than that. As soon as Mackenzie and I got back we started downloading all of our pictures and videos from our trip to Cairns. Mackenzie is working on video stuff so I am sure both of them will be online somewhere soon! We spent most of the day relaxing and working on that. We are going to have dinner soon and then start to get Mackenzie packed a bit. Hopefully it shouldn't be too hard and we don't run into any problems. Mackenzie takes off around 2:30 tomorrow afternoon so we will spend the morning just relaxing and doing any last minute packing before I ship her off to the airport. No, no, I am not really shipping her off the airport. I have to stay with her the whole time and I will (stop freaking out mom, I will stay until she takes off and then I will call you). I can't believe that Mackenzie leaves tomorrow and I only have 4 weeks left of my internship before making my way back to the states!

In honor of MK&A

Yesterday was a bit of a blah day. It was rainy and dark almost all day so we decided to do some shopping. We went to George Street, Pitt Street, and Market Street. There were a lot of expensive stores that Mackenzie and I can definitely not afford, but there was also some cheaper stores. I got a really cute new outfit that I may wear to my first day back to work or on a night out with the girls. Mackenzie and I also got really really cute rugby polos for the Sydney Wallabies. That was the one purchase that I wanted to make and I was so excited that I found one. It was a bit expensive, but absolutely worth it. We also went to Paddy's Markets, which is a bit like China Town shopping in a giant warehouse. It is a great place to get cheap souvenirs and we made out pretty well for everyone back home. We went back home and made pasta and watched Big Mommas House before planning our day for today.

It was supposed to be a nice day today, but ended up being a bit overcast and rainy. We decided to go along with our plans anyway and go to Luna Park. Danelle may be the only person who appreciates this part of my blog, but for those of you who need more information to my references please go watch the Mary Kate and Ashley movie, Our Lips Are Sealed. I am pretty sure out of everything I have done so far, I was most excited about finally getting to Luna Park. I took my picture under the big clown and was so excited to get started and live in the moment of MK&A. We payed for the over-priced ticket just so that we could make sure we could ride whatever we wanted to ride. We did a bunch of the cheesy carnival type rides and did the fun house too. Of course we had to ride the ferris wheel, which was really cool because you had a great view of the Opera House and Bridge. My one disappointment, I am pretty sure that the roller coaster they rode in the movie does not really exist at Luna Park. I may have to go back and watch the movie again, but I did not see anything similar to what I remembered. Even with the rain and the little disappointment of the roller coaster, it was still a fun morning and worth going to. It made me one step closer to Mary Kate and Ashley.

Mackenzie got hungry and we didn't feel like paying $15 for a hotdog and drink so we went to Hungry Jacks at Circular Quay. Hungry Jacks is Australia's version of Burger King. I don't eat at Burger King very often, but Mackenzie said it just wasn't the same. We both really wanted milkshakes, but they didn't have any so we went to the McDonalds across the street. Of course they do not have milkshakes either, but they do have McFlurrys so we went with that option instead. Mackenzie was a bit disappointed in the size of the McFlurry though, it is definitely not an American size.

We caught the train back to Central and then the bus to Coles. We did a little bit of grocery shopping to get some food for dinner tonight. We decided to have a fiesta night, so we got stuff to make tacos and chips and salsa.

Busy Busy Busy

Sorry everyone, it has been a few days since my last blog post. Mackenzie and I have been very busy since she has arrived. The weather has been iffy lately and I want to make sure we get in everything we can when the sun is actually out.

Sunday we went down to Bondi and walked along the beach and then all the way to Bronte. I wanted to write something in the sand so I could take a picture of it and I told Mackenzie to be on the lookout for water. It was a simple job, just look at the waves and tell me if they are coming up high. Well someone needs to find a new job because next thing I know the wave came up and completely covered my shoes and soaked my pants all the way up to the middle of my calves. Luckily I only had my sperrys on they would dry eventually. We walked down to Bronte and took a little detour to check out MacKenzie's Bay. It was a great day and actually got a bit warmer than I expected. We got fish and chips to go and ate them at the park by the beach. There were a lot seagulls and all Mackenzie wanted to do was feed them. I let her give them some french fries when we completely done eating. She was done feeding them as soon as they started to swarm her and get too close. We caught the bus down to Circular Quay to take a look at the Opera House and the Harbor Bridge. It was a great day to be down there and take pictures. We ran into some very interesting people down there, we always seemed to ask the weird ones to take our picture for us.

On Monday we got up bright and early, and I mean bright and early, to catch our tour for the Blue Mountains. We went with a small company, but had a great time. We were the first pick up and spent about an hour picking other people up. Finally we hit the road and made our first stop at Featherdale Wildlife Park. We got to pet the Koalas and feed the Kangaroos. It was a pretty small park, but there were a lot of cute animals. After Featherdale we drove for a while and went to a lookout over the Blue Mountains and finally ended up at the local country club for a delicious lunch! Then we got to go learn how to throw boomerangs. We weren't awful, but it never really made it back to me. We went deeper into the Blue Mountains and rode the Cable Way down into the valley. We walked through the temperate rain forest and then took the worlds steepest railway back up. It went up to 52 degrees, but felt like almost 90 degrees straight up. We stopped at Leura on the way back and got to shop around and eat some really good snacks. The ride home was long and almost everyone feel asleep. We drove through Olympic Park on the way back and then took a ferry back to Circular Quay.

Today we went to the Aquarium, Wildlife World, and the Sydney Tower. We always seemed to get stuck behind the awkward couples or the Indian family taking a picture of EVERYTHING. It was fun to do again and Mackenzie seemed to enjoy it. We got a bit tired so we decided to come back early, however not before doing a bit of shopping before we left.

Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy so what a better way to spend a rainy day then to just go shopping!!!!

The Eagle Has Landed

Yesterday was the last day of school for two weeks!! I spent most of the day "planning" with the other stage 2 teachers. I actually got to spend some time working on my portfolio for Sweet Briar which was nice. After planning we went to lunch across the street. It was such a fun lunch and delicious too. The teachers I work with are hilarious. After work we went out for drinks to celebrate the end of term. It was a lot of fun and a lot of the staff was there so it was nice to talk with everyone. I got home just in time to meet up with the girls to go get dinner and see Twilight. We ate at a really good Italian restaurant that was above a casino haha. The theater that we went to see Twilight in was sooo cool. They had gelato and self serve popcorn, as well as beer and hard alcohol you could buy for during the movie. The seats were huge and had big armrests for every chair so you didn't have to share an armrest with anyone. Twilight was also amazing and actually really funny! Probably one of my favorite movies of the Twilight series so far. We finally made it back to the apartment around 12:30 and I got to get about 4 hours of sleep before getting up to go and get Mackenzie.

My alarm went off at 4:45 this morning and I am pretty sure I unconsciously hit the snooze button once because I didn't actually get up until 4:48. I got ready and walked to Central Station, after a chilly 15 minute walk, I caught the train to the International Terminal. I was there around 6:00am and the information board said Mackenzie would be in at 6:06 and then about 5 minutes later it got moved to 6:25. I stood with everyone else waiting for her to come out of customs. Finally after standing there for an hour she made it through customs and we caught a taxi back to the apartment. It was so great to see her!!! She looked a bit tired, but seemed to be doing alright after the really long flight. I can't believe that this means my internship is almost half way done and that I have two weeks off to enjoy Australia with her.

We got her settled in a bit and then decided to go to some of the markets. What a better way to spend your first day in Sydney than to go shopping! We walked down to the shopping center to get her a bus pass and of course stopped at the bakery to get some delicious doughnuts. We went to both Glebe Markets and Paddington Markets. got a really cute new dress and I bought some earrings, a painting, and a gift for Tal's mom. We had sausages for lunch at Paddington Markets, which were delicious.

Right now we are back at the apartment just relaxing for a bit. We may go to the grocery store later to get some food and hopefully plan out what we are doing this week and take a look at the weather predictions. We have a lot to make sure we squeeze in. Let's just hope we don't go broke trying to do everything haha.

$250 a day....maybe I will stay here

Well folks, it was a long day. I got up early enough to walk half way to work this morning and talked to my mom a bit about Mackenzie and making sure we both had everything ready. All looks good and the little one takes off for the beginning of her journey in just over 12 hours! It is so weird to think that she will be spending all day/night flying while I am at work, going out with the roommates, and sleeping. I know it is the same length of time that I traveled for, but it is weird when you are not the one traveling.

Work was pretty chill, we read a book about Australian history this morning and then played Invisible Man spelling. It is kind of like hangman but the opposite. The kids had to spell a word and if they got it right they erased part of their person and the first team to make their person invisible won. The kids did a good job and really didn't get to rowdy. They had a lot of fun laughing when their person lost body parts and thought it was hilarious when there were only heads and necks left and the game was "neck and neck". After lunch we did reading groups and then I talked with Adam about what I am going to do while he is gone during the first three days after the holiday. There will be a casual there, but I will be doing most of the work. Adam and I were talking and I learned that casual teachers make $250 a day! I thought I was lucky to make $77 a day in Prince William County as a sub! Adam also said in his second year teaching he is making a little over $60,000. Which made me a little shocked at first and all day, but honestly I just converted it and its only about $51,000 in American dollars. I guess I will be making about the same. I did however, contemplate coming back here to casual and explore Australia for a while after graduation. I am still working on convincing Tal, Mom, and Mackenzie to come move out here with me. After reading groups, I finished my Captain John Smith activity with the kids. Adam had to go to a meeting with the speech teacher and I pretty much just took over the class and we left the door open between the classrooms. The kids did great and really liked the video and games that we got to play. We had a big clean up after afternoon tea and got the classroom ready to be cleaned over the break.

Tomorrow is planning day for stage 2. I will be spending all morning/afternoon with the other stage 2 teachers planning for next term. Well, I won't be doing much planning, but just listening and observing what goes into planning and what they are getting ready to do next term. We are also all having lunch at one of the really good restaurants down the road during planning. After work everyone is going out to celebrate Mike being done as acting principal and of course after that it is time for Twilight!! i will attempt to give Mackenzie a call throughout the day while she is waiting at the airport and then get ready to go pick her up at the airport on Saturday night. I will make sure to let you all know when the eagle has landed.

P.S. Minimum wage in Australia is $570 a week, which works out to be about $12 an hour (in American dollars) for a 40 hour work week.

Jump!

I got to skype with Mackenzie this morning to make sure she had everything I needed and if she had any questions about what she needed to bring. It seems like she has everything ready to go and is not nearly having as much trouble packing as I am. We have officially booked our scuba diving trip, our hostel is confirmed, our flight is ready to go, and this morning I took the leap and booked our sky diving trip. I honestly cannot believe I committed to that. They are really just going to have to push me out of the plane. I want to go really bad and what a better place than to skydive over the rainforest and Great Barrier Reef in Australia. We will be skydiving on July 13th at 9:00am so please be thinking about us and I will make sure to let you all know that we survived the 11,000 feet fall.

While waiting for the bus this morning I passed by this lady I see almost every morning. She is a bit large and sounds Eastern European/Crazy. She is always wearing the same outfit and running for the bus. Carl and I have determined that she is a cheap prostitute. Well, I passed her today talking to an asian couple and a man writing everything down. I was trying to figure it out and then I saw him help her put a bandaid on her head and the asian couple run to their car still parked in the middle of the road. Suddenly it all made sense, she got hit! I couldn't help but chuckle a little. She was fine, but I could just picture it in my head. When I got on the bus with her she proceeded to tell everyone around her that she got hit and showed them her head and a scratch on her shirt. She also kept repeating that she was going to sue them but it was her fault and there were cameras there and what not. It was a bit entertaining though :)

I was going to walk to work this morning, but I was trying to finish things up with Mackenzie so I just took the bus instead. We had to do the discus and shot put for the athletic carnival so we walked all the stage 2 kids down to King George Oval and I helped record shot put distances. It took the whole morning and we made it back just in time for lunch, which is perfect. We had a goodbye lunch for Vanessa, a visiting teacher from France, and there was so much good food! Our kids did handwriting after and then math groups for the last time this term. We worked on Roman Numerals and I didn't realize that Australians used the Hindu-Arabic system which is a bit different than the Roman Numeral System. During afternoon tea I had a nice little conversation with Francine about how she was living with this 38 year old a while back. She continues to crack me up everyday and I will definitely miss her next term. The end of the day was really easy, we finished reading Prince Caspian and the kids got to work on their superhero pictures.

I missed the 3:11 bus by like a minute this afternoon and had to wait for the 3:30 bus which was 10 minutes late. I did some laundry this afternoon and even a short little workout since I didn't walk to work (but the walk with this kids probably made up for that). I just have to figure out what spelling game I am going to do tomorrow and then I will be done for the evening.

P.S. Today was the coldest day in Sydney in nearly 60 years! Seriously why does the cold follow me everywhere?!

K-Fab?

It has been a bit chilly in Australia lately and in some areas it has been the coldest it has been in about 30 years. I do believe the cold follows me wherever I go, this happened to me during training trip in Florida and now in Australia. Just my luck I suppose. Even though it was a bit cold, I decided to walk half way to work again because I am trying to stop being so lazy all the time. On my way to work this morning I saw a one legged pigeon attempt to hop around and search for food. I actually felt really bad for it and wanted to pick it up and help it out, but it would have flown away and pigeons are dirty. I also was turning around the corner from Central Station and almost ran into two men having a conversation, one who looked exactly like K-Fab with brown hair, just as cute AND had an Australian accent. For those of you that do not attend Sweet Briar, this will make no sense to you, but for those of you who understand I hope you fully appreciate it.

Work today was pretty good, I was a bit late to work because the bus driver had to stop the bus and attempt to get someones pass out of the machine it was stuck in. We had a staff meeting today and then Mr. Banks introduced myself and the other intern, Kelsey, at morning lines to the kids. My class was so cute and so proud that they had me all to themselves and the other Kelsey had to go to a bunch of different classes. I was in charge this morning and we played Spelling baseball. It was a lot of fun and the kids actually did a really good job listening. If we do it again I will definitely make some changes to the way we play, but even Adam said he liked it enough to use it again after I leave, which I thought was really cool. I did the usual leading of reading groups and then gave the kids a writing assignment to work on a story using spelling words and words related to Native Americans. We had a big discussion about next term and expectations for next term with the kids after lunch. Adam will not be coming back from his vacation until the Friday after break so I will be in charge of the class and planning for Monday-Thursday. There will be a casual in the class because of requirements and what not, but I will pretty much being doing everything else and basically being the teacher for a week. I am really excited to do a lot more, but it is a little crazy. I was thinking about everyone else today and I feel like a lot of the other girls just helped out and only taught the 3 required lessons, but I have been designing and implementing lessons almost daily. I have already designed a unit too. I definitely have a lot to write about for my portfolio. The kids had a math assessment today to determine their math groups for next semester and at the end of the day we did a really fun video/game. The kids did great and were all really involved. We didn't quite get to finish, but it was not because they were talking, which is a wonderful change!

I walked back today and saw something really funny on my way home, but I just can't remember what it is! I almost pulled my phone out to text someone, but obviously I can't do that. I relaxed for a bit when I got back from work and then did a little planning for when Mackenzie is here. I will be able to sign as her guardian for both scuba diving and skydiving. I have also booked our scuba diving adventure on for Monday, July 12th! We will have a busy few days in Cairns, with the zoo the day before and sky diving the next day. We had mexican night last night for Emily's birthday so I didn't have to cook which is nice. I think tonight I may just take it a bit easy and cook up some pizza. I might make it a little healthier and add some fruits or veggies with it.

P.S. There was just a commercial about cankles on TV.

Everyone who interns at Rozelle must be named Kelsey

I was so tired last night and I tried so hard to fall asleep early, but it just wasn't happening. After laying in bed for a while and not falling asleep I decided to get up and pick up my room. I ended up finally falling asleep around 12:30, which made the 6am alarm that much worse.

I got ready for work this morning and then got to skype with Mackenzie and Mom for a bit to talk about what she needs to bring and what I need her to bring for me. I also got to skype with Tal for just a bit before I decided to leave a little early and walk to my first bus stop. It was a bit cold today and very windy, so my walk was not extremely enjoyable, but I didn't feel quite as lazy as most mornings when I take the bus all the way. I got to school this morning and met up with the new intern who is here with the same program, ironically also named Kelsey. I also had a bit of time to get my spelling lesson ready for this morning as well.

This morning I gave the spelling pre-test, per usual, and then did a spelling activity. They had a bunch of different options to practice writing their words, such as in cursive, in capital letters, in bubble letters, with their opposite hand, etc. I also helped with Reading Groups today and we had a new book to read which the kids really enjoyed. Adam sat and watched some of it, which made me a bit nervous (I always get nervous with someone else there), but it was fine because the kids and I know the routine. We almost finished reading Prince Caspian today, since we didn't have any planning time because we have half a day to plan on Friday for next term. I spent lunch chatting with Kelsey about how she likes Sydney so far and where she is living. I love my accommodations compared to hers. She was saying they have about two burners and no oven. They also never see anyone else they live with. I love cooking dinner with everyone and then eating and hanging out with everyone I live with, including all the people from other countries. We had math groups today and worked on calendar information. Tomorrow they have a big assessment so we can reorganize the math groups for next term. I spend most of afternoon tea working on my lesson for the afternoon. We went over the three Indian tribes that we had discussed last week and then started talking about the Powhatan Indians. They were really chatty so we didn't get to finish, so hopefully they are much better tomorrow.

I decided to bus it all the way back today and luckily I did because I had my package from my mom waiting and had to go pick it up in Surry Hills. Of course I got the wrong version of what I needed (not that my mom knew or that I even thought to mention). So I have Microsoft Word if I need to type anything but I cannot open anything that I had saved because it was in the newest version. I will have to have Mackenzie bring me my other version. It really isn't a big deal for right now, but it will be a little easier when I have that back.

Mackenzie is getting a bit nervous about flying out, but I know she will be fine. I am pretty sure I was more nervous than she was and I did fine. I was so tired by the time I hit the plane leaving from LA that I wasn't even thinking about flying. The 14 hours goes by much quicker than expected. Coming back she will have to worry about getting bored, but going there she will not have any problems sleeping. Sleeping on a plane is hard, but when it is really overnight it is much easier. I am going to spend tomorrow afternoon getting things ready for her, such as cleaning the bathroom, washing her sheets, making sure everything is organized, and making sure we have everything planned out. 4 more days of work (1 is almost entirely a planning day) and then Mackenzie gets here! I am so excited to show her my temporary home!

Remember...We drive on the left!

Instead of being productive and doing some planning and work for school, I decided to join some of the girls and take the ferry over to Manly Beach for a bike ride. We met around lunch time and caught the bus to Circular Quay. We got there right on time and caught the next ferry over to Manly. It was about a 30 minute Ferry ride in the wind, but totally worth the amazing views. We had some great views of the Opera House, The Harbor Bridge, and all of the surrounding city. It was very windy and looked a little like rain, but we all just kept our fingers crossed that we would be ok.

We got to Manly and found the bike rental place. We had no idea where we wanted to go, but the guy who worked there was extremely helpful. He set up all of our bikes and then reminded us more than once that Australian drive on the left and we have to follow traffic. We all just looked at each other and kind of laughed. Our main goal was to make sure that no one got hit by a car. The start to our journey was an interesting one considering we were with quite a bit of traffic, but we figured out where to go and after having to walk up two really really big hills made it to the last road that we had to simply follow all the way down. It was a little weird being on the left side and having really easy left hand turns to make, but we all got the hang of it pretty quickly. We made our way up to the top of North Head. There were amazing cliffs and gorgeous views of Sydney. We found a really nice family that was whale watching and they helped us look for some whales, but unfortunately we did not see any. Our ride back from North Head was sooo much easier and all downhill. Although some of the downhill parts were really steep and a little scary. We had a really good time and rode about 14 miles total, so it was a nice little workout for the day.

We were going to do the walk down on Manly Beach, but at this point we were tired and cold from the wind. We got on the next ferry and headed back to Circular Quay. A few of us stopped at the grocery store on the way home, which was desperately needed, and then came back to cook dinner. Tonight I had chicken, mashed potatoes, peas, and corn on the cob. Everyone was so impressed again (as was I with myself) and said that I always had very well balanced meals. I guess I am not as bad of a cook after all. I mean obviously this isn't anything super fancy and it is all very basic, but it is much better then mac-and-cheese every night, which was what my first week was like. Mackenzie will be so surprised when I cook dinner when she is here. Speaking of Mackenzie she will be here in almost exactly 5 days and 10 hours from right now!

Uhhh, that guy is walking a goat

Friday night was staff night out after work and it was a lot of fun. It was nice to get to hang out with everyone outside of work and be a little more relaxed. We went to dinner at this bar and then stayed for some drinks before heading to a couple other bars. I only made it to 3 bars before I had to go back and get some sleep. A lot of them kept going, but I was dying and needed to go to bed! I felt like such an old person, it was only 12:30 and I could have passed out standing up at the bar. Luckily we weren't too far away from where I lived so I could just walk home.

I slept in until about 10 Saturday morning which was soooo nice. I kind of relaxed a bit and did some stuff I needed to get done, like laundry, cleaning, and planning (not much of it as I should have done, but a little). I was going to hang out with a couple of girls and go to the Powerhouse Museum, but it turned out to be such a nice day that I just wanted to be outside. Tori and I decided to go explore some of the neighborhoods that we haven't been to yet. We started at the markets at Glebe. They were similar to the Paddington Markets, but much much cheaper. There wasn't quite as much there and some of it was total junk, but there was some really cute things. We ended up wandering through Newtown after and it was a very eccentric area, but really cool. There were lots of great shops and cute places to eat. We also saw a man walking two goats on a leash. This city never fails to amaze me. We ended up in the "Little Italy" area for dinner and had some really amazing Italian food! Of course we had to stop for some Gelato! It was amazing and way better than any other Gelato that I have had in the States. We got a little lost trying to find a bus to get home, but managed to figure it out and ended up safe and sound in our apartment by 9pm.

I was planning on spending today working on some lesson plans and getting some stuff ready for when Mackenzie gets here; however, some of the girls are heading over to Manly and I think I may join them. I will get it all done at some point, but I am only here to experience Australia once.

The 8th Wonder of the World

Friday, Friday, Friday. Thank goodness it is the end of the week because I am exhausted. This weekend is supposed to be kind of gloomy and cloudy and I am almost thankful for that because I just need some time to relax. I also have a lot of work to do for my internship paperwork and documentation. I just need some sleep and relaxation, especially since I have one week left and then a super busy two weeks when Mackenzie gets here.

Today was a pretty nice day. I was up a little early and decided to walk to my second bus stop instead of taking my first bus there. It took me about 30 minutes, but it was nice to not be sitting on my butt the whole morning. I feel like I have been super lazy and I need to start doing more (other then just on weekends). I got to my second bus stop just on time, which means that if I want to walk again next week I need to leave just a bit earlier. School was good today and for being Friday the kids weren't too rowdy. We had our spelling test and then library with Francine. Francine went on and on about god knows what today and I just wanted to get out of there so bad because it was ridiculous. The kids came back and did a reading comprehension test before lunch. I remembered my lunch today so I did not have to go out and pay $10 for a sandwich, thank goodness! I helped out with reading groups after lunch and then we got to watch a clip from glee on youtube. However, it was a clip from the season finale, which has no aired here yet. Australians need to catch up with the air times of shows. It was just a song so it wasn't too bad. The clip was Somewhere Over The Rainbow and now I have an urge to watch the Wizard of Oz! The kids had recess and then we had a big Stage 2 party to celebrate the end of the term and say goodbye to one of the girls moving to Melbourne. The kids were actually very well behaved and there was SOOOO much food. I probably had too much of it though. After the party we had to go outside for the official grand opening of the new sandpit, which the principal likes to refer to as the 8th Wonder of the World. It is a very large sandpit that can pretty much fit 3 entire Kindergarden classes in it. I think it is great, but at the same time the sand gets all over the basketball court and then in all the classrooms when the kids come back in. Don't get me wrong, I love sandpits, but in an elementary school, it might be a bit of a crazy idea.

Tonight is staff night out and as soon as I force myself to get up and clean my room (which may help me not fall asleep) I will head out after. It is pretty close which is nice, but too close that I can't take a bus. I probably won't stay out long because I am absolutely exhausted.

Infinity and Beyond!

Well for those of you that have not been keeping up with Australian current events, the current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was forced to step down by his party and is now replaced by Julia Gillard, the first female Prime Minister. Kevin Rudd was forced to step down last night and this morning at 9:00am the party chose to swear in Julia Gillard as the new Prime Minister. Apparently this has not happened but once or twice before and it is very rare that this happens like this so quickly. Usually they wait to change the leader of the party when it comes to election time. I can't tell how people feel about this just yet. Some of the teachers were talking about it today in the staff room and some were very upset about it. Some were happy that Kevin Rudd was no longer Prime Minister, but some were a little concerned because he had kept Australia financially stable while the rest of the world is in crazy economic turmoil. It was interesting to see what happened when Adam told the class about what had happened this morning. Some kids were obviously clueless or didn't care at all, some were extremely happy, and some were very upset. Obviously you can see how much parents influence children. These kids have no idea what is going on or what everyone stands for, but you could definitely see the opinions of parents coming out in their children.

Also, unfortunately even though Australia beat Serbia, they are now out of the World Cup! Hopefully USA can hold out a bit longer and give me someone to cheer for down at FIFA FanFest!

Today was a pretty typical day at school. Nothing really special. I didn't teach much, just some reading groups and a little help during math. I had to go buy my lunch today because I was running late and didn't have time to get something together. Let me tell you, that will not happen again. Subway does not have a $5 footlong deal here. My sandwich and a pack of apple slices cost me almost $11! I was so upset and disappointed in Australian Subway! We had Sport this afternoon and played more Netball, I still think it is a very weird sport and I do not understand it at all, but most of the kids seem to like it. Tomorrow will round out my 3rd week of work since I have been here. We are doing some work and then having a Stage 2 party. I can't complain about that. We have also had 4 birthdays this week, which means cupcakes! The wonderful perks of teaching.

I am about to head down to the Harbor to meet up with some friends. We are going to see Toy Story 3 in 3D at the worlds largest IMAX! There is a good chance we will be surrounded by 5 year olds, but I could care less. The original came out when I was a kid, which means this is technically more my movie than it is theirs.

Mackenzie leaves in a week and will be here next Saturday! I can't wait. I looked at my schedule today and almost all of my weekends are completely booked up. It is crazy. I know as soon as Mackenzie leaves the last 4 weeks are going to fly by! I absolutely love this city and I am definitely going to miss it, but I still have 7 weeks to soak up as much of it as possible!

Brain Buttons

I miss my rain boots! Today was a very gloomy, cold, and rainy day. A perfect day to curl up in bed with a sweatshirt and a good book, but duty called and I had to go to work. Today wasn't too bad, I did some prep work this morning and then we had handwriting, then reading groups, then we read a bit from Prince Caspian. Luckily, it was not raining during lunch so the kids could go outside. I did some final prep work and ended up adding more to what I already did.

After lunch I did more with my mini-unit of Native Americans. I had two worksheets for the kids, one was on dream catchers and the other was on totem poles. They both had stories on the front about the legend of how it came to be and then on the back they had to design and explain their own dream catcher or totem pole. The kids did a pretty good job and really enjoyed decorating and designing their own. I should have done something a bit different to make sure they read the front. Some of the kids did a really good job reading the front, but a lot of them didn't even read it. Maybe I could have had them highlight or underline certain things. I wanted to do something with the spelling words, but there really weren't a lot in the story this week. They still need to finish up some more tomorrow, but overall most almost finished.

After my lesson we had math groups and the kids worked on a big area problem. Some did a really good job, but some still had some problems with area. I think with area they needed more direct instruction in the beginning. They have an assessment tomorrow and I am curious to see how they do. It was raining during afternoon tea so we had to stay inside and watch a movie. The kids had electives but Adam and I have planning. I hung out in the teachers lounge for about an hour getting some things organized and printed off from my lessons as well as planning for tomorrow.

We had a training session after work today. Today we talked about brain gym, which is like stretching and activities that help stimulate brain activity. It was interesting, but at the same time kind of hokey and I am curious how much it really works and serious you could get kids to take some of it. The whole staff was trying some of the movements and we all looked like a bunch of idiots. It was really funny and some people were taking it so seriously, but I couldn't help but laugh about it. We had to find our brain buttons, follow our finger around in circles, and do hook up breathing (which I just felt awkward saying). It was raining cats and dogs after work today and I had to walk the long away around the back of the school because they locked the front gates already. Let me tell you tights and flats are not made for rain. I wish so badly that I had my rain boots to wear, but unfortunately I just had to suck it up. Hopefully Sydney is getting all the rain out of its system so that it is beautiful when Mackenzie gets here!

You not supposed to protect criminal passengers!

Well ladies and gentleman, today has proved that I do not completely fail as a teacher. Today went much better then yesterday (thank goodness, because I would not be able to handle another bad day). I was up pretty late again last night trying to get it all ready (I really need to start doing this all earlier!). My goal is to be in bed by 8:30 tonight! It was kind of an over-cast yucky day today, but not bad. We had our typical staff meeting this morning, nothing exciting. Today we also had spelling, I had put all the spelling words on the board and asked the kids to put them into 4 groups. They could group them any way they want, but they had to be able to explain why they put them together. They were pretty quite and did a fairly good job. Some were a bit more confused in the beginning since they have not done anything like that before. I would have liked to give an example set with different words before, possibly, this may have helped explain what they were doing. I allowed 2 students to move the words on the SmartBoard and show the class what groups they had. I also helped lead the Guided Reading group today and other then some not following along that went pretty well. I was supposed to plan something for writing, but at 10:30 last night when I had nothing, I gave up. So Adam decided to just let them free write for 30 minutes. They actually did a really good job for about 25 minutes. Some of the kids that usually don't pay attention or write much got really into the projects they were working on.

Today we also had circle/philosophy time. They are supposed to have it every week, but we only do it sometimes. Today we sat in a circle and talked about different issues and the kids gave a thumbs up, thumbs down opinion. We talked about eating junk food and school uniforms. We then started talking about letting people come to Australia who aren't from Australia. Some kids said they shouldn't because they could be bad and some said they should because of multiculturalism. It was interesting to see the kids opinions, and some more the parents opinions. Some kids had really good points and some just didn't think before they spoke. It was interesting that they are allowed to talk about stuff like that in school, if we ever tried to have a conversation like that back home, I feel like parents would get really upset. Adam said that they didn't do it at any other school he had been too either.

I spent most of lunch getting everything ready for my lesson that I was teaching this afternoon. I was going to do it in the morning, but we had our staff meeting so I couldn't get anything ready except for spelling. I wrote up some information sheets (of which I would have liked to add to the WebQuest yesterday. I gave the kids about 5 minutes to read and finish answering their questions and then 5 minutes to share with their table. We then went over all of the groups and made a comparison chart. They did a really good job helping fill out the chart, minus some not paying attention. I had to stop quite a few times to make sure they were not talking. We looked at some pictures of the Native American tribes and used a map to find where they were located. Some actually knew where a couple states were, which was great. We had just enough time and went right to the end of the day, I was really worried that I was going to end super early.

After work, I caught the 501 back home and let me tell you the 501 was quite a site today. A few stops after I got on there was this lady that gets on and starts to get mad at another passenger. There is one seat by itself near the front and then 6 seats that run on the side of the front of the bus designated for disabled for elderly passengers. Well this lady told the one sitting in the seat to move and she refused. So she started yelling at her and saying some very inappropriate words. The bus driver had to get out of his seat and ask her to sit down and explain that she had just as much as right to sit there (she was kind of old too). The lady got really upset and was ranting about complaining to the bus company and the stupid lady. She got up and started copying down the bus drivers information and he let out a bit of a chuckle and then she just went off about how he is supposed to be protecting good passengers and he is not supposed to be protecting criminal passengers. It was very entertaining and took about 5 minutes of the bus ride, but absolutely worth the experience. I couldn't help but laugh during some of it.

I stopped to pick up stamps today and let me tell you they are not cheap! Some of you that I said would get postcards, may get them shipped from the Los Angeles Airport haha. I also learned that the post office does not have sticky stamps. I was given stamps that I have to lick! I haven't licked a stamp in YEARS! I probably won't end up licking them anyway, but still. Australia needs to catch up and stick it!

Number one down the drain

Oh where to start with a day like today. I stayed up late last night trying to plan the lessons for this week that I should have planned over the weekend, but decided to go out instead. I know this is for the work experience, but it is also for the Australian experience. So I stayed up trying to decide what I wanted to do, I knew that I had to teach spelling and whatever I wanted to do with my unit for this week. The spelling wasn't too hard, but I had a bit of a hard time with the unit. I decided to do something with the United States, but I had no idea what to do. I knew that today we we had computers so I had to think of something to do with that. I decided to do a WebQuest and just looked online to find something simple enough for the kids who didn't know much about it. I found one about the flag that was designed for K-2 students in the states and decided on that. Finally, around 11pm I got to get some sleep.

This morning I woke up and got myself a little more organized and tried to leave for work early, although I realized unless I leave at 7, I have to wait for the 7:55 501 bus anyway. Now I know, that I never have to leave before 7:30 or maybe even 7:40. It started to rain when I first got to school, which the weather report said was not supposed to happen today. I did a little bit more work on the computers when I got to school just to finalize things. I set everything up for spelling to use on the SmartBoard which didn't take too long and then I started looking for different things for my unit. I found a pretty simple WebQuest on Native Americans and decided to use that. Unfortunately I didn't time it very well so I didn't have time to edit the WebQuest. I would have changed some of the links to more simpler sites or maybe even wrote my own stories and had a link to a word document. But I only had so much time, so I just decided to go with it.

The day got started and I went through the spelling pre-test and then we did a word search. That went pretty well and they weren't too talkative during the activity. After spelling we had reading groups and I got to work with the kids and do guided reading. It was a really good group today and we did a good job working on expression while we read a story about Aborigines. After that Adam and I had planning time and I finalized some things for my WebQuest and did a little research on some math activities in case I need them this week. After lunch the kids had silent reading and I kind of planned out the rest of the week. Then we switched for math groups and went over finding area of irregular shapes and then the kids did a worksheet. They did a pretty good job and none of them really had any big problems with it. After math the kids from our class had to come back in because they got in trouble for talking during the day. We all had a really big discussion about being respectful and not talking while the teacher or someone else is talking. Then they went out to recess and we had my lesson right after recess, let me tell you in that last hour after recess you can't get those kids to do anything. I brought up the WebQuest and we talked a little about what Native Americans were and what the WebQuest expected and then went to the computer lab. It is hard to keep the kids in control when their are no inside hallways and they don't get in trouble for running to the next place or talking on the way there. I miss quite lines in school hallways! We got up to the computer lab and of course I had all my links saved in a Notebook file (for the SmartBoard) and the computers didn't have that so Adam had to run downstairs and save it on a Word Document for me. I was trying to organize the kids and get them ready but they just don't listen. It's not just me, they don't listen to Adam either. We finally got the web page up and got started. Unfortunately none of them listened when I said that they could go to the easier sites on the board and went straight to the sites attached to the site, which is too hard for their age group and especially kids who do not know anything about Native Americans. Some groups did a really good job and worked through all of the questions, but there were many groups that barely even made it through the first question (there was only 4-asking about where they live, what they eat, what their house was like, and something interesting). They started to get loud at the end and just didn't focus any more.

Overall I wish I would have taken the time (if I found this site earlier) to change the links of information for them, hoping that if it was easier they would not give up or get distracted so easily. I also wish I could change the behavior, but they have such a set and strict policy for behavior that I can't do that. If they don't listen to Adam, how the hell am I going to get them to listen to me? I can't change the school behavior policy! I just don't know what to do. I have good lessons and good ideas, but the behavior is the trickiest thing. I am working on it a bit tomorrow and I am hoping that maybe we can catch up (unfortunately we can't use the computers any more) tomorrow and do a chart with all the groups. I also have to plan spelling and writing tomorrow! Ughhhh! I love teaching, but I hate planning. Hopefully I can focus for about an hour, get some work done, and then pass out. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

I got a lot done when I got home from work though. I stopped at the Bargain Buster on the way home and got a folder that is made for A4 paper (which is a little bigger than letter size paper and commonly used in Australia). I gave myself 30 minutes to relax when I got home and then had to get to work. I put a load of laundry in and then it was my day to clean the kitchen. I came back and cleaned my room, organized all my notes from school into my new folder and then made dinner. Tonight I made fish, sweet potato fries, and corn. Another very impressive dinner for me. My roommates are starting to get impressed, but I know I won't be able to continue this for very long haha. Now it is time to get back to work and finish up planning for tomorrow. I really should get everything planned for the whole week, but I would rather sleep right now haha. I will let you know how tomorrow goes.

A true Sydney experience

This has been an absolutely gorgeous weekend in Sydney! This is exactly what I expected when thinking about Sydney in the winter. I was not necessarily expecting pea coats and scarfs, but more sweaters and jeans. Friday night a bunch of us had dinner at the hotel together and then went out to Bar Century downtown on George Street. There was about 8 of us that went and we had a really good time. The first floor was full so we had to go upstairs which had a bar, dance floor area, and pool tables. It was an interesting set up. The music was quite entertaining though. It was a lot of older songs and a lot of song edited to have a very strong techno beat with it. People were also very interested dancers, so we decided to join in the fun and probably made big fools of ourselves, but it was fun. The USA soccer match was on so we saw them score and had a mini celebration in the bar. We stayed until about 2am and then decided to head back to the hotel. I was so tired and it was so nice to be back in my nice warm bed.

I slept until about 11 the next day and finally decided to mosey my way out of bed. I had a pretty chill morning just relaxing and skyping and planning. Mackenzie and I booked our trip to Cairns! I am so excited to go back. It is an absolutely gorgeous city and it will be so nice to go back and get some nice warm weather. We are going for 4 days and have a lot planned. We are going to go to the Cairns Zoo (which two of the AustraLearn interns work at) where we can hold a Koala and feed Kangaroos, Scuba Diving, and maybe even Sky Diving. I know it sounds totally crazy and everyone knows I hate small planes so how the heck am I going to get myself up in the air in a small plane and jump out of it?!?! I guess I conquered my fear of flying over water a bit by getting here, so why not work on the fear of small planes. I'm only young once and only in Australia once. I could get up the guts to go skydiving anywhere, but when will I get the chance to do it above the Great Barrier Reef and Australian Rainforest. After planning that trip with Mackenzie I met up with Blair and we planned our trip to Melbourne. We are going for the weekend (well Thursday night through Monday Morning) just to explore and have a fun weekend outside of Sydney. We also found out the the Sydney Wallabies and the All Blacks are playing in Melbourne that weekend!! Check out this video and you will see why we want to go to this game so bad...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdMCAV6Yd0Y. We also planned out some other fun things to do and when we wanted to do them. We are going to see the Twilight premiere next week too!! After our afternoon of planning and got ready and four of us went to a really nice dinner at Circular Quay and to the see the Vivid Festival. We went to the Harbour View Restaurant in The Rocks, which is right by the Harbor Bridge. We had great food that wasn't too expensive and sat outside. We then walked down to Circular Quay and saw the Opera House all lit up for the Vivid Festival. It was amazing! I have some pictures, but nothing turned out great. Blair got some really good pictures and I will steal some from her soon. I finally felt like I was in Sydney when I saw the Opera House. I see the Harbor Bridge on my way to work, but this was the first time seeing the Opera House. It is absolutely gorgeous in pictures, but so much more in person. It is just an incredible structure and so amazing. Sydney is almost defined by the Opera House and it was great to finally see it. I can't wait to go back and see it during the day and get some better pictures.

This morning we kept it pretty relaxed and met around lunch time to do some shopping and go up in the Sydney Tower. We walked down to Georget Street and decided to do the Tower first. It was really cool. It has some gorgeous views of Sydney! It was really cool to just see a 360 degree view of everything. We saw the harbor, the ocean, parks, our house (well close by), and just about everything else. The only bad thing about it was that there was not a great view of the bridge and Opera House, but it was still really pretty. We also did the OzTrek which is like a 4D simulator thing through Australia. It was super cheesy but still fun. After the tower we wandered around the shops on George Street. We found many that none of us could afford, but we also found some really cute cheap shops. I bought a new sweater and a really cute red trench coat. We headed back after shopping and hit up the grocery store. I found BAGELS!!!! You have no idea how excited I was, well you could probably guess. I cannot wait to have breakfast tomorrow...a bagel and skippy peanut butter! I cooked dinner tonight and it was my first real meal since I have been here. I had ham and cheese tortellini, mashed potatoes, and peas. I was very impressed with my dinner!

Tonight I have to clean my room (it has gotten a bit messy this weekend) and plan my lessons for the week. I should probably go get started on that.

Back In Action

Sorry it has been a while since I have last posted anything. I finally got my computer back! My hard drive is gone, go figure, but at least I got the newest version since they no longer make my old stuff. The past couple days have been pretty good. Wednesday was easy at work and I got to leave early since Adam has RFF (which is like break time) during the kids electives. I got off work around 2 and got a call from Apple right before I got on the bus. I went to pick up my computer and then stopped at the store to pick up some postcards. The first batch of postcards will be heading out soon, if you don't get one, no worries there will definitely be more to come soon.

Thursday was a pretty good day too. I got to read some Prince Caspian to the class and they were actually very attentive. We finally had math groups again and worked on Area of triangles. We went outside to draw triangles and find the area. The kids seemed to like that pretty much. After that we stayed outside for sport and played Netball with another class. Let me just say that Netball is a weird and strange sport. It is like a version of want-to-be basketball with no dribbling. After work I went out with some of my co-workers for drinks. One of the teachers is going to Denmark for a month. It was fun to go out with everyone and still a little weird that I can go out for drinks after work. It was fun though and I got a better opportunity to get to know everyone. By the time I got home all I wanted to do was go to bed! I actually ended up going to bed around 8:30/9.

Today was a really fun day, but super hard to get out of bed. I set my alarm for 6 and ended up re-setting it for 6:45. It was pajama and crazy hair day for the kids and let me tell you, almost every single kid was dressed up AND had crazy hair. I was very impressed. Today also meant that I got to wear yoga pants and a t-shirt to work. I didn't really bring any of my cute pajamas with my to Australia. I was definitely not expecting to need them at work. We did our spelling test this morning and then went to library. Unfortunately Francine was not wearing her pajamas today, but she was wearing a purple sweater dress with red leggings and tan thigh high boots. After her knit-picking at every little thing the kids did, she read a book about penguins that included her holding a penguin puppet on her lap the whole time. After library we did our reading comprehension and then had lunch. After lunch we had ceramics. The kids have ceramics once a term for the rest of the year. This year they are working on a big project for the new building. They are making buildings out of clay that will all be put together to form a large city skyline of Sydney. There is the harbor area with the bridge and Opera House and also Darling Street and the school. The kids actually did a pretty good job with their pieces. Some buildings were a little more "creative" than others, but they all did a good job. The class has been working toward earing 50 good behavior points and finally earned number 50 today. The kids earned a treat when they got back from ceramics. Adam brought in lollies for the kids and we got to watch Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs. It was actually a cute movie and the kids really liked it.

Adam and I also went over what I am going to do next week and I am actually going to do a lot. I am doing some spelling, writing, and math. Since we are pretty much done with plants and the term isn't over yet, I am also going to be designing a unit to teach on whatever I want. I may do something to do with the United States. i thought Native Americans might be cool, then they could compare them to Aborigines and there would be a lot of fun activities we could do with it. I am looking forward to it, but I am going to have to do a lot of planning on Sunday. If anyone has any ideas on what else might be a fun unit about the United States or anything else let me know.

I am getting ready to head out to the Harbor for the night with some of the girls. We are hoping to see the Opera House lit up and we may even hit up the ice bar (yes it is literally a bar made of ice and requires big jackets and gloves). Tomorrow we are thinking about going to see the Sydney Wallabies play rugby against England. Should be a fun weekend!

Goodbye Hard Drive

Well, today has been an interesting day. Currently I am sitting at the genius bar at the apple store in Sydney using one of their computers. Why, you ask? Well technology hates me. It is a very simple answer. As you all know my iphoto was not working and I deleted my system preferences so I decided to make an appointment at apple to see what we could do to get it fixed. I got here early (even after I got a little lost) and waited for about 5 minutes. I then got the privilege of meeting Ronald. Ronald is the very nice guy attempting to help my computer that is full of hatred towards me. I explained to Ronald my problem and he told me that it was simple and we just needed to rebuild my iphoto. I thought all my prayers were answered, but I was wrong. It still did the exact same thing that it had been doing. Ronald was a bit perplexed and was a little surprised at the issue. That was not a good first sign. We looked at it a bit more, ran some tests, and about 30 minutes later came to the conclusion that we need to try and look at the hard drive. Well, I have heard that story more than once before and I know that it never ends well. Well surprise surprise, Ronald decided that there probably was something wrong and it would be easier to simply rebuild the hard drive. Currently I am sitting here on the genius floater computer because we are re-installing my hard drive. Ronald is currently working with a lovely young couple who is complaining non-stop about her not getting phone calls. I want to turn around and slap them. Poor Ronald is trying to be so nice and they just aren't having any of it. I just looked over at my computer and there is a little thing that says Restore Failure that just popped up. Again, probably not a good sign. I have the worst luck with technology! It hates me and personally, I hate it right now as well. I will try and save Ronald from this atrocious couple soon and send him back to my worthless computer. I swear technology knows about me and knows not to work for me. I will let you all know what happens soon, maybe I will even get my computer back to tell you about my first teaching experience at Rozelle today.

I'm back! Ronald is currently with a new customer, much nicer than the last two. We are trying to do it again or something else. To be completely honest with you I am not sure at all. I told Ronald that my computer hated me and he agreed. For those of you who ever have any technology problems please know never to come to me.

Today was a pretty good day at school. We had a staff meeting today, nothing special. We started our day with our spelling pre-test because we had yesterday off for public holiday. It was my job to give the spelling pre-test, which was not too bad. The kids get a list of 20 words every Monday for their homework and we give ten as a pre-test with an activity. We had some simple words like soccer and because but we also had some harder celebration and inflammation. The kids did a pretty good job listening during the pre-test and when we went over the words on the SmartBoard. After the pre-test we played a game, where the kids receive a word and then have to go around the room spelling it letter by letter. If they miss a letter or get it wrong then they have to sit down. They did a pretty good job and were not too loud. A couple of times they got a little loud and Adam had to get them back into shape. It was a good first start because it was not something too hard for my first lesson with the class. Obviously it is not enough, but for now it will do. We also did some reading work, and plant review today. Today was the first time I got to experience Caspians Council. Caspians Council is where all the kids get together and can talk about somethings that are bothering them in the class and then decide what to do about it. It usually turns into people complaining about stupid little things, and mostly the girls being a bit bitchy. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

My computer is still sitting here in pain and I am starring at it with big puppy dog eyes just hoping that it gets better soon! Let us all keep our fingers crossed that it gets better soon. It is hard enough being here and not being able to call or text people anytime I want to, let alone if you take my computer away from me. Plus I have some internship stuff due soon and obviously I cannot work on that if my computer is being killed.

Aussi Aussi Aussi Oi Oi Oi

Last night was so much fun! I took a nap when we got back from the harbor for about 2 hours and woke up at 10. A bunch of us decided to hang out in the common area and watch the game that was on at 12. There was about 8 of us hanging out and trying to stay up for the 4:00 Australian game. We finally left around 2 and headed down toward the harbor. The buses are running, but not very consistently so we walked. We got there and the main stage was full so we had to go to a side stage. As soon as we got there people wanted something to drink and the bars right there were closed so they all wanted to leave and find a bar. The guy Travis that we met was with friends so we went to meet up with him. The first bar let us in with our state id's but the guy at the bar wouldn't give us anything to drink without a passport. So we left and found another bar down the road and watched some of the game from there. By this point it was already 2-0 Germany. We met some really funny guys who were at the bar and watching the game. Denning and Blair were tired and decided to go back, but Carl, Tori, Travis and I decided to make our way to the main stage on Darling Harbor and see if we could get in. At the front they weren't letting anyone in, even though we were loosing 3-0 at this point and people were leaving. So we went around to see if we could see the screen from the side. When we were over there one of the security guys asked if we wanted to get in. Of course we said yes and the guy opened the side gate and told us to come in individually. So we all got in and went up to the big screen. We watched the last 20 minutes of the game at the harbor and even though Australia didn't score at all and we got beat by Germany 4-0, it was a lot of fun to be down there. There were people dressed up in green and yellow all over the place. We finally left around 6 and made our way to the train station and then walked home. We got back around 7:30 this morning when the sun was out. It was so weird. It was totally worth staying up for the match and a lot of fun. Hopefully they do better next weekend!