Long Jump

Today was the athletics carnival at school and a surprisingly fun, but kind of long, day. Apparently carnivals are a really big deal in Australia. Every school does a swimming carnival, a cross country carnival, and an athletic carnival. At each carnival they race by age group and the winners go to districts for the area and then I suppose it may go on past that. Some of the kids and a lot of the parents take it very seriously. At the athletics carnival the kids run the 100m, 200m, 800m, long jump, and some run a relay just for fun. It takes the whole day and is like a more serious, longer version of a field day.

I got to wear jeans, a sweatshirt, and sneakers to work today, which was nice. We got all the kids lined up outside and headed straight to the oval down by the harbor. Check out pictures at www.kelseysmithdownunder.shutterfly.com (sorry I would put them here, but the internet is not strong enough for them to load on here for some reason). It was really cool to see all of the kids wearing their team colors and ready for the day. It was about a mile walk to the athletic area and a nice place away from the school. I got to help with the long jump today and my job at the beginning was to help rake the sand pit in between each kid. We then started to get bigger groups so I was in charge of helping to get names and measurements of how far they went. As if kids in America do not have hard enough names, Australian kids have even weirder last names. I managed to do okay though. We got a nice little break for lunch and had some sausage sandwiches and a cupcake. Long jump was done before the running races so I was sent to crowd control....what a joy. It wasn't too bad really, just walked around making sure no one was killing each other. I had one little girl come up and ask me where I was from because I talked funny. I also had a boy tell me that I talked like an American. We gave out awards for the top 3 places in each race and announced the winning team. Finally we had a nice long walk back, which was not to bad, I am starting to get some of the kids names so it is easier.

We had some training stuff this afternoon, but I skipped out on it because Adam said it was nothing special and I am going to the training session tomorrow after work. The bus system is getting easier and easier. I even got on a different number bus this morning and made it to work on time. I feel like a pro, but after getting so used to getting in on the left side, I have a feeling I will be thrown off the first time I try and get in a car or anything in the States.

P.S. Mackenzie, I found a Mackenzie Street on the way home from work. We will have to check it out when you get here.