The Latest!

My dearest Katy Rav... aka the go getter has been updating her blog on our travels..I am definitely keeping track of things but probably won't do any more posting til I am home... so check hers for the 3 days that remain... her blog site is listed as one of my links on the left "Student teaching in australia." ENJOY... Thanks to you all for keeping up, it's not over yet... stay tuned. ha <3

Whit Sunday Islands, Queensland:

Day 5: April 11, 2009
Airlee Beach, Whit Sundays

The grey hound wasn’t too bad minus all of the stops. Katy & I had seats at the front, which helped out a lot. The 11 hours was well spent sleeping, listening to the pod, & looking out the window at the nice Aussie scenary. We went stopped in Townsville & went through Bowen a place where they filmed some of the Australia Movie. Scottish boy picked us up in the pouring rain with Mohawk who took us to our hostel at the Bush village. We walked to target & shops and then to downtown Airlee where we did an assortment of things: browsed in shops, used the Internet, hired a car for NZ, participated in a free Didgeridoo lesson, ate at Mama’s boy & listened to live music, met our hostel mates from Denmark, showered & fell asleep watching Super bad.

I forgot to mention that we got pulled over by two cops on the way to the greyhound stop in Cairns… The two cops threatened to charge us $375 for 3 times of ME having my arm out the window… unreal!! They let us go, clearly they were just looking for drunk drivers but they couldn’t have been ruder. It was a nail biter but quite an experience!

Day 6: April 12, 2009 Easter Sunday
Airlee- Shute Harbour- Whitehaven Beach, Whit Sundays

Brekky @ BV (bring your own dishes). Masters on TV. Bus to Shute Harbor. Sailing on the Maxi Ragamuffin thru the islands to Whitehaven Beach. Squeaky white sand. God answered our prayers and gave us sunshine. We swam in stinger suites. Amazing food on the boat (multiple meals). Made friends with Captain George & his crew members, they even let us take the helm. Yikes. Katy supplied chocolate eggs for us. Dinner & free Internet at Maccas!


Day 8: April 13, 2009 “Easter” Monday
Airlee- Shute Harbour- Blue Pearl Bay, Hayman Island

Woke up to the rain. Enjoyed some chocolate chip muffins from the muffin man at the Bush Village; he had them hot & ready just for us. Sailing was memorable today. We had the same group of skippers, the same boat, & a small group of about 15. Everyone was dressed in full rain gear and we all got soaked. The crew nominated Katy & I to help out around the boat- we will probably be sore tomorrow.

The rain finally stopped when we got to Blue Pearl Bay to go snorkeling. Katy & I tried to sign up for an introductory diving class but we both got REJECTED. You should have seen us, one after the other, find out that we both didn’t make the cut… me because of my asthma & Katy because of her back surgery. Although we were disappointed, we had a good laugh, and decided to make the most of our snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. No time for complaining, not even about the weather! We still got sunburned… Australians consider it an injury when you get sun burned- definitely looked down upon in these parts!

Even though it was fairly overcast Katy & I saw so much. We swam in the middle of schools of fish; fish were surrounding us in every direction. My favorite fish were the hot coral trout. The colors were so bright and beautiful. We also saw some enormous fish, there were a few that had eyes the size of my ear. One of the most amazing parts of our swim was following a huge sea turtle around. We did our best to capture the moments with our underwater camera- it was fascinating. Ohh yeah, Katy also saw a jelly fish, she thinks it was a box- box jelly fish can kill you- good thing we had our stinger suites on… that is just one reason why Australia is known as one of the deadliest places on earth.

On the sail back Katy & I both passed out on the middle of the deck. When we woke up we had every single crew member individually ask us how our nap was, kinda embarrassing… We were sad to leave the Raggy Crew after two amazing yet very different sailing adventures, we waved goodbye with yet another rainbow at our backs. Katy & I had dinner at Cactus Jacks tonight; we enjoyed every stage of our Mexican meal. We walked 2500 meters back to the BV. Katy discovered this amazing walking path that goes beside the water the whole way, you always seem to find the good stuff as ya leave…. At the end of our walk we looked up and there were probably over 100 white and yellow parrots in the trees above us- it was incredible…we wondered if they were sleeping.

"Northern Tropical Queensland"

Day 1: Tues. 4/7
Melbourne-Cairns
I left the city of Geelong with a coffee in my hand and a rainbow out the window that stretched across the entire sky. Jeff dropped me at the Melbourne airport on his way to work. I now understand the panic that goes on when one nearly misses a flight. The airport was a madhouse, me & several others were pulled out of line and rushed to the front so that we could check in & board in time. I don’t even think my luggage was weighed.
The 3-hour flight allowed me some good thinking & transition time. I must admit that tears filled my eyes when I finally sat down on the plan and then I received a text from Lou that said remember that this is not good-bye but for now it is just so long. I made friends with a lady from Cairns on the way there, we exchanged stories we parted ways with her telling me that I have the entire world at my feet and to have a good time.
When I left Victoria it was pretty chilly probably in the lower 60’s, when I arrived in Cairns it was humid and 33 C- equivalent to the mid 90’s. Not long after I stepped off the plane, I had my bags, and I spotted Lou & Jesse who had come to my rescue. SO thankful to be sharing this part of the travels with them! We headed to Vicky’s house and I got to meet some more of my Australian “family.” Vicky, Lou, & Jenny are all sisters! Vicky has two precious little boys and we even got pick one of them up from school and saw a Queensland Prep class in action.
In the evening we went to the Cairns Night Markets and then to the Reef Casino. We also went for a stroll along the lagoon & enjoyed some ice cream. It was a nice night. We stayed over night at a hotel along the Esplanade.

Day2: Wed. 4/8
Cairns- Kuranda- Trinity Beach- Palm Cove- Port Douglas

The alarm went of at 4:50 AM and Lou & I headed to the airport to pick up KATY!! It was incredibly early but reuniting with Katy after all this time was so exciting. Our travel group was now complete, 2 Australians & 2 Americans- ready to go!
We enjoyed the complementary buffet at the hotel when we got back and then we all crashed until 9:30. We checked out by 10 & started on our road trip along the coast north. We spent a few hours in Kuranda, where we walked through its markets & checked out Barron Falls. The weather turned bad on us by the time we made it to be beaches so we really just got to glance at Trinity Beach & Palm Cove. I’m sure they were wonderful in the sunshine. By the afternoon we were in Port Douglas. I was so glad that we got to have some time in Port Douglas because I had heard so much about it. We ate an extremely late lunch at the Ironbar & then got caught in a torrential downpour that lasted through the night. We spent the majority of our evening racing cane toads at the Ironbar. This was quite entertaining and a great memory to add to the book. We have pictures to prove it.

Day 3: Thurs. 4/9
Port Douglas- Mossman Gorge- Cape Tribulation- Cairns

Today we woke up and enjoyed our granola & yogurt brekky & then headed up to Mossman Gorge. We did a walk through Mossman and then continued on our adventure north up to Cape Tribulation. We were officially experiencing the Daintree Rainforest. Cape Tribulation is known as the place where the rainforest meets the reef, one of the oldest rainforest in the world. It was a windy and rainy drive that took about 2 hours. The road was lined with sugar cane for most of the drive and then a quick change to rainforest on one side and coast on the other. To get to Cape Tribulation we had to have the car transported over the river via a ferry.
We were in for a few shockers once we arrived into the thick of the jungle. We were booked to stay in at a Backpacker’s place called the PK Jungle Village but that lasted about three hours. We were greeted at the door of the hut by two large spiders that were nearly the size of our hands. Although we did realize this is to be expected in the depths of the rainforest there were several other reasons why after a picnic lunch of contemplation we decided to turn the car and head back all the way to Cairns (where started).
We had a fun night out in Cairns. We stumbled upon a ladies night & had many adventures and stories from the night; our pictures are definitely worth a thousand words. We stayed the night at the Cairns plaza.

Day 4: Friday 4/10/09
Cairns

We met Vicky around noon and joined her family for a lovely picnic at the Crystal Cascades. We had prawns, potato salad, boiled eggs, spinach & pine nut dip, and more. After our lunch we took a nice stroll through the rainforest. We saw lots of little waterfalls and butterflies.
In the afternoon we went and hung out at the lagoon. I loved this atmosphere; it was so relaxing. After our swim Katy & I had to book the next leg our journey. We realized that we were in over our head when every sailing trip we wanted to do seemed to be booked, maybe because it is Easter weekend!? We finally made a plan that seems like it will work just fine. We shall see… in God’s hands.
Katy, Lou, Jesse & I had a nice Italian meal to celebrate our last night together and then Katy & I splurged and brought some pillows for our all night greyhound to the Whit Sundays.

TOP TEN Highlights of Week 10: Last Week in Geelong, Victoria

-Enjoying Panache Café & Queensland planning with Lou & Jesse
-Receiving a Package of GIFTS <4 Aussie mates> from Mom & Dad
-April Fools Day & the last Farmers Wants a Wife
- The Edge with the teachers celebrating end of term
-Surfing with Luke @ Ocean Grove: near 13th beach- sporting the wet suite and standing up right as the wave died
-5 * Dinner at the Sheraton Waterfront with Jenni, Jeff, Mitchell & Mckenzie
- All Day/ Night Surprise Adventure with the Gang to Stevenson Falls along the Great Ocean Road (cooking dinner & smores over campfire, dancing with sparklers, <3 to <3’s, Guitar tributes to Georgia & Chewy, gift ‘presentations’ (receiving converses)…Teaching the friends the GA cheer: seeing them wear UGA shirts all day long, & hearing them say, “Goooooooooo Dawgs, Sic ‘em!”
- Having Jenni & friends assist me in the packing process
-Watching Father of the Bride II the last night with Jenni
-Seeing a rainbow on the way to the airport!

---------From the day I went surfing:
13th Beach Daily Surf Report----Updated: Sat Apr 4th, 7:45am
Surf: bumpy 3ft-----Wind: moderate WSW-----Weather: cool and cloudy

Dawn Patrol: Another Easter is here with the chill of autumn descending on us seemingly so sudden but creeping up on us if we could see the signs ever so subtle. Yes even the old English ivy and the migratory birds have come and gone whilst our water brings the chill from the white lands and the winds become icy way down south where men fear to sail on a wooden hull. Yes I'm feeling melancholy as the waves are around 3ft and the wind from the west south west and the protected breaks from Raffamea bay to possos will be our cleanest options though not huge. So grab the log or fish and imbibe the effervescent sparkling crystaline azure and continue the trek that is our journey as surfers.The swell will build over the next few days and the reefs will begin to fire...so enjoy...The high tide is 6.41 am with a 1.38 metres and the low tide is 12.59 am with a 1.41 metres. Stay upright Ross Rasta surf Co

ALSO… this week in Geelong at Bells Beach is the annual RipCurl Surfing Competition, Kelly Slater is in town.

Week 10: Monday March 30- Friday April 3rd

This week at school was my last. Bitter sweet: I was so sad to say good-bye to the children that I had become attached to but also to all my teacher friends at Belliare. I couldn’t have asked for a better student teaching experience. I learned so much and had a blast. One of the best gifts I received was a typed up evaluation from Abby and Brie. They took time to type up some valuable feed back for me. I was so encouraged by their words but also how they seemed to sum up just about everything just that I have learned during my ten weeks of student teaching. I couldn’t have asked for a better thing to take back with me. They also organized a surprise party for me. The kids all brought food, gifts, home made cards, sweet smiles, and hugs. My heart was truly touched by each of them. I was so glad that I had hand written each of them an American flag note & mom had sent over American candy for them as well. At an assembly I was given a fresh bouquet of flowers and called up in front of the whole school, teachers, family members. I denied the mic, I thought I might choke up if I took it and I did have a classic Mobley laugh/cry at the baby shower function after school saying goodbye to all of the teachers. But all in all, I had an excellent wrap up to an experience that I will never forget!

*Other highlights this week at school:

-Abby’s 28th Birthday all day celebration with the teachers because it was planning day!
- Teaching Easter lessons ☺ & fun/ crafty Easter Lessons!
- The Junior Unit was also filmed by a videocrew because Bellaire P.S. is up for a big nomination amongst the Victorian School System (see pic)


Gifts From The HEART:

Bellaire Staff- Fresh Flowers, Bellaire Pen, Kind notes
Abby/ Brie- Kimmie Doll “Emi” Smile, Children’s Book: Possum Magic by Mem Fox, sweet card, and stickers

Butterfly card gift... Imogen

The Surprise Party!
Issy- Kangaroo Cuddle-kin, 2 cards
Corey B- chocolate & Wallabe Beanie Kid
Montana- Butterfly Hand Bag Hanger, personalized tissue paper
Teishe- Australia DVD (HER DAD is in MULTIPLE scenes in the movie)& home-made card
Nicholas- Strawberry Body Butter, card
Emily G- Card
Gabby- Card, photo album
Georgia- Australian gift bag, Vegemite, Australian Chocolate Dollars
Jialin- Good luck shoes from China
Luke- Chocolate Roses & Letter
Sienna F- Cadbury Chocolates
Declan- Chocolate Smarty Rabbit
Sienna L- Stickers, Koala Note book, Multi colored pen, Kitty Kat Card
Emma Baxandall- Black & White Jewelled Pony Tail holder
Josh- Cadbury Milk Tray, 24 piece box
Tom- Australia Hat & Koala Statue
Cooper- “I think you are a great teacher because…” box with slips inside of reasons why…
Katie- Dark Chocolate Lindt Rabbit
Imy, Imogen- Stationary, butterfly card
Will- Chocolate Roses & Card
May- Fresh Rose & Ribbon, picture, home made card
Chocolate gain: 5 chocolate bunnies, 3 boxes of chocolates. 2 rolls of chocolate, & 1 Chocolate Chick
Corey G- Card

Week9: March 23-29

I forgot to mention in my last entry that Sunday night for dinner we enjoyed the fresh catch that Mitchell & Jeff brought in from their fishing day trip. Tuesday of this week Katy & I finally got the ball rolling on our travel plans after much investigation, and talk with locals aka the experts. It is weird to think that in such a short amount of time Katy & I will be closing our chapters here and heading out on our own for some serious adventure in Queensland & New Zealand. We are learning so much through this process of planning and also leaving room for the unplanned. Dr. Matthews gave me some more advice this week, he told me that I am going to go home with so many experiences & that I will want to share it all-but… and that everyone won’t be able to understand it all. However, I can rest in knowing that they’re part of my story, my experiences and memories to own forever.
Jeff was away in Adelaide for a night this week so Lou came over for dinner, we had Moroccan lamb chops, yum! Wednesday Jenni & I had a fun experience at the bank- we got chased down to the car- all for a signature- it was classic. I watched Farmers with the gang Wednesday as well. Afterwards we went back to Tash & Amy’s to watch a documentary on the show Underbelly (about gangs in Melbourne.) The whole group got to meet mom, dad, Daniel, & Chewy via the Mac. They LOVED meeting the fam and the fam loved meeting them- it was so special. Paul kept sneaking into the kitchen ‘pretending’ to fix a drink so he could hear Daniel talk... he thought Daniel sounded like Kings of Leon boys from Nashville- his fav. Band! Paul also showed me some of the Australian Stars tonight, so weird the we look to different stars- I saw the Southern Cross & the Shopping Cart. It was cool.
Thursday was a beautiful day, so nice- sunny & warm. I had another evening with the McCoy family. I went to their house for tea. We had Tuna Mornay & Satay chicken Kabobs. It was just as good as the last time when we had Chicken Kiev. The McCoys had a full table of the usual guests. I helped Kay put together light bulbs afterwards- quite an experience, her husband Bruce is an electrician. I plan to see them again when they come for a visit in January. So Auf Wiedersehen to them!
On the weekend I ventured into Melbourne. Jeff dropped me off and I had the day to myself to wander in the city. I loved this, something I had wanted to do. I started in the morning at the Victoria Street Market and zig zagged my way down to South Bank by late afternoon.
I did a lot of people watching, browsing through shops, sitting, and enjoying things like sushi & a smoothie. I was excited to find a little cobblestone alley with lots of cafes called Hardware Lane- I was recommended to find this spot by a guy I met couple weeks ago named Christian. He actually lived in Buckhead Atlanta for a bit and he is from Melbourne- He wanted to lead me to a place in the city with the good stuff- somewhere you wouldn’t necessarily stumble upon. Glad I found it! I rested in the sun at Federation Square and I also went up to the highest vantage point in the Southern Hemisphere, the Eureka Tower. The family hooked me up with free tickets to check this out. The Eureka Tower has something called the Edge, it is a glass cube that extends out from the top of the building and spits you out over the city with nothing but 4 see through glass walls around you. Scary stuff!! II wasn’t scared at first but once I was ejected over the city with nothing but clear glass beneath the hospital slippers they made me wear I was pretty shaky. I even sat down on the glass floor bottom- really freaky but I am so glad I did it. They gave me a rubber bracelet that says, “ I survived the Edge.” Great view. It was quite the solo day but good for me.

Jeff picked me up late afternoon and we headed to the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grounds)- this venue seats about 100,000. The Melbourne Olympics took place here in the 50’s and now it is a prized place for Victorians- a top place to watch both the footy and cricket. Jeff & I enjoyed a soulvlaki & beer, and waited for Jenni, Mitchell, & Kenz to arrive via train. We watched the Geelong Cats beat Hawthorne (Hawthorne is a Melbourne team that has a lot of Tasmania supporters) this was a big win. I loved watching the footy! So fast pace, it was great. The fans are quite intense, reminded me of a GA football game- everyone was decked out. I even wore a Geelong scarf that Jenni bought me! Geelong is known for it’s footy team. They won the Grande Final in ’07 & made it again undefeated to the final in ’08 but lost to Hawthorne! It took about 2 hours for us to get home from the game. Melbourne was crazy this weekend because it was also the Grande Prix races!! We nearly fell into bed once we got home quarter til 2.

Madison turned 31 this weekend, I have yet to send his Birthday card but I emailed- hope ya got it Bro! Tash took me to see a Gold Star Move on Saturday. it was amazing! Gold star cinemas have recliners as the seats and you’re able to be waited on during the movie. It was heaven. We saw Confessions of a Shopaholiic We had coffees and gummi worms brought to us in a martini cup thirty minutes into the movie. In the afternoon we met up with the guys and I learned how to properly kick the footy. We also got ice-cream.
Jeanine, Chris, & the girls came over for a Barbie Sat night- we had a good time. Allie & Kenz danced the night a way and made me a precious card & farewell gift! The gang picked me up Sat after dinner and we went to a couples’ house to watch the movie Twilight. We went to the Barwon Club Hotel to see some of Paul’s friends play around midnight, we bumped into Lou there-
Sunday was church & I went on a little road trip to Melbourne with Lou, Jesse, & Kato. We did some shopping at DFO (Direct Factory Outlet). I came home empty handed but it was nice afternoon adventure & girl time. Thought of you Marc because we drove home listening to John Butler Trio & Jack Johnson. Lou got a new car so she loved spinning her fresh wheels.

Week9: March 23-29

School End: Week 8

Rainbow Fish Plays

Lou aka ("Miss B"), her kiddies, & the worms!!

Sizzling starts. Crazy Hair Day. POOF!

Brie & Abby.. Mrs. White & Mrs. Ling Crazy hair day.. both even had big butterflies in the back...

Miss Moss & Junior B. Crazy Hair day picture for 4th grade pen pal family in America. Note: Australian Flags

This week I finished up most of my requirements for the COST program. I did a 3-day lesson plan on retell using the books The Very Hungary Caterpillar & The Rainbow Fish. The first couple of lessons I did focused on coming up with creative ways for the students to learn how to write a retell. I made a chart with picture clues from the stories to help them recall parts from the beginning, middle, and end of the stories.
Russell Matthews observed me on Tuesday. He gave me valuable feed back (“a descriptive analysis”) and was extremely encouraging; he also gave me some ideas to consider for further improvement. I am so thankful for his enlightening feedback. Ever since I realized that he lived across the street from Bellaire, I have occasionally stopped by his house to visit with he and his wife Barbs. Some more words of wisdom for this week: you can’t love every child but you can respect them, make it a goal to have your children smile at you keeping them intrigued, captivated, and excited and finally he spoke to me about how important he believes it is to make sure that every year in the classroom is a different experience. I don’t think I have mentioned this but the teachers over here in the Victorian school system are constantly changing learning units (or grade levels) year to year. They strongly believe in changing things up and never repeating a year or teaching again and again, this surprised me so much because at home teachers often make it their goal to stay in the same grade every year- these contradicting mindsets make for a huge difference between the Australian and American school systems.

One more thing…Russell has informed me that I am his 100th COST student, that he has double-checked his records- and I am exactly #100- how special.

Once the children mastered retell, the lessons become really exciting. We did an art project, making our very own rainbow fish and I came up a unique twist that linked back to the story… you would have to know the story to understand the meaning behind what went down in the lesson but the kids got it and the lesson actually had a moral to it just like the book. The very last lesson I did for the week on retell was a lesson where the kids were divided intro groups and they got to write their own rainbow fish plays and then retell it (or perform) it in front of the class. We turned their art project from the previous day into puppets and they could not get enough, some of them even used their recess time to work on their plays. I remember those days oh so well… I don’t think there was one person who didn’t enjoy this activity; I think I loved it as much as they did! Success with the rainbow fish retells, for sure!
Wednesday was crazy hair day (to raise money for a good cause) as you can see in the pictures. Russell and Barbs gave me the fabulous yellow wig to wear. I only wore the wig for a writing lesson. For writing the kids had to use their imaginations and write a story about how they got the crazy hair that they did. I modeled this for them by coming up with 4 or 5 “sizzling starts” that explained how I magically got my shocking blonde fro. The kids really had come to school with outrageous hair (pipe cleaners, spray paint, glitter, shaved heads, gel, mohawks, ect)- so they had plenty to write about using their imaginations. It was great!
Thursday I went to Lou’s prep/Grade 1 classroom at Herne Hill. It was so nice to change it up for a day and spend a day in Lou’s classroom. It was a cruisy day, we had a good time. Paul’s sister, Christy works at Herne Hill and is friends with Lou so it was nice to meet her and have lunch with her. Lou is so creative!! I learned a lot from her just in one day… she is talents and a fun teacher. She goes by Miss B in the classroom, it is really cute. She has two guinea pigs what I enjoyed getting to know and we also did fun hands on math activity with worms!!! Oh the adventures of the early childhood classroom, gotta love it!

Week 8: Mon, March.16- Sun. March 22

Jan Juc

takin a swim

Claire & her offering.

Luke & Nigel

The Bark Hut... teachers night out.






Paul & Tash

I can’t stop the days; they are literally running through my hands like quicksand. Don’t get me wrong I am very excited about connecting with home again but I am also clinging onto the days I have left here. I want to make sure that every purpose for this time is carried out; it is such a unique time to experience and see- with a unique amount of freedom. That’s why I don’t want to wish it a way one bit.
Last Monday Jenni & I teamed up and together whipped up dinner, we made the classic Parmesan Crusted Chicken- always a winner!
Tuesday was St. Patrick’s Day, not widely celebrated here in Australia… just for the records, I received no pinches a& didn’t so much give any either- maybe next year. I think I received a card from Sandi on this day- Thanks Sand-dawg…. The fam loved seeing it. I will explain later, but basically you & I are not able to keep any secrets. There’s a funny story behind this one.
Tuesday night I had dinner with Russell Matthews (my overseas advisor), his wife Barbs, and their 3 year old granddaughter Grace. We had such a nice time; they are inspiration- wise people with lots of “life” advice. For example,. things like simply discussing the joys of travel and how in the end, all we really have is the memories we create in our heads. Also, the joys of giving- how we can be givers or takers in life. Finally, they gave me their input on what I should look for in a mate: someone that I can laugh with, have fun with, and who will be my best friend…Thanks Russell & Barbs. We had dinner on the Waterfront at the Wharf Shed, and desert back at the house. I love these two and I will never forget them. I could sit and chat with them for ages. They have good friends that live in Athens and have retired from working at UGA, so hopefully they will be back again one day for a visit!
Wednesday, I carpooled with ‘the gang’ (Paul, Tash, Jarrod, & Josh) over to Jasmine & Hayden’s house- they meet every Wednesday. (To paint a more accurate picture: We picked Paul up as he zipped down the hill on his skateboard-) We watched Farmer Wants a Wife (like the Bachelor) and had a good time kicking back and hanging out. It is so much fun to watch this show with this crowd… all we do is make comments the whole time, making fun & laughing at the show- but we’re also pretty serious about it. The show wraps up next week. Hard to believe I will have been here for it’s entire season- start to finish.
The main event of the evening was the introduction of SMORES to the gang. The guys prepared a nice fire in the back yard and we went to town roasting marshmallows and creating some pretty amazing smores. It was such a great set up--- we all sat around the fire for a few hours, laughed, had quality convo, and perfected the art of making smores. They even put their own Australian twist on things- I can explain at a later time. I was impressed. I also loved that Paul & Josh went to the petrol station to restock on ingredients and also brought back 5 slush puppies-assorted flavors- in a to-go box. Priceless. What more can ya ask for on a Wednesday night?

By the way- if you ever come to Australia and make smores, graham crackers do not exist—the replacement is the marie ‘biscuits’—works like a charm. Perhaps one day the Aussie gang will make it over to Georgia to experience the original smore.
Lou came for dinner Thursday night. I made grandma’s mac n’cheese, wanted to share some true southern tradition. Jen made some lemon chicken out of the “come to the table” cookbook. I also made peanut butter ice cream pie, we were all stuffed to the brim by the end but it was worth it!

Friday I had a night out with the teachas. Abby planned a night to take me out, a coast crawl, and sent an email over the Bellaire List serv. Abs took me to the travel agent after school to help me investigate Katy’s and I’s Queensland trip and then I went home with her for bit. I loved looking at her precious wedding album and seeing her sweet & happy home. We went to Ocean Grove for dinner; it is one of the small towns on the coast, a little drive but not to far. 13 of us from Bellaire had an amazing dinner and a very fun time. We ate a restaurant called the Bark Hut, definitely one of the best places I have been yet. It was perfect; we had about a 4-hour dinner- mainly just hanging out- after dinner had the place to ourselves. They even turned up the John Mayer song, “why Georgia why” just for us and whipped up a special Australian (Bundaberg) beverage for the whole table- thanks to Claire’s offering. I really enjoyed this night out. I didn’t make it home early either, Blanche & Claire kidnapped me and took me to the infamous “Lamby’s.” Lamby’s is a legend in Geelong; it is a huge basement- definitely a probable place to loose track of time. I made it home safe and sound, no worries.

Saturday was the best beach day yet. Paul & Tash & Jarrod picked me up and we headed to Jan Juc near Torquay. It was such a warm day; I could finally lie on the beach and swim in the ocean. The ocean was cold and the waves were big, it took a second for me to enjoy it but I definitely did! Afterwards, we went into Ocean Grove I got a spider (coke float) and shared chips (French fries) and gravy with the gang. The little place we went to for this snack was known for this special combo. Oh, I must add that I went barefoot all though out Ocean Grove, Paul influenced me- I decided to go for the Australian barefoot feel- definitely liberating. I think I have some of that tendency in me anyway. I loved it.
After the beach, went on a nice stroll and had some much needed “be” time at one of my special spots here in Grovedale. I had my i-pod with me, I love to go on walks / jogs and just leave the ipod on shuffle to see what comes my way. I was almost brought to tears when I sat on the bench at the bottom of the hill, watching the sun shine down through the clouds, and Tomlin’s “Take my life” started playing in my ears. I quickly realized the significance of this song. Two weeks into my time in Geelong when I took my first walk the hill and discovered the ‘special spot’ and this very song started playing on my ipod. I decided that it was a good theme song for me & my season here- & now, here it is 2 weeks until my departure…. and it is ‘randomly’ playing again. It is a powerful song, it speaks to my heart for this time in life- so you can understand that the fact that it was the one playing out of 3000 songs again in the same place, struck a cord.

Sunday consisted of Church and then back to Jan Juc with the gang to watch a game of footy. It was another nice day to spend outside. We also went to have a look around Quicksilver and the shops in Torquay. I wrapped up the week watching nothing other than the Australian classic, The Castle with Jeff and Jenni. I have been hearing about this movie ever since I arrived, I was finally ready for it after 9 weeks- it was worth the wait!

Week 7: March 10- March 15

Station Pier, Just for Grandaddy.

Station Pier has been restored to its original image. Does this look familiar?

Fire out of the tops of buildings, part of a light show every night in Melbourne.


Horse & Carriage to the Crown Complex.

Me, Emily, & little Holly... picture in honor of Lindsay!

Dark Sky, City lights.

Crown.


Kay & Bruce McCoy.

Mitchell & the McCoy House :)

Wow. It is becoming difficult to take the time to properly hash out I everything that has been going on. This isn’t a bad thing because I have been busy and there is always something “on” these days. This is good, the way I would choose, considering I am only down to a matter of days left in Geelong. However, I am trying my best to balance my time with the family, teachers, and friends that I have made here. I know for a fact that is going to be very hard to leave this place…but I can always choose to be thankful for my time.

Week 7 was a good one. This week was more about hanging back and catching up considering I was “buggared” with a nasty cold. I did enjoy things like taking a bubble bath, sitting on the couch--just “being,” watching Wipe Out Australia (hilarious show) with the fam and eating mocha ice cream with berries.

Wednesday was my “sickie” day and Wednesday night we had dinner with Nan and Dand. Dinner was good, I tried some new things… a lot of these foods were English since Nan and Dand are originally from England (Trifle desert, pumpkin as a veggie, mashed peas, & this pancake-like bread)… I forget the name ☺ but a definite English fav.

Thursday I was back to school and feeling a little better. I had an important date in the evening with the McCoy Family. The McCoy family is the family who kept a friend of mine, Lindsey Brown, when she did her COST exchange this past summer. I call Lindsey a friend, but truthfully she is a friend of a friend. I love the story…

Mark Williams, one of my best friends from GA College stopped by my apartment in Athens last November because he was getting ready to move out to Colorado and he wanted to say goodbye for the season. Last November, I was still unsure if I would even do the COST program and go abroad. While Mark & I were visiting he saw all of the notebooks from previous COST students who had done the program… (I was doing my research). This same week I had found out that my placement was “pending” in Geelong, Australia…. a place I knew close to nothing about. To be honest, I was a little bummed and very hesitant about the whole thing because I had NO ONE to talk to about this far off place… all I had or (thought I had) was a couple of note books that had both positives and negative on this unknown land. I had kinda hoped that I would be placed in Christ Church, NZ because I had many connections there…. Anywayyy: long story short. God is in charge, and He knows better than I do…Mark sees the notebooks, and says, “MOBS, are you going to Australia?!?! One of my best girlfriends just got back from there!!” I was so interested to hear this news… he told me he would soon give her a call and find out where exactly she had been in Australia. He did know that she had done a similar program for student teaching - except that she did it through the University of Alabama. This was exciting and encouraging news. However, little did I know that only twenty minutes after Mark had left my apartment would I receive a call saying, “Mobs… you will never believe this!... I just talked to Lindsey and she was in Geelong, Australia and she did the COST program as well…. I’ll give you her number and you can talk to her.” Talk about God winking down and lighting the way for me….

That same week, I called Lindsey. I also found out what school I would be working at ... It was yet another wink ;) when I found out that Lindsey had been at Bellaire Primary School which was the same school that I had been placed at… unbelievable… This is when I began to feel that this was the direction that I would soon be going….

Flash-forward, to Thursday of this week and you can now understand all the pieces that have come together and who it was that I was having dinner with: The McCoy’s, and they were the host family for Lindsey, while she was here. The other good thing that came with talking to Lindsey before I got here was that she absolutely LOVED her host family and her time in Australia and at Bellaire.

Lindsey lived with Kay & Bruce and their children Holly, Mitchell, & Emily. So Thursday, after school I went home with Kay & Mitchell. We ran a few errands down in Waurn Ponds and then headed to their lovely country home. They have a rather nice house on a spacious piece of land. They have 8 Turkeys, a few cows, 2 dogs, a sheep, a pony, and lots of nice fruit and vegetable gardens. I quickly learned that the McCoy family has an open door policy. They have people in and out all the time, and I now understand why: they have extremely outgoing personalities, giving hearts, and quite the party house (including a nice pool set up in the backyard).

I wasn’t the only guest for dinner on Thursday… They also had over Kaye’s nephew and his new bride. Through conversation I learned that I had actually been at their wedding back in February and didn’t even know it. It was one of the strangest revelations I have ever experienced through conversation- you definitely had to be there to understand but quite simply I had seen part of their wedding because it was going on the evening I visited the botanical gardens. Imagine that for conversation over dinner… I also learned that the one set of parent’s that I have connected with out of my students at Bellaire is Bruce’s sister and her husband- their daughter, Tara is one of the sweeties I have been working with…. Talk about a small world!! The McCoy family & I decided that we were destined to meet.

For dinner Kaye fixed some garlic chicken, it was Lindsey’s favorite food when she was here… it was quite yummy! She also made a chocolate ripple cake as ONE of the deserts- an Australian favorite, very good! I stayed at their house until after 11 and it was a school night- we had a good time! I did not come home empty handed… I think I received at least one homemade gift from each child. How sweet.

Friday I hung with my family here, all but JEFF. I forgot to inform you all that this week he flew to AMERICA!! How crazy is this?!!? We traded places… he was in St. Louis, Missouri Wednesday- Friday- and made it back to Australia on Sunday. He got to fly on the new airbus via Qantas so his airtime was much less than mine! He had a good trip and he got the job he was interviewing for—very exciting!!! Now he has even more reason to come to America on a regular basis… I love this!!! He made a promise before he left to bring me back the tackiest ‘American’ gift that he could find…. He succeeded beyond expectation when he handed me nice Hooters tank. He has now had the Hooters experience, but PG of course… just had some wings, a bud, and hung out with the guys…. Gotta love it. While he was in America on Friday, the rest of us went to a banquet for Mitchell’s cricket team and had a nice Barbie. I had a snag (sausage from the Barbie, same idea as a hot on the grill.) It was a good time, a nice relaxing evening.

Saturday it rained heaps. I was picked up by Kaye and the kids and a joined them for a 4 year old’s birthday party- we had plans later in the day to go to Melbourne. We left for Melbourne late afternoon and had a beautiful dinner on South Bank in the city, at the Waterfront Fish Market- an exclusive restaurant. We ate outside looking out onto the Yarra River. It was so nice to eat here because it is a hot spot and often too popular to get into. I tried lotssssss of new seafood- and enjoyed what I experienced. The family ordered a 3-story platter full of food. It was such a nice meal. A storm came as we were eating but it had finished by the end of our meal. After dinner we walked around the Crown Complex—this area is full of the top-notch stores, restaurants, cafes, and casinos. The Crown is six star hotel. The McCoy’s go for a weekend every Christmas. It is such a cool place. I loved being in the city. It was quite the happening night in Melbourne. The Bushfire Sound Relief concert was going on and Zack Effron was also in town. Big stuff… Kings of Leon and Jack Johnson were just a few of the featured Sound Relief artists. I found Melbourne to be quite the romantic city and I look forward to venturing back there before my time is done. We wrapped up the night with a horse carriage ride back to the Crown where we had some amazing coffee and ice-cream (white chocolate with white choc flakes.. mmm good!) We also caught part of the light show that goes on every night in Melbourne, fire comes out of the tops of some of the buildings: it is outrageous- really cool to see. The McCoy’s secretly hid some chocolates from the Chocolate Box in my purse… a precious chocolate penguin and koala. They treated me like a little princess- too bad Lindsey couldn’t have been there to join in the fun. I understand how they developed the relationship they did… similar to mine with the Gordon family. What more could we ask for?!

On the way home we stopped by Station Pier just for Grandaddy. He stopped at the port there back when he fought in the war. I took a picture just for him; it was really cool moment to take in- I know Granddaddy holds that experience close to his heart.

Sunday I went to church with Tash and hung out with the gang after words. We went and ate a place at the Waurn Ponds shopping center called Nandos, best Portuguese chicken wrap I have ever had. We did a little shopping and they also joined me on my first Target Australia experience. After that, we headed back to Tash and Amy’s. We decided have a laid back afternoon: the gals were in charge of ‘hiring’ a few movies and the boys were in charge of gathering some snacks. The snacks were perfect and the movies we won’t talk about—but needless to say it was and restful Sunday afternoon.

Two nice gifts this week: A singing card in the mail from Lauren Bennett- one for me and a High School Musical card for McKenzie—we both loved them!! AND Jenny gave me a photo blown up onto a canvas that she took in Anglesea, and a snow globe with a black and white picture of me inside from the beach in Anglesea- such treasures to take home… so thoughtful!

SCHOOL & Such: Week 7: March 10-13

Luke, Brie, & Abby: Junior Unit presentation for our PD (Professional Development) I must take credit for the making the Poster :) at least I didn't have to present it!
It was an especially short week at school. Monday we had no school because it was Labor Day and by mid-week I had gained a lovely sinus infection that kept me out of school on Wednesday. A day of rest at the Gordon house and some sudafed did wonders for me. So, essentially, I had a three-day week at school. I still managed to stay involved while I was there.

I have gained my own small group for maths that I work with consistently and I was also in charge of directing plays during the reading each day. I had a lot of fun with kids performing the given plays. Each day this week I worked with a different reading group. We performed Snow White & the seven dwarfs, the Tortoise & the Hare, and a few others. I can remember when I was young how the day magically changed when you add in something as exciting as performing a play in front of the class. The kids ate it up!

I also organized a few DKU (Deep Knowledge Unit) lessons this week. We did a fun activity making posters for the proper rules of various places in the community. Doesn’t sound very exciting but trust me, I used my creative powers and tried my best it into something fun, enjoyable, and exciting. It was successful!

Friday at assembly, McKenzie and a few of her best girlfriends performed their very own song and dance, “I say” in front of the entire school and parents. It was quite bold and impressive. Kenz had solo singing and dancing parts, must have been inspired by all that High school Musical- Hannah Montana jazz. Chloe even played her guitar. I love so much watching the child-like faith and confidence thrive in situations like these. The girls received a screaming applaud from the crowd; I have no doubt that they will now be considered ‘famous’ around Bellaire.

This week I have admired Abby’s ever-present positive attitude towards the kids. When I find myself in situations where I might be secretly rolling my eyes or dragging my feet a bit, I look at Abby and she is always smiling. She really lets her joy overflow into her teaching and her relationships with co-workers. I desire this as well and the power of a smile and a laugh is something that I have learned the importance of this week. It is so important to do the best you can but also to not take things too seriously, I’ve learned that things work out best when you relax and just go with it.

School Update : Week 6: March 2-6

Junior Unit TeachAs

Junior Expo


The Life Ed Van

This past week was absolutely packed out at school, probably the busiest week yet. It was also a week of transition for me as I switched over to Junior L, Abby’s classroom. On Monday we had the usual staff meeting after school, Tuesday we had our Junior Unit meeting after school, and Wednesday we didn’t finish our school day until 7:30 P.M. because we had our Junior Expo for the parents. Thankfully took a coffee break around 5 where we were able to catch our breaths. The Junior Expo was very successful. There were parents everywhere. We had so many activities set up within the building, each classroom focused on an area of teaching. E.g.: maths, phonics (Thrass). ICT (technology) & Guided Reading. I enjoyed mixing & mingling with the parents.

I even got to share some of the things I have been doing in the classroom with a few of the parents. I let Tara’s mom & dad read the letter she got from her American pen pal, Camden. This was really neat because Camden shared with Tara his love for the Beatles and Paul McCartney and when Tara’s mom read this letter she said, “well Tara you need to write Camden and tell him that your great, great aunt used to be Paul McCartney’s babysitter in Liverpool. “ What a great connection, definitely a God-Wink in the school setting!

Everything I mentioned above happened after school hours… so; here are one of the things that actually took place during school hours:

- Russell Matthews my overseas advisor came to observe & check up on me. A surprise visit, we had a great chat. He is such a valuable contact to have, very knowledgeable and well known in the Education scheme of things over here. He shared with me that he has been to UGA a few times and that he has a faculty member coming from the University of Alabama’s Education program on the 23rd that he wants me to meet.
- Monday we took a community walk to the Highton Library with the kids, which was a great way to break up the day. I almost pulled out some camp games during our spare time outside of the library. Took my nifty colorful game keychain, which Lauren & Dr. T invented this past summer.
- On Tuesday the Juniors got to visit the Life Education Van. The Life Ed van is a big deal for the kids; it’s a really fun and interactive scripted act where the kids learn about making healthy food choices.
- I did a lesson on The Fifty States on Wednesday & a lesson on Georgia Thursday. I even had “Georgia on My Mind” & a slideshow of the States that mom passed onto me playing on the smart board in the background while the kids colored their maps and flags! They loved this, I cannot tell you how fascinated they were and how many questions they asked. Every time a new state popped up on the slideshow they would say its name out loud. One little girl even asked me if she could dance when the acoustic National Anthem that was playing in the background- it was hilarious. Abby even said she learned something from the lesson!
- I also had the opportunity to share the pictures of all of the snow in Athens. We did a writing lesson on SNOW, the kids loved this and it really helped their imaginations warm up!
- Finally, had a great chat with Daniel on the Smart Board at school. Anybody who knows what a smart board is can laugh at that… good thing it was lunch and the kids were outside- talk about distracting.