Friday
I woke up this morning ready to begin my packing. I got up and went for an hour and a half walk around the beach and a park. When I got back, I made myself buttermilk pancakes and had a leisurely breakfast. Around 10:30AM, I went down to the beach and ended up staying there for about three hours. Needless to say, I got a little burnt. I came home, made a quick lunch and began my packing and cleaning. I wanted to leave the house especially clean for Len and Heather since they are away on a holiday right now. I got quite a bit done, when Kit (their son) said, “How about some afternoon goodbye cocktails?” So, we ended up having a drink while he did some work and I packed.
We had invited John and Hazel over for dinner, so they came around seven. We had a wonderful pasta meal and a couple glasses of wine. Around 10PM we headed for the airport. My flight left at 12:45 at night. I was actually able to sleep through the night on the plane. I’m now in Sydney’s international airport awaiting my flight across the world to Los Angeles. Making the trek from the domestic airport to the international one was not too much fun with about 100 lbs of luggage.
Saturday, April 11
The day that just wouldn’t end. I started the day on the plane from Perth to Sydney. When I got to Sydney I had a huge hassle with checking in, but I eventually made it. After sitting in the Sydney airport for nearly seven hours, I’d had just about enough airport to last me for a while. Then came the 13.5-hour fight to Los Angeles. I was able to sleep most of the flight, but it was still a long time to be cooped up in a window seat. When the plane landed in LA, I only had about forty minutes to get my luggage, go through customs, and find my new gate in one of the domestic terminals. I ended up jogging through the airport and getting to my departing flight as they were making the last call. That flight was about two hours long and it took me to Denver. Once in Denver, I had a layover for about two hours and then I boarded my last flight home. The final leg of my journey was about three hours long and took me back into Columbus. I got in around 10PM, and the whole family was there to greet me! I was awfully tired, but I was back at home at last.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
The Last Day of School
Wednesday
I started packing up some things at school today. I had a lot to carry out with presents from the kids. They had a “surprise” party for me today at lunch. The boys brought in savory foods, and the girls brought in sweets. We had a really nice spread of food, and it was all very good. Because of the party, the whole day was chaotic. The students also brought in their technology & enterprise projects in today. They built one ride or attraction from their theme park, so we had a show and tell today.
Tonight, the staff had a going-away party for me at Jimmy Dean’s restaurant. It was really nice. We all had a couple glasses of wine and a good meal. There were some other parties there who were celebrating birthdays. After the third birthday celebration, the staff thought it would be funny to tell the server that it was my birthday. They played a “happy birthday” song for me and gave me an ice cream sundae. Ashleigh and Simon were there, as well as Brett and Bobbie, Rob, Jen, Gavin & Christine, and about ten others. Kit took me and picked me up so that I didn’t have to worry about what I drank.
Thursday
Today was the last day of school. It’s really hard to believe that it’s all over, and it certainly doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for three months. We had a very relaxed day at school with very little planned for the day. They had an A.N.Z.A.C. Day ceremony at the end of school (it’s kind of their Memorial Day). We just finished up some odds and ends and played a few games with the kids. They played Capture the Flag in the afternoon, which they all love to play.
Some of the girls had a hard time at the end of the day with me leaving. It’s funny how much they get attached to their teachers. They really didn’t want me to go and were crying quite a lot. I got loads of chocolates today—too bad I can’t eat them all before I have to go. At the end of the day, we had a couple beers in the staff room. I had to say goodbye to everyone. It didn’t hit me as hard today as on Tuesday morning, but it is very sad to think that I’ll never see them again. Several staff members and students got me gifts, which were all very nice. I’m the new owner of quite a few new stuffed animals.
On the way home today, I stopped in at a bottle shop and bought Len and Heather a couple bottles of nice wine for my parting gift. Since I’ve been home, I just have been resting and packing for tomorrow. It’s surprising how much crap I’ve accumulated since I’ve been here. One sleep left!
I started packing up some things at school today. I had a lot to carry out with presents from the kids. They had a “surprise” party for me today at lunch. The boys brought in savory foods, and the girls brought in sweets. We had a really nice spread of food, and it was all very good. Because of the party, the whole day was chaotic. The students also brought in their technology & enterprise projects in today. They built one ride or attraction from their theme park, so we had a show and tell today.
Tonight, the staff had a going-away party for me at Jimmy Dean’s restaurant. It was really nice. We all had a couple glasses of wine and a good meal. There were some other parties there who were celebrating birthdays. After the third birthday celebration, the staff thought it would be funny to tell the server that it was my birthday. They played a “happy birthday” song for me and gave me an ice cream sundae. Ashleigh and Simon were there, as well as Brett and Bobbie, Rob, Jen, Gavin & Christine, and about ten others. Kit took me and picked me up so that I didn’t have to worry about what I drank.
Thursday
Today was the last day of school. It’s really hard to believe that it’s all over, and it certainly doesn’t feel like I’ve been here for three months. We had a very relaxed day at school with very little planned for the day. They had an A.N.Z.A.C. Day ceremony at the end of school (it’s kind of their Memorial Day). We just finished up some odds and ends and played a few games with the kids. They played Capture the Flag in the afternoon, which they all love to play.
Some of the girls had a hard time at the end of the day with me leaving. It’s funny how much they get attached to their teachers. They really didn’t want me to go and were crying quite a lot. I got loads of chocolates today—too bad I can’t eat them all before I have to go. At the end of the day, we had a couple beers in the staff room. I had to say goodbye to everyone. It didn’t hit me as hard today as on Tuesday morning, but it is very sad to think that I’ll never see them again. Several staff members and students got me gifts, which were all very nice. I’m the new owner of quite a few new stuffed animals.
On the way home today, I stopped in at a bottle shop and bought Len and Heather a couple bottles of nice wine for my parting gift. Since I’ve been home, I just have been resting and packing for tomorrow. It’s surprising how much crap I’ve accumulated since I’ve been here. One sleep left!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Beginning of the End
Monday, April 6th
Well, today marked the beginning of the end. It was my last Monday at school. The kids worked well all day. We went to “buddies”, which happens every Monday and Friday. My students have year one buddies. My students had made them an Easter basket as a math activity, and Frank got them tiny chocolate eggs to put in the basket. Every buddy partner group worked perfectly except one. Robbie decided to eat his buddy’s eggs out of his basket. That really made me mad, so he got a good talking to when I got a hold of him.
After school today, I flew off to get changed and meet Katy. We hopped in the car and headed down to Freo. We just walked around the shops for a little while. Freo is kind of like an upscale, hippie town. We headed back for home around 6, and Mel had dinner for us at Katy’s house at 6:30. Tonight was Katy’s last night here; she flies out tomorrow. We had a really nice, long dinner with a couple glasses of wine. Johno unexpectedly showed up with some souvenirs and stayed for a while to chat. I ended up spending the night with Katy. It was good to spend time with her host family one last time.
Tuesday
I woke up this morning and Mel made us mango smoothies for brekky. I also had some of Katy’s gooey butter cake (apparently it’s a St. Louis thing). I said all of my goodbyes and headed off to school. I’ve only been here a short time, but it’s surprising how close that I’ve gotten with Katy and her family. It was really sad to think that it’s all over. I got to school and had a fairly good day.
Since it is the end of the term, we are basically just having the kids finish up whatever projects that they have. They have a big project due tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see what the kids come up with to turn in. After school today, I headed straight to the beach. I changed at the restrooms at the beach enjoyed the sunshine for an hour or so this afternoon. I came home and baked cookies for a couple hours. I made chocolate chip cookies and no-bakes for everyone at school. I made some into thank you gifts and some to share with my students. I also packed as much as I could after doing my laundry tonight—the bags are getting awfully heavy! Three days left!
Well, today marked the beginning of the end. It was my last Monday at school. The kids worked well all day. We went to “buddies”, which happens every Monday and Friday. My students have year one buddies. My students had made them an Easter basket as a math activity, and Frank got them tiny chocolate eggs to put in the basket. Every buddy partner group worked perfectly except one. Robbie decided to eat his buddy’s eggs out of his basket. That really made me mad, so he got a good talking to when I got a hold of him.
After school today, I flew off to get changed and meet Katy. We hopped in the car and headed down to Freo. We just walked around the shops for a little while. Freo is kind of like an upscale, hippie town. We headed back for home around 6, and Mel had dinner for us at Katy’s house at 6:30. Tonight was Katy’s last night here; she flies out tomorrow. We had a really nice, long dinner with a couple glasses of wine. Johno unexpectedly showed up with some souvenirs and stayed for a while to chat. I ended up spending the night with Katy. It was good to spend time with her host family one last time.
Tuesday
I woke up this morning and Mel made us mango smoothies for brekky. I also had some of Katy’s gooey butter cake (apparently it’s a St. Louis thing). I said all of my goodbyes and headed off to school. I’ve only been here a short time, but it’s surprising how close that I’ve gotten with Katy and her family. It was really sad to think that it’s all over. I got to school and had a fairly good day.
Since it is the end of the term, we are basically just having the kids finish up whatever projects that they have. They have a big project due tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see what the kids come up with to turn in. After school today, I headed straight to the beach. I changed at the restrooms at the beach enjoyed the sunshine for an hour or so this afternoon. I came home and baked cookies for a couple hours. I made chocolate chip cookies and no-bakes for everyone at school. I made some into thank you gifts and some to share with my students. I also packed as much as I could after doing my laundry tonight—the bags are getting awfully heavy! Three days left!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Last Weekend
Thursday
I skipped my run this morning to get a few odds and ins done. Heather took me to school again. Not much happened today except that I brought pumpkin pie and whipped cream in for some of the teachers for morning tea. They really enjoyed it.
I came home and went for a short walk after school. I ended up watching a few hours of TV (something that I haven’t done much of) and relaxing. At 8:30PM, Katy and I headed to Warwick to the movies. We saw Confessions of a Shopaholic, which was good, but still very predictable.
Friday
I had my run this morning, but after my run, I felt very sick. I’m not sure if it was my asthma or something else, but my lungs/stomach felt funny. My stomach continued to hurt all day even throughout the evening. Today was the best day at school yet. We had seven kids away including two of the lowest/worst behaving children. We got loads of work accomplished, so we let the kids finish watching Remember the Titans in the afternoon. For sport today, I was in charge of volleyball, and lets just say that it was far from normal volleyball. There are about ten kids on each team, and they really don’t have a clue on how to play properly. We did have a lot of fun though.
After school, we stayed around for a couple drinks with the staff, and Brett took me home. I took a nap out by the pool when I got home. Tonight was the barbeque at John’s house. Heather and Len got home late, but we made it to John’s by 7ish. It was wonderful! We just laughed and talked about all sorts of things for over three hours! The other two COST students were there (both from Ohio) with their host families. I still felt really sick throughout dinner and even before bed. I was possibly going to go out with Katy and the boys after the dinner, but I just felt awful.
Tomorrow is my last Saturday! Len and I are going to go shopping, and the in the evening, Heather, Len and I are going to Kit’s play.
Saturday
I woke up this morning with the same pains in my stomach as yesterday. It was horrible. We were going to have pancakes for brekky, but I just couldn’t stomach them. Around 8:30AM, Len and I headed out for the shops. We shopped (strictly grocery shopped) until three o’clock. We went all over the area to about four towns. Len mainly only shops at small specialty gourmet shops, so he has a route set out every Saturday. We had lots of fun and took our time to enjoy some coffee and cakes throughout the day. When we were at a coffee shop, I saw my very first eyewitness motorcycle crash. Everyone turned out to be alright, but it was shocking. A car turned out in front of a motorcycle at a car park entrance. The motorcycle smashed right into the passenger side door of the car. It’s a good thing that the motorcycle wasn’t going very fast, or I’m afraid that it would not have ended so nicely.
When we got home, we just did some odds and ends around the house until dinner. We had eggplant Parmesan, which was delicious, but was bad news for my stomach. I became very nauseous right after I ate and almost didn’t go to the play. We did eventually head out to Kit’s play, Frankenstein, though. It was an interesting play with only four actors who all played multiple parts. I was so miserable sitting through it with my stomach pains, that I really don’t remember much of it at all. After the play, we came straight home. Len and Heather had some small cakes that we got at the French Patisserie, so I tried one as well—still not a good idea, my stomach was still very upset. I felt so bad that I just went to bed.
Sunday
This morning was wonderful! I woke up with very few stomach pains. We were going to do a bbq on the beach, but we changed our plans. We ended up on deciding that we were going to have pancakes, but Heather and I would still go feed the birds. So, Heather and I hopped in the car and went off to the market. We bought some fruits and veggies, but most importantly, we bout sunflower seeds. We then drove to a park with a big lake near the city of Joondalup. We held some bird seed out in our hands, and the parrots came down out of the trees, sat on our arms and ate the sunflower seeds! Yes, I had wild parrots sitting on my arms eating sunflower seeds out of my hands. I had the twenty-eights and the galahs—two of each. I also saw a black swan and huge white duck down by the lake.
After we did that, we came home to coconut pancakes with bananas and passionfruit syrup. I did some grading of homework while Len and Heather packed. Kit and I dropped them off at the airport. They left for England today to go visit Len’s brother for his 60th birthday. After Kit and I took them to the airport, we went to their friend, Neval’s, home. We had a light lunch and then walked to the footy game. The West Coast Eagles played Port Adelaide today. The game was so interesting. It’s ‘Australian Rules Football’ and is a cross between soccer, rugby and football. I had Ben Cousin’s ticket, which is the best player in the league. His father sells his member tickets to Len every year. The Eagles won!
I’ve just been relaxing and baking since we got back home. I’m going over to Katy’s host family’s house tomorrow, and I’m going to take them some cookies—which meant that I had to bake them tonight.
I skipped my run this morning to get a few odds and ins done. Heather took me to school again. Not much happened today except that I brought pumpkin pie and whipped cream in for some of the teachers for morning tea. They really enjoyed it.
I came home and went for a short walk after school. I ended up watching a few hours of TV (something that I haven’t done much of) and relaxing. At 8:30PM, Katy and I headed to Warwick to the movies. We saw Confessions of a Shopaholic, which was good, but still very predictable.
Friday
I had my run this morning, but after my run, I felt very sick. I’m not sure if it was my asthma or something else, but my lungs/stomach felt funny. My stomach continued to hurt all day even throughout the evening. Today was the best day at school yet. We had seven kids away including two of the lowest/worst behaving children. We got loads of work accomplished, so we let the kids finish watching Remember the Titans in the afternoon. For sport today, I was in charge of volleyball, and lets just say that it was far from normal volleyball. There are about ten kids on each team, and they really don’t have a clue on how to play properly. We did have a lot of fun though.
After school, we stayed around for a couple drinks with the staff, and Brett took me home. I took a nap out by the pool when I got home. Tonight was the barbeque at John’s house. Heather and Len got home late, but we made it to John’s by 7ish. It was wonderful! We just laughed and talked about all sorts of things for over three hours! The other two COST students were there (both from Ohio) with their host families. I still felt really sick throughout dinner and even before bed. I was possibly going to go out with Katy and the boys after the dinner, but I just felt awful.
Tomorrow is my last Saturday! Len and I are going to go shopping, and the in the evening, Heather, Len and I are going to Kit’s play.
Saturday
I woke up this morning with the same pains in my stomach as yesterday. It was horrible. We were going to have pancakes for brekky, but I just couldn’t stomach them. Around 8:30AM, Len and I headed out for the shops. We shopped (strictly grocery shopped) until three o’clock. We went all over the area to about four towns. Len mainly only shops at small specialty gourmet shops, so he has a route set out every Saturday. We had lots of fun and took our time to enjoy some coffee and cakes throughout the day. When we were at a coffee shop, I saw my very first eyewitness motorcycle crash. Everyone turned out to be alright, but it was shocking. A car turned out in front of a motorcycle at a car park entrance. The motorcycle smashed right into the passenger side door of the car. It’s a good thing that the motorcycle wasn’t going very fast, or I’m afraid that it would not have ended so nicely.
When we got home, we just did some odds and ends around the house until dinner. We had eggplant Parmesan, which was delicious, but was bad news for my stomach. I became very nauseous right after I ate and almost didn’t go to the play. We did eventually head out to Kit’s play, Frankenstein, though. It was an interesting play with only four actors who all played multiple parts. I was so miserable sitting through it with my stomach pains, that I really don’t remember much of it at all. After the play, we came straight home. Len and Heather had some small cakes that we got at the French Patisserie, so I tried one as well—still not a good idea, my stomach was still very upset. I felt so bad that I just went to bed.
Sunday
This morning was wonderful! I woke up with very few stomach pains. We were going to do a bbq on the beach, but we changed our plans. We ended up on deciding that we were going to have pancakes, but Heather and I would still go feed the birds. So, Heather and I hopped in the car and went off to the market. We bought some fruits and veggies, but most importantly, we bout sunflower seeds. We then drove to a park with a big lake near the city of Joondalup. We held some bird seed out in our hands, and the parrots came down out of the trees, sat on our arms and ate the sunflower seeds! Yes, I had wild parrots sitting on my arms eating sunflower seeds out of my hands. I had the twenty-eights and the galahs—two of each. I also saw a black swan and huge white duck down by the lake.
After we did that, we came home to coconut pancakes with bananas and passionfruit syrup. I did some grading of homework while Len and Heather packed. Kit and I dropped them off at the airport. They left for England today to go visit Len’s brother for his 60th birthday. After Kit and I took them to the airport, we went to their friend, Neval’s, home. We had a light lunch and then walked to the footy game. The West Coast Eagles played Port Adelaide today. The game was so interesting. It’s ‘Australian Rules Football’ and is a cross between soccer, rugby and football. I had Ben Cousin’s ticket, which is the best player in the league. His father sells his member tickets to Len every year. The Eagles won!
I’ve just been relaxing and baking since we got back home. I’m going over to Katy’s host family’s house tomorrow, and I’m going to take them some cookies—which meant that I had to bake them tonight.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Week 9
Monday
The students had another bad start to the week. I’m not sure what it is, but Mondays are awful in our classroom. Students become very loud and unruly. We did have fun in science today though. I had brought some pennies, nickels and dimes with me to give to my students. We took pennies and tried making them shinny again by using different liquids (lemon juice, milk, coke, apple juice and water). The students loved doing the experiment and were extremely excited about getting to keep the money.
Heather had let me drive to school today so that I could run to the shops after school. On Wednesday, my students and I are going to make ice cream as another science project, so I needed to pick up the ingredients. I need the ingredients for some cookies too, because I’m giving cookies as most of my thank you gifts. I am also going to cook dinner for Len and Heather on Wednesday as a thank you celebration before I go. I headed straight to Woolworths after school. I ended up coming out only $130 poorer than when I went in.
Tonight, I just stayed at home. Len, Heather, Kit, Hannah and I had a really nice dinner together. I had a wonderful evening relaxing at home and trying to get a few things in order for the trip home.
Tuesday
Today flew by. The students worked very well today, and we got a lot accomplished. We finished off the penny activity from yesterday and started our write up of our ice cream lab. We’ll hopefully be making ice cream tomorrow afternoon. Brett had a meeting until five today, so I decided to catch the bus home. When I got home, I took a walk down to Hillary’s harbor. It’s an area along the beach with shops and cafes. After a stroll down there, I walked home again.
I decided to make my pumpkin pies for tomorrow’s dinner. Well… I should have waited until tomorrow. It was a complete and utter disaster. First off, I don’t think Australia has a single can of cooked pumpkin; therefore, I had to make the pumpkin pie by first cooking down and mashing the pumpkin. This normally wouldn’t be too hard, but I decided to use the processor to mash it up. I didn’t get the lid on tight enough, so I ended up with pumpkin exploding all over the kitchen and me. After I had changed clothes and mopped the floor, counter and walls, I was able to pour the pie batter into the shells. The only shells that the store had were flan shells. Little did I know, but this must mean that the shells leak, so I ended up with mix, once again, all over the kitchen. I got two pies into the oven, but when I pushed the tray in, the pies splattered all over the tray. Now, I have burnt pie filling on the oven tray, which is going to be a blast to clean up. Let’s just say that what should have taken two hours took about four, and I ended up with pumpkin pies that look like puffy egg casseroles.
Wednesday, April 1
Today was extremely fun! Before school, I put the roast in the crock-pot and started it cooking. At school, we had a wonderful morning. The students worked great before recess. After recess, Brett and Ashleigh took the year 7s to talk to them about their NAPLAN testing (their standardized testing). I took Ashleigh’s year 6s, and we designed new covers for their class novels. After lunch, I zipped off to the store (Heather graciously let me take their car!) to the petrol station. I had to get some bags of ice, because this afternoon all of the year seven students made ice cream with me as a science project. It was wonderful! The students really enjoyed it, and after I talked about what happened, they seemed to have actually learned something from it.
Tonight was the night for my dinner. I had everything ready to go when Heather got home from work. It all turned out well, except for the potatoes, which could have used a little more cooking. They loved it. AND… my pumpkin pies actually turned out pretty good! They weren’t the best in the world, but most definitely edible. I’m just finishing ups some schoolwork and heading to bed for the night. I feel a little tired after today’s events.
The students had another bad start to the week. I’m not sure what it is, but Mondays are awful in our classroom. Students become very loud and unruly. We did have fun in science today though. I had brought some pennies, nickels and dimes with me to give to my students. We took pennies and tried making them shinny again by using different liquids (lemon juice, milk, coke, apple juice and water). The students loved doing the experiment and were extremely excited about getting to keep the money.
Heather had let me drive to school today so that I could run to the shops after school. On Wednesday, my students and I are going to make ice cream as another science project, so I needed to pick up the ingredients. I need the ingredients for some cookies too, because I’m giving cookies as most of my thank you gifts. I am also going to cook dinner for Len and Heather on Wednesday as a thank you celebration before I go. I headed straight to Woolworths after school. I ended up coming out only $130 poorer than when I went in.
Tonight, I just stayed at home. Len, Heather, Kit, Hannah and I had a really nice dinner together. I had a wonderful evening relaxing at home and trying to get a few things in order for the trip home.
Tuesday
Today flew by. The students worked very well today, and we got a lot accomplished. We finished off the penny activity from yesterday and started our write up of our ice cream lab. We’ll hopefully be making ice cream tomorrow afternoon. Brett had a meeting until five today, so I decided to catch the bus home. When I got home, I took a walk down to Hillary’s harbor. It’s an area along the beach with shops and cafes. After a stroll down there, I walked home again.
I decided to make my pumpkin pies for tomorrow’s dinner. Well… I should have waited until tomorrow. It was a complete and utter disaster. First off, I don’t think Australia has a single can of cooked pumpkin; therefore, I had to make the pumpkin pie by first cooking down and mashing the pumpkin. This normally wouldn’t be too hard, but I decided to use the processor to mash it up. I didn’t get the lid on tight enough, so I ended up with pumpkin exploding all over the kitchen and me. After I had changed clothes and mopped the floor, counter and walls, I was able to pour the pie batter into the shells. The only shells that the store had were flan shells. Little did I know, but this must mean that the shells leak, so I ended up with mix, once again, all over the kitchen. I got two pies into the oven, but when I pushed the tray in, the pies splattered all over the tray. Now, I have burnt pie filling on the oven tray, which is going to be a blast to clean up. Let’s just say that what should have taken two hours took about four, and I ended up with pumpkin pies that look like puffy egg casseroles.
Wednesday, April 1
Today was extremely fun! Before school, I put the roast in the crock-pot and started it cooking. At school, we had a wonderful morning. The students worked great before recess. After recess, Brett and Ashleigh took the year 7s to talk to them about their NAPLAN testing (their standardized testing). I took Ashleigh’s year 6s, and we designed new covers for their class novels. After lunch, I zipped off to the store (Heather graciously let me take their car!) to the petrol station. I had to get some bags of ice, because this afternoon all of the year seven students made ice cream with me as a science project. It was wonderful! The students really enjoyed it, and after I talked about what happened, they seemed to have actually learned something from it.
Tonight was the night for my dinner. I had everything ready to go when Heather got home from work. It all turned out well, except for the potatoes, which could have used a little more cooking. They loved it. AND… my pumpkin pies actually turned out pretty good! They weren’t the best in the world, but most definitely edible. I’m just finishing ups some schoolwork and heading to bed for the night. I feel a little tired after today’s events.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Week 8/Margaret River
Tuesday
I woke up this morning and had a run. It’s very dark out, but it won’t be for long. They change their clocks for daylight savings time this coming weekend. My day at school was remarkably better than yesterday. The students were well behaved and got right to work when I asked them. They are so confusing, because they have really awful days like yesterday, and then they have great days like today. Tonight, I came home, had a snack and watched some TV. It’s probably the first night that I haven’t had something to do for school or college. It was very relaxing. We’ll have dinner tonight, and I think that I’ll try to do some job searching for when I get back into the States.
Wednesday
Went for a run this morning, which was really nice. The stars were still out in full force. I headed off to school as usual. Today was especially nice, because Brett finally told me that I could do whatever science that I wanted and take as much time as I want to devote to it. I can’t wait! I’ve been doing things that he strongly suggests, so now I actually get to plan from scratch. The kids had a ‘bike to school’ day, which threw everything off. They were in and out of the room all day. We continued watching Remember the Titans today, which we will try to finish by the end of the week with ten minutes here or there. It’s a great movie for the kids to watch at this age. They love it. The kids are finishing their designs on their theme parks and brochures, and some are really, really nice.
Tonight, Heather and I took a drive. She picked me up from school, and we met the husband of one of her colleagues. They live in the Perth Hills. I hadn’t seen the hills yet, so Heather said that she’d take me. We drove out (about an hour), and he met us at a park. We went to the Mundaring Weir (which is a big dam and reservoir). It is the start of a pipeline that is 650 km long and stretches all the way to Kalgoorlie. It was the first and longest pipeline of it’s kind for over 100 years. It’s really the only way that people can live inland in the mining communities, because there is almost no water that far inland.
We climbed up the weir and walked across the top. It was gorgeous! It was like being in the middle of a huge lake and on top of the world at the same time. We then went for a hike in the bush to get to the lookout. We hiked for about three hours round trip. We found the lookout, which overlooked the weir and reservoir, and then made our way back to the car. The scenery was fantastic. We ended up going to her friend’s home for dinner. After a glass of wine and a leisurely spaghetti dinner, Heather and I headed home at about 11PM. Therefore, it was a pretty late evening.
Thursday
After my run, it was off to school again. We had a great day today. The kids were happy and on track all day long. They worked on their advertisements, theme park brochures, and we started looking at writing expositions. Since Brett gave me the ok about teaching science, I decided to do some major planning today.
I came home and did a little planning for my upcoming science lessons and put together a few experiments. Tonight was the opening game of the footy (Australian Football League-AFL) season. Katy and I went to Johno’s house to watch the game with his friends and have pizza and beer. He picked me up at 7:30PM, and we had food on the back patio with his family and friends. The game started at 9, and lasted until almost midnight. It’s crazy! It’s like our football and rugby mixed, and the players don’t wear padding! I don’t know how they survive more than one game. It was really nice though to sit and watch the game. Footy is HUGE over here, so I felt like a real local.
Friday
Heather took me to work extra early, because she had to get ready for something that she had to do today. I was able to get most of my planning done for the rest of the term, so that I won’t have to spend time after school and on weekends doing it. The kids were great this morning up until lunch. Straightaway after lunch, they had their year 7 vaccinations. Talk about drama! They had tetanus and hepatitis shots. The girls, and some boys, all came back crying and complaining that their arms were hurting. Well, I was smart enough to realize that I wasn’t going to get any work out of them. We played a strategic game called Assassin, where the kids have to use their heads to narrow-down who the assassin in the group is. They loved it. We played that until sport, where I had to do basketball again. I am so sick of basketball. Anyway, we had a beer after work, and then Brett took me home.
We left for the Margaret River area down south tonight. Len and Heather are taking us for the weekend. We picked Katy up on the way and headed south. It was about a four-hour drive to get to the winery we were staying at. We stayed in a Japanese Tea Room Chalet on the Wise Wines Winery. It was rustic-no TV, radio, phone, or Internet (tragic, I know), but we had an incredibly nice time. The place was really big and in the middle of the bush. We just got to the cabin and went to sleep after a glass of complimentary wine.
Saturday
We woke up around 7:30AM, and Katy and I took off on a run. The brochure said that the beach was only a 20-minute walk from the chalet. Well, we obviously took the wrong path, because after a hard 15-minute run, we saw signs of the beach. We stopped and walked along the beach for about twenty minutes and then ran home. We saw some kangaroos on the way! After our run and a delicious brekky, cooked by Len, we headed out. We had to first stop at the Wise Wines Winery to pay our bill, but we ended up tasting all of their wines as well. They weren’t the best wines of the day though. We then headed off to Dunsborough, where we stopped and got a cup of coffee. The next stop were too Ugg boots stores (Uggs are made in Australia)-but I’m going to wait until next weekend to buy my Uggs at the outlet stores ☺ (Grandma, you should be proud).
Our next stop was the Bootleg Brewery, where we tasted seven types of beer including the Raging Bull. And at 7.15 alcohol, it was pretty raging. We stopped off for lunch at the Providore Café, which surprisingly enough, had a wine tasting spot. So, we, of course, had to taste their wines. We stopped at two more wineries, Cape Mentelle and Rockfield Estate. These are two of Len’s favorite wineries, and I can see why. They were small wineries and had really delicious wines. It’s a good thing that I can’t bring much wine back with me, or I would probably be broke. After the last two wineries, we headed to the grocery story to get supplies to cook dinner. We went back to the chalet, and Len made a fantastic pumpkin risotto. We drank some of the wine that we bought, and headed to bed or extremely full stomachs.
Sunday
Last night was daylight savings night here. We woke up an hour early, and Katy and I went for another run. We found the shorter way to the beach today though. We ran down the coastal walkway and back through the bush again. We packed up the car and headed out for the day. We went to the Yallingup Beach. It is one of the best surfing beaches in the world. In fact, there is a world surfing competition there tomorrow. Our second and third stops today were unplanned. We had intended to go down the coast, but decided to stop at two wineries first. We stopped at the two oldest wineries in Western Australia, Cullen Wines and Vasse Felix. There we tasted about twenty different wines, all before lunch!
For lunch, we stopped in Prevelly Park and ate at a fish and chips restaurant. We also walked along the beach at Prevelly Park. It’s where the Margaret River ends into the ocean. However, the river is so dry right now that it actually stopped about fifty meters before it reached the ocean. We ended our trip by going all the way south to Cape Leeuwin, which is the most southwesterly point in Australia. We could actually see where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean come together. The waves actually went in opposite directions. It was extremely windy though. Well, that was the end of our trip, so we just drove straight home on the freeway. We got back in at about 8:30, thanks to daylight savings time, so now we’ve just got to put everything back in it’s place and get ready for another week.
I woke up this morning and had a run. It’s very dark out, but it won’t be for long. They change their clocks for daylight savings time this coming weekend. My day at school was remarkably better than yesterday. The students were well behaved and got right to work when I asked them. They are so confusing, because they have really awful days like yesterday, and then they have great days like today. Tonight, I came home, had a snack and watched some TV. It’s probably the first night that I haven’t had something to do for school or college. It was very relaxing. We’ll have dinner tonight, and I think that I’ll try to do some job searching for when I get back into the States.
Wednesday
Went for a run this morning, which was really nice. The stars were still out in full force. I headed off to school as usual. Today was especially nice, because Brett finally told me that I could do whatever science that I wanted and take as much time as I want to devote to it. I can’t wait! I’ve been doing things that he strongly suggests, so now I actually get to plan from scratch. The kids had a ‘bike to school’ day, which threw everything off. They were in and out of the room all day. We continued watching Remember the Titans today, which we will try to finish by the end of the week with ten minutes here or there. It’s a great movie for the kids to watch at this age. They love it. The kids are finishing their designs on their theme parks and brochures, and some are really, really nice.
Tonight, Heather and I took a drive. She picked me up from school, and we met the husband of one of her colleagues. They live in the Perth Hills. I hadn’t seen the hills yet, so Heather said that she’d take me. We drove out (about an hour), and he met us at a park. We went to the Mundaring Weir (which is a big dam and reservoir). It is the start of a pipeline that is 650 km long and stretches all the way to Kalgoorlie. It was the first and longest pipeline of it’s kind for over 100 years. It’s really the only way that people can live inland in the mining communities, because there is almost no water that far inland.
We climbed up the weir and walked across the top. It was gorgeous! It was like being in the middle of a huge lake and on top of the world at the same time. We then went for a hike in the bush to get to the lookout. We hiked for about three hours round trip. We found the lookout, which overlooked the weir and reservoir, and then made our way back to the car. The scenery was fantastic. We ended up going to her friend’s home for dinner. After a glass of wine and a leisurely spaghetti dinner, Heather and I headed home at about 11PM. Therefore, it was a pretty late evening.
Thursday
After my run, it was off to school again. We had a great day today. The kids were happy and on track all day long. They worked on their advertisements, theme park brochures, and we started looking at writing expositions. Since Brett gave me the ok about teaching science, I decided to do some major planning today.
I came home and did a little planning for my upcoming science lessons and put together a few experiments. Tonight was the opening game of the footy (Australian Football League-AFL) season. Katy and I went to Johno’s house to watch the game with his friends and have pizza and beer. He picked me up at 7:30PM, and we had food on the back patio with his family and friends. The game started at 9, and lasted until almost midnight. It’s crazy! It’s like our football and rugby mixed, and the players don’t wear padding! I don’t know how they survive more than one game. It was really nice though to sit and watch the game. Footy is HUGE over here, so I felt like a real local.
Friday
Heather took me to work extra early, because she had to get ready for something that she had to do today. I was able to get most of my planning done for the rest of the term, so that I won’t have to spend time after school and on weekends doing it. The kids were great this morning up until lunch. Straightaway after lunch, they had their year 7 vaccinations. Talk about drama! They had tetanus and hepatitis shots. The girls, and some boys, all came back crying and complaining that their arms were hurting. Well, I was smart enough to realize that I wasn’t going to get any work out of them. We played a strategic game called Assassin, where the kids have to use their heads to narrow-down who the assassin in the group is. They loved it. We played that until sport, where I had to do basketball again. I am so sick of basketball. Anyway, we had a beer after work, and then Brett took me home.
We left for the Margaret River area down south tonight. Len and Heather are taking us for the weekend. We picked Katy up on the way and headed south. It was about a four-hour drive to get to the winery we were staying at. We stayed in a Japanese Tea Room Chalet on the Wise Wines Winery. It was rustic-no TV, radio, phone, or Internet (tragic, I know), but we had an incredibly nice time. The place was really big and in the middle of the bush. We just got to the cabin and went to sleep after a glass of complimentary wine.
Saturday
We woke up around 7:30AM, and Katy and I took off on a run. The brochure said that the beach was only a 20-minute walk from the chalet. Well, we obviously took the wrong path, because after a hard 15-minute run, we saw signs of the beach. We stopped and walked along the beach for about twenty minutes and then ran home. We saw some kangaroos on the way! After our run and a delicious brekky, cooked by Len, we headed out. We had to first stop at the Wise Wines Winery to pay our bill, but we ended up tasting all of their wines as well. They weren’t the best wines of the day though. We then headed off to Dunsborough, where we stopped and got a cup of coffee. The next stop were too Ugg boots stores (Uggs are made in Australia)-but I’m going to wait until next weekend to buy my Uggs at the outlet stores ☺ (Grandma, you should be proud).
Our next stop was the Bootleg Brewery, where we tasted seven types of beer including the Raging Bull. And at 7.15 alcohol, it was pretty raging. We stopped off for lunch at the Providore Café, which surprisingly enough, had a wine tasting spot. So, we, of course, had to taste their wines. We stopped at two more wineries, Cape Mentelle and Rockfield Estate. These are two of Len’s favorite wineries, and I can see why. They were small wineries and had really delicious wines. It’s a good thing that I can’t bring much wine back with me, or I would probably be broke. After the last two wineries, we headed to the grocery story to get supplies to cook dinner. We went back to the chalet, and Len made a fantastic pumpkin risotto. We drank some of the wine that we bought, and headed to bed or extremely full stomachs.
Sunday
Last night was daylight savings night here. We woke up an hour early, and Katy and I went for another run. We found the shorter way to the beach today though. We ran down the coastal walkway and back through the bush again. We packed up the car and headed out for the day. We went to the Yallingup Beach. It is one of the best surfing beaches in the world. In fact, there is a world surfing competition there tomorrow. Our second and third stops today were unplanned. We had intended to go down the coast, but decided to stop at two wineries first. We stopped at the two oldest wineries in Western Australia, Cullen Wines and Vasse Felix. There we tasted about twenty different wines, all before lunch!
For lunch, we stopped in Prevelly Park and ate at a fish and chips restaurant. We also walked along the beach at Prevelly Park. It’s where the Margaret River ends into the ocean. However, the river is so dry right now that it actually stopped about fifty meters before it reached the ocean. We ended our trip by going all the way south to Cape Leeuwin, which is the most southwesterly point in Australia. We could actually see where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean come together. The waves actually went in opposite directions. It was extremely windy though. Well, that was the end of our trip, so we just drove straight home on the freeway. We got back in at about 8:30, thanks to daylight savings time, so now we’ve just got to put everything back in it’s place and get ready for another week.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Rottnest Island--March 19th-23rd
Thursday
The adventure to school today was quite interesting. Heather took me to school in the ’87 Camry, but we had to stop at the petrol station to figure out what type of gas to put into the car. We ended up figuring it out, and I even managed to make it to school on time. The kids are starting to push my limits as to what behaviors I’ll allow. It’s becoming frustrating. We did a latitude/longitude final assessment today, which was an utter failure. I think only about three children passed with an acceptable grade. I’m at a loss, because the students just aren’t putting much effort into their work.
After school, I came home and rested for a little bit. I then went to Len and Heather’s Thursday night wine tasting at the Thai restaurant in Subiaco. It was delicious. Len added it up, and we had at least $600 of wine on the table and the food was only about $150 for eight people. We went for coffee afterwards, and I had an AMAZING piece of carrot cake.
Tomorrow is Rotto! We’ll leave right after school so that we can be sure to catch the ferry.
Friday, Feb 20
I woke up this morning and made sure that I was all packed up for Rotto. When I got to school, the whirlwind began. The morning flew by and then chaos began. Our autistic boy was playing a game at lunch with some other boys (involving dirt). He came into the room covered in black dirt, so I sent him back out to shake off. The next thing I know, I look out the windows and see kids in a circle yelling, “Get off him!” Brett and I ran outside to find another boy in our class about to pound the crap out of the autistic boy. Brett diffused the situation, but it was still a shock. In the end, the story was that the autistic boy threw dirt down the back of the other boy’s shirt. The other boy has major anger issues and just retaliated by whacking him back. It was the talk of the class for the rest of the day.
Brett and I raced out of class at the end of the day, so that I could get to Rottnest and he could get to his footy game. As soon as I got home, I packed a picnic dinner and snacks to take over to the island. We were to Katy’s house by 4:45PM, so that we could get the bikes on the car. We mounted the bike rack and bikes and headed off for Fremantle. Of course, right when we got to the jetty, it poured down rain. We eventually got on the boat, but were fairly soaked by this time. At the island, we had to check in and bike to our hostel—in the rain. Rottnest Island was originally established as an Aboriginal prison. During the wars, it became a place for the Australian Army to keep a base. We stayed in the old Army Barracks. They were nothing fancy, but it was nice enough. After biking to the hostel, Katy and I decided that we should have dinner and go into the pub. As we were having dinner, a quokka (a cross between a rat and a kangaroo) got into the lounge, so we had to shoo him out. The quokkas are only found on Rottnest Island. At the pub, there was a great little band playing live music, so we stayed for a while and watched them. We ended up staying out fairly late and having a glass of wine on the beach. We ended up biking back to our hostel and calling it a night.
Saturday
Summary of the day: my butt hurts… a lot. We got up this morning and rode into the little town (and by town I mean a bakery, about 3 shops, a grocery, a café, a pub and a museum) to stop for breakfast. We had brought some food with us, so we just sat at a picnic table and chowed down. Our first trek for the day was to the lighthouse in the middle of the island. Oh, by the way, there are no cars on the island, so we had to bike everywhere we went. The lighthouse was about a five km ride (about 20 min). It was amazing, because we could see the whole island and all of the coves from that point. It was an extremely hilly ride, and I wouldn’t want to take someone on it who had many health conditions. We then hopped back on our bikes and headed for the opposite end of the island. We stopped at a few bays along the way, but we did make it to the westernmost point. It was about an hours’ ride. We then had to turn around and ride back, but we came back a slightly different way. In the end, we biked about 3.5 hours this morning. We stopped for lunch at Red Rooster (one of the shops), which is like a McDonalds with only chicken.
After lunch, we were back on our bikes. We biked for about another hour this afternoon, stopping along the way at the different coves and beaches. They were fantastic with very pretty sand and beautiful cliffs. We stopped at Little Parakeet Bay and Fays Bay for quite a while. We eventually made it back into town and bought a few groceries at the general store—one being a frozen pizza, which we cooked for dinner. It was aweful! Before dinner though, Katy and I walked out to the beach that was nearest our hostel. We ended up running into some guys that were really great. We stayed at the beach and kicked a rugby ball around and talked with them for about half an hour. After dinner, we rode back into town for a beer at the pub and to listen to the band again.
We met some girls from Ireland who had traveled through most of Australia and New Zealand, so they gave Katy some pointers on what to do during her travels. The coolest part of the evening was on the trip into the pub. Katy and I stopped halfway into town and laid down on the ground. The sky was clear and there were thousands of stars in the sky. We actually saw the Milky Way! It was just like all of the pictures with the smoky, wispy sky. It was like a strip right down the middle of the sky. It was one of those moments that I’ll never forget.
Sunday
Katy and I woke up at 7AM this morning so that we could see the sunrise. We got up and out to the beach by 7:15, which was perfect because the sunrise happened at about 7:20AM. It was great, because the sun came up over the skyline of Perth. We were really cold, but we put on bathers and headed into town regardless. (Biking really wasn’t too much fun today—it was way too painful.) We had brekky at the bakery and explored much of the historical part of the island. Some of the original We went around the south side of the island where we were told about the excellent snorkeling. We first stopped at Henrietta Rocks where there was a sunken ship that crashed in the 1800s. We tried to snorkel out to it, but the waves were just too choppy. We did get to see some of the ship though.
After that, we headed to Little Salmon Bay. When we got there, we discovered a snorkel trail. We snorkeled here, which was neat. They had underwater plaques that we could read along the way to point out some interesting facts about the life under water. The current was very strong though towards the end, so we really had to swim hard in order not to be pulled out into the ocean. After that spot, we went up the road to Salmon Bay—a large bay that has good coral.
We snorkeled here and it was definitely the best spot that we ended up going to for snorkeling. After snorkeling and just laying on the beach, we had part of our lunch and kept moving. We made it back to town in time to see the museum and have another little snack. After the museum, we hopped back on our bikes to go to the beaches again. We went to Parakeet Bay and tried to snorkel, but it was mainly just seaweed. Then, we ended up at the Basin (another beach) where we spend the last of our time laying on the beach. We came back into town once more to get a quick dinner at Red Rooster and then we were off to the jetty to catch the ferry. As usual, Katy and I had to also have an ice cream for desert.
Heather picked us up from the ferry in Fremantle, and then we took Katy home. The weekend worked out perfectly. The rain on Friday wasn’t so good, but the rest of the weekend was absolutely perfect.
Monday
It was back to reality once again for me. The kids are designing Easter baskets as a math project for Frank, which is really neat to watch on Monday mornings. Most of the kids worked great, but there are still the same ones who are really starting to push my buttons. The whole class is being rude and inconsiderate during lessons.
We started the digestive system today in health, which I though went well, until I graded their work. The students had to stay in for about 10 minutes of lunch and work because they had been so rude during the lesson. They scored very poorly, which I’m not sure if they did because they were just trying to finish it, or if they really didn’t understand it. We also caught bugs, drew them, and then researched them on the Internet for science. The kids had fun, but they were off-task and walking headaches all day long.
After school, I went to the Whitford's shoppoing center. I had to get a new voucher for my phone and see how much it would be to mail a box of stuff home.. Tonight, I went for a long walk along the beach and through a park that I just happened upon. We had a wonderful dinner at the house, and I just am now sitting around relaxing and catching up on some writing.
The adventure to school today was quite interesting. Heather took me to school in the ’87 Camry, but we had to stop at the petrol station to figure out what type of gas to put into the car. We ended up figuring it out, and I even managed to make it to school on time. The kids are starting to push my limits as to what behaviors I’ll allow. It’s becoming frustrating. We did a latitude/longitude final assessment today, which was an utter failure. I think only about three children passed with an acceptable grade. I’m at a loss, because the students just aren’t putting much effort into their work.
After school, I came home and rested for a little bit. I then went to Len and Heather’s Thursday night wine tasting at the Thai restaurant in Subiaco. It was delicious. Len added it up, and we had at least $600 of wine on the table and the food was only about $150 for eight people. We went for coffee afterwards, and I had an AMAZING piece of carrot cake.
Tomorrow is Rotto! We’ll leave right after school so that we can be sure to catch the ferry.
Friday, Feb 20
I woke up this morning and made sure that I was all packed up for Rotto. When I got to school, the whirlwind began. The morning flew by and then chaos began. Our autistic boy was playing a game at lunch with some other boys (involving dirt). He came into the room covered in black dirt, so I sent him back out to shake off. The next thing I know, I look out the windows and see kids in a circle yelling, “Get off him!” Brett and I ran outside to find another boy in our class about to pound the crap out of the autistic boy. Brett diffused the situation, but it was still a shock. In the end, the story was that the autistic boy threw dirt down the back of the other boy’s shirt. The other boy has major anger issues and just retaliated by whacking him back. It was the talk of the class for the rest of the day.
Brett and I raced out of class at the end of the day, so that I could get to Rottnest and he could get to his footy game. As soon as I got home, I packed a picnic dinner and snacks to take over to the island. We were to Katy’s house by 4:45PM, so that we could get the bikes on the car. We mounted the bike rack and bikes and headed off for Fremantle. Of course, right when we got to the jetty, it poured down rain. We eventually got on the boat, but were fairly soaked by this time. At the island, we had to check in and bike to our hostel—in the rain. Rottnest Island was originally established as an Aboriginal prison. During the wars, it became a place for the Australian Army to keep a base. We stayed in the old Army Barracks. They were nothing fancy, but it was nice enough. After biking to the hostel, Katy and I decided that we should have dinner and go into the pub. As we were having dinner, a quokka (a cross between a rat and a kangaroo) got into the lounge, so we had to shoo him out. The quokkas are only found on Rottnest Island. At the pub, there was a great little band playing live music, so we stayed for a while and watched them. We ended up staying out fairly late and having a glass of wine on the beach. We ended up biking back to our hostel and calling it a night.
Saturday
Summary of the day: my butt hurts… a lot. We got up this morning and rode into the little town (and by town I mean a bakery, about 3 shops, a grocery, a café, a pub and a museum) to stop for breakfast. We had brought some food with us, so we just sat at a picnic table and chowed down. Our first trek for the day was to the lighthouse in the middle of the island. Oh, by the way, there are no cars on the island, so we had to bike everywhere we went. The lighthouse was about a five km ride (about 20 min). It was amazing, because we could see the whole island and all of the coves from that point. It was an extremely hilly ride, and I wouldn’t want to take someone on it who had many health conditions. We then hopped back on our bikes and headed for the opposite end of the island. We stopped at a few bays along the way, but we did make it to the westernmost point. It was about an hours’ ride. We then had to turn around and ride back, but we came back a slightly different way. In the end, we biked about 3.5 hours this morning. We stopped for lunch at Red Rooster (one of the shops), which is like a McDonalds with only chicken.
After lunch, we were back on our bikes. We biked for about another hour this afternoon, stopping along the way at the different coves and beaches. They were fantastic with very pretty sand and beautiful cliffs. We stopped at Little Parakeet Bay and Fays Bay for quite a while. We eventually made it back into town and bought a few groceries at the general store—one being a frozen pizza, which we cooked for dinner. It was aweful! Before dinner though, Katy and I walked out to the beach that was nearest our hostel. We ended up running into some guys that were really great. We stayed at the beach and kicked a rugby ball around and talked with them for about half an hour. After dinner, we rode back into town for a beer at the pub and to listen to the band again.
We met some girls from Ireland who had traveled through most of Australia and New Zealand, so they gave Katy some pointers on what to do during her travels. The coolest part of the evening was on the trip into the pub. Katy and I stopped halfway into town and laid down on the ground. The sky was clear and there were thousands of stars in the sky. We actually saw the Milky Way! It was just like all of the pictures with the smoky, wispy sky. It was like a strip right down the middle of the sky. It was one of those moments that I’ll never forget.
Sunday
Katy and I woke up at 7AM this morning so that we could see the sunrise. We got up and out to the beach by 7:15, which was perfect because the sunrise happened at about 7:20AM. It was great, because the sun came up over the skyline of Perth. We were really cold, but we put on bathers and headed into town regardless. (Biking really wasn’t too much fun today—it was way too painful.) We had brekky at the bakery and explored much of the historical part of the island. Some of the original We went around the south side of the island where we were told about the excellent snorkeling. We first stopped at Henrietta Rocks where there was a sunken ship that crashed in the 1800s. We tried to snorkel out to it, but the waves were just too choppy. We did get to see some of the ship though.
After that, we headed to Little Salmon Bay. When we got there, we discovered a snorkel trail. We snorkeled here, which was neat. They had underwater plaques that we could read along the way to point out some interesting facts about the life under water. The current was very strong though towards the end, so we really had to swim hard in order not to be pulled out into the ocean. After that spot, we went up the road to Salmon Bay—a large bay that has good coral.
We snorkeled here and it was definitely the best spot that we ended up going to for snorkeling. After snorkeling and just laying on the beach, we had part of our lunch and kept moving. We made it back to town in time to see the museum and have another little snack. After the museum, we hopped back on our bikes to go to the beaches again. We went to Parakeet Bay and tried to snorkel, but it was mainly just seaweed. Then, we ended up at the Basin (another beach) where we spend the last of our time laying on the beach. We came back into town once more to get a quick dinner at Red Rooster and then we were off to the jetty to catch the ferry. As usual, Katy and I had to also have an ice cream for desert.
Heather picked us up from the ferry in Fremantle, and then we took Katy home. The weekend worked out perfectly. The rain on Friday wasn’t so good, but the rest of the weekend was absolutely perfect.
Monday
It was back to reality once again for me. The kids are designing Easter baskets as a math project for Frank, which is really neat to watch on Monday mornings. Most of the kids worked great, but there are still the same ones who are really starting to push my buttons. The whole class is being rude and inconsiderate during lessons.
We started the digestive system today in health, which I though went well, until I graded their work. The students had to stay in for about 10 minutes of lunch and work because they had been so rude during the lesson. They scored very poorly, which I’m not sure if they did because they were just trying to finish it, or if they really didn’t understand it. We also caught bugs, drew them, and then researched them on the Internet for science. The kids had fun, but they were off-task and walking headaches all day long.
After school, I went to the Whitford's shoppoing center. I had to get a new voucher for my phone and see how much it would be to mail a box of stuff home.. Tonight, I went for a long walk along the beach and through a park that I just happened upon. We had a wonderful dinner at the house, and I just am now sitting around relaxing and catching up on some writing.
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