Monday, Feb 23

Today was a pretty basic day at school. I taught most of the day. However, in the afternoon, I went over to Scott’s class and taught science with him. He is a great teacher, and I really enjoyed the students. We made paper helicopters and learned how to create an experiment. After school, I caught the bus home. I then went for a run/walk and had dinner with the family. We watched a hilarious British TV show called Top Gear. We laughed for an hour and a half.

Tuesday

Rob started his subbing for Brett today. He is an incredible teacher, and has a good relationship with the kids. He is a retired teacher, but has had many of the kids in the past. I’m probably not going to be teaching as much as I have been for these next two weeks because he really wants to take some lessons, since he only gets to be here a short time. That’s fine with me, because that lets me work with individual students a little more. We had a good day and really got along well.
Tonight was fantastic! Hazel got tickets for John and her, Heather, Katy and I for the movie at Kings’ Park. We went to see Slum Dog Millionaire. The movie played on a huge, outdoor screen in front of a huge lawn. We took a picnic dinner and a couple bottles of wine to enjoy before the movie started. It was fantastic; I certainly know why it cleaned-up at the Oscars. Katy and I decided to celebrate Fat Tuesday by buying M&Ms and a Crunchie bar to eat during the movie.

Wednesday

We had an interesting day. After dodgeball this morning (morning fitness), some boys decided that it would be funny to hit Ashleigh and I in the backs with their balls; therefore, we told everyone that they will no longer be playing dodge and will be running timed laps around the oval on Friday morning. The students got a little naughty again right before lunch. I ended up raising my voice to a level that I didn’t even know I could reach and told them to all sit down. Let me say that this was only after me saying “sit down” five times at a normal volume before this. The little buggers looked like I'd killed someone, and miraculously straightened right up! We had a good afternoon though.
IT RAINED TODAY! (I suspect the reason for the chaos.) Just around lunchtime today, I looked outside and it was just pouring. Today is the first day that it has rained since I’ve been here. It was also about 60 degrees, and I was in a skirt and sleeveless top. Let’s just said that I was fairly cold and covered in goose-bumps all day. I’m now sitting at home, in bed, drinking a cup of hot chocolate.
Since today is Ash Wednesday, Katy and I are going to try to go to church. We have to figure out the ride/driving situation. That is one thing that I severely miss about home—being able to drive anywhere and anytime I want. Here, I have to rely on people to take me somewhere or to catch the buses. Two sleeps until Bali!

Thursday
So, about that Ash Wednesday Service... let's just say it was an experience. Katy and I pulled into the parking lot and looked at each other and said, "Uhhh... do you still want to go?" We walked in quite possibly the smallest church in Australia. It was Wembley Downs Uniting Church. The people were great, but it was so small. The average age of the members was about 65, and everyone else had at least 40 years on Katy and I. The service was nice, but it was different. The Call to Worship and sung responses were prerecorded on a tape player and played on two little speakers. We ended up going for a coffee after the service at the Dome, which was really nice. We caught up on some stories from each of our schools.
Today, we did lots of seat work in the morning. In the afternoon, students performed their celebrity interviews. Most of them were fantastic--until a boy farted in the middle of his, and the whole class burst out in chaos. (It was pretty funny.) I caught the bus to the shops tonight after school and grabbed some supplies for the trip to Bali tomorrow. I've just been home packing and relaxing this evening. Tomorrow is going to be a long day, and I certainly don't want to be exhausted when we get into Bali at 10PM tomorrow night. One sleep!