There's A First Time for Everything

It’s been a busy couple of days! I have had my first days at school, my first days teaching, my first experience body surfing, and (thankfully minimal) my first Australian sunburn.

School is so exciting. It sounds like a vague adjective but it’s hard to put into words. The kids are great fun, but still have their moments-like most teens their age. Surprisingly, I’m really keen on my year 8’s. I never thought I would mesh well with the junior high age but these guys are fun and goofy but are hard workers when it came to class time. We are starting Holes and I think it’s going to be fun. I love the book, and an extra bonus, I have already read it and have experience with it. In my other classes I’m playing catch-up. The year 12’s are reading The Quiet American, a book about the Vietnam War, which was made into a movie starring Brendan Fraser. My teacher gave me the DVD for the weekend and said, “Watch the movie so you know what’s going on. That’s what I did.” So there’s a small look into the curriculum. The teachers are very lovely, and I like mine a lot. She has a lot of energy, the kids seem to really like her, and she has been very proactive about getting me in the classroom and also providing me with constructive feedback. Things are different here and it’s a big adjustment switching from 7 short periods to 4 long ones, and having to move classrooms each time. Moving classrooms makes it really difficult to display any kind of student work, hang any posters up about specific subjects, or even really create a consistent management plan (since the rooms could change depending on the day). Overall, Yarram is a good fit for me and I’m looking for to the diverse challenge.

Unrelated. Australia is beautiful. I spent the day at the beach yesterday and it was astounding. Crystal blue waters with amazing clarity, and white sandy (squeaky) beaches, surrounded by an incredible forest landscape. Seriously. Unbelievable. It’s hard to think that some people actually to get grow up in a place like this. On a not so glamorous note-the spider kill count is high. I kill at least one everyday but thankfully there’s some handy kill spray around the house so I can keep a safe difference. Still keeping an eye out for the dreaded huntsmen. Pray that I avoid it!! Being here has also made me grateful for some very silly things. Like Internet. Raina and I are splitting a mobile broadband Internet server that came loaded with 5 GB. We’ve gone through that in a week. Thankfully, it can be recharged and more data put on it. Unfortunately, it’s expensive and even though we will be buying 10 GB with a huge expiry date, I know that it will be gone in just a couple of weeks. Wanting to stay connected does not come cheap. Actually, most things in Australia don’t come cheap, but so far it has all been worth it.

To continue your Australian education, here’s some more slang:

            Bevo- beverage, drink. Kate said “beverage” is too formal and here most things get shortened with an “o” added to the end

            Trolley- shopping cart

            Galah- a beautiful bird BUT when you are called a galah it’s another way of saying you aren’t very bright

            Chockers- I have made up my own spelling for this one. It sounds like chalk-ahs, meaning busy or full. For example, “The beach was chockers with people”

            Tea- Not exactly slang but they use this to refer to dinner. But they also have tea. So sometimes a person might be referring to the drink or they might be referring to the meal, the guess is yours.

I’m sure the more I talk to the kids, the more words I will learn. More to come after my first full week of school! I will leave you with the kangaroo’s. 

Cheers!