I've blinked and suddenly realize I've gone almost two weeks without writing! So much has happened during that time, and I'm so happy that so much of it is good.
Alta To start, Alta has begun her art lessons and is like a fish in water. Her first session involved learning to blend colors and she was so proud to tell me that her teacher told her she did a great job. She'll be attending art lessons every Monday after school. This Monday they started a lesson on watercolors. She's also doing fantastic on the soccer field. I can't remember if I mentioned it before in a post, but she was awarded "player of the game" for being most improved and being really aggressive on the field (I've learned though that in Oz you don't say aggressive, because that makes people think she played with aggression - like mean. She played tough and determined.) She was very proud to be able to share her lollies (reward from the coach) with the rest of the team and her brother. Olin Olin has been continuing to attend his goal keeper training on Thursday night and is really enjoying it. Unfortunately, he's not getting a lot of game practice at goal, but I have a feeling that come middle school back in Seward he will. He loves playing on the field as well and is goal hungry and fast. He has a great team of kids that he looks forward to seeing every practice, too. Both kids This last weekend Tom and I experienced something new as parents. We got to drop our kids off at a disco and had two hours of free time! Gosford City Football Club held a disco at the local community center and our kids were keen to go. We dropped them off and they hooked up with their mates from their teams and spent the evening swinging glow sticks and dancing in the dark. They both said they had a blast! On Saturday they, attended their first Aussie birthday party. Their friend down the street invited them to her party which was held at a swim center in Tumbi Umbi. Again (yay!) we got to drop them off for two hours to swim and play. I thought it was pretty cool that their friend invited Olin, as he was the only boy in attendance. I think most of the girls at the party just thought he was a girl (he had his rasher on.) A cultural note: Aussies do sing Happy Birthday, but at the end of the song someone says "Hip Hip" and then everyone else says "Hurray!" They do that three times. Tom Tom is getting into his groove as a stay-at-home dad. He's got the kids all dialed in as far as morning and afternoon routines. After he drops the kids off at school he heads out for a morning of fishing. He has been trying out a lot of different spots and bait and today it all paid off! We are having salmon curry with his fresh caught fish! (They have a fish here that they call an Australian salmon, but it isn't really a salmon. It is more closely related to a perch.) For Cinco de Mayo, he spent the day cooking a fantastic Mexican meal and we invited our dear Polish friends over to share with us. It has been a long, long time since I've had margaritas, and though I love them, I think it will be a long, long time before I have them again! :) We had a good time though! Myla Things have been going better than they ever have here in Australia. I've started running again and have decided to run a half marathon. The Bay to Bay Festival is a local running festival on June 18 and I've signed up for the 21km race and the have signed the kids up for the 3 km race. I find that I can't wait to get home after school so that I can go run, and have really enjoyed all the hills in the neighborhood. The one by the North Gosford private hospital is a killer, but today I ran it twice. I went to a clinic about my ankle, and am good to go! My shoes are pretty much shot, and I'm already through the rubber and into the fabric on the sole of my right one, but my friend Naomi is coming to the rescue. She is coming to visit us from Alaska on May 31 and is going to bring me a new pair of shoes!!! I tried to find shoes here, but they were all between about $200-300 Aussie dollars. We knew shoes were expensive here, so we brought extra pairs for the kids. I didn't think I'd go through a brand new pair of running shoes in 4 months so didn't bring an extra pair for myself. It's all the cement I run and walk on. It wears them out. Naomi is saving me big time! School is going so much better this term than last term. I feel like I'm on my feet again. My classes still don't run as smoothly as they do in Alaska and that bothers me sometimes, but I try to let that go on my walks home from school. I've started participating a little more in the school outside of my classroom. Last week the girls' soccer coach needed someone to fill in and coach one of the games which was held during 4th period. I said I could do it, and found myself on the side of the field with a team of spunky Year 7-9 girls. We lost horribly (0-9), but it was a good experience. This week our school has been participating in NAPLAN (which I think sounds like Napalm, though NAPLAN is supposed to be pronounced with both "a's" sounding like the "a" in apple.) It is a standardized test given to Year 3, 5, 7, and 9. It is not mandatory that they take it, and I'm not sure what is done with the scores. I also just participated in my first school excursion (field trip). All Year 10 geography students got a day out of school to go to the beach, ride the ferry, and observe coastal management and erosion in the Palm Beach (Oz) area. It was so great to see kids playing in the sand (building little sea walls for sand castles, etc), and to see them outside of their school environment. It was also great for me to be able to see the things I was teaching during Term 1. All of us We have discovered a new beach that has become our favorite. I'm sad I didn't know about it before when my parents were here because I know they would have loved it. It has tide pools, sand, snorkeling areas, and good fishing. It also isn't very crowded. It is called Spoon Bay. One of my coworkers told me it used to be a nudist beach. This last weekend we spend a couple hours there before we took the kids to the disco, and then went again Sunday morning. It was so nice to be at the beach in the morning! Tom fished with the kids and I went for a 30 min run on the beach. I think I will remember that run for a long time. Barefoot, running on sand, sea water lapping at my ankles, sun shining down, beautiful scenery, feeling strong. I was in heaven. This coming weekend we have big plans. After the kids' soccer games on Saturday we are going to go to the Hunter Valley and go camping, wine tasting, and will be going up in a hot air balloon (thanks Grace!) It is our first attempt at a big weekend trip during the school year when not on holiday. Looking forward to it!
3 Comments
Myla Liljemark
5/25/2017 22:43:36
Hi Grace! We loved the balloon ride! Thank you so much!
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Karen Louis
7/18/2017 18:30:47
I love your posts. Sounds like you are really enjoying Australia. So glad to hear that.
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AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
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