People underestimate the magic of metal roofing. The patter of raindrops on metal roofing draws you to a couch with a cup of tea and a good book. It makes you feel cozy, safe. It gives you permission to spend the day indoors, recharging from a busy life of adventures. In the winter the snow slides off metal roofing in a whoosh that wakes up sleeping babies and builds up around the walls of the house insulating you from the darkness of Alaska's winters. I found that sound here in Oz in the unexpected place of a drain pipe. Right around the corner from the TAL staff room door just above the chain that unsuccessfully keeps students from walking on the grass, and near the water catchment tank that draws students' lunch rubbish like a magnet. The sky is blue, though, with no rain in sight. Where then, does this familiar sound come from? Then I see them. Four rainbow lorikeet, feet and claws loudly grasping the metal of the top of the drain pipe, preening damp feathers freshly washed in the backed up pipe. It's difficult to tell if their soft happy chatter is to each other, or to themselves, a kind of "singing in the shower" as they contentedly pull their brilliant red and green feathers through their beaks. Their claws continue to click along the metal as they regain their balance lost as they made sure to groom all the important places. There's the sound. The feeling of safety and comfort is familiar. I tuck it into my heart and go to class.
Term 3 isn't downhill, it is mile 18 of a marathon. Term 3 Walk to Work Tally: 123 miles (I have found a quicker and safer walk to school and have restarted my trek. I'm so thankful that I can walk to work again.)
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Reds... There are specific days of the year that we look back on and say "A year ago today I was...." or "Every year on this day I'm doing..." This year, I spent the 4th of July bundled up in 4 layers, under a starry night sky, and drinking wine out of a coffee mug. The red from the fire, ringed with little stones Alta found upon our arrival to the camp site, reflected off the red dust collected on my shoes. As I enjoyed the fire's warmth on my skin and the wine's warming effect on my insides, I reflected on all the Fourth of July's I've experienced around the world. Some of the most memorable were back in Chiemsee, Germany where I worked at a hotel that could have come straight out of the movie Dirty Dancing. Fourth of July was always the epic night of enjoyment at Chiemsee complete with dancing on the dance floor situated in what once was Hitler's bedroom, and fireworks over the lake. This year, instead of a dance floor and a slew of young-in-their-20s Yanks, Aussies, Kiwis, Brits (all employees at the hotel) grinding away on the dance floor, I was alone with my family in the Australian Outback with the dry claylike red dirt under our feet and the fireworks of the Milky Way overhead. Our holiday trip to the Outback started in Dubbo, New South Wales where we visited the Dubbo Zoo. As drizzle came down out of the grey Alaska-type sky, we donned our rain coats and set out to see the animals. The Dubbo Zoo is a six kilometer loop through eucalyptus forest where you walk, drive, or ride a bike from exhibit to exhibit. Alta and I chose to walk, while Tom and Olin drove, meeting up with us at agreed upon exhibits. The Dubbo Zoo has many of the same savannah animals that other zoos have, but their enclosures are situated in such a way that you feel like there are no fences. For example, monkeys are marooned on islands surrounded by moats with only water between you and them. After a cold night in Dubbo we set out west to the more remote parts of the state. The land flattened out, the trees became more scrubby, and the frequency of other cars on the road became replaced by the frequency of roadkill on the side of the road. In the 6 hours it took us to drive to the Dry Tank Campground we passed through sleepy towns with houses and yards that carried the signs of repeated years of scorching heat and sun. The towns also had perplexingly wide streets. After leaving these towns we resumed our drive through flat, dry, and ever reddening bush land. It is there that Olin, our expert wild animal spotter cried out "Emu!" "Where?" We all replied while spinning our heads to try to locate the bird. "Right there! Come-on, right there! Agh you are missing it! Oh! Oh! Look! A whole lot of them, like 50!" Tom, Alta, and I missed them all. Needless to say we had to have a family agreement after that that if we saw an animal we had to say who's window it was out of. And we had plenty of opportunities to practice it too. We saw hundreds of emu and kangaroo over the next few days of driving. Hopping kangaroo, dead kangaroo, grazing kangaroo, solitary kangaroo, and kangaroo in large mobs. There were emu on the road too (both dead and alive). Baby emu, flocks of emu, and solitary emu walking along fence lines. Hour after hour of driving, spotting animals and listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audio book (the only way to endure a long road trip with kids) the land got redder and redder until at last we pulled into Dry Tank Campground. Dry Tank Campground is the type of campground where you can just throw your tent up anywhere. On the first night there were two other families camped there too, but we only were aware of them through the flicker of their fires through the trees and the the gentle carry of their voices. We spent a couple days around the Dry Tank area. We took two different hikes. One to the edge of a cliff that overlooked a valley and the other to a place where we got to look at prehistoric Aboriginal art. At both places we were the only ones there. It was amazing to be at the art drawings and to have the time to imagine the people long ago standing and painting what they saw of the world around them - what is still visible all around us - on the cave ceilings and walls. I spent more time with the art than the kids and Tom, who explored the rocky outcroppings and ledges where they found the remains of some of the many feral goats that roam the Outback. Something my mom always said about kids is that they roll play the the things they experience in their lives as a way of processing. Mom said that my sister Louise's and my roll play changed when we moved to Germany. I've noticed the same thing with Olin and Alta and their experiences in Australia. After driving through Outback mining towns, Olin and Alta decided they were going to make a "mine" with the red dirt. After visiting the Aboriginal art site, their evening campfire activity involved creating charcoal art on the kindling. Following our nights in Dry Tank we headed north and then east through towns like Brewarrina, Gwabegar, and Pilliga to an artesian bore bath where we camped at an unspectacular roadside campground but got to swim in warm artesian waters (30C). It was nice to be toasty and clean after those few cold nights in Dry Tank. Our last night of our camping road trip was in the beautiful town of Coonabarabran. The town is situated near an extinct volcano and is also the location of the Siding Spring Observatory which is the largest observatory in Australia. It has a 3.9 meter telescope and about 18 other different types and sizes of telescopes. It was fun to see Alta and Tom geek out a bit about all the telescope and space tech, while I specifically enjoyed the things I learned about Aboriginal star gazing and astronomy. Something I thought was particularly interesting is that early aboriginal people found shapes in the dark spaces between stars, rather than using the stars themselves as constellations. Our campsite was situated with a picturesque background of the extinct volcano and we had a whole lot of kangaroos visit us at dusk. ...Whites and Blues After a day relaxing, washing clothes, and cleaning out the car, we headed off on our next trip: A week at the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. Instead of driving all the way to Queensland, which would have taken us about 21 hours, we decided to fly. We arrived at the Whitsunday Airport to a tropic sun, and a temperature of about 31 C. Ahhh! It was the warmth of summer.... in the winter. We promptly headed to town where we rented wet suits, fins, and snorkel gear and then drove an hour to our little cabin in Bowen. This part of our holiday really felt like we were on vacation. Warm beds, running water, summer evenings on the little cabin patio with a glass of white wine, the condensation dripping down the sides, and palm trees gently rustling in sunset skies. Life is good. The kids and I got into the habit every morning of waking up at about 6:00am to walk down to the beach in order to go beach combing and to watch the sunrise. Needless to say, we came home at the end of the trip with two kid backpacks full of some pretty neat shells and coral. On our first full day in Bowen, we drove to Horseshoe Bay. On the beach by 8:30am, we were joined by a group of people doing yoga in the morning sunshine. Our first attempt at snorkeling for coral was a success. We found some on both sides of the bay. The beach itself was my favorite part, as it was littered with the skeletal remains of all the dead coral from the Reef. When you walked on it, which you needed to do with shoes on, it sounded like glass clinking together. After lunch back at the cabin we then tried snorkeling at Gray's Bay. We had fun wondering if Gray's Bay was named after the same explorer that Gray's River is named after in Washington. That's the river my parent's farm is on. Snorkeling in Gray's Bay wasn't as successful. The water was shallow and murky, and though Tom and the kids said they saw coral, it was all covered in grimy slime. I beach combed and enjoyed quiet time on while they explored. After getting out of the water, the kids and Tom decided that the snorkeling was better at Horseshoe Bay and that we should go back so that they could to try to go farther out. Immediately my anxiety flared. I don't want my two kids way out in the wavy ocean floating around looking for coral! I decided to follow them along the rocks and take pictures, and to trust that Tom was going to keep them safe - and he did! The kids said they saw all kinds of really neat coral and felt really proud that they were out in the ocean with their dad. Day two in Queensland took us out of Bowen looking for another beach that would offer new snorkeling experiences. We drove for about an hour and found ourselves at Dingo Bay and Hydeaway Bay. Talk about postcard beautiful! The water was an amazing turquoise blue and the sand was a brilliant white. To make it even better, we were nearly the only people on the beach! We explored Dingo Bay but decided not to snorkel there. Instead, we went to Hydeaway where Tom and the kids donned their snorkel gear again and paddled out to the depths. Thankfully the seas were calmer than they were when they were back at Horseshoe Bay. They saw all kinds of coral as they explored and I spent time walking on the beach and exploring on land. On our last day in Queensland, Tom organized for us to go on an adventure tour out to the Great Barrier Reef! We don't usually do tours when we travel, but if we wanted to see the Reef, it was the only way, as we didn't have a boat. We went with the #1 ranked company at Whitsundays, Ocean Rafting - which I HIGHLY recommend to anyone wanting a good time. For $500 AU for a family of four, we had a full day of fun. We were provided wet suits and snorkel gear, tunes during the ride out, lunch, two different snorkel experiences (one for coral, one for fish), and a bush hike at Whitsundays Island National Park - the whitest beach I've ever seen in my life. We all snorkeled. I stuck with Alta during the first session where we looked at coral, and out of the whole boat of people we were the last out of the water. I could have stayed there all day. It was absolutely amazing. The second session with the fish was also cool, and I think it was Alta's favorite as she, again, was the last out of the water. Olin also enjoyed himself and paddled around with Tom covering a lot of ground as they both chose to snorkel with fins and no floaty noodles. Alta and I took our time and had no fins and used noodles to keep us buoyant so that we could focus on just looking at everything. It is hard to describe everything that we saw. There was so much different coral. Some looked like brains, others like antlers or tree branches. My favorite was the soft coral that waved with the surf. Alta seemed to really like the giant clams that looked like they had different colored lipstick from deep purple to a reddish color. Olin's favorite was the really big coral. The fish were also amazing. We saw all different kinds. Tom did a lot of dive snorkeling and saw more than the rest of us. Of our entire time here in Australia, this Queensland trip was our "epic wish list" trip. Tom really wanted to show Olin and Alta the Great Barrier Reef before it was gone, and the whole experience was more than we could have asked for. It was perfect. From the reds of the Outback, the whites of the coral on the beaches and sand, to the brilliant blue of the ocean we have had one very colorful holiday adventure. I'll admit, I'm not quite as ready to head back for 3rd Term of school as I was for 2nd, but I think it is because our holiday was so fulfilling. I don't want it to be over.
If you've made it to the end of this blog post, thank you! I know it is long, but I hope you have enjoyed it. I'll end with a final picture of our kids and the big mango outside of Bowen. We don't usually take pictures like these, but - as no one was there, and we were stopping anyway for birthday ice cream, we thought we'd snap a shot! The Mountains we Climb
Through all the years I've spent climbing mountains, I've learned one thing. Reaching a peak means you are halfway done. It doesn't mean that it is "all downhill from here," as that downhill trek can be some of the toughest parts of the hike. Your knees hurt. Your muscles are shaky. Sometimes you take a step, and find that it is unstable and fall. That doesn't happen as much on the way up. On the way up you sweat. You push. It is hot - no matter what the temperature is outside. They are totally different experiences - going up... and going down. I'm at the part of the trail where I can see the peak. I know I'm almost there, and that all I have to do is keep pushing. My mountain climbing friends, do you know that point? That point where your last reserve of adrenaline kicks in and doesn't make you go faster, just keeps you taking the next step? Where your legs feel like they're a bit disconnected from the rest of your body, yet the burn is all too real? Where you stop talking to your hiking partner, because... you.... just... need... to... get.... to... the... top. I'm there. I can see the peak. I'm going to make it. Hell. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get there. Probably sit down and find my water bottle (or glass of wine). Take a drink, and look around, admire the view, and reflect on what an absolutely awesome hike it was to get there. Really, that's the way you feel when you are hiking in the mountains. Something about the challenge and the burn is.....good. You ask for it when you lace up your shoes and drive to a trail head. You are looking for a challenge. Tough love Tonight at dinner Olin let us know that his low point for the day was when his teacher singled him out in front of the entire bus line for something he did in class, and let everyone know that his class wouldn't be getting a certain privilege because of it. (He was supposed to wait until he got home before he ate this chocolate treat that they made in class. Olin saw another boy eat his, so Olin ate his.... and got caught.) Since the first day at school I've noticed that Aussies have a "tough love" approach to discipline. If a student is talking during morning assembly, the teacher with the microphone makes the student stand up and stay standing in front of all 1000 kids for the remainder of the assembly. When leaders were chosen for each grade level's house (Harry Potter stuff her folks) each student that wanted to be a leader got up in front of their whole grade and gave an impromptu speech. Then all the students that wanted to be leader stood on stage with their backs to the audience. The Lead Teacher put their hand over each student's head while the students in the audience raised their hands to vote. The winner was then announced, while the loser candidates retreated to the audience. I've not ever seen anything like that at home. Americans are a bit different. We often have the whole "everyone gets a trophy" approach to competition. It hurts me sometimes to watch the kids in such a vulnerable position. The empathy in me kicks in, and I forget that they either chose to make themselves vulnerable or were being naughty and probably deserved it. At the same time, though... I've tried the "stand up" approach in class, and it works pretty well on those kids that just won't shut up! Passion Fruit and other treats of life Have I mentioned how much I like the celery here? Man, it just keeps getting better. I ate a whole 3 stalks of it during morning recess today while on duty supervising the basketball court. Celery must be at its peak in June in the Southern Hemisphere. It is full of moisture, super crunchy, and the little stringy parts in it are really easy to bite through. I never ate celery in Alaska. Well, maybe like twice in 12 years. Passion fruit is another treat that we have come to love while living in Australia. Might I even say we are getting to be passion fruit snobs? We now know that the wrinkled ones are older (and it doesn't take too long for them to start getting wrinkled) and are good, but just not quite as juicy. We've decided that since we are only here for 6 more month that we have got to start eating passion fruit every day, because we can't get it back in AK! Sound bites 1. I offered advice on teaching at Narara to a 'practical teacher' (student teacher) here. She was so nervous and overwhelmed with the environment and expectations, so I gave her a few tips. It felt really strange to listen to myself. All the advice that has been passed on to me by all the wonderful teachers here (thank you!) was to coming out of my own mouth. And it all made perfect sense, despite how hard I know it is to do it. 2. Alta and Olin played FANTASTIC soccer games on Saturday. They are really starting to understand their positions. (Olin is right mid, and Alta is center defense.) 3. Tom spent the day making three different batches of sour kraut. Woop Woop! Now, if we could only get the kids to like sour kraut as much as they like passion fruit. 4. I just found out my 96 year old grandma is moving into assisted living. Man, I hope I can live an independent life like that until I'm 96. She's a total bad ass! 5. Last Friday I spent a fabulous evening hanging out with co-workers having drinks at a glorious restaurant on Brisbane Waters. Great folks and great conversation. It was the perfect way to end a fortnight. 6. I did not run the half marathon. I REALLY wanted to. Everyone in our house (except Alta so far) has been experiencing yucky sicky symptoms that are basically just massive low energy. I spent ALL of Saturday AND Sunday on the couch grading Year 10 assessment (50 down, 50 more to go!) Running 13 miles just didn't seem possible when I didn't even want to get up to go to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of water. 7. Yesterday I walked across the campus green to the parking lot where Tom picks me up. I felt like I was in a mini-Jurassic Park savannah scene. You know, where all the different herbivore dinosaurs are all grazing in the field in herds of their own species? The only difference was that it was instead of dinosaurs, it was flocks of ibis, corella, sulphur crested cockatoo, and some strange kind of duck all grazing on grass in flocks on the green. I just walked right through the middle. Because I could. 8. Thank you Ola for the new shirt! My wardrobe selection is so small. Vielen Dank! Ah.....
I have just returned home from them most wonderful two hours. I just spent the last two hours with die Deutche Mammas at the Box Cafe in Ettalong. With the clinking of forks, the conversations of Aussies, and the laughter from a baby shower as background sounds, I engaged in two hours of conversation all in German. It has been 15 years since I have spoken conversational German for any period of time. My brain was slow at times and I used words that I wasn't sure I remembered the meanings of. I also was comic entertainment for the three Germans at the table when instead of saying "Was macht euere Männer für arbeit?" I said, "Was macht deine Männer für arbeit?" My intention was to ask two of the women what their husbands did for work, but instead it came out singular in that I was asking one of the women what her husbands (plural) did for work. Another moment of comic relief was when I tried to tell the women that my town in Seward had no fast food restaurants. I didn't know the word for 'fast food restaurants' so I said that my town had "kein schnelles Essen" which I'm sure put images in their minds of really slow spaghetti or grapefruit. About a month ago I was at the Umina Skate Park watching Olin navigating all the ramps and skilled older boys on their scooters and skateboards. Amongst the chaos was a little itty bitty boy, who I found later is 4 years old, rolling around on his 3 wheeled scooter. He looked like he felt like such a big boy at the ramps and he reminded me so much of Olin at that age. I also noticed his mother, who wore a brown wool sweater and Birkenstocks. She allowed her boy to fall without coddling him, and just had an overall hands off approach to supervising. She reminded me of... well, me! I also thought she looked particularly German. They eventually moved towards me and I heard her say something to her son, all in German. "I thought so!" So the little boy came over and started scootering near me. He looked like he was trying to show off for me, so I said "Oh, du bist schnell!" His mom heard me and we started talking. Towards the end of our conversation she invited me to come hang out with her and some other German and Swiss women at their 'German Mammas' next get together. They get together every month or so to hang out and speak German. So tonight was it. There were only 4 of us, but it was so much fun. Two of the women were very easy to understand and the third was a little harder. One woman was so amazingly clear that I felt I could have listened to her all night. While I chatted inside the warm café, Tom, Alta, Olin, Naomi, and Shan Shan hung out on the beach outside in the rain. The girls played in the ocean while Tom and Olin fished. It was cold and wet, but they seemed to have a good time. They found shells and rocks, and Olin caught a fish. My friend Naomi and her daughter have been visiting us from Alaska for the last two weeks. It has been so fun to have them here. I took Naomi to my school and showed her some of the classrooms and introduced her to some of my co-workers. She walked home with me from school so was able to experience parts of my 'school day routine.' We took a big trip out to the Hunter Valley where we saw wild kangaroo and ran through vineyards at sunset. We also did some wine tasting at the Cock Fighter's Ghost vineyard. We are having the expensive bottle of wine we bought there tonight for their end-of-adventure dinner. Naomi, Tom and Shan Shan spent a day at the Reptile Park where they were able to pet different kinds of animals. Shan Shan even got to hold a dingo puppy and a boa! We also spent a day together in Sydney and visited the Aquarium there, and we spent another day exploring the Old Convict Trail at Wiseman's Ferry. We pulled Alta out of school for a day of adventure with Shan Shan and they all went on a ferry ride from Ettalong to Palm Beach. They also played at the beach and had fish and chips in Terrigal. On another day, we pulled Olin out of school for a day of adventure with Shan Shan and they went to "Flip Out" (a tramp park), Somersby Falls, and to Bulgandry Aboriginal art walk. When we aren't busy with adventures, we have been enjoying our time together at home. The kids created a roundabout today at the end of the road and roll played going to the store. They even had gates for entrance to the store parking garage. The kids have made forts, played Uno, and have done a lot of playing in the rain. It is unfortunate that Naomi's trip landed right when we've had rainy weather, but we've all been making the best of it. Tom has enjoyed having company while Olin, Alta, and I have been at school. He has been playing 'tour guide" and has been feeding us all well while they've been here. Home-made flatbread pizza (thank you Ola for teaching us how to make it.), paella, and tonight we are having Korean Short ribs. We are currently enjoying a three day weekend (I'm so thankful for the Queen's birthday! It is one of the few days off here.) Naomi and Shan Shan fly out early Monday morning, so we have decided to all head to Sydney tomorrow (Sunday) and stay at a hotel so that we can go to Vivid! Vivid is a massive light show- the world's largest festival of light - throughout the city of Sydney. We are all excited to get to see it. Pictures to come. On another note, I'm not walking to and from school anymore. The day after Mother's Day one of the students at my school was attacked on her way to school. She was walking on a path very close to one of the paths that I walk on. I'll avoid any details here, but will say that it made my walks to school a lot more tense. Last week, at 4:30 in the afternoon another young woman was attacked by the same man not far from the first attack. Luckily she got away by fighting him off and didn't suffer any harm. As a result, though, it has become very clear that my walks to school in the morning and home from school in the afternoon are not safe anymore. I'm very bummed. Those walks were so important for me. They allowed me to decompress and to process without distraction. I don't, however, want to be a victim, so am now getting rides. Walk to Work Tally Term 2 - 171 miles After re-reading through my last post I realized that I should add some other tid-bits about teaching and Australia that will balance out the scene that I am painting for everyone. No, not every class is horrible. The ones that bother me the most are the ones I write about because I'm trying to process them. Some classes I walk away from feeling like I'm home.
Wednesday I had one of the 'literacy ladies' come to teach my 10 Mindil class about a writing process they use here called TXXXC. My 10 Mindil class can be moody some days, and super fun other days, so the likelihood of it being successful was a real crap shoot. All the kids have strong personalities, and though they are a class that I work the hardest to teach, they are also probably my favorite. She and I agreed that we would team teach the class. I couldn't have asked for a better result. She introduced the topics, and then I picked up. We taught so well together. And better yet, the kids responded. It was definitely hard to get these kids to care about writing quality paragraphs, but they did it! (Well most of them.) I also have one particular student in 10 Mindil (I've written about him before) who approached me in class Wednesday. He pulled out his wallet and showed me a little piece of paper folded up. "Miss, I wrote down all 30 of the human rights from that declaration we learned about and I carry them around in my wallet." He looked so proud. I thought it was so cool. This isn't a kid who always values school, so to have him personalize something we learned in class like that was awesome. Another moment to celebrate is one that I had with my 9 Kirra class last week. Ooo. These kids are a tough bunch and I don't think I have had one moment where I have had every kid's sincere attention. Last week I did. I introduced shell shock in our lesson about the medical impacts of World War 1 and trench warfare. Back in high school - I'm not sure what Ansbach teacher showed it, maybe Mr. Plummer? - but I was shown an old video of people suffering from shell shock. It stuck with me. Watching the people shake, flinch, involuntarily move their mouths, etc was incredibly fascinating to me. I've tried showing my Year 9 class old black and white documentary type videos before and they flopped... every... time. I decided I would try.... again. This time, though I would try with a YouTube clip of the very same video I had watched. So, I introduced shell shock, told them about having watched this video when I was their age, and pressed play. I didn't watch the video. I watched the class. They were quiet. No one was laughing. No one played on their phones or on their fidget spinners. And then when it was over (about 6 minutes later) one of my most behaviorally difficult kids said, "Miss?" Then he got uncomfortable looking like he wanted to ask me something that might not be OK to ask. Hesitantly he went on. "Isn't marijuana legal in your country?" I explained that in some places in the states certain kinds of marijuana was legal. I could see he was thinking. He said "I saw a video of a guy that shook like that on Facebook and he smoked pot and it went away. Does pot help things like shell shock?" The teacher part of me was elated. This kid was making connections. I couldn't have asked for more. Score! Let's see. Something else to mention relating to the last post is that I mentioned I had to have the head teacher come in and talk to my class about their behavior. Culturally that was very awkward for me. For me, it was admitting that I could not get control of my class which feels like a weakness. Here though, and I'm determined to get more comfortable with it, it is actually really normal. Apparently head teachers go into classrooms all the time to remind students about behavioral expectations. When I talk to my two head teachers about them coming into my classroom to correct behavior it is as if it is the exact opposite of an inconvenience. Like it is totally and completely normal. They also said that it is completely normal to send kids to them if the kids are acting up. In Alaska, I send kids to the office, but you can't do that here. Here you have to deal with the behavior in class (detention, putting them in the corridor, call parents, etc.). I always felt like I was inconveniencing head teachers by sending them my naughty kids because they were teaching classes. By the end of this week, I'd sent two, and boy did classroom behaviors start to change. Positive Sound Bites from School (PSBS - ooo that sounds catchy!) 1. One of my year 8 students makes it a habit of asking me about every other day, "Hi Miss! How'd you sleep?" 2. Both my 9 Kirra and 10 Mindil class think my attempts at saying "G'Day Mate" with an Aussie accent are heading shakingly pathetic. 3. Two of my 10 Mindil boys told me that I had to stay next year so that I could teach them again. 4. My Year 8 class got me off task in the way my AK kids always loved to do. They think they are so clever when they do it, but little do they know that I'm in complete control. All of it always relates back to what we are learning in class. I had so much fun watching my Year 8s as they 'worked' me. Loved it! 5. I work with a Canadian here who I enjoy talking to as we both have similar accents. My ears enjoy listening to him talk, as weird as that sounds. 6. They have a system here where you can lose your 'prep' periods or off periods if they need you to cover or sub in another teacher's class. I was assigned to sub in the music teacher's class for a period and it was amazing. I watched a group of students play amazing music. They were so talented. 7. One of my tough, tough 10 Mindil boys, upon coming back from the toilet, asked me if he could go sort uniforms for another teacher who was in the corridor. "Wait a second." I said (with a bit of mocked attitude and a slight smile on my face). "You have done no favors for me at all this period and now you want me to do YOU a favor and let you go sort footy uniforms?" "Um, ya Miss. But wait, If you let me go, then I won't be in class, and that's kind of a favor." He was trying hard! "For 5 minutes? Bob (not his real name), there is only 5 minutes of class left, that's not much of a favor." "Ya, but Miss, I won't be in class tomorrow because I'll be at footy and that'll definitely do you a favor!" Done deal! I laughed and agreed. Out he went. Happy. Now Tom told me that my last post also didn't talk enough about our Hunter Valley trip. But I think I'm done for now. This has been a lot of writing today. The kids and I are sitting down to their first viewing of Back to the Future, and I'm signing off for now. Sometimes when it has been a while since I've posted I'm not sure where to start. The last 2-3 weeks have been full. Maybe I'll start backwards from today. Today Olin and Alta represented Gosford Public School at the Cross Country Zones competitions (like state-side Regionals). They were excited and nervous. Alta kept drinking water before the race as I think she was especially nervous, and somehow the water made it better. It was really neat to see all the different schools competing, and to recognize some of the kids and parents from the soccer teams Olin and Alta play on. It gave me that 'community' feel that I haven't experienced since we were in Seward.
Alta ran first, and did a beautiful job. She was dead last at the beginning of the race. I know her racing style though, and I knew she'd pass a fair few by the time the race was over. Her first lap looked solid and she was tied with another runner - for last place. By the second lap she looked about ready to cry but had managed to pass (by my count) about 10-12 kids to finish at a respectable 46th place. She crossed the finished line and immediately bawled her eyes out. Poor girl. I think she had a good time though. Olin was really pumped up and ran his race right after hers. He was off the starting line like lightening and held the front position for most of the race. When he got to the last stretch he was in 7th place and you could tell he wanted to hold it. Something happened in the last 100m though, because he got passed by 3 runners and ended in 10th. He was so incredibly disappointed. He cried too, but it was more of a desperation kind of cry than an exhausted cry like Alta had. He thought he had come in 9th, and the top 9 get to go on to the next level of competition. He eventually got over it, and in the end, I think it turned out to be a really good experience for him. Man, I love watching my kids be active. It doesn't matter if it is running, playing soccer, or hiking in the mountains. It makes me so happy. Moving back through time from today, I'll give a quick account of my week at work. (Sigh) It wasn't necessarily a good one..... you know what? I'm feeling good right now. I think I'll skip most of the details. To keep record a bit though, I will say that I had to have my head teacher come into talk to my Year 8 class about their behavior. I flopped at writing a rubric for an assessment task for the HSIE faculty because I didn't do it my normal way.I tried to do it the way they had done previous rubrics. It wasn't what they were looking for, so I'm a little bummed that my debut at contributing to a faculty assessment wasn't up to par. I will move on though. In the big scope of things, a rubric is small beans. The one part of this week that has made my week especially difficult and stressful is something called QTR. I do need to spend a moment to talk about what I understand of QTR and my experiences with it. QTR stands for Quality Teaching Rounds. How it works is that teachers team up into groups of 4 and observe each other's classes. One observation for each teacher's class. As you watch the teachers teach, you record marks on a 3 page rubric concerning things like student engagement, environment, depth of learning, etc. As soon as I learned that I had to do this, I had immediate anxiety. I am an incredibly analytical person and spend a lot of time self reflecting. I have also been taught (through the US school system) that if something is not going well in your classroom, it is your fault. I have not been able to move past that in this school. It is incredibly hard on my professional confidence and self esteem. The idea of 3 teachers - who have never watched me teach before (especially not in Alaska) - sitting in on one of my classes brought me a lot of stress. If I could pack them up and take them to my classroom in Seward that would be no problem. I would be excited at the opportunity to have feedback, etc, from their practiced eyes. But to have them watch as I teach here? Um..... not so much. Not yet. One of the issues that I was having with QTR is that I'm not sure what the data is being used for. The people directing QTR kept saying that it isn't judgement of your teaching. But from the evaluation system that I'm used to in AK, that is exactly what a rubric marked observation is. Some school leaders told me that the data was going to be all collected and used. But it wasn't clear how it would directly affect me. We were also told that we weren't supposed to make any special kind of lesson to be observed but that it needed to be just a regular lesson. Through 12 years of teaching and experience with our (US) evaluation system, this whole thing was just really hard to work with. Don't make a special lesson. Have three teachers with no prior experience in your class observe you. And receive feedback on a wide range of standards that I already knew I was having difficulties being proficient in. The professional in me was going to do it. I even observe another first year teacher on Friday and scored his rubric and gave feedback. That is when the flood of crippling anxiety really started to take over. His classroom ran so smooth. "God, these teachers are going to come into my class, see me teach, and see truly that I'm a crap teacher that has poor classroom management. Of course, all my students will probably be especially bad on that day too. Because of the rude and disruptive behavior of my students we won't be able to get into any deep learning which will mean that I (as a representative teacher of my country and a guest in their school) am going to score low on all rubric points. Great. Glad we invited her to come teach here. Geesh." Well, this is a bit how my self-talk went. But I was determined. I was going to be professional and I was going to do it. Friday night I came home and planned. I spent three hours creating a fail proof lesson (complete with information about corpses and feces (Mt. Everest lesson).... What 7th grader is going to misbehave when learning about that!?). I thought about my lesson when washing dishes. I woke up in the middle of the night and laid in bed for hours (literally) thinking about it. By Monday I had envisioned success. I was anxious, but I was cautiously confident. I got to school Monday, and opened my school mail to find an email from one of the members of my QTR group that said he couldn't do it on the day we had planned to observe my class. Could we shoot for another day? All that planning and they weren't even going to watch that lesson. That was the beginning of the decline. By 3th period I was completely deflated and went into a class with my Year 8 students who's behavior rivaled their atrocious behavior during the first week of school. I couldn't get them under control. It sucked. I sucked. Everything sucked. (I usually don't like that word. But it really fits this situation well.) After that lesson, no matter how professional I WANTED to be, I knew that I couldn't do QTR. I talked with my head teacher (who is also on my QTR team) and we agreed that I wouldn't do it. Honestly, I'm embarrassed that I'm not participating. I think I'm dealing with pride and ego issues, which is something that is a bit new for me. I've never considered myself to have an especially big ego or inflated pride. I try damn hard to be good at what I do. That includes being a good teacher AND participate in things like QTR. I just couldn't do it though. The anxiety was too crippling. I told one of the administrators that I would be game for doing it 4th Term, but that I'm still trying to get on my feet, that I'm just not ready. I'm too raw. I'm too vulnerable. Ok..... I'm done talking about that. Oh... wait. One more thing. Michaela and Lesley, thank you for all your help this week. Thank you so very, very, very, very much. Whew.. So two weekends ago we went to the Hunter Valley and camped, hiked, and went on a fabulous hot air balloon ride. We saw kangaroos hopping through vineyards and drank good local wines. We also finished The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe audio book. It was raining one of the evenings that we camped, so we set the kids up with what we called a "drive in movie" (Dad's iPhone phone in the car) where they watched the BBC old school Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe movie that I used to watch when I was little. (You can find it on YouTube if anyone is interested.) We even bought popcorn from the store so the kids could have a real movie theatre experience. I think that's about it. I know I've left some things out. Maybe I'll make a list of sound bites to fill in any gaps! 1. Aussies shorten 'afternoon' to 'avo'. As in, "I'll see you in the avo." 2. Lyre birds are now my new favorite bird ever. 3. Tics. Australia has tics. I don't like them. 4. One of the best parts of ballooning is the landing. The skidding, bouncing, and then gentle tipping is just really fun! 5. Alta has just learned how to play Rummy. 6. Olin's goal keeper practice had him sliding on a big blue tarp covered in water to help him learn to slide after a ball on his shoulder. Looked like fun! 7. We ate ta tar for the first time with our dear Polish friends. It is a special type of raw hamburger served with a raw egg yoke, anchovies, capers, onions, and pickles. So good! 8. When you go to a starting line at a race the announcer tells you to "marshall" to the line. All I kept thinking of was Dan Marshall in Seward and how cool it was that his whole family are runners and it is kind of a running term here. 9. It gets cold in Australia (manageable though). This morning it was in the 40s Fahrenheit. 10. Walking to school has gotten a little scary with a recent event here. I'm still walking, but I'm not enjoying it as much. It makes me a bit nervous. Walk to Work Tally Term 2 - 141 miles 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! Term 2 has begun and I can't believe what a night and day difference it is from Term 1. It isn't 46 degrees C (114F). The kids know me. I know all their names. So much more of the Aussie slang makes sense. I have figured out the pace that I can move in my lessons for both my A and B stream classes. I know where everything is, and I don't always have to be reminded of meetings. I don't have anxiety when I walk to work. I can redirect students that I don't know when I see them making poor choices at recess. I am starting to feel like a real teacher again. It feels really good.
My teaching load is the same this Term, though I am going to be teaching different units. My Year 7s are starting a term unit called 'Change' and will be learning a lot about the Himalayan Mts, sherpas, and climate change. My Year 8s will be finishing up their Shakespeare unit and will dive into the Polynesia unit (I have a lot to learn for this one.) My Year 9s are studying World War I (with an Australian focus) and World War II. My Year 10s will be exploring the problems of population growth, refugees, and human rights (woo hoo! That's going to be fun!) I'm looking forward to this term's load! It has started to get colder now that it is Autumn. The mornings are brisk during my walk to work, and then it warms up throughout the day. Many of my students complain about how cold it is in the morning. This country has so many extremes! Today our school held the Cross Country Carnival, which was a lot like the swimming carnival except kids ran instead of swam. It was held at the school, and the staff did a great job setting it up, selecting music, and grilling! I had supervisory duty which consisted of sitting on the grass amongst all the students making sure they were making good choices. It was a good day. Olin and Alta also had a good day today - actually a great day! They had their Cross Country carnival as well, but theirs was held down at the horse race track. They had to run the entire length of the race track which was 2km. Tom went and volunteered as a parent and filled me in on all the details. He said that the students ran in heats based on age and gender. Alta was in U9 girls, Olin was in U10boys. Tom said that there were between 40 and 50 students in each heat. And the results?...... (proud mamma moment) Alta came in 5th and Olin came in 2nd!!! They both are so proud and will be representing Gosford Primary at 'Zones' which is another level where they race against other kids from other schools. I'm not sure when that will be, but we are both really happy our kids enjoy being active. On another note, Tom and I have both agreed that we are really thankful we got the kids into the Gosford City Football Club. There are so many ways of "seeing" a country, and we weren't 100% sure that we should commit to spending weekends at soccer. We have no doubt now that it is the best way to really experience a country - to become a part of it. We love the soccer teams that our kids are on. I especially enjoy coaching again, which is something I was starting to dread in Seward. I'm the assistant coach for Olin's team and I coach with a great guy named Ben. We have a rocking team of fun spunky U10 boys and girls. Participating in GCFC soccer, both at practice and games, have become things I look forward to in my week. This week the club worked with the Central Coast Mariners players to put on a gala where the professional players coached our kids and then did a fan club signature session. Olin and Alta both got hats and jerseys signed by the players. They were both so energized by the whole evening. Soundbites: 1. I sprained my ankle in Tasmania so will be heading to a doc next week to make sure there isn't any serious damage - I can still walk just fine, it is just swollen and I want to get it checked so that when I'm out in the bush walking I know my ankle is sound. 2. Tom and I are both going to experience Australian dentists next week too. 3. I saw a red bellied black snake (deadly) on my walk home from school yesterday. It was more scared of me than any snake I've ever been around. 4. There is new graffiti under the bridge on my route to and from school. It is a dancing skeleton with the words "Everyone dies" next to it. I wish they'd just have left it with the dancing skeleton. 5. Olin went to his first Goal Keeper Camp session last night. One coach worked with Olin and 12 year old girl and taught them all about how to dive for the ball. 6. Alta starts art class Monday. 7. My mom and my mom's friend Cindy sent me a box full of clothes for school. How they got 18 shirts in that little box is beyond me! I have new school clothes!!!! 8. The tread on the bottom of parts of my shoes is just about worn completely out from all this walking on cement. I can't afford a new pair of shoes every term though. These have GOT to make it 9 more weeks so that I can replace them for the last two terms. 9. The school year in Alaska is almost over and my exchange partner is going to start shutting down my classroom and getting ready for her summer adventures. I'm excited for her and her family! 10. I had an Aussie teacher approach me about how I go with my Year 10 Mindil class. "What do you do with them that works?" She wanted to know. I was flattered at she had asked, and it felt good to give her some ideas but to also let her know I was still trying to figure it out. I told her that my techniques of getting them up and moving their bodies worked because we were learning about coastal management. She looked at me and then shook her head and said, "Ya, but I"m teaching them human reproduction next week." We both had a good laugh imagining how a lesson on that topic would go if she had them up and moving their bodies! Walk to Work Tally Term 2 - 24 Miles And so we have returned from another amazing corner of the world - Tasmania! Tom and I have always wanted to visit the little island just south of mainland Australia. We booked a seven day road trip for the last part of the holidays and returned Sunday evening just in time for me to return to work on Monday. We rented a car and took off to the east coast of the island straight off. We stayed in holiday park cabins the entire time which was great because we had showers and kitchens to make our travels a little more comfortable.
Our first adventure was to Wineglass Bay (which Tom and I both agreed could be the name of a bay in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie). Alta had wanted to go as soon as she had seen the picture of it at the Launceston Airport. We hiked up to the lookout, and then the kids and I ran/hiked down to the beach. It had beautiful white sands and a little wallaby that visited us while we put our shoes on to head back up the trail. The next day we traveled up the coast a bit to the Bay of Fires. This is a part of the coast that has an orange lichen that grows on the rocks. We played on the white sand beaches and the kids and Tom went swimming. Along our way up to the north coast of the island we stopped at Sea Horse World, taking an amazing tour where we learned all about sea horses! We then made our way to Cradle Mountain where we got to do some real hiking (ahhhh!) in the mountains. We did a hike that was less populated than the one around Dove Lake and managed to see wombats! Tom and the kids took the shuttle bus back to the car from the trailhead and I walked the 6km back. It was so nice to be out in the wilderness alone and just before sunset! On our way back to Launceston to catch our flight we took the kids to their first cave where we had a great tour and learned all about stalactites and stalagmites. Here are some soundbites from the trip: 1. We listened to the entire Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince audio book while driving through Tasmania. 2. If I was a ghost, I'd live in Launceston. That town just has the feel of a town that's meant to be haunted. 3. While many cars in mainland Australia are white, we noticed that Tasmania car color tends to be royal blue! 4. Tasmania is the capital of roadkill! It is everywhere! 5. Seahorses can change colors, but they can't turn blue or green. 6. Tasmania rocks seafood -fresh oysters and muscles. Yum! 7. Penguins can be seen on land an hour before sunrise, and an hour after sunset. We'll bring our headlamps the next time we go scouting for penguins. 8. Tasmania has leeches too. 9. Stop by the Iron House brewery and distillery when you go to Tasmania. Alta broke the mirror top of a table there and so far they haven't sent us a bill! I'll buy their beer and wine again if I just don't have to pay for that table! 10. There are only about 400,000 people that live in Tasmania, but on any given day there are 1 million people on the island (because of all the tourists.) 11. We added some new animals to our list of animals that we have seen here including the Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoo, wombat, Forster's Kangaroo, Copperhead snake, and pandemelon. 12. After a week listening to Harry Potter, Tom and I found ourselves walking down the lighted streets of Launceston with a 9 year old 'wizard' and a seven year old 'witch' yelling "stupify" and "expelliarmus." It has begun! We are half-way through our two week holiday and it is exactly what we needed. It began last Saturday with soccer games for the kids. It was so fun to sit and watch Alta play! She ran her little heart out. Olin played well too. He played goal keeper for the first half and got scored on once, and then played the field the second half and scored one goal - so I guess he evened it up for his team.
We spent our Sunday hanging out with our Polish friends. They took us mushrooming to a pine forest about 3 hours from here. It was exactly what I needed to relax. We were joined by 3 other Polish couples that we hadn't met before and their children. We wandered the forests for hours looking for 'pine mushrooms' and filled our buckets. We also found lots of dead kangaroos (road kill), huge termite mounds (forgot to take pictures), and more wombat dens than I could count. After we had picked our fill we made a small campfire and ate yummy polish food while the kids played in the mud! Monday we headed off on our camping road trip to Byron Bay. It took about two days to drive to Byron Bay so we camped on the way up and on the way back. We stayed at Holiday Parks - and man those are nice!!! They have showers, kitchens, laundries, playgrounds, water parks, and big air cushion jumping things! On our last night camping the Holiday Park even showed an outside evening movie that we could watch from our campsite! Byron Bay itself was pretty cool. I told Tom that I think it must be a qualification that you have to be young and beautiful to live in Byron Bay. The scene was like mixing Humboldt with Santa Cruz. So many people were barefoot. The beach was scattered with lazy loungers (some women were topless) and tattooed, long haired men running to the waves with their boards. The waves were the kind of surfer waves you see in movies. The town itself was packed with people. There were street musicians, shops where you could buy tie-die or Indian themed clothing. It was a little town, but definitely popular. While we were there, Tom, the kids, and I took surfing lessons. We didn't go all the way out to the big waves but learned on the white crashed part of the wave. The kids and I both got to standing on our boards by the time the lesson was over but Tom struggled with being able to bend his knees to the angle needed to get up. He had a smile on his face the whole time, though! We all loved it! We are heading to Tasmania tomorrow after a day of relaxing here at home. We'll be there until next Sunday. Looking forward to another adventure! Check out some of the pictures of our first Holiday week below! |
AuthorThe Liljemark's enjoy exploring the world. This blog chronicles our adventures. Archives
December 2017
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