State: New South Whales...City: Sydney!

On Friday we had sports day and OZ tag was awesome once again. We went 3-0-1 bringing our total team record to 8 wins, 1 loss, and 3 ties. We won the first game 2-0, the second 8-0, the third we tied 1-1, and the last game we won 3-1. The last game we played the team that had defeated us the first week of interschool sport. They really wanted to win this time because the coach of that team is the teacher of some of my players. They were so happy and pumped to have won that game. Once again I got them more cookies after the game, which they loved. We have one more week of interschool sport and I know the team is going to do awesome. That last day of interschool sport will also be the last day of my students teaching here in Australia so it will be a day filled with excitement and joy along with emotion.

 After school, Tracy (a year 6 teacher and the principal’s wife) drove Theresa, Katie, and myself to her house to drop her kids off. It was really cool to be at my principal’s house. They had two cats, a dog, three chickens, and a blue-tongued lizard. I tried to not sit down because of the dog and cats. They had an infinity pool that has a normal pool at the top and goes down like a waterfall into another pool. The kids (Year 3 and 6) were telling us that they do backflips off the top into the pool at the bottom. After, Tracy took us to the Sunshine Coast Airport and we were on our way to Sydney for the weekend. Upon arrival we took a train to Central Station and walked to our backpackers. The backpackers was pretty dirty and dusty but that’s what you get for 25$ a night. My allergies were killing me and I could not stop sneezing. We went out for some cheap Thai food and it was delicious. I got super spicy Panang curry and it was beyond delicious for ten dollars.

            On Saturday we woke up extra early to go to the Paddington Markets. At first I thought the markets would be super cheap, kind of like flea markets but it was so pricy for absolute junk. After the markets we hopped on the public bus and were off to the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour (Harbor) Bridge. When we got off the bus we could see a glimpse of the bridge. My adrenaline was rushing because of how excited I was getting. It truly was an incredible sight to see. We still couldn’t see the opera house yet because it was hidden behind a tall building. We took tons of pictures of the bridge and kept on walking. Once we turned the corner around the footpath the Opera House was shining brightly from the water. My first impression was that the Opera House was much bigger in person than I imagined it to be. I took heaps of photos around the Opera House and we went inside. We couldn’t get too far inside because there was a show going on. They were showing ‘South Pacific’ during that time. We did go inside the store to buy some souvenirs, which was still cool. That took a big chunk of the day and eventually we walked to the rocks, which is right near the bridge. The rocks are where the first settlers landed when they arrived in Australia. After we walked across the bridge to Luna Park, which is an amusement park that is free to enter. The place was creepy because it had clown faces surrounding me everywhere I looked. They weren’t ordinary clowns; in fact they were extremely creepy. At nighttime, some of the students from the other schools went back to the Opera House to see a symphony concert but I opted not to go because I thought I would fall asleep. If they had shown South Pacific again then I probably would have gone because I think that is much more interesting.

            On Sunday we woke up early and went to Bondi Beach. This beach was incredible because it is a beautiful beach that is surrounded by city life. It is kind of like imagining a beach in Central Park. There were high rises surrounding this beach. We went to the markets at Bondi because they are only once a week. Once again the markets were pretty useless. After we ordered calamari and chips for lunch. This place was voted best seafood in Sydney so we figured it would be delicious. They put Japanese mayonnaise on top. At first I was a bit hesitant to have mayo on my calamari but I tried it and it was arguably the best calamari I have ever had. It was beyond delicious. We ate the calamari on the grass that overlooked the beach, which was nice and relaxing. There were seagulls all over so we had to constantly scare them away.  After lunch we went on a walking trail that overlooked the ocean. There were many cliffs and cool rocks so it was a bunch of fun taking photos. After Bondi we went back to the Harbour to take pictures of the Opera House and the bridge at nighttime to see what it looked like at nighttime.

            On Monday we were given permission to take one day off from school, which was another reason we took a weekend to go down to Sydney. We started our day off early because we had a 4:00 flight to catch in the evening. In the morning we went to Darling Harbour which was much more upscale. There were a ton of people walking around in business suits and ties. The area was still nice. The aquarium, zoo, and museum were all located in that area but we didn’t go because we were short on time. We went to the Sydney Tower but didn’t go all the way up because it was too pricy for us. After the Sydney Tower we had just over an hour so we went to a Chinese Garden, which was actually peaceful. The garden was located in the middle of the city but it was still very quiet. It was only 6$ and we got to see a lot during that time span. For an extra 10$ we could have dressed up in Asian dresses which would have been absolutely comical but we had to get back to the airport for our flight back home to Queensland.

      Once we got back to Queensland we took the wrong bus and went up North when we were supposed to be traveling South. We ended up spending approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes on the bus, which is longer than our plane ride. It’s okay because we still got back to the apartments at 9. It is definitely better to take the wrong bus there rather than in Sydney. I would definitely say this extended weekend was well worth the time and effort. I am so glad we made the most of our time in Sydney and my body is absolutely exhausted from all of the constant walking around. 

          

Final Stretch

With two more weeks of student teaching left to go, I am getting ready for my final observations. Today I had my first final observation by a different deputy principal and it was my best so far. The lesson that she came in to observe was on square numbers. I was so glad that the lesson went smoothly and the kids behaved the best ever since I have been here (finally).

Tomorrow is our third round of interschool sport. I am pumped as always and my team can’t wait to miss school for the day to play OZ tag. I Interschool sport it the main activity/event for term 3 for the kids to pay for and join. I was crushed when they told me that in term 4 when I am gone that the students will have the opportunity to do surfing skills and lessons at the beach. Wow, I wish that I could be here for that one. It would have been so interesting and entertaining. But, I’m not going to complain because I love coaching OZ tag and it makes things better that the team is having fun and winning.

Tomorrow afternoon after school I also head to Sydney for the weekend. Boy am I excited for this mini excursion! I looked into doing the Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb but it was way to expensive AND you can’t even bring your own camera because it is a safety hazard. The good thing though is that you can walk across the pedestrian part of the bridge. I think it is something like walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I most definitely can’t wait to see the Sydney Opera House because it is one of the great landmarks of Australia. Some students have chosen to travel to Melbourne, which is a different state but I didn’t want to go there because I heard that it is more country. 

American Club!

        The 5 Chancellor New York teachers decided to start our own group in school. No other school is doing a program to interact with the students like us, so I am glad to be a part of this crew. The reason might be because everyone is doing a different year level at the other schools. Our principal decided to put us together with the year 6 classes, so we are always together teaching and interacting with the different students in the year 6 level. Every Monday during second break we teach about American history and culture through arts and crafts. The first session we taught the students about the history of the American flag and had the students make their own American flag with paper and glitter. It was so cute seeing the students walking around the school with their American flag on straws. The second time we taught about Thanksgiving. They obviously don’t have Thanksgiving because that is an American tradition and the history of Thanksgiving is irrelevant to Australia. We made them instant mashed potatoes and canned corn. The deli turkey meat was a little too pricy for us. The students loved the food. One kid said, “This is the best mashed potatoes I have ever had.” It’s really amusing because it was instant mashed potatoes that took a minute to make. We also made turkeys on paper by tracing the outline of their hands. They colored the turkeys in and it came out to be impressive. Finally the last crafty project was to make Indian hats. We had already cut out feathers and the students just had to design and measure up their headband and paste on the feathers. Once again, it was really funny and cute watching the students walking around with their Indian hats. I think this program has been extremely successful thus far, as we have had about 30 kids show up each time. The next time we will be doing Halloween or Groundhogs Day.

Reception

On Tuesday there was a reception held for all of the student teachers, the host teachers, and principals. This was a great gathering for everyone to meet up with each other and get a chance to speak with other host teachers and principals from other schools. There were a ton of ‘thank you’ speeches going on and at the end we displayed our video displaying the highlights of our journey. The video was well created and once I have the opportunity to upload it at home, everyone can see it. I can’t upload it now because it is 13 minutes long, which is about a gig total. I certainly have learned to appreciate the Internet at home. I am proud of the video because I was one of the creators who developed and made the video. I must say it is rather impressive and definitely made last years video look bad. Chancellor State College was best represented because we sought out media permission so that we could take photographs with the students. It went by so quick and by the time the reception had ended, it was pitch black outside so my host teacher was kind enough to give us a ride back home so that we didn’t have to take the public bus back home. The pictures attached are of the Chancellor crew minus a few host teachers because they were unable to attend. The great man in the purple is the principal of our school. 

Chancellor BBQ!

            Today the Year 6 Chancellor teachers invited us to a family BBQ at Cotton Tree Park. All of the year 6 teachers were there, even the principal because his wife was a year 6 teacher. It was so fun getting to interact and hangout with the teachers outside of the school setting. All of the teachers brought their kids and it was a blast playing with them in the park. My teacher hosted this BBQ and Cotton Tree Park is right near her house. There is a river right near her backyard and my teacher said we can always take a bus to her house to kayak on the river. We might have to take her up on that offer.

The parks here have public grills, so we were even able to cook some meat. The teachers provided all of the goods for us and we brought wine, oreos baked with fresh chocolate chip cookies together, and chicken wing dip. They love the chicken wing dip because it has a tangy spice to it and it is more of an American thing so they have never heard of it, so once in a while we will make it for all of the staff.

            At the BBQ we made steaks, hot dogs, sausages, and kangaroo meat. There were also vegemite sandwiches. I don’t quite know how to explain vegemite. Almost every Australian loves it, but everyone thinks it is absolutely gross. I personally thought wasn’t good, but I still ate it. I might have to bring a small tub home for people to try. For dessert we had pavlova, which is an Australian dessert containing egg white and sugar. It was very sweet but they loved it. It has strawberries and kiwis on top. Overall the BBQ was a great hit and I am so thrilled that the teachers did this for us. 

What A Week

This past week was one full of planning and preparing. Early Wednesday morning I was observed by my deputy (assistant) principal on a science lesson about rusting. The students were extremely engaged because it was interesting, which resulted in them being very chatty. Overall the lesson was standard. The students understood what they were learning with the exception of a few students that were dreaming with the fairies. She was very impressed with how prepared I was with the lesson which was good. On Friday I was observed by my principal on data in mathematics and the lesson was much better. The students were engaged and interested because I made the statistics based on their own lives. My principal said I did a really good job and he was glad I incorporated technology into my lessons. Next week I will have to meet with both the deputy principal and principal to discuss my midterm evaluation and then I will be observed two more times for my final observation. 

After I taught my lesson we had our second time of inter-school sport. We traveled to Kawana State School to play other primary schools. Our team won the first three games and tied the last one. Overall our record is 5-1-2 which is really awesome. The kids wrote up a script for me on barbie paper to cheer them on and it is beyond embarrassing, but that is what makes teaching primary school so fun. They were showing me how they wanted me to dance while I sang and it was an absolute comedy show for them. I was so proud of them that I bought a pack of cookies (Tim Tams) for them and they loved every second of it. Don't worry dad, I made sure I bought extras for your late snack. It is sad to think that I will be home in about a month and I am about halfway done with my student teaching experience. 

Sooooo...which is better?!

            Today I decided to walk around town with a few mates to places that I had never been to before. On this walk we decided to get some fish and chips again. It was really nice to see a different part of town. This place smelt very fishy but the line was long so we had a feeling that we were going to get some quality food. Since I have eaten heaps of fish, I decided to change it up and get the calamari and chips deal. It was only $9.90 for a huge tray of calamari and french fries. I must say the calamari was absolutely delicious and I had to think about whether or not the calamari was better here in Australia or back home on Staten Island. After some mouth watering bites, I came to a conclusion that the calamari itself was better here because it was more fresh and less battered, but the calamari at home had more flavor. I didn’t have any sauce to dip it in because I don’t like tarter sauce and I refuse to pay $2.00 for a side of chili sauce or ketchup (not that I like ketchup anyway). When we were all eating, we had a great view of the bay that the restaurant was on. The moon was out and the sky was purple and pink and glowed so brightly. 

What internet?

The mobile Internet that I received can be very shaky many times. It is difficult when I need to look up some lessons online and I can’t because I can barely link to the Internet. I miss having the quick wireless Internet at home. That is certainly one thing I wont take for granted anymore. Sometimes when I am in desperate need of internet I have to go to the local café to use their wifi. Sounds good but the only way that I can get their password is to purchase something. One better drink to get than a nice hot cup of hot chocolate with a view of the ocean!