My Early Adventures

Wow, where to begin because so much has happened since I last updated. Sorry about that! After my first week of teaching, I went to a staff party at one of the teacher's homes. The teacher's children are around my age so I was able to meet them and make friends with a few Aussies my age as well as a Kiwi. I have been going to church with them which is great! Stephanie, another COST student came with me to this party so I enjoyed my time with her as well. They took us down to the city after the party to look around and we learned that thongs, or flip flops, are not allowed in nice restaurants and bars because that is what the rif-raf wear the hard way. Since Stephanie had on her thongs, we had to pick another place to go. It was quite an adventure! The next day, Stephanie and I went back to the marina for lunch and then spent the afternoon on the beach. On sunday, I went to the beach with Heather, my host mom. It was a popular beach so I had a great time watching the locals. Although, I have to say there were too many old men in speedos for my taste!!

On tuesday, we had Australia Day! I went to a barbecue with Casey and his friends that afternoon. We had lamb on the barbie and it was delicious! His friends were so nice and welcoming that it made for a great holiday!

The rest of the week was filled with teaching, going for walks after school, and delicious dinners. My time in the classroom has been great because I have such a great class of students. They make each day exciting and fun. I taught my first lesson here and it was on static electricity. I was a little nervous about it, since the students had never heard of an atom before, and was so proud of them by the end because they could label the parts of the atom and describe it's role in static electricity. These students are so smart!

After school, I have been going for walks to shops in the area to get a feel for the area. At dinner time, we all come together for a delicious and very healthy meal! I have never eaten so healthily in my life and I love it! I have been able to broaden my scope of what foods I like and I feel full and satisfied when I am done eating. Hopefully I will be able to bring back this habit of healthy eating to the states! (although I will still love my cheeseburgers and coke as well!)

This weekend was fabulous! It began with a three hour adventure trying to get to the outdoor movie theater by public transportation, but I enjoyed the movie, Sherlock Holmes, when I got there so it was all worth it. The next day, I went to Kings Park with three other COST girls, Anna, Stephanie and Susan. We had a great time exploring the park, looking over the city, and examining Aboriginal art. We went to a barbecue afterwards with the COST coordinator and we met the two other COST students, Ping and Kristen. Today, the six of us went to Freemantle, or Freo as the locals call it, and went shopping and took in the sites. I can tell that this is a great group of girls and I am excited for our future adventures and I will keep you posted on them!

This is the biggest tree I have ever seen in my life! We saw it at King's Park.

This is the view from King's Park. You can see how the city is situated on the river! The view was beautiful.

Anna and I in Freo with our fish shaped waffle that was filled with caramel. It was delicious!

Thank you for reading!