Week Five Term Four

Elizabeth and Megan from the office.

Amanda and Caroline during Monday morning assembly.

Three kids from another class dropped into mine because the teacher was away.

Melbourne from Brighton Beach.

Brighton Beach Boxes, which hold beach and holiday stuff for the owners.

Port Melbourne and the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and cruise ships.

St. Kilda yacht club.

Fairie penguins roosting amongst the rocks of the break water.

A water rat, which has a long white tail.

The restaurant on the St. Kilda pier.

Craig the new computer guy.

Dinner at Jim and Barry's.

Monday, October 31^st

Today was Hallowe'en. Some of the teachers dressed up, mainly as witches  and a lot of the kids did too. But because tomorrow is a holiday, a lot of families took it off to make a four day weekend. As I result I only had half the class. I didn't have a costume but was able to borrow a wig, so I wore that and my Caudfield Junior College jumper and came as a new (big and old) student. We had a good day.

Tuesday, November 1^st

Melbourne Cup Day. Today the whole state gets a holiday because of a horse race. Fine by me. I was tired from the last few days, so I decided to stay local and ride my bicycle up the Beach Road. This is a nice road that goes from the eastern suburbs around Port Phillip Bay to Melbourne Harbour. Again it was a sunny/rainy kind of day. I took a leisurely ride on the bike path along the shore. I visited the Brighton Beach Boxes, which are very colourful sheds that people use to house their beach stuff. The road has the ocean on the west side and very expensive, beautiful houses on the east.

I rode as far an Melbourne Harbour, where the Spirit of Tasmania ferry and three cruise ships were docked. On the way back, I rode out the St. Kilda pier to see the restaurant at the end that Carol had recommended and found the spot where the St. Kilda colony of Fairy Penguins roosts. I found three or four hidden amongst the rocks. I also found a water rat with a long white tail. Then I rode back home.

November 2-4

On Wednesday
Our new computer guy, Craig, put 4 computers in my classroom from the dismantled computer lab. I would rather have a lab where I can teach a concept and all the students have an individual computer, so opposed to four in a class of twenty-two kids. Never quite sure how to make the best use of them that way. Anyway, I noticed that he was wearing a Sturgis motorcycle shirt and asked if he had been, to which he replied twice. I was surprised he had been as I thought he was from Australia. Turns out he is from Spokane, Washington. We talked about bikes, computer labs, and living here in Melbourne with the weather. We both agreed riding in Melbourne would be crazy.

Carol, Bev, and I went to dinner at Jim and Barry's, with Janice (the American), Alan and Paul, and Wendy (another Canadian on exchange), Anne and Angela (two other Australia women who have been on exchanges) Unfortunately, Libby was sick. Really a nice night with a delicious meal in a beautiful house. I talked to Jim quite a bit about traveling around the country and when I told him that I had gone to Mildura and Pinnaroo at first he thought I was crazy to drive that far and then he said I should have gone this upcoming weekend as there is a rodeo happening near there, in Keith, South Australia. Hmm...

Thursday and Friday, went by quickly as this was a weird week with Halloween and a holiday in the middle. For Friday sport I was teaching cricket again.

On Friday night, I drove to Ballarat to start my weekend of travel. I revisited Jennifer and Tony, the couple that hosted me for the Ballarat/Sovereign Hill ITA weekend back in February. I had a really good visit with them and we caught up with each other's exchanges. They graciously let me stay the night.