Royal Enfield, Wine and Kangaroo

Viviene, Martin and Anne

Thursday, January 28^th.

Rode the bicycle to work again. We spent the morning in professional learning with the office administrator (called the business manager) giving us all the details about attendance, trip forms and money collection. After morning tea we were introduced to the new Victorian Curriculum which is apparently very similar to the all AusVers (it's an acronym for something).

There was an intense thunderstorm late this morning and I saw on the news later that a couple of people were surfing on the streets pulled by a pickup truck in Chelsea.

In the afternoon we worked in our grade teams matching up similarities and differences between the two curriculum and planning the math and language for the first term. Don told Carol and I to go and work in our rooms as that would be more useful for us.

After school I rode home. Anne came to pick me up and take me to her place to meet her husband Martin and check out his motorcycle. Anne is one of the French teachers who have come to work here from France. Her and her French husband have made Australia their home. I also met their friend Viviene from France and both their sons. We all shared the bottle of New Zealand wine I had bought her for picking me up from the airport. Then he showed me the bike and let me go for a test ride with his jacket and helmet too. Martin wants to sell the bike because he is having a hip replacement in the near future. It's a Royal Enfield single cylinder 500cc bike. It felt great to be on a bike again, even on the wrong side of the road. It handled well and made some interesting backfiring sounds when decelerating. The only thing I wish it had was a windshield.

When I got back they invited me to stay for dinner and we finished off the wine while enjoying kangaroo burgers. They tasted very much like beef. I asked if I bought the bike would he be interested in buying it back when I left, he said yes. He also agreed to lend me his helmet and jacket. We also talked a lot about life in Australia, what to see and their experiences here. Martin drove me home again about 11:00pm.