Week Six Term Two

 There are always at least five games of soccer and footie on this field. I have no idea how the kids keep it straight. Surprisingly there are few injuries or fights.

 Steve and Jill Schneider, our Australian hosts and Jean and John from Ottawa.

 Kids art done by my class with the art teacher.

 Underwater hockey.

May 16-20^th.

I had a good week at school over all. Claire and I had a couple of parent interviews of kids whose behaviour we want to see improve. We handed in three reports so that they could be approved before we undertake all 44. (We were told they were excellent and to proceed.)

On Wednesday, I went to the Palais Theatre to see Eric Burdon and the Animals. The theatre was built in 1927 and the outside has fallen into disrepair. There was talk of tearing it down, but I heard on the news the other day that they have decided to refurbish it. Inside there is a large balcony with a great incline for viewing, large leather seats and lots of leg room. The accoustics were great. Eric Burdon came on with his team of young hired gun Animals and proceeded to play a number of Animal hits and some new Burdon material. He played Spill the Wine, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, See See Rider, Monteray, Anything, and a tribute to David Bowie that mashed Space Oddity with Sky Pilot. One of his new songs was Forever 27, a tribute to all the young rock stars who died at 27, Morrison, Jones, Joplin, Hendrix, Cobain, etc. It was great to see him, but sad too. His voice was still strong and distinctive, but he looked old. He was stooped and shuffled around the stage. You could see he wanted to dance but couldn't. I looked him up on Wikepedia and found he was born in 1941, so he is 75! Kodos to him for traveling and performing at that age.

On Thursday, I was invited to dinner at Steve Shdfdf's house. He is a member of the ITA who invited all the Canadian teachers from the southern suburbs to dinner in February but had to cancel it. This time only me and John and Jill could make it. Steve's wife Jill made a great meal of pork, with vegetables and a apple/banana crumble for dessert. Steve and Jill had done an exchange to Canada in 2010 in Bellville and loved it. They had returned to Canada last year to visit their friends. SO we spent a great evening talking about Canada, Australia, teaching and travel. I hope to see them again.

On Friday night I was invited to come and watch an underwater hockey match at a pool in Monash University. I had to bring my bathers again and get in the pool to watch. One of the players had an underwater camera and asked me to video the action. There were a number of players who had played in the world championships in South Africa a couple of months ago. The teams start at opposite ends of the pool and the forwards swim hard to the middle and then dive to where the puck is. They have short sticks and wear a protective glove on their shooting hand. They seem to keep the other hand at their side and out of the action. Again they wear masks, snorkels and flippers. It is a fast paced game with lots of scoring. The 'net' is a long, short piece of metal laid along the end of the pool. There is no goalie and therefore there is lots of goals. The puck which is heavy makes a loud clunking sound when it hits the metal. The players play positionally but obviously have to surface to get air and then return to the action. Sometimes they stay at the surface and follow the action before returning. The pool is shallower than the rugby pool, but is still too deep to stand. Interesting note: after the game the pool employee raised the floor of the pool to make it shallower. He couldn't explain to me how that works. I enjoyed the match and being in the pool.

Anyone looking for more info about underwater hockey, check here:

http://underwaterhockeyaustralia.org.au/