Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Last day at Brandon Park
It was so hard leaving Melbourne. The people I worked with were great and the kids were wonderful! My last week, everyday kids would ask me, "Is today your last day?" I would always answer, "No, Thursday is." Then Thursday came, my answer changed to, "Yes today is my last day." I never thought those words would be so hard to say, but they were.
The teachers had a morning tea for me. I finally ate some Australian Pavlova and I had some of my last meat pies. It was truly lovely.
Then right before I left, the classes I was working in gave me a scrapbook they had made. Inside there were all of their pictures with messages next to it. I promised myself I wouldn't cry... unfortunately I broke my promise :(.
The teachers had a morning tea for me. I finally ate some Australian Pavlova and I had some of my last meat pies. It was truly lovely.
Then right before I left, the classes I was working in gave me a scrapbook they had made. Inside there were all of their pictures with messages next to it. I promised myself I wouldn't cry... unfortunately I broke my promise :(.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Canada Day at Brandon Park
The day was Monday May 24th. It was the morning after I arrived home from Cairns (at 130am). I had to run a school wide "Canada Day". Before I left I made 3 stations, which the students then rotated through.
Station 1 - Canadian Information. I ran this station. I had computers games (using the Smartboard) and puzzles for the kids to do. I also taught the kids how to sing "O Canada"!
Station 2 - Sports
Kids learned how to play hockey, lacrosse and basketball. (Most of the kids really liked lacrosse).
Station 3 - Maple Syrup
Pancakes were made, maple syrup was put on top... no more explanation needed.
On top of all that, before this all began I was the MC at the Morning Assembly, announcing the "Aussie of the Month" awards.
Last weekend I swam with sea turtles, sharks, nemos and heaps of other fish... what did you do?
This past weekend I spent in Cairns (f.y.i. pronounced Cans). Cairns is known for being the place you go to see a world heritage site called "the Great Barrier Reef". Unlike the weather in Melbourne, in Cairns it was sunny and hot, which was a nice change to the cold and rain I was experiencing. Our group arrived on Friday night and we made our way to our "Resort". I put the quotation marks there because we were in the backpackers section of the resort, which featured rooms with bunk beds, no ensuite bathrooms and no TV. But that was okay, we really only needed our room to sleep.
Then on Saturday our group went on a scuba diving/snorkeling cruise boat out to the Great Barrier Reef. It was amazing! I loved scuba diving and seeing the coral right in front of your eyes. I saw a ray come out from under the sand and then swim away. Then we saw a sea turtle swimming around. I got to touch a sea cucumber too!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
This Time Next Week I will be home...
I just realized that my trip is quickly coming to an end! It has gone by so quickly, I can't even believe it. I will be leaving some great people and coming home with wonderful memories.
Kangaroos.... Finally
On Monday May 17th, I was able to go on a school excursion with the year 5/6. They went to a place called Healesville Sanctuary. It is like a zoo, but it only has Australian animals, so when I was given the opportunity to go, I took it in an instant!
We had about 40 students on the trip, 4 teachers and a mum, I was given a group of 7 students. Together we adventured through the different viewing areas. It was a very interesting set-up at Healesville, some parts you are able to walk into where the animals are and touch them (if they come to you). This was the case for the kangaroos and wallabies enclosures. Unfortunately, when I got there, the kangaroos were all sleeping and chilling out, so they never came close enough to you. But I did get to see them up close anyways. While I was walking around with the kids, we walked past the dingo enclosure (obviously, these guys were behind glass... just in case) BUT, as we walked through the back, my group of students and myself met 2 "zoo" keepers and they
were taking 2 dingoes for a walk. Since there weren't any big crowds around, we were allowed to pet the dingoes! They were really cute... obviously dangerous, since of course a dingo stole a baby, but at Healesville they were cuties!
The school group also got to go on a special tour of the bird enclosures, where we got to touch some Australian birds. Then we went to the "Birds of Prey" show, where the birds fly over your heads (honestly so close, that if you lifted your hand you could touch the bird).
Other animals that I saw: wombats, platypi, a tasmanian devil, a whole boat load of birds, pellicans.
We had about 40 students on the trip, 4 teachers and a mum, I was given a group of 7 students. Together we adventured through the different viewing areas. It was a very interesting set-up at Healesville, some parts you are able to walk into where the animals are and touch them (if they come to you). This was the case for the kangaroos and wallabies enclosures. Unfortunately, when I got there, the kangaroos were all sleeping and chilling out, so they never came close enough to you. But I did get to see them up close anyways. While I was walking around with the kids, we walked past the dingo enclosure (obviously, these guys were behind glass... just in case) BUT, as we walked through the back, my group of students and myself met 2 "zoo" keepers and they
were taking 2 dingoes for a walk. Since there weren't any big crowds around, we were allowed to pet the dingoes! They were really cute... obviously dangerous, since of course a dingo stole a baby, but at Healesville they were cuties! The school group also got to go on a special tour of the bird enclosures, where we got to touch some Australian birds. Then we went to the "Birds of Prey" show, where the birds fly over your heads (honestly so close, that if you lifted your hand you could touch the bird).
Other animals that I saw: wombats, platypi, a tasmanian devil, a whole boat load of birds, pellicans.
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