Dinosaurland.

We went to the Dandenong Mountains & hiked on Saturday! :) We stumbled upon an Echidna (some kind of porcupine), dinosaurland, and rain!

To start with, we had a lovely lunch at some little place in a little town on the mountain, then went to this really cool shop with all these awesome mappy type things (yes, mappy – use those imaginations of yours!), gold, and other metal things (like old clocks, & lights, & globes, etc..). I really like globes;) Anywho.. then we went to Gepetto’s which is this little children’s puppet shop! This is where I found lamb chop (above) & a confused moose. See here:

 And so..  we began our hike :) 

It was an awesome adventure!  We began by stumbling upon some tropical looking birds:

These birds are not only beautiful, but they are one of many that we heard throughout the day.  I have found that there are many tropical looking birds in Australia compared to Northeast Ohio.. Surprising! I know.... 


The trees and plants are a lot different to the life that we would see in the woods back home as well.  For example; they have bracken & ferns; ferns are trees & bracken are what we would call ferns.




 The tree that you see on the left in this photo is a fern.. you can also see it on the first hiking picture I put up.  and in the photo just above this one, on the forest floor, you can see the bracken, it is just one shoot going up.

Next we came across an Echidna! Or as we Americans would call it, a porcupine!  Jamie & I were just walking enjoying all the nature around us, when all of a sudden in the luscious green to our right, we heard a sound, not just any sound, but the sound of a HUGE BEAST! No just kidding, it was an Echidna walking as if it were the only thing in the forest.. then, it sensed us.. I saw his spikes go up and it hid a little, but then all of a sudden, it came across the path & walked to the other side!  I think it knew we had cameras and it wanted a photoshoot..  We got to touch it too!  But we had to be careful to only pet it from the front to the back otherwise we'd get poked! 

As we continued on our way we came to a waterfall: 

Dinosaurland:

After we crossed the bridge over the water and continued walking for a bit, we looked to our left to see that there was a bit of a valley through the tall monstrous trees; we were in dinosaurland.  It was then that I truly realized how immense the forest was. We couldn’t hear anything but the loud exotic calls of the tropical birds and the wind blowing through each of the long leaves of the gum trees whose trunks were as tall as giants reaching toward the sky.

And all of a sudden a feeling came over me that really made me sense how very insignificant I was at that very moment. It wasn't a bad insignificant, but a very humbling one. I enjoyed it. I felt like a brontosaurus should’ve walked right by in the valley to my left and a pterodactyl should’ve flown overhead screeching the loudest call it could ever have created, and it would’ve been completely normal, and no one would’ve known about it but me. You can’t really tell from the photo but this is about the area where I was feeling this way:

This is when Jamie & I both agreed that there should be dinos walking around here; we both felt like there should be some type of animals from the Jurassic with us in the forest, everyone minding there own business, but still there.

After all of this we headed to the a lookout area called, "Sky High Mount Dandenong" where we looked at the beautiful misted and fogged up landscape that we could barely see!

    

(ps - you can click on each photo to enlarge it)

Even though it was foggy.. it's totally ok because.....(drumroll please!)........

We made a wish @ the wishing tree!!

 

So then Sunday's weather was absolutely beautiful for our visit to Phillip Island!

It was probably the wishing tree.. or because we visited Mr. Percy Possom’s home…

One of the 2...

Well my bedtime goal tonight was 11:00.. it's now it's about midnight-thirty...

Good on ya!

<3 M

I Vote YES!

Australians voted this past Saturday. Here it is required to vote; you have to if you are over 18. The funny part is that a lot of the people I’ve met here don’t seem to care at all about it. It’s kind of funny; everyone living here loves their country... they just don’t care about their politics. It ended up that this is the first hung parliament in 80 years. And now I’m hearing a lot more about it all. I’m trying to follow everything, but it is really hard to understand. There is the labor party, which is the working class (in my head I compare it to democrat), then there is the liberal party (which is confusing because this party is the conservative one), they also have the green party (this is a minor party that cares a lot for the environment)!


I went to vote with Jamie, everything was really relaxed. It was at the school where I’m teaching & there were some student bands there playing dressed in their uniforms! There was also food being sold & some people were there just hanging out. When Jamie went in to vote, I was very hesitant & a bit uncomfortable. I kept asking him if I should stay outside the gym while he went into vote, but he was really relaxed and was kinda laughing at me, which I didn’t understand because in the US I don’t think it would be allowed. Well we got to the door & he said I was American and asked the woman if I could come in with him & she was more than willing to let me. When we got to the sign in area the woman who signed Jamie in was originally from the US and seemed very happy I was there! She took Jamie’s name, gave him the voting sheet and that was it, he wasn’t ID’d or anything. Voting is very different here (just as the many other things I’ve told you all about), you number the order you want your votes to be in rather than just choosing one.. I could try and explain it better, but I’d rather not get a headache.

Tehee :)

PS – I vote YES! to Australian hairdos!

1st Day Teaching

I taught my first lesson today! And I’ll continue tomorrow, and the next day, and the next and the next! I was suuuuper nervous! And I’ll give you one guess as to what didn’t happen when we went to hook my computer up to the projector... Yep! ..it.didn’t.work. Thankfully, my supervising teacher brought his, and that I grabbed my USB drive just before I left my desk, because that is when I quickly saved it onto my USB and put it on his computer. By the time I took attendance and finally got my activity on the board, the class was already 15 minutes in!


We talked about classification (the 7 categories created by Carl von Linné; kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species) and dichotomous keys. While I was up there, I felt a little scatterbrained, so it was good I had a PowerPoint for the main topics. I'm sure that will go away in time and as I get the hang of it more (for that moment, I am really excited). But I guess it seemed like I was comfortable, because that's what Ken told me afterward. I have a way of making it seem like I’m comfortable & relaxed when I’m in front of people, giving speeches, or teaching. This is sometimes true, as long as I am prepared. His remarks were pretty good; I need to make better eye contact with the students, I think that will come with time as I get to know their names and actually become more comfortable with them (not just seeming like it).

Today I was really really nervous, now I think I'm a bit passed that & I'm feeling really excited to learn first hand about teaching and to get to the point of not being nervous anymore. I’m excited for tomorrow’s class again, it is a double (100min) and we will be doing 2 activities with dichotomous keys: one will be them making their own key with objects I picked out earlier today, and the other will be categorizing themselves as a class into a dichotomous key. I am excited because I’m going to get to learn a lot about my year 10 students, about their similarities and differences, and it will be more of a relaxed day where I don’t have to be nervous. I will start teaching another class tomorrow as well as the year 10 biology.. This one will be year 11 biology & we will be talking about innate & learned behaviors. I think I will have them do an online activity about comparing behaviors of monkeys & humans if we can get net books or into a room with computers.. if not.. eh I'll figure something out.. notes maybe? lol.. I’ll have to put something together tonight.

We ate kangaroo tonight!! I was soo pumped, and it was pretty freaking good! …A lot tougher than chicken or turkey. I've been eating red meat since I've been here.. but everything my host family makes is free range! : )


Somethings I found out today:
- You can’t get apple caramel dip in Australia…
- Peanut butter M&M’s are hard to find…
- Aaand... I’m sure there’s something else, but I can’t think of it right now…
So that’s it.

Cheers,
<3 M

My Purple Hair Would’ve Been Totally Fine!!

How ya goin?

On Friday’s they have drinks (alcohol and non alcohol) after school in the social room for the teachers and staff.. We pay, but it’s a nice time to socialize and relax without having to worry about lessons and students. I wonder if they do this in American schools, if not.. I think I’ma start it up wherever I get hired :)

We went out Friday to a local bar called Micham Pub. It was fun, but a more “non classy” place. ;) They wanted to start me at a lower bar before we got to the good stuff, so I’d really appreciate it. I had a lot of fun though.

Saturdayyy....  FOOTY! 

It. Was. Awesome.

 

  The team we were barracking (not rooting) for lost, but I still had a great time. My supervising teacher Ken & his wife Chris took me. When we got there Ken took me around the Cricket Club section of the MCG stadium. They play Cricket, Aussie Rules Football (footy), soccer, and other sports there. The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Grand) is where the Olympic Stand was in 2006 (something like that).

After we looked at the Long Bar in the VIP type area, we got meat pies! These are something Australia, or maybe just Melbourne, is knows for.  I can’t lie.. They were pretty good!

Other than losing & the really annoying and arrogant Carlton fan behind us, I really enjoyed myself!

 

 

 

The teams’ biggest fans (I forget what they’re called.. something with the word cheer though) make banners for the team to run through at the beginning of each game. The Tigers’ cheery group always makes theirs with a different quote on each new one. This one says “Life is good when it’s yellow and black.”

The sport is fast paced and really interesting. The players get it fights a bit, a few punches here and there.. They don’t wear padding, can use any part of their body to advance the ball, and the ball can be kicked, punched, or handed to another player. There are different points for each goal, because of the way it is set up. There are 4 poles, 2 tall (on the inside) and 2 short (on the outside of the tall ones); if a player kicks the ball between the tall ones it is 6 points. I can’t remember how many points it is between a short and tall pole though, 3 or 4 maybe. If the ball roles in either area (I think), the team only receives 1 point.

During half time, everyone gets out their thermos’s and starts drinking tea! I guess it’s tradition.. I thought it was soo funny, & then after drinking it, I thought it was soo smart & legit.. especially on a day like that!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Saturday night I went out in Richmond with Jamie and his friends Tess and Kate, and we met his other friend Katie while we were out as well. We went to a pub called Public House, then hopped over to another called The Swan – or as Jamie & his friends like to call it, the Dirty Swan. Hahaha.. It was heaps of fun. They had a band playing music, mostly American music, which is kinda funny because I didn’t know a lot of the words but all the Australians did!

On Sunday, Jamie & I walked around Chapel & Church Street by his new apartment. There is a lot of shopping there. We had souvlaki (& I’m sure I just spelled that wrong).. then it poured at the very convenient time of leaving the eatery hah

... then walked to the Yarra River wich overlooks the City.   

There are some things I can’t seem to get used to yet; 1. Looking right before left when crossing the street because traffic drives on the left here, and 2. Having kangaroos & wombats being used as examples of mammals in science books, rather than deer and squirrels.

Vivian and Scotty’s cooking is absolutely wonderful. We had sushi the other night! I ate the raw salmon one.. and liked it!! They are always making the best meals every night; I should start recording everything they cook so when I come home, I can bring the ideas with me.

Oh yeah! I taught my first lesson today!! I guess we'll leave it at that....
Nah, just kidding.. I'll make a separate blog for that one.


More words:

Mackers - McDonald’s
Aluminium - Aluminum


...One last thing... MY PURPLE HAIR WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY FINE! There are teachers, student teachers, & students with colored purple and red hair.. I’m a bit bummed we didn’t keep mine.. sighhh…
A lot of teachers have their noses pierced too.. maybe I’ll do that before I leave to make up for it… you’d like that, right mum?

<3 M

Thank You!!

So, I realized yesterday that I never properly thanked many of my family and friends for coming to the going away party my family set up for me! 

 

 I wish I had all your addresses so I could send you postcards!! Thank youuu!!!

I Finally Have a Home! :D

I had an induction/orientation on Friday (6 August). It went well, but I got soo intimidated!!

I got to the school to learn that:
1. Everyone was dressed down, denim (jeans) is fine
2. Teachers have office areas and desks (not in a particular classroom) becauuseee…
3. Teachers move from classroom to classroom
4. Classes change places everyday (but stays the same weekly)
5. There is a recess (for students)/tea break (for teachers)
6. Part of the school is outside

I was intimidated.
It did get better as the day went on though!

To explain:  The school system is soo much different here, teachers don't really dress up at all, they mostly just wear denim and a nice shirt, and sometimes the shirts aren't even nice! We have timetables because everyday is different; the classes change daily, the teachers don't have a permanent room, there are only 6 periods, and they have a recess for 25 minutes after the 2nd period (this is tea time for the teachers) & lunch for an hour after the 4th period. It's awesome how everyone isn't soo rushed.


Monday was a curriculum day, all the students in the state got the day off, the teachers on the other hand went to school to learn about this new online program they would be working with called Ultranet. Unfortunately, since every school had off and every school was working on this at the same time.. We really only got an explanation of it, because when we went to open it up & play around with it, the site was down. Hah! I think it was a good experience though.

Tuesday was my 1st day of planning! I was in the school but since each day is different Tuesday is planning day.. I only observed 1 class but I observed many more in the remainder of the week. I will start teaching on Monday; my 1st class taught is year 10 biology & the next topic they will be learning about Classification & Evolution.

To help better explain my weeks, here is my timetable: 

When I came in on Tuesday, one of my supervising teachers (I have 2) invited me to go to a “footy” game (AFL game) this weekend with him & his wife! I'm pretty pumped! I was told to definitely get to one of these games if I could. It's Aussie Rules Australian Football League, they use both their hands & their feet, they don’t wear any padding, &&& I hear they get in A LOT of fights. I'm excited.. my friend from back home spent a semester studying here and explained it to be kind of like a game of quidditch in HP with all the rugbe scarves & stuff! & Ken said he’d bring me a scarf to wear!

Yesterday, Wednesday 11 August, I got invited to go on a camping trip!! One of the teachers asked me to lead a camping trip with him and 17 students! It’s on 8-10 September, & I definitely jumped on that opportunity. We're going to go kite surfing! I wonder how I'll do :/ I'll probably make more a fool of myself than anything else.. I'll just have to embrace it. I’m pretty stoked!! Now, I just need to find a sleeping bag! And thermals! And a waterproof jacket! And waterproof trackies!

There was also a staff meeting at the end of the day yesterday. I learned many things, but 2 of the mains ones are:
1. Teachers love food.
2. They serve alcohol at these things! Who knew!? (I enjoyed my 1st Australian beer: Pure Blonde)

Today.. I FINALLY HAVE A HOME! At then end of the day today Cathy, one of my supervising teachers, found me an open desk!! This means I FINALLY have a place to keep all my books & notes & lesson ideas without having to lug them back and forth to school!

This past weekend, I saw Inception and helped my host brother, Jamie, move out a bit.. Well, actually maybe it was more of a watching and laughing session @ him & his friend Lachlan. They were packing up Lachlan's "ute," this is like a mini utility truck.. it's pretty funny.. *see photos* Oh yeah!! and this old lady came by to bring Viv flowers because she was "feeling under the weather," (which she wasn't), and she said Jamie was going to miss the fridge, and that I was going to get married while I was here.. Legit, I know!! It was ssooooooo funny! ask me about it so I can tell you in person b.c putting it into words won't do it any justice...

Jamie's going to take me out this weekend so I'm pretty excited for that! I'm really hoping I start meeting more people. I am starting to make friends at school, with the other staff.. It’s fun, but hard to keep track of when some of the staff is part time & are only in on some days, etc.

It’s pretty crazy learning about teachers' lives & being on the other side of the fence. Especially after growing up thinking they pretty much lived at school.. They don’t! It’s a huge shocker.. but they do have more of a life than you think! ;)

More words:
Bottle shop – liquor store
Shopping center – mall
Chewy – gum
Jelly – jello
Jam – jelly
Yappy – trendi, people in their 20’s or so wanting to make something of themselves
Bin – trash can
Queue – line
Petrol – gas
Jumper – sweater
Tracky – sweat pants
Thongs – flip-flops
Ute – mini pickup/utility truck
Fortnight – 2 weeks
Petrol – gas
She’s all apples – this one would be said if someone was asked if they were sick or ok.. someone would say back, yeah she’s apples
Throwin a leg over – sex
Get one up ya – have a drink

Most used word so far: Reckon – I think it’s the national word of Australia.
Also: Good on ya. - I’m really just not sure about this one.. but they say it a lot at the end of conversations.


Some more things I’ve learned:
- Don’t underestimate 40-50 degrees.. It IS cold. It gets dark early.. so that means less sun & more time that I have to get cold. They don’t lie when they say it is winter.. even though the degrees isn’t that low.. it’s still a chiller!  I bought slippers yesterday!!
- Aboriginals see 6 seasons. When the golden wattle flowers in August, it is the 1st part of spring (whereas to other Australians, this is still winter). Also, Australia’s national colors, yellow and green, are based on the colors of the golden wattle flowers.
- There’s at least one good thing about rain.. the smell of eucalyptus is strong and amazing on my walk to the bus stop! :)


I feel like I’m learning soo much everyday.. the list keeps getting longer and longer!

Well.. Good on ya!
<3 M

Victoria – The Place To Be

I had trouble with picking out a name for this blog… that’s why it has taken me so long to do one.

Anyway.. Victoria – The Place To Be.
At least that’s what the license plates say..

My flight from Sydney was really delayed. It was suppose to leave at 8, we didn’t board till 8, and then we waited another hour for the LAX passengers to land and make it onto the plane too. At this point, I think anyone would be anxious & frustrated… but me, I was happy I got more Percy Jackson book 5 reading time! I was supposed to get there at 9:40am yesterday, but I arrived around 11:00, not too bad. Got through customs really quick, probably only took about 10 minutes which is super sweet. Everyone here is friendly... even the dog who smelled my bag, he seemed to be suuper excited that I arrived.

I was really happy to get here, even though I still have 70 pages left to read in Percy. Kevin met me right outside customs with a sign that had my name on it! I felt pretty dang special:) Since Vivian (my host mum) wasn’t going to get home from work until about 4:00, we took a little tour of the City (“the City” – with a capital C, is pretty much how we would use the term “downtown” for the city of Cleveland). Something I really noticed about the City was how different the architecture was from building to building & how colorful the buildings are compared to ours! Especially the nab building.. I should get some photos to show you soon. Kevin was explaining to me how the National Australian Bank was beginning to become really old-fashioned and boring, therefore they revamped themselves; built this awesome building in the City & now they are known as “nab.” So now there are areas of glorious technicolor panels all over the building, it’s radtastic!

It started raining half way through the day & after sitting through a lot of slowed down traffic, I finally met my host mum around 4:30. She is soo nice & welcoming. We talked a lot, and that’s an understatement; I still don’t have anything unpacked, and it’s the next day! I learned that they are healthy, this makes me very happy! & Vivian doesn’t eat much meat either, she was a vegetarian for I think she said 40 years, & is just starting to eat it again… Scotty loves meat.. but they only eat free range!! Vivian said she’d teach me about what foods are good in protein to replace meat. & she said she’d teach me all about a vegetarian lifestyle. I met Scotty, Vivian’s husband when he got home from work, he is lovely as well. And after I decided to take a shower, Jamie (host brother) came home, so I met him a little after.

We ate dinner at 7 or so, I was told it is the most Greek meal I will probably ever get. We had chicken soup with rice & lemon; a lot of lemon, and vegetables with a lot of garlic; a lot of garlic. It was very strong tasting and good; I’m not sure if I’ve ever tasted something with that much lemon & garlic before in my life. We set up my computer & I found that I had 40 facebook notifications (I hope this never happens again). Well I meant to get to bed by around 9:00, but then got distracted with talking to Jamie awhile. We found out we have a lot of similar music taste, but a lot of the bands that I listen to are almost mainstream here whereas at home no one even knows they exist! Well I was up till about 10:30, I meant to be asleep by around 9!

I woke up this morning around 9:00, and talked to Ash a little bit before her computer froze. I’ve been TRYING to talk to my mum but Chelsea never told her to get on Skype! Siiiggghhh….. Other than the weekends this is my only free day, because everyone is at work!

I really need to get unpacking then I think I will go on a walk and get used to the neighborhood a bit.



Things I’ve learned on the way:
- Flight attendants are hilarious these days!
- Sydney airport sucks... At least the part I was in... But the workers are soo nice!
- They like to delay there flights for delayed flights… but that’d be pretty awesome if I were to have been on a late flight…

Things I’ve learned in Melbourne so far:
- Pronunciation: Melbourne [mel-bin] – I don’t get it! ...I just figure they must not like r’s.
- Lollies mean candy or sweets.
- I’ve really got to get used to the lingo… it’s a bit hard to communicate otherwise.
- Not all Australians are criminals! Who knew!?
- Everything is really close together.
- The Attorneys for the supreme and county courts still wear gowns & wigs! I saw some on the street, it was awesome.
- Vampire Weekend, Passion Pit, & Phoenix are just about mainstream here. I’m glad they have good music taste…
- Coffee is served in glass cups.
- Tropical birds live here.
- Australia is trying to “go green” as Americans like to say it… & their doing really well!
- Toilets have 2 options for flushing – full or half flushes (to save on water).
- Sarcasm is NOT rude :)
- Oh yeah, and the right side of the couch is Scotty’s.

Things that haven’t hit me yet:
- I’ma be here for 3 months!?

<3 Miranda!~