Update

The weeks since Easter Break have been the busiest yet. We've started our Wednesday Workplace Learning placements, which impacts our schedule a lot more than I thought it would. I really like the teacher I'm working under, though. And the school, although very different from anything I'm familiar with (as it's a private school) is good. I am largely observing right now, sitting in on Year 8 History, Year 7 SOSE (Geography, History, Sociology), Year 12 English, Year 10 English, and Year 7 Support English. It's a nice variety. When I start my full-time placement my focus will be Year 8 History, Year 7 SOSE, and Year 7 Support English.

I also started a part-time job this week (finally - it's slim pickin's for jobs here). I'll be working at a Swedish stationary shop called kikki.K. I'm pretty in love with this store. I pestered them until they hired me, and I'm actually excited to work there. Check out their website (kikki-k.com). They ship to Canada!

This past weekend was a long one, due to the ANZAC Day holiday (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) and this upcoming weekend is the long Labour Day weekend but it's not as fun as it sounds. School is so busy right now, I don't have much time to spend traveling. We did have an ANZAC Day bbq though (they celebrate it kind of big here. Think May 2-4 in Canada. So our bbq was pretty low key by comparison), and hope to get some beach time in on Labour Day.

Besides that, unfortunately, I can't think of much to report on. I feel badly that I haven't been posting much, so... I was hoping you guys (whoever is actually reading this) could help me with my next post. In the comments section post any questions you might have and I'll post a collection of the answers for my next submission. Ask anything you want: about school, the beaches, my apartment, the animals, the weather, the health of my pale, pasty skin in the Ozone-free sun, whatever tickles your fancy.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Easter Break, Part II

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've either been out of town or in the library finishing assignments. Easter Break is over and we're back into school full force, but I'll fill you in on how I spent the rest of my break.

The casino in Brisbane. Intimidating.

As the previously posted link suggested, I went to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane and got to hold a koala! We took a boat tour down the Brisbane River to the sanctuary, where we also saw tons of kangaroos (unlike wild kangaroos they were very gentle and we could go right up to them), wombats, tasmanian devils, dingoes, a platypus, crocodiles, emus, various birds, giant bats, etc, etc, etc. The focus is definitely on koalas, but there are plenty of other animals to see and interact with as well. It was a great day.

Hanging out with a kangaroo. No big deal. (At Lone Pine)

We had Easter dinner on Saturday with our neighbours, followed by an egg hunt. Some of the Australian's were confused as to why we were hiding chocolate around the complex, I guess egg hunts aren't as popular here (I asked an Aussie friend and he said they're not completely unheard of though). It was a great day to just relax with friends and enjoy good food and good company.

Surfers Paradise

Early Wednesday morning my roommate Riley and I met up with some other friends on the train for a trip to Surfers Paradise. It is such a difficult place to explain. It looks like a big city, but operates more like Grand Bend. The focus is on the strip (albeit a much bigger one with much better stores than GB), but there are skyscrapers everywhere too. The ocean was beautiful here though, despite the constant tourist traffic. Australians really respect their beaches and keep them very clean. We spent two nights in Surfers exploring the shops and beach and indulging a little bit in the nightlife (although I'm a bit of a loser so I usually went to bed early while the others stayed out partying). Then on Friday we spent the night in Brisbane before heading home. It was a great way to end the break, and it was nice to get out of Sippy Downs for more than a day.

At a bar in Surfers. They were giving out fake mustaches so obviously I snagged one.

Now, as I said, I'm back to school full on. I have 5 more weeks of classes (full of lesson planning and essay writing), but now I'm spending one day a week in practicum (it starts Wednesday and I'm incredibly nervous). After that I have 5 weeks as a full-time pre-service teacher in practicum. I'm excited about it, but as it gets closer nervousness is definitely the dominant emotion. With everything coming up, I have a feeling the next 10 weeks are going to fly by.

Link

Check out this link: http://i.koala.net/0104105693.htm

A more detailed explanation to come in the following days!