TGIF!

First of all, I have to say Happy Birthday to my beautiful cousin and soon to be mama, MARIAN!! Hope you are having a wonderful birthday and hope the baby is doing well, too! Love you!

So I finished my first week of school! I know I say this all the time but I absolutely love it here! Connie only works Mon-Thurs so we have another teacher that come every Friday. Funny enough his name is Peter Ryan!! (first name Peter, surname Ryan) Having to say to the children write your surname has been hard for me to remember! Sometimes they say second name but I havent heard anyone say last name. Also writing the date is backwards! So confusing! Fridays are fun though and Peter is a great teacher and will be a great mentor as well. He has been teaching for about 30 years and knows a lot! Every Friday the teachers gather in the staff room and have some drinks and nibblers. They ask for a few dollars and two teachers that are in charge of it provide cheese and crackers, hummus (which taste a bit different than what I am used to), wine, beer, soft drinks, coffee, etc. It was fun to just sit and relax with all of them at the end of a successful week. Its kinda funny to open the fridge at school at the end of the week and see the alcohol, Aussies like to have a few drinks if you didn't know :) But anyway, I have realized that there is lots about the school that I want to say but I keep forgetting to write it so I kept a list today and this is what I came up with:

--I think some schools around have school buses but my school does not. They have "Kiss and Drive" which is a better way to say carpool, I think. Basically its just that the parents can drive in the car park (parking lot) to drop the kids off there. Some parents walk the kids into the class each morning and pick them up there too but I guess the ones in a hurry will wait in the car park.
--Throughout the school day the children get lots of breaks (which means the teachers do, too!) They have recess in the morning (which is morning tea for the teachers) and then lunch is about an hour and then they have crunch and sip which is like snack time in the afternoon. We go outside and its time just to eat fruit or vegetables like carrots or something. It is a time for healthy eating and a little break from school work.
--The children have to bring their lunch to school except on Wednesdays and Fridays they have Canteen. I guess it's sort of like hot lunch where they can order it ahead of time and then the lunch gets delivered to the classroom just before lunch time. I think I'll have to order it soon because today it smelled good! (Danny ordered lasagna today, typical Italian, right?!)
--Aunt Jo, if you are reading this, you will happy to know that whenever a teacher or adult walks into the classroom the students must greet them in unison like they do at St. Rose! So every morning I say "Good morning boys and girls" and they say "Good morning Miss Boehme" and then before they leave I say, good afternoon and they say it back!
--When they are writing something they have to draw their own margins! The paper is lined to write on but they don't have margins! So they get out a red colored pencil and get their ruler to make a line at the top and one on the left hand side of the page. Don't know why they do that but I guess it teaches them something...
--Whenever they sit up straight they are taught not only to cross their legs but also their arms. Usually we teach kids to sit Indian style with their hands in their lap but the kids here have to cross their arms as well. Kinda looks uncomfortable but it gets them to sit up straight!
--They call erasers a "rubber" and they call tennis shoes "runners"
--Whenever it is really hot they say "it is hot as" Since I have been here I have heard adults say it and just thought they were saying "hot ass" but finally I had to ask the teacher what it was and she laughed and said no it is just "hot as". haha the reason it came up was because a student in my class was telling he has been to Las Vegas in the summer time and it was hot as. I didn't know if he was cussing or not so I had to ask the teacher!

That is about all the notes I made for today but I'm sure Ill think of something later! Also, I wanted to let y'all know that the cyclone that is in Australia now is on the other side of the continent in Queensland. I think they have been comparing it to Katrina (although Katrina was much worse) and everyone has been asking me about Katrina and if I saw any damage from it in Alabama. It's amazing how much everyone here knows about the US. I mean I know that Katrina was a big hurricane but besides that they know lots about the states and other worldly news! Yesterday one of my students asked me about Obama and whats happening in Egypt! She is Muslim and so maybe that is why she knew about Egypt because I don't know if any of the other kids would have known about that.

Today we were doing math stuff with measurements and they used play dough to make snakes and they had to line them up on their desk from shortest to longest. After we did that they had some time to play with it and make whatever they want. I was walking around the class to see what they are making and I stopped at Alazer's desk and he told me he was making a jail. James sits next to him and he was making a missile on a ship to blow up the jail and let the people free. I asked why we would want to let the people out of the jail if they had done bad things and he said, "they are getting free so they can help the poor people. They have learned their lesson now" I couldn't help it and I just started laughing!

Tonight I am going out to dinner with the other girls from COST. I'm not sure what we are doing but I think we'll just go into the city and get some good food. Leila, Ill be sure to take pics of the food! Oh yea, the wet area...I asked why they call it that and they didn't really have an answer. I wish it was easier for me to upload pics (it took forever for me to get that one up last night) but I took a pic of it and I'll have to show y'all soon. It's got a sink, oven and stove (sorry Ryan, no bathroom there) and they do lots of art work or science experiments out there too.

Also, if you post a comment be sure to check back on that page because I have been responding to all of them! Thank for posting the comments, they are making me laugh and I enjoy reading them. One thing that has been weird is that since I have been here I have only heard 4 others speak in our accent (the 4 other COST students) so when I think and when I read silently it sounds like an Aussie accent in my head! Prob makes me sound like a crazy but just wanted to let you know when I read your comments you have an Australian accent!

Numbers 6:24-26