The Bloody Teachers

Sorry I didn't post yesterday. We are running out of GB on the Internet at home and I tried to post it on Tracy's laptop but I guess it didn't work. No worries though, nothing too exciting happened yesterday. They kids were being naughty and would not listen to me or Connie. Hopefully today will be a lot better. Alazer came up to me yesterday after lunch and said, "Miss Boehme, Layla said something rude about you and Ms. Pintaudi" I said, "Well, what did she say" He whispered, "She said, 'the bloody teachers'."  I wanted to laugh but I knew this was very serious. I called Layla out in the wet area and I said, "Layla, do you have something you want to tell me? Are you mad at me or something?" She got very defensive and said, "No, its not like I said the F word or anything!" I said, "well, what is bothering you that you had to say what you said?" She said, "well I really need to go to the toilet and I know I'm not supposed to go right now but I didn't get to go at lunch and I'm busting" Then I said, "if you would have asked me like that the first time I would have let you go. But before, you came up to me shouting and screaming in my face to let you go. You should always ask politely if you need to go." So she asked me politely and went and then like 20 minutes later I was doing a lesson with them and she says, "Miss Boehme, you are brilliant!" I was taken aback and I said, "Layla, just 20 minutes ago you were mad at me now you're hugging me and telling me I'm brilliant?" She just smiled and said, "yea, I know" haha

Another thing about Alazer, he came up to me and asked if we were allowed to chew gum in the school and I said no I didn't think so. Then he said that Danny had some gum. I told Danny to spit it out and he turned to Alazer and said, "Alazer, you said you wouldn't tell" haha little children always dobbing (tattle tale).

I also went to bible study last night. It was really good and I am so thankful to have met these people! God is good......all the time. All the time......God is good. Oh the good ol' OLV days with Father Ray!

Hope everyone has a great Wednesday night! Since I am in the future I can tell you that Thursday is a beautiful day with gorgeous weather!

1 Peter 1:8-9

Laby and the Tramp

Today was probably one of the funniest days so far. Remember how last week I told you that Danny said he would be fishing on Monday and not coming to school? Well, this morning he came and I said, “Danny, we missed you yesterday, where were you?” He said, “Oh I was sick.” And said, “Oh you were sick, so you didn’t go fishing?” He smiled and said, “Well yes, I went fishing, but then I got sick after that.” Ha so then we are telling morning news and Taylor’s news is that her brother is really funny (reminded me of you, Pete) and she told us a joke that he said in the car on the way to school this morning: Knock Knock. Who’s there? Granny. Granny who? Knock knock. Who’s there? Granny. Granny who? Knock Knock. Who’s there? Aunt. Aunt Who? Aunt you glad I didn’t say granny? I thought that was so funny because with their accents aunt does sound a bit like aren’t. Then I went with the kids to their Indonesian class. They take Indonesian instead of Spanish like most of our elem schools. Anyway, I have already talked to the Indo teacher a lot because she is in the Pilates class on Tuesdays and she has given me lots of tips and info about Bali. I learned a lot just from sitting in one class and I am getting really excited about going there on Friday! The language is like nothing I have heard before. I couldn’t even really relate it to anything. Here is a little indo lesson for you:

Thank you: Terima kasih              

You’re welcome: Sama-sama

This is great food: enak sekali

Selamat pagi: good morning

Selamat siang: good afternoon (11am – 4pm)

Selamat sore: good afternoon (4pm-7pm)

Selamat malam: good evening

Apa kabar?: How are you?

After that the kids had Diary time which is were they write in their journal for 20 or 30 minutes about their weekend. Alazer’s was titled Laby and the Tramp. He said that this weekend he watched a really good movie about a junk yard dog named Tramp. And then there was a beautiful dog named Laby.

Then after that we had crunch and sip and we played “I Spy”. I did the first one and then Harry went and he said, “I spy with my little eye something that is…skin colored” I pointed to my arm and said this? And he said, “yea” haha As many times as I have played that game I have never heard anyone use that one! Also during crunch and sip, Owain came up to me to say that John was squirting him with water near the water fountain. I told him I would talk to him about it. About ten minutes later Jakob came up to me and “Miss Boehme, John was squirting Owain with water.” I said, “I know Owain has already spoken to me about it and I will talk to John later”. And he said, “oh ok, so you are going to sort him out?” They use that a lot and I just think it sounds funny. And also they do not every say period for punctuation mark. They always say “full stop”. I looked it up in the Australian dictionary and it said full stop is the point at the end of a sentence. It said period: a form of punctuation, full stop. Pretty interesting. Also since it is the beginning of the month in the states I have heard people say, "Rabbit, Rabbit" Jenny, you remember when Mrs Gandy told us about that? Well, here they say "White Rabbit".

Hope everyone has a wonderful day! Love you lots and miss you much!

Philippians 4:6

Good on ya!

Today was probably one of the best days as far as school goes. The kids were great, I taught the entire day and despite the fact that it was hot as, it was a very successful day! Today was at least 39 which is pretty much boiling. Around 3pm it started to thunder and about 20 min away from where I live there was a mini tornado. It was really weird to see it on the news and know that it was so hot over here and we need the rain to come! The grass is pretty dry and you can tell that the plants are in need of much water. Yesterday I talked to my good friend Maggie who is also doing COST but she is placed in Geelong which is just outside of Melbourne. She said that it is in the 20s there and raining a lot. I told her that I got sunburned on Saturday and she just couldn’t believe it! Anyway, she is enjoying her time there and learning a lot as well. A girl from her cohort back in AU is actually her roommate. It worked out that they are already good friends, decided to apply for COST and got placed in the same school and the same house! She said they are with a couple who has children in their 20s but the kids don’t live at home anymore. They have to walk to school which is a 30 min walk. She said they walk pretty much everywhere. Glad we have a good public transportation system here in Perth!

This morning, I got to Skype with my girls from the Auburn Family! I loved getting to talk to Beth, Lacy and Kate before I started my day! Our date was scheduled for 6am my time and 4pm their time but I accidentally slept until about 6:20. Anyway, I woke up and got on and they called me and it was really good to see them! I miss that little tree house and the girls that live there! If anyone else wants to Skype please, please email me or comment on this so I can set up a time. It will probably have to be next week sometime but we can def plan it! I would love to see any of you!

When I got to school I was a little nervous because I did something new with my lesson plans. I was afraid Connie may not approve, but she really liked it and I was thrilled because it was a lot easier than what I have been doing the past 4 weeks. It made today run much more smoothly and I had my first real day of full teaching. Last week I was starting to wonder if this profession was right for me and today I had no doubt at all. I loved being in control of the class for the whole day and I know it will be so much to have my own class one day. The kids make me laugh and I am going to miss them so much. Today, one of my students, Josh, came up to me and said, “Miss Boehme, I know how to make cat sounds.” And then he proceeds to make these noises that sound like a dying cat. I couldn’t help but laugh. About thirty minutes later, he comes up to me again and says, “Miss Boehme, I can make you laugh, can’t I?” And of course I told him he could because those cat noises were just hilarious! Also today, Levi made me laugh right in the middle of a lesson. I am smiling to myself just thinking about how funny it was. So I was teaching a lesson on how to use the dictionary. I was explaining that the word you are looking up will be in bold and I asked if they knew what that meant when a word was in bold. Levi said, “yes, that is when a man doesn’t have hair on top of his head.” Ha he said is so matter-of-fact and it was the cutest thing. Once I started laughing, the whole class did and thankfully he did, too. I was a little afraid he would be embarrassed or something but he laughed at it too. Also today I was teaching them about compound words. We were brainstorming to see how many compound words we could come up with. Alazer raised his hand but when I called him he took a long time to say something. I told him I would come back to him and he was like, “no, I just have one” but I called on Ryan and he said, “Cricket team?” and as soon as Ryan said that (which is not a compound word) Alazer sighed and said, “I was gonna say that one” haha it was so funny because I could tell he was not going to say that and it wasn’t even a compound word! I don’t know if y’all think that is funny but I guess you had to be there.

When I got home from school Catie, Luke and I went on a bike ride around the lake. I was feeling the burn in my legs and Pilates tomorrow may be sort of painful! Then when I got home, Tracy had made my favorite dinner – Lasagna, salad and garlic bread! She makes the best lasagna and the garlic bread is delicious! Also for dessert I had a TimTam. It is a biscuit (cookie) and they are better than girl scout cookies. No lie - these TimTams are the best cookies I have ever tried and for those of you who know me well, you know that cookies are my favorite! I mean hello, Kathy Kath Cookies!! Haha Ill have to bring some back to share with all of you!

Thanks again for all your prayers and support. I love it here and I can’t believe it is March tomorrow! I think it is the first day of Autumn here tomorrow! Oh and in regards to the subject: Instead of saying, ‘good job’ or ‘way to go’ they say ‘good on ya’! I have heard it lots of times but for some reason I heard it lots today! And the coolest car to have over here is a yute. It reminds me of an El Camino in a way. It is a truck but not like the trucks we have. I’ll take a pic of one but try to look it up if you can!

Luke 6:37

Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday the trains were down so they could redo some of the tracks. The good thing is we didn’t have to pay for the buses, they bad thing was the buses were packed with people and it took forever to get anywhere. But finally, we made it to Mullaloo Beach and it was beautiful! Catie, Catherine and I met Erin there and I got a little sunburned. They don’t have shells on the beaches here, which is a bit strange but yesterday there was heaps of seaweed! The water was pretty clear except in certain spots that had lots of seaweed it was all dark. Anyway, we stayed on the beach for most of the day and it was a much needed time of relaxation. I got a drumstick ice cream cone that had a hug kit kat in the middle of it! It was beautiful! (They usually say food is gorgeous or beautiful to describe how delicious it is) Erin’s host mum picked us up from the beach because she was out running errands. She took us to Joondalup where we got some snacks and water bottles and then hopped on the bus to go home.  Catie came over after dinner and we watched a movie. It was called Obsessed and it was pretty good. Beyoncé is in it so I knew I would like it since she is pretty much my idol, next to Jennifer Anniston. All you girls who have Hastings cards should rent it sometime and think of me when you watch it!

Today Brittni and Ash (her husband) picked me up for church. We went to the service and then had a cuppa afterwards in the church kitchen. A cuppa is a cup of tea or coffee and Aussie’s have one just about any time of the day! I have had the tea and I really like it (they put milk and sugar in it) but I haven’t had any of the coffee yet. I am not much of a coffee person but I think I will have to start trying it since that is the way of life over here! Also, I tried vegemite today! I actually kind of liked it! It was a bit salty so that was kind of weird but it wasn’t really that bad. I ate a half a piece of toast with it. I had that over at Brooke and Jethro’s house after church. Brittni and I went over there for lunch after church because Brooke was having a card making party. It was pretty cool actually, it was like a Mary Kay party or a Tupperware party or something but it was for cards and wrapping paper. So this lady came over with all her card set up stuff and we browsed around to see if we wanted to buy anything. I bought two cards and they are pretty cute. I really enjoyed my time over there because they are such nice people and good company to have. I am so thankful that I have met them and I feel like I will be hanging out with them a lot. Brittni invited me over for dinner on Wednesday night and then the bible study after that. They call the bible study SPLAT It is an acronym for something and I think it is Say, Pray, Listen and Talk but for some reason I don’t think that is right because they wouldn’t need to say and talk so Ill figure out what the S means on Wednesday. Anyway, I had a great time with those people and I hope to continue getting to know all of them. I know I have said this many times, but I am thankful that I have met them and that I will be able to continue growing in my relationship with the Lord while I am here. I have realized and learned so much since I have been here and I am so thankful that I can rely on Him!

Please keep Tracy in your prayers. She took Monique snorkeling yesterday and hit her toe on a rock. It is pretty bruised and may be broken. She has been keeping it propped up and taking lots of pain medicine. Also, last week Monique fractured her finger, so keep both of them in your prayers that they heal fast!

Jeremiah 29:11

War Eagle!

Today was awesome! Peter Ryan comes to teach on Fridays and I love it because it is something different and its a bit more easier for me! Today the kids were doing a science lesson on gravity and they got to build their own game using marbles and other random things, anyway, it was so fun watching them build these games and experiment within their groups to find out the best game. Danny's group was him, Levi, and James and the game was called Mouse Trap of the First Century. Danny came up with the game name and pretty much all the rules. Ha it was so cute! I had a lot of fun observing them make these games and talking with them about their games. Then later that day they were making paper aeroplanes. I think its funny they still say airport but they don't say airplane. Also at school today, Jade came up to me and was looking at my earrings, they were the ones that say 'love' on them that have the birds on them, anyway, she said,"Your earrings say love." And I said, "yes, they do." She said, "I love you....but just as a friend. I love you as a friend only." haha it was precious. At the end of the day we were all saying good bye and someone said "Bye Danny, see you on Monday" and he said, "Bye, you may not see me until Tuesday though, I think I'll be going fishing on Monday!"

After school, Kerri-Anne and I went to the shops to get some things for the BBQ that we had tonight. It was so much fun! I don't think I have laughed as hard as I did tonight since I have been here. There were about 20 or 22 people there and it was so much fun! I really love this staff and love the fact that they are all such good friends outside of school as well. Also, one of the teacher's boyfriend was there and he is American and grew up in Destin, FL. I told him I go to Auburn and he said, "War Eagle! Go Tigers!" It has been at least a month since I have heard those beautiful words and I was smiling from ear to ear! They also told me lots of things about Bali and what to expect when I go there next weekend. The kids have Indonesian for LOTE (language other than English) class and the Indonesian teacher was there and she was telling me all about Bali because she has been there so many times! She said Americans don't know how to barter and that is what you have to do over there so she said she would help me practice before I went so I am not spending a fortune! Also she said that the Saturday that I will be there is Nyepi Day which is like the Balinese New Year and it is a day of silence! They all said it will be an experience for me because everything shuts down and it is quiet and dark there but since we are staying in a 4 star hotel they will have stuff for us to do in the hotel. I will have to let you all know how that goes!

Well it is 20 after 1 AM and I am super tired! I think I am going to the beach tomorrow. It is supposed to be 38 all weekend and maybe even get to be 39 or 40! That is like close to 100 degrees if not more!! Perth has the highest rate for skin cancer! Don't worry - I always wear lots of sunscreen! Also everyone is saying that this weather is not very normal because it has been humid and muggy. They say it is more of a dry heat here but lately I have just been sweating so much because of the humidity! The beach tomorrow should be nice!

And did y'all know that hot cross buns are actually real? Maybe I am just ignorant of that but I thought it was just a song on the piano! Today at the bakery they were selling hot cross buns, I got a chocolate croissant instead but I will def go back for one soon! And there was a famous basketball player from AL that came to play for the Perth Wilcats named James Crawford. His nickname was the Alabama Slammer so I have been hearing lots about him from some of the guys I have met here, mainly older guys because I think it was a while ago. That was a little random but I have been meaning to say it for awhile and I just remembered!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Next week is March!

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Kangaroos!

Today I got observed and I received great reports! I was so nervous about it and I even had a nightmare that it went terribly wrong but thankfully, it was great and he had wonderful things to say about my classroom presence and confidence in leading the students. Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging words! He will be coming again during week 6 for the midterm report and by that time I will probably be leading the entire school day. This morning I explained to my kids that my teacher from Uni (they do not call it college here, it is university or uni) was coming at 11 to observe me to make sure that I am doing a good job teaching. They were like, what do you mean he is coming to watch you? So I said well he is going to come watch me to see how I do with teaching and he will let me know if he thinks I can be a teacher or not because when I go back to America I’ll be graduating and then getting a job as a teacher. Jakob said, “Wait, you mean you’re going to America for a little bit and then coming back here, right?” I said that I didn’t think that would happen, I would probably stay in the states and they all said, “Aww, we want you to come back here!” It was so sweet! But anyway, after the lesson the siren went off for lunch so the kids went outside and I stayed to talk with him. After we talked I was walking outside to go to the staff room and some of my students were waiting outside the door to see what he said. This one girl, Taylor, so sweet and always draws me pictures and tells me she likes my outfits and I love her cause she is always complimenting me, she came up to me and said, “Miss Boehme! What did he say? Did you get the job?! Are you going to be a teacher?! Haha I was already all smiles because my supervisor was so encouraging and positive and then when Taylor said that I was laughing and said, “Yea, he said it was good! But I wasn’t applying for a job or anything, but yea, he said I did good” She gave me the biggest cuddle (they say that instead of hug) and said, “Yay! I'm so happy for you!” It was the sweetest thing and I am so thankful because Tuesday was so stressful for me and I was really worried about today. Now, it is over and I feel much more confident about my ability to lead in the classroom. And tomorrow is Friday so that will be easy peasy!!

This evening when I got home from school, John (the COST supervisor and the professor who observed me today) picked up Catherine, Catie and I to go to the park to see some kangaroos! Catie got observed yesterday John gave her a ride home from school and she mentioned to him that we haven’t seen any kangaroos yet so he took us to the park today! You know how a group of lions is a pride, a group of fish is a school, birds are a flock, etc…Kangaroos are a mob and we sure did see heaps of them! The park was beautiful and actually it was a cemetery but it’s nothing like ours. They said people sometimes get married there because it is so beautiful! The kangaroos live there and there were hundreds! I took lots of pictures and hopefully will get to post them this weekend! They are kind of an awkward animal because their feet are HUGE and their arms and hands are so tiny. And the tails are pretty big, too. I saw a little joey inside the mum’s pouch too!

This weekend is going to be pretty relaxed and I think we’ll just do stuff around here and hopefully go to the beach or something. Tomorrow night I will be going to a Greenwood Primary Staff BBQ with the other teachers at the year 6/7 teacher’s house. It should be fun to hang out with them! One of the teacher’s boyfriend is from Tennessee and every time I see her she tells me I will have lots to talk about with him at the BBQ! I am excited to hear an American accent!  

Ephesians 3:16-19

Bible Study

Tonight I am writing a bit later than I normally do. I just got home from a bible study and Leila, they all remind me of you and Ryan's community group from Mars Hill. They are all young couples that are just starting families and that sort of thing. I really enjoyed going and getting a chance to meet some locals. It wasn't really what I expected because the pastor of the church came and he normally isn't there. He was there to check in with them to see how everything is going and to get their feedback on some changes he wants to make within the church and see if they have any suggestions or changes they would like to see happen. I think I will go back again because they are studying the book of Jeremiah and I think that would be interesting for me to learn more about because I do know one verse off the top of my head, 29:11 and I live by that daily because being here has been a struggle at times for me to want to figure out exactly why I am here and all of that. Jannah picked me up from Tracy's and she is such a sweet girl. She just got married about 5 months ago to a guy named Troy and she is a year 3 teacher. We had lots to talk about on the car ride there and back seeing as I am a year 3 student teacher. I told her that I was getting observed tomorrow by my university supervisor here and before I got out of the car she prayed for me that everything will go smoothly tomorrow with my observation. I just think it is a wonderful thing that I have just met this girl on Sunday for a very brief time and now she is picking me up to go to bible study and praying with me as I get out of the car. God has been teaching me so much since I have been here but I am constantly reminded of these two things: Love God. Love People. I think that is all that he asks of us because then everything else will fall into place. Time is such a valued thing in every one's life and when we invest time in others it can make a world of difference. Jannah barely knows anything about me and yet she was so willing to give up a little of her time and it made me feel so welcome and comfortable. I want to be able to share that with people that I meet here and when I come home. I am so thankful that I have been able to have this opportunity and make these memories. I have had a countdown since I got here and at first I felt guilty about it because it felt like I was trying to focus on the end point rather than enjoy the journey, but I talked to my good friend, Madison and she helped me to see that I can look at it as I only have this many days left to share God with other people, or I only have this many days left to see as much of the city as I can. She helped me to see that I need to look at it more as a time frame to get everything checked off and try to fit as much stuff as I can into those 50 something days left.

Today was a lot better than yesterday! I was able to teach for pretty much the whole day except a little at the end. The kids are still funny as ever and today I was teaching a health lesson and they had a "Healthy Eating" worksheet that they had to fill out. One of the questions said what types of food should you eat the least amount of? And Jakob's answer was "lollies and shoklat" Lauren, it reminded me of the little girl you used to babysit, Ava, that would say "Wa-ren, can I have some shoc-wat milk?" haha or however she said it. Too funny! I think there was other funny stuff that happened but I was so busy I forgot to write it down! Anyway, it is about 10 to 11 and I need to get to bed. I am getting observed tomorrow so please keep me in your prayers. Much love to everyone!

Hebrews 12:1-2