Fish Face *Pucker Pucker*

Soo..I realized today that it has been a whole week since I have written a blog entry! Things are starting to get quite busy!

So I will try to give you a short recap of the week :)

Monday- My Children and the Media professor continued to talk in circles and make no concrete points during his lecture. My German friend Tina asked if I could understand what he was talking about because she thought it might be an English barrier..but nope.

Tuesday- First Photo tutorial! I am so excited about this class, but I think it will be very challenging. There are a lot of very experienced photographers in the class with their fancy cameras and their love of micro-pinhole photography...seriously? Tuesday night I went to see G.I. Joe with my roommate Nelson. He is from Singapore and we met about twenty other Asians at the movie theater. It was very cool to be the token white girl for a change. Everyone was so friendly. The movie was action-packed, I liked it. After GELARE=gelato and dessert waffles with cream and/or gelato on top. Yes, Australians eat pancakes, muffins, and waffles for dessert NOT breakfast. They also do NOT eat peanut butter and jelly..sad day.

Wednesday- My first day of student teaching!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I get up early with only a slight idea of how to get to the school. I am all professionally dressed and I head out the door to a beautiful windy downpour. Even with a rain jacket and umbrella the rain whips all over me. I get to the bus stop and one side of my body is drenched and my pants are sticking to my bum and my shoes are squishing....yuck! Then my ten minute bus ride gives me a few minutes to dry off a little and the rain slows down. I manage to press the button for the correct stop, step off the bus, and guess what ...it starts to pour harder this time and it's so windy that an umbrella cannot even be used. I start what should be a five minute walk. My map is out and getting soaked. I have to stop halfway through the walk to stand under an awning because I am drenched! I don't want to be late so I suck it up and walk through it and finally find the school (it is in a small house across from the primary school). At first i try to go in the wrong door and as I am walking around to find the other one I manage to step in a humongous puddle!.....So I looked extremely professional and put together as I walked into the building my pants soaked through and my shoes two big puddles. I met my teacher "Miss Jannine" and the assistant teacher "Miss Carrie". They are both so sweet and it was immediately puzzle time and I sat down in all my wetness to help three girls put together a dinosaur puzzle. I quickly learned that this kindy class is actually a pre-kindy class, so my students are all 4 and 5. Their accents quickly stole my heart as parents continued to drop off their kids and stayed to help put together puzzles. Morning meeting started and soon I was introduced to all twenty students. The ooed and aahed over the fact that I am from the United States and were amused by the way that I talk. We went to play outside and of course...the sun had come out, it was warm and beautiful. Haha just my luck! Soon I was stomping around like a dinosaur, leading a game of tag, and talking on my plastic "mobile phone." I quickly learned everyone's names and attitudes and was informed that our classroom is inclusive, with a few students with learning and behavior disorders. The rest of the day (which is from 8:30-3) was spent in small groups or at play time. I led a sewing activity, rhyming games, and puzzle making. It was such a fun day and I am so relieved to have the teacher that I am with. She is friendly, helpful, and informative and wants to know all about the similarities and differences between here and the U.S. By the end of the day I was exhausted and my shoes and socks were still soaked, although the rest of me had finally dried. I can't wait to go back next week!

After a shower and a heater Kelsey and I got ready to celebrate our friend Keith's birthday. We went over to his flat and his flatmates Jess, Darren, and Ray cooked dinner. Delicious! We decorated the flat and ate cake that Kelsey made!! It came out well even in our decrepit oven. We celebrated with champagne and an asian drink called Lychee. Then we went out to Newport and danced!!

Thursday- I made it through three classes ( my longest day of the week). They were all quite enjoyable! I was tired from teaching and dancing the day before so I stayed in with my roommate Nelson and he agreed to watch P.S. I Love You with me!! It was a beautiful moment :)

Friday- NO CLASS!!!!!!!!!! Sat around waiting for the computer guy to come fix my computer for the second time and did some laundry....let me tell you how long of as process that was. Since our dryers can run for 60 min for 4 dollars and still be extremely damp after I did two loads and then hung som of my jeans on a communal line while the rest of my laundry came back here and got hung up in every possible space around my room. Then between the off and on rain all day and the wind that threatened to take all my clothes off the line, things were still drying today (Sunday). What a pain!

Early evening we got a call from some Australian friends that Kelsey and Keith had made at the bar the night before. We went over to their flat for some afternoon wine and music playing. They are such nice people and so fun! The girls had face paint and we all decided to be painted by Rachel who is very artistic! We had spiderman, Kelsey as a butterfly, me as a fish, Keith as a sharkface, a crab, a baboon, and a tribal design. We these crazy paintings on our face we all decided to go to Freo on the bus. We got some amazxing looks that night. We went to a bar/brewery called Little creatures they make the most delicious local beer and french fries (fritz)! On the way back..more rain! There was almost face paint tragedy...but we all made it safely home with face paint intact!

Saturday- School work..wah wah
Saturday night it was Anna's 19th birthday (one of our new Aussie friends). We went to her flat for some wine and hanging out and slowly amassed a huge amount of people. The party moved to Perth city where we decided to go dancing at a gay bar (fun to dance without guys creeping on girls..safer and tons of fun).

Sunday- School work..and who thought I never did any of that here...I do! Then a beautiful family (flatmate) dinner with a smorgasboard of Mashed potatoes, peas, redwine garlic chicken, dim sum, dumplings, and stir fry vegetables :) Beautiful! Everyone helped and we all ate together like a little family..I have wonderful flat mates!

Great week though mothing extraordinarily Australian! Making more friends, teaching, and getting busy! Favorite Australian word= heaps...ie. heaps and heaps o' hotties or heaps o' food ir heaps of anything really :) Miss you all, leave some comments! Till Later!