STILL WE'VE GOT US!

Two years ago, I flew across the globe to move to Australia. I sat on the plane for some sixteen hours in a combination of reading a book, sleeping and letting the man sitting next to me out of the row. I was excited. I was nervous. I left everything I knew behind, filled a suitcase full of clothes and set off to a new life in a new world. And I did it all alone. 

It's funny how things just work out sometimes. I was getting settled into my new apartment and had gone to a meeting about my teaching job. The others who had flown with me knew there was someone else from Canada in our same position. We wanted to meet her. We didn't know who she was, what she looked like, we just knew she was somewhere within the Melbourne CBD and by chance, we obtained her phone number!

The three of us went to some BBQ joint and had invited her along. Every time someone walked into the shop, I played the game of 'is that her?' in my mind. Soon enough, she did show up and we all enjoyed a BBQ feast followed by a super dodgy non-karaoke karaoke bar in Chinatown..haha! The four of us were now friends. 

As a few days go on, we are all getting more familiar with each other. We all bonded over some wine before going out for a walk. I made up this goofy dance walk, called it prancercise and demanded that it be done whenever crossing the street. 

As our friendship grew, so did the prancercising. Everyone we ever met knew about the prancercising. Sure, it is ridiculous, but it is always funny to us and everyone always wanted to get in on it once we started! 

I won't get into every detail of our friendship because that would clearly take ages. The purpose of my writing is that in a city of four million people, I found my best friend. We were only a short walk away and, for a year had seen each other nearly every day. Now, we are miles apart living in different places in Canada. On my sixteen some hour plane ride home, I wasn't alone, I now had so many friends and people I consider family. Most importantly, I had my prancercising buddy! Through all our adventures and all of our miles apart, still we've got us! 

Over the Easter break, I met up with my darling best friend and we headed to Vancouver, to do what we do best. Explore and prancercise! It was the best time and a much needed vacation! As always, we made a video to document our excitement. This is something that we enjoy making and we love, love looking back on the memories! We may be a little foolish and crazy, but that's us! 

Happy Birthday, Sister!

The craziest thing happened the other day, someone had asked me why my sister is my best friend. That is actually a lie because no one has ever asked me that, but if they had, here is what I would say.

She trusts me, sometimes too much. Even when I say, "Lets go camping near the ocean, we won't need more than a fleece blanket in fall!" Whoops on that, but I am usually right otherwise and so she puts her trust in me.

She is terrified of most living things, which is unfortunate for her but great for me. Shahaha...

She has a death grip on me.

We have the same sense of humor which really works out in our favour because it means we have the best time together. Even when we (okay, I) stall the camper car in the middle of the campground DURING dinnertime and everyone is watching, we just laugh it off and set up camp rather than become ashamed and try to drive away.

And by the middle of the campground, I literally mean the middle
as in I am pretty sure that table was supposed to be communal!

She has the WORST sense of direction but don't be fooled into thinking this is a bad thing. Nooo-ho-ho, this, my friend is awesome because getting lost is such an adventure. Even went you are taking a small car down a 4x4 road (ahem, trail). Thanks for getting lost with me, sister. 

We are similar in that when we do something we do it right! Even though "right" might look different in each of our minds. Cleaning for us isn't just 'tidying.' It is ripping everything apart and completely giving the space a makeover. Label makers are often used in this process. 

She poses the exact same in every picture which is truly a testament to the confidence that shines from her. It is hilarious taking a photo of her, it's like an art form and she has the rhythm down.. the shoulder roll, the slight tilt of her head, chin down.. you go girl. 

She is so helpful. She comes and helps me at the school and gives up her weekend to do so. She will put in hours of cutting, stuffing binders, hanging bulletin boards and listens to me complain about how I think she is doing it wrong through my perfectionist eyes. But I will let you decide if she is REALLY that helpful..JK!!

We truly have a good relationship and you know that when you work with each other for 8 hours everyday and still get along after that..somedays. I also use the term 'work' very lightly. We spent two summers having paint fights, driving around using only the safest of the right hand turns, washing trucks, making food for the boys, sniffing cherry bomb and racing the buggy in the mud and boneyard. The best.

She understands me when I say, "I can't drive down that hill because we probably won't make it back up" and supports my idea to walk. She also understands and supports me on many other levels because she is an incredible individual. 

We laugh until the tears roll down our cheeks and we can barely breathe.

And because of moments like these (and more) that I can say I shared with my best friend:

Happy Birthday there Candace! Have the most beautiful day! I am so lucky to have you as my sister. That is actually an understatement. We have many adventures ahead of us and I can not wait! You are the best. Have a gorgeous day, my friend.

MELBOURNE MONOPOLY

It's been a quick minute since I've last posted on here but I've got a story to tell.

Within the first two months that we were living in Melbourne, we had a craving to play board games. We had a deck of cards and had exhausted nearly every card game we could think of. We even handcrafted (with very limited supplies) our own games of 'Things in a Box' and 'Scattergories.' But we wanted more (mostly because of Eric's competitiveness and absurd rules). 

One night, we decided to take the plunge and head on down to the Big Dub (aka Big W) to purchase a board game. We were set on Monopoly. However we were so poor that seeing the price of $25 made us cringe. Out of the corners of our eyes, there is was, a Star Wars version of Monopoly heavily discounted! It made no nevermind that it was Star Wars, we just wanted Monopoly. Sure enough, we pay for it at the checkout and start dealing out cash to split the cost. We walk the half block back up to my apartment, open the game in pure excitement only to find out the two essential pieces of the game were missing: the dice and the playing tokens. 

Within minutes, we took the game back to return in and get our money back for the useless game. It was a struggle though as the clerk was trying to tell us that we are the ones who had taken the pieces. After everything was cleared up and we meandered through the game section one last time, we settled on Scrabble. Scrabble was our go to game for the next eight months and yet I can't think of a time where we either played the game properly or finished it.  

Our time in Melbourne had come and gone and like most people who return 'home' after calling another place 'home,' you become rather nostalgic about the places you've visited and, in general, the memories had.

One day I had an idea and decided to smash a bunch of my thoughts together to make Melbourne Monopoly. I started plotting out which places we've been that have similar characteristics to those of Melbourne properties. I'm a list maker and I have lists of lists for this thing. I was too excited.

I got started straight away in creating and customizing property cards, chance cards and community chest type cards. The game board is what took the longest, but I do love it. I included things that pertained to the experiences we had and the icons of Melbourne that could never be forgotten! 

On the board I included things that we used the most such as trains, trams, and their maps as well as Ferderation Square and the gorgeous city skyline!

Making the little houses on the property cards proved to be a bit tedious, but I think they turned out great!

After months of putting this together and waiting to send it off, I finally had the opportunity to give this to my mate, Eric, in person! Not only did I have so much fun making this customize board game, I also love the way it turned out! I love it so much that I am off to make one for myself! 

I made the train graphic to match the symbols that Melbourne Metro used. It worked out perfectly that I could use all four of the stations we used the most!

Trish was our agent and even when she would ring us at 6am it was always great to hear her
voice saying "Hi Doll, it's Trish." 

The chance cards have the Dumb Ways to Die characters on them as we would see these
dudes everywhere at the train stations.

HAVE ALL MY STORIES BEEN TOLD?

I like to think that I don't have many fears. I've jumped from a plane, sat with a wild cheetah, held pythons... the list of "fear-testing" examples goes on. But the stories I have from experiences like these has developed into a fear of mine.

It may sound rather silly, but I'm sure one thing that truly scares me is having my stories grow old. My mind and heart are filled with stories of foreign countries, sunrises, wild animals, extreme experiences, finding friends, places of happiness and humor. Will these memories and moments become a burden to me? Will anyone listen to my stories? When I am old, will I be able to remember my own stories? Will I remember how I felt?

The real reason I've thought of this seemingly odd fear I have developed is because I constantly get asked the same question. One a have grown to despise: "What's new?" I used to enjoy that question because I would have many fresh stories to tell about recent experiences. Now, it's a guarantee that I can answer that question in one word rather than in a series of stories strung together. That word is: nothing.

In the last three months, literally nothing 'is new'. I drive to and from work each day. My excitement comes from passing the same guy on the highway each day before and after school. I get excited to come home before it's dark out. I look forward to cutting our jungle lawn. If I'm lucky, I might have time to watch a show on Netflix. 

This is my life now. I love my job, but as for a personal life, things are pretty bleak. It can't help that I live in a desolate town. Maybe it only seems this way as I have gone from one extreme (living in a city with four-point-some million people) to another (living in Saskatchewan). 

Whoops, let's get back on track here. My fear, ah yes. Another way I have discovered that this is a fear of mine are moments I have where it's a perfect time to tell a story. I can jump into that conversation with "that reminds me of when I was living in Melbourne and..." or "We did something similar to that in New Zealand..." Recently, I have found that those who are listening don't really seem to care. Perhaps I'm a bad story-teller or maybe the listeners find it hard to connect with my stories. Maybe I have already told them this story? Are they annoyed that I keep starting sentences with "This time in Australia"? I have suddenly developed a guilt and a bit of anxiety to tell my stories. I feel bad for sharing them instead of being excited and happy. I'm finding that I am keeping more of my stories to myself these days so that I don't have to feel the guilt of sharing or mask my distress of their disinterest. 

I have twenty-something years worth of stories. Even if no one wants to listen to my stories or briefly share in my experiences, the great thing is that I have had these experiences. My stories are special and unique. No one else has them. I won't let my stories be a burden. I will not fell guilty for sharing a story. I will enjoy the fact that at this moment, I can remember all my stories and they ways I felt through each story and experience. 

The most precious thing I have are all my stories. It's maybe all I have. Without my stories, what would I really have. I am so grateful to have all my stories. The fear of loosing my stories comes from the very fact that without my stories, I am nothing.

WELCOME TO KINDERGARTEN!

Well, I guess this is what they call 'back to reality.' Most of the time my experiences overseas seem like only a figment of my imagination now. Although that chapter is over, I am excited in welcoming this new chapter to see where it leads me. 

Last week was my first week as a full-time teacher! It was a great week and as my second week has come to an end, I am very grateful for weekends to rest and mentally recharge. I do genuinely love being a teacher. It's challenging, difficult, surprising at times but it's always about the smile on the children's faces and the warmth they put in my heart. 

I am very grateful to have a gorgeous learning space for the Kindies! I have twenty-one kindergartners who come to school for full days every other day. Their excitement for learning and coming to school is admirable. Just this week, we were able to read our first poem! They were so excited for it that they wanted to show their moms and dads. I had to run down to the photocopier at recess time to run copies for them to take home! ha ha! 

My kinders singing "Five Little Monkeys" by the Learning Station. They LOVE this song and video!

On the days the Kindies don't come to school, I trade in my paint and marker covered hands for oven mitts! Yes, I get to teach Grade 10 Commercial Cooking! I also teach Grade 1 Social, Science, Computers, Library and Printing on those days. But mostly, I am excited for my cooking class. I have to say, the noon hour before the first class started I could barely eat I was so nervous. I didn't know how many students to expect as the roll hadn't yet been confirmed and I was picturing them all as giants! 

My Cooking Lab has 4 awesome kitchens!

These guys were cooking up Chicken Quesadillas and homemade Salsa!

As it turns out, teaching grade 10's isn't at all half bad. I really enjoy it and I have a great group of students. It's nice because this is a class that the students get to choose, so they enjoy coming to class as well. It's a win win for everyone! Being able to teach grade 10 has been a nice balance for me. I have often asked my grade 10's if they would like to stand up and do a "brain break" or do a little dance because I feel so bad for them sitting and listening to me talk for more than 15 minutes! Ha Ha!  

While I've got you here, allow me show you around my classroom. I've put a fair bit of work into it and I'm proud of how it's turned out. Each time I am done with one project, there is always something more waiting to be done. I spend most evenings and weekends at the school fixing everything up and getting the paperwork done as well! 

I love my "BEE-utiful" board where students can post pictures they've created. How cute is it!?

Kolby is one of my students who is so passionately curious about everything! He asks many intriguing questions and I am so happy that he likes looking at my map. He is always finding new things on the map and really enjoys it! I got the map from Costco ages ago and I was so excited to hang it in my room! 

I made this poster so that we know who the Helpers are each day! My "Helping Hands" also get to sit in folding camping chairs instead of at their regular spot on the carpet! 

Speaking of our carpet, here it is! Unfortunately the gorgeous rug does not belong to me, but how great is it!? It's a thick rug on top of our carpet, that makes it double comfy! Each student has their own letter to sit on so they always know where they are to sit! 

Here's a quick look into a few of my centres. I made name tags of our writing centre. The students really enjoy writing or stamping out their friends names! Next, we've got some coloured pasta with our zoo animals. They love sorting pasta into colours and types of pasta! I also have a sensory bin that they can dig around in. At the moment there are seeds in there. 

During our normal centres, I let the kindies have a choice of what they would like to do. They can choose between heaps of activities and dramatic play. But, when I do my literacy and math centres as well as my investigation centres, I like to keep the kiddos a little more organized. 

So, I went ahead a made what I like to call my "Swap Cards." Each card has a students name on it. They carry it around with them to each centre. I organize them ahead of time so I have students in particular groups. When they look at their card they know what centre they will need to go to first. Once there, they peel the velcroed number off and come place it back in my blue basket. I set the timer for a designated amount of time. When they timer goes off, they know it's time to swap and head to their next centre. 

I'm finding that my Swap Cards are working really well, in the beginning it takes a bit of getting used to! 

Sometimes the biggest challenge of teaching it that there are not more of me! I especially wish I had at least 6 more of me when I take the Grade 1's to computer class. 

At this point, they have a REALLY hard time logging on to the computers. Some don't know how to type their full name while others just can't find the right letters on the keyboards. I spend nearly the whole class going around to log every one on. 

So, I went ahead and made login cards for each student. I took a screenshot of the login page and typed for each student what they need to type in. I then made a list of websites that they can go to for a play which coordinates with a document I made on their desktop so that the links are easy and quick to find and click! 

This solved a few problems, but we just need more time to familiarize ourselves with the computers! 

Lastly, I think this is my favourite thing I have done. I asked my students what they would like to be when they grow up and recorded it on to a chalkboard and then took a photo (in front of my awesome map, of course!) Their responses were so sweet and they were genuinely excited! Not only do they LOVE seeing pictures of themselves hanging in our classroom, so do the parents! Parents come in and take photo to send! Too Cute!  

RED CENTRE TO REEF

I just wanted to quickly share a video that I made about a week ago. It was a bit delayed, but it brings together some of my highlights of July when I was travelling around Australia one last time. There are times in my daily life recently, where a memory from Australia floods my entire brain and senses and I have to take a moment to smile and remember how I felt in those moments.

Some of the greatest moments I had on this trip took place in the Outback. Who knew how stunning and magnificent heaps of rusty rocks could be!? Uluru was wonderful and it was a time where I really got to feel how small I am in comparison to the world. The Olgas had me experiencing a breathtaking hike through the curves and valleys of sacred stones. Kings Canyon had to be my favourite though. It was spectacular. One memory that often floods my mind is the moment I stood on the edge of a cliff at Kings Canyon at half six in the morning after hiking up through the darkness. I stood there watching as the sun rose over the beautifully rustic, red rocks. It's just one of those moments that are hard to explain, but I will never forget it. In moments like those, I remember the feeling of being so ALIVE and so extremely grateful to have such experiences. 

So here it is, a bit of a summary of my last Australian experience. I can't wait to go back one day.

LAST WEEK IN MELBOURNE AND COMING HOME

It's never easy leaving a place, especially one that you call home. The transition from living in Melbourne to living back in Saskatchewan has be tough for me. For most of July, I travelled to the Outback and more of the East Coast. It's funny when I meet people, often the initial conversation revolves around where 'home' is for everyone. I would have never guessed that I would struggle to answer this question, but I did. After a year of living in Melbourne, I can't help but consider it my home although I would never leave Canada out of the conversation. 

Maybe you're wondering, what made Melbourne home and why was it hard to part with? You see, the strange things about clichés is that they are often clichés for a reason; they either work or are completely true. Here's my cliché: Home is where the heart it. Where family is. You name it. Melbourne is my home because of this. My family was there. My heart was there. 

Sure, I miss the pace of the city, the fact that no one knew my name or could recognize me. I miss Bourke Street filled with buskers, lane-way short cuts and cute cafes. I miss being able to sit on my balcony and admire the sunrise or the city night lights. I miss my independence and freedom which I gratefully admired and exhausted in my time away. But, in our year together, Jenna and Eric, have become my family and they are solely what I miss most about living in Melbourne. 

Possibly the worst thing about being home is that nothing has changed. While I've gone off, explored many gorgeous parts of the world, made a life in Melbourne, changed the way I thought of certain things, grown as an individual and began my first teaching career, I came home only to find that everything is familiar and in a year, has gone unchanged. I reckon that was my biggest disappointment aside from the fact that no one here can truly relate to my experiences, the feelings I've felt or my love for adventure.

Our last week in  Melbourne as a family was possibly one of the best weeks we had. We took in the beauty of our city, ate out, went to a musical, went to our last Woodlock show, admired the talent on Bourke Street and hung out with all our mates! Here's a video with a few clips that showcase what we were up to. I miss Melbourne and my mates!

Cheers,

x x x