Lessons from a Wonderful Year

It is officially the last day of the year. While I'm not one to pick and choose favourite seasons, I do reserve a soft spot in my heart for December because of the holidays. This December though was unlike all other, and though I don't necessarily miss the cold, I sometimes wish I could wake up to frosted windows and falling snow. Even though Melbourne weather is highly unpredictable, snow just isn't in the cards. 

I started 2013 in a completely different atmosphere than I am ending it, which leaves me to wonder what is in store for the year to ahead. At the beginning of the year, I had no idea I would be living and teaching in Australia or that the experiences I am having would be real. 

I feel like nearly everything I did this year was wonderful and caulked full of new experiences so I thought I could leave you with some lessons that I've learned through the year! 

You can do anything you set your mind to (and don't let anyone tell you that you can't!) This isn't necessarily something I've only learnt this year, but it was a big part of my year. If you want something, get after it, it will probably take hard work and persistence, it may challenge you, but always keep in mind the outcome. And, if someone has the nerve to tell you that you can't, let that be your fire to prove them all wrong! 

Someday doesn't exist. If you are given an opportunity to do something, do it! There are too many times in conversation where I will hear people promise themselves "someday I will." The truth is that the "someday" that they are banking on doesn't exist; never has, never will. Don't make excuses to push an opportunity beside, don't promise yourself a day that has not come. Get out there and do it now! 

Always choose happiness. Sure, at times happiness isn't always the easiest choice, I get that, but if you aim to choose happiness in the morning and in a bad situation, you may be likely to live a happier life. You can't go back and un-do whatever it is that's got you down, so why be mad about it? Be happy, enjoy life and don't waste your time being grouchy!

Smile. I can bet that a smile signifies the same this worldwide: happiness. Smiling is contagious, makes you happy, makes others happy, makes you look good and had the possibility of evolving into laugher. That's a serious win, win situation. (I'm smiling now, are you?)

Get your butt out of bed! Although I used to always sleep in on the weekends, I never enjoyed it, I just enjoyed sleeping. I'm up everyday, no matter what, by 5:30-6am and it feels great! You can get so much accomplished all before noon and still have an entire day of unlimited possibilities ahead of you. And, when you wake up, begin with a smile! 

Travel. Do it. Go near, go far. Just go! Experience something new. Meet new people. Listen to others stories. Eat. Drink. Emerge yourself in a new culture. Dance with waves of he ocean. See the world. Stand in awe at the edge of a cliff wondering if there could ever be anything more beautiful. Reward yourself be feeling more alive than you thought possible. 

Perhaps you could say my lessons could be a little advice to anyone. Maybe they sound like cliches, but cliches are cliches for a reason - they work. 2013 has been a wonderful year, but I'm so excited to welcome 2014! Five days from now I will be off the travel the East Coast of Australia, a month after that my sister will arrive for some long overdue sister time, followed by my family. Shortly after that, my mates and I may head off to New Zealand. I hope for a chance to see Uluru and Tassie before I leave. 

With all this excitement, the year is bound to fly by. Before I know it, I will be back in Canada seeing all the beautiful faces that I left behind, and that is something else I am totally looking forward to! 

It's Christmas Time!

Although a bit of Christmas lives inside of me year round, it is now officially the holiday season, my favourite time of the year! This Christmas is defiantly going to be different for me as there is no need for cozy sweaters, warming up near the fireplace or family time. It is quite strange to think of summer and Christmas together, but that is how it is here in Australia! Rather than shopping with a Christmas Latte in hand, I am walking to the beach in the hot hot heat with an iced coffee! 

A few weekends back, the girls and I went to the opening of Christmas Square in Melbourne! This is actually known as City Square, however it transforms into a magical Christmas square in December. We watched as the real Christmas tree was lit for the first time this year. They also did a projection show onto the Town Hall building! It was amazing!

Check out the video of our Christmas Square experience: 


Melbourne has gone all out in Christmas decorations. The Myer (a department store) windows are decked out and play a puppet show from Jan Brett's book "Gingerbread Friends." People actually queue up for up to two hours to see the amazing window! I was lucky enough to go for a walk early in the morning and see them without waiting in a massive line.

Although I'm not sure what we are actually doing for Christmas, I've heard that the norm is BBQ and Beach so we just might have to do that!

Other than Christmas I am SO looking forward to January as the girls and I have booked in a 25 day adventure along the East Coast of Australia!!

Five Day Weekend?!

Yes, this past weekend was a glorious five days long! I only worked Thursday and Friday. But why the heck did I get a five day weekend?

Well, Tuesday was a public holiday due to the Melbourne Cup! Yes, a horse race so BIG that it is it's very own holiday. Because the Cup was on a Tuesday, many schools were not open for the students, so we got the day off as well! And as for Wednesday, I just didn't get a call so it extended my weekend a bit longer!

Last Saturday, Chelsea and I decided to go on a day long adventure! I was so excited because we were renting a car and we didn't need to take any public transportation! I felt so alive again to be out on the open road, with some tunes on and the windows down! AHH!

Our first stop was in Mornington where we went to the Peninsula Hot Springs! It was absolutely fabulous, all though it was a little hot out to be submerged into some of the hotter pools. My favourite thing there was the Turkish Steam Bath, it like a sauna but much better and it just felt delightful! When we were finished at the springs, we toured around Sorrento, a small Melbourne suburb and we also went to Portsea Ocean Surf Beach! Out there it was exactly what you think of when you think Australia! We were able to watch some surfies catch some waves and exlpore the beach a little! 

We headed to the Portsea Hotel for supper as we heard it was the place to be! We ended up sharing a Strawberry Goat Cheese salad and 'Fish' and Chips. The fish was actually a shark fillet and let me tell you something, if you haven't had shark, you need to try it because it was so GOOD! That was probably the best meal I've had since I've been here!

The day trip was really good and it felt wonderful to get out of the city and see something new! I even got to drive the car we rented, so that was fun and exciting as well!

The Melbourne Cup was AMAZING! It is a huge event and everyone gets quite fancy for it. The ladies are to wear fascinators or fancy hats along with cute dresses and the gentlemen are done up in suits and for some, top hats. Personally, I think my fascinator was the best! It is so darling and I still want to wear it where ever I go! It was also a fabulous deal as it was half-off the day before the race! 

As it turns out, I've lost my knack for picking the winning horses (not that I had much of one anyway!) BUT, I sure do know how to pick the last place finishers. There should be bets for that! It was a beautiful day out for the races and we all came home with a little extra colour! 

On Wednesday when we didn't get a call, Jenna and I headed to the beach as it was another glorious day in Melbourne! It was also Jenna's birthday! How lucky for her to have a November birthday in the sun on the beach! In the evening, the celebration continued as we went out to Greek Street for some delicious lamb giros! MMmm!

I surprised Jenna back at our apartment with a cake I made with our very favourite Aussie cookie - The Tim Tam. It was so yum and I think we all enjoyed it very muchly! 

Kaits! 

Vegemite Surprise

So, a few months ago when we first arrived in Melbourne I had tried some Vegemite on a piece of toast at the hostel. It was horrible and I swore I would never try it again. HOWEVER, there are students almost everyday that bring Vegemite sandwiches in their lunches. "But Miss, it is so yum!" they say.

Yesterday after school while picking up some groceries at Cole's, I stumbled upon the Vegemite section (yes, there is an entire Vegemite SECTION!) "Well" I thought, "maybe I'm missing something, there's got to be something good about it if everyone here likes it." So, I picked up a jar for myself! 

Once home, I spread it heavy onto a slab of toast and despite the smell of it, I told myself I would enjoy it. That wasn't the case. That will NEVER be the case. I was in the bathroom straight away spitting it out and cleaning out the horrible taste from my mouth. 

So now I'm left with a jar of Vegemite. For as much as a tiny jar costs, there's no way I'm tossin' it into the rubbish bin! After I realized Jenna and Eric were coming over, I knew what I had to do...

Let's just say, I better watch my back from now on. Prank war is among us!

KAITS :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

While it's Thanksgiving weekend for everyone back in Canada, this weekend was just a regular ole weekend for us down under. Australians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, probably because the differences in how Australia and North America settled. However, I do believe they have a National Day of Thanks sometime in May. 

Just because Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here, doesn't mean we didn't break out the fine china and dive into a well prepared meal. We celebrated anyway...on a budget. We got a roasted chicken, Jenna made mashed potatoes, Megan prepared a salad, Eric was in charge of gravy (no one ate the gravy..Haha) and I opted to make dessert, as per usual.

Now, when you think dessert at Thanksgiving time you think of pumpkin pie. Actually, whenever us Canadians think of the word pumpkin, we almost always follow it with pie. It like the two words are married because they go so well together. Over here though it's different. Don't get me wrong, pumpkins are all over here, although Aussies often don't think of pumpkin as dessert. Rather, roasted pumpkin along with other veggies is where pumpkins fit in around here. I'm not sure why I'm writing about pumpkins though because they had no role in the dessert. Of course, I wanted to make pumpkin pie, but the lack of tools and particular ingredient didn't allow it. I guess you could say our lovely Thanksgiving meal wasn't a true one then, not without a pumpkin pie. 

What I actually made for dessert was cinnamon rolls. Again, because lack of tools, I did not make my own dough but I substituted puff pastry instead. I was a little unsure on how they would turn out, but they were pretty good. Of course, not as good had I handmade the dough, but pretty good. My mates liked them too - they were gone almost instantly.  

I was also told last week that Halloween isn't very big here. It's only been the past few years that a very small percentage of people actually do anything Halloween-y because they see it all on American TV and want to do it too. I've noticed some of the big shops putting out Halloween candy, but there really isn't much. Costco is the only place I've noticed selling costumes and there is hardly a selection there. Instead, everything is already CHRISTMASSY, which is YAY because I love everything Christmas and I can always do without Halloween. I've never been a very big fan of Halloween (except the candy part!). 

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend! I am certainly thankful for being here and having this wonderful opportunity and having a bunch of beautiful people back at home who support me!

School Holidays Begin!

Hey! How yous goin'? Check out this video of our weekend!

The weekend was a kick start to our two week holiday. Although the weekend was pretty laid back for me, we had some adventure on Monday. Looking at the forecast, we saw that Monday was to be 27°C out and we wanted to do something different. I remembered one of the teachers telling me we should visit Mornington Peninsula because it was a beautiful place and there was lots to do. So, we headed out there early Monday morning. It was about an hour train ride and then another forty-five minutes on the bus. We found a nice beach where we relaxed for a bit. We could see the city skyline so far away in the distance and the crazy thing is that we were still in Melbourne. This city is so massive!

We went up to the main street where there was an information center to figure out what we wanted to do. The lady there recommended that we have a go at Tree Surfing, so we called the place and that's what we were set to do. We stopped for lunch at a burger joint and then hopped on the bus for another forty five minute ride where we had to get off and wait for a taxi to take us up the long winding road to get to the Enchanted Forest. The turns on this road were so sharp and went straight up hill. I'm pretty sure the taxi driver was accelerating on the turns and it smelt like burning rubber. He was kind and stopped the cab where we could get a good view.

The Enchanted Forest was beautiful and there were lots of activities to do. Tree Surfing was heaps of fun! You'll have to watch my video to see more about that. We were also so lucky to be tree surfing with these kids who had an awesome mom who offered us a ride back to the Frankston train station! We would have had to get on a bus for about two hours to get back there. There are some truly kind people here and they were no exception! They even drove us around to show us where Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman lived when they were married and they took us to a pier to see the most beautiful sunset! They also told us all the great places we will need to visit while we are here too! Just amazing people! And, check out this sunset (not that I got a good picture, or that a picture would do much justice anyway). She told us it would be nice out today because of the sunset - "Red sky at night, shepherds delight!" And is it ever nice out today! 

We will be out doing more exciting things this week! Hope you enjoyed this post and my video! 

Don't forget to be awesome!

Kaits :)

Teach, Run, Listen, Explore

Long time no blog. Lets catch up. 

It's now spring here in Melbourne. It tricked us by being 25°C on the very first and second day of spring. However, we haven't seen the sun much since. The weather is very indecisive here at the moment. It can be sunny and warm one minute and the minute you blink it's cold and pouring rain. This cycle repeats itself over and over again. I'm finding it quite challenging to dress myself each morning. 

Work has been very busy these past few weeks as I have work nearly every day. It's fun being a CRT because I get to do different things each day. So far I've taught all grades from prep (kindergarten) to grade six, I've taught phys ed, I've taught at a special school and in a P-12 school. At each school, I learn more about myself and who I hope to become as an educator. It's so awesome to have the opportunity to dabble in each grade level, in different subjects and different types of schools. 

Today I was teaching the little preppies at a school I go to often. One child wanted to take a picture of me and my peg board work (but really, just the board). I'm wearing my coat because it was really cold and rainy out today and also because the schools here don't have heat, just small heaters in each classroom, so it's pretty cold in the mornings.

Other than working at schools, I've been trying to explore Melbourne and I've found some of my favourite places to be so far. I went down to the coast on a day off for a run and I found a terrific footpath that goes all along the ocean for five miles (well it goes much further, but that is the distance between the two trains I use to get back to the city). I found Brighton Beach which is where these beautifully coloured beach houses are, maybe you've seen them in pictures before? I go all the way to St. Kilda Pier and at the end of the day, that's a nice place to sit on the sand and watch the sun go down. It'll be flippin' cold at that time, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I do that about three times a week!

And here's what a run looks like at sunset time.

Now, I'm not sure if this trumps the beach running or not but my other favourite thing to do is to walk down Bourke St on a Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons. It is so amazing and packed with talent! All the buskars come out and show everyone what they got. I especially get excited when I find out my new favourite bands will be playing. I can just sit and watch them perform! If you're looking for some new music to check out take a look at Woodlock and Amistat. By the way, the guys of Woodlock are super cool and I had a chat with them after one of their performances when I bought their CD! Bourke Street has it all and I love it!

This is the last week of school before we break for term four, which means we have two weeks of holidays! I'm not sure yet what we are doing, but one thing is for sure, we are going to explore in and around the city. I'd like to do day trips to surf or go out into the country on a train because that isn't too expensive. Oh, and I met another CRT at school today. Where is she from? Saskatchewan. So we are going to meet up over the holidays as well and go on an excursion of some sort!! 

Here we are a few weekends ago hanging out at Docklands by the Yacht club - hoping to score some friends with a massive yacht. No luck yet. We will keep trying. Ha Ha!

Hope you all have a great week!

Swipe On, Swipe Off

The past two weeks have been pretty busy for me! I've had work everyday excluding Tuesday which turned into a Ben Affleck movie day. The thing about being a CRT is that I have to get up at 6am every morning and wait for a phone call to determine the rest of my day. These past two weeks though, with the exception of two days, I've known where I am going before I wake up in the morning. Either I get a phone call the night before or the school I was at the day before asks me back for another day. It's nice to know before I go to bed where I am going the next day so that I can plan out my transportation. To toss in a fun fact, Melbourne has one of the largest rail and tram systems in the entire world! This is why it is essential to plan out where I am going. 

Timing is very important when you travel using the public transportation system. In the city, it doesn't much matter if you miss a certain train because it is likely another will be departing in the next 5-8 minutes after. However, if you are out in a suburb and you miss a train, you're in a jam because the next train probably won't be for another 20-30 minutes. Early this week, I was out at a school in the Pascoe Vale suburb and since I had been at the school several times before, I knew the train left at 3:47pm and that the walk from the school to the train station took about 10 minutes. However, after school I poked around talking to some teachers and such. I finally started on my walk and realized that the train would be shortly arriving at the station. As I approached the cross walk, I saw the train pulling up to the station. I knew I could not miss that train as the next wasn't until 4:20pm. Although I would not advise this, I ran across the roadway (looking both ways of course. Here, you must look right first then left) and up into the train station. The doors were closing so I put my arm in right before they closed so that the doors would open again to let me in. My only problem, I didn't have time to swipe my MyKi card (transportation pass) but ain't nobody got time for that when your catching a train the way I did. This turned into a bigger problem then I expected as when I got back to Melbourne Central Station, I swiped my card for the gates to let me out and they wouldn't open. I went to talk to one of the guards and he said no problem and let me through. What I didn't notice was the police officer paired with a transportation officer on the other side of the gates waiting for me. 

"Ma'am, Ma'am would you step aside please." 
Although they were reasonable about it, I got a stern talking to about swiping my card each time. They tracked ALL of my past train swipes and realized that it was the only time I hadn't swiped on for a train. They let me go after swiping my card again and said, "There, now you've paid for the trip you just took." Little do they know that I never swipe on when I ride trams. Muahaha.

While we're on the topic of trains here, I'll take a second to tell a story about what happened last week on one of our train rides. Thankfully, Megan and I were together as we were called to the same school. Now, if you know me well, you're probably aware that I thoroughly enjoy watching the movie Con Air. At one point of the day I said to Megan, "They somehow managed to get every creep and freak in the universe onto this one plane and then somehow managed to stick us right smack in the middle." She didn't know what I was talking about as she's never watched the movie, but if you swap plane for train it somehow manages to perfectly describe the day we had. 

In the morning, we ran all the way to Melbourne Central Station as we were running a smidge late and we were feeling very successful as we made it to the train platform right on time for our train! We boarded the train and it was immediately brought to our attention that there was a crazy on the train as we hear a lady yell, "Get your hands off me!" We looked and saw a large man, triple our size harassing a lady by talking right in her face and putting his hands on her to move her closer to his face. Although we avoided all eye contact, we somehow managed to attract this crazy to sit right next to us.

There was maybe twelve people on the huge train and he sat RIGHT next to us. He then proceeds to start talking right in our faces, so I ignored him by looking out the window, but he wanted to so desperately talk in my face that that made him move closer. So finally, I looked at him and gave him the attention he was trying to achieve by nodding my head and repeating "mhmm" to keep him at bay. I then looked at Megan and said, "so our stop is the next one." Although it wasn't our actual stop, we got off to avoid Mr. Crazy and switch to a different train car. As we got off he grabbed both of our legs, which was terrifying. We ran to the next car down, got on and began talking about how terrified we were of that man. 

"Oh my gosh, he's coming!" Megan said only seconds after the train departed from the station. I turn around and sure enough, he's headed our way. The thing about the trains is some of them you can hop from car to car as there are doors and a small walking platforms that attach them. Now, he's already in our car, the one we just switched to to get away from him.  

"Get back here!" Mr. Crazy shouted at us. We began RUNNING through the isle of the train and into the next car through the little platform that you're technically not supposed to use while the train is in motion. My hands were trembling and we were both terrified. Who knew what this guy wanted! Just before he reached us, the doors swung open and we got off that train! We waited for the next train to take us to our real stop. 

You would think the story ends here. During lunch we JOKED about the crazy being on the train on our ride home. Little did we know that he would STILL be on the train and the very same car that we hopped onto at the end of the day. He saw us huddling in the back of the train, he stood up and began walking towards us. Thankfully the train stopped right then and there and we got off the train. We had to wait 20 minutes for the next train to pick us up, but it was worth not being harassed. I just felt really bad for all the other women and children on that train that he preyed on. When we got to Southern Cross Station, we reported him and they said they would look at the tapes and investigate.

We haven't seen him since. 

Apartment Tour

For those of you wondering about my apartment, here is a quick video giving you a tour! It's pretty cozy and we are in a great area in Melbourne CBD, close to everything we need! We are so happy that we were able to find this place and the lovely realtor is taking care of us! 


Let me know what you think! Cute right?!

Terrific Timetables

I was so excited last Tuesday night to finally get a call to start teaching, after all, it is one of the big reasons I came to Australia! For the time being, I am substitute teaching (or as they call it here: emergency teacher OR CRT- Casual Relief Teacher) with Standby Teachers. 

Since that first call, I have had steady work in a few different schools. My first subbing gig was at a lovely primary school in the Newport area. I really enjoyed the caring vibe the staff and students gave off. The following day, Megan and I were both and the same school in North Fitzroy in separate 3/4 classrooms. It was a long day for the both of us as the school simply gave off no positive vibes at all. On Friday however, I was so blessed to go to a fabulous school which was located between Pascoe Vale and Glenroy areas. It was a LONG train ride and and even longer cold, wet walk in the rain, but the radiance from the students, staff and parents immediately brightened my day! I was so happy when the asked me to come back to their school on Monday, which was another great day for me. It was a beautiful school and I will be sure to write more about it in a future blog when I plan to write about school layouts (because they had a phenomenal one!) I was privileged enough to get a call for another wonderful school this morning, I am planning to write about this experience in a future blog post about lesson structure as they sure did some amazing work! 

Today I wanted to write a post about the timetables most schools here have a similar variation of but it is much different then back in Canada. To be honest, when I got my first job, I was a bit skeptical of the timetable. I thought, "How is this going to work!" Little did I know that it would become something I absolutely adore.  

Here is a variation of what a timetable may look like in schools in Melbourne:
(8:45am)-School Begins / Morning Classes
(11:15am)-Morning Recess
(11:55am)-Classes
(1:25pm)-Lunchtime and Recess
(2:15pm)-Classes
(3:15pm)-Dismissal

I fell in LOVE with this timetable - it makes PERFECT sense! The bulk of the classes and usually the heavier subjects get completed in the morning sessions. This is when the children are most alert and ready to learn. Then, they break for recess for about 40 minutes. This is also when they eat their "brain food" which has to be a healthy fruit or vegetable or "naked" foods that do NOT come in packaging. This recess break also gives them ample amount of time to be physically active, play and develop essential skills like teamwork and empathy on the playground. It's also beneficial for the teachers to have that break as well. Teachers split the yard duty time in half so that everyone gets a break! 
They then resume classes with a load of fresh air in their systems and are ready to learn again. The later lunch and recess time work well because once they come back into the school for the final class session, there is only an hour left. Sometimes, the amount of learning after lunch can take a fall as children can either be restless from the amount of sugar in their lunches or they are much too tired to do a lot of work. With only an hour until dismissal, it's long enough to get a meaningful lesson in and also a short enough time to still keep the children's attention. 

I'd like to hear others thoughts on this timetable. Would you like it or not? Do you agree with a later lunch? Do you agree with longer recesses or do you side with shorter, more frequent recesses?

Mega Grocery Deals

I can't remember if I've posted about this before or not, but it is expensive living here in Melbourne. It's also common that you will get very little for the price you pay (compared to Canada). We have become bargain hunters searching for the little yellow 'price special' tags at Woolsworth and returning items that we bought at the Big W only to head to the Reject Shop to get the same thing for three bucks less. Needless to say we have been very conscious of prices. 

On Wednesday, we spent $130 between the two of us on just groceries and let me tell you, that certainly didn't get us much. Our little bar fridge wasn't even half full and our cupboard still seemed quite empty after putting all the groceries away. 

(We didn't end up getting the lunch boxes..they were $29 instead of
the $7.99 price we found them at.)

Today was a good grocery day. From now on, Sundays will become our grocery shopping days. We headed over to the South Melbourne Market. We did some walking in the rain but eventually got there and was it ever worth it! We decided to get there for around 2:45pm because the markets close at 3pm. Why would we do that? That only leaves us 15 minutes of shopping! Yes, but as soon at three o'clock hits, it gets crazy in there. Big guys are standing up and yelling their new discounted prices. You see, Sunday is the last day of the market until the following Thursday. This means they want to get rid of their produce while it's still fresh!

Here is what we got at the market today:

a sack of potatoes

a quarter of watermelon

3 bundles of broccoli

a bag of carrots

a bag of lemons

a bag of tomatos

5 apples

a bag of oranges

a bug bundle of bananas

All of that for $11! We were so proud of ourselves. Although the market was busy, loud and crowded we did a good job and got plenty for the amount we paid! We sure know where we are shopping from now on! 

We then ventured to Cole's, another grocery store to pick up a few more items. We found it to be better priced then Woolworths as well as much less crowded! We signed up for their rewards card and vowed we would buy all our other essential items there! Except for Tim Tams (an essential food group) where I saw them for $2 at Woolworths!

We then realized that we had to carry all of our groceries back to our apartment, it wasn't too bad because we hopped on a tram and then we only had to walk two blocks in the rain. Our next thing to budget for is one of those granny wheely bags so that we can venture to the markets and stock up! WHOO!! 

PS: It's been super cold here. Okay, not so bad in comparison to a Saskatchewan winter but it's still cold! We moved into this place on Wednesday and we were freezing day and night as our one wall is just windows. Three days later after talking with the landlord, she told us that what we thought was just our air conditioner is in fact also a heater. Wow, we felt dumb but now we are nice and cozy in here. 

PSS: Who wouldn't want to take these guys for lunch. Mighty fine deal too..

WE GOT A PLACE TO LIVE!

So here's one thing I already love about living in Melbourne.. when I let my hair air dry, it dries beautifully straight! Ah I love it! At home my hair would never dry like this. It takes much less time to get ready in the morning!!

Here's one thing that kinda sucks..I have yet to find a good, reasonably priced coffee place. But I'm not giving up hope yet, I just need to do some more searching! 

Yesterday was a good day. Not only because it was my birthday but also because after four days of searching, we landed ourselves an apartment! We were so lucky that we stumbled across an ad online by a lovely lady who was willing to accommodate us. She met us at the apartment we wanted to look at on Monday morning and not only did she tell us everything we needed to know about the apartment and area but also gave us information about where we need to travel and places we need to see! I am so happy to have found Carol because she is really looking after us. The other agents we went to see either wanted thousands of dollars to 'hold' the apartment (which Carol said is highly illegal) or only came to open the door and never said a word. 

The apartment is fully furnished with absolutely everything we need in it right down to hair dryers! She is going to buy us new chairs and other things for our apartment. We will be on the thirteenth floor with a view of Lonsdale Street. We are also in a prime location right downtown next to two really big malls, transportation and basically everything we will need! YAY!!

We also had to go to the Victorian Institute of Teaching for some information on our teaching certificates for here. On the 24th floor of the building is the first time we've been able to see the ocean so far! Hoping to get a closer view very soon! 

 We are so excited to get out of this hostel tomorrow morning and move into our new place! If we get the keys today we will probably go to Big W and the Reject Store (dollar store) to get some bedding and other small items for a place so that it's ready for us tomorrow!

This afternoon we are headed into the city to do an orientation for our teaching jobs! I am looking forward to start working and I'm looking into a part time job on the side for the first bit to help pay for our rent. I just want to see first what my school work load will be first! 

Oh yeah, last night we found this crazy mirror. It kept us amused for at least 10 minutes. The security guard watched us the whole time and suggested we just take the mirror with us. Ha Ha Ha.

CHEERS!

Trains, Trams, Transportation

Yesterday was a long day for us! We started it off with a complimentary breakfast at our hostel. I had toast and figured I better try some Vegemite. I should have put it down after I smelt it, however, I am in Australia and what would I be if I didn't try any Vegemite. I put just a little bit on the corner of my toast and took a bite. ICK! It's not good at all. Its a salty, bitter, yeasty taste that you cannot get out of your mouth quick enough. I felt as if I were on a Fear Factor contest and had to swallow it to win a prize. Although there was no prize, I did swallow it and vowed never to try it again. Ewww.

We needed to get into the city to set up a bank account and look at an apartment. That means we needed to hop on the train and figure it out. It's so great that everyone here is so friendly because we just asked where to go and they tell us exactly what to do. We got a MyKi transportation pass. It was $3.50 to travel on a train, tram or city bus for the entire day! That is a really good price considering an hour pass in Calgary is $3 to ride the train. We will need to look at the monthly passes though because we will be using the transportation frequently. 

Once downtown we opened up bank accounts and met with a realtor who had an apartment to show us! It was about half a step up from the last one and all though he tried to say it was clean, it was not..at all. He also was anxious to get our money which made us walk away from him. We then walked to the mall and began looking up apartments on GumTree (a classified website) and other realtors websites. Being a Saturday, no one answers their phone and there are very short business hours for those businesses that are opened! 

The adventure back out of the city was an adventure. We ended up getting on the wrong train that was taking us in the complete wrong direction! We got off at a stop and used a help desk to ask what train we should be on. He said "Platform 5, its arriving right now, you betta get to it quick!" We saw it coming and ran up the escalator and back down to get across the tracks and made it into the train just as the doors were closing. A few more train swaps later we were back at the hostel where we decided to further search for apartments when we got a phone call back from one of the possible apartments. We hopped back onto a train right away and went to go see it. It was nice, but it wouldn't be available until next Friday! 

We took a long stroll downtown, through Chinatown and other really cool streets. After walking for a long time with tired feet we finally found a restaurant to eat at that was reasonably priced! I had a pomegranate, feta, quinoa mesculin chicken salad. It was delicious!!

By this point (9pm) we were dead tired and ready to get back to the hostel to sleep! However, the trains don't run as frequently so we needed to wait for a train for a long time. We did make it back by 10pm and fell asleep right away. Ahh! 

Today's Australian Phrase: "How ya going?" 

From: San Francisco To: Melbourne

The past two days have been filled with tons of adventure. However, when I think of adventure my mind tends to head for fun and exciting experiences. Our adventure so far has been an exciting adventure in the opposite kind of way.

Wednesday started off really well as we flew from Regina to Calgary and Calgary to San Francisco. Those flights were short and easy. Then came the eight hour wait until our 10:45pm departure to Sydney. We killed time in the airport mainly by eating, charging our phones and soaking up all the free Wi-Fi!

Finally we boarded the plane. I was already so tired and I was asleep before we were even in the air. I woke up just in time for the hot meal and stayed awake long enough to eat it and go back to sleep again. I slept pretty well the whole 15 hour flight except for about three hours. We arrived in Sydney this morning (Friday) at 6:30am. Not only is it weird that we totally never got a Thursday at all but also this sixteen hour time difference is going to be screwing me up a lot! We had an hour until we boadred out next flight to Melbourne, which is where I lucked out getting three seats to myself!!

Each time I'm on a plane I quickly remember how much I appreciate for air travel and how thankful I am that I have been able to travel in the past and continue to travel far and wide! On our landing I was so pumped, filling with happiness and ready to enjoy our first day in out new city! We were actually able to hook up our phones to a network at the airport so we got unlimited data, calling and text on our phones instantly! I am so happy we decided to get that done first.

We taxied to our real estate agents office where we signed some more documents and were handed our keys. She told us its not a bad walk and that we would be able to want to our new apartment. So we did. Uphill. Three blocks. Four bags. We arrive at our apartment, opened the door and instantly felt sick. Now, I don't exactly want to explain in detail what we saw today but just imagine the most filthy, disgusting apartment ever. Yeah. So we left our heavy luggage in the room and walked back to the agency. That conversation ended in negative terms as there apparently wasn't anything she could do to help us out. What really ticks me off is that we started paying for the place on July 24th which meant the apartment should have been cleaned prior to that date regardless.

After many FaceTime calls and conversations back and forth with different people, we found a hostel to stay at in the time being as the original apartment is not fit to stay in at all. We could tell someone had been told about our frustration and trouble as when we went back to collect our luggage there were pillows and linens laying on the beds which meant, someone had gotten into our apartment and that someone expected us to live in that filthy place. Also what scares me is that that filthy place was someone's definition of clean. Yikes! Before we left we documented and took pictures of the apartment so that we can be sure to get our money back!! 

It was heaven to finally have a shower! Something that we had longed for after arriving in Melbourne! We got word once at the hostel that we would get a new realtor and be able to look at a place tomorrow and hopefully be out of this hostel by Tuesday. We have kept our bills for this hostel and cab rides in hopes that someone can reimburse us for the troubles we have gone through.

Anyways, it is time for bed now, even though it is only eight, it has been a long day. We went out and walked around this evening as well. It is quite chilly here as it is only about 8*C today! Ahh! It's been quite the adventure so far.

G'night Mates!

Checklists!

I don't know about you, but for me having a checklist is essential to helping me stay organized. I make checklists for almost everything I do. If I go shopping for groceries or anything else I need, I must make a checklist otherwise I forget 95% of the items I went into the store for. I make checklists of what I need to accomplish in a day, week, month to keep me on task and remembering what all my plans were. I need checklists of what I need to pack when going away or I'm bound to forget something that I will most likely need! 

When I worked at Enbridge I kept a list of things that we needed to do in my pocket at all times.While these tasks may seem a little odd, this was our summer work load for two summers and this trusty book allowed us to keep track of everything we needed to do. The things we had to do multiple times a week couldn't get crossed off simply because they were daily tasks. And, if you are wondering what "sniff some Cherry Bomb" is all about, you haven't lived. There is some gritty hand wash that is called Cherry Bomb that smells amazingly good and we would make it a daily effort to wash our hands with in a breathe in the delicious smell. HA HA. 

In all seriousness though, lists are the be all end all for me. They keep me remembering all the important things. Which, if you haven't figured out by now, I am a fairly forgetful person. 

As I am getting ready to pack up my things and get ready to leave for Australia in 30 days, I have made a super cute checklist to help me stay organized. There are so many things left that I need to accomplish before my departure and this list is helping me remember the important things that are left to do.

 

I wanted to share with everyone this checklist that I made because maybe there are some forgetful people out there like me that need to write everything down and check everything off to feel organized and on top of things. 

Click here to download

Make sure to leave a comment if you download the checklist and tell me what you use checklists for the most!

Little Miss Organized

Now that I am in the process of packing most of my belongings to be stored for a year, I have a lot of work to do because I have A LOT of belongings! 

I've started packing up my craft/work room which holds many papers, folders, teacher files and resources. I originally shoved everything into a big Rubbermaid container and put the lid on. Well, yesterday I thought of something that I needed to take out of said bin and it wasn't pretty. I quickly became overwhelmed at the mess that I have made by tossing everything into the container. So, I looked around for the best ways to organize everything. I found a teacher online who "binder-ized" all of her school stuff and everything had been perfectly labelled and colour coded. Next thing I know I'm off to the store to buy some binders! 

Check out where the Binder-izing Project came from! CLICK HERE!

I downloaded her completely customizable templates for the binders from TeachersPayTeachers. The best part is that I had enough TpT credits to get them for a nice discount! 

Full Customizable Binder-izing Kit

Standard Binder-izing Kit Freebie

I was able to make up 10 perfectly perfect binders within an hour. Everything is completely organized and will be easy to access. I can't wait until I am back here teaching and I will have a beautiful organized system of all my papers and files. This is seriously the best way to store everything and it takes up little space!!  

I love how these can go on a shelf and you can tell EXACTLY what is in each binder! AMAZING!

I'm so excited to have this binder-zing system and will definitely always use it! It's too just brilliant! 

Unlimited Possibilities

Isn't it strange how some things never even seem possible until they happen?  I mean, if you would have asked me five years ago where I'd be today I'm certain I wouldn't have been able to tell you that I would hold a Bachelor of Education degree and be moving to Australia. On the other hand, if you ask me today where I will be in the next five years, or perhaps even in just one year, it's likely the answer would be quite vague. It just goes to show how we have no idea what is in store for us. 

I like to think of my life as a novel, and that each different part of my life is divided into chapters. Anyone who has read a good novel can hardly put it down because the suspense of not knowing what will happen next compels us to read on. The difference between my life and a novel is that I cannot flip ahead and peek into what happens next. Whatever is in store for me, I cannot wait to fill the pages of each chapter with happiness, excitement and love. 

I've got 43 days left until I hop on the plane that takes off to Australia. I have finally got my flights booked and the excitement is starting to kick in although it still doesn't seem possible. When I think back to a year ago when we were in South Africa, it didn't actually kick in that we were really in South Africa until the beginning of our second week there. Strange isn't it? Anyway,  I'm slowly getting things together and getting rid of other things that I no longer need. I'm hoping to fit everything into one suitcase and a carry on. I already know that it's pretty far fetched, I will be the person in the airport with two full sized suitcases, a carry on and a really big personal bag! Ha Ha! 

A huge CONGRATULATIONS extends from me to all my friends who received their degrees last week! All of the hard work, early mornings and caffeine filled nights have paid off! I hope your heart is smiling from your wonderful accomplishment, I know mine is!

Learning Through a Lens

As much as I love my Canon Rebel DSLR camera, I've been neglecting it for quite sometime. I bought it a few years ago for a MEGA good price in a Boxing Day special! I go through spurts where I dabble with it for a while and try to learn the basics of manual shooting. 

I've decided that I really want to learn all there is about this camera and what it can do. I know for certain that I did not buy it to shoot with Auto settings, so it is my goal to learn this camera and all there is about manual shooting. I want to learn all I can so that my camera and I can work as a team in taking creative pictures capturing my life. 

I was sitting out on the steps watching Cooper-man play when I thought I should bring out my camera and take a few pictures of him. I learned how to take pictures in the natural, sunny light of day. I think they turned out well! This one is my favourite! 

Here are some other pictures from a while back that I took that I think are great.  

This picture is from my trip to South Africa. I snapped it while we
were on a night safari as the sun was setting! I love the silhouette!

We were out in the field on a foggy winter day and J was shooting his
SKS. I like this picture because of the fog and that the shell is flying
through the air.

I captured this picture while we were watching the competition
at Spruce Meadows in the International ring last fall.

While looking through the pictures on my camera, I found one that I barely knew existed. It was a picture J and I took near the end of summer last year. What a gem to find!

DIY Re-purposed Tin

Okay, I'll admit that when I have a sore throat and I am in need of some cough candies, I opt for the Sucrets. I don't only go for those lozenges just because they can soothe a sore throat quickly but also because they come in the most perfect little tin. Sure, I may be paying a little more for the lozenges because it comes in a tin opposed to a plastic bag or small cardboard box, but the way my mind works is that I can re-use that tin! 

No, I am not a hoarder and I certainly don't consider the packaging in everything I purchase, but I'm telling you that these tins come in handy for so many things. My main purpose for the tin once the lozenges are all gone is to store all my bobby pins, hair pins and pony tails in. It's perfect for these items because they are not scattered somewhere in a drawer and it's easy access for when I am doing my hair, I just bring the tin out! I also have one that I keep in my car as a mini first aid kit. It contains some bandages, a small tube of polysporin, some alcohol swaps, q-tips and a CPR face shield. I have another tin that I store my headphones and iPhone charger in for when I go on a trip. 

Basically, there are endless possibilities for the things you can put into the tins. The problem with these tins is that they are generally, well.. ugly. Each time you look at it you think about the times you had that terrible sore throat and had to buy them (maybe not, that's a little dramatic, but you get the point!). 

The tins don't have to be an eye sore, you can fancy them up like I did with mine! All you need are a few simple ingredients and only a couple minutes and you will have a fabulous looking tin to store anything you think of in! 

You will need:
A sheet of cork board
E-6000 glues (or any other strong bond glue)
Washi Craft Tape
Scissors
A pen

First, peel the ingredient sticker off the bottom of the tin, it's pretty easy to peel. Then, trace around your tin lid onto the sheet of cork board. Next, cut the piece of cork board out and make sure it will fit nicely on top of the tin. Then you'll want to put your glue onto the tin lid and adhere the piece of cork board on top, holding it down until the glue has dried. Then I like to take my scissors and tidy up the edges on the cork board by trimming the sides. Finally, I decorate the sides of the tin with Washi tape. You can also make it even more fabulous by adding some decals or stickers to the top of the box. 

Paper Work - Ick!

This past week and a half I have been keeping busy with getting everything ready (try to anyway) for Australia. 

If you didn't know, I am moving to Australia mid-July for a year where I will be teaching, travelling and having a marvellous amount of fun! I will be living, for the most part, in Melbourne, which is a massive city holding more than four million people! Wow! I couldn't be more excited, but with moving to a foreign country comes a lot of paper work and frustration. 

Last week I got all the requirements sent to me that I needed to complete. Get a RCMP finger print criminal record check, get my Visa application sent in and get my Victoria Institute of Teaching (VIT) documents together. Well, the finger printing was a breeze, although it left quite a mark on my credit card! Next, I completed the Visa Application online, which took a while as I was VERY SUPER careful to answer each question carefully and reread everything over FIVE times. Still, they sent me back an email which stated I needed a health assessment. THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! Totally threw me off, but I thought about it through the weekend and finally today I accepted that I needed one and made an appointment with the only qualified physician in Saskatchewan - In Saskatoon! Not only would this be a three hour drive but it also would cost me THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE DOLLARS! WHAT?! So today, I was a little frustrated and a lot worried about how I would pay for this appointment. When I got home from work, I called the lady who is taking me to Australia, she said that there is no way I would need to get a health assessment  so I searched the Visa website. IT WAS TRUE! According to the requirements set out by the Australian Migration Law, there was no way I needed a health assessment! (It pays to do your research!) I politely emailed the immigration officer back and within two hours she replied saying she had made a mistake and I really didn't need a health assessment. I sure hope that doesn't happen often, those mistakes, because those are expensive mistakes to be making!

Now that all that confusion is out of the way, I am now able to continue with more paper work on my day off tomorrow! It looks like I will be working a lot with my scanner and making copies of all the documents that are required by the VIT. Once this paper work is out of my way, I will be even more excited to go to Australia, this paper work is boggin' me down!  

Interview with Mentor

While we spent time with our mentors online, we were also asked to interview them. I feel like ECMP 355 wrapped up well with this final interview with my Mentor (@KelliHolden) because she left me with some valuable insights and information that was too good not to share!

Check out the interview we did through Google Docs.

First of all, what are your views on using technology in the classroom? What made you want to become a very tech savvy teacher? What do you think are some general and educational benefits?

I've always used tech in my teaching.  I find that it integrates so well with a constructivist view, and makes curriculum alive for students.  It is so easy to move past a textbook into the real world, and students are so much more connected and engaged.  They have authentic audiences and authentic purpose, and the learning is so much more powerful.  

For example, when studying Canada’s connections with the world in Grade 5, my students connected with people all over the globe and sent emails.  They asked questions based on the research they did and compared the answers.  One group was surprised to find that German children don’t go around wearing lederhosen as shown in the encyclopedia, but wear jeans and skateboard to school like them.  

Often using the technology makes work more efficient, such as typing up writing.  The funny thing is that it rarely saves time over handwriting, because the kids do so much more. 

I know in internship, I wanted to use a lot of technology, but it just was not available at the very small school I was in. How did you start using technology and what were some struggles? Did your school already have many of the tools you use today or did you request them?
For me, the biggest problem has always been access.  Being in a school means that budgets are always tight, and technology is always money. It often depends on the principal’s focus.

It also depends on the staff at the school.  I have been in schools where I have been seen as the tech leader, and have carried the trouble shooting and fixing of equipment, as well as helping teachers.  I’ve also been on staffs where there were several people to share that load.  Each presents it’s own challenges.

The school I am in currently was seen as leading the way with the use of SMARTBoards several years ago and was an Elite Showcase school.  However, with a change in focus, things have changed quite a bit.  We have real issues now with access to computers for our kids.  With trying to get student blogs going, it’s been a real problem.  A big issue right now for us is evergreening.  The laptops that were great three years ago and on a mobile cart now can’t hold a charge and have to be plugged in in a permanent spot.  I really miss the freedom of having the laptops in my classroom at the point of instruction.  It has left me feeling very frustrated this year.  

Another issue for us is student population.  Our school is literally bursting at the seams - we have classes in what used to be our music room, and are even using closets as teaching spaces.  This means that it is that much harder to find a time to use the computers.

I have worked in schools with lots of technology and in schools with little technology.  Definitely, I use my voice to encourage more technology - and usually my projects with what I have prove to admin that the technology is definitely worth it as my students show leadership and learning.  Often we will get one of something to try it out, such as the first projector in the school.  Instead of keeping it in the library, I asked if I could keep it in my room - I would always give it up when anyone came to ask, but it gave my easy access for the most part.  I’ve used that strategy frequently.  It gives my students more access, but also proves to admin that the technology is being used effectively.  When other teachers see what I can do with it, then they are more likely to try it and ask for more.

What has been your favourite technology or use of technology in your classroom? What is your students?

Tough question.  There’s been lots of highlights over the years.  One favourite is that it levels the playing field for all students.  I love to give a challenged child the tech supports they need to feel confident.  That might be using an iPad and typing or using Read and Write Gold/Dragon dictation to get thoughts down.  Often using a mindmapping piece lets a student who has difficulty writing get lots of ideas organized and then off they go. There is nothing that feels better than when a student recognizes hey, I can do this school thing after being at the bottom of the pile. 

I also love video conferencing and Skyping for the leadership and responsibility it brings out in my students.  It’s always great to learn about something and share that, and I give it to the class to decide how we will approach it.  I love it when I have them present to adults and the adults say Wow.  The kids are always very pumped.

Are there any negative of using technology in the classroom or being online?

I know that there is a lot of media attention about the negative use of technology.  When I think hard, there’s only been one time that I was involved with a junior high project with several  classes of students.  Part of the project involved a WebCT chat room, and some inappropriate comments were posted.  It was a good reminder to me to always go into a project being very clear with the students about what being negative will bring.  If we discuss how to handle ourselves appropriately and positively before getting on, then that’s what I get from the kids.  

We've been working lots with talking about our digital footprint.  My kids are tweeting and blogging about the good things, and they see how we can be inspired by a tweet to make a difference.  This year my class has connected with Peter Reynolds and others around the world, as well as making a Kindness video that was a highlight of our year.

http://www.psdblogs.ca/4gh/2013/03/10/welcome-global-tv/

Has your community and parents responded well to the use of technology and social media in your classroom/school?

Definitely.  We've been in the paper and on the news, and our parents have been very supportive.  We are lucky to have George Couros in our division, and he’s done so much groundwork for us!

We have been seeing many schools and classrooms go completely paperless. Do you see your classroom being a paperless one where everything is to be done digitally? What would be some major downfalls of having a paperless elementary classroom?

Sadly, my class is far from that right now.  I am on a committee for the division that is looking at our direction.  I would love to see us in a 1:1 environment where that would be easy to do.  Has been very difficult this year with 48 students and little computer access!

For me, the biggest issue is bridging the gap between the have and have not kids.  Some of our students bring their own iPad to school.  Others haven’t got the finances to have a TV at home.  That makes having the technology here at school and giving them those skills vitally important.  Always have to think about the Digital Divide!

What is something you would like try or something you would like to do more of with your classroom as far as technology goes?

I would love to get my hands on some Chromebooks!  Using Google Drive with our kids this year has been amazing.  It’s so easy to have them work at school and then go home and back - seamlessly!  With our issues with access, it’s meant that they can use their iPods and iPads to work here at school, freeing up computers for the others.