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!  

CARDS AND TRAVELLING AND TRAVELLING AND CARDS

For some reason, my entire time in Australia has been very nostalgic. There are many times that good memories pop up in my head and I am able to reflect on that time in my life and how I felt. It's funny that travelling and living abroad had brought these memories and feelings all back to me. I would say that living in Australia has changed me in many ways, but one thing that has always remained constant is my love of a good card game. 

The other day I had another nostalgic moment where I was thinking of a time when I was surrounding a picnic table with some friends and family in a campsite back at home. The fire was crackling in the dark and we each held a hand of cards which we could only see by nonchalantly shifting our hands into the stream of the propane light. This memory flooded my brain with other memories where I would be holding a hand of cards and it brought a feeling of warmth to me. As I reflected on these experiences, I came to realize how important playing cards are to me in my lived experiences and who I am as a person. 

Like I mentioned, travelling and living abroad has changed me in many ways. Not to be egotistical, but I feel like it has benefited me by making me a better person - more awesome, if you will. I have become more social, confident, adaptable, adventurous and perhaps even a little smarter. The more I travel, the more universal my thoughts, ideas and conversations become. Like playing cards, travelling has a large influence on my everyday learning and who I have become not only as a person but also as a teacher. It just so happens that travelling and playing cards have almost always gone hand in hand.

Through my travels around Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, I have come to realize that travelling, and in particular - staying in hostels, is the best way to meet new people each and every day. These people come from all around the world, all with stories just as unique as mine to share. There is something so profound about sitting at a table surrounded by people who came from each edge of the Earth with a willingness to share their stories and listen to others. I'm sure that a hand of cards is one of the best ways to be able to connect and get to know new friends. 

More often than not while we were travelling, we would find ourselves sitting around a table each with a hand of cards that had been dealt to us. In everyone's hand - a different combination of cards. I like to think of the cards as metaphor of our lives; possibly representing our pasts, our presents, or our futures. Whether they represent one thing or another, the truth is, those very cards are what brought everyone sitting around the table together. The cards engaged everyone in conversation and sparked the enthusiasm of some to lay their cards on the table for everyone else to see. 

Whether my metaphoric interpretation of playing cards engages you or not - the fact is that I realized that playing cards - a standard pile of 52 plastic-coated, distinguishably marked pieces of paper - have come to mean a whole lot more to me that I ever expected and have been a part of my own learning experiences since the very beginning. Now that I have looked back on many different memories, I have come to the realization that for the most part, playing cards have been the foundation for much of my learning. It’s not one specific place that has taught me some of the most valuable lessons in life; rather, it is the numerous hands of cards that I have held in different spaces that has guided my learning. These lessons have shaped my learning, molded me as a teacher, constructed me into a lifelong learner, and guided me as a curriculum-maker.

This friendship all started with a game of cards!

Besides the obvious, such as learning how to count and to add numbers, playing cards have taught me some bigger life lessons. Allow me  to put this into perspective.

Sense of Belonging

I said it earlier and I’ll say it again: playing cards brings people together. Looking back, I don’t think there was ever a family gathering where the good old casino quality deck of cards wasn’t brought out for a game of some sort. A simple game of cards can bring people together and as I have recently experienced, a game can bring people from all over the world together. The cards give you a sense of belonging or a reason why you are suddenly surrounded by the people around you. Whether I played cards on the red marble covered table at my grandparents, on a plane meal tray flying over Africa, on a rickety picnic table somewhere in Australia or gathered around a coffee table in a cozy cabin nestled by a creek in New Zealand; a deck of cards has always given me a sense of belonging and a reason to believe that I am where I am for a purpose.

Don’t Expect an Easy Way Out

If you’ve ever played cards with me, perhaps you have witnessed me with a hand full of jokers – for some reason they always wind up in my hand (I swear I don’t cheat), sometimes allowing me to easily win a round – or two. BUT, you aren’t always dealt the jokers or the wild cards, so there isn’t always going to be an easy way out. My Grandpa taught me this lesson best. Even though I was his granddaughter and he loved me, there was no way he would ever let me win. I never realized at the time (and maybe he didn’t either) but my grandpa was teaching me a whole lot about life in a single card game. There were times, I wanted to give up and not play cards against him because the probability of me winning a hand was never in my favour! He played to win and he was merciless when there were cards on the table. However, he taught me that it is alright to lose as long as I continue to give it my best the next time to try and win. Even when things are hard, don’t throw in your cards and give up. Just try again.

Pass Your Knowledge onto Others

If you’re a frequent card player, or frequently find yourself around card players, you’ll notice that each person knows different rules to some games, such as Rummy, where there are many versions to be played. You’ll hear, “We play it this way,” or “I’ve never heard of those rules before!” I enjoy the diversity each player is able to bring to the table. It allows for us to pass along our knowledge of the game while being able to absorb others knowledge of the same game. It’s fun to sometimes combine rules of different games to make a new game, as long as all the players agree on the rules! There are also times when some people may not know a particular game and you have to opportunity to teach them the rules and how to play the game. It’s all about collaboration and passing on what you know to others.

Always Be Present or You’ll Miss Something

In my early days of playing cards, I’m sure my family can testify to me never really being present in a game. I was off making sounds that annoyed them, I wasn’t thinking of how to play my cards before it got to my turn and I would have to be reminded that, in fact, it is my turn and so on. I would miss the fact that someone laid a wild card for me as they simply had too many or I would unknowingly have my opponents take advantage of me because I was not present in the game. I would miss something that was right in front of my eyes. Over time, I ditched the sound making and the wandering eyes and mind and learned how to focus on a game and to strategize, planning out my next move. In the long run, this has taught me about life. To live in the present. To not dwell on the past and to not worry about what may or may not happen in the future. Just to simply be present, where you are in each moment of the day. To look where your feet are planted, love every minute of it and don't miss out on the little things. 

You Can Still Win With a Bad Hand

The funny thing about playing cards is that you can be dealt really, really bad hands. You might not have anything you can work with or you might have nothing at all to play. This can go one of two ways. No matter what strategy you have in place or how strong your strategy might be - sometimes the cards just don't go your way. This happens in life too. You could have the best laid plan in the world, but things don't always turn out the way you imagined. And just like in a game of cards, you find out it's going to all be all right in the end. The same situation can go the other way as well. Maybe you're dealt a poor hand but there still a chance, even just a small chance, that if you play your cards right, you can come out winning - even against all odds. And really, is there a better feeling than being able to win with a bad hand?

THE FEEL GOOD TEACHER POST

Even though I have loved travelling for what was pretty well two full months, I was ready to get back to teaching again. I missed it. Since it was the beginning of the second term when we returned from New Zealand, the calls were few and far in between. I had worked one day out of a possible six for the first week and a half. I was beginning to wonder if my agency had forgotten about me since I had been away. Finally, I got a call on Wednesday which lead me back to one of my favourite schools to teach! Luckily for me (and not so lucky for the very ill teacher), I got to continue teaching there for the remainder of the week. It's funny how, as CRT's, we are always hoping for someone to get sick. Not that we truly want them to be sick, we just appreciate the work that comes along with it. In the staffroom today, a teacher was talking about how she thought she was coming down with a cold of some sort. I leaned over and said "If you ever need to take a day, I'd be happy to take your class!"

For the last three days, I've been teaching a group of 3/4's. I love this school in particular, but there is one class, with one student, that everyone is afraid of taking. Since I hadn't been back to the school since Term 4 last year, I wasn't sure which class was the 'scary class' as all the students would have moved up a grade and swapped classrooms. On the train to school Wednesday morning, I found myself mentally preparing for the odd chance that this particular class would be my assignment. As I signed in at the office and chit-chatted with the ladies, one of the secretaries handed me my schedule for the day saying "You've got 3/4D" with a look that could only mean one thing: 3/4D was the class I wanted to avoid. 

As I made my way down the corridor to the classroom, I passed by the other 3/4 teachers. "Now Kaitlyn, listen," the first one said. "If James* does anything at all today, you bring him straight to my class." Alright, good to know that I've got back up going into this. "Kaitlyn, how you going? Have you got 3/4D today?" the second teacher asked. She continued apologetically, "You'll be okay but let me know if you need anything." She then patted me on the back and looked at me, with her eyebrows raised, as if she had just left me heartbroken.

It's not that this student is a terrible child, he is just extremely loud and usually takes pride in disturbing the entire class. I flash backed to last term when I was teaching in year two. He was cartwheeling through the classroom in the middle of the reading lesson, stomping on others' reading books only to cuss at them when they kindly asked him to stop. These things were only the mild. 

I entered the classroom and began preparing for the day with a positive mind set. What could I do to avoid possible problems with James*? How will I get him to pay attention in my lesson? I knew that if he wasn't paying attention during the sessions, it would be hard for the rest of the class to learn. He was going to be my focus so that I could deliver quality lessons throughout the day. 

The morning bell rang and students began making their way into the classroom, noticing that I am, in fact, not their regular teacher. The girls were around my waist immediately showing me their darling loom bracelets and all trying to tell me everything all at once. The boys gathered around some car book at the back of the room and collectively asked only one question,"Are you our teacher today?" Yep. "Cool." Then, in walks James* and the moment he realizes I am the teacher for the day, his eyes light up. "WHOOOOHOOOO! Mr. A isn't here today! We can do whatever we want! Guys how awesome is this!" and then he looks at me and I go, "WHOOOOOHOOOOO! Miss. Kaitlyn is here today and we are going to have the most awesome day and learn so much!" I'll admit, it was a risk to copy his behaviour, but it worked. He came up to me, pointed his finger and said "Yeah, I remember you from last time Kaitlyn." "Alright, go put your bag away and come join us on the floor." And he did. There wasn't a dispute, there were no interruptions, he just sat calmly on the floor - ready to learn. Awesome!

We started our morning Maths lesson talking about symmetry. "CEMETERY!! Why are we learning about where dead people get buried!" After explaining what symmetry is (and the difference between the two words) I asked James*, "Now, can you think of anything in a cemetery that could be symmetrical?" "A GRAVESTONE!" and I drew an oblong semi-circle with a flat bottom on the board. He loved it! He started finding other things in the room that had a line of symmetry. He was participating in the lesson and actually motivating the other students to help him find more symmetrical items! 

Recess time came and a grabbed myself a cup of coffee in the staffroom. One of the other 3/4 teacher's walked in and asked how James* had been. "I was expecting him to be in my room by 9:02!" she stated. "Oh no, he's been great and he is participating really well in class!" I exclaimed. I watched as both 3/4 teachers' jaws dropped and in replied in unison, "Wow!" I went on to explain how the morning had been great and how there were no disruptions or disputes of any kind and each teacher in the staffroom was shocked. To be quite honest, I was just as shocked myself but I couldn't help feeling proud of myself for doing something 'right.' 

Following recess, a teacher who was on yard duty came to the classroom door. "Can I speak with James*?" she asked. My mind immediately wondered if recess had been a turning point for him. Had he misbehaved on the playground? Get into another fight? She looked at me in disbelief as she whispered, "I actually have to tell James* how great this recess was and commend him on his behaviour." I smiled.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. As the class ate lunch, he asked me to share a story about a time when I was his age. I told the class about the time I had caught a garter snake and kept it as a pet and named it Joe. I shared about how I later caught what I thought would be his 'best friend,' a juicy frog named Blake. I had the class guess about how their friendship together in my small fish bowl worked out. James* guessed it, Joe swallowed Blake whole! He was so intrigued with my story and began asking me more questions. 

Thursday was just the same! A great day with lots of learning and a James* with a positive behaviour! I noticed another student purposely doing things that would irritate James* to 'set him off.' Even the other students weren't used to this behaviour. Thankfully, I recognized the attempts of the other student trying to throw him off and diverted the situations before they amounted to anything! James* was absent on Friday but part of me wished he had been there because he was doing so well the previous days. 

I was asked to write a certificate for the Pupil of the Week. Each classroom teacher chooses one student and on Monday morning at the assembly, the students will receive their certificate in front of the entire school. Without a doubt, I wrote James'* name on that certificate stating that he had been making good choices with a positive behaviour. I wish I could be there on Monday to see his reaction to getting a Pupil of the Week certificate because he deserves it! 

It could be that James* was just having a good week, but I can't help but feel that I was doing something right. The key is always being positive, even when going into tough situations. I believe that positivity breeds positivity and creativity and that the outcome can be nothing but awesome! It feels really great to have experiences like this and I have to say, I am no longer afraid of 3/4D. I walked out of school today with a smile on my face, hoping that I will get another chance to teach 3/4D this term!


*James is a pseudonym to conceal identity.

Great Ocean Road & Grampians

On Monday morning, we got up to hire a car so that we could start our little adventure! We got to the rental place nice and early and loaded our belongings and selves into the car. I turn the car on and I was about to throw it into drive when I realized we had gotten a STANDARD car! We went back in to ask for a automatic car, but the last one just drove off with other excited adventure seekers. Well, now was the time to put all my standard driving lessons to the test. I didn't feel overly confident, but I knew it was something I could do. Embarrassingly enough, I didn't realize the emergency break was on while becoming frustrated that I couldn't even get the car into first in a parking lot. Once I realized that that was the problem, we were off. But not for long. The stop and go traffic, combined with my sisters inability to give directions left us stalling at green lights and creating some sort of traffic drama. 

I got her all figured out on our way to the Great Ocean Road. Not the easiest thing to on my first time driving standard, but I did well on the first day. I got some old man towing a camper really revved up when I accidentally stalled going up a hill. He knocked on our window (the one that didn't roll down) and tried to be angry at us. That's the funny thing about people. They often waste too much of their energy being angry at little things instead of choosing to avoid it and be happy instead.

Getting some pictures near Angelsea Lighthouse!

I was able to show my sister many sights along the way. We stopped at Torquay Beach, Erskine Falls, Angelsea, Lorne and spotted some cute koalas along the way! Johanna Beach was our last stop of the day which is where we set up camp for the night. It was easy enough to just pull the ladder of our tent down and it just pops up on top of the car roof. It's rather silly looking but mega easy to set up and take down. We watched the sunset on the beach. It was spectacular! 

Our little Wicked Campervan set up in Johanna Beach.

Johanna Beach sunset!

After a long night of not sleeping, but shivering instead, we cranked the heat in the car and drove off making stops at the Twelve Apostles and walking the trails of Loch Ard Gorge and Thunder Cave!

The Twelve Apostles!

We got to Warrnambool around noon and hadn't eaten yet as we needed propane for our camp stove. We found a K-Mart and stocked up on some propane and a proper blanket for the following nights. We cooked our brekky sandwiches right in the parking lot and stole the nearby Hungry Jack's WiFi to Facetime! 

We decided to head up to the Grampians next. We had seen a lot of coast and were looking forward to get into the "mountians." Which, in Australia, the mountains are no Rockies and in comparison, quite small. Beautiful nonetheless. 

Once again, my navigator had gotten us lost, but it was all about the adventure! Siri lead us back to the main road after we ventured off onto a few farm roads with gravel as orange as, well, an orange! 

Heading into the Grampians, we got some awesome views of mountains and it was nice being one of the very few people travelling along the road! 

We made our way through the bottom half of the Grampians swerving to avoid Kangaroos, Emus, Possums and other miscellaneous wildlife along the road. When we arrived at a campsite called Jimmy's Creek, we decided we would set up our little tent there for the night. After the two minute set up, we took off on an adventure walk, which basically ended up being an unmarked path to no where - but it was 2km straight up hill in the 32 degree heat! Some killer views though! When we got to the other side of the path, we were completely lost since all the landmarks we noticed were not on the map! So, we just started walking - eventually finding a 4x4 track and making our way back. We returned to find a few guests in our campsite! To take a shower, we filled up an old metal pail that had a shower head on it, filled it up with river water and hoisted it up on the chain for it to pour down. It was funny but made me realize how much water only a quick shower uses. 

One of our camp site visitors!

Up early the next day to explore more of the Grampians! We really wanted to see the falls that were near by, which by how the map had it laid out meant it was only a short drive on an unsealed (gravel) road. Well, the gravel road ended and turned to sticks and stones. After twenty minutes of driving on that, we decided to turn around and forget those falls. Luckily, we found some others. I like to climb rocks and anything that looks remotely climbable. In no time I was up on top of the Silverhead Falls with my sister on my should saying "get down now!" No thank you. 

From there, we ventured on to Halls Gap and many popular lookout places such as Boroka Lookout and The Balconies. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see Mackenzie Falls (although we tried) as they had it completely blocked off since a fire recently wiped through the area causing a lot of damage. At all the lookouts, they had fences that acted as safety boundaries and although my safety guru sister yelled at me, I like to think of them more as suggestions. It's really a lot nicer if you just step a smidgen outside the fence and take a look at a view that everyone else is missing from standing inside the boundary. You can't dangle your feet off a cliff from a walking path! 

Views from Boroka Lookout!

We ended up hiking to the top of another mountain later on in the evening after trying to find a place to camp out, but failing and going through another series of dirt roads and getting the car awfully dirty! All the views were 10/10 and completely and totally awesome! I hope I will get another chance to visit the Grampains again before my time in the area expires!

We ended up camping back at Jimmy's Creek again and our guest came back just as we sat down for some dinner. Perfect timing dude!

The entire trip was quite the adventure and provided some great sister time! This morning as we drove back down a quiet highway, we past about five small "one-horse towns" - all without gas stations. We rode on the fuel light for a good half an hour. I was starting to get slightly worried as my phone had little service and I wasn't exactly sure of our location. Luckily, we found a fuel station and filled her up. The whole time we were riding with little fuel, I just knew we would find a "servo" because I didn't feel like having bad luck today. Ha Ha! Always think happy thoughts!!

Thanks for following along on my adventure. In a few days we are headed up to Sydney to meet with the rest of my family! 

I'M JUST A LITTLE DREAMER

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I have been living in Australia for the last seven months. It has been a crazy, incredible adventure. I look back to just about a year ago when I received the email stating that I was accepted to come teach in Australia. As I read that email, I didn't know how much this opportunity would change my entire life. In that moment, I had no clue what my responsibilities were even going to be once I got here. All I knew is that I was going to a place that I had always dreamed to visit and to pursue my first teaching job and a chance to travel a beautiful country.

I can't even imagine what my life would be like had I stayed in Canada to teach. I do miss Canada and all the beautiful faces back at home, but right now, I can't even picture myself anywhere else but in Australia. It is an amazing country of discovery, exploration and complete happiness. I know that one day, I will defiantly miss living here. There are nights where I have to ask myself, "am I seriously living in Australia right now?" because for me, Australia had only ever been a dream. It had always been "over there" or "too far away." 

Noosa Beach, Australia, 2014

I am young. I am a young person with dreams. I am baffled by the fact that two of my biggest dreams that I had as a child have already been realities for me. Ever since a young age, I was fascinated by The Big Five, or the famous African animals. I dreamed for a chance to some day go on a safari to see those animals in their natural environments. I dreamed of the opportunity to be submerged into a vibrant African culture and do work that would benefit the lives of others. Next to Africa was always Australia. I desperately wanted go to the Sydney Opera House since the first time I saw it on TV. I dreamed of swimming alongside the marine life in the Great Barrier Reef. I dreamed of learning to surf somewhere on a beautiful Australian beach. Who would have thought that in my short twenty-two years of life, I have completely fulfilled these dreams. 

Emdoneni Cat Sanctuary, South Africa, 2012

Just because these dreams are fulfilled, I will never stop dreaming. I have a long list of dreams big and small wandering around somewhere inside of my head, waiting to be fulfilled. Mark my words, I WILL step foot on each continent. Antarctica might be tricky, it isn't entirely outside the realm of possibility, so I'll try my very best.

I have five months left in Australia. My feelings are completely mixed. There are days where I wish I could go home early to see everyone and get back to a 'regular' life and then there are days where I wouldn't change a single thing! I'm most excited that my sister arrives in Melbourne in FOUR days which will commence an unreal sister road trip! Shortly after, we will meet with my parents and little sister in Sydney to head off and do some more travelling!  I can't wait to experience the Cairns area with them and to show them Noosa and Sydney. 

The way I see it, you are given one life. Dream as big as possible and do what you want. Go after your dreams, work hard, be courageous and never take 'no' for an answer. Don't let your dreams only ever be dreams. Make them come alive and live them! 

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! 

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!

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!