First School Break- Blue Mountains Vacation

It was the Saturday I had been looking forward to for a few weeks! The first term was over! I had survived (sort of) and my mom was here and we were going to enjoy spending two weeks exploring and showing her around our home for the year.  I was looking forward to enjoying some Australian wine and being outside. Unfortunately, my good old tonsils prevented me from enjoying that wine for the first 10 days of the break, but it would not stop us from seeing the beauty of our new home.

After another trip to the local clinic, a new doctor and a good second dose of antibiotics, I was on the mend and we were packed and ready to venture to the Blue Mountains.

Our fall break holiday was a combination of "Stairway to Heaven" and "Don't go Chasing Waterfalls" as our little get away to the Blue Mountains was simply amazing and physically challenging at times too.

Day One: Scenic World:
It was a bust day of driving. First stop was Scenic World. We had a great time. Hiked to the Three Sisters (which don't quite compare to the ones in Canada) and then spent the rest of the day exploring Scenic World and going on the cable car, train and seeing the great scenery.

 Our home for the 5 days was in Blackheath at a Airbnb. It was fantastic! Checkers was a favourite activity after our long days of hiking, stairs and chasing waterfalls.

Day Two: Bush Walk to Victoria Falls Cascades

Wow! What a walk. A slightly off the beaten track drive to the start of the walk. But would you expect anything else from Matt. Not really! The 5 of us walked down the hundreds of stair to the beautiful resting spot. The walk up was gruelling, but with Maëlle leading the way we were up in no time.

Day Three: Jenolan Caves
Two tours of the caves. We had a great day walking and learning. Maëlle did a presentation on the caves for her recap of her holidays. What a beautiful drive down the caves. We unfortunately didn't see much wild life other than some road kill on the side of the road.

Day Four: Wentworth Falls
Tourist overload! So busy, but so worth the end result. More stairs were in the adventure today again. This was supposed to be our low key day. We ended up going to the bottom of the falls and then straight back up. It was crazy busy at the top, but a lot less populated at the bottom. We stopped for a very fancy picnic that we picked up from the only place open on this holiday day.

 

Day Five: Botanical Gardens, Apple Picking and Cider Tasting
It was time to head back to Oatlands. We made a few great stops along the way!

This was the away part of the holiday. It was so nice to get away and explore. Australia is not all beaches at all. The Blue Mountains were so beautiful and relaxing. I think though that Alberta's Three Sisters is just a bit bigger 😀.

Term 1: Learning, Growing and Exploring

We have now been in Australia for over 3 months. We have just finished the first term of teaching and have now started the first break of the school year. It is crazy to believe that that much time has passed. (It has taken me over a week to finish this post as I was sick and then we went on a little holiday.)

SCHOOL: I started this term feeling very overwhelmed, feeling like a new teacher again, and feeling like I had to ask for help or explanation for almost everything. In the last two weeks I can say I am felt more relaxed about programming and have been having a lot of laughs each day with colleagues and my students. I am now more than the teacher from Canada for my students and have really been able to get to know a lot about some of them and form those important teacher student relationships that will last forever. I can say though that I will never complain about a PD day back home as although I have gotten used to the PD/meetings after and before school here, I will really enjoy those PD days back home during school hours while the students stay home. I have finally gotten used to the extras each week such as community language, scripture, assemblies (sometimes 3) and many other things and I am told now my timetable will change again in term two. This last week has been a crazy one with lots of fun. Wednesday was Girraween Show Day was fantastic and such a huge event that was so much fun to be part of. Thursday I got dressed up and participated in the staff versus students volleyball game. I am working at a not so sport based school and these kids just had so much fun playing "volleyball" against the teachers.
 I did show my kids in my class after some pictures of what real volleyball looks like and they were very impressed. Friday, the last day of the term, we did a bit of Easter fun and then the teachers got to go out for a celebratory dinner. I am happy to say I am feeling much more relaxed about the upcoming term, although not sure how I will feel after 29 reports.

LIFE: Life is busy! We have all settled into routine and are working at balancing all that we want to do compared to my energy level after a work week. Being that we live in Sydney there is so much to do around here within an hour drive that we have so many options. We are checking off adventures every weekend. I am loving Parramatta and exploring the area. I lucked out and found a great gym to go to and am excited to get back to it after the break. I work with great people and I am excited to get out with them more as the year goes on.  Maëlle has had a fantastic first part of year one and is loving school. We have both noticed so much growth in her and for all those back home you would notice mostly that she is way more confident. She has spoken in front of her whole school at assemblies and her teacher has nothing but good things to say about her and her creativity. She has decided to take a break from swimming for a bit as it was just too late at night after a full day of school. She loved the swim meet that she competed in and did her first relay. The crew will continue to swim with coach daddy each week just earlier in the evening. Malia has grown (up) a lot since we arrived. She is in groups three days a week and is quiet, but full of personality. She is starting to learn some letters and is pretending to read like her sister.  Matt has been running, running and more running. He has managed to get to activities, shop and play with the Chariot. He is playing Ultimate and getting to really put time into cooking (YUMMY!).

FAMILY: We are doing this together. Matt has been fantastic and has been embracing everything about being here, especially when I am exhausted and tired. He is our travel planner, cleaner and executive chef. He has had a lot of patience with my work load and the girls full time while I am busy planning and trying to stay on top of everything.  The girls are getting along for the most part and have been doing fantastic with less.

MISSING HOME: DEFINITELY. Enough said.
I miss each and everyone of you. FaceTime, Skype, iMessage and WhatsApp are fantastic. I love getting to check Facebook and Instagram (even Twitter occasionally) to see what everyone is up to back home. The girls talk about their friends all the time, it is very cute. The packages in the mail make them so excited and it could be anything! Maëlle is wanting to write letters to mail home so we will try and get on it!

SLANG and MY ACCENT: Well were I am teaching I am definitely getting exposed to a few different languages and I am guessing I am going to come back with a mix of Australian and Indian accent combined with my Canadian one. It is not as often that I say the "wrong thing" or someone points it out at least. My students still giggle from time to time and I still stop and think often in the staffroom and classroom.  I am starting to use some of the Aussie slang naturally now, but for some reason people still smile when I use it.

Off to the Blue Mountains we go! Granny is here and we are so excited!

Our first Canadian Visitor

Granny/ Mom has arrived!

We all were so looking forward to having a bit of family here with us. By far the hardest part has been missing those you usually have been so close, both friends and family. The girls were so excited with a count down for days before she arrived. I was so excited I got up and looked at the flight info and thought she was an hour early and headed to the airport really early as I was looking at the wrong day for the flight and the next day was taking into consideration the time change that was happening that night.

Granny arrived at the end of term 1 for me and Maëlle. Maëlle was full of energy but looking forward to a break and mom was exhausted but also ready for a break as well.

Granny has been busy keeping up with the girls and Matt, reading Robert Munsch books over and over that she brought for the girls, and eating Matt's fantastic food.

Sick Day- AGAIN

I am now sick for the second time in the first term. Those that know me back home have said you never get sick. True back home, but not here. This time it appears as if hopefully all I have is a form of strep, although I have to go back to the doctor to check on a gland that is swollen under my chin that is not too normal.

Now for my frustration. Why am I getting sick. I really do not like this. Is it just adjusting to new environment, the stress of work (which I had back home too) or just go go going too much. Time to slow down. This first break can't come fast enough is what my body is telling me.

For now I am going to rest all day and get back at it. I am really looking forward to having my mom here to look after me. I have found a gym and loved it this week, so hope to be better fast to get back in shape.

Of a side note, thank you to all who have messaged about cyclone Debbie, we are not close to it.

Back to bed I go.


Sick update: Sick again!!! Tonsillitis taking over. Round 2 of antibiotics better do the trick.

Doing a lot with a little in a foreign land

Over the last 4+ years I have called myself a stay at home dad but until we arrived in Australia and Kellie started working I wasn’t a true stay at home dad as I always had my job (even though it rarely felt like one).  

We have moved halfway around the world to live in the 2nd most expensive city in the world (behind Hong Kong) and somehow we are supposed to live off of 1 income (a Canadian teachers income at that which to me is very decent but in reality pretty average and roughly 20k less per year then a local teacher).  We are to explore this new amazing country while keeping the kids grounded and in some activities to make it feel like home.  All of this while trying to save enough to live off of and travel with essentially no income for the following 6-8 months.

Rereading this it sounds quite daunting.  I won’t even get into what it’s like to try to keep up with (and let go of) running and still owning a small business back home.   

We’ve traded in 2 cars back home for 1 here plus some bus passes (cars are not expensive but insurance and gas etc are).  We’ve traded 2 cell phones for 1 (one of the few things that are cheaper here).  I mostly get around on foot and I shop around lots for grocery deals (there are lots of options being in a big city).

Somehow it is all kind of working and this new adventure has been good for the soul and reinvigorated my passion for cooking (a big cost saver) and helped me to explore other new avenues (I recently gave sewing a go).  

I think every parent would benefit from being a homemaker on a budget.  A budget doesn’t need to look the same for everyone and I think it’s more fun and rewarding when you do it because you want to as opposed to have to.  For us we are doing it so that we can have as many different opportunities here and in our travels home as possible for our family; so the better we do the more fun we get to have :)  

Harmony Day - We all belong

Mural made for Harmony Day

Today was Harmony Day in Australia. I got to enjoy seeing my students in "orange" and not their school uniforms for the day. Talk about excited kids. We have so many theme days back home that I don't think they get this excited to wear something special. Here are some pictures from the day. Harmony day is about celebrating differences and learning about new cultures. I read a great Mem Fox book to my class and we had a great time discussing where we all came from. Our school's theme was "Our Island Home" and my students discovered and discussed the many different homes they have and what makes a home. I have students who have come from many parts of the world and it was nice to get to know whey they left their home to come to Australia. Some of their stories are amazing.

Part of the Harmony Day display made by students

Like my little person representing me from Canada. Shows where our students come from at our school.

Why orange?
Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Day. Orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. Also if you ask my students it means getting to eat oranges and carrots for snacks and wearing orange to school.

Learning is a lot of fun

Sometimes teachers get to play and have fun after school while learning too! LEGO WE.DO training was a great time for all after school this week. I am thinking that once we become a K-6 school we should do this with the younger grades back home. It was a lot of fun. I am excited to do with my class this week.

It has been raining a lot lately! When it rains it pours is very true in Sydney. We have got our fill of rain in the last few weeks. On the school side I have finished my program review and am continuing to learn and be trained in new things each week. This week I tackle PLAN data.

Today Maëlle did her first presentation at school for a science project on mixtures. She made a cheese spread and brought in cheese spread on wraps for her class. She proudly told me that she used the boys feedback before her to help with her presentation and held her paper lower. She also said she needs to work on volume (no surprise) and her eye contact was great! Her reading is improving everyday. Considering she had no formal English reading instruction this is pretty good!

Her Harmony Day picture she made. Pretty cute if I do say so. She is already better that me at the Australian anthem. Singing it most nights as she dances around the house.

Harmony day this is the language I speak, Bonjour.

Oh and Matt has been giving his go at making a backpack carrier for Malia for our trip to the Blue Mountains and for travelling after Australia. He has been trying sewing, but his latest was using one of his backpacks with Malia.