Goodbye to the Land Down Under!

Wow! I'm finally settled in back home and have recovered from the holidays! I realized that I didn't conclude my trip to Australia properly, because I left out my trip to Sydney. I left the Wilkens' family (it was very hard... I was impressed that all of them came to see me off, even at 5:00am!) I flew into Sydney on Saturday the 11th of December and arrived around 7:30am. As soon as I stepped foot off of the plane, I looked behind me hoping to see my travel buddy nearby! As much to my surprise, Andrea wasn't there, she had already made it back to the USA! So, I was set out to see Sydney all on my lonesome. I handled not having a travel buddy pretty well though, made sure I got my maps and had everything that I needed for my day adventure in Sydney! I sure did miss Andrea though, I would walk the city and think about how much fun we would have had touring this beautiful place together!

My day started with arriving at my hotel and storing my luggage while I went out on the town! I walked to the train station and took the train into the city. My first stop was Paddy's Market. Wanting to get my final lot of sunshine in before I returned home to the snow, I walked ALL DAY long outside (and yes Carol, I forgot my sunscreen!) :) After the markets and shopping around for a bit, I wandered in the city stopping at anything and everything I wanted to see. I made my way to see churches, parks, botanical gardens, and much much more. Around 3pm, I made my way to the harbour and walked around there for awhile admiring the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. I had a cruise planned and boarded the boat that took me on a hour long ride around the Harbour! It was such a beautiful scenic tour and I enjoyed every minute of it, because it was my last time to see Australia that way!

After my day in downtown Sydney and the Harbour, I stopped off to grab tea (dinner) and of course at Woolworth's to grab my last few items that I can't buy in America. Which of course were: 1. Creamed honey 2. Tim Tams (which now you can buy them here!) 3. Fruit tingles and 4. the infamous Lollies! I made it safely back to the hotel where I relaxed and finishing loading up my luggage for my flight back home!

I was nervous for the airport the next morning because I was yet again attempting to fly standby (what a fiasco that was the last time) however it all worked out perfectly. It couldn't have been better actually. Unfortunately, I had to wait until about when the flight was boarding to see if I could even enter through security and once I received my confirmed seat I had to RUN... no SPRINT to and through customs and security, then through the airport to make it to my gate so that I didn't miss the final boarding. The best part to the end of my trip was knowing that I had a confirmed seat back to the States and I WAS FLYING FIRST CLASS!!!!!!! It was amazing, I had the nice lay-back-into-a-bed seat with a down pillow and blanket, all the movies and drinks I could ask for. What more could a girl want!

I finally arrived to Los Angeles around 6am that morning, but the next morning in Australia (I leave Sydney on Sunday the 13th and arrive in LAX on the 13th of December!) A nice and easy 13 hour flight back to the States. I had to sit in LA for a little bit, but I just sat and played on the computer and listened to my new CD's from Blanche and Claire! Then it was time, to board my last and final plan FOR A VERY LONG TIME! I left LAX around 11:30am and arrived back to Kentucky where my momma, daddy, Nana, and my EDWARD were waiting for me! I was so excited to see everyone, I couldn't believe how fast my time went by but as soon as I saw them, it felt like forever had went by. Needless to say, my trip to Australia was beyond words. I am so thankful to my family and friends who supported me along the way and helped me get through the 2months of being away. I am forever thankful to my family and friends in the land down under for taking me in, making me feel right at home, and giving me the most amazing two months of my life! Australia is a beautiful country and I cannot wait to return back one day and hopefully bring Matt along next time to meet everyone there! I can't believe I'm already back home.... I'm already starting to save for my next trip down under! Cheers!

All I Want For Christmas.. Is a Little Dingo Pup!

Today was such an incredible day! We woke up early and headed to this small wildlife sanctuary about 20 minutes away called Jirrahlinga. This "zoo" fosters the native wildlife as well as local dogs, cats, and other pets for boarding. It was a located on a five acre farm and we arrived right when it opened so we basically had it all to ourselves! We had about an hour to walk around and see all of the animals before one of the staff members came out to show us koalas, baby wombats, and my personal "favourite" the little Dingo puppy! She was so precious and didn't want to eat me or the little ones at all. Instead, she gave me Dingo kisses, LOTS! I just wish I had room to bring one home with me... We watched all of the animals for awhile each and I was excited to get to see the koalas a bit more active this time around. They were running and hopping all over the ground, it was so cool! I also learned that baby koalas are called "Joeys", which was weird because I thought only Kangaroos had Joeys! Learn something new everyday.....

Fun Facts of the day:

1. Koalas, Kangaroos, Wombats, Tasmanian Devils, and Wallabies are all marsupials, which means they have a distinctive pouch to carry their young!

2. Koalas are not bears!

3. Wombats can run up to 40 kilos (translation: almost 25mph) Pretty funny, I actually would love to see that- considering they look like precious balls of chunk!

We watched the different birds for a bit too because we were quite amazed at some of the Cockatoos speaking to us "Hello," they would say as we walked past! There was two beautiful Peacocks there, one all white and the other the normal blue and green that you usually see. They both had the feathers down when we first saw them, but luckily something triggered and they both shot out their huge wings (or whatever they are called). It was so gorgeous! The pictures didn't really turn out that good because of course there was a fence keeping them protected from all of the randoms who walk by everyday! But, still very cool to see. We saw Kookaburras, owls, parakeets, lorikeets, emus, and so many more! We stopped in the gift shop before leaving and after making our purchases the lady was nice enough to take us around to the employee only area to show us their new rescue Wallaby. It was a three month old baby Wallaby who feel out of it's Mum's pouch while she was being chased by a "mean dog." It was so tiny, soft, and cuddly! It was the cutest little Wallaby I've ever seen!

After the sanctuary, we came home and started decorating some more for Christmas. Shani had a birthday party to go to for one of the girl's from her class, so after she was dropped off we (Shane, Carol, Charli and Me) decided to take the dogs to the river path and take a walk. It was such a beautiful day outside today, nice and sunny with a little wind! Perfect!

After the walk and picking Shani back up from the birthday party, we all came back home for a sleep! I was a bit adventurous today and requested that we try the kangaroo meat that they had been saving, for tea tonight! (I know! What am I turning into!?) I was a bit nervous to eat it but was a big girl and sucked it up! After my first bite, I felt really bad for liking it! We will definitely have to purchase some at Jungle Jim's for everybody to try- it tasted just like steak, I don't think anyone would even know the difference!

We ended the night with the nightly tradition... singing the twelve days of Christmas. Jaimee was out with a friend tonight so Shani took her turn of putting the ornament on. The song is now: "On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 6 toy soldiers.... 5 peppermint candies... 4 scarlet mittens... 3 little penguins... 2 Christmas trees... and a teddy bear hanging on the tree!"

It's about that time to start school back tomorrow, and I can't believe that I am getting ready to spend my last five days teaching as a student! This week is a busy one; filled with teaching, movie night (Where the Wild Things Are), running, learning to make "Pav" with Shane's Mum, and the Bellaire staff Christmas Party on Friday night. I'm excited to get to hang out with the teachers and staff one last time outside of school, it should be a very great night! I am sort of bummed at the fact Andrea is already in Sydney touring around without me, she has become my travel buddy in this beautiful country! However, we both have to do Sydney all by our lonesome. She leaves on the 10th of December so couldn't make it to Sydney with me, and I still have to teach so I couldn't switch my flight to go with her. So, it's off to Sydney early on the 12th of December, for me!!! (6am flight- woo!) I will spend the day in Sydney, touring around, taking a cruise around the harbor, shopping at the market, visiting Bondi Beach, and if I feel like spending $150 dollars- doing the Harbour Bridge Climb (haven't decided if I want to do that as my Christmas present to myself or not!) Probably not, considering the flight situation I had on the way over, I better save all I can now in case I have to buy another ticket. Furthermore, my flight back to the States departs Sydney on the 13th around 11am, however doesn't look very good for buddy pass riders (Figures, just my luck!) Well, I guess that means I may be spending one more day in Sydney! (It could be worse!) I will be optimistic as I usually am and just pray that I get a seat on Sunday. Can't wait to see everyone verrrrrrrrrrrrry soon! Love and Miss you. See you in 7 days! (Or maybe more!?)

Only 12 days of Christmas in the land down under!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

DECEMBER 1st..... What? I cannot believe how fast the time is going by. The more I think about how much longer I have in Australia, the more and more excited I get to see everyone at home. So, to answer some of your questions- "Yes, I will be coming home!" However, I will miss all of the new friends and little ones here a lot. Everything that I have done here has been an amazing experience and I am extremely grateful for being able to take on this opportunity! What a trip of a lifetime... I can't wait to come back already! "Oh yes- there will be a next time!" (mark my words)...

The 1st of December starts off very festive in the Wilkens' household. It all starts with putting up the tree and the little ones having a go at putting all of the deckies on! Then... Carol, Jaimee, and Me (this year) going around and switching around the ornaments so only one is hanging on a single branch instead of three! The night ends with someone pulling out a little "surprise" from the countdown Christmas tree and changing the lyrics to the "Twelve Days of Christmas" to match the ornament that was pulled out of the tree. Being the G.O.H. (Guest of Honor) I got to pull out the first Christmas ornament. It was a teddy bear, so we came up with the lyrics... "On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me.... a teddy bear hanging on the tree!"

Day 2: "On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me... "2 Christmas trees, and a teddy bear hanging on the tree!"

Day 3: "On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me... "3 little Penguins, 2 Christmas trees, and a teddy bear hanging on the tree!"

Day 4: "On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me... "4 scarlet mittens, 3 little Penguins, 2 Christmas trees, and a teddy bear hanging on the tree!"

Day 5-12: TBA

Unfortunately, I will not be here the rest of the days to Christmas so the family said they would gladly film each night and send it to me! I will be excited to hear what the rest of the song will be!!!!! Such a cute way to get the family together for just a little bit each night and be silly!!

So, as the days of December fly by I'm getting ready to prepare for my last and final week of teaching (AS A STUDENT)! Graduation is nearly here (December 19th 9am at NKU) :) and I am so ready to be a College Grad and look for a teaching job already and HAVE MY OWN CLASSROOM! I've already got some ideas up my sleeve to bring the life of Australia into my future classroom!

This week at school, I accomplished a lot more teaching. I taught lessons in Maths, Writing, and of course led my usual Reading rotations. I set up something unique for the kids to do and that was to write to little Michael's class in Pittsburgh. I got in contact with his teacher and set up a pen pal exchange. We finally finished out letters and the kids just loved hearing that they were writing to American students and loved it even more to hear that one of them was my cousin! Now, all I hear is "Miss Salyers, you have a cousin!" Like I never knew what a cousin was or even if I knew that I had some!" So my response, is "Yes, I have MANY!"

Today at Bellaire (Friday 4th December), we took all four Prep grades on an Excursion to Rippleside Park. A huge open area right along the beach. This was a "Healthy Me" excursion and we (the teachers) had five different rotations for each group of students to attend throughout the day. My rotation was the "ball games" rotation, so I had to brush up on the Aussie ball games the night before (Thank the Lord for Google)... I taught myself how to play Poison Ball and Tunnel Ball then just made up a few as I went along. Luckily the games for Preps were pretty easy and easily explainable too! The day was a success and of course the little mates were worn out by the end of it! We were at the park from 9:30am - 2:00pm (so basically the entire school day!) The kids enjoyed every minute of it and I finally got some Australian sun!!! (Unfortunately, now I have tank top lines!)

We made it back to school just in time to end the day with icy poles and make it to the Assembly. Which every Friday, all of the students, staff, and parents join together for the last half hour of the day outside for an Assembly. During this time, the Principal announces important information, awards are given, Student of the Week students are recognized, and anything you can think of is presented. My favorite part of Assembly however is at the very beginning.... when everyone stands for the singing of the Australian National Anthem. (Funny- but my first day... I started singing "The Star Spangled Banner!") Whoops- I've just about learned the words to "Advance Australia Fair" however I just love listening to all of the silly duffers sing the tune! Lucky for you, I filmed one for your viewing pleasure! Charli cracked me up during the song because she saw me with the camera and stopped singing and started smiling for the camera (ha, it was pretty funny)! Today, was Andrea's last day at Bellaire so I'm all alone there next week- not that we ever had time to get together during the school day so I'm sure it won't be much different. I will just know that she is in Sydney, sight-seeing without me! :(

This weekend we are planning to head to one last zoo, so that I can finally get to know the famous "Dingos"....I'm pretty excited to be having a low key weekend, as it is my final weekend in Australia! Well, I guess technically not the final one... but the final weekend with the Wilkens' crew! So, it will be nice to be able to spend the entire weekend with all of them!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone soon and I'm sure you are thinking the same about me! I just know how much you all miss me and are ready for me to come home (by the way; that's me ignoring the comments like "2 months have already passed, are you sure?" or "you haven't been gone long enough for anyone to miss you yet!") Well, I know deep down that everyone is dying to see me and we will just leave it at that.

Therefore, if you have any final requests that you wish for me to bring back to you. Please send them promptly- as I am heading into my final week in Australia and ending in Sydney on the 12th. That will be the last day for anyone to get any Aussie item- so be thinking! Although, there will definitely be another chance... just probably not for a few years- so if you think you can wait that long... be my guest!

Can't wait to see everyone very soon - Countdown = 8 days Mates!!!!

Does anyone know the meaning of Thanksgiving?

Sorry I am a bit behind in my writing. I realized that I'd only had a few short weeks left and started getting busier and busier with things to do around town.

So I will back up a few weeks and let you in on what I have been doing:

Thursday, November 26th (Most importantly: Jill's Birthday, of course- and THANKSGIVING). I believe the number one question I got from people back home was "What are you going to do for Thanksgiving, (unfortunately followed by:) Do they celebrate Thanksgiving there?" (Those people included.... Oh never mind, I won't embarrass you like that!) Anyways, come on, America- where have you been. WHY DO WE CELEBRATE THANKSGIVING!?

After I had my laugh at everyone who asked me that... It was a good day though, I was able to explain to my class about Thanksgiving (which I'm sure they know more about it now than some of you at home... sad!) I also was invited to a "Thanksgiving Dinner" at Claire's house prepared by her Mum (who was so cute, she had been planning the dinner since Tuesday). Claire's brother's girlfriend is from Michigan and just recently moved out here to finish her Masters' degree. Her Mum thought it would be nice to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner for her since she was away from home...and it is such an important holiday for us! Well, Claire asked Andrea & I over for dinner as well. Boy, was it delicious- a scrumptious meal which included sweet potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, turkey.. of course, and a delicious Pumpkin Pie (homemade). She went all out for us Americans, it was so great! Made me feel right at home on Thanksgiving!

As my days and weeks have been going by faster and faster; Carol's birthday dinner was celebrated the next night (after Thanksgiving). Andrea and I were going to actually go into Melbourne that night, but luckily decided to stay in and catch a train early Saturday morning (best idea we ever had).... Only because I didn't have to miss out on Carol's delicious birthday dinner she prepared herself and we also saved some money on a room that night!

We took a train up into Melbourne early Saturday morning and headed to the Vic Market. This place was amazingly huge stuffed with so many souvenirs, shirts, aboriginal artworks, and so much more. I did manage to purchase a few things for all of my mates at home, but still have several of you to buy for. I didn't think it was going to be this hard finding things for people, but unfortunately I'm running out of time and still have some things to get for many of you.

We spent a few hours at the Vic Market, then headed more into the city to see the famous Myer department store Christmas window display. The theme this year was Olivia Helps with Christmas, for those of you that do not read Children's literature... Olivia is a little piggy! The Myer windows were amazing, as you walked down the path each window told a different part of the story and had mechanical characters acting out the story as it was read to you over the loudspeaker! So neat- Sophie would have loved this! (Maybe I can bring her back with me one day!?)

We then went into Federation Square, where I loved looking at all of the building structures and out into the city. We were a bit disappointed because we were trying to be good tourist and take pictures of us at each spot, however there was no sign what-so-ever that said "Federation Square." We ended with a tour of the beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral. It was such a gorgeous church and they had the most amazing picture of Jesus hanging on the wall.

After we returned home from Melbourne (back to Geelong, that is), I rushed back to the Wilkens' to get ready for the Ballet concert that the two little ones were in. Carol loved the fact that she got to go to a "concert" on her actual birthday! It was actually pretty interesting, I've never really been into ballet but it was pretty cool to watch some of these girls show off some of their talents! Of course, the little ones were the cutest though! That night, I met up with 5 of the teachers from Bellaire. We had a blast at the Edge bar, owned by a Geelong footy player- and our "favourite" place to go when we go out in Geelong! We ended the night dancing our hearts away at Lamby's! It was such a great time getting to hang out with Blanche, Claire, Abby, Laura, and Kandice!

Needless to say, Sunday was a pretty relaxed day as I had been running out non-stop the past few days, not to mention working from 8-33opm all of those days as well (well, besides Saturday). But, it was all worth it (the sight-seeing, the ballet concert, the teacher's night out, and even the hangover!) :)

Much love, Cheers!

My Life in the Land Down Under!

Can you believe I only have three more weeks in this beautiful country? Are you sure you are ready for me to come home? I have seen so many amazing things since I have been here and have been able to do so many things too! For example, I have been kissed by a kangaroo... touched a koala... been insulted by a Tassie devil.... have met many amazing people... and even tried some different foods, to much of your all's surprise!!!! The picture above is from our night out in our "hometown" of Geelong. (Andrea, Me, Kirby, and Sarah) It was Sarah's birthday on 23/11/09 and we went out to the newly modeled "Edge" bar that overlooked the bay in downtown Geelong. Sarah is another student teacher from Alabama who is heading back the week before Andrea and I are, so it was nice to catch up with her and hang out for a bit! Kirby actually teaches with Sarah at Barwon Valley School, she is from Aussie. Sarah is also a special education major, which was cool to talk to her a bit since that is my major as well! It was fun meeting them and their friends! We all had a fun night! LOTS of money was spent, thankfully it wasn't any of ours! Long story- tell you all later!

This past week at Bellaire has been great. I have been doing a lot more teaching of the lessons in reading, writing, and maths. We did a Safety Walk last Friday and walked around the block at school. We practiced crossing the street, reading safety signs, and talked about what they mean. They all did a great job picking out the signs and practicing their "Stop, Listen, Look, Think" technique when crossing the road. I have been observed on my two formal lessons and all of my paperwork for graduation is nearly finished! Crazy- I can't believe 4 years of College is almost done too. My first lesson I taught was about report writing, we wrote about our Swimming Program that we participated in for two weeks. They did pretty good in writing like a reporter and most of them enjoyed pretending to be a news reporter for share time!

I also did a lesson on Subtraction. I bought the little mates "Smarties" (no, they aren't like ours). However, they are similar to our M&Ms, I know weird! We did subtraction of numbers to ten and the higher Maths groups did numbers to 20. They all did a great job on this and loved using the Smarties as their counters! Good Onya, Lauren! :) What can I say, I'm just that good! Ha, a bit slap happy tonight... Couldn't fall asleep last night, I guess its catching up with me!!

We have a lot going on this week at school too with finishing up assessments, teaching lessons, and writing to little Michael's class in Pittsburgh! I'm setting up a Pen Pal thing to his classroom with my Preps! We are going to Google Earth Pittsburgh tomorrow and show them Michael's school and around town, which will be fun and exciting!! Hopefully, they can keep in touch, however we didn't really think about the fact that the school year here is nearly over! Oh well, still will be fun for all of the kids here and in the States! We also have two more excursions coming up, one this week to the Highton Shops (we are doing a healthy walk, walking to the fresh fruit store to buy a fruit!) Yum! Next week, we are going to Rippleside, which is located along the Waterfront in Geelong. We are going there for a fun-filled day of activities! I'm pretty excited to spend the day outside playing on the beach with all of my little mates!

Other than getting ready for lessons, excursions, pen pals, mailing things home, and planning things to do while I'm in Sydney, I have just been soaking in each day that I'm spending here. We went up to Chadstone Shopping Centre, which is the largest shopping center in Australia. They had all kinds of different stores, mostly designer which was really cool to see. We had a lot of fun there, it was such a pretty mall. We got our picture with Santa last weekend at Market Square, which was fun... but Santa wouldn't let me sit on his knee (he said the "big girls" get the sides of the chair!" Whatever, Santa!) Andrea and I are planning on heading up to Melbourne for the night Friday after school, so that should be a good time. Some of the girls she met on her Contiki Tour were supposed to meet us, but it doesn't look like they are going to be able to make it now. We have a day of things planned however, we are going to wake up Saturday and go to the Vic Market, which is a massive shopping day! I'm pretty excited about that!!

I hope you all are doing well, I can't wait to see everyone! If anyone wants to join in trip number 2 I would be glad to show you around the places that I already know! :) Someone better join me next time, you all would love it here IT'S AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!

Checking off the Bucket List!

Another great week down in Australia, can you believe how fast time is flying!? This past Thursday, we celebrated my birthday with the family at the Wilkens' house. Shane's parents, Bob & Maxine and Carol's mum, Joan came over for dinner as well. Maxine is the best Pavlova baker in the world, so they made her bake one for me for my birthday! Pavlova was named after the great Russian Ballerina, Anna Pavlova. It is a meringue type of cake with a crispy crust but soft yummy inner layer! Oh, you all would love it! Matt, we are making this our next project to try and bake when I come home! This dessert is extremely popular in Australia and in the Wilkens' family, only because Shane's Mum is the best PAV maker ever! Pav's are served for celebratory occasions and Maxine isn't allowed into any occasions without a "Pav" present!

We had such a yummy dinner for my birthday celebration! It was "Chicken Wellington's", a puffed pastry stuffed with chicken, bacon, mushrooms, and cheese. This was served along with veges and a potato! We also enjoyed a delicious chocolate sponge cake with the candles designed like a "23." Crazy, it didn't feel like my birthday at all- but it was nice being able to celebrate it so many times! :) The Wilkens' got me a unique pair of earrings and necklace made out of iron ore which was made in Australia! Joan (Carol's Mum) got me a calendar of Aussie animals and Bob & Maxine gave me a calendar of all of the gorgeous Australian scenery! (Great keepsakes!) The Wilkens' also threw in some different flavored Tim Tams (which are all delicious). I honestly don't know how I'm going to get all of this food home and past Customs!?! Can someone figure that out for me!?!

This weekend was spent at Healesville Sanctuary just outside of Melbourne. It was an open range zoo full of "ONLY" Australian wildlife! We had a blast walking around the zoo and looking and reading about all of the different animals! Healesville is a sanctuary that cares for over 1500 injured/orphaned wild animals every year. I was able to see so many different animals and learn so many things about them all. Australia wildlife is so interesting and amazing... I really enjoy being able to experience all of this! I watched platypus eat yabbies (little shrimp), looked at a lizard that had no legs (and no it wasn't a snake), and saw the Australian Easter Bunny (Greater Bilby) funny looking creature. Look him up if you have time! I almost got attacked through the fence by a Brolga (which is a type of Crane), apparently his mate was nesting and from just walking into the area, I saw him and he was right up next to the fence... so I got down to look at him and he shot his beak through the fence at me! I learned later that he was only trying to protect his mate! Oops! I saw flying foxes (look just like bats), Laughing Kookaburras, Echidna's, and so many more amazing animals! During this visit at the zoo, so many things were checked off of my bucket list. I was able to watch Koala's eat gum leaves and climb around in the trees. I fed kangaroos corn & carrots out of my own hand, and even was special enough to receive a little smooch from little Skippy! This kangaroo stayed by me and let me pet and rub under his neck for nearly over five minutes... When he decided to finally leave and get more food from the other visitors, he licked my arm! I wish I had my camera out because that would have been the coolest picture ever! (side note: I still have eaten kangaroo, and now that I had this experience.... I'm not too sure I can bring myself to do it now!?)

Of course the Tassie devil made his appearance in Healesville too! These are my new favorite animal, I think! Besides the koalas and kangaroos, of course! But this little devil, had quite the personality (if you see what I mean?) His area was blocked off by an electric fence so we couldn't get too close, but I climbed around the fenced in area and stood on top of a rock near the devil to try to get him up to move around.... I'm fascinated with making these marsupials get up and move when I see them! After making many noises, he finally perked up and started walking around his area... We followed him every where he went and once he stopped, I was able to get a few good photos! Unfortunately, to our surprise he decided to give us a little bit of how he felt about us waking him up... He came right over in front of us and squatted- "Yes, Mr. Devil pooed right in front of us!" When he finished, he rub his bottom on the ground (I guess that's how they wipe, no thumbs?) and went right back to where he was before & layed down. (That was him saying, "I'll show you American!") Whoops- Oh well at least we got a show!

This weekend was so great and so much fun for the little girls and most importantly, Me! :) I can't believe it's nearly Thanksgiving. A teacher from Bellaire has "American" sister/brother in laws that her siblings married and only one of them live here in Australia. Her mom is cooking a big Thanksgiving dinner for the American daughter-in-law and Claire (the teacher at Bellaire) invited me over for Thanksgiving dinner! I'm not too sure what the plans are exactly yet but I figured that would be fun! Carol's birthday is on the 28th of November, so we are having her birthday dinner on that Friday (and we get another PAVLOVA!) Marcelle (Andrea's host mum) talked about having a Thanksgiving BBQ for Andrea and I as well, so don't worry I won't be missing out on the Thanksgiving feast. I'm sure it will be like my birthday was and I will probably get about four Thanksgiving dinners!

It's almost time for me to come back home.. Is everyone getting excited? I can't believe how quickly time is flying! I definitely have to plan a trip back (don't worry, it won't be for awhile... got to save up again!) I want to snorkel the Great Barrier Reef (but it's so far away from here and I'm running out of weekends to get these things done.) So, I'm taking Claire's advice from school and saving some things to do for Round 2!!

Can't wait to see everyone! Miss & Love you all!

23 in Tassie!

"Turnin' 23 in Tassie!"

We made it to Tasmania! We spent the weekend walking around Hobart and touring breweries, pubs, the waterfront, a Zoo, and of course Australia's first ever Casino (Wrest Point) and "No, I didn't win anything! We stayed in a hostel, in which you had to enter down this dark alley way (pretty scary, arriving there late at night) and not to mention the man that was being escorted out of the door by police as we were walking in! However, it worked out because we spent most of the day/night out and about in Hobart! We learned a lot about Hobart on all of our bus rides, the bus drivers were nice enough to throw in some Hobart history while taking us places. We learned about Mt Wellington(which is the tallest mountain in Hobart) and that Hobart is the second oldest city! Hobart reminded me of a mixture between NYC and Chicago- It was too small to be NYC but too big to be Chicago. However, Hobart is a waterfront city and was mainly operating by the port and bay's that surrounded it. Andrea pointed out that it looked European'ish too! Which we saw a lot of European buildings and the green scenery, that I can recall from pictures I have seen from Europe. Next on my list, a trip to EUROPE!?! Any takers??

Our first experience was touring the Cascade Brewery. We walked for about thirty to forty minutes to get to this brewery, but it was well worth the exercise. Free beer and a gorgeous scenery! We were walking around the brewery and got to see where the beer was brewed, packaged, shipped, and much more! My favorite part of the tour was watching all of the bottles go through the assembly line. Getting filled, labeled, cased and separated into 6 packs/cases, and boxed up! It also gave me a new insight on beer, I think I tried about eight different kinds of beer while I was in Tassie! I have a few new favorite ones that I'm hoping I can find back home, if not I may need to start shipping some now!

After the brewery, we walked back into the city and stopped for a small appetizer! Of course, we filled up on those so we didn't do dinner that night! We checked out some of the pubs around Salamanca and enjoyed people watching for a while! Our first stop was at a place called Grape Bar Bottleshop, it was a great place (if you are over 40) and dance old school! We were drawn in because it was a piano bar and we were in the mood to listen to music. After some of the old school dance moves were pulled out by some of the little ole' ladies, we bolted! Headed down to Sam Boag's (a younger joint). This pub was cool, it had a lot of neat artifacts, stained glass hanging all over, and it was even cooler because it was almost MY 23rd BIRTHDAY! It didn't really hit me that it was my birthday until, our new friends (the army and navy dudes) brought in a birthday cake with candles! Needless to say, I was surprised and wasn't expecting it! It was nice though, because it didn't really feel like my birthday because it was hot, 26 degrees (Celsius) which is hotter than my birthday is ever at home and I was in Tasmania! So, that made it feel a little more like my birthday, which was nice!

On my actual birthday, we spent most of the day walking around the Zoo in Richmond, Tasmania. We started the day off at the Salamanca Market (which was down the street from our hostel) and just walked around looking at all of the great things that there were to buy! (We both pointed out that this market reminded us of a high class garage sale) so sorry everyone, you didn't get anything from Tasmania! The Zoo was amazing though, unfortunately our bus driver's hours meant that we had to stay 3 hours at the zoo. I thought this wouldn't be a problem (thinking of spending 3 hours at Cincy Zoo, I would be fine... I could finally see the whole entire zoo and not worry about rushing through it!) However, this zoo was a tad bit smaller than Cincy Zoo... ha a LOT smaller.

It was an open range zoo which was amazing because that meant we could walk around in the areas where the animals were. We both pet a koala, an Albino Wallabee, and aggravated a Tassie Devil! We also got to feed emu's, camels, a ostrich, little horses, goats, ducks, and llamas! Because we were there for so looong... We did everything twice!! This made my birthday pretty exciting because it was my first time seeing a koala and kangaroo/wallabee & a tassie devil in person! After the zoo, we came back and got ready for the night (my birthday night!) Our first stop was a pub crawl.... which was hilarious! Our tour guide was about 60yrs. of age and the whole group of people were married couples! We couldn't stop laughing at the fact that we were the youngest in the group and the only singles! The tour was interesting though and we got to learn more about Hobart, other than the pubs as well! We stopped off for our first drink at Victorian Tavern (which was originally an Irish Pub) and this was where I tried "Cascade First Harvest" (the beer made from Hops)... It was ok, but I wasn't a huge huge fan! So, I won't be looking for that one when I go home!

After the pub crawl (which consisted of two drinks), we decided to head out for a nice Italian dinner. We ate bruschetta and a calzone and downed a bottle of my new favorite wine (Frogmore Creek).... It was delicious! After dinner, we headed back out to the pubs on Salamanca and then the casino, where I didn't win anything! I also didn't bet much either, so that was ok! Salamanca Place, was the place to be this weekend! It had the best pubs, cafes', restaurants, and of course our "favorite 24 hour bakery" that we went to every single night in Hobart! We made it around the the Tasmania Museum & Art Gallery, which was very interesting. This building was built in 1863 and holds all kinds of Tasmania artifacts, pieces of art (of course) and Aboriginal artifacts. My favorite area of the museum was the animals and botanical areas and the Antarctica display they had going on! Before we went out on the town one night, we sat in the Parliament House park and "people watched" and rested from our long walk to Cascade. The Parliament House was beautiful, it was originally a hotel but is now one of the oldest civic buildings in Hobart. In my book, I read that it was designed by John Lee Archer and built by convicts (who were mainly in Hobart back in that day, because Tasmania- or Van Diemen's Land as they used to call it was the spot to send all of the convicts.. even from Ireland, Europe, etc...) But anyways, John Lee Archer- related some how?? *Lou, you are a computer man- you can take that on as a project!*

When I arrived back in Geelong, it was 36 degrees (Celsius).... which is 95 degrees for my USA friends! I went with Carol, Shane, and Charli to the local pool and layed out in the sun for a bit... Well, I was actually in the pool most of the time because it was so hot! We left the pool and headed to the market to pick up tea. (Which is "dinner") We were having a barbecue! Everyone got to eat hamburgers, but Carol, Jaimee, and I all got to eat CHOPS! (No, not pork chops)..... "Baa Baa".... All I could think of was Mary's poor little lamb! So, yes.... I'm a changed girl- I'm trying all different kinds of foods- meats, veges, and drinks! In Hobart, I tried avocado, cucumber, goat cheese, and eight different beers! :)

Today, back at school we celebrated my birthday! The kids enjoyed it because I brought in cookies (or biscuits) as they would call them! I got to wear the birthday hat and even got a birthday sticker! They sang "Happy Birthday" to me in the morning and even added a little twist onto the song... It was so cute! We had a fun day celebrating my birthday and tomorrow we get to celebrate again because it is Mr. Holloway's birthday! (The other teacher that I am following at Bellaire, since I am blessed with a team teaching classroom that has 38 students in it!) I love that style actually, it seems to work very well here at Bellaire!

Hope everyone enjoyed my birthday! I miss ya'll and can't wait to see everyone here soon... I'm down to my final month, already! Can you believe it!? I will be back before you know it and it will be like I was never gone! CONGRATS TO SOPHIE FOR USING HER BIG GIRL POTTY! I'M SO SAD I MISSED THAT BIG ACCOMPLISHMENT.... She better be a pro at it by the time I get home so I can SCREAM "YAH SOPHIE!!!!!!!!!!" Miss & Love you all!