G'day

Well it's about time for another posting, hey? So I've picked up the Australian habit of saying 'hey?' after every sentence. I have also started saying things like'rubbish bin' and 'petrol station.' Well life is finally falling into place. The first week here I was lucky enough to stay with a member while I took time to find a room for rent in a house with some LDS girls. I found a house that is a bit outside the city but the rent is cheap and the landlords are LDS, too. My roommates are Katherine (next to me) and, ironically enough, another girl named Alana. It gets confusing when people address us so we have been nicknamed A1 and A2 (me). Another girl, Rebecca, has also moved in now but she wasn't there for the picture.It will be interesting living with 18 year olds. It has been fine so far, though. Just after I moved in I started looking for a job. I had a couple interviews and offers for part-time work, but I held out for a more full-time job teaching English to foreigners. (I have to put that training in Thailand to good use!) One day, when I didn't have any interviews I decided to go to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which was the world's first Koala sanctuary. Now it has not only koalas but also all kinds of native Australian animals. I couldn't help but pay the extra money to cuddle a little furry-bummed koala. She pooped on me, though. There was also a big open grazing range for the kangaroos, wallabys and emus.

The kangaroos were used to people and didn't mind people petting them. They reminded me of big rabbits.This is a Tasmanian Devil. He sure didn't act like the one on the Warner Brothers cartoons; he just slept in the cave the whole time.

The dingos reminded me of a Meryl Streep movie about an Australian woman who was put on trial for killing her child but she insisted that "The dingo ate my baby!"

At the Goanna cages it was feeding time. Looks like he had chicken for dinner.

One of the highlights was the sheepdog show. These dogs were extremely well trained and the sheep were still as stupid as ever. It was amazing to think about how humans have trained animals to help control other animals.

Baah . . . raam . . . yuu . . . !

But the sleeping koalas were my favorite. Actually almost all of the koalas were asleep because the eucalyptus plant (the only plant they eat) doesn't have enough calories to sustain much energy even during the day.

On the bus ride home that day one of the schools I had applied at called me back and offered me a more full time job. I had an interview and liked the school so I accepted the job at Eurocentres and started planning lessons for the following Monday.On the Saturday before my first day of teaching I went with my roommate and some friends to the Gold Coast where the famous Surfer's Paradise beach is. It reminded me a lot of southern California.
Except the lifeguards had their work cut out for them. All over the beach were flags warning people of the rip tides, jellyfish, and other dangers. They drove around in trucks with megaphones keeping people out of the dangerous areas.It was a nice relaxing day before the stress of my first day on the job. I teach three classes of pre-intermediate and then intermediate level students of all mixed nationalities (anywhere from Latin America to Korea to India). It has been fun getting back into teaching and I'm getting used to how the school is run. My coworkers have also been helpful in showing me around and giving me ideas. This week there were some Aboriginal dances being performed out on the street near the school so I got permission to take the class on a field trip to see them. The day before I taught a little lesson on Aboriginal culture and even though some of the students have been in Australia longer than I have none of them really knew who the Aboriginees were or the struggles they have had since white people came. With help from the books and movies I've seen and others I showed in class we were able to learn a bit more and have a good discussion. However, I had never seen anything in real life so I took as many pictures as the students did during the dances.I loved the didgeridoo music and I've seen places where you can take lessons to learn how to play it but I've also heard that in true Aboriginal culture women aren't allowed to play it so I'm still undecided.

Anyway things are going well so far and I apologize for the long delay in posting. I've been trying to set up my internet at home and I've been having technical difficulties. I wanted to get that sorted out before posting something, but it was just taking too long. Until next time!