Orientation - Day 1
Caboolture, Australia
Monday was our first day of orientation. They didn't load us full of information because all of the other students didn't arrive until Sunday and jetlag plus lots of details just simply don't mix. We were introduced to several very important people to our stay - including our homestay coordinators, school supervisors, professors at QUT (Queensland University of Technology - the school with which MSU coordinates this experience), and even the head of the college! We also got our pictures taken and received our official QUT Identification cards. We were given a Subway lunch, complete with the Australian cookies Tim-Tams, and additional sweets Lamingtons. Even though you would think Subway would be universal, there definitely were things that were different here in Australia! At supper this evening I found out that they do not have graham crackers here in Australia, and that most people do not know what a s'more is! I also heard some unusual vocabulary that you might enjoy! jumper = jacket, boot = trunk, hire = rent.
written by  cowane1 on August 16, 2010 from Caboolture, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!

Orientation - Day 2
Caboolture, Australia
We began our day with a very exciting lecture by one of the QUT professors, Jenny. The class was about the middle years, and her lecture focused particularly on the adolescent brain! Following her lecture, we were sent to the library for instruction about searching out accessible curriculum items, and where to find them within the library. After that we discussed our homestay experiences and some of the differences and similarities we'd seen thus far! Many of the things mentioned were things that I had noticed at first when mom and dad were here. Unfortunately two of the girls who had come mentioned that they were concerned with the amount of food they were being given and fed by their homestay mom. QUT staff were amazing and suggested several things, and even offered to politely mention it to her. Being from Minnesota, we wouldn't allow that and since then it apparently has gotten a bit better. After the discussion we were free to eat our packed lunches on the school campus. After that we were to be in another class with the QUT students, and much to our surprise it was a sheep brain DISECTION! Apparently, sheep brains are quite close to our brains and through this disection we were able to see the different parts of the brain. It was interesting, because we had very few safety regulations. We were given only gloves and steak knives. The disection wasn't even completed in a labratory, but rather just a regular classroom! I don't think it would've flown to proceed in this way at MSU. I was also able to talk to some QUT students who mentioned that they REALLY missed having Mello Yello (they had it for some time but then it stopped), but didn't really care for Dr. Pepper (which they also had for some time but then it stopped.) After the brain disection and a short lecture, we were given another lecture (separate from the QUT students) about the Australian curriculum. This was concluded with a competition to see who could build the tallest marshmallow/toothpick tower. Dave and I got 2nd.... it was his fault. :) Later that night I attended what is called Girl Guides. It is the equivalent of Girl Scouts in the US. It was fun to finally see some Australian children, even if they were a bit wired! My host family's daughter, Shannan, is a leader and so I spent the evening meeting here and enjoying the guides. One of the things I noticed was that they call "jumping rope", "skipping rope"! What a difference to have kids yell to me, "Watch me skip! Watch me skip!" when they meant for me to watch them jump rope!
written by  cowane1 on August 17, 2010 from Caboolture, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!

Orientation - Day 3
Wamuran, Australia
Today for orientation we got the opportunity to visit a different Australian school than the one that we would be teaching at. We would simply get the opportunity to sit in throughout the day, help out as we wanted, and observe the differences in culture. The school we visited was Wamuran State School. We were told to meet our "drivers" at the Caboolture train station and that they would provide us transportation to the school. As we were waiting at the train station, we saw SEVERAL kids (they had school uniforms on), who couldn't have been but 13 or 14 years old smoking one cigarette after another! It not only shocked us, but we were APALLED! Our teachers told us that sadly enough their parents probably bought them the smokes. On the way to the school I saw the remnants of an accident - the very 1st one I've seen since being here. Upon driving up to the school we were charmed by the sign they put up outside their school "A Warm Wam Welcome to the USA Pre-Service Teachers!". As we got out at the school we were welcomed by the school leaders, a group of year 7 students known for their good behavior and grades. After we had signed in, we were presented pineapples as a "welcome gift". The Wamuran school district is a rural district known for its pineapple, banana and strawberry crops. Two of the school leaders took us individually on a tour of the school. It was remarkable to hear the pride in their voices as they talked about their school. I was also impressed with how professional they presented themselves! The two girl leaders then dropped me off in my "class" for the day, a year 4 classroom led by Mr. Collins and a student teacher named Mrs. Cabrera. I walked in during roll call and was fascinated by the structure in which it was done. The teacher would say, "Good Morning Alice" and the student was required to reply, "Good Morning Mr. Collins and Mrs. Cabrera, I'm feeling like a 10 this morning". This not only proved respect by the student, but also gave you a gauge of how they were feeling in the morning. One of the first things I noticed about the classroom was that it was VERY compact. There was no small group reading table, and only 2 bookshelves. Besides that there were only the students' desks and a teachers desk, and I had a DIFFICULT time squeezing around the classroom! Nothing like the classroom sizes of MN! A few other differences I noticed were that they gave the students the option of playing the Playstation as a reward! I was amazed by that. Also, at this school as well as every other Australian school, the students are REQUIRED to wear a wide-brimmed hat while they are outside. This is to help the extremely high rate of skin cancer found in this country. They all function under a "No Hat - No Play" rule... similar to a "No Boots - No Play" type rule we have during MN winters! The school also hired a company to come once a week and teach the students a choreographed dance. This time is used as the 30 minutes of REQUIRED active time each class must do besides P.E. and recess. At the end of the day, because of the students' good behavior, they were allowed to teach me a few games outside to finish the day. I officially learned how to play "I've got it!", a rather fun game that I wish I would've known when I worked at camp!
During the evening, Tina, Trevor and myself went into Brisbane to Shannan's house, had fajitas for supper, and talked about our days. I told the group that at the end of the day, the student teacher asked me if I thought that these children seemed like a bunch of "bogans". I told her I had NO idea what a bogan was. She told me that she guessed it would probably be like what we considered people from Texas to be like. I was still very confused about this so I asked Shannan (who giggled when I told her how the teacher had described them). Shannan said that bogan is the equivalent of trailerpark trash, or redneck! I didn't feel like the students were like that at all!
After supper we all went to this entertainment center where every night they show a free movie. So, I got to see Sherlock Holmes, which was very exciting! :)
written by  cowane1 on August 18, 2010 from Wamuran, Australia
from the travel blog: Australian Adventures!

Beerwah, Australia
The university had decided that we had had enough DIFFICULT serious orientation stuff to fill our brain for the time being, and decided that all of Thursday was going to be devoted to going to the Australia Zoo! The Australia Zoo is extremely famous, and widely visited because it was the home of the late Steve Irwin. It had previously been named The Reptile Park, but when other non-reptile animals were added they changed it to a more appropriate name. We were VERY fortunate because it was the warmest that it has been since I've been in Brisbane that day, 27 degrees C! (about 80 degrees F!) This, being my third "zoo" since I've been in Australia, wasn't in as great of wonderment as the others, but I enjoyed it and did some NEW things nonetheless! Like... petting a baby crocodile and fed an elephant! Besides the usual Australian animals, kangaroos, koalas, dingos, tasmanian devils, wombats, echidnas, cassowaries, this park also featured tigers, elephants and other Asian animals. But what I found most amazing were the massive crocodiles they home. We also went to a show in the Crocoseum where a zoo keeper tempted a crocodile to snap at him several times. Apparently that was the part of the show that Steve usd to do. Overall, the zoo was very very fun, and left me quite exhausted afterward! Tina surprised me by stopping at a local politician and getting me a free Australian flag and information about the Australian flag, emblem, flowers, and anthem. We ate supper with Grandma, Trevor's mother, and enjoyed a board thereafter. Both of which I enjoyed greatly. Tina and Trevor have asked that I cook them something Minnesotan while I am here and the first thing I thought of was Tater-Tot Hotdish. They had never heard of it, or even tater-tots for that matter! They apparently call them potato gems or potato jewels. We also discoverd that there are several things that are the same word, but because of our dialect we pronounce differently - like the word route, tomato, roof, etc. Silly little cultural differences!
written by  cowane1 on August 19, 2010 from Beerwah, Australia

Caboolture, Australia
For our last day of orientation, they wanted to familiarize us with the school, teacher, and class we would be teaching for the next 4 weeks. Those of us who are elementary (or primary as it is called here) teachers began our day at Morayfield East State School. We were taught how to sign in in the visitors book and given a packet of information about the school. We were then sent with our teachers to our respective classrooms. My teacher, Miss Kyryn Wright was much younger than I had expected her to be! She can't be older than 25 years old. And though she comes across as very serious with her class, she is very very friendly and I can see that she will be wonderful to teach alongside. I later learned from the principal of the school that she was a phenomenal aboriginal student who received a scholarship that helped her with much of her schooling and that they are lucky to have her. (The aboriginals are similar to our Native Americans in the fact that there is the stereotype of "not worth anything"). I was nervous to meet my class because this was a portion of the email the that Kyryn had sent me previously about them:
In this class we have 26 students with only about 8 girls so we are very boy heavy, I have 6 students that have special needs and they range from Autism, Aspergers, Intellectually Impaired, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Hearing Impairment as well as a 2 behaviour 'problem' children. I have had a few of these kids try to jump out of windows of my demountable classroom, be aggressive towards myself and other staff or calling me a variety of names using'colourful' language. So this is a hard class but in general we have worked really hard together to build up a reportoire with myself and the students so they do know their boundaries. They will try to push you to see how far you will go but you need to be firm with them and let them know that you mean business.
I was PLEASED to find out that she had done a GREAT job with behavior management and became particularly excited to teach such a well behaved group of year 3 students! I also was pleased with how very active Kyryn made me in the classroom; even though I was only in there for a few short hours she had me take roll, lead a small group guided reading session, and give a spelling test. A vocabulary word that I think you might find different was that they call their water fountains, bubblers! :) After this we were brought back to QUT for some concluding orientation things. We were again asked about our homestays. Thankfully the girls who said they weren't being fed enough admitted that their homestay mom had lightened up and was feeding them well now. We ate a "good luck" lunch of pizza, tim-tams and fruit. The pizza here is VERY different. If you ordered a pizza with just meat on it, it would likely have BBQ sauce as the sauce and not regular pizza sauce. And any other pizza we've had has had about a MILLION different toppings on it. Needless to say, I've gone OUT of my comfort range and eaten several different types of pizza while being here. All of the MN students say that they could REALLY go for a regular pepperoni pizza however. After lunch we were given a description of what our final presentation was to be like, and then sent home for the day.
After orientation, Tina and I went shopping for some much needed stuff. I wound up buying a $20 bottle of contact solution, that I could buy for 6 dollars at Target in the US! We then ate supper at Nan and Pops' (Tina's parents) and finished the night by playing Rummy-O as well as some other card games for money. Sad to say, I think I lost a good chunk of Australian money that night! :( ha ha!
I've also found that even in normal conversations with my homestay family, certain words, phrases, or ideas will come up as different and neither of us are afraid to ask about it. This just goes to show that, yes life IS very different here in Australia! Even the most common things may be different. Something that I learned this day was that here in Australia, if a couple is living together for 6 months, the relationship is considered "defacto" and that they now have the rights to half of the other's property. So if someone was buying a house, and they had their mate move in, but then they broke up after 6 or 7 months, even if the mate hadn't paid a cent towards the house he/she had rights to half of the house! Unbelievable!
written by  cowane1 on August 20, 2010 from Caboolture, Australia

BBQ & Brisbane
Brisbane, Australia
It was nice to get to sleep in for once, even if I didn't fully sleep the entire morning. Tina had an appointment at a clinic along this beautiful beach. While she and Trevor were there, I sat along the beach, checked out some of the seashells, and read my book. It was quite peaceful, and something I could NEVER do in MN! After her appointment we went down to a different area along a shore and had a BBQ with Nan and Pops, Wesley (Tina and Trevor's son), Zander (their grandson), and two foreign exchange students Wesley was being a homestay for. It was quite fun and I ate WAY too much! It was also good to finally meet the Zander that Tina and Trevor so fondly mention from time to time. After the BBQ, we had to stop so Tina and Trevor could vote for their new prime minister. Unlike in the US, it is compulsary (MANDATORY) that all Australians vote. If they do not, they will receive a fine. This voting was also quite an experience because posted outside each polling place are TONS of campaigners harrassing you and handing out flyers JUST as you are walking in to vote. It was an interesting and again, different experience to have. When we returned home Tina and Trevor showed me videos of previous homestay students they had had and the adventures that they went on. After that, Tina and Trevor were going to a play in the city (Brisbane), and had asked if I wanted to bring some friends along to explore the city with while they were at the play. So, Kelly, Sara Sickels and I went and enjoyed those sights! We first rode the Wheel of Brisbane - a magnificent roller coaster set beside the cultural centre. We also walked along the beautiful south bank, complete with shoreside walking paths, and a goreous pool. After that we crossed the Victoria Bridge and did some souvenir shopping at the shops in the Queen Street Mall. We were all SO happy to find pairs of $3 slippers, because our feet get cold in our homestay houses at night. We also tried to go into the famous casino right off of the bridge, but were rejected because Kelly and I had holes in our jeans and it was not appropriate attire. After that, Tina and Trevor were finished, picked us up and we went for a drive over the famous Story Bridge. A perfect ending to a night in Brisbane City. :)
I've noticed that a common phrase here starts with, "I reckon". It's funny to me, but sounds so natural to them because that is genuinely how they talk! Another good vocabulary word is yonks, which simpy means a LONG time. Used in a sentece you could say, "I haven't had these chilps in yonks!".
written by  cowane1 on August 21, 2010 from Brisbane, Australia

Weekend Explorations...
Maleny, Australia
Sunday began, as it should, with going to church. Tina helped me find a Catholic Church here in town and Kelly asked if she could come with. We attended St. Eugene of Mazenod and were overjoyed to find that they sang MANY of the same songs as we do in our Catholic Churches. After church, Tina and Trevor told me that they were going to take me for a drive. Along our way we stopped beside a pineapple Field and Trevor explained to me just how a pineapple grows on this peculiar plant. We continued by driving into the Blackall Mountains. We stopped at a place at which we could walk through a rainforest on the side of one of the Mountains. Tina and Trevor did a wonderful job of enlightening me with different bird species, tree species and animal species we either saw or heard along the way. From there we drove a little further up the Mountain to the small and charming community of Maleny where we walked around a bit before deciding to eat at The Old Bank Cafe. After that we checked out a few more shops, and found a secondhand bookstore at which I talked up "Out of the Dust" and Tina ended up buying it to explore American history a bit, and I purchased another Dear America book that I don't think I have. After checking out a few more shops and peeking in others, we left Maleny and began our trip down the Mountain. We stopped at a quaint coffee shop along the way, where they both enjoyed a cup of coffee (I just had water). I was so exhausted that I fell asleep for practically the entire trip home. When we got home I spent much of the evening preparing lesson plans for the upcoming week. Miss Wright has asked that I teach Maths (yes, they call it Maths, this is not a typo) for the whole first week and we will add on from there.
written by  cowane1 on August 22, 2010 from Maleny, Australia

First Day of School; nervewracking yet exciting!
Morayfield, Australia
I didn't sleep well last night, partially because I got warm in the middle of the night but mostly because of nerves with this being the first day and having to teach a lesson. I woke up excited nonetheless, and ready to take on those 3rd years! Upon arriving at the classroom Miss Wright showed me basic things like, where the copy machine is and how to use it, as well as basic things and routines around the classroom. I again took roll call and was quite pleased with myself for remembering many of their names from Friday. The morning went along quite fine. Several of the children came in late, something that Miss Wright said happens quite often and their "late slips" usually have reasons like, "Slept In" or "Was Shopping in the Morning". I was also amazed at how many "breaks" there are during a day. The students start school at 8am. They have a "fruit break" around 10 am (10-15 min), have a short lunch around 11am (30 min), and another longer lunch at around 12:30 (1 hour)!
My lesson was on something that I had said I was hoping I didn't have to teach - how to count money. If I was in the US, I wouldn't mind teaching this at all, but because Australia has a different currency, it made this a bit more difficult! It felt good to begin teaching again, and the students appeared to not only be enjoying having me teach, but learning something as well! For part of my lesson I broke the students up into groups and had them count money as a group. Miss Wright prepared me that because of space limitations as well as the character of the class she has that she does not work in groups much at all, but encouraged me to try it! With some mental preparation, the students were quite successful not only with the group structure but also with counting money! It was wonderful to see third grade students leaning over, helping their partners, and encouraging their group members in a positive manner. Very encouraging to me as a teacher. After my lesson, I asked Miss Wright what she thought I could improve on, and she said that she simply wants me to slow down. She said that several of the above average and average students were right on pace with me, but her lower level students tended to struggle. I'll have to work on that in future lessons.
As I was working with several students, I got the feeling of just how far behind some of the students were. Several of the students had trouble simply copying information off of the board. I attempted to help speed one of the students up by spelling the words for him; sadly he looked at me and asked "What's a 'd' look like again?". He didn't know what more than half of the alphabet looked like! It was even more heartbreaking because he was working his very hardest to keep up the pace, but not knowing your letters is a big crutch to try to overcome. Apparently several of the children in my class come from a rough and tough background, providing them with very little background knowledge for us to build on. I'm sure I'll have more on that in another day.
written by  cowane1 on August 23, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia

Day #2 in Year 3
Morayfield, Australia
Today just seemed to drag on forever! My day didn't start real well when I forgot my name badge/blue card at home. Tina so kindly drove and retrieved it for me. From then it was a busy, long day. I took roll call and found out what the students' favorite foods were, several of them being pizza, ice cream or a specific fruit. I then was faced with a difficult task leading a small guided reading group with two of the most difficult students in the class. Neither of these students have been diagnosed with anything, however they are simply terrors. When I am my lessons or simply taking roll, they both are of great distraction to the rest of the class, extremely needy, and difficult all around. Having them together in a group for small group reading was absolutely awful. They kept standing up, flipping to the wrong pages, egging eachother on, making fists at eachother, refusing to read, pretending that they didn't know simple words, as well as NOT obeying a single direction I gave. After that was over, the day went much smoother. My lesson went over very very well, and it appeard that the students had a STRONG understanding of what I taught them. I continually reminded myself to pace myself and think I improved in that as well. We seemed to have a strange case of a mysterious sickness passing around the room as well, because 3 of the boys in the class repeatedly said they felt "sick". Two of these boys were the ones mentioned previously. I simply told them for the hundredth time to tough it out, and that there wasn't much longer left. The last part of the day (Science), the students were looking at cross sections of different fruits and vegetables. All of the specimens were very common but I found it interesting that in the Australia they call Bell Peppers, Capsicum. After school, Kyryn and I talked about the students' workbooks. She told me that the school purchases workbooks (which are essentially notebooks/grid paper books for math) for the students as well as scissors, glue, erasers, and pencils. The students do not have a single textbok. I told her that culturally, this is very different in the United States and that the school purchases the textbooks while the parents/families are asked to purchase the supplies. Very very interesting. On a lighter note, I was also asked "Truth or Dare, Romance or Scare" by one of my students today. I politely declined his invitation into that game. :)
written by  cowane1 on August 24, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia

Almost finished with the first week!
Morayfield, Australia
School has gone just splendid the past two days and I have REALLY enjoyed going, interacting, and of course teaching! Yesterday I taught the Maths again. Like Tuesday, it was for an hour and a half straight! 3rd graders simply CANNOT handle 2-digit and 3-digit subtraction with regrouping for an hour and a half straight!! My lesson was going particularly well, but a time comes when they simply need a break. When I saw that the students had reached that point, I made them all stand up and we sang the "Sticky Moose" song, a "something" I learned at camp! They simply loved it and told me over and over how they still had it stuck in their head. Needless to say, it worked by making them look a little bit more alive, but also seemed to make them chatty. You take some and you give some I guess. Miss Wright has been pleased with how well I've paced my lessons these past two days and has even stated that she was impressed with and planned to snitch a few of my ideas. She simply told me to keep doing what I was doing and to try to put a few subtraction problems into each lesson. I have also gotten experience at creating a test over the information I have/will be teaching tomorrow. Tomorrow, after my lesson the students will take the "Mini-Test" I've created to test their comprehension and retention of the skills I've taught them this week. I'm GREATLY interested to see the results!
Last night Tina and I again took the train into Brisbane to Shannan's house for supper (I ate my very first mango!) and then we all went to an entertainment center for the weekly free movie. This week it was the Lovely Bones... I didn't quite know what to think about it. I found it slightly disturbing and quite depressing, but fascinating nonetheless!
Today was the easiest day thus far - I didn't have to teach at all! PE and Drama class had taken all of the Maths time available. I did however have the opportunity to sit with and work individually with 3 of the most severe (academically) students in the class. While the rest of the class was working on breaking their spelling words into phonemes and putting them into sentences, we were writing their spelling words (significantly easier words) rainbow style! This simply means to write one each letter in a different color repeatedly. After that we play a good game of hangman. I gave them each a turn to pick a word and we would try and guess it. One of the students had hardly written down the lines for the letters when another student asked if the first letter was an "S". When he said that it was, both of the boys said they knew what it was... the boy's NAME! He got quite upset and I told him that he deserved another chance. He then began searching the room for another word, found one, stared at it, and marked down the spaces. The other boys obviously saw this and guessed that one right away. By then he got quite upset, so again I told him that he could have yet another turn. This time I helped him by writing the word he wanted down on a piece of paper so he had something he could reference that the boys couldn't see. It's interesting to see the different and simple things that make moods change. I truly enjoyed working with these students and several of the activities they do/ manipulatives they use are ones I would consider for my classroom of almost any age!
After school Tina and I went on a nice long bike ride into an area of Burpengary that she has never seen before. It was good excerise that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise, but I have no doubt my butt will hurt in the morn! :) Then after planning a few of next weeks lessons, I ate my first passionfruit. It was a bit sour, but I could definitely see how it would be AMAZING on vanilla ice cream... and I'm not even that big of an ice cream fan!
A major difference I have noticed between Morayfield E.S.S. and the MN schools was the amount of absence and truancy (tardiness) is MUCH higher here than back in the states. It has not been uncommon to have 4 or 5 students walk in late (anywhere between 10 minutes to an hour an a half) each morning. Another 3 or 4 are usually absent. Usually the tardiness notes read, "Slept In" or "Was shopping in the AM". I have heard several parents come up to Miss Wright explaining that their son/daughter will be missing tomorrow because he/she will be going to Dreamworld (an amusement park in Brisbane) or absent for the next two weeks because his/her family is having a holiday (vacation) along the coast. Unbelievable!! When I asked Miss Wright about it, she said that it is solely the parents' fault and that they obviously do not have as strict of policies for absence and truancy as we do in the US.
written by  cowane1 on August 26, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia

Weekend News and Blues
Burpengary, Australia
I hope you all have enjoyed the pictures I've added since I've last been on! It's been a particularly busy weekend, keeping me from writing each day. So - let's see how well I can recap!
Friday was a good day of school. I administered a Maths test that I had created, and from what I've corected so far, it seems as though the students have done particularly well! Which hopefully means I've done particularly well at teaching all week too. Friday was also fun because we finished the day with an aboriginal art project - painting, as well as library.
After school, my host mum and I rode the train into Brisbane again but this time went to Wesleys. Tina was planning and staying there to watch Zander as Trevor and Wesley went to a soccer game, and Shannan and I went out to supper and bowling with a few of her co-workers. After Shannan said her hellos to Zander, we hit the road for Toscani's, the restaurant we were meeting at. There was a group of 9 of us, and sadly the service was EXTREMELY poor.... for the other 8 in the group. We all ordered a drink, and then put in our meal order. About 20 minutes later MY meal came out, but no one elses. The restaraunt informed us that there had been a mistake and for some reason the computer glitched and sent my meal in as a separate order (I was the 4th one to order! weird!). They assured our table that their meals would be out in about 20 more minutes, whereas, they asked me what I was drinking so they could give me a free drink because of the way I had been inconvenienced. The table was pretty steamed throughout the entire meal, but several of them got rather upset when they found out that the restaraunt also paid for my MEAL! So, for my two drinks and 15 dollar plate of pasta, I paid $7.20... which is even cheaper in US dollars! :) SCORE! After eating we went to bowl a few games. My first game I bowled a decent (FOR ME!) 84. But I blew myself away with bowling a 105 in my second game! Everyone kept saying, "Gosh, look at that yank bowl!". For some reason the people here call Americans, Yanks, and the English, Pommies. In the end, it was an extremely fun, but late night.
Saturday I was able to sleep in, thankfully, until 9:30. I then got up, showered, and got ready for the day. I also took about an hour to talk to my mom, dad, Jessica, and Daniel on the phone. It was nice to reconnect, but I felt bad because that meant my host family and I didn't get out of the house until around 11:30. We then drove to the beautiful Bribie Island. Bribie Island is just as its name says, an island. However, unlike several of the other "resort-type" islands, Bribie is connected by a bridge to the mainland and therefore has a decent size population. While there Tina Trevor and I ate a splendid lunch. I had a BBLAT (Bread, Bacon, Lettuce, Avacado & Tomato, minus the tomato). It was the first time I'd ever had avacado though. I don't much care for it, but ate it regardless. We then drove to the other side of the island, the "surf" side and walked along the super soft, super WHITE sand beach! It was magnificent. After that we drove around a bit and eventually stopped for a coffee (I had a milkshake :D). From where we were sitting we could see a wedding happen. It definitely made me start thinking about mine, and getting me super excited for it!
When we returned we jumped in the car again and took off for the city once again - this time for Shannans. When we got there Tina and Trevor picked up Shannan, drove the two of us to her friend Jemma's house, and then went to lunch. Shannan, Jemma, Eliza (another friend) and I walked a bit to the bus station and caught a bus to the city. The girl who had aligned this had it planned that we were going to a restaraunt called Wagamama's... a Japanese restaraunt, and a first for me! When I told mom I was going to be having Japanese in the evening she told me, "Good luck with that". But, luckily, with some coaching from Tina and Trevor earlier in the day, I decided on the Negami Yakatori... can you get anything more Japanese sounding than that?! Basically it was chicken and onions cooked on skewers with a yakatori (don't ask me...) sauce over it. It was delicious! After Wagamama's we booked it across the city to a comedy club at which Shannan had won tickets. There were six of us and Shannan only had 4 tickets, so we split the cost of the other two and ended up only paying 8 dollars to see 6 great comedians live, again another first for me! I was able to catch most of the jokes, and if someone used an Australian name or reference Shannan's friend Tamara would lean forward and explain it to me so I could get the joke. After that we walked all the way back across town to the Treasury Casino. I was dressed quite nicely this time and the guards actually let me in. It was definitely the most GRAND casino I've ever been in! The 6 of us pushed our way to the front of the dancefloor and pretty much danced the night away! It was a BLAST! :) After that we caught the train back and needless to say, I didn't get back to Burpengary until about 1:30 in the morning. This was unfortunate because Jodie and her family would be picking me up at 8 am the next day!
Jodie, the media specialist at Morayfield East State School had invited the 8 Minnesota students to go and see a few historical monuments of the area for the better part of Sunday. We started at The Big Pineapple. It is just as it sounds, a great big pineapple. Surrounded by working pineapple and macademia nut farms, the Big Pineapple recounts the history of pineapple and macademia nut farming in this part of Queensland. We got to go and see several of the animals native to Australia (again...) but really enjoyed hearing the Cockatoos repeat when you said "Hey Cocky!" and the baby joeys coming in and out of their mother's pouch. It was quite amazing! We took a train ride around the plantation, and then another in the shape of a macademia nut to where the macademia nuts are grown and harvested. I've picked up a few to bring home... don't worry, it's legal. After that we headed to the Ginger Factory where we rode on a boat ride to "find the gingerbread man" around the world. After that we shopped a bit at a few shops along the way. We also went on a walking tour through the actual Ginger Factory to see how the ginger we eat is harvested and processed. We then took another train ride around the premises and watched an informational bee demonstration teaching us about how honey is harvested. After the ginger factory we made a quick stop off at a strawberry farm where we each picked almost a kilogram (approx. 2 lbs) of strawberries to bring home to our hosts. It was an extremely fun and informational day... and we were definitely in good compay with Jodie's family!
The "blues" part of my title is in regards to the fact that I have found myself SICK. On Thursday night I felt a little tickle, but nothing major. Unfortunately that tickle has steadily progressed to me completely losing my voice, having difficulty swallowing, blowing my nose constantly and feeling a bit feverish. Jodie instructed me to STAY HOME if I feel like this in the morning, and I told her I would. Unfortunately it just feels like one of those colds/sinus things that needs to be slept off and cured with water! I'm planning on having a shower tonight to hopefully get some relief from the steam as well as get my body back to a normal temperature.
Think of me as I go into my second week of teaching... :)
written by  cowane1 on August 29, 2010 from Burpengary, Australia

Sick Day :(
Burpengary, Australia
I ended up having to stay home sick today. I have completely lost my voice among the other miserable things that would keep me from teaching effectively. Most importantly, I felt that staying home would keep me from infecting any other children. I got into a doctor who diagnosed me with infective pharyngitis. Bascially.... my vocal cords are infected. He gave me a prescription for a knock-off penicillan that I have to take on an empty stomach 3 times a day for 5 days. The strange thing was that when I took my prescription out of the bag, I found that the pharmacy not only gave me 15 pills...but FIFTY! I'm simply going to take them until I finally feel 100% better (at LEAST 5 days though!). The doc also gave me instructions to rest my voice - like THAT is going to happen. I'm a TEACHER.
Oh well. Hopefully I'll feel well enough to return tomorrow. I only have 13 days left with those little guys and want to maket he most of it! Even if my teaching consists of me writing everything I want to say on the board. :)
Think of me... because I'm often thinking of you all :)
written by  cowane1 on August 29, 2010 from Burpengary, Australia

Back in Action!
Well - those pills did the trick. Kinda. I am now able to muster sounds that people can make out! And overall I felt a million times better this morning, not necessarily 100%, but at least 60% or so. At school one of the teachers told me that pharyngitis (what I have) is the next step AFTER laryngitis. Yuck!
My teacher, Kyryn, was also happy to see that I was back. Upon arrival she told me that she had switched the planning up a little bit though. I was entirely fine with that because that's just what happens as a teacher. She needed to make SURE she got the students assessed in each subject before the end of the term (which is also my last week). And, starting next week, for the last two weeks of my time here, the students will be swimming from 10 am to 1pm everyday! That definitely cuts out of classroom time that should be used for end of the term assessments. Nearly all morning I was placed with 3 students and asked to help them write a draft of their final information report. These 3 students worked fervently, but I found myself having difficulty explaining to them EXACTLY what a sentence is. They were given bulleted notes like - a red dome of rock, and they had to put that into a competent and interesting sentence. The students I was working with, lower level, could not understand why that wasn't a sentence. So I would try to work with them by asking them, "if you had to describe Ayer's Rock to me, what would you say?" in hopes that they would respond with, "It looks like a red dome of rock"... instead I incessantly got "a red dome of rock". It was a long, but productive morning nonetheless. We'll likely be doing the same thing tomorrow to finish it.
I also taught the whole group maths today. Before maths, I introduced the new behavior system, which I still hadn't had time to fully get ready. The students appeared excited at the new opportunity to win something, but didn't prove to me that they were giving extra effort. I awarded those I thought deserved being awarded, but was still very stingy about giving awards to those who did not prove excellence to me. I taught for a complete hour and a half, but it proved very very successful! The students displayed good behavior, appeared to finally ALMOST completely grasp subtraction with regrouping, and are rockstars at creating equivalent equations. My vocal cords were SCREAMING at the end of this time, but I didn't have to talk for the rest of the day, so I didn't mind.
I learned today that Prep (equivalent to our Kindergarten) is NOT mandatory here in Australia. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that Kindergarten is mandatory in the US and I was quite surprised by this! Imagine a kid walking into 1st grade not having all of the skills he/she would've learned in Kindergarten (or Prep)! The teachers assured me that the great majority of kids do attend Prep though because it is practically free childcare if nothing else. I thought that was a rather sad way to think of it, but also quite true.
I also recalled a couple Australian words/phrases you may find interesting. Several of these come from what we would think of as an Old British type of wording:
dearer: more expensive
fortsnight: 2 weeks.... this word is used ALL THE TIME, and they are amazed that we do not use it in America
fringes: bangs (like in your hair)
pardon: what did you say?... I know we've all heard this before, but it's SO adorable to have the kids say to you, "pardon", instead of the "WHAT?" that we'd get in America.
docket: receipt
I reckon: I think... again I know you've all heard this, but it is used CONSTANTLY down here... as well as the word MATE. You'd be amazed at how many times I've actually heard or been spoken to with the phrase "G'day mate!" They truly truly use it!
How's you going?: How are you?... My host family asks me this often, and I've heard it from grocery store cashiers among other people.
Okay, I'm going to guides again tonight. They are making Father's Day presents because the Australian Father's Day is coming up this weekend on September 5th... Definitely different than ours. The strange thing is that their Mother's Day is always the same as ours! :) Oh well!
I'd best be off! - G'day Mates! :)

Wrapping up Week 2!
There are SEVERAL times each day that I think to myself, "I'll have to remember to write that in my blog", but when I actually sit down to do it, forget a great majority of it!
Yesterday was a fairly good day. The kids were a little wild but enjoyable. I taught handwriting in the morning, which was even more of a challenge than teaching money! This is because, Queensland (the state in which I am teaching) has its own form of manuscript. And, it's goofy. Google it and you'll see what I mean! My teacher had my try my hand at it and write half of what the kids would be copying off of the board. I was proud because only ONE student had to ask me what one word said because he couldn't read it. I was supposed to teach the students where they needed to pick up their pencil in the middle of certain words... I can't even hardly write it, and they're supposed to believe me?! I was very impressed with the perserverance in the class today, as several of them took their time, truly giving me quality not quantity! :)
Math was successful, but a little wild toward the end. The students pleasantly surprised me with their success in learning group equivalence as well as their ability to help their peers if they didn't understand. One of my FAVORITE things to see is when a student is truly HELPING another student and not just giving him/her the answer. Following that we broke into groups and had them cut out nets of shapes to create 3D shapes. One of the groups was a bit too chatty after I had prompted them several times, and so I stood my ground and made the 6 of them stay in an extra 5 minutes during recess and tell me one thing they plan on doing different to prevent this next time. I love teaching Elementary school because I could do that, and they were still my best friend at the end of the day. I was a super super mean teacher yesterday though because I even gave out two pink tickets (slips that say that students need to stay in during recess in a behavior room). I had warned them repeatedly, but they continued until I had enough and wrote them up!
At the end of the day, we started doing Father's day gifts. Father's day is September 5th here. For one of the gifts, I needed to take a picture of each of the students individually. It was fun to get to do this, because now I will have them all to remind myself of this wonderful class. While I had my camera out I also took a few pictures of the "late slips" in the late book. The reasonings are quite humorous... "traffic", "slept in", "mum slept in", "went to bank", and my personal favorite, "no idea". :)
Last night Tina, Trevor, Shannan, Sara (another Minnesota student) and I all went to "Animal Kingdom", an Australian movie. It was quite disturbing and depressing... but fascinating at the same time. It was a definite change watching a movie where the steering wheel was on the otherside of the car, and they had an Australian accent. I found them at times hard to understand even though I can almost always understand Australians in person!
Today was a particularly easy day at school. The 3rd years were pleased to watch an Aboriginal man share his artifacts, paintings, skills and stories with them. He explained to us all of the different tools the aboriginee people used, as well as the interpretations of a few paintings. He played the didgerdoo, and sang a wonderful song. But the part the kids thought was the total coolest was when he showed them how the aboriginals threw a spear as well as a returning boomerang. This guy was a pro, so don't expect me to be coming home capable of doing it! It's quite a science of wind, speed, and angle! It was fascinating and I think it made his day to have 80 3rd years clapping and cheering for him too! It was wonderful to have the students enjoy and be presented such an intregal part of their culture!
I ate my short lunch with some of the grade 4 and 5 teachers where they introduced me to the wonderful Australian book "Possum Magic"... a book I plan on buying! In this book it lists a variety of different Australian delicacy foods. To top off their introduction to the book, they fed us these delicacies! I absolutely LOVE pavlova! Look it up! I'm going to try to make it for everyone as an Australian treat at holidays. It's fantastic, but very sweet. I also am madly in love with Lamingtons (white cake, dipped in chocolate coated in coconut), and enjoy the white Tim-Tams better than the chocolate ones.
I finished my day by eating a place called Louise's...aka the KCP Cafe in Naragba. Tina and Trevor have boasted that they have the BEST burgers... and they were VERY delicious!
I have best be off, but want you to know that I will likely have some wonderful pictures to put up when I write next. The 8 Minnesota students and I are leaving tomorrow for Tangalooma on Moreton Island for the weekend! One of the teachers has arranged transportation for us to and from the launch, over and back from the island, as well as letting us stay at her apartment there for 2 nights for free! Boy we are spoiled! :) I need to get packing, as well as preparing for next weeks lessons because I won't be back from Tangalooma until late Sunday!
Hope you all have JUST as fun of a Labor weekend! I'll be thinking of you as I am sand tobagganing, snorkeling, and attempting to windsurf... maybe. :)
written by  cowane1 on September 2, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia

Weekend in Paradise...Tangalooma!
Tangalooma, Australia
What a weekend!! I don't even know where to start. I guess I'll start from the beginning.
Waiting for our ride to the launch that had been arranged for us, we simply sat in the staff room at the school. Eventually one of the teachers came in and asked who the LIMO was for! We insisted that it couldn't be for us because we were getting a van or something, but when we told her that Jodie had lined it up for us, she was positive it was for us! We were in DISBELIEF! I've only ridden in a limo once in my life during a 13th birthday party! That was 8 years ago! What a GREAT way to start a great weekend!
At the launch, we got our tickets, boarded the boat and enjoyed the trip over. I even got some correcting done on the way... a true teacher. :)
Upon arrival and finding Jodie's apartment, we were once again in complete shock. It was MASSIVE. Two king size bedrooms, a kid's bedroom with 2 beds, a master bathroom with a jacuzzi, as well as yet another bathroom, a spacious kitchen, flat screen TV complete with Wii! But most amazing of all was the balcony that overlooked the jetty and the beautiful Pacific Ocean! How did we ever get so LUCKY! Thus far, our trip had been completely FREE!
After grabbing a quick bite at a Beachside Cafe and splashing in the ocean a bit, we all pretty much went to bed. It had been a long day at school and quite an exciting evening.
Like usual, my body clock woke me up at 6am the next day! Thankfully, several other people were up too... We've all seemed to have this silly body clock issue since being here. After we all were showered and ready to go, we headed down to the tours desk to schedule a Desert Safari Tour for all 8 of us... complete with sand tobagganing. Our group was definitely much more energetic than most others on this tour, and the bus driver found it quite funny. The 4 wheel-drive bus ride out there was much more exciting than we had expected. We were going near very sharp enbankments, climbing hills I didn't think would be possible, and getting thrown around within our seats several times. It was an amazing change to go from a very vegitated scenery to what seems like the Sahara.... a desolate sand-filled area in only a matter of minutes. Actually, it's quite remarkable to see the vegitation on the island because of the fact that the island is entirely made of sand! Regardless... our 4 wheel-drive bus kept on trucking towards the biggest sand dune I've ever seen. Once we arrived, we were prepped on how to sand tobaggan correctly, without eating a lot of sand (literally). We then began our climb up the dune. It didn't take long, but I was definitely winded from the climb. And tobagganing was amazing!! I was able to do it THREE times! It was seriously awesome. I could've done it all day! Once we were all finished, the Tangalooma people asked to take pictures of the 8 of us in our group.. and we ended up with some pretty fantastic pictures! I ended up buying a picture of me sand tobagging, as well as a group picture that I haven't put up on here. You'll all have to see them when I get home! :) This was by far the best part of my weekend!
When we returned, the group all grabbed a quick snack then headed down to the beach to catch some rays. Unbelieveably we were the ONLY people doing this! We later had an Australian tell us that only Americans and Victorians (Southern Australia) would be laying out during this time of the year! Unfortunately, the beach was NOT the place to catch some good rays. The sand is so fine and the wind was so strong that we were constantly getting whipped and stung. 6 of the people in our group went and sat around our apartment pool (something I didn't even know it had), while Sara Sickels and I went and enjoyed great privacy at one of Tangalooma's pools. I read nearly 100 pages, and enjoyed the Australian sun! It truly was the most relaxing part of my trip thus far.
After relaxing for a while, we all decided it was about time we rid ourselves of some sand. While some of the other girls were showering and getting ready to go out for the night, I needed to stretch my legs. Dave offered to go on a walk with me to the wrecks. The wrecks are a series of "wrecked" ships along the coast that Tangalooma planted there as an attraction. They are quite interesting however and attract a quite a few fish for people to see when snorkeling. It was a nice walk during a perfect time of the day.
When we returned Dave and I got our showers in and ready for the night. Kelly, Kari, Dave and I all ended up going to the Steakhouse (Beachhouse Rotunda) for supper. Although we paid an arm and a leg, our meal made it WELL worth it! Dave, Kari and I all had steaks while Kelly had chicken. Our meal was TRULY complete with the bottle of wine that Dave had bought for us three girls. We constantly joked about how Dave probably felt like he was on The Bachelor... on an island with 7 girls. During supper we were teasing him telling him that this was a 3 on 1 date and that he'd have to give a rose by the end of the night. I told him that I already forfeited my rose because I had a ring. :)
After supper, we ROLLED out of the rotunda and straight into our sweats! We then went and sat on the jetty and happened to spot a few dolphins right below us. The ocean truly is an amazing place!
I began my Sunday with an amazing run on the beach. It was something I have always wanted to do, but never really gotten the chance. It was a windy, but refreshing morning and probably the best run of my life. Along the way I spotted a few dead carcasses that had been washed up during the night, a couple starfish, and TONS of jellyfish. I knew to steer clear of them! After my run and another lengthy walk with Kelly and Kari, I showered and got ready for the day. Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side this day and it was a cloudy, dreary day where it eventually started raining. We spent the day relaxing within our apartment.
When it was time to go back, we were quite sad, but knew that we had had a GREAT time at Tangalooma! Our trip back was also a memorable one for the Tangalooma people. Just upon arriving back at the launch (yes, we had a limo there to pick us up too!), one of the engines on the boat we were on got stuck in reverse. Although the captain tried turning it off and restarting it, it simply was stuck in reverse, which made it IMPOSSIBLE to dock it correctly. They had said that it was going to take overnight for it to be fixed. So, instead of docking it correctly, they simply let us float up next to another docked Tangalooma boat and we had to hop from one boat to the next to get off! It was CRAZY, but exciting!
Sara Sickels had read something quite interesting in the "What's On" book and enlightened us with it on our trip back too. She said that the movie, Scooby Doo... the newer one with Freddie Prinze Jr in it, was actually FILMED on Moreton Island, the island that Tangalooma resort is on! The place where WE WERE! So if you've seen that movie and remember the beautiful scenery... that's what we were surrounded with all weekend long! Simply amazing.
The only downfall of the weekend was that 6 of us had planned on going parasailing. Unfortunately both days it got cancelled due to the wind and other weather issues. Kelly and I have decided to do it while we are in Cairns during our last week of traveling> I am EXTREMELY excited! :)
Well, it's 9:20pm here and I still have to come up with lessons for tomorrow! That's what a vacation on my "vacation" does to me!!
While I'm in school tomorrow I'll be thinking of you all relaxing on your Labor Day! You lucky ducks! Oh... and Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad! :)
written by  cowane1 on September 5, 2010 from Tangalooma, Australia

Laboring on "Labor Day"
I slept like a ROCK last night. The excitement of the weekend really took a toll on me, but I think I had my best night of sleep since I arrived last night.
Today was like any typical Monday in the life of a teacher. I was busy planning for the week, reviewing what I was supposed to be teaching for the day, revising any schedule issues, etc... However, unlike any other Monday, today was the day that the students began swimming. At the school that I am teaching at, the students are offered the opportunity to pay for swimming lessons that are done during school hours. It is a great deal for several students, because living on the ocean almost requires every child to know how to swim, and considering their family lives, I doubt they would get lessons any other time. Unfortunately, this swimming endeavor takes out half-of-a-day's worth of teaching. School usually commences at 9:00am and releases at 3:00pm. Swimming (including changing the students into their suits, loading the bus, the bus ride to the pool, the lesson, riding back, and changing into dry clothes) takes from 10am-12:30ish. This only allows for us to teach from 9-10 in the morning, 12:30-1 in the afternoon, and 2-3 before they leave. 2 and a half hours of teaching doesn't leave much time to accomplish all that I need to accomplish! Oh.. and that doesn't include the 2 hours of specials we need to fit in a week too! AH!
Regardless, I am now teaching the entire day, all 2 1/2 hours of it. Behavior was a bit out of the ordinary today because the students were extremely hyped up for swimming beforehand, and completely exhausted and crabby afterward. My spelling and handwriting lesson went went, as did the beginning of maths. The last thing I had planned to do was to do some group work on telling time. (It is unbelieveable the number of 3rd graders who can't tell time!!) Unfortunately for some of the better behaved students, the majority of the class was rude, rowdy and in my eyes incapable of working in groups after I had arranged them into them. Because of this, I was the mean teacher (believe it or not, I can be quite mean when the moment calls), and told the entire class to go back to their seats. We were going to do rote work at their seats instead of the time game I had planned. I also made the entire class stay 1 minute after school for wasting one minute of my time. The class didn't think this was a good idea, but hopefully it will prove as a success tomorrow when we try and work in groups again.
After school, Tina asked if I would cook afternoon tea. I agreed and we all enjoyed a pan of tater-tot hotdish. Here in Australia, tater-tots are called potato gems or potato jewels. Trevor is quite excited because there were some leftovers that he can take to work as lunch in a couple of days! My host family is so good to me... Tina even checked out a country music video DVD from the library that I enjoyed watching/listening to while typing my lessons. I was introduced to several Australian country groups that I believe are more appealing than some in the US! One of the groups actually grew up just down the road from where I am living! Crazy!
Another "up" in my life is that I am currently only blowing my nose ONCE a day! A big improvement from the once every half hour that I was doing last week!
I hope everyone's Labor Day was a wonderful one... And that the kids have a smooth transition into school! :)
written by  cowane1 on September 6, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia

Week 3 at M.E.S.S.
I apologize for not writing for a few days, but it has been a busy few days!
The school days go quickly because of the large chunk that swimming takes up. It is fascinating to see how quickly the students are progressing during their swimming lessons. My teacher and I jokingly say that we wished that they could learn EVERYTHING that quickly!
Teaching is going fairly well. Because of swimming however, the kids are SO moody, which makes EVERY lesson an unpredictable one! In the morning, the kids are bonkers. They are so excited about swimming, and worked up about it, that they have trouble focusing, however they are quick to learn things and acitvely engage in my lessons during this time. Immediately after their swimming, the students are EXHAUSTED. Several of them continue to lay their heads on their desks after I ask them to sit up, because they are simpy too tired to obey. Teaching during this time is a breeze because they are simply too tired to misbehave, however, very little deep learning can be done during this time. And then the students go to big break (their hour lunch/recess time). When they return from that, they are absolutely irritable. It is usually during this last 45 minutes that students will be fighting with eachother, calling out, and non-compliant with anything I ask them to do.
Everyday after school, Tina asks me (in one sense or another), "So, were you mean today?", and I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. My teacher approves of my meanness and wrote, "would like to see her be more firm with the students" on my mid-evaluation, but sometimes I feel bad and wish I could solve the problem in a different (more positive) way. Nearly everyday I tell Tina about one "mean" thing I had to do during that day. For instance, today the students had to stay in for 3 minutes at lunch because they were being much too loud during an independent work time, and 3 of my top students had to stay in even longer to finish their handwriting assignment that they SHOULD'VE finished during class time. I was also forced to write out two pink behavior tickets for students who could not get along and refused to do the tasks I asked them to do.
I did start something really neat during school today though. I read about this in the book I'm reading, "Three Weeks With My Brother", by Nicholas & Micah Sparks. In the book, in their childhood Nicholas and Micah would fight and every night their mother would come in and talk to them individually before bed and have them tell her one nice thing the other brother did for him during that day. Over time, the boys either started being nicer to eachother or were able to more easily see the nice things that were done to them. So, today during roll call I asked the students to tell me ONE nice thing that one of their classmates did for them yesterday. I also pre-warned them that I would be asking them the same question tomorrow and that they could not say the same thing then. It was wonderful to have kids come up to me and say, "So-and-so did THIS for me, isnt' that nice?". We'll see if this little experiment has the same outcome as it had for Nicholas and Micah. :)
On a bit of a "kids say the funniest things" note, I had a student volunteer at the board working out a math problem yesterday and as he was writing a number, he quickly erased his 8 and said, "Oops! I wrote that one backwards". Ha ha! If anyone can explain to me how to write an 8 backwards, please do so. :)
I also had quite an inspiring moment yesterday as well. After my lesson, the kids were required to attempt a worksheet reinforcing the concept I had just taught. 5 of the students that finished early (the same 5 that do all the time) and so I assigned them each a classmate to help finish their assignment. To my surprise, this worked far better than I had expected. I was then NOT swamped with questions by these struggling students, the students who were teaching it learned it even BETTER and it kept them busy. As I supervised their "teaching", I was also extremely pleased to see that they truly were TEACHING these students, and not merely giving them the answers. I plan to do something similar in a couple of my upcoming lessons.
It has been exciting because for the past 2 days in a row, ALL of the students in my class were present! Granted, 8 or 9 walked in late each day.... We just take what we can get.
Last night I saw yet another Australian movie, Brand New Day. It was definitely more "chipper" than the last one and I enjoyed it greatly. Tina and Trevor insisted that we play the pokies (slot machines) too. Together, we ended up winning 10 dollars! Woo!
Some new vocabulary for you... togs=swimsuit, crack (or chuck) a wobbly = throw a tantrum or fit, boomer = big kangaroo, among others! :)
Tonight I plan on doing some of the normal work I MUST complete every week, but ALSO, starting my final presentation! Its hard to believe that it will be over in ONE week! Ahh!
written by  cowane1 on September 9, 2010 from Morayfield, Australia

...rainin' on Friday...
What a Friday! The day started off alright. It was particularly warm and I remember thinking to myself that the kids were going to ROAST in our classroom. If you look at the pictures of my class, they were taken right outside of our classroom. Each building like ours houses 2 classes of 26 or so students. Each building is connected by outdoor hallways.
The kids were okay to start, a bit more down than usual. Because we had an issue with spelling last week (when the students were asked to exchange papers to correct, several of the students cheated and changed their friends' answers to the right answers while others changed their paper's answers so they would get them wrong!) I was a bit more strict during the test this week. The students were not allowed to have anything but a pencil on their desks during it. Once the test was over they were to put that pencil and any rubbers they had away. I warned them that if I saw one I planned to take their paper and give them a score of 0 for cheating. The students then had to correct their own papers in colored pencil, that way I could be assured that they were not squeezing in needed letters. It worked :)
I did feel a bit bad though because I overheard a student say, "You better stop doing that or Miss Cowan will write you a pink ticket!" today. I've become THAT teacher! Miss Wright said I should be pleased with this comment, but I can't help but feel bad.
While the kids were eating before swimming I introduced the kids to the game of tic-tac-toe. They said that they called it knots and crosses in Australia. Needless to say we had several competitions throughout the day, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed.
The combination of crabby tired kids, Friday, swimming lessons, and an indoors rainy lunch time simply DOES NOT mix, which made for a long afternoon. Unfortunately we did not get much accomplished due to the students' attitudes. Hopefully this weekend does them some good!
I've gotten off to a good start on my final presentation. My teaching grade is dependent on 4 weekly journal entries and 1 major final presentation. Next week we are required to present on Thursday to our cooperating teachers and other M.E.S.S. staff, as well as on Friday to some MSU staff, QUT staff, and the principal of M.E.S.S.! Needless to say, I think it is very important to make it a FANTASTIC presentation! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!
Happy Birthday to my wonderful fiance today! :) He's a whoppin' 22!! I'd best be off, Tina, Trevor and I are going to Nan & Pops for supper tonight... and also to play some cards. Hopefully I'm better this time around!

Final Weeekend in Southern Queensland
Burpengary, Australia
What a WEEKEND! It was busy, crazy, and full of adventures!
Friday, we went to Nan and Pops, and AMAZINGLY I actually won some money playing cards! They said I was officially the big winner of the night; I still haven't figured out whether that was because they let me win, or if all of the practice I've had at home has actually paid off! :)
Saturday meant GOLD COAST day! :) Tina, Trevor and I hopped in the car and headed South. At one point Tina told me that we were crossing into New South Wales, but we turned back north shortly after that. Some of the most amazingly beautiful sights I've seen since I've been in Australia were in Coolangatta. The rocks and the waves crashing up against them were unbelievable. It was also REMARKABLE to see the beach LINED with surfers! I definitely had a good time observing their skill.... I don't know if I could do it! After Coolangatta we headed to Burleigh Heads. Much to our pleasure, there was a whole assortment of sculptures lining the beach on this particular Saturday. We enjoyed those as we walked the coast, sinking our toes into the silty white sand. It was also at Burleigh Heads that I had my first sausage sizzle... essentially a sausage in a piece of bread. I simply LOVE hot dogs, so I found it quite good. Tina explained that sausage sizzles are a popular fundraising idea. After Burleigh Heads we stopped at a cafe for morning tea (lunch) on our way to Surfers Paradise. CaffeRepublic served me a WONDERFUL BLT sandwhich that I enjoyed very much, all the while soaking in the ocean air. Eventually in Surfers Paradise, Tina and Trevor showed me Cavill Street.... the main shopping drag of the city. We were greeted by an extrordinarly tall, skinny lady clad in a gold bikini and heels. She explained that she was a "Metermaid", someone who goes around putting money in parking meters that have run out. I, however, did not take a picture of her (I'm sure that this is much to the disappointment of my fiance and brother). After doing some browsing we headed across the street to the Surfers Paradise beach. It was humorous to see the amount of people laying in the direct sun and avoiding any shade! It's no wonder Australia has the highest number of skin cancer patients! After our time in Surfers, we headed home. I was WIPED and fell asleep for much of the trip. When we arrived home, Tina and Trevor went to a show while I stayed home and worked extremely hard on my final presentation for my time here!
Sunday was my day with Shannan on the Sunshine Coast! After I showed her much of my final presentation, and she corrected me on a few things, we hit the road! Our first stop was Kings Beach in Caloundra. It was simply beautiful outside, and we had a nice walk along the coast. I was stricken by the fact that there was an outdoor swimming pool RIGHT on the coast. It was so close that Shannan told me that when it is high tide some of the ocean water splashes over the pool walls into the pool. Apparently the water in the pool is actually ocean water anyway, so they don't have to worry about mixing or anything. After Caloundra we headed to Cotton Tree, another little beach along the coast. It was here that Shannan described for me the unreal effects nature has on itself. For instance, there was one point of the bay that at one point was connected to the other side, then was an island and has recently (as in the last 5 or so years) connected to the other side. She also had me walk through a caravan park (campground) in which half of it has eroded away. Where her grandparents had once had a plot was now a big piece of Pacific Ocean. We then went to a mall and I had a wonderful milkshake and pancakes for lunch. After that we headed to one more beach a little further down the road, and Shannan described "cable skiing" to me. Apparently, instead of being pulled behind a boat, there is a place here that has cables hanging from above that pulls you on kneeboards, skis, wakeboards, etc... I've never seen or heard anything like it! Once leaving here, we accidently made a wrong turn but made the most of it by visiting one of Shannan's friends. For tea, we went to Bethany & Wesley's for pizza. Zander, as always was a darling and a stinker at the same time! He's at that adorable age where he knows what he's doing, but can get away with it. :) We all enjoy a good laugh with him.
Tomorrow marks my first day of my last week at M.E.S.S.. UNBELIEVABLE! Hopefully things run a bit more smoothly this week. I'm planning on being in charge of EVERYTHING this week... lining them up, all lessons, etc. I'm QUITE excited. :) Wish me LUCK!
written by  cowane1 on September 12, 2010 from Burpengary, Australia

Final Days at M.E.S.S.
My apologies for not writing as regularly as I have previously! It has been a BUSY week!!
Overall, school this week went VERY smoothly. I did not write a single pink ticket, because I believe that I have the behavior of the classroom under control. I did however keep a few students in at lunch to finish work that they did not finish when they should've. I also did a random desk check this week and gave those students who kept their area nice and tidy a "Good Work" ticket. As a result of this random desk check, I also chose to keep a few more students in at noon to clean their DESKS! One student's desk was jammed so full of papers we were unable to slide the tray out from underneath it. Once we got it out, we found not only a million half finished drawings and assignments, but a piece of cheese, a cut up apple, a fruit cup and madarin peeligs too! GROSS! I used this as a learning opportunity and gave him a speech about how letting this go this far could've been dangerous to his health and those around him! He promised me he wouldn't let it get that bad again.
Swimming lessons have been quite entertaining. Unfortunately, the students have become TOO familiar with some of their teachers and have begun to push their limits. At the same time, so many of them have become REMARKABLY better than they were the first day!
This experience has only strengthened my desire to become a teacher. I have come to terms with the fact that not EVERY student is going to understand everything I teach them the very first time. But, it gives me GREAT pleasure to see that when I review it, they sometimes get it the second time around. This past week I have done a lot of review, and have been amazed (and extremely proud) of the information I have taught the students and their retention of it!
Tuesday was the night of the Minnesota BBQ that Kelly and I had organized for the MSU students & their host families, the QUT staff, and our cooperating teachers. Turnout for the event was REMARKABLE! Of the people I invited, ONE person did not make it (with the exclusion of 3 MSU students/families too)! Over 35 people showed up! The Minnesota students did all of the cooking, so the meal consisted of Tater-Tot hotdish, a chicken and stuffing hotdish, a rice/broccoli/ground beef combination, snicker-apple salad, meat/cheese/salsa dip with chips, caeser salad, and rice krispy bars.
Unfortunately I had to leave the BBQ for a short while though. But - it was for a GREAT reason. It was the last night of Girl Guides that I would be able to be present for, as well as their last one before school holidays! Although I only stopped in for a short while, the girls had signed a beautiful certificate of appreciation for me and gave me a Girl Guides chip clip/note clip with a picture of a koala on it. I LOVE IT! :) I'm so happy I was able to be a part of such a wonderful organization while I was visiting.
Today was the last day of our prac at school. It was a bit sad, but I never once teared up! :) My students and I spent all morning working on a maths assessment. Poor kids :( I even enjoy math, but I could tell they were miserable. After that they went to swimming then to PE, then it was lunch! After lunch, I was able to spend my last little bit of time with them. :) I gave them each the personal note I wrote for them and a picture of the class. They simply LOVED the notes. They were running around the classroom showing eachother what I had written to them. I also had made them rice krispy bars, and handed those out as they were headed to Drama. I thought that one of the students was crying because I was leaving, and I was touched. I later found out that that wasn't the case, but that he had received a pink ticket during lunch and was upset about that. Ha! Kyryn and the class were ever so kind and gave me a box of chocolates, a package of carmel Tim-Tams, and the book Possum Magic. What a wonderful way to end my time at M.E.S.S.!
Tomorrow is my final day in the Burpengary, Morayfield, Caboolture area. The plan is that all 8 of the students are to give their final presentations to much of the QUT staff, the principal of M.E.S.S. and Carol Werhan and Ginger (I don't know her last name) from MSU. These presentations, essentially reflections of the cultural and educational differences between the 2 places, are a huge part of our grade for our Australia experience. :) Wish me LUCK! :) Mine is particularly creative, but for that reason - I'm slightly nervous to present it!
Hope all is well at home! 12 days until I get to see for myself. :)

Croc Huntin' w/ Steve and MUCH more :)
Cairns, Australia
What a day! This morning, I was in Brisbane saying goodbye to Trevor and Tina. And NOW I'm sitting on a computer in a hostel in Cairns. What a change in the swing of things! Weather, my home, EVERYTHING.
A great big thanks to Tina and Trevor who drove us to the airport this morning. :) And an even greater thanks to them for EVERYTHING they did for me the past 5 weeks. :)
Kelly and I arrived this morning at around 9:30, called for our free shuttle to our hostel and were able to check in right away. The people at the desk were unbelieveably friendly and helpful. After checkin in and what not, Kelly and I were able to book our parasailing adventure for today, our Great Barrier Reef adventure for tomorrow, and our Kuranda adventure for MONDAY. :) All for EXCELLENT prices with transportation to and from here! How GREAT!
We were able to settle in a bit, buy a few groceries, and even take a short nap. But then - it was PARASAILING time!! Woo! The parasailing company picked us up at our hostel, and brought us to the marina where we hopped on the boat. We were planning on riding tandem, as was a couple of honeymooners, and there was a Japanese girl planning on by herself. Kelly and I were first! It was SOO much fun! We were rocked back and forth, side to side, I can't remember screaming or laughing so much at the same time. It truly was amazing. After that, we watched the adorable honeymooners go... and then the Japanese girl. The last girl also was getting a jet ski tour (something the other 4 of us weren't) and so the boat driver asked is if we'd like to pay $10 (it's regularly $35) for a LONG ride on his 4 person tube. Of COURSE we said yes! And it was a BLASTTTT! Again, I've never laughed so hard or screamed so much. Thankfully, I didn't fall off but the new husband did! After we all got back in the boat and our captain asked us if it would be alright if we drove down the river a bit and looked for some crocdiles... for FREE :) Of COURSE that was alright with us too!! And believe it or not, we DID see one! Swimming right along! Ah! It was so cool!
After our adventures, we hit the town for some souvenir shopping and a meal... and then headed back to our hostel. We are exhausted from an early morning and a LONG day in the water/sun! We're plannin' on just takin' it easy, reading a bit, and going to bed EARLY :)
10 days until I'm homebound! :) Think of me - I'm always thinking of you.
written by  cowane1 on September 18, 2010 from Cairns, Australia

Representin' Team USA - with my BOOTAY! :)
Cairns, Australia
Wow! What a fun-filled, BUSY past two days!
Yesterday morning we got up early and got ready to head out on the reef! My 2nd time, Kelly's first! We took a different boat/tour this time and I much enjoyed it because there were WAY less people and the staff were AMAZING. Kelly scuba dived (dove?) THREE times! She got a deal - buy 2 dives, get one free. She saw some amazing things... as did I from up above where I snorkeled. It was MUCH windier out than the last time I snorkeled, but the reef was no less beautiful! I simply LOVED it! The company we were with provided us with wetsuits - which was nice and hard at the same time. I had the WORST time trying to get into mine. I always had to find a new friend to help zip me in because Kelly was busy with her scuba gear. The equipment I was able to use was MUCH nicer as well! We put this stuff on our goggles and mine NEVER fogged up... and NO water got in! My eyelashes were completely dry when I got out of the water. I saw SO many amazing things. Kelly rented an underwater camer and took TONS of amazing pictures and videos that I can't wait to show you all! She shared them with me :). Among the kazillion fish and different types of coral we saw, we also saw clams, sea cucumbers, AND a turtle! It was simply awesome! We also were able to visit 2 different areas to see completely different things.
After we got back Kelly and I walked upon this dance/music demonstration in the center of Cairns, real close to where our bus was going to pick us up. We had 20 minutes so we decided to watch. Soon enough, the dancers all rushed off stage and grabbed people from the crowd. This sweaty, scanitly-clothed dancer comes and chooses me! Ah! So, I get pulled on stage, along with other helpless souls, to try and dance like these people. Apparently this was a demonstration done by the People of the Pacific, and my partner was from the Cook Islands. The dance I was a part of was part of the "Around the World" dance, and I was representing the USA! The only instructions I got were to shake my booty to the beat! HA! I realized how very very poor I am at shaking my booty, but it was HILARIOUS none-the-less!
Later, after we discovered that the showers at our hostel are as cold as the Arctic, Kelly and I hit the town and found an amazing pizza shop and shared a delicious pepperoni pizza. We then did a little shopping, enjoyed the Night Markets, and found our way home... tired from all of our time spent on the reef!
TODAY, we got to sleep in and were fortunate enough to take the SkyRail up through the rainforest to the tiny village of Kuranda. The views from the SkyRail were MIRACULOUS! It was unbelievable to be zipping through the rainforest, over top of the canopy, and then all of a sudden be swallowed by a large cloud floating at the top! We were able to see the most beautiful Barron Falls among other amazing sights. Once to Kuranda, we rode the bus to the Kuranda Koala Sanctuary where we saw several native animals (again), and Kelly got her first chance at holding a koala. Her koala was named Chibby, which means small in Japanese. After the Sanctuary we enjoyed looking at the rows and rows of shops and the things they had to offer. We didn't end up buying anything, but our favorite thing that we saw was a postcard made out of kangaroo pelt that could ACTUALLY be mailed in the post! We enjoyed a relaxing, and once again beautiful train ride back to Cairns. Some of the drop-offs, and views of the different falls were spectacular. Kelly and I were both exhasted by this time though and fell asleep for a bit of the ride. Once we arrived in Cairns, we again came across an aboriginal demonstration of dance and music. Thankfully neither of us got sucked in this time, but we were able to simply sit back and marvel at their talents!
We are mostly packed up because we fly out of Cairns at 6:20 tomorrow morning. We had a pretty relaxing evening, but are planning on going and having one quick drink at this infamous backpackers bar before hitting the hay! Apparently there are regularly people dancing on tables, so on and so forth... we want to see (NOT DO) for ourself :)
Tomorrow we'll be SYDNEY-bound. We are EXTREMELY fortunate because Kelly has a hook-up for us to stay and they are even picking us up from the airport! I'm EXCITED! Hopefully they'll have warm showers. :)Ta-ta for now!...
written by  cowane1 on September 20, 2010 from Cairns, Australia

Pearl of the South Pacific.... Sydney!
Sydney, Australia
Wow! I'm sorry for being SOO bad about keeping you all updated! Sydney has been FANTASTIC to Kelly and I, and I can't wait to share it all with you! :)
First - our accomodation. We are staying with Kelly's host mom's sister and her husband in Sydney. This not only saved us money, but they are the most WONDERFUL people. They cook our meals, help us get from place to place, give us great travel ideas. They are brilliant people and so genuinely nice for letting us stay with them! AND - we have warm water here! YAY! :)
We arrived in Sydney early Tuesday morning. Kelly and I slept the majority of the flight because it took off at 6:20am... UGH. Which meant getting up at 4:15! Who scheduled a 6:20 flight? Oh yeah, WE did. Aunty Di (the host mom's sister I mentioned above) picked us up at the airport, which is only a short 15 min from their house! We then got cozied into our new accomodation - we each have our own room. :) And by 11, Kelly and I had caught a train, and then a bus, and were staring at the most beautiful Bondi Beach. I talked to Joseph as I layed out soaking in the 24 degree Celsius rays, and told him to Google Bondi Beach. When he did, he said, "Emily, I don't see a lot of beach here... only a lot of skin". Which was a DEAD on description of Bondi. Kelly and I had a good time though and considered going back another day if time permitted. Kelly even said, "when I envisioned Australia, THIS is what it looked like!". Gorgeous white sand, HUGE waves coated with surfers, you get the jist. :)
Wednesday was our busiest, but probably our BEST day in Australia. We caught the 9:30 train to Sydney City to take in all of the well known sights. We got off in a far away station from really anything, but I assured Kelly that this would make touring easier. We then walked through Hyde Park, went into St. Mary's Cathedral (Kelly's Catholic too), enjoyed the Botanical Gardens, ate our packed sandwiches near Mrs. Macquarie's Chair, walked the bit to the Opera House, took in the Circular Quay, walked along George Street and did some shopping, checked out Darling Harbour, came back along the other side of George Street and stopped in and enjoyed a tasty treat at a specialty cupcake shop, took a short tour through The Rocks, and walked most of the way across the bottom of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. After grabbing a quick chicken sandwich we made our way to the building of the Sydney Harbour BridgeClimb at about 5pm. ALL of our walking and amazing sightseeing could not prepare us for what we were about to encounter. We had chosen to do the BridgeClimb at night because it was not only the cheapest, but we wanted to see the transition of dusk to a beautiful Sydney nightscape. It was the best decision we could've made. After getting suited up in our gear, and practiced walking some fake steps, we were ready to make our climb. I didn't find it scary at all, and neither did Kelly. Our tour leader was phenomenal and told us some interesting, funny, and downright amazing stories about the people and places of Sydney. For instance, the man who created the Sydney Opera House, just died a few years ago and NEVER once stepped inside of it. In the end we had climbed to the top, went across the center then came back down the same side. It took about 2 hours, and we had climbed 1,337 steps. I would STRONGLY STRONGLY STRONGLY encourage anyone who is in Sydney to do this! It's simply the BEST.
Today, John (Di's husband) was kind enough to take us through a tour of the Blue Mountains. In various touristy shops, I've seen postcards of the Blue Mountains, but hadn't really heard much about them. We first stoped in a quaint town on the way called Leura. John enjoyed a coffee and Kelly and I a hot chocolate each. It was around 50 degrees, so it was a PERFECT start to the day. After Leura we headed a little further up the road to Scenic World. Here we were able to pay a small price to do three amazing things. First, we took the Skyway across this huge divide between two mountains, over 300 meters above the ground. We saw a miraculous waterfall on one side, and fascinating rock formation called the 3 Sisters on the other. The Skyway also had a glass bottom that we could look through if we wanted. Once we returned from that we did something we would've done all day if we could... we rode the STEEPEST train the world. It goes straight down the side of a mountain, through a little tunnel for part of it, at a 52 degree angle! When we first sat in our seat, we didn't understand why they were reclined so much, but as we got going, we realized it would've been super uncomfortable if they hadn't been. Down in the valley, we enjoyed a short rainforest walk of great scenery and a little information about the mining that had occured here in the olden days. We then took the Cableway up back to the top before heading on our way. After Scenic World, John bought Kelly and I some delicious meat pies (an Australian delicacy) and we ate them at a beautiful lookout called Edge's Point. Following that we made our way to the Wentworth Falls. Here, we decided to take a path that had been labeled an "easy grade with few steps" down to a lookout of the falls. That sign was a lie. The ENTIRE thing were quite steep steps! John also walks faster than anyone I know, leaving Kelly and I in the dust. This was WAY more intense than our BridgeClimb! After leaving there we made the 2 hour trek home. Kelly and I slept most of the way.
When we returned back here, we enjoyed another nice home-cooked meal. You will find it fascinating to know that our meal consisted of 2 meats and SEVEN different vegetables (not mixed or anything). We had bacon and sausages (plain, not with bread or anything) and mashed potatoes, corn, peas, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and pumpkin (they eat a lot of it here). My parents would be pleased to know I ate everything but the mushrooms. :) I also found it interesting because they call their sausages (which look and taste like mini-brats), snags.
Tomorrow, Kelly and I are having a rest day. We are walking the 25 minutes to the nearest shopping mall to have an experience of Asian culture. According to Di, we may be the only 2 Caucasion people in the place. Our bags are RIGHT on the weight limit so we don't plan on buying anything TOO big. :) Then, we plan on curling up and watching some movies. It should be a relaxing day after three big days of go-go-go! Then, Saturday, we fly out of Australia once and for all and head for the beautiful Auckland, New Zealand. Don't worry, Auckland is on the NORTH island - the earthquakes are on the SOUTH. :)
G'day!
written by  cowane1 on September 23, 2010 from Sydney, Australia

Livin' in Kiwi-land. :)
Auckland, New Zealand
Our last day in Sydney was the relaxing day that both Kelly and I NEEDED. We got up late, stayed in our PJ's until about 10, watched a movie in the morning, walked to the local mall and did some shopping, walked back and watched another movie, got taken out to supper, packed, and then went to bed! It was GREAT :)
On Saturday we arrived in Auckland. We got a great deal by riding the AirBus RIGHT to the front door of our hostel! After we checked into our LOVELY room - it's a 2 bed room with a fridge, TV, and our own bathroom - Kelly and I went and bought a few groceries to get us through the next few days. After that we chilled out for a while and then made our way to the local hostel bar where they offered FREE pizza! We met a few people there (both guys and girls primarily from Ireland and England) and hung out with them for most of the night. We crashed and were COMPLETELY thrown off in time because not only is NZ 2 hours ahead of Sydney, but it also just happened to be Daylight Savings Time on that very day which pushed it back ANOTHER hour.
Today we woke up and went shopping with one of the Irish girls we met the night before. We had a great time and got lots of stuff... well, enough that we can bring home without getting in trouble! We THEN did something super adventurous! We did what is called the Sky Walk where we walked around this building kind of like the space needle... It was a bit scary but a lot of fun! After that we headed back to our hostel for a pretty chill night. :)
It's hard to believe I only have 2 more days here! Ah! It's definitely bittersweet... :)
written by  cowane1 on September 26, 2010 from Auckland, New Zealand

Wrappin' it all up. :)
Auckland, New Zealand
Well, I'm sitting in my hostel's computer cafe simply waiting for our time here to come to an end. Kelly and have officially seen all of Auckland that is within a reasonable walking distance, have easily shopped in over 50 shops, and can think of nothing better to do than to sit on the internet.
The past two days were quiet, but a blur. :) Yesterday we were planning on going to a ropes course out of town but changed plans because it would've cost us a FORTUNE to get out there and back. Unfortunately there was no form of public transportation to it, and a cab would've cost a ridiculous amount to drive us there, wait, and drive us back. We decided it wasn't worth it and chose to sleep in, and have a super relaxing day. Last night we went out to supper with Dave (another one of the MSU teaching students) and his brother Tom who was touring Australia and NZ with him. They were nice enough to treat us to a beautiful meal on our last night out of the country.
Today - we start our trek back! Hard to believe that after never flying before this trip - once I return to MN, I will have flown 9 TIMES - two of those flights being 12 hour flights! Rosine will be picking me up from the St.Paul Domestic Airport at approximately 9 o'clock tonight (Tuesday). It's also simply surreal to look through my pictures and relive all of the amazing things that I've done and seen! This definitely was the trip of a lifetime. Before it - I was pretty undecided, and could care less about people studying abroad - but after experiencing it for myself, I can see how getting out of your Comfort zone and taking the NEXT step can really make you grow in ANY profession, and traveling is the best (and most fun) way to do it!
Hope you have all enjoyed reading my blog. It certainly has been fun to write it - and an EASY way to keep up with everyone! :) I'm looking forward to seeing you ALL again soon! :)
I hope you all have
written by  cowane1 on September 27, 2010 from Auckland, New Zealand

The most goregous Sydney Opera House :)

The bridge Kelly and I would later climb that night - the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Bondi Beach... Ahhhh :) Whatta place.

Our home in Cairns!

Standing by the entrance to the Kuranda Village. :)

Takin' in the views from the Kuranda SkyRail

Boogying it up with my friend Derek from the Cook Islands. :)

The crocodile we saw swimming JUST where we had parasailed and tubed. AH!

Kelly and I ready to ROLL - or rather, FLY in our parasailing adventure.

Tina letting Zander do a bit of "driving" before we got on our way... :)

Our entire cohort along with Carol (the director of Student Teaching) and Ginger (another wonderful lady from MSU)

Myself with one of the most beautiful, kind and intelligent people I've ever met... my cooperating teacher Kyryn. :)

My lovely host sister and I at Girl Guides. Isn't she stylin'? grrr.... :)

Leaders and Girl Guides - They all got to dress up for their party! :) Aren't they cute?!

The Girl Guides giving me a certificate of appreciation and a gift. :) How SWEET!

MSU Students describing their dishes to the guests coming through the line at our Minnesota BBQ! :) What a GREAT night.

Berry Chappy Tuesday - My FAVORITE day! All that deliciousness for $3! All the proceeds go to the Chaplain program at school. :)

Sand surfin' in Surfers Paradise :)

Tina & Trevor like to play Scrabble.... HOW appropriate! :)

There I am! That ant next to that giant rock....

Eating my first sausage sizzle.... Yum :)... It was a bit windy next to the coast.. Can you tell? Yikes!

Ahhh... A true picture of the wonder of the Gold Coast. :)

Lovin' the Gold Coast!

What the kids are like on a daily basis...... :)

My class! All 26 of the wonderful children! And my cooperating teacher is there on the right too!

Oooo Tina and Trevor enjoyed this! Tater-tot hotdish!

Treating ourselves to a great night at the steakhouse! :) Dave even bought us girls a bottle of wine.

FINALLY sand-free! :)

Our home for the weekend! :) Gosh, we are SO fortunate! We were the 2 windows on the left on the 2nd floor!

This is the life....

Sweaty & full of sand, but STILL enjoying eachother's company!

Ahh... Sand tobagganing! :) That's all the bigger the boards were!

On the ferry to Tangalooma! Ahh! So excited!

Our SWEET ride to the ferry launch!! We were expecting a van.... but HAPPILY surprised!

This aboriginal man taught my 3rd graders about aboriginal things and showed us how to correctly throw a returning boomerang!

Picking strawberries after our long day!

The gingerbread man - the icon of The Ginger Factory. The kids are Jodie Riek's (the media lady at Morayfield East).

Goodbye Big Pineapple!

Yes, there is a baby kangaroo hanging out of that mama kangaroo's pouch! We saw these little guys, and several other baby kangaroos at The Big Pineapple.

Shannan, my host sister, and I boogeying it up at the Treasury Casino in downtown Brisbane!

My FIRST japanese meal ever - negami yakatori = chicken on a stick.

The group I went bowling with, minus Cristina! I bowled a 105!

One of my students painting his aboriginal art - a beautiful turtle.

Two of my students beginning their aboriginal painting project. Notice the uniforms the students are required to wear.

Picking my very first orange off of my orange tree! :)

Sara, Kelly, and myself enjoying the nightlife of Brisbane's South Bank!

The Minnesota teaching students and QUT staff.

Marshmallow competition - 2nd truly is the best! :)

Myself and Kelly eating our lunch on the QUT campus.

"Welcome!" lunch of Subway, Tim-Tams and Lemingtons.

Best Buds! - Me and a Kangaroo at the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary.