After a craaaaaaazy week of teaching non stop I am finally home!
I have realized a few important things in the last seven days. Firstly, I love not having to drive everywhere! This past week, when I've had to drive everywhere! I've really really hated it! I've been commuting 2 hours a day...ick!
I've also reaffirmed that I would never ever live in queensland....compared to Melbourne, its just a bit boring....that said I love to visit, especially to see the girls =)
Most importantly, I've realized that I really really love teaching esl. It's fun and it's engaging. If I want to plan an awesome lesson I can, if I don't there's heaps of material on the interwebs I can use....what more can you ask for. Plus, the average english teacher works about 20-30 hours a week and makes more than I'm making now! ker-ching!
It's a really good feeling to finally be here and have found something I enjoy and I'm good at....next up: the job hunt begins!!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
prac day 2
Class was great! As expected. Although, the laid back causal style of the gold coast would definitely NOT fly in melbs. We spent a good 15 minutes talking about drugs and drug laws and how stupid they are. In a language class. But, as long as the students are speaking English, what more can you ask for? Haha
I taught a 1 hour conversation class on my first full day! Eek….I was totally thrown into it. One of the teachers had made an appoitment and there was no one else to do it, when they asked if I wanted to I couldn’t really say no. It was awesome though! It went really well. I gave the students a topic, they discussed it in groups for about 20-25 mintues and then we debated it as a class for another 25-30 minutes….conversation class…check!
Tonight I had another looooong class…it’s 4 hours! I planned for 2 hours of it. I think I over did it a bit, although I’d rather challenge the students then have them be bored. To unwind at the end I had them listen to Let it Be I had created a sheet with the lyrics, taken a few words out in each stanza and then they had to listen for the words. They all knew the song, so it wasn’t too hard, but just hard enough =) Busy busy day two =)
xx
I taught a 1 hour conversation class on my first full day! Eek….I was totally thrown into it. One of the teachers had made an appoitment and there was no one else to do it, when they asked if I wanted to I couldn’t really say no. It was awesome though! It went really well. I gave the students a topic, they discussed it in groups for about 20-25 mintues and then we debated it as a class for another 25-30 minutes….conversation class…check!
Tonight I had another looooong class…it’s 4 hours! I planned for 2 hours of it. I think I over did it a bit, although I’d rather challenge the students then have them be bored. To unwind at the end I had them listen to Let it Be I had created a sheet with the lyrics, taken a few words out in each stanza and then they had to listen for the words. They all knew the song, so it wasn’t too hard, but just hard enough =) Busy busy day two =)
xx
the prac...day 1
Arriving in queensland its hard to believe I’m in the same country. Where I’ve come from its cold and rainy….clearly winter. But here its gentle and warm(er) not as warm as I was hoping, but obviously tropical.
Tiger Airways is THE cheap carrier in Australia and I got cheap flights….of course the planes were old and the concourse barely attached to the airport, but that is the price I didn’t pay. I was running late had no idea where the terminal was and ended up running halfway across tullimarine (Melbourne airport) to find terminal four, a nice phrase for the shack that houses tiger in Melbourne. I barely made it…last one allowed to check in for the flight. Honestly, for a borderline shoddy establishment, they sure do keep tight to their timetables!
After a cramped sleep on the plane (I always sleep on planes, its really the only acceptable way to pass the time as far as I’m concerned) I landed on the goldcoast. Also known as bris-vegas to aussies everywhere, I can only assume because of the overweight population, excess of temptation, and cheap and cheesy shopping everywhere.
I’ve rented a car for the week because there is virtually no public transportation here. Its quite weird to have a car. I don’t have a car in melbs and don’t want a car in mebs, we in fact, rent out our car space for $60 a week and its fabulous! The problem, as some of you may remember from the madness that was Gena in America last year, I’m not really used to being a driver anymore. I’m fine actually driving, probably safer because I pay much more attention driving than I ever did before. The problems usually arise after happy hour when someone asks “hey Gena, how are you getting home?” My general answer is “TRAM!” because where I live, I can always take the tram home and its safe no matter how much I’ve had to drink because I’m not driving. When I’m not at home, especially when I have driven this usually creates a BIG problem. Over the winter/summer when I was in NoVa, several times I forgot I had driven to the bar and had to a) take a cab home and b) ask my step-father/some other friend to drive me back in the morning to pick up said vehicile….ouch. tres embarrassing. Luckily for me, I’m on an anti-biotic so that shouldn’t be a big problem this time around.
I digress, so I get my car and the fancy gps I’ve decided to rent along with it (for $3.50/day!!) and am on my way. Since I haven’t really had a car for the past 2.5 years I have very little experience with gps, so as much as I love the idea of it, I kind of distrust it too (the robots are taking over!) My fears proved well founded when within 10 minutes of leaving the airport I was in New South Wales. The next state. I had driven across state line. THIS WAS NOT RIGHT. I am positive that the gold coast and surfers paradise are in queensland, the sunshine state! That’s where I needed to be. It turns out the gps did know best and NSW was just a detour to northern motorway. Huh, who would’ve thought? Go south to get north, leave the state to get to another city within it? TOM-TOM (that’s the gps, mom) sure had a funny idea about “fastest route”. But soon enough I found myself to be thrilled with TOM-TOM. It really knew what it was doing and how to get me around….sweeeeeet. Pretty soon I found myself talking to it, “great job TOM-TOM. Thanks for that TOM-Tom. Not sure where in NSW I’d be without you TOM-TOM.” Then I got concerned. Is that normal? Is it ok to talk to your gps? I figure it must be, because you can’t really have the music too loud or else you won’t be able to hear it. You can’t drive with the windows down (which lets be honest, is the best part) because it drowns out TOM-TOM’s voice, so what else am I supposed to do?
Soon enough I got back into the swing of being a driver and was pleased to discover that driving a stick is indeed like riding a bike….you can never forget. Wvertime I rent a car here I request a manual, but generally as soon as I open my mouth to say “thank you” they assume that:
American + female = can’t drive stick…argh. But not this time around, the fine establishment I’ve rented from, cut price car rentals (its all in the name isn’t it?) did indeed give me a stick and soon enough I was racing off lights with the best of them!
Vroom vroom = FUN!
Long story long, I made it! Hooray! I’m sitting on the camps now as I type this, under a gazebo watching horses walk past surrounded by the squawking of birds (hey! It can’t all be pleasant). The language school shares grounds with a horse riding academy. I’m wearing flip-flops and sitting outside. Didn’t exactly picture this when I woke up in rainly dreary melbs this morning. I’m a lucky one alright!
xx
Tiger Airways is THE cheap carrier in Australia and I got cheap flights….of course the planes were old and the concourse barely attached to the airport, but that is the price I didn’t pay. I was running late had no idea where the terminal was and ended up running halfway across tullimarine (Melbourne airport) to find terminal four, a nice phrase for the shack that houses tiger in Melbourne. I barely made it…last one allowed to check in for the flight. Honestly, for a borderline shoddy establishment, they sure do keep tight to their timetables!
After a cramped sleep on the plane (I always sleep on planes, its really the only acceptable way to pass the time as far as I’m concerned) I landed on the goldcoast. Also known as bris-vegas to aussies everywhere, I can only assume because of the overweight population, excess of temptation, and cheap and cheesy shopping everywhere.
I’ve rented a car for the week because there is virtually no public transportation here. Its quite weird to have a car. I don’t have a car in melbs and don’t want a car in mebs, we in fact, rent out our car space for $60 a week and its fabulous! The problem, as some of you may remember from the madness that was Gena in America last year, I’m not really used to being a driver anymore. I’m fine actually driving, probably safer because I pay much more attention driving than I ever did before. The problems usually arise after happy hour when someone asks “hey Gena, how are you getting home?” My general answer is “TRAM!” because where I live, I can always take the tram home and its safe no matter how much I’ve had to drink because I’m not driving. When I’m not at home, especially when I have driven this usually creates a BIG problem. Over the winter/summer when I was in NoVa, several times I forgot I had driven to the bar and had to a) take a cab home and b) ask my step-father/some other friend to drive me back in the morning to pick up said vehicile….ouch. tres embarrassing. Luckily for me, I’m on an anti-biotic so that shouldn’t be a big problem this time around.
I digress, so I get my car and the fancy gps I’ve decided to rent along with it (for $3.50/day!!) and am on my way. Since I haven’t really had a car for the past 2.5 years I have very little experience with gps, so as much as I love the idea of it, I kind of distrust it too (the robots are taking over!) My fears proved well founded when within 10 minutes of leaving the airport I was in New South Wales. The next state. I had driven across state line. THIS WAS NOT RIGHT. I am positive that the gold coast and surfers paradise are in queensland, the sunshine state! That’s where I needed to be. It turns out the gps did know best and NSW was just a detour to northern motorway. Huh, who would’ve thought? Go south to get north, leave the state to get to another city within it? TOM-TOM (that’s the gps, mom) sure had a funny idea about “fastest route”. But soon enough I found myself to be thrilled with TOM-TOM. It really knew what it was doing and how to get me around….sweeeeeet. Pretty soon I found myself talking to it, “great job TOM-TOM. Thanks for that TOM-Tom. Not sure where in NSW I’d be without you TOM-TOM.” Then I got concerned. Is that normal? Is it ok to talk to your gps? I figure it must be, because you can’t really have the music too loud or else you won’t be able to hear it. You can’t drive with the windows down (which lets be honest, is the best part) because it drowns out TOM-TOM’s voice, so what else am I supposed to do?
Soon enough I got back into the swing of being a driver and was pleased to discover that driving a stick is indeed like riding a bike….you can never forget. Wvertime I rent a car here I request a manual, but generally as soon as I open my mouth to say “thank you” they assume that:
American + female = can’t drive stick…argh. But not this time around, the fine establishment I’ve rented from, cut price car rentals (its all in the name isn’t it?) did indeed give me a stick and soon enough I was racing off lights with the best of them!
Vroom vroom = FUN!
Long story long, I made it! Hooray! I’m sitting on the camps now as I type this, under a gazebo watching horses walk past surrounded by the squawking of birds (hey! It can’t all be pleasant). The language school shares grounds with a horse riding academy. I’m wearing flip-flops and sitting outside. Didn’t exactly picture this when I woke up in rainly dreary melbs this morning. I’m a lucky one alright!
xx
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
brrrr
This has been the coldest week of my life in melbourne and I'm not too happy about it.
I've reviewed my previous post where I described my feelings about a week in queensland as 'mixed'....well I'm over it. I'm thrilled to be going to the warm sunshine for 7 days. Anything to get me out of the cold....brrrr
I've reviewed my previous post where I described my feelings about a week in queensland as 'mixed'....well I'm over it. I'm thrilled to be going to the warm sunshine for 7 days. Anything to get me out of the cold....brrrr
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Well, it's finally happening! I'm going to do my student teaching at the end of the month in Queensland, since I couldn't find a place in Melbourne to do it. I have mixed feelings about this, it'll be nice to get it done and I do have some girlfriends I'll get to see, which is sweet. But, I don't like having to go away and spend $$ I don't have on a non-vacation. On the other hand, autumn/winter is descending upon Melbourne and its always sunny in qld!!
Proper autumn (its not fall here!) takes so long and the 'nasty' seasons are so short I'd forgotten what its like to wake up to the sound of the wicked witch of the west landing on your house.....this morning I was reminded. This wind is fierce! ick...and its going to be like this until august....gross.
The thing that really sucks about melbourne winter is that it isn't especially cold, just cold enough to be really uncomfortable, not cold enough to freeze. And all it does is rain, rain, rain. Does anyone remember the Winnie-the-Pooh story of the blustery day where piglet gets stuck in a honey pot and the hundred acre woods floods? (I work with kids, remember?) That is what melbourne winter is like, except, they don't collect the water and as its pouring rain for months they tell us we're in a drought....grrr.....
Proper autumn (its not fall here!) takes so long and the 'nasty' seasons are so short I'd forgotten what its like to wake up to the sound of the wicked witch of the west landing on your house.....this morning I was reminded. This wind is fierce! ick...and its going to be like this until august....gross.
The thing that really sucks about melbourne winter is that it isn't especially cold, just cold enough to be really uncomfortable, not cold enough to freeze. And all it does is rain, rain, rain. Does anyone remember the Winnie-the-Pooh story of the blustery day where piglet gets stuck in a honey pot and the hundred acre woods floods? (I work with kids, remember?) That is what melbourne winter is like, except, they don't collect the water and as its pouring rain for months they tell us we're in a drought....grrr.....
Saturday, March 14, 2009
drunk in the clouds
So, I was a little drunk last night.....out to dinner bottle of wine...gm at disgestif, you know how it goes.
Anyways we get home and it's super overcast...I mean the fog had descended upon the city....and we were in the middle of it. I guess one of the cool things about living so high is that occasionally you get stuck in a cloud. It was like magic. At first I thought I had been transported to Gotham city, but after a few seconds I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the cloud and it felt more like a magical candyland.
The downside of being stuck in a cloud at night means a very cloudy day. Not sure if I'll be leaving the couch today!
Anyways we get home and it's super overcast...I mean the fog had descended upon the city....and we were in the middle of it. I guess one of the cool things about living so high is that occasionally you get stuck in a cloud. It was like magic. At first I thought I had been transported to Gotham city, but after a few seconds I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the cloud and it felt more like a magical candyland.
The downside of being stuck in a cloud at night means a very cloudy day. Not sure if I'll be leaving the couch today!
Friday, March 13, 2009
work etc....
So I've started toying with the idea of becoming an actual kindergarden teacher....not a kinder room in childcare, which is where I currently work, but an actualy kinder teacher. Whats the difference? you may ask, well, the difference is that in childcare you work with all these retards who don't know how to do their jobs . When the center is short staffed I often have to deal with much younger children who wear diapers and the pay is crap. In a kinder you're with kids 5-6 hours a day, instead of 9 and its 4 days a week and you get 6-7 hours a week to plan lessons! whoo whoo AND you get all school holidays off paid! sweeeeeeeet.....I'm kinda liking this idea. what do we think friends?
xx
xx
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
SLACKER!!
Yes Me!! I know I've been absolutely terrible, no good emails or updates or anything. As I'm sure many of you can imagine that means I'm in a bit of rut, but that's no excuse, you all are my near and dear and you deserve better!
So, as for me, I'm still working in the Kindergarten, I've basically been working on and off at the same child care center for almost a year, which is a little ridiculous! I was there for 3 months before I came home for the summer and then I've been there pretty much full time since October. I'm unbelievably over it! I love my kids to death and a lot of days are really fun. I am, however, tired of spending all day every day with people who scream whenever they don't get their way and occasionally shit themselves. Add to that the director of my center is 24 and completely inexperienced, she wants everyone to like her so she doesn't put her foot down or manage at all...grrrrrr.
I've finished my qualification to teach English and I will be highly qualified, but I can't find a place to student teach...I need 10 hours in the classroom and I'll be all set ready to find a teaching job and no one will let me student teach! I can't tell you how discouraging it is. I've called every language school and community center in the Melbourne Area and so far no luck, if any of you have ideas please let me know! I want to start my career!!
Personally, life couldn't be better =) Mike and I are starting the ground work to apply for permenant residency (pr), which means we can stay in Australia for the next 10 years if we want to and have all the rights (not a lot of the responsibility: oz has mandatory voting!) of citizens. That may not sound like a super big deal, but let me enlighten you! Australia has health cover called medicare and they way it works is the government takes 1% of your paycheck and you get covered for all emergency, contraception, doctors, etc...all the big stuff. Almost everyone is eligible for medicare b/c Australia has recipricol health agreements with almost every country in the world....except the United States. So, while everyone else gets this awesome coverage, I'm still paying for everything out of pocket AND to add insult to injury, b/c there is this awesome gov sponsered health care system, the private cover I do have doesn't cover the basics, no private cover does (don't worry mom, I've covered for emergencies etc!). When I have pr, I'll be able to get this totally awesome health care! YAY!
We've also done a bit more traveling around oz, we went to adelaide a few weeks ago, which is the capital of South Australia and is offically the farthest west I've been on this continent! It's a charming little city full of lovely sweet people and delicious food!! South Australia is a very famous wine growing region so we were able to take advantage of the local speciality! haha I'd like to think I'm becoming a bit of a consiuerr of Australian wines, so if you have any questions, let me know! I'm definitely becoming a total wino =)
As many of you may have heard there were terrible fires in Australia recently, the worst fires in Australian recorded history, almost 200 people died and thousands lost their homes. The most severe fires were within about an hours drive of Melbourne and although we could see and smell smoke in the city, it never got more serrious than that. To put it in perspective, everyone I know who is from Victoria (Melbourne is the capital of Victoria) knows at least one person/family that lost their house. It's just incridibely tragic.
As for me, I continue to enjoy some of the happiest moments in my life, despite missing you all dreadfully! I've started Bikram Yoga, which is a 90 minute yoga class in a 102-107 degree room (38-42 celcius)! I know it sounds ridiculous, but its one of the best life decisions I've ever made, I adore my classes and feel fantastic =)
I'm sure most of you have figured out that I won't be home this summer and believe me, I'm pretty gutted, but I figure its time to get real about my finances and I can't afford it. You all, however, can probably afford to fly here =)
Qantas airways is offering flights for about $600 round trip from the west coast and about $800 round trip from the east coast....when I came home last summer my flights cost $3000!! Even better, for those of you under 26, STA travel is offering roundtrip flights for under $500! I mean, come on people, I had better be seeing you this year, I don't think flights will ever again be this cheap!
I hope you all are well and excited for spring =) Contrary to my actions, you are always on my mind. I will do better and make more of an effort with this blog, so we don't have entries as long as this one!
Congrats if you made it to the end! I love you tons!
xxxxxxx
me =)
So, as for me, I'm still working in the Kindergarten, I've basically been working on and off at the same child care center for almost a year, which is a little ridiculous! I was there for 3 months before I came home for the summer and then I've been there pretty much full time since October. I'm unbelievably over it! I love my kids to death and a lot of days are really fun. I am, however, tired of spending all day every day with people who scream whenever they don't get their way and occasionally shit themselves. Add to that the director of my center is 24 and completely inexperienced, she wants everyone to like her so she doesn't put her foot down or manage at all...grrrrrr.
I've finished my qualification to teach English and I will be highly qualified, but I can't find a place to student teach...I need 10 hours in the classroom and I'll be all set ready to find a teaching job and no one will let me student teach! I can't tell you how discouraging it is. I've called every language school and community center in the Melbourne Area and so far no luck, if any of you have ideas please let me know! I want to start my career!!
Personally, life couldn't be better =) Mike and I are starting the ground work to apply for permenant residency (pr), which means we can stay in Australia for the next 10 years if we want to and have all the rights (not a lot of the responsibility: oz has mandatory voting!) of citizens. That may not sound like a super big deal, but let me enlighten you! Australia has health cover called medicare and they way it works is the government takes 1% of your paycheck and you get covered for all emergency, contraception, doctors, etc...all the big stuff. Almost everyone is eligible for medicare b/c Australia has recipricol health agreements with almost every country in the world....except the United States. So, while everyone else gets this awesome coverage, I'm still paying for everything out of pocket AND to add insult to injury, b/c there is this awesome gov sponsered health care system, the private cover I do have doesn't cover the basics, no private cover does (don't worry mom, I've covered for emergencies etc!). When I have pr, I'll be able to get this totally awesome health care! YAY!
We've also done a bit more traveling around oz, we went to adelaide a few weeks ago, which is the capital of South Australia and is offically the farthest west I've been on this continent! It's a charming little city full of lovely sweet people and delicious food!! South Australia is a very famous wine growing region so we were able to take advantage of the local speciality! haha I'd like to think I'm becoming a bit of a consiuerr of Australian wines, so if you have any questions, let me know! I'm definitely becoming a total wino =)
As many of you may have heard there were terrible fires in Australia recently, the worst fires in Australian recorded history, almost 200 people died and thousands lost their homes. The most severe fires were within about an hours drive of Melbourne and although we could see and smell smoke in the city, it never got more serrious than that. To put it in perspective, everyone I know who is from Victoria (Melbourne is the capital of Victoria) knows at least one person/family that lost their house. It's just incridibely tragic.
As for me, I continue to enjoy some of the happiest moments in my life, despite missing you all dreadfully! I've started Bikram Yoga, which is a 90 minute yoga class in a 102-107 degree room (38-42 celcius)! I know it sounds ridiculous, but its one of the best life decisions I've ever made, I adore my classes and feel fantastic =)
I'm sure most of you have figured out that I won't be home this summer and believe me, I'm pretty gutted, but I figure its time to get real about my finances and I can't afford it. You all, however, can probably afford to fly here =)
Qantas airways is offering flights for about $600 round trip from the west coast and about $800 round trip from the east coast....when I came home last summer my flights cost $3000!! Even better, for those of you under 26, STA travel is offering roundtrip flights for under $500! I mean, come on people, I had better be seeing you this year, I don't think flights will ever again be this cheap!
I hope you all are well and excited for spring =) Contrary to my actions, you are always on my mind. I will do better and make more of an effort with this blog, so we don't have entries as long as this one!
Congrats if you made it to the end! I love you tons!
xxxxxxx
me =)
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