It's been a while!!

Hey everyone,

So it’s been a while, I know! A testament to how much fun we are having and how busy we are.

Where did we leave off??

Hmm….well, after my last blog, John and I spent February 12-15^th in Perth for a teaching exchange orientation weekend. We flew to Perth on Thursday the 12^th and spent the night at Leigh and Lindsay Richardson’s (our Australian parents). It was bitter sweet because we were both exhausted, but wanted to share some time with them. Fortunately we’ll have a few days in the next little bit as we are off to Perth and Fremantle for a few days and hope to spend some time with them….more on that in a bit.

So, we spent the day on the 13^th at the Western Australian Education building learning about curriculum, aboriginal education, frameworks and goals for education within the system. Quite an interesting day. The curriculum here is very similar to ours, however, teachers seems to be freer to decide how to teach to the curriculum. For example, you don’t have to complete a Space unit in Year 6 – there are specific science expectations that could accommodate a space unit, but it’s ultimately the teacher’s decision. I’ve heard different view points on this. Some teachers love the freedom, while others complain that a subject area they may consider covering in their classroom, other students have been exposed to in previous classes. However, they are HUGE into First Steps here, and First Steps Maths too. Kit, eat your heart out. A Maths framework similar to the Reading Development Continuum or the Writing Development Continuum, you get the idea. Very cool. I’d like to learn more personally, but being a “supply” I don’t plan or implement any long term curriculum goals (boo hoo, Cristen, I know) and therefore feel a little babysitter ish, and also don’t feel that I am using my skills or learning enough. I’ll figure it out – I’m just being a complainer.

We also were taught about the aboriginal population here in Australia. They recently had a “Sorry Day”, similar to the one in Canada where the conservatives apologized to the lost generation. The federal government has also said “sorry” here, and the 2^nd anniversary of the day was Friday, February 13^th, 2009 (a little unfavorable a day if you ask me?). There seems to be several parallels between the Canadian Aboriginal History and Australia’s history with its aboriginal people, needless to say, that doesn’t at all ensure we are experts on the subject, daily struggles are a part of the 8:30 to 3pm at Nulsen. John has more experience than I, but we’re learning.

We were exposed to a behaviour management strategy that was developed by an Australian; however, he highlighted the York region District School Board several times for their implementation of successful behaviour management programs. I was thrilled by that – not that I have any connections to that board, but the fact that certain success stories in Canada have reached this world over here – God we are SO global.

So enough on the bureaucratic. We shared the day with all the other exchange participants who have made their way to Western Australia. A few Canadians, couple Brits, and one American. Quite the crew. I won’t expand too much on the weekend as a whole. It was quite strange. The organizers are lovely and spent their own personal time organizing these trips for us, the exchange participants. They themselves have previously been on exchange to somewhere in the world and are now part of the Education Exchange Federal in Western Australia, so they have been our side of the fence. John and I intend on joining the Canadian Exchange Federation upon our return to Canada, we’ll be able to share insights into going on exchange, how to handle all the documentation, etc. for upcoming Canadian participants. It will also allow us to go on the planned trips within Ontario developed specifically for the people coming over from wherever for the year to Ontario. Anyhow, they plan these weekends away. So very kind of them. I found though, that there was a lot of hurry up and get there, and then sit and wait and chill when we do actually get there. I won’t expand, unfortunately we were disappointed though.

We spent a day in Fremantle, went on a tour of the town and took a tour boat along the swan river from Perth to Freo and back again, saw dolphins and purchased John a wet suit. All very exciting and spending the days with the other exchange participants was great – we’re all trying to visit one another over the course of the year, and some are planning on visiting us here in Esperance. Most of the exchangees are based in Perth, while we and one other couple are a minimum of 8 hours away from Perth. So, for us to make the journey for weekend trips is less likely than those living in Perth. That said, we were hoping for more of a go-go-go, get stuff accomplished weekend because we also spent a pretty penny to fly there. Ah well.

On Sunday we visited a conservation park and had a lecture from a lady who cares for native Australian animals. Roos who have lost their moms, wallabies and other creatures. You should check out the pics online. SO CUTE!!!

We made our way back to Leigh and Lindsay Richardson’s where we had lunch and another quick visit before flying back to Esperance. Upon our arrival back home, we noticed “Scout”, our car, had been broken into. Fortunately we didn’t have anything in the car for “them” to steal. They got away with Jennie’s iPod dock, no iPod in there though, thank god, and all her CDs, and that’s it. We aren’t sure how they got into the vehicle, but in many ways we were glad they accessed it without damage, as several other cars in the area had their windows smashed. So, while it sucked, we were glad Scout was so easy to get into! We hated sharing that news with Jennie but she took it well.

The following weekend was the Western Australian Labour day weekend, so we had Monday off. John and I packed the car Friday morning, went to school and then flew out of the school parking lot at 3:02pm to venture off towards Albany. We met a lady named Enid at the previous exchange weekend in Perth who lives in Albany and had just come back from an exchange to Alberta. She was gracious enough to offer us a bed in her house in Albany any time (one of the few pluses of the Exchange weekend in Perth). So we warned her that we surely intended on taking her up on the offer and we did. We arrive at her place at 9pm…..so it took us about 6 hours to get there. We stopped too many times, but we made it safe and sound.

We spent the evening chatting away with Enid about her exchange to Alberta. She LOVED Canada, and hopes to journey over again sometime. All in all she had an amazing exchange experience. We shared some of our adventures with her and also planned out our days in Albany.

On Saturday morning we woke up to beautiful views from her porch, check out the pics, AMAZING views! John and I headed to Emu point where we ate breakfast and mapped out our day. We walked through downtown Albany a bit in the morning and then jumped in the car and ventured out towards Denmark and Walpole, around 45-60 mins from Albany. We went straight to the Valley of the Giants and went on a tree-top walk among the Giants. Very spectacular. The drive itself was also mesmerizing because trees lined the road, and ocean views shone from around corners. It was a great drive. We stopped along the way back from the Valley towards Denmark to check out some of the coastal scenery. Not as spectacular as Esperance, but beautiful regardless. We flew back to Enid’s to freshen up and we drove out to have dinner with she and her parents at their farm. A fantastic lamb dinner and some wine later and we were exhausted. We had a lovely visit with them, and really enjoyed their company. Her parents are both originally from Britain and they shared stories of how they made it over here and never left, and they have been farmers all their lives, so John swapped stories about life on farms in Canada, based on some of the work he did as a kid growing up in Dalston.

Sunday all three of us, Enid included, drove out to the Porongurup range (hillish mountains) and had a misty morning hike to Castle Rock. Unfortunately there were no views to be seen at the top of the rock because it was quite misty from some morning rain. Afterwards, we drove out to Duke’s, a vineyard, where the Porongurup Wine Festival was being held. The weather didn’t cooperate and it poured rain while we were there, however we sampled several varieties of wine from local vineyards, participated in a grape stomping competition (we lost big time), drank too much wine, enjoyed some lunch and local musical talent before calling it in and driving back to Albany. Once we arrived back at Enid’s the skies cleared and John and I decided to drive out to the coast for the tourist highway trek. We stopped at Natural Bridge Rock, “The Gap” and several other costal points along the 35km road, taking in all the glory of nature and the powerful nature of water. A very beautiful drive. Several pictures are posted on the picassa site.

That evening we indulged in a lovely Italian dinner at Nonna’s on Albany’s downtown strip, outfitted with a lovely bottle of local red, a 2005 Cab Sav. YUM!!

On Monday, the weather was playing tricks again, so we started the day late by relaxing on Enid’s porch and organizing ourselves before we headed off back to Esperance. The drive home was quicker because we weren’t driving into the sun like we were on the trek out. We had a lovely weekend, enjoyed Albany thoroughly, and Enid’s company and hospitality was so appreciated and enjoyed. We hope to head out that way again, even during a regular weekend to catch the Stirling Mountain Range for some hiking and more vineyard tours!!

I’ll leave this for now, and add more shortly. I hope everyone back home is fantastic and has enjoyed their March Break. We’ll cross our fingers for Spring to arrive sooner rather than later. Hope you all are wonderful!!

Love and hugs,

cristen and John :o)

Here is a link to some pics....

http://picasaweb.google.com/cristencarson11/TeachingExchangeWeekendInPerth?feat=directlink

and then just click on Cristen's Albums and you can check out some of the others as well!!

cheers!