New family!

The weekend was absolutely wonderful. Really for no reason in particular, it just went well. Saturday night I stayed in with my host mom and watched a movie I never thought I would ever watch, but alas I watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Not too bad... but it was interesting to watch and listen especially as they changed some of the language to make it more Australian...changing accents, calling people "mates" instead of friends, and so on. I suppose it was kind of boring for a Saturday night but it gave me time to catch up on lessons and just relax for once!

Sunday was fabulous as I got a teacher to take me to Church with her, so I had someone to go with this time, and then we headed to the Eltham festival where there was a market, and rides, and all sorts of booths advertising food, and wine and different companies and such. We then went to lunch with her family. By the time I got back to my house the host family was just leaving for a gathering for afternoon tea, so I headed to that, and later that evening moved in with my new host family. Things are absolutely wonderful there! It is quite different, now living with a true Australian family so things are much more relaxed and laid back.

Today, for the first time, I got to experience Cricket. I actually had to Ref and score the games...funny considering I've never played or even seen a game. The game is similar to baseball, but quite a bit boring as their games last anywhere from 9 hours to 5 days! However, since these were just little practice games with 5th and 6th graders we kept them down to an hour. It was pretty fun, but again I became to realize how hot the Australian sun is...

Well, we just finished staff meeting at the school, so I'd thought I'd catch up on this and give you some more pictures to enjoy!

Here is Sovereign Hill, the old Gold Rush town in Ballarat

Here is the first view of the ocean I enjoyed on Phillip Island

Another view of the ocean I enjoyed while on a hike one morning on the Island

I really enjoyed the view of the city atop the tallest building in Australia

Here's a picture of the school I teach at...it's really long so I can't really get the whole school in one picture, but I teach in temporary classrooms off to the right of this picture

And last, but not least, a picture of the Christmas Tree in downtown Melbourne...Sadly its too hot for a real tree... :(

Well, hope you enjoyed!