Markets, beach, sea stars, and LITTLE dots of colour...

This week we checked out the Suzuki Night Market which, on the weekend is known as the Queen Victoria Market. Over the summer months, it runs every Wednesday and is a little more “foody” and a little more “arty” to fit the Melbourne scene! We took advantage of the heat (if you can do that?!?) and headed for the downtown core once school was finished for the day. The atmosphere was festive with bands on stage, buskers doing their thing, food, wine, and any number of goods for sale… We all had something different for supper – Sheena had Mongolian chicken with salad and a delicious glass of white wine, Brad had kebab, Eoin had a strange, potato spiral-thing on a stick and Hana had some bbq ribs. The three of Ukranian persuasion finished off with some perogies (I am told they were delish!) and after wandering around, picking up a few things (buckwheat husk pillow, t-shirty-top-thing), we caved and had some gelato. And let’s not get too emotional about this… that gelato was pretty much as close to heaven as any thing, person or being could be. And did I mention that the LEMON gelato was to die for?!?... because it was.

As the week drew to a close, the kids had their activities… Eoin has started back up with his trampoline and trains for that on Thursdays and Saturday mornings while Hana dances on Tuesday and Fridays for a couple of hours. Also a part of the mix is footy (as it is fondly called – also known as Aussie Rules or AFL) for Eoin in the next couple of weeks and rockband for Hana through the music program at the school. Because we head to a more southern part of Melbourne for Eoin’s trampoline on a Saturday, we spent this weekend investigating a bit further afield, checking out Red Hill Market which runs monthly and which happened to be on this weekend. Hana and I picked up some meat pies for lunch and when Brad returned with Eoin, we made a scenic stop at Arthur Head overlooking the Mornington Penninsula and ate our lunch overlooking the ocean and stretches of beach. Once finished, we got into the car and ended up in Dromana (we try to check out a different beach each time we go) and spent the day alternating between soaking in the sun, staying out of the sun and swimming in the ocean. The water was refreshing and we had the luck of finding a couple of sea stars which Hana found new homes for while Eoin combed the beach looking for others that may have washed up. We headed home to chill and veg out before bed…

 

Sunday, we took in a little more market outside the National Gallery of Victoria and went to an art exhibit featuring Neo-Impressionists (basically, pointallist painters… I didn’t know either…). We were lucky to catch a free tour that provided a lot of insight and allowed the kids to really see what the work was about. We were headed to St. Kilda afterwards to have a walk at the beach and to get some fish and chips but the tram was out of commission so after wandering to an Italian place we like on the other side of the station, only to find it closed, we headed home and had supper there, tired from a busy weekend and roasting in the heat that is still hanging on despite all Aussies telling us how unusual the heat is for this time of year (we are still getting heat in the mid-30s).

Making the most of Melbourne and discovering Phillip Island

This was an awesome week! On Wednesday (Feb. 20^th), we went to a performance of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Sidney Myer Bowl, an outdoor amphitheatre, in the heart of Melbourne. It was a beautiful night – Brad had packed an awesome supper and we took the train from the station near my school. There was a great festival-type atmosphere and the performance as the sun set, with the temperature in the low 30s and 10,000 Melbournians all around us making the most of the weather and the opportunity to kick back in such a beautiful setting really brought home how lucky we are to be here and to be a part of the life of this great city! I think I fell in love with Melbourne that night.

The weekend brought our first exchangee get-together in Inverloch on Phillip Island. On Friday after school, we hit the road, stopping to pick up a fellow exchangee from Vancouver, grabbing supper and heading to Inverloch, to an informal drinks-and-appie style get-together hosted by a family who had been on exchange previously. There, we met Leith and Jamie (science and art teachers) and their kids Seth (8) and Caleb (10). Leith and Jamie had volunteered to billet us for the weekend so we headed to their place and, while the kids played, we heard of Leith and Jamie’s adventures kayaking between the islands east of Vancouver Island. They had great stories of their month of living out of their kayak, their tent and off the land and sea…

Saturday was a busy day that began by meeting up with everyone at the local info centre/sea museum and then taking a bus (driven by one of our hosts, Peter) to a beach scavenger hunt at Eagle’s Nest (Bunurong), lunch in a nearby town (happened to see them feeding the pelicans and a stingray that happened by) and then we went to a koala sanctuary… The koalas (who usually sleep for 20 hours/day) were extremely active – fighting, moving about, taking over the boardwalk (one guy was captured by the ole burlap-bag-over-the-head-trick and carted off, the bag flailing! Given that the temperatures that day were in the mid-30s, the staff were surprised at all the activity. Additionally, we saw an echidna snuffling through the grass looking for bugs and ants, and in the fields beyond the sanctuary, a kangaroo was hopping about and a couple of his buddies soon joined him!

After the koala sanctuary we went on a GORGEOUS hike (or deathmarch from hell (due to the heat)... you call it) through the blazing afternoon sun. The 7km hike took about 2.5 hours (so not really that bad length-wise) and brought us along the coast as we walked the sea cliffs. About halfway, the trail brought us to the beach and we had a splash and a cooldown in the ocean before heading along. As we came near the end of our walk, a few of us were lucky to see a troop of kangaroos (kangaroo lingo for herd) bouncing along, stopping as they came over the rise to check us out. We stopped and watched as they bent down and looked up, playing a game of hide and seek with us for a few minutes before hopping off!

Our meeting at the pub at the end of our walk was a welcome chance to have a beverage and some snacks before getting back on the bus and heading back to our billets’ homes to clean up before meeting up again for dinner with all the hosts and exchangees. We were certainly a tired group after our full day but the laughs and tips offered by our hosts for proper ways to speak “Aussie” were helpful and SOME of us left with prizes!

The next day, our surf lesson became paddle boarding as the usually-predictable surf didn’t get the memo for the morning! After an interesting start with some high-level dives and belly-flops into the water/off the boards, we began our 2hr trek along the beach, keeping eyes open for stingrays as they often come out and swim under the boards, looking for a visit…

The weekend wrapped-up with lunch and good-byes. Our hosts in Inverloch were extremely generous and we left the weekend richer for the time we spent with new friends and deepened friendships that developed.

Stopwork Action, Melbourne Rebels and a hang-about weekend...

This weekend was pretty low-key after an interesting week.

February 14^th brought stop-work action by Victoria’s public school teachers. The result of this for us meant the kids stayed home as only one teacher at their school did not take strike action while about 15 teachers were at my school (it is not mandatory to be a part of the union here). Those teachers who were at school supervised the two classes-worth of year 7s who came to school.

At first count, when the year 7s at school assembled, there were 37 students so I thought – how easy is that today?!?! Just one class of kids to supervise! When I said that I was surprised that there was only one class, everyone was horrified – no way – that is two classes – are you out of your mind??? I didn’t get it – that was clearly just one class! Then I thought – hold on a minute – this is not Alberta where classes in the mid-thirties (or higher) is quite normal, this is Australia where the largest class size is 26… So, we split the group into two, found five more kids who hadn’t been in the proper place for attendance and added them into the mix, and then we split the day and took time with our charges!

There was a great turnout for the teacher rally for those who did strike and their slogan and posters were fantastic – no love for Ted (premier) – appropriately timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day! There was a lot to love about the teachers’ passion and resolve! Rotating strikes are now planned for second term while the 38 hour workweek is ongoing resulting in no PD or extra-curricular events occurring beyond the regular workday. This is reeking havoc with Brad subbing as there is just no work at the moment as sub time is required for those on PD, etc but without that happening there is no need for a sub…

On Friday we went to the Melbourne Rebels home opener match for rugby. We had great seats, the kids moved up to the front and had a blast doing that and the Rebels (after a pretty sleepy start) won it pretty decisively. After the game, the whole team came out and signed autographs, took time to chat and get photos taken with fans. The kids were thrilled! Eoin, especially, was on cloud nine with rave reviews continuing all weekend!

Saturday was a day at the beach and Sunday was spent with the kids having time with friends – Hana going to a buddy’s place and Eoin having his friend to play. A pretty low-key weekend but worth it!

Getting to know kids, colleagues and family!

We've had some busy times since school has started so I've been extremely lax in getting blogs up on time - especially given that I HATE dragging my laptop back and forth between school and home (I take the train and then walk for 45 minutes so don't want to lug it around) so I have a number of blogs to do to update everything and then my plan is to keep things updated every two weeks at the very least!!!

The week of - and ending with - February 10th was a fun one at school and a great weekend as it provided us with time to socialize and get to know some Aussies! The school Swim Carnival on Wednesday gave a glimpse into the fun of sport at school. Kids dressed according to their houses (Hotham, Macedon or Stirling - houses by colour as in the photo) and the year twelves went all-out with many guys dressing (and swimming) in gowns or dresses. On Friday, one of the art teacher’s had a rooster hanging out in the office before he headed to his new owners and became a curry stew and this brought some excitement… Elaine (an art teacher) and I were worried the rooster may not have enough air in his small box, so I reorganized the top of the box for him. He later freaked us out as he got out of his box which resulted in Elaine using a student’s portfolio to herd him back into his box while I tried to find Anastasia (his human mother) to rebox him! I was worried that if I grabbed him and scared him, he may poop all over and I wasn’t into rooster poop all over me… Unfortunately, Sally (the vegetarian art teacher) had her preps surrounded by the clucking and we joked that if she could top Anastasia’s neighbour’s offer of $5 for the chook, that she could take it and set it free!

On Friday evening, we went my colleague’s home for dinner and for our kids to have a swim and a play with his kids - we had a great evening with lots of laughs, some Australian history, learning about Ned Kelly. Times at school are interesting as there is upcoming work action day on February 14^th so it is interesting to see the similarities and differences between our situation at home and the situation here in Victoria. It is quite ugly here and things are also heating up at home so it will be interesting to see how things pan out for both groups. Teachers here are asking for 20% pay increase, the gov’t is taking issue with this and wants to include performance pay as part of the deal. The problem with performance pay – everyone against it has the same problems with it – is that it creates a competitive work environment that runs counter-productive to the collaboration required to grow strong programs and work together for kids. ANYWAY… enough on that! The situation the gov’t has gotten itself into is that the premier was elected on the backs of teachers after stating during the election that Victorian teachers are the hardest working and deserve to be the best-paid teachers in the country. Unfortunately, the past two years has not brought his promise to fruition so the work stoppage, including keeping all duties to a 38 hour work week are creating a unique climate in schools. So... onto other things!

On Saturday, we hit the beach after our night out on Friday and on Sunday we went to Michelle’s parents’ (Michelle is the wife of my exchange partner). It was great to meet her mom and dad and her sisters (Joanne and Andrea) were there – both with husbands/significant others. Joanne’s two boys were there as well and Hana and Eoin had fun playing with the boys (Luke and Quinn) – it was like having their cousins around as the boys are similar in age to cousins in Calgary and Okotoks. We had a beautiful walk along the beach with very rough tide, some running in and out of the water and bailing-out Quinn before the water could grab him or before he became washed away – he is pretty little and the tide was pretty wild! It was interesting to see such a different type of beach - so rugged! We were at the tip of the Mornington Penninsula and, as you can see, it is stunning scenery!