The Red Menace

You may have seen on the news that on Wednesday, Sydney was caught in a dust storm, turning the entire city red from the red dust that had blown in from the Northern Territory. When I woke up, the whole city seemed to have an orange glow about it, and when we turned on the news we found out that it was because of the dust. Apparently it was the worst dust storm Sydney has had in 70 years. Mark, our program director, said that these kinds of storms happen somewhat frequently in Beijing, as the dust blows in over the Great Wall, but that they are not common in Sydney at all. Though it was pretty cool looking, it was pretty bad, heathwise. I actually had been sneezing all day the day before - I guess my allergies were supersensitive to the dust storm when it was just thinking about blowing in. The news was urging asthmatics and people with respiratory problems to stay inside, and since the dust was having such an effect on my allergies and I hadn't even been outside yet, I didn't go on the lawn bowls field trip like I had been planning on doing. Our aboriginal school field trip that we were also supposed to go on actually got cancelled anyways, so I didn't really miss out on anything. Since I couldn't go out, I spent the morning calling friends in Boston and catching up, which was great. It was so great to hear their voices and to hear about what's been going on at BU. We then had cheeseburgers for lunch that my roommate Alli cooked up on the grill - they were delicious - followed by an afternoon and evening spent at the BU Sydney Center (BUSC) working on my paper and attending class.

Thursday started out being a normal day - all signs of the dust storm were gone, and Sam and I headed off to school as we usually do. But we had forgotten that Thursday was the day of Trinity's big CAS track meet - CAS (Committee of Associated Schools) is the league they are in with 5 other private boys schools. We were both eager to go, and were excited when we found that we both had the afternoon off. Thursday was also great because I got to talk to one of the teachers that I am going to be working with about the class - about what exactly I need to do - and he also gave me a lesson about how the English program works in New South Wales. It was very helpful and boosted my confidence about teaching. After lunch, one of the math teachers gave Sam and I a lift to the track meet which was at Sydney Olympic Park, the site of the 2000 Olympics!!!!!!!! The meet was held at the 'warm-up track,' as opposed to the one used for the Olympic competition, but it was still amazing. We got to see the outside of all the Olympic buildings - the stadiums, the Aquatic Center (which is where CAS has their swimming championships, too, but that's earlier in the year - and Trinity actually won Swimming this year). It was so cool to just be there, and even more amazing because it was for our school. We stayed for a few hours, watching all the different events. All the boys from the school were there, cheering Trinity on, and they had a series of cheers, or "war cries," as they called them, that the whole school would break into. The older students would lead the cheers, holding up signs with the name of the cheer they were about to do, and then counting everybody in. It was very cool to see. Some of the cheers even had motions that all the boys would do as they sang. It was quite a sight to see - and hear! Sammy and I loved it. Trinity did very well, winning several races and events, and was ahead when we left around 5. We then walked over to the train station, passing the main stadium on our way. In front of the main stadium are all these poles, and they have the names of all the athletes who participated in the olympics on them (at least, we assumed that must be who they were). They were arranged alphabetically, and all put together - no designation of country. It was very cool. I definitely want to go back sometime and take a real tour, and get to go inside some of the stadiums. We took the train back, which was rather quick and painless, and made it home in time to watch the new episode of Glee!!! It was soooo good. We're a few episodes behind the US - they only just showed the second episode last night - but it was phenomenal. I am obsessed with Matthew Morrison, who plays the teacher who runs Glee Club. He is fantastic.

As for today, it was the last day of Term 3 at Trinity. The big news was that the Headmaster had shaved off his mustache, as he had promised to do when Trinity won CAS Swimming and Track in the same year (Trinity went on to win the meet after we left last night). Today I got to see a couple of new classes, a Year 7 and a Year 10, so potentially a few of them could be my students in the Year 8 and Year 11 classes I'll have next term. With the year 7s, Mr. Lester had assigned them to create a new cover for a book they had just finished reading, which they did on the computer. They had to have a cover design, as well as a blurb at the back that gave an idea what the book was about without giving it away. My job was to judge them, and pick the top 3. It was really hard, because a lot of them were good! I tried to pick the ones that had the best blurbs and good graphics, and those three students got Freddos - little chocolate frogs made by Cadbury that a lot of teachers use as treats. The year 10s were actually the class that my friend Isabel taught when she was here doing this same program last year. A few of them actually thought I was her when they got to class, which is funny, because we don't look that alike. But it was certainly a compliment! Mr. Lester had told me yesterday that I would be talking to them about Isabel today, and luckily, Isabel was online last night before I went to bed. I asked her if there was anything she wanted me to tell them, and she ended up writing them a letter that I read to them in class today. They were really excited to hear from her. She's actually in China right now, nannying for a family she knows from Boston, which is really cool! What a great experience! The school also had their Valedictory ceremony today for the Year 12s, which is kind of like our graduations. The headmaster spoke, a couple of boys performed, and all the boys were called up, by house, and stood on the stage in front of their parents who had come to see the ceremony. They actually only had the year 12s and their parents in the actual auditorium, and they had all the other students in other places around the school, where they had a live feed showing what was happening at the ceremony. Sammy and I were with the Year 7s in one of the theatres at school. They were a bit restless, and it was tough to keep them quiet and respectful the whole time, but they were relatively well behaved, considering it was pretty warm in there, and it was the last day of school. After that, I finally got to meet with my other cooperating teacher about the material I will be teaching in just a few weeks. In one of the classes, I'm going to be teaching Dracula - although I'll be teaching the Francis Ford Coppola Film, and they'll do the novel after I leave. But I'm reading the novel now, and I'm somewhat surprised that I actually like it. Horror is typically not my kind of thing - especially not vampires - but the suspense is exciting, even if it is a bit scary. I do have to admit that I'm not looking forward to watching the movie so much - blood and gore is certainly not my thing. But I'll just have to get over it, because I'm going to have to teach it. This practicum is certainly broadening my horizons, which is exactly what I was hoping for! Though I am very relieved to finally know what I'm teaching, I am quite overwhelmed at the moment with all the work I have to get done before I start teaching - especially because most of the time between now and then I will be traveling. Which is certainly nothing to complain about - I am very excited for my trips! But I feel like I have an unreasonable amount of reading to do to prepare for my lessons - and I have to write all the lesson plans as well. I only have the week after next to do it, as well, unless I want to bring my work with me on spring break... And I also need to study for the final for my class that week too. It will certainly be a busy week. The good news is that my vacations, or, as they would say here, holidays, require a good deal of travel, so I can bring reading to do on the planes and buses that I'll have to take to get there. I know that I'll get through it, it's just very daunting to stare at the pile of reading and think that I have to not only read it, but prepare lessons with the materials. I think my main goal will be to get through it all and then focus on my first week of lessons - and I can certainly plan as I go from there. I'm also excited about some of the lessons I am planning, which is great and will help get me through them, and I hope make them interesting for the students too. For my narrative poetry unit, I'm really excited about the idea I got for my first lesson, even if it is a bit corny. I'm going to write a poem about myself for the first lesson, incorporating many of the literary techniques that I will be teaching them about this term. That way, I don't have to waste a chunk of class time talking about myself, and it turns itself into a homework assignment - I can ask them to write poems about themselves, incorporating 2-3 of the literary techniques that we'll discuss in class, and I can get to know them a bit too. I ran it by my cooperating teacher, and though he agreed that it was cheesy as hell, he likes the idea too. So I'm excited to get working on that.

As for my update on funny Australian terms and sayings... they pronounce Mocha like "mokka," they have Claratyne instead of Claratin if you have allergies, and their Axe products of men's deoderants and body washes are called Lynx. They call french fries "chips" and cookies "biscuits," and they shorten "vegetable" into "veg," instead of "veggie." They also shorten "gossip" into "goss," and tick things off instead of checking them off. Planners are called diaries, and they say aluminium instead of aluminum. That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'll definitely keep a look out in Melbourne, especially since it's a new city.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the dust storm, though I wish I had. But there are lots of pictures online if you are interested. I have to go finish my paper for class now, and get a jump start on all that reading. I'll be in Melbourne Sunday -Wednesday and the Outback Thursday - Monday, so stay tuned after that for a big post about both of those adventures. Miss and love you all!