I can surf!!! If anyone wants to learn how to surf, they should go to this surf camp, because if they can teach me to surf, they can teach anyone to surf. We left Friday evening for the drive down to Seven Mile Beach - it's about 2 hours south of Sydney, stopping along the way for some awesome burgers. Surf Camp itself is just past a small town called Gerroa, in the middle of a motor home camp site, and consists of a big dining area and several cabins with bunk beds, and porches outside with hammocks. By the time we got there, it was already somewhat late, so they gave us a brief overview of the weekend, and got us into cabins. The camp itself is only a 5 minute walk from the beach, so before bed we walked down to check it out and look at the stars. The beach was amazing, even at night when we couldn't see anything. The sand, as it was at Bronte and Bondi, was so incredibly soft and smooth - it just feels so good on your feet, even when its freezing cold at night or scorching hot during the day. We walked out to the water, which, at night, was pretty cold, but still felt good. And the stars - I have never seen a more amazing sky before. It's also weird, being in the southern hemisphere, and not seeing the constellations that I'm used to. Like the big and little dippers? Not here. But it was just stunning. We then headed back for a good night's sleep before our big day of surfing on Saturday. Saturday morning we got up at 7 for breakfast (I had cocoa crispies, yum) and then at 7:45 we got our wetsuits (or wetties, as they call them). They're not so much fun to get into (or out of) but they sure kept us warm in the cold cold water. And then it was off to our first lesson! We had to carry the boards from the truck out to the beach - and i have to say, carrying surfboards is not as fun as surfing. But it wasn't too bad. They then broke us into three groups and gave each group a couple of instructors. Most of the instructors were probably my age, if not younger, or maybe slightly older. But they were all really cool and really nice. They started us out by just learning how to catch a wave and paddle on to it - the first time we got in the water we just caught the waves and then pushed our upper bodies off the board - the first step in standing up - but not standing up yet. Once we got the feel of catching a wave, they pulled us out again and taught us the fundamentals of standing up, which we practiced a lot on the beach. We drew our own little "surfboards" in the sand, and practiced our positioning on the board and our technique of standing up - push up, back foot, front foot. After lots of practice on land, we took our boards back into the water and "had a go at it," as Aussies would say. My first session was a bit frustrating. I had a lot of trouble with the getting up part - I figured I would, as I have pretty bad balance on land, I didn't think it would get any easier while on a surfboard. But Jacko, one of the instructors, worked with me, and on the last wave of the morning session, I finally stood up and rode it all the way in. It was exhilarating!!! It felt like quite an achievement. We then went back to camp to get out of our wetties for a little bit and to have some lunch. We had some free time, too, so I lathered up with sunscreen and decided to lay out in the sun - we were very lucky to get great weather all weekend. The afternoon surf lesson was great, too. They taught us how to "shuffle," which essentially is just moving yourself either forward or backward on the board to adjust your speed or balance. That one took me quite a few tries as well - mostly when I tried to shuffle I just fell off. But I caught a few waves in the afternoon session too, and did eventually manage to shuffle. That evening after a much needed shower, we walked up to Gerroa to see the sunset, which was a deceivingly tough hike. Though it was a short distance, it was up a really steep hill, which felt even steeper since we were all sore from surfing. But the view at the top was worth it. We had an amazing view of the seven mile beach, and the sunset was gorgeous. That night, they barbequed for us at camp - chicken and sausages, and a delicious pasta bake as well. After carbo-loading, we went for a walk to get some ice cream (good think surfing was such a work out), and then had another early night, in preparation for another long day of surfing. Day 2 was awesome as well. After another early morning, we headed out to the beach - this time to a different part - and had our third lesson - turning. After much coaching and help from Jacko and Mitch, our other instructor, I actually was able to turn! On a surfboard! It was pretty exciting. That day for lunch we had burgers - delicious, although I didn't opt for the "Aussie" toppings - beets and pineapple (they put beets on burgers at a lot of the places here, actually). Then, after some more sunbathing, back out to the ocean for our last surfing session, which was really more of a play around, catch as many waves as you can kind of thing. Which was really fun. We had surfing competitions between my group and Shane-o's group (the group next to us). Also, all Australian boys seem to put an o at the end of their name - we had Sean-O, the photographer, and Shane-O, Chris-O, and Jacko were all instructors. Anyways, I raced twice - lost the first time but won the second time, which was against Sammy, the other BU student at Trinity. It was very fun. We then rushed back to camp for showers before climbing on the bus back to Sydney. Overall, I loved Surf Camp. I had an amazing time, and the surfing was really fun. I don't think I'm going to go out and buy a surfboard and a wetty for the duration of my time in Sydney. Though it was a blast, it's a lot of work for not a lot of waves. I did fine when I could stand up on the board, but about half the time I wouldn't even get up, or I would start chasing after the wrong wave. I'm sure with practice I would improve, and I do hope I get to surf again at some point, though, and I'm very glad that I have learned and to be able to say that I can surf! And I have to say, the feeling of catching a wave and riding it all the way into the beach is a pretty satisfying sensation.
Today was also my first day at Trinity! I arrived obscenely early as I was afraid to take the later bus for fear of being too late (although I'm going to give that one a shot tomorrow), but all in all it was a great day! It's still a really hectic time for the school, as all the students have taken exams and the marking (grading) is done, but there are still 2 weeks of the term left. So all the students are somewhat restless and hoping for moviefests in all their classes until break. The teachers are also getting everything all set for the next term, and seeing as that's not all set in stone yet, I still actually don't know exactly what I'm going to be teaching. Hopefully I'll find out tomorrow, so I can start doing the reading. I went up to the English department in the morning, which is this great big office with lots of desks - I even have my own! I met Tim, who was the cooperating teacher my friend Isabel worked with when she was here last year, who helped me a bit with getting used to the process. However, he is going on sabbatical next term, which is why I won't be working with him. In the Australian education system, once you have taught for 10 years, you can take a semester break, and following that, you get one every 5 years. So Tim's is coming up this term, and he said that once he leaves, I can use his desk, which has the benefit of a computer. He also said I can use his login so that I can use the internet when I'm planning for classes. Everyone here is SO nice. He also gave me a mug that will be mine for the next few months, and showed me how to use the fancy espresso machine in the staff lounge. Free lattes! Score! I then went with Matthew, my cooperating teacher, for the next few hours. We went down to morning assembly out on the quad, where some of the students were recognized for their accomplishments in sport, mostly "footy," or rugby. I then observed Matt's classes for the day, which started off with a class of year 12, where they watched a scene from Hitchcock's "Rear Window" and discussed it. Following that, he had a double period of year 11, which is starting to prepare for the High School Certificate, or the HSC. It's a test that all high school students take and have to pass in order to graduate high school. So we went over what the English portion was going to be like, and what readings they would be doing over the next year. This year's HSC theme, at least, for the first set of questions, is belonging. There's a good chance I'll be teaching the beginning of that unit, which sounds good to me. We then went downstairs to the teachers lounge for morning tea, where I got a cup of delicious tea and there was cake (I didn't have any today, but I'll try some tomorrow). I was also introduced to the entire staff, and had to stand up while everyone clapped for me... a bit intimidating. Then I got my picture taken for my ID badge that I will have to start wearing around starting tomorrow. I then returned to Matthew, and observed his "tutor group," which is essentially a homeroom, but I believe they were all 7th grade boys. Trinity has a house system - think Harry Potter - in which all the boys are divided into as part of their Pastoral Care system. The houses compete in sports and such, and their tutor groups are sorted by house. The teacher will also stay with his or her tutor group throughout their (the students') duration at Trinity, and since Matthew is a new teacher this year, he has the 7th graders (the youngest age group at the senior school),and he will stay with his tutor group until they graduate. It's a pretty cool system. Today in tutor group, they were working on a charity project, putting together christmas boxes for children in need. On Tuesdays they go to chapel with tutor group, so that will certainly be something new and interesting for me to see tomorrow. After tutor group, Matt had a double period of year 7s, with whom he is working on dramas. We read a bit from Toad of Toad Hall, a play adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, and then moved to the "Terrace Room," a bigger space so we could do "Theatre Sports," or drama games. The boys seemed to really enjoy that, although they were a bit rowdy. Matt then had quite a long break, in which I caught up on some of the readings about Trinity that Tim had given me, and went down and had lunch with Sam and another teacher, Peter, who is one of Mark's (our program director) good friend. Peter is very nice, and is going to take Sam and I out for coffee after school one of these days soon. Following that, Matt was doing his own work, so I had some time to myself to read. We then went to his last class of the day, a year 9 class. Talk about being a bit rowdy! But they are doing a horror unit for these last couple of weeks (which I'm actually a bit nervous about, since he's planning on showing them clips from horror movies, which are not my favorite thing). Today in class, though, we started a horror story called "Fingers" - I'll let your imagination run wild on that one - but we only read about 2/3 of it. Their assignment for tonight is to write what they think the next part of the story is. I think it sounds like a pretty fun assignment, and I'm excited to hear some of their predictions in class tomorrow. After school, Sammy and I caught the bus - it's a very easy commute, we're quite lucky, and I got to relax a little bit. That is, until we had our first fire alarm experience at our apartment building. Apparently our smoke detectors are rather touchy - one of our neighbors was cooking chicken and accidentally burned a bit of the bread crumbs, setting the fire alarm off and making us all trek outside to wait for the firemen. So now we know to be extra careful when cooking... although those aussie firemen were not so bad looking... But my roommate is cooking dinner tonight, and it smells fantastic. And tomorrow is Taco Tuesday at the Flying Fajita Sisters - $3 tacos! So lots of exciting things to look forward to. The internet is being stupid so I can't put up pictures yet... but hopefully they'll be coming soon!
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