Alicia Mary's World

Chevron

2012-02-02T12:46:00.009+11:00

I have a new fabric love...

It's called chevron.

I even bought a dress in chevron fabric!

Other pretty things featuring chevron:

Lovely Things

2012-01-21T11:21:00.011+11:00

I finally got my Erin Condren teacher's planner the other day. I love the way it was packaged, with this cute little sticker on top:

This is a sample of what some of the pages look like:

It even came with a little freebie- cute notecards!

In other news, I've finally got all of my fabric and sewing stuff organised!

I love polka dot fabric!

Other cute fabrics I found when cleaning out my study/music/craft room:

Stationery and cute fabrics make me so happy!

Loving for Nothing

2011-12-20T16:55:00.005+11:00

On Sunday night, 10 girls from church and youth group came over to help me bake and decorate cookies for a local charity Loving for Nothing.

The founders of Loving for Nothing started the organisation with the aim of showing love to others with no strings attached!

Their most recent venture has been baking cookies for community workers who will be working through Christmas- police, ambulance, fire brigade workers, as well as doctors, nurses and hospital workers.

I gathered up the girls and we spent the night baking and icing nearly 150 cookies! We plan to drop them off at the local hospital later this week.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-12-16T13:28:00.014+11:00

It's that wonderful time of the year...

This is what it looks like when 31 children in your class each give you a card!

2011 Christmas Card

2011-12-15T21:40:00.002+11:00

Our Christmas Card for 2011 (once again, from Vistaprint)

See other pretty Christmas cards at Faith's blog

Right Now

2011-12-14T10:10:00.002+11:00

Right now I am…

watching: the Country Music Channel.

eating: peanut butter on toast.

drinking: water.

wearing: tracksuit pants and a t-shirt.

avoiding: sending out my CV to a bunch of different schools. so much paperwork!

feeling: mixed up emotions about finishing up with my Year 5 class.

missing: my friends who all have 9-5 jobs!

thankful: for Christmas!

weather: cloudy, but not cold. (Where has Summer gone?)

needing: to bake something!

thinking: about where I'll be working next year.

loving: red and green Christmas m&m's!

Christmas Fruit Cake Balls

2011-12-10T22:56:00.001+11:00

Every Christmas for the past few years, my Mum makes these Christmas Cake balls (I help!) We got the recipe from my godson's mum.

The recipe is as follows:
800g fruit cake
250g block milk or white chocolate
125g butter
2-3 tablespooms of Irish whiskey (or you can substitute with another liqueur such as rum, brandy, Kahlua, Frangelico etc or use vanilla essence or orange juice)

Melt half the block of chocolate and the butter in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.

Crumble the fruit cake in and add the liqueur and mix it in.

Spread greaseproof paper on baking trays and using a teaspoon amount of the mixture, roll it into balls and then put them in the fridge for a few hours to set until they become hard.

Then melt the rest of the chocolate in a bowl as before and spread a teaspoon's amount over the top of each cake ball until it is completely covered.

Makes 40.

Usually my mum & I make them using Kahlua and 125g milk chocolate (for the mixture) and 125g white chocolate (for the icing). We also add a quarter of a red glace cherry to each one, so it looks like a mini Christmas pudding!

Don't they look cute?

Teaching affirmation

2011-11-27T22:23:00.002+11:00

Yesterday I got the most lovely email from a parent whose son I teach in my Maths class. I had called her concerned about her son's attitude towards Maths, not because he was exhibiting any negative behaviours, but because he had seemed to have lost his love and enthusiasm for Maths, in such a quick period of time.

We met that afternoon in my classroom for an informal meeting, and it turned out he was just having a few "off" days because his friend was not at school. I had such a nice conversation with both the boy and his mother, who was so affirming and encouraging. His mum said such nice things about my teaching style and how I was her son's favourite teacher, and then followed up with an email the next day discussing the conversation she had with her son after they came to see me.

She ended the email with "So, once again, I would like to thank you very much for all the wonderful work you have done and also for your time, enthusiasm, patience and outstanding professionalism as a teacher, towards our son. I hope that you are here at this school for many more years to come, because the students here are very lucky to have such an amazing & caring person guiding them through their school years."

But that wasn't my favourite part- even though it was very sweet.

This was the kicker:

"I would like to share with you these appropriate quotes:

· The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William A. Ward (her emphasis)

· The best teachers teach from the heart, not from the book. ~ Anonymous "

Laura's Wedding: Professional pics

2011-11-26T12:54:00.006+11:00

What I've Been Up To

2011-11-15T21:29:00.003+11:00

It's been a LONG time since I've updated this little blog... it's been a little neglected because life has gotten in the way!

So... what's been taking up all my time?

Thirty one children, seven hours a day, five days a week

:)

Teaching has become my number one time consumer. I go to sleep thinking about lesson plans and wake up thinking about seating charts... not to mention reports, assessments, calling parents, assemblies, competitions, school dances, awards, notes home, projects, extension groups, photocopying, grades, discipline.

To give you an idea of how full on this whole teaching thing is, let me paint you a picture of what's been happening in our school community lately.

#1 : Reports had to be finished and proof read this week. This means constant checking of grades, comments, and general ticking-of-boxes, with lots of last minute changes that add to the already immensely high stress levels. Let's just say that I now have a renewed appreciation for all of my teachers who spent hours working on MY school reports! I had no idea about the amount of work that goes into them. Every i must be dotted and every t crossed. And every comma must be in the right place! Teachers are grammar and punctuation aficionados!

On top of reports being due, we have also had to find time for:
yearly exams (and the tonne of marking, grading and ranking that comes with them!)
the handball competition
the school disco
award ceremonies

You can see why I've been a little distracted! Lots has been going on... and in the middle of it, I'm trying to secure myself a job for next year, seeing as I'm only filling in for a teacher who's been on maternity leave. Trying to find the time to start filling out job applications whilst in the midst of the craziness of what is Term 4 is a little difficult!

Not knowing if I'll even be employed next year is even scarier!

I had this whole plan about how my teaching career would start, and this has not exactly been how I thought it would go... But, it has been great experience and a HUGE learning curve.

I have learnt to be tough, and stick to my guns. I've learnt how to (almost) control a classroom of thirty-one rambunctious ten year olds. I've learnt how to be caring and strict at the same time.

It's been one huge rollercoaster ride... a baptism of fire, if you will.

Not what I expected, or how I imagined my first year of teaching to be. Not better or worse than what I thought, just... different.

There have been awesome days and there have been days that really sucked.

There have been moments I've laughed and moments I've cried.

Days I've smiled and days I've yelled.

Days that I've been on Cloud 9 and days that I've gotten more angry than I ever have before.

Days where I have taken the frustration home with me.

Days where I've been disappointed, and anxious, and sad, and joyful, and ecstatic all within the same seven-hour period.

Days where I've felt uplifted and days where I've felt downtrodden.

I'm told this is life in the adult world. After so many years of being a student and feeling like a kid despite being twenty-something, it's strange. And I think it'll take some getting used to.

Graduation 2.0

2011-10-08T20:38:00.002+11:00

At my graduation ceremony for my Masters of Primary Teaching:

Laura's Wedding

2011-09-30T12:31:00.014+10:00

This past weekend, I was a bridesmaid at my friend Laura's wedding.

The five of us spent the night before the wedding at a serviced apartment near the golf club on the beach where the wedding was to take place.

The theme was navy and white, with a nautical theme.

Laura wore a handmade strapless white gown with a beautiful sequinned and beaded bodice.
Elise and I (the bridesmaids) wore knee length navy chiffon dresses.

The ceremony was supposed to take place on the lawn of the golf club, right on the beach... but we woke up to rain on the day of the wedding. Despite all of our praying and hoping, the wedding got moved inside.

It was just as beautiful and elegant, and looked amazing once we arrived to walk down the aisle.

To see Laura and her fiance (now husband!) Elisha together at the end of the aisle was so awesome.

\

After the ceremony, we enjoyed some amazing food (I tried quail for the first time!) and danced the night away.

Instead of a traditional wedding cake, Laura and Elisha had a croquembouche-profiteroles with Bailey's Irish cream and honeycomb on top! Yum!

Snow Trip

2011-08-12T06:35:00.009+10:00

Last weekend I spent the weekend at the snow with some friends from church. My friend Keisha & I drove down together on Friday night to Jindabyne, where we met the rest of our friends.

We spent Saturday and Sunday skiing! We started off at a smaller ski village called Smiggin Holes, before skiing over to Perisher Valley.

An early morning start to the day...

On Sunday, we got up early and headed to Perisher Valley. We spent the first part of the morning on a hill checking out the view.

Then we took turns sledding down the hill!

It was so much fun, and a great weekend away.

Plans for the Day

2011-07-14T09:04:00.006+10:00

My plans for the day include going here:

with my best bud Elise, just for fun!

Tonight, I'm seeing this:

(a last minute spontaneous decision because my dance studio is going since we get cheap tickets for being dancers!)

Last week, I got to see this with a few people from dancing:

It was so much fun, and I can't wait to see Mary Poppins again tonight!
(I first saw it in New York in 2009; you can read about how much I loved it here)

Random Things

2011-07-12T15:16:00.003+10:00

10 random facts about me, because it's been one of those random days where I stay in my tracksuit and do my tax and work on school stuff allllll day long.

Inspired by Angie's post about quirks and pet peeves... here are some funny but true things about me.

- I really hate coffee. Hate the smell, hate the taste.

- I can't just buy one item at the supermarket, I feel compelled to spend a little more money and stock up on at least three things.

- I have to spread my Vegemite all the way to the edges of the bread, so that it covers the butter I've put underneath the Vegemite.
(Also, the reason "foreigners" hate it so much is that they don't eat it properly- you have to eat it on bread or crackers with butter or margarine on it first, you can't just eat it alone.)

- I can't go to bed with the doors of my closet open.

- I always have the TV on when I'm baking or cooking. Preferably on a music channel like MTV.

- I love hotel beds. I love the crispness of the white sheets.

- I can't sleep on planes. I'm too anxious and uptight to relax enough to fall asleep. For one thing, there's almost always turbulence, even if it's only short lived, and then I just can't sleep because I'm waiting for the next bit of turbulence to come anyway.

- After I get out of the shower, I always dry my legs and feet with the towel first.

- There are only five fruits that I will eat- apples, bananas, oranges, mandarins and green grapes with no seeds.

- I hate common spelling and grammar mistakes, like people who use the wrong "your" and "you're", or "their", "there" and "they're". Mixing up "effect" and "affect" bugs me too.

I guess it's a good thing I'm a teacher! I am an absolute grammar Nazi!

Adventures in Baking

2011-07-10T15:22:00.020+10:00

This past weekend I have been on a huge baking spree.

Saturday was a good day in my kitchen. I was a happy girl, getting to bake all day!

I made Nigella Lawson's chocolate brownies,

Donna Hay's shortcrust pastry (which I later filled with caramel custard to make a caramel pie)

and... Ina Garten's baked potato wedges,

(which I didn't manage to take a photo of because they were eaten so fast!)

In fact, yesterday I made the baked potato wedges again (they are just that good!)

I also made a Hershey's chocolate cake with choc raspberry frosting inspired by the one on this blog.

Such yumminess!

And now I really need to go for a run.

Ice Ice Baby!

2011-07-08T19:16:00.011+10:00

I went iceskating on the beach last night!

Just like last year, my sister Chelsea & I went to Bondi Beach where they have constructed a huge icerink right on the sand!

I got really cheap tickets off the Team Spreets website (I subscribe to a ton of these deal websites now; you can get some really great stuff for cheap prices!), and Chelsea agreed to come with me again, even though we have been having freezing cold, ridiculously windy weather lately!

We had the best time! They had created a little alpine snow village right on the beach, and everyone was dressed up like they worked at a Swiss chalet!

After last year, where we rocked it on the ice, Chels & I thought we would be awesome iceskaters once again...

But we ended up spending most of our time on the rink like this:

For some reason, the icerink wasn't smooth and flat like usual. Instead, it had these little divets every couple of metres, which made it hard to skate!

Everytime we let go of each other's hands we seemed to stumble and almost fall - although neither of us actually fell.

I guess that's what you get for thinking you're a big-shot pro iceskater who had beginner's luck last year.

Training for next year's icescapades starts now!

:)

School Holidays

2011-07-04T11:16:00.011+10:00

School holidays started this week. After 3 weeks of teaching full time, I was more than ready for them!

(Which makes me wonder how I'm going to be after teaching a whole TERM of nine weeks straight?)

Although we have three weeks of holidays, it's not all about time off for us teachers. We have to program for the next term. That basically means we have to write a timetable for all the day's activities for the next nine weeks of school- English, Maths, Science, HSIE, PD/H/PE & Creative Arts.

In case you didn't pick up on it, this is a TON of work and takes a lot of time.

This is what a completed program looks like (and this is just one term's worth of programming for English and Maths only!)

A program basically looks like this- all the activities and lessons for the week, divided into days.

And every day, I have to sign off on what was completed by the class.

This helps keep you accountable for what you teach, and helps you stay on track throughout the term. You usually have to submit your program to the Stage Coordinator a few weeks into the term to get approved.

For now, I'm in the trenches :)
I'm slogging my way through writing my first very own program for my very own class.

If it wasn't so much work, I'd almost be excited!

Birthday Party

2011-06-24T16:49:00.012+10:00

Last weekend I invited a few friends over to celebrate my 23rd birthday.

I had grand plans of baking all this incredible food... but since it was my first week teaching at school, it didn't really pan out that way!

Mum & I ended up doing a run down to a local bulk food store and stocking up on lots of yummy food like this instead!

The food table- all the flowers were given to me on the day of my birthday! Two kids from my class gave me hand cut flowers from their gardens, which I put in the vases on the left and right.

Me and my best buds- Claryse, Keisha, Elise & Laura

Opening presents

I'm laughing in this photo because Laura bought me a giant porcelain piggy bank to encourage me to start saving now I'm earning decent money as a full time teacher!

My mum surprised me by secretly ordering a cake- I had no idea until the day of the party! Even better, it was a gluten free choc hazelnut cake with macaroons- and it tasted just like Nutella! Yum.

Everyone had a great night- we played pool and sang along to the karaoke that was on MTV and danced like idiots and stayed up talking til the wee hours!

It's my birthday

2011-06-17T06:39:00.000+10:00

It's Birthday Week!

2011-06-13T08:55:00.003+10:00

It's Monday the 13th June... which means it's the start of what I like to call "Birthday Week!"

In my opinion, a birthDAY is just not enough.

Hence, in high school, I came up with Birthday Week. It's a whole 5 days of excitement and countdown to the actual day.

My birthday is on Friday. I love birthdays.

Let the countdown begin!

A Look Inside a Kindergarten Classroom

2011-05-28T21:56:00.009+10:00

Curious to see what a real kindergarten classroom looks like?

Let me show you!

This is not my classroom, but it is the classroom that I'm in for my four week block of prac.

Because it's a kindergarten room, it's very colourful, with lots of the kids' work up on the walls.

I could bore you with a whole lot of talk about how research has found that classrooms where the kids' work is up on display leads to a more engaged class with higher success rates in learning...

I could also tell you that the Creative Arts (music, dance, drama and visual arts) have been found to correlate with success more so than either academia, sports or community involvement. All the more reason for letting your kids be creative and put up their art in the classroom!

So of course there's lots of artwork up in the room!

And my own creation... You always have to make a prototype to show the kids how to do it!

We made these animal habitats on paper a few days ago- the green one is a lilypad, the pink one is a nest and the red one is a tree!

We've also been doing some work on Japan - here are the koi fish the kids made with me!

Naturally, we do a lot of counting. Here's our counting by tens caterpillar!

These Rainbow Fish we made after reading the Rainbow Fish story book.

Wish List

2011-05-21T10:45:00.010+10:00

Yesterday, on Friday afternoon, I drove out of my way to go and get petrol because I had one of those voucher things that you get if you spend more than $30 at the supermarket the petrol station is linked to.

Anyway, since I was out, I decided to make a shopping trip out of it, and so I spent a lovely hour or two browsing fabric shops and homewares stores, just taking in all the prettiness.

And because it's my birthday in less than a month (hint hint!), I thought I'd show you some of the pretty things that I found.

I am in love, in love I tell you, with this bedspread from Sheridan. Too bad it doesn't come in queen size. And that it's actually kids bed linen.

I also love these pale pink mini kitchen scales from Domayne.

I may or may not have ordered something similar to these tote bags with my name on it...

Oh, and also this. It is different to the one above, really. It's a tote basket, not a tote bag.

And since I've already linked to a lot of Etsy items, let's add some more.

I love this set of 4 prints, from here. Reminds me of a set of 6 framed in a beautiful ornate white wooden frame that I saw at Domayne yesterday for $299. Yikes.

I also love this, from here.

I realise that these Nutella Cupcakes don't traditionally fall into the category of "pretty", but still, I wanted to include them. Yum.

In fact, I think I'll make those today.

Photos from my week

2011-05-18T16:29:00.009+10:00

I have been busy- I finished my last week of classes EVER, and then went straight into prac at school! I have a kindergarten class and they are the cutest! It's a lot of work planning lessons for 22 kids who can't read or write yet, but it's definitely a good challenge!

So... some pics from the past week:

Fog on the drive in this morning.

Black tea with honey- my fave.

My sister sent this to me when she saw "Alicia's Risotto" on the menu at an Italian restaurant! I do love me some risotto!

My favourite mug- got it from New York a few years ago.

New red shoes! I have an addiction to ballet flats.

Easter Weekend

2011-04-30T09:44:00.049+10:00

My friends and I spent the Easter Weekend at the beach!

My friend Laura's family have an apartment in Shellharbour, near Wollongong and we went down after church on Easter Sunday to spend the night.

We made a road trip of the two hour drive to get there. Keisha drove, Claryse sat in the passenger seat and I sat in the back and controlled the iPod playlist we had going.

It was Easter, so we had lots of healthy snacks for the journey...

That ended up a little worse for wear after being stuck in the hot car...

We got there in the afternoon...

This was the view from Laura's apartment.

We spent the day browsing all of the little boutique stores in the main street.

And enjoying the sunshine down by the water.

Keisha lost her shoe in the water, and I came up with a genius plan to find a stick long enough to get it back!

Success!

The sky really was that blue! No editing, I promise!

The four of us- Laura, me, Keisha & Claryse

Keisha & I at low tide.

Enjoying the scenery...

We decided to make our little beach vacation into a photo opp!

What's a holiday near the beach without a jump photo?

Strawberry champagne to finish off a great day.

We made our own cocktails- strawberry champagne with orange & mango juice!

The sunset from our view on the balcony.

We played an intense game of Monopoly- I think some of my friends have futures as real estate moguls!

The next day was ANZAC Day/ Easter Monday- this was one of the memorials we saw around town, covered with wreaths from the dawn service.

It was a bit colder and greyer that day..

These pelicans were on every pole!

The beautiful view of the beach and rockpools as we left

Pieces

2011-04-21T16:08:00.006+10:00

Pieces of my day:

iTunes playing on my laptop in the kitchen

Final season of Friday Night Lights on DVD, begging to be watched.

I love me a chalkboard.

So many brownie recipes, so little time.

One of my favourite things about this time of year.

Choc chip shortbread cookies baking in the oven... and a bonus pic of my reflection!

I really need to get back into sewing....

This and That

2011-04-20T12:39:00.010+10:00

I have been housesitting for the past 10 days, and this comes with certain perks.

Such perks include getting to play with a few new toys.

Like this:

and this:

on which I have been watching a lot of this:

and that:

but perhaps my most favourite toy is this:

Because it lets me make these:

Alicia & Ashley

2011-04-15T19:55:00.005+10:00

A photo of my cousin Ashley & I, from her wedding in February.

Photo by Jenna Young
http://www.jennayoung.co.nz/

Keith Urban / Lady Antebellum concert

2011-04-15T15:33:00.003+10:00

On Thursday night we went to see Keith Urban in concert at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

I was so excited because the support act was Lady Antebellum, who I love! They are such great musicians and sounded just as good singing live as they do on their CD!

We had great seats, only 9 rows up in the stands.

I took 425 photos... and have whittled those down to 74 that I've posted on here.

Get ready for a photo-heavy post- it's gonna be a long one!

Lady Antebellum opening for Keith Urban:

Keith Urban takes the stage:

Playing up the back for those in the stands:

Singing The Eagles classic "Seven Bridges Road" with Lady Antebellum:

Making an appearance up the back in the crowd, where he signed and gave away the guitar he was playing!

And then got back on stage and played this super-cool light up guitar that changed colours!

The finale... with confetti of course.

So much fun! Such a great musician and entertainer! And Aussie to boot!

Neglect

2011-04-12T17:19:00.004+10:00

So I have been very neglectful of this little blog- I had lots of inspiration but then last week I got sick with an awful cold/ stomach bug and it just threw a spanner in the works.

Then I had a big assignment due so... that explains the last couple of days.

And now, I'm housesitting and watching a lot of Private Practice while researching an essay about including students with intellectual disability in the regular classroom... and so I have time to blog and let you know what I've been up to!

Which is- watching a lot of tv, going to uni, working, and reading a lot of educational journal articles.

Oh, and getting excited about graduating in less than three months! I'm already dreaming about decorating my classroom- lovely stationery and wall displays. I get giddy just thinking about it.

My little Year 5 class is not going to know what hit it :)

A Week on Prac

2011-03-31T21:58:00.004+11:00

This past week I've been on prac at a local school every day!

It's my last prac before officially becoming a proper teacher in June, so I'm soaking up every minute of it (hence the lack of attention paid to this blog recently!)

I have a Kindergarten class, and they are so fun to plan lessons for... although catering to the needs of 22 different children who have only just come out of pre-school six weeks ago has it's challenges.

For one of our assignments, we had to create a lesson that qualified as a multi-engaging experience- meaning that it held the kids' interest and addressed outcomes from multiple subject areas.

I chose to plan a Maths lesson with Science and Creative Arts elements as well. After observing the class on Monday and Tuesday, I felt I was ready to start teaching on Wednesday (actually, I was itching to get started by then!)

The first part of the lesson was yesterday morning. I chose something fun and exciting for the kids to learn with- Jellybeans!

First we traced around our hands, and then we covered the surface area with jellybeans!

Then we traced around the jellybeans

and coloured them in so we could see how many jellybeans fit inside each hand print!

We then sorted the jellybeans into colours and made a bar graph depicting the number of each different colour jellybean!

Then we ranked each colour jellybean from least to most, on a scale using rope and paperclips!

It was so fun, and the kids were really engaged! Success!

Why Do We Need School

2011-03-21T19:17:00.005+11:00

Saw this on Facebook- you have to laugh at it, even if the whole thing might be enough to do me out of a job when I finally become a proper teacher!

Why Do We Need School

Music: We have YouTube for that.
Sport: I have a Wii.
Languages: I watch Dora the Explorer.
English: Everything is shortened anyway (LOL, BRB).
Maths: That's why we have calculators.
Geography: I'll buy a globe (or use NavMan).
Drama: That's why I watch The Bold & The Beautiful.
History: They're all dead anyway!

Luckily I have a kindergarten class for my latest prac at school, and being so early in the year, they can't read yet... otherwise if they saw this, they might not turn up next week ;)

My morning

2011-03-10T11:23:00.005+11:00

This is my second week back at uni.

The second week of the last semester of the last year of my degree.

For those of you playing along at home, this marks Year Number FIVE for me and my university career.

Anyway, this morning.

This morning I rushed out the door with barely any makeup on and pulled back two bits of my hair from each side and clipped them up in an attempt to make it look "done".

It was eight minutes past seven, one minute later than I'd left yesterday morning. And yesterday morning had not worked out well. It took longer than the usual hour and a half to get to the campus, and I was ten minutes late to my first lecture.

So, makeup less with messy hair, I fly out to my car thinking "I am going to be late FOR SURE."

What happens? Of course, there's hardly any traffic. If you live in Sydney and ever have to drive anywhere in the early mornings, you will know what a MIRACLE this is!

I was so amazed! I breezed past exit ramp after exit ramp, thinking "I should be stopped in traffic by now... or by now... or at the very most, by NOW!"

Usually, it's a "good day" if you can make it five or ten minutes of driving without being blinded by a sea of red breaklights.

I had thirteen minutes of motorway heaven. I got on at 7:23am and actually drove at the speed limit until 7:36. (I know this because I kept tracking how long I'd been driving, since traffic was moving so unusually quickly)

I had thoughts of getting to uni early and coming in to the library to blog and kill time before my lecture.

But there is a reason I'm only writing this now at 11:32am.

Peak hour is called peak hour for a reason.

As expected, my highway bliss was rudely interrupted by traffic coming to a standstill. For no reason at all. It seems Sydney cars just get a kick out of exercising their break lights every once and a while.

My joy at actually driving along the highway - as opposed to the stop-start of a gridlocked Sydney road- was short lived.

I made it to the exit ramp right before the one I take, and then everything stopped. We crawled along for the next 20 minutes and then proceeded to drive very slowly all the way to the university campus.

But I was still early.

I could've taken time with my hair and makeup after all :)

So.

2011-03-02T18:53:00.004+11:00

So. It has been almost a month since I last updated my little blog and I am feeling very ashamed about it.

And I don't even have anything to show you in return for your faithful reading! My camera cord has been ~~lost~~ misplaced and so I can't upload any photos for you all to see.

BUT. I have been busy. After getting back from Singapore in the middle of February, I was home for a total of seven days before I jetted off again.

This time to a much more ~~freezing cold~~ temperate climate than the steaming hot equatorial mass that the Singaporeans (and my dad) inhabit.

My cousin Ashley (we're 2 months and 1 day apart exactly) got married last weekend, and so Mum & I flew to Dunedin for her wedding. Dunedin, at the bottom of New Zealand's south island, is basically as close to Antarctica as you can get without travelling on one of those icebreaker ships.

Fittingly, as a welcome, the city decided it was be fun to start pouring rain right as we drove off from the airport. Thanks very much, New Zealand weather.

We spent our first afternoon acclimatising to the weather (me) and shopping like mad (Mum).
The next day we both headed out to do some shopping on the main street. After blazing through all the shops that the one shopping mall in town had, we met my Uncle Jeff at his work in the council chambers and had coffee and caught up on all the family news.

An hour later Mum & I were in a clothing store and stopped in our tracks to listen to the radio playing through the store's speakers. We knew there'd been an earthquake in NZ, but thought it was a relatively minor one, such as are common in the land of the long white cloud.

What stopped us right then and there, t-shirts in hand, was the words "there have been reports of deaths amongst the rubble".

Amidst the frivolousness of $20 t-shirts and $15 shorts, I felt a deep sense of "none of this stuff matters". Right there, in the shop, I felt silly for spending my entire day shopping for things that were really inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

Four hours drive away, in a city I had visited many times, people were dead, dying, seriously injured, scared and trapped.

Four hours away families were scared and fearful for their loved ones in Christchurch's CBD.

Four hours away mothers ran barefoot for half an hour to check on their children at school.

Four hours away people in an office building had to resort to sliding down the outside of a building on a rope weighted only by the mass of another man.

Four hours away strangers banded together to physically peel off the roof of a car, only to find the driver hadn't survived.

All of this we watched on the 24/7 streaming news coverage that night, news coverage that ended up running for three days straight. If you haven't already seen pictures, the city looks like a warzone. It literally looks like someone has dropped a bomb into the centre of the city.

In the following days, Christchurch became the dominant topic of conversation. In cafes, book stores, supermarkets and pharmacies, you could almost always hear someone talking to someone else about the earthquake. Being the next largest city, almost everyone in Dunedin knows someone who lives or has lived in Christchurch. And so many of those people have had their homes or workplaces wrecked by the force of the quake that was struck so suddenly.

What was amazing to see was how New Zealand responded. Almost immediately, medical personnel were dispatched to the city. Ordinary citizens loaded up their cars and drove to help out. As supermarkets posted signs declaring they were out of milk, or bread, or toilet paper, or flour because of the situation in Christchurch, students organised for Dunedinites to make hundreds of packaged lunches, and shipped them to help feed rescue workers.

Being in New Zealand at the time of the earthquake was a little scary and disarming. But it was also amazing and very humbling. I didn't feel the earthquake (although I felt one aftershock in the middle of the night a few days later), but what I felt most was the compassion and empathy people had for those affected in Christchurch.

The world could do to take a page or two out of New Zealand's book.

Singapore sights

2011-02-10T14:01:00.007+11:00

A few photos from the last few days of my time here in Singapore...

Colourful houses in Little India

Chelsea getting her eyebrows "threaded" in Little India

Chinese Temple in Little India

Housing Department flats and high rise condos.

The corner of Orchard Road

Seven place settings at the table

French toast on Sunday morning

Fairy lights and lots of sparkle in a shopping centre to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Dragons and drums for Chinese New Year

Chelsea and I being posers at night on Orchard Road.

All you need is love

At the top of the new Marina Sands casino

Views of Singapore from the casino rooftop

The Singapore Flyer- Singapore's version of the London Eye.

Universal Studios

2011-02-03T12:02:00.012+11:00

Yesterday Chelsea, Sarah & I went to Universal Studios. It was a spontaneous visit, only decided upon after we saw the sign to Universal Studios on our way to Sentosa Island.

Walking through the Egypt section of the theme park.

Our favourite ride- The Mummy Rollercoaster.

Such a great show!

In downtown "Hollywood".

On the Madagascar carousel.

On the main street.

In "New York".

So many places to go- what to do next?

Sarah with Beetlejuice

So much fun!

These are a few of my favourite things

2011-02-01T20:42:00.003+11:00

A few of my favourite things about Singapore:

1. Air conditioning. Everywhere. All the time. So glad.

2. Fast public transport. After my experiences with Sydney trains, the Singapore MRT train system is AMAZING. Efficient, reliable, on time, and air-conditioned!

3. Orchard Road and all the amazing retail therapy it offers. 2 kilometres of shops galore? Yes please!

4. Being able to walk everywhere. Singapore is such a tiny island that almost everything is accessible on foot.

5. Cheap taxis. It's like $10 to go most places.

6. The cleanliness of the city. Seriously the streets and restaurants and shops are meticulously clean.

7. The people. Everyone is nice and polite here (even if they don't always understand your question because of your foreign accent!)

8. The abundance of different stores from different countries, all in one place. H&M and Marks & Spencer from England, Forever 21 and The Gap from America. LOVE.

9. Shops that don't close until 11 o'clock at night. Unheard of in old Sydney town.

10. Pure Vanilla Iced Blended drinks from The Coffee Bean. The first thing I want to get when I walk off the plane.

A Big Fat Load of Nothing

2011-01-31T20:30:00.004+11:00

I have no new photos to share with you.

Sorry. But I do have two explanations (a.k.a excuses)

Number 1. Singapore has not been cooperating. The weather here is not very nice at the moment. It's monsoon season, which means it's supposed to get really hot and humid and then pour down for a few minutes. Well. Singapore clearly didn't get the memo, because it hasn't been hot and it's been pouring down for two days now. Although it has been humid, I must tell you that I'm currently wearing a cardigan as I type this. Which is highly unusual considering that Singapore is practically ON the equator.

Anyway... Number 2. Yesterday consisted of me basically lying down either on the couch or in bed. I had a horrible stomach bug sort of thing that made me feel nothing but pain and nausea. Ugh. Thankfully it seems to have abated today and I am feeling much more human.

And that is all I have to say today.

Singapore Day 1

2011-01-29T13:44:00.008+11:00

Today, on our first day in Singapore, Chelsea and I went out onto Orchard Road to try and get our bearings and check out the shops.

Of course, we are still on Sydney time, so we woke up pretty early, and realised that none of the shops were open! Shops on Orchard Road (a big long street dedicated to shops shopping centres) don't open until 10am, unlike in Sydney where everything opens at 9.

Anyway, it wasn't too busy so it made for good photo taking!

This is Takashimaya, one of the big shopping centres on Orchard Road.

It's Chinese New Year here soon, so the city is decorated with lots of flower garlands.

There are lots of boutique and high end designer stores.

And of course there's all the usual stores too, except not quite the same as in Australia!

And lots of cherry blossom trees.

It's really humid here, but not too hot, which is a relief! Today it's overcast and I think we're going to just spend the day shopping!

Happy Australia Day!

2011-01-26T08:43:00.004+11:00

Today is Australia Day! That means a public holiday, soaking in the sun, having a BBQ, spraying Aeroguard, wearing t-shirts, shorts and thongs and watching the fireworks at night!

Unfortunately for me, it also means work this morning. Boo for having to work. But yay for public holiday pay rates!

Hopefully though, I will get to venture out this afternoon and spend some time in the sun with my friends at the Regatta Centre, where they have a big Australia Day event each year, followed by fireworks at 9pm.

Australia Day is one of my favourite holidays, maybe because it is just for our country, and everyone gets a day off. People seem that little bit prouder to be an Aussie on this one day.

Favourite Aussie Foods

2011-01-25T17:17:00.011+11:00

In honour of it being Australia Day tomorrow... and as I sit here trying to fit EIGHT boxes of Madura English Breakfast Tea in to my suitcase because it's the one thing my Dad always requests that I bring whenever I fly up to visit- well, that and Darrell Lea licorice...

I thought I'd show you all some of my favourite Aussie foods. Quintessential Australian food and drink that I'd HAVE to take with me if I ever moved overseas.

Milo - This would have to be my Number 1 favourite. I drink it hot or cold, with milk. Yummy!

Vegemite - Foreigners always seem to HATE this when they try it, but that's because they eat it straight out of the jar with a spoon, and that is just WRONG! You've got to firstly put heaps of butter or margarine on some bread and then spread a very thin layer of Vegemite on top. Yum! I can taste the salty goodness right now as I type this.

Tim Tams - I couldn't call myself an Aussie if I didn't mention these!

Ovalteenies - These are little chocolate malt flavoured candies, made from the powdered drink Ovaltine, which tastes a bit like Milo or Nesquik. When I was a kid we used to put them on our tongues and suck them until there was nothing left!

Allen's Red Frogs - Irresistible lollies, with just the right amount of chewiness, and you could never stop at just one.

Sunny Boys - These are flavoured water iceblocks that are in cone shaped packaging. We used to eat them all the time in Summer.

Space food sticks - I used to have these in my school lunch box every single day! They're a soft but firm chewy chocolate or caramel bar.

Cottee's Cordial - Apple Raspberry was always my favourite.

Fantales - chewy chocolate caramel lollies with a celebrity Who Am I on the wrapper.

Killer Pythons - a long snake shaped chewy lolly we used to buy for 20c each out of the jar at fish and chip shops.

Paddlepops - I liked both banana and chocolate flavours - never a fan of the rainbow one though!

Burger Men - These were my choice whenever I had some money to spend at the school canteen- kind of like a tangy flavoured crunchy rice flour crisp, in the shape of a man. Sounds weird, I know.

Of course, the list could go on forever... I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention Lamingtons, Pavlova, Weetbix, Iced Vo-Vo's, Meat pies, Minties, Crunchie bars, Twisties...

A night out with friends

2011-01-22T21:15:00.011+11:00

Last night my friends and I went out for Claryse's birthday. We got all dressed up and headed to dinner at a local Italian restaurant in town. We had yummy garlic pizza bread and pasta to eat (which most of us couldn't finish because we were so full!) and birthday cake for dessert.

I offerred to make the cake for Claryse, and made a double layer vanilla cake with chocolate buttercream frosting from The Magnolia Bakery cookbook.

It was looking beautiful, until a minor mishap occurred when I braked at the hill at the end of my street- the cake slid onto its side and half of the icing got smooshed!

Luckily there was time to spare (and I had some leftover frosting!) soI rushed back home and tried to make repairs as best as I could. The result wasn't as good as the first attempt, because I didn't have time to re-pipe the icing and had to settle for spreading it on and smoothing it with a knife, but no one noticed except me.

Claryse started opening presents the minute we got there (that's the best part of having a birthday, right?!)

Of course, it wouldn't be a post about my friends if there wasn't the obligatory tonne of photos of them!

Laura, Elise & Claryse all did the same pose without even realising it!

Me and Keish

Keisha & I with the birthday girl

Laura and Elise- both a little tired because Laura had come straight from her work in the city, and Elise had come straight from her church's week long Summer camp!

Blowing out the "candles"

Figuring out how to cut the cake- Elise's suggestion: We get a quarter each? Haha!

Yum!

The Business of Busyness

2011-01-21T16:12:00.011+11:00

Just a few things... I feel like I've been doing so much lately, and I want a chance to catch up on everything!

So in no particular order...

My friend Keisha & I have been having Grey's Anatomy marathons every week since the very beginning of this year- it's always been our favourite show, but we are now addicted to it in a big way! The latest episode comes out in Australia today and I am just itching to know what happens with the characters next!

I just finished reading this book- and now I really want to see the movie! I'm going through a phase where I really want to read books that have been/ are in the process of being turned into movies.

I'm trying to teach myself how to play Pachelbel's Canon in D major on the violin... oh, and also the violin solo in Green Day's song Time of Your Life (two very different kinds of music, I realise). I have sheet music that helps, but I really learn best by playing by ear.

I can't stop eating this basil, cashew nut and parmesan dip. I'm not even normally a dip kind of girl, but this one is so good on top of crackers.

The next few weeks are going to be big weeks for me- next Friday I'm heading to Singapore with my sister to visit Dad and the rest of the family up there. Our Grandma Val is also flying up from New Zealand so it'll be one big family holiday! I'm so looking forward to it; the last time I visited Dad in Singapore was years ago and I'm excited to see what's stayed the same... and what's changed. And also- of course the shopping has me very excited too!

Right after I get back from Singapore in the middle of February, we are headed to New Zealand for my cousin Ashley's wedding! Ashley and I like to tell everyone that we are exactly "two months and one day" apart (she was born on April 16th and me on June 17th). She is the first of us grandchildren to get married (which makes sense, as she is also the oldest grandchild on that side of the family- she just beat me by those two measly months!)

And then, after a week in NZ, I arrive back on Monday and uni starts back on the Tuesday! I can't believe it- back to classes, textbooks, assignments... But the fantastic part is that this wil be my final semester! 14 weeks of classes... and then I'm done for good! I'll be a fully qualified primary teacher- how crazy is that?!

My Day

2011-01-18T15:13:00.003+11:00

After working every day for the past three days, I spent the day babysitting Emi and Jordan today. We watched High School Musical 3, organised their playroom, went for walk, had Subway for lunch and then a little "iced chocolate" date at Gloria Jeans before coming back home for a swim in their pool to cool off.

The girls are both obsessed with everything High School Musical, which means all day long I've been subjected to listening to them hum, sing and play any and every song from the three movies! I'm pretty sure I know each and every song by heart now!

After convincing them to sing something different, we had a little jam session with Emi on the guitar, Jordy singing and me (attempting to play) Jordy's half sized violin. Emi has a tonne of sheet music from popular films, so we belted out "My Heart Will Go On", "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", and even a little "Thunderstruck" and "Time of Your Life".

I was just glad to hear anything that didn't have to do with Troy and Gabriella ;)

And yet, maybe I spoke too soon... as we speak, Emi is outside playing basketball, and has just brought her iPod and speakers out to play... you guessed it, more fantastic songs from High School Musical!

Complete with scene reenactment with basketball and all!

Oh how I wish I was ten years old again! The whole 'doing anything without caring what anybody thinks about me' thing is kind of appealing!

Loves

2011-01-12T10:03:00.029+11:00

Things I love...

I love nuts (especially cashews at the moment).

I love colour (especially any shade of pink or red).

I love having tv show marathons on dvd.

I love pretty scrapbook paper (but never know what to do with it).

I love having long hair to do each day.

I love having a stack of new books to read.

I love pyjamas (and have 2 drawers just for my pj collection).

I love country music (Lady Antebellum, Little Big Town, Dixie Chicks, Sugarland, The Band Perry, Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift, The McClymonts, Gloriana, Court Yard Hounds).

I love writing on a chalkboard (except when the chalk makes that noise. *cringe*)

I love my iPhone and all it's apps and Internet and usefulness.

I love having a row of cookbooks lined up all neat in my kitchen.

I love my new paper lace lanterns in my room.

I love all my cute pink baking utensils.

I love reading (anything that's not a textbook!)

I love sewing.

I love wooden letters on my wall.

I love scarves and all the pretty fabric.

I love playing violin.

I love the colour of the feature wall in my room.

Checking In

2011-01-08T17:32:00.002+11:00

Sorry I've been a little AWOL since New Year's...

I've been hanging out with friends

Reading good books

Baking and cooking

Planning my life for the next six months

Contemplating university, dancing and church schedules

Wondering what my life is going to hold for me after I graduate in June

Oh yeah... and working A LOT

So that's where I've been... and what I've been doing.
Clocking in lots of girl time with my friends while they've been on holidays from their grown-up jobs. Doing lots of non-grown-up stuff like having board game nights and playing the Wii and having tv show marathons all night long. Soaking up all the time we have together before we all have to go back to the real world of full time jobs and university classes and other obligations.

New Year's Eve

2011-01-02T15:41:00.010+11:00

I spent New Year's Eve with a group of friends and friends of friends in the city. None of us had ever ventured in to see the fireworks live before, and we thought it was about time that we did!

We caught the train into Sydney, first to Central Station, and then to Circular Quay.

Once we got to Circular Quay, we walked through The Rocks, all the way up to Observatory Hill.
It was boiling hot in the middle of the day, so we were glad when we finally made it!

And look at the view we had- perfect position for watching the fireworks off the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

There were heaps of big beautiful Moreton Bay Fig Trees on Observatory Hill that we all sat under for shade.

We also had a beautiful view of Sydney harbour.

We spent the afternoon staking out a good spot (complete with a park bench and everything!)

We enjoyed a picnic lunch, and played card games.

Once the sun started setting, I had to get my camera out and take some photos because it was simply stunning light.

As 9pm rolled around, we waited in anticipation for the first of the fireworks shows to start.
The Bridge and all the city lights were looking beautiful all lit up in preparation.

Finally the 9 o'clock family fireworks show started!

And then, a couple of hours later, as midnight arrived, the bigger fireworks show started. Sydney is renowned for having the best New Years fireworks in the world, and at midnight, the fireworks were let off from the Bridge, something Sydney-siders look forward to seeing every year.

From where we stood, behind the Bridge, it was a little harder to see the fireworks and lights on the Bridge as there was virtually no breeze which meant no wind to get rid of smoke from letting the fireworks off. This meant that the 12 o'clock fireworks were not as easy to see as the 9 o'clock ones, but we still got a good view of the fireworks that were let off from the barges that were stationed in the harbour.

Another Sydney NYE tradition is to display a lit up picture on the Bridge. It's always something symbolic and supposed to set the course for the New Year. In the past we've had a dove, yin and yang symbol, a coathanger (the Bridge's nickname), a smiley face, and the word 'Eternity' written in script.

This year, some people thought we'd just keep the big 'O' that's been up there since Oprah has just visited!

But no, this year it was...

a handprint.

It was actually really cool, it was designed to look like a real giant handprint, with finger prints and everything.

Leaving the city was of course the definition of chaos, fighting crowds, waiting in line, trying to fit on overcrowded trains. We got home after 3am, a good 15 hours after we'd left home!
It was a great experience though, and definitely something I'm glad I've ticked off my to-do list.

Our Christmas

2010-12-26T21:45:00.010+11:00

The lead-up and the preparation...

Christmas Day was spent like this:

Haha!

After we unwrapped presents (and put all the wrapping paper in the bin!) we headed over to the house of a family friend, part of a big group of friends that we always spend Christmas Day with.

They have a pool in their backyard, and the weather was beautiful, so this is how we spent most of the day:

Chelsea, who's 6, made each of us our own Christmas bonbons, and this was my paper hat- check out the illustrations of Santa and his reindeer!

After a yummy lunch of prawns, followed by lamb, ham, pork, chicken and all the trimmings, we started our annual games.

Every year we play a whole heap of games outside (we have a score sheet and a trophy for the winner and everything!)

And then it was time for my favourite part of the day- the dessert!

I always make this Toblerone cheesecake for Christmas

There was yummy cream filled chocolate cake,

and this year someone brought a new addition for the dessert table - chocolate torte! Yum!

After all those hours spent eating and then attempting to "work off the calories" in the pool (ha!)
I headed to Keisha's house to meet up with my friends.

Last year we started a new tradition of getting together on Christmas night after we'd spent the day with our families, and it is now one of my favourite things about Christmas Day.

Once we all arrived, we exchanged presents (and all I can say is that my friends know me VERY well) and launched into an extremely competitive game of Taboo, followed by a crazy-intense version of Junior Pictionary.

We played in pairs, and while Elise and I kicked butt at Taboo (literary legends that we are!), Laura and Keisha aptly named themselves "The A Team" because they beat us at Pictionary! What can I say, Elise and I are words people, Keish and Laur are pictures people!

Here are the champs celebrating their win:

Competitive freaks that they are haha ;) It was so much fun hanging out with the girls and playing board games, laughing and being silly in what is after all, the silly season!

A Day in Pictures

2010-12-21T21:25:00.005+11:00

My cousin Andrea flew over from New Zealand to spend Christmas with us here in Sydney.

This is how we spent our weekend at Jellybean Pool, part of the Blue Mountains National Park:

Lying in the sun

Soaking up the warmth and the beautiful blue sky

Feet in the sand

Legs out the window

Bodies in the water

Taking in our surroundings

Enjoying icecream

And the view!

Loving every bit of the hot Sydney summer!

Christmas Card Carousel

2010-12-14T12:36:00.005+11:00

This year, Faith is again hosting her annual Christmas Card Carousel!

We have such a cute card this year that I want to show it off!

I ordered it online from Vistaprint and just like last year's Christmas card, I made caricatures to represent each of us!

Of course, some of us looked a little different from last year, so I updated our little character pictures.

Are you ready to see the final result?!

Without further ado (yeah right!), here is our Christmas card for 2010!

Christmas Tour of Homes

2010-12-14T12:31:00.013+11:00

The Nester is once again hosting the annual Christmas Tour of Homes.

Welcome to Christmas at our house - Christmas, Aussie style!

In our foyer, as you walk in the door:

I love this wreath- I bought it this year for less than $20!

I made this at a scrapbooking class I went to! My first ever!

Upstairs, above our staircase

In our formal lounge room:

In our lounge room:

In our dining room:

Our table decorations - all new this year!

In our kitchen:

And my favourite - our chalkboard!

Thanks for visiting!

Young Adults night

2010-12-11T00:25:00.005+11:00

Last night all of the young adults at our church had a Christmas party at the house of a family from church. The Lawrence's live on 8 acres of property half an hour out of town, and last night I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

On top of having 4 dogs, they also have 2 horses, a cow and 2 ponies! They pretty much have their own farm!

This was one of their ponies.

Keisha realised the pony had the same hair colour as she did!

Lisa (the eldest of the Lawrence kids) with the other pony

Me, Claryse & Keisha

3 Girls and a Christmas Tree

2010-12-06T15:43:00.006+11:00

This is the scene that unfolds when three girls put up a Christmas tree.

Putting up Keisha's Christmas tree took us two nights, because we couldn't find the beads that serve as her "tinsel" until a day later! And of course, we found them in a box that we had searched through many times! Isn't that always the way?!

Claryse untangling the strands of lights

Stringing the beads

Keisha placing the star on top

The 3 of us with the completed tree

The BEST choc chips cookies

2010-11-30T18:40:00.002+11:00

The Pioneer Woman has been Twittering her favourite cookie recipes, and blogged about her new favourite Brandy Snap recipe, which inspired me to make some too! I posted my favourite choc chip cookie recipe on my Baking blog, and thought I'd share it on here too!

Choc Chip Cookies125g (4 oz) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cups self raising flour
125g (4 oz) choc chips

Cream together butter, sugars and vanilla.
Add lightly beaten egg gradually, beating well.
Mix in sifted flour.
Add choc chips, mix well.

Shape teaspoonfuls of mixture into small balls and place ontogreased trays, allowing for spreading.

Bake for 10-12 minutes in moderate oven.

Flash Mob in the city!

2010-11-29T16:05:00.004+11:00

On Saturday night, Claryse, Keisha, Laura, Elisha (Laura's fiancee, who filmed us), Claryse & I went into the city with a very specific purpose- we created a Flash Mob in Circular Quay!

A Flash Mob is a dance sequence where one person starts dancing, then another person standing unassumingly nearby joins in, then another joins, then another! And the whole time, the rest of the bystanders don't know what's happening, and dancers just keep popping up out of nowhere! It is so fun to watch.

Claryse is doing a dance degree at uni, and this was one of her assignments! She roped us in to help, and this is the final result (after lots of practice sessions at each other's houses!)

I am the last dancer to join- which was the hardest, because I had to stand nearby and not look suspicious, and like I didn't know what was going on!

Have a look (there's no music until the 25 second mark):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FokH1LoqrVQ

Reflecting on Teaching

2010-11-12T15:49:00.001+11:00

We had to answer this questionnaire about reflecting on our teaching after our last week of prac at school, and I thought I'd post it on here, so you could see what I've learnt whilst being a teacher for 3 weeks!

What I consider the 3 most important things I've learnt:
1. Don't be afraid to change something if you realise it's not working in the middle of a lesson.
2. Positively reinforcing students who are doing the right thing usually has the added benefit of detering students who aren't, and is far more pleasant than always dealing out punishment.
3. Being excited about a lesson usually makes the kids excited and engaged too.

What I consider the 3 most challenging things I'll face during my next prac:
1. Timing of lessons. In PP1 I would often go overtime with my lessons without realising it.
2. Planning for a new grade, now that I've gotten used to Year 2.
3. What to do if I don't have a Smartboard! I've gotten so used to using this as a resource to engage the students that I'll be really sad if my next class doesn't have one!

What surprised me:
How much I was influenced by my supervising teacher's teaching style. Without consciously realising it, for the majority of the time I was in 2J I imitated the way he taught the class, following his rewards and discipline systems and the way he organised the classroom, even when I was teaching full day lessons.

What the strengths of a positive relationship between the school and the community are:
It makes the whole process of communicating with parents and the community easier. Because my supervising teacher was the Assistant Principal for K-2, I saw how he dealt with calling parents abut behaviour or discipline issues, and it was always a lot easier if a positive relationship already existed.

The most important connections I've made betwen the theoretical and its application:
Behaviourism has its place, with punishment and reinforcement, but so does Humanism, and creating a warm and supportive environment for the students each day.

Questions I still have:
How do teachers find time for everything? Between the lesson planning, teaching, school events, discipline issues, dealing with parents, etc, it just seems like there's never enough time in the day for everything in the timetable! How do they ensure their students learn everything they need to in a year with all of the interruptions and scheduling changes that take away from class learning time?

What I've learnt about myself as a future teacher:
I enjoy letting the students have fun while learning. However I also learnt that you still have to remain an authoritive figure, and I think I found a good way of balancing this in the classroom.

What I've learnt about myself as a person:
I learnt that I am definitely heading towards the right career! I just had such a great time on prac, looking forward to seeing the students every day. All the elements of my personality just seemed to be a good fit for teaching, which is what I always assumed, but it was nice to have it confirmed.

How what I learnt and discovered will influence my future actions:
I learnt that students like having something tangible to learn from, whether this be a video or a song or concrete materials that they can engage with, and I will endeavour to include this in future lessons.

3 things I hope to improve about my teaching practice in PP2:
1. Develop a more consistent method of gaining students' attention, now that I have had the opportunity to try out so many (eg. hand claps, hands on head, ringing a bell, etc).
2. Continue to develop my knowledge and use of Smartboards and associated technology.
3. Investigate students' prior knowledge in more depth before launching into a lesson.

The Gold Coast

2010-11-08T11:57:00.009+11:00

Last weekend we flew to the Gold Coast for Kayd's 21st birthday party. We got there early in the morning, so we went and had breakfast at the surf club and then went to Burleigh North beach for a while.

It was only 9 or 10am, but it was so sunny and hot that the water was so warm it was like bathwater!

I pretty much grew up with Kayd and his older sister Paige, so we're all pretty much family and it was fun to be around everybody again, seeing as we don't see them much since we live in Sydney and they live in Queensland.

Myles & Lisa always have the best moves on the dance floor.

I don't usually have many photos of me, because I'm always the one taking the photos, but Lisa managed to snap these ones:

Neil with the birthday boy

Kayd's dad Martin and sister Paige

Time for speeches

Cutting the cake

We had such a great time, we stayed and danced and partied until 2am!

And then the next day I had to fly home by myself, because on Monday morning I had to be back at school for my final week of prac teaching!

Things I Don't Do

2010-10-22T17:45:00.003+11:00

I'm reading Shauna Niequist's new book Bittersweet at the moment, and I've just finished the chapter called "Things I Don't Do".

"Things I Don't Do" are things that take unnecessary time and energy away from the things I do do.

Thing I Do include:

I eat chocolate. I just do. In fact, I've got a block of the new Cadbury Dairy Milk roast hazelnut and honey roast cashews sitting right beside me that I've been plowing through for a few days now. I just love nuts and chocolate together. And I try not to make myself feel bad about it.

I bake. It's the one time where my mind is quiet. I like everything about baking- the mixing, the cooking, the eating. Seeing all these different ingredients turn into something so different from how they all started. All of it. Love.

I teach. I'm a teacher. And I'm good at it. It's the one thing about myself that I know that I know that I know. If everything else about me changed, I think I'd still be a teacher somehow. I'd find a way.

I have to have music in my everyday life somehow. Whether it's listening to the radio in the car, putting MTV on the TV when I get home, practising my violin or plugging in my iPod, I have to have music. I like the rhythm, the sound, the science behind the melody and the harmony and the beat and how it all intertwines.

I like photography- looking at photos, taking photos, being in photos. Something about preserving a physical memory, a place in time representing everyday life and the people that are in it just seems important to me.

I love kids- from tiny babies all the way up to upper primary and beyond, give me a child to interact with and I'll be happy. Their innocent happiness just makes me a better person when I'm around them.

I'll probably always be interested in clothes and hair and makeup and other things that make me look pretty. Part of it is just being a girl, but the other part is me wanting to look nice. And I'm okay with that. If something so simple makes you feel better about yourself, as long as it's not becoming an overarching obsession or taking away from more important things, then I'm okay with that.

Things I Don't Do:

I don't cook. The Food Network, Masterchef, Top Chef, etc do not amuse me unless they do a segment on baking. As much as I love baking, cooking is just not the same. Whether this is because cooking is less focussed on sweet things, I can't say, but I just haven't got the knack. And I don't feel feel any desire to, although I admire those who can and do.

I don't get obsessed with my weight. I know from past experience how caught up I can get with those red numbers on the scale, so I tend to avoid the whole thing. This might mean that there are times when I'm heavier than others, but eventually I'll go back. And I judge the whole thing by how my clothes fit, and not by numbers or digits on a little electronic box that sits on the bathroom floor.

I don't spend as much time studying as I should, but I'm okay with that. I lead a busy life, and I do the best I can and sometimes a person needs to give themselves a break. I've realised that I'm still an excellent student whether I've read the whole textbook or not, and that getting an exemplary grade doesn't make any of the other parts of your life better or worse, really.

And I'm okay with all of that.

And by the way... this is my 200th post! Happy 200th Anniversary/Birthday/ whatever celebration is appropriate to my little blog.

Katy & Luke's Wedding

2010-10-12T08:36:00.010+11:00

On Sunday, my friends Katy & Luke got married. I've known Katy for a long time (we went to pre-school together, a fact we only discovered when we both started at the same high school!)

In case you missed it, the date on Sunday was the 10/10/10, and it was seven years exactly to the day that Katy & Luke first started dating! And now it's their wedding and anniversary date too.

The ceremony was on the lawn at the beautiful Vaucluse House, and the weather couldn't have been any more perfect. It was a warm and sunny day, but the chairs were set up under a tree, so most of us could stand in the shade.

Of course, I took tonnes of photos- my friend Keisha was a bridesmaid, so I wanted to get pictures for her too.

Here are the three bridesmaids making their way across the lawn.

Keisha

Katy and her mum walking down the "aisle"

Signing the register

With Luke's parents

With Katy's mum, stepdad & Luke's mum & dad

After the ceremony- Claryse, me, Laura, Elise & Sam

Adam & Keisha

Claryse, Elise, Keisha, Laura & me

Elise said when she saw this next photo, "That is so us!"

After the ceremony, the wedding reception was at The Tea Room, which is a huge beautiful historic room inside The Queen Victoria Building.

Elise, Laura, Elisha (Laura's fiance) & Claryse at the reception

Now, the details:

The table

The centerpieces

The placecards

The menu

The monogrammed napkins (my favourite detail!)

The cake

The bomboniere/ favours

Cutting the cake

First dance

And then the party really started!

Adam & Keisha on the dance floor

Laura

Luke getting Katy's garter off

Tossing the garter

Saying goodbye to the newlyweds

Cake & Cookie Must!

2010-10-11T12:59:00.003+11:00

Here it is- the Yoda Cake, finally finished!
I wasn't able to go to the party, but I heard the cake was a hit, and elevated the birthday cool to "super cool" status among her friends!

And of course, once I got on a roll with my baking, I had to make a cookie cake too!

Cake & Cookie lust

2010-10-05T21:45:00.005+11:00

So. One of the daughters of the family I just finished housesitting for turns 10 today. (Happy Birthday Miss Emi!)

As such, she has requested that Leashy here make her birthday cake.

Leashy was happy to oblige.

Until she saw the kind of cake that Emi had in mind.

Meet Yoda- the cake.

And this one is my favourite- Yoda the half eaten cake head.

These aren't even close to the more complex Yoda cake designs that I found whilst looking on Google tonight. Those ones just scare me with their intensity.

And then.... THEN.... whilst still Googling, I found this:

Hello, cookie cake love. Where have you been all my life?

I must make one. I MUST!

If only I could convince a certain 10 year old girl that proper birthday cakes are overrated. Cookie cakes are where it's at!

Housesitting

2010-10-01T19:33:00.002+10:00

This past week, I have been housesitting for my dance teacher. I've done it before for a weekend (where I ended up spending most of the time at my own house, and only coming over to feed the animals in the morning because I was too much of a chicken to stay the night in an empty house by myself!)

BUT. This week (or rather, 10 days) I was determined not to be a chicken and to spend the whole time here. By myself.

Imagine my surprise then, when I discovered that I actually really enjoyed the experience! I found a new sense of freedom in being wholly responsible for myself. It kind of crept up on me, and then one afternoon when I was sitting on the couch watching countless episodes of Private Practice, I realised that I was enjoying being by myself! I found this unusual, because I am very much a people person, and a noise person who always has music or the tv on in the background. But nevertheless I got a simple kind of joy out of doing whatever I wanted and coming and going as I pleased.

That's not to say that I don't get to do this at home, or that I don't love being at home. I do.

(Hi Mum, I know you're totally going to read this, and don't freak out at me saying all of this!)

But right now, my friend Keisha is over, and she's making us both dinner with Taylor Swift playing on my iPod in the background while I sit at the kitchen table on the computer writing this. And there's something very grown-up about it all that I'm enjoying.

I've had a few "I'm a grown-up" moments this past eight days, where just the act of backing out of the driveway or collecting the mail or switching off all the lights at night stops me and makes me realise how much I'm enjoying the experience of getting to play "adult".

Naturally, my mum was quick to point out that part of the reason it's so enjoyable is because I don't have any bills to pay :)

Which quickly brought me down to earth, but still... I'm really liking this whole thing.

Happy Birthday Mum!

2010-09-22T08:10:00.002+10:00

Today's my Mum's birthday!

Last year for her birthday I made a little collage of photos of her and I beginning from when I was a baby. You can see it here.

Happy Birthday to the best mother anyone could ever have! Hope you have a great day Mum.

Lessons

2010-09-14T21:04:00.000+10:00

Being a teacher (or student teacher for that matter!) is a funny paradox- on one hand you are planning lessons and teaching the kids in your class everything they need to know. On the other hand, the kids themselves are constantly teaching YOU things, and you are learning things about yourself that you never knew before.

What 3 single day visits and a full week of being on prac have taught me includes:

- never try to assume what kids will do. Sometimes they will have no idea what you're talking about, and other times they'll blow you away with their creativity and insightfulness.

- be prepared for sweetness (eg. being brought a handmade cinnamon scroll) and the complete opposite (eg. a child slamming their fists on the desk when you correct one tiny thing)

- lecturers know their stuff, there really can be seven years difference in ability within the one class.

- similarly, you as a teacher really need to know your stuff, because if you're teaching it, you better believe the kids will ask you every type of question about it.

- nothing goes to plan. It's a miracle if it does.

- the school day is full of interruptions. Just when you get started, you're almost inevitably distracted.

- you can go into a class with all sorts of expectations, and some kids will meet them, some kids will go above and beyond and some kids won't at all. But not for a lack of enthusiasm.

- be nice to the kids and they'll (usually) be nice back.

- you're only as good of a teacher as the relationship you have with the students.

- teaching is a team sport. Other teachers are your assistant coaches.

- contrary to popular belief, the school day DOES NOT end at 3 o'clock when the bell rings. At least not for the teacher, anyway!

- it's impossible to get everything right, but you keep on trying.

Weekend fun

2010-09-07T21:03:00.007+10:00

On Friday during the middle of the day at school I started sneezing, and by that afternoon, I'd come down with the full cold/flu bug. Enter nausea, head and body aches, scratchy throat and runny nose. I pretty much passed out in bed that night, and unfortunately I didn't get much opportunity to sleep it off as I had to be up early the next morning.

On Saturday I went to an engagement party for two of my friends from school and church, Polly and Alex. I was feeling better, but still sick. They had a champagne brunch, but needless to say I steered clear of the alcohol! I think I would have been on the floor if I'd had any, thanks to the combination of sickness and tiredness!

This is how I spent most of it- tissues at the ready!

We did manage to snap one nice photo though- if you don't look at my red nose too much!
Here's Keisha, me, Polly & Claryse at the party.

That night, a younger girl from our church had her 18th birthday party, so we all saw each other again later. The theme for the party was cocktail and black tie, which was lots of fun because it's not often that I get the chance to really dress up! It was great to see everyone in their fancy clothes too.

It was a beautiful night, great weather for a party outside, but I only stayed a few hours because I started to feel feverish and sick again. It seemed a bit of a shame to waste my hair and makeup efforts on just a few hours at a party, but it was still fun to go out and see everyone.

Here are all the people that went from our church- the birthday girl is at the top left.

And then on Sunday... I slept in!

What I Wore

2010-09-07T20:29:00.005+10:00

Dressing as a teacher is hard work- you've got to find the right mix of corporate, casual and comfortable. Just for fun, when I was on prac last week, I took a photo of my outfit each day!
(Taking a full shot of yourself is hard! So take no notice of my lack of photography skills here!)

In no particular order, except the sequential days of the week, I present to you...

What I Wore On Prac

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Stop the ride, I want to get off!

2010-08-30T21:07:00.004+10:00

Sorry I've been so absent (again!)

Where were we?
Last time you heard from me, I was in the middle of the 40 Hour Famine. Well, I finished it! I thought hours 16-18 were tough at the time, but it was really hours 25-27 that nearly killed it for me. I ended up having to abandon the sleepover we had planned at school and go and sleep in my own bed. Sometimes you just need to, you know?

Anyway, I made it to Hour 40.

And then I celebrated by having a huge beef burger, chips and lemonade an hour later.

:)

Followed by Nutella and Peanut Butter flavoured gelato

:) :)

Is there any better way to break your 40 hour charity fast? I think not.

I totally meant to take photos of the weekend, but the hunger got to me and I forgot about anything else except my empty stomach. Although I did end up doing a lot of my Primary Maths & Numeracy assignment, which was a total bonus! We had "rooms" throughout the building which were dedicated to certain activities- the movie room, the games console (Xbox, PlayStation, Wii) room, the chill out room (complete with white noise machine) and yes, the study room for all of us dedicated uni students.

If we had to go without food, the least we could do was entertain ourselves throughout the process!

Anyway, I digress (again). That was two weekends ago. This past weekend was fabulous, full of fun and sunshine. I had just finished a crazy week at uni (all the Education students referred to it as 'The Week From Hell' because we had so many assessments due) that reached its peak when I came home on Thursday night only to discover that part of my Primary English & Literacy assignment, that I had done DAYS in advance, had simply.disappeared.vanished.gone.completely.

As you do, if you were a lowly Word document.

Needless to say, there was lots of frustration, venting and crying from yours truly, until I admitted to myself that I should probably start writing it all over again, seeing as it was due Friday night. The unfairness of it all still gets to me, and I shall never know whether my computer really did literally 'lose the plot' or if I just failed to save it.

(But wouldn't I have gotten a "Would you like to save message" when I closed the program? I'm a smart girl, I would have clicked "Yes". Unless the WFH - Week From Hell, had gotten to me so badly that I just clicked "No" in a valiant attempt at telling the world "Stop the ride, I want to get off!")

Writing that line just made me think of one of my favourite songs from the band MercyMe

"If it came to a stop, and someone let me off I know I would just get right back in line."

True. Very true.

Of course I survived the WFH, and promptly told my mum that I needed to spend Saturday with some kids. So I grabbed my godson and his sister, and took them to the Penrith Show for a few hours.

Sunshine + kids + carnival rides = JOY

And I felt all the more better for it. Pictures to come, of course.

Fast forward to this week, and I am currently one day into a week-long prac with my adopted Year 2 class. Today I taught my first ever whole class lesson and it was AWESOME! My lesson was on Maths (parallel lines) and I decided to make it fun and incorporate Visual Arts into it by getting the kids to draw parallel lines on a big A3 sheet of paper and then use diluted pain to brush over it, creating a crayon resist painting. I did show the class one I had "prepared earlier", but I let them do their own thing, and the results were fantastic!

2J is now the home of some multicoloured, stripey artworks that also happen to be rockin' some parallel lines.

And what's the point of teaching fun stuff like this if you can't do it yourself?

I present to you, my masterpiece:

40 Hour Famine

2010-08-21T15:25:00.003+10:00

All the young adults from our church are currently holed up at our old school, doing the 40 hour famine. The boys are currently playing a violent war game on XBox and PlayStation simulatenously, while sitting across from each other, and the girls are playing Tennis on the Wii.
I'm nearly on Hour 20, halfway and going strong!

Covergirl

2010-08-20T09:31:00.002+10:00

So, I wasn't going to post these on here, but then I realised it'd save me having to post a copy to my Dad, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins etc... who want to see it.

Back in February, I got asked by my university to do a photoshoot for their 2011 brochure. Since I had a scholarship for my undergraduate degree, I used to get asked to do all sorts of promotional stuff for the uni. I got my hair and make-up done (but wore my own clothes) and had fun being a covergirl for an hour or so.

Last week, I finally received a copy of the brochures (there's one that's just an Undergraduate Program brochure and another that is specifically for the Arts Degree).

So... let's just pretend I'm posting a picture of someone else, because otherwise this is highly embarrassing (and I'm not a huge fan of the photos anyway!) I would also like to concur with the widely held belief that the camera adds ten pounds- otherwise I may need to go hide in a corner and cry!

Baking and Teaching

2010-08-19T22:43:00.004+10:00

Tomorrow our Youth Group is holding special 'Girls Only' and 'Guys Only' nights for our kids that come along- the guys are going to play mini-golf, while the girls stay in and have a mocktails pyjama party! I have promised (as always) to bake cupcakes. Normally I bake the cupcakes the day before, and ice them the day of... well, tomorrow is Friday which means Youth Group, and have I baked anything? Nope.

I always use the Magnolia Bakery recipe for vanilla cupcakes, because I've had the opportunity to taste some from their NYC bakery and they are the best I've ever tasted.

What's even better is that they've compiled all the recipes they use at the bakery into a cookbook, and now even when I just bake them myself at home, you get fabulous cupcakes every time.

Hello... yum!

(Why does my icing never turn out like that?!)

Anyway, I digress. I'm sorry if I inadvertedly made you crave cupcakes.

What's been happening in my world? One word: STUDY

If it's not working on an assignment or project, it's lesson planning! Because finally, FINALLY, I am getting to go on prac (aka professional experience, aka Be a Student Teacher) and it is not without it's fair share of work.

I realise that I haven't mentioned much about my prac on here yet, so to summarise:

I have a Year 2 class with a male teacher who is also the assistant principal for the K-2 grades. He is very relaxed and laid back in his teaching style, and the kids seem to love him.

There are 22 kids in the class, which is pretty small by usual standards.

The ability range in this class alone is ASTOUNDING. We got told in our Prac lectures that it's possible to get a range of seven years in ability in a class, and I was all "Yeah right, seven years, as if!" but it's totally true. There is one girl in 2J who is reading and spelling words that a high school kid would struggle with (like germinate, scenery, rhubarb and chrysanthemum) and a boy who is below kindergarten level with his reading.

(I'll admit, I panicked when I first realised this, and thought "How in the world am I going to be able to develop lesson plans for this class?!")

I tried to fly under the radar at the school, being an ex-student and all, but a teacher (who I never even had as a class teacher) recognised me and before long it was "Oh, YOU'RE the ex-student!" everywhere I went.

All the prac students (there are 8 of us at this school) sit in one long line on the seats in the staffroom, like we are afraid to be separated. Except when one of us has to go on playground duty with our supervising teacher (who we basically shadow all day, except for recess and lunch time).

My class doesn't have the much lauded Interactive Whiteboard. The Year 2 class next door does. Bummer. Guess I'll have to teach old-school style.

I've memorised about 20 out of 22 names. Well, that was on Monday. We'll see how many I remember when I go back this coming Monday.

The first day, this past Monday, I mainly just observed and got to meet and chat with the kids. The coming Monday is when I will actually start acting as a student teacher, and I will teach a small group lesson (reading groups). The week after that, we have a week-long block, which is when we really get thrown into the deep end!

Our supervising teachers get PAID to take us on as prac students. I don't know why, but I was surprised by this. The principal of the school assured us that you "couldn't even buy a pair of shoes" with the amount of money the university pays them, so I guess it's more of a token thankyou present than anything else.

What else, what else? All my students seemed great, but it was only my first day, so we shall see. I'm just excited to finally be TEACHING! I've spent a lot of time in classrooms, but always as a volunteer or teacher's aide, and have never actually planned, taught and evaluated a lesson before. Or had myself as a teacher evaluated! That part's a little daunting, but our teachers have to give us lots of verbal feedback first before the start formally assessing us on paper, so that allows for any minor problems to be straightened out.

Mostly I'm just so EXCITED to be getting the opportunity to meet and teach these kids! It feels like a long time coming... I can't wait for next Monday!

Time

2010-08-17T15:45:00.002+10:00

I spend half my time in class wishing it would go faster.

Except for yesterday when I went on my first school prac and the day flew by far too quickly.
Then I realise it's August already and I think where has the time gone?
Then I recognise that i'm a third of the way through my masters and how did that happen?
Then I realise it's been four years that I've been at uni and wow that's really the start of my adult life, spent at the same place.
Then I recognise that this time next year I'll be a fully fledged teacher! How crazy is that?!
Then I realise that I'm 22 years old and how did THAT happen?
Time is playing tricks on me.

Back to School

2010-08-13T09:42:00.006+10:00

Was it really in July that I last posted? Wow. I'm such a bad blogger. I hadn't even noticed that it had been that long! I've been so flat out with uni work that everything else got put on the backburner I guess.

So... what have I been up to? I have classes pretty much all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Thursdays are the best days, because:
a) it's the shortest day at uni for me (only 2 classes, 1.5 hours each)
and
b) I have my Science & Technology class, where we get to play with materials and make cool stuff!

It's just like being a kid at school again, except we don't get bossed around by a teacher, and we have little instructions so we get to figure it out for ourselves. Things to remember for when I am the teacher, right?!

Here's a photo of me from class yesterday, where we made traffic lights out of polysterene cups, wood, hot glue, masking tape, aluminium foil, coloured cellophane, a 9V battery, 6 wires and a light bulb! So much fun- and we're adults! Can you imagine how much fun kids would have doing this stuff?

Showing off our technical prowess:

We even made our own "switch" out of a small piece of wood, thumbtacks and a paperclip, so you can choose whether to have the red, orange or green light on.

See! It really does light up!

We are learning lots of cool stuff in this class- last week we made cars out of milk or juice cartons, then we put them on a ramp and had a race! Unfortunately my car's back axle was a bit skew-iff and the car veered to the right a lot... needless to say, it didn't win.

Our teacher recorded it all on his mini flip camera and then played it on the data projector through his laptop for us all to see! We also made graphs on the laptop, interactive whiteboard and regular whiteboard- can you imagine how much fun kids would have with that? Not to mention all the learning involved- lots of maths in particular (measurement, speed, physics and gravity, just from racing the cars themselves!)

I can't wait until we get to go on prac (next Monday!!!) and get to bring all these ideas we've learnt and put them into practice in a real classroom.

Have I mentioned where I'm going on prac? My old primary school! How funny is that?! It will be weird to be back there after about 10 years- and even weirder to be there as a teacher! I'll get to go in the staffroom! That was definitely a no-no when I was a student there. It'll be like getting a backstage pass! Behind the scenes at CMPS!

Just for fun, here's me back in 1998 and 1999, in the school uniform! I'm thinking I'll take these photos in to class on Monday, just in case the students don't believe me when I tell them I went there too!

Look at that badge on my collar- that was for School Representative Council, I think.
I wish my hair still looked like that- beautiful and straight, and look at my natural colour! I will spend the rest of my life trying to get a hairdresser who can attempt to dye it back to that blondey-brown colour.

And this blue badge on the photo down the bottom here? That was for Library Monitor. Don't laugh- it was cool back then! Everyone wanted to be a Library Monitor. It basically meant that you got to pretend to be in charge of all the kids who were in the library at lunchtime.

I remember this photo day- I was growing my fringe out, and had my mum put one roller in the front just so it wouldn't hang in my eyes and look horrible by the time it came to get photos taken (because we were in the older grades, we were always the last to get our photos taken, right at the end of the day after lunch when you were all sweaty from playing at lunchtime).

I still looked cute though. If only it was that easy now. You just wait til Monday- I'll be up at the crack of dawn, blowdrying my hair, putting makeup on, deliberating over outfit choices! Kids don't know how easy they have it!

Musings & Ramblings

2010-07-29T17:43:00.004+10:00

In no order whatsoever:

1. My two classes on Friday were so good! The first was a tutorial for Primary HSIE, where each table was given a book to analyse in regards to the HSIE syllabus. A few of the books we recognised, & we were all taken straight back to our childhoods. In my last class, Primary Science & Technology, we walked in & our tutor dumped a whole lot of electric circuitry stuff on out tables and told us to make the tiny lightbulbs glow. Unbeknownst to us, while we figured it out on our own, he was typing up our comments and conversations as he listened around him! When he revealed it all to us on the projector screen, we all burst out laughing! Especially when we recognised the things we'd each said!

2. I haven't baked in almost a week. Something may be wrong with me. The mixmaster lies on the bench unused.

3. I had to pay $1100 to my insurance company in order to get my car fixed. Which is A LOT, but on the bright side I'm lucky I just had a birthday, because it would've been a whole lot more if I was stil 21 or under.

4. My sewing machine is broken. The bobbin keeps catching whenever I try to feed any material through. So annoying. I have a really old Singer, and my friend Elise suggested I get some Singer Oil, but now I have no idea what to do with said oil.

5. Yesterday there was really pretty light in the afternoon, that made me want to go take photos somewhere, but I was really lacking any inspiration.

6. I bought Season 1 of Friday Night Lights on DVD and it has become a new favourite. Who would've thought that a TV series about a town crazy over high school grid iron would appeal to me?

7. We have started to get a lot of our Spring fashion in at work, and it is so pretty! After the dark colours of winter, seeing colour and pattern and florals is such a nice change! I'm loving it.

8. My sore throat made a re-emergence earlier this week, but has yet to be seen again. I guess the antibiotics are still doing their job.

9. I get to go on prac in 2 weeks in the middle of August! I am so excited to actually get to teach in a classroom! There aren't many local school that are on the list, but one of them that is, is actually my old primary school! How funny is that!

10. I am really obsessed with nuts at the moment- any kind. Macadamias, pecans, cashews, peanuts. I love them all. There is a little stall at the local markets that sell praline nuts- oh my gosh, I'm in love. It's so disappointing that the markets are only run once every month!

When it rains, it pours

2010-07-28T11:52:00.003+10:00

It is rainy and miserable here in Sydney today. Boo. I miss the sun. I'm sick of winter. Bring on a decent Sydney Summer! I'm so excited for hot weather.

Anyway. I don't have uni until 1.30pm today, so it has been nice to be able to potter around a bit this morning. Yesterday was a crazy busy day, with non-stop classes. I was at uni from 10.30am-7.00pm - yes, I had classes at night! It was pretty hard trying to stay focussed and listening in my last lecture, when all day you have been trying to remember everything you're being told, find classrooms, make it on time, jot down notes or important points, start thinking about assignments, form groups for group assessments, etc... By 3pm I was ready to go home, but I still had another 3 classes to go!

Luckily in most of my classes I saw people that I recognised, so I had friends to sit with. There's nothing worse than being lonered and sitting by yourself! It's not nice. But since we're doing teaching, we have to do a lot of group work, and the added bonus is that you get to know lots of people! So even if you're not technically "friends", you'll still know each other well enough to sit together.

And I'm rambling again. Being back at uni has turned me into this frazzled person, because somehow the calendar sped up and holidays were over before they were supposed to be! ;)

What has also contributed to this frazzled-ness is that yesterday on my way to uni (literally 5 minutes away, actually) I had a car accident. A minor one, no one was hurt or anything like that, but still it was frustrating, and made me late to my first lecture and generally started my day off on a bad note. What's worse is that it was my fault- I was travelling behind a ute/truck and we were both about to turn left to merge onto a highway. I thought he went, so I looked to my right to check the oncoming traffic, put my foot on the accelerator, and felt a crunch. Since I felt and heard it first, I actually thought I'd hit the gutter, but when I turned around to look, I realised it was so much worse than that! My car definitely came off worse, being a small little hatch back designed to crumple at the smallest impact. The guy in the other car was so nice, he didn't seem worried about his car at all, in fact he was more worried about me because I was shaking and almost crying. Luckily I was so close to uni, we exchanged details and he tried to calm me down a little bit before we drove off, and I promptly called my mum and sat crying in the carpark at uni!

Not a good start to my day, but being the optimist that I am, I thought it can only get better, right?! And it did, but then it got worse. I found out that I will have to take an extra subject this semester, which means I will be doing 6 subjects at once (the standard is 4). Goodbye any semblance of a life! Looks like my life from now on will revolve around planning lessons and units of work.

And insurance quotes and smash repairs, of course.