G'DAY Family and Friends!
I apologize in my delay for setting up this blog, as I had ran into issues loading everything with my internet. I will summarize the past week for you quickly though!
I arrived at the Sydney International Airport 24 October in the morning and was warmly greeted by my host dad and "mum," Michael and Cherie Goodway. Even though I had only spoken to Michael for the first time on the phone about two weeks prior to flight, it felt as though I had known them for a very long time by their immediate kindness. We had about an hour and a half drive north along the Central Coast into the Gosford Area. Yes, it was weird driving on the other side of the road, and yes it felt weird riding as passenger on the left hand side of a car. It is still bizarre to see people fiddling about in the passenger side on the left while walking to school. I went to meet my teacher, Fiona Bolton, and my year 6 kids that day just a few hours after stepping foot into my host family's home. Year 6 is equivalent to the 5th grade in the States, as the children are about 11 and 12 years old. The students saw me walking down the steps towards their classroom and instantly drew looks of excitement and wonder upon their faces as they looked through the window. As soon as I walked into the classroom 25 hands shot up for questions. "Do you know Kim Kardashian?" "Do you play NHL?" "What famous people have you met?" etc. etc. as the list of obnoxious questions continued. Fiona greeted me with a big hug and I immediately knew this was about to be a life changing experience. I began teaching small reading groups the next day at school and was invited to attend their touch footie gala day that Thursday. The kids here for sport tournament days miss school in order to play a sort of round robin tournament. I initially thought I would just go to help things organized and such. Wrong. Five minutes before the year 6 girls' first match, another teacher handed me a list of rules and the roster and I had to learn the game in order to be assigned as their coach. Thank god these kids were old enough to semi-organize themselves for the first game as I learned the ways of touch footie. Below is a picture of my girls and the year 6 boys.
Then, last weekend I went to visit my good friend Elizabeth (another IU education major in my program), in Mosman, a wonderful classy sailing town. The fish and chips around here are the real deal, let me tell you! Saturday morning Elizabeth and I took a ferry ride from Mosman into Circular Quay, right into the heart of Sydney. We had a beautiful sunny say to sea the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Here we are below!
We then met with my friend Cliff from the States in a Sydney suburb called Newtown and ate delicious Israeli and Thai, went shopping, and visited the Sydney Uni (aka University). The architecture of the buildings was beautiful and there were these trees that were a brilliant shade of purple called Jacarandas. 
Then we all went to a Halloween party in North Strathfield hosted by the Goodway's cousin, Sally, and met Michael and Cherie's daughter, Emily, there. It was a blast meeting all these new Aussies and seeing how they threw down a Halloween party. They do it QUITE well, trust me.
This week... I took over teaching maths full time and have been having a great time doing so. I actually had a girl come up to me with a smile on her face saying, "You know I am really starting to like maths," after one of my inquiry based lessons finding area of 2D shapes. Those types of things are why I love what I do. It was also "heaps" of fun dressing up with my fascinator (an obnoxious hair piece) for the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. Think Kentucky Derby but more HUGE. We gambled in a "sweep" at school for which horses would win. Luckily I only put down $5.00 as my horse, who now I can't even recall, did not win. It was good fun though and the kids enjoyed it as well. That day we also did pink face painting and ribbon sales for Breast Cancer Awareness. The kids alone raised $300 that day by donations. Amazing how big their hearts are. Here I am with my class on Melbourne Cup and Breast Cancer Day. Can you tell which ones are the most entertaining?
I have also been taking breathtaking walks with Michael and Cherie along the waterfront, as they live literally two blocks away from the water. We went for a sunset walk along the waterfront yesterday, had a drink while we watched the Twilight Race of sailboats finish, and then Cherie taught me how to make quiche! We finished the evening by watching British murder mystery movies over tea on the tele.
Time here is already flying as I cannot believe I am finishing my second week tomorrow with my class. I am loving every minute I spend here and cannot wait to share more experiences with you all. Love you and miss you and share with me YOUR lives!
Jules
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