Hi everyone,

"The first week of school"

We started school with a gathering in the gymnasium.  All the students were sitting along the spectator seats and the Principal had a portable mike to address everyone.  "I know you're curious as to how tall I am, so I'll put your mind to rest right away - I'm 7 feet".  Joe is probably in his early 40's and just missed out on playing NBA due to a knee injury.  All the staff were introduced and asked to step out on to the court.  "And here's Kathy and Brian Kane from Australia - Brian will be employed for free because he hasn't got a social security card yet!"  We're working in the High School grade 9 - 12: about 300 students although another 75 are coming next week.  Being a boarding school it takes awhile for students to arrive and be placed.  It wasn't long before we were off to our classes.

First Bell 8:14, Second Bell 8:17

First period 8:20 till 9:11 - (hey they do things by the clock here and don't seem to round off at all)

4 periods till lunch at 11:57 - (got to get used to no morning tea - just straight through)

Lunch - we all head over to the dining hall.  Fantastic lunches for $2 a day.  Full sit down meal of salads, soup, main course, dessert - fruit salads, ice-cream etc.  But we have to bolt it down because lunch only goes for half an hour.

3 periods- after lunch, including a DEAR (drop everything and read) time for 15 minutes.

The school day starts at 8:14 and finishes at 3:30.  The staff have to sign in on a book before 8 o'clock and sign out no sooner than 4 in the afternoon.

Teachers have their own classroom and computer.  As soon as the students arrive for each period, absentees are done on the computer and submitted to the office.  The program is WinSchool, eclass Chancery software.  All the students names come up on the computer and you just move the cursor to the left if they are absent.  The same system is used to enter your grades and submit them to the office.

You see the students at the same time every day.  e.g.  the first set of students comes into period 1 each day for Algebra 1 for a 50 minute period 5 times a week.  Students get a 4 minute break between classes.  If they are late they receive a tardy slip.  3 of these leads to a detention after school - this occurs from 3:30 till 4 o'clock.  A succession of tardy slips results in suspension.  Teachers get one prep period per day.

I really enjoyed the first week.  The students are already taking off my accent.  They like to joke and I'm still getting used to the idea of them bringing pop (cool drink), bubble gum and snacks into the room.  My room looks great - plenty of Aussie posters up around the wall, a white board etc.  We have a TV in each of the classroom - programs can be relayed from the library or world news programs.  This is one of Kate's jobs.

Kate is still really busy setting up the library and seeing how the system works.  She is finding it a little daunting a times but she is making a lot of progress.  Just now, she is doing a survey for the staff on what magazines will be ordered.

They've got a music room here but no teacher this year so I'll be taking music lessons twice a week for an hour after school - they're well set up with lots of keyboards, guitars - electric and acoustic, drums etc.

We had a school football game on Friday Avo at 1:15 - I will send you photos and a description of the game next time.

So, all in all we've had great first week and now gearing up for the second week.

"Cricket - American style" 

After going to our little Catholic Church here at the school, (the school is not Catholic now) we travelled 19 miles to our nearest town to paint the place red.  We decided on going to the "Bar and Grill".  When we stepped inside it was quite noisy because a wedding party were out celebrating.  We went to the back of the Bar and sat at the "VY Coral" and ordered Ray's hamburger, mash and onion rings.  The meal was great and I decided to try the local beer - Budweiser.  Not bad, but the beer over here it's not as strong as Aussie beer.  We met quite a few people.  We were really entertained by a couple in their 30's.  They have fostered over 20 children and currently foster 4 kids.  One works in the local telephone company and the other is a Phys Ed teacher in the local school.  He was quite a good hurdler in his time but wrecked his knee by clipping too many hurdles.  He knew of Karl Van de Kyte and of course Cathy Freeman.  He had a recent trip to Australia with a group of students on a sports meet.  He spend most of his time in Sydney and the Gold Coast.  He had a fantastic time and wants to go back.  He could understand Rugby but his description of cricket had us in stitches. 

He was comparing it to baseball where:

You can only hit the ball in about a third of the field - the most padded player is the catcher - the side is all out after 3 players and the game only takes a couple of hours.  He went on to explain the game to his wife who did not make the trip.  By the way, chewing tobacco is common here and this guy was into it.  Just shove a chunk of flavoured tobacco in the front of your mouth and leave it there for a couple of hours until you can't taste it any more.  He was surprised Aussies don't do it.  I thought - "Nah, I might pass on that one!"

"There's got to be something seriously wrong with the game, when the batter has to put on that much protection.  And what about the thing they use to hit the ball.  It looks like a paddle - the one my father used to spank me with.  Instead of throwing the ball to the hitter, they bounce it at him and try to knock his block off.  They can hit the ball anywhere!!! Even behind.  And they catch the ball in their bare hands.  The game keeps going for over a day till 10 batters have a go.  And after 5 days of 7 hours a day, you may not get a result.  Guys run up and down and when the ball goes over the line you get four". 

The wedding party had tapered off by 11 o'clock and the guests had journeyed on to the next venue.  We headed off home down the road trying not to hit deer and antelope which sometime wander out on to the highway.

Next time - US Football and photos hopefully.

Regards,

BK and Kate.