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Showing posts from November, 2016

With A Grateful Heart

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With a Grateful Heart - Thanksgiving Day in Australia Hello Elementary Friends, I will forever remember Thanksgiving Day in Australia.  It was definitely different from any I have experienced in 60 years.  Today I rose as on any other week day and headed to work!  I took 54 children for their swim school.  I then taught a math class, an art class, and read a chapter of Pippi Longstocking.   Mitch showed up at school at 12:00 with the food that we prepared for our friends at Beaumont Road for a Traditional American Thanksgiving Day Luncheon.  He set up most everything due to the fact that I was teaching.  At 12:40 I took 22 students with me to the staff room where they read silently while Mitch and I continued preparing for the luncheon that would commence at 1:00.  As a reward for sitting quietly while the preparations were being conducted, my students were rewarded with a "Lamington" (traditional chocolate coconut sponge cake) to have with their ...

Climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge

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Did I Really Climb the Harbour Bridge? Hello Elementary Friends, As I was anticipating my 60th Birthday occurring while I am away from home, I decided that I needed to do something to commemorate it.  I am not typically a "dare devil" preferring a rather safe life style.  So, to make the milestone mean something, I needed to step out of my comfort zone and face my fears!  A climb to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was just the ticket!   Here is a bit of history and some facts on the Sydney Harbour Bridge: The Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of Australia's most well known and photographed landmarks. It is the world's largest (but not the longest) steel arch bridge with the top of the bridge standing 134 meters above the harbor. It is fondly known by the locals as the 'Coat Hanger' because of its arch-based design. A history of the Sydney Harbor Bridge It was as early as 1815 that Francis Greenway proposed building a bridge from the northern to the southern sh...

60's - Here I Come!

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I Can't Avoid the Big 6 - 0, So I Might as Well Embrace It! Hello Elementary Friends, Last week I was so honored when several of the parents of my students treated Mitch and me to dinner.  It was a surprise to me that so many of them gave their time away from their busy family lives to say thank you in this way.  We were very grateful for their Aussie hospitality!  Here is a photo of the parents of eleven of my students at a restaurant near the school. Here is a comment by Mitch about the dinner: We had a really great experience last week when many of the parents of the children in Karla’s class (2KH if you’re keeping score) treated us to dinner at a local restaurant.  The degree of appreciation that they hold for Karla is remarkable but not surprising.  It was a special evening getting to know them on a deeper basis.  I was taken by the truly international feel of the evening as the parents were not only Australian, but also Chinese, British, South African...