60's - Here I Come!

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, Turkish, Polish, Canadian, and Indian - and those are the ones I am aware of.  The diversity of cultures and the friendships among these amazing people have made our experience all the more special.

Thank you parents of 2 KH!

Weekend in Canberra (4-6 November)

Last weekend we traveled to Canberra (Australia's National Capital) for a visit.  We were accompanied by the Jackson Family from Colorado.  Kim and Brian Jackson are here on exchange as a couple both working an the suburb of  Berowra Heights.  Their triplet daughters, Ellen, Aubrey, and Lucy are delightful.  We had the best time with them!

First up on Saturday was Parliament House:

The home of Australia's Parliament and the meeting place of the nation, Parliament House is located on a 32-hectare site on Capital Hill and is the focal point of Canberra, the capital city of Australia.

Of interest to me is the size of the flag flying above Parliament House:

The flag is 12.8 x 6.4 meters, which is roughly the size of a double-decker bus.

Aubrey, Lucy, and Ellen in the Senate Chambers

Next on the agenda was the Australian National War Memorial: 

The Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of its armed forces and supporting organizations who have died or participated in wars involving the Commonwealth of Australia. The memorial includes an extensive national military museum. The Australian War Memorial was opened in 1941, and is widely regarded as one of the most significant memorials of its type in the world.

The Memorial is located in Australia's capital, Canberra. It is the north terminus of the city's ceremonial land axis, which stretches from Parliament House on Capital Hill along a line passing through the summit of the cone-shaped Mount Ainslie to the northeast. No continuous roadway links the two points, but there is a clear line of sight from the front balcony of Parliament House to the War Memorial, and from the front steps of the War Memorial back to Parliament House.

The Australian War Memorial consists of three parts: the Commemorative Area (shrine) including the Hall of Memory with the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier, the Memorial's galleries (museum) and Research Center (records). The Memorial also has an outdoor Sculpture Garden. The Memorial is currently open daily from 10 am until 5 pm, except on Christmas Day.

After a yummy lunch in the CBD (central business district), we headed to a destination that was highly recommended to us:  QUESTACON!

Questacon – the National Science and Technology Center, is located on the southern shore of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, Australia. It is a large center with more than 200 interactive exhibits relating to science and technology. It has many science programs that are devoted to inspiring the children of Australia to love science.

We stayed there several hours enjoying all of the interactive exhibits.  The girls especially loved the free fall slide!

Questacon - National Science and Technology Center

Earthquake Room at Questacon

Mount Ainsley Lookout Today

Mount Ainslie is a hill with an elevation of 843 metres (2,766 ft) that is located in the northeastern suburbs of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Mount Ainslie lies within part of the Canberra Nature Park.

Mount Ainslie borders on the inner suburbs of Campbell, Ainslie and Hackett and is named in honour of James Ainslie, a 19th-century settler who was the overseer on Duntroon, a large property in the area.



Photograph showing the view from Mount Ainslie, taken in the 1930s by an unknown photographer.

The Mount Ainslie tourist outlook, one of Canberra's most popular, provides excellent views of central Canberra and Red Hill to the south and Black Mountain to the west especially towards sunset. According to an article written in 1922, this outlook 'will afford an ever changing bird's eye and panoramic picture of the city's buildings and beauty spots, as well as of the lovely plains that run to join the Yass Plains on the north.'


After our visit to the Mount Ainslie Lookout we were all rather tired from such a wonderful day of activities, so we headed back to the hotel for dinner and sleep!


Sunday morning (6th) was a gorgeous day!  We were up early and off to the Old Bus Depot Markets!

Simply no better way to spend your Sunday in Canberra

from the OBDM Website:

Lovers of fine hand crafted wares, clothing collectors, food fanatics and jewellery junkies are just a few of the people who make their way to Canberra’s famous Old Bus Depot Markets every Sunday. In a fabulous old industrial building you will experience the endless colour, tastes, sounds and atmosphere that is “Canberra’s Sunday Best”. Find your favourite stallholder and visit the Markets this Sunday from 10am-4pm.



After the markets we had a decision to make - we could only do one more thing before heading back to Sydney.  Would it be the National Gallery of Australia (art gallery), or the National Portrait Gallery (portraits only).  We decided to do the portrait gallery because the girls are quite interested in portrait drawings and paintings.  I am too - if you recall my trepidation on the thought of teaching my students how to draw their self portraits during Term One!



Captain James Cook Portrait Painting in the National Portrait Gallery - Canberra

Blog Assistance from Mitch - Thanks for the contribution!

Today is Karla’s birthday.  I thought she might appreciate having the week off from her blogging duties.  As regular readers will recognize, she has been extremely diligent in her writing and has not missed a week yet in her blog.  She’s only posted late a couple of times - even when it’s meant that she’s stayed up late completing that week’s entry.  I admire her diligence and sense of obligation, her self discipline and tenacity.  All them more reason to give her one week off.  Also, I'd probably be less than honest if I didn’t at least mention in passing that it is a …..challenge… to be married to a diligent, obligated, self disciplined and tenacious person.  They tend to want to share their virtues with their spouses.

Anyway.  Happy Birthday to Karla! Singing Happy Birthday to someone in Australia is not quite the same as it is in the US.  The song is the same but it is followed by by three cheers of Hip, Hip Hooray, which is alright but awfully British.  There is also something a bit disconcerting in seeing small children (referred to locally as “lilttlies”) issuing forth all those hip, hips.

The weeks are zipping past as we approach the end of our time in Australia.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a year go by so quickly nor have I had a year so full of experiences.  Karla has done an incredible job of detailing all of our travels and adventures, and because of the electronic record, we will have a lasting ability to relive our experience.  I love it here.  It’s been a total pleasure and leaving will be very difficult for me.  I feel that I have learned so much not only about Australia but also about being a citizen of the world - new languages, cultures, traditions, friends, foods, lifestyle. 

We were so happy to pick up Katie last night from the airport.  She will be with us for a couple of weeks.  Katie lived in Sydney eleven years ago for several months before moving up to Cairns for several more months.  From there it was on to New Zealand for a year.  She is wanting to visit some of her old haunts and I’m looking forward to seeing what she can show me.

I think Karla may be exhausted from excess celebration tonight.  The staff at the school, the entire student body, the kids in her class and finally her children’s parents all had various events for her today.  These people have been overwhelmingly wonderful to us during the course of the year and that point was certainly driven home today.  Everyone is sensing the year coming to an end and the celebrations were not only for her birthday but were also held with an eye on the school year finishing up.

Karla and Katie are going to celebrate more on Saturday when they have reservations to climb the Harbour Bridge.  I will watch them from a distance with a great deal of admiration but a greater relief that I don’t have to do it.

Being excused from her blogging duties is proving to be too much of a withdrawal for Karla so I will wrap up here and let her take over.  We are excited to be headed home soon and we look forward to seeing you again soon.  We also look forward to driving on the correct side of the road, chicken fried steak, speaking like everyone else, Mexican food, iced tea with lots of ice and no funky flavorings, Broncos football on the TV rather than on game track on the computer and living in our own house again.  So, with just a few weeks to go before departure, I bid you a short farewell.

With Students on Karla's Birthday - 10 November 2016