Writing Drought

I am terribly sorry that it has been so long since I have posted last. As my fellow student teachers can attest to, week 4 is probably the hardest. Not so much that the teaching and lesson planning is difficult, but it is the longest stretch- we/I am half way through (almost everyone else is finished). I am hitting that time when I just want out of student teaching. Do not misunderstand me, I love being in Australia, and I have wonderful classes, but I am through with evaluations, and weekly reports, and someone constantly looking over your shoulder because they have to. It makes it a bit harder knowing that I have a job when I come home, it will not be working with elementary school children,  and technically come this Saturday I will be a college graduate:) All of that being said I know that I still have plenty of learning to do and I am in a great place to do it. 


Now that I got some ranting out of the way I will fill you in on some of the fun adventures I had last weekend. I went to my first Rugby League game- and it was awesome. Rugby could become one of my favorite sports to watch. Catching on to the game was a lot easier because of the touch football (rugby) league that I play in on Monday nights. A fellow teacher from school took me to the Brisbane Broncos game and we were two rows away from the field- close enough to see all of the massive quadriceps and hear every collision on the field. The only damper on the night was the rain that drizzled for the entire game, and then decided to dump when we were walking back to the car. The environment was so great though that the rain did not bother me. It got me excited to go to baseball games this summer. 
The next day we went to Dream World which is an amusement park that is made by the Dreamworks company (the film company that produced Shrek). It was fun as well, and very similar to Six Flags. It was an interesting day though, because it was pouring all day long. The good news for us was that because of the rain there were zero lines in the park. We were done with all of the major rides by 11:30- awesome. Every day at an amusement park should be like that.

I was a bit tired to say the least after the weekend, but kept pushing through. Sunday I came up to school for a little bit of planning and then went to Sunday Night Life here at school. Sunday Night Life is a really neat worship service that is put on by one of the grades in school. There is a service once a month and that class is responsible for preparing the service (well the teacher does the planning and the students act it out). It is a great way to get families into the school and to see their children involved in worship. The fifth graders did a wonderful job. 


Oh I almost forgot to mention that last Wednesday we did not have school- we were off for ANZAC day. (ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) This is a day of remembrance for soldiers, especially those soldiers who fought and lost their lives in the Battle of Gallipoli. St. Johns had a group of faculty and students who marched in the parade on Wednesday morning, and I had the honor of being one of them. It was really neat being able to be a part of such an honored day with my students. Not only did we have that one day of remembrance, but I learned a lot about ANZAC day before and after the holiday as we spent time in class looking at the event and why it was so important in Australian history. 

After the parade my principal and her husband took Sonya and I up to the Bunya mountains for lunch and a hike. The mountains are gorgeous! I loved every second of it. The temperature was lower than what we expected and a bit windy, but it was still quite warm comparatively. The trees were enormous and some of the views just magnificent. I could stay up there for a long time exploring the forests. 

There is not a whole lot else to report on at this time- but I always have great student quotes from the week. 
    A year 1 student at the beginning of class-
"Ms. Pauluhn soccer balls are filled with gas" 
"Really? What kind of gas are they filled with?"
"Um. They are filled with soccer gas."             :) Love it


Another good one happened as I was walking up to my classroom during lunch one day. One of the Preps ran up to me
"Hey Ms. Pauluhn (with a wave)"
"Hey buddy how are you? (most of the boys are still buddy because 350 names are impossible)"
"Did you know I like Mr. Mo's PE classes"
"What about mine?"
"Well, you know, I just like Mr. Mo's and you haven't been here very long, you are still a new teacher and stuff from America"
"Yes I am"
"Ok bye Ms. Pauluhn"


haha, all I could do after that one was have a good laugh and tell Greame that the kids still liked his class better than mine- don't worry.


Well I am sure that there is plenty that I am missing. OH like the fact that last week in touch football I scored twice and this week I had an awesome fake-out and scored again- no big deal:). Besides that, it is kind of the daily grind. Cheers and I hope all is well stateside. 


A special shout out this week to all of my friends back in Nebraska. I hope finals went well and I am so proud of all of you. I pray that graduation weekend goes smoothly, and I will be thinking about you! Love all of you, and wish I could be there to celebrate with you.