Trying to Stay Current...

Already it has been several weeks since our last post and I don't know where the time has gone. We are going to try to keep the updates much more frequent, so here is our first attempt! 

As per usual, Jeff and I are keeping extremely busy with our school work, and trying to take a little bit of time here and there to enjoy the city. Last weekend, we went to our first Aussie Rules Footy match! It was a great time. The game was between the Sydney Swans and West Coast Eagles, and was held at ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park (the same stadium that held the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Olympics). Most of the seating in the stadium is covered, but the field isn't so we got to enjoy the night air - thankfully it wasn't too cold that night! It was quite an exciting game. The rules are quite different to what we all know as football, so as you might expect it took me the better part of the game to ask Jeff all my questions, get all the rules down pat and figure out exactly what was going on! But we are going to two more matches during the season so now I'm all set! Sydney was winning for the majority of the game. A late rally posted by West Coast saw them take the lead with minutes to go, but a last minute goal by Sydney sealed the win! And let me tell you, the crowd went wild! The stadium was not even close to full (only 33,000 fans present) but the volume was incredible! The Aussies sure do love their footy! 

This week was light on classes for me as many of my lecturers were at the Speech Pathology Australia conference, which allowed us to use the extra time to work on several of the big assignments that are due in the next couple of weeks. Hard to believe there are only 2 more weeks of classes left and then I have exams and Jeff has his second placement and then we're done semester 1! This weekend has been quiet. It has been rainy the last couple of days so its been nice to just stay in comfy clothes and putter around cleaning and getting some school work out of the way. 

It has been just like Christmas for Jeff around here since yesterday. In Australia there are several channels that are free to air, but the newest one, a channel dedicated to sports 24/7, is only broadcast digitally, not on analog. Eventually all analog signals will be eliminated, so yesterday we got a 'set top box' which will allow us to see this new magical sports channel! Jeff isn't sure he will be able to watch any hockey games, but he will be able to catch several Blue Jays games and NFL games (once the season starts), which he is quite excited about! 

Nothing big planned for this week other than school work and a little bit of planning for Mom and Dad's visit in July! Can't wait! 

Update Time

G'day!

It’s been a while since we last sent an update so we figured it was about time! Just an indication of how busy we’ve been! We’re already in week 10 of the semester (which is actually week 16 for Jeff since he started in January) and we wish we could say that things are starting to wind down but unfortunately that’s not the case! The end is in sight, but there is still a lot of work to be done before we get there. School has kept us incredibly busy with multiple assignments/exams each week, but it hasn’t kept us from getting out once in a while.

Since our last email, Jeff had his first professional experience placement in a grade 4/5 split class at Gymea Bay Public School. It was a three week placement, but only the first day was spent observing, and on the second day he taught his first lesson! By the middle of the second week he was teaching full days. Although it was a lot of planning work, he really enjoyed the experience and looks forward to going back to the same class in a few weeks for his next placement.

On Easter weekend, we visited the Sydney Royal Easter Show, held at Olympic Park. It reminded us a lot of the CNE, as there were lots of carnival type activities as well as agricultural shows and displays. We took in some of the shows including a story of rural Australia which included live animals (cows, wild horses, sheep, sheep dogs, etc), and a motocross stunt display capped off with some fireworks! On the Monday of the Easter weekend, we got up at 4am to skype with family and then headed off to catch our flight to Melbourne! We spent 4 days touring around, shopping and seeing the sights. It was a fantastic getaway, and the perfect mix of tourism and relaxing! One of the days we were there we went to Philip Island to see the Little Penguins. Each day at sunset they swim in to the shore and waddle their way across the beach and up the hill to their little sand dune homes for the night! The Little Penguins are only about 40cm tall and weigh only 1kg, but they sure do move quickly!

As far as the last few weeks, there hasn’t been a whole lot going on other than school work. We have both had big workloads, but thankfully we have this week free from assignments and exams so we are enjoying our first weekend homework-free in a long time! Only 3 more weeks left in this semester and then its only one more placement for Jeff and then he is half way there, and a couple of exams for Leah and then we’ll have some time off and a visit from Brent and Wanda!  Can’t wait!

We’ve posted some new pictures on Leah’s Facebook profile so if you get a chance have a look! 

Hoping all is well at home!

Welcome!

Hey Everyone! 

Welcome to our blog! Hopefully this will allow us to keep in touch more frequently so keep checking in for updates and pictures! 

Jeff & Leah