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!