Easter Bunny is on his way...

Hello Everybody!

We trust that everyone is keeping well and that your Easter preparations are well under way. March has been a fairly busy month, which has also made it fly by quite quickly. I have been busy with plenty of teaching (4 days per week) at Coogee Public and Gymea Bay Public Schools. I finished off the term with a grade 5 class at Gymea Bay and I am now very ready for a couple of weeks off! Leah's school work has picked up a bit these last couple of weeks - at the moment, she is currently preparing for her final day of placement before the holidays, while earlier in the week she was working away on a term paper - busy busy!

Last Saturday was our highly anticipated return to ANZ Stadium at Olympic Park for the Sydney Swans AFL season opener vs. the St. Kilda F.C. We went to Luke and Tamara's place earlier in the afternoon for a BBQ and then met up with Tamara's sister Claire before heading to the game. It was a very close, intense, rough, high scoring game which saw the home side fall just 8 points short of a victory - a touch disappointing, but very entertaining! And what would a football game be without some free stuff?? Prior to the game, we received some very stylish Sydney Swans ball caps - looking good!

We've got some big plans for the weekend! On Friday, we're planning to have a day travelling the south coast beaches with Luke and Tamara before having a fish 'n' chips dinner to celebrate Good Friday. On Saturday, Leah and I are boarding a plane on our way down to Tasmania - the little island south of Australia. We've heard some very good things about being 'Under Down Under', and we're very much looking forward to travelling again!

We wish you all a fantastic Easter - and keep in touch to read all about our trip to Tassie!

Take care,

Jeff & Leah

xoxo

March is Here!

Hello Everyone!

Yes, it's true - the month of March is upon us... the Aussie Summer is officially over, and the Autumn season has begun. The weather seems to have gotten word of this as it has been noticeably cooler down here with a few rainy days too. Most days have been in the low 20's, with it getting down to around 17 at night. Getting darker sooner at night, and not quite as bright when it's time to get up for work/uni, but it's still beautiful.

February turned out to be a pretty busy month. You all heard about my first day of teaching in the previous post - well there have been many more that came as a result. From that first day on February 8th up to now, I have managed either 3 or 4 days teaching every week since then and that trend will continue until the end of term - getting 4 days per week for the month of March. All of the work so far has been either at Coogee Public School or at Gymea Bay Public School, which is where I had my first two placements last year - exciting to be back there as a teacher instead of as a student!

On the uni front, Leah is back into the swing of things. She's already had her first 3 days of placement at Miranda Public School (near Gymea Bay actually, in the Sutherland area), and just on Monday started her final semester of classes! There will be a bit of a learning curve with the placement, but she's lucky to have the support of 4 of her classmates there with her - the 5 of them will work hard together to make this placement a successful one. As far as classes go, she is very excited indeed. The work load doesn't appear to be too intense (nothing will after the workload in semester 2), and the courses seem to be quite interesting - and the best part is it will only last for 10 weeks to get everyone done in time for a block placement in June.

While it sounds like we've been really busy, we have made time for a social life as well. We had an authentic Aussie experience last Tuesday (Feb. 23) when we went with Luke and Tamara to the Sydney Cricket Ground for a Twenty20 cricket match featuring our Aussie national team and the West Indies. The Aussie bowlers (like pitchers in baseball) made quick work of the West Indies offence. When it was Aussie's turn to grab their bats, the fireworks started - there were many 4's and 6's (like home runs in baseball) and it didn't take long for Australia to capture yet another victory this season. While it sounds confusing, we have made sense of the game people are so found of down here, and it was a very exciting night.

The very next night (Feb. 24) was my 25th birthday - so we met up with all the gang i.e.) the girls in Leah's program and their boyfriends - for a drink and some pizza at the beloved Danny's Pizzeria. After a spectacular dinner, we all made it back to our apartment for another drink and the highly anticipated, homemade (by Leah), New York Style Cheesecake - and it was well worth the wait! Everyone seemed to enjoy it, compliments were received, and the stomachs couldn't take anymore! It was an amazing way to celebrate my 25th.

And in case you are wondering, we were lucky enough to get our fair share of Olympic coverage. While work/uni deterred us from watching all of the prime time events, we still were able to get a good fix. I was lucky enough to have the Monday off so I could watch Canada take on the USA in the hockey final - simply amazing. The clock just couldn't tick fast enough in that final minute, but it perhaps made for a more exciting finish when Sidney Crosby found the back of the net in OT to capture the gold, which just happened to help Canada set the record for most gold medals won at a winter Olympic event... Vancouver sure did an amazing job.

We are thinking of all of you during the constant downfall of snow we've heard so much about! Hopefully you are all keeping warm, keeping safe, and keeping us in your thoughts, because you all are sure always in ours!

Take care!

Jeff & Leah

xoxo