Months are getting too hard to count and life is so full that blogging has taken a back seat. Here we are! Since November, I’ve done heaps of new things, finally got to see my baby sister, visited Canada, and started year 2 of teaching! I’m in the home stretch of term 1, and getting ready for a jam packed trip back to WA. Over the summer, there’s been a couple of minor sunburns, but that’s the cost of spending every waking minute outdoors, and I’m happy to pay the price.
New Words
- Hooroo is one way Jess says goodbye
- Instead of tomatoes, I heard tommies
- If you add on to your home, it’s not an addition but an extension
- Lollipop ladies, aka Jess’ dream retirement job, are the crossing guards (that hold round signs on sticks to stop traffic)
- Dot points are the preferred alternative to bullet points, perhaps a deeper reaching impact of the gun control that exists in Aus compared to North America?
- The student at the top of the graduating class is called the dux
- A prank that you can pull on your friends (or not) is to short sheet them, folding the flat sheet up and re-making the bed so when you get into bed you can’t stretch out
Excursions and Adventures
SO MANY funs since I’ve last posted! Including, but not limited to:
- Ridin’ Hearts Festival with Christie and Kennedy, where we got our country music fix. Nowhere near as big as Dauphin’s Countryfest, but it was still a ripper of a time. We spent the weekend out on the east side of the city, filled with fun and plenty of corn hole.
- For Melbourne Cup Day, I didn’t go watch the horses run in circles, but I did go to the beach! And so did half the city, apparently. But it was so nice!
- I got to attend my first VHRR (Victorian Historic Racing Register) event at Historic Sandown with my friend Conor in November. Unfortunately, the car he was supposed to be racing got rod knock on the Friday, so spectating it was. But I had so much FUN! I’m objectively not a car person, but seeing all the cars decades older than I and the community they bring together (plus getting to learn a thing or two) was phenomenal.
- I bought a snorkel set! Lucas and I tested it out (he’s an enthusiast, that’s for sure) at the Jawbone Marine Sanctuary just down the road from my place, and I saw a couple different kinds of pufferfish (no puffing, thankfully!) and jellies. Would recommend.
- Sydney and I’s walks continued. We’ve stopped at Bread Club, among other bakeries and cafes, where they make the BEST fougasse. It’s a type of bread shaped like a head of wheat and flavoured with garlic and rosemary. Other places we’ve walked include up in Castlemaine, Belgrave, Werribee Gorge (a camping trip!), and just out and about in the general city vicinity
- It was Jess’ (and her twin sister, Kate’s) birthday! We had a party at our place, somehow cramming 25 people into our apartment. It was a blast, even if it was 30 degrees.
- The day after the party, despite my late bedtime, I got up for a sunrise walk to beat the heat that was forecasted. And it was WORTH IT. The sunrise was spectacular, but I could have done with fewer flies. I told myself I was going to take a nap after, but I failed at that.
- Another intersection of my favourite things: public transit infrastructure and learning! Conor and I visited the tram museum in Hawthorn, where we got to see so many trams that used to service Melbourne as it was growing over the years, and learn about how the cable tram network operated. All the logistics that go into moving people absolutely amaze me, and in another life I could see myself working for PTV.
- Lauren came to visit!!! That deserves its own entire post, but I made sure she got to see my favourite places. In Victoria, we did the Great Ocean Road, Mornington Peninsula, toured around the city (and of course went grocery shopping), and then took off up the east coast to Byron Bay, Brisbane, the Whitsundays (what a way to spend New Years Eve!) and then to Sydney. I introduced her to sausage rolls, and I tried my best to convince her to do a working holiday.
- More car things: a couple car rallies, attending my first speedway event, and the Phillip Island Classic. For the rallies, we adventured along a route to answer the questions and basically just get out for a drive. So fun, especially when there are other people doing the same thing and you watch them make a wrong turn. My mental map of Melbourne is expanding, that much is certain. Sydney and I attended the Phillip Island Classic on Labour Day weekend, and watched old cars drive in circles. A couple of hiccups, but a great weekend all things considered.
- A surprise visit home, which wouldn’t have been possible without Amanda and Lauren’s scheming. Apparently, I’m “never allowed to do that again” but seeing the look on Ma, Pa, Gran, Addi, Jack, and Brooke’s faces was so worth it. So much visiting and enjoying winter, I was wiped by the time it was head to Melbs. A year and a half away was plenty, and it was so nice to be back.
- School! With teaching year 10 health this year, it’s been different but I still love my job. I feel so much more settled in this role the second time around, and I love my students and coworkers.
- Library events galore! Library Lovers’ Day on February 14, and then attending the launch of a ‘Library of Things’, a sustainability and community initiative that I can’t wait to use. Karaoke machine? Yes please.
- The discovery that a pair of Tawny Frogmouths have taken up roost outside one of my classroom windows. They look like little owls, and have definitely distracted my class a time or two.
- A camping trip! Sydney and I went and found a spot in the bush to finally try out her tent. It was just a one-night excursion, and so much fun.
- Jess’ first hockey game! Or as she calls it, “ice hockey”. Can you spot the Aussie?
That’s all for now, see you soon!
Kate